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Offline Nagumo

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Adapting Bram Stoker's Dracula
« on: November 30, 2013, 03:52:29 AM »
+2
Another meaningless hypothetical topic of mine. Any discussion about the novel's canonity aside, assume a new Castlevania will tell the events of the novel, but the story will be tweaked to fit better with the series. You're in charge of writing the scenario. What changes would you make and why? Which characters will you keep or omitt? Will you alter their backgrounds as well? etc.

What currently comes to mind:

I would probably change the setting from England to Transylvania only. Almost all Castlevania games take place there, and to suddenly just change that would feel out of place. Maybe it could work if they have the main characters travelling around Europe  just like in Bloodlines, but I think that would probably be more trouble than it's worth.

Likewise, I would the change the nationality of the characters to Transylvanian or at least keep it ambiguous. As for the characters that I think could work in a game are: Mina, Van Helsing, Renfield, and of course Quincy Morris. Maybe Lucy too as a redshirt-turned-vampire boss character? Not sure about any others.

Omitt the plotline of Dracula buying a house in England. Could you imagine CV Dracula doing something as out-of-character and mundane as that?

I know this isn't the novel, but I think it would be a great idea to use the "Mina is the reincarnation of Dracula's wife" plotline again. I this case she would the reincarnation of Elizabetha/Lisa. I would be very interested in the character's reactions to this, especially Dracula and Mina's. For example, would Mina believe Dracula and love him because of that? It would also be an interesting change of pace from the usual routine. The story would also feel less like a filler excuse plot as well.

Offline Chernabogue

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Re: Adapting Bram Stoker's Dracula
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2013, 04:18:06 AM »
+1
Great idea! :D I'll toss a few ideas.

Plot: Dracula thinks Mina is the reincarnation of his wife, murders Jonathan Harker, and takes Mina to Transylvania. The characters try to rescue her.

Characters:
Quincy Morris would be the main protagonist, and would use the Vampire Killer, plus subweapons.

Van Helsing could be a mentor, maybe like Wind in PoR (or a secondary character using a different weapon than a whip, but I think he's a bit too old to fight this time). Or he was the precedent user of the vampire killer and passed it on to Quincy. Van Helsing could have fought Dracula between Shanoa's era and the novel's era.

Lucy would bear Quincy's child, John Morris (she also could be kidnapped by Dracula, like he did in RoB/DXC).

Renfield could be an equivalent of Shaft, willing to protect his master. He could do the "manual" work for Dracula, like kidnapping Mina. He could get dark powers from Dracula or Death.

Offline James Belmont

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Re: Adapting Bram Stoker's Dracula
« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2013, 09:36:40 AM »
+2
I would probably change the setting from England to Transylvania only. Almost all Castlevania games take place there, and to suddenly just change that would feel out of place. Maybe it could work if they have the main characters travelling around Europe  just like in Bloodlines, but I think that would probably be more trouble than it's worth.
...
Omitt the plotline of Dracula buying a house in England. Could you imagine CV Dracula doing something as out-of-character and mundane as that?
I think there are ways to make it work. One must simply keep in mind Dracula's goal: he had domination in mind, conquest. He bought a house in England, yes, but his overall plan was to spread vampirism throughout society and become ruler. This goal is realized in the alternate history Anno Dracula series actually, which by themselves could make great fodder for all sorts of adaptations, from games to movies to comics. But I digress.

All that really needs to be done is for various plot elements to be punched up a bit. Start with Jonathan Harker at the castle, trying to escape. In the book it was just a few lady vampires, but this could easily be expanded. Plus, it'd be interesting if getting OUT of the castle was the goal this time. From there, go to England. Perhaps Dracula's already started his conquest, and London is in utter chaos. Vampires and monsters are terrorizing the streets. As for him buying a house in England, this can easily be punched up: he's turning Carfax Abbey into a second Castlevania. Before he was always terrorizing the Transylvanian countryside for the most part, but having him attack in what was then the center of western civilization and establish rule there? Great stuff, and I wouldn't leave it out. The subplot about destroying boxes of earth can easily be turned into a sort of quest thing as well. Maybe instead of just boxes they're actually coffins? After all is said and done in England, go to a big chase sequence where Dracula is chased across Europe, back to Transylvania. If it sounds like it'd take too long, a train level could easily speed things up.

So within these three large segments (Escape Castle 1, London & Castle 2, Chase & Final Showdown at Castle 1 again) I think it could be easy to make a good game, and a good Castlevania game at that. The novel already provides a good framework to go by. It just needs an injection of Castlevania flavor.

Offline X

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Re: Adapting Bram Stoker's Dracula
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2013, 11:41:17 AM »
+2
Quote
Omitt the plotline of Dracula buying a house in England. Could you imagine CV Dracula doing something as out-of-character and mundane as that?

There is a reason for why Dracula was purchasing property in England. It was stated in the book that he had bought ten separate lots all over the city in such precise locations. It's obvious that he was planning something big. This is one of the main points of the story so I wouldn't omit it either. And when you think about it, having more then one area in the city will help take the heat of Dracula whenever he goes out into the night to feed.

