Just got this game tonight, popped it in, and was disconnected from Live. Figured maybe there was an update that didn't pop in correctly so I restart. Now I can't connect to Live at all. After two hours of being on the phone with my ISP, Xbox Live support, and router support, we finally figure out that my Xbox spontaneously decided to reject all my Internet settings. Had to establish new IP address and manually reconfigure my Xbox, but I'm back online.
In conclusion, just got through Dead Bog and I'm digging the hell out of this game (even if I momentarily thought it had destroyed my Xbox).
I swear to god, I can't get enough of Belmont's theme. It's actually a rival for my favorite game track of the year, the suicide mission theme from Mass Effect 2.
No idea if this has been mentioned yet, but has anyone noticed a few references to The Dark Crystal in the newest game? There's the obvious use of a dark crystal to smite thine enemies, not the same thing as the movie but it looks exactly the same colour/shape as the shard in the movie, and the warewolf dark lord
His speil about his good half rising to heaven and his dark side staying on earth, if either is killed, the other dies
. Up to the castle labaratory right now in terms of story so I'm not sure if he was lying or not (no spoilers please)
I'm probably grasping at straws, and I'm actually watching the (awesome) movie right now but wondering if these were actual references or just a co-incidence.
EDIT: and to be totally fair, anyone jumping into the game without knowing a thing about it is always going to think 'this is a god of war/sotc clone for the first part'. The game does present itself in an incredibly similar way for those 2 chapters, then turns into it's own game after that, gameplay wise.
LoS does a lot of things right, first impressions unfortunatley isn't one of them. And to clarify, this is the opinion of a guy who started the game ranting about 'it insn't castlevaniait's GoW!', gave it a few more hours and was really, really glad he did.
No idea if this has been mentioned yet, but has anyone noticed a few references to The Dark Crystal in the newest game? There's the obvious use of a dark crystal to smite thine enemies, not the same thing as the movie but it looks exactly the same colour/shape as the shard in the movie, and the warewolf dark lord
His speil about his good half rising to heaven and his dark side staying on earth, if either is killed, the other dies
. Up to the castle labaratory right now in terms of story so I'm not sure if he was lying or not (no spoilers please)
I'm probably grasping at straws, and I'm actually watching the (awesome) movie right now but wondering if these were actual references or just a co-incidence.
EDIT: and to be totally fair, anyone jumping into the game without knowing a thing about it is always going to think 'this is a god of war/sotc clone for the first part'. The game does present itself in an incredibly similar way for those 2 chapters, then turns into it's own game after that, gameplay wise.
LoS does a lot of things right, first impressions unfortunatley isn't one of them. And to clarify, this is the opinion of a guy who started the game ranting about 'it insn't castlevaniait's GoW!', gave it a few more hours and was really, really glad he did.
I can see it. Not to mention that Pan looks like a cross between the good guys from Dark Crystal (can't remember their names) and the Pan from Pan's Labyrinth.
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I can still remember being unsatisfied when I brought the game home on release day and played through the first few levels, and it's funny because looking back I want to slap myself in the face.
Hotlead Junkie has it right, this game doesn't do much to impress for the first hour or so (besides some impressive art direction and mood) but given a chance it explodes into awesomeness and just gets better with each passing chapter.
I'm finishing up my review for this, and I made a point not to get into "lolol this isn't Castlevania" and look at this as its own entity; I really wish other publications took this approach.
Is it just me, or are most of the reviewers giving LoS low scores' biggest complaints that the game is too hard or that it didn't hold their hand through most of the game?
Because thats what it seems like to me. After reading a bunch of reviews, I'm really left wondering how much of the game these people actually played.
On the subject of originality: Castlevania has never really been particularly innovative or original in any of its incarnations. It never seemed to really upset anyone before, I'm not sure why it bothers so many people now. Plus, its not like God of War created the action-platformer genre, anyway.
Complaining that Lords of Shadow is too much like God of War is like saying that Avatar is too much like Ferngully.
I touched on that very subject in the Vanquish thread; it feels like a lot of reviewers and journalists simply did not play the entire game or are just tunnel-visioning it and focusing on bullshit.
There are some people who had the audacity to complain about the game repeatedly telling them what they should be doing (Note: this is not in regards to Claudia, because even I found that infuriating) and then turned around and bitched that they weren't given enough information. People will naturally have an axe to grind with games like this, and it is very hard for them to shake that bias and try and look at the game on its own merits. Unfortunately, gaming "journalism" lacks this trait in most outlets, and subsequently they are viewed as raging morons because they can't put aside what they WANT the game to be and instead rate it on what they think it SHOULD be.
