Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 - What Happened?

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Eurogamer Article: www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...
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Matt Art By: / krooked_glasses
Intro By: / 2snacks and / littlevmills
#lordsofshadow2 #whahappun #castlevania

[@Kasaaz]

Sometimes the people you get interviews from either directly or indirectly end up sounding ... not great. But this Dave Cox just sounds like a super likeable and honest dude. I hope he's doing well wherever he is now.

[@alymoose53]

Going by his LinkedIn, looks like he's still in gamedev, just not at Konami/Mercury anymore, so that's nice.

[@DaDavid1193]

Directly or indirectly?

[@toastman1992]

It looks like Cox works at 505 games now, publishing the games Konami won't make, and even collaborating with Mercurysteam again. I hope he's doing well too

[@Shinigami41395]

@@KazeShikamaru I pre-ordered Lords of Shadow 2 because I loved the first game. I remember reading some early reviews of the game and being very worried because they ranted so much about how bad the stealth sections were and accused them of ruining the game. When I actually played the game, I was very confused by those reviews. Sure, the stealth sections weren't good, but there were very few of them and they were all short and easy to do. This was just more proof to me that video game journalists really can't be trusted.

[@clydethehobo2687]

Let's not forget that the name of the city in those modern-day areas was called Castlevania City which itself may be the worst thing Lords of Shadow 2 did.

[@yewtewbstew547]

They could at least have called it Cityvania. If your naming scheme is going to be _that_ shit, just lean into it.

[@autobotstarscream765]

Should've named it something linking it to Contra or Jackal imho.

[@orangesoda4535]

I could probably forgive that if not for that wet turd of a fakeout ending they tried. Also, why is Satan is buff?

[@aidangordon2713]

Wait, it _isn't_ just Tokyo?

[@SiCkMiNiMaLsTyLe]

@@orangesoda4535 He drank plenty of juice and did a lot of push-ups.

[@smartperson1]

That portrait of Dave Cox is so joyful that it makes my day a little better.

[@rolando90s]

That's so true great I don't what happened to him after the lord of shadows 2

[@sdgdhpmbp]

Too bad the asshole called the best of Castlevania "milking".

[@EinDose]

I love how, out of all the What Happened episodes, THIS is one of the ones that requires addendum between recording and release. 'Surely Mercury Steam won't have some massive noteworthy title announced at E3 that's relevant to the story of one of the tentpoles of the Metroidvania genre!'

[@jtf5223]

I clicked on this not thinking much about it and thought "Mercury Steam? That's funny, I know Mercury SYSTEMS worked on a Castlevania game and is making the new Metroid. What are the odds?" Later shows Samus Returns when talking about them still developing "HOLY SHIT IT'S THE SAME PEOPLE! MATT DID YOU KNOW THEY WERE GONNA ANNOUNCE DREAD!?"

[@Podzhagitel]

you mean SEARCH ACTION.

[@hyperon_ion9423]

I’m now going to have flash nightmares of Konami somehow stealing Metroid Dread and making it into a pachinko machine….

[@federicoleoncini]

How is it possible that Mercury Steam are so heavily involved on both sides of the Metroidvania name

[@duncan9993]

S E A R C H A C T I O N

[@lordanzu8763]

Realistically, I wouldn’t be surprised if Nintendo contracted MercurySteam based on their experience with the Lords of Shadow games

[@josedeleon1923]

@Code Turtle Mirror of Fate would be the main reason i think. Is a solid tittle with a map more similar to a Metroid than to an IGAvania

[@traceyrinaldi4759]

More than likely Nintendo was impressed with their work and knew with better support they could do something very special.

[@UnityArk]

@@traceyrinaldi4759 I'm pretty sure I had read it somewhere, or recalled an interview during the Samus Returns pre-release promo media that Nintendo/Sakamoto were impressed with MercurySteam's technical capabilities with the engine they created for Mirror of Fate on the 3DS, and that's how they started to collaborate on the remake on that same platform. I'm also fairly sure it was the Mirror of Fate engine (or an iterated version) that was used for Samus Returns since it of course was something that'd be simple enough to put to use for that game.

[@OSW]

Matt your production values, the added visual flair/animation of Skeleton Matt is really excellent. Things like the Wha Happun 3D logo wipe doesn't go unnoticed! Seriously can of coke to you and your production team!

[@rubenpena246]

OMG its OSW!!!

[@guy-sl3kr]

The intro with skelly matt playing the piano was so expressive! I loved the way he bopped to the beat hahaha

[@baltazarriosdelbarco4230]

@@fluxx2384 You swallow 😜

[@AirLancer]

@@guy-sl3kr The instrument is called an organ.

[@InTheMindOfDavid]

Right?! I reminds me of something you’d have seen on G4 back when G4 was like at the height of its popularity

[@gabrielsantiago7318]

Im really glad Mercurey Steam is still going strong today, their work on Samus’s Return was well done and so far Metroid Dread looks amazing. Always nice to see the developers in these videos survive and thrive after whatever hell they went through

[@HeavenlyHalberd]

Yeah, the seem like a quality developer and I trust them on Dread (loved Samus Returns). I've never played the 3D Castlevania games, but after seeing this video, the LoS games actually seem pretty good. With the reputation these games have, even though they have some flaws pointed out in the video, they definitely still seem like fun games and even if the gameplay isn't super original, God of War meets Metroidvania power-ups and exploration sounds fun.

[@PrayForTanqueray]

@@HeavenlyHalberd Do give them a try! Mirror of Fate is also quite solid and is definetly a base on which they built their knowledge for Samus Return and now Dread. I personally really enjoyed LoS2 for adhering more to the metroidvania-style, but be warned that those stealth sections are actually as bad as they are portrayed in this video!