The Bram Stoker's plot overall I would largely keep intact. And also the characters themselves. Quincy Morris would be the only playable character while story-wise. The other hunters are with him but not usable. This is due to the fact that only a blood-related Belmont can kill Dracula, and that's what Quincy is. It's also stated in the Bloodlines manual that Quincy did not use the vampirekiller against Dracula so I would keep to that as well. But there is no doubt he had it in his possession and knew what would happen to him if he used it. Instead I would give him an upgradable Bowie Knife as well as his Winchester rifle (upgradable too). Since Quincy's a gunslinger/cowboy it makes sense to portray him as such.

The story would pick up when Quincy arrives in England but leaves his son with Members of the Lecarde family staying in London as well. Quincy would also leave with them the Vampirekiller for his son. As if Quincy knew unconsciously what might happen to him in the near future. Johnathan Harker escapes from Castlevania and warns the others about his ordeal, and about Dracula. London itself would be the main set of the game with another stage taking place on the road to Castlevania and the last few stages near and at the castle itself. The ten sepparent properties that Dracula purchases would be the London stages; each one being different. Carfax abby, a cemetery, a rundown old house, an abandoned theater, etc. The last segments of the story would tell of how Dracula found out about Quincy's child and the child of the Lecarde family. Both of whom he knew were Blood-related to the Belmonts. Dracula has his Gypsy warriors kidnap the two children and bring them to Castlevania as leverage against the other hunters. Everyone arrives at the castle at the same time and the two children witness the Quincy vs Dracula showdown. Quincy is wounded by a stab to the back from another gypsy warrior, but then does a rush-in with his knife and stabs Dracula through his heart (like in the 1992 movie). Then just like in the rest of the Castlevania series I'd have it end with the castle disintegrating. And interestingly enough this is the original ending to the Novel.

Here's the original ending to Bram Stoker's novel;

    "As we looked there came a terrible convulsion of the earth so that we seemed to rock to and fro and fell to our knees. At the same moment with a roar which seemed to shake the very heavens the whole castle and the rock and even the hill on which it stood seemed to rise into the air and scatter in fragments while a mighty cloud of black and yellow smoke volume on volume in rolling grandeur was shot upwards with inconceivable rapidity.

    Then there was a stillness in nature as the echoes of that thunderous report seemed to come as with the hollow boom of a thunder-clap - the long reverberating roll which seems as though the floors of heaven shook. Then down in a mighty ruin falling whence they rose came the fragments that had been tossed skywards in the cataclysm.

    From where we stood it seemed as though the one fierce volcano burst had satisfied the need of nature and that the castle and the structure of the hill had sunk again into the void. We were so appalled with the suddenness and the grandeur that we forgot to think of ourselves."

This is how I would end the game.
« Last Edit: November 30, 2013, 11:44:25 AM by X »
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Offline The Puritan

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Re: Adapting Bram Stoker's Dracula
« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2013, 05:03:48 PM »
0
Exciting ideas in an intriguing thread. I am hype!  :) I'm not sure how much of the original novel I'd follow myself, but here are some minor ideas to build up on what you've all come up with:

-Backstory: Van Helsing is Quincey's estranged mentor. A younger Van Helsing receives the Vampire Killer from an aged Richter, who tells Van Helsing to seek out the Belmont clan's blood relatives and pass the whip to them. Van Helsing finds Quincey in America and enlightens him to his heritage. Quincey trains under VH but they later have a falling out, possibly over the price that must come with unlocking the VK's power. Quincey becomes an aimless adventurer over the years only to meet his mentor again in London during the Lucy Westenra incident. His grief over losing her compels him to embrace his fate.

-A female Lecarde would be a supporting character. She was Van Helsing's apprentice at the the time they found Quincey and they trained together under him. She has an unrequited love for Quincey (who merely sees her as a good friend), made all the worse by the fact that if she unlocks the VK's power for him, she'll have basically killed him.

-Some bosses would be taken from Bloodlines, POR, and OOE. I'd use Queen Moss, Dagon, and Blackmore for starters.

-You can go to Wygol Village during the game's Transylvania segment. One of the residents is an old woman heavily implied to be Shanoa (who probably tells Quincey "You remind me of someone I knew."). She'll probably give you quests and advice or some such.

-Finish the game and you'll be able to play as Van Helsing. Not sure what he'd be like yet.

-The game would be dedicated to Bram Stoker, and say as much in the end creds.  :)

This is how I would end the game.

I was waiting for someone to bring this up amd I'd definitely use it. As well as an abbreviated version of Quincey's last words in the novel, "It was worth this to die. Look... the curse has passed away."

Offline zangetsu468

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Re: Adapting Bram Stoker's Dracula
« Reply #5 on: November 30, 2013, 06:19:08 PM »
0

Van Helsing could be a mentor, maybe like Wind in PoR (or a secondary character using a different weapon than a whip, but I think he's a bit too old to fight this time). Or he was the precedent user of the vampire killer and passed it on to Quincy. Van Helsing could have fought Dracula between Shanoa's era and the novel's era.


Potentially he could be like Rinaldo Gandolfi, and train Quincy on how the whip functions etc
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Offline Ahasverus

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Re: Adapting Bram Stoker's Dracula
« Reply #6 on: November 30, 2013, 07:56:06 PM »
0
Not only it can be done, it just must be done. It'd be nice to have a 3D bloodlines trilogy with ach chapter being Dracula, Bloodlines and PoR respectively telling the tale of the non-belmont curse and adding a nice backdrop as WW I and II.

Everything comes full circle

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