So what do you guys think of the game?

So those of you that ended up getting the game, how are you guys liking it so far?

I just finished the game and I thought it wasn't too bad. Overall I think the 1st LoS was a better game.

The first one was a real slow burn for me but I ended up really liking it in the end. I just started playing the second one, only got my chaos powers back so far, and I like it as well.

There are parts of it that I don't necessarily think are done that well - for instance I don't understand why they give you all those powers to play with in the intro sequence. It ruins the surprise of attaining them later on as you know exactly what you're getting. In large part a lot of the enjoyment in the first game was seeing what new trick Gabriel is going to get. The items he acquired were also represented on his character model which was a neat touch. I'm not very far in but it does feel a little disjointed and nonsensical in several narrative instances. I'm not sure why the castle thinks the best way to keep our friendship alive is by smashing my face into the ground at every turn. That whole relationship feels very weird to me and doesn't seem to make much sense apart from being an excuse for a hostile environment.

I do like the new and improved combat. It feels a lot faster and agile, but it has been a long time since I beat Lords of Shadow. I also get a kick out of all the fiction. Seeing Zobek be this mogul-pimp is fun. The creature design is outstanding.

I'll have to finish the game before I give a final verdict but as someone that thought the original kinda dragged in the beginning I'm having a lot of fun from the get-go in the sequel.

I pretty much agree with this. It's really solid so far and while I do think that the stealth sequences and the modern day environment design are weakspots they don't bother me enough to drag down the overall experience too much.

Combat is still really well designed, the upgrade mechanics are fun and I'm into the crazy lore even if it does feel disjointed in spots. I don't really get the complaints about the combat in reviews since I managed to get through quite a few of encounters without taking any damage. When you get hit, it's almost always because of something you did wrong and not due to poor design (I dislike the machine gun enemies though). Evading and parrying enemies to extract the magic orbs from them to beat them up even more with the sword or the gauntlets is really satisfying.Bossfights are pretty good so far, the one Vinny posted a picture of was definetely a highlight.

I think I'll end up liking LoS1 more because that game didn't have any weaknesses in regards to the environments and there were no superfluous stealth sequences. I even enjoyed the swamp level that everyone seemed to hate (though I acknowledge that wading slowly through the water wasn't the most exciting gaming experience). LoS2 is still a good game and I'm looking forward to finishing it since some reviews indicate that it only gets better as it goes on.

@altairre: The biggest drawback I've seen so far, and once again I am not that far into it, is this lack of an evident forward progression. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the linearity of the first installment turned out to be a strong point for me as I experienced a real sense of adventure because of it. Gabriel really traveled the land, always moving forward, acquiring new abilities and constantly changing environments. I'm not even a fan of fantasy, but I really grew to love all the beautiful environments you got to visit. By the end of the game he had literally traveled to the ends of the Earth in order to save his beloved. You felt like you went on this epic journey across a land full of myths and creatures.

In LoS2 the constant leashing back into the castle doesn't sit that well with me, even though I'm very early on. As much as I buy into all the insane and cheesy lore in the game - for instance the Void Sword is a manifestation of the empty cold void in Draculas heart after he purged himself of emotion.. - I can't buy into the castle. One moment you're trapezing around giant chains and pulleys, while the next you're entering a cathedral, A CATHEDRAL INSIDE A CASTLE MIND YOU, suspended above a lake of lava no less. I don't know, it's just as stupid as everything else that makes me regularly grin while glee but I just can't buy into it.

I haven't experienced much of the outside world but I've also read that the game gets better as you get deeper into it.

I also really love the counter animation. That TING and flash of white is just so amazingly gratifying, especially when you've executed it upon a larger foe. Graphically the combat and the moves look super stylish.

As a side note, for me the most aggravating, while really cool looking environment from the first game was the music box. Such an awesome idea, I hope LoS2 has something to match it!

@humanity: Again, I agree with all your points. I too would prefer if they had kept the level to level pregression of the first LoS. There was so much variation and in a few spots I just stopped to look at the environments (the part I especially remember was looking at that huge Vampire castle in the distance from a mountain path).The second game still has some great visual designs for example the city of the damned but there just aren't as many so far.

