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Offline Nagumo

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Re: New Akumajo Dracula Game: Grimoire of Souls (iOS Beta Test)
« Reply #105 on: May 09, 2018, 11:54:21 AM »
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You can be both classic and chronicles simon. Both classic and DXC maria! This is awesome!

Nice! I was hoping that would be a feature.

Online VladOfWallachia

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Re: New Akumajo Dracula Game: Grimoire of Souls (iOS Beta Test)
« Reply #106 on: May 09, 2018, 03:00:02 PM »
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Finished watching some gameplay videos. The presentation is great, love the music and visuals.

...but those digital gamepad controls.... it looks hard to play, and it also looks like the level design is structured around those limited digital gamepad controls. I can't stand digital gamepad controls in turn based NES/SNES games, so I doubt that I can stomach them in a real time action game like Castlevania.

Oh well.

Offline theplottwist

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Re: New Akumajo Dracula Game: Grimoire of Souls (iOS Beta Test)
« Reply #107 on: May 09, 2018, 04:16:21 PM »
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Also, there's now a "Lucy" set in an age where there is a "Mina".

Remember what happened to "Lucy". I'm not saying something will happen, but keep that in mind.



Her full name really is Lucy Westenra.

Let's just hope this universe's version of her doesn't share the same fate.... :'(
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Offline Foffy

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Re: New Akumajo Dracula Game: Grimoire of Souls (iOS Beta Test)
« Reply #108 on: May 09, 2018, 05:01:29 PM »
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Annnd the first thing you hear in gameplay is music straight up taken from other games.

The series issue of content reuse is still here. :3c

Offline Darth Cariss

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Re: New Akumajo Dracula Game: Grimoire of Souls (iOS Beta Test)
« Reply #109 on: May 09, 2018, 06:31:34 PM »
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So, I applied for the beta and was accepted even though I speak and read zero Japanese. I've been bumbling my way through the game for a bit now. It looks and sounds good (most of the music is just stuff ripped from old games, including Lament of Innocence and Symphony of the Night. The main menu track appears to be original though and is quite good). The presentation is pretty charming, they even have the sprites from the old games running during loading screens and such. The controls of course are pretty wonky. There's some complex swiping motions you have to do in order to use a few special attacks that are on cooldowns, such as Alucard having a multi-hit combo you can do when you swipe left and then down in a certain spot on the screen. It all feels rather awkward to use thus far, and I often find myself not doing the specials when I intend to. Maybe I'd get better at it with practice, but touch screen controls can only do so much. You also seem to bring in teams of characters into missions that you can swap between on the fly. At this point I only have Alucard and Simon. Some of the missions have given me an AI co-op partner, I'm guessing as a stand-in for potential real people down the road.

So far all of the missions are very short bite-sized pieces of gameplay, where you go through simple stages and battle a few enemies to get loot. I've been awarded gold and some kind of red crystal currency for each mission, but I have no idea what these are used for since I can't read anything. There was a bit where I opened a loot box or something, it wasn't super clear, and I got a bunch of various items that it then had me equip on Alucard, so I'm guessing we buy that stuff with the money we unlock (and can probably buy for real world cash, I'd imagine).

Other than that, plenty of typical mobile game stuff. You spend energy to go on missions, and you only have a limited pool of it, which I'm guessing regenerates over time. In theory this will basically force you to play in bite-sized chunks and always come back for more throughout the day. As a Castlevania fan I like all the callbacks to previous games. The artstyle is also great. I'd probably have more fun if I could read anything, and I'll definitely play it more when it's in English.

Offline Nagumo

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Re: New Akumajo Dracula Game: Grimoire of Souls (iOS Beta Test)
« Reply #110 on: May 10, 2018, 12:37:06 PM »
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Adult Maria and Trevor (CoD version) are also going to be playable.

Offline DragonSlayr81

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Re: New Akumajo Dracula Game: Grimoire of Souls (iOS Beta Test)
« Reply #111 on: May 10, 2018, 09:34:41 PM »
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I like the backgrounds (that museum one is pretty cool), but this game don't look fun. Walk a few screens forward... "WARNING" (soudn annoying train or traffic horns), arena fight, reward screen with all the stuff you won, return to hub, continue and... walk forward a few more screens... "WARNING"....

That just doesn't look fun. Is this how mobile games are? I've seen gameplay for games like Final Fantasy Mobius and Final Fantasy Brave Exvius (though different because they are RPGs...) and they are a similar, "movie forward... fight battle.... movie forward... fight battle" like on a line with equally spaced nodes on it. Personally, I haven't played any, but again, it don't look fun. I have no interest in that kinda thing.

Offline TheMeadTree

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Re: New Akumajo Dracula Game: Grimoire of Souls (iOS Beta Test)
« Reply #112 on: May 11, 2018, 12:06:12 AM »
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Is this the new norm? Where's the risk taking and creativity and beautiful pixel art and insane enemy designs that Castlevania is known for? What the hell is this?!

