Heathen candles must be punished

[Green Gibbon!]

What do the hearts do in Castlevania, anyway? By all reason they should refill your health meter, but they don't. To this day I can't figure out what they're for.


Anyway, let's talk about Lords of Shadow. How is it?

I played the demo and was mostly unmoved because the combat still isn't as engaging as Bayonetta, but it seems like there's probably more to the full game than hacking away at werewolves. I've never really been a fan of Castlevania (owing largely to the fact that I've never actually played any of them with sincerity), but again, I was thinking this would be as good a time as any to get started.

Might I trouble someone to stop nitpicking, apologetically defending, or otherwise acknowledging for the 89th goddamn page the latest installment in the Sonic franchise?

[Senbei]

Have you played God of War? It's really frighteningly similar. I mean, there are GoW clones, but, based on the demo, this is just the game reskinned.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Hearts are your ammo in Castlevania, though largely irrelevant now that ammo meters refill automatically.

And God of War cribs heavily from Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, which itself cribs from Rygar: Legendary Warrior.

Imma go soak my head now.

[Kogen]

It seems rather strange to me. The introductions from the books are too long and they double-up with in-game cutscenes. The tutorial is extremely annoying as it tries to hold your hand like a kid's game, yet this is intended for older people? I am certain no one needed the game paused to know how to jump with X. And then there is that weird grabbing/QTE move that looks stupid and is pointless to perform.

I thought the boss was rather dull too. Just as you think it is going to do a special attack and get harder it just dies by a magical log that appeared next to you. Gee, what fun! As if spamming triangle and throwing daggers that explode enemies in one hit was not exciting enough.

And then came that horse part which lasted an amazing 10 seconds. I am not sure what that was for other than to piss you off because you have to go back to fighting lame werewolves in a tutorial again. When it started asking me to block an enemy as soon as it hits you I turned it off.

Also no hearts or pot roasts.

So with all that whining out of the way, I do not think the game was terrible, but it is certainly not worth full price. It seems like yet another revival of an old franchise done wrong to suit a fan base that does not actually exist. I am not sure what is so hard about making a big budget game of an older series actually be similar to the older series.

[Segaholic2]

Historically, the hearts were your ammunition for your projectile weapons/subweapons. See: The DS games, SotN, etc. I have no idea about the new 3D game since I'm not particularly interested in it.

[Green Gibbon!]

See, what does a heart have to do with ammo? Even in 1986 when the medium was barely a decade old and nobody still had any solid idea of how things should be done that didn't make sense. (Just to avert confusion, there weren't actually any hearts in the Lords demo [at least none that I saw]. No candles either, sadly.)


So yeah, it's obviously derivative - that goes without saying - but I'm curious to know what else the full game has. I assume there's more to it than just another Belmont May Cry. If there are good puzzles, platforming, exploration, etc it might still be worthwhile. If the demo is really indicative of the whole thing, then I'll pass, but I'm thinking it's probably not.

Does anyone here have the game proper?

[Kogen]

I know they added the beast riding puzzles from Golden Axe: Beast Rider.

... probably not a good idea!

[Team Mecha]

Simon's a softie who just doesn't have the heart to kill things, so he needs to find the hearts that will.

I got nothing.

[Jogurt]

The candlesticks don't bother me, it's the cup. I honestly did not see that thing coming. And who thought of such a lame name as Alucard anyway? My first line of thought when I saw it was all:

Wow thats a really weird name, lol I wonder who he...wait, wait. Wait. That shit's "Dracula" backwards.

Maybe they thought eighties gamers were dense or something? You don't ignore that shit whenever you've gone through a Ghosts and Goblins marathon. Jesus, that game is for the books.

[Neo]

It's a reference to a 1943 movie

[Jogurt]

It's a reference to a 1943 movie

Ah.

I feel stupid now.