I agree with a lot of what you said. I probably liked Returns better but I was a bit disappointed with both of them. I recently was playing DKC2 and DK64 and I just love the world they created for those games. Not to mention the excellent music which I feel was definitely lacking in the latest ones. But also King K Rool and his goons were a much more compelling enemy. I didn’t feel any connection with the new ones. It just seemed very generic.

Try it if it’s $20 perhaps. Though, I mean, it doesn’t give Gabriels’ story any justice, it became cliched, without spoiling anything. I’m a huge sucker for stories that involve Heroes who’ve fallen to become villains [/Goddamncan’twaitforMGS5]. Gabriel being the ‘Holy Knight’ and becoming literally fated to become Dracula as a deterrent and balance between good and evil, spiteful and betrayed and self-loathing as to why he deserved to be given that fate when all he wanted was to save his wife, whom he murdered himself? I mean…. I was hoping for something complex to come into play that’d perhaps tie in the canonical series like, how the Reaper is infact on Dracula’s side since like if you play alone Symphony of the Night, Death is protecting and is generally an ally of Dracula in his fortress, so my conclusion was that Death/Captain Jean Picard had to in some way become intertwined as a partner instead to Gabriel as he becomes the figurehead of constant death and revival, a complex story that weaves the entire history of the Castlevania series….No, we didn’t get that though. It has a plot twist of some nature, but it feels, to me, too….Hollywood-like, too cheesy or predictable. I expected more. Wanted more. Lords of Shadow 1 set a good benchmark and to me they didn’t fulfil it and didn’t improve on what they started. As I always feel connected to those kinds of characters and feel their pain with them when I play the game, was sad, seeing Gabriel lose his humanity both in having to do all in the first game, and the DLC of losing Laura, and the final fight with Colin McFarlane.

thanks.
too bad. CloS 1 was really really great. specially the last levels, where we could see a huge difference on graphics, with much better and crisper textures than at the beginning of the game.
were you that disappointed that you wouldn’t even tell me to try it, while being tolerant with any possible issues, story, etc.. ? damn, i’d really love to play it, one day.

CloS 2 is pretty boring… I played and beat it and was SUPER hyped for it and loved the first game to bloody pieces. (Platinum Trophy too).

Buuuut, the sequel? The devs said themselves they knew crap was gonna hit the fan, and that their internal problems were similar enough to be comparable to L.A. Noire with idiotic management.

LOS2 is not really anything special. I enjoyed the first one too but the second one falls short. I found it hard to really get into it, mainly because the first one was a bit radical of a departure and because the whip game mechanics felt interesting. The second it a lot of spamming the same combos and the whole red/blue enemy weakness and stun pattern was kind of been there done that. If you see the game for $10-$20 go for it as you’ll likely enjoy some of it for that price.