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Offline KaZudra

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Symphony of The Night is Castlevania's "Lightning in the Bottle", you can play it countless times and find something new or even play it in a new way and it has considerably aged very well. But, aside from the PSP remake, How could This gem be remastered when it's very good to begin with?

Good thing is, when searching for ways to improve personal projects, I cam across a few amazing things that could ultimately benefit a possible SOTN remaster.

16:9 Resolution, it's rather simple, just draw more on the screen and force center some of the smaller rooms, you could even go as far as utilizing more vertical space as scaling 2D elements aren't as restricting as they were in the past.
https://youtu.be/8-XrMA1ayf4
Dynamic Lighting, with techniques as lightmapping, it can be utilized greatly with giving candles light sources, and other sources of dynamic light. The end result would leave a more stunning approach as background elements pop more giving the illusion of depth a greater effect.


Cleaning up that inventory, and Keybindings.
The Saturn SotN gave us one great thing, a devoted button just for usable items. With this you get a more flowing game in which you pop a potion whilst Shield dashing without the annoying menu transitions.
Speaking of those menus, the biggest thing SoTN has is it's massive inventory, Let's clean this up a bit and make things nicer to find, the Organize function is great, but you'll find yourself still going to the bottom because you switched equipment to use a potion.

3-frame input window and more simplified Spells.
How many times have you Dark Metamorphisis'd when trying to soul steal? How many times did you just not do the spell because you have to do inputs questionably as complex as a KOF MAX DM? That can be cleared up with simple solutions by tuning some inputs and making it slightly more lenient to perform.

Retuned Difficulty, This is a must because it addresses the major flaw in SoTN and all IGAvanias; The Difficulty Curve.
The game may start off rather difficult, then it feels "just right" but half way through the inverted castle nothing in the game could pose any sort of threat to you.
Why not just have enemies progress with the player; Let's say Skeleton is weak, but after hitting a certain level, Skeleton would now be at level 2, now being just as challenging as he was in the begging and maybe packing a few new tricks up his sleeves to keep the player surprised.

OPTIONAL; 32:32 tiles
a 2x redraw of the Entirety of SotN would be stunning, but It will be a great deal of work.

OPTIONAL; Foreground play
A great way to give depth in a 2D game is to use foreground textures occasionally, it would give the player a better sense of the scale of that room or hallway.


What do you guys think?

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Offline Claimh Solais

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Re: If SoTN were to be Enhanced Ported, what could they do to improve it?
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2016, 05:09:08 PM »
0
16:9 Resolution, it's rather simple, just draw more on the screen and force center some of the smaller rooms, you could even go as far as utilizing more vertical space as scaling 2D elements aren't as restricting as they were in the past.

Resolution increase is an obvious one. A larger field of view would certainly make the game look nicer, if anything.

Dynamic Lighting, with techniques as lightmapping, it can be utilized greatly with giving candles light sources, and other sources of dynamic light. The end result would leave a more stunning approach as background elements pop more giving the illusion of depth a greater effect.

This work wonders at having the opening and some of the underground areas give off a darker and creepier vibe than ever before. The catacombs in particular would especially benefit from this.



As for inventory, yes, clean that up. Simply making it similar to later Igavanias would suffice, as those had much cleaner inventories. As for Alucard's spells, they don't even need those inputs. Just make them similar to Harmony of Despair. One button mixed with a directional input.

Retuned Difficulty, This is a must because it addresses the major flaw in SoTN and all IGAvanias; The Difficulty Curve.
The game may start off rather difficult, then it feels "just right" but half way through the inverted castle nothing in the game could pose any sort of threat to you.
Why not just have enemies progress with the player; Let's say Skeleton is weak, but after hitting a certain level, Skeleton would now be at level 2, now being just as challenging as he was in the begging and maybe packing a few new tricks up his sleeves to keep the player surprised.

Absolutely on rebalancing the difficulty, but enemies scaling with you in level completely defeats the purpose of leveling up in the first place. There's no point in increasing your stats and levels if the enemies just get stronger too. It's simply artificial difficulty and you may as well remove the leveling system in the first place.

Other ways of doing it better would simply be: Make it take longer to level up, maybe? I dunno about anyone else, but I found leveling up to be obnoxiously easy in SotN. Lowering the amount of EXP you get from kills might alleviate this, saving the big amounts for boss fights and other tough enemies like Final Armor.

Give enemies special abilities and stuff that they use only once you become much stronger (say, two or three levels higher)? Mermen fire off their water beams instead of fireballs, zombies will occasionally run at you rather than simply shamble, skeletons throw their bones in straight lines as well as upward arcs, etc. This would especially surprise the player if instead of them simply getting stronger, instead their enemy behavior changes.

Later on in the game when you're like Level 30 and you decide to go back to the Castle Entrance, SotN had the right idea and added new stronger enemies to the area. But if these were done in larger numbers, it'd be a lot cooler. This would give off a better vibe of Shaft realizing what he put out wasn't enough and sends stronger forces after you.

