Judgment 2.
Souls/Bloodborne-style game with minimal storytelling (instead lots of lore), and character customization. The main character is a blank slate, the only known is that he or she is a vampire hunter. Perhaps you could choose a two-sentence backstory like in Bloodborne. You're thrown in at the deep-end at the beginning of the game. Possibly the objective would be to kill Dracula, but that may be too constraining. The gimmick would be that your class/abilities change depending on what gear you equip. For example, if you find robes you can cast elemental magic, or if you find barbarian Belmont-like armor your class will be reminiscent of a classic Belmont.
I would opt for a 3rd Sorrow Game (wrote a plot/ some dialogue off the back of someone's existing fanfic in a previous thread as to how shit could go down.) Basically it would end withI would call it "Castlevania: Prophecy of Sorrow".(click to show/hide)
A serious restructuring of Simon's Quest, so it would be more like Order of Ecclesia.
I did draw up an idea for a completely new Castlevania revolving around how Elizabeth Bartley became relevant, but I think my sister has all the notes I made so I can't remember when it was supposed to take place.
I also want another sorrow game where either Soma goes to the dark side
A serious restructuring of Simon's Quest, so it would be more like Order of Ecclesia.
That's 3 of us now; you, me and Seraph.
Who else wants some of this sweet action?
I've always liked DemonFox38's Castlevania fics, especially in the Sorrow-arc. Their fic 'Dark Reprise' (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10964838/1/Dark-Reprise (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10964838/1/Dark-Reprise)) is fantastic, while 'Whole Tatters' is a wonderful, and very emotional one-shot. 'Dedication', which is on their Archive Of Our Own page, is a great fic told in journal style, also in the Sorrow-arc. It's a what if Alucard ends up admitted into a hospital, and the gang finds him trapped inside while a vampirism outbreak happens... I'm also a fan of Lady Lunar Phoenix's Aria of the Ascending Soul, and its previous incarnation, Second Wave of Tears. These stories all serve to help stir the plot-bunny fairies in my head! :D
There's so much potential that can be done with the Sorow games era. Soma's a fascinating character in terms of what he's capable of, and I love Alucard in his Genya Arikado disguise. Lots of potential for stories taking place outside of 'Arikado's' missions with Soma, stories that can be told about jobs he's done with Yoko, etc.
I've also had ideas bouncing round my head for a story set in the non-cannon timeline where Trevor is Sonia and Alucard's son. What if Trevor, after being badly wounded by Isaac during Curse of Darkness, gets rescued by Alucard rather than Julia, woken by sensing that his son is in grave trouble? My idea is that the severity of the wound causes Trevor's mostly unnoticeable dhampir heritage fully awakens as a result of his coming close to dying, with that 1/4 vampire blood being what saves him. When Trevor wakes up, he finds himself in Alucard's tomb, sleeping in his coffin, with Alucard watching over him. Al then starts to explain, hesitantly admitting that he knew who Trevor was when he journeyed with him during the events of CV3, and that now because of the injury, Trevor is now effectively a full dhampir. Trevor's eyes have either turned gold completely, or, when he uses his powers/feels bloodthirst, and he has small retractable fangs, like Alucard's, but slightly shorter. The rest of the fic is Trevor recouperating, and coming to terms with the revelations, and learning to use his new powers.
just a game version of the Ricordanza novel.
I'm just now working on a fanfiction called "A Dusty Whip" where an archaeologist loosely descended from the Belmont family is investigating the long-abandoned ruins of Castlevania, which seems like a brilliant start for a disconnected-from-canon game.
My game idea would involve that basic premise, where the conflict between the Belmonts and Dracula really ARE myths and never happened as told in the main series, and as you investigate the ruins of the Castle, you find objects connected to the real events that went down and you have playable flashbacks like in Assassin's Creed. These would be historically accurate but mundane versions of the important Castlevania games like Rondo -- Werewolves are elite soldiers of Vlad Tepes who wear wolf pelts and use berserker techniques, vampires are instead the top lieutenants who drain bodies of blood and leave them behind as warnings, and there would be almost nothing supernatural.
