Topic: I had this sort of revelation of a future cv...

[K.G. Morder]

I thought Aria of Sorrow for one, was amazing, in both gameplay and story. It couldn't get much better than Aria.

And Dawn only proved it. It was completely unnecessary, and the story was well, just like the style- reduced to generic Saturday morning anime quality.

You know what is so missing though? Aria artwork of Julius. Dawn changed his design to have jeans and boots, (probably to match him with every other Belmont) But in aria he wore red fucking pants.

Doesnt get much more badass than a Belmont who rocks red pants. (with what appears to be either boots underneath, or shoes)

[Ahasverus]

Of course it could be better, more background about Graham, the 1999 battle, seeing Soma being influennced by the Castle, that stuff, that's what they call "Character development".

[VampirehunterB]

Almost every IGAVania story has a breat premise but laughable poorly execution. Believe me, some of our ideas are pretty cool, if some good writer saw them and executed the saga would be very intriguing storywise

Agree, one can only hope that konami will take fans reflections seriously and do things about it rather than trying to blindly reform everything..

[K.G. Morder]

There was only so much they could do on the GBA, and they had already created a great game. He was definitely struggling with his darkness It is shown in his portrait. red eyes and messy hair, and overall "scary" appearance, where even Mina was frightened of him. Theres really no effective way to portray that in game, but the "bad end" you get from loosing to Chaos tells the tale good enough. He was already fighting it off, and when he looses, he looses tot he chaos within himself.

Graham? what more is there needed. its explained "all there in the manual". He's a cult leader who wants to inherit Dracula's powers. he doesnt need much more expose than that. He wasnt born upon Dracula's defeat, so he has no special powers of his own. The 1999 battle has little information itself other than "Julius was in it", "Dracula revived according to prophecy", "great war was held, Dracula was killed for good and his castle sealed away"

thats just about it. its  a past event that needs really no more explanation than that.

[X]

He wasnt born upon Dracula's defeat, so he has no special powers of his own.

It's true that he doesn't have any special abilities, but he was born at the exact time Dracula was defeated. The whole 'being born at the same time and inheriting Dracula's powers at his death' didn't come about until DoS.

-X

[K.G. Morder]

Ah wait. I derp'd.
He was. I also totally forgot that he thought he was Dracula's re-incarnation. (and DID have magical powers apparently)

[Munchy]

Well, i think all your recomendations for PoR plot can not be approved just for one simple reason: rating. Castlevania isn't Wolfenstain, castlevania is for kids, guys. Sad but true.

Yep, that's why there are Castlevanias with M ratings. OH WAIT

But yeah, the silly stuff in DoS and PoR does give off that vibe.

[narkolepsi]

I was just reminded of something. The PoR soundtrack music commentary for Esquisse of Violence says something about Brauner being a "skinhead in purple." I'll have to translate it fully, but that's what I got from a quick eyeballing of it. It also says something about him bring a womanizer somewhere in there too, iirc.

For what it is though, the WWII setting wasn't explored well enough in PoR and if it wasn't explicitly mentioned in the game I would have never figured it out. It seems like a scapegoat as-is, and could have used a lot more backstory.

[X]

IGA should never have bothered with the intro-story mentioning the war if he was never going to go all the way with it. The real intro should've been a breaf history on the events that took place before PoR began. It would've been much better and not sound so cheesy as did the other intro.

-X

[Belmondo]

To get back to the OP (but only slightly) I think a rad kind of side story for a Castlevania game would be The Belmont Legacy. You would start as Leon, and gradually work your way forward through time with a new story and level featuring each of the main Belmonts, culminating with Julius and the 1999 War. I don't know about you guys, but I think it would be rad.

As for the current crop of Castlevania's, I would just be happy to see another Barbarian Belmont. Or a Belmont who actually IS a woman, instead of just looking like one.

[narkolepsi]

^ Yes. I started out with newer CV but as I discovered the older games I realized the beauty of their level and character designs, often surpassing the newer installments. Conan!Simon FTW.

IGA should never have bothered with the intro-story mentioning the war if he was never going to go all the way with it. The real intro should've been a breaf history on the events that took place before PoR began. It would've been much better and not sound so cheesy as did the other intro.

-X

It's like telling the story and adding on: "Oh yeah, and there's kind of a war going on. No big." WWII is a huge part of history and one of my favorites to read about, and Portrait did not explore it. Perhaps the WWII setting was an attempt to connect it to Bloodlines' WWI setting, but it just wasn't done smoothly enough by any means. I agree with you also on the altered intro. It could recap briefly the events of Bloodlines, lead into PoR, and not mention the wartime setting, and Jonathan's age and the simple fact that he's John's son would be enough to place the timeline in the forties.

[crisis]

I guess in the CV universe, Jonathan was the true hero of WWII 

[Munchy]

To get back to the OP (but only slightly) I think a rad kind of side story for a Castlevania game would be The Belmont Legacy. You would start as Leon, and gradually work your way forward through time with a new story and level featuring each of the main Belmonts, culminating with Julius and the 1999 War. I don't know about you guys, but I think it would be rad.

So, like The Umbrella/Darkside Chronicles but a 2D Castlevania? Hmm... I'd go with it, but then wouldn't every level boss be Dracula? There'd need to be things to differentiate the levels, which won't be easy considering the few motifs all the games have in common.

And as for the whole WWII in PoR thing, I found it heavily mediocre but can fully understand why IGA sidestepped it. It'd have made a PAL version a huge pain in the ass (just look at how weird Capcom had to be about "Master D" in BC: Rearmed), and it's not a subject Japan likes to delve into. (Although, the game was technically a bit after the war ended, I think.)

[X]

(Although, the game was technically a bit after the war ended, I think.)

PoR takes place in 1944. the war didn't end until 1945.

-X

[Munchy]

(Although, the game was technically a bit after the war ended, I think.)

PoR takes place in 1944. the war didn't end until 1945.

-X

Ohh yeah. But hadn't Germany surrendered in 1943? (I should probably shut up, I suck at history.)