OPTIONAL; Foreground play
A great way to give depth in a 2D game is to use foreground textures occasionally, it would give the player a better sense of the scale of that room or hallway.

I agree to this ONLY if the foreground elements become transparent when you pass behind them, or you can see a silhouette of all characters and interactive elements behind it. If all it does is simply inhibit view for the sake of atmosphere, then it's a pointless addition that hurts the game more than it enhances it. I've played too many 2D games where you can't see anything behind a pillar and fighting enemies and such becomes a hassle.

Otherwise, I'd love a remastered SotN. The closest thing we're getting to that right now is Esco's remake, but I feel like we'll have an actual SotN remake by the time Esco's comes out.

If there's anything I'd throw into the pot, it's a better sense of direction. Later Igavanias (aside from OoE) don't make it completely clear where to go, but SotN just outright has no conveyance a lot of the time.
« Last Edit: August 15, 2016, 05:13:15 PM by Claimh Solais »
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Offline Asgardwolf

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Re: If SoTN were to be Enhanced Ported, what could they do to improve it?
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2016, 05:40:35 PM »
0
-Remake the whole game 2.5D style.
-Add the areas on the saturn version missing on the PSX.
-All the 3 Characters playable.
-New Game+.
-Hard Difficulty.
-Boss Rush Mode.
-New enemies and items.
-New and longer cutscenes getting deeper into the story.
-Bestiary on the pause menu.
-More and usefull Familiars.
-Better exp system (farming exp from lvl65 or higher is annoying).

Offline zangetsu468

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Re: If SoTN were to be Enhanced Ported, what could they do to improve it?
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2016, 06:14:27 PM »
0
Actually there is a way to avoid difficulty and enemy scaling issues while catering to the spectrum of SOTN and Metroidvania fans. Just add difficulty settings which were in POR and OOE; Normal, Hard, and max caps which go from none>100>>>>1.

As Claimh said there's really no point in leveling up if your enemies gain more levels by default. Especially by the time the second Castle is reached they become incrementally difficult.

I would also say that the second Castle should be re-worked to retain the inverted map but perhaps being tweaked internally and visually to make more sense. From an atmospheric point of view for example, the Castle's entrance (Inverted) could show a sky rather than a ceiling plane and a drawbridge (where the player enters Castlevania in the first castle.) Perhaps the inverted catacombs could have water droplets trickling to the floor, seeing as the pools of water are on the ceiling. The same logic could be applied to enemies and their placement, as some areas of the inverted castle were done well but others became dead zones.

A couple of extra tracks for the inverted castle may also be nice. People criticise the game for its lacking in this regard, but tracks like The Lost Painting are top tier imo.
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Offline X

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Re: If SoTN were to be Enhanced Ported, what could they do to improve it?
« Reply #4 on: August 15, 2016, 11:24:48 PM »
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Quote
A couple of extra tracks for the inverted castle may also be nice. People criticise the game for its lacking in this regard, but tracks like The Lost Painting are top tier imo.

They could've used NitM's extra tracks for some of the inverted castle areas in the DXC's SotN.
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Re: If SoTN were to be Enhanced Ported, what could they do to improve it?
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2016, 01:53:10 AM »
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If there's one thing I would ask for, it's a properly rebalanced Maria. Her Saturn incarnation was pretty broken, while her PSP incarnation was pretty much the opposite, almost completely helpless with how little damage she can take and give.
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Offline zangetsu468

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Re: If SoTN were to be Enhanced Ported, what could they do to improve it?
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2016, 02:39:32 AM »
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If there's one thing I would ask for, it's a properly rebalanced Maria. Her Saturn incarnation was pretty broken, while her PSP incarnation was pretty much the opposite, almost completely helpless with how little damage she can take and give.

I like broken Maria though. They should just include both iterations but include a nerfed SS version (in strength and magic)
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LOI>CVIII>COD>AR>BR>CVC>CVII>HOD>ROB>SOTN>OOE>BL>POR>AOS>DOS>>>KD
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Offline SecretWeapon

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Re: If SoTN were to be Enhanced Ported, what could they do to improve it?
« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2016, 06:29:53 PM »
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Maria has more power than a Belmont, so she should be broken.

Talking about her, they should add Monster!Maria

Offline Wanhus

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Re: If SoTN were to be Enhanced Ported, what could they do to improve it?
« Reply #8 on: August 18, 2016, 03:54:04 AM »
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At least they could remove the waiting time after you die. Even for a punishment of dying its far too horrid.
Making the game harder would also be great.
And maybe not restrict but make the use of some forms more difficult so that when you feel bored you don't use the forms to "cheat".
Also like some one already said new visual effects would be great.
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Offline zangetsu468

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Re: If SoTN were to be Enhanced Ported, what could they do to improve it?
« Reply #9 on: August 18, 2016, 04:06:13 AM »
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At least they could remove the waiting time after you die. Even for a punishment of dying its far too horrid.
Yes, include a retry function which takes you to the previous save point.

