Topic: You now have Castlevania in your hands... What would you do?

[Zetheraxza]

Suppose Konami comes to you and magically gives you the Golden Key- errrrr I mean THE SKELETON KEY to the series and you have have the budget that is even greater than MGSV perhaps or maybe even SWTOR. What would you do? Would you add in to the Original Timeline? Would you create a new timeline and change some classic formulas? You can do anything, even make it a futuristic FPS that has nothing to do with Vampires or Dracula but the game will be called Castlevania. What genre would your game be? Would you star any CV characters, perhaps remake them or make somebody totally new? What would be your areas, time and place? How would the Story play out? Here's one I posted not too long ago in another thread for weird ideas for the series.

Tactical Espionage Vampirism.

You're playing as Mathias and you can infect people with Vampirism as you can see the hypocrisy of the Church treating pagans and non-believers like worms and Mathias wants to create his own faction of victims who fight for their vengeance in freewill in "Outer Hell" and they freely let Mathias drink their blood and turn them into Vampires and Mathias himself gains more power. But Mathias since he is not the all powerful Dracula yet, he can't face his foes directly. He doesn't have the same Vampiric Strength, Stamina, Speed and the... Spirit?? His abilities are tied to a stone, Crimson Stone. He has Vampiric Abilities only through a trapped soul of a Vampire in a magical stone he wears as an amulet, but he isn't a true Vampire yet and the soul of the trapped Vampire is corrupting him. He never drank the blood, he only used "ALCHEMY" to gain immortality to defy God for taking his beloved and even though his Old Friend declared him as a Vampire and hunt him for generations ahead, Mathias only wished for Immortality but the price was too heavy. The only immortality one can yearn for comes through cold death and even though he discovered true immortality without corrupting his soul... He was wrong and now he will suffer for his consequences, but as he is still his true self, he continues to fight the Church to free Europe from their oppression and hypocrisy. Mathias has to sneak his way through the guards and hide himself as a bat, or use crates and chests to conceal yourself. If confused what he must do, he would use telepathy to communicate with death is certain telepathic frequency. It would be a story about how Mathias gained political power that feared all of Europe and have such tremendous economic power in which he balled too hard and he had to put the rest of his "cash money flow" in the candles. A story about how Mathias lived as a Pseudo-Vampire before he became a full fledged vampire filled with hatred for Cipher -errrr- I mean the Church to destroy the "Outer Hell" he worked so hard on for a century and mercilessly killing his beloved in a trial for helping the sick. A groundbreaking story, bad-ass action-open world gameplay and hot steamy romance (What? Don't you want a Camo-Alucard? Succubi on Succubi action). It would be directed by Koji Igarashi and Hideo Kojima would direct the gameplay. That shit would kill the markets.




I had another idea years ago and it would take place between for Castlevania: Klangfarbenmelodie of Hypocrisy and Castlevania III Dracula's Curse and this game would be in a much more serious and dark tone. Darker than what Cox claims to be dark. This game would just simply be called The Red Domain Rising. A Widower Farmer loses his only child, beautiful, maiden, innocent of a  daughter missing, and he finds rumors, clues and then trails to find that she was last seen going through some abandoned mine by herself. He didn't have much fortune to spare for a search party, so he would have to bring it upon himself to search for the only thing left in his world that he lives for. He finds all sorts of horrors in the mne and he has to fend for himself. There are discarded weaponry of the dead and undead he sometimes finds, but they're old and rusted so they wouldn't last too long. So most times he will have to avoid fighting by running away, sneaking and draw his weapon(s) as a last resort. The level designs would make him start from The Abandoned Mines, Dark Waterfalls, Foggy Catacombs, Chapel of Demons, Labratory of The Mad, Abandoned Castle Halls, Abandoned Castle Entrance, Lichs' Graveyard and finally, The Chaotic Netherworld. This game would be a survival horror game made by Konami but it will keep portraying that it isn't Castlevania at all, like they did in the Lords of Shadow debut trailer. It will give you the obvious clues but you would still be confused if this is Castlevania or not. And it isn't, because it has nothing to do with The Belmonts or Dracula. It is just a story about a simple farmer searching for his daughter which happens to have familiar places found out in a particular franchise. It would just be a medieval survival horror to most and to few they would find dairies about the master of this place and his life about how he once had his love taken away and he cast a curse upon himself to defy mortality. Some notes would say that he was building an army of undead to remake the world with his ideals. The only problem would be that the logo Konami unfortunately would be a DEAD giveaway. :/

[Abnormal Freak]

Sidescroller. Hand-drawn. Millions of frames of lush animation. Hi-res. Painted backgrounds (I'm kinda thinking Vanillaware type stuff at this point.) Tits and asses everywhere. Some dicks too for good measure. Combination SOTN exploration with classic Castlevania pitfalls and jumps, reining it in closer to Simon's Quest only much bigger, more involved, explore inside and out the castle but make exteriors that don't feel like corridors (did anyone really feel like they were outside when playing OOE?). Story, don't care; just get some cool character designs. Memorable, hummable music with high production values. Probably cull a lot of imagery and stuff from Vampire Hunter D.

