Topic: How about a name change? Is it possible?

[Munchy]

I don't think it's the name...I think it's just plain old marketing failure.

Yep. Konami marketing their work is like trusting an ADD kid to do homework in a room full of pinwheels and flashing lights.

[crisis]

I loved the commercial they made for LoI

'CASTLEVANIA: LAMENT of INNOCENCE'- 2003 Television Commercial #1


It's odd that for the supposed "best-selling" game in the series, they only released an extremely odd Japanese-only commercial

Castlevania Lords of Shadow commercial PS3 sony playstation3 JP jpn japanese japan


which do you think is better?

[mistressalucard]

The ads for Lament were so good, I loved the SoTN one too.  The Lament one, live action Leon even if it was just a model from the back in a Halloween cape.  I want a live action LoI movie.  I really need to win the lottery so I can fund movies I want to see.

@GuyStarwind  Glad to hear I got my  point across

[shelverton.]

Instead of changing the name, Konami could declare Castlevania "dead" and then later announce a brand new IP with vampires. The new games would essentially be Castlevania to all of us, Konami included, but the new players would think it was something cool and new (and not overwhelming them with 25 years of history.)

I think Vampire Killer is an excellent name. Though it sounds very Suda51 to me. And I'd really miss the Castlevania name...

[Shiroi Koumori]

Even though there has been some deviation over the years, many of the greatest Castlevania games still follow the same naming conventions:
[Castlevania or Akumajo Dracula]: [Orchestral Terminology] [preposition, usually "of"] [Noun w/ Depressing Connotation]

That is the due to the IGA until he ran out of musical terms.

[Ahasverus]

Instead of changing the name, Konami could declare Castlevania "dead" and then later announce a brand new IP with vampires. The new games would essentially be Castlevania to all of us, Konami included, but the new players would think it was something cool and new (and not overwhelming them with 25 years of history.)

I think Vampire Killer is an excellent name. Though it sounds very Suda51 to me. And I'd really miss the Castlevania name...

This is a good idea.. but sad. 

[Hellhammer]

...I've contemplated this before myself and it makes you wonder how far the series can stretch and still be true to what we love about it.
Some of the best (or at least most interesting) games in the series have allowed for exploration beyond the walls of Dracula's castle. But when you get down to it the castle, Dracula/other trademark monsters (Medusa heads/flea men etc.) and the old European setting are the 3 big constants that have always defined Castlevania. Without those three elements the Metroidvanias might as well be a different series from the Classicvanias, and vice versa. The name embodies all that is goofy and wonderful about the monster movie mentality of the original games, and the setting and theme of the later titles. Changing this name would suggest changing all of those things to suit modern tastes in vampires as well.

I agree wholeheartedly with these statements!
In fact I now shudder at the idea of a Drac who uses copious amounts of hair product, is overly-sensitive and sparkles in sunlight.

[crisis]

The word "Castlevania" is a play on words with "Transylvania," which many people across the globe automatically associate with vampires/evil spirits, and even more associate with Dracula.

For this reason alone the name is absolutely perfect and should never change.

[Shiroi Koumori]

In fact I now shudder at the idea of a Drac who uses copious amounts of hair product, is overly-sensitive and sparkles in sunlight.

You are not the only one!
o(><*)oダメッ!!o(*><*)oダメッ!!o(*><)oダメッー!!

[Thomas Belmont]

That Lament of Innocence commercial is ten times better than anything we'd get from Hollywood.

[Mike Belmont]

I think that Konami has already change the name... Since the anouncement of Lords of Shadow (without the Castlevania subtitle, or title).

Having played LoS, I don´t consider it as bad game, in fact, I love the hack n´slash genre, and the QTE´s games . But, if is not for the Castlevania title (or subtitle), and the characters name references, I wouldn not think that is a Castlevania game. I would prefer that LoS were a new IP, or a spiritual successor for our beloved saga. Something like Maximo was for Ghost n´ Goblins. It was not necessary, in my opinion, the incursion of the Belmont surname with Gabriel, and all the names references (from characters or places). And thinking that I will going to play with Dracula in LoS 2? I see too much references with Legacy of Kain franchise, principally Defiance (another franchise that I love ).

I hope, that with Mirror of Fate, Mercury steam finally give us (or just me) a real Castlevania experience, without the God of War (or any other similar hack n´slash game, since Rygar), Prince of Persia, or Shadow of the Colossus mechanics...

[son_the_vampire]

Name change = fail
When i hear castlevania my first thoughts are a huge castle Royal Rumble with one guy vs 1,000,000 monsters.
Death to the ruler of the castle is the only end to the Vania.
Lets not consider a change...

[Sindra]

So, what if Konami decided to change the name of the series to make it more appealing? do you agree with the idea, or are you against? it? what suggestions do you have for it? Voice your opinion here!

No. You wouldn't do it to Metroid. You wouldn't do it to Contra. You wouldn't do it to Legend of Zelda. Why should Castlevania be treated any differently? It's a legacy title. People associate the name after over 25 years. That's something incredibly hard to argue against, regardless of sales. They knew that when they created a game called Lords of Shadow, and turned it into a Castlevania game by slapping the title on there. They know there's power in the title.

Also? Do you really want Castlevania to go the way of Devil May Cry ---> DMC? Honestly?

And as many of you know Castlevania was called Demon Castle Dracula in japan, so it's not that of a sacred name to Konami.

And then they changed it so that Japanese titles were also called Castlevania. It must have some marketability if they do that.

[Ahasverus]

Also? Do you really want Castlevania to go the way of Devil May Cry ---> DMC? Honestly?

