Castlevania Dungeon Forums
The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => General Castlevania Discussion => Topic started by: Zetheraxza on August 12, 2013, 01:32:22 PM
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Suppose Konami comes to you and magically gives you the Golden Key- errrrr I mean THE SKELETON KEY to the series and you have have the budget that is even greater than MGSV perhaps or maybe even SWTOR. What would you do? Would you add in to the Original Timeline? Would you create a new timeline and change some classic formulas? You can do anything, even make it a futuristic FPS that has nothing to do with Vampires or Dracula but the game will be called Castlevania. What genre would your game be? Would you star any CV characters, perhaps remake them or make somebody totally new? What would be your areas, time and place? How would the Story play out? Here's one I posted not too long ago in another thread for weird ideas for the series.
Tactical Espionage Vampirism.
You're playing as Mathias and you can infect people with Vampirism as you can see the hypocrisy of the Church treating pagans and non-believers like worms and Mathias wants to create his own faction of victims who fight for their vengeance in freewill in "Outer Hell" and they freely let Mathias drink their blood and turn them into Vampires and Mathias himself gains more power. But Mathias since he is not the all powerful Dracula yet, he can't face his foes directly. He doesn't have the same Vampiric Strength, Stamina, Speed and the... Spirit????? His abilities are tied to a stone, Crimson Stone. He has Vampiric Abilities only through a trapped soul of a Vampire in a magical stone he wears as an amulet, but he isn't a true Vampire yet and the soul of the trapped Vampire is corrupting him. He never drank the blood, he only used "ALCHEMY" to gain immortality to defy God for taking his beloved and even though his Old Friend declared him as a Vampire and hunt him for generations ahead, Mathias only wished for Immortality but the price was too heavy. The only immortality one can yearn for comes through cold death and even though he discovered true immortality without corrupting his soul... He was wrong and now he will suffer for his consequences, but as he is still his true self, he continues to fight the Church to free Europe from their oppression and hypocrisy. Mathias has to sneak his way through the guards and hide himself as a bat, or use crates and chests to conceal yourself. If confused what he must do, he would use telepathy to communicate with death is certain telepathic frequency. It would be a story about how Mathias gained political power that feared all of Europe and have such tremendous economic power in which he balled too hard and he had to put the rest of his "cash money flow" in the candles. A story about how Mathias lived as a Pseudo-Vampire before he became a full fledged vampire filled with hatred for Cipher -errrr- I mean the Church to destroy the "Outer Hell" he worked so hard on for a century and mercilessly killing his beloved in a trial for helping the sick. A groundbreaking story, bad-ass action-open world gameplay and hot steamy romance (What? Don't you want a Camo-Alucard? Succubi on Succubi action). It would be directed by Koji Igarashi and Hideo Kojima would direct the gameplay. That shit would kill the markets.
I had another idea years ago and it would take place between for Castlevania: Klangfarbenmelodie of Hypocrisy and Castlevania III Dracula's Curse and this game would be in a much more serious and dark tone. Darker than what Cox claims to be dark. This game would just simply be called The Red Domain Rising. A Widower Farmer loses his only child, beautiful, maiden, innocent of a daughter missing, and he finds rumors, clues and then trails to find that she was last seen going through some abandoned mine by herself. He didn't have much fortune to spare for a search party, so he would have to bring it upon himself to search for the only thing left in his world that he lives for. He finds all sorts of horrors in the mne and he has to fend for himself. There are discarded weaponry of the dead and undead he sometimes finds, but they're old and rusted so they wouldn't last too long. So most times he will have to avoid fighting by running away, sneaking and draw his weapon(s) as a last resort. The level designs would make him start from The Abandoned Mines, Dark Waterfalls, Foggy Catacombs, Chapel of Demons, Labratory of The Mad, Abandoned Castle Halls, Abandoned Castle Entrance, Lichs' Graveyard and finally, The Chaotic Netherworld. This game would be a survival horror game made by Konami but it will keep portraying that it isn't Castlevania at all, like they did in the Lords of Shadow debut trailer. It will give you the obvious clues but you would still be confused if this is Castlevania or not. And it isn't, because it has nothing to do with The Belmonts or Dracula. It is just a story about a simple farmer searching for his daughter which happens to have familiar places found out in a particular franchise. It would just be a medieval survival horror to most and to few they would find dairies about the master of this place and his life about how he once had his love taken away and he cast a curse upon himself to defy mortality. Some notes would say that he was building an army of undead to remake the world with his ideals. The only problem would be that the logo Konami unfortunately would be a DEAD giveaway. :/
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Sidescroller. Hand-drawn. Millions of frames of lush animation. Hi-res. Painted backgrounds (I'm kinda thinking Vanillaware type stuff at this point.) Tits and asses everywhere. Some dicks too for good measure. Combination SOTN exploration with classic Castlevania pitfalls and jumps, reining it in closer to Simon's Quest only much bigger, more involved, explore inside and out the castle but make exteriors that don't feel like corridors (did anyone really feel like they were outside when playing OOE?). Story, don't care; just get some cool character designs. Memorable, hummable music with high production values. Probably cull a lot of imagery and stuff from Vampire Hunter D.
