The Castlevania Thread

General Discussion
2462

I’m like two hours or so into LoS2, and while the combat is fun, I think the pacing and level design(in the first few hours) is worse than LoS1.

The pacing and level design in LoS1 is so much better. I’m going to keep playing though, but after reading the development troubles and playing the game, I’m not surprised at the quality of the game being all over the place. The lead developer sounded like Hitler/Dracula, EVERYTHING had to be run by him and it had to be OK’d by him for it to make it into the game. Losing a bunch of the development team that made LoS1 what it was is just sad.

2463

It’s the opposite. Nothing wrong with having a negative opinion of the Lords of Shadows games but guys like Regal are going out of their way to try to ruin games for those us that like them and derail discussion. That’s all he’s offering then he should fuck off.

2464

I agree. I cleared the Gorgon boss fight and got the Chaos Claws. LoS2 feels vast in a sloppy way. Like the world doesn’t flow. If you played Dark Souls or Ninja Gaiden 1, you backtrack. But in those games it doesn’t feel like backtracking. LoS2 feels like it tries to promote exploration but even with the wolf medallion, it’s like you’re digging in ass cracks trying to find things. The only thing about the environment that I like is how awesome the castle looks. Also Dracula himself looks great. I want the coatless revived Dracula. I have the Armored Dracula skin but they ruined it when they changed his facial hair.

On the combat, two things it did right that I like more than I do in DmC: The armored enemies are vulnerable to any melee weapon but only the Claws go right through their armor. This is how Demon type enemies should have been done in DmC. And with the melee weapons mapped to the shoulder buttons, it flows extremely well. Even better than DMC3 on the default layout.

2465

Is LoS2 worth buying? I love Castlevania but need to know if it is a worthy installment. I can appreciate the direction they are going in with this reboot, it does feel fresh at least.

Want another multiplayer Metroidvania though…

2466

If played the last two Lords of Shadows games than LoS2 will be worth it to finish off the saga. From the I’m hearing from fans of those games I’m gotta wait until becomes a budget title to dive in.

2467

The only one coming off in a fanboy-ish manner here right now, is you. Knock it off. Thanks.

Because people are actually talking about their time with the game, be it good or bad. All you’ve got is a list of fucking reviews and spewing hate. CV innovative? CV hasn’t been innovative for over 10 years, it’s been a recycle fest of the worst kind, COD levels of recycling. You’re just coming off as a hater, which is in the same realm as a blind fanboy imo. People who talk about shit with blinders on. No one in here has said this series is flawless, and have said it has issues, but most CV ga,es are litteret with issues and it’s simply a matter of whether those issues are big enough for them to crush the experience for you. The way you talk about the LOS series is the way I feel about the majority of Igarashi’s Metroid rip offs, but I’m not sitting here endlessly ragging on them, using fucking review collections to back up my points. When I DO talk about those games I use my actual time with them to back up my claims. SOTN didn’t push this series anywhere, it did a lot of what you complain about LOS doing, just in different ways. Platforming and timing was a huge thing old CV games, and SOTN and it’s series devalued smart platforming and good timing completely for a world of 0 bottomless pits (or even fall damage for doing a bad job at jumping) and piled on an assload of RPG mechanics with very little thought into the balance of them so taking damage in that game and the majority of it’s sequels is a negligible punishment. SOTN is brain dead to play. Ragging on LOS for changing things while giving Iga’s games a free fucking pass for the same fucking bullshit.

2468

Who brought up igas games?

And the 2d multiplayer game was flawed, but innovative. 10 years without innovation? If we’re talking about igas games, which we weren’t, the soul system in the sorrow games was also innovative as was the glyph system and most of order of ecclesia. The card system in circle of the moon… I dont remember metroid having rpg elements either. Are you saying they aren’t innovative because they reused some skeleton and various monster sprites? There were lots of new things the iga games brought, but I didn’t bring that up.

Also, I completed lords of shadow 1 and plate the demo for 2. So I think I’m “qualified” enough to have an opinion.

