RE: CASTLEVANIA NAMES HISTORY & N64:Hey, I got mad love for Reinhardt and the gang (and more so as time goes on). Let's get to the bottom line: I didn't hear anyone get snippy when we had a whip character with a non-Belmont name before--MORRIS! That was years before CV64, setting that up as a possibility, and even CotM carried that on with GRAVES. Honestly, it's very neat, and shows that the Belmont line/tradition can be carried down in different ways, since who's to say it's always a MALE heir's Belmont blood that gets passed along. Or, who's to say a Belmont proper is always there and capable at the time of Drac's coming? You gonna send out 4-year-old Trevor or 80-year-old Simon?
Personally, I would love a sequel in the style of CV64/LoD--reading the old interviews with the creators, you can tell they're very committed to the Castlevania brand and doing all sorts of subtle things with it to make it breathe as a world in 3D. Even LoD didn't include everything they intended for the N64 game/s, with some leftover elements ahead of their time for video games. READ:
http://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/index.php/topic,4917.0.htmlRE: LoS2 NEW ARTWORK:This may seem an oxymoron, but the clocktower art seems, well, lifeless. There's not a lot of character to it. It's just drab and ruined. Like LoS' artwork, it's grand and dramatic, but I don't know that it's going to translate into CG with a lot of personality or spectacular level design. The monster design looks nice; though, again, is this another guy we finish with a QTE?
There's been a discussion on here about the Draculas and Belmonts over the years. (We all forgot about Kid Dracula, who would easily defeat Gabriel or Mathias!
) Let me just say there's one problem that LoS inherently brings, and I think someone noted this. Basically, you're championing a bad guy at various points, when these games have always thrived for me as a ostracized but holy good fighting all odds against supreme evil. But I'll stop, as I'm starting grumble now.
EDIT: One last point and food for thought. Has putting big names like Patrick Stewart, Robert Carlyle, and Jason Issacs really elevated the narrative punch of Castlevania any more than established but lesser recognized voice actors like Michael McConnohie (Rinaldo Gandolfi) or Dave Wittenberg (Leon Belmont)? I don't see how you could make a case for that, regardless of how compelling Patrick Stewart could make the Dictionary sound. Honestly, it's like if Solid Snake was played by Bruce Willis instead of David Hayter, would that make Metal Gear 100% more mature and serious? Them pushing these Hollywood names is a part of that "sensationalist" bent I mentioned earlier in the thread that helps hamper LoS. Oh, and while we're at it, it's come to my attention that GoW's Kratos and Gabe have some similarities. They both were driven mad by the death of their wife (which they both caused), they both turn on their allies, they both kill a super-powered being, and in the process become more like that being...