I just want what logically (w/sh)ould have been the next big 2D console game in the series after SOTN.
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Sidescroller. Hand-drawn. Millions of frames of lush animation. Hi-res. Painted backgrounds (I'm kinda thinking Vanillaware type stuff at this point.) Tits and asses everywhere. Some dicks too for good measure. Combination SOTN exploration with classic Castlevania pitfalls and jumps, reining it in closer to Simon's Quest only much bigger, more involved, explore inside and out the castle but make exteriors that don't feel like corridors (did anyone really feel like they were outside when playing OOE?). Story, don't care; just get some cool character designs. Memorable, hummable music with high production values. Probably cull a lot of imagery and stuff from Vampire Hunter D.
I just want what logically (w/sh)ould have been the next big 2D console game in the series after SOTN.
Shut up and take my money!
I would say "Thanks, now pick this key back and do more games like you always did before LoS and receive much more feedback from the fans. Bring back people as much people possible that was involved in the games development from CV1 until OoE and do a new good game without reciclying any graphic" and then I would give a false key to them, so I could guarantee that they would do it right while they would have more confidence in their work.
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Well, to start I'd create a thread on this forum to ask for input on my ideas before actually starting anything. I think I'd do what MS did and start from scratch. Though I would try and be more faithful to the source material. I likely create a general timeline of how I want things to turn out and then work on the individual games. There would likely only be between 3 and 5 games.
I would never make Dracula a Belmont. That should never happen!!! I would probably include multiple characters (each with their own story) in each game. Likely that each one is only one part of the overall story. Similar to how MoF was done.
My vision of CV would be beyond an M rating and might be banned in some countries. Not for gore or violence, but some other mature content. Let's just say that my ideas for succubus boss battles with be graphic if you know what I mean. Oh, and my games will be 3D with the latest graphics. I just get the feeling that a lot of guys will die a lot at succubus boss fights (to distracted doing something else). Yes, I know I'm a pig so sue me.
Oh don't get me wrong there will be blood, just not a lot of gore. One of my ideas is an underground waterway with blood instead of water and would have vampires and other blood drinking demons as well as monsters composed entirely of blood. Keep in mind, the vampires will be very tough as they will be constantly healing from the blood in the area.
The castle in the games would have all the classic areas (entrance, clock tower, keep, church/chapel, etc.). There would be plenty of platforming and the enemies wouldn't be damage sponges like in the LoS trilogy.
Dracula as a boss will be both a melee fighter and a sorcerer. He'd wear armor instead of a nobleman's clothing and would attack with a sword or some other weapon when close and would use magic when far away. No demon form (he's such a pure vampire that he has none).
Alucard would be a dhampire, but I can't guarantee that he world be a good guy. He'd likely be neutral and looking out for himself only allying himself with the good guys when it's advantageous for him. His capability would likely be in line with how he was in SotN using a variety of weapons, sub-weapons, and spells.
My timeline would end with the ultimate and permanent destruction of Dracula.
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In terms of gameplay...well, let's just say that those who hate combos and practically-required invincibility frame abusing will be quite pissed... And also Serio's CV Fighter's Nightmare Mode. :P 2D lovers will still be grateful though.
Exploration would be pretty similar to Freak's idea, I guess, along with some character skill-required platforming for optional bonuses (like bouncing off enemies via chain-dive kicking over a large chasm).
For the aesthetics and music, I'll just bring in people that can bring back the old IGAvania feel (particularly the ones with Ayami Kojima and Michiru Yamane on board) while not being too similar. If I can bring Banpai Akira in as the illustrator then I'm pretty much gold. As for the music, specifically I want someone who can pull off stuff like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gsT0IfkrL8) while also capable of handling calmer stuff like Lost Painting. And I also want some tracks that are akin to Trezire de Spirit and De-a lungul vieţii, Romanian lyrics and all that.
Graphics-wise I wanna go with pseudo-3D 2D backgrounds, with semi-rotoscoped sprites kinda like those from the HD KoF games.
