the whip not being able to be used by a woman.
(because its easier to have weak female characters
You guys disappoint me.
The correct answer is clearly Trans Fishers.
Akamatsu is GOD.
Hmm. I'm seeing IGA being criticized a little too often for my taste. A few words in his defense...YEAH! :)
Can we consider Koji Igarashi as Castlevania's greatest producer? We certainly could.
He's been around for quite a long time; and during his stay, he's given us some of the best Castlevania has to offer.
Nearly half of the series' most noteworthy titles can be attributed to him. Symphony of the Night was born under his tutelage, and the quality of the games it later inspired never faltered. He consistently delivered Metroidvania's best; always remaining close to the spirit of the series, and never straying far from what earned him his greatest success, he was nevertheless always moving forward, little by little, always infusing fresh air into a franchise that has often threatened to grow stale. His works on handheld was acclaimed without exception, and many of them remain as masterpieces even today. He had dedicated himself to create a unified Castlevania universe; he strove to maintain coherence and cohesion within the series. He has been with us longer than any other producer has; and during that time, he has shown involvement, dedication, and care in everything he did.
For that, he deserves credit.
1UP: It seems like there's a very eclectic sound to Symphony of the Night. You have intense heavy metal in places like the area leading up to the clock tower, but then in the Long Library, it's almost like chamber music, with the harpsichord and violin. Can you talk about the influences you drew on, and the thinking behind creating such a varied soundtrack?
YM: After I'd compose a track, I would go to the team and have them listen to it. Some people would say, "Well, it doesn't match the Castlevania series..." But I remember that Igarashi-san said, "Okay, this might be a little different, but a difference might be a good thing. Why don't we just try it out?"
Well, if he is not the greatest, then he would at last be one of the greatest.
Also I've discovered why IGA isnt working in Castlevania for now, he needed some time to work in his own business:
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iga.com%2FuploadedImages%2FIGA%2FConsumer%2F_Homepage%2FSomething_Special_Glider.jpg%3Fn%3D9900&hash=efb6ad47a52b33bd144ccf0c9e908da7253afeef)
Slaps Lelygax on the head :P :rollseyes:
IGA was behind most of the SotN, created the Metroidvania system (both points already confirmed in the Chronicles interview), brought in Kojima, and approved of Michiru Yamane's music. Let this post put the whole dumb and disingenuous "SotN was really Hagihara, IGA is a frauuuuuuud!!" argument to rest.
Contrary to popular belief, Koji ‘IGA’ Igarashi was not employed as Primary Director on the project – that honour fell to Toru Hagihara, who was also responsible for the excellent Dracula X: Rondo of Blood on NEC’s PC Engine Super CD-ROM system. IGA - who would go on to become the overall producer of the entire franchise - served as Assistant Director as well as participating in the writing of the scenario and general programming, so it could be argued that he had the most telling influence over the creation of the game.
“Action games could be cleared in a short time, but I wished to create a game which could be enjoyed for a long time” explains IGA.
This particular evolution was borne out of the common perception that the series was a something of a tough nut in terms of challenge, as IGA explains: “I wanted to change the impression that Castlevania was a difficult action game. When we decided to adopt RPG elements, we agreed that users would deserve something good when beating enemies. So, I thought of Experience Points.”
The concept of earning experience for every enemy successfully slain also prevented the inevitable back-tracking from becoming too arduous, and in many ways made the game more accessible for less skilled gamers. “I thought that even the users who were not good at playing action games would be able to clear the game if I adopted the system,” reveals IGA.
Not content with shaking things up gameplay-wise, IGA also turned a few heads when it came to selecting the major character for the game. Traditionally, the vampire-hunting Belmont clan took centre stage in Castlevania titles, but SotN saw the player controlling the half vampire, half human offspring of Dracula himself - Alucard. “I chose a character that had a special link to the previous Castlevania titles,” comments IGA.
“The Japanese title was “Akumajo Dracula X”. I used “X” to show that it would be apart from the main stream of the series. But, surprisingly, it has become the mainstream,” he comments with a degree of satisfaction
When asked which tune was his favourite, IGA playfully admits that he’s slightly biased: “My favourite is “Castle Dracula” which starts to play when Alucard enters the castle for the first time. I am impressed that the music starts to play once Alucard enters the dark castle and then suddenly the castle gets bright and Zombies appear. It might be because that part was programmed by myself!”
IGA: Plus, Mr.Hagihara (the director) had a playful sense of humor. He worked on Symphony as well, and he made the telescope part where, if you pan over to the left you can see a little mouse, and also where Alucard can sit down on the chair and prop his feet up.
IGA: I joined the Symphony of the Night team as a programmer in the early stages of development and was able to take over as director when the original person in charge was promoted to another project.
EGM: Is it true that SotN is connected to the doomed Sega 32X game Castlevania: The Bloodletting?
IGA: Well, there was another Castlevania title being developed on the 32X, but I don't believe the title was The Bloodletting. The game was cancelled before the name was confirmed. This is actually the game I worked on after Tokimeki Memorial. The team for this game was disbanded, but several members, including myself, went to work on SOTN.
I meant "programmed all of it," out of intense sarcasm and jabbing. :p
it's very possible that he did a lot (to the completion of the game we know it as) before it fell under the reins of Igarashi.