Anyways, back to the game
*Ending spoilers*
I am very curious as to whether or not the DLC will take place between LoS and the epilogue or if it takes place during modern time. Granted, I found the reveal to be "OH SHIT WHAT?!?!" crazy, I am definitely not ready to be whipping and fighting the supernatural in a modern setting. It worries me because Zobek hints at a battle between them and Satan and his acolytes, and I really don't want to be playing that.
My hope is that the DLC is a bridge between the final battle and the end cinematic, if only because I think that stuff really ought to just be its own separate game. Maybe the new DLC can set that up so you can see how Gabriel actually, you know, becomes the Prince of Darkness.
My hope is that the DLC is a bridge between the final battle and the end cinematic, if only because I think that stuff really ought to just be its own separate game. Maybe the new DLC can set that up so you can see how Gabriel actually, you know, becomes the Prince of Darkness.
I would play the shit out of that...touch on what Gabriel did after the fight with Satan, etc. It's obvious he is angry about being misled and not being able to bring Marie back. Zobek even said it before the game ended, in that love has blinded Gabriel to all else. I'm willing to bet he couldn't bear it and just lost it.
Gramafuckadoofakrackadamnitshit is there a way to deal with being swarmed by gremlins? Even after using the crystal more spawn in and fireball rape me to death.
Gramafuckadoofakrackadamnitshit is there a way to deal with being swarmed by gremlins? Even after using the crystal more spawn in and fireball rape me to death.
Holy fuuuuuck this scenery is amazing, on the icy bridge/chain inbetween the castles
That is probably one of my favorite scenes in the entire game. I need to go back later and position myself for a screenshot, because it is definitely wallpaper material.
it feels like a lot of reviewers and journalists simply did not play the entire game or are just tunnel-visioning it and focusing on bullshit.
This was my problem with the rant on Ars. The guy was annoyed that the game didn't wow him from minute one, so he lost focus and decided to write a bunch of shit which was either inaccurate (10 hours to get to the end of Chapter 2?), fixed by playing further (combat, which opens up a lot shortly after the guy quit), or just ridiculous (complaining about the difficulty and tedium of the mere two puzzles at that point of the game, both of which could be solved by buying the solution for a pittance of xp in the travel log).
There are some games that are obvious crap out of the gate. A lot of these games either have crippling control schemes or camera issues, all exacerbated by a lack of gameplay progression - what you see at stage 1 is what you'll get at the final boss.
Games like LoS are all about progression - new combos, new abilities, new gimmicks. It's impossible to fairly judge the entire thing based on the limitations in place at the beginning.
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Holy Water kills them, even if they're in the air above where it hits the ground. On the Gremlin swarm at the end of the Deep Dungeon level, that's what I used.
Games like LoS are all about progression - new combos, new abilities, new gimmicks. It's impossible to fairly judge the entire thing based on the limitations in place at the beginning.
I think the game's biggest fault is that you don't get a taste of what your character could become with all/most of the upgrades at the beginning.
Games like LoS are all about progression - new combos, new abilities, new gimmicks. It's impossible to fairly judge the entire thing based on the limitations in place at the beginning.
I think the game's biggest fault is that you don't get a taste of what your character could become with all/most of the upgrades at the beginning.
Taste of Power is such an over-used trope... I'm glad LoS didn't do it simply because it would have empowered the GoW clone haters even further.
One aspect I think LoS could have used more is the sidescrolling camera. When they did use it, the game REALLY felt like Castlevania. Had they utilized it more they could have improved certain platforming segments vastly.
Games like LoS are all about progression - new combos, new abilities, new gimmicks. It's impossible to fairly judge the entire thing based on the limitations in place at the beginning.
I think the game's biggest fault is that you don't get a taste of what your character could become with all/most of the upgrades at the beginning.
It really is, and it's sad because people who are impatient or more prone to ADD will shit all over it because they're not whisking around the screen causing huge amounts of mayhem right out of the gate. Even I admitted that I was underwhelmed with the first couple of hours I played, but it wasn't horrible by any means so I kept on going.
People will exaggerate shit to make a point, unfortunately. If someone tells them "Hey man, the game gets awesome if you get to such-and-such chapter about an hour or two in" it translates to "OMG people expect me to wait 5-10 hours for the game to get good and yet there's no guarantee it's even good because the beginning was horseshit warglebarglebargle."
Edit: And yea, "Taste of Power" would have made people cry "derivative!" more than they are now. I don't need another game where I start awesome, get my powers taken away, and have to rebuild...which, hey, God of War did the last TWO DAMN GAMES. Really? Twice? Once wasn't enough?
I don't this game has an extreme ramp up on the awesome factor (FFXIII being "extreme"). The first part of the game is lots of fun as a nothing special action game and then it morphs into something that is legitimately great. It's not like it starts off sucking, it just doesn't start off with a colossal bang.
I just think the game asked a lot of investment for the player from the beginning. It was totally worth it, but I can see why many people got turned off.
