Topic: Is Iga washed up?

[justin312]

You see it all the time in creative professions-- actors, musicians, writers-- talents that were great in their early years just don’t seem to have it anymore.  They just seem a shell of their former selves, their newest efforts nowhere near matching what they once were creatively.  Examples that jump to mind are actors Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, writers Stephen King and Frank Miller, and pretty much 95% of all musical groups over the age of 40.

Do you think this extends to video game creators, and if so has Iga run out of creative gas and become washed up?  His efforts in recent years definitely seem to be following a downward trend.  He is notorious for not being able to successfully migrate Castlevania into 3D, with his second attempt generally considered to be worse than his first. His Metroidvanias, while usually good, have reached the point of getting stale: same thing every time, with only a slightly different wrinkle to differentiate them.  CVA Rebirth was good, but it was nothing we hadn’t seen before many times.  His latest attempts at doing something “new” with the series-- a mediocre fighting game and a downloadable multiplayer that uses recycled everything-- seem like ill-conceived and cheaply thrown together gimmicks to make a fast buck off the hardcore CV fans.

So what do you guys think?  Has Iga’s creative well run dry, and is he now a washed up game creator?

[Profbeanburrito]

You see it all the time in creative professions-- actors, musicians, writers-- talents that were great in their early years just don’t seem to have it anymore.  They just seem a shell of their former selves, their newest efforts nowhere near matching what they once were creatively.  Examples that jump to mind are actors Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, writers Stephen King and Frank Miller, and pretty much 95% of all musical groups over the age of 40.

Do you think this extends to video game creators, and if so has Iga run out of creative gas and become washed up?  His efforts in recent years definitely seem to be following a downward trend.  He is notorious for not being able to successfully migrate Castlevania into 3D, with his second attempt generally considered to be worse than his first. His Metroidvanias, while usually good, have reached the point of getting stale: same thing every time, with only a slightly different wrinkle to differentiate them.  CVA Rebirth was good, but it was nothing we hadn’t seen before many times.  His latest attempts at doing something “new” with the series-- a mediocre fighting game and a downloadable multiplayer that uses recycled everything-- seem like ill-conceived and cheaply thrown together gimmicks to make a fast buck off the hardcore CV fans.

So what do you guys think?  Has Iga’s creative well run dry, and is he now a washed up game creator?

I think Iga's got something good still brewing, and I'll be happy to see what he's got. While he hasn't done much in regards to 3D entries in the series, he has been doing well with 2D. It seems to me, that the most negative things you hear about his metroidvanis, what with the reusing of sprites and it being the same thing over and over, seem to only come from hard core fans. Harmony of despair is getting praise everywhere, even with the reused sprites, except for in the hardcore castlevania fan base. I want to play it and if it comes to the PS3 I will buy it immediately. Order of Ecclesia was a step in the right direction for doing something new with the metroidvania formula, bringing a high level of challenge as well as adding in more locations. And as far as Judgment goes, the game was pretty fun, nothing spectacular, and had some crappy art, but at least he took a chance to get out of what he usually does.

I think maybe Iga hit a plateau with his games, and he took some leaps with some things that haven't gone over well, but I think we'll see something good with Iga again, and I'm looking forward to seeing what he has in store.

[affinity]

Iga keeps getting better and better. 

The only tragedy is that there are many CV fans that are so blind and negative to see how great his games have been.  Yes Judgement wasn't a good direction for Castlevania but no matter who made a fighting game of CV, Castlevania is always best as an adventure like the classics, like the metroidvanias, and like the upcoming co-op masterpiece!   

Many great developers have their highs and lows so it's easy to forgive Judgement. 

But Iga really is one of the most underrated people in the gaming industry.   It's ignorant and disrepectful to look down on his recent metroidvanias.   And he's the only one keeping 2-D Castlevania alive, especially with a new invention to the Castlevania formula, online group co-op and a blend of metroidvania with stage-based progression, along with some big time competitive multiplayer option and ghost single player time record modes included.

Well casual graphics spoiled players could never understand and appreciate his work. 
People single him out when he reuses assets, but they never point at Miyamoto for recycling
Ocarina of Time (now with controller gimmicks) and Mario Galaxy concepts, along with reselling Star Fox 64 for the 3rd time already.

[uzo]

Order of Ecclesia proves to me IGA may finally be learning his lesson about 2D titles with regards to "always in the castle" and "steam roller easy". It also remedied the "40 different swords" issue and disproved the "no female lead"/"sexist!" thing that keeps popping up. I think things are looking up. Maybe his next attempt will be Symphony level, or closer?

derp derp hurr

Don't you ever shut up? Get lost.

[thernz]

I'd let IGA hold on the reins for the 2D Castlevanias, if only for how IGA remedied so many problems in the metroidvanias like Uzo said. I trust him enough that he won't make something as horrible as Portrait or as banal as Dawn now.

