Topic: Future of Castlevania

[darkwzrd4]

No need for years to come to bash Cox for ruining CV. It is already done. The whole LOS thing makes me vomit. I′ll try to ignore it and just won′t play it.

IGA′s games have been great. I would love to play CV Adventure Rebirth on Wii. He has been experimenting lately..first with a fighting game and now with multiplayer game. But I don′t see them as main games. That is supposed to be LOS right now. Sigh..

The last true new complete CV game was Ecclesia. And it was more than amazing!

I really hope there is something cooking. I vote for a new 2D game on 3DS with some 3D effects. It can be a new game with new characters, it can be a 1999 game (I would love that!), or it can be a remake of some older game (Simon′s quest, Dracula′s curse, Super CV IV). For the remake, I would prefer Dracula′s curse on PSP, done in the same style as DXC. New artwork by Ayami Kojima and some awesome remixes.

Now that is what I'm talking about!!!

[crisis]

I'm glad I made an impact on your life 

[shelverton.]

The whole LOS thing makes me vomit. I′ll try to ignore it and just won′t play it.

This I don't understand. I mean, just looking at Harmony of Despair makes me vomit but I will of course try the game before I say anything about the actual gameplay or fun factor. Do you hate LoS because it's not made by IGA? If IGA had been behind LoS, would you have automatically liked it? Of course you're gonna say no, but I think we both know that is the case. It's kinda.. y'know.. sad.

[angevil]

This I don't understand. I mean, just looking at Harmony of Despair makes me vomit but I will of course try the game before I say anything about the actual gameplay or fun factor. Do you hate LoS because it's not made by IGA? If IGA had been behind LoS, would you have automatically liked it? Of course you're gonna say no, but I think we both know that is the case. It's kinda.. y'know.. sad.

I will explain then. I like Castlevania in 2D (or 2.5D), so I don′t have high hopes for 3D Castlevania. If IGA was making it, it would at least be placed in the official timeline.

So, currently we have a situation that I see like this:
Konami sees a ″promising″  xy game and wants to make it a ″new Castlevania″. They put the name of Hideo Kojima with the project to gain everyone′s interest, even though he is just ″giving some advices.″ They ask us to forget all we know about CV. This is the restart of Castlevania. New timeline. Entirely different types of enemies that don′t belong into CV, but more into some boring fantasy world. And the bosses are all titans. But hey, fans go angry, where are CV elements, we ask. So then they start putting stain glassed windows, famous CV enemies, arrange a few old tracks etc. Why the hell is the main character named Belmont if it is not the official timeline? Why not go with something original? So we now have many timelines with different Belmont families? Great. They decided to name him Belmont just because it is one more of ″those CV elements old fans want″. Well...no, thanks. That doesn′t make it a CV game. They can shove it in a dark place on the back..where there is shadow..Lords of shadows they are, right?

[GummiCandyful]

I don't understand what's up with people hating 3D, and only strictly play 2D games. It reminds of the people complaining about Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. 'OMG! This game isn't in 2D, it's going to suck!'. Seriously, it's been over ten years since the last MvC game, and people are already complaining.

What is so bad about 3D? This is the year 2010, and most games on the market are going be in that style, as well as tons of old franchises. Mario and Zelda have some great 3D titles, so why can't Castlevania or MvC get that same treatment?

It reminds me of the early 2000's when Retro Studios announced Metroid Prime. People thought it was going to suck, just because they believed that Metroid could not work in 3D, and when it was finally released, those same people actually enjoyed the game.

What I'm saying is, people should try to give 3D Castlevania another chance. I know some fans hate IGA's and the N64 games, but since this is another developer, this is their first shot, and it seems like they're putting some effort into this.

[Sumac]

So then they start putting stain glassed windows, famous CV enemies, arrange a few old tracks etc.

It was supposed to be the remake of the original Castlevania, so obiously it had all those elements from the very begining of its creation. Of course if you are not one of those crazy fans who believe in some stupid "Konami slaps Castlevania name on some random game EvUl plot".

Why the hell is the main character named Belmont if it is not the official timeline? Why not go with something original?

Why they should do this? "Belmont" name is synonimous with the Castlevania. It was a natural choice.
Beside in the last IGA games main heroes were anyone, but the Belmonts.

