Topic: Castlevania 3DS: What do you want?

[crisis]

Sure we have the 1999 game (which I'm guessing is what you were referring to when you said "triumphant return"?) but other than that I don't see much room.

There's a 300 year gap between Lament & CVIII..


382 years to be exact!

[Kale]

I always wanted that time to be the time Dracula builds his power in the dark side of the world. I mean, he's jsut a vampire... doens't explain how he gets Galamoth, other vampires, werewolves and such under him. It would make sense that there wouldn't be a whole lot of news of evil in between because they are fighting among themselves, instigated by Dracula on his quest to rule.

That in itself could be an awesome game. I'd make a fan game on it but I lack skillz. 

[Vrakanox]

I'd want the 1999 game. Iga as lead. Kojima as artist, and Yamane and another past composer to co-op the music. Similar to OoE, much of the game will take place outside with Julius and his team travelling to the castle...and the final stage will, of course, be the castle. The outside areas will be larger and more varied than OoE's though. It will have Julius mode style character switching and actual CG cut scenes rather than the sprite scenes we've been getting.

This sounds pretty good.
------on a different note---------
Isn't there a lot of extra room in IGA's timeline still? Do we know all the details following SotN and before Ecclesia? Has there ever been an explanation for the disappearance of the Belmont's? It seems to me there are still a lot of gaps inbetween SotN and AoS.

[e105beta]

Make a Simon's Quest style game, set it in 1999, have it star Julius, and bring back Masaki Hirooka for the art design.

If there was anything I adored about Ecclesia, it was the art design. It was the perfect style for a "Castlevania" game.

It was the perfect balance of the darker, barbaric gothic of the older games and the elegant, supernatural gothic of the previous metroidvanias. When I was walking around the locals, despite the supernatural elements, all the locations felt very real. Dracula's castle seemed like a real castle, just full of supernatural things. The character designs were also spectacular. The outfits were well designed but still somewhat realistic, not only for the time period, but they just looked like something someone would actually wear. Dracula had the young immortal feel and yet still felt very old, dark, and evil, and I found the lack of visually effeminate men refreshing.

Sure, it's an art style, and I love most of Kojima's work, but in my opinion, men should look like men. I see no reason why all these men younger than immortal have the facial structure of a woman in her mid thirties. Simon is completely ripped, but apparently his neck has a testosterone seal on it because his head is completely androgynous. The only thing that balances out their feminine traits is the fact that the women are HYPER feminized.

Not to say I don't love the detail and elegance of Kojima's artwork, I just think Masaki fits Castlevania much better.

[Munchy]

I don't know exactly what I'd want from a 3DS 'vania outside of a pretty 2.5D game. There are many storylines I'd like to see elaborated on or finished.

I'd like a Legend of Dracula III with Soleil. ...yeah. Can't say much more there. Maybe have him fight Elizabeth Bathory/Bartley.

A sort of Castlevania retelling of the events in Bram Stoker's book would not only be cool but could be a variation on the party systems in Dracula's Curse or Dawn of Sorrow's Julius mode. The game could start with Quincey Morris and Van Helsing and those other guys pursuing Dracula into his rebuilding castle; put in a race against time to prevent Mina from succumbing to vampirism and you already have possibilities for multiple endings. Different characters would obviously have different abilities to explore and whatnot. I'm kind of surprised no other Castlevanias have tried this out.

Another idea would be a modern one that takes place after the Demon Castle Wars but before Aria. I imagine it'd focus a lot on the cult that wants a new Dracula replacement, and it could be a modern take on the original game's "movie monster" theme with... well... newer movies and books, maybe also some obscure Native American and South American folklore.  

I was really keen on a World War II themed Castlevania after Bloodlines, but Portrait or Ruin took that idea and... did absolutely nothing with it. What a waste. Don't imagine it will be touched for a while.

As long as a 3DS one is 2.5D or 2D and not a mini-game clusterfuck like HD or Judgment, I'll buy it no questions asked. I'd like a 3D one, but after Lords of Shadow I'm absolutely convinced that no human being can make Castlevania 3D without majorly fucking up in at least one area, so...

[Valtiel]

Make a Simon's Quest style game, set it in 1999, have it star Julius, and bring back Masaki Hirooka for the art design.

If there was anything I adored about Ecclesia, it was the art design. It was the perfect style for a "Castlevania" game.

It was the perfect balance of the darker, barbaric gothic of the older games and the elegant, supernatural gothic of the previous metroidvanias. When I was walking around the locals, despite the supernatural elements, all the locations felt very real. Dracula's castle seemed like a real castle, just full of supernatural things. The character designs were also spectacular. The outfits were well designed but still somewhat realistic, not only for the time period, but they just looked like something someone would actually wear. Dracula had the young immortal feel and yet still felt very old, dark, and evil, and I found the lack of visually effeminate men refreshing.

Sure, it's an art style, and I love most of Kojima's work, but in my opinion, men should look like men. I see no reason why all these men younger than immortal have the facial structure of a woman in her mid thirties. Simon is completely ripped, but apparently his neck has a testosterone seal on it because his head is completely androgynous. The only thing that balances out their feminine traits is the fact that the women are HYPER feminized.

Not to say I don't love the detail and elegance of Kojima's artwork, I just think Masaki fits Castlevania much better.

