Topic: A vision for the Demon Castle War

[X]

But.......I thought the "redemption" part was towards the Belmonts after their horrible ordeal with the controlled Richter by the forces of Darkness and having to pass their whip on to someone else.

I think it would make more sense if the redemption part was towards that.

Maybe they are finally "redeemed" after Julius puts a end to Dracula for good?

Good point but it's difficult to say for sure. The 1999 games seems to focus on both Dracula's final rise to power and the return of the Belmonts as the main hunters. I guess redemption could mean any number of things.

[Chernabogue]

Killer artwork, nice job.

Just a question: if Dracula is at full power, wouldn't he look younger, like in Chronicles or DXC (safe the pimp moustache)?

[Claimh Solais]

Killer artwork, nice job.

Just a question: if Dracula is at full power, wouldn't he look younger, like in Chronicles or DXC (safe the pimp moustache)?

I asked Cecil this same thing. He said the reason that he made Dracula look much older is to contrast how Julius is much younger looking. One of those design choice things.

[cecil-kain]

Thank-you for all of the encouraging comments.  :-)

Just a couple questions I'd like to address...

The subtitle "Redemption" was selected specifically because of it's multiple interpretations...  Dracula's redemption?  Belmont's redemption?  Castlevania's redemption?  Take your pick.  :-)

And about the Dracula design --there were actually a couple reasons for the ancient look that are very closely related.  I should explain that we set out to redesign Julius first.  Julius was 55 in Aria of Sorrow, but he's only 19 at the time of the Demon Castle War --so it was a major challenge to reimagine him as this much younger character with a "modern" 1990s look.  After Julius's design was finally set, we decided to approach Dracula with contrast in mind.

The classical theme here is that villain is a dark reflection (an antithesis) of the opposing hero.  While Belmont embodies the bright optimism of youth, Dracula embodies the darker cynicism of old age.  The Demon Castle War was set in modern times.  Julius was designed to look modern because he's a part of a modern world.  Compare that to Dracula, who became immortal in the year 1094, during the Dark Ages.  Dracula is over a thousand years old --a truly ancient vampire in a modern world.  It felt appropriate to give him the ancient look, in spite of his awesome power.

I can understand how someone might get the impression frailty, but don't be discouraged.  This is just the teaser.  We're saving some for later...  ;-)

[VladCT]

This is nice and all, but have you ever thought of the possibility of some fans not reacting too well to getting major blue balls, however small it may be?

[Claimh Solais]

If we're trying to follow up in whatever way we can with the canon (as convoluted as it is), making Dracula look OLDER contradicts a plot point already set up long ago.

There ARE other ways to contrast them whilst avoiding Dracula being old.

[darkwzrd4]

If we're trying to follow up in whatever way we can with the canon (as convoluted as it is), making Dracula look OLDER contradicts a plot point already set up long ago.

There ARE other ways to contrast them whilst avoiding Dracula being old.

Two being: 1) how he dresses 2) his use of language

[X]

Castlevania's redemption?  Take your pick.  :-)

Castlevania itself cannot ever be redeemed. It is what it is; A creature of Chaos created through Dracula's dark powers. But if you're referring to the series as a whole then that's even more bamboozling.

[Dominus Agony]

If we're trying to follow up in whatever way we can with the canon (as convoluted as it is), making Dracula look OLDER contradicts a plot point already set up long ago.

Which plot point are you talking about? In SotN, they designed him to look old. In the DXC remake, they chose to design him younger. Now canon-wise, RoB is only 5 years before SotN, yet they gave us 2 very differently-designed Draculas. In PoR, they chose to pay homage to the Bela Lugosi look, thus his "youthful" appearance.

The point I'm trying to make is that Dracula's design isn't always consistent as the in-game world progresses, so him appearing old in this video should be fine, and probably how Konami would've designed him anyway. However a youthful-looking Drac would've been fine as well.

Castlevania itself cannot ever be redeemed. It is what it is; A creature of Chaos created through Dracula's dark powers. But if you're referring to the series as a whole then that's even more bamboozling.

