Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

[DANGERMAN]

I'm going to start by saying this is no way a 4/10 game. I know I'm a Castlevania fan, I know I liked the first Lords of Shadow when others didn't, and I haven't finished this yet, but it's really not that bad. The fighting is fun, it flows better than the first game, it's a tad more forgiving too, a bit like DmC compared to the old Devil May Cry games.

They've introduced a mastery system, the more you use a move the more you fill it up, once you do that you empty it to increase your mastery of that weapon. I'm not entirely sure what that does tbh, but it encourages you to use the moves you've unlocked. Which is the point I was going to make about the combat, you can tell it's easier because you can choose what move you want to do rather than just hammering whatever's effective

The platforming is fairly simple, occasionally there'll be hazards you have to avoid, these could be clearer, but at least it's got something to it. I've also found odd occasions where it's not always clear what you're supposed to do, one of them was simply because I wasn't on the exact spot I needed to be so the jump point didn't highlight, although the one I couldn't possibly reach did. It's not just the platforming that suffers from a lack of clarity either, the boss fights can sometimes, but it's really the stealth sections.

The stealth comes in 2 types, ones where there's guards and you have to distract them, posses them, or turn in to a rat to get around them, these are more common. In theory having a change of pace where you have to use your brain is a really good idea, but they're awkward and messy, and just not all that interesting. The other type involve key characters hunting you down, one of them was deemed bad enough it was singled out by GamesTM (I think), I didn't think it was that bad but I'd accidentally read some advice. Certainly it wasn't fun, parts of the ground made noise that gave away your position, a combination of Dracula's loose control and the collision detection on it meant it was a bit clumsy, but I did it in 4 attempts.

Certain bits have been great too,

When you meet Camila and Gabriel's wife again, there's some brilliant scenes in that section, some good acting too

When the script is good Carlyle is good, his delivery of "god failed" is great, shame some of the rest of the script and acting aren't quite so great.

Anyway, video here, which looks worse on youtube that it did before I uploaded it. The original file was something like 40GB though, so y'know, you can't have everything

[AndyKurosaki]

Gametm's review tears this a new arsehole, giving it 5 out of 10. Seems strange them complaining "it's not very Castlevania-y", when the original LOS game wasn't that much either.

Bit concerned about the stealth sections, fucking hate "insta-fail" stealth. Combine that with "insta fail long stealth bits where one mistake means doing it all over again" and you can fuck right off frankly.

Still, I'll rent this, as I very much enjoyed the original so it'll be worth a go at least.

[radiofloyd]

Director was a bully with "serious problems" apparently:

http://www.vg247.com/2014/02/28/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-dev-discusses-troubled-development-blames-director-for-mediocre-game/

[DANGERMAN]

same as my Ys post earlier, I've just finished Castlevania and I've not got a lot more to say about it other than more of the same. The confusion of where you're supposed to go/what you're supposed to do happens a few times, the worst was a section where you have to follow a vapour trail. The correct way is through a building and out the other side, but the map tells you to exit the building as soon as you go in there, took me ages to exhaust all other possibilities and head back in there.

It happens in fights too, there's a couple of boss fights, which generally aren't too hard, but you'll waste an age because what you're supposed to be doing isn't hinted at, or you simply can't see it. There was a boss fight where I was killed immediately, didn't even realise I'd gone wrong as it was seemingly impossible to do anything else, at least that time when I died I got a hint on the game over screen

The stealth sections are all fairly short, they mostly consist of sneaking past some guards, they aren't fun but they neither take long nor are all that hard to work out. There's a couple of more high profile stealth sections though, one of them is just a bit of a pain, the other is the one GamesTM's reviewer complained about, and isn't especially hard imo, but the controls could be tighter for it

all that being said I loved the combat, it's got a generous enough window on the guard counter, and the game (on PC at least) is responsive as you'd want it to be. Some bits of the story are great, having a boss constantly shout the same thing at you makes things seem a bit more cheesy, and the end seems to be uniformly hated. I didn't think it was that bad, but it's not exactly great either.

so yeah, same as I said in my first post really. I've seen people tonight saying they turned the game off after an hour or so to never turn it on again, someone even said it's one of the worst games they've ever played, I'm not seeing it. It is nowhere near as refined as it should be, but there's very little in there that's outright bad. To end on a positive note, some of the character designs are incredible, the Toy Maker section was especially good

[Sambob]

Its cool to hate games at the moment now though isnt it. Who cares what the director was like, not a dig at you for posting, radiofloyd, but why is that even a story?