I also doubt that I'll backtrack to parts I already visited to get the upgrades in the second one because I can't remember where anything was whereas I got every crystal in the first one. I get that they were trying to make it more like the original Castlevania but I feel they did themselves a disservice with that.

The way they explain why the castle is attacking Dracula is really dumb and I don't get why they had to make it so contrived (why is there a wolf?) but it's also not bothering me too much. I'm too busy laughing in glee at Zobek putting out his cigarette in the eye of that first acolyte.

As far as the combat goes I've been saying that LoS has one of the best combat systems in character action games since it came out. The mechanic that you have to be offensive but careful at the same time once you're low on health to get healing magic orbs is extremely well thought out. The hits feel heavy, you can move around fairly quickly and they give you the tools to handle different situations. It's not quite on the level of a Ninja Gaiden or Bayonetta but it's much better than let's say God of War and I overall prefer LoS1 to the God of War games.

@altairre: I know exactly the moment you mean, it was a really breathtaking view.

After four hours the best I could say is that it seems ok.

I finished it today. 82% completion and all collectibles, lore, and what not found. The only thing I didn't get was the challenges stuff because, really, combat arenas kinda suck.

I liked it for the most part. It didn't make me want to stand up and applaud like the credits of Lords of Shadow did, but I liked it. The modern times stuff wasn't handled particularly well. It looked nice, but it didn't give me the sense of place that Dracula's Castle or the environments from Lords of Shadow did. Another problem I had was all the backtracking. I'm sure some people absolutely love that shit, but I didn't like it here. I also didn't like any of the Metroidvania games, so maybe that had something to do with it. Now onto some positive stuff.

I really liked Gabriel/Dracula's characterization. Carlyle spit some damn venom during some of those monologues, and I was right there with him. I liked that the Castle stuff was deeply embedded in Dracula's psychology, and that in order to "unlock" his power he needed to work through inner problems regarding his nature, his hang ups toward his family, and so on. It was a nice touch and it's rare to see a video game try and show the inner turmoil of a character through gameplay (even if said gameplay is facing your inner demon and ripping its face off). I really dug the music, too. The score this time around didn't quite hit Titan levels of awesome, but it was really good. Voice cast was outstanding, and the whole aesthetic of LoS2 is inspired. This is pretty close to what I imagined those 8bit Castlevania games were trying to evoke.

Now... for something that kinda pissed me off. This whole section is spoiler tagged so if you want to know what it's about without reading; it's the ending. I've got big problems with it.

So Dracula's whole thing since the end of Lords of Shadow (and its shitty DLC) was that he wants to die. He wants to die and he wants to go to Heaven so that he can be with his wife (and his son Trevor, since MoF retconned him into the picture). That's his whole motivation for acting in this game. Before he can die, however, he needs to finish what he started in regards to Zobek/King of the Dead and Satan. Alucard/Trevor hatches a scheme with Dracula to take him out of the picture for centuries which will allow Satan and Zobek to come out of hiding thinking that it's safe from Big Bad Dracula. That's all fine and dandy, so where does it go wrong?

It goes wrong with Dracula still living at the end of the game. It goes wrong with Alucard more or less forgiving his father and moving into the decrepit house of holy with Papa Prince of Evil. I mean, really, what the hell? Some bullshit one liner about ignoring whatever Fate has in store for them so they can just... go sleep in a coffin? What the hell is that? Why did Gabriel suddenly abandon his centuries long motivation once Satan is killed? Why didn't he turn to Alucard, give him the Vampire Killer, and tell him "stake me"? Why wasn't the ending as horrifically bittersweet as the original Lords of Shadow ending? Why am I expected to believe that Dracula is cool as ice with having his centuries long goal within reach and he doesn't take it? Bah.

To me it's a real damn shame, because while the narrative of Lords of Shadow was understated, it was poignant. Maybe it resonated with me because I had lost someone important earlier that year, but I was moved to misty eyes during Gabriel's long goodbye with his wife's spirit. Seeing him turn from that guy into the Prince of Darkness was a natural character arc. Especially when you consider how he blames God for tricking him into sacrificing his wife and his life to unwittingly serve as a pawn in a pissing contest with God's favourite mistake (Lucifer). Dracula is forever doomed to have all that he desires, except what he desires most (death). So why is it that this Dracula abandons his most cherished wish in favour of going back into the church because "honey it's light outside"?

