Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Message Board older than one year ago

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Posted by Joystiq Oct 04 2010 16:10 GMT
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Copies of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow will be whipped onto store shelves tomorrow, but Xbox Live Gold members can get a taste of the vampire slaying action today, thanks to a new demo on XBLM. Downloading it is easy. After all, what is a demo but a miserable little pile of kilobytes?

Posted by IGN Sep 29 2010 20:40 GMT
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Forget everything you know about Castlevania.

Posted by Lord Crump Sep 29 2010 17:06 GMT
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Castlevania + Patrick Stewart? I would be a FOOL not to get this!

MM
>3d
No.
sims
Nobody

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Posted by Kotaku Sep 29 2010 01:30 GMT
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#clips Remember that 7-minute-plus trailer for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow from Tokyo Game Show? Konami's got more where that came from, issuing a new, gameplay-filled preview of Mercury Steam's take on Castlevania that can go all night. More »

Posted by Joystiq Sep 28 2010 19:40 GMT
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In this Castlevania: Lords of Shadow trailer, you're in for 11 minutes of footage and explanation of every facet to be found in the reboot. Go make some buttered popcorn first (and avert your eyes if you despise spoilers of any kind).

Posted by PlayStation Blog Sep 23 2010 15:01 GMT
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When designing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, I often looked back at the original Castlevania for inspiration. I would remember the feelings I had as I traversed the dark, gloomy landscape and recall the wonderful music that would create an atmosphere quite unlike any other game of the time.

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For me, Castlevania was always about lone warrior battling supernatural creatures with a whip. This was the core idea that when you strip away all the layers, is what remains true for the series even now. Of course, back then, games were far simpler and story lines, characters, and the rest were often secondary to the all-important gameplay.

Over the years, games have become more sophisticated and players have wanted deeper experiences and more far-reaching gameplay mechanics. Expectations for memorable characters and realistic environments often mean it’s much more difficult to find the core of a game and truly understand where something is coming from.

We decided early on that we would boil down that core idea and add layers on top but this time, we would add new layers along with some of the old. We knew we wanted Castlevania: Lords of Shadow to be about the Belmonts. We knew the main hero had to have a whip and not just any whip but a chain whip, just like the Belmonts of old. We knew series staples like daggers and holy water had to be in, too.

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We knew that we had to have brooding and dark environments. Underground caves, dank swamps, sewers, catacombs and not just be set in a castle. Just like the old games! We knew we would need a forbidding castle with clock towers, dining halls, libraries and the like to explore but we also wanted to give players cunning puzzles and items to find to make exploring much more interesting.

We wanted old characters to be in our universe, but somehow different. Somehow not what you would expect, but enough for you to see and feel the character anew. So when people say to me, this game doesn’t look like Castlevania… I simply reply, you need to look harder and deeper, because inside this game is the Castlevania you know and love. And yet it is new, reborn. You just have to look with better eyes!

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Gabriel Belmont is a lone warrior battling supernatural creatures with a whip. He is trying to bring back his dead wife to the world of the living. We have candles for you to whip, we have vampires, bats, zombies, werewolves, wargs. In fact, over 45 different enemies populate the game.

We have secondary weapons such as daggers and holy water. We have characters who some of you will recognize. We have a wonderful score that includes memorable Castlevania themes here and there that will give fans chills. But most of all, we have an open invitation to those of you who have never sampled the delights of Castlevania before.

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The door is open and we want to welcome you in. Its going to be 20 hours of challenges, but you will be rewarded handsomely with a story that will deliver an epic re-imagining of the series for everyone to enjoy, not just fans.

Won’t you come in? The fire is raging and the master and his servants are home, waiting to give you a welcome you won’t soon forget!

Until next time…


Posted by Joystiq Sep 23 2010 00:30 GMT
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With Castlevania: Lords of Shadow only two weeks from launch, we spoke with producer David Cox about rebuilding the franchise for a modern audience. How did developer MercurySteam look to overcome the failures of past 3D iterations of the franchise? And what role did Kojima Productions play in the creation of this new Castlevania? Cox reveals how Kojima urged him to redesign a once "barbarian" Gabriel and how the game was nearly canceled a year into development in our conversation below.

Joystiq: How did poor critical reception of past 3D Castlevania games influence perceptions of this project? How did you pitch this game to senior Konami management?

David Cox: I think there was always a desire to make the game 3D. I think people thought that in order to attract a mainstream audience, it had to be a 3D game. I personally love 2D games, but the fact is the market for 2D games is tiny. Most people want to play a 3D action adventure game with impressive visuals, etc. etc.

I think for us, one of the things we found in hindsight is that the previous games tried to emulate the 2D games -- basically: turn the 2D games into 3D. We felt that wasn't the way to go. We felt the way to go was to boil down Castlevania to its core tenants, and create a 3D game from there. Sure, it's a brave decision, but we needed to be brave, and we needed to have the freedom to do what we wanted to make.

Posted by Joystiq Sep 20 2010 20:00 GMT
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While a new Kojima Productions game was on display at TGS 2010 -- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow -- Hideo Kojima's direct involvement seems limited to providing the voice for a mischievous chupacabra. In a tweet, the game director expressed his interest in showing a true Hideo Kojima game at next year's event.

