Topic: The first sign rises with the full moon.

[aensland]

just cause CVIII did that doesn't mean COTM has to follow that flawed example

Why are you still allowed to post?

[Gunlord]

Easy, guys. I don't think Affinity has said anything offensive or especially inappropriate, even though I do agree with her. Aensland and Zangetsu, there's no reason to call her a "femegonyst" or whatever or question why she has the right to post. I've seen people on Reddit and elsewhere asking the same question (why can't we choose our characters from the start), so it's not just her wondering this.

That said, I also understand the rationale for keeping some characters unlocked. I'd hope there might be a password or something too, but for a lot of games like this, the pleasure of unlocking secret characters, rewards, etc. adds to the replay value. Especially given the plot--according to the site, there are multiple endings depending on how you unlock the characters, so if they were all available at the start, it wouldn't make any sense to have different endings or routes through the game. So I don't think its foolish or a "flaw" to keep Zangetsu as the main character and gradually unlock the other ones.

As to why he's the main rather than Miriam, well, I wonder if IGA was surprised by his popularity and decided to give him the spotlight. A lot of folks I've talked to think he's super cool, far more than I would have expected for a side character.

[Jop]

Yeah those damns devs! they have to do the game I want!!!

 You know there are tons of game in this little world, I think you will find the one you like and if you dont like just dont play it and let the ones that like the game to enjoy the game.

[zangetsu468]

@Gunlord In fairness, Aensland didn't actually use any adjectives towards affinity, that was all me.

And without prejudice, we are all entitled to our opinions. I retract the personalisation of my comment (the last paragraph)

However, I will say this, we've all heard these posts before and none of the mods say a thing about it, yet I'm certain if there was material posted that was directly offensive to women, the mods would do something about it. Bottom line: We are here to post about our love and perspectives of Videogames, predominantly Castlevania, not our political beliefs on gender rights and equality.

On the character of Zangetsu, he looks cool and everything but I'm surprised he's lead character, as Miriam seems more memorable and likeable to me. 

[Gunlord]

Thanks, Zangetsu. And yeah, I wanna avoid political stuff too. But a little forebearance can help in that regard, it's easier to keep political fights and other such nonsense from breaking out if you're patient and try to speak around such things--diplomacy and all that :p

Anyways, I actually kind of expected Zangetsu to be a main character for a prequel game, because he's been hunting demons for a while and Miriam would have been too young to star in a prequel. But if it's a sidestory, then she could have been the protagonist. I guess perhaps they had a lot of the game plotted out from when it was a prequel, and when they changed it to a sidestory, they decided to just keep Zangetsu as the protag.

[crisis]

Why are you still allowed to post?

as a fellow Trollmeister myself, I kinda find affinity amusing because she sticks to her convictions against all odds & she’s always stirring the pot, which may or may not lead to a good debate. Y’all may not agree with her opinions, but I’ll defend to the death her right to say them proudly

at the end of the day she’s still a Castlevania fan & thus has every right to post here just as much as anyone else

[zangetsu468]

To me personally, Zangetsu looks like a less interesting version of Gabriel. Having said this, CuoTM makes me want to play as him moreso than BS does.

[Foffy]

in the sake of fairness, I dunno why they gotta peg a specific character as the protagonist for this spinoff game, when it would have been better and more fair to have all 4 choosable and switchable from the start, instead of being so invested in a story for a spinoff that isn't even linked to ROTN anyways.   the story/concept would be better if the characters already formed an alliance from the start.   the story is not canon anyways, see, COTM is just another example how unfair story can be and cause biased restrictions and favoritism that places one playable character over the others.

why should Zangetsu get special treatment and spotlight over the other characters?  only players that care about that character benefit from such a biased pick.

   well perhaps they can redeem themselves with some sort of unlockable or method so all characters are playable from the start, cause as is, the way they designed it by default, it means that Zangetsu has more levels than the other characters in the first playthrough, and that's not right.

 just cause CVIII did that doesn't mean COTM has to follow that flawed example.  COTM could have improved upon the concept with more equal selection from the start, instead of carbon copying CVIII's flawed gimmick of recruiting the characters before they are playable.

  its story is not going to win any awards anyways.

    I wont purchase it unless it has some password, button code, or unlockable feature that allows all of the characters choosable and playable from the very beginning of the campaign.  since they traced CVIII's format to this degree, they might as well go all the way and make sure to include a means for the other 3 characters to be playable from the start as well.

even in Bloodstained ROTN, they should have any extra playable characters choosable from the start besides Miriam,
 the player character should be up to the player, not the devs. 

so yea in all fairness, that would be better for COTM and ROTN  than the way they been doing things.

I think your post has concerns, but I imagine your impression, versus the games intention, is the issue.

Originally, this was a game set 10 years before the main game starts. Assuming they didn't change the lore, that outright meant Miriam would be in a coma; she was in a coma for 10 years. People assumed this meant we'd be getting another protagonist as the lead, and that was either Johannes or Zangetsu. It appears the latter is the "Belmont" of Curse of the Moon. The fact Miriam is even playable shows they changed something; nobody was expecting her to even be in this, based on the original pitch and if you knew her character history. I mean, think about it: Miriam was argued to be in a coma, Gebel is the antagonist and is supposed to be the curator of the castle, and Alfred looks like a secret antagonist who wants the Logeath because of its power related to demons. The fact all three of these characters are playable in addition to Zangetsu is an actual surprise. Where on earth is there bias...?

