Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Tron Horse.

[jenova_9]

Re: Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Tron Horse.

How is copycatting God of War "innovative?"

At least when Castlevania was borrowing elements from Metroid it still stood out because it was using a game design that few developers are bold enough to commit to. Making a large, interconnected world is no small task. When Metroid wasn't around, Castlevania could enjoy some spotlight.

its innovative because it's a different gameplay flavor and direction from the other 3-D Castlevanias.

It isn't copycatting God of War. Devil May Cry was hacking and slashing in 3-D long before GoW.

Lament of Innocence was whipping in 3-D before GoW.

3-D action games these days always get compared to GoW but that's like comparing a first person shooter to Halo or CoD.
It's an unfair comparison.

LoS already stands out enough to not be like GoW. You can time blocks to counter attacks, you can use whip combos GoW doesn't use.
the light and dark magic and use is different from GoW's magic. So are the subweapons.

There are more boss fights and are different from GoW, and some are closer to Shadow of Collossus.
The story and setting is totally different.

Lords of Shadow also allows backtracking from level to level to find secrets. (unlike GoW, it can only move forward in the story/stage progression.)

[Raydeus]

Re: Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Tron Horse.

You know what would've worked great for me? If they had just made Lord of Shadows without the Castlevania stuff. Just having Kojima alone would've sold the game without problems.

Then just add a few references to Castlevania here and there to make all the fanboys like me wonder if LoS had somehow something to do with Castlevania. Easter eggs like secret Castlevania weapons for instance, or a cameo from someone who looked like Leon and Sarah but without naming them at all. Just enough to get the talk going.

Remember that guy at the cemetery in Rondo of Blood? There are people still talking about who he was even though most tend to say it was either Dracula or Saint Germain.

That's the kinda stuff that makes things interesting for me.



But in it's current state I can't help but think it's just God of Akumajou or something. Just hope Athena doesn't die this time around.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Tron Horse.

But in it's current state I can't help but think it's just God of Akumajou or something. Just hope Athena doesn't die this time around.

Gameplay screamed GoW, but the story bleeds Dante's Inferno all over the place.

Lots of games riff on Dante's Inferno, though, like Final Fantasy VII.

[Raydeus]

Re: Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Tron Horse.

Oh ya, I forgot about the dead wife.

[jenova_9]

Re: Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Tron Horse.

You know what would've worked great for me? If they had just made Lord of Shadows without the Castlevania stuff. Just having Kojima alone would've sold the game without problems.

:

nopey. never nearly as much as it will make money and draw interest now, combining the efforts of Kojima, Mercurysteam, AND Castlevania elements.



Without the Castlevania part of the tri-force, it would only be 2/3 as good, that is a fact.

[Raydeus]

Re: Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Tron Horse.

I hope you are right because I'm not buying it.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Tron Horse.

Oh ya, I forgot about the dead wife.

Yeah. I was like "Oh, this gets points for being so fucking subtle. We totally weren't reminded of this story just this year."

Dante/Gabriel/Cloud reflects on his past triumphs, failures and sins.
The Devil/Dracula/Sephiroth kills his wife/would-be girlfriend.
Dante/Gabriel/Could obessess about the death of his friends and especially his lover/would-be girlfriend.
Dante/Gabriel/Could decends to the very bottom of Hell/top of Dracula's Castle/to Planet's Core to fight the Devil/Dracula/Sephiroth.

Oh, and let me guess, something Gabriel's wife did before she died helps him save the world. Worked for Dante, Cloud, Leon Belmont and countless others. Hell, even M. Night Shaymalan couldn't resist it. Look to the right and swing away.

[jenova_9]

Re: Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Tron Horse.

FULL GAME STREAM! (at the bottom) spoilers!
THE ENTIRE STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!! mew mew MEEEEEW!!! =0.0=

Justin.tv - Live Streaming Video

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Tron Horse.

I'll pass. I've heard this story before.

At least when it was called Final Fantasy VII it had more window dressing and covoluted subplots to distract me.

[Kailea]

Re: Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Tron Horse.

nopey. never nearly as much as it will make money and draw interest now, combining the efforts of Kojima, Mercurysteam, AND Castlevania elements.



Without the Castlevania part of the tri-force, it would only be 2/3 as good, that is a fact.

they could have called this game something else, and it would have been the same game.....