[@MattsGeekCorner]

Wait is mercury steam working on metroid dread ?

[@Dalamartm]

@@MattsGeekCorner yep

[@MattsGeekCorner]

@@Dalamartm awesome I had no idea.

[@rodrolliv]

"There are other non-Konami alternatives" My favorite kind of alternatives

[@PrayForTanqueray]

The naming conventions of those alternatives do poke even more fun at this (see: 'Ritual of the Night' - 'Symphony of the Night' / 'Curse of the Moon' - 'Dracula's Curse'). And I Love it!

[@peacockfilletsteak]

I actually view said "alternative" as the continuation of the series, just without Konami. For now, at least, Castlevania as a game series is dead. Bloodstained has a the personnel and gameplay/atmospheric DNA the series became known for prior to LoS. Ritual of the Night picks up gameplay wise where CV: Order of Ecclesia left off, and he Curse of the Moon games are like an alternative sequel series to CV3 instead of going with CV4. Castlevania is thriving, just not as Castlevania. Not counting the Netflix show, mind you!

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

Metroid?

[@TheDuduzinhobr]

@@PrayForTanqueray Curse of the Moon would be more like a reference to Circle of the Moon

[@peacockfilletsteak]

The stealth sections are honestly my only gripe with Lords of Shadow 2. I was disappointed we never got to a point where Gabriel could fight the Golgothgaurds directly. If near the endgame, when he's SUPPOSED to be at his full power again, he could just blast through the previous stealth sections by directly fighting them, it would have been a really great payoff and would actually make the stealth sections add to the experience instead of feeling disjointed. It could have been better that way. Otherwise, I really enjoyed the gameplay and the story.

[@bradneko_14]

"You cannot help me, no one can". That line delivery by Gabriel while speaking with his wife after not seeing her for who knows how long is just top notch, that scene is so good honestly.

[@CerealBro1]

The whole story between the two games was incredible. It was pretty absurd in both games but yet managed to still be heartfelt and enjoyable because Gabriel and everyone else was written strongly and the voice acting was top notch

[@TheSSBBfan666]

honestly of all the Belmonts in both classic series in the LoS trilogy, Gabriel is my favorite. You can tell that while he does accept that his life from human to vampire is inevitable and he just goes along for the greater good, he still regrets the many sins he's committed getting there. Marie, Claudia, Trevor, Sypha, Simon..... Dude needs a hug.

[@User-fr5fp]

Not only the scene the whole story line was good too.

[@User-fr5fp]

@@TheSSBBfan666 Agreed friend! Gabriel is the most underrated character of all time.

[@UponDemise666]

Anyone else like the PS2-era released “Castlevania: Lament of Innocence”? I absolutely LOVED that one, was good’n, that.

[@jamc9262]

That game felt more ”castlevania” than the Los games…

[@madlinkers8595]

the 2 one of the ps2 were great!

[@leonlegend]

I personally prefer Curse of Darkness. LOI felt more like a 3d version of Castlevania 2, while COD felt more like Symphony of the Night. If you ask me.

[@LadyBrightcynder]

Never played it but I really want to!

[@StylishBoy-mz1gc]

I'm a big fan of Lament of Innocence, while I think that Curse of Darkness wasn't at the same level.

[@theLikou1]

Imagine having a high successful series based on your IP that runs for 4 seasons and will have new series in the future and fail to capitalize on that with new games. Bravo, Konami.

[@cyberangel2787]

Konami: "Castlevania is finished, we're not interested in moving forward with the brand any more." IGA: "IT'S FREE REAL ESTATE :)"

[@kevincarreno8471]

Konami: videogames are expensive we won more doing smaller games japanese love anyway

[@theLikou1]

@@kevincarreno8471 Their Castlevania smartphone game was a big success, right? So... they failed in capitalize that.

[@kevincarreno8471]

@@theLikou1 per tradition

[@thomasffrench3639]

I mean they have literally supported this franchise for decades despite not being a big seller. Sure it would be great to have the battle of 1999, but it’s not like we don’t have a ton of Castlevania games, like 40% of which are like the best games of all time. Honestly I don’t think that most of their other IP like MGS and Silent Hill need it either, but I would be down for a new Contra and Gradius game.

[@ShinPepsiman]

Whoever animates skeleton matt needs a raise

[@1917yee]

The animation is so smooth omg

[@Ramsey276one]

Fully agree

[@jrvaters915]

“We call this the Kingdom Hearts effect.” ….yep.

[@arnox4554]

Halo tried pulling this shit with 5 too. Fucking hell, Halo 5... When are we gonna get a Wha' Happun? video about that war crime?

[@darthcinema4262]

@@arnox4554 It definitely deserves to be shit on and talked about more.

[@arnox4554]

@@darthcinema4262 People constantly try to excuse it because of the core gameplay and because it now actually has content after fucking years after launch, but regardless, I will never buy that piece of shit. Ever. I've never hated a game so much before or since.

[@darthcinema4262]

@@arnox4554 I agree that Halo 5 sucks mega ass, and doesn't even feel like a main line entry. The Act Man definitely did a great video series on why the plot was pure shit, and how that game treated its characters

[@granmastersword]

@@darthcinema4262 well, looking back, I have to agree to some extent. Honestly, Halo 5 is like the Halo 2 to 343i's Bungie. Both games made some decisions in their story and campaign like having ads that mislead their plot (Halo 2 being implied to be set on Earth defending it against a Covenant invasion and Halo 5 with the Hunt the Truth fiasco) that made them the most criticized part by the public. But they were just ignored in favor of focusing on the multiplayer, which were the highlight of the games. The main distinction being Halo 5 getting more flack because of the misleading marketing campaign and the present discontent old school fans have towards 343i feeling they ruined and killed the franchise. It's a good think Microsoft and 343i fired the writer behind Halo 5 and the Escalation comic book serie who had the galaxy brain idea of making the game heavily dependent on having prior knowledge of the lore (and that's not counting on the poor quality of Escalation, wasting potential storylines established on Halo 4's Spartan Ops)

[@GenerationWest]

What happened, Konami stopped caring. Either, I don't know, Sony buys the rights to Konami properties like, Metal Gear and Silent Hill to them like that rumor awhile back, or they stay pachinko properties for the foreseeable future.

