Topic: The first sign rises with the full moon.

[Reinhart77]

wow, everything got so quiet all of a sudden (other than a discussion about death pits).  guess it is just time to wait and do something else in the mean time.  wonder how much fan art and other fan activities we'll be seeing between now and release date.  it was a nice little routine of mine to check out their tumblr every day.

who here is planning on becoming Beta Testers on the PC?

[Maedhros]

The wheel is a completely ancient design. Should we stop using that as well?

I don't agree with you saying that it makes zero sense in exploration games. Like RichterB said, Simon's Quest got it right. Zelda 2 is another example. All that really means is that you haven't seen many games that have done it, or done it well. That doesn't mean that it can't happen.

Like I said, I don't think that igavania's need to be about platforming danger. It's cool to let it be it's own thing. But you saying that in makes zero sense in exploration games general is another thing. And I think there is and will be games that prove that theory wrong.

Difficult platforming and exploration can work together. And the when they do, the result is awesome.

What a stupid comparison.

Simon's Quest is a shit game. I know there are some dungeon dwellers that like that game, but that's not the common opinion. Also I never understood why the hell people call that game proto-SOTN. Sorry, it isn't. Many interviews by IGA confirm that. They never looked at Simon's Quest to make SOTN.

Feel free to prove which game have exploration and instant death pits, so I can never play them in my life.

[Gunlord]

Hey Reinhart, do you have a tumblr? I'm at gunlord500.tumblr.com

[theANdROId]

You get that if you got a digital copy right?  If so, I plan to...but I wonder if any digital gets it, or only Steam.

I've watched a little of the stream now, and as an interpreter, one thing kinda (really) bugs me...how much English do Iga and Aizu (and anyone else there I guess) understand?  Was someone (or something) translating for them, or were they sitting there for half of these conversations, having no idea what anyone was saying?  At my job, one important thing we are to do as interpreters is make sure the client has equal access to any language and communication, which usually means interpreting pretty much everything. Otherwise the client is awkwardly left out, unable to fully participate.  I've seen how clients look when their interpreter doesn't do this, and that's kinda how Iga and Aizu looked. :-/
(I don't really expect anyone here has an answer...I'm just talking out loud I guess.)

[Belmontoya]

What a stupid comparison.

Simon's Quest is a shit game. I know there are some dungeon dwellers that like that game, but that's not the common opinion. Also I never understood why the hell people call that game proto-SOTN. Sorry, it isn't. Many interviews by IGA confirm that. They never looked at Simon's Quest to make SOTN.

Feel free to prove which game have exploration and instant death pits, so I can never play them in my life.

I thought it was a pretty good comparison. You lost your poise a little off that one.

Who else thinks Simon's Quest is a shit game? Anyone agree with that?

I sure as fuck don't.

[Shiroi Koumori]

You get that if you got a digital copy right?  If so, I plan to...but I wonder if any digital gets it, or only Steam.

I've watched a little of the stream now, and as an interpreter, one thing kinda (really) bugs me...how much English do Iga and Aizu (and anyone else there I guess) understand?  Was someone (or something) translating for them, or were they sitting there for half of these conversations, having no idea what anyone was saying?  At my job, one important thing we are to do as interpreters is make sure the client has equal access to any language and communication, which usually means interpreting pretty much everything. Otherwise the client is awkwardly left out, unable to fully participate.  I've seen how clients look when their interpreter doesn't do this, and that's kinda how Iga and Aizu looked. :-/
(I don't really expect anyone here has an answer...I'm just talking out loud I guess.)

Cuz. Ben is busy with the host hogging the spotlight and no one else can do the translations...
Then again, they are all most likely drunk before the stream even started.
I'm sure both IGA and Aizu know a little English but they just can't respond to the questions because of Japanese awkwardness towards speaking in English and the English spoken was fast for a Japanese who is not well versed to catch up. Plus the fact that they both are innately shy.
And I've noticed that the Japanese spoken was done in simple terms at a slow spoken pace. So I did not bang my head trying to understand. I mostly ignored Ben's translations since he does tend to miss some stuff.

[Claimh Solais]

Who else thinks Simon's Quest is a shit game? Anyone agree with that?

I sure as fuck don't.

...

*slowly raises hand*

[DarkPrinceAlucard]

Who else thinks Simon's Quest is a shit game? Anyone agree with that?

I sure as fuck don't.

I didn't like it as well, it was a "ok" game in the sense that I got SOME enjoyment out of it, but for the most part I disliked the game, Its definitely one of the lower points in the series for me.

[Reinhart77]

Hey Reinhart, do you have a tumblr? I'm at gunlord500.tumblr.com

I do now, just signed up.  I followed you.  I really should have signed up earlier and re-tweeted (or whatever Tumblr's equivalent is) the Bloodstained fan art that I liked as the campaign was going on.  I'll go do that now though.  Reinhart77.tumblr.com

[RichterB]

Who else thinks Simon's Quest is...

