FYI Greatest hits is not quite what you think it is- Many games that sold well DO reach that label, but most times they also just use it as a way to get rid of games that DIDNT sell well. Leftover games that have stuck around too long.
on the LoS and whatnot thing.
VK, I REALLY think you could have said the EXACT same thing without sounding like a douche. because TBH, you kind of come off as a jerk there.
Although I must agree with him to an extent. And it goes back to what I have previously said. the Fanbase says the want something new, but when we DO get something new, they complain that it "isnt castlevania".
Which shows that apprently there is a LIMIT to how much new they want, and Konami probably sees it as just plain nitpicking.
for a first trym I think MS did alright in their take of a CV game. And I find Gabriel's transformation to Darkness much more appealing than Mathias, for reasons which have previously been discussed.
I think that Agharta could have been shortened a smidge, certainly, but everything from Crows pass to the end, felt very vania to me, including the land of the necromancers. Fighting Satan was no biggie, Just asserts how badass Belmonts are. THEY 'AINT CONTENT TO FIGHT JUST DRACULA ANYMORE, THEY GOTTA TAKE DOWN SATAN NOW TOO! plus DoS already brought us to hell, so no issue with me.
on IGA. He brought us things like DoS, Judgement, and CoD. And PoR, which as a successor to Bloodlines, utterly fails because of IGA's OBSESSION with limiting the game to inside the castle. Sorry IGA, but trying to replace actual world exploration with paintings just isnt gonna cut it...
In my honest opinion IGA's magnum opus Vania was Aria of Sorrow. it was a satisfying, fun and fresh conclusion to Castlevania and Dracula.
And then he made Dawn, completely ruining that effect.
Now im not discrediting him, bue he is just so WEIRD in his vania development process that it does more harm than good. (mainly the "I come up with gameplay first everything else second" )