I just want what logically (w/sh)ould have been the next big 2D console game in the series after SOTN.

[Lelygax]

Sidescroller. Hand-drawn. Millions of frames of lush animation. Hi-res. Painted backgrounds (I'm kinda thinking Vanillaware type stuff at this point.) Tits and asses everywhere. Some dicks too for good measure. Combination SOTN exploration with classic Castlevania pitfalls and jumps, reining it in closer to Simon's Quest only much bigger, more involved, explore inside and out the castle but make exteriors that don't feel like corridors (did anyone really feel like they were outside when playing OOE?). Story, don't care; just get some cool character designs. Memorable, hummable music with high production values. Probably cull a lot of imagery and stuff from Vampire Hunter D.

I just want what logically (w/sh)ould have been the next big 2D console game in the series after SOTN.

Shut up and take my money!

I would say "Thanks, now pick this key back and do more games like you always did before LoS and receive much more feedback from the fans. Bring back people as much people possible that was involved in the games development from CV1 until OoE and do a new good game without reciclying any graphic" and then I would give a false key to them, so I could guarantee that they would do it right while they would have more confidence in their work.

[darkwzrd4]

Well, to start I'd create a thread on this forum to ask for input on my ideas before actually starting anything. I think I'd do what MS did and start from scratch. Though I would try and be more faithful to the source material. I likely create a general timeline of how I want things to turn out and then work on the individual games. There would likely only be between 3 and 5 games.

I would never make Dracula a Belmont. That should never happen!!! I would probably include multiple characters (each with their own story) in each game. Likely that each one is only one part of the overall story. Similar to how MoF was done.

My vision of CV would be beyond an M rating and might be banned in some countries. Not for gore or violence, but some other mature content. Let's just say that my ideas for succubus boss battles with be graphic if you know what I mean. Oh, and my games will be 3D with the latest graphics. I just get the feeling that a lot of guys will die a lot at succubus boss fights (to distracted doing something else). Yes, I know I'm a pig so sue me.

Oh don't get me wrong there will be blood, just not a lot of gore. One of my ideas is an underground waterway with blood instead of water and would have vampires and other blood drinking demons as well as monsters composed entirely of blood. Keep in mind, the vampires will be very tough as they will be constantly healing from the blood in the area.

The castle in the games would have all the classic areas (entrance, clock tower, keep, church/chapel, etc.). There would be plenty of platforming and the enemies wouldn't be damage sponges like in the LoS trilogy.

Dracula as a boss will be both a melee fighter and a sorcerer. He'd wear armor instead of a nobleman's clothing and would attack with a sword or some other weapon when close and would use magic when far away. No demon form (he's such a pure vampire that he has none).

Alucard would be a dhampire, but I can't guarantee that he world be a good guy. He'd likely be neutral and looking out for himself only allying himself with the good guys when it's advantageous for him. His capability would likely be in line with how he was in SotN using a variety of weapons, sub-weapons, and spells.

My timeline would end with the ultimate and permanent destruction of Dracula.

[VladCT]

In terms of gameplay...well, let's just say that those who hate combos and practically-required invincibility frame abusing will be quite pissed... And also Serio's CV Fighter's Nightmare Mode. 2D lovers will still be grateful though.
Exploration would be pretty similar to Freak's idea, I guess, along with some character skill-required platforming for optional bonuses (like bouncing off enemies via chain-dive kicking over a large chasm).
For the aesthetics and music, I'll just bring in people that can bring back the old IGAvania feel (particularly the ones with Ayami Kojima and Michiru Yamane on board) while not being too similar. If I can bring Banpai Akira in as the illustrator then I'm pretty much gold. As for the music, specifically I want someone who can pull off stuff like this while also capable of handling calmer stuff like Lost Painting. And I also want some tracks that are akin to Trezire de Spirit and De-a lungul vieţii, Romanian lyrics and all that.
Graphics-wise I wanna go with pseudo-3D 2D backgrounds, with semi-rotoscoped sprites kinda like those from the HD KoF games.
Can't really say anything about the story, though yes, it won't involve BS like Dracula Belmont, and I can say that unlockable characters will provide different viewpoints on the story.

[Pfil]

MetroidVania with a 2D open world aproach kind of like in Simon's Quest, but every mansion containing several different areas, all with its own music, composed by Michiru Yamane, Yasuhiro Ichihashi, Sotaro Toshima and Yuzo Koshiro, all with map percentage, with items, equipment, levels up and all kind of stuff, like side quests, rescuing maidens like in Rondo of Blood, and characters designed by whoever's been responsible of stuff like Sora No Otoshimono, Rosario To Vampire and High School DxD.
Graphics would be with sprites, following the atmosphere, if possible, of Symphony of the Night meets Dracula's Shadow (an italian fan game).
The difficulty would be something at the level of, say, OoE (CotM is just too much), but with the option of grinding to gain levels, so you can level your way through the game if your skills or patience are not enough.
The main character would be someone like Charlotte (but a new character), focused in spells and magic, with a partner like Jonathan, but more manly, and extra modes would include all kind of new characters, each with its own gameplay.
That pair of characters is the ideal pair of lead characters a game can have. A handsome man (not a teen, a grown up man, like, say, Brad Pitt in Troy) and a gothic loli character.
The story would be tragic and the game, despite having multiple endings, wouldn't have a happy one as the definitive ending.
It would be for PS4 and PC, because it's been enough time since the last time we had a 2D retail for a home console.
The pre-order would include a soundtrack, an artbook and an autographed giant poster with all historical CV artists signatures (not massive prints, real signatures, signed one by one).

