Topic: "The Dragon Returns" - Castlevania Lords of Shadow Sequel (HERE BE SPOILER INFO)

[uzo]

I don't mind a proper reboot of the series, just as long as they tie up the 1999 thing.

The 1999 game may not satisfy us after all the super hype, but it needs to happen. Somehow, though, deep down I don't think it was ever meant to happen. It was just a backdrop to Aria, in a way.

If they reboot the series again though, I want something much closer to the original. A somewhat re-imagined, condensed, timeline. Bring back all the major players, add a few newcomers, wipe the extended cast clean, and give the stories a steroid shot while they're at it. Just keep the same sense of character and atmosphere the series has been known for.

[Dremn]

I was under the impression David was always a producer at Konami. Wasn't he credited in several games before LoS?

[Ahasverus]

I don't mind a proper reboot of the series, just as long as they tie up the 1999 thing.

The 1999 game may not satisfy us after all the super hype, but it needs to happen.

I agree, I need closure damn it!

Somehow, though, deep down I don't think it was ever meant to happen. It was just a backdrop to Aria, in a way.

no doubts about it

I was under the impression David was always a producer at Konami. Wasn't he credited in several games before LoS?

Symphony and chronicles, yes, it seems he's Mr Castlevania now.

(click to show/hide)

Shame, I don't like him very much, I live Alvarez much better.

[crisis]

If they reboot the series again though, I want something much closer to the original. A somewhat re-imagined, condensed, timeline. Bring back all the major players, add a few newcomers, wipe the extended cast clean, and give the stories a steroid shot while they're at it. Just keep the same sense of character and atmosphere the series has been known for.

It is what it is. If they do decide to reboot or remake the timeline, then fine. As long as we keep getting more CV then I'm happy. But if they do that, and decide to "change everything up AGAIN, reset everything back to 0 and forget what you knew AGAIN," like LoS originally did, then that'd just be a wasted effort imo. At least Strider HD looks like it's in tune with the previous games. It's not trying to be something different than what it is. Hiryu doesn't look like somebody else or anything. If they were to reboot the timeline, then do it right. Don't make it unrecognizable just for the sake of it.

To put it simple for you,

There's no need, I know exactly what you're saying. I'm just trying to point out making a canon game isn't as complicated as you're trying to make it seem. I disagree making a canon game would regress the series to a "niche" fanbase again. I don't think anybody would be scratching their minds "who is Juste Belmont??" cuz he's just the character they're playing as, if they want more info, they can consult the internet or more likely, the game itself will reveal to the player who he is, where he's from, etc. Most CV games in the passed 25 years are self-contained anyway, you don't HAVE to know all of them to enjoy one of them. They each have their own stories, many of the prologues states all you have to know without going into details. And if anything, that could be considered a GOOD thing for Castlevania, since that would only encourage newcomers to go back & discover the classics, to find out for themselves "why is X related to Y? I've never heard of the game they referenced, so maybe I should check it out."


So yeah. Canon games are just as possible as non-canon games. I don't buy the "but they won't make sense business-wise, the timeline is too cluttered, newcomers will be confuzzled, etc." argument(s) at all.

[Pfil]

They could remake (not reboot) the old timeline, trimming the fat, this time with actual writers. That's the ideal case, really.

I wouldn't be happy with just remakes. They would be the same that DXC was. I want NEW stages and NEW music. Especially music. Castlevania music, that is.
The old games are fine just the way they are and I can pick up and play them whenever I want to.
With the current state of things, I am so terribly afraid that all future games will have Araujo-like soundtracks, that a remake would be OK. Just OK.
But that is not what I want.
Nor is it just one or two games like Megaman 9 and 10. Megaman hardcore fans had to wait like 20 years to have 2 games and then the franchise died.
I want a new game with proper aesthetics and soundtrack every 1 or 2 years.

[darkwzrd4]

As much as I like the older games and the old timeline, because of IGA's method of making games (gameplay first, then shoehorning it into the time line), everything in the old timeline feels a little forced and while there are gaps that have potential, I guess it's a little too messy. Not to mention that only the older hardcore fans who have been with the series from the beginning (or close to it) could really appreciate them.

I have come to the opinion that what is best for the series after LoS2 is for someone else to take over and reboot the series again. That being said, if there is another reboot, I would hope that it would at least resemble the old timeline except not as long and more organized. I would also hope that whoever gets it next actually cares about the story as much as they do the gameplay.

Maybe, the series could go the way of the final fantasy series in which each game is independent of the others. No stories expanding over who knows how many games. One game, one story. This way is someone new comes along with their own ideas, it wouldn't affect the other games. This is probably the way most series should be.

[Pfil]

I never really cared about the story.
I want the old timeline to return because it is identified with a look and sound.
It would be nice to have some characters returning, sure, but that's not what is about for me.
Still, they have the alternate timelines that they can add games to (CV64/LoD, CotM, Legends...).
Or they can remake a game like in SCVIV or X68000, that essentially tells the same story of Simon vs. Dracula but with new stages and new soundtrack.
If they decide to reboot but they copy any game from 1986-2008 that's perfect for me.

And about new fans, at risk of sounding disrespectful (though I guess no one would feel offended here), I don't care about new fans. At all.
We are the life long fans. And we are the only fans that care.

And finally, Final Fantasy lost its identity many, many years ago.
It was not because of every game being self conclusive stories, but for going a way that is very similar to what we are seeing with CV. Make what most people would care and forget about fans.