Dracula's Curse having multiple characters, routes, and endings is a flawed example in what way? That you can't play the whole game with all of the characters? The 'routes' you take are like Star Fox; each is based on difficulty, really. Where is this a "flaw"? Where did the developers design this as a "mistake" seeing as players liked the system, and Igarashi has revisited it multiple times now? When you call something a "flaw" in this sense, you're implying a design decision ruined the game. You might be the first person I have ever seen argue that multiple characters in Dracula's Curse and how they enhanced variety in addition to the "Belmont hunts Dracula" gimmick is somehow a flaw. Woaw.

Let me blow your desire to shreds, because it seems Inti may actually be making a legitimate flaw with this game. Do you know each character has a separate life bar and that if one dies, you can continue from where that character died as another character? This essentially means when you have all four characters, you don't need to worry about Miriam dying; you'll just have Alfred spawn right where she died and continue to spam away at a boss. This idea, unless they change it, sounds like a real flaw that will harm the game when you have all of the characters, and you want the game to start with this issue in play?

I would imagine the game has some sort of New Game+ feature, and if not and you get it on Steam, I imagine someone could possibly hack it to meet requests such as yours or even mine, but I believe some of your complaints, which you argue as design flaws, are more personal nitpicks. Hell, I just stated an actual flaw to balance that would harm the game much more than "gimmie Miriam at the start" or something like that.

[shelverton.]

Last time I checked, a spinoff game is an opportunity to use different lead characters, different settings or different storylines from the main series. Otherwise there is no need to make a spinoff in the first place, and it would just be a normal entry in the main series. Why should Miriam be the star in the spinoff of her own game? Please elaborate. Would Mario be the main character in Yoshi’s Island? Would Nathan Drake be the star in Lost Legacy?

Also, since when does everything have to be unlocked from the start? Where does that peculiar demand even come from? You meet companions along the way in thousands of video games, but here it’s suddenly a flaw?

[Jop]

Last time I checked, a spinoff game is an opportunity to use different lead characters, different settings or different storylines from the main series. Otherwise there is no need to make a spinoff in the first place, and it would just be a normal entry in the main series. Why should Miriam be the star in the spinoff of her own game? Please elaborate. Would Mario be the main character in Yoshi’s Island? Would Nathan Drake be the star in Lost Legacy?

Also, since when does everything have to be unlocked from the start? Where does that peculiar demand even come from? You meet companions along the way in thousands of video games, but here it’s suddenly a flaw?

What you say, your avatar and sign make me remember how much I like the character Rune (Phantasy star 4) when I meet him the 1st time and I wanted that he be in my party, but he has to do other things, he have his own journey, I feel sad but that gives me hope to meet him again, it wasnt I was angry, I know he was busy, I will love to have him in the 1st time? yeah but that will ruin the story or have to change how the story work, I like how they present the character and how in the end you know all of him, I most of the time try to think that the developers are not maeking a game for me (and I think this is true), they only wants to talk about a story they want to make and for me thats the best they can do because they understend what they are doing.

 When I start my own project (only in sprites) I didnt think in the players (most of the time), I think of how I want a game to be, story, gameplay, characters, enemys, etc. Becuase its me I understend best of all the people I know (or at least I hope :v) and OBVIOUSLY it will be cool that the players like the story and all the things I make like it, but for now I just want to talk about a story...

 Anyway this looks cool, I can see some flaws because what some say but I didnt play it and I cant say this or that or x, I must wait watch a gameplay or play it and after that think about the good or bad things, for now I think it can work and work perfect.

[affinity]

fundamentally, Curse of the Moon does have potential though I would be so ****ing livid if it has no optional method to have all the other characters playable at the start.

yea that is a must have feature. it's unfair for Zangetsu to be playable in all stages, whereas the other characters are only playable from the point they are recruited through the rest of the game (which means less stages and the first stages being too one dimensional and limiting having only 1 of the 4 playable).

they can vastly improve replay value having some sort of password, button code or unlockable system where on new playthroughs the player can choose to play as Miriam, Alfred and Gebel from the very start, and swappable. 

even CVIII, an 80's game, cared to provide a way to have all characters playable from the beginning, of course CVIII was capped at only two characters, with Trevor having to be one of the characters, but it still technically featured a method to have Sypha, Grant and Alucard playable at the beginning, so full access to all the stages for all characters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIWQTQg07jA

so yea Curse of the Moon having some password, button code or unlockable way to have Miriam, Alfred and Gebel playable from the very beginning (**** the story),
that would greatly increase purchase incentives and replay value for a lot of players, including players that dont give a dam about Zangetsu and his generic samurai trope.

preferably, it should be a button code/password, so even newcomers can just choose who they want to play as using that stuff.    it would be a pain having to beat the game first before the other characters are unlocked for all stages (and even more annoying if Bloodstained COTM happens to be very hard, at least Double Dragon 4 was somewhat forgiving with a stage select feature but yea it was such a pain unlocking favorites, since not only you had to beat the story, you also had to progress in Tower mode far enough to the point where your favorites are unlocked for use in story mode,  and that unlocking method had to be done for every account one uses the game on if one so happens to prefer gaming on a new/different PSN account. and beat em ups are easier than Castlevaniaish games, so not sure if the COTM  is beatable by most people anyways.   ).

well next week there will be confirmation what secrets and unlockables it has.   

[knightmere]

Last day for backer editions. I got one more so I could have a digital and physical.

[Super Waffle]

The way they pronounce the name Gebel makes me think he's actually named G. Bell and he's some kind of robot.

[affinity]

ROFL,    Zangetsu gets hailed and macho grande glorified as the face of Curse of the Moon, and yet Miriam STILL defeats him in COTM favorite character poll,
and with a landslide victory too. 

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/158368-bloodstained-ritual-of-the-night/76602958

Girl power! 

Also, whips >>>>>>>>>>> swords.     

[Dremn]

If Veteran mode has an option for classic jumping with no mid air control then it's going to be my personal GOTY.