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

[X]

The difference is, Zelda has been doing it since day 1

I'd have to dissagree with this point. The Zelda time line didn't get skewed untill OoT came out. Before that, there was a firmly established timeline: Legend of Zelda: ALttP followed by Link's awakening. Then it jumps a hundred years later and we have: Legend of Zelda and The Adventures of Link. Everything was fine until the creater and director of the Zelda series released OoT and since then, the series has been going further and further back in time and becoming more and more convoluted. In the words of the angry videogame nerd...WTF!?!

-X

[shelverton.]

The latest episode of Invisible Walls talks abut Lords of Shadow. No new footage, but there's one spoiler in it.. If you don't wanna know the name of one of the lords of shadow, don't watch it. (At least I think it's new information cause I didn't know about it before..)

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/episode-123-invisible-walls/704060

The episode is 44 minutes long but they talk about Castlevania at the very beginning. The guy who played it doesn't sound overly enthusiastic and he mentions God of War a lot, though maybe it's just his voice that makes him sound like...dunno... a stoner.

[e105beta]

All he'd have to do is change some characters' names, not change the entire plot. We don't even know the entire plot.

Names are half of Castlevania. You change to many names and it becomes John Randeer the vampire hunter and his sidekick Bobby Grey, who is hunting Dalkas Stockovich. It stops being Castlevania and starts being a cheap ripoff.

Besides, I like Belmonts better than Morrises, and I know a lot of other people do too.

The only thing that's known/established about the 300 years between LoI & CVIII is that the Belmonts were vampire hunters & were feared by the people. Dunno about you but I could think of hundreds of ways developers can tell stories without stepping on anyone else's toes, without any of those "rules" getting in the way. And there can certainly be plots after Soma's time. Alucard does hint that a new Dark Lord would eventually emerge, so they can set a game 100 years after 2036. Does that mean the aesthetic has to change to accomodate futuristic hoverboards? No, because those stories are left wide open for anyone to decide what happens. You're making it seem like everything about the CV universe is so stifling for developers, when it really isn't if you think about it.

You start changing Belmonts to other vampires and the villains to non-Draculas, it's a slippery slope. Eventually you'll have a wandering Japanese swordsman with distant blood relation to the Belmont clan defeating demons. Whoops, now you have Devil May Cry. Characters and gameplay are what make a series a series, not a loosely tied together continuity.

The Castlevania universe isn't stifling, but the canon is a tad.

And really, how many origin stories do we really need? Once CV turns into a series of reboot after reboot, just because the developers don't want to deal with canon, then...

Then we have a bunch of reboots. Every Legend of Zelda starting with Link to the Past is practically a reboot and nobody seems to have a problem with that. Origin stories are exciting.

Konami has done it with Metal Gear, so the "nobody in the history of video games does that" comment is nonsense.. I don't see a problem with them doing it with CV.

Exactly which Metal Gear box has "this is a stand alone story" on it?

The difference is, Zelda has been doing it since day 1, Castlevania hasn't. For them to suddenly switch everything up would be pretty stupid and unnecessary. It's like they'd be trying to appeal to the Zelda fans, like LoS is trying to get the DMC fans. Just because Nintendo made it "work" for Zelda, doesn't mean Konami can or should make it work for CV.
Castlevania is borrowing a lot these days, lets not add "Zelda" to the list.

Why would it be stupid and unnecessary?  They wouldn't be trying to appeal to Zelda fans. Putting the next Belmont in a green cap and skirt would be appealing for the Zelda fans.
The only thing LoS has in common with DMC is the combat. Does that mean SotN was trying to get the Metroid fans?
Borrowing a story telling method =/= borrowing from Zelda. Zelda isn't the only game series with a collection of unrelated plots, it's just a notable one.

[Dremn]

Those GT guys sound like they hate it, too God of War and not very Castlevania like. I raised an eyebrow when they said "that doesn't sound like Castlevania" when talking about the linear paths and stages. I guess they never bothered to play any of the games before Symphony of the Night or heard of them.

