I grew up in love with the original trilogy. I played the crap out of those games. I actually didn't play Castlevania IV until around a decade after it came out. I didn't play SotN until about last year or so when I finally picked up The Dracula X Chronicles for PSP.
The first of the newer (metroidvania style) games I played was Cirlce of the Moon, and I loved it. I actually found SotN quite lackluster by comparison. Of course, that's just a personal preferences for certainly elements about the game.
This type of statement makes me stabby. People act like GoW created its genre. Actually, check out a game called Rygar - The Legendary Adventure. Check the release date on that versus GoW. Or, if you're too lazy, let me tell you that it was out 3 years prior.
Now who is copying whom? GoW ripped off everything about that game even up to the Greek Mythology setting. At least Lords of Shadow is only "copying" the mechanics of GoW at best. GoW gets credit for being a polished product, but it is not the original (and had 3 years longer to work with the hardware). I've had a problem with people saying that games ripped of GoW since everyone made a big beef about Dante's Inferno.
Is Gran Turismo simply ripping off Rad Racer? Are we not allowed to have more racing games if any other preceded it? This is a Final Fantasy forum. You want to talk about rip offs? Look at how much FF "stole" from DQ. Don't even get me started on FPS, especially in the modern "me too" sense. Nobody seem to complain about that. Most people seem happy to see another brown/grey military shooter every 2 month with the same weapons load out either shooting brown people in the middle east or space aliens invading our planet.
The point is, it doesn't matter. Games can be similar. Games should inspire other games. There should be similarities. Just because one may seem to be the apotheosis of the form doesn't mean that that's where it should stop. If it's so wonderful, people should use those concepts as a foundation for all sorts of things. Would you rather we end up with situations where no one is allowed to use "arrows that tell you where to go" because someone patented it?
The only people who really have a problem with this are fanboys who can't stand the idea of another game building on the concepts of their pet.... or perhaps just really ignorant people.