Can't really say anything about the story, though yes, it won't involve BS like Dracula Belmont, and I can say that unlockable characters will provide different viewpoints on the story.
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MetroidVania with a 2D open world aproach kind of like in Simon's Quest, but every mansion containing several different areas, all with its own music, composed by Michiru Yamane, Yasuhiro Ichihashi, Sotaro Toshima and Yuzo Koshiro, all with map percentage, with items, equipment, levels up and all kind of stuff, like side quests, rescuing maidens like in Rondo of Blood, and characters designed by whoever's been responsible of stuff like Sora No Otoshimono, Rosario To Vampire and High School DxD.
Graphics would be with sprites, following the atmosphere, if possible, of Symphony of the Night meets Dracula's Shadow (an italian fan game).
The difficulty would be something at the level of, say, OoE (CotM is just too much), but with the option of grinding to gain levels, so you can level your way through the game if your skills or patience are not enough.
The main character would be someone like Charlotte (but a new character), focused in spells and magic, with a partner like Jonathan, but more manly, and extra modes would include all kind of new characters, each with its own gameplay.
That pair of characters is the ideal pair of lead characters a game can have. A handsome man (not a teen, a grown up man, like, say, Brad Pitt in Troy) and a gothic loli character.
The story would be tragic and the game, despite having multiple endings, wouldn't have a happy one as the definitive ending.
It would be for PS4 and PC, because it's been enough time since the last time we had a 2D retail for a home console.
The pre-order would include a soundtrack, an artbook and an autographed giant poster with all historical CV artists signatures (not massive prints, real signatures, signed one by one).
Since the costs of production would be so high that no possible sales would save the economy of the project, the game would mean the end of Konami and Castlevania would become the new Megaman.
Yeah, even when I'm dreaming I'm negative...
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Since the costs of production would be so high that no possible sales would save the economy of the project, the game would mean the end of Konami and Castlevania would become the new Megaman.
Yeah, even when I'm dreaming I'm negative...
Except that I dont see how this can be "that" expensive with this description that you gave here.
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Because you have to pay Yamane, Koshiro, Toshima and Ichihashi to make the music, to the character designers of those 3 anime series to design the characters, to all CV historical people to sign the posters one by one and put a huge ammount of money to make the special editions with soundtracks, artbooks and posters.
And they are not cheap artists, not to mention you have to convince every one of them of doing the job, and if they don't want, prices would go even higher.
And then you have the usual costs of every game.
It would cost more than many AAA games, I guess.
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Well, special editions common for some titles these days, And I dont think they would pay for someone sign something, people tend to sell signed things, but I've never seem people paying for someone signing something. Okay, you need to pay for 4 musicians and 3 designers but since they will be working less, you can pay less (more people = less work).
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Pfil touched upon something I was too lazy and hyperbolic to mention. The mansions idea in Simon's Quest is super awesome, and I'd also like to see fully-realized mansions with their own maps. They're not going to be the size of Dracula's castle, but getting a good amount of play time out of each one would be great.
I'd also like to see no warp rooms. What a lazy idea from a gameplay standpoint. Make the world huge and open, but design it in such a way where if you know what you're doing as where to go (say on a second playthrough), it's not tedious to traverse and you don't do a ridiculous amount of backtracking; yet when playing fresh and exploring blind, it's fun even if you end up backtracking a lot in pursuit of what to do next.
How to do that, I don't know, I don't make games, but Super Metroid did it really well.
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I expected you to mention Super Metroid when talking about backtracking, I really thought about this tidbiit last week too. I was thinking in how they make you backtrack a lot and still make the game interesting without warps. IMO a good way to make you backtrack less and still be more natural is doing some shortcuts (they can even be hidden) but dont do a lot of them, only some in really needed areas.
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I'd work with the old canon.
*I would retcon CoD because it doesn't add anything substantial to the series. DoS is 50/50 but in the end I'd probably retcon it too. It does nothing new either.
*Bring out a new origins game dealing with Vlad becoming Dracula and king Mathis' loss of power and eventual defeat.
*I would redo CV: Legends and get Sonia back into canon. I would also finish up and improve CV: Resurrection. I would also bring about more female Belmonts for some long-needed equality.
*I would work diligently at bringing about the 1999 Demon Castle war game and really listen around for people's opinions on how the game should be like.
*I would also publish a chronology book (Castlevania bible) like Nintendo did with TloZ's Hyrule Historia. It would outline all the games in the series, history on said games, characters, places, weapons, themes, a monster manual, bosses, retconned games, a focused timeline of events and alternate timeline of events for the other games that can't fit in the main timeline but have not been retconned.
