The future of Castlevania

Walter

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http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3162527
The above 1up.com interview with IGA is about a week old now, and mostly focuses on the upcoming release of Castlevania X, the Rondo remake on PSP. However, later on in the interview, Iga discusses the future of the series:

[quote author=Koji Igarashi]
I think I've been working on the portable games for long enough, so now's the time to start working on the next gen consoles. I'm actively looking for new talent to create a next gen version and I recently had a brainstorming session with my team members about what exactly it should be.[/quote]
Looks like 360 and PS3 are the next horizon for the series. But then again, later in the interview, hope shines eternal for the DS:

[quote author=Koji Igarashi]
IGA: The crew in charge of the previous DS games is still alive, but at the moment I've been focusing on the PSP game. Sometime after the PSP version released, I'll be able to talk about the next game.
1UP: But that will be DS?
IGA: Yes.[/quote]
 

handsome rakshas

Thanks Grail!
Walter said:
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3162527
The above 1up.com interview with IGA is about a week old now, and mostly focuses on the upcoming release of Castlevania X, the Rondo remake on PSP. However, later on in the interview, Iga discusses the future of the series:
Looks like 360 and PS3 are the next horizon for the series. But then again, later in the interview, hope shines eternal for the DS:

I'm actually excited about the next 3d Castlevania on the next-gen consoles, I really enjoyed the last attempt. Another game for the DS? All I have to say is FUCK YEAH!
 

Walter

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I didn't mean to imply that a next-gen CV game would inherently be bad, it's just bad for me personally, since I don't own a 360 or a PS3 :guts:

I heard good things about Curse of Darkness for PS2, but never got around to playing it. I played through Lament of Innocence, and even though it was almost universally regarded as