Topic: Castlevania in 2015

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

^
Alll three games are out on Wii-U.
Source: I own 'em on it.

Vampire Killer MSX is also going to Wii-U... in Japan only, though.

[Nagumo]

I believe you can acces Vampire Killer on PC through Project EGG. It's around 500 yen for monthly membership and another 500 to buy the game. Also, I think it's available to people outside of Japan, too. Might be an idea if you want to play the game legitimately.

[Zetheraxza]

Look, Castlevania either needs to go big, or go home. Right now, Open World games are big, they should spend at least 4-6 years to develop a good Sandbox 3D Castlevania. That would be great. Storywise, something good. Something great and ambitious, get good Japanese/American writers on this hell, revamp the original timeline if you have to and take that 100 year cycle bullshit away. In the meantime, have a small team release Classic 2D Handhelds or much more preferably, Downloadable Games to provide income for the main game and if the 2D games good reception make, keep 'em coming. Developers need to dream big and need to keep their fans happy, that is fact. But fans also need to accept some changes when they want their favourite titles to survive. I think MGS 1-4 are masterpieces but would I still want to play such linear games like that in the future? Nope. Therefore, there needs to be changes. The Action Alert and Regen Health sure pissed a lot of people and even me off, but hey, I began to take positive notes after a time. The next Castlevania developers need to co exist well with fans.

[shelverton.]

In terms of the game world I am all for it to be somewhat open, but I dunno about "sandbox". It makes me think of Elder Scrolls which is, IMO, not the greatest fit here. I still want the areas to be areas, with great level design, not just an open, realistic countryside where everything is seamless. I still think the Castlevania game world could be laid out like Dark Souls, or possibly even Ocarina of Time/Twilight Princess (which would be a good fit for a 3D Simon's Questesque game).

Dark Souls is open but not sandboxy, and it has clearly defined areas. Whoever designs the next big Castlevania should study the level design in Dark Souls, not Skyrim. But maybe that's just me... dunno.

They should also study the combat in Dark Souls, not God of War. (without making Castlevania a Souls clone, of course). Then we can talk.

[Flame]

But souls is a terrible idea of how Castlevania combat should work. Souls combat is focused on defensive play, with strategic counters when an enemy is vulnerable. Shield, strafe, and attack while they are recovering from their attack.

Maybe bloodborne will be a better example, but I doubt it, seing as how its just the same gameplay minus the shield, with a dodge added.

If I'm a whip wielding Belmont, I want to be able to do some cool shit with it. I thought LoS had the right idea. It felt like a natural evolution of LoI's combat. It was also a bit simpler. LoS2 has 2 different weapons aside from the whip, LoS just had the whip, and subweapons, with a light and dark magic system to power up the whip.

too combat focused? no doubt. CV should have a bigger focus on the world and environments, AKA it should have some level design and platforming, and not just shimmy ledges.

but I thought LoS combat, even if you tone it down a notch, can still work.

that said, I can see the merit of not having combos. in LoI particularly, they felt really clunky and useless compared to just mashing the 2 attack buttons. and in LoS, while they were cool, and sometimes useful, mashing attack was still usually superior, with maybe 1 combo out of all of them being real good. (Chainsaw, i think?)

so just leaving it at straight and area attacks has some merit too.

Honestly I dont think its possible to really please everyone with a 3D castlevania. someone will always complain about something.

And its hard to make a whip moveset that is satisfying, but isnt reminiscent of something else.

[Nagumo]

I was going to say the same thing as Shelverton. Sand box games usually have really lifeless worlds. And perhaps more importantly, in practice you'll just end up using fast travel to quickly warp between places, making such kind off games just having a glorified level select option. I'd prefer a Dark Souls type of game world, too. Or like Demon Souls' where you can choose between five different "worlds" with 3 or 4 stages each would be fine, too. It really wouldn't matter as long as the areas would be well designed.