*I would incorporate SCV4 as the true successor/sequel of Simon's Quest.
*Last but not least, I would have the games on consoles with physical media and not digital downloads. The games would be for many systems so that they can get enough exposure for everyone...except the XBOX 180 :P. I would have both 2D and 3D games, and the 3D games would be a kin to CV 64's design layouts rather then LoI/CoD. No reused graphics either.
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-Legend of Dracula Chronicles. Maybe with a different title because that's awkward sounding. (Adventure and Belmont's Revenge remade, as one game, with originals of both included. Prolly throw in Adventure Rebirth and maaaybe Legends too.)
-A better 3D LoI-type game.
-Maybe a new Sorrow game dealing either with the founding of the Dracula-worshipping cult or farther into the future when Soma is much older. Loose ties with Getsufuu Maden, I guess?
-Game dealing with Soleil and stuff he does that is not being controlled to be a boss character.
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Sell it.
Get it the fuuu out of Konami as the company is falling down, and then give it to Warner Bros (I'd give it to Eidos but SqareEnix hate them now, the next Legacy of Kain is a MOBA.. A FUCKING MOBA). Then have Rocksteady work on it and let the perfection (and cash) flow from there.
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Sell it.
Get it the fuuu out of Konami as the company is falling down, and then give it to Warner Bros.
They would do a lot of games in the LoS for sure...
(http://magazine.motilo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Willy-Wonka-the-Chocolate-Factory-Willy-Wonka-Gene-Wilder.jpg)
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And I thought the topic was about having the actual Castle. :C
I unno. Never considered. heavy gothic atmosphere, high quality console game I s'ppose. Maybe not so much like LoS combat, but more combo oriented. I hate to be the guy who says ArkhamAsylum/City, but that kind of freeflowing combat was nice, now imagine it with something like a whip.
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Conceptually I would do what I am doing, only with a budget and a larger team.
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Fake answer:
Take it, put it in a vault and lock it, take the entire vault in the middle of the ocean then dump it, so that no one touches Castlevania ever again in the hopes that no one messes with it.
Real answer:
Basically OoE X100 with pitfall deaths, a lead Belmont going against Dracula, no origins, no backstory to give him character, he the just the leader of the creatures of the night, nothing more. Along with some catchy tunes and a enormous castle the size of a city with secrets everywhere and a cast of monsters from every lore known. And no ties to the timeline, just a single standalone game, one and done no sequel.
BAM there ya go.
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I've wondered this often. My goal would be to conclude the timeline and reboot it. Clarify the events, give the characters more room and depth.
I'd do this with the games I've rambled about on several occasions.
- Remake of Simon's Quest
- A game about a pre-Dracula Mathias (after LoI, before DC)
Depicts the rising conflict between Mathias's ideology with vampire hunters, other vampires and demons. This was before he became the supreme vampire. Possibly a cameo by Leon.
- A game about a pre-do-gooder Alucard (before DC)
Sheds some light into Alucard's past and the castle itself. Possibly sandbox, maybe featuring Sonia.
- Demon Castle Wars (1999, obviously)
It's on, baby. Single-player campaigns with various characters are a must (I'm thinking lot's of scattered people inside the castle).
- The final game in the timeline (set in different eras, various characters; Dracula and some Belmonts most certainly)
Well, it's obvious Dracula's story didn't end completely with DoS. Not necessarily saying this would have anything to do with Soma, however.
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There's a lot of things I'd do, but for starts...
If I'm going to have Metroidvania's then they're going to be more like Metroid. That means you're not gaining levels. You want more Life, you find the hidden item that gives you more life. No shops. No cure potions you can carry around, No 19 million different weapons. You're going to get somewhere between five and ten different weapons and you're going to have to make that work.
Also, they're not going to be entirely set inside Dracula's Castle. I always thought that was kinda dumb. You'd think Dracula would do something about the vampire killer who gets lost and wanders around his living room for the five days.
Storywise, you want to know who makes a good Dracula? Dracula. None of that "well, this guy is Really Dracula," stuff. The real Dracula is DRACULA. With that in mind, I might make a few games that don't even include Dracula himself. He can't be the only major A-list vampire lord in the world.
Also, the 100 years thing has got to go. Maybe make it so that ever 100 Years the Lord of the Vampires (which is a title that Dracula currently holds) is at the peak of his power and comes back regardless, but otherwise, Dracula can be revived in other ways. Hey, it worked for the old Christopher Lee movies and Marvel comics series.
