7
« Last post by RichterB on July 17, 2024, 05:13:13 PM »
I feel ya. The Castlevania Dungeon Forum and its website were magic. I lurked for a long time and got tons of information on once inaccessible titles like Rondo of Blood before officially joining circa 2008. I, too, feel like the treatment of Castlevania has been a piece of me ripped away. (I actually feel similarly about other franchises like Zelda and Mega Man, the former being twisted into a new genre that makes it innovative at the cost of losing identity and iconography and the latter for its dormancy.) The Netflix treatment basically IS Castlevania in the eyes of society now, which I am not happy about. Migami's The Lecarde Chronicles 1 and 2 shockingly made up for the last two decades of disappointments for me, and the upcoming Chronicles of the Wolf, which has the same spirit to it, is kind of holding the fort for Castlevania for me. And I will give a shout out to Bloodstained. I didn't think it was as good as the Lecardes or Castlevania overall, but it had its moments, and Curse of the Moon 1 and Classic II: Dominique's Curse were very good.
Right now, The Lecarde Chronicles games raised the bar so high for me for Konami in terms of doing a 2D Castlevania that I'm not sure they have the right passionate people to pull it off, in or out of house. It seems like the more obvious candidates would either make it derivative of other modern franchise games or else harmfully focused on being a homage to older titles. While I respect what IGA did for the franchise, he largely topped out around 2003 IMO, and I do not think the franchise was served best by leaving one person like that at the helm so long. (Though, admittedly, I understand not many people wanted to be at the helm, if any...) The Mercury Steam era was worse for me, but the various talents that brought the diverse visions of III, Belmont's Revenge, Bloodlines, IV, Rondo, SotN, and CV64 would not have happened under the helm of one person is my point. And I think even looking at Circle of the Moon--love it or hate it, I happen to like it a lot--it stands out in gameplay and map design from IGA's titles despite being inspired by SotN.
So yeah, as of now, anything Konami puts out, it would have to either top Lecarde Chronicles 1 for Classicvania or Lecarde Chronicles 2 for Metroidvania...and that is a tough thing to do without a ton of commitment and vision. Therefore, I would really like to see an improved version of Castlevania 64, which I think understood how to translate Castlevania into 3D better than any other attempt. This could be an HD remaster with quality-of-life updates and all the content originally planned for the game in one package (so long as it doesn't lose the 3D action-platforming, puzzle-exploration, and non-damage sponge enemies of the original), or it could be a brand-new game with the same philosophies polished up. I say this especially since that brief and controversial N64 era had a TON of unrealized potential, but had a really underappreciated framework just waiting to be fleshed out (but never done so, even by other franchises, largely). What happened with the CV64/LoD era, abandoning it in mid-evolution, was tantamount to if Castlevania ended after Simon's Quest and we never got Dracula's Curse or Super IV. IGA straight up deemed it irredeemable and focused on trying to meld Castlevania with Devil May Cry, which was interesting but misguided IMO. (We would see a similar issue with Mercury Steam mixing Uncharted, Shadow of the Colossus, and God of War gameplay with Castlevania, and throwing in Lord of the Rings aesthetics for good measure.) There is definitely life left in Castlevania, 2D or 3D, but it's not going to come about by someone saying something like, "I'm going to make Castlevania compete with Soulsbornes!" And frankly, I think the whole thing about DLC for Dead Cells is a bit of an insult to Castlevania. At full strength, Castlevania is NOT a side act. Anyway, Castlevania needs to sink or swim on its own merits, not by turning it into something its not and limiting its own potential. It's earned that right, historically speaking.
I just am surprised that it would not have happened already during the big visibility it had during the Netflix show's heyday, the Super Smash Bros announcements, and the classic collections being released. All that happened in a clump, and it seemed like it was building up to something. It really is sad. I think many of us can picture in our minds Castlevania as a viable modern game, but it just hasn't happened. I'm scared that when it does, it will either be something kind of middle of the road like the recent Contra revival or else completely unrecognizable.
Home
Help
Login
Register
Recent Posts
Bask in the nostalgia until you wither away.