[@PrayForTanqueray]

I do sincerely hope that they sell Silent Hill and Castlevania to someone who'll actually do something worthwhile with those franchises. Metal Gear should just rest tbh, it's story had been told already and fixing MGS5 wouldn't be an option anyway sadly.

[@wander1139]

honestly i cant see sony having the money for that maybe microsoft could but then konami would be selling rights to western companies

[@bobafett4265]

@@natediaz1863 yep I guess we'll all Pirate their games and look for original properties to scratch that itch of Castlevania, Silent Hill and Metal Gear action, honestly I do feel like Konami will license out their properties on game development, they apparently have already started to do so after their current in house development on making console games was a disaster, so it's likely we'll hear more from them going forward on whatever collaborations they have in mind, I'm doubtful they'll get the fame they once had however...

[@chevicus]

or you know. you had an idiot producer, who cant do shit normally and konami actually got better after they booted his dumb overhyped ass.

[@socksleeve]

@@chevicus that's some obvious bait, try harder

[@M9_Prime]

I love the What Happun series. The behind the scenes stuff is always so interesting.

[@bobbillans6715]

I think you could make a really good episode off the rocky development story of the EarthBound/Mother series. The series was constantly on the verge of cancellation and still managed to survive as one of the most beloved cult classics out there.

[@MysteriousOne1616]

Yes

[@Terithian]

Good point, that could be great. All three together had loads of stuff that comes up in these videos all the time, from rocky development, to bad marketing, to unsuccessful attempts to break into 3D.

[@HolyGoddessMotherAnne]

Bless Itoi. (PBUH).

[@phoenixdouchebag904]

Mother 3 warrants an entire video on its own.

[@thomasffrench3639]

Probably because the first Mother game is a classic RPG beloved by RPG fans everywhere.

[@TheWhiteAxl]

one the problem with the story is that even if you play Mirror of Fate, LoS 2 still contradict some stuff that are mentioned there, and not every plot hole is filled, they just never mentioned again

[@traceyrinaldi4759]

Honestly LOS2s story issues were more in the latter half where they basically just seemed to run out of money or dev time so they just slapped a half assed ending on. Like theres some plotholes for sure but most of it couldve been rectified with the latter half not running out of steam.

[@yewtewbstew547]

@@Nk3ATR Yeah I agree. There's really only one way a Castlevania series _should_ end. I'd make the same criticism of the Netflix series tbh, but that at least is apparently going to be continued in a new run with Richter as the main protaganist. This just ends, and it neither deserves nor will receive a followup. Also making Satan the main antagonist was a kinda rubbish idea in the first place if you ask me lol. It would have been better if it was written with Death as the main antagonist. Satan barely even has a role, he just kinda shows up at the end of both games and then dies. I think all Satan did between the end of LoS1 and his appearance in 2 is lift weights in hell.

[@MrFutago87]

I always felt that LOS2 should have been LOS3, there should've been a full game in between, as in more than just Mirror Of Fate. Like take Victor Belmont out of LOS2, give him his own full game to build up the story further abd then have LOS3 with Gabriel/Dracula and then they'd have more to work with.

[@UnityArk]

@@MrFutago87 Yeah the series was very oddly thought out. I mean, first putting Mirror of Fate, basically a Direct Sequel to LOS1, on the 3DS to start with when the first was not on any Nintendo system was strange. Then of course making LOS2, a direct sequel to MoF, back on the non-Nintendo consoles and PC. Some very bizarre decision making there. Granted, without MoF, we might not have gotten more 2D Metroid, since MoF got Nintendo's/Sakamoto's attention due to Mercury Steam's technical work on it.

[@Maxim0M1]

"not every plot hole is filled" Plot holes aren't meant to be "filled". You're probably getting confused by the term having the word "hole" in it. Plot holes are narrative contradictions/inconsistencies. You probably meant unexplained plot points.

[@JehutyGaming]

I must say. I rather enjoyed LOS2 the second time I played it( 3 years after launch again). Once you know what is expected in some of the sections, especially the stealth ones, you can progress pretty smoothly. You can also see its a game that wasn't play tested enough. It was already delayed once, but a delay till end of the year with a PS4 and Xbone version would have done wonders. They could have even cashed on a remaster of LOS1 afterwards too.

[@MattMcMuscles]

Yup. Big agree.

[@Shinigami41395]

Yeah, I think a lot of people misunderstood the stealth sections. I misunderstood them at first as well. They aren't really true stealth sections, they're bascially just a puzzle. They have a single solution that will always work. Once you figure that out, they are quite easy to complete.

[@PartyUpLive]

I LOVED the first LOS for the story(and gameplay) of how Dracula became Dracula. Sure it wasn't the best story but I still enjoyed it and seeing how Gabriel changed and how he had the IDGAF attitude in LOS 2.

[@bluecaptainIT]

Nice pfp, OP! Say hello to ADA for me!

[@k-dogg9086]

@@PartyUpLive so Gabriel became the count that every game before it had? So that makes it the first in the timeline that started it all then.. Gabriel goes to fight evil but not dracula because he himself became dracula that the others throughout the series fought against after los 1-3. Oh..