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I agree with you in various aspects.
Also, the 100 years thing has got to go. Maybe make it so that ever 100 Years the Lord of the Vampires (which is a title that Dracula currently holds) is at the peak of his power and comes back regardless, but otherwise, Dracula can be revived in other ways. Hey, it worked for the old Christopher Lee movies and Marvel comics series.
Its already this way since SOTN, they can revive him but he will be more weak, also it seems that some rituals can bring his full power back. It seems that its impossible to prevent his revival at the 100th year, its almost like a birthday party that no one can avoid lol
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I always fantasized what I'd do if I was the "God of Gaming" and companies came to me for advice on what to do with their franchise(or I just plain ORDER them to do things). I have some interesting ideas regarding Super Mario and Final Fantasy, but for CV:
- Return to the classic canon.
- First, create a side-scroller Metroidvania that is the TRUE successor to SotN. I like all the other castletroids, but I feel they never actually came close to touch SotN as far as quality was concerned. (I actually came up with this idea in high school and drew some old notebook maps regarding the layout of the castle). The game would be for all major consoles, PC and mobile devices.
- Create a 3D CV that actually pulls together the strengths of ALL previous 3D CVs, but non-of the weaknesses. A 3D action platformer with REAL platforms(no shimmying or wall-climbing), lots of vertical areas, classic CV motifs(artistic designs and music), mood and such. (I'd set this one after SotN and radio drama, and use it to explain how SPECIFICALLY the Belmonts lost the power of the whip... I know years ago I actually wrote the plot down in the fanfic section)
- I'd actually create a game based off my story of two brother Belmonts(I wrote about it in fanfics too) that takes place before CV, introduces Elizabeth Bartley as the MAIN villain as well as the power struggle between both brothers to become the wielder of the Vampire Killer. It would be a 3D action platformer along the lines of LoS(but with more platforming and less attack-sponge enemies), taking place the majority in the countryside as the story progresses, then finally the castle(which is built up of 5 stages, each with their own boss). It would also introduce the "Lords of the Mansions", Wallachian nobles who have a secret cult devoted to the following of Dracula(one of which being Lady Carmilla, the noblewoman of Laruba Mansion, both a nod to SC2 AND LoS).
- I'd make a game based off the Dracula novel events.
- I'd make a game set sometime in the 60s-80s(Cold War era) with a Morris hero(who would become Julius's mentor).
- Demon Castle War game, with IGA as consultant. I'd be there as "god" to make sure it goes RIGHT!
- Games set between LoI and CV3.... one of Mathias's travel into the underworld to gain his army and defeat their current leader, Galamoth. Another about Leon's descendants who are hunting "other" vampires(Olrox, in particular, who I'd make a more prominant villain in the series).
- Start a side-story that deals ONLY with the Morris clan's adventures throughout the world, battling ancient evils of Europe, Africa, the Americans and Asia(kinda Indiana Jones/Demon Hunters).
- Revival of Getsu Fūma Den and connect it, canon-wise, to the CV series. Establish it as the JAPANESE CV(similar style in gameplay, but with very Japanese oriented monsters, demons and spirits). Establish Ryu Kokki(Dragon Master) as IT'S "Dracula".
- Revival of Kid Dracula series. Make it a more kid-friendly CV with wacky humor. Explore 2D route(like 2D CVs as well as Mario games) and 3D route(something cool like a mix of 3D Mario with other more recent 3D platforming games like Ratchet & Clank and such).
- Be open for other timelines and canons existing along-side with the original. Maybe also establish a FF-esque side-project where each CV game in that series is a new take on the material, encouraging different teams to give their ideal vision of what CV is to them.
I would PURGE QTE from the series(completely), as well as the hit-sponge enemies(only the bigger, tougher enemies will take mutiple hits to go down). For the majority, shimmying and plank-walking will be purged, though climbing might exist depending on how I see fit. I hath SPOKEN!
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and use it to explain how SPECIFICALLY the Belmonts lost the power of the whip... I know years ago I actually wrote the plot down in the fanfic section)
- I'd make a game based off the Dracula novel events.
I would PURGE QTE from the series(completely), as well as the hit-sponge enemies(only the bigger, tougher enemies will take mutiple hits to go down). For the majority, shimmying and plank-walking will be purged, though climbing might exist depending on how I see fit. I hath SPOKEN!
I knew I had forgotten some things! I'd add these to my list too. ;D
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*I would retcon CoD because it doesn't add anything substantial to the series. DoS is 50/50 but in the end I'd probably retcon it too. It does nothing new either.
well can't help but disagree with that "somewhat".
sure it did not add anything substantial to the series but one thing that I thought it added that really caught my attention was the whole time traveling organization that was introduced in this title.
