Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow - Not The Actual Library

Turns out I didn’t save. Once you complete an area you actually have to select the “Continue Quest” option or else the game does not save. It wasn’t as awful as I feared. I just had to repeat the teleporter puzzle again. I knew how this section worked so it was pretty simple to get through. That actually worked against me however. Last time I completed the level I had over 2500 skill points and I was able to buy a new skill. This time I only had 2375 skill points when the level ended so I was not able to buy a new skill before moving on to the next area. This made me very sad. But less than 10 minutes later I was finished with the room again and onto the next area.

Now when I walk into a room full of books I’m going to make the assumption that I am in a library. That apparently is not the case. I guess Gabriel and Zobek wandered into the library storage area and they have to find their way to the main library. I have no idea why the main library is important but it at least gives them a short term goal.

Now it was blatantly obvious what was going to happen when Zobek wandered on one side of a gate and Gabriel stayed on the other. The two know that the abbey is full of traps; you think they would prepare for something this obvious. So when a gate slams shut and cuts them off from each other they should just feel silly about not expecting it.

Here we meet the Animated Armor. It’s a giant suit of armor that carries a big shield and is empty inside, hence the name. The shield is important to this enemy since you have to rip it off in order to finally beat the thing. I missed this at first and just kept pounding away at it wondering why it wouldn’t die. They are slow and pretty easy to fight. I got some nice orbs off of them so I felt pretty confident using shadow magic to take them down quicker.

I don’t quite get the next scene however. Once the Armors are dead Zobek declares he’s “got it!” He appears to be holding a fake book so I’m thinking he found the key. Instead he turns around and smashes a desk with his sword revealing a lever. So I’m stuck wondering, “Did the fake book just tell him to do that?” Zobek pulls the lever and a small escape hatch in the ceiling opens. Thankfully Gabriel has his trusty hookshot ability and can just zip right on up there. Gabriel gets through the escape hatch just as 20 more Armors spawn behind him. I guess Zobek is screwed.

I have to refer to an earlier comment of mine. The abbey is designed to keep one person out at time, period. If two or more people enter they can overcome the traps that the Abbot has set. Gabriel and Zobek also happen to enter with the exact skillset necessary to overcome the traps. Sure if the town folks had invaded it would have been slower going. But they could have succeeded with only minor casualties. I really think they should have gone for it.

The next area of the library is ‘redirecting a beam of light puzzle’. There’s some light fighting but nothing serious. The puzzle is also pretty obvious, just a little time consuming. I really think I deserved more than 500 xp for beating the puzzle too. That stupid thing took forever.

I really wish they would learn to hold the camera still, or maybe do a game update where they give the option to turn the camera shake off. I wanted to play more last night but the camera shake had me feeling too nauseous to continue.