 

So we now have many timelines with different Belmont families?

It seems you do forget about all this Castlevania Legends thing. Because of IGA the game was eliminated from oficial timeline and practically was alternative story of how Belmonts war with Dracula begin. And there were Castlevania 64 / LOD and Circle of the Moon. So it's not the first time for the Castlevania to have an alternate timelines.

That doesn′t make it a CV game.

Atmosphere and gameplay makes a great CV game. And so far it seems that LOS have plenty of both.

They can shove it in a dark place on the back..where there is shadow..Lords of shadows they are, right?

I'd prefer to shove Harmony of Despair in IGA's ear so maybe that way he could process all bad stuff that he had done with the series.

[Lumas]

No need for years to come to bash Cox for ruining CV. It is already done. The whole LOS thing makes me vomit. I′ll try to ignore it and just won′t play it.

IGA′s games have been great. I would love to play CV Adventure Rebirth on Wii. He has been experimenting lately..first with a fighting game and now with multiplayer game. But I don′t see them as main games. That is supposed to be LOS right now. Sigh..

The last true new complete CV game was Ecclesia. And it was more than amazing!

I really hope there is something cooking. I vote for a new 2D game on 3DS with some 3D effects. It can be a new game with new characters, it can be a 1999 game (I would love that!), or it can be a remake of some older game (Simon′s quest, Dracula′s curse, Super CV IV). For the remake, I would prefer Dracula′s curse on PSP, done in the same style as DXC. New artwork by Ayami Kojima and some awesome remixes.

Hmm I really dont see that happening, the whole bashing of Mr. Dave Cox. In fact Im hearing a lot praises about that ol chap. Im serious when I have non gamers come up to me and say "Hey have you seen the new castlevania?" and still have hardcore castlevania fans come up to me and say "Holy shit have you seen the new castlevania it looks amazing!" And I live in the bum fuck of fucking no where so I dont see nor do i hear any bashing unless its from "otaku" covered in achne and has a weight problem moaning and groaning "I want the old style back!" But what they dont understand is that the old style is back. Castlevania didnt start off with some pretty boy nicely drawn in the style of anime or a more gothic detailed version of said style. No it started off with some conan the barbarian lookin mother fucker by the name of simon belmont going into dracula's castle killin shit. When IGA came a long it was about the same time as that whole anime fad thing was getting ready to hit and he was like "Hmm stupid americans, if i make it look anime then I can get this game to sell, oh and ill rip off metroid."

To be honest, Im tired of remakes, yeah they are great but seriously its time to move on bring back what made castlevania a castlevania game and make it up to date. Im sorry but this 2d side scrolling shit aint gonna work anymore nor will it suffice for other gamers. "Oh but its gonna alienate the fan base!" Oh I'm sorry you must of forgot this is a product which means it has to sale, which means this product needs to make sales and since Curse of Darkness blew the biggest set of donkey balls and Lament of Innocence raped the story line the sales started to fall behind and if you look at it like this Castlevania didnt have that probably till after SotN when we started getting force fed expansion packs for it. So if you are such fans you will welcome to the chance for other gamers and new gamers alike to enjoy a series that has stood the test of time.  SotN is a great game it really is but I got tired of playing it over and over with fifty other people who just got tossed into the story which is why they needed to do this reboot in the first place because the timeline got too fucked up.

[Nagumo]

I'm not taking a stab at LoS here but didn't they mention if it hadn't gotten Konami's stamp of approval wouldn't they have just made it anyway but without the Castlevania brand? I mean sure the game captured the core of Castlevania blah blah but for example that "we have old CV characters with totally new appearances!" thing comes down to totally different characters with old names as some kind off treat to please sceptical fans. "You don't think this game is Castlevania, here this guy is called Cornell!". So I do think the game is guilty of what Angevil mentioned but only up to a certain extend of course. Which doesn't suit me right.

