Recent Posts

61

Hardcore Gaming 101 / Re: What game(s) have you been playing lately?

« Last post by Abnormal Freak on August 02, 2025, 01:19:03 AM »

Also played No More Heroes 2. Very fun, but way easier than the first game. After I finished it, I immediately went to play Travis Strikes Again, not knowing what it was, and I don't really like it. I think I'll skip it and go to NMH3.

Narratively and stylistically, TSA ties in to NMH3. It's worth getting through even if the gameplay is repetitive and dull. The story and style elements get pretty wild, and it's not a very long game.

I've been enjoying the hell out of DK Bananza. Don't know quite yet if I'd call it better than Astro Bot, but it's an incredible 3D platformer that really pushes the genre forward.

62

General Castlevania Discussion / Re: Anyone else getting the itch for a new game?

« Last post by Abnormal Freak on August 02, 2025, 01:15:20 AM »

My butthole gets an itch sometimes.

63

General Castlevania Discussion / Re: Anyone else getting the itch for a new game?

« Last post by LuxKiller65 on July 31, 2025, 08:08:55 AM »

3 superdeluxe collections are coming out in japan, 2 already out (1 today), and the 3rd one soon.
but they are not new releases i know... (i think they came out in the west last year, not sure, didn't really care much.

64

General Castlevania Discussion / Re: Anyone else getting the itch for a new game?

« Last post by crisis on July 30, 2025, 11:57:08 PM »

It would be cool if we had a mole that would leak information like we used to back in the day, wouldn’t it? When the Netflix show came out, I was almost positive that they would eventually announce a soft reboot of the series chronicling CVIII. I guess our next game we can hopefully look forward to is another collection but with the 3D games, and

65

General Castlevania Discussion / Anyone else getting the itch for a new game?

« Last post by jestercolony on July 29, 2025, 09:40:59 PM »

It's been quite a while since we had a new installment to the Castlevania universe. I think it's time we all start harassing Konami for a new game already xD

66

Hardcore Gaming 101 / Re: Steam Summer Sale 2025

« Last post by Highwind Dragoon on July 26, 2025, 02:14:47 AM »

Too busy buying up tickets for the various Scream parks that i'll be attending this Halloween season to spend any more money on games right now.

Maybe I'll get a couple for the Halloween, autumn and Winter sales, much later this year.

67

General Castlevania Discussion / Re: Lisa's manner of death makes a tad less sense in context

« Last post by theplottwist on July 25, 2025, 12:06:06 AM »

Perhaps this is only me, however, I seem to recall believing the narrative of Lisa’s murder was largely to do with Dracula himself, rather than the public genuinely believing that Lisa was indeed a witch.

As it currently stands in the canon, Dracula was a just ruler, and Lisa was indeed killed because there were rumors she was a witch.

I'll just paraphrase the canon cuz I have little time for posting ultra-detailed sources nowadays, perhaps I come back to this later with a full writeup: Dracula is described as "full of dignity and pride" (the jp word used for "dignity" here to mean indeed someone admirable, someone majestic), as having protected the land, and as not hating humans (Hector turned on him because he abandoned this virtue upon going mad, and Hector could not forgive him for it). When people murdered Lisa, Dracula took that as the scared, supersticious populace turning on him. Not only was his wife killed, she got killed by the people he presided over, due to a stupid rumor.

68

Hardcore Gaming 101 / Re: What game(s) have you been playing lately?

« Last post by zangetsu468 on July 22, 2025, 10:48:46 PM »

I gave Solar Ash a go. It’s cool but I was expecting more of a 3d Hyper Light Drifter, which it isn’t, to be frank.

I’ve parked it for the moment and resumed playing Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth. Up to what appears to be the final boss. A few more tries and I reckon I’ll get it.

I’ve picked up Deedlit alongside a Castlevania: Requiem SOTN playthrough as PSP Maria… My God she is weak, it makes me appreciate Dragonblitz’s speedruns a whole lot more.

EDIT: Completed Deedlit, highly recommend. I love that they took enough CV inspiration to give the game a levelling cap, strength cap and the option to not carry weapons item over, upon starting a second playthrough.

69

General Castlevania Discussion / Re: Lisa's manner of death makes a tad less sense in context

« Last post by Lumi Kløvstad on July 22, 2025, 03:40:27 PM »

Perhaps this is only me, however, I seem to recall believing the narrative of Lisa’s murder was largely to do with Dracula himself, rather than the public genuinely believing that Lisa was indeed a witch.

This is why I was quite pleased to stumble upon the potential Ottoman angle. Especially since they had PLENTY of reason in and out of of universe to try to get revenge on him, and we already know Iga was quite a fan of the 1992 Dracula film.

A few Ottoman agents spreading gold around along with some bad rumors... people have turned on their beloved protectors for less. Suddenly you have a mob killing Dracula's wife. Unfortunately for the Ottomans, they presumably ASSUMED they were dealing with someone considerably more mundane. Instead they let Satan off his leash.

70

General Castlevania Discussion / Re: Lisa's manner of death makes a tad less sense in context

« Last post by whipsmemory on July 22, 2025, 08:09:52 AM »

In the Nightmare, she is indeed being shown crucified, and a flashback in the Symphony of the Night prequel manga has Dracula cradling Lisa's body, looking very unburnt, but stained bloody as though she's been stabbed, and there ARE two men with spears in the Nightmare, so if these two things both reflect the reality, it's likely this is how she was killed.



It's worth noting there's NO documentation of this being done at ALL in the Christian world in the post-Roman era, as executing someone by crucifixion, even partially, would have been seen as a TERRIBLE blasphemy against Christ. By Lisa's time, crucifixion was practically extinct in Europe as a means of execution.

Interestingly, while not documented, there are some historic allusions to Ottoman forces possibly executing Christians in this way as a deliberate mockery of the faith. Considering the historic Dracula's ties to the Ottoman Empire and their long term presence in the region by this point in real history, this opens up some intriguing historic possibilities in the setting. It's entirely possible the Ottomans might have killed Lisa then, especially to punish Vlad for his barbaric methods of combat -- after all, Castlevania IS clear that "The Impaler" was one of Dracula's many identities. And thanks to Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula film already linking the Ottomans with the death of Dracula's wife and therefore his ascendancy as a Vampire, this is a REALLY neat storytelling link that honestly works better than Konami's own official napkin notes on the subject.

[EDIT] It's worth noting that the Curse of Darkness manga strongly disagrees on the matter of Lisa's death. While it does not SHOW IT outright, it VERY strongly implies that Lisa was burned. (Thanks, PlotTwist!  )

And her message to Dracula is SLIGHTLY different in the Japanese script:

Personally I think Lisa comes across as kinder in the English version. "Life already sucks, so please don't make it worse." is a lot kinder than "If they ARE as bad as you want to think they are, they'll destroy themselves without any need for you to get involved."

Both the possible implication of Lisa's death being some sort of "false flag" from Ottoman's side against Vlad Tepes and the not so subtle difference in nuance in Lisa's words between english and japanese text are extremely interesting. Thank you!