[radiofloyd]

Its cool to hate games at the moment now though isnt it. Who cares what the director was like, not a dig at you for posting, radiofloyd, but why is that even a story?

I'll post any old shit. It seemed vaguely interesting when I read it.

[DANGERMAN]

call him a cunt RF

I actually agree with you Sam, there's a pessimism around at the minute, people seem desperate for the industry to be in crisis, be it because mobile will dominate or narrative driven AAA games (or b-tier like Castlevania) are dead

[AndyKurosaki]

I think anyone that says "this is one of the worst games ever made" needs to play something REALLY shit, like Ride To Hell. Would give them some bloody perspective.

[illdog]

I started this way back in Aug 2015. It's not that I wasnt enjoying it, I just stopped playing for whatever reason and then time passed and here I am now playing it again.

 

I've just done a really well thought out part, an encounter with a sub character called The Toymaker led to an interactive story telling of his betrayal. It was a nice surprise.

 

I'm just off to see The Hooded Man apparently. This games alright, it has a fairly unique tone to it.,glad I picked it up again. It's not Castlevania though.

 

[illdog]

The final boss fight is painfully awful. Its so long as his health bar trickles down. I think he's killed me like 6 times now and I start the fight with so little health.

 

Oh well, who want's to have fun anyway?

[illdog]

I had to restart the chapter and stock up on health and health replenishers. It highlights something that I'm not keen on, you do find yourself extremely unprepared for boss battles sometimes, this last chapter for me being particlularly annoying as you have to do a bit of  quick manouvering and a bit of fighting before the boss battle (and the camera angles were fucking terrible during the fighting). So i end up at the boss with no Dragon medallion (a powerful attck that takes half a bosses energy bar down, I needed two more bits to recharge it which are randomly dropped by enemies), no health replenishers and next to no health for the final boss of the game.

 

Anyway, after I stopped being a whiny pussy I beat him (thanks to the miracle of health) and that was that. It's a solid game, great cut scenes..

 

I liked the inroduction of Alucard and how they introduced him to this version of events

 

..and overall very much worth playing. It's got to be at least a 7/10.

[regemond]

Ever played a game that seems like everything you'd love but just can't work out if you actually like it or not? This is that for me.

 

• Third-person adventure - Check
• Dumb story - Check
• Trickle-stream of upgrades and new skills - Check
• (Mostly) Gothic setting - Check
• Serviceable combat - Check

Look, I loved the first LoS (except for the fucking rage-inducing Power Rangers style boss at the end of the DLC) and had so much fun with it. Then I started this one on PS3 years ago but bounced off it completely. Now it's got enough to keep me playing but not quite enough for me to say I flat out like it.

 

Good voice cast though. Picard, Robb Stark, Lucius Malfoy and Hamish Macbeth are all in it, so I'm really enjoying that side of things. 

[Maryokutai]

I think it was a lot better tan most people or even scores gave it credit for. It takes forever to get going but there are some good ideas in there and the combat feels better than in the first game – even though the latter is the superior game of the two.

[regemond]

I don't know if it's the time that's passed or if it's just not a game for me, but it feels completely generic now. Although, it did make me think 'I'd love a remastered LoS collection' when I was playing it yesterday.

 

It should be a game I adore. It has everything I enjoy. There's just something hampering my fun, and I have no clue what it is. I even went in blind to reviews, only started it because I got it on GwG.

[regemond]

Finished this yesterday. Got stuck on Friday trying to navigate one area of the map. Turns out I was just a dumbass and took the wrong corridor. Anyway, last boss was fun - posed a challenge, but I had a dragon amulet and a couple of life potions so it wasn't too bad in the end. My opinion really changed on this by the end and now I want a new one for this or next-gen.

[AndyKurosaki]

I tried to enjoy this, as the first one was great. I didn’t get very far into it before losing all interest though. Think I made it to the forced stealth section then jacked it in.