Topic: What focus points should the live action Castlevania be ?

[CVfan13]

In Reply to everyone who hates HoD

How could you hate it??? I liked it for the most part. Could've been better. At least its not Haunted Castle...

[A n t r a x x]

I never could understand the hate here behind HoD, given that it blew away its predeccesor.

Nor can I understand why the Chapel of Resonnance loves it so much. It really isn't that good of a Castlevania at all. Droning un-hummable music (awful at times); Boring, uninteresting characters; HORRIBLE -- ABSOLUTELY ATROCIOUS -- sprites, bright neon palette comes off as tacky, lackluster difficulty, mostly boring, ugly level designs (that get repeated), as too much reuse of same tiles, and you can't even find the secret walls until near the end of the game.

What was good was the dissonant map, chapel stage and entrance hall; the dash mechanics and the resurgence of the item-crashes. But it wasn't enough to overcome the lack of finesse in the art, music, story, presentation and pacing. Although they did at least attempt segmneted sprites again.

You could write it off as IGA's inexperience with the GBA at the time. Fine. That doesn't change the fact it isn't all that fun to play.

I'll give you the fact that COTM had some boring backgrounds too, (I think the chapel is great though), but the difficulty kept things interesting, and because of it, the cards do become a necessary upgrade to advance. The castle layout was way more realistic and there was may more interesting platforming.

Also Natahn's run mechanics.... O_o

The music, while mostly remixes, was good, and was recorded at a much higher-fidelity than even AOS. It could use some more fresh blood, but we did get some awesome originals like "Awakening" and "Proof of Blood".

And while the sprites were smaller, they were much more carefully made.

[CVfan13]

In Reply To #77

Surprisingly, I disagree with all of that.

[Azmodan]

Nor can I understand why the Chapel of Resonnance loves it so much. It really isn't that good of a Castlevania at all. Droning un-hummable music (awful at times); Boring, uninteresting characters; HORRIBLE -- ABSOLUTELY ATROCIOUS -- sprites, bright neon palette comes off as tacky, lackluster difficulty, mostly boring, ugly level designs (that get repeated), as too much reuse of same tiles, and you can't even find the secret walls until near the end of the game.

Actually, a lot of members over there don't like it. That said, the music was dissonant- not everybody's cup of tea for sure. But to write off Successor of Fate, Epilogue 1, and Chapel of Dissonance as boring is...interesting indeed. Especially when quality is judged as to whether you can hum it or not.

The palette was meant to be played on a non-backlit screen- a definite improvement on its drab predessecoor. And as bright as it was, it showcased backgrounds that blew away CotM's wallpapery backgrounds and foregrounds- the sheer level of detail in the Entrance Hall, Room of Illusions, and the Skeleton Cave (with its H.R. Giger influences and countless references to CV's past) could even outshine that of AoS. The difficulty level complaint is interesting, especially when the the oft-loved SotN was even easier with the expection of the Galamoth boss fight. The Simon Wraiths and Jumping Bone Pillars would wittle down your health in only a few hits, and they peppered the Shrine of the Apostates B.

What is incredible is the assertion that HoD suffers from boring, repetitive level design- from my experience and going by other reviews, HoD is notorious for having a chaotic, unpredictable layout. CotM, on the other hand, not only had the worst backgrounds that CVIII even trumps, it had the most predictable layout.

[A n t r a x x]

Haunted Castle's so cheap though. Not surprising, seeing as how it's am arcade game. But doesn't make for very comforatble casual play.

Read: inaccessible.

[The Last Belmont]

In Reply To #78

what!? Circle of the moon is one of the best if not the best castlevania post SOTN. Antraxx review is spot on and I wholeheartedly agree, the game was too long and boring with reused bosses and  backgrounds for no apparant reason. While I still find it fun Cotm completely trumps it as well as AoS.

[warfreak]

In Reply To #81

I disagree. Circle of the Moon is fun to play, but it can border on frustrating especially when one needs to grind levels and look for cards. One does not know what these cards will do, nor from which monsters to get them from. >.< There are also some drab backgrounds and the same music for different areas.

Visually, AoS (and imo, HoD) is better. Also plotwise.

[Long John Silver]

circle on the fighter mode is how the game should've been strength wise. you can get through it without much grinding, just with skill because your attack power levels up quicker than all other modes.

[Azmodan]

In Reply To #78

what!? Circle of the moon is one of the best if not the best castlevania post SOTN. Antraxx review is spot on and I wholeheartedly agree, the game was too long and boring with reused bosses and  backgrounds for no apparant reason. While I still find it fun Cotm completely trumps it as well as AoS.

lolwut? Did you not look at CotM's backgrounds? Each area's backgrounds are exactly the same thing; the Catacombs used about three; dirt wall, dirt wall with treasure, and tombstones. The main hall was even worse, opting for just the same arches. There was absolutely no diversity or detail in its backgrounds or foregrounds for that matter. Areas like the eternal corridor are akin to that of a 2D CoD: its just the exact same hallway and enemies, looping for about three times before you move on.

Again, there is no true platforming like that of CV1. It's just leaping back and forth from shelves. You're jumping a lot, but that does not equal masterful platforming at all.

The grinding somehow manages to be even more tedious than DoS, what with having to randomly kill every enemy several times over just to see if it would drop a card, much less anything else of value.

When did HoD recycle bosses? I'm not sure if you mean the CVIII throwbacks (Skull Knight, Cyclops) or if you're confused about something.

[warfreak]

circle on the fighter mode is how the game should've been strength wise. you can get through it without much grinding, just with skill because your attack power levels up quicker than all other modes.

True.. CotM's gameplay, while slightly unbalanced, is good. [It's possible for a skillful player to get through it without grinding, but I am not one of them ] I still think AoS and HoD beat it because the latter two don't give the player a drab experience and they are also great games in their own right..

Admittedly, HoD was a little too easy, even for me.

[A n t r a x x]

I definitely think there should be a build up towards the castle, and the scenes prior take the audience through the countryside.

[Tiamat]

In my opinion, in terms of the soundtrack, it must have music that is both old and new.

For example, new music that feels right at home in Castlevania (like Geoffrey Gunn's work), and straight up rearrangements of classic themes.

If it could pull that off in the music department like Silent Hill did with its soundtrack (and I was indeed amazed by the use of the actual music from the series), then it would be an excellent musical score.

[MDI]

Wait..what the fuck is Castlevania?

[Tiamat]

In Reply To #88

If you mean what kind of music, well I think you know: gothic, adventurous, epic, and catchy.

[MDI]

In Reply To #89

No...

It was a joke..