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Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate |OT|

R

robotzombie

Member
Beat the game...The only way I can explain it is ten hours of just emptiness. I just got nothing from the game. I went through the motions from beginning to end not really hating it, but not enjoying myself at all. The only thing I liked about the game was the character designs in the end.
 
J

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
I just got to Act III... and it only hit me now that Robb from Game of Thrones is doing the voice work for the character, hahah. That's pretty awesome. In fact, the whole LoS has had great audio and voice work, particularly for an action game.
 
B

Boogiepop

Member
So I tried the demo out recently, and needless to say... I wasn't a fan. The fact that it had me pretty much walking in a straight line hurt pretty bad. The combat also didn't feel particularly smooth, with the character feeling weighty for one thing, like when the boss at the end decided to do the ramming attack then unless I happened not to be doing anything else at the end I was definitely going to get hit. And the combination of mid-boss checkpoints and ending the boss fight in a one-hit quicktime event just turned me off completely.

Any chance any of those things are just the demo giving an improper impression of the game, or is the game just not for me in general?
 
J

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
Boogiepop said:
So I tried the demo out recently, and needless to say... I wasn't a fan. The fact that it had me pretty much walking in a straight line hurt pretty bad. The combat also didn't feel particularly smooth, with the character feeling weighty for one thing, like when the boss at the end decided to do the ramming attack then unless I happened not to be doing anything else at the end I was definitely going to get hit. And the combination of mid-boss checkpoints and ending the boss fight in a one-hit quicktime event just turned me off completely.

Any chance any of those things are just the demo giving an improper impression of the game, or is the game just not for me in general?
Click to expand...

the games not completely linear... the level's aren't a large overlapping maze, but you do backtracking (and there's a fair amount of 'optional' backtracking, if you're into collecting stuff, once you gain new abilities), and there are puzzles, particularly in Act 2. One of them was pretty tricky, actually. You play as a few characters and they each have different special abilities... so combat gets super varied, depending on how you like to play. More so than original LoS. Very high production values. I'm a fan. But this isn't a rehash of Dawn of Sorrow if that's what you're looking for... it's more LoS mixed with elements of Metroidvania (i.e., you can access new parts of the castle once you get new abilities, as abilities still act as 'keys') and Rondo of Blood.
 
S

Saint Gregory

Member
I finished the game a couple of nights ago and overall I was pretty impressed. The 3D presentation was unbeatable, and this is after playing PM:SS and thinking that 3D presentation couldn't get much better. It's the first 3DS that I would absolutely not turn the 3D off to gain any framerate/AA benefit in exchange.

I thought that the gameplay did a good job of trying to recreate classic CV while incorporating the new LoS fighting elements and enemies for the most part weren't the whip sponges that they seemed to be in the demo. The exploration was decent and the platforming I thought worked really well once you get the hang of whip swinging.

The real negatives for me were the lackluster music score and presentation, the overall level design which was kind of boring and the way the story is developed. The music wasn't bad but just no where near as unique as typical CV music which was a big gripe that I had with LoS also. The castle design was amazing from an art direction perspective but a little too linear. The story also should have been laid out a little differently as the climax is pretty anticlimactic since what happens couldn't have been more telegraphed if Mercury Steam tried.

All in all I think that it was a really good starting point for a new handheld series so hopefully the game does well enough to warrant one.
 
T

TreIII

Member
Saint Gregory said:
I finished the game a couple of nights ago and overall I was pretty impressed. The 3D presentation was unbeatable, and this is after playing PM:SS and thinking that 3D presentation couldn't get much better. It's the first 3DS that I would absolutely not turn the 3D off to gain any framerate/AA benefit in exchange.

I thought that the gameplay did a good job of trying to recreate classic CV while incorporating the new LoS fighting elements and enemies for the most part weren't the whip sponges that they seemed to be in the demo. The exploration was decent and the platforming I thought worked really well once you get the hang of whip swinging.

The real negatives for me were the lackluster music score and presentation, the overall level design which was kind of boring and the way the story is developed. The music wasn't bad but just no where near as unique as typical CV music which was a big gripe that I had with LoS also. The castle design was amazing from an art direction perspective but a little too linear. The story also should have been laid out a little differently as the climax is pretty anticlimactic since what happens couldn't have been more telegraphed if Mercury Steam tried.

All in all I think that it was a really good starting point for a new handheld series so hopefully the game does well enough to warrant one.
Click to expand...

