To the guy who just had the Castlevania thread, it 404'd as I was typing, here:
It was okay. Better than 2. It's a lot like Darksiders or Kingdom Hearts to some extent, in that regard. First was a little more stiff but had charm and a vision and in the second they just tried too many things to make it more fluid and ruined it. LoS2 doesn't even feel like Castlevania. Half of it, fighting demons and creatures of the night does, then you are fighting fucking Space Marines and Mecha.
>>320220762
That's because half of the team left halfway through development, because the studio boss is a fucking egoistic asshole, who tried to force his personal vision of the game onto everyone else.
>>320221062
Is this LoS2 or DS2 you're talking about? Cause if it's LoS2, the problem wasn't the change in the sense if this was a contained story in it's own series like it was supposed to be, Lords of Shadow, no fucking problem. The issue was this is Castlevania and they didn't respect the style and story of the franchise so it feels really off.
>>320221243
Yes, I'm talking about LoS. And honestly, I think the "it's not a good Castlevania game" whiners are just throwing a tantrum, because it's not SotN.
The only Castlevania games I played are 1 and 2 on NES. And LoS is very much a Castlevania game, if you ask me, just a modern one.
Whips, vampires, werewolves, what else does a game need to be a Castlevania game?
>>320221681
Well sorry if I sound like I'm whining, I was just saying the feel of the story felt off, especially because they were blending the old style of enemies, demons, wolves, etc with these future tech enemies, and I just think it should have went one way or the other. The whip is a blood whip, not an actual weapon, he could and should be able to make blood weapons of any kind. Make a blood Warhammer why don'tcha. In terms of gameplay it is an average adventure game and I think it's worth a playthrough now that you can get it for 10-20 bucks, but when it came out it just felt like a rushed and disjointed game. The plot didn't even move because it was literally replaying the story from the last game. Work with Death, oh he betrays you, okay fight Satan again, boom.
>>320222084
Oh, you're still talking about the second game in particular.
Well, I should've specified that most people who left were the art team. That's why the modern day levels and enemies look so shit, while the Dracula's Castle is gorgeous.
LoS2 is quite literally 50/50 great/shit game.
LoS was a good game, but it definitely didnt really feel like a castlevania
LoS2 was just all over the place
>>320222404
Exactly. Any time I was in the castle, it was good. Minus that fucking Garden sneaking....fuck that. Any of the modern sections just sucked. Also, there were so many collectibles, it took the fun away from finding them all and just became a chore.
>>320222878
i fucking hated the free camera thing they were going for in the new game, it was garbage.
>>320223210
>Minus that fucking Garden sneaking
Oh yeah, that was real fucking poor design, simply because how illogical it was.
You don't even get any power-ups or anything, before you fight the boss. You and him are in the same exact conditions as five minutes before, when you were playing hide and seek.
Gameplay-wise it's not as bad as you might think. You're just supposed to turn into a bat swarm when he sees you and float behind a corner. That makes him lose you.
>>320223404
It really offended me cause that part sucked as did the following boss fight, when Pan was so amazing in the previous game. I did that fight, literally hundreds of times. He was so cool.
>>320221681
>how can you say this is not a Castlevania game?
>I have played almost no Castlevania games but let me tell you that this one is totally a Castlevania game!
Really? Castlevania games don't focus so much on their dumb plots, most after 4 weren't so linear, had great soundtracks and no Castlevania didn't have GoW style combat before so it's pretty apt to say LoS doesn't feel like it belongs in the series and throwing in a bunch of vampires and then pulling Dracula out your ass in the last scene doesn't make it Castlevania either.
Didn't even hate it, but I liked it for the same reason I like GoW. It's a decent action game that has a lot of level variety, like a good popcorn movie.Also highlight of the game is going into that music box and having the music box arrangement of Vampire Killer play.
>>320223714
Oh god. That was interesting but I really didn't like that part. I loved playing the chess game. Also, that final dragon sucked so hard.
>>320223714
I have played the original ones, and to me the other sequels and spin-offs are as distant from them as LoS, so they're equally "not Castlevania".
Both are action platformer games that feature unlockable power ups. It's 3D and more linear, yes, but it's hardly makes it a different game. You don't seem many people saying Prime isn't a Metroid game.
LoS was a great game, and IMO, just fine as a modern Classicvania in 3D.
Most of the people who trashed it were literally hating it because "NOT MUH IGA"
it wasnt perfect, but it was just fine.
The people who compared it to god of War, similarly, also never played it. (or either) SInce if you compare LoS to GoW you have to compare LoI to GoW, since LoS borrows and updates it's combat system.
it had all the major Classicvania setpieces. had your besieged villages, forests, ancient ruins, castle, etc. and literally every enemy was a Castlevania enemy.
Gabriel wears Simon's CV2 outfit even. When he gains a relic, he absorbs a red orb.
LoS2 was 50% garbage and 50% fantastic GOATvania. All the castle sections were superb, and the best Castlevaniafare in years.
all the modern city sections were atrocious, and are salvaged only be Death being a pretty cool design and fight, but then wasted again with that horrible satan non-fight and that even worse ending.
Then there's Mirror of Fate. I think it's underrated. It's LoS1 in 2D, and it definitely feels off because of it, but it has it's charm. the setpieces are great, some cool looking castle locations- the characters are just fine, (Alucard, despite his contrived origin, is actually not as offensive as youd expect. I found myself oddly ok with him.) And Gabuela was hammy as fuck, but actually fights like Dracula, tossing fireballs at you and shit. I wasnt fond of the story being told backwards, but it wasnt terrible either way.
The writing was good too. Apparently the director of MoF and LoS2's DLC are one and the same, and apparently a big castlevania fan, and it shows.
speaking of which, LoS2's Alucard DLC was fantastic in every way.
>>320223714
>tfw everyone hates the Vampire Killer box
I thought it was charming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQgZMqTYsr0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIu0ywRazGg
>>320224605
>hates
I'm pretty sure he meant to say he liked that part.
I liked this game, but I thought the ending was dumb and nonsensical. Does the sequel ever explain why killing satan turned Gabriel into Dracula?
>>320225434
You obviously didn't play the PC version.
The most crucial plot point that explains how Gabriel becomes Dracula is in the DLC. It's pretty good, and PC got it for free. But back in the day when it came out on consoles you had to buy it separately.
The DLC boss is also pretty rad.
>>320225141
I know. but I only ever see people hate it as "disrespectful" or some other autistic shit
>>320225597
>Most critical plot point of the whole series
>DLC
And that's when you knew they fucked up.
>>320225635
Both LoS games are full of subtle and not so subtle references to the old games.
If some people got offended by this particular part of the game alone, they weren't really as dedicated fans as they tried to make themselves look like.
>>320224396
There are equally as many Metroidvania Castlevanias as there are linear ones and Metroidvanias are arguably more even more liked than the linear ones. But even if that wasn't the case, pretty sure both of them have way more entries than the 3D Castlevanias do.
LoS isn't even difficult or requires thoughtful combat/platforming like the classic Vanias do. Especially on the harder difficulties it's just hitting bulletsponges for 30 minutes until they're dead and hoping you can roll evade all attacks.