[@MiraiGen]

David Cox describing his departure from the company as a hollow Drac gets kicked around for a few minutes is just perfect editing

[@W0lfenstrike]

I really liked the first Lords of Shadow, once you get past the initial shock of "not being Castlevania enough", it's actually a solid and fairly lengthy gothic action romp and the DLC is hard as nails.

[@ForrestFox626]

Talk to me when the camera is better

[@sumguy0110]

16:45 Considering we have preserved wall messages in Roman restaurants and taverns that read almost like modern shitposts, I'm willing to bet that we haven't really changed at all.

[@sxblck]

Goddammit, that picture of Dave Cox… You can’t get mad at it!!!

[@Dannyheal]

I truly enjoyed the Lord of Shadows iterations. LoS 2 is hands down one of the prettiest games in the PS3 life cycle as well. It is a shame the Castlevania series is dead, but God bless the Bloodstained series to keep us going.

[@ratchetxtreme6591]

The last castlevania game prior to the dreaded pachinko era of the franchise .

[@TheSSBBfan666]

ironically enough, i found out the pachinko Lords of Shadow game has a rendition of Bloody Tears, and it kicks ass. I have this pipedream that Gabriel gets into Smash as DLC as Dracula and the rival to Simon/Richter (Ultimate has rivals theming with many of the fighters, like Cloud and Sephiroth) and Bloody Tears being his theme like how Vampire Killer is Simon's and Divine Bloodlines is Richter's.

[@Zlartec]

Ideas for future episodes: Paper Mario Sticker Star Mass Effect 3 No Man's Sky Star Wars Battlefront (EA) 1+2 Final Fantasy XIV 1.0 (and the road to ARR) Marvel's Avengers Metal Gear Survive Assassin's Creed Unity Metroid Dread's development history (Hype!) (Also, every Dragon Age game had some kind of troubled development)

[@marko-gj1uj]

Hello Neighbor

[@nsmith2825]

Question, do we know if COVID forcing everyone to stay at home has had any effect on Konami's Pachinko profits?

[@yewtewbstew547]

Just from Googling it it appears the Japanese government didn't legally force pachinko parlors to close, but many did so voluntarily at their request. So I think it's a safe bet that pachinko profits will have been hit to some extent. Most people wouldn't exactly want to be touching machines like that during the peaks.

[@MrFutago87]

It did, it was down almost 50%, their movile game revenue however increased especially with eFootball PES 2021 and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links. They are making bank with their mobile games.

[@kevincarreno8471]

@@MrFutago87 plus Konami sells health insurance in japan, meaning more money for them too

[@kevincarreno8471]

@@soulripper31 yeah without wasting more money than needed

[@ReiDuran]

It's so wild that the company that did this is now knocking it out of the park with Metroid.

[@icravedeath.1200]

Live and learn.

[@elvinmacospag6989]

Combat in 2 is just glorious. Stealth sucks thermonuclear arse though. So there could've been an Lords of Shadow 3 or another 2D Castlevania, but Konami killed both. Damn, that's a shame. Glad MercurySteam is still around; cautiously optimistic for Metroid Dread.

[@TheSSBBfan666]

Samus Returns is a hit that i recommend, nd i enjoyed the LoS Trilogy. its nice that Gabriel/Dracula got to choose to live instead of his initial suicidal desire with his son Trevor/Alucard. So its left open if they could show up anywhere else.

[@NeroRedfield]

Are you kidding me? Are you fcking kidding me?!!! Combat in LoS2 is one of the worst combat i ever played.

[@sdgdhpmbp]

MercuryStink made it clear that they wanted LoS to end at 2. And the fucking death of the series is as much their fault as Konami's. Whatever their trilogy sought to achieve is thankfully buried in the ashes while IGA got his own IGAvania in an environment ripe with Metroidvanias. Btw, how are the God of War clones doing these days, especially considering GoW itself evolved from that monotonous crap?

[@F.Hakeem89]

It's only a matter of time for a What Happened Metal Gear Survive.

[@arkdetective]

@@Poever quick answer: no. We'll die from laughing too hard, not the game itself.

[@sirdarkon4517]

i kinda want more What Happun MGSV. you know with the drama and all

[@rna151]

@@sirdarkon4517 I mean yeah, that sounds way more interesting. Survive just seems like "We've got a team and a bunch of assets we'd like to try and get a bit more value from... what's popular right now in the west, zombie survival? Let's do Metal Gear That." Comparatively, MGS 5 promises power struggles in Konami, whatever bizarre negotiations created Ground Zeroes, etc...

[@ketrub]

@@rna151 i mean in metal gear survive you literally have anti-konami easter eggs

[@MrXMysteriousX]

It'd just be "The fans told Konami to F-off"

[@ForceWave-1139]

“Kojima’s such an egotist, that’s why he put his career on the line to shield MercurySteam from Konami’s corporate BS.” Kojima saw their talent, which was vindicated by them being the saviors of Metroid.

[@Sonichero151]

Literally the same energy as those two directors that shielded the Goldeneye team from Nintendo/EON from any corporate tomfuckery.

[@theLikou1]

Trust me, people will find a way to hate Kojima on this.

[@theLikou1]

@@Gatorade69 He doesn't. But people are are assholes.

[@ForceWave-1139]

@@theLikou1 When people feel inadequate for having accomplished little in life, they seek to tear down those who have done great things. I’m not saying Kojima’s perfect (his strength is in directing and worldbuilding; writing is his big weakness), but the way people try to put him down with bad faith criticism is just disgusting.