Every time you find an artifact, you get a mini-reimagining of an iconic Castlevania game, like Lament of Innocence, Dracula's Curse, the original Castlevania, Rondo of Blood, and ending with Symphony of the Night, with all the fantasy elements reimagined into a reasonable mundane real world explanation that could logically be exaggerated into what we saw play out in the original games. Like a "truth behind the myths" take on the whole saga.
The end game twist would be that Dracula actually WAS a vampire (after calling that into serious question throughout the body of the narrative), and your character ends up waking him up through their excavations and having to be the one who finally conclusively puts him down for good.
I'd play the SHIT out of that game. Screw my earlier vote for Resurrection.
I'm just now working on a fanfiction called "A Dusty Whip" where an archaeologist loosely descended from the Belmont family is investigating the long-abandoned ruins of Castlevania, which seems like a brilliant start for a disconnected-from-canon game.
That sounds like something I would play instantly if it existed.
In that story though, would Dracula have a demonic/dragonlike second form or is he just going to stay a humanoid vampire ala Belmont's Revenge, Order of Eclessia and SCIV?
I love Alucard in his Genya Arikado disguise. Lots of potential for stories taking place outside of 'Arikado's' missions with Soma, stories that can be told about jobs he's done with Yoko, etc.
I'd love for the Conclusion of the Sorrow arc to have two modes. The normal mode which is played as Julius, the second mode which is Arikado in the full Genya getup. Except the way the Castle is traversed to be completely different for the two players. When you finish both games, a secret mode where interchangeable Yoko/ Hammer is unlocked. Better yet, this is the hard mode; interchangeable Yoko and Hammer where both are on screen at once and share 1 life bar... This is HARD MODE
This would be sweet. But I wonder if the game would put us on control of Curtis and those sweet Death powers, or Michelle and her bowgun.
Sterling...
Seraph...
...
...damn, those are some neat sounding ideas. I'd say, "Shut up and take my money," if I had any!
I kind of imagine him being like a dessicated body, crawling along the ground as his legs are no longer useful, chasing her while she tries to escape.
They kinda did that in The Terminator. But it would definitely be spooky.
Deliberately the imagery I was attempting to conjure, except in this case it's because he's been asleep so long he's little more than a shrieking bitey corpse trying to chase you fresh out of the coffin while not even fully able to control his own body (like a MUCH scarier and far more villainous version of post-reawakening Gabeula at the beginning of Lords 2). Of course, if he gets to you, he drinks your blood and regenerates, and you get treated to a game over montage wherein Dracula is shown (through a bunch of rapid still images) taking over the world.
Sterling...
Seraph...
...
...damn, those are some neat sounding ideas. I'd say, "Shut up and take my money," if I had any!
Just for grins, you could set my game in 1999 and star JULIA BELMONT as the hapless grad student doing the investigating, and the person who finally puts Dracula down for good.
Have the game end with her seeing an eclipse and then she falls down, knocks her head and gets amnesia ;D (/sarcasm)
Anyways, I'm pretty sure I'd be panicking too if a shambling corpse just jumped out of a coffin and wanted my blood. How would Dracula dies and would he be located inside a realistic version of the castle keep (aka it's not floating with just a measly staircase supporting it, but it's actually a tower whose peak is reminiscent of the classic keep)?
A proper followup to Super Castlevania IV. Although, my curiosity wants to see CV Resurrection its finished form, which is certainly not my dream game. But hey, it'd be neat to see.
Apparently it was meant to follow on from SotN. It's a shame that it got stuck in developer issues, and then Konami gave the series to Mercurysteam... Now if only Iga had been given a better budget and more time...
Now if Iga was behind another 3D game, I feel like he would've finally found the right stride. In a 3D game, to keep the world interesting you have to make it feel like a world, something CV64 did so much better than LOI and COD IMO. The levels felt like spaces in a world. The only level that doesn't do this as well is the Tunnel, but I'll cut some slack because it is a tunnel afterall. The IGA 3Dvanias followed the metroidvania level design too closely IMO. The map system was well executed, but the level design felt like it was meant for a 2D game but forced into 3D. Having too many repeated rooms and "shapes" of the rooms can get boring in a 3D game because it feels more like mindless arena running. In the 2D games, it felt more natural because of the 2D nature and the platforming. If the stages were smaller and didn't reuse as many rooms, I think they'd be MUCH better. With the better hardware, maybe Iga could've found the right blance between CV64's level design and SotN style design.