                                    

[Lumas]

I'm not taking a stab at LoS here but didn't they mention if it hadn't gotten Konami's stamp of approval wouldn't they have just made it anyway but without the Castlevania brand? I mean sure the game captured the core of Castlevania blah blah but for example that "we have old CV characters with totally new appearances!" thing comes down to totally different characters with old names as some kind off treat to please sceptical fans. "You don't think this game is Castlevania, here this guy is called Cornell!". So I do think the game is guilty of what Angevil mentioned but only up to a certain extend of course. Which doesn't suit me right.

                                    

Ive yet to hear that being that Cox stated that it was intended to be a remake of Castlevania which was officially stated by him and konami. I havent heard anything official stating that they were just gonna make it anyway. The game is too much castlevania for them to just remake it entirely without having it look like a rip off. It seems they put a lot of effort into most of the characters like Carmilla and Laura as well as some of the lesser monsters. I personally dont see validation that they would make it anyway unless of course there was something official from konami, then i would see a point there.

[angevil]

To reply to what some of you said after my previous post..

I like only 2D Castlevania. It is a matter of preferences. I don′t like 3D games much. Why is important that the technology is advancing? Well, we can have better looking 2D games then! More details. Better quality music. Better video sequences. 2D is so much more attractive to me and that is one of the reason I love Castlevania. I enjoy going left/right or sometime up/down seeing everything at the same time. The controls are more precise and tight.

ReikoTheAwesome - you mentioned Retro Studios. Well, they are right now making a new Donkey Kong Country game, in 2D, and everyone is so pleased and excited about it. It looks really amazing! In the background of levels you can see many details and there is a lot of activity behind and all around you. The world of Donkey Kong Country looks more rich than ever.

Sumac - I don′t believe what Cox says, that the game was going to be a remake. He can say whatever he wants in his interviews to make everyone happy and believe whatever he wants. Do you believe everything in the media/news? I don′t. Half of the time it′s a changed story. I think they had seen a game with potential and decided they want it to be a Castlevania. Maybe they even wanted it to be a CV remake. But I think that the team in Spain who is doing it, started it as their own project. A new original game, not a CV game. I would prefer it that way. It could be a great game. We′ll see..But I feel they are forcing it to be a CV and therefore raping the franchise.
LOS doesn′t have the atmosphere and gameplay similar to Castlevania, in my opinion, so that is one of the reasons I don′t accept it as a CV. It feels much more like God of war, as others had said before.
IGA had made some decisions to exclude certain games from the timeline, so we could have a nice official timeline with no conflicts. Then comes Cox to ruin it all. And wants a Belmont so that fans think it is really CV. If he decided to do another timeline, at least he could have come up with an original name! This is so lame. So, yeah..″Forget all you know about Castlevania, this is a reboot. But we′ll keep the Belmont name. And maybe Dracula. OK, we′ll add a few more CV elements to make old fans accept it.″ It makes my hair go up. Don′t get me started with Hideo Kojima′s name slapped on it as well. And those ″mysterious masks″ because Cox thought Dracula′s face in CV1 looked like he had a mask??? WTF?! I remember he said that in one interview.

[Ahasverus]

I'm not taking a stab at LoS here but didn't they mention if it hadn't gotten Konami's stamp of approval wouldn't they have just made it anyway but without the Castlevania brand? I mean sure the game captured the core of Castlevania blah blah

Yeah that was true.... 2.5 years ago for God's sake! For example, there's a new interview in a spanish site (I'm su busy to transate it but I will post them anyway) and Enric alvarez says that Candle Whipping was impleented past year, and past year and a half, they began re-composing old CV tunes. They've had many ideas, old and new, across all these years, so, I don't care how the game was 3 years ago, I only care how it is NOW, and, god, it appears to be amazing 

[Sumac]

I don′t believe what Cox says, that the game was going to be a remake. He can say whatever he wants in his interviews to make everyone happy and believe whatever he wants

