Konami has just released a new video that shows how the mastery system in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 works. This is the system that lets him upgrade the skills you'll learn over the course of the game, and is pretty much required learning in order to get through it.
See, while Lords of Shadow 2 gives you Dracula as the lead character for the first time in the series, he's not the all-powerful dark lord you'd expect- at least, not yet. You start the game in a weakened state, He's not far from a miserable piles of secrets himself, a weak and powerless shadow of his former self. After all, they can't give all the cool abilities and weapons right off the bat, right? What would you have to look forward to? In classic Metroidvania fashion, you're given a quick opening sequence that shows you at full power to get a taste of what you'll have to look forward to, before you're stripped of your powers and forced to relearn everything all over again. This video shows off a few of the dozens of abilites you'll learn.
Leraning new skills in Lords of Shadow 2 happens much like in the last one. As you defeat enemies and collect experience points you can spend them to upgrade abilities and moves for the three main weapons: the Void Sword, Chaos Claws and Shadow Whip. Each weapon is governed by a skill tree'system, where learning new skills can unlock more powerful ones.
One difference this time though is that the more you use a skill, the more you master it. This is the Mastery System. If you check your book you'll see a percentage next to each skill - for instance, his basic combo which requires you to hit the attack button four times in a row for a powerful combo. The more times you use that against an enemy the more the percent will increase, and once it reaches 100% you can apply the mastery towards the weapon itself. Each weapon can increase by power up to three different levels, up to a MAX level. When you MAX it out your weapon will be utterly powerful, so it's always a good idea to keep changing which skills and combos you use so you can master them all and get the weapon powered up ASAP. Try to get as many as possible leveled up while fighting the smaller enemies, because when you face the gigantic bosses in the game you'll want to have as many mastered weapons as possible in order to make short work of them.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is certainly flawed but it's still a ton of fun, and it's now available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. If you're not sold yet you can download a free demo that shows off the opening sequence in the game.
