Topic: New Castlevania!!!???!!! (DS)

[Long John Silver]

In Reply To #377

*waiting for Serio to predictably bash PoR*

How about I bash your head with mah club instead?

j/k

what more could you possibly want? Dying from just being in the same room as an enemy?

Maybe a smarter ai? Dunno just a thought.

But then again, you're content with 200% - 500% more damage from enemies and 50% - 90% less damage from you being called as "hard" mode, while in reality it's easy mode with a cheap twist.

[jaybee]

In Reply To #2and whose timeline would this be?? if this was official?? another belmont???

[Profbeanburrito]

I would like more regular enemies to be like boss hard. Take awhile to kill them. Sort of like those golden knights out side the inverted clock room in SotN....those guys are hard.. we need more of that

[Thomas Belmont]

*sigh* must every thread that gets created on this forum be turned into an IGA-bashing thread? Cut this shit out already.

Ummm, who else are we supposed to bitch about? He's the one who's in charge. The one who finalizes everything. He's the reason for the lack luster games and ridiculous story telling so, yeah, I'm going to bitch about him.

[Azmodan]

Compared to KCEN and KCEK's awesome storytelling. Like how LoD contradicts CV64 and SotN(The prologue says it has been 100 years...but it was only a few prior that Death revived Drac using Cornell's powers...), CotM kind of just hanging around while completely ignoring SotN and the Belmonts in general, and oh-so-awesome Legends taking a dump on CVIII. Half-Vampire Belmonts and Alucard randomly showing up, hoo boy. Not to mention Bloodlines sort of throwing Bram Stoker's Dracula into the mix. Not that PoR didn't do any better.

Yeah, those were the good ol' days of good storytelling. Not to mention the timeless gems like Haunted Castle and Castlevania Adventure.

[PFG9000]

To be honest, though... I'd just like another DXC.

[Gunlord]

CV Adventure wasn't too bad. Not so different from any other old-skool CV game in terms of plot.

[Azmodan]

Well Gunlord, I was thinking more of the poor gameplay, such as Christopher's terrible pace, the bizzare idea of having your whip downgraded with every hit, and the fact it's over before you know it. Four levels? In terms of plot, yeah, it's no more different than CV1, true. :3

In fact, I imagine it was unique in being the first to have you go through the countryside before reaching Dracula's Castle, excluding Simon's Quest.

Heh, I think CV: Adventure even left it a little ambiguous at first as to just who are playing. I remember seeing that advert saying it was Simon yet again trudging up to Dracula's Castle.

[Dark Nemesis]

In Reply To #385

Also at Castlevania adventure if you were able to finish it 5 or 6 times, i don't remember well, you were 1 hit from every enemy and you were dead! Even with one hit to die, i was able to finish it and i think that was agood idea for a new Castlevania. If you are able to finish it at this difficulty, you will get something special for extra!

[The Silverlord]

I think it can also be said that having a castle so large can detract from the impact enemies have.  Not only are they are so frequently encountered that their attacks soon become redundant, but IGA and his team have designed/re-used the enemies largely for a cut-and-paste exercise.  As such, they fit into any segment or area of the castle design as an adequate means of

[Algernon]

I'm going to go off on a short rant here. I haven't actually played Symphony of the Night as I lack a PSOne, so it's not my fanboyism sustained from playing other games that's leading me to defend DS Castlevania, but it's DS Castlevania that's leading me to assume that the others are so great, because I enjoyed them so much.

It seems, anyway, that DS Castlevania is getting bashed only by the core fanbase not because it sucked as a game, but because it strayed from the traditional style and not in a way the fanbase is prepared to applaud. I'm gonna go ahead and admit that the storyline in both games was horrible, particularly in Portrait of Ruin. But storyline, generally, has never been the driving factor of Castlevania games in the first place. And there are so many great games out there without a story to speak of. Mario and Metroid come to mind. I'm willing to forgive the game for a lackluster story as long as the rest of the game is a ton of fun.

In my opinion, Portrait of Ruin has the best areas of any Castlevania game I've born witness too (admittedly a limited amount, but I've played some of the older ones on emulators). Each area was remarkably different from one another- the Sandy Grave looked nothing like the Nation of Fools. As opposed to DoS, in which pretty much all of the areas looked basically the same, excepting maybe the Subterranean Hell. If DoS can serve as an example for other Castlevania games, then PoR had some of the best area variety of any Castlevania game. If it can't, it's still up there.

Enemy design was fine, I don't see why people are complaining. The boss fights especially were awesome. The Beheaded Knight was one of the coolest boss fights I've ever seen.

My point is, here, that Dos and PoR are both great games in their own right, the only complaints that can be made about them is that they've strayed from the style everybody here is so used to. That doesn't make them bad, it just makes them different.

[PFG9000]

In Reply To #388

If you think PoR is a great game with great level variety, you'll be pleasantly surprised by, um, just about every other game in the series.  Seriously, there are two nearly identical Egypt levels, two forest levels, two Circus levels, and two Town levels.  How is that variety?

And I realize you weren't talking about level design, but PoR was just a jumble of random hallways with no rhyme or reason for anything being where it was, except maybe the windmill tower in the Clocktower area. 

[The Silverlord]

It seems, anyway, that DS Castlevania is getting bashed ... because it strayed from the traditional style and not in a way the fanbase is prepared to applaud.

Here's another reason: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was released in 1997, and now at least 10 years later, we're still playing Castleroids which, depending on your feelings, haven't progressed significantly.

There's an element of complacency involved, whereby the game code appears to be largely intact and IGA and the team simply add a few new enemies, Michiru compose some new tunes, and the graphics are retiled. I do respect there may be budget constraits and pressure from Konami, however . . .

... the only complaints that can be made about them is that they've strayed from the style everybody here is so used to.

They haven't really strayed for a good few years now mate, and although IGA is aware change is needed, it didn't really show in PoR.  Hopefully, this time . . .

[Long John Silver]

I haven't actually played Symphony of the Night as I lack a PSOne

I don't have a ps1 either. But I played sotn to death. Emulate it dammit. Epsxe, psxeven, pSX. Choose your emulator.

[Algernon]

If you think PoR is a great game with great level variety, you'll be pleasantly surprised by, um, just about every other game in the series.  Seriously, there are two nearly identical Egypt levels, two forest levels, two Circus levels, and two Town levels.  How is that variety?

And I realize you weren't talking about level design, but PoR was just a jumble of random hallways with no rhyme or reason for anything being where it was, except maybe the windmill tower in the Clocktower area.

Eh, I don't really count the extra levels at the end, since they're basically just excuses to lengthen the game- but good point, they're pretty much identical. But my point was, with the addition of paintings in general, it gave them much more room for creativity- The City of Haze looked and behaved significantly different from the Forest of Doom. More variety from level to level, unless you count the clones at the end of the game, which is a legitimate complaint.

Here's another reason: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was released in 1997, and now at least 10 years later, we're still playing Castleroids which, depending on your feelings, haven't progressed significantly.

Maybe not, at least on the DS, but the DS isn't exactly leaps and bounds beyond an SNES either; I'm not sure what you were expecting.

They haven't really strayed for a good few years now mate, and although IGA is aware change is needed, it didn't really show in PoR.  Hopefully, this time . . .

I'm referring to pixel art style, in particular.