Topic: Simons Quest: Revamped Again (fan project, in development) Want Suggestions

[metroidquest]

I've just been trying to help out with little details that would lead to a better experiences, I hope it isn't coming out in the wrong way 

Not at all, my friend. I'm going to see about working in those in. Any thoughts on making the cross an actual subweapon?

[X]

It would be nice to have the cross in there as well, however both the silver and golden knives kind of make it redundant. The only thing the cross would have going for it is the ability to come back to you once launched.

[Wallz!]

Not at all, my friend. I'm going to see about working in those in. Any thoughts on making the cross an actual subweapon?

Rondo of Blood does a great job of making the knives and crosses act differently. The cross has smooth acceleration & deacceleration in that game, and if you can throw it at an enemy at just the right distance, you can stack up to 3 or 4 powerful hits on it during the time it turns around.

If you're looking for a more deviating approach, perhaps you could throw the cross in any direction? I believe the Simon you are using has animations for that. Let's say you'd get it after Camillla; it would seem a bit overpowered at first, but it could actually really help against the ghosts you currently have in Castlevania and maybe lead to some more brutal enemy placement in the new areas of Castlevania. (I think you said you were doing that..)

[zangetsu468]

Can I make a really random suggestion, if Simon is carrying the "Morning Star" the day/ night cycle should never occur. Apparently the Morning Sun (Star) vanquishes the 'horrible night'. Just a thought.

[ProjectDread]

What purpose does the Day / Night cycle in Simon's Quest even serve other than to inconvenience the player and slow down progression?

[zangetsu468]

Viewed in context, the day/ night cycle was supposed to add a layer of difficulty and realism to an NES game.

I would suggest a hard mode where it's night all the time in the outdoor areas. Also I don't see the point of incorporating night time into the towns because it means you just have to walk around to kill time if you want to buy items and so forth. Unless there's a specific reason to be entering towns at night.

[Wallz!]

The Day/Night cycle concept is something many things in Simon's Quest suffer from. Great concept, bad implementation. In my game I have certain people that only come out at night, enemies having different strategies at night, enemies giving more experience and higher drop rates at night, certain items that change their use depending on the time of day, etc., just to give you some ideas. Maybe enemies like the werewolf could be like a fighter during the day, but transform into werewolves at night? Insetad of doing more damage they just change the game up. Citizens could still go in at night, but maybe have the shopkeepers hide in a different place and charge more during the night for the price of convinience. (Maybe if they're one of those hidden shopkeepers in the original, they could go to that hiding area during the night?) I also think the churches should always be open since they are your save areas.

TL,DR:
I think it'd come out a lot better if the nighttime was a new world in a way, rather than just turning the difficulty up. There's endless possibilites with this.

[zangetsu468]

The Day/Night cycle concept is something many things in Simon's Quest suffer from. Great concept, bad implementation. In my game I have certain people that only come out at night, enemies having different strategies at night, enemies giving more experience and higher drop rates at night, certain items that change their use depending on the time of day,

I like all of these things conceptually.
Might I suggest the addition of being able to 'sleep' in the church? What this would add is the ability to skip from day to night with 1 function, rather than waiting.

How does the actual transition of day-night work, no text boxes one hopes?

[ProjectDread]

If the day / night cycles only exist to "double the enemies HP" and slow down your progression, I don't think it's even worth having in the game. I'm not so much speaking solely of MetroidQuest's game, but rather of the many faults Simon's Quest has that hurt the overall experience. I played the demo, and too frequently I felt as though the game didn't value my time as I'd enter a town because I needed an essential item only to see random tanky ghouls aimlessly wondering around. This does nothing to help the game. Why am I forced to wait 5 minutes killing the same enemy over and over again? Why can't I enter the houses of villagers during the night? Why can't I visit a save room? It literally adds nothing of value to the game.

Something feasible that I'd suggest is, as zangetsu468 pointed out, making towns still function even during the night. It can easily be explained away as something like, "it's dangerous during the night, so we put up lots of lanterns and have guards standing by at the borders of our town to prevent any monsters from wondering in."

[piscesdreams]

I agree, the guarded towns makes more sense. There could even be an area where the guard fails.

[metroidquest]

I've been adding in many of your suggestions. When it comes to the day/night, I would like to keep it as is to honor the original. Whether you hate it or like it, that's one piece of nostalgia I am going to keep in.

Here are some other reasons:
1) faster leveling up
2) the game counts days. You only have 5 days to beat the curse.
3) you can still travel to other areas. It gives you some extra grinding time.
4) I have added difficulty modes in. Perhaps in easy mode you can stay at a church during a night. (and lose a day)

[BMC_War Machine]

To add another cool feature to the night would be make certain shops sell certain items only at night. It would be a good way to throw the player off when they find out, and would add more exploring/backtracking to get key items.

[PixelPusher]

Hello folks. I'm am new here. I could add in some functions/features based on the original to make the game a bit more enjoyable. I like the day/night system in general but having to walk around to much at night to get to a town in the day time to buy something was a tire.

I actually just played through the original and beat it but got the bad ending. Took 14 days! As far as the day/night system being in the game I always thought it was tossed in there as part of the story. Simon, as planned by the developers was supposed to pass away anyhow do to the story that's why the normal/average ending he finishes off Dracula but carries on in the after life himself. That should be true considering most the newer CV games did not have Simon in it unless it was one the older generation Castlevania timelines.

1 - As in SOTN place some teleport doors so Simon doesn't have to walk so far back and forth.
2 - Allow the day time to last 2x longer than the night time and make the time between them longer.
3 - Add a new Mansion with everything in it and a boss battle.

But anyway this is a nice project. Always wanted a remake of CVII.

[metroidquest]

OK, so things are coming along nicely in Version 2.0. I need to ask a question of you all that's been bugging me:

Should I bring back "Momentum" in the jumps?

Right now, we have a lot of control over Simon while he's in the air. Although most classic CV games have a jump where you can't control much in-air, but the newer games allow for greater control. My goal was to make this feel like the newer games, but I got some comments in favor of the alternative. What say you all?

[theplottwist]

OK, so things are coming along nicely in Version 2.0. I need to ask a question of you all that's been bugging me:

Should I bring back "Momentum" in the jumps?

Right now, we have a lot of control over Simon while he's in the air. Although most classic CV games have a jump where you can't control much in-air, but the newer games allow for greater control. My goal was to make this feel like the newer games, but I got some comments in favor of the alternative. What say you all?

I say you should keep the momentum BUT allow for a very slight movement in the air. Think Super Mario Bros, where you can still move Mario after he jumps, but just slightly.