In a tweet translated by Andriasang, Kojima said "I think it would be nice if next year I can do not just editing, but introduce my own new game (game design, script and direction)." During the Metal Gear Solid cosplay event at TGS, he also jokingly said "It's 5! Shall we make 5! With this, I won't have to quit Konami. I'll be there for 3 more years." This was in response to a prompt to "say something shocking," however, and not "say something true." A grain of salt is advised.

Posted by Kotaku Sep 20 2010 11:00 GMT
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#tgs2011 Last year, Hideo Kojima had a new game to show off at TGS. That game was Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. This year, his name is attached to Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. But that's not his game. More »

Posted by Kotaku Sep 17 2010 21:20 GMT
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#tgs To go along with the seven and a half minute long trailer, Konami also sends us ten new screens for Castlevania: Lord of Shadows, the most un-Castlevania Castlevania we've ever seen. More »

Posted by Joystiq Sep 17 2010 21:00 GMT
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To go alongside the decidedly batty TGS trailer, Konami has released new screens of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. They show off Gabriel Belmont doing what Belmonts do best: Slaying demons, exploring castles and ... chatting with Baba Yaga? Even witches need some company now and then, right?

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Posted by Kotaku Sep 17 2010 04:00 GMT
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#tgs The latest Castlevania game, Lords of Shadow, wasn't originally intended to be a Castlevania game. And this trailer shows it. More »

Posted by Joystiq Sep 16 2010 16:45 GMT
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What's in this Castlevania: Lords of Shadow trailer? The more appropriate question might be what isn't? Werewolves, faeries, vampires, angels, giant chess boards, giant eagles, giant giants -- even the grim visage of Death makes an appearance. It is absolutely the nuttiest and most awesome thing you'll see today.

Well, maybe not, it is TGS week ...

Posted by Kotaku Aug 26 2010 21:00 GMT
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#screens Earlier today we told you that the next big Castlevania game might remind you, from time to time, of Shadow of the Colossus or Uncharted. These screens show why: More »

Posted by Joystiq Aug 26 2010 20:40 GMT
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Lords of Shadow is going to be a great game and, more importantly, a great Castlevania game. The MercurySteam and Kojima Productions collaboration offers everything you'd want from a modernized Castlevania adventure: platforming, puzzle solving, and, yes, even some backtracking and exploration, with a level of polish that catapults it all into a sublime experience.

At Konami's "Boot Camp" event, I was able to spend time with a near-final version of the game and play as much of it as I wanted to. This wasn't a cleverly cut demo reel, highlighting the game's best moments. This was the full game -- all I had to do was press the Start button. Immediately, I was drawn into the world through the powerful soundtrack, beautiful graphics and the spot-on narration.

As the game begins, the solemn protagonist approaches a rain-soaked town besieged by werebeasts. He's not as flamboyant as Kratos or Dante, but no less deadly. The game immediately throws you into battle against the beasts as tutorial on the basic mechanics of the game. It's no surprise that comparisons to God of War have been made: Gabriel's whip feels a lot like Kratos' Blades of Chaos. With Square, Triangle and X performing the same functions as in Sony's brawler, it's very easy to get a feel for the combat. (There's even a counterattack that works just like GoW's Golden Fleece.) But it's not just the combat that invites comparison to other games. The violence is no less graphic and gruesome than in God of War.

Posted by Joystiq Aug 26 2010 20:00 GMT
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If you haven't heard, the Xbox 360 version of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow will ship on two discs (Limited Edition pictured above). Here's a tip: You can save yourself some precious disc-swapping time if you install at least Disc One to your hard drive.

Although Lords of Shadow's story is told in an episodic, linear fashion, you'll want to revisit earlier levels to find missing collectibles and beat any additional challenges. Without installing, you'll have to swap discs every time you want to revisit earlier levels. However, if you've installed the data, you won't ever have to swap discs again; you'll be able to continue playing with just Disc Two in the drive. It's an interesting way of overcoming the DVD format's size limitation -- a clever trick that could be employed by future multi-disc releases.

Posted by Kotaku Aug 26 2010 14:40 GMT
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#preview The first chapter of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is broken into five parts, parts that tour through reinventions of some of PlayStation's best exclusive games, from God of War to Uncharted to Shadow of the Colossus. Gradually, it's also a fine Castlevania. More »

Posted by Joystiq Aug 19 2010 19:30 GMT
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Konami has announced that Castlevania: Lords of Shadow will be whipped onto North American shelves starting October 5. This puts the American launch just shy of the October 7 and 8 release dates for Europe and the UK, respectively.

In related news, Lords of Shadow Producer David Cox informed 1UP that two DLC packs are planned for the game. Cox offered few details, though both packs will feature new areas to explore and enemies to slay. He also attempted to assuage fears that the revelation of DLC means the full game will be less than complete, saying that it "absolutely has an ending." Check out the full interview for Cox's thoughts on working with Kojima Productions and how Mercury Steam approached making a 3D Castlevania title.

