Topic: Castlevania's Lack Of Consistency

[DoctaMario]

This kinda comes on the wings of what Danial was saying in the Judgment topic about Castlevania's lack of consistency.

If you think about it, no two of the more CV games ever seem to have the same protagonists with the exception of the Sorrow games. I feel like it's hard to care about a protagonist character when he/she is only in one or two games. Part of the reason I think people love Simon so much is because, in addition to being the original CV character, he starred in 4 different games (and made appearances in HoD as a guest).

The series has had a lot of different artists lately too and it seems like they change things for the sake of changing them which gives people no idea of what to expect. Sometimes this can be good, but not always.OoE is a pleasant surprise that seems to bridge the newer art to the older art in a way, but Judgment is something else entirely, something designed to lure the Death Note crowd.   

The soundtracks have been a lot more hit or miss lately. Sometimes we get incredible stuff (LoI) and other times we get songs that are mind-numbingly dull (PoR) and sound like something some kid with GarageBand could have cooked up.

The one thing that SHOULD be changing more than it does is the gameplay, and that seems to stay rooted in the same place. THey don't seem to change that up ENOUGH by making a natural progression forward.

What do you guys think?

[crisis]

This man speaks the truth!

I basically agree with all your points. As I said in the other thread, the cv series still needs to find it's true identity. All these handheld titles we've been getting for years have been consistent which people view as either a good or bad thing, but I feel the decision to make Judgment the way it is, is a step in the wrong direction & the artwork doesn't help its case.

NOT to say that Judgment will be a terrible game, I'm sure it won't. Everyone here is gonna play it atleast once, and more than half of us might enjoy it to some extent (i'm even buying a Wii just to play it when it comes out). But.. this isn't what I want CV to be.

I just hope the rumored wii-ware CV will be worth it.

[Reinhart77]

I'm more interested in variety than consistency.  This is partly because Castlevania is the only game I really play enough to try to get to the ending, and I do want some variety.

Storywise, yeah, the inconsistency kinda stinks.  But is there any other franchise that has pumped out nearly as many games (on average 1 game every year for over 20 years) that has any coherency to the storyline?  It's a miracle that they are at least able to retroactively make the timeline make sense for the most part. 

[paletteswapmonster]

I haven't thought of this before. I highly agree.

[Long John Silver]

Everyone here is gonna play it atleast once

lies. i'm not gonna sell my kidney to buy another console just for one game, and i doubt the wii will be emulated anytime within the next 10 years.

[A n t r a x x]

I find it hard to care about the characters these days, due to the design.

OoE is the exception.

[impulse]

In Reply To #1

I agree with most of what you're saying.

However, saying that you can't care for a character that appears in less than 3 installments is silly. Especially considering the length of a video game now'adays. Even though the character presentation differs dramaticly, does this mean you wouldn't be able to care for any movie protagonist if it's not a trilogy?

[paletteswapmonster]

I find it hard to care about the characters these days, due to the design.

ugh!

[Bad Wolf]

In Reply To #1


Truth. Nothing is changed that should be changed, and things are changed that shouldn't be.

[DragonSlayr81]

In Reply To #6

I don't know. I can't honestly say I ever cared for ANY CV characters...EVER. Though that's just me. I don't play CV to care for the characters, or the developement. I play RPGs for that reason.

[darkwzrd4]

Here's another inconsistency.  Ever notice that the abilities that Soma has in the "Sorrow" games are different.  For example, in AoS, the flame demon soul gave Soma an attack similar to the Hellfire spell used by Alucard and Dracula.  Where as in DoS the flame demon soul simply allowed Soma to shoot a single large fireball.  Same goes for the Axe Armor soul.  In AoS, that soul allows Soma to throw axes like the Axe Armor enemies.  Where as in DoS, Soma simply throws an axe 2-D Belmont-Style.

Just and inconsistency that I noticed and I'm sure all of you did too.

[paletteswapmonster]

In Reply To #11

The Axe Armor soul's change was good, though. Its nice to have an axe thrown at an arc instead of it acting like a cross except worse.

[Saner]

you can't expect Castlevania to keep changing, otherwise
it will get to the point where it isn't Castlevania at all anymore (see Guilty Gear 2 Overture and Fighting Force 2 and the recent Shining Force EX games)

the SOTN formula works best for it, but there's a limit to
how good a formula can get.

[Stigma Black]

So... change is good, but not too much change to the core, or it's only good if we go back to the old style? What?

I like that Castlevania's striking out in a few new directions now. Remember that just before DXC was announced everyone was complaining about how stale the series has become.

[paletteswapmonster]

In Reply To #13

Woah! Slow down there. Not only are you not making sense, but you're making it seem like you think your opinions are facts. It all comes down to preferences. How does SQ prove that the exploration is better anyway? And what do you mean "change Castlevania too far and it'll lose its very genre"? That happened already. The platforming style is it's genre, and its being pushed away because of fanboys and newer fans of the series not liking it which is bullshit. Also, "it's better to not have the same main character for future games unless they are an extra unlockable"?! Thats just crossing the line.