Was it a tittle change? I thought that DmC was the game moniker and Devil may Cry still the official name?

[Zetheraxza]

I said this a while back,

Castlevania itself as a series is one messed up title that magically has survied... I don't know how? The series to me has such a strange convoluted identity and developers just can't do much to change that because even if they do, now you have an army of irrational uptight fans. 'CASTLE-Vania" as a title is so strange. I mean if there is a gamer who gets off his cliche CoD and decides, "Hey, you know what? I will try something new today." And goes to Gamestop or EB games and walks upon a title called "Castlevania". Well, are castles really your favourite type of architecture and feel that you want to buy this game which you have probably have never heard of before and since there are castles in the background on the front cover, they believe that the entire game takes place in the Castle. So, do they want to buy this game?... Probably not. What do they know about the huge history of games since the NES days? All they see is that they've never heard of this game before, therefore it must not be popular and just because of that, this game must be shit. PASS. "Castlevania" has a nice feel to it's name and sounds very nice indeed, but it can also give off meanings that may turn people off. The title itself gives off it's limits that the entire game will take place in one boring Castle with around 10-20 enemies to kill with probably around 2-3 hours of gameplay. Sometimes I feel that they should change the title of the series...  (DID HE JUST SAY THAT???)

The identity of Castlevania is a huge mess, not to mention the essence of it. So they made a game that starred a Barbarian looking character that fights classic horror monsters and bosses with their leader Dracula on top... with a whip (The whip is the reason there wont be a Castlevania movie... HOW CAN YOU EXPLAIN THAT?). That alone sounds to me like a huge WTF. Original kick ass game Idea, Oh yes. But to use this concept as a series... Not too much. The villain is based off another villain in a horror novel and then adding originality to the character by adding alternate retelling, various designs for him, giving him an origin story and turning him from a small time serial killer to a global terrorist. Konami probably never intended Castlevania to become a chronological series. And they later on tried to make Castlevania as original as possible. Iga did this by not making Dracula being Vlad III Tepes but an original character named Mathias Cronqvist, which now makes the Dracula of Castlevania a bit more original, but he still was Vlad III Tepes at one point and he was still Count Dracula in the Bram Stoker novel but in the end, he was once an original character. Which is what LoS is trying to do. They want Castlevania to be something very original. The villain is based of an original character by Mercurysteam and has no relation with Bram Stoker in it's character's design as well. They even call him Dracul now and that's just for the sake of fans. Castlevania has a huge variation in different styles of Art, Music and Gameplay that gives it that convoluted Identity. Most games keep their games with one perticular style throughout the series, but Castlevania always seems to be in this "experimental" stage trying to find one perticular style that would give them great success as well as keeping the fans happy. I don't know if that day will ever come though. I think Castlevania has so much potential and I don't want it to be a niche franchise forever... I want castlevania to be a blockbuster someday.

This all is in the hands of LoS trilogy. If they end up making good comeback, then the series itself is back into the mainstream. Because of the success of LoS, the franchise 'Castlevania' was breathing the same air with other franchises like Uncharted, Halo, Assassin's Creed and many others during the VGA's. This is pretty huge and to be honest, I don't know if the VG community/consumers are simply ignorant about the side-scrolling RPGs or if Castlevania really needed to have a radical change which would end up in mixed reception by it's hardcore fanbase, but... I'm just glad that if LoS trilogy blasts with positive reception eventually making the future of Castlevania in high anticipation for the future audiences. I'll be happy to say, "I was playing Castlevania before it went mainstream"

In that case, a name change wouldn't be necessary. I can understand why the "CASTLE-vania' would be questioned by a curious gamer. Nowadays, games are not limited to few locales, most games take place in open world environments rather than one area. Even LoS implied this heavily in the game. There wasn't alot of Castle in LoS. They really wanted to explore more themes that could get the series greater audiences. They made a 3D game, the game has similar play style with you know... and they didn't really use the Gothic atmosphere as it's main choice but they based it around "medival" theme in which Gothic Atmosphere in the game is a sub-theme in the game and it had ruined cities, lush green forests... with RAINBOWS! They didn't only limit themselves with classic horror monsters but with folkish monsters as well. And so we wonder why some of the fans say, "This is not Castlevania" or "Good game, but it should be it's own IP"

LoS was begging for a change in the game because the Nighttime, Demonic, Horror was not reaching the wider audiences, yet it still was named Castlevania because it had the classic essence we see in the series but the atmosphere was completely different. Of course, that does not mean the name should have changed because Dave Cox/MercurySteam were planning a Castlevania Reboot. Now, I don't know anything about the DmC series but... from what I do know, the gameplay is still the same. The story has been changed but still familiar and this helps alot more if they are using the same Characters. And of course, the Character designs were changed but they had somewhat similar personalities. Dante is still an ill-mannered bastard, lol. But if that's what one calls a reboot, then fine... But LoS was like REEBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT! And that's the kind of Reboot one game needs to resurrect if a name change is necessary. But just simply "LoS" would not appeal a CV fan and "Vampire Killer" doesn't really fit the game or the character since the game's Antagonists are destributed between Lycanthropes, Vampires and Necromancers with the influence of the ultimate bad dude himself... and the main character ends up in an ironical fate which would be spat on by the fans if the game was called Vampire killer.

So far, there is no research done by Konami and there is no proof if it's the gameplay that's not appealing, the theme isn't appealing or if it's the name that turns of a curious gamer. I doubt Konami wants to change their IP just like that since the series is far from it's lowpoint since LoS, but if a name change occurs, they better back that shit up with the game properly, or else... FANS will pick up torches.