Topic: when will the next Japanese castlevania be released??

[TheCruelAngel]

Agreed. That would be trippy (and a nice troll) if the graphics mimicked the style perfectly as well. I think I'd have to buy two copies at that point. I wouldn't care what the story or gameplay was, I'd be in it for awesome 14th century styled painting action (or dating sim or whatever)!

[Pumpkin Glow]

you hear that konami? if you make your games look like a monty python animation, one man will buy two copies!

[Nagumo]

Once again, I believe, if developers really would like to create a fullfleshed entry into the Old Canon, they must have much more intimate knowledge of the story, rather than just few paragraphs.
With such approach they can create something, that will mess up the timeline and anger fans.

Well, first of all, pretty all the stories of the games are fairly self-contained in the classic canon barely make any references to each other. Even direct sequels like Cod and PoR do this aside from briefly acknowledging that the protagonist from the prequel defeated Dracula. Secondly, I can tell from experience that fact checking certain details about the story doesn't take more than a few minutes of one's time. If you still disagree, could you perhaps give some sort of example?       
 

The thing, it could work with something that have regular / scheduled installments, like TV-series, comic books, movies, e.t.c.
With the Castlevania the problem is that later games jumped all over the place. Or rather "all over the time". One game set up something like could have been an interesting story or introduced new elements, that could have been elaborated, but the very next game jumped at another point in timeline and didn't answer anything.

Basically, it's like, if writer decided to publish his book one chapter per day. But instead publishing chapters in order, he publishing them in completely random sequence. And there is no guarantee that the next chapter  will answer questions or will be published at all.

That's why I am on board with the LOS storytelling - its maybe not very unique, but at least they put effort to tell a coherent story, not random puzzle pieces.

I think that each game can stand on its own in terms of story. I don't really know a lot of things that I wished the story would have elaborated on more like you said, aside from me thinking stuff like "This boss/enemy is very interesting. I wonder what his story is?" or other minor stuff. I like to speculate about things like that when playing the game. I'm not bothered that this is never answered because it's not really important at all to the larger narrative. When I look at some of the things you considered to be holes in the timeline, I thought a lot of the points were rather minor too. Things that would be interesting to know but are not really imporant. If you don't like small things being kept a mystery, you won't like a lot of fiction. Oh well. Opinions, opinions.

As for plot elements that are vital to the story, for example, the mystery of why the Belmonts disappeared and why the gave the whip to the Morris family etc. , I think it was gradually being revealed as the series went along. I was brought up and introduced for the first time in PoR, OoE explained exactly what happend to the Belmont family, and I highly suspect the canceled Alucard game was going to reveal the rest. At least with major plotlines they put an effort in gradually elaborating on them, albeit slowly. So the storyline might not be as random as you may think.                               

[Nagumo]

I guess whoever wrote that family tree (either IGA or someone else) wasn't quite thinking about it. If the Belnades clan is still continuing after Sypha then the only real way for that to happen is if Sypha has relatives of her own, say a Brother or a Cousin. They can't come from the Belmont clan and Sypha would have been absorbed into the Belmont clan herself. Her children would have taken the name Belmont and not Belnades. If Sypha did have a girl child in order for them to explain the continuation of the Belnades name then she would have to marry back into the Belnades family. And that would be incestual. The Morris family is easy to connect the dots; A woman Belmont marries into the Morris clan thus securing her descendants with the powers of the Belmont blood. Easy. I've seen earlier attempts at a family tree which tried to explain the all the families in the CV series (every single character) and all I could see from it was an incest fest. So that particular person didn't know how to do a family tree either. I think maybe the problem is that they are thinking too much about the origins of the supernatural powers that are inherent in all the families rather then being realistic about it and going about making the tree from a biological standpoint which is far more important. Then after the tree has been properly written out THEN apply the supernatural powers explanation.

Why do I always claim stuff without checking properly? I disremembered the connenction between the Belmonts and the Belnadeses. I looked at the family tree again, and it shows a line that spawns from Sypha's name and eventually leads to Yoko. However, it's clear that this line is not a result of Trevor and Sypha having a child. So unless Sypha did some cheating behind Trevor's back, I guess it means Sypha had a distant relative who  continued the Belnades clan or something.

[X]

It could work like this: Sypha has a family several years prior to her mix-up with the Cyclops. After she is presumed dead her family moves on. Then she is saved by Trevor and after Dracula is defeated she falls in love with him and has a new family.