Spot on.

Ecclesia captured the Castlevania feel while sporting high quality artwork in a way, sadly, Kojima never did.

Appreciating Kojima's work is fine (I do too); saying that it's fitting for Castlevania is also a completely respectable opinion (I disagree, but nothing makes my opinion "right"); but saying that Yamane's interpretation of Simon Belmont (or Leon, or Alucard, or her long hair version of Richter) isn't effeminated is stretching it.

It's expecially baffling because when she exercises restraint in drawing the heroes as man and not dolls, some of the stuff is quite fitting. The Hector artwork was more than fine. I'd be fine with something along those lines, even if I think there's better options.

As for the curly Gabriel, I'd not be particularly fussed with issues of him looking effeminated (beard and features are anything but effeminated), but I'm persuaded he would look quite redicolous (much like Simon did in Chronicles). How would he get those beautiful curls in the middle of nowhere? My girlfriend has long, curly hairs. They require a lot of attention or else they flatten and lose volume and end up looking like little more than wavy hair. I like that piece of artwork, but I'm glad he doesn't look like that ingame.

[Alutwon]

There's a 300 year gap between Lament & CVIII..


382 years to be exact!

That can't be used because Trevor was the first person to defeat Dracula chronologically. But side stories are always cool

[Hanniballistic]

Ayami's artwork is fine.  I love how the general mood towards IGA changes every time a new game comes out.  I have a blast with any Castlevania game he's made because I don't nitpick the hell out of them.  Just face it: Castlevania is a goofy game series.  Sure there are some serious moments, but for the most part, they are crazy.  I sometimes wonder if we are all playing the same game series!

Anyway, just give me a new IGAvania and I'll be happy.

[crisis]

Ayami's artwork is fine.  I love how the general mood towards IGA changes every time a new game comes out.  I have a blast with any Castlevania game he's made because I don't nitpick the hell out of them.  Just face it: Castlevania is a goofy game series.  Sure there are some serious moments, but for the most part, they are crazy.  I sometimes wonder if we are all playing the same game series!

Anyway, just give me a new IGAvania and I'll be happy.

Well said. Welcome to the CVDungeon

[Hanniballistic]

Well said. Welcome to the CVDungeon

Thanks, I registered a long time ago and just kind of lurked.  Felt it was time to join the discussions.

[Vrakanox]

Where's my big welcome 

anyway...

Make a Simon's Quest style game, set it in 1999, have it star Julius, and bring back Masaki Hirooka for the art design.

If there was anything I adored about Ecclesia, it was the art design. It was the perfect style for a "Castlevania" game.

It was the perfect balance of the darker, barbaric gothic of the older games and the elegant, supernatural gothic of the previous metroidvanias. When I was walking around the locals, despite the supernatural elements, all the locations felt very real. Dracula's castle seemed like a real castle, just full of supernatural things. The character designs were also spectacular. The outfits were well designed but still somewhat realistic, not only for the time period, but they just looked like something someone would actually wear. Dracula had the young immortal feel and yet still felt very old, dark, and evil, and I found the lack of visually effeminate men refreshing.

Sure, it's an art style, and I love most of Kojima's work, but in my opinion, men should look like men. I see no reason why all these men younger than immortal have the facial structure of a woman in her mid thirties. Simon is completely ripped, but apparently his neck has a testosterone seal on it because his head is completely androgynous. The only thing that balances out their feminine traits is the fact that the women are HYPER feminized.

Not to say I don't love the detail and elegance of Kojima's artwork, I just think Masaki fits Castlevania much better.

I'm completely with you and the other guy about Ecclesias style. I loved the environments and the way the towns people looked. But does the character artist change that? I mean SotN and AoS to me were even darker. It wasn't til after those games with DoS and PoR where the artstyle became cartoony. Basically what I'm saying is that if Masaki drew Alucard. He'd still look like Alucard. If Masaki drew Soma he'd still look like Soma. Do the environments and overall game art have anything to do with the character designer? For the record I think Kojima and Masaki are both excellent character artists.

[Maedhros]

If it's Metroidvania or Classic style I don't care, I just want it to be 2D gameplay. But, I want it to have new assets, totally new sprites. And when I say totally new, I say all of them.

Artstyle like Ecclesia or something similar/better. Multiple characters, one big world map, and memorable music.

[thernz]

i thought aos was more of a bridge into the lighter forays on the ds. it really had this pastel feel to the palette, plus the introduction of a teenage protagonist like soma added this bit of quirkiness that was expanded (and butchered) on in the first two ds titles.

i like masaaki, but some of his villager faces are just misshapen. he has this very noticeable background on anime. of course, kojima has all her errors, but i personally find misshapen things more glaring than proportional errors, especially when we mostly just see bust shots in the games. im not sure if they actually affect the aesthetic of the game. dracula's throne art in ooe vastly differs from the throne in-game, and etc. environmental design seems separate from the character illustrators.

i'd personally like another game following the principles of ooe, with fast action, though i would also like much more exploration akin to sotn or hod.

[Apolake]

I was hoping for the 3ds version to have this kind of fluidity (I posted this once before)
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Abilities Sketch

[uzo]

That's pretty sweet. Could be helpful if someone wanted to make fan sprites.