It doesn't make any sense. None at all. It actually made the game worse for me in retrospect because it's a wet fart ending to an otherwise good game. I was invested in Dracula's story. I wanted to see it end. The only satisfying ending would be for Dracula to die, be reunited with Marie, and make his milennia of suffering worth the cost. As it stands, the story isn't finished. I hate that.

End of the saga my ass.

It tests my patience at every turn. Sometimes you get twenty minutes of boss fights and combat and then it makes you hide behind dudes and turn into rats. It's like they realised you're about to have something resembling fun so they quickly put you in a miserable sequence on a train or make you fight enemies with guns in a melee focused game. That leaf maze a bunch of people have complained about is the worst. It gives you a hint that is supposed to help you, but it can be beaten far easier using an alternative method. I have no idea how you'e supposed to do that section without spamming the mist and the dash. I have jumped between thinking the game is ok and intolerable so much that I really can't call the game anything but poor.

I loved the first game, and I quite liked Mirror of Fate, but this has been a pretty miserable experience overall.

@oldirtybearon: Yeah, it's just another game in a long line of developers copping out of actually finishing their stories properly.

I guess i was expecting more since i really liked the story and ending of the first LoS and with this being the conclusion to the series i wanted something bigger and more satisfying than Dracula suddenly changing his mind at the very end.

It started out really great. The paladin fight, using his arrows to shoot out the rivets etc was a good balance of variation, even the climbing section on the siege machine thing was fun. Timing the cogs while dodging the paladins arrows and the "That's why god cannot destroy me" cutscene was fucking great. I completed the game just yesterday but nothing besides that part really stuck with me during the 14 hours or so it took to complete.

The fighting was fun but they should have made some more puzzles instead of the stealth sections. I would choose the first LoS over this any day but all in all i feel that It still is a decent game.

EDIT: Oh and also, the music was GREAT and the various memorials describing part of the city, events and lore like it was part of some kind of tourist route was fantastic.

Well I came in rather positive, but in the end was more disappointed then pleased. Mixed feelings overall.

The thing I enjoyed most of all was the weapon/skill progression. Not only do I simply like the sense of progression for the sake of it, but it also made me more diverse with weapon and skill use. Also tying the use of void/chaos power to moves you do rather then just depleting with time was also a smart change, it meant I never felt like I am wasting that resource and made me more liberal with the use of powers overall too. Addition of challenge arenas was welcome too, I like this sort of side tests and combat variety. Also really liked certain enemy designs a lot. The big mechs and the special forces dudes with jetpacks specifically. The music and the voice acting is once again really good.

Now for the negatives and sadly I found more of those then I could say positive about a game. My biggest gripe are the levels themselves or the world if you will. Aesthetically the castle still looked good in places, but the modern day stuff I did not care for at all, it was ugly, both in design, the textures and later after it has been pointed out the scale. Secondly the level connectivity itself is really atrocious, with just an incredible amount of connecting doors, long animations and wait times for fast travel, getting from place to place felt like a chore between very small segmented as fuck portions. Even with near instant loading times on the PC all forms of travel from area to area still took way to long due to all the unnecessary animations and waits. Ugh.

The enemy design mechanics wise also left a lot to be desired, with almost every enemy having some form of armor, block or armored block. Some enemies are even 100% armored with no weak points otherwise until that is removed. Now this might not have been a problem if armor removal was not tied solely to your chaos power, meaning if you run out you got fucked. The blocks wouldn't be a problem if they did not put block breaking abilities at the end of your combo skills thus becoming useless as you just get stagger out of them to to starting blows reflecting. Leaving only very few moves that could break a block, even less for armored blocks. Overall it just left a lot of moves feeling useless. As a segue, while they expanded the move list I felt that the new moves felt largely tacked on and not as impressive or useful as the stuff from LoS1. The extra items likewise felt less consequential then in the first game, with 2 of them becoming completely 100% useless towards the end, and the other 3 not being much use either.