Since the costs of production would be so high that no possible sales would save the economy of the project, the game would mean the end of Konami and Castlevania would become the new Megaman.
Yeah, even when I'm dreaming I'm negative...

[Lelygax]

Since the costs of production would be so high that no possible sales would save the economy of the project, the game would mean the end of Konami and Castlevania would become the new Megaman.
Yeah, even when I'm dreaming I'm negative...

Except that I dont see how this can be "that" expensive with this description that you gave here.

[Pfil]

Because you have to pay Yamane, Koshiro, Toshima and Ichihashi to make the music, to the character designers of those 3 anime series to design the characters, to all CV historical people to sign the posters one by one and put a huge ammount of money to make the special editions with soundtracks, artbooks and posters.
And they are not cheap artists, not to mention you have to convince every one of them of doing the job, and if they don't want, prices would go even higher.
And then you have the usual costs of every game.
It would cost more than many AAA games, I guess.

[Lelygax]

Well, special editions common for some titles these days, And I dont think they would pay for someone sign something, people tend to sell signed things, but I've never seem people paying for someone signing something. Okay, you need to pay for 4 musicians and 3 designers but since they will be working less, you can pay less (more people = less work).

[Abnormal Freak]

Pfil touched upon something I was too lazy and hyperbolic to mention. The mansions idea in Simon's Quest is super awesome, and I'd also like to see fully-realized mansions with their own maps. They're not going to be the size of Dracula's castle, but getting a good amount of play time out of each one would be great.

I'd also like to see no warp rooms. What a lazy idea from a gameplay standpoint. Make the world huge and open, but design it in such a way where if you know what you're doing as where to go (say on a second playthrough), it's not tedious to traverse and you don't do a ridiculous amount of backtracking; yet when playing fresh and exploring blind, it's fun even if you end up backtracking a lot in pursuit of what to do next.

How to do that, I don't know, I don't make games, but Super Metroid did it really well.

[Lelygax]

I expected you to mention Super Metroid when talking about backtracking, I really thought about this tidbiit last week too. I was thinking in how they make you backtrack a lot and still make the game interesting without warps. IMO a good way to make you backtrack less and still be more natural is doing some shortcuts (they can even be hidden) but dont do a lot of them, only some in really needed areas.

[X]

I'd work with the old canon.

*I would retcon CoD because it doesn't add anything substantial to the series. DoS is 50/50 but in the end I'd probably retcon it too. It does nothing new either.

*Bring out a new origins game dealing with Vlad becoming Dracula and king Mathis' loss of power and eventual defeat.

*I would redo CV: Legends and get Sonia back into canon. I would also finish up and improve CV: Resurrection. I would also bring about more female Belmonts for some long-needed equality.

*I would work diligently at bringing about the 1999 Demon Castle war game and really listen around for people's opinions on how the game should be like.

*I would also publish a chronology book (Castlevania bible) like Nintendo did with TloZ's Hyrule Historia. It would outline all the games in the series, history on said games, characters, places, weapons, themes, a monster manual, bosses, retconned games, a focused timeline of events and alternate timeline of events for the other games that can't fit in the main timeline but have not been retconned.

*I would incorporate SCV4 as the true successor/sequel of Simon's Quest.

*Last but not least, I would have the games on consoles with physical media and not digital downloads. The games would be for many systems so that they can get enough exposure for everyone...except the XBOX 180  . I would have both 2D and 3D games, and the 3D games would be a kin to CV 64's design layouts rather then LoI/CoD. No reused graphics either.

[Munchy]

-Legend of Dracula Chronicles. Maybe with a different title because that's awkward sounding. (Adventure and Belmont's Revenge remade, as one game, with originals of both included. Prolly throw in Adventure Rebirth and maaaybe Legends too.)
-A better 3D LoI-type game.
-Maybe a new Sorrow game dealing either with the founding of the Dracula-worshipping cult or farther into the future when Soma is much older. Loose ties with Getsufuu Maden, I guess?
-Game dealing with Soleil and stuff he does that is not being controlled to be a boss character.

[Ahasverus]

Sell it.
Get it the fuuu out of Konami as the company is falling down, and then give it to Warner Bros (I'd give it to Eidos but SqareEnix hate them now, the next Legacy of Kain is a MOBA.. A FUCKING MOBA). Then have Rocksteady work on it and let the perfection (and cash) flow from there.

[Lelygax]

Sell it.
Get it the fuuu out of Konami as the company is falling down, and then give it to Warner Bros.

They would do a lot of games in the LoS for sure...