Offline zangetsu468

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Re: New Akumajo Dracula Game: Grimoire of Souls (iOS Beta Test)
« Reply #113 on: May 11, 2018, 04:45:21 AM »
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I checked out the video plottwist posted, it looks like the Zelda FSA version of CV.
The thing is it doesn't look bad, but it looks quite awkward.. 
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<[Judgement]>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

                              
                **<<<<<SuperCVIV>COTM<<<<<<<<+
                                 ^      l   v  ^    v                 ^
                                 ^      l   v  ^    +<<<<<<<BE
                                 ^      l   v  ^    v                 ^  
                                 ^      l   v  ^    v     BE>>> VK<**   
                                 ^      l   v  ^    v     ^          ^   
            +<<<<<Legends>HC>OOS>LOD>64       ^
            v                           l              ^                ^
            v                           l     BE>> * <<<BE    RE
            v                           l      ^               ^       ^
LOI>CVIII>COD>AR>BR>CVC>CVII>HOD>ROB>SOTN>OOE>BL>POR>AOS>DOS>>>KD
                                                                          v
                                                                         BE>*  
BE=Bad Ending
RE=Richter Ending

Offline Chernabogue

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Re: New Akumajo Dracula Game: Grimoire of Souls (iOS Beta Test)
« Reply #114 on: May 11, 2018, 08:48:58 AM »
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Ah, Konami...

Hire a scenarist to get a real story and characters, a composer for a new soundtrack, release it on 3DS and let's go. Why wasting such potential on a mobile game? Oh wait, I know, microtransactions :)

Offline Foffy

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Re: New Akumajo Dracula Game: Grimoire of Souls (iOS Beta Test)
« Reply #115 on: May 12, 2018, 10:33:14 PM »
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Has anyone bothered to translate the in-game prologue? It sounds like they're really trying to link the game to the original series as a post-1999 event.

Would it be fair to assume Alucard is the only "real" character and the other playable characters are kind of memories from the book in a corporeal form?

Offline theplottwist

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Re: New Akumajo Dracula Game: Grimoire of Souls (iOS Beta Test)
« Reply #116 on: May 13, 2018, 12:01:34 AM »
+1
Has anyone bothered to translate the in-game prologue? It sounds like they're really trying to link the game to the original series as a post-1999 event.

Would it be fair to assume Alucard is the only "real" character and the other playable characters are kind of memories from the book in a corporeal form?

I have, though I posted it elsewhere. Though there might be a mistake here and there, I'll post anyway. Here it is:

(click to show/hide)

Also yes, Alucard and Lucy are the only "real" people here. Lucy's technique of making stuff from the book become real is based upon Charlotte's technique seen in Portrait, as revealed by Lucy herself.
« Last Edit: May 13, 2018, 12:26:54 AM by theplottwist »
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Offline Lumi Kløvstad

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Re: New Akumajo Dracula Game: Grimoire of Souls (iOS Beta Test)
« Reply #117 on: May 13, 2018, 02:46:56 PM »
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"The Grimoire is out of control. The Demon King's magical power is about to overflow."

I'm beginning to get the impression that the Grimoire is kind of like Dominus, in that it was crafted with some of Dracula's power and/or remains. It would explain why Arikado freaks out so immediately and checks to see if Castlevania has returned first thing.  At this point, I could be wrong, but the Grimoire seems to be a possible return vector for at least a version of Dracula, even if it is just a shadow or wraith. Also, Castlevania has pointed out in the past that basically anything crafted in Dracula's image is powerful enough to potentially cause goth-fueled-armageddon.

And let's be honest: none of this would even crack the top ten of weirdest things to happen in Castlevania canon to justify a game.
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Offline theplottwist

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Re: New Akumajo Dracula Game: Grimoire of Souls (iOS Beta Test)
« Reply #118 on: May 13, 2018, 05:07:15 PM »
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I'm beginning to get the impression that the Grimoire is kind of like Dominus, in that it was crafted with some of Dracula's power and/or remains. It would explain why Arikado freaks out so immediately and checks to see if Castlevania has returned first thing.  At this point, I could be wrong, but the Grimoire seems to be a possible return vector for at least a version of Dracula, even if it is just a shadow or wraith. Also, Castlevania has pointed out in the past that basically anything crafted in Dracula's image is powerful enough to potentially cause goth-fueled-armageddon.

And let's be honest: none of this would even crack the top ten of weirdest things to happen in Castlevania canon to justify a game.

The problem seems to be that, because of Dawn of Sorrow, people assume only humans can inherit the powers of Dracula.

While Dominus does present a good argument of a thing having been made from his powers, there's some other less abstract examples of "actual objects" inheriting his power, such as Dracula's Tunic. Dracula's magical power was shattered and spread when he died, so it would be no mystery if the Grimoire already existed and merely inherited a portion of his power along with the candidates. Though yeah, it could be a book made from his remains or power, also.

I'm kinda eager for the final game to learn more about this, to be honest!

And, I fully agree that this Grimoire thing was probably created to perpetuate "Dracula revivals" into a future that has no Dracula.  Oh well... This beta has already shown a Dracula shadow stalking Alucard, so we're definitelly getting a Dracula apparition here.
« Last Edit: May 13, 2018, 06:25:14 PM by theplottwist »
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Offline Nagumo

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Re: New Akumajo Dracula Game: Grimoire of Souls (iOS Beta Test)
« Reply #119 on: May 14, 2018, 01:01:15 AM »
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I'm going to predict the events of this game are going to lead into Dracula reincarnating into Soma.

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