I really didn't mind the beginning. Now, where I'm coming from- played Castlevania 1, 2, and IV, and bits of SOTN. So I really had no hardcore expectations, I viewed it as completely new.
To me the beginning felt like you're undertaking a giant epic quest/journey to get there. It felt like a movie, like LOTR, or Van Helsing. And I kept getting the Legend vibe in the beginning too. In the Dead bog, for sure, and especially seeing pics of the Butcher that you know you'll fight down the line.
Interesting about the Dark Crystal similarities, I see that.
Later in the game, yeah, definitely more Castlevania-ish. But even feeling like it's got something in common with those other games or movies doesn't detract any value it has for me, I love it even more.
It's the epic quest action game I've been wanting to play when seeing films like that.
Holy shit, I seriously dont know how they are going to top the epciness of the fight with the vamprie dark lord but i cant wait to find out. I loved the cutscenes that interrupted the fighting and man, what a finisher
For some reason I really like the little touch where he makes the sign of the cross in respect before taking something from a corpse. Took me a few hours to notice him doing that.
For some reason I really like the little touch where he makes the sign of the cross in respect before taking something from a corpse. Took me a few hours to notice him doing that.
Same. I was actually really impressed by that touch when I first noticed it.
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Before they shoot their fireballs, you must grip it.
I don't get all the complaining about the beginnning of the game. I bought this on the strength of the demo alone, and I still like to go back and replay the first two levels. The first one to try out new combos and weapons, and the second one because fighting werewolves riding even bigger werewolves never gets old!
In all honesty, the game is pretty cheesy on Paladin difficulty, especially some of the boss fights.
Couple that with the fact that there is literally no penalty for death since you get put back in almost the exact same spot in which you died, with all your items you had, AND you keep any experience you gained before dying, and it really does cheapen the game's challenge and difficulty factors.
That being said, I would probably rage out 10x harder if it made you redo entire levels because of "LOL DIS UNBLOCKABLE ATTACK CAME FROM OFF SCREEN AND WAS ENTIRELY TOO FAST FOR YOU TO REACT TO!"
The beginning of the game doesn't suck but it does feel sort of slow and uninteresting.
Once the combat opens up more, it really becomes it's own game. I think a lot of reviewers assume it plays exactly like God of War because it looks like God of War, and subsequently have a lot of trouble with the combat. If you try to be aggressive all the time you will get murdered really quick. I was dying all the time in chapter 2 and was really frustrated before I slowed down and stopped rolling all over the place like I was in the goddamn circus.
Although that was probably because of all the Demon's Souls I've played.
Paladin always seemed to keep me on low health and little to no light magic. Fights like Olrox and Cornell pretty much trained me to do them flawlessly.
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But enough talk...
Have at you!
PSN:Hakira__
In conclusion, just got through Dead Bog and I'm digging the hell out of this game (even if I momentarily thought it had destroyed my Xbox).
Be excited, because it's about to get even better
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Yeah. Dead Bog actually put me off the game a little. Though it didn't take long after for it to win me over.
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Mostly because you get a certain relic that makes combat a lot more fun, and it gets less tutorial-y.
That one is great, 1:34-2:06 of this is absolutely epic as well. Feels like it could be in Lord of the Rings or any equally grand scale movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESuCH2E1k5U
I'm probably grasping at straws, and I'm actually watching the (awesome) movie right now but wondering if these were actual references or just a co-incidence.
EDIT: and to be totally fair, anyone jumping into the game without knowing a thing about it is always going to think 'this is a god of war/sotc clone for the first part'. The game does present itself in an incredibly similar way for those 2 chapters, then turns into it's own game after that, gameplay wise.
LoS does a lot of things right, first impressions unfortunatley isn't one of them. And to clarify, this is the opinion of a guy who started the game ranting about 'it insn't castlevaniait's GoW!', gave it a few more hours and was really, really glad he did.
I can see it. Not to mention that Pan looks like a cross between the good guys from Dark Crystal (can't remember their names) and the Pan from Pan's Labyrinth.
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Hotlead Junkie has it right, this game doesn't do much to impress for the first hour or so (besides some impressive art direction and mood) but given a chance it explodes into awesomeness and just gets better with each passing chapter.
I'm finishing up my review for this, and I made a point not to get into "lolol this isn't Castlevania" and look at this as its own entity; I really wish other publications took this approach.
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Because thats what it seems like to me. After reading a bunch of reviews, I'm really left wondering how much of the game these people actually played.
On the subject of originality: Castlevania has never really been particularly innovative or original in any of its incarnations. It never seemed to really upset anyone before, I'm not sure why it bothers so many people now. Plus, its not like God of War created the action-platformer genre, anyway.