I'm sort of pissed that LOD wasn't remade like Starfox/ Lylat Wars was for the 3ds.
The camera issues and a higher framerate with more solid graphics would have solved ALL of the 64 titles' issues imo.
The issue with Castlevania in 3d is that gaming became more geared toward casual and/or blockbuster title players.
In CV64/ LOD if you fell from too high or down a pit, you died, period. Even by the time of LOI in the few pitfalls they had you'd simply lose life. Even though LOS wasn't the most easy game on the harder setting, it went down the "checkpoint" route which is okay for longer stages, but having this employed for different forms of bosses makes me shudder every time.
Castlevania is the one series I believe where the first instincts (64 iterations) were basically the best and got it right. Sure some things could be ironed out, but mostly those games suffered from an at times awkward camera and slightly stiff gameplay which LOD improved drastically upon imo. These issues could've been solved and in terms of gameplay in the grand scheme, all the characters were missing was a backdash imo. You're right that if they'd continued down this line they would've made a winner.
Such a shame. It'd be so awesome to have Alucard waking up again for whatever reason, runs into Maria again, or a descendant. Something I loved about Alucard was how you can tell he was constantly tormented by his dhampir-ism, the eternal life, and his having to fight his father, but he never bitches or moans about it like almost evey character like that. He's so accepting of everything, like his dialogue at the end of SotNHe also isn't a generic quiet protagonists, where he's cool cus he's quiet and mostly unemotional. He's like that because of what he's been through and what he has to face. He's accepting of it and numb from it. I might be looking to deep into it, but Alucard has so much potential for future games.(click to show/hide)
This is where good fanfiction comes in. And what everybody else should learn when creating a protagonist.
"Alucard has so much potential for future games" --> Alucard fans will agree with this statement. :)
For Alucard stories or fanfics, would a sequel to SotN or prequel to meeting Trevor work better?
Both are good. However, there seem to be more SotN-era than CV3 era fics as a whole.
Yup! As a fellow Alucard fanclub member, I am in complete agreement. The same in general goes for the Sorrow arc. I find Soma a fascinating character, who bounces off of Alucard/'Arikado' beautifully. Yup, Shiroi and I are in need of some good fanfiction fixes atm! ;)
I can see how that makes more sense, easier to come up with ideas for that era. I'll prob check some out soon
After playing Lament of Innocence, I really wanted a game that was a direct follow up to it - something that took the play style and refined it, with a story that revolved around Leon chasing down leads on Mathias in foreign lands, defeating other creatures of darkness... I know the ending of LoI says that Mathias and the Belmont's wouldn't meet again for hundreds of years, but surely some kind of confrontation between Leon and Mathias could be contrived. I just like the idea of using exotic, medieval era locations as settings for the levels, perhaps with confrontations with other, lesser (though still powerful) vampires along the way.
After playing Lament of Innocence, I really wanted a game that was a direct follow up to it - something that took the play style and refined it, with a story that revolved around Leon chasing down leads on Mathias in foreign lands, defeating other creatures of darkness... I know the ending of LoI says that Mathias and the Belmont's wouldn't meet again for hundreds of years, but surely some kind of confrontation between Leon and Mathias could be contrived. I just like the idea of using exotic, medieval era locations as settings for the levels, perhaps with confrontations with other, lesser (though still powerful) vampires along the way.
That ending was such a lazy thing. I don't even know why it had to be said, and it actually kills A LOT of potential for interesting plots and settings like you just said. I mean, why even set LOI with that far of a gap between it and CV3 if that time won't be used for more stories? It would've made more sense to just have LOI a century or so before CV3 and say they'll finally clash again the next century. Your ideas are what Iga should've had in mind.
Personally, I believe an LOI sequel with another Vampire antagonist would be better. Walter served well as an antagonist which also threw a massive spanner into the works, being thatafter his defeat at the hands of Leon.(click to show/hide)
A sequel where Leon, having mourned the loss of Sara but also of his closest comrade, explores the vast open world of Wallachia in hopes of finding the scent of Mathias' trail.
I'd prefer it involve another Vampire altogether as the antagonist, perhaps a female, ruthless, cold, void of compassion and callous in nature. 2 playable characters, Leon and Rinaldo. Point of the journey to be assisting people whose love ones have been turned by the main antagonist, let's call her "The Queen".
