Topic: Castlevania The Greatest Five

[Claimh Solais]

It's an 8bit Turn-based RPG. Don't like it, deal with it. I, for one, happen to love RPGs, so nyeh.

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PLOT: 1802, Transylvania

In a small village within Transylvania, there was a boy named Solus, he was 17 years old. A good boy, but a little anti-social. He always kept a pendant with him, given to him by a friend. He worked hard everyday to earn money, as he lived on his own. His father passed away long ago, and his mother was nowhere to be found. Solus worked as an odd jobs man. He'd do any kind of job as long as he'd get paid. Of course, it's not like he got many good jobs.

Eventually, his life began to get better. He got this new job, which was to escort an elderly priest to a shrine, and he'd be paid rather well. Solus accepted this job without a second thought. The very next morning he set out with the priest to the shrine.

However, this was no ordinary shrine. This shrine housed the grave of the Dark Lord Count Dracula, who had been slain eight years prior by the brave Richter Belmont (none had known about Alucard's exploits in the castle in 1797). Puzzled as he was, Solus continued on with the priest into the shrine.

Of course, unknowingly, he just escorted the evil dark priest Shaft to the resurrection site of Dracula. Legions of the dead began to rise, and they all beat down Solus. His body was never found.

Dracula arose once again, thanks to Shaft. His power, this time, was extraordinary. He managed to warp time and space, not only destroying one time frame, but all others at the same time. Richter, who had not faced the legions of Dracula in two years, stood up again to fight, but this time alongside four of his legendary ancestors.

Dracula, however, sensed something. He did not have complete control over time and space as he thought he did, or as Shaft had said. Something was missing. Some item that he needed...
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CAST OF CHARACTERS:

The characters may or may not come from the year that the events of their games take place.

Leon Belmont: From the year 1097, original appearance - Lament of Innocence (PS2)
The first of the legendary Belmont clan of vampire hunters. By striking down his very beloved against his own will, her soul was infused with his whip to give birth to the legendary Vampire Killer whip. He swore that his clan would one day hunt down and slay Dracula. He himself, however, never once faced him in combat.

Trevor Belmont: From the year 1478, original appearance - Dracula's Curse (NES)
The first Belmont to defeat Count Dracula. He fought alongside Grant Danasty, Sypha Belnades, and the Count's very own son, Prince Alucard. After the battle, Trevor was wed to Sypha. Years later, he received word about the Devil's Forgemaster seeking to revive Dracula and set out to stop him.

Simon Belmont: From the year 1698, original appearance - Castlevania (NES)
Quite simply, the man. The most famous of the Belmont family, having vanquished Dracula in the year 1691. On a quest to hunt down the remnants of Dracula's army, he was approached by a mysterious hooded woman. This woman spoke to him of a curse placed onto his body by Dracula, and then told him of the way to undo the curse. Simon did just that, and in the process revived Dracula. At that moment, Simon took him down once again.

Juste Belmont: From the year 1740, original appearance - Harmony of Dissonance (GBA)
The blood of the Belnades family flows strong within Juste, as he has great control over the elements, as well as holding the Belmont Warlord Chromosomes within his body. Juste traversed alongside his friend Maxim through Castlevania, and their exploits brought Dracula back from the grave. Juste, not willing to let Dracula wreak havoc, defeated him there and then.

Richter Belmont: From the year 1802, original appearance - Rondo of Blood (PCE)
Richter had fought against Dracula in 1792 (10 years ago now). He had help from a girl that he rescued by the name of Maria Renard. Four years later, he disappeared and Maria set out to find him. Maria, with the help of Alucard, discovered that Richter was under the control of the dark priest Shaft, and had unknowingly brought about the resurrection of Dracula. Alucard then set off on his own to defeat his father once again, and Richter and Maria escaped. Peace had returned, as Alucard was triumphant.
---Two years later, however, disaster struck again as an incubus named Magnus attempted to turn Alucard against the humans, and awaken his vampiric side. Of course, with the help of Richter, Maria, and two vampire hunters named Alexis and Silyl (as well as his old friend Lyudmil), Alucard was able to break free of this control and slay Magnus, returning peace once again.

Shaft: From the year 1802, original appearance - Rondo of Blood (PCE)
Shaft was defeated in 1792 by Richter, and thought to be dead. However, his spirit lived on and he returned in 1797 to attempt to reawaken Dracula. Ultimately, his plans were thwarted by Alucard. Now, he returns once again, after reobtaining his flesh and bone, to revive Dracula once more.

Count Dracula: From the year 1802, original appearance - Castlevania (NES)
Dracula is the evil dark lord who waged war against humanity. As a vampire, he has amazing powers, and can use them far greater than any other of his kind, thus having him titled as King of the Vampires, Lord of the Night. He was slain countless times by the Belmont family, once by former servant Hector, and even by his own son Alucard. However, humanity's greed continues to call him back.