I still remember playing FF6 (FF3 here) as a kid, as being so blown away by its perfection! I wanted a new FF game so bad! I went on and played most of the other FF games I could.
And when I finally got a Playstation, like in 2001, I finally had FF7, and... wow, that really, really sucked. One of the biggest disappointments in my life playing games.
After that, my hopes were gradually decreasing until some years ago, I just stopped caring about FF. Sure, there are some OK FF games, but never again something like FF3, 4, 5 or 6.
Something similar to what happened to me with Sonic and Megaman.

And that is my enormous fear about Castlevania.

[beingthehero]

The biggest mistake people seem to make with the old canon is regarding the timeline as something that must be adhered to when even IGA said in '08 it no longer mattered. OoE was completely self-contained even though it was in the same universe as the other games. We all knew it was part of the same universe as SotN and Bloodlines, but its exact placement in the timeline was barely discussed. Nobody even knows what specific date it's in, other than it being the 1800s. It was the same with Judgment. I imagine if IGA continued work on the series, then we'd have many more self-contained storylines without adhering to a greater timeline. While it might have made sense in 2002 to put out a timeline to make sense of all the games, he said in '08 that was a big mistake since the stories began having to work around the rapidly-reducing spaces of time that were left. Thus, the stories ignored the timeline and became 'hey Dracula is up to some shit again, better stop him.'

This actually was closer to the spirit of the 8-bit days when it was Simon constantly fighting against Dracula, even though the first game said Drac came back every 100 years (a rule promptly ignored by CV2). Heck, even the American adverts for CV Adventure said it was Simon fighting Dracula yet again, notwithstanding SCIV's Americanized story saying it's the third time Simon fights Drac. Dude couldn't catch a break.

ANYWAYS

I'm digging the detailed graphics for 2Lords2Shadow, but man. I am not digging those enemies. Seriously, Orcs (sorry, VAMPIRE WARRIORS)? They were no good in Curse of Darkness, and not good here. I'm getting CoD vibes from the enemies and not in a good way.

Still I like the architecture of the castle. I've had it preordered for a bit now, so I'm still looking forward to it.

[DragonSlayr81]

They could remake (not reboot) the old timeline, trimming the fat, this time with actual writers. That's the ideal case, really.

I could go for that. Keep the base idea of events, weed out the 'extra' stories that don't really contribute much and also add NEW stories to enrichen the new continuity. I would say, keep Trevor(1976), Christopher(1576), Simon(1691) and Richter(1792). Quincy Morris could either be cut or kept(keeping Stoker's Dracula as a part of the CV). Stuff that would be cut, naturally, would be LoI(perhaps make CV3's events the TRUE origin and keep Dracula as Vlad III, like my pitch, perhaps work in a little bit of history by including Radu and Mircea). That would also mean no CoD, no Belmont's Revenge, no Simon's Quest, no HoD, no SotN(gasp), no OoE, no PoR(if Quincy is kept, I wouldn't mind keeping Bloodlines, or perhaps merging the two games into one story that spans two generations). Other than that, all else will be left open. Concepts like the hundred-year rule (and if the Morris clan are kept, the whole "Morris clan are inferior and die if they try to use the Vampire Killer") will be written out.

Other than that, keep the basic visual style and classic styled music. Also dip into the wide assortment of classic CV monsters. I want to see Mummies, Frankenstein Monsters, Phantom Bats, Medusa Heads, Bone Pillars/dragons and such. Also, keep it the "hero's series", keep the focus on the Belmonts. Flesh out Dracula's backstory, sure, but keep the focus on what the Belmont family goes through.

[SaibotMK]

Has their been any confirmation on if their will be a dash teleport of some kind, projectiles like fireballs etc?

[Flame]

Has their been any confirmation on if their will be a dash teleport of some kind, projectiles like fireballs etc?

he seems to have a mist form or something, but it might be context specific.

[SaibotMK]

he seems to have a mist form or something, but it might be context specific.

That is disappointing

[Nagumo]

Maybe, the series could go the way of the final fantasy series in which each game is independent of the others. No stories expanding over who knows how many games. One game, one story. This way is someone new comes along with their own ideas, it wouldn't affect the other games. This is probably the way most series should be.

This is my prefered course of action. However, I think that if the developers would like to make several games in a continuity, they should be allowed to do so. Nothing as big as the classic canon, but maybe a duology, or a trilogy; something like that.

I really wouldn't be interested in alternate continuities that rehash old characters and plot lines. I mean, everybody and their mom wants to create their own take on Alucard, but eventually you just get sick of it. Circle of the Moon took a pretty good approach. They wanted to create a completely new world, but the only characters they carried over were Dracula and Carmilla. The rest is original material. No Belmonts, no Vampire Killer, the setting is Austria even. Despite that, it still holds true to the aesthetics of the series. That's how I feel they should handle this multiverse approach.           

[Dark Nemesis]

I keep hearing about reboots and the only thing that's coming on my mind is the rumor about Batman movies getting another reboot. Just what the f@$k? You've just reboot something and then you are going to reboot it again? This is so wrong..................worst than recycling sprites if you ask me. Why? What will happen if the new reboot doesn't meat their expectations again? They will do a third reboot? So now the series have become a guinea pig?

[JR]

This is my prefered course of action. However, I think that if the developers would like to make several games in a continuity, they should be allowed to do so. Nothing as big as the classic canon, but maybe a duology, or a trilogy; something like that.

I agree with this, too. This would work best for the series, I think. That way Dracula seems less like an obnoxious uncle that just comes around every once in a while, annoys everyone, then gets kicked out of Christmas or whatever. He gets defeated, but not over and over again in the same timeline. Not the only benefit to having separate stories, but a good one nonetheless.