This has nothing to do with Dracula, it has nothing to do with the Belmont family..... this is not Castlevanina

They could honestly have just called it "Lords of Shadow"

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Tron Horse.

Yeah, even the reviewers are reaching this conclusion.

"Its nice, but its not a Castlevania game.

Rather than just be a Castlevania/Metroid hybrid, it ditches both aspects of its history to try to be every other game to everyone. There's the obvious feel of God of War, the platforming sensibilities of Uncharted (ie. its just filler), collosi battles like Shadow of the Colossus and then the braindead "adventure" puzzles of Devil May Cry.

And the monsters. Sure, there are werewolves and undead, but the game makes no effort to take advantage of the grand bestiary this series is known for. No medusa heads, no skeleton archers, no witches turning into cats and no Frankenstein-like monsters here

If this was an homage to "Classic Castlevania" as Mercury Stream portends, then I have to question that they had ever played them because even then a lot of the key elements are missing here. The problem isn't that its like the other 3D entries, because its apparently not a bad game - but that its just not al Castlevania game.

And that's why sometimes "reboots" end up being one-offs.

Hand the reins back to Iga, let him make his Castlevanias again and MARKET THEM BETTER, Konami.

Everyone and their grandma seems to want a proper 2D Castlevania on consoles. That's what people have been asking for for years. Lords of Shadow and Harmony of Despair are not that.

[jenova_9]

Re: Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Tron Horse.

they could have called this game something else, and it would have been the same game.....

This has nothing to do with Dracula, it has nothing to do with the Belmont family..... this is not Castlevanina

They could honestly have just called it "Lords of Shadow"

nuuuuu you honestly have to see the STORY cutscenes and extra ending after credits.

It is about Belmont, it is about Dracula, and it is a Castlevania. Separate story/timeline (like Circle of the Moon is a stand alone game.) but still a Castlevania to some degree.

[Kailea]

Re: Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Tron Horse.

nuuuuu you honestly have to see the STORY cutscenes and extra ending after credits.

It is about Belmont, it is about Dracula, and it is a Castlevania. Separate story/timeline (like Circle of the Moon is a stand alone game.) but still a Castlevania to some degree.

sorry but alternate time lines do not justify anything, its not castlevania

[jenova_9]

Re: Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Tron Horse.

sorry but alternate time lines do not justify anything, its not castlevania

well I agree it's not a pure Castlevania, but it still is a very interesting spinoff of the series, and definitely the best 3-D Castlevania story (with the exception of Legacy of Darkness's gameplay being better.) The adventure itself is more epic than those other GoW type games, and it gets better and better (not worse and worse like GoW3)

And the plot twists before and after the final boss will catch you by complete surprise!

[Neverslip]

Re: Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Tron Horse.

So, now that it's out what is the verdict? Love it? Hate it? Just another DMC/GoW rip-off? A total departure/failure to have coherent or motivating storyline? Not Castlevania enough? Not Metroid(al?) enough? Do the large chunks of text underneath these questions intimate to you that my personal opinions on these questions will follow?

Personally, I'm having a pretty good time with Castlevania: LoS. Now I'm not very far cuz I've gotten really busy lately and I've also stayed away from spoiler vids or their the dev's own lengthy spoiler-trailer(s); but, for me at least, I'm having a fun time and am glad I bought it. One of the first vidgames I ever owned was Simon's Quest and I played it constantly even after beating it many times over. It's, by far, one of the defining games that started the vid-addicton when my parents unwittingly allowed me to get a NES for christmas. (Little did they know it was like crack laced with unicorns, dragons, aliens, swords, and bubble-guns). I then played 1 (boring after starting w/ Simon's), 3 (oh a few more color patterns than 2, but kinda has the boring aspects of 1) and 4 (if I remember on the SNES more gameplay/control w/ the whip, nifty) then, tell ya the truth, straight to SotN (which I owe another debt of gratitude for possibly being one of the games to have cemented that aforemention'd vid-addiction; that game was absolutely brilliant.), HoD (fun game, bereft of story, slightly sluggish movement, yet fun party atmospher in a 2D retro-multiplayer atmosphere), and Drac X Chronicles (on PSP - haven't gotten very far- pretty slugish feeling, and if I'm on PSP, I'd rather play MH, ha). So I do have a bit of history with the series but I do have a few holes in my knowledge base.

