Topic: I knew it! Castlevania: Lords of Shadow!(SPOILERS HERE, PLZ USE THE SPOILER TAG)

[Sindra]

I know Cox is a fan. He wouldn't have bothered at all to even lurk on this very forum if he wasn't a fan and didn't care what fans thought.

Maybe what you're saying is correct - maybe Konami decided to be schizo regarding LoS and wanted as little to do with the previous games as possible, including music, art style, atmosphere, etc. and Cox had his hands tied. If that's the case, then I'll come out and say FUCK YOU KONAMI and give Cox his due.

Regarding future games - I don't give a flying rat's ass if IGA ends up being on any other Castlevania game from this point on, so long as the series continues down a path that made it great in the first place. Not to say I hate IGA, because I don't, but I realize that he's being phased out of the picture by Konami, and that perhaps he hit a wall in terms of creative direction. Maybe not. I don't know. What I do know is that Lords of Shadow is NOT the direction I want my Castlevania to go in, unless that direction ends up swerving back onto the well-beaten road that's been recently paved over with design blacktop.




Now excuse me. I gotta go listen to "uber-effeminate and too girly" Dance of Pales now.

[C Belmont]

Maybe what you're saying is correct - maybe Konami decided to be schizo regarding LoS and wanted as little to do with the previous games as possible, including music, art style, atmosphere, etc. and Cox had his hands tied. If that's the case, then I'll come out and say FUCK YOU KONAMI and give Cox his due.

If I recall correctly LOS was initially met with opposition by Konami & I highly doubt it was because Mercury Steam wanted to stick close to the source material.

[Flame]

I recall the original idea being a remake of Castlevania 1, and from there, it morphed into Lords of shadow.

The original Gabriel design was even a classic Castlevania barbarian design, until Koijima gave Cox the advice to give him a more heroic face.

[Tanatra]

If I recall correctly LOS was initially met with opposition by Konami & I highly doubt it was because Mercury Steam wanted to stick close to the source material.

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2010/08/26/the-story-of-how-castlevania-lords-of-shadow-was-canceled-then-resurrected-dracula-style

I recall the original idea being a remake of Castlevania 1, and from there, it morphed into Lords of shadow.

The original Gabriel design was even a classic Castlevania barbarian design, until Koijima gave Cox the advice to give him a more heroic face.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/09/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-began-as-remake-of-nes-original

It seems Flame is correct, and I'd hardly refer to an attempted remake of CV1 as "not wanting to stick close to the source material." Gabriel's outfit is even based on Simon's CV2 armor.

[DragonSlayr81]

I fail to see what having a "heroic face" has to do with opting against the barbarian look. I mean, can't there be heroic barbarians? Most barbarians in such fantasy movies ARE heroic. Having the barbarian look is more about how he's dressed than how his face looks, unless they were originally going with a really Neanderthal-looking facial structure.

[JR]

I assumed a "more heroic face" just meant to give him a more of an appearance that the audience can relate to in general, or something.

Like some of you guys have been saying, I sort of agree that the way the game turned out may not have entirely been MercurySteam's fault. Like the inclusion of QTE after Cox expressed his dislike for them, for example. I could imagine some dimwitted suit at Konami insisting that they be implemented in the game, in a misguided attempt to appeal to the God of War crowd, subsequently making Cox eat his words.

[Dark Nemesis]

Like some of you guys have been saying, I sort of agree that the way the game turned out may not have entirely been MercurySteam's fault. Like the inclusion of QTE after Cox expressed his dislike for them, for example. I could imagine some dimwitted suit at Konami insisting that they be implemented in the game, in a misguided attempt to appeal to the God of War crowd, subsequently making Cox eat his words.

A reason more for me to hate Konami, like i did with SquareEnix, when i tried Final Fantasy XIII!!!

[Flame]

I fail to see what having a "heroic face" has to do with opting against the barbarian look. I mean, can't there be heroic barbarians? Most barbarians in such fantasy movies ARE heroic. Having the barbarian look is more about how he's dressed than how his face looks, unless they were originally going with a really Neanderthal-looking facial structure.

I dont remember if those were the exact words, but the general idea is a barbarian character like say, Ah-nold in conan, is just a big brute with little character because well, you cant relate to him. hes just a big bruiser. however, he preferred Gabriel have a more normal looking appearance that players can get behind. (in fact, they seem to have modeled it after his voice actor's face) I cant really explain it, but I get it.

[DragonSlayr81]

I don't know man, if a if they invest the time in developing a character, you can relate to it despite appearance. It seems like opting to choose a bulky knight over a bulky barbarian is just an superficial issue based on looks. I mean, a "bruiser" is only as deep as his writing.

[X]

That "bruiser" is what we got in Castlevania since day 1. I don't know about anybody else, but I think LoS would've been that much more enjoyable with a Barbarian Simon Belmont in the lead role.

-X

[beingthehero]

I'd rather have a sensitive Simon Belmont.

Is it just me, or does Gabriel not really have that much of a "heroic" face? He usually seems angsty in all the images I've seen of him.

http://www.castlevaniadungeon.net/Images/Scans/CVX68K/castlevan.jpg But this is a heroic face!

[Vampire Killer]

That "bruiser" is what we got in Castlevania since day 1. I don't know about anybody else, but I think LoS would've been that much more enjoyable with a Barbarian Simon Belmont in the lead role.

-X

I wholeheartedly disagree. Back in the day, box and and the game character had little in common due to graphical limits. Simon in CV1 in game looked nothing to me like he did on the box art, nor in my imagination. Trevor kind of matched his box art for me, but only a bit.

How about this, instead of clinching your fists, stubbornly refusing to appreciate anything that doesn't perfect match your extremely limited view of Cv, how about you open your mind just a wee bit to something different?  I know change is scary, but come'on! You think a big brutish dumb looking barbarian would've looked even remotely plausible (not absolutely terrible) when delivering the lines done by Jason Issacs? Really?

Whatever you're smoking, I want some of it.

[thernz]

(click to show/hide)

Barbarian Satan.

I would've liked to see that.

[Flame]

I never liked the barbarian design for classicvanias simply because it looks NOTHING like what someone in those eras would dress like.

[Sindra]

Heh, I like how it was decided he needed a more "heroic face', and we end up getting a guy who's so stoic and straight-faced with showing little to no emotion 90% of the time, that it was hard believing the guy was so "tormented and full of rage" when they kept bringing that up over and over.

I saw more emotion with Dawn of Sorrow's character portrait-emoticons.