The guy who played the game sounded very unimpressed too.

[shelverton.]

Well, he didn't really say anything negative about it, but he just sounded... bored.
Also, I hate how some people always talk about Castlevania like it's only famous for being that franchise that is constantly copying everyone else. "Lament of Innocence was Devil May Cry and this is God of War." Also, when talking about the titans and how they resemble Shadow of the Colossus, everyone starts laughing. It's like they're thinking "LOL TYPICAL CASTLEVANIA TO COPY OTHER GAEMS!!1".

Castlevania had GIGANTIC bosses before Shadow of the Colossus was even a glimpse in Fumito Ueda's eyes. Also, I don't think 3D combat in a Castlevania game should be done in any other way than the God of War way. God of War is definitely inspired by Castlevania in the first place. I don't think Kratos would've had a whip-like weapon, hadn't it been for Castlevania. But maybe that's just me...

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Yeah, what the hell?
If you think about it:

NES:
CV1's "Medusa" was twice as big as Simon.  Same's true for almost every other boss except Igor.
CV2's "Carmilla's Mask" is rather huge in comparison.
CV3's Cyclops, Leviathan Gargoyle (Pazuzu), The Creature, the Orphic Vipers..
CV4's Puwexil and Koranot.

Rondo of Blood had the Water Dragon, Minotaur, Giant Bat.
Bloodlines had the Giant Golem, the Pisa Gargoyle.

The GB games had Kumulo and Nimbler, the Creatures Bat, the Iron Doll, etc. etc.

Symphony had Granfalloon and Galamoth.

Aria had a crapload.
Dawn had Gergoth, Menace...
Portrait has Granfalloon returning, as well as a meaner Creature, and Gergoth in the battle arena stage...
Ecclesia has Eligor.

...and anything prior to Symphony and Super Metroid was considered quite huge for its time.  It's sad that Castlevania has been reduced to 'series that knocks off of other series'.  :\

[crisis]

Names are half of Castlevania. You change to many names and it becomes John Randeer the vampire hunter and his sidekick Bobby Grey, who is hunting Dalkas Stockovich. It stops being Castlevania and starts being a cheap ripoff.

Besides, I like Belmonts better than Morrises, and I know a lot of other people do too.

Okay then, they could keep the original names, doesn't change the fact that it could've still fit inside the canon..

You start changing Belmonts to other vampires and the villains to non-Draculas, it's a slippery slope. Eventually you'll have a wandering Japanese swordsman with distant blood relation to the Belmont clan defeating demons. Whoops, now you have Devil May Cry. Characters and gameplay are what make a series a series, not a loosely tied together continuity.

Now you're starting to exaggerate a bit..

The Castlevania universe isn't stifling, but the canon is a tad.

You can say the same for just about any other game series..

Then we have a bunch of reboots. Every Legend of Zelda starting with Link to the Past is practically a reboot and nobody seems to have a problem with that. Origin stories are exciting.

Origin stories are exciting, I agree, but having game after game being a "reboot" isn't what I envision Castlevania to be like. Castlevania is unique enough to not have to do that.

Exactly which Metal Gear box has "this is a stand alone story" on it?

Ac!d says something along the lines of "join Snake in this brand new stand-alone story in the MGS saga!" and possibly a few others.

Why would it be stupid and unnecessary? They wouldn't be trying to appeal to Zelda fans. Putting the next Belmont in a green cap and skirt would be appealing for the Zelda fans.
The only thing LoS has in common with DMC is the combat. Does that mean SotN was trying to get the Metroid fans?
Borrowing a story telling method =/= borrowing from Zelda. Zelda isn't the only game series with a collection of unrelated plots, it's just a notable one

It'd be unnecessary for reasons I've already stated. I think what I'm saying is perfectly reasonable; they can continue the main timeline, while also producing stand-alone projects like LoS so it doesn't get too clustered & everyone is happy. As opposed to making each game from now on in it's own universe, so to speak. Something like that would work if the CV license didn't belong to Konami anymore & various other companies could have their take on it. If that was the case, then that idea would be excellent as we would see many varied games in different styles.


