Topic: How could we make Portrait of Ruin a better Castlevania?

[Flame]

PoR. supposed to be the direct sequel to Bloodlines. Failed miserably in that regard, since in the end it was just another metroidvania with the most contrived method ever for trying to do what Bloodlines did, which was "Travel around Europe" instead using paintings, therefore taking you to that painting's dimension.

still, PoR had some good ideas.

The dealio with the whip draining the life of any non Belmont user was a bit silly- (since the Morrises were yknow, descended from Belmonts, therefore making it only that regardless of heritage it just hates anyone who isnt named "Belmont) but could work if done proper, the idea of the whip having a memory of it's users is pretty interesting too, and ties into the semi sentience it seems to have as implied in LoI and AoS, although rather than making the whip's memory an excuse to shoehorn in Richter again, perhaps a battle with the FIRST Belmont? A battle against Leon? Defeat the clan founder and therefore the whip would acknowledge Johnny boy.

Or rather, why not just the memory of it's last user? John Morris sr. died from overusing the whip without defeating the memory of it's previous owner, why not make him whip's memory? I mean youve already got Eric's ghost around, (and for the record I just didnt get the cowboy design, nothing about it really made me think "Eric Lecarde") so why not?

For that matter, as much as I totally love Charlotte, she felt kind of pointless, lacking anything to actually connect her to the Belnades, despite being a token female magic user, and a mention by IGA that she is.

I would much rather doing away with the desu twins and throwing in a male (or female, no problem with that,) heir to the Lecarde family. Perhaps using the spear that was specifically made for them by Alucard and is supposed to be an important plot item that complements the Vampire Killer Whip and yet gets no real specific mention outside of Bloodlines and a cameo in SoTN's Saturn port.

One of the issues I see with PoR was the gimmick of two characters together. therefore classing them into melee user and magic user.

Plot could use work too. What if Nazi's storm the castle, perhaps to spend the night, and accidentally revive Dracula, eschewing Brawner all together. or, make Brawner a subordinate of Dracula's a la Orlock/Olrox, who perhaps slaughters the group to revive Dracula through their blood.

Theres a million things that could be done to make PoR so much better.

what do you guys think? any ideas? Thoughts?

[Sumac]

Delete it from reality forever.

As a less harsh variant:
- hire a normal artist, that will draw characters not as generic anime heroes
- hire a normal writer, that will actually write adequate dialogues without "No Problem" shit.
- hire a normal level designer, that will make Dracula's Castle look like Dracula's Castle and not as big empty stone building.
- take away second set of portraits or make them completely new stages, instead of lazy and ugly rehashes of the first set.
- leave Dracula battle as bad ending (or not so good ending) only.
- give more importance to Brauner as a villain, so he will look like a main villain of the game.
- give more lines to Reaper and sisters.
- make Wind more important to the story and replace monk with some sympathetic character.
- more puzzles based around dual system, less importance to the double jump.
- more bosses based around dual system, like Reaper.
- better designs for every location.
- enemies that become harder as player become stronger.
- less quests or at least more actually interesting quests.
- take away subweapon upgrade system. It's unneeded.

Maybe some few more things, but that is what I would do in the first place.

The story of the POR is good as it is, actually, but it need completely different approach, to not only sound good in paper, but to be good in reality.

[Charlotte-nyo:3]

The dealio with the whip draining the life of any non Belmont user was a bit silly- (since the Morrises were yknow, descended from Belmonts, therefore making it only that regardless of heritage it just hates anyone who isnt named "Belmont) but could work if done proper

Perhaps what they were trying to get across is that the blood has to be less "diluted"--of closer heritage to the Belmonts of old than a Morris has (maybe the Morrises have been marrying more widely over different ethnic groups across Europe and the Belmonts stuck closer to the regions around Wallachia so their heritage is less diverse).

For that matter, as much as I totally love Charlotte, she felt kind of pointless, lacking anything to actually connect her to the Belnades, despite being a token female magic user, and a mention by IGA that she is.

Seems like he just kinda shoehorned that in there despite it not really being mentioned in the game that I recall. If I were a storyline bigwig on the CV dev team, I'd actually be wary of attaching every female magic user in the CV universe to the name Belnades. It sort of lends itself to a less believable universe (and CV has enough of those issues as it is with Drac coming back seemingly every 3 months, among other things). If magic exists in one's storyline, surely there should be more female practitioners of it roaming around than just those of the Belnades clan. It gives the CV world a more diverse feel if you see some other ones peppered throughout the games.

What if Nazi's storm the castle, perhaps to spend the night, and accidentally revive Dracula, eschewing Brawner all together.

No offense, but that seems a little cliche to me. It seems like there's a lot of fiction out there about the Nazis messing with the occult and reviving ancient evils and such. That might've been more expected for PoR than the plot we ended up getting.

Also, without Brauner, one would need a new excuse for teleporting to weird otherworldly locales rather than magical portraits, but I suppose that could be arranged.

or, make Brawner a subordinate of Dracula's a la Orlock/Olrox, who perhaps slaughters the group to revive Dracula through their blood.

I feel like I'm being overly critical, but I think Brauner not being in league with Drac was a bit more interesting a plot point than having him be a random minion trying to revive Drac. Dracula's had a lot of those over the years--random cultists, Shaft, Camilla, Bartley, etc. so it's more expected for me than some other vampire hiding out in his castle.

[uzo]

No offense, but that seems a little cliche to me. It seems like there's a lot of fiction out there about the Nazis messing with the occult and reviving ancient evils and such.

There is a very good reason. Simply because, you know, they did try and do that for real. They were heavily tied to the occult, looking for ancient powerful artifacts, and attempting communications with aliens.

