Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow - 2 Out Of 3

Chapter VII has been reached. I was hoping to finish it in one playthrough but I didn’t have enough time and then I got stuck in the third area. But that’s ok, I was having fun overall.

The first area, The Balcony, is pretty straightforward. The only real trouble I had was with a trio of Swordmasters that appeared.  I could take care of the first one pretty easily, but the other two would spawn right on top of each other and that would complicate things. They seem to have improved since the last time I saw them. I don’t remember them being this tough. I found air grappling and fairies to be pretty useful. I do love their auto-kill sequence where Gabriel steals their sword. The third swordmaster drops tons of items so don’t be afraid to use what you have.

I don’t get the logic behind this idea though. I have never found myself lacking for items. Typically if I’m running low on an item I just smash the furniture in the area and it will be refilled. This even includes the crystal. I used the crystal on the Butcher. Afterwards I ran into the side room where the tub of meat is at and I broke everything. I had my crystal restored before I walked into the locked room there. So I have never found myself wanting.

There’s also a little pachinko switch puzzle here. Drop a ball down a lane and it will hit switches. Turn all of the switches green and you are good to go. This one took me a little to figure out. I mainly passed it based off o f luck and a couple of good hunches. For anyone that wanders in here looking for a walkthrough here ya go:

1. Left

2. Middle

3. Middle

4. Middle

5. Middle

6. Middle

7. Right

There, that’s the end of the level.

The next area is the Electrical Laboratory.  This place talks about Dr. Frankenstein and gives a pretty cool backstory for him and Vampire Lord. (As a reminder Frankenstein is a human and the creature he creates is called Frankenstein’s Monster). The narrative also gives some good setup for Carmilla and how she thinks and behaves. Now, while this is a cool story, I still wish it had  been told during actual gameplay and not in the level voiceover. It would have had more impact.

Frankenstein is painted as an inventor of many things. So I figure that this laboratory Gabriel is in used to belong to him. This area actually confused me at first. You walk into a room with red and blue electrically charged orbs. If a blue orb is next to a red orb they create an electrical barrier between them and Gabriel cannot pass. This is a puzzle that needs to be solved. The trick is, this is a level long puzzle. I thought the puzzle was for this room only. I kept trying to shut off all of the orbs and get my xp, but that is not how the puzzle works. The goal of the puzzle is to make to the very end of the level. There are 3 rooms to clear through in this level.

You have to punch switches on the ground to send a current get the color of the orbs to change. I was using this jump punch attack (L2 + Square) while in the air. Turns out there was a much easier way to do this. L2+Triangle while on the ground. Yeah, I feel pretty stupid since I learned that after the big boss fight where punching a switch is crucial to success.

You end up fighting Frankenstein’s…Giant Mechanical Scorpion That Is Piloted By A Frog. Or GMSTIPBAF for short. Seriously, I don’t get this thing. It feels way out of place. Where is Frankenstein’s Monster in all of this? Why am I fighting a mecha-scorpion? It does not look like it belongs. The fight isn’t hard, unless you’re doing stupid moves like I was. I had a full combo meter almost the entire battle, but I made the battle last longer then was necessary by doing the stupid jumping punch. Once the Scorpion has taken enough damage it goes to this recharging station. You have to punch a switch that will cause the recharge station to damage the Scorpion instead. I kept trying to jump punch the stupid switch, but the jump punch is really hard to target. It seems to head in some random direction on a regular basis. So I would miss the switch and have to repeat the round. This made the fight last a really long time. Seriously, the music stopped playing and everything, it took that long.

The fight isn’t helped that you are locked in an electrical cage with the Scorpion. Or that the camera will freak out and give a bad angle if you get to close to the wall. I don’t know how many times that came back to haunt me. I had more problems with the camera angle than the electrical barrier. The Scorpion also has a long reach, I needed to adjust for that. Once you have all of that figured out, he’s cake.

No, I’m not giving help for the rest of the electrical puzzle. I’m not here for walkthroughs, just thoughts. Besides, I don’t even know what I did. All that I do know is that I bought a really cool Light Magic ability once I had finished the level. Go Light Blast Kamehameha!