[@tsurbwobniar20]

@@ForceWave-1139 Not really, it's just people finding someone who didn't live up to their extremely high expectations and then getting extra salty about them.

[@Razsor97]

As someone who basically grew up on Castlevania, I honestly loved the LoS saga. I agree/admit that they weren’t the best and that there were flaws here and there, but I still don’t care. The whole story had me hooked. Not since Symphony of the Night have I been interested in Castlevania games.

[@DestroyerApollyon]

I really loved lords of shadow 2, while it’s not perfect, nor my favorite, it is a game I enjoyed playing and would gladly play again.

[@jorgelucasbarbosa3574]

So, the worst decision they made, actually, is that Mirror of Fate is the atual "Lords of Shadow 2", and to play Lords of Shadow 2 you have to play Mirror of Fate, making Los 2, actually, "LoS3" in terms of story. Yeah, now I know how Kingdom Hearts fans feels.

[@User-fr5fp]

They named it mirror of fate because it was a 3DS exclusive. Naming mirror of fate as Lords of shadow 2 will be weird because there was no lords of shadow 1 for Nintendo. So a Nintendo player will be confused and will start searching for lords of shadow 1. this is why they named it mirror of fate just to avoid that confusion.

[@Mighty-Eight]

Please do a What Happened? with The Legend of Dragoon. A PS1 game that only had one game but is still loved by fans of the game, but left behind by Sony.

[@shadowdancer5330]

LOD is the best RPG game ever made. If I had a choice between any Final Fantasy game or LOD it's LOD.

[@Mighty-Eight]

@@shadowdancer5330 Agreed

[@grimwolf5948]

Lod is hands down my number one game

[@childofcascadia]

People were focused on the stealth part because after getting frustrated after the 10th instadeath in a row caused by shittily designed stealth sections, thats what sticks out in peoples mind. It doesnt matter if its like 6%. If that 6% is extremely shit and has instafail, it might as well be the whole game.

[@jestaalchaosborne]

Curse of darkness is still my favorite castlevania of all time and I have played them all, so just saying IMO it’s the best

[@viejodelentes6079]

I hated the Lords of shadow games, they removed everything that made the Castlevania series fun to begin with, but thanks to those games we now have a Konami free Koji Igarashi working on awesome vania style games.

[@DaGroundUnder]

I liked the idea of stealth but it should've made drac more of a predator

[@ArtbyOscarMejia]

I really enjoyed the Lord of shadows trilogy. The first one was a very pleasant surprise and mirror of faith was a great "add on" to the story but I do agree with the criticism against the Lord of shadows 2. The stealth was just dumb, you are F..ing Dracula , you pretty much take on entire armies but you need to hide in the shadows because there are big guys with guns 🤦🤦

[@noctsickversus9632]

Remember that after you posses them they die?( the big guys)

[@darthrizzen9349]

I'm honestly surprised to discover there was so much drama around Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2. I bought it on release date and distinctly remember the nightmarish first person opening sequence, the new setting where Dracula's castle was intermingled with a dystopian modern city, the new structure more akin to a 3D Metroidvania than a punishingly hard linear brawler. I can't remember those stealth sequences though. Or any plot holes actually. To me it was a solid, very pleasant game that I liked much better than the 1st one. I'm sad the series got dropped, especially since CV:LoS 2 ended on another very interesting situation. The way Konami works now, it's pointless to expect anything now. I wasn't aware there was a DS game at all, however. Perhaps I'll try and track a copy.

[@toitman2]

I think the plot explaination problem was how Gabriel turned into Dracula. There is an intro cut scene to get u upto speed if one didn't play mirrors fate which I think was good enough, but even though I played all games I can't remember how that transformation occurred, some requirement to kill an immortal being I think.

[@darthrizzen9349]

@totiman Unless I'm very mistaken, the first Lords of Shadow ended with Gabriel Belmont defeating Satan and acquiring the mask that can supposedly raise the dead... Except that it was a lie and God used the grieving Belmont and his dead wife's soul to retrieve the artifact. Gabriel is just told to live on and atone for his sins. Centuries later, he's turned into Dracula. There's no in-game explanation but it never bothered me. I just inferred he felt betrayed, renounced God and pledged himself to darkness, much like Coppola's adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

[@toitman2]

@@darthrizzen9349 there's a dlc on the first game that extends the story to explain how Gabriel becomes a vampire. But I can't remember why he needed to become a vampire, he didn't do it by choice. Still it was a good game/story

[@aaronhunt1740]

@@darthrizzen9349 Yeah, I remember Gabriel becoming Dracula in the first game. The "plot hole" thing is a head scratcher. Story made perfect sense to me.

[@Rebell-mi4zu]

@@toitman2 the reason why Gabriel needed to become a vampire was because the new BBEG, named the forgotten one, was in the process of escaping this dimension prison, but only dark beings can survive there, so Gabriel need to become a vampire to chase after the forgotten one before they broke free. But the only question I have left, unless it’s explained in either MoF or LoS2, is why did Gabriel change his name to Dracula?

[@midvalley009]

I tested this game for Konami. I spent 3 months in Spain working with the team directly working on mof as well as Clos2. Came back home to continue working on it for the pc version. So this will be interesting to watch.

[@The1of1000]

Hey, that’s pretty cool. I personally thought this game turned out great.

[@JustinZarian]

That animated intro playing the organ was superb! I love the extra effort you’ve been putting into making the videos more lively!

