Topic: Castlevania: Belmont's Curse!!!

[Kingshango]

New Trailer, coming in October 15

https://youtu.be/I1YYTbciSD8?si=cXB2zvp1kx53elKn

It’s not Sonia, it’s a new Belmont named Rose

[Scarlet starlet]

Glad it's not Sonia, let's leave her in her timeline, no need to rewrite/remake a character that has fans out there.

This trailer was a good watch, they definitely put a lot on effort on respecting the lore. Acknowledging Grant, CoD Isaac, Carmilla with the OG Mask, Rose directly quoting Leon. If the rest of the game keeps nailing Castlevania spirit like that, we're in for a good time. Some of the Castle rooms also look very nice.

I'm still not sure about certain gameplay choices and the never-ending flashing screen effects however.

[GuyStarwind]

My daughter will turn two on Oct 14th, and she just told me in a full sentence that all she wanted for her birthday was for me to buy this game hehe.

Do we know what the curse is yet?

[Gunlord]

Glad it's not Sonia, let's leave her in her timeline, no need to rewrite/remake a character that has fans out there.

This trailer was a good watch, they definitely put a lot on effort on respecting the lore. Acknowledging Grant, CoD Isaac, Carmilla with the OG Mask, Rose directly quoting Leon. If the rest of the game keeps nailing Castlevania spirit like that, we're in for a good time. Some of the Castle rooms also look very nice.

I'm still not sure about certain gameplay choices and the never-ending flashing screen effects however.

Ooooh, good catch on the OG mask, I hadnt even noticed that the first time I watched the trailer.

[Scarlet starlet]

The website got updated with character artworks, new screenshots and descriptions. The Steam Page too
https://www.konami.com/games/castlevania/belmonts_curse/us/en-us/character

-Game has Relics and a new system revolving around sealing bosses in Arcana tarot cards to get their abilities
-They have shown some alternate outfits inspired by Alucard/Trevor/Sypha, there's also a preorder bonus (a pendant with young Trevor and Sypha)
-The Japanese cover is going to be different:

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-Also stunning key art by Katsuya Terada

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Olrox, Golem and Succubus?

-The Soundtrack

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1 Bloodbound
2 Streets Of Fire
3 Oathbreaker
4 Of Ash and Fire
5 Holy Fury
6 Gravefall
7 Fate's Blade
8 Bone March
9 Death Rite
10 Whisper of the Soul
11 Balance of Truth
12 Point of No Return
13 Fanatical Son
14 Bloody Tears
15 Crimson Dungeon
16 Forbidden Archives
17 Black Seal
18 Iron Clock
19 Stone Tyrant
20 Master of Pain
21 Gold and Blood
22 The Stolen Cathedral
23 The Last Blood
24 Shattered Crown
25 Burning Son
26 Mirror Trap
27 Deadly Embrace
28 Ancient Law
29 Dark Reflection
30 Lord's Chamber
31 Lord of the Night
32 Curse Broken
33 Bloodbound - Extended
34 Streets of Fire - Extended
35 Oathbreaker - Extended
36 The Sealed Power
37 Holy Fury - Extended
38 Gravefall - Extended
39 Fate's Blade - Extended
40 Bone March - Extended
41 Death Rite - Extended
42 The Castle Rises
43 The Sacrifice
44 Whisper of the Soul - Extended
45 Of Ash And Fire - Extended
46 Balance of Truth - Extended
47 Fanatical Son - Extended
48 Crimson Dungeon - Extended
49 Forbidden Archives - Extended
50 Black Seal - Extended
51 Iron Clock - Extended
52 Stone Tyrant - Extended
53 Master of Pain - Extended
54 Gold and Blood - Extended
55 The Stolen Cathedral - Extended
56 The Last Blood - Extended
57 The Passing Of Power
58 Shattered Crown - Extended
59 Burning Son - Extended
60 Mirror Trap - Extended
61 Deadly Embrace - Extended
62 Ancient Law - Extended
63 Dark Reflection - Extended
64 Conquer The Darkness
65 Lord's Chamber - Extended
66 Lord Of The Night - Extended - The First Dance
67 Lord Of The Night - Extended - The Night Devourer
68 The Cursed Eternal
69 Shadowed Victory
70 Final Dawn
71 Curse Broken - Extended

[Solomon]

Do my ears deceive me or is that Liam O' Brien reprising Isaac after more than 20 years?

[Reinhart77]

Great to see Isaac, wonder how his trip to hell has gone.  Interesting to think of him as a potentially continually resurrected enemy alongside other recurring bosses. 

Someone mentioned Grant - I didn’t pick up on any Grant references - what was that?  He didn’t get his own costume that I noticed at least, despite Trevor, Sypha, and Alucard all getting one.

Of course have to wonder about Hector and Julia.

Looking forward to Tarot card mechanism.  Always loved the Circle of the Moon cards and the tarot cards remind me of the Death Bloodlines cards.  Wonder if the fortune teller type is a reference to anyone, or someone new.

Not thrilled with the overall art, but hoping it will grow on me.  I’ll have to wait for it to come out on Switch.  Being able to play this in handheld mode is just too juicy.  I’m hoping I can get away with not needing to buy a PS5 before the next CV that’s not available on Switch 1/2 comes out - I want to wait for the PS6 to come out.