Btw, be my guest to post reviews of the handheld games and symphony of the night, we can compare if you really want to. You brought up the iga games, not me.

2469

You said they used to be innovative. I don’t think CV has been innovative for years. that’s why i brought up the Iga games cuz they are what we have gotten for the most part for the last 15 or so years. I don’t think the cards or the souls system are innovative. It’s just a different type of gear you have to farm out of enemies. That’s not innovative, that just dressing a mechanic up in a different kind of skin. It’s a costume that fools you into thinking it’s something different. The cards are the same mechanic as the sheild rod and various shields, just expanded. The Souls are just a unique weapon you have to farm our of enemies or a unique boss drop. That’s not innovative.

I’m not going to dig up a bunch of reviews, I don’t need other peoples validations to back up my positions.

2470

@HatredEdge Yep, the pacing is shit compared to LoS1. Because of this I keep getting distracted by other games, like for every cool and interesting area you go through in LoS2 there’s a bunch that are dull as hell and/or empty.

I’ll still play through it though, because the combat is fun, and I want to see if I consider LoS1 to be >> LoS2 after I finish it.

2471

I’ll definitely tell you what’s up when I beat it. As it stands, it’s enjoyable but I currently feel like I could have waited longer.

2472

I think the game gets a lot better once you move past that laboratory. After that it gets better, environment wise. Pacing isn’t as good as the first one definitely.

2473

I love Castlevania games. I picked up a mint/complete copy of Akumajou Dracula X: Chi No Rondo while in Tokyo this past week, then got LoS2 when I got back!

http://distilleryimage0.ak.instagram.com/1206f6129f5f11e38a521247d72a1fb4_8.jpg

2474

I didn’t really want you to dig them up, but you offered. I can save you the time and tell you they’re all good to fantastic.

And while I see your point with the soul system, it doesn’t just give you different stats like armor of something, it gives you new weapons. That changes the whole dynamic. And order of ecclesia did a lot of things different, even how the map was set up. Dont forget portrait of ruin which let you choose two characters on the fly ala draculas curse and gave you puzzles here and there to solve. You don’t think that’s innovative for the series? It’s totally fresh and at the same time a nod to part 3. Im not saying the iga games offered brand new styles with each game, (kind of tho at least) but at least what they did was theirs and not some other franchises. You can say metroid but it doesnt play, look, or feel like metroid. Only the map is similar. You didnt mention the most recent game, the multiplayer one. It was flawed, yes, but different.

And even if you’re right which I personally disagree on, just because they haven’t been innovative lately doesn’t mean they should concede and never attempt to do it again. To accept LoS is to accept a cookie cutter amalgamation of other games that were released in recent years. I’d rather have a sub par castlevania than a fantastic god of war clone.

2475

Weapons are gear dude. The souls are akin to getting a new sword. It’s pretty much the same thing. And the majority of the Metroidvania games are cooky cutter as fuck. Your accepting one cookie over another. That’s all you’re doing. You’re just bringing up Ecclesia cuz it’s the most different from the majority of them (and Portrait I guess) while ignoring the majority of the rest of them that all play pretty much the same. The one or two games that break away from the norm of what we have been getting for years. Even if you drop the metroid comparison (which I’m fine with doing, these are open world 2D games to me, I don’t like comparing them to Metroid cuz I agree they are quite different) they are basically cookie cutter revisions of SOTN, and I don’t even mean from a recycled sprites standpoint, I mean from a mechanics standpoint. If you’ve played SOTN there’s not really much reason to play the others unless you like those kinds of games. They are almost all slight variations of what SOTN did, usually lesser versions of them to boot. It’s just exploring a big castle with gated areas that require you to gain a new ability to access the gated area to get the ability to access another gated area, while farming some variation of gear be it an armor type or a weapon type or modifier type of some kind, and all of these deviate from intelligent design associated with some original CV of some kind, much like LOS does in some ways or another. The point is that Castlevania has deviated from what is “Castlevania” for years so holding onto that “It’s not CV of the past!!!” is a shallow position. CV has changed tons of times.