I would like a battle system similar to Souls as well. Everybody assumes a 3D Castlevania should always have combos, but this would be way more fun. Every attack you make actually carries weight just like in the classic games. It's way more satisfying and intense. 

[Hiryu]

For you open world guys, are you wanting a remake of Castlevania 64, haha. I recall the initial game plan was to call for more "openness," villages/people, and different monsters during night time hours.

[crisis]

the fanbase doesnt know what it wants
we want everything & nothing at the same time
with a lil bit of something in between
which doesnt make much sense, which is the point

[shelverton.]

i have rather lukewarm feelings for Castlevania 64 and Legacy of Darkness (don't hate them, don't love them either) but I wouldn't mind a combat system like that again, albeit tweaked and perfected and improved uppn and so on. It was rather snappy and simple and felt more like "Castlevania in 3D" than LoI, CoD or LoS ever did to me.

I wish to see a 3D action game again that doesn't necessarily focus on combos. I mean, it could have combos to a certain degree, but I prefer to move at a steady pace through the environments rather than being stuck in arena type battles every other screen. But maybe those things are reserved for Mario platformers these days.

I know I have mentioned PS2 Shinobi millions of times before but I think it was an interesting alternative to DMC and GoW combat. It was really challenging even though enemies had very little health most of the time. The pacing was fucking excellent in that game. You were always pushing forward. Perhaps not ideal for Castlevania but my point is that 3D combat can be done in sooooo many ways. Game developers need to study, study, study. Find inspiration from something unexpected whydontcha.

[crisis]

well the reason u were always pushing forward was cuz your sword Akujiki was slowly but consistently depleting your health, so u had no choice but to "feed" it with enemies blood to keep yours constant lol. i guess it was a form of an artificial countdown clock if u think about it

but that was a cool gimmick, aside from that the general pacing & somewhat frenzy-ness of the game is kinda what a 3D cv should adhere to especially the difficulty

[Dremn]

Personally I like the standard level progression of LoS1, made the game feel like a journey. I'm not too keen on open world games unless they are certain franchises.

In my opinion, they should go and try to remake/reimagine a Simon's Quest like game in 3D if they want to make an open world Castlevania.

[X]

I daresay that if they should decide to remake Simon's Quest into a sandbox 3D game then we are already on our way with the map:

http://www.chapelofresonance.com/wiki/images/f/fd/Nesatlas-map.jpg

Though small in comparison to other Sandbox worlds of today, Konami could expand upon it and give more areas to explore and cleans of evil. A village under siege by Zombies or Ghouls? Need to clean house with a secret coven of witches in the mountains? Need to guard a caravan on it's way to a fortress? Rid a forest infested with giant spiders? Clean out a cave inhabited by troublesome werewolves? Complete the main quest to bring about Castlevania and slay Dracula? Bring on the Belmont.

[Zetheraxza]

Sandboxes are not lifeless. Maybe early ones did. But of course, knowing Castlevania, we need areas. Ranging from small villages to a few good size towns. There will be open vistas with realistic animals around. But then there are Swamps and forests where you fight wicked beasts and then there are graves, caves, dungeons, necromancer's layers and mansions in this world. I want Castlevania game that's alive. LoS has good combat, but I don't wanna be in a combat that takes too long or locks me in an area unless there are bosses. A little bit of WoW undead themed dungeons and ES V like map is perfect for Castlevania in my opinion. Make an ambitious game. Fox Engine Graphic Power house. Give it mod compatibility. Hell, create your own Vampire hunter with Game+ Mode with dynamic reputation/karmic system.

[olrox2]

I know what i would want and it would be simple.

A Castlevania "iga way" on 3ds.Big castle, lot of exploration. Cool powers to collect. Ambitious game that would equal Sotn.

OR

A Platform game pre Sotn style.

[Chernabogue]

I'd be okay with another LoS game. Those guys gave us a timeline where 500 years of Belmont vs. Dracula can happen. So yeah.