Last couple of hangups I had with it were the bosses and the story. The bosses just felt like punching bags, in LoS1 they were some of the most challenging parts of the game, in LoS2 they were by far the easiest. I did not die once to a boss the entire game, not even remotely close, not needing to use any items and coming up close to full health. Just complete pushovers. Now the story I wont go into much detail as it was already mentioned above, but yeah, man did they drop the ball towards the end. A complete anticlimax to a game, in every way, weak boss fight, no impressive spectacle at all and just one of the weakest story ends I've seen in a game in a long time that goes beyond just a usual ending cop out, but also throws away everything that happened up to that point story wise. Where LoS1 started slow and ended in the most grandiose way possible, LoS2 went out with a whimper.

Finally it just felt like it lacked the atmosphere and polish of the first game, lacked the cool set pieces, or the cool boss fights. There is a totally missed opportunity to allow the player to fight those golgoth guards towards the end to showcase Dracula's renewed power, they still massacred you in stealth sections, really the Devil should have possessed one of them :/ And while I liked the faster moveset of Dracula, I really enjoyed (and thus missed) the weighty feel of the combat cross chain in the first game, which kind of made it stand out a bit from your Gods of War and such.

I still liked playing as a whole. Tho I definitely did not enjoy it as much as LoS1. If ever given the choice which I would like to replay again it would be LoS1 not LoS2 and this is with me already having replayed the original game once. So yea, I will agree with others LoS1 was a better game.

I find it interesting when people complain about a game being too easy. Drop it to hard if you're a pro gamer, then.

After I unlocked the double jump I went to town at the castle, tracking down every upgrade in every area. Being able to walk into an area, figure out where you need to go and have the means to execute on said plan is really satisfying. You can really see the art teams strength lies in fantasy/ medieval design because it looks amazing compared to the lackluster city areas.

@oldirtybearon: While I didn't think the ending was perfect, I didn't have that problem with it at all.

It was clear that his thirst for revenge against God had waned a bit, and that now he realized he had a chance to spend a life with the son he never had the chance to. He realized that family was more important than revenge, or anger. He stopped thinking selfishly about what he lost with his wife, and that he had a chance to atone for some of his sins. Alucard, I guess between MoF and LoS2, was able to do a little soul searching, perhaps realizing that if he was still good despite his vampirism, perhaps his father could come back to the light as well. He was an optimist, and he knew the importance of a father-son relationship, considering he was a father himself. He knew that Gabriel's love still had to exist somewhere inside of there.

But yeah, the final battle could've been longer, and there's some things I wish were expanded on more(Victor), but overall, I thought it was a pretty good conclusion.

its totally ok, id even say its good, i think i liked the 1st one more, but its a good not great conclusion to the story, that ending while it did get what it need to get done, was also kind of anticlimatic.

dont know what they were thinking with the stealth sections though, those i thought were boring.

I think it was the worst game I've beaten in years. I absolutely hated it.

It's a BAD game.

I loved it, i'm usually well informed on what a game is like before getting it but i liked the first one enough to just jump into the sequel.
After finishing it i was expecting reviews to be around 7-8 out of 10, great game with issues, but the rest of the world doesn't seem to share my opinion which seems odd.

I feel the game's story is where it falters a bit, for the first three fourths of the game it's not explained why Gabriel isn't the same person as he is in the intro sequence, when the story catches you up on where you are it all makes sense but it takes a long time to get there, but this is primarily a flashy action game and the story serves that purpose completely.
The combat improvements make it a better game to play than the first, though i enjoy the story and events of the first game more, both games have fantastic PC ports which the developer should be commended for whether you like the game or not.

All in all, love Lords of Shadow 2.
Considering DmC had a Giant Bomb review, it seems strange a new Castlevania doesn't have one.

It's shit. The story is shit, the characters are shit, the constant and poorly concealed loading is shit, the rat parts are shit, the stealth parts are shit, the excessively long kill animations are shit, the thing where you are forced to use all the moves to upgrade your weapons is shit, most of the enemy designs are shit... it's just a complete fucking mess. The only things that aren't complete shit are the combat system, which is mediocre, and the visuals, which are rarely especially impressive outside of the castle, and even in it they're a big step down from what was in the first game.

It feels like the design philosophy was to just include every idea anyone on the team came up with, no matter how half-finished and/or fucking stupid. "Parts where you transform into a rat, run through some tunnels where there's jack shit to do, and then transform back? Sure, it's in. Floating boxes that are everywhere in the city and torture your hand before giving you an upgrade? Doesn't make sense on any level, but yeah, put that in. Terrible stealth sequences where you have to avoid guards that somehow are more powerful and dangerous than any of the game's bosses? And the way Dracula solves the problem is by using his ability to turn into blood and enter the bodies of others? But he can only use his power of possession on these specific enemies? And only if he's standing behind them? And he won't use their ridiculously powerful guns while in control of their bodies? Get that shit in this game right now, my friend."