And maybe not restrict but make the use of some forms more difficult so that when you feel bored you don't use the forms to "cheat".

If Maria's invincibility drained her health, I'm sure that would actually make her game harder, seeing as you need to cross spikes etc at some point.
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LOI>CVIII>COD>AR>BR>CVC>CVII>HOD>ROB>SOTN>OOE>BL>POR>AOS>DOS>>>KD
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Offline Claimh Solais

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Re: If SoTN were to be Enhanced Ported, what could they do to improve it?
« Reply #10 on: August 18, 2016, 06:51:38 AM »
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At least they could remove the waiting time after you die. Even for a punishment of dying its far too horrid.

100% agree. I think I've been spoiled by modern games like Uncharted, The Last of Us, or even games as far back as Jak & Daxter, that just straight-up throw you back into the game right after death. It's gotten to the point where sitting through a game over screen, especially one as long as SotN's, is mind-numbingly annoying. At least make it a short screen like later Igavanias (that can be skipped, too).

If Maria's invincibility drained her health, I'm sure that would actually make her game harder, seeing as you need to cross spikes etc at some point.

Kiiiiiiiiiinda defeats the purpose of invincibility if you lose your health while using it. And your point about making the game harder, that's straight-up artificial difficulty. They need to make the game harder in meaningful ways, not cheap ways.
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Offline zangetsu468

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Re: If SoTN were to be Enhanced Ported, what could they do to improve it?
« Reply #11 on: August 19, 2016, 02:30:20 AM »
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Kiiiiiiiiiinda defeats the purpose of invincibility if you lose your health while using it.

Not if your health drains slowly and you're using it to cross difficult areas.

They need to make the game harder in meaningful ways, not cheap ways.
Cheap is overusing invincibility. One may argue Lv1 hard mode is cheap, but it's an option that I would take nonetheless.
Take DMC4SE's Legendary Knight or Dante must die mode for example, that's cheap in certain areas, but it's an option for those who like the challenge.

As one example, if you could use the invincibility to cross spikes but then had to deactivate it 5-10 seconds after to not lose too much life, this would mean you could potentially cross the room into a neighbouring save point. Or you could use it temporarily but you couldn't keep spamming it to fight certain enemies and bosses, for eg Galamoth.

This is why I'm saying have the different iterations of Maria. Keep the broken Maria for the more casual player who wants to trash the Castle, add more difficulty in other ways which don't apply to classic CV (which btw was incredibly cheap at times) because they're not the same thing.
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Offline Lumi Kløvstad

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Re: If SoTN were to be Enhanced Ported, what could they do to improve it?
« Reply #12 on: August 19, 2016, 05:37:38 PM »
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Mostly merging and refining the DXC and Saturn versions. I'd want Richter in his goddamn SOTN outfit, a story for Richter (make it a prequel that explains how Shaft got the jump on him) and another for Maria (probably one concurrent with Alucard's take on events), and the additional areas, items, and enemies from the Saturn port (just not sucky this time, and much more sprawling in the case of the new areas). Also standard stuff like a resolution bump, dynamic lighting, and a remastered soundtrack would all work.

Now if we were talking FULL REMAKE (SOTN being one of the few Castlevanias that really deserves one), this list would get a whole lot longer.
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Re: If SoTN were to be Enhanced Ported, what could they do to improve it?
« Reply #13 on: August 20, 2016, 03:59:36 PM »
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Mostly merging and refining the DXC and Saturn versions. I'd want Richter in his goddamn SOTN outfit, a story for Richter (make it a prequel that explains how Shaft got the jump on him) and another for Maria (probably one concurrent with Alucard's take on events), and the additional areas, items, and enemies from the Saturn port (just not sucky this time, and much more sprawling in the case of the new areas). Also standard stuff like a resolution bump, dynamic lighting, and a remastered soundtrack would all work.

Now if we were talking FULL REMAKE (SOTN being one of the few Castlevanias that really deserves one), this list would get a whole lot longer.

Only problem with a full remake is that there is no guarantee that the lightning in the bottle will be captured.

I mean, a full remake would be great, there are plenty of secret power-ups that can be implemented and refined mechanics, let's say, Wolf Speed Boost can open areas up and other things, but too much tampering could change why people liked it in the first place.

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Re: If SoTN were to be Enhanced Ported, what could they do to improve it?
« Reply #14 on: August 23, 2016, 12:30:07 AM »
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I love that you responded to the least important/relevant part of my post there.
How not to be a dark lord: the answer to that is a terribly interesting answer that involves an almost Jedi-like adherence to keeping oneself under control and finding ways to be true to yourself in a way that doesn't encourage the worst parts of you to become dangerously exaggerated and instead feeds your better nature. Also, protip: don't fuck with Alchemy or strike up any deals with ancient Japanese Shinigami gods no matter how tempting the deal or how suavely dressed the Shinigami is.

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