Topic: So what do you think about the recent flood of collaborations?

[Abnormal Freak]

M2 did the previous collections and made a System 16 version of Fantasy Zone II "just because." They also developed The Adventure ReBirth so clearly they have a lot of love for Castlevania. I'm sure they'd program a serviceable workaround for the mostly pointless touchscreen mechanics. If that's what these banal crossovers are leading up to, then Konami can keep whoring out the series—but the crossovers themselves do nothing for me. At least during the dire times of Lords of Shadow we still got new games. I'll take mediocre games over no games at this point.

[crisis]

The dual touch screen indeed poses a problem, but if they were dedicated they would think of a solution. It’s not impossible.

If a Switch DS collection would happen, then they could include: Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin (the weakest of the IGA trilogy but it does have its moments of greatness), Order of Ecclesia, and maybe even Mirror of Fate. As a extra bonus they should include Adventure ReBirth. I skipped the last collection but I would be ALL OVER this if they make it happen.

[Eric Roman]

A true-to-form stage-by-stager would be swell. 😎

[Abnormal Freak]

A true-to-form stage-by-stager would be swell. 😎

I've given up on any halfway decent Castlevania game being made. Just look to the indie devs—and to that end, Odallus: The Dark Call is as good a Castlevania or Demon's Crest as any. It's ancient at this point (9 years) but still a gold standard. Then there's newer fare like Demons of Asteborg, or something in between like the GnG-inspired Battle Princess Madelyn: Royal Edition (Switch-exclusive but possibly better than the original multiplatform version). Konami would just pawn off CV to another developer and end up with something mediocre like Cuntra: Operation Gallagher.

[Eric Roman]

Did you say Demon’s Crest? :unf

[Reinhart77]

I’m hoping that the Switch 2 will actually have multiscreen capabilities and designed in such a way that ports from the DS, 3DS, and Wii U would be super straight forward.  I’d rather wait to get a DS Collection on that system anyways if that’s the case.

[crisis]

Odallus: The Dark Call

I both loved & hated that game. Mainly because of its difficulty. I enjoy a challenging game but there were moments in there that really frustrated me. Probably the reason why I dislike the “Souls/Borne” genre; They seem to prioritize extreme difficulty over fun & creativity. Devil May Cry however can be hard but it’s also a blast to play. My days of grinding constantly for hours just to get stuck on a boss for days/weeks are over.

[whipsmemory]

I both loved & hated that game. Mainly because of its difficulty. I enjoy a challenging game but there were moments in there that really frustrated me. Probably the reason why I dislike the “Souls/Borne” genre; They seem to prioritize extreme difficulty over fun & creativity. Devil May Cry however can be hard but it’s also a blast to play. My days of grinding constantly for hours just to get stuck on a boss for days/weeks are over.

Speaking of which, do any of you guys like the idea of having a new game embrace the soulslike formula? I've been thinking about it but im not sure it would work with CV tbh. If another big 3d game is made I'd rather have a DMC like combat, similar to LoI

[Eric Roman]

What's soulslike?

[crisis]

“soulslike” are games that take inspiration from Dark Souls, Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne, Elden Ring, Stellar Blade, etc. Although those games look amazing & a lot of effort was put into them by the developers, which I appreciate & admire their dedication, they’re just not my cup of tea. The gameplay is slow, methodical, and every choice you make counts, and like I said they’re known for their extreme difficulty.


@whipsmemory  Personally I would prefer a new 3D Castlevania to not take that route, but if it was done differently than the rest, then of course I will give it a chance.

[Reinhart77]

Indie Developer Discovers His Game Crossed Over With Castlevania Whilst He Slept

https://hard-drive.net/hd/video-games/indie-developer-discovers-his-game-crossed-over-with-castlevania-while-he-slept/

[whipsmemory]

Indie Developer Discovers His Game Crossed Over With Castlevania Whilst He Slept

https://hard-drive.net/hd/video-games/indie-developer-discovers-his-game-crossed-over-with-castlevania-while-he-slept/

lmao

[Scarlet starlet]

Speaking of which, do any of you guys like the idea of having a new game embrace the soulslike formula?

The problem with soulslike is that the feature that meshes best with Castlevania is DS1's level design, and in 15 years they never managed to replicate the quality of that, which you would need for an entire castle. Nowadays "soulslike" amounts to rolling infinitely in corridors (or in a shallow open world) with particular care to PvP stuff. Not my cup of tea.
Aside from that, the platforming in soulslikes is extremely awkward and weak. And the whips in those games are terrible and do not resemble Castlevania's vampire killer at all (LoS also had this issue).

[whipsmemory]

The problem with soulslike is that the feature that meshes best with Castlevania is DS1's level design, and in 15 years they never managed to replicate the quality of that, which you would need for an entire castle. Nowadays "soulslike" amounts to rolling infinitely in corridors (or in a shallow open world) with particular care to PvP stuff. Not my cup of tea.
Aside from that, the platforming in soulslikes is extremely awkward and weak. And the whips in those games are terrible and do not resemble Castlevania's vampire killer at all (LoS also had this issue).

Well, either way its not like the Castles map are that much interconnected usually, tbh thats why we usually have to rely on teleports a lot. Surely some areas may connect at times, but not to the point we ever had plenty of shortcuts between dramatically distant areas of the castles, also because those map usually mostly develop horizontally, while Dark Souls, at least for the most part, privileges vertical exploration, which surely would work very well with a Castle like architecture if done properly, yeah. On the combat, the whips do indeed feel awful in those games, but i think if they were to make a game in this style of gameplay an arsenal of weapons as we usually have in most metroidvanias would be privileged, and i can see that work. The real problem i think is the pace is too different from both the exploration based vanias and the action ones, surely because of jumping, but overall because of a faster pace of action and movement overall. Tho I also think that if done properly it could still work well, but as I said before, id rather get a more action oriented game, even tho these seems to not be very popular anymore unfortunately. Again regarding the whip, i think Lament of Innocence had the best whip wielding gameplay we had in a Castlevania game, i honestly think it was extremely thrilling and you really got the feeling of swinging a whip, differently from LoS as you said yourself, where it just felt like you were swinging punches in a mobile game or something like that. Castlevania 64 was also cool with the whip i think, i wish the whips in the Souls game felt more something like that

[zangetsu468]

Empty collaborations reek of a PachinKonami sacrificing their once beloved franchise harder than Griffith sacrificed the original Band of the Hawk/ Falcon… 🏹 🦅💥🩸