As for Rose!=Sonia, I’d prefer it was Sonia, unless they figure out a way to actually make Sonia Trevor’s mother someday.  I guess I’ll hold out for that possibility and just be satisfied that Rose seems inspired by her (though you could just come up with her design by adding trevor and sypha alone).  Probably best the character not be tied to Sonia, even if I’m disappointed.

I think I saw something like “Trevor Style” and “Sypha Style”, which I’m guessing is more like the various modes of Circle of the Moon where you just concentrate on a given gaming mechanic without otherwise changing the character or gameplay, with the costumes just being there to help get you in the groove.  Hope you can get those costumes without a preorder.

It’ll be fun to see the first chronological appearance of Carmilla.  Wonder if we’ll learn anything special about her background.

[Scarlet starlet]

Someone mentioned Grant - I didn’t pick up on any Grant references - what was that?  He didn’t get his own costume that I noticed at least, despite Trevor, Sypha, and Alucard all getting one.

She said "mother, father and their allies" and I just assumed she meant Alucard and Grant.

[Gunlord]

She said "mother, father and their allies" and I just assumed she meant Alucard and Grant.

Yeah. This game seems to be in the base continuity rather than the netflix one, so I see no reason they wouldnt include Grant if only as a shoutout.

[Reinhart77]

wonder if she'll have to face the fake sypha/trevor/grant trio =o.  that's one way to sneak in a direct grant reference.

i also wonder if they had to make a long trip from Wallachia to help out the folks in Paris.  if they were in wallachia for a long time, maybe Grant was "uncle grant" to Rose growing up.  (assuming Grant, the rebuilder of Wallachi, would have stayed there for as long as possible)

Another few random thoughts about the Belnades.  The Belmont in Rose seems pretty strong, but what about the Belnades?  Does she have any elemental magic at her disposal?  If not, might explain why Belnades power is so rare in the Belmont Clan.  I suppose there "is" a Sypha style, but how much of it is in her normal style?  Wonder if that fortune teller was related to the Belnades Clan.  Also, I've long had a theory that the Mysterious Woman from Simon's Quest was Sypha.  Here we're at least seeing another Belmont afflicted with Dracula's Curse (now they're calling it Dracula's Curse in addition to Belmont's Curse, ha), so it would seem likely an ancestor of his would know all about it.  Didn't Hector transmute Dracula's Curse though?  Wonder what's afflicting Rose then and if it ties in with that event some how.  Maybe Isaac delivered a big old dose of Dracula's Curse into Trevor when he nearly stabbed him to death.  I suppose if she was born after Curse of Darkness Rose would be about 18-19 at most.

[Scarlet starlet]

Considering what the gnarly voice "What makes you yhink you can stop me this time?" (Death?) and the female voice "God has given you another chance Rose" say, I think Trevor and Rose fucked up and were defeated at the start of the game. And this is how she got the curse perhaps. However it is stated to be Dracula's Curse and Dracula only shows up later.

[zangetsu468]

New Trailer, coming in October 15

https://youtu.be/I1YYTbciSD8?si=cXB2zvp1kx53elKn

1:19 going to take a punt that this is the infinite corridor and either Trevor or the original heir to the Vampire Killer is the boss.

[Scarlet starlet]

We've got the first real gameplay video, it was taken down by the author but you can find it on this channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BH2nVEdFGw

-3 Relics can be equipped. No armor pieces apparently.
-the stats are seemingly only ATK and DEF.
-7 weapon categories. It looks like there's 4 weapons in each of them, starting with "Ordinary" weapons, for a total of 28 weapons. Swords, greatswords, whips, rapiers, lances/spears, fighting gloves, and short sword + shield.
-A deeper look into Arcana tarot cards. Only one of them can be equipped at a time.

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They were given to Rose by Sypha, who is stated to be dead by the authors of the video. The first spell is in fact a burst of fire, and the related card look like Sypha.

There's a perk system and subquests (for example defeat a number of enemies in a certain way) to gain points and upgrade those spells. Each defeated boss will grant you the card, a spell, a progression/movement ability, and often their weapon too.

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For example beating Jean D'arc rewards you with her burnt greatsword, an AoE fire spell, a key to open a portal, and an halo of light ability to break "Chaos Shards" walls.

-You don't start with the Vampire Killer, that's in Trevor's pocket of course. It's not clear yet why Rose and her father go separate ways because the intro isn't shown in full.

I'm not sold on the gameplay, having lots of weapon options is cool but is there more depth to the system? Are the 3 relics enough to make different "builds"? Both in systems and in gameplay it looks more similar to Blasphemous I and II than Igavanias.
The writing seemed passable to me, but it is worrisome that not even 2 minutes in and they are already depicting the Bishop as greedy. I hope the Church isn't the villain or a negative force like in the Netflix series.

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Sypha being dead is also lame, hopefully she appears as a spirit and her death plays an important role in the story.

There are also some worries that Rose might be the only child Trevor had, which would break the Lament of Innocence family tree, but we don't know yet.