Complaining that Lords of Shadow is too much like God of War is like saying that Avatar is too much like Ferngully.
There are some people who had the audacity to complain about the game repeatedly telling them what they should be doing (Note: this is not in regards to Claudia, because even I found that infuriating) and then turned around and bitched that they weren't given enough information. People will naturally have an axe to grind with games like this, and it is very hard for them to shake that bias and try and look at the game on its own merits. Unfortunately, gaming "journalism" lacks this trait in most outlets, and subsequently they are viewed as raging morons because they can't put aside what they WANT the game to be and instead rate it on what they think it SHOULD be.
Anyways, back to the game
*Ending spoilers*
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This tends to get me wtfmurdered on Knight but when it works it's so awesome.
Holy fuuuuuck this scenery is amazing, on the icy bridge/chain inbetween the castles
That is probably one of my favorite scenes in the entire game. I need to go back later and position myself for a screenshot, because it is definitely wallpaper material.
Weaboo List
This was my problem with the rant on Ars. The guy was annoyed that the game didn't wow him from minute one, so he lost focus and decided to write a bunch of shit which was either inaccurate (10 hours to get to the end of Chapter 2?), fixed by playing further (combat, which opens up a lot shortly after the guy quit), or just ridiculous (complaining about the difficulty and tedium of the mere two puzzles at that point of the game, both of which could be solved by buying the solution for a pittance of xp in the travel log).
There are some games that are obvious crap out of the gate. A lot of these games either have crippling control schemes or camera issues, all exacerbated by a lack of gameplay progression - what you see at stage 1 is what you'll get at the final boss.
Games like LoS are all about progression - new combos, new abilities, new gimmicks. It's impossible to fairly judge the entire thing based on the limitations in place at the beginning.
Switch: SW-3515-0057-3813 FF XIV: Q'vehn Tia
I think the game's biggest fault is that you don't get a taste of what your character could become with all/most of the upgrades at the beginning.
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Taste of Power is such an over-used trope... I'm glad LoS didn't do it simply because it would have empowered the GoW clone haters even further.
One aspect I think LoS could have used more is the sidescrolling camera. When they did use it, the game REALLY felt like Castlevania. Had they utilized it more they could have improved certain platforming segments vastly.
It really is, and it's sad because people who are impatient or more prone to ADD will shit all over it because they're not whisking around the screen causing huge amounts of mayhem right out of the gate. Even I admitted that I was underwhelmed with the first couple of hours I played, but it wasn't horrible by any means so I kept on going.
People will exaggerate shit to make a point, unfortunately. If someone tells them "Hey man, the game gets awesome if you get to such-and-such chapter about an hour or two in" it translates to "OMG people expect me to wait 5-10 hours for the game to get good and yet there's no guarantee it's even good because the beginning was horseshit warglebarglebargle."
Edit: And yea, "Taste of Power" would have made people cry "derivative!" more than they are now. I don't need another game where I start awesome, get my powers taken away, and have to rebuild...which, hey, God of War did the last TWO DAMN GAMES. Really? Twice? Once wasn't enough?
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To me the beginning felt like you're undertaking a giant epic quest/journey to get there. It felt like a movie, like LOTR, or Van Helsing. And I kept getting the Legend vibe in the beginning too. In the Dead bog, for sure, and especially seeing pics of the Butcher that you know you'll fight down the line.
Interesting about the Dark Crystal similarities, I see that.
Later in the game, yeah, definitely more Castlevania-ish. But even feeling like it's got something in common with those other games or movies doesn't detract any value it has for me, I love it even more.
It's the epic quest action game I've been wanting to play when seeing films like that.
Same. I was actually really impressed by that touch when I first noticed it.
Before they shoot their fireballs, you must grip it.
I don't get all the complaining about the beginnning of the game. I bought this on the strength of the demo alone, and I still like to go back and replay the first two levels. The first one to try out new combos and weapons, and the second one because fighting werewolves riding even bigger werewolves never gets old!
Couple that with the fact that there is literally no penalty for death since you get put back in almost the exact same spot in which you died, with all your items you had, AND you keep any experience you gained before dying, and it really does cheapen the game's challenge and difficulty factors.
That being said, I would probably rage out 10x harder if it made you redo entire levels because of "LOL DIS UNBLOCKABLE ATTACK CAME FROM OFF SCREEN AND WAS ENTIRELY TOO FAST FOR YOU TO REACT TO!"
Once the combat opens up more, it really becomes it's own game. I think a lot of reviewers assume it plays exactly like God of War because it looks like God of War, and subsequently have a lot of trouble with the combat. If you try to be aggressive all the time you will get murdered really quick. I was dying all the time in chapter 2 and was really frustrated before I slowed down and stopped rolling all over the place like I was in the goddamn circus.
Although that was probably because of all the Demon's Souls I've played.