Topic: Castlevania: Umbra of Sorrow (1999 Fan Project)

[X]

Why not research a town that actually exists right near one of Vlad III's castles? It would have a more authentic feel in my mind.

[Belmontoya]

I thought about suggesting that.

But then I got to thinking...

Seems to me that vampires (the undead) do not need air to breath.

If Dracula really wanted to keep people out of his castle he would have it materialize at the bottom of a deep lake.

The castle could easily have sealed and dry areas inside. But simply getting inside of it would pose a much bigger challenge. Not to mention how well hidden it would be.

The bottom of the deepest, darkest lake in Wallachia. That's where a keen vampire lord would hide his fortress.

[Dracula9]

A keen one, yes. But the rules are different if the lord is egotistical with a superiority complex over humans. Such a being would not hide beneath the waves, out of sight; such a being would put his fortress in a place where he can strike fear into those he subjugates, and sit atop the highest tower and look down upon them.

[theplottwist]

A keen one, yes. But the rules are different if the lord is egotistical with a superiority complex over humans. Such a being would not hide beneath the waves, out of sight; such a being would put his fortress in a place where he can strike fear into those he subjugates, and sit atop the highest tower and look down upon them.

I couldn't have put it better than this. Dracula was a brilliant strategist before, but he let his pride take the best of him. As such, the castle follows suit. It exists purely to instill terror on mankind with its appearance alone.

The castle in itself is a cynical invitation from Dracula - "Are you badass enough to face me, maggot? Then here, this is my castle. Let me see if you have the balls to come here and fight me."

He doesn't want to keep people out of his castle. He wants them to come in and die an humiliating death.

I'm also using this info as an exposition device. Here is a dialogue excerpt:

(click to show/hide)

Alucard:
The Clock Tower is Dracula's final stand against invaders. If the path to the Clock Tower requires any keys, then they may be the only way to reach him. And if the gate is still locked, the keys must be somewhere in this side of the gate.

Julius:
How can you be sure that the key is not on the other side? Wouldn't Dracula have thought of this? Wouldn't the castle want to keep its master safe from all harm? If this is the case, we will have a tough time making it through.

Alucard:
Vampires are naturally sadistic and manipulative creatures. They will find cunning ways to give small hope to their foes, just so they can snatch this hope away from their eyes as they are slaughtered. As a creation from Dracula's will, this castle would not make it impossible for vampire hunters to reach its master, as there would be no enjoyment for him in watching them suffer otherwise. Fortunatelly for us, not even Dracula can fight this basic trait. An inherent flaw in his nature that has allowed us to prevail for centuries.

Why not research a town that actually exists right near one of Vlad III's castles? It would have a more authentic feel in my mind.

This was the first idea. The choosen town was going to be Ocnele Mari - a truly romanian town, where the eclipse reached its peak.

I discarded the idea because Castlevania is not very keen on pointing specific real places. We know it happens in Wallachia, but that is still too general of a place. I can tell you that the story happens on that small town in the middle of nowhere on Wallachia and it still won't sound strange to you.

Once I start using well-known real locations, dissonance with the real world becomes apparent. An obvious example: do you know about any Romanian town that suferred a strange ocurrence in 1999 that could be explained by the presence of demons attacking it? My research brought nothing that could allow me to squeeze in this story.

While Castlevania refers to real world events while not referring to real world locations, then you can still feel like the story happened but is kept under wraps - keeping up with the theme of a secret battle of good and evil that permeates the series. Events are much easier to adapt than locations, because locations are things you can physically check anytime. If I tell you that Ocnele Mari was attacked by demons, you could check the town and discover that not only the town is the same as it was in 1999, but no one remembers anything strange happening there. But if I tell you that a town called "Yomi" or "Aljiba" or "Jova" got wiped out, then where will you look? You could say "Ah, but the town never existed! I could check the registers!" but then I'd say "The Church erased all records of it because they must keep Dracula's menace a secret!".

With an invented location, the author is also free to do whatever he pleases with it without risking the reader/player having their suspension of disbelief broken.

This would work if the real location/events taking place in it existed far in the past (and this is why CVIII's "Dracula almost conquered Europe" plot works, as the Church could've had plenty of time to manipulate history to hide this event), but 1999 is too recent, and these real towns still exist.

I might be wrong here, but that's how I perceive it.

[Belmontoya]

Good point plot.

And the cv Dracula is rather cocky. Simply waiting in his throne room for the vampire hunter to come to him.

The real Dracula used guerrilla tactics, night strikes, and secret escape routes. All but unheard of tactics in his time. In fact Poenari was renovated because of how remote and difficult it was to get to. Not as much to show off.

By that logic, a real Vlad the impaler turned vampire might do the underwater sealed Castle thing if he could.

The CV Dracula would want his castle in your face while he sits on his ass waiting for you to bring it.

You're spot on about that Dracula 9!

As far as town names go you could go with something like New Veros.

[Shiroi Koumori]

Invented town name coming up...
Noapte Town.
And that just means Night in Romanian (thank you google)
Plus this was also used in Pokemon Shuffle with Noapte Castle. http://www.serebii.net/shuffle/location/castlenoapte.shtml

[X]

If you intend going with a fictional town Plot then by all means use Romanian names. Having a town called 'Yomi' for instance is more a kin to Japan then Romania. It doesn't fit with the country in which CV takes place.

[theplottwist]

If you intend going with a fictional town Plot then by all means use Romanian names. Having a town called 'Yomi' for instance is more a kin to Japan then Romania. It doesn't fit with the country in which CV takes place.