I can safely say that this has been a worthwhile experience because I genuinely had a lot of fun playing this game, it of course isn't perfect and has it's flaws as any other game but overall it's worth it. It breaks my heart a bit because by combining Mirror Of fate and Lords of Shadow 2, we would have gotten a long and epic game with a lot of twists and developments, and the reason i say this is because the first game was so long and adventurous that essentially the second installment just couldn't live up to it's predecessor. The scale of the first one was just to great and by the time you reached the end you had this feeling of relief as if you had been there fighting monsters instead of Gabriel. Now don't take this the wrong way, the game is of course pretty great and awesome, but if we were to compare the first would take the cake despite the fact that LoS 2 improves on a lot of things.

Why all the hate for the ending tho?

@theacidskull: it's a bit abrupt and anti climatic. It's not the worst ending in the world but the first game set some standards that the sequel didn't deliver on. Still a decentgame, just not great.

@oldirtybearon: I think you mistook the ending because for me, it meant something else entirely.

Well I thought the last scene had a very specific idea, but maybe that's just me.

@humanity: BTW do you think that they'll make a castlevania LoS 3?

I'd very much doubt it. I believe they have went on record saying this will conclude the Lords of Shadow saga. That combined with the issues happening over at Mercury Steam, I don't see them continuing the franchise unless this second game sells like hot cakes - another improbability.

That DLC they're putting out where you play as Alucard will probably be the last content in this series. I'm hopeful it will be new environments but I wouldn't be surprised if all you do is backtrack through the same castle which would be a real bummer considering how robust the previous game DLC was.

Well, to be honest I think that it's possible they might make one last attempt, because the ending seemed.....incomplete, not in a bad sense, but what i mean is that Dracula looks into the mirror and smashes it while smirking, he obviously saw something, which would explain why he didn't allow himself to be killed, despite that being his dream.

@oldirtybearon: I wanted to ask you too, do you think that there will be a 3rd( Excluding Mirror of fate) installment?

@theacidskull: They won't make another one. MercurySteam has repeatedly said that this is it for them(in multiple sources), and that LoS, MoF, and LoS2 will serve as a trilogy. I mean, I'm sure there will be more Castlevanias, just not in the LoS canon.

Oh, bummer, the ending kind of left me wanting more, bit it's as good as any cliffhanger.

Well LoS basically Won me over despite the fact that i've never been a Castlevania fan, so that's something right? I'm sure I'll be following the future trilogies as well, just sad that Lord of Shadows is coming to an end, because I really liked Gabriel.

@theacidskull: I thought the presentation was a little rushed, but other than that, I was pretty satisfied with the story beats that it resolved with. Seemed like a logical end to it. But yeah, I'm a big LoS fan too, so I'm curious to see where they take Castlevania next. Always wanted to like the older games, just couldn't get into them very much.

Yeah, totally agreed. Loved LoS. Though the my initial assumption came from the fact that at the end of Los 2, Gabriel looked into the mirror of fate, and he obviously SAW something, which changed his mind about not killing himself, so I assumed that the story wasn't to some degree over.

But still, They have given us a pretty great run, so I trust them if they do a new reboot :)

Reading through this thread, I don't think I've ever heard of such divisive reception amongst the GB crowd. The difference in opinions towards this game is staggering. It actually makes me more excited to play the game now. Very interested in what makes this game so hated or loved with people.

It depends on what you expect from the game in all reality. But I'd suggest/recommend playing LoS 1 first, it's truly epic.

Oh LoS 1 is one of my all time favorite games. I realize that LoS 2 won't be able to top it but I'm still very excited to play it.

Well as someone who adored LoS, I still enjoyed LoS 2( Gabriel is one of my favorite characters). I'm interested in what you're thoughts will be once you get the chance to play it ^_^

@quarters: On that note, and Idea struck me, maybe Mercury steam implied that this is the end of Lords of shadow specifically as a story, but the next games will still be focused in the same universe?

To far fetched?