Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 + Mirror of Fate

[Carnivol]

One issue I have with the whole supposed "Alucard" thing regarding the second person in that trailer is;

Why does he have a mirror image when lifting up the sword (and they pretty much make a point of this too, since it's the only way to somewhat see his face), while Gabriel does not have a mirror image when walking past the mirrors inside the castle/church?

[REmaster]

One issue I have with the whole supposed "Alucard" thing regarding the second person in that trailer is;

Why does he have a mirror image when lifting up the sword (and they pretty much make a point of this too, since it's the only way to somewhat see his face), while Gabriel does not have a mirror image when walking past the mirrors inside the castle/church?

Nice catch, I didn't even notice that. Interesting indeed...

[Dracarys]

@REmaster I've not played the DLC, but wasn't one of those set after the games epilogue?

[REmaster]

@REmaster I've not played the DLC, but wasn't one of those set after the games epilogue?

Nope. That's how they mostly hyped it to gain interest but the first DLC chapter takes place moments after Gabriel defeats Satan and the second DLC chapter takes place right after the first one.

If you're interested as to how the DLC turned out, read below.

Spoiler:

show spoiler

DLC 1: Reverie

He hears Laura in his mind, pleading for him to return to the castle. He travels back to the castle and meets Laura, who tells him that by destroying the Lords of Shadow, he has weakened the source of energy that is keeping an ancient evil sealed away deep within the castle. Ages ago an evil creature known as "The Forgotten One" was defeated by the three founders of the brotherhood of light (the good sides of Cornell, Carmilla and Zobek), however they could not kill it, so they imprisoned it.

After finding the portal in which The Forgotten one is being held, Laura begs Gabriel to kill her. Only Dark beings can enter the world inside the portal, and The Forgotten One is extremely powerful. Only by absorbing her vampiric power, would he even survive entering the demon realm. So, he drinks her blood, finishes her off and enters the portal. All of this would have been awesome to watch through real cutscenes, but I suppose they didn't have the time and/or budget so all the scenes in the DLC are just animated drawings (with the exception of one, in which a monster eats you if you fall in the water below the castle).


DLC 2: Ressurection (Which people thought would surely take place after the epilogue)

Gabriel enters the demon realm, has a long battle with The Forgotten One. Gabriel absorbs all of The Forgotten One's power as he is trying to break the weakened seal and enter the real world. Gabriel, with his new power, teleports and slices the Forgotten One in half as he begs for mercy. He then crushes the combat cross into pieces, and disappears.

I think most people were pissed because after seeing the epilogue, we expected to see Gabriel as Dracula in at least one of the two DLC chapters. I at least expected Gabriel to have some type of new ability after Spoiler:

show spoiler

absorbing Laura's power and basically becoming a vampire

but in the second DLC pack he's exactly the same. Seeing the most exciting parts of the DLC through animated drawings was also disappointing. On top of all this, the months and months of delays and poor communication with the fans did not help.

So far the timeline goes: LOS>LOS DLC>MOF>LOS2>LOS Epilogue.

[Dracarys]

Thanks for info, glad I resistance buying the game cheap to play the DLC.

[REmaster]

Thanks for info, glad I resistance buying the game cheap to play the DLC.

No problem, the DLC was quite a letdown for many people, myself included. Such an awesome game though.

On a side note: I never thought about it until a moment ago, but another reason why the trailer for LOS2 got me so excited was because it was CG. Sure, I'd love to see actual gameplay, but LOS1 didn't have a single CG cutscene in the entire game, they just used character models and the games engine which was really a testament to the graphics...though Gabriel's neck beard texture did look a little off sometimes lol. As impressive as that was, CGI looks awesome and always catches your eye.

It also shows that they probably have a bigger budget this time around. I feel like some of that budget should go in to a bigger media push, the first game had very little build up and I think that's one of the reasons why it flew under the radar. I can't even begin to tell you how many people have asked me, "I've heard of Castlevania, but what's Lords of Shadow?" > Facepalm.

[Carnivol]

The only real issue with the DLC I had was how short each segment was.

The boss fights in them have some really tight mechanics (sans the spear throwing in DLC 2, which I thought was kinda wonky). Figuring out how to read the The Forgotten One's attacks was really neat whilst playing on Paladin. (All his moves can be "read," just like with most of the other bosses in the game.)

[Wrathborne]

So...Gabriel is Dracula?