Solus: From the year 1802, original appearance - The Greatest Five (PC)
A young boy, who works as an odd jobs man. Believed to be dead.
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GAMEPLAY: Typical NES era RPG. Turn-based battle system, with many skills at your disposal. There are several puzzles throughout the game which vary in style.
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Anyway, more details will come later. All I got is the screenshot below done. I'm really worn out for how long it took to put together the resources to make the screenshot. >.<

And I'm more or less happy with the way the courtyard turned out finally. Gonna add some trees and pillars soon, though. Maybe a window or two.



NOTICE: If there is a character that you wish to see appear in this (must be from Castlevania), let me know. I'm still writing out the story for this game so there are tons of possibilities. Also if you have your own original character you would like to see in this game, talk to me about it and I'll see about putting him in.

[VampirehunterB]

sounds interesting! any sprites of the Belmonts available yet?

[X]

Leon, Trevor, Simon, Juste, and Richter.

What, no Christopher?? you wound me deeply  Christopher is far more legendary the either Juste or Leon. He fought Dracula twice, now that's legendary.

[narkolepsi]

What, no Christopher?? you wound me deeply  Christopher is far more legendary the either Juste or Leon. He fought Dracula twice, now that's legendary.

actually, Portrait of Ruin was the game to lay out who the Greatest Five were (and it was the game where the title "Greatest Five" originated, in the spell), and in those games the five Belmonts summoned were Leon, Simon, Trevor, Juste, and Richter - no Christopher, which is a tad disappointing. I think Claimh is using this concept of the Five rather than picking five of his own favorite Belmonts.

The game looks cool so far. Can't wait to see some sprites.

[Claimh Solais]

sounds interesting! any sprites of the Belmonts available yet?

Yup! I actually posted them for critique in the Spritework thread, but I'll just post them again here for convenience's sake. Also, you can actually see Trevor looking at the gate. ^^



I'm currently trying to find a way to better Simon and Leon's palettes so they're not so pale. And the Richter sprite is rather old. I'm gonna fix him up eventually.

actually, Portrait of Ruin was the game to lay out who the Greatest Five were (and it was the game where the title "Greatest Five" originated, in the spell), and in those games the five Belmonts summoned were Leon, Simon, Trevor, Juste, and Richter - no Christopher, which is a tad disappointing. I think Claimh is using this concept of the Five rather than picking five of his own favorite Belmonts.

The game looks cool so far. Can't wait to see some sprites.

Right you are. ^^ The whole concept of the five is from Portrait of Ruin. The reason I did it like that is so that I'm not biased and only picking fan favorites, but rather instead picking the five IGA and co. decided upon. Otherwise Julius and Christopher would probably be in there. But also remember, the story goes that Dracula warped time and space. Expect to see a lot of familiar faces as well as OC (original character)s.

I don't really got much done on it. I planned on making this a long time ago. Hell, you don't even start out in this stage I made here. It's quite further on down into the game. ^^

And since I mentioned OCs, I may as well say this now. I'm willing to take anyone's OC into this game to be a character. I obviously won't pick them all, maybe 3 or 4. Just to get the character cast to be larger. I'm not too good at making my own characters ^^

I also updated the topic post with the character cast (so far) and the general plotline for the story.

[X]

I forgot to mention this. There are about seven Belmont sprites in the Greatest five attack even though only five appear at a time.

[Inccubus]

Yeah, but aren't the extra 2 just 8-bit sprites of Simon & Trevor?

[Claimh Solais]

Yeah, what Inccubus said. There's only five people.

[Pemburu Vampir]

Even though I'm not into RPGs that much (I used to like them), this game looks interesting to play.

[Claimh Solais]

I'll try my best to make it worth your time.

[narkolepsi]

Aww, those sprites are so cute. ^^
I like the Richter sprite.

I played RPGs a lot when I was a kid. I should like this. I don't play RPGs as much as much as I did, but maybe this can change that...?

[darkmanx_429]

It seems from a protagonist stand point, shouldn't you play the game mainly as Solus?

[Claimh Solais]

Nope. That story basis up there doesn't tell the whole story, and Solus, as far as anyone is concerned, is dead. Basically, the main characters are the Belmonts, but the story revolves around that guy. But don't get me wrong, the Belmonts play a big role in the plot, not just as the man who goes into the castle to slay Drac cuz its his destiny.

[Inccubus]

Looks interesting. What kind of set up are you thinking of using for the battles?

[Claimh Solais]

I'm using typical turn-based battles. At my current experience, I can do no more.

However, someone suggested I should do a 16-bit version of the game to be released alongside the 8-bit version. I am thinking about it, as the person said they can do an ABS for me (adventure battle system, similar to Legend of Zelda and such).