Saint Germain in particular was a unique and interesting character in my eyes, especially with his supposed rivalry with Death that I would love to see fleshed out more.
His words to Death where "I will keep returning, until the day you finally surrender" leads me to think that the 2 will eventually clash again in the future (possible during the 1999 game which is hinted at by Saint Germain at the end of COD).
This all leads me to think that COD did introduce something to the story that was good in my opinion.
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My plan for the next several years if I became the new Iga/Cox:
-Continue Iga's FF-ish intent for Castlevania before Mercurysteam took over. Games will be mostly standalone titles set in their own universe, though I'll certainly revisit and continue the stories laid down in earlier ones.
-Assign development of 3D games to Japanese studios like Platinum Games and From Software. The former can adapt Castlevania to their MGR/Bayonetta crazy-awesomness (and probably star a non-Belmont hero) while the latter can make a CV along the lines of their Souls games (and star a Belmont hero).
-Assign development of 2D/2.5D games to Western studios like Wayforward and Chair Entertainment (Shadow Complex). The former could do a new Classicvania in a true return to the series' roots, followed by a teamwork game that's a cross between Dracula's Curse and The Lost Vikings. The latter could do a full-blown Metroidvania.
-Art will generally adhere to the Gothic style laid down by Ayami Kojima, but the artists will change with every game.
-Ditto for music.
-Amid all that, I'd aggressively pursue non-game Castlevania media like novels, more comics, and full-length CG movies ala FF Advent Children and Resident Evils Degeneration and Damnation.
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Warning : LONG POST AHEAD
I'd probably go the route of a few others and give Mathias a game featuring his descent (or would it be ascent?) into Chaos. Gameplay would most likely be along the lines of Legacy of Kain, but featuring such elements that Blood Omen and Defiance made note of, like blood-drinking to sustain one's health, and having vampiric abilities being more practical in use than mystic (such as Kain having better use of the Mist transformation to pass gateways when he can just as easily evade enemies in its stead).
It would probably feature elements of a full action RPG, such as Skyrim, but be sensible to the timeline; such as travelling to far corners of the world to become more adept in the Black Arts, rather than the implication that Dracula gained them all from Walter/over time. With each successive addition of Dark power, Mathias slowly gains a look, air, and "feel" of hatred and anger about him, subtly altering his mannerisms and movements to illustrate the change to Dracula and the subsequent loss of his humanity.
I would introduce a logical and expanded place for Galamoth and his role in the canon, and give him a part as a final boss or alternate final boss. The Church and all it entails would become prominent, fighting Dracula/Mathias during the Crusades and Dark Ages in a grand act of irony, as God and His agents are Mathias' chieftain enemy. This would also introduce the role of the Belnades as Sypha's ancestors, tying the future of Yoko and the Demon Castle Wars into the mix. Perhaps a hint or two of Dracula taking precautions to ensure his soul would remain even if his body was permanently destroyed? A Castlevanian Horcrux, mayhap? Being a genius tactician, considering and planning for the possibility of his ultimate downfall is very likely. Enchanting his very soul to go into respite, and split to multiple inheritors to ensure his survival is not a big stretch, especially when you've got Death on speed dial. Thus the Dark Lord Candidates and Soma become tied in nicely.
Also included will be journeys into the various Realms of Chaos, and how the Castle itself becomes a sort of living entity that changes over time, like its master. These changes will be justified as side effects of prolonged exposure to the entropic nature of Chaos' power, and thus a reflection of Dracula's soul at the various times of his resurrection. Same goes for the Castle. The "Creature of Chaos taking many incarnations" notion is now more logical.
Lisa and her connection to Elisabetha will be elaborated upon. Should she be her reincarnation, I would make it so that it was an act of the divine in an attempt to bring Dracula back to the light (after all, since God is written to have forgiven much worse than centuries of being called names and defied, it would only make sense that He would pity what Mathias has become and want to restore him to himself by returning his happiness to him how he could). Should she simply be a human woman with coincidental similarities in appearance and kind demeanor, it will be that Mathias' heart awoke within Dracula and rekindled the feelings for Elisabetha anew (since Dracula appears to lose situation memories over time, while the emotions of those memories remain strong), only to have that final tiny shred of humanity be shattered forever when she is burned at the stake.
