Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

[Atreides]

yeah I don't really like how it's unclear which way to go in stages, but I guess that's how they expect to make you replay them. The good news is I'm seeing a lot of stuff I missed, so I'm definitely gonna have to sweep through at least once or twice more. The fact that it doesn't restore health when you start a new stage is almost unforgivable though

[arus2001]

Curious about the plot for this.

[OzzofAsura]

Just finished it. Craziness. I'm not saying anything unless someone asks but... really insane. I think I like it, but I don't know... I haven't decided yet. :D

[Odesseiron]

Finished it, what the hell? I've been playing for like 4 hours, and it feels like I haven't put a dent in the game. I'm only in chapter 2, and most of the stages are <50% complete. You're craziness

[Tyrath]

I think he got the game a few days early. But yeah, I think this games gonna take me a month to finish. I just don't have the gaming marathon stamina I used to in high school xD

[OzzofAsura]

Yeah, I got it the Thursday before it was officially released. Played a couple hours a day. It is a very long game though. I'm just kinda bummed that after finishing such an epic game I don't really feel like playing anything else.

[Doombear]

I have a feeling that is EXACTLY what this game is going to do to me. Trying to stretch it out as much as possible. Hit Chapter 5 today and then gave it a break. There may be some good games coming in a week or two, but I don't see myself liking them nearly as much as I have been this and Enslaved.

[Tajin]

FUUUU at the way the game handles savepoints / challenges, pointless cutscenes get old after dying 10 times >.> other than that is pretty much a GoW3, which is by no means a bad thing.

As for wanting to play something else, I'm looking forward to GT5 and the new Ass. Creed.

[OzzofAsura]

I mean this very seriously: The game gets exponentially better chapter after chapter.

Chapter 1: This is fun.

Chapter 3: This is getting pretty good!

Chapter 5: I have a strange feeling about this, but I like it.

Chapter 8: wtf?

Chapter 10: WTF?!

Chapter 12: ......!

Get done with it so I have someone to talk to about it. >.>

PS: You can skip cutscenes with the Start button.

[Gokulo]

Ugh just you wait until I get some extra monies :< This topic makes me want to play it so much now.

[Atreides]

now that I'm done with Kingdom Hearts I'm going full steam ahead on this.

I really hate the blocking system in this game. It feels great to get a counter in, but blocking never feels as awesome as it should, and even on normal I always get my focus interrupted by an enemy hitting me in the back, or I have to stop and click the L3/R3 buttons to absorb magic and get raped then. I would have definitely made it so you can absorb magic orbs while moving/dodging/attacking, and given either a larger window to block or made it so more than 1 hit is required to reset the focus gauge. Half the time your hits don't even stagger enemies, so artfully attacking is still no guarantee you won't get hit.

It feels like I'm almost always out of health and/or magic, which isn't really helped by the fact that neither is restored between stages, and the larger/harder enemies take a particularly long time to kill. I am hoping that upgrading my magic and life gems will help with this, but I am not sure I want to backtrack now knowing that there's still stuff I have to skip until I get certain abilities later on.

It all leads to a system in which you feel somewhat disconnected from combat, and given the way fighting works it's hard to draw parallels between this game and God of War's system, which feels much more polished and responsive.

Still, the game has some gorgeous setpieces, and even though I'm only on chapter 2 so far the boss fights work just as well as GoW3's titan battle to convey a sense of david vs. goliath on a truly epic scale. The soundtrack is actually my favorite part so far, but I'm a sucker for orchestral stuff in games. Anyway, I'm really enjoying this game but I just wish combat was a little more forgiving. I can't even imagine what playing this on the harder 2 difficulties is like.

[Tajin]

Ye having to stop to collect orbs is pretty stupid, unless that is the way its supposed to be, tradeoff between orbs or steady combat.

[OzzofAsura]

I'm pretty sure they intended the orb absorbing to be that way. Almost every game of this style had that power-ups that just come to you, I don't think they couldn't do it if they wanted. As I played longer, I found it to be about strategy. Like... "There are some orbs, and I need some, but is it worth getting hit again?!...."

You'll get more used to the combat, and I think you'll like it more too. Some of the abilities are pretty awesome, useful, and fun to use.

[Atreides]

blocking is still shitty and makes all but the easiest enemies an absolute chore. It feels like Gabriel is hitting them with drinking straws, meanwhile they're spamming dodge+attack and you're left holding your dick if you get checkpointed with low HP on more than 3 monsters. Not to mention I can't even get block to work half the time now that I have this stupid fucking gauntlet.

[Insanecyclone]

Have fun with the final boss and his color combination thing.

[MisterBob]

blocking is still shitty and makes all but the easiest enemies an absolute chore. It feels like Gabriel is hitting them with drinking straws, meanwhile they're spamming dodge+attack and you're left holding your dick if you get checkpointed with low HP on more than 3 monsters. Not to mention I can't even get block to work half the time now that I have this stupid fucking gauntlet.

Why in the world are you blocking so much? Use the perflect block to deflect attacks and start combos, but NEVER use the regular block. It's junk, and is more of a penalty for failing the perfect block than anything else.
Like most fast-paced action games, you should be dodging into combos, not standing around and blocking.

[Damane]

I liked this alot, very good reboot to the castlevania series! Its new, but still had some nice attachements to the old games (for example the music in that musicbox!). I want more!!

[Atreides]

Why in the world are you blocking so much? Use the perflect block to deflect attacks and start combos, but NEVER use the regular block. It's junk, and is more of a penalty for failing the perfect block than anything else.
Like most fast-paced action games, you should be dodging into combos, not standing around and blocking.

I am talking about the syncronized block, which has a very tight timeframe that's VERY easy to miss if you're fighting multiple mobs. Not to mention half of the hard fights in this game are with the camera WAY zoomed out (3-1 vs. the 3 greater lycanthropes, for example) so you can't see shit anyway. And that's exactly my point, that the regular block is junk and the fact that enemies are hardly slowed down by your weapon (or just juke around it every other hit) makes regular mobs a real nuisance rather than making combat fun and exciting like other games in the genre. Gabriel always feels like he's just a second away from having his bootyhole filled with a hairy lycanthrope penis instead of the badass vampire hunter the cutscenes make him out to be.

Like I said, the game is still pretty great, having one of the most gorgeous presentations of any game in recent memory, but when you draw the inevitable comparisons to other action games the regular meat & bones combat definitely falls short.

[Kingadem]

Just beat it. The story got a little wtf at the end but all in all, I liked it a lot. Now for the trials =/

[Gokulo]

Gabriel always feels like he's just a second away from having his bootyhole filled with a hairy lycanthrope penis instead of the badass vampire hunter the cutscenes make him out to be.

Maybe they were aiming at a new player base.