Topic: Is Iga washed up?

[RegalX7]

I always defended IGA's games, but I played through the portable ones again recently, and I didn't have as much fun as I remembered... I kept daydreaming while fighting the bosses in Ecclesia, for example. I know it's unpopular to say this here, but Portrait (barring the dialogue, of course) was the one I enjoyed the most.
I then replayed CV3, SCV4, and RoB, and they were as fun as always; I remembered why CV3 is my favorite of the series. That's when I had an epiphany: I was being a total jerk off for seeing Lords Of Shadow as "not Castlevania."
So, my point is... I don't know if I can articulate what I'm trying to say very well, and it may seem like I hate IGA (I don't) but... I don't think IGA had too much going for him after SotN. His games are fun, but I don't think they've ever tried to be anything more than "the next Castlevania."

[Ahasverus]

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

Wait, wait, what magic???  

Do you guys even remember how involved IGA was in SOTN? He was NOT the director, nor the producer, and absolutely NOT the creator, he was an Assistant Director, and that's kind of a burocratic job. His magic has been repeating the formule learned from SOTN, writing bad, really really bad stories and convulted plots (So yeah, Dracula was killed in 1999, the Belmonts were lost, then Dracula reincanated in a 16 yrs old student without a reason, ohh, don't forget that's 2036! what a respect for the old mythos!) leading to nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Thanks God Castlevania has such a fine grace within his very core, "that" core that makes it appealing to us, that makes even a fan CV homebrew game feel just different, from the rest of the industry,, is that core, unexplainable fundation, that Cv "Magic" that makes even IGA recycled games being very good at their best, makes them feel (and be) better than the sum of their parts, just think about it for a moment and you'll realise what I'm trying to say.

Still, what if we had a serious , innovative, different team to bring the 2D/classic a new, incredible luster?

I'm still wishing for getting that team someday; yeah, we have MercurySteam, but, even if LOS was going to be the next Ocarina of Time, I'll always have the feeling that the "Classic Saga" could have been different, equal or even better to this new direction... in the right hands. And certainly, they're not IGA's.

Dear Konami, keep him away from CV, please

Edit: Damn grammar

[Aridale]

Do you guys even remember how involved IGA was in SOTN? He was NOT the director, nor the producer, and absolutely NOT the creator, he was an Assistant Director, and that's kind of a burocratic job

thank you thank you thank you. Im glad someone finally mentioned it so I wouldnt have to! Ive been thinkin about this since ppl started praisin IGA and SoTN in the same breath. I wanted to say somethin about it but I wasnt 110% sure of his exact role I just knew he wasnt NOT the lead on it.

[thernz]

You know, he's the guy who decided to pick Ayami Kojima, made it focus on Alucard, and switched to a more Metroid style of play, and he was actually a programmer in the game.
So if anything, SoTN was the game he was most intimate with, if only for his programmer role.

[Kale]

I actually like Aria. Atleast the premise of it. It was poorly written as a story but it could've been a lot better with a few changes and better writing.

[Ahasverus]

Hey guys, just look at this lovely quote I've found!!

God IGA Said:

I hate history by the way, but I have to write backgrounds for all of the characters next. Then it flows naturally from the timeline and game system, with the characters I've chosen.

So yeah! The Saga has been in near-God hands all this time, allelujah!!

Source: http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050815/sheffield_01.shtml

[X]

The man hates history. Castlevania is about history cause it's a historical series. IGA's working on the wrong games.

You know, he's the guy who decided to pick Ayami Kojima, made it focus on Alucard, and switched to a more Metroid style of play, and he was actually a programmer in the game.
So if anything, SoTN was the game he was most intimate with, if only for his programmer role.

I've watched the SotN credits scroll dozens of times and IGA's name only pops up as "Asistant director" He did nothing else or the credits would say otherwise.

-X

[thernz]

Credits actually agree with me.

And IGA was actually given more control when Toru Hagihara left midway in development. That is why he is called Assistant Director.

[JR]

I actually like Judgment.  Could've been better, but it's not a bad game.

I did too. It was fun for a while, and while I thought some of the character redesigns sucked, I liked the overall presentation of the game.



I'm not sure if he's so much washed up as CV fans just became less tolerant of him. I'm guilty of this a little, too: the storylines seemed adequate for a while, but then just seemed poor when I'd go back and play each game again. And some of the bad things during his run (recycled sprites, etc.) I'm not willing to blame entirely on him, since it sounded like Konami would give him a low budget and expect him to spin straw into gold.

[shelverton.]

And some of the bad things during his run (recycled sprites, etc.) I'm not willing to blame entirely on him, since it sounded like Konami would give him a low budget and expect him to spin straw into gold.

This.

IGA must look at the budget, and make some pretty hard decisions. I doubt they had time nor money to make new sprites for every game, and that is Konami's fault, not Igarashis.

I've enjoyed every Metroidvania, though Ecclesia felt kinda meh... In reality, it's a great game, but even with the outdoor areas and new sprites, it's way too similar to DoS and PoR. Also, most of the outdoor levels were poorly constructed anyway. Come to think of it, DoS had better level design than PoR and OoE combined. Or maybe it's just because DoS came first, dunno...


I don't care if IGA resigns. He's done a good job, but I don't think he will blow our minds again. It's time for some new blood.

[angevil]

IGA is the best, I love his games. I hope he makes a new CV for 3DS soon.

[Thunderbrand]

Iga's done a lot of good for the series, no doubt. He really hit one out of the park with SOTN, but since then he's kinda followed that same formula and made SOTN clones a few too many times and convoluted the storyline. So saying he's washed up isn't without merit. He's just become...I dunno...mundane?

After CotM and HoD, I was hoping he'd stick with the Chronicles series for awhile & release those games on PSX/PS2/PSP. I for one, LOVED the PSX Chronicles, and then more recently the DracX Chronicles was great too. I was dissapointed with The Adventure Chronicles cuz many of us diehard fans had been begging for a re-telling of Christopher's story for YEARS and I don't feel it got the proper release/platform or attention it deserved.

[darkwzrd4]

In my opinion, Iga is in no way washed up.  Yes, for years we were bombarded with these a little below average SotN clones with overly reused sprites, but OoE was different.  It was the first metroidvania the wasn't a SotN clone.  Sure some of the sprites were reused, but the battle system was really new and impressive, for once we had a female lead, and there was pretty much a megaman style map system in which we didn't have to back track through multiple areas just to get to a certain place.  All you had to do is back track to one of the areas exits and then choose your destination.  Plus, you weren't stuck in the castle the whole game.  OoE wasn't just a step in the right direction, it was a huge leap.  Let's hope that the next CV will at least take another step forward.

On another note, I think that a lot of fans are pissed at Iga because we were have been expecting the 1999 game and the Alucardvania for years and they could be getting impatient.

[QUES UT DEUS]

The thing about Iga that bugs me the most is that his games are okay but they could be so much better! For a vania fighter, why redesign all of the characters an make such a stupid plot, if they had made it more like Serio's it probably would have been a ton more successful. Thats another thing, the fact that a homebrew can be more fun than the last three official games imo is just ridiculous an shows that there is a problem. Iga's carreer and the castlevania franchise would probably be more successful if he just quit video games, handed it over to an american developer and started writing japanese animes

[X]

Credits actually agree with me.

Thanks for the comfermation thernz, I stand corrected.

-X