Shaft will also be given an expanded backstory, as there would surely be one particular cult that would surpass the others in power and willingness of extent to serve Dracula. Shaft could be the leader of this cult, given extended superhuman lifespan due to his adeptness in the Dark Arts. Perhaps he could have a more personal reason to serve beyond "cleansing" the world in Chaos, such as suffering a similar fate as Mathias and taking a similar path in anger and pain. Perhaps he's just batshit nuts. Perhaps both.
Finally, Death's odd role would be made sensical. After all, how can the divine master of life's end truly "die?" My theory is that the form he takes is destroyed and his power and ability for combat and magic wane, while his eternal power of taking life when the sands are gone remains as constant as ever. The effects of the Crimson Stone's apparent power over him will be elaborated on; perhaps, with the Stone's power to completely take one's soul and assimilate that soul's abilities and prowess entirely to the Stone's owner, it has a connection with Death. Perhaps this was a stone created by the divine to balance the power that Death commands? After all, he could theoretically take the soul and life of almost anyone (God may or may not be excluded from this, as physical well-being and age-based immortality can still be ended when the soul leaves the body, but that's a whole different speculation that I will not touch on), so he would likely need a form of a controlling factor, or an equilibrium device of sorts, to prevent him from going rogue and killing everything. The Crimson Stone might contain the same power as the role of Death, but on a more limited scale to still give him the predominant niche.
tl;dr I'd try and tie ERRYTHANG together. Except Curse. That would be retconned to hell and back. jk CoD wasn't that bad
EDIT: Forgot a few notes. Since all of that obviously would span over the centuries, this game would be long as shit. A plus to that, is that you are Dracula in each of the canon games, fighting each generation of Belmonts as they come. Maybe you'd even get a sort of tactical strategy segment where you plan out where enemy waves will position and the like. Just a thought.
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Hey, Dracula9
(http://fanboygaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/shut-up-and-take-my-money.jpeg)
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well can't help but disagree with that "somewhat".
sure it did not add anything substantial to the series but one thing that I thought it added that really caught my attention was the whole time traveling organization that was introduced in this title.
Saint Germain in particular was a unique and interesting character in my eyes, especially with his supposed rivalry with Death that I would love to see fleshed out more.
His words to Death where "I will keep returning, until the day you finally surrender" leads me to think that the 2 will eventually clash again in the future (possible during the 1999 game which is hinted at by Saint Germain at the end of COD).
This all leads me to think that COD did introduce something to the story that was good in my opinion.
Curse of Darkness would be one of the CV games I'd actually remake, in a similar style to what Silver Star Story Complete is to the original Lunar: Silver Star(basically a visual upgrade, dungeons tweaked, added characters and bosses and expanded story). Aside from actually including varied level design and PLATFORMING, I'd also include the appearances of ALL the heroes from CV3, especially Grant(who Hector would run into in Cordova) and Alucard(who Hector sees asleep in his coffin). There are other ideas I'd include, which I'm sure I touched upon in another thread some time ago. A few ideas would be to split areas into smaller areas, add more bosses(especially in Dracula's Castle), as well as have Trevor Mode be it's own game with it's own story(that takes place DURING Hector's quest, with it's OWN unique boss fights).
I'd also remake Simon's Quest(an idea others have touched upon), and combine both CV Adventures games into one, "Castlevania Adventure Chronicles", basically one game split into two acts that follow Christopher's initial adventure(which will be modeled more after CVA Rebirth) and then Belmont's Revenge.
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I wouldn't give God a direct role in Castlevania. I actually think LoI's interpretation of God was vastly superior to LoS. In LoS, he was basically nullified with a silly spell and was referred to as the cosmic puppet master who is either impotent or plays his stereotypical mystery games. In LoI, there is no telling what the Castlevania version of God is. It could not be anything personified.
I think Christian mysticism is more important to Castlevania than God himself.
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Sidescroller. Hand-drawn. Millions of frames of lush animation. Hi-res. Painted backgrounds (I'm kinda thinking Vanillaware type stuff at this point.) Tits and asses everywhere. Some dicks too for good measure. Combination SOTN exploration with classic Castlevania pitfalls and jumps, reining it in closer to Simon's Quest only much bigger, more involved, explore inside and out the castle but make exteriors that don't feel like corridors (did anyone really feel like they were outside when playing OOE?). Story, don't care; just get some cool character designs. Memorable, hummable music with high production values. Probably cull a lot of imagery and stuff from Vampire Hunter D.
I just want what logically (w/sh)ould have been the next big 2D console game in the series after SOTN.
