Yeah, I do want IGA to step down; this is no joke. I'm dead serious. And I am not the only one serious about this.
If we're going to see the series grow we need fresh ideas, and he seems to be out of them. He seems incapable at breaking the 3D barrier and he's more or less rehashing SotN over and over, now with AoS mechanics. If it's Konami's fault, well we don't know, but I have to point the blame at someone -- something -- more palpable, and IGA claims he's the head of the series, so that's where I'm pointing the finger. Also since he admitted that the 3D games' lackluster design is his doing, I'm definitely pointing the finger for that.
From what he's revealed about his personality, he's deathly afraid of criticism, too. This means he's afraid to change things lest he be "yelled" at and so he tends not to change much actually. And he's right, he will get yelled at for change; it's evident with Judgment. But he has to learn to take it, beause you can't make everyone happy -- it's impossible.
And yeah, Judgment might be a different idea, but it was bred more from Koji Igarashi's worries about fatigue with long sessions of the Wii-mote than that he actually wanted to make this game, or at least this is what he hints at. Konami forced him to do a Wii game because the system is successfully hot and this is what he came up with. And even if Judgment succeeds and forms it's own sub-series, it won't do anything to alleviate the general creative slump the main series is experiencing.
Even with Ecclesia, we see rehashed ideas everywhere. How long can the series go on this way?
The good news is, we're getting THREE Cv-related games this year. That's the most we've gotten in a single year in a long time (actually I'm not sure we've ever been given 3 in a year). This tells me that Konami is finally putting some financial "umph" behind this deserved series, and whoever they decide to head it's future should have an easier time.
I tell you what -- I'll give him one last shot. But, if IGA's next 3D game (I'm not counting Judgment)fails to bring the series into the third-dimension proper, I want him out. SOMEONE has to do this right. It is such a crucial share of the game market. And as many problems as the CV64's had (and believe me here when I say I used to despise them), they came a lot closer to capturing what makes a Castlevania game, a Castlevania game. With the technology nowadays, a similar KCEK approach could prove very, very awesome. And mixing those ideas with the action ideas IGA's team has come up with, would be PERFECT.
My eyes/ears are on more info about the arcade game. In essence, it's an experiment with bringing CV into first-person. The success of this could pave the way for bigger ideas for the next 3D game.
So, what do I really want for 2009? I want Castlevania to SUCCEED; like it's never done before. I want to see the series finally GROW past SotN. I want Konami and even IGA to prove me wrong. With three games on the way it certainly has potential to raise more awareness about itself, but there's really not too much to go on right now to say that anything big is gonna change (read:in a good way). Ok so maybe this wish might fit better with 2010, but the series needs to see healthy change, and soon.