I don’t even get your Megaman to CV1 comparison, I never made a comparison like that, if anything your weird example of them not being alike is actually an example of those two series being really similar in some ways. In Megaman you defeat enemies and earn their abilities. In some Iga CVs you defeat enemies and gain their abilities (Souls/Glyphs) so I’m not sure why you’re bringing this up.

I’m not even saying they shouldn’t try Iga’s games again, I never once said that. I dunno why you mentioning that either. The only one making demands of them to never do something again is you. For years I had to put up with the open world style games with their RPG mechanics and random drops and stuff I was never huge on being in CV and snatched up the here or there throw backs they made happilly and hoped they made more of them but i never once demanded they stop making the games I don;t enjoy that oter people do, simply because i don’t massively enjoy them.

And I don’t care about what the reviews for those games are, I never offered to look reviews up, I dunno why you keep bringing them up. I didn’t make that offer.

2476

Ok, those are some fair points here and there, but if the debate was whether CV has been innovative in the past ten years, I’m saying PoR, OOE, and the multiplayer game (the last 3 2D games released) have all been innovative in their own ways. But I’ve said my peace on the LoS series. I couldn’t hate it more. I would love to love it, it’s just not castlevania to me. I’ll leave that there and let you guys go on and discuss it without me chiming in. I would recommend that when you’re done with LoS2, go back and try dawn of sorrow or order of ecclesia again since you say you don’t like them, and see if your opinion changes.

2477

There’s nothing innovative about Harmony of Despair. It doesn’t do what any Korean 2D MMO hasn’t done for years.

2478

“LORDS OF SHADOW ARE NOT CASTLEVANIA GAMES!”

then tell me what are ‘castlevania’ games?

actually dont answer that, you already lost.

2479

No seriously, you’re a fucking idiot. Be quiet.

2480

I’m with @crotchpuncha‌ here. Things became way too formulaic once Iga took the reigns. Even the game play elements were.

Symphony of the Night
Story:
You’re a light haired protagonist
The castle comes out of no where yet Dracula isn’t mean to auto-phoenix because it hasn’t been 100 years
You explore it.
You find some dude is running the show instead of Drac.
You fight this new rival who is an descendant of your ol’ buddy
Hey, he’s brainwashed and after you free him he’s your pal.
You fight the “real” villain" who happens to be a follower and resurrects D
Dracula comes back
You fight Dracula.

Game:
You can level up
You can break the difficulty
You can actually increase the difficulty as well
You get a lot of weapons to use
You get sub-weapons
You get magic
You get to use a combination of them
You get new abilities that let you go to new places in old places

Richter mode enables you to item crash, which is an ultimate technique based on the sub-item you have

Circle of the Moon

Story (non-IGA game)
Hey, light haired protagonist
Hmm, you have a rival
Hmmm, you have to fight this rival because he’s under control of the evil ambition in his heart
Hmmmmm the real villain appears
HMMMMMMMMMMM oh and hey Dracula is resurrected yet again before his 100 year cycle

On the other hand none of these characters were Belmonts which contributed to splintering the story

Game:
You can level up
You can break the difficulty
You can under level and not use upgrades to increase the challenge
You can use sub-weapons
You can use magic
You can use a combination of items for new spells (cards + cards) <- kind of new, but it’s basically an alternate to magic that allows you to “make” new spells or “weapons” since there is a lack of weapon variety

Harmony of Dissonance
Light haired protagonist
Hmmm, you have a rival…
Hmmmmmmm, you have to fight this rival because he’s under some kind of control
hmmmmmmmmmm, oh hey this time the real villain is supposedly the rival but!
OH HEEY Dracula kind of appears but doesn’t! It’s his wraith from beyond the grave. But guess who’s wraith ass you kick? At least this game wasn’t based around the follower formula and your rival testing you before you fight the big D. Oh, and D wasn’t resurrected, yay. Just his ghost causing trouble.

