Topic: imporant Improvements for the Castlevania 3D genre

[Munchy]

You know, it is an oddball. While I do have a strange desire for every game series to have at least one "Game of the Movie" entry, Lords of Shadow delivered it sort of in that manner. It's certainly not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination.

One last bit of advice for MercurySteam's next CV: You might not want to use the phrase, "Forget everything you know about Castlevania." That reeeeaaally turned me off. If you want to know why, ask yourself this: Would you be very happy if Miyamoto, when advertising the next Mario game, told you to forget everything you knew about Mario? I sure as hell wouldn't. Not only would I not want to forget, I would kind of resent the insistence that I do forget. It's not quite accusatory but something still rubs me wrong with that phrase.

[VampirehunterB]

You might not want to use the phrase, "Forget everything you know about Castlevania." That reeeeaaally turned me off.

yeah, what the hell was he thinking stating that you should forget the earlier castlevania completely..I strongly reconsidered not to play the game at all when he said that..

[darkwzrd4]

Simon's Quest was an odd-ball in the classic series, but it still felt like Castlevania. I'd personally go with a more CV64/LoD type game with vast improvements on graphics, camera, etc.

-X

3D castlevanias should have elements of SCV4, CV64/LoD, and LoI in terms of game play.  In other words, platforming, swinging, and some puzzle solving.  Titan fights should be like the Forgotten One from LoI and/or Legion from CoD.

[Flame]

Really, theres people who actually got bothered by "forget everything you knew about castlevania"?
really?
Geez, I know Gamers hate change, I mean Megaman 9 and 10 are proof enough- But damn...

yeah, what the hell was he thinking stating that you should forget the earlier castlevania completely..I strongly reconsidered not to play the game at all when he said that..

Yeah how DARE he try to reinvent Castlevania. How DARE he try to take the franchise into a new direction in 3D where Konami's previous attempts have been from mediocre to "good" at best. How DARE he reboot the series to entice new players with a clean slate story and not years of history to catch up on.
Just make another pointless castle maze thats what he should have done. Yup.

Would you be very happy if Miyamoto, when advertising the next Mario game, told you to forget everything you knew about Mario?

I wouldnt know what to think and would wait for the game to judge that phrase. After all, that phrase can mean many things.

[VampirehunterB]

Really, theres people who actually got bothered by "forget everything you knew about castlevania"?
really?
Geez, I know Gamers hate change, I mean Megaman 9 and 10 are proof enough- But damn...
Yeah how DARE he try to reinvent Castlevania. How DARE he try to take the franchise into a new direction in 3D where Konami's previous attempts have been from mediocre to "good" at best. How DARE he reboot the series to entice new players with a clean slate story and not years of history to catch up on.
Just make another pointless castle maze thats what he should have done. Yup.

Well I would interpret it as " screw the earlier castlevania completely, let's develop a completely new game franchise..let's just call it castlevania.."

I do not mean that the earlier 3d CVs were outstanding when considering the gameplay..but the atmosphere, music..the game called "castlevania" was still there... LoS became more like any ordinary fantasy game.. a good action game but nothing of character...

[Flame]

Once again, it boils down to "what makes Castlevania."

And my interpretation of Castlevania is Belmont+Whip, Familiar enemies, A Castle, supernatural heavy plot.

Journey to the castle is also in my interpretation as many Pre-IGA games had that, and thats more what Cox was trying to channel. The fantastic and sometimes odd areas present in classicvanias.

[VampirehunterB]

Once again, it boils down to "what makes Castlevania."

And my interpretation of Castlevania is Belmont+Whip, Familiar enemies, A Castle, supernatural heavy plot.

I agree with you too...super CV IV and sotn were the best games of all according to me...the upcoming CV should be inspired by both sotn and super cv IV combined.

[Flame]

Well apparently you agree in a different way than i do, because I didnt mind LoS departing from "everything I knew about Castlevania" it was an interesting experiment in creative liberty with the franchise which I think was done pretty well.

[DragonSlayr81]

Well apparently you agree in a different way than i do, because I didnt mind LoS departing from "everything I knew about Castlevania" it was an interesting experiment in creative liberty with the franchise which I think was done pretty well.

I'm guessing, Flame, you are talking about the "idea" of "forget everything you know about Castlevania" and not LoS, because LoS most definitely did NOT forget everything about CV. If that was the case, we wouldn't have gotten all those names thrown in. I think Cox muttering that phrase was just to raise "reboot hype", but it defintely didn't not apply in full to LoS. There might have been some bits of LoS that didn't feel CV-ish, but there's a good chunk that did.

As far as the "idea" is concered, which is applied to most reboots, if you strive to do something that forgets the source material, you might have a better reception if you just make your own IP. That's the only true way to start a new project with a clean slate and no baggage at all. Maybe it's the times and the Recession, and that's the reason why everybody's playing it safe, hiding behind franchise names to push new ideas. This is a pretty big problem in the movie industry(well, American movie industry). Production companies aren't as adventurous as they used to be, but people forget that the only way to create new iconic franchises is to take a chance on a new IP. Look at Square Enix, who half-ass most of their IP attempts(with the exception of KH), and only focus on the big names. Had they shown the amount of dedication that the do to the FF series, they could've got some heads together and create 5 NEW RPG series with the same heart as the FF series. But it's safer to develope a new FF game, because it's a sure thing.