At the end of the day, none of what we say really matters, since Konami is gonna do what they want with the series anyway. All we can do is sit back & see what they come up with.

[GummiCandyful]

Those GT guys sound like they hate it, too God of War and not very Castlevania like. I raised an eyebrow when they said "that doesn't sound like Castlevania" when talking about the linear paths and stages. I guess they never bothered to play any of the games before Symphony of the Night or heard of them.

The guy who played the game sounded very unimpressed too.

That's exactly why I hate Game Trailers, next to IGN, GameSpot, and Games Radar. It's like they never heard or even played a Castlevania till 1997, which is truly sad because these game reviewers/journalists have been around during the NES era. It's amazing how people who work in those fields never cease to make themselves look like a bunch of morons.

On a sort of unrelated note, I had an epiphany today. To me, it feels like (I hope I'm wrong here) I'm the only female CV fan excited for this game. I don't know why, but it certainly seems that way, especially when you take into consideration the fact that the majority of female fans are around 16-18 years old, and are Chaplers. Should I feel ashamed that the lot of us are into androgynous pretty-boys and hate on poor Gabriel because he's too 'macho'?

[ChibiMaddiChan]

Long time fan of the series and I'm a girl. And personally, I love how Gabe looks. Manly and handsome. XD

[GummiCandyful]

Glad to hear I'm not alone, and I agree, Gab is quite the stud. 

[Kamirine]

On a sort of unrelated note, I had an epiphany today. To me, it feels like (I hope I'm wrong here) I'm the only female CV fan excited for this game. I don't know why, but it certainly seems that way, especially when you take into consideration the fact that the majority of female fans are around 16-18 years old, and are Chaplers. Should I feel ashamed that the lot of us are into androgynous pretty-boys and hate on poor Gabriel because he's too 'macho'?

I'm know as a...bit of a fangirl for Castlevania myself. Though my first game was like, Simon's Quest, so I'll admit, I don't hate on Gabriel because he's 'too macho'. If anything, I find his look refreshing and even more a wink/look back at the older games, were the guys were pretty macho and arguably barbaric looking. Not to knock the pretty boys of the franchise because I love the artwork and look, though Gabriel, as Chibi said, is pretty hot looking on a realistic "He totally doesn't look like a chick" level.  

As for Gametrailers, at this point, I'm just not surprised anymore. Previewers have ragged on this game right from the start, and I don't expect them to change much by the time the game comes out. I'm just looking forward to it, because I see a lot of potential from the older games in this title, not just a knock off of "insert your game of the week" here.

[GummiCandyful]

Yeah, I don't really mind Kojima's character's, but when they start to have the same hair color and physique, that's when I facepalm. Out of all of her redesigned characters, I like Trevor and DXC Richter the most. 

And I think the reason for previewers hating on this game, is because they only like FPS, thus why they praise the likes of Modern Warfare 2 and whatnot. I honestly believe LoS will be 3456789779229 times better than those games. LOL.

[Kale]

I'm not a big fps fan, and i found modern warfare quite good.

[Thunderbrand]

The latest episode of Invisible Walls talks abut Lords of Shadow. No new footage, but there's one spoiler in it.. If you don't wanna know the name of one of the lords of shadow, don't watch it. (At least I think it's new information cause I didn't know about it before..)

Didn't know or expect that character to be one of the LoS's either. Interesting. Guess he's a bad guy in this timeline...

[crisis]

I like Kojima's artwork for Julius in HoD, I hope Richter's redesign comes out good as well.

I'm still curious as to how a Kojima-Christopher would look, or even Soleiyu?