Agreed with a lot of your negatives. I'd also add that I was really let down with the notion of how "3 characters" really meant "3 characters with the same basic moveset, with the only differences between them being their sub-weapons and mode changes". After seeing Alucard with that sword in the original LOS2 trailer, I was really hoping he'd be using that instead of another Combat Cross in this game.

It just felt like a cop-out, in my opinion. Even Trevor, Alucard, Sypha and Grant had more overt gameplay differences between them back in CV3.

Assuming Mercury Stream does get another chance (LOS2 is slated to be the last part of their "trilogy", correct?), I do hope they'll take some of those critiques in mind. QTEs and other quirks about the game aside, I did enjoy what I played.
 
B

Boogiepop

Member
John Harker said:
the games not completely linear... the level's aren't a large overlapping maze, but you do backtracking (and there's a fair amount of 'optional' backtracking, if you're into collecting stuff, once you gain new abilities), and there are puzzles, particularly in Act 2. One of them was pretty tricky, actually. You play as a few characters and they each have different special abilities... so combat gets super varied, depending on how you like to play. More so than original LoS. Very high production values. I'm a fan. But this isn't a rehash of Dawn of Sorrow if that's what you're looking for... it's more LoS mixed with elements of Metroidvania (i.e., you can access new parts of the castle once you get new abilities, as abilities still act as 'keys') and Rondo of Blood.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily looking for DoS, I've liked all the handheld CVs in their own way (got into the series with the GBA launch, Ecclesia ended up my favorite).

I guess the biggest thing that got me and I'm curious as to whether or not it's representative of the final product was the boss battle at the end. I could see myself really getting into the boss battles potentially, but I just wasn't fond of a couple of things here. Like, do all of the bosses have a couple of checkpoints midbattle? That really felt bad to me. And are they filled with quicktime events? And while it was a smaller issue, do they all flash/blink/whatever to so blatantly telegraph their attacks?

Oh, and was the demo character supposed to be the "slow" character? He just felt weighty, like their was a delay between my inputs and his actions. Not necessarily something bad, but it threw me off, at least.

And in regards to linearity, I guess what bugged me in the demo was the way it really funneled you. I admit that's probably entirely the demo, but for some reason it really got to me when they had you turn around and then allowed you to advance through an obvious path not because you got a new ability or hit a switch or anything, but because you hit the event trigger to have a skeleton jump up through the floor.

(Sorry if I'm kind of messing up the thread, and I really hope I don't come off as dumping on a game I haven't played. Just trying to get a feel as to whether I could potentially still end up liking the game after not feeling the demo).
 
J

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
Boogiepop said:
Not necessarily looking for DoS, I've liked all the handheld CVs in their own way (got into the series with the GBA launch, Ecclesia ended up my favorite).

I guess the biggest thing that got me and I'm curious as to whether or not it's representative of the final product was the boss battle at the end. I could see myself really getting into the boss battles potentially, but I just wasn't fond of a couple of things here. Like, do all of the bosses have a couple of checkpoints midbattle? That really felt bad to me. And are they filled with quicktime events? And while it was a smaller issue, do they all flash/blink/whatever to so blatantly telegraph their attacks?

Oh, and was the demo character supposed to be the "slow" character? He just felt weighty, like their was a delay between my inputs and his actions. Not necessarily something bad, but it threw me off, at least.

And in regards to linearity, I guess what bugged me in the demo was the way it really funneled you. I admit that's probably entirely the demo, but for some reason it really got to me when they had you turn around and then allowed you to advance through an obvious path not because you got a new ability or hit a switch or anything, but because you hit the event trigger to have a skeleton jump up through the floor.

(Sorry if I'm kind of messing up the thread, and I really hope I don't come off as dumping on a game I haven't played. Just trying to get a feel as to whether I could potentially still end up liking the game after not feeling the demo).
Click to expand...

I didn't think any of the characters feel "slow" in the final game... I think they move at the same relative speed, I just use the L button to quick dodge a lot. I've played the game a few times over the past year and this is the most 'optimized' version, isn't nearly as slow overall as the earlier builds. I think the linerarity you describe is specific to the demo. The only "guidedness" I feel is that yea, the arrow on the map is red, and that points where I ultimately need to go. But I can go anywhere I want in the castle. Though as I had mentioned, it's overall "more straight forward" in design than the later CV handheld games.

