Quick Look: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

It's kinda sad that we can't have a proper, home developed, 3DS Castlevania game at the same time as this spin-off franchise, but I doubt there's anyone left at Konami who would be able to champion the return of that SotN style of game.

Also, the QTE disabler function really hits home how poorly executed QTE's are in modern, big budget games. If you can remove a function entirely from a game and lose nothing, why is it there in the first place?

That said, Zobek's character model is pretty darn sweet looking.

Yeah the modern setting is weird. It gives me Darksiders vibes.

Man, the Darksiders games rock.

Good catch!

Press Y to have Zobeck put a cigarette out in your eye.

Doesn't look like they fixed the super tedious crap from the first game other than turning off those QTEs. As with the first game I like the look of the story and art but it fails to look very fun to play. It also bugs me to see monsters that should be serving Dracula as minions just attacking him without reservation. Seeing vampires with fire powers is just weird considering fire is traditionally one of their weaknesses. Finally I have always thought that Patrick Stewart sounds horrible in these games even though I love Patrick Stewart. I might at least rent this based on what I've seen. Thanks for the Quick Look.

Q: How many Draculas does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Nothing, they bite your blood and you die in the dark.

you know, actually reading some of the reviews, im with you on what your saying, i totally see this disconnect you're talking about as well.

OK. I thought that convoluted family history was what was going to happen. Trevor as Alucard is actually pretty awesome given the NES game they were in. Where the eff is Grant and Sypha though?

Can you please draw us a diagram of what exactly a moral high hat looks like? Would it sound good with my moral snare and kick drum?

Been sitting on this image for awhile, been waiting for the right time to post it :P we must never forget :D

I think Dark Souls has ruined all other games of this genre for me, having played a lot of it recently in anticipation of the sequel. Every other game seems to suffer from Not Being Dark Souls syndrome.

Am I the only one?

They're not even trying to be the same thing though. Dark souls is about being slow and precise with deep but not explained RPG mechanics. This seems more like a Darksiders-esque arcadey combat system.

By "genre" I think I was painting a more broad stroke than you interpreted me to be doing. Like, "3rd person game where you fight stuff".

Yes. That's dumb. Dark Souls is a great game. There are tons of other great games out there as well that aren't Dark Souls.

Yeah, but that still seems crazy to me. It would be like saying "Burnout seems terrible because it's not Forza". Sure they're both racing games, but they both play so differently they're not even comparable. Like I feel it's the same way with this and Dark Souls.

THATS NOT COFFEE

Rumpelstiltskin is dracula?

Why is Dracula riding elevators through a parking garage again?

Seeing Vinny's enthusiasm for the game back when he was playing on UPF, got me to pick up Lords of Shadows on a steam sale and I must say like Vinny the game grew on me. The QTE stuff never bothered me, I enjoyed watching Gabriel character transformation through out the game, Patrick Stewart's narration before every new level was great to listen to; put you in the mood to continue on, the metroidvania acquiring new skills and gear, combat was deep enough and the game looks great on PC. So seeing now that the second one is out I'll be sure to press Y once again to summon Zobeck and pick up Lords of Shadows 2.

God damn internet

Dracula likes the scenic route.

Sheesh, I really got my idioms mixed up there didn't I. I had a brain fart and I think I was shooting for an amalgamation of "hang their hat on" and "moral high horse," which would be terribly awkward no matter how I phrased it.

Admittedly snarky claim on my part, but I've found myself really enjoying several action games in the past couple years that professional critics have not been particularly positive about. Games like Binary Domain and Remember Me, for example.

so wait, is there any reason other than maybe you like dumb QTEs that anyone would ever play with that option on?

that said... this game looks ok. I got the first one on a steam sale recently. It's certainly not a castlevania game, but it looks like a decent god of war or something. I'll give it a shot.

The games look fun and the story is bat shit in a good way. Wish it was on my PS4 though. WHY!!?

I think this is a fantastic idiom and I think we should run with it

The environment scale seems off. Dracula is..... a tad tiny compared to the world he's in.

Help me Zobek your my only hope.

They should've played the PC version, it looks much better than this last-gen trash.

Something something tedious drum solos... That's all I got.

Having played the game now I honestly can't imagine playing with them off. With the QTE's off you just sit there, watching some canned cinematic. That is infinitely more boring to me than performing reflex based quick time events. Also ever since the first game I really enjoyed their QTE style of two rings coming together - it just feels satisfying for some reason. I suppose if people really hate them so much they can turn them off and just sit there watching the game play itself for them.

Vinny: "So the acolytes built their satanic corporation on top of your old castle."

Jeff: "That's a real dick move."

HAHAHAHAHA

Why is Dracula so tiny compared to the environment? It looks really weird.

Zobek is one handsome motherfucker

The best vampire game in a modern setting is and will always be Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. I wasn't interested in this game as I disliked the first one quite a bit, but it just looks like the devs took none of the criticism from the first game and changed it around or fixed it for this.

I feel like the QTE toggle was the result of an argument between two camps, or even just two individual people responsible for making the decision, about the QTE's. One side says, these suck we hate them we don't need them. The other side says something like but but but God of War etc. First side says, alright fine but we're putting in a menu toggle because fuck you.

And the consumer benefits. :)

I really really really hope that turning off QTE's completely will be a thing in the future for all games. They were once kind of neat when it was new in action games but now I hate them with a passion, even more than cutscenes.