syltefar.com: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (Xbox 360)

2012-06-24

Borrowed game from Erik, interested in trying it out...
Patrick Stewart! YAY!
Lesser Lycanthropes and a Great Warg. I like this already. Except for the frame rate.
Lush dark fantasy graphics, decent combat with a solid block mechanic, a book that lists all encountered monsters with beautiful drawings and some backstory... Good stuff.
In a surprise casting choice, Robert Carlyle portrays a tense scottish Gabriel Belmont.

Similarly to how I solved the annoying puzzles in Onimusha 2 puzzle boxes, I did a quick brute force on the Castlevania rotation puzzle, using the hint that only one-way rotation should be needed:

# Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Pan's Temple puzzle solver by schmid 2012-05-24
moves = [ [-1,+1,-1,"middle RT"], [+1,-1,0,"inner RT"], [0,-1,+1,"outer RT"] ]
def apply(move, puzzle)
    (0..2).each do |n| puzzle[n] = (puzzle[n] + move[n]) % 4 end
end
random = Random.new
100000.times do
    puzzle = [1,1,1] # start position (0 is north, 1 is east, etc.)
    move_list = []
    (1..5).each do |m| # shortest solution is 5 moves
	move = moves[ random.rand(0...moves.length) ]
	apply(move, puzzle) ; move_list += [ move ]
	if puzzle == [2,2,2] then # solution is all south
	    puts "solution:" ; move_list.each { |move| puts move[3] }
	    exit
	end
    end
end

Solution: outer RT x 2, middle RT, inner RT x 2

Patrick Stewart to the rescue! After a very Shadow of the Colossus-esque boss fight, I completed Chapter I/XII.
EUW! Ginormous spider!

2012-06-27

Completed part 2/9 of Chapter II. This game is H.U.G.E.

2012-06-30

I dislike the stylistic choice of simulating a handheld camera for a fantasy game. Fantasy should not call attention there being a camera. Cameras don't exist in fantasy.

2012-07-01

Defeated the mighty Stone Idol Titan, another boss fight ripped directly from Shadow of the Colossus. I don't mind, though, it's still pretty cool.
Completed Chapter II/XII. Oh no! Gabriel has absolutely no luck when it comes to women.
I just found a Brotherhood Knight Scroll, stating that 'The Cake is not a lie.' What the...?
Got stuck with a missing lever ... I restarted from the last checkpoint and the lever was there again.
Completed Chapter III/XII. The Dark Lord of the Lycans was a worthy opponent, a very tricky boss fight. I went back, completed a couple of old levels to get a dagger upgrade, which helped a lot (turns out werewolves don't like silver daggers - who knew? :) and the Dark Crystal horrible demon magic finished him off.
Awesome Ogre fight ... reminds me of the end of Shadow of the Beast - the way it should have been :).
'You cannot carry any more Faries' is one of the weirder sentences I have encountered in a game.
Chupacabra? Heh ... kinda cute. Wait - where did my stuff go? Why, you little!!
Completed Chapter IV/XII. Die, Crow Witch.

2012-07-05

Completed Chapter V/XII.
Insert Disc 2. :)

2012-07-06

Hooray! I won the awful chess-like board game against a vampire girl.
Another butcher demon? That seems to have become somewhat of a trope.
Completed Chapter VI/XII.
Completed Chapter VII/XII. Horribly boring chapter with complex, yet mindless puzzles and uninteresting fights.
Completed Chapter VIII/XII.
After gaining the double jump ability from magic wings, Kratos ... I mean Gabriel must now travel to Hades ... I mean Hell to redeem himself. Good thing they switched the crowd control and single target buttons from that other game when they copied every single combat mechanic from it...
Completed Chapter IX/XII. I enjoyed the Scarecrow stuff, reminding me a bit of Medievil. The Music Box, however, was a bit boring and poorly made.
Yay, poorly checkpointed 3D platforming - my favourite. Damn it.
Completed Chapter X/XII.

2012-07-07

Completed Chapter XI/XII. Although the Dracolich boss fight is lifted directly from Shadow of the Colossus, this one was so incredibly cool looking, that it was utterly memorable by itself.
Last chapter is named Final Fight. I hope that Mike Haggar shows up.
Final boss - it doesn't get much bigger than that. :)
Completed the game on Warrior (2/4) difficulty.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (Xbox 360)

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