Topic: It's sad...

[jestercolony]

I didn't discover the Castlevania Dungeon until I was around 9 or 10. The internet was still a bit new around this time. Now, I'm 37. I've actually witnessed the 3 layout changes to the site, the 3rd being what it is today. And it just makes me sad not to see any Castlevania games lately. The animated series' they did was okay, but it just feels like my child hood has been ripped out from me (I'm probably not the same to feel this.) Must of the older dungeonites are in their late 30s, to late 40s now, probably 50s. I miss the old net, back when Final Fantasy fansites had been a thing, or Metal Gear Solid and such.

It actually tears me up thinking about it. Heck, off Castlevania topic: I'm having a hard time playing the FF7 remake cuz of old memories sake, cuz that series was special to me (as SoM and Chrono trigger are.)

I really hope there's future installments of games of Castlevania in the future.

[crisis]

Grimiore of Souls was the last “official” game Konami put out which was only a few years ago, and hate it or love it the Netflix show help kept the name alive in the public consciousness, they’re making bank off of the merchandise alone. I will always have a vested interest in Castlevania but I realize there will probably never be a other be another traditional metroidvania developed in-house by Konami again, and I’ve accepted that a long time ago. IGA was the main force pushing it & with him gone there’s no one else at the company with the same level of passion he had.

[PFG9000]

Konami is still very much alive.  They just suck at prioritizing games right now.  Eventually they'll have a leadership change and they'll milk their franchise cows again. I don't believe for a second that we've seen the last Castlevania game.

[LuxKiller65]

i'm sure their fitness centres will have some castlevania cosplays

[Gunlord]

* Gunlord hugs Jestercolony

I havent been around as long as the real old-timers, but man have Castlevania and the fans here given me a lot of good times. Call it a hunch, though, but I think we may see more CV goodness down the pipeline, if nothing else more of Nocturne, since that seems to have done very well on Netflix.

[RichterB]

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.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

I suppose at this point I qualify as "old guard" even though I never really feel it. I migrated over from the Anti-Chapel of Resonance forum when that really started fading and I've felt like the New Kid ever since, but you're not wrong Jester.

Honestly, the fandoms we grew up with are a lot like Middle-Earth or the linking of the Fire Cycle in Dark Souls: no matter what you do, all that is good and wonderful, everything you cherish, it all WILL fade and pass into history and memory. The goal is not to preserve a past that could never be preserved forever, but to accept that change is a part of the world, and while what is good and beloved will pass and fade, new good things will have the opportunity to come forward in their time, and that future deserves the opportunity to transpire.

We are in a particularly dark time for all of these stories we grew up with. The corporations which manage them are, to the last suit, even greedier and more cutthroat than they were when we grew up, and much more mask off about it. They are not looking to the past to find a foundation to build, nor do they look to the future for a place in which to build it. All they care about is now, and the next quarterly statement, and how valuable the stock price will be tomorrow morning, and the day after. Stories like Castlevania simply can't thrive in that environment. But that won't hold true forever because the way these business are running themselves is fundamentally unsustainable. Something WILL have to fundamentally change sooner or later. Castlevania will either will get another lucky break, in which case it will see a diminished age of glory, perhaps to see yet another and another in due time, or it won't, and and it will largely only exist in our memories, and in the legacy it holds with all the games, media projects, and original fiction it has done its part to inspire. Either way it ends eventually, and we have had two major in-universe timelines come full circle and tell their stories to completion, and it's not clear how much steam the Netflix series has left either. But to see the story told and retold to completion multiple times is also a blessing, something few tales get.

Castlevania may never have been Konami's shining star, but it was WELL LOVED in the decades in which it was prominent. I mean, we're still here drinking to its memory. That says a lot.

I hope the Sun has yet to rise and banish the Night once and for all. I hope Dracula finds at least a FEW more resurrections. May the Belmonts get to dust off that whip a few more times.

But if this is it? If this is seriously ALL we'll ever get? We honestly got a hell of a lot over the years, and I'm finally okay with being okay with that.

The Elves might have gone home to the Undying Lands, but the stories they left behind remain.

[Eric Roman]

[Abnormal Freak]

The thing to do now is just replay those old games over and over, like spinning your old KMFDM and PIG CDs to death. Bask in the nostalgia until you wither away.

Wishing for a new Castlevania is kind of a monkey's paw scenario at this point.

But I feel ya. Sucks when things die down, people exit out of your life, and you're stuck with the memories. Having a kid has kind of put a new lease on life, and hopefully I can make her life magical. My old-ass bones are turning to dust and my back is phucked and I'm now a fat, balding, ugly loser lol. Life goes on I guess. Time to embrace Dad Mode.

[EstebanT]

Well said Lumi.