It would be cool if Bloodstained castle starts more open. Since it's side view, I think the first location would
take place in the center 1st floor of the castle instead of on the side, because SOTN for example, approaching
the "front" of the castle was from the side, so typically, 2D castles are mapped out from a side view.
but I think Bloodstained could take a "front" approach to the castle perspective.
like you know how in Castlevania II, you are in the "front" of a mansion, and you enter pressing up, though
of course your tend to start in the left side of the map's interior, but I think for Bloodstained, the first room
could take place in the 1st floor center of the castle, which level design would give players the freedom to explore
and unlock more parts of the castle in a more non linear fashion (the east wing, the west wing, upper floors, etc.)
with SOTN, it was like after the forest, it's the entrance, and then the hallway, and it's pretty linear all the way
until you each the marble gallery pretty much, which winds back around to the starting areas, and the standard
path leads to the outer wall on the east side of the castle, which branches into other areas like the Library and
clocktower, which there's no means to enter without getting later power ups.
Overall, they could explore making Bloodstained more nonlinear from the start, so it enhances exploration better,
and can still design things so players can progress in more ways than one. Though it also depends how the
story is connected to the playthrough, because if they script certain scenes to take place in a certain order,
then that can cause linearity to be forced on how progression and accessing different parts of the castle are
mapped out.
hey do you think they will use portraits for the characters text chat/voice interactions?
Bloodstained has great character art and Miriam expressions.
Though back to Bloodstained openness, yea it would be cool to take some lessons from Resident Evil 1
instead of RE Remake. RE1 veterans know how the original mansion starts less linear than the Remake version, which
makes it more routine and strict how you access areas.
And overall, general boss difficulty for the first boss fights could be balanced, so players can explore and beat
the first bosses in any order, so that does help the level design so the developers don't think "well the 3nd boss
might be too challenging if the player fights it first", but still it's nice to give players that freedom and more
options to explore than drawing a line to follow.
And of course whatever they do, don't design the castle like LOI, which has teleportation/elevator platforms
that leads to different parts of the castle, LOI really has one of the most fragmented, lopsided, and terrible castle designs. it didn't feel like a organically connected castle. it felt like a Demon's Souls or something and Bloodstained shouldn't take a segmented HUB/fast travel approach to castle design.
but being 2.5d and IGAvania, they could keep the castle whole.
. The game received pretty mild reviews here in America, and was widely regarded as "another typical entry into Resident Evil franchise". As well, the game itself already had several questionable choices that made online play more of a hassle, such as the lack of keyboard or voice support, instead relying on the terrible ad-lib system.
the ad lib system is awesome, it's not flawless, but it kept the players in character using the character voices,
and had its uses which a lot of groups benefitted from. eventually, players understood the scenarios enough
that communication really isn't required to succeed.
Outbreak was ahead of its time (HDD made loading 100% faster)
if those games released on PS3 or especially PS4, there would be a huge fanbase and demand for its own series.
not sure but don't think even capcom unity was around when Outbreak released, most people just had REfan
to talk about it, so it only reached cult classic status.
Also Outbreak did support keyboard for the lobbies, I used usb keyboard for the lobby text chat window, so people
can actually plan things beforehand and let teammates know what they will do in the session (this did make things
like Decisions, Decisions more organized.)
lol "another typical entry into Resident Evil franchise" my arse. it just goes to show how clueless industry analysts out there really are. Just as Phantasy Star Online revolutionized Phantasy Star and console ORPGs, Resident Evil Outbreak revolutionized survival horror and RE games in the best ways.
Way more hardcore, more variety, more depth, and simulates zombie outbreak much more than action hero the direction RE4 went. And Outbreak 2 introduced move and aim/shoot to the series long before Operation Raccoon City and RE6 did.