[crisis]

There's nothing to suggest IGA is washed up. Last time I checked, OoE & ReBirth were well-received amongst the gaming community (excluding Judgment), only butthurt fanboys complain about sprites and pick them apart. However this break from his style IS needed, & I commend Dave Cox for stepping the saga up. Didn't IGA confirm he has a 3DS development kit? I'm eager to see how they use this tech for Castlevania. The chances for us seeing a few 3DS Castlevanias is highly likely, and IGA is the man that can make it possible.


But if he decides to quit tomorrow, I probably wouldn't care.

In Reply To #2,

Are you kidding me? You can't compare Koji Igarashi to Shigeru Miyamoto. His games are always successful and highly regarded, despite any shortcomings they may have.

[Kingshango]

I wouldn't call him washed up since I consider OOE and Rebirth his best recent game's and I do wanna see what he does with a 3DS Castlevania. But like Crisis said if he quit's I wouldn't give a damn as long as some other team comes along and does a better job.

[affinity]

Don't you ever shut up? Get lost.

Be careful what you say,
you might get banned or at least warned like **STOP INSULTING OTHER PEOPLE, AFFINITY**

In Reply To #2,

Are you kidding me? You can't compare Koji Igarashi to Shigeru Miyamoto. His games are always successful and highly regarded, despite any shortcomings they may have.

that's how blind and fanatical the Nintendo and Miyamoto fanbase is, they accept anything, even if the 4th character is another Toad and they miss the chance to expand their games online.  They could have made a console quality Pokemon mmorpg by now and created a new trend.  But they always think small and stick close to what worked before.  At least IGA is bold enough to finally take Castlevania online and share a Castlevania with others in real-time in castles that are more advanced than basic boss rushes.

and at least I know a bad game when I see it and would at least partially blame Iga for Judgement.  


Some casuals think the hardcore players are what's holding the series back, but it's really the casuals that poison a series because they don't value the essence of Castlevania.  They just want new looks and new stories.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I actually like Judgment.  Could've been better, but it's not a bad game.
I also like Rebirth and Ecclesia, did not have too much of  a problem with Portrait (though the recycled sprites are really showing their age).

I'm with UZO in that in his last entries (Ecclesia and Rebirth) he's done a pretty good job.  The games when viewed against other games of the time shine through with good gameplay, even if within the CV Community they appear 'stale'... but again, the latest ones did not seem so stale to me.

I don't think he's washed up, but I think he was on the ropes for a while... and can still be randomly replaced.  I do not agree that CV:HD is good... it seems like two steps forward and three steps back.

The Good:
Online campaign
Wandering Bosses (from what I've heard)
New playthrough scheme that does away with the experience/level/grind system.

The Bad:
Stale enemies
Stale moves
Stale maps
Stale characters
Stale music (possibly)
Hodge-posh cohesion of stagework (stuff looks ripped from parts of DoS/PoR/OoE and placed together like AoS's Chaotic Realm)
Another crap-plot/no-plot story title, leading to basically another gaiden throwaway game.

I'm not feeding the trolls here, though I can smell 'em in this thread.

[Kale]

I liked Eclessia as well, but I never played rebirth.. it looked kind of lame.

As for Judgement, I have to say...... it sucked. It might not have sucked as bad if it weren't on the wii, but the wii probably brought it down about 20 levels of suck.

HD... the fact that the bosses have moves taht span the levels is pretty cool. There are actually a lot of things I like, but there are many other things that I don't so I doubt I'll get it.

[GummiCandyful]

I'm pretty undecided as to whether IGA is washed up or not, but I'm probably one of the few people who enjoyed his least popular games. Sure Curse had repetitive level designs, but I enjoyed it for the music and stuff. Besides, the controls and gameplay were a slight improvement of Lament's, which had that real-time, annoying menu thing. As for Judgement, it was lame, but I had a bit of fun with it.

He had his ups and downs, and if he leaves, I won't be sad. But I'm still hoping he'll bring more games to the PSP (Dracula's Curse remake, anyone?), or do a sequel to Judgement with better art and gameplay.

[Gunlord]

Most creators have their ups and downs. Iga may be in a slump now, but that doesn't necessarily mean he won't regain his old magic sumday

[uzo]

Judgment actually had some features I didn't expect out of the generic "no effort" 3D fighter, such as great comboability, and switching up moves was possible. That impressed me. The dodge roll mechanics and the camera did not. Nor did the re-designs. Good music though.

Be careful what you say,
you might get banned or at least warned like any **STOP INSULTING PEOPLE, AFFINITY**.    

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[X]

I also cannot bring myself up to say if IGA is all washed up. Dispite the continuity screw-ups he did when LoI was made, there were some interesting games his team put together. In hind sight I'd say he's on his thinking plateau but personaly I think IGA should take a bit of a hiatus and let some newbies take the CV reins for a time (preferably CV fans) and see what they can come up with.

-X

[Thomas Belmont]

Oh, come on. Iga has been washed up ever since he completed SotN.