As just another hack n' slasher; does this game rip off GoW/DMC as much as those simply ripped off the same gameplay mechanics started by games in 2D like .. Kid Icarus, Faxanadu, Ghosts and Boblins, Ninja Gaiden, Metroid, Altered Beast, Mega Man and oh yeah..uh ... Castlevania? My take on it is, button-combo hack n' slash, is hack and slash, is hack n' slash, is hack and slash. I don't kid myself it's another skin and very good vocals ontop of a re-used mechanic for this generation (and, in it's own way, older games from the previous generation). It's not necessarily got the heavy platforming elements yet it has cinematic take on platforming that requires a little bit of good timing, sometimes guess work, and a few falls to certain death to get beyond...Does it have the same: upgrade, UPGRADE, UPGRADE!!!SQEE!!!UPGRADE mentality as the pools of blood or w/e random objects one collects (like a Demon Might Sigh might collect sheets of poetry or rose petals; while a God of Washing Machines would collect sox or quarters). LoS sure does. And you gain a point system for buying more button- combos/fighting- moves and magic just like all the other 3D HknSlsh games. Only this time the called "experience" so it gives more of the illusion of rpg'ish quallities despite no real customization. Because it does not go heavy into the Metroid-vania realm, and rather gives homage as only a "3D" hack n' slasher can, which I do think is a bit of a let down for me but I can over look my expectation for that aspect. I do like that you can traverse an area again with different skills/abilities finding new areas and, also, essentially farming yourself all the xp you'd need to buy your upgrades. It's a pretty enough game to enjoy repeating levels to do those lil challenges it gives you. Thank the powers that be it's without horrible/contrived voice acting messing up the enjoyment of the scenery and CSs on a different playthru.

Speaking of shirts and skins, is Castlevania enough and does it capture you with it's story? Well a dude by the last name of Belmont fighting with a whip the supernatural classics and that seems pretty Castlevania'ish to me. I'm not a person that has followed the story very closely or even knew there was a over-riding official timeline people were trying to piece together from the 2D predecessors. But, I know a re-hashed story when I've seen one. Yet, I also understand that when it comes down to it, really there are only so many basic plots possible and it's all just window dressing after that. So yeah it's a story re-told again. Another man out to avenge his lady love (or vice versa in this modern and metro-sensual world), but, first he must acquire the

fill in

*the blank*

by seeking the

fill in

~ the blank ~

I was expecting no less. But to it's credit, at least it tells coherent and elegant story for me thus far. It's layered just enough to get beyond the simplicity of some games it will obviously going to be compared to yet not do this in a way that it becomes convoluted. When describing the plot to someone (their eyes glazing over) you don't feel like they think that you may need to up whatever medication you obviously should be taking. Only thing I think it lacks really in the "Castlevania enough" category is the soundtrack. It's not bad, by any means; but, it doesn't sound at all like the electric guitar classical approach previous Castlevania games have sported. Yet, it fits this game very well. If they had not put the name Castlevania on this game, people would critique/bash it by saying "shoulda just called this game Castlevania".

For all those SotN fans, is it metroid-vania'tastic enough to ever come close to that experience you had when you first realized you would catch those mysterious yet abysmally trite characters on the flip-side? I don't think so...unfortunately, this game isn't going to allow you to breach the 100% mark. But, like I said before (way the hell) up there; this reboot does play homage in part in our hearts that loved metroid-vanias.

It's fun so far. It's also gonna be rather long in gameplay hours compared to other hack n' slashers currently out there. Should the story remain as engrossing and coherent as it has so far; and should my eyes continually be fed more and more lovely-and-beautiful-everything-is-alive-look-at-the-lil'-tree-here-talking-to-the-happy-grass-blades-Bob Ross-on-acid-landscapes: should I memorize button combos in order to mercilessly destroy classic horror movie monsters of Eurasian myths and legends, I'll feel as though I'm playing this generations version of the classic Casltevania hack n' slasher series. Maybe next time it'll be a first person hack n' slasher (Zeno Clash meets Mirror's Edge meets Oblivion meets Kinect and PSmove) and then people would be up in arms over that. I'd proly end up checking that out to though... cuz I loves me some Castlevania. I've waited too long for a proper attempt at 3d-vania. And, so far at least, this game is scratching that itch. in my book.

So there's my take ... go on.. rip it apart... you know you wanna.