[Sumac]

Secondly, I can tell from experience that fact checking certain details about the story doesn't take more than a few minutes of one's time. If you still disagree, could you perhaps give some sort of example?

       
I am agree with you, that to understand even Castlevanian timeline you doesn't need a lot of time. The question is: will new developers even think about spending few hours just to browse through the Castlevania Wikia or some fan sites to checkup on everything? They are not paid for that.

I think that each game can stand on its own in terms of story. I don't really know a lot of things that I wished the story would have elaborated on more like you said, aside from me thinking stuff like "This boss/enemy is very interesting. I wonder what his story is?" or other minor stuff. I like to speculate about things like that when playing the game. I'm not bothered that this is never answered because it's not really important at all to the larger narrative. When I look at some of the things you considered to be holes in the timeline, I thought a lot of the points were rather minor too. Things that would be interesting to know but are not really imporant. If you don't like small things being kept a mystery, you won't like a lot of fiction. Oh well. Opinions, opinions.

I like to have everything explained and neatly arranged in the story. Or at least, to have riddles and unexplained stuff to be integrated in the story from the begining, so unanswered things didn't looked like copout or lazyness of the writer. I am very demanding to such things and I don't like, when writer setup something that could be seemingly important to the story as the whole and then forget it in favor of something else. Reeks of bad writing.

I firmly believe, that details is what make story live and breathe, so to speak. You didn't need to explain some mundainity to the audience, but if you introduce some seemingly random elements, please, explain them at some point and feel the blanks in between. There is nothing more pleasurable, than to see story gradually reveal every part of it and enjoy an understanding of the whole grandiose plot, that was hidden before your very eyes for the whole time.

Of course, I think, I maybe expect from Castlevania too much, since I often look at it, if it was a "storyline game", that it most likely never was in the true sense. Still, I am saddened by this, because Castlevania is kind of unique and interesting tale and with the right approach it could become a very awesome and epic thing. Sadly developers missed one opportunity after another and that's why I am a bit bitter about Castlevania Old Canon as the whole. As of now, in my eyes, it's a storyline of missed opportunities.

As for plot elements that are vital to the story, for example, the mystery of why the Belmonts disappeared and why the gave the whip to the Morris family etc. , I think it was gradually being revealed as the series went along. I was brought up and introduced for the first time in PoR, OoE explained exactly what happend to the Belmont family, and I highly suspect the canceled Alucard game was going to reveal the rest. At least with major plotlines they put an effort in gradually elaborating on them, albeit slowly. So the storyline might not be as random as you may think.

   
Yet, still it took a lot time to get even to the that point. And there were a lot of things in between, that really weren't needed. Like DOS and Judgement for example.                 

[Pumpkin Glow]

aaaand the topic seems to be dead (besides nerdy debating).

I would like to say thank you to everyone for their contributions. I just hope one english literate employee of Konami Japan saw the page count on this topic and thought: "they still care"

[TheCruelAngel]

The fact that this forum is still alive and kicking is evidence enough to Konami (EU, US or JP) that there is still a healthy interest in the Castlevania series as a whole. While we may or may not get another Japanese developed Castlevania in the future, I don't think this thread will have any weight on Konami's decision in the future on whether they give the development contract to a Japanese developer or any other developer (Korea has development studios too!).

What's going to weigh most in their mind is; who can do it on budget, has a good track record making games that turn a profit and who's idea for the series meshes most with current trends in the market and will be popular. Secondary will be what will appease fans, primary is bringing in new fans and a profit. And that's game development in a nutshell!

[crisis]

we should all just mass-e-mail WayForward & ask them over n over to try n acquire the rights to CV

[Dremn]

Never.

I honestly think the franchise is done after LoS is over.

[Sumac]

I honestly think the franchise is done after LoS is over.

Series will live as long as its profitable.
I think, that after LOS there will be a brief pause, so Konami could think of what to do next, but in case LOS2 will be (very) successful, then most likely there will be some kind of the new installment.

[Nagumo]

I am agree with you, that to understand even Castlevanian timeline you doesn't need a lot of time. The question is: will new developers even think about spending few hours just to browse through the Castlevania Wikia or some fan sites to checkup on everything? They are not paid for that.

If they liked the old story I'm sure they would do that. Story research falls under the development of the game, so it's not like they wouldn't get paid for it. 

I'll let this debate rest since I think we both made our points pretty clear and we're just arguing opinions now.