Your post made me think of this:
Dragon's Crown Walkthrough - Yellow Talisman - Castle of the Dead: Catacombs (Part 14) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2ZFaiBw-Wo#ws)
Dragon's Crown Stage 5 Castle of the Dead: Catacombs Vampires Gameplay Walkthrough 1080p (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocgO3cKuDKc#ws)
Now try to imagine having pitfalls and platforming, along with Yamane's music and there you have a beautifully drawn 2D Castlevania.
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well can't help but disagree with that "somewhat".
sure it did not add anything substantial to the series but one thing that I thought it added that really caught my attention was the whole time traveling organization that was introduced in this title.
Saint Germain in particular was a unique and interesting character in my eyes, especially with his supposed rivalry with Death that I would love to see fleshed out more.
His words to Death where "I will keep returning, until the day you finally surrender" leads me to think that the 2 will eventually clash again in the future (possible during the 1999 game which is hinted at by Saint Germain at the end of COD).
This all leads me to think that COD did introduce something to the story that was good in my opinion.
This is mainly why I'd retcon CoD. The whole time travel thing is just so elusive and hardly ever there except for a few cut-scenes. This is one of those tid-bits that IGA does with his stories and doesn't really fleshes them out to their totality or full potential. A fault I've seen more then once in his CV games. I just feel that it was tacked on, and that it was unnecessary. If St. Germain was supposed to be a narrator of sorts for CoD's story then he obviously did not appear to be so. The Judgment game obviously touched more on the time travel organization then CoD ever had. But that game isn't even canon-related to the old canon. It's stand-alone and does it's own thing. I also personally feel that a time travel organization is not needed in Castlevania. The series is fine without it. Again this is only my opinion and how I feel about it. The only other reasons I'd recton CoD is due to Hector battling Dracula. No, just no. That's a Belmont's job. And there is of course issac... :P
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I'd also include the appearances of ALL the heroes from CV3, especially Grant(who Hector would run into in Cordova) and Alucard(who Hector sees asleep in his coffin).
MGS2 HD Snake Sleep Talks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Aet4sG4nI#ws)
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I wouldn't give God a direct role in Castlevania. I actually think LoI's interpretation of God was vastly superior to LoS. In LoS, he was basically nullified with a silly spell and was referred to as the cosmic puppet master who is either impotent or plays his stereotypical mystery games. In LoI, there is no telling what the Castlevania version of God is. It could not be anything personified.
I think Christian mysticism is more important to Castlevania than God himself.
There's a reason I only mentioned God Himself a few times, and referred to "the divine" the rest of the time. That *might* be taken as a God allusion, but it wasn't outright meant to be Him. it was more meant as the ultimate force(s) of good rather than one of that force's prime figureheads.
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Why not call it powerful forces, like in SOTN prologue?
Meanwhile, powerful forces were struggling for the soul of a man named Alucard. The very same Alucard who had teamed up with Trevor Belmont to battle his immortal father, Count Vlad Tepes Dracula.
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I'd budget 3 or 4 classicvanias and have them all released as part of a story-driven anthology.
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1) Legends is officially back in.
2) Release a deluxe, lush, gorgeous 2-D remake/expansion of Legends that respects the original (all of the original levels and creatures are present) but also includes additional levels of what happens to Sonia before and between and allows her to use the subweapons that she finds. Console release. Gorgeous artbook and soundtrack album as extras. Include the original game as well.
3) Anthology collection - includes everything, even Saturn SOTN with the extra levels and Ninja Maria goodness.
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There's a reason I only mentioned God Himself a few times, and referred to "the divine" the rest of the time. That *might* be taken as a God allusion, but it wasn't outright meant to be Him. it was more meant as the ultimate force(s) of good rather than one of that force's prime figureheads.
Tis' cool, I understood what you meant. It was just a general commentary on what I think about God in Castlevania. The LoS interpretation of God is definitely not my cup of tea.
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a 3Dvania with great art direction and made by Rocksteady?
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A game set in the world of Akuma no Chi that expands and continues the story. The plot and dialogue would be written by author Ichiro Tezuka and the artwork by Masaki Takahashi. The game would be designed similar to Demon's Souls and set in a seemless open world which would be medieval Wallachia. The game would star the four Belmont characters from the story: Simon, Ray, Lias, and Civil, making the narrative switch between their view points. It would be more dark than usual in order to fit a vampire story. Not purely gritty and dark like Lords but also elegant. Being based on a novel, the game would be more plot heavy than your average Castlevania game.
Other things I would do: introduce Kid Dracula as a mascot character who often makes cameos, a Castlevania RPG, try to get a solid fighting game spin-off series off the ground, and a game with a more stylized art direction similar to Ghostrick Alucard or the Vampire Karin anime.