The twist: every vampire you destroy is feeding the Queen's power to another level. The only saving grace is the power of the VK, fuelled by Sara's undying rage to prevent those who are destined to suffer the same fate as her from becoming tainted in the first place.
- around 5 villages and open environments Leon visits
- A main vampire terrorising each; once they die, the villagers are healed of vampirism.
- Little does Leon know that destroying them fuels the Queen's power, rendering her insanely powerful
- Joachim makes an appearance, either as a playable character, or a villain working under the Queen (resurrected by a pact with her) or both
- Leon and Rinaldo team up for the final battle
- in the ending sequence Leon and Rinaldo sense something is awry when instead of the Queen dying, her soul is absorbed into a vortex by an unknown force.
- Mathias watches in the distance with the shadow of Death by his side while he absorbs her soul into the Crimson Stone, acquiring all of her powers; including those of the other vampires she sired.
- The final scene is Leon burning with rage running into what appears to be the Forrest of eternal night, towards a castle.. The camera pans up from the earth, behind Leon, to a full moon (which is the same way LOI started - only with a moon crescent rather than a full moon) while the words "The End" materialise, leaving the player on the edge of their seat, not knowing what will happen for the next 300 years before Trevor Belmont's appearance.
.....you sir... are...a....F***ING GENIUS!!!!! This is just brilliant! Now THIS is a game i would play non-stop!!!!
Soleiyu's Quest: a game starring Soleiyu Belmont battling against Elisabeth Bartley - either as a Classicvania or perhaps as a Metroidvania for the Game Boy. Or anything really, I just remember seeing the idea of Soleiyu vs Bartley proposed on here ages ago and it really resonated with me.
Resurrection: the old cancelled Resurrection idea - I wouldn't mind going one further and seeing it also include Desmond Belmont, so it could have all three 'lost' Belmont's - it's 1666 and Desmond has disappeared while investigating activity at Dracula's still standing Castle. His sisters then cast s spell which draws two other 'lost' Belmont's through time to aide him.I think Resurrection with Sonia would be awesome, but I really wish they'd not involve a "time" element.
Prequel to CotM: I really enjoyed CotM and would love a prequel - I've got some vague ideas about a system where you control three characters, Morris Baldwin and both of Nathan's parents, as they explore the castle - but they all start in different locations and you use save rooms to swap between characters and share items etc - possibly even as an on line co-op game... Not sure how well it would all work though...
Kid Dracula Metroidvania: a Metroidvania starting Kid Dracula, with a Game Boy Advance type aesthetic and a chibi version of Dracula's Castle to explore.
Soleiyu's Quest: a game starring Soleiyu Belmont battling against Elisabeth Bartley - either as a Classicvania or perhaps as a Metroidvania for the Game Boy. Or anything really, I just remember seeing the idea of Soleiyu vs Bartley proposed on here ages ago and it really resonated with me.
I would say don't over-complicate it, just have the CVIII/ DoS System where you can flick between 3 characters with different abilities.
I would play the shit out of this.
Super-deformed, Chibi-fied SotN would be hilarious and adorable. Shiroi and I, being the massive Alucard fangirls that we are, would be so up for that! I'm just picturing Kid-Dracula/chibi!Alucard a la my favourite chibi-Allies:
Any fireball spells etc thrown would go pop! at enemies hit by them, and when you 'died', a cute little skull and cross bones, with XX eyes, would appear. I want to see this happen now..
That photo is so cute that it hurts a little bit. :)
Ooohhhh my...... I'm now picturing a whole Chibi-vania series, including a chibi version of HoD.... including chibi!Dracul, chibi!Dracula. chibi!Trevorcard, chibi!Soma, chibi!Joachim..... The chibi!Gergoth and chibi!Succubus, etc, I'm just picturing would be so adorable.... Even the Succubus would have an air of 'innocence' about her. Something super-cute and funny, with a sense of humour not entirely unlike the SD shorts for Avatar the LoA, maybe even havign a scene where one of the characters, maybe Dracula?, pops out of SD chibi-form, only to be repremanded for doing so... in the case of Dracula, this could be Death, for example....
