Topic: What the hell IS Castlevania anyway?

[cecil-kain]

In the beginning it was simple.

Belmont + Dracula + Castle = Castlevania

Simon's Quest gave us a Castlevania without a Castle.
Aria of Sorrow gave us a Castlevania without Draulca.
And now Order of Ecclesia has finally given us a Castlevania without a Belmont.

So if those 3 key elements are all expendable, what the hell IS Castlevania anyway?

[Bizarro Belmont]

A miserable pile of secrets!

[Gunlord]

In Reply To #1

To be fair, Cecil, the Belmonts are in OoE...
*spoiler*

they're all in that little village, aren't they? Or related to the Belmonts, at least? v_v

*spoiler*

[cecil-kain]

In Reply To #1

To be fair, Cecil, the Belmonts are in OoE...
*spoiler*

they're all in that little village, aren't they? Or related to the Belmonts, at least? v_v

*spoiler*

By "Belmont" I'm referring to whip wielding playable character.  Hope that makes a bit more sense...

[thernz]

Soma was Dracula though kinda sorta and Simon's Quest had a castle that was just... kinda in ruins.

[Long John Silver]

In Reply To #5

that and graham took over the dracula role gameplay wise.

[darkwzrd4]

The series is about the forces of good fighting against Dracula.  However, things change after the battle in 1999, after which Dracula is reincarnated and the series is then about the reincarnation of Dracula trying not the become the dark lord.

[The Last Belmont]

Simon's Quest gave us a Castlevania without a Castle.

uh dracula's castle is in the game. It's just still completely fucked up from the first clash. And the mansions act as "mini" castles.

Aria of Sorrow gave us a Castlevania without Draulca

soma is dracula, he just doesn't let himself awaken. The only CV game to not include dracula at all is LOI. And ironically it's the only one called "castlevania" in JP.

And now Order of Ecclesia has finally given us a Castlevania without a Belmont.

so did SOTN, bloodlines and POR. They all focused on non belmont characters.

[paletteswapmonster]

soma is dracula, he just doesn't let himself awaken. The only CV game to not include dracula at all is LOI. And ironically it's the only one called "castlevania" in JP.

In AoS, Graham acts as Dracula. Walter can count as a Dracula counterpart as well.

so did SOTN, bloodlines and POR. They all focused on non belmont characters.

I'm pretty sure he means OoE is the only game with no Belmonts or Belmont descendants(there are Belmont descendants, but no whip users, only villagers). Every CV game other than OoE has a playable Belmont or Belmont descendant.

[thernz]

soma is dracula, he just doesn't let himself awaken. The only CV game to not include dracula at all is LOI. And ironically it's the only one called "castlevania" in JP.

If we can say Soma is Dracula, I think we can say Matthias is Dracula too.

[Danial]

As a series, I think Castlevania shouldn't limit itself to just Belmont's vs Dracula anymore. 

We know there are a crap load of Belmont's that never had anything to do with Dracula, but they still had to train and learn to master the Vampire Killer.  We also know that they hunt other monsters and evils.  Why can't we see some of those stories?

We've seen creatures like Galamoth or people like Graham who try to destroy/take over/remake the world in their image.  There have to be other evil cults out there who aren't devoted to Dracula.  Where are these stories?

Lastly, we know the Belnades family has a history of fighting evils and working for a Church that doesn't acknowledge them officially, to save a humanity that persecutes them as witches.  How cool of a story would it be to focus on one of them?  There's also characters like Henry Oldrey, Cornell, and Shanoa.  They have nothing to do with the Belmonts, and are barely connected to Dracula.  I would love to see more characters like this also.

I guess what I'm saying is that when I see something labeled Castlevania, I know I'm going to see something that takes place in the CV universe.  I love watching the different chapters of the Belmont's vs Dracula play out, but I also wouldn't mind exploring the CV universe beyond Dracula's castle.

[The Last Belmont]

If we can say Soma is Dracula, I think we can say Matthias is Dracula too.

the reason I discount mathias is because he isn't fully transformed at the end of LOI just sort of like a protodracula who hasn't gained any real power yet. Hence he runs away from leon and lets Death lose to him as a scapegoat. Soma literally is the reincarnation of dracula with all of his powers, memory, strength and dominating aura. He just won't let himself awaken.

[paletteswapmonster]

Soma literally is the reincarnation of dracula with all of his powers, memory, strength and dominating aura. He just won't let himself awaken.

Wrong. He doesn't have all of his powers, nor his memory. Mathias should count just as much, if not more,  since he's literally Dracula himself, not his reincarnation. How would you know that he wasn't "fully transformed" anyway?

[The Last Belmont]

Wrong. He doesn't have all of his powers, nor his memory.

if he awakened he would. That was the whole point of Aos, to stop soma from becoming his true self.

[paletteswapmonster]

if he awakened he would. That was the whole point of Aos, to stop soma from becoming his true self.

But it didn't happen, so it doesn't count.

Also, that was the point of DoS, not AoS.