Topic: Best CV storyline poll

[justin312]

Lords of Shadow, with the runner-up being Castlevania 64.

Its interesting to note that Iga's games, in total, have only gotten about 20% of the votes, when he has been the supposed owner of the Castlevania story for most of its history beyond the 8-bit and 16-bit days.  I think that says a little something about his storytelling ability.

[Valtiel]

Its interesting to note that Iga's games, in total, have only gotten about 20% of the votes, when he has been the supposed owner of the Castlevania story for most of its history beyond the 8-bit and 16-bit days.  I think that says a little something about his storytelling ability.

Or at least his general lack of interest for storytelling at all.

IGA's "vision" of Castlevania has always been quite removed from what the fans seem to appreciate; first of all, most fans seem to appreciate the gothic qualities of the story, while IGA has certainly made CV a whole lot "sillier" in his time. Second, he went around experimenting over the storyline in ways that almost always served the gameplay innovations of the latest title. He's always been a "game first, story second" producer in my eyes.

[crystos]

i actually liked c64's story. I never playe dthe legacy of darkness game tho.... lords of shadow was good. But I am wary of Kojima over complicated syndrome.. i stopped playing metal gear cuz of the  overly heavy story.

[Richter]

Aria Of Sorrow.

[Hanniballistic]

This poll almost doesn't seem fair considering the "story" elements of pretty much all the games were not the driving force behind them.  Just because it doesn't have a tight scripted plot doesn't make any of them a bad game, really.  Mario has had the same "the Princess has been captured by Bowser" story for more than 2 decades and no one has a problem with it because of the amazing gameplay.  I feel the same about Castlevania.  All that said, it's obvious that the most care was put into the plot of LoS, so unless you loved the intro to Haunted Castle for nostalgic reasons...

[Munchy]

He's always been a "game first, story second" producer in my eyes.

I quite like game makers to take this approach (well, I don't play action games for story, much less IGA's), but on the other hand, his games usually lack intricate level design to make them replayable.

[Nagumo]

Lords has the the same bare bones plot as any other Castlevania but it tries to hide that by drawing it out as much as possible, resulting is no plot development for most of the chapters, as well as dumb plot twist (manipulators manipulating manipulators, what) that are just there for the sake of plot twists. Especially the ending, like Yathzee pointed out, was pulled right out off the writer's ass.

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Its basically ripping off Aria but actually manages to have nothing to do with the actual plot of the game and  come completely out of the blue.

     

Aria has the best storyline by far. 

[Valtiel]

Aria has the best storyline by far. 

Uhuhuh.

[DragonsAndCarpetBags]

I've just completed LoS, but I have yet to get my hands on other titles so I can't form a proper opinion.

As for the Los story....

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I thought it was ok...ish. The ending reminds me of Ocean's 13 no wait this!, no wait THIS!, no wait THIS!!!!!

[Nagumo]

Uhuhuh.

 

[Richter]

Yeah the ending of Aria is actually suggested from the start and makes actual sense, unlike the LOS "twist"

[corneliab]

Yeah the ending of Aria is actually suggested from the start and makes actual sense, unlike the LOS "twist"

Yeah, let's all compare a central plot point to a teaser.

It's always so stupid to see people bitch about the ending, as if the game FAILED to explain it. It's clear as day that the sequence's lack of explanation was purposeful- it's meant to spark curiosity while implying that the events will be explained later.

[Valtiel]

Yeah the ending of Aria is actually suggested from the start and makes actual sense, unlike the LOS "twist"

The LoS "twist" had a ton of foreshadowing; however, it relied on the user having some knowledge of the Dracula myth:

- Gabriel is a knight member of an holy order, of clear Christian faith; Vlad Tepes was a Christian ruler whose historical exploits are directly tied to the idea of defending Christianity from the Turks.

- Gabriel loses his wife to "the forces of evil" (or at least thinks so) until he finds out he is actually responsible for Marie's death, and this probably leads him to rethink his faith; one of the core myths surrounding Vlad Tepes is that his wife Elizabetha died while he was away fighting the Turks; he later discovered she suicided because she felt continously abandoned by him, and thus he cursed God for forcing him to fight instead of staying with her. Another myth has her suiciding because she's told he was captured and killed. The idea of Vlad falling from "holyness" (as much of a monster he was, he was still seen as a champion of Christianity in Europe) because he blames himself for losing his wife is the core of his mythos.

- One historical fact about Vlad Tepes (at least, it's historically recorded) is that he killed a lover for "lying" to him about being pregnant (she thought she was, it later came out she didn't). He went to her, she hug her and then stabbed her. Much like Gabriel's nightmares., and Claudia's death.

- Vlad Tepes was forced to pretty horrible solutions to push back the Turks (the infamous forest of the impaled) because the King of Hungary, Corvinus, a fellow Christian, posed as an ally but in truth cut his support from Rome. Corvinus is often brought in in vampire fiction as being a vampire or undead of sort too, and often as being responsible for Vlad's transformation.
No need to mention Zobek.

- Vlad is often depicted in fiction as being part of an holy order called "The Order of the Dragon" (Dracul means Dragon, in fact); one trait of the order was the blood red armor and crest.


I (and I guess a lot of other people) was completely expecting Gabe to become Dracula before playing the game. The amount of foreshadowing was overwhelming.

[Nagumo]

The ending felt too tacked on for me. A plot twist fails to be effective when not connected to the story in a way that is clearly explained regardless of being just a teaser. I'm just pointing out that in my opinion this is bad writing. I also didn't like the ending for reasons that have to do with the series itself but better not get into those.
                               

[Valtiel]

The ending felt too tacked on for me. A plot twist fails to be effective when not connected to the story in a way that is clearly explained regardless of being just a teaser. I'm just pointing out that in my opinion this is bad writing. I also didn't like the ending for reasons that have to do with the series itself but better not get into those.
                               

There is certainly a pretty big gap between the "first" ending and the "second" ending. If it's to be seen as closed package, the second ending is a big "WTF?" moment. There's a huge story to tell between the first and the second ending. Of course, it can be seen as potential to tell these stories, too. I think that's the intention. If the next game picks up from the second ending, the amount of unexplained stuff will be mindboggling.

As for the rest, without going indept, I think it's only natural that if a fan liked Mathias being Dracula and the whole Soma plotline, the ending to this game is a big, giant slap in the face. I can totally see the disappointment there.