And now you're just nitpicking for no reason.

[Claimh Solais]

Which plot point are you talking about? In SotN, they designed him to look old. In the DXC remake, they chose to design him younger. Now canon-wise, RoB is only 5 years before SotN, yet they gave us 2 very differently-designed Draculas. In PoR, they chose to pay homage to the Bela Lugosi look, thus his "youthful" appearance.

The point I'm trying to make is that Dracula's design isn't always consistent as the in-game world progresses, so him appearing old in this video should be fine, and probably how Konami would've designed him anyway. However a youthful-looking Drac would've been fine as well.

I thought actual vampire myth was that vampires look younger with the more blood they ingest. Hence why Drac was so young looking in RoB. I dunno about PoR, but Drac was forced into the plot of that to begin with (the game could have done much better with Brauner as the final boss, though I really liked the current last boss).

I did say the plot is rather convoluted though, so this plot point was probably used once but contradicted by the series itself.

[cecil-kain]

I thought actual vampire myth was that vampires look younger with the more blood they ingest.

This is true.  However, but there's an important distinction between a vampire that is all-powerful, and a vampire that is merely well-fed.  Dracula's physical appearance doesn't necessarily represent the totality of his power.  :-)

[X]

And now you're just nitpicking for no reason.

Hey, Cecil-Kain said "Take your pick" so I did. He's done nothing to bother me and I respect him as a person. It's got nothing to do with you so please don't assume anything.

[C Belmont]

I've been wondering
With all the fan fiction being made for it what exactly is Operation Akumajo's goal these days? I don’t understand what is it you want Konami to do?
In all likelihood they aren't going to make your vision of the Demon Castle war and having thousands of followers behind your vision isn't going to prove to Konami that it's worth them making their own version.

[cecil-kain]

I've been wondering.  With all the fan fiction being made for it what exactly is Operation Akumajo's goal these days? I don’t understand what is it you want Konami to do?

About the fan-fiction...  AoS, DoS, PoR, OoE, LoI, CoD, and Judgment were meticulously researched to lay the foundation for our Demon Castle War scenario.  Unfortunately the canon doesn’t provide a complete narrative, so some fan-fiction was required to tie up the loose ends.

For example, we have the Hakuba Priest.  AoS defined his role in the story, but not the details of his character.  What does he look like?  What's his relationship to Alucard?  Why is he involved in the Demon Castle War?  This is one of the easier areas of fan-fiction.

But then there are major mysteries like the role of the Morris clan, Dracula's cult, and the Military.  These are the areas where fan-fiction gets quite a bit riskier.  And yes, we do have some new characters in mind to fill these roles.  Hopefully the fans like what we're doing, but that's another topic entirely...

About goals...  Operation: Akumajo wants Konami to get busy making the 1999 game --that's been one of our long-term goals since the very beginning.  We're not planning to homebrew an amateur game, because that sort of thing should be the last resort.  Right now, our short-term goal is to rally support for the cause by sharing our own ideas of what the Demon Castle War could be.

In all likelihood they aren't going to make your vision of the Demon Castle war and having thousands of followers behind your vision isn't going to prove to Konami that it's worth them making their own version.

Selling our vision to Konami was never part of the plan.  But Youtube is a powerful tool, not only for sharing ideas, but also for demonstrating interest, support, and enthusiasm.  So what kind of Youtube results are needed to get Konami’s attention?  A million views?  99% positive feedback?  Some kind of mainstream publicity?  Who knows...  But yes, I agree it will take more than a few thousand views...

Megaman fans needed Inafune’s support to get Legends 3 started at Capcom.  It's quite possible that we may need Igarashi’s support to get the Demon Castle War started at Konami.  Unfortunately, he's very quiet about his interest in Castlevania at this time.  Now that LoS2 is supposedly the last of the reboot, we may have an appropriate horizon to approach him.  Time will tell.

[mistressalucard]

That is really good, the artwork is good.  I loved how Julius is drawn and Dracula is perfect.