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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2011 11:17:34 GMT -5
Yeah, I remember that brief moment when they tried to switch over to the Castlevania name in Japan. They were saying that they wanted to have the freedom to explore other enemies than Dracula within the franchise. Blech, puke, barfart.
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Post by Warchief Onyx on Jun 4, 2011 11:19:31 GMT -5
Yeah, they wanted to make the game more about the actual Castle than Dracula.
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Post by robertagilmour on Jun 4, 2011 12:16:29 GMT -5
But what is so wrong with that? How can that invalidate the rest of a game?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2011 13:20:50 GMT -5
It would be like Konami making a Silent Hill game that wasn't about psychological horror, and instead focused on cheap scares and combat.
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Post by megatronbison on Jun 4, 2011 13:28:07 GMT -5
It would be like Konami making a Silent Hill game that wasn't about psychological horror, and instead focused on cheap scares and combat. Silent Hill Homecoming just picked up it's phone and said "ahoy-hoy?"  |
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Post by robertagilmour on Jun 4, 2011 13:51:20 GMT -5
But how is the essential flavour decided by specific characters? If you played a small section of that type of Silent Hill game, you would know the approach of the game was wrong, but if you played a small section of a Castlevania game not knowing if your hero was a Belmont or if Dracula was in it, you'd still have an idea if it had captured the essential qualities of the series.
There is a big difference between getting the stylistic approach wrong and changing characters about.
It would be perfectly possible for another developer to outdo Castlevania at its own game without using any of those characters.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2011 14:15:41 GMT -5
It just wouldn't seem like a Castlevania game to me. I am not the end-all authority on what is and what is not "true" to Castlevania, though. Kurt still holds that title, I believe.
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Post by susanismyalias on Jun 4, 2011 14:26:32 GMT -5
Castlevania IS the story of whips, Belmonts, hearts, Dracula, and potroast. Just like a car IS a transportation device with four wheels.
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Post by muteKi on Jun 4, 2011 14:50:51 GMT -5
Just like a car IS a transportation device with four wheels. Then what does that make the Reliant Robin? (inb4 scathing comparison to Dawn of Sorrow) |
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Post by robertagilmour on Jun 4, 2011 15:05:01 GMT -5
Soul of Darkness and the new Bloodrayne would generally be seen more or less as Castlevania games and they would be mostly judged on how well they compare to the gameplay and aesthetic of the real Castlevania series. The choice of characters has little to do with how they would compare.
How differently would you enjoy Aria(imagining it had no mention of Belmonts or Dracula) if it was not even intended as a Castlevania? MrP of the Castlevania Realm website said Aria had the best story in the entire history of the series and was the most complete effort of the GBA games.
If there was a upcoming bunch of Castlevania games I would be asking about the feel of the gameplay, does it have evocative music and settings, variety and quality of monsters etc...
I apologize for persisting about this so much Jason, but it really baffles me. Any ingredients chosen for a game should fulfill a purpose, the Belmonts and Dracula seem added mostly for the recognition and status quo of the series, rather than anyone biting their nails wondering what might happen next in the never-ending fights of the Belmonts against Dracula. People come back to a series for the essential pleasures that it fulfills and although the characters have an influence on what people enjoy about Castlevania, I think all the other elements would be seen as more important. I stopped playing Lord of Shadows because the controls felt like a heavy burden (among other disappointments), lacking what I regard as some of the essential pleasure of the series, although I thought the levels often looked wonderful but that was the only thing I think they got right.
I had to look up Juste to see if he was a Belmont and he is, I couldnt remember. But he looks more like a substitute for Alucard.
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Post by personman on Jun 4, 2011 16:13:52 GMT -5
Pretty much just echoing what a couple others have said I guess but Harmony is one of my least favorite of the bunch while Dawn and Circle are on top.
In particular I loved Circle so much because the thing was actually difficult. Yes, it was somewhat due to the need to double tap to run but other than that the enemies were rarely push overs and you had to pay attention to what you were doing. I know these kind of games aren't capitalized on their combat (outside of the bosses of course) but it always bothered me that even in Super Metroid after getting to the third area I never had to worry about anything being able to kill me for the rest of the game. Circle on the other hand even had enemies in old areas scale up once you beat a boss that pointed you to backtracking there, I thought that was genius. Hell, I even liked the way it looked. Subjectively it was pretty bland but the overabundance and drab and dingy environments just made things more interest to survive in. And admittedly the game just makes me nostalgic since the time of release a lot of exciting things were going on in my life.
Then Dawn and Aria while easier were much batter polished and had the soul system which kind of felt like the Card thing from Circle. I'll get booed at for this but I like Dawn more then Symphony because its still harder, had just as interesting areas, and the soul system made it a lot deeper, and I think Soma is a lot more interesting of a character than anyone in the whole franchise.
Harmony everyone had driven into the ground so I wont say much, but it really bothered me to no end that I ran around and searched for all that furniture and got absolutely nothing for me trouble. The nature of the little side quest was too bizarre for comfort anyhow. Anyways, my two cents.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2011 16:52:35 GMT -5
Jesus Christ. Has it really been 10 years since the GBA came out? It's amazing to think about how pissed off I still feel over the lack of a backlight on that monstrosity.
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Post by lanceboyle94 on Jun 5, 2011 20:45:13 GMT -5
You know, they really need to get off their asses and do the Julius Belmont game- give me shit hot platform action and less empty rooms- gimmie bosses that kick your asses for decent reasons and aren't just a war of attrition! Konami should make a Castlevania like the classics for the DS. Even if they cheap out and release a port of Adventure ReBirth I'll be happy! I'm not too keen on Metroidvanias (although Aria of Sorrow was quite good) |
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seethoven
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Post by seethoven on Jun 5, 2011 22:35:44 GMT -5
You know, they really need to get off their asses and do the Julius Belmont game- give me shit hot platform action and less empty rooms- gimmie bosses that kick your asses for decent reasons and aren't just a war of attrition! Konami should make a Castlevania like the classics for the DS. Even if they cheap out and release a port of Adventure ReBirth I'll be happy! I'm not too keen on Metroidvanias (although Aria of Sorrow was quite good) I haven't played it but I've heard Portrait of Ruin is closer to old school Castlevania than any other recent incarnations. |
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Post by Warchief Onyx on Jun 6, 2011 0:31:28 GMT -5
Portrait of Ruin is sorta like some bizarre mashup of Castlevania III, a typical Metroidvania, and a 2D Lament of Innocence/Super Mario 64. CV3 from the tag-team aspect (though you could have both characters out simultaneously), LoI in that most of the levels are self-contained, fairly linear with light exploration elements, and connected via a central hub. And Metroidvania in that said central hub is a fleshed out, explorable Castle in its own right instead of JUST a hub.
I would say Order of Ecclesia is more "old school" than PoR (in that it's closer to its obvious inspiration of Simon's Quest than PoR is to Bloodlines/CV3), though neither's really anywhere near that sort of design.
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