"Konami EvUl plot"...he-he-he...
Well, when this game was first showed off in 2008 many people, including ones on this forum, thought that it's looked like Castlevania, what with the chain whip, guy who looked like a classic Belmont. Besides I don't believe that Konami and Cox would be so childish to create an elaborate fake story about different pitches for the next-gen Castlevania game from America, Japan and Europe, that is actually backed up by misterious disappearance of IGA Alucard game. I don't believe in everything that said into media, but there is too much proof, direct and not, that Cox speaks the truth about LOS origins. This "Konami EvUl Plot" theory is just stupid excuse for some so called "HArdcore CV fans", to not believe that this game belonged to the Castlevania lore from the very begining, because sudden departure from pretty men and artsy looks hurts they poor hearts, oh so much, that they must hate everything that take away possibility of more artsy'vanias to come.
One advice to such guys - you've got your chance to enjoy "metroidvania" games for the last thirteen years. Now it's time for people who wasn't interested / satisfied with those games to finally have some treat. Your time is over and that was inevitable, sooner or later. If you don't like LOS no one ask you to buy or play it, but just don't rain on everyone else's parade with your sour attitude and exclamation "LOS isn't Castlevania it makes me vomit". The only one thing that makes me vomit is that kind of disposition and zealousness of such people.

I would prefer it that way.

Obviously you would. It will not break your picture of the world, where Konami likes Castlevania with IGA's influence all over it and want it to be repeated all over again.

But I feel they are forcing it to be a CV and therefore raping the franchise.

And of course such things as Harmony of Despair are not considered as raping the franchise, being a hack though and thorough and a cash cow, using a popular name to attract some people. What worse for the series reputation and legacy - original game with potential or poorly executed hack with recycled everything? I think answer is obvious. Well not for "hardcore fans" maybe...  :

LOS doesn′t have the atmosphere and gameplay similar to Castlevania,

In terms of visuals and atmosphere it much closer to "Castlevania" then whole DS trilogy.

It feels much more like God of war, as others had said before.

It have similarities to the GOW in terms gameplay, however some reviews noted that, it's not only have some unique spins on GOW formula, but also quite have much in common with Castlevania atmosphere.
Of course I'm waiting for inevitable argument that game journalists know nothing about Castlevania.

IGA had made some decisions to exclude certain games from the timeline, so we could have a nice official timeline with no conflicts

I have news for you - IGA reintroduced Circle of the Moon and CV64 / LOD back into the timeline. So now original timeline is not so "not conflicted" anymore.

Then comes Cox to ruin it all.

Ha-ha-ha...a comment that could be born only in "TRue CV fan" mind.
He could ruin it only if he tryied to do some changes to the established timeline. As of now nothing ruined at all. You have your precious (albeit convoluted and disconected) original timeline. And there is some separate timeline, that doesn't have nothing to do with your old games. Nothing is ruined.

This is so lame

You contradict yourself. First you said that LOS is bad because it doesn't have nothing to do with CV, then you say that having familliar things in LOS is lame because it's a new thing. LOL.
It's very first Castlevania for the new generation of players and very first CV game set in it's own timeline. Since most people know about Castlevania as a game where Belmont goes into castle to kill Dracula it would be lame not to have them in, since...guess what?...Lords of Shadow is the Castlevania game!!

Though I believe haters will always create a reason to hate the thing that they don't like, simply because they couldn't bear with the fact that it's exist in the first place, so they need to create some elaborate reason for hatred.

I usually try to settle myself into the medium. I try to accept different possibilities, even if they are looking ridicolous at the first glance. I can understand some people who go out of they skin with hatred for something new. But I certainly don't like, when they create most ridicolous reasons for hatred. So far LOS didn't do nothing horrible with Castlevania franchise - it's returned back to it's roots, updated it to fit new the era of gaming and technology and took some cues from succesfull brands (not unlike Symphony of the Night did in 1997). So far LOS looks like classic'vania game would look being in 3D with some spins here and there. And it's definetely more "Castlevaniash" then cartoonish DOS, POR, HD and crazy Judgement.