The bosses are exactly as you describe, though. There is a mid check point half way through the fight (I can see why they did this - some bosses you need some magic abilities to beat, and your magic bar doesn't 'refill over time' so if you don't balance the fight properly and you run out too quickly, if you die you restart with half magic and health. But so does the enemy, once you reach that point). The fights aren't 'littered with QTEs - but they all have to be killed with one. Ya know, action and flash and suspense and all that haha. But yea, you may not like all of the bosses then. I kind of liked all of those things though, so I haven't found anything too frustrating for what I wanted out of the game.
 
C

Chairhome

Member
Finished the game at 84%. I actually ended up feeling very underwhelmed by this game. I enjoyed it at the beginning, and the game didn't have as many technical problems as people were complaining about due to the demo, but it felt just okay.

The game is too easy thanks to the checkpoints during bosses, and the combat was good, but became repetitive. I didn't like how Act II was
Alucard
and Act III was
flashback to Trevor. I guess they were trying to save the "surprise" about Alucard's identity for the end, but it was very obvious, I thought.
. The ending is pretty tame, too.

Also, for a game that is supposed to lead into LOS2, I thought that this game was very light on story, only shedding some light on
Alucard, if you don't guess it
.
 
B

Bladenic

Member
Just tried the demo in my new 3DS XL :)D) and I really liked it. Not big on Castlevania (played very few of them) but I'll definitely get it when it is on sale. Seems reviews and reception in this thread isn't great though.
 
S

Saint Gregory

Member
John Harker said:
I didn't think any of the characters feel "slow" in the final game... I think they move at the same relative speed, I just use the L button to quick dodge a lot. I've played the game a few times over the past year and this is the most 'optimized' version, isn't nearly as slow overall as the earlier builds. I think the linerarity you describe is specific to the demo. The only "guidedness" I feel is that yea, the arrow on the map is red, and that points where I ultimately need to go. But I can go anywhere I want in the castle. Though as I had mentioned, it's overall "more straight forward" in design than the later CV handheld games.

The bosses are exactly as you describe, though. There is a mid check point half way through the fight (I can see why they did this - some bosses you need some magic abilities to beat, and your magic bar doesn't 'refill over time' so if you don't balance the fight properly and you run out too quickly, if you die you restart with half magic and health. But so does the enemy, once you reach that point). The fights aren't 'littered with QTEs - but they all have to be killed with one. Ya know, action and flash and suspense and all that haha. But yea, you may not like all of the bosses then. I kind of liked all of those things though, so I haven't found anything too frustrating for what I wanted out of the game.
Click to expand...
It really seems to me that the red dot on the map made the game feel much more linear than it actually was in reality. Had the game designers allowed the player to explore and figure out on their own where they need to go to progress or maybe placed subtle clues in the environments it would have made the game feel more open and organic.

As it was I felt like every time that I entered a new area I knew exactly what kind of obstacles I would be facing based on how far away the red dot was which killed a lot of the fun of exploration.
 
I

infinityBCRT

Member
Finished it. Only major complaints are that some of the checkpointing on certain boss fights was awful, and I didn't like the respawning enemies after you came back to an area you cleared out (made me basically skip all optional fights during Act 3 because they seemed pointless if it didn't permanently clear out the room).

Really looking forward to LoS2 now.
 
Synless

Synless

Member
Finished the game last night. I would be lying if I told you I wasn't disappointed. I really hope that LoS2 is better then the shit they churned out in this game, 2.5/5.
 
Moff

Moff

Member
just finished it
gotta say, the last third was much better than the first 2.
that being said, the first 2 were really bad.
but the last part had really some nice gameplay ideas, good controls because you got some moves and I think even the fps were better.

all in all, next to the fact that this is only a castletroid look a like, I think its biggest flaw is the graphics, the framerate is too low and it looks incredibly ugly. although it looks great in cutscenes (3d is one of the best, yet) and when big enemies like bosses are on screen (these are anyway the higlights of the game), but the small enemies just look ugly, they should have found another way for this game. with nicer looking graphics and gameplay like the last third thoughout the game, this would have been a pretty decent game.

too bad, I am still looking forward to LOS2
 
JetBlackPanda

JetBlackPanda

Member
I really enjoyed the demo and I think I want to pick this game up. I am not a Castlevania purist but I mainly game on my 3DS lately and this game seems decent enough.

so much hate in this thread though.
 
N

Nosgod

Banned
Big bump and LTTP:

But I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this title and that was surprising given the reviews I read. I did enjoy the first LoS so maybe that had something to do with it. I was pretty blown away by the production values and I think the 3D engine is definitely one of the best on the handheld. I guess I was lucky that for me, the 3D effect really worked and there was some pretty insane depth to some of the environments.