[@Liglerian]

I truly MISS the Castlevania games! I WISH another game would come around 😢😭

[@wyrenpanda4483]

yeah fr

[@egpNoodlez]

Awesome! I've been hoping you'd be able to cover this one eventually, I think it was a couple of years ago you said there wasn't enough info to do an episode at the time. Really made my day seeing this on my notifications

[@bosH0g]

14:48 "Despite his nice look to the press, often considered as some sort of creative visionary in the looks of David Cage and Molyneux" uh oh

[@yewtewbstew547]

Technically Peter Molyneux was a creative visionary. He just put a lot more effort into the visionary part than he did the creative part, which is why most of his visions never made it into his games lol.

[@mspeter97]

Still kinda expecting one on Final Fantasy XV (and XIII) one of these days.

[@SampoPaalanen]

Honestly if you want to Final Fantasy game with a "what happened" level of screw ups FF14 would probably be a safer bet, though from what I've heard FF15 wasn't a walk in the park either though from what I've heard FF13 didn't have any major drama, it just wasn't as successful as Square-Enix expected.

[@joseph0098]

@@SampoPaalanen From what I know both FFXIII and FFvrs13 - FFXV had a troublesome development mostly because Square's (and most Japanese developers at the time) transition to HD software ang engines wasn't the smoothest.

[@rascalguy5673]

@@joseph0098 That and Sony didn't give them the dev kits for most of the production of the games. That is why FF13 is so linear. They developers didn't know what the system could handle, so they made it as cpu friendly as possible. The layout of FF13-2 was what was originally intended. For FF14, they did not have that excuse.

[@solidsnake6673]

You know, Dave Cox seems like a neat guy, thanks for making the franchise what it is today!

[@rendurai]

Simon and Alucard`s banter during the Netflix show was golden.

[@madcowboy5700]

Trevor*

[@LowerBlack64]

Treffy*

[@nestormelendez9005]

Trevor*

[@rendurai]

@@Rihcterwilker Yeah dude i have to remember my kids names and birthday, i cant keep up with a show.

[@TheSSBBfan666]

@@LowerBlack64 you sir deserve some Wall Chicken

[@Dipwad_Omega]

14:31 I suppose that one could say the employee painted...a Portrait of Ruin? ...sorry, I'll see myself out

[@Chasmic]

Gotta cover Bounty Battle, the most troubled indie release of the past year. Failed promises, countless delays, maybe some poor developer treatment? Very spicy.

[@WhispyWoods.]

Of course your in depth research and overall writing and editing and graphics are all top shelf, but the little series-specific references in each video really take things to a higher level. IE: 0:39 sweet juicy wall meat 1:57 kneel down in front of this wall

[@TheKonamiMan]

I love this game despite some of the issues and dread how this episode of the show is gonna go.

[@Rook_Wyatt]

I'm really curious about what happened with the development of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2. Considering how short the game ended up being, the rushed story, and weird 2 endings, I bet there was something going on behind the scenes with that game.

[@000mjd]

LucasArts game the team like 9 or 10 months to make the whole game

[@DragonNexus]

I wish we could get a FU1 remake with FU2's combat engine. Perfect game.

[@GmNdWtchr96]

Fitting you talk about Mercurysteam on one half of the Metroidvania genre's namesakes with Metroid Dread just having just been announced

[@f.entanyl]

This guy is making this old nostalgic game come back alive

[@IronChitlinSA]

Mercury Steam also made Clive Barker's Jericho, a game that really needs a deep dive Wha Happun to be made about it.

[@burnedraventales6030]

They lost me as soon as they pushed it into a modern futuristic setting. The only things I can complement them on is the art team though, I still love my artbook for these.

[@skydragonx8]

I have waited so long for a Wha Happun episode on LoS2 for so long and it didn't disappoint, great episode as always Matt!!!

[@nestormelendez9005]

I got the trilogy for free on Xbox and can say I've been having a blast playing them than most modern AAA games

[@efilwv1635]

“Man I wish Castlevania had stealth sections”…..said nobody.

[@MrFutago87]

I remember that interview, now I really feel bad for believing it.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

I remember asking Matt about possibly doing a video on this game years ago, I'm truly delighted to see it finally come to fruition, great job Matt!

[@prophecyofgaming]

You know... recently I got to play the full trilogy, and Im no castlevania expert in fact I havent play any of the older caltlevanias for more than an hour, but as a newcomer, this trilogy was pretty good, all 3 games have problems but I really wanted to keep playing them so at least to me these are really fun games

[@Miguel_OHara928]

As someone who's played the majority of the classic CV titles, they're fun games in their own right and aren't even close to the worst that the franchise has to offer. LoS games don't really feel that much like Castlevania overall, but that's ok too, nobody seems to mind that about the Netflix show.

[@darthcinema4262]

It's sad that this is the last Castlevania game. It's a good game, but it's also full of problems and isn't as good as the first game

[@emanuelepolloni4002]

At least Netflix managed to make a surprisingly good animated series out of the games. And they're also working on a sequel too, so at least Castlevania will keep living on, albeit on a different medium.

[@Linklex7]

I agree. The only major problem I had with part 2 was the awful auto-fail stealth sections. The director asked people did they see the other 90% of the game. True is though if folks are stuck on an awful auto-fail stealth section, then no they probably didn’t see the rest of the game. The is an accurate failing on Mercurystream’s part.

[@darthcinema4262]

@@emanuelepolloni4002 I loved the anime. Too bad it's over😢 At least we got a great finale, and a new series is coming😄

[@Miguel_OHara928]

Well, the game is overall pretty fun in spite of all the problems it has. I actually liked it way more than the first one, the combat, level design and bosses were an improvement. And I honestly would rather take it as a last game in the series than whatever the hell current Konami could come up with. Just look at the poor Contra...

[@darthcinema4262]

@@Miguel_OHara928 Or Metal Gear Survive. I cringe at the mention of that name.

[@Bloodylaser]

It was pretty cool that Kojima helped out on the first lords of shadow.

