This thread has mostly to do with castlevania MOF compared to the older castlevania's on the ds and gba but addresses most of the differences between eastern and western developed games and is taken from the demo version.

Firstly why the hell did konami let mercury steam develop a 2d castlevania? Now I played ,and  enjoyed it for what it was, LOS on ps3 which was developed by MS but that's not really an attribute to the games greatness but has to do with there really being not that much decent castlevania's in 3d *remembers castlevania 64* so I was happy to take what I got. But 2d castlevania's on the other hand most fans of the series has come to expect a much higher standard.

As soon as you start the demo you realize there is combat music (music that starts when there is an enemy on screen), while combat music fits well wit 3d games it is very out of place in a 2d game especially in a 2d castlevania because if you have played most 2d ones the enemy's are mostly, hmmm I don't know how to describe this, but they are just there as part of the whole stage, there is no switch over from platforming time to fighting enemy time that just seems wrong in a 2d game. I hope the beautiful music we have come to expect in a 2d castlevania makes it into the final build of the game but it doesn't look so.

I hate how most games these days have gone for the Hollywood style background music.

Then as soon as you begin to fight, and this is a major reason why I don't like any weapon based combat in western developed games and a little hard to describe, the nice feeling you get when you hit an enemy is gone. You see in most Japanese games in combat when you hit something you get a certain *insert onomatopoeia here* it gives you a  certain satisfaction when you hit something, rather than the feeling that one set of polygons (or sprites) is going through another set of polygons. A good example would be for people who play games like street fighter, you know that sound the game makes when you character fist is connecting with the opponent face, in my many years of playing games I have come to notice that this is absent in most western developed (which is why I think they mostly make shooters).

WHY THE HELL ARE THERE  QUICK TIME EVENTS IN MY BOSS BATTLES. Again this may work in 3d game but it is dumb in 2d games developers should know that not everything that is in a 3d game could transfer over to a 2d game and vice versa.

Also I am not too sure the metroidvania is quite there, from what my perceptive game playing skills has analyzed so far is there is a main level on top and then jump into holes in the ground to make up time and go back up again and yes I have seen the videos with the large maps, I even made a thread on it, but something smells fishy. But I hope to the gaming gods I am wrong oh how I hope I am wrong.

Now there are probably other things that I left out that I didn't like (I maybe was dreaming that I had to pull a lever to open a door Tomb raider 90's style) but I am tired of ranting. So for those who played the demo so far what do you think of it.

I still will be getting this game though as I am a sucker for castlevania games

Is this the game that's going to get an HD Release later on? If so, I already despise this game and everyone who worked on it.

eastern Dev's are more creative.

I am not sure but it could probably explain the frame rate issues maybe the engine was designed for the hd consoles

Thats exactly it, I watched the videos and hoped that it will come together in the final game but it seems they did not pull it off. Hopefully we get more castlevania games and they are handed back to the japanese developers.

It's quite sad that there are framerate issues. 

How bad are they?

I thought the GBA and DS ones did well (why else would they make 6 of them?) so bit baffled by this departure. I would have bought a new one in a heart beat, even something like a Circle of the Moon remake would have been day one.

I just hope can have another sprite based 2D Castlevania on the go in coming years...

The game runs at about 30 fps, but when there are multiple enemies on screen during combat the frame rate dips and it is quite noticeable, this in turn makes the combat even more clunky.  I am hoping this is just for the demo build otherwise it is really unacceptable, because the graphics while good doesn't seem to be pushing the console like say RE: Revelations.

Mercury Steam are going to close their doors if this one ends up being a failure.

Metroidvania is not important, as the best Castelvania I played (Super Castlevania) was straight forward.