[Flame]

Also, without Brauner, one would need a new excuse for teleporting to weird otherworldly locales rather than magical portraits, but I suppose that could be arranged.

Well we could yknow, actually have the protagonist actually travel around europe like in bloodlines, and not be stuck in a castle with a faux Europe travel.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

They had to make 'em portraits because Brauner was an artist.  Also because he had to 'trap Dracula's Power by drawing his keep' or some other such nonsense.

Instead, they should have made Brauner an artist when he was alive, but upon vampification, he would dabble in the occult.  You can take the idea that perhaps he was part of the Nazi movement and, upon his vamp, just started to heavily focus upon sorcery (something he may have been asked to research at the end of his life, when he was in the Third Reich).  Then, make the portraits actual portals into locales in the world (not just Europe, as Egypt is technically a transcontinental country).  The whole "Art" thing was shoehorned anyway.

And the four extra portraits were clearly palette swaps.  They ran out of room but wanted content.  I do not think they could've done new stages, but it would've been nice to revisit Bloodlines locales (maybe even do so with slightly-altered original graphics from the Genesis).  I would've loved to have seen the Munitions Factory, the Palace of Versailles, or the Atlantis Shrine.

There was no need to have Eric OR John killed.  John should have been severely weakened, and possibly could've taken the place of "Wind" and Eric could've been placed in the shop instead of Vincent.  Perhaps Eric could've set up shop near Dracula's Castle as a look-out, with the Spear being used as a warding-away tool to keep monsters away.

Ah... the wasted potential...

[knightmere]

There is a very good reason. Simply because, you know, they did try and do that for real. They were heavily tied to the occult, looking for ancient powerful artifacts, and attempting communications with aliens.

If there were going to factor in Nazi Germany then the year would need to be earlier then 1944. During this time Germany was on the run from the allies in western Europe, and the Soviets in the east.  It wouldn't make any sense for them to be plundering any castles at this time because their resources were already exhausted in a losing war effort and a gradual retreat back into Germany.

[Charlotte-nyo:3]

There is a very good reason. Simply because, you know, they did try and do that for real. They were heavily tied to the occult, looking for ancient powerful artifacts, and attempting communications with aliens.

I know, but that doesn't mean it isn't played out in fiction by now.

[Fofa]

Much as I love it and the fact that it's my first Castlevania, I'm not a blind to the fact that it's flawed.

The anime look wasn't exactly a bad idea (the anime look was what actually caught my eye at the store), but in comparison to something like Namco's Tales series, it looks weak, and the overly CG opening didn't win me over either. A better artist would've been nice.

I know people complain about the writing, but I think that might be the fault of both the genre and the fact that Castlevania isn't exactly known for compelling writing and also that this is a sequel to a 1994 Genesis game where 80% of the plot was in the manual. It's actually one of the reasons I want Bloodlines to get the Chronicles treatment.

There's also the old saying: Show, don't tell. Show flashbacks between the characters or something like that.

The enemy variety annoys me too. If it supposed to be a sequel to Bloodlines, then why are most of the enemies from Rondo? We get it Konami, you love Rondo of Blood. But please, focus on something else. Speaking of which, there was a Richter and Maria tag mode but no John and Eric mode? For shame Konami.

The last four areas being palette swaps reeks of rushed development (and/or a lacking budget, as many rushed cases are). In my ideas for a re-release those areas would be substituted with places like sunken ships and jungles, or alternate painting entrances. Oh well.

The tag team gameplay also needed some work. Sure, the partners and dual crushes were there, but outside of a team jump that was quickly outdated by the double jump, it almost seemed like an afterthought, or they were afraid to fully implement the system. Here's an idea: why not have places where Jonathan and Charlotte are split apart and have to rendezvous at another section, or have one carry something important and fragile with the other to act as an escort? (Nitro anyone?)

There was no need to have Eric OR John killed.  John should have been severely weakened, and possibly could've taken the place of "Wind" and Eric could've been placed in the shop instead of Vincent.  Perhaps Eric could've set up shop near Dracula's Castle as a look-out, with the Spear being used as a warding-away tool to keep monsters away.

I remember reading at the Castlevania Wiki that the original plan was to have John as the hero, which would explain why father and son have such similar names... Wish I could confirm if this is the case though.

[uzo]

If there were going to factor in Nazi Germany then the year would need to be earlier then 1944. During this time Germany was on the run from the allies in western Europe, and the Soviets in the east.  It wouldn't make any sense for them to be plundering any castles at this time because their resources were already exhausted in a losing war effort and a gradual retreat back into Germany.

No shit. Just go back a couple of years. Problem solved.

[knightmere]

No shit. Just go back a couple of years. Problem solved.

Even still, making Nazis the enemies would've been too obvious and unoriginal.  Brauner was actually an interesting villain, just the overall story and writing was awful.  Not only that Konami would probably not be able to sell the game in Germany, which could've been a reason why they opted not to reference them in some way.

[uzo]

I could not disagree more.

[Dominus]

They could have still referenced the world situation somehow. AoS had the dead soldiers, DoS the opening and the Lost Villiage. Oh and this

[knightmere]

I could not disagree more.

The development team agreed.  Too bad they made the script read like something out of shitty anime.

They could have still referenced the world situation somehow. AoS had the dead soldiers, DoS the opening and the Lost Villiage. Oh and this

The war was briefly referenced in the Intro I believe.  Or maybe it was the box or manual.  I don't have the box anymore and I don't feel like digging around for my cartridge.  I'm sure someone else could verify.

[uzo]

Or they were just lazy and oblivious; shitting out whatever required the least work. We all know story never came first with the IGA produced games, but if anything, this was the ONE to do just that. The potential was limitless. Instead we got a cash in story, with cash in gameplay, and cash in execution. A horrible game in nearly every aspect.