Topic: What do you think of Cox-sama?

[C Belmont]

He's still the only person from Konami who has acknowledged and wished Castlevania a happy 25th anniversary at all

Yeah and right after that he went on to label critics as haterz and praise his work some more

[Munchy]

wouldn't be the first time.

"No QTE's", my ass!

To be fair, the quote wasn't actually "No QTEs". He said he really didn't like QTEs and that the ones in Lords of Shadow would be "unlike" the ones we were used to, which... is also not true, since there are plenty of the normal variety outside of the matching circle ones.

...And then when the game was out he said he felt the game succeeded in creating good QTEless combat, which is also not true (not that the combat isn't good, it's fun, but gimme a break, QTEs aplenty).

This seemed to be contagious, as the guy who made the new Splatterhouse also claimed that it would be free of QTEs.

[DragonSlayr81]

To be fair, the quote wasn't actually "No QTEs". He said he really didn't like QTEs and that the ones in Lords of Shadow would be "unlike" the ones we were used to, which... is also not true, since there are plenty of the normal variety outside of the matching circle ones.

...And then when the game was out he said he felt the game succeeded in creating good QTEless combat, which is also not true (not that the combat isn't good, it's fun, but gimme a break, QTEs aplenty).

This seemed to be contagious, as the guy who made the new Splatterhouse also claimed that it would be free of QTEs.

I'm kinda wondering if, by some chance, both guys(Cox and the guy who did Splatterhouse) were pressured into including QTEs by the higher ups. It's not unlikely, as big name companies do this type of crap all the time. I know for a fact movie studios do it all the time, and try to pressure directors to include as much "in" things as possible to appeal to what's trending on the minds of the audience. If it's a trend that they think will bring aboard new fans, they'll pressure the devs to include it to appeal to the lowest common denomenator. I mean, even Final Fantasy series has QTEs now. It's become the popular trend in gaming, so like any other trend, companies are going to milk it for all it's got. It might be an annoyingly stupid trend, but trends are trends, and they are profitable. Until the public grow tired of QTEs, they are going to beat it into the ground.

[Dark Nemesis]

I mean, even Final Fantasy series has QTEs now. It's become the popular trend in gaming, so like any other trend, companies are going to milk it for all it's got. It might be an annoyingly stupid trend, but trends are trends, and they are profitable. Until the public grow tired of QTEs, they are going to beat it into the ground.

And that's the reason, why i stopped playing Final Fantasy and that's a reason, why i will stop playing Castlevania!!!

[crisis]

I know for a fact movie studios do it all the time, and try to pressure directors to include as much "in" things as possible to appeal to what's trending on the minds of the audience.

Just like how every single movie nowadays just HAS to be in 3D

And that's why I respect Christopher Nolan because he absolutely refused to shoot Dark Knight Rises in 3D (even though it would've added an extra 500mil in profit), instead opting for high-resolution IMAX cameras & basically told Warner Bros. "fuck 3D, I'm calling the shots with this," and they had no choice but to yield to his demands.

[Kingshango]

I mean, even Final Fantasy series has QTEs now. It's become the popular trend in gaming, so like any other trend, companies are going to milk it for all it's got. It might be an annoyingly stupid trend, but trends are trends, and they are profitable. Until the public grow tired of QTEs, they are going to beat it into the ground.

Don't forget that QTE's has somehow spilt into other genres like racing games, sports games, puzzle games and stratagy games. What I don't understand is that the dislike for QTE's is so known to developers but they put it in anyway, it's like asking for a sundae with no banana's in it cause your allergic to banana's but they put banana's in it anyway when you clearly told them not to.

[Ahasverus]

..aand all the individual directors of Metroidvanias and pre-LoS 3DVanias  are to blame, not IGA?

IGA is still the scenario writer of all IGA-Vanias. And he sucks at it.

[Flame]

IGA is still the scenario writer of all IGA-Vanias. And he sucks at it.

Only for the sequels. He sucks at sequels. His original stories are pretty good.

HoD, AoS, OoE were good stories. HoD's was a bit weird, but not bad nonetheless. His sequels however- DoS, PoR, CoD were terrible in story.

As far as Prequels go, Lament wasnt too bad. it was pretty good id say.