It's possible the leveling up, non-linear, hero, etc. were established while Hagihara was project leader, hence IGA's assistant director credit.
Then again, Hagihara could have left early and that's when IGA overhauled everything, and that polish and cohesiveness could be due to budget and time and nothing else. It's possible.
I'm not hung up on the mystery of Hagihara - we know from what IGA said that he did two details in the Outer Wall and that he passed IGA the baton during development.
Man I've only been arguing against Ahasverus's point.
ಠ_ಠ
I'll stick that baton up your bum.
ಠ_ಠ
I'll stick that baton up your bum.
ಠ_ಠ
I'll stick that baton up your bum.
I'm interested in this.
This is kind of a goofy question.
Producers handle budgeting, planning, scheduling, team management, and occasionally marketing. They're in charge of, you know, production. Any other duties they may have nothing to do with the producer role.
Seeing as Igarashi served as more of a director-producer, comparing him to the likes of Cox (and potentially the other producers) doesn't really make sense. In LoS, for example, Enric Alvarez makes the design decisions, Cox just gets to tell everyone how much time/money they have to do them.
The producer is the guy who keeps everyone on time and on budget to the best of his ability. It's often labeled the "killer of creativity" since part of their job is to decide what ideas to use and not to use, which can lead to tough decisions having to be made for the better of the project.
I take this role, among many others, in my own company and I can personally attest to that title being accurate. There have been a lot of nice ideas I had to sadly deny because we just don't have the time or money to execute them. Though, the silver lining is perhaps that, if the game does well, we can always explore those ideas in the sequels.
It is, admittedly, often hard to be both the Creative Director and the Producer on a project. I've had many tough calls to make, and have had to really restrain myself from my own sense of what I wanted to do as well, to make sure I don't kill the project with feature creep. Feature creep defined as the process of adding 'just one more' feature all the time until the project derails and never gets done.
It becomes more and more frequent that fans see the N64 games as the right path for 3D Castlevania, something I strongly agree.
By the way, which would be that game you'd have on your top 10?
Top 10 Castlevania or Top 10 of everything?
Oh, I was talking top 10 Castlevania games. The last time I compiled a list of my favorite CV games titles a year or so ago (excluding Harmony of Despair and Order of Ecclesia, which I still haven't played), IGA's titles didn't fare too well in a list of 23 CV games. I was judging on an aggregate of overall atmosphere, fun, level design, and gameplay over a number of years of playing, with an eye toward the old-school "core" of the franchise. So, the scale was weighted, and I thought to myself some titles could have been +/- positions on the list. All that said, Castlevania The Adventure Rebirth hit #10, and Symphony of the Night hit #13. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed a number of IGA's games, even gushed about some, but most of them just don't hold up over time for me compared to games made previously. (Perhaps this is inevitable due to the Metroidvania format?). By the end, despite his respectable efforts, I just found myself skeptical of Castlevania's direction as a franchise. Though, LoS has taken that to a whole new level of doubt.
Rondo is above 5 in your list? :O
I would have 5 games on my list before I even thought about Rondo.
That question is evil! :) Iga is a great producer - I hope he's doing well - but for the series like Castlevania he may be... too Japanese. Homosexual Characters, happy-ends, cliched storylines, random stuff (like collecting chairs), school boys and girls... I'm not a fan of those things to be honest. The best Iga's Vania IMO is Order of Ecclesia. It's dark again! It's hard again! It's sad again! Never expected anything like that from Igarashi.I don't quite understand this either. If you can recall, Castlevania is Japanese, so I wouldn't be surprised with what IGA did with it. :)
With all respect, don't take this the wrong way, but I believe your opinion is influenced by your personal perceptions about Iga.I won't disagree with that. :) It is my perception and I'm not trying to be objective here.
Also, I never saw a homosexual character, with perhaps only Isaac as an exception, but that's more a guess than a fact, not to mention there's nothing wrong with being gay.You're right - there is nothing wrong with being gay. But I remember I thought Soma was actually a girl ;D. Leon too. He looks like Janna D'ark (as I imagine her).
About happy ends, need I remember that almost every VG in history have a happy ending? That said, I don't think Iga's ending were happier than other CV games.What about DoS ending? Looks to me like a perfect ending for another cheesy "romantic comedy". The good ending of PoR reminded me of Disney movies for some reason. The same I can say about the ending of CoD (At least Trevor could die..).
If you can recall, Castlevania is Japanese, so I wouldn't be surprised with what IGA did with it.Yes, I know it's Japanese, but the setting is Gothic Europe mostly. Katana or Miso soup doesn't look right in Dracula's mansion IMO.
But "school boys and girls"? Where is that from?Soma Cruz and his girlfriend. Charlotte and Jonathan.
but I repeat: Julius is the ultimate CV warrior, super powerful, all macho, "look at me, I'm so badass!"
In the meantime, Simon remains the ultimate badass, because he killed Dracula, collected his parts just to kill him again and he did it, and he is the only one that can whip in all directions.
You forgot to mention how Simon was dying from a curse when he killed Dracula the second time. And also that he can moonwalk going up and down the stairs in SCV IV 8)The ultimate CV badass!