Topic: Do you like IGA?

[Steve]

In Reply To #82

Soma is definitely, indisputably Japanese.  The "exchange student" thing was just some nonsense made up by the localization staff for Aria and was discarded as of Dawn.  For more of explanation, see this post, because I'm tired of explaining it over and over again.

[Nagumo]

In Reply To #82

Soma is definitely, indisputably Japanese.

[crisis]

Another SotN won't be "fresh and new" because we've been getting knockoffs of it ever since!

[Dark Nemesis]

In Reply To #93

What about at least the sequel of Symphony that we heard and then move onto something new?

[Alexc2808]

In Reply To #94
OoE could very easily be that sequel...  It's mentions Richter  Belmont and if I had to wager a guess, I'd say Alucard and/or Maria will be involved in the Order as well.

[Dark Nemesis]

In Reply To #95

Maybe, but if i remember correctly, they stated that the sequel for Symphony it was going to be on next gen consoles and specifically for X360!

[Alexc2808]

In Reply To #96
I don't think it was ever stated which console it would be on...  But Iga might have said it would be next gen, I don't know.

[Dark Nemesis]

In Reply To #97

Personally, i don't care which console it will be If we are going to have it!

[Long John Silver]

iga said there will be no returning characters in this game though, so no al/maria unless they just get mentioned like ric.

[Sindra]

The CV series has fallen to it's current state due to two reasons:

1.) Stagnant gameplay and lack of ideas

2.) Failing storyline


Unfortunately, IGA will continue to make games that adhere to these two reasons for the ultimate reason: People still buy them. Game producers equate sales of games as a green light that whatever they are doing, they're doing well and should continue to do until consumer sales wane. I believe, since CV fans have been so starved for a game that eliminates the aforementioned major problems, that we (to quote a recent review) "Dive at any scraps of meat as if it were fine stake", and thusly initial game sales are good.

In order for the series to take a innovative and fresh turn to gameplay and storytelling, IGA and Konami both need a swift kick to the balls in terms of critical reactions to their games and game sales. I do think that, short of Konami all out replacing IGA or a "tragic accident" occurring, we will have to deal with IGA's way of doing things for a while yet. (since I don't see him stepping down anytime soon...especially if he thinks he's doing good by the series)

Due to this, it's up to the fans of Castlevania to send loud and clear messages to IGA that we may not be satisfied with the current trend of his games. However, unless a large coalition of fans goes so far as to physically get up close and personal to IGA to tell him straight to his face what's what, it looks like game sales are the next best possible way to get things across. Unfortunately, it's doubtful that this will happen because we love our series too much to just collectively abandon it in hopes of forcing IGA's hand....because if games like Portrait didn't drive us all away by now, we're not going anywhere despite how much we piss and moan.

[A n t r a x x]

In Reply To #100

Well, if he doesn't listen to us, he should at least be listening to the review sites.

Portrait of Ruin scored the lowest a CV has in a long time, and the comments about the formula getting stale and the team getting bored were everywhere.

IGA stated his new handheld character designer (likely the one who did DOS and POR) was getting bored, and so commissioned a female lead to wake him up.

This does not sound like a motivated team up to the task of taking Castlevania to the next level. It's apparent in their sloppy sprite design and their copy-pasta attitudes in building a level.

It's like they know how to produce a lot of content, but they don't know how to mix it together in a meaningful way. So the sub systems kind of stand out from eachother and don't really relate. POR was full of cool sub-systems but it just didn't mesh very well, and the story made little effort to pull it all togehter.

It's nice to have content, but you gotta make sure it fits in your world. The way Jonathan and Charolotte, for instance, merely picked up scrolls to gain their powers; whereas Soma had to steal the actual soul of the enemy. They mean the same thing, but the latter makes a lot more sense where believability and explanation is concerned.

You know... why the hell can Jonathan build up his sub weapons, but Charolotte can't build her spells? Granted she gets a double-charge later, but... see how these don't stand well next to each other?

[Azmodan]

Due to this, it's up to the fans of Castlevania to send loud and clear messages to IGA that we may not be satisfied with the current trend of his games. However, unless a large coalition of fans goes so far as to physically get up close and personal to IGA to tell him straight to his face what's what, it looks like game sales are the next best possible way to get things across. Unfortunately, it's doubtful that this will happen because we love our series too much to just collectively abandon it in hopes of forcing IGA's hand....because if games like Portrait didn't drive us all away by now, we're not going anywhere despite how much we piss and moan.

LOL! Obviously you haven't been to Gamefaqs lately. PoR and DoS both have huge fanbases there, and they can't get enough of those games.

[Alexc2808]

In Reply To #100

Well, if he doesn't listen to us, he should at least be listening to the review sites.

Portrait of Ruin scored the lowest a CV has in a long time

Um... No.
http://www.gamerankings.com
Search Castlevania, it is one of the higher rated games.

[A n t r a x x]

LOL! Obviously you haven't been to Gamefaqs lately. PoR and DoS both have huge fanbases there, and they can't get enough of those games.

This is nothing new and not specific just to Castlevania. Gamefaqs' boards are full of the whiniest and youngest (well they act like it) posters on the net, where game talk is concerened. Unless you throw 4chan into the mix.

[A n t r a x x]

Um... No.
http://www.gamerankings.com
Search Castlevania, it is one of the higher rated games.

Umm... YES!

Harmony of Dissonance

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/554981.asp

Aria of Sorrow

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/589456.asp

Dawn of Sorrow

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/922145.asp

and Portrait of Ruin

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/930294.asp

The rank/reception kept rising a little up to Dawn's deserved 9.0, but PoR fell back to HoD numbers.

I'm not including the 3D games, because that largely had a whole different target audience, and we all know the slacking level design was at fault for their low scores.

And... just for fun:

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/938141.asp

Man, it deserves better than THAT. Basically 3 GAMES on this little UMD, and so much reaply value. I cite the system's much smaller userbase as the result of that score.