[@PaddyDukes52]

I have legit been waiting on this video for as long as I’ve been subscribed to this channel! I’m so happy!

[@ricardoj3232]

I've been waiting for this episode for a while thanks Matt!!

[@Tannerj50]

donald duck: i dont know whats going on.... *kingdom hearts flashbacks

[@jacobyne]

Wwwhhhhen you waaaalk aaaaawaaaayy... *flashbacks*

[@UberShyGuy]

Gonna be honest, I think the issue of "feeling like so many other action games flooding the market" was kind of the biggest one. Much like with, say, Darksiders, the Lords of Shadow games don't really have much of their own identity for people to latch onto, so ultimately, the main reason they're memorable is because of the disappointment over what they weren't.

[@BuyMeThingsnow]

Being compared to God of War is also sort of a redflag tbh. Out of all the classic character action franchises, Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, etc. God of War was always the most shallow in terms of combat.

[@rexzs794]

Oh hey, I asked about this one! Glad to see you cover it, Matt :D

[@solaireflair2815]

Yes!!! I’ve been waiting for you to discuss this game.

[@BlackHarlequin13]

I honestly Enjoy the Lords of Shadow Series by themselves. The stealth section was definitely a turn off and slowed the pace of the Sequel, but I wouldn't mind resisting them, I wish there was a Current-Gen Remaster for them. Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing Mercurysteam making their own successor title with a lot of gothic or cosmic horror themes to it.

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

Metroid Dread?

[@marvinpeterson9903]

Good luck on a remaster. I actually asked Mercury Steam on their facebook page about a remaster and Konami still owns the rights to Castlevania. I still own both games for Xbox 360. Makes me want to buy a 360 just so I can play them.

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

@@marvinpeterson9903 castlevani advance collection listed, we could see it sometime

[@BlackHarlequin13]

@@haruhisuzumiya6650 More 3D... but I am looking forward to that one.

[@BlackHarlequin13]

@@marvinpeterson9903 if anything I'll just get the PC versions.

[@Hraesvlgr]

One of my favorites despite all the flaws. And yes, I have been playing the series since the NES.

[@Arumbarth]

Starting my Saturday right with donuts and a new Wha Happun

[@Ckoz2829]

Loved these games. They’re some of my all time favorites and it’s a shame how some people let minor criticisms overshadow what are otherwise excellent entries in the Castlevania series. Also great video! I just discovered you through SSFF and am binging all your work lol!

[@Afr0Punk]

I knew this day would come eventually...

[@CommanderShepard-wq3wo]

I remember absolutely enjoying ‘Lords of Shadow’ and being very excited for ‘LoS2’ Of course I and many others who didn’t play ‘Mirror of Fate’ were a little lost playing LoS but whatever. I got over it. But what killed the entire experience of LoS2 for me was those painfully, annoying stealth sections of the game. Like seriously! We’re playing as freaking Dracula!! And the developers thought to themselves “hEy, yOu kNoW wHaT wiLl mAkE a cAsTlEvAniA gAmE wHerE yOu pLaY aS mOtHeReFfiNg dRaCuLa eVeN bEtTeR?? sTeAlTh sEcTiOnS! wHeRe yOu diE iF yOu gEt cAuGhT!! Huuur duur!” I spent $60 on the damn game so I might as well have finished it. Sold it the next day 😒 I still have my LoS copy though. Such a shame the a series started off strong then ended up being a huge disappointment

[@snailthelostcow63]

Ugh… seeing this is painful since it’s clearly the usual “sequel hooplas” which usually results in a more solid and amazing, phenomenal even, 3rd entry….. if it’s ever released I can actually imagine Lord of Shadow 3 will stand side by side with DMC and Bayonetta if given the chance

[@AshXXMayftw]

Honestly, I would love to see Mercury Steam make their own 3D Castlevania inspired game. Have the gameplay resemble Lords of Shadows, but more refined and slick, and maybe give the characters a bit more personality. Perhaps not at the same goofy level as Dante or Bayonetta, but some lighthearted joking around or corny one liners could help bring out more of their personalities. Maybe have it revolve around a group of monsters inspired by the Universal monsters from the early 1900s, but more combat ready. Maybe they could be involved in a secret government program that tracks down other supernatural entities and contains/kills them when need being. The vampire could be geared more towards stealth and silent takedowns, while the werewolf could deal massive physical damage. Frankenstein's monster could be the tank that uses a variety of melee weapons, while Gillman could be more useful for puzzles or maybe underwater sections. Just some ideas.

[@Noctivagus47]

LoS had great battles, atmosphere and story progression. LoS2 gave it all up for an open world attempt that didn't work. The best part of the game was the war at its beginning

[@furb246]

I'd love to see an episode on the Darksiders franchise, which, despite the publisher THQ going defunct and the developer Vigil closing its doors, still somehow managed to keep being developed by most of its original team, with two different studios, each founded by former devs, developing two different games in the series.

[@MattMcMuscles]

I will def tackle that in the future. I feel like it might be better as a retrospective though?

[@fara.r.8181]

Darksiders is an underrated game

[@GemakaiGaming]

A few years back, I streamed all the Lords of Shadows games for October (cause spook month) and while I had my issues, they were still incredibly solid games that I felt got better with each iteration. Like, yea the stealth segments of 2 are awkward but like Enric said, they're an incredibly small portion of the game and don't bog it down too much. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised just how much I liked the game and the series as a whole. In a way its refreshing to see a video going into that with the bigger picture, including digging into claims of "mass layoffs" and "hostile work environment" to see if they're founded at all. This was a good episode for me cause I hope it gives people the chance and interest to check the games out for themselves. They're not perfect recreations of classic Castlevania but they aren't meant to be. They're more reimaginings if anything and it's fun to see new ideas with classic properties now and again, imo. Sorry for the soapbox-y speech. Just had a good time with this ep. Tldr: good episode. Yall should check out the LoS games. They ain't bad.