*Simon's Quest was one of the first games I came back to when I was getting back into Castlevania in the mid-to-late '90s. The experience stuck with me, and at the time, I had never beaten it. Sure, it is rough around the edges, and broken in spots, yet its sense of adventure, atmosphere, and ability to keep the classic action-platforming at the series' heart while innovating makes it a memorable entry. I am always tempted to put it high on my list of favorite Castlevanias, and it has definitely earned a well-deserved honorable mention, if nothing else. I'm certainly in the "like" camp.

Aside from the rather obscure Vampire Killer, Simon's Quest was the first entry in the series to add RPG/questing/backtracking/open-world elements, expanding greatly on the former's efforts in that area. So, it's a proto-SotN by default, even if IGA doesn't acknowledge it as such (and I can see why hairs might be split on this topic). Still, there's no denying that it's Metroid-like, if you play both games on the NES. Speaking of splitting hairs, curiously, IGA himself states that Zelda, not Metroid, was the main design influence for SotN, as far as I've heard. However, I believe it was mentioned off-hand during the Twitch stream (during either the Shantae or Gunvolt section) that IGA does actually like Simon's Quest; and as an aside, SotN's rebound gem sub-weapon seems very much a reference to Simon's Quest's crystal sub-weapon by someone on the team, and collecting Dracula's Relics is the endgame in both entries.

So, there's two sides to every story. But none of this is really very relevant; it's up to the design team to decide what they want to be in Bloodstained. All I ask is that the game design isn't flat, and honors platforming. (IGA said in the tech-demo video that he doesn't want unseen instant kill pits or pinpoint jumps, I believe, but there has to be a middle ground; and if not, I'm counting on Classic Mode to scratch that itch. It is ironic, though, that Rondo of Blood, hailed for its more non-linear nature, has pits and blind drops that will likely kill you just as much as take you to a hidden passage; Stage 4's dungeon stage with the elevator comes to mind. Anyway, in this day and age, so long as it's clear to the player of the consequences, I have no problem with consequential and strategic platforming; I expect to see it in some capacity in the main mode of Bloodstained, and I expect to see it featured in the Classic Mode of Bloodstained. Based on Inti Creates' past works, I think they can pull off something fresh while still honoring SotN.)

*By the way, do we really know who came up with the SotN-type design? I thought IGA took over and completed the project after the basic design was set up by Toru Hagihara and/or other members of the team. This has always been confusing to me.

*I did wonder how in-the-loop everyone was being kept with the language barriers during the Twitch stream, yes. But on the other hand, it was pretty informal, so maybe no one cared.

*I am curious how Bloodstained will do at retail after having such a success on KS. Will there be enough consumers left? And will that matter at this point?

[Belmontoya]

This is a series with games like MOF, Judgement, LOS2, Harmony of Despair, and Curse of Darkness... And you're calling Simons Quest a low point?

I can't get into this with you people..

Simon's Quest is a hallmark of the series. It pushed the envelope on what was a new genre at that time.

[DarkPrinceAlucard]

This is a series with games like MOF, Judgement, LOS2, Harmony of Despair, and Curse of Darkness... And you're calling Simons Quest a low point?

Even though you did not bother to quote me the "low point" seems to be aimed at me so let me say yes its a "low point" to me.

To be honest I would only rank it over MOF,LOS2, and Judgement.

I definitely got more enjoyement out of Curse of Darkness and Harmony of Despair.

But before we go any further please keep in mind that all this is competely subjective.

[KaZudra]

wow, everything got so quiet all of a sudden (other than a discussion about death pits).  guess it is just time to wait and do something else in the mean time.  wonder how much fan art and other fan activities we'll be seeing between now and release date.  it was a nice little routine of mine to check out their tumblr every day.

who here is planning on becoming Beta Testers on the PC?

I might stream via twitch

[Reinhart77]

You get that if you got a digital copy right?  If so, I plan to...but I wonder if any digital gets it, or only Steam.

yep, if you do a download for the PC version though.  i know for sure none of digital download for the regular gaming consoles would have it.  maybe some of the other non-console versions would work to?

[Claimh Solais]

This is a series with games like MOF, Judgement, LOS2, Harmony of Despair, and Curse of Darkness... And you're calling Simons Quest a low point?

I can't get into this with you people..

Simon's Quest is a hallmark of the series. It pushed the envelope on what was a new genre at that time.

I actually liked all of those games more than Simon's Quest. Simon's Quest happens to be one of my least favorite games in the series. After all, like DPA said:

please keep in mind that all this is competely subjective.