[Lumas]

"Konami EvUl plot"...he-he-he...
Well, when this game was first showed off in 2008 many people, including ones on this forum, thought that it's looked like Castlevania, what with the chain whip, guy who looked like a classic Belmont. Besides I don't believe that Konami and Cox would be so childish to create an elaborate fake story about different pitches for the next-gen Castlevania game form America, Japan and Europe, that is actually backed up by misterious disappearance of IGA Alucard game. I don't believe in everything that said into media, but there is too much proof, direct and not, that Cox speaks the truth about LOS origins. This "Konami EvUl Plot" theory is just stupid excuse for some so called "HArdcore CV fans", to not believe that this game belonged to the Castlevania lore from the very begining, because sudden departure from pretty men and artsy looks hurts they poor hearts, oh so much, that they must hate everything that take away possibility of more artsy'vanias to come.
One advice to such guys - you've got your chance to enjoy "metroidvania" games for the last thirteen years. Now it's time for people who wasn't interested / satisfied with those games to finally have some treat. Your time is over and that was inevitable, sooner or later. If you don't like LOS no one ask you to buy or play it, but just don't rain on everyone else's parade with your sour attitude and exclamation "LOS isn't Castlevania it makes me vomit". The only one thing that makes me vomit is that kind of disposition and zealousness of such people.
Obviously you would. It will not break your picture of the world, where Konami likes Castlevania with IGA's influence all over it and want it to be repeated all over again.
And of course such things as Harmony of Despair are not considered as raping the franchise, being a hack though and thorough and a cash cow, using a popular name to attract some people. What worse for the series reputation and legacy - original game with potential or poorly executed hack with recycled everything? I think answer is obvious. Well not for "hardcore fans" maybe...  :
In terms of visuals and atmosphere it much closer to "Castlevania" then whole DS trilogy.
It have similarities to the GOW in terms gameplay, however some reviews noted that, it's not only have some unique spins on GOW formula, but also quite have much in common with Castlevania atmosphere.
Of course I'm waiting for inevitable argument that game journalists now nothing about Castlevania.
I have news for you - IGA reintroduced Circle of the Moon and CV64 / LOD back into the timeline. So now original timeline is not so "not conflicted" anymore.
Ha-ha-ha...a comment that could be born only in "TRue CV fan" mind.
He could ruin it only if he tryied to do some changes to the established timeline. As of now nothing ruined at all. You have your precious (albeit convoluted and disconected) original timeline. And there is some separate timeline, that doesn't have nothing to do with your old games. Nothing is ruined.
You contradict yourself. First you said that LOS is bad because it doesn't have nothing to do with CV, then you say that having familliar things in LOS is lame because it's a new thing. LOL.
It's very first Castlevania for the new generation of players and very first CV game set in it's own timeline. Since most people now about Castlevania as a game where Belmont goes into castle to kill Dracula it would be lame not to have them in, since...guess what?...Lords of Shadow is the Castlevania game!!

Though I believe haters will always create a reason to hate the thing that they don't like, simply because they couldn't bear with the fact that it's exist in the first place, so they need to create some elaborate reason for hatred.

I usually try to settle myself into the medium. I try to accept different possibilities, even if they are looking ridicolous at the first glance. I can understand some people who go out of they skin with hatred for something new. But I certainly don't like, when they create most ridicolous reasons for hatred. So far LOS didn't do nothing horrible with Castlevania franchise - it's returned back to it's roots, updated it to fit new the era of gaming and technology and took some cues from succesfull brands (not unlike Symphony of the Night did in 1997). So far LOS looks like classic'vania game would look being in 3D with some spins here and there. And it's definetely more "Castlevaniash" then cartoonish DOS, POR, HD and crazy Judgement.

Could not have said that better myself.

[angevil]

Sumac, I am glad you read my post so thoroughly but you didn′t need to argue everything I said. After all, what I wrote is just my opinion and you have yours. About me contradicting myself, it is simply not true. I said that LOS doesn′t have the CV feel, so they are pushing certain elements to make it sound/look more like CV. Also, why are you saying those things about Ayami Kojima′s artwork? First of all, it is the most loved artwork among the games. Second thing, have I even mentioned the art direction in anything I said? I think it is not bad. The main character looks great. But I still think he should have another name and not be a Belmont. If it is not the official timeline, it doesn′t make any sense to use it (beside the popularity of the name and its connection to CV). If they are already going with the reboot and ″forget all you know about CV″ they could have at least done it with a new last name for the character. So their attitude makes me vomit, not the game itself.

[Nagumo]

I have news for you - IGA reintroduced Circle of the Moon and CV64 / LOD back into the timeline. So now original timeline is not so "not conflicted" anymore.

Seems my little newsflash actually reached someone. Weeeeee~