I'll wait for the review.

Man this game better be gewd, I swear!! 

I was very VERY disappointed with Lament of Innocence and  Curse of Darkness, which I bought both day 1. 
 
If Konami fools me again for the 3rd time, I'm gunna be super pissed.  I'm hoping for a pleasant surprise with Lords of Shadow.  

Anything better than IGA's last game [-Judgment] will be OK.
 
 
A few more images of concept art:
 

Man, I think this game looks awesome. I was kind of surprised to see huge (but fast) explosions of blood when he killed enemies, but it is Castlevania, after all. Graphics look sweet (and the concept art of the damaged mask is awesomely creepy), and I'm liking the voice acting (Patrick Stewart? Wha!?) and the music so far. I'm not sold on the combat just yet. I'm hoping it's more like Ninja Gaiden and DMC than GoW. But still, looks great from what I've seen so far.

hopefully igarashi won't find away to hate on this game. since he struck out on all his 3dvanias.

What I find weird is that IGA's only comment on this game was that it's "interesting". You'd think the guy who's been running the series for the last 12 years would have more to say about it... but he doesn't. 
 
To me, that's a bad sign(especially when coupled with the footage that has been shown).

This looks great! I can't wait!

" What I find weird is that IGA's only comment on this game was that it's "interesting". You'd think the guy who's been running the series for the last 12 years would have more to say about it... but he doesn't. 
 
To me, that's a bad sign(especially when coupled with the footage that has been shown). "

Why would he not be bitter? He never got the budget Lords of Shadow will obviously have, as much as he'd have loved to, and wasn't given the chance to make the 2D home console Castlevania that he wanted, instead mostly working with tiny budgets for handhelds.

But no, considering the above, he didn't leave the series stagnating at all. Blame Konami, not Iga, he's worked wonders for the most part.

" @SathingtonWaltz: So... the two games that had anime artwork have been getting on your nerves lately? "

" But no, he didn't leave the series "stagnating" considering he was never allowed to do the 2D home console game he wanted, and was always given tiny budget to work with and make handheld games for the most part. Blame Konami, not Iga, he's worked wonders for the most part. "

Doesn't look at all like a Castlevania game. Looks like a GOW clone set in a universe that people who like GOW clones don't give a damn about. This game pools into the people who like God of War type games, Castlevania fans, and the people who lap up anything Kojima's involved with. That said, I don't think this game will be considered stellar by any of the above parties because there won't be enough of what drew them in. Its an odd hodgepodge for sure.

I heard Hideo Kojima was working on this one. Kinda reminds me of Prince of Persia in a way. Either way, I'll like to give it a shot. And with Patrick Stewart in it, who wouldn't?

 @Icemael: But this won't be the first time the nature of Castlevania has changed. It used to be a plodding, precision action-platformer. Then it became a non-linear exploration-fest. Now it's going back to being more actiony. What's more Castlevania than whipping monsters to death? If you think Castlevania is all about gothic plotlines and 1999 battles, you're totally wrong.
 
Small tweaks and ability system variations can only keep things fresh so long. The series now is infamous for asset reuse -- many monsters have been the same since Rondo of Blood, and even Order of Ecclesia blatantly copied and pasted rooms left and right.
 
I won't defend Lords of Shadow from being a God of War clone -- it totally seems to be that way. But hey, God of War is just about whipping stuff to death, too. Why not just crib off of what they should have been doing in the first place? 
 
My argument is that having total creative control can be bad. Look at George Lucas and the Star Wars prequels. Or, Kojima and Metal Gear's storyline. IGA is in the same boat. Having a totally different set of minds working on something can provide feedback you wouldn't otherwise get. Castlevania 64 was ambitious, totally flawed, and worked on by a different dev team than IGA's crew. Yet somehow he chose to ignore its few strengths (such as level design) and provided Lament and Curse with lots of empty rooms with repetitive sets of enemies to  kill -- albeit with some decent combat. Where's the lesson there? It's always a give and take with this series nowadays. It never used to be like that when it was a more major franchise.
 
I don't hate IGA, but I think he's beyond his use by date at this point. Castlevania Rebirth is coming out, and he might have something to do with that, who knows. If he somehow manages one day both to make an HD Metroidvania and have it also be the second coming of Symphony/pick your Sorrow game I will be very surprised.

" @Icemael said:

" @SathingtonWaltz: So... the two games that had anime artwork have been getting on your nerves lately? "

Yeah. Why? "

Not to mention the complaint about asset reusing is going back to the lack of a budget for Iga's games. I'm sure the man would love the ability to have brand sparkling new content for each iteration, alas, that wasn't possible. Again, blame Konami.

Castlevania Rebirth has nothing to do with Iga and is probably even lower budget than his games. Look @ Contra Rebirth and expect that much. Fun and worthy games for what they are, but they can't compare to what you can do with a title aimed to be a full $60 retail effort.

" Not to mention the complaint about asset reusing is going back to the lack of a budget for Iga's games. I'm sure the man would love the ability to have brand sparkling new content for each iteration, alas, that wasn't possible. Again, blame Konami.Castlevania Rebirth has nothing to do with Iga and is probably even lower budget than his games. Look @ Contra Rebirth and expect that much. Fun and worthy games for what they are, but they can't compare to what you can do with a title aimed to be a full $60 retail effort. "

And who tells you that SotN was so high budget itself? The industry wasn't exactly at the level where they regularly spent multiple millions of dollars for a single game at the time, and it was already shifting away from 2D gaming with the flashy 3D touted mostly by Sony and its suck ups. With a fitting budget they could also redraw everything if they wanted to reuse some enemies anyway. The pixel art seen in SotN has been surpassed by 2D games on the DS even nowadays (though the games tend to not be of the same scale at all), but you need money to do that. If Konami wanted they could have their talented artists work full time on a proper whole new 2D Castlevania game that would achieve the sweet graphical fidelity of Muramasa. But when all you're given is budget barely enough for incremental updates, then of course you can't do so.

And yes, with Kojima at the helm I'm sure the story of Lords of Shadow will be so much more serious and better than past CV games, which were obviously all totally about the storyline and that's why they all had 30 minute cut scenes for every 15 minutes of gameplay. Or maybe not.

" @Eirikr: I certainly wouldn't say the series has stagnated. While the core mechanics have remained largely the same, each new game changes enough to feel fresh(at least in my experience). And that's exactly what I want from a sequel. Something that feels familiar and fresh at the same time.
 
Now, look at Lords of Shadow. There's barely anything familiar at all -- from the looks of it, it might as well be a God of War game. I love the Castlevania series because it's Castlevania. It has that Castlevania-ness that no other series has. If it loses what makes it Castlevania(and with that, the reason I love it), what's the point of even calling it Castlevania? 
 
In this specific case, the only reason seems to be sales. That is not a good reason. "

" I heard Hideo Kojima was working on this one. Kinda reminds me of Prince of Persia in a way. Either way, I'll like to give it a shot. And with Patrick Stewart in it, who wouldn't? "

It looks pretty good from those screens but based on old 3D efforts I am not holding my breath. This is going to be a definate wait for reviews and public opinion games for me. Until then I'll stick with the 2D games and not get burned.

Goddamn, I cannot wait for this game.  Even if it's little more than a God of War clone in Castlevania trappings, I'd just love to see Castlevania get some major console releases.

I'm just happy to see a Belmont again.