[DragonSlayr81]

Just like how every single movie nowadays just HAS to be in 3D

That's one of the ways Hollywood sucks. Another is the whole reboot trend. There are two moves I can list as prime examples of higher-ups trying to fuck things up:

1. Hellraiser reboot. Enter the Weinsteins. What was their pitch? If we are going to reboot this franchise, let's cater to the masses of teenagers. Instead of doing something close to Clive Barker's story(Dark exploration of the bounderies between pleasure and pain), let's turn it into slasher where Pinhead is demoted to a sorta "Jason Voorhees" type of killer and have him run around a college campus slaughtering people a frat parties and such! It would be cool! Toss in a bunch of drugs, sex and booze. Maybe some KEWL hip music! It's going to be cool, for the kids that love watching MTV and stuff!! Well.... the project was so stupid, it's on indefinite hold.

2.  At the Mountains of Madness. Guillermo Del Toro always dreamed of making a full adaptation of HP Lovcraft's "At the Mountains of Madness", and wanted to keep as true to the source material as possible. This was a problem, as far as the big movie studios were concerned. Everytime he'd pitch his story(which would be Hard-R, a period piece set in the early 1900s and not sugar-coated), all the movie studios basically said the same thing. We'll only let you shoot this movie if:

1 It's PG-13
2. It's on a small budget and makes use of lots of CG.
3. You write in a female character and tack on a love story.
4. Has to be modernized, set in the modern era with modern technology and pop culture references.

Del Toro basically told each studio to fuck off. And a while, James Cameron heard of Del Toro's ballsy move and actually decided to help him produce it. Seemingly a lot of big name actors were on board too. Then project fell through and Del Toro moved on. In the end, no doubt, it was because Del Toro's sticking to his guns, we might never see that movie being made. And no doubt, because he pitched the ideas, these companies probably will, somewhere down the line, produce the movie themselves, without Del Toro, set it in modern times, have it CG heavy with a sappy love story, all in a PG-13 package.

[SilentCircuit]

Well I'm still annoyed about the whole 25th anniversary thing. I do wish there would be another 2D Castlevania game at some point too. Other than that, not sure.

[A-Yty]

IGA is still the scenario writer of all IGA-Vanias. And he sucks at it.

There's a vocal majority that says story doesn't matter. Sometimes it feels like people can't make up their mind what side of IGA's work they don't like.

And was the weakest point of LoS really the story? It was very silly, but it's not at all the primary reason it's criticized. If Cox gets a pass because he didn't write the story, it's not a very good reason. After all, isn't a producer's job to channel the budget to find the right people for the job? If Alvarez is to blame, it's really the person who hired him that's ultimately responsible.

Actually, I'm curious to know what made Konami pick MS at all. Their CV isn't that impressive (from either critical or financial point of view).

[Charlotte-nyo:3]

Do gamers overall like QTEs or something and that's why they're being stuck in tons of games? A silent majority-type thing? Because all I ever see people do is complain about them.

[thernz]

I guess in regards to in-game combat, they added QTEs as a way to alleviate how strong the grapples were, but it was still a screwy decision. They're optional most of the time but it's like, why wouldn't you when the enemies have so much health.

For cutscenes, I guess QTEs are usually added as a way to add player interaction, but Lords has too many cutscenes anyway. It just causes a further inconsistency in gameplay mechanics. Plus, I think cutscenes should be used as breaks in pacing too.

Only for the sequels. He sucks at sequels. His original stories are pretty good.

HoD, AoS, OoE were good stories.

HoD's a sequel of Simon's Quest, babe.

[X]

Do gamers overall like QTEs or something and that's why they're being stuck in tons of games? A silent majority-type thing? Because all I ever see people do is complain about them.

It sounds to me like all the video game companies are shoving QTEs down our throats and expect us to like 'em. Kinad like a parent trying to force feed their kids vegetables they don't like. I for one don't mind the occasional QTE so long as it's so far and few and is absolutely necessary for the game play and story progression (like RE4). But I certainly will not tolerate them in any beloved franchise title that has never had them and doesn't need them. Castlevania is definitely a NO-NO for QTEs as it does not need them.

[Kingshango]

Sadly I don't see QTE's dying off anytime soon, the only way developers will stop using QTE's is when another gameplay crutch becomes popular and then we get sick of that.