[@g-bear83]

I only just started watching the channel, but was seriously hoping I would find this exact video :)

[@rafbi4874]

Intoxicating video. Incredible work my dude.

[@atre5763]

I'm just happy Mercury Steam is still going good with the Metroid games.

[@PartyUpLive]

They have Spacelords which is a decently fun free-to-play online shooter. Seems not many know or care about it but I enjoy it.

[@Gnidel]

I remember really enjoying it. It was a good conclusion to the series that has rushed middle. Even infamous stealth sections started being better than collossi from the first game when I realized that speedrunning & distraction is the best strategy.

[@CreditR01]

10:29 - Yes. Yes we do. I've never been into Castlevania much myself but I do see why a lot of people love it. So much so that we got great fandom-driven labors of love and projects for it.

[@modewondershot4874]

Suspicious Spanish newspaper article or not, I think we can agree that the phrase "...creative 'visionary' in the looks of David Cage and Molyneux" has likely raised more than a few red flags already. Great work on this video as always!

[@PaulineRagny]

This video made me wanna try Lords of Shadow 2 honestly. I might give it a try after all.

[@PartyUpLive]

If you've played LOS 1 you definitely should play through LOS 2. While not perfect, I think they did a decent job story wise. There are just some sections and game design decisions that I did not care for. But overall, I enjoyed it.

[@PaulineRagny]

@@PartyUpLive I even kind of liked LOS 1! It just didn't feel like a castlevania game at all. But if you ignore the title and approached it on its own terms, I think it's pretty good.

[@dickenbacker]

Yes, in "What Happun" episode 2f09, Matt plays an upright piano, yet he produces the sound of a pipe organ. Are we to believe that this is some sort of uhh Magic piano or something? Boy I really hope some one got fired for that blunder.

[@cellariusmack2595]

Process was a nice touch

[@BigEOT3]

Fitting episode considering the big bombshell that dropped Tuesday

[@16xthedetail76]

What happened? Aria of sorrow exists. Sadge.

[@cyberangel2787]

What's wrong with that? The DS Vanias that followed were pretty good.

[@LordIvul]

@@cyberangel2787 I would guess that Aria's success pushed the series into stalemate, with DoS and PoR being just to similar of the games in terms of gameplay style which might have resulted in people loosing interest in the series over time. Order of Ecclesia tried to shake things up by refreshing the combat system and making player explore more areas than just a castle, but that might have been too little too late. As great as Igavanias were, the fact they as games are so similar to each other combined with them being released yearly at some point didn't fare well for the series. Three Igavanias were released on DS in the span of 3 years. There are more Igavanias on DS than Super Mario platformers, that says something.

[@cyberangel2787]

@@LordIvul I'd take a stable but solid series over one that tries to experiment for the sake of experimenting. True, tight schedules can harm creativity, but GBA/DS Vanias are definitely NOT an example of that. I've seen successful game franchises running for longer with less variety between installments. And I don't mean sports games.

[@LordIvul]

@@cyberangel2787 thing is, it's hard to call Castlevania a succesful series. I don't mean that it brought losses, it probably didn't, but it had a rather niche audience (even if sizable) and noticably, newer and newer Igavania titles failed to bring in new audiences at the time of their release. Heck, none of Igavania titles are best selling games in the series, even when we exclude LoS, as I'm pretty sure Circle of the Moon outsold them all (maybe Aria did better, but it's hard to find exact sales figures). Sure, critical reception was great, but sales declined, and for big corporation, this means the product is not succesful. In that case, you either phase out the product or try to revitilize it to reignite the interest. Lord of Shadows was an attempt at that and succeded... at first. Don't get me wrong, I love Igavanias, OoE is probably my favorite DS game and I'll play it anytime over the mediocrity which was Mirror of Fate, but let's be real, these games did not bring much of a buck to Konami, so they finally got axed. Nowadays, with Metroidvania genre at hight of it's popularity, those titles would probably succeed, but those 12+ years ago, the trends were just completely different.

[@CruelestChris]

@@LordIvul To be fair Iga was working with a budget so low he was using the same Medusa Head sprite for something like 20 years.

[@Tkscz]

This was obvious made before Dread's announcement as I can't imagine Matt would miss out on that

[@fakeshemp9599]

That "prossess" line at the end was great lol

[@uglyskateboards4457]

Once I discovered this show I haven’t logged into Netflix for a month. Your channel and shows are amazing. Thank you for your in-depth reviews and or wha happun. Keep on keeping on 💪

[@thesegaguy6279]

The game is kind of a guilty pleasure for me. I've never been the biggest Castlevania fan, but dumb stuff like putting something in a setting that it doesn't belong has always been my cup of tea.

[@Eva01-jy2qu7pu9r]

Lords of Shadow 2 was actually enjoyable in my opinion. It might’ve been different from what was expected but I was able to have fun regardless of those flaws.

[@traceyrinaldi4759]

It was so close to something special...its a damn shame.

[@sboh3715]

Thanks for the great video.. I adore Castlevania as a whole, and I love LoS. I just played LoS and LoS2 last month. After completing LoS2 multiple times, I appreciate it a little more, but it doesn't compare to the first. It could have been helped by a few little tweaks, such as making the golgoth guards defeatable after you level up enough. It sucks to beat Satan, keep playing, and never be able to fight a common guard.

[@brianvaira486]

I'm very glad this game didn't kill Mercurysteam since Metroid Dread is fantastic.