Game:
You get weapon upgrades (though a lack of variety)
You get sub-weapons
You get magic
You can use spell fusion (which is basically item crashing but with more customization)
You can level and break the game
Or you can under level and use no items and have a harder time

Gee, that’s Richter mode from Symphony pretty much with some Alucard leveling thrown in.

At least this game had the environment duality. Well, but that too is also a variation of the upside-down castle. I love the game but I have to admit I can see a formula here…

Aria of Sorrow
Light haired protag (ok it was cool with Juste and Al but serrrioussly… at least Nate was like greenish white)
Ugh… guess who you meet throughout the game? Some dude who becomes your rival
Ohhh, yay, guess who you also fight? Yeah, your fucking rival. Man fuck this guy I kicked his ass in the last 20 Castlevania games.
Oh, some follower dude claims he is Drac.
Oh, yeah he’s basically Dracula in all but name and guess who’s ass you kick?
Oh, you find out the wig wearing Japanese school boy is actually Dracula but you just fought Dracula so here is a hidden boss that’s the Castle itself trying to make you bad again …

I gotta rant quick: Yeah, the story here sucks. Ok, lets ignore the major formula going on here, and look at this shit right here. A fucking pussy ass kid is fucking Dracula? You kidding me? And somehow his soul and power is trapped in a fucking ECLIPSE??? But he was reincarnated anyway! Does dat make any sense? I mean Chewbacca is a fucking wookie and does that make sense???

Ok, lets also check out the blonde haired and green eyed chick named fucking YOKO BELNADES. Yeah, this is supposed to be the descendant of Sypha. YOKO??? You serious? Is she some kid of fucking weaboo or am I to believe that blondy there is half Japanese?

What’s with the Soma kid being fucking Japanese but has white ass hair?

Why is Alucard pretending to be a Japanese Government Agent who doesn’t look anything like a Japanese dude and why is he such a fucking pussy? How did Castlevania somehow go from Europe to Japan??? I mean, wtf, why all this yellow washing all of a sudden? Have to appeal to home base or something or is this to cash in on the western animu tards at the time?

Hammer time!

I forgot the Belmont’s name but boy was he a worthless sack of 2 shaded sprite shit.

Game:
Fucking the same old shit.
Oh, you don’t have sub-weapons, but your “magic” is used by pressing up+b. I mean, this is basically the same mechanic dressed as something else.

Christ, I’m already getting irritated, lol.

Dawn of Sorrow

Fucking repeat Aria because I don’t have time to retype all that shit. Fuck that game. Stupid ass same shit, followers trying to make a new D (har har because you’re D now so who will be D???) oh and hey the whole D’s powers you gotta fight again except it’s called Menace or something.

Oh, and the art took a swan dive and Soma looks like a tranny bitch with a side-burn girl wig on. Suck a dick guys.

Right, this game also has some kind of rivalry except it’s between 2 terribly drawn idiots you have to fight later.

Oh, also, the sprites are still copying and pasting from Rondo of Blood but they’re also being mixed with new sprites done by shitty artists who love black outlines and no contrast of shading on characters. Also, some of the background elements have black outlines and some down, and everything is a huge back of mixed up jarring shit like they took diarrhea samples from a bunch of random guys off the street, that’s what it looks like. Because handheld we get a shitty sounding soundtrack that isn’t anything to write home about.

Portrait of Ruin
Story:
Um, hey he’s blonde. But still light haired. Leon did it first in the Iga games.
Ummmm I gave up on this fucking game. But, I do know that you have to fight some rival some point later on.
Hey look a Dracula figure who isn’t Dracula
Dracula gets pre-maturely resurrected yet again. Seriously guys ya’ll who is writing this shit needs to get fucked in the dickhole.

