Topic: Is Iga washed up?

[justin312]

There's no question that Iga struck gold with SotN and has had subsequent success with the series, mostly with his Metroidvania games.  I can't help but wonder though, how much of that success is based on just following the template.  Shadow Complex received quite a bit of praise and was very successful, and it was just a Metroid clone that was made by developers who had been fans of Metroid for years.  It makes me wonder if some other team that has played enough SotN and Super Metroid might be capable of delivering a Metroidvania that is as good or better than the games Iga has produced in recent years.

[thernz]

I feel that the sprite rips could be connected to IGA. He did actually state that sprite reuse was good for 2D game development. Plus, seeing how the two GBA games under his belt had all-new assets, it's hard to think why they suddenly started reusing sprites. It was like IGA went, "Now handheld technology reached an advanced enough level for us to reuse assets!"
Though to be honest, the sprite reuse in DoS didn't really bother me.

[Sumac]

I think IGA never war really THAT talented to begin with.
Basically during his run on every good idea of his there was some bad idea. And I'm not talking about that even some of his best ideas were executed badly and I don't think it was lack of budget or time constraints.

While OOE was enjoyable it was just another Symphony clone, that recycled practically everything from previous games. It was like a puzzle, where some parts from past games were rearranged to create something new. Though it maybe have something to do with the guys from Circle of the Moon team who, as I heard, worked on this game. After OOE I was willing to give IGA some credit, and see what he can do. But arrival of atrocious Harmony of Despair (I'm talking about "visuals" of this product) killed in me all hope that IGA could create something without recycling his past ideas and graphics.

Now, I hope that LOS will prove itself as a new start for the Castelavnia and IGA will be removed from the series as far as possible.

[crisis]

While LoS was enjoyable it was just another God of War clone,

Sorry, couldn't resist =]

But that's probably what'll be said in a few months anyway

[Profbeanburrito]

While OOE was enjoyable it was just another Symphony clone

I love that everyone says this all the time about Castlevania, but you never hear anyone bashing any of the Megaman games, or Mario games or any other series of games. They're all clones of what came before them. Megaman 1-6, 9 and 10 are all the same but you rarely see anyone crying over it. So what if the metroidvania formula has been used for awhile, it's still fun.

[Aridale]

thats the point tho its NOT fun and its NOT well done in 90% of the games. No one has a problem with mario games or megaman games cause unlike the SoTN clones damn near EVERY SINGLE ONE of those games is easily a 9 outta 10

Its not the formula thats the problem its the execution

[Sumac]

Its not the formula thats the problem its the execution

Exactly.

Mario and Megaman games while keeping the same formula, refined it to perfection. You can say it even could be counted as sub-genre on its own.
In Castlevania case the same formula gave very different results when it goes to the quality of the games. So in the end it's not the problem with the formula itself, it's a problem of IGA (and his team) inability to execute the same formula on the good level.

[thernz]

He should really just hire new level designers.

[darkwzrd4]

He should really just hire new level designers.

I agree.  Most of the rooms in the areas seem repetitive (especially the two ps2 games).

[shelverton.]

Megaman 1-6, 9 and 10 are all the same but you rarely see anyone crying over it.

Back in the early 90's I remember magazines starting to complain after MM3. Sure, the following games got nice reviews, but many reviewers noted that there's not much new happening and that the series was getting stale and recycled. Also, with the MMX-series, some european magazines really started to get tired when MMX3 came out on the SNES because it looked basically the same as before. I think MM9 and MM10 were considered cool again because it had been 17 years since MM6. If Capcom makes MM11 in the very same style, I believe people will start having a problem again...

[DragonSlayr81]

Back in the early 90's I remember magazines starting to complain after MM3. Sure, the following games got nice reviews, but many reviewers noted that there's not much new happening and that the series was getting stale and recycled. Also, with the MMX-series, some european magazines really started to get tired when MMX3 came out on the SNES because it looked basically the same as before. I think MM9 and MM10 were considered cool again because it had been 17 years since MM6. If Capcom makes MM11 in the very same style, I believe people will start having a problem again...

^^^ I actually remember that. Yeah, the first 3 Mega Man games were hailed the crown in the series, and 4 and onward were considered as being more lackluster entries in the series. Not just magazines. All my friends, personally, who grew up as big Mega Man fans, praised the holy hell out of the first three, and when the others came out, they really weren't impressed. Same for Mega Man X, which the first one was praised, while the others were kinda scoffed at. I think NOW, you look back at those games, and you CAN realize that they WERE good, but back then, people DID look at them harshly. But yeah, I dont' think full nostalgia was made up of pure Mega Man love.

[crisis]

Well people love to bitch about stuff. Whether the game is successful or not. Always have and always will.

The best thing is to just stick with what makes you happy & there's always gonna be haters, but that's what debate is all about.

[darkwzrd4]

Well people love to bitch about stuff. Whether the game is successful or not. Always have and always will.

The best thing is to just stick with what makes you happy & there's always gonna be haters, but that's what debate is all about.

couldn't have said it better.

[Lumas]

To be honest not sure if he is or not.

Though if I had to pick one I would say yes.

Any man who gets on a stage and begs people to support his game is starting to get washed up.

Plus he looks like a bum anyway.

[Lumas]

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!   

Wait co-op master piece? Dont know what game you are talkin about there but it was most certainly not HD.

Also anyone notice only IGAs characters appear in the game (okay he didnt technically create Alucard but he did make him famous). No Simon, no Christopher, no Nathan, no Eric, no Sypha just characters from games he was involved in.

Just sayin..