Konami wants to focus on mobile games as well now, right, instead of console entries... that would actually make a pretty fun Castlevania related game for mobile phones.
But it's mobile gaming! Sorry, but I can't stand gaming on a phone. I'd want this at at least DS level, preferrably full console.
I was listening to Jorge's remixes on Youtube (specifically "Praying Hands" (https://youtu.be/r_Jz_bOb44E) which is one of Castlevania's finest tunes) just now, and it got me thinking of how amazing a full 3D remake of Belmont's Revenge would be if done right.
A retuned and fully updated remake of Castlevania 64 and Legacy of Darkness would be amazing as well, but my absolute dream project would unquestionably be a properly finished version of Castlevania: Resurrection, with maybe a bonus ReBirth style remake of Legends on the side.
I've always thought that the non-canon Castlevanias could be easily linked together into their own separate timeline too, and that they'd be a perfect direction for Castlevania to move back into for a reboot: still dark, still gothic, but with a pronounced and campy silliness about them (the same games that had the much laughed at Motorcycle Skeletons also had Actrise as a villain, and she was as evil and sinister a villain as the series has ever seen). I suppose that's why I keep holding on to some vain hope that we'll see more from those entries, as they are absolutely what Castlevania is to me.
But what is your dream Castlevania project? Figure, if you knew for a fact you were going to get one more, and ONLY one more, game in the franchise... what would it be?
If Castlevania is a creature of chaos then why can't canon and non canon titles work as multiverse compliments of one another? They all exist inside of the vampires lair.
That would be an interesting idea.
I've got this mental image of Chaos being sort of an infection branching out across the multiverse, and then when it reaches a new universe, a version of Dracula rises there, and a Belmont (or suitable analogue) appears as sort of an antibody response to the infection, and if you enter into Chaos' lair, all of the infected universes are suddenly all true in that one place -- the one place where Trevorcard might meet Nathan Graves and Julius Belmont.
But in all seriousness you're thinking, I like it. Maybe as your scenario plays out in another wing of the castle Trevor Belmont and Adrian Tsepes meet the amalgamated Trevorcard as another possiblity perhaps in the Mirror's reflection. Or maybe in this universe Richter Belmont saves the ToyMaker from Walter Bernard before he is ensnared and forced to give his heart away thus altering or preventing the events of LOS. Gabriel Belmont (who I liked playing as) meets his future self or the Matthias incarnation of Dracula.
Maybe as your scenario plays out in another wing of the castle Trevor Belmont and Adrian Tsepes meet the amalgamated Trevorcard as another possiblity perhaps in the Mirror's reflection.
"What did you see, father?"
"Despair. So much despair. But in one thread, I saw hope."
"Is not that hope worth chasing?"
But it's mobile gaming! Sorry, but I can't stand gaming on a phone. I'd want this at at least DS level, preferrably full console.
I feel ya man. Even if its a great game, I have control problems on touch, plus covering the screen is annoying af. Even games with great controls on mobile are cumbersome to play. If Konami could make it on PC and mobile, I think it'd be decent (played a demo of an indie game on android, unplayable at parts cus I couldn't react fast enough, played the PC demo -same exact game- but it was so much more enjoyable and playable on keyboard).
My favorite company to do such work would be WayForward or Arc System Works, even Inti Creates.
Speaking of ArcSys, I would've liked to see them do a Castlevania fighting game.
-Mathias' quest to acquire more power after absorbing Walter's soul. I LOVE stories where the lead is actually the bad guy and I want to see more sexy Mat before his looks go to waste :-*
Mathias should have gotten his own quest in LOI which started in the woods and opened up different parts of the Castle.
Seriously if anyone has played RE4 "separate ways" you know what I'm on about.
I think Joachim is awesome, but Mathias deserved a quest more than he did.
Indeed. Mathias had a lot of potential, but instead of creative quests we got a half-assed back story for Dracula. :rollseyes:Hahaha. I'm sure a lot of story was cut from LoI. IGA did mention that he cut a lot of the story content from SotN, so I'm just assuming all of his games have a lot of cut content.
Welcome to the forums sadae!
Yes. I fully support a Matthias centered game. Hahaha. I'm sure a lot of story was cut from LoI. IGA did mention that he cut a lot of the story content from SotN, so I'm just assuming all of his games have a lot of cut content.