Ah this is for sure! Yomi sounds nothing like something out of Romania. Which, again, sounds freaking weird considering that most other town names fit perfectly, like Aljiba or Jova.

Invented town name coming up...
Noapte Town.
And that just means Night in Romanian (thank you google)
Plus this was also used in Pokemon Shuffle with Noapte Castle. http://www.serebii.net/shuffle/location/castlenoapte.shtml

Interesting. The town is nameless for now, so I'll add this name to the list. I have two names by now: Noapte, and one of my own Lectură which is just "Yomi" translated to Romanian.

Feel free to add more names to the list, dudes! At the end you can vote the name!

[theplottwist]

Today I introduce you to Julius Belmont's rival - Timothy Danasty!

(click to show/hide)

Timothy Danasty - 25 years old

Descendant of the Danasty clan - a family originated from Grant Danasty, one of the hunters who helped Trevor Belmont destroy Dracula 500 years ago - Timothy is a soldier who grew listening about the great glory behind his name that slowly faded away in the many centuries elapsed after Trevor Belmont's victory.

When he reached age 18, Timothy was given the chance to join the army to be formally trained in battle. His training allowed him to receive a weapon meant to replace the Vampire Killer, and for him to wield against Dracula in 1999. Timothy was trained as the new hope for a world where mankind couldn't wait for the Belmonts to resurface to oppose the Dark Lord.

The concept behind Timothy's inception is, basically, "What would happen if a Belmont reappeared even when someone else is already in charge of fighting Dracula?".

What happens is that someone is going to lose their purpose. What happens when one sees himself suddenly without a purpose?

[Dracula9]

Is that Agartha I see there?

[darkmanx_429]

Today I introduce you to Julius Belmont's rival - Timothy Danasty!

(click to show/hide)

Timothy Danasty - 25 years old

Descendant of the Danasty clan - a family originated from Grant Danasty, one of the hunters who helped Trevor Belmont destroy Dracula 500 years ago - Timothy is a soldier who grew listening about the great glory behind his name that slowly faded away in the many centuries elapsed after Trevor Belmont's victory.

When he reached age 18, Timothy was given the chance to join the army to be formally trained in battle. His training allowed him to receive a weapon meant to replace the Vampire Killer, and for him to wield against Dracula in 1999. Timothy was trained as the new hope for a world where mankind couldn't wait for the Belmonts to resurface to oppose the Dark Lord.

The concept behind Timothy's inception is, basically, "What would happen if a Belmont reappeared even when someone else is already in charge of fighting Dracula?".

What happens is that someone is going to lose their purpose. What happens when one sees himself suddenly without a purpose?

First of all. I am digging all the art. Who did you mention was your artist again, because he has mad skills!
Also, didn't mention anything of inheriting that wall sticking gene. That makes some very interesting gameplay ideas being that he has guns and all. I also would retrofit Timothy with some weapons that accent that ability (if he has it.) you know like magnetic sticky bombs. stuff like that..

[theplottwist]

Is that Agartha I see there?

 

But you already knew that!

First of all. I am digging all the art. Who did you mention was your artist again, because he has mad skills!
Also, didn't mention anything of inheriting that wall sticking gene. That makes some very interesting gameplay ideas being that he has guns and all. I also would retrofit Timothy with some weapons that accent that ability (if he has it.) you know like magnetic sticky bombs. stuff like that..

The artist is one Junki Sakuraba!

I didn't mention it, but yes - Tim has inherited his ancestors' ability for wall-climbing. He can also move real fast and has mad reflexes. Remember how Grant could move fast? Well, Tim can straight up RUN up walls. Though it is not a supernatural ability, Tim makes it looks like one as a skill perfected by his family. He was trained to be the Belmonts' replacement, and he is a total beast at doing it.

He has a knife, but different from Grant, his specialty are ranged weapons (which, in a way, is also a throwback to Grant, as he had skills with knife-throwing too). He has a standard Silver Gun that every military soldier carries, but ALSO an assortment of other belic tricks, like a "grenade" that explodes into a holy water rain produced by technology alone. His highest trump card, though, is his special weapon - the Agartha. Yes THAT Agartha.

The Agartha has been modified to fire bullets as strong as the wielders' willpower. Being trained under heavy stress and being extremelly determined, each bullet from Tim's hand hits like a cannon ball. Ultimatelly, it has one special bullet that has been designed to kill Dracula himself. Only Timothy has enough willpower to allow Agartha to fire such a powerful bullet, explaining why he's the only one able to use the weapon at all.

[X]

Timothy Danasty looks bad ass! Seriously! And he looks like a man should. Now I'm probably going to get smacked around a bit for saying this but...why can't Julius look that manly too?!?

[theplottwist]

Timothy Danasty looks bad ass! Seriously! And he looks like a man should. Now I'm probably going to get smacked around a bit for saying this but...why can't Julius look that manly too?!?

Interestingly I thought people were going to hate Timothy. I guess I was blatantly wrong o_O

Timothy looking much manlier than Julius was one of the design contrasts I wanted. You can even notice how the artist is intentionally avoiding too much Kojima-y references on his design.

Timothy is older, colder and Da-nastier (giddit??) than Julius. This might explain somewhat what the artist and me were going for. Julius is much softer than Tim is. Even though he has received vampire-hunting training, his was much more lenient. Timothy is the result of hardcore beating - he basically had to learn whatever Julius did AND more in a much shorter period of time, under a much stricter rule.

[Shiroi Koumori]

I'm loving the art for Tim!