I definitely had some issues though, some of the blocking didn't seem to click right, but I think I had that problem in LoS too.

Also as far as the story went.....
Trevor being Alucard was oh so obvious, I think Dave Cox denying it at one point IIRC even made it more obvious

Not to mention that there were a lot of points that were left up in the air such as
What is the wraith? Is it an entity of the Mirror? And who is the Toymaker? There's a lot of info that seems to imply it is a version of Frankenstein.

Hopefully those things will be addressed in LoS2. This game definitely made me more excited for that one. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who did enjoy the first LoS.
 
F

Father_Brain

Banned
Recently bought used and completed it.

It absolutely has its share of flaws, and I'm not surprised that it proved divisive and sold poorly, but it's still extremely fun to play, the production values are through the roof for the platform, and it's great to play a new handheld CV that actually has level design. It's not quite my dream 2D Castlevania, but I'd much rather have had this than yet another serviceable but uninspired regurgitation of the Igavania formula.
 
N

Nosgod

Banned
MecurySteam should definitely try to sell their 3D engine. It's perfect for sidescrollers and it'd be a shame if they never use it again, since they won't be making anymore Castlevania's after LOS2.

EDIT: Also, did it really sell poorly? I thought I recall Dave Cox stating it sold well. But maybe he was talking about the LoS franchise overall. I could still see it selling better than Ecclasia.
 
F

Father_Brain

Banned
Nosgod said:
MecurySteam should definitely try to sell their 3D engine. It's perfect for sidescrollers and it'd be a shame if they never use it again, since they won't be making anymore Castlevania's after LOS2.

EDIT: Also, did it really sell poorly? I thought I recall Dave Cox stating it sold well. But maybe he was talking about the LoS franchise overall. I could still see it selling better than Ecclasia.
Click to expand...

It sold ~30K in the US in its first month, IIRC. That may not be terrible relative to the DS titles, I'm not sure, but I have to imagine that it was developed on a significantly higher budget (just look at those environments!).
 
S

Sagitario

Member
And done!

jSmKDFohHg49s.png


I liked it.






Father_Brain said:
It absolutely has its share of flaws, and I'm not surprised that it proved divisive and sold poorly, but it's still extremely fun to play, the production values are through the roof for the platform, and it's great to play a new handheld CV that actually has level design. It's not quite my dream 2D Castlevania, but I'd much rather have had this than yet another serviceable but uninspired regurgitation of the Igavania formula.
Click to expand...
Did you ever write final thoughts/impressions?
 
O

Oersted

Member
Seriously thinking about getting it. Kinda liked the demo, was a big fan of Dawn of Sorrow and right now I am totally into brawlers.... should I dip?
 
B

Box of Bunnies

Banned
Got this in the So Many Games! promotion, have just finished the first act and am really enjoying it so far. Pretty much what I expected from a 2D Lords of Shadow style game but with a light play at some SotN trappings. One thing I like is that they seem to have either toned down how much health enemies have or cut back on the amount of encounters because it feels to progress at a much better clip than its big brother.

Not necessarily what I'dve wanted from the series, but a pretty good entry all the same. Wouldn'tve minded actually paying for it once it got a little cheaper.
 
D

Danj

Member
Box of Bunnies said:
Got this in the So Many Games! promotion
Click to expand...

Speaking of which, has any kind GAFfer got a spare EU Club Nintendo code from this game they'd be prepared to part with? The So Many Games promo ends today, I just need one more code. I have Steam games to trade, or any item on Steam worth up to £7, PM if interested.

Thanks very much to Duo014 and Mr.Sam who both helped out with this!
 
K

Kenka

Member
Oersted said:
Seriously thinking about getting it. Kinda liked the demo, was a big fan of Dawn of Sorrow and right now I am totally into brawlers.... should I dip?
Click to expand...

I took advantage of the 3/4 promotion to download it and I must say: it's not that good. Of course, the 3D cutscenes are almost a reason to buy the game in themselves (to me, it's the most satisfying 3D eye candy on the console yet) but I regret that the environments look blank and unfinished, and that the pace of the game is weak (each phase of pure exploration that includes a puzzle lasts maybe two minutes. Then you almost have a minute session of combat where you are showered with ennemies. Repeat. I've been playing for 1 hour and half so far.

The frame rate is awful, the animations could have needed some more work and overall, the gameplay phases are boring. Also, no intro cutscene.
 
C

CPCunha

Member
How do i get back in the Mirror of Fate room? i finished the game then went back to get 100% and now i'm stuck at 98% but the door to that last room is closed...
 
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