Posted by Kotaku Aug 19 2010 16:40 GMT
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#gamescom2010 Why will Castlevania: Lords of Shadow succeed where other 3D Castlevania titles have failed? For one, producer David Cox looked like this after giving us the actual reason he believes his game will work. More »

Posted by IGN Aug 18 2010 22:45 GMT
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Latest 3D Castlevania coming this October.

Posted by Joystiq Aug 18 2010 22:20 GMT
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During a Konami press conference at Gamescom, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow producer David Cox took to the mic to announce European and UK release dates for the forthcoming game: October 7 in Europe and October 8 in the UK. Furthermore, Konami UK rep Richie Churchill revealed via his Twitter account that the game will be getting a distinct collector's edition for (at very least) the UK, featuring the game's original soundtrack and a "replica God Mask in awesome packaging."

Wait a minute -- why don't we get a God Mask?! Anyway, given the way European and UK releases work, it's fair to guess that Lords of Shadow will land stateside on October 5 (as compared to the Halloween release date Amazon gave it), sans God Mask. That's exciting enough, we guess.

Posted by IGN Aug 16 2010 19:22 GMT
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Will the voice of Solid Snake portray Gabriel Belmont in the Japanese version of Lords of Shadow?

Posted by Joystiq Aug 14 2010 02:40 GMT
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Amazon sent out word of a Castlevania: Lords of Shadow limited edition a bit early this week by releasing a mockup image of the package. Now the retailer has boldly tweeted (if one can do something called "tweeting" in a bold manner) release info for the limited edition, pricing it at $79.99 on PS3 and Xbox 360. The image is exactly the same as this week's mockup, meaning that we will get that nice hand-painted artwork on the box (that looks a lot like the work of longtime Castlevania artist Ayami Kojima) along with the soundtrack and artbook, that were shown before.

The Amazon listings also show a Halloween release date for both the standard and limited editions, though we're hesitant to confirm any release dates from retailers as "official" without checking in with Konami -- which we're doing now.

Posted by Joystiq Aug 11 2010 17:07 GMT
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An image spotted on Amazon (and since removed) suggests that there will be a special edition release of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow -- as if its status as a major game from a large publisher didn't already make that clear. The image shows a package comprising two Xbox 360 game discs, a soundtrack, and a "The Art of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow" book.

Lords of Shadow producer David Cox told Joystiq, "The images of the special edition leaked onto the net are mock ups and NOT final," before adding that the retailer "jumped the gun" by publishing early images. Though neither Cox nor Konami had anything official to announce about a special edition, someone at Konami is mocking up special edition images. Probably in advance of a real special edition. That would just be a weird hobby otherwise.

Posted by Joystiq Jun 23 2010 02:00 GMT
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It's difficult to comment on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow as a product of the long-running (and now rebooted) gothic action franchise. Abandoning large-scale exploration in favor of linear action -- which was itself abandoned when Castlevania: Symphony of the Night debuted in 1997 -- Lords of Shadow invites comparison to God of War more than any other modern game.

That's an admittedly tiresome shorthand as far as game previews go -- "It's like God of War but with whip-swords!" -- but it's still useful in conveying how Lords of Shadow plays. Your attacks are sweeping and imprecise, yet bolstered with enough combos and violent flourishes to make you feel in charge. Castlevania's sub-weapons return to your repertoire as well, with the first two levels of the game allowing you to quickly dispatch a flying dagger into approaching enemies. The resulting explosion of bloody mush is a fair indicator of the game's disgusting, wonderful violence.

Even the most trivial battle, such as Gabriel Belmont's tutorial tussle in a rain-slick village under siege, is given a certain gravitas by the game's tight camera and atmospheric visuals. And if there's one thing that brands Lords of Shadow as a promising 3D Castlevania game, it's the effort that's gone into creating dark, imposing environments that feel like they extend far beyond the boundaries of the level. Developer MercurySteam has delivered an impressive showcase of scale and animation here, with even the lowly warg becoming a pouncing cause for concern. So yeah, it's a few steps up from recycled Game Boy Advance sprites.

Posted by Kotaku Jun 21 2010 19:40 GMT
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#e3 Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is the best 3D Castlevania game I've ever played at an E3. And I've played two of them—not counting Konami's flirtation with the series as a 3D fighting game. More »

Posted by Kotaku Jun 18 2010 22:40 GMT
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#e3 Mercury Steam's take on Castlevania, vetted by Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima, is a very different thing, full of God of War-like action. Including a new Belmont, this is the all-new cast of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. More »

Posted by Joystiq Jun 18 2010 03:30 GMT
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Okay! So, forget everyone from those twenty-odd Castlevanias from the past three decades. Just take that whole ludicrous timeline and through it right in the garbage. Lords of Shadow is a reboot of the franchise, and with it comes a new Belmont, a new quest (his lost love!) and ... Patrick Stewart.

Get familiar with the rest of the cast in the E3 gallery below and trailer posted after the break.

Posted by IGN Jun 18 2010 00:55 GMT
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We get our hands on the combat cross for the first time at this year's E3.