Oh right, the story also takes a turn for the worse because this is trying to patch up the shit Bloodlines (amazing game, can’t rip on it, but it did fuck with the story) introduced with the whole Van Helsing Stokers Dracula shit. No more Belmonts or whatever. Ok, yeah, you done fucked up, and hey this story is also non-Belmont related but they’re using whips the Belmonts used but it comes at a price and oh my god is this shit getting stupid and out of hand.

Game:
Same. Old. Shit.
But, but, you can swap characters! One can use magic! Yeah that same magic shit we’ve been using all along.
Except this time the level design is terrible. And so are the new enemies, I mean what the fuck. Nobles who giggle and have a heart appear over their head when they see Charlotte, with 2 frames of animation and die in 1 hit??? Get fucked Iga!

Rinse repeat and hey copy paste sprites with jarring black outline new shit. Gawwwwwwddddd.

Order of Assholefucklia
Story:
Awww ma gawed Imma girl with black hair!!! At least the art is nice!
Fucking serious? ANOTHER FUCKING RIVAL???
SOme dickFUck who iz like all omg imma take ur pow.ers an be draaaccc
k u kiked ur rivals ass cuz he was a piece of shit
yea dat dude was really a D(ick) sucker folower
sheeeeit u figtin drac now!! man all this pre-ejacul-resurrection must be getting ol by now

Yo fuck dat. Not even wasting the time.

Game:

Ok just play Aria because this is the same fucking garbage.

Hey copy paste sprites!! Jarring black outlines!! Pre-rendered background elements now jarring with hand sprited black outline background tiles!! Thank you PoR for introducing this unique and awesome uniqueness that’s new and original!!!

Lament of Innocence
Yo I herd u like dem fair hair boys
Oh mang some castle somewhere
oh dude there is this dude who is mean
he’s dracula in all but name
oh hey, rival, but he fucks yo so goo plotwise you don’t fight him
yeah fight this other person end game

Game:

K this one is pretty unique for Castlevania. Can’t complain here. Oh wait, they took what was pretty great game play and shoved it in a copy and paste background fest. At least, to this game’s merit, it’s tolerable because none of the levels are large enough that it becomes a chore. It’s not always fun, but at least when it is fun, it’s fun.

  • points for Iga on this one.

Curse of Darkness
Story:
shakes head Hair
shakes head rival, right from the fucking beginning too
shakes head premature Dracula shit because this dude is a D sucking follower
shakes head I give up.

At least it had a Belmont in it.

Game:
Basically run straight. Through a corridor. That’s really long, and you run really slow.

You get lots of weapons. You can make new weapons (instead of getting drops directly from enemies, you simply farm them for supplies to make said weapons)

Hey, familiars, but they’re basically the subweapons.

I have to say, when you aren’t slowly running down a long and low res textured corridor, the gameplay was pretty decent. It’s still somewhat formulaic in that you grind for shit to get OP items and whatever, but in the case of the 3D games, they’re pretty original compared to the 2D stuff.

Too bad this effort was completely wasted. I feel bad for the dude who designed the gameplay aspect because it was fairly good.

Things got way too formulaic and repetitive once Iga took the reigns. Even the non-IGA games followed the same formula, sadly. Things also started to become extremely unfocused story wise and they kept trying to patch other attempts to explain stuff and then went completely off the wall once they realized they can’t. The funny thing is that even after going off the wall they STILL tried to explain stuff that became splintered in the past. I mean, you’ve gone off the wall, why even bother? Now you just fucked it up even more.

I’m glad LoS came out because it brought focus to the series. And, once LoS is done, it’s done. I hope that the next follow up trilogy or whatever, starts from scratch. We don’t need a humongous and unified time line, we just need good games that are focused.

This is one reason the NES games are so good. There is some good stories in the Japanese manuals, but they were simple and the game came first. Once the story became first in a series where the story was never the strong point, the series went belly up.

2481

Portrait of Ruin breaks the rival dynamics of post-SotN games. There no true rivalry occurs in that game. Johnathan and Charlotte behave like siblings and Eric’s twin daughters only serve to reveal his identify.