[aris13]

I wonder what IGA is doing in Konami these days.

[REmaster]

So...Gabriel is Dracula?

Yes.

Many Castlevania fans thought the game was more of a dark fairy tale and that the atmosphere was lacking the Castlevania feel. I agree to a certain degree, but it makes sense if you think about it. You can't even say Castlevania without thinking about Dracula. This is not the typical CV tale of a man trying to destroy Dracula- it's a tale of the man who would become Dracula.

Obviously the overall atmosphere is different since "Dracula" and all the familiar creatures associated with him(see the dead Slogra) is only in the epilogue. LOS is more like the prelude to the Castlevania we all know and love, which I hope comes full circle in MOF and LOS2.

[Code_R]

Because Lament of Innocence pretty much covered the backstory of the Belmonts, Dracula, and the Vampire Killer, I always thought of this as a straight up reboot or side story that was simply doing it's own thing but contained a few easter eggs. It still worked for me as a kind of 3D version of Super Castlevania IV, and it helped the most noticable use of the old school music is the waterfalls theme from that. Outside those little details, I never thought it needed to get tied in to the existing material, unless they find a way to do that with this sequel (but it would be a stretch)

[REmaster]

Because Lament of Innocence pretty much covered the backstory of the Belmonts, Dracula, and the Vampire Killer, I always thought of this as a straight up reboot or side story that was simply doing it's own thing but contained a few easter eggs. It still worked for me as a kind of 3D version of Super Castlevania IV, and it helped the most noticable use of the old school music is the waterfalls theme from that. Outside those little details, I never thought it needed to get tied in to the existing material, unless they find a way to do that with this sequel (but it would be a stretch)

Speaking of Lament, do you think we'll see Rinaldo Gandolfi in MOF/LOS2? A fallen brotherhood knight mentioned seeing him in Veros Woods, disguised as an old beggar. David Cox was hinting of this during the LOS DLC. It would make sense that he's in MOF, since he created the combat cross>Gabriel destroys it and leaves it in the demon realm>Trevor Belmont has a Combat Cross.

[REmaster]

Hate to double post, but here's the brand spanking new E3 trailer for Mirror Of Fate!




Spoiler:

show spoiler

Wow. So marie knew that Gabriel was going to become Dracula, so she lied to him about having a child while he was away. I really like how it sounds so far, with Simon picking up where his father disappeared, and on top of that his grandfather is Dracula. Talk about a disfunctional family, and here I thought mine was bad lol.

[Kaneco]

Hate to double post, but here's the brand spanking new E3 trailer for Mirror Of Fate!


Spoiler:

show spoiler

Wow. So marie knew that Gabriel was going to become Dracula, so she lied to him about having a child while he was away. I really like how it sounds so far, with Simon picking up where his father disappeared, and on top of that his grandfather is Dracula. Talk about a disfunctional family, and here I thought mine was bad lol.

I'm really digging this game and Trevor's Voice acting.

...for some reason I heard in my head the Simon's theme playing after he crushes the skeleton with his bare-hands followed by more - imaginary - gameplay montage.

[REmaster]

I'm really digging this game and Trevor's Voice acting.

...for some reason I heard in my head the Simon's theme playing after he crushes the skeleton with his bare-hands followed by more - imaginary - gameplay montage.

I hear you man I'm eager to hear a release date!

[Kaneco]

I hear you man I'm eager to hear a release date!

Made a quick video edit to realize this.



Can't wait to play this game & the console version as well. =D

[REmaster]

Gameplay demo.

[Wrathborne]

graphics, animation, and frame rate, ain't gripping me. I think it just needs some more work in these areas, I know the 3DS is better than what this is showing.

[REmaster]

graphics, animation, and frame rate, ain't gripping me. I think it just needs some more work in these areas, I know the 3DS is better than what this is showing.

The graphics are mostly cell shaded and have a more cartoony old school CV look to them, so that aspect doesn't bother me as much because it's what they intended for this entry but they do need to smooth out those jagged edges. The frame rate, is something they MUST fix. People playing the demo have said that at some points, especially when there are several enemies on screen, the frame rate is so bad that they described it as a "slide show."

You can really see the issue in this video, where Trevor battles a bunch of bats.

[Wrathborne]

Wasnt sure if the cel shaded graphics were just for the cutscenes or not. I think they should ditch the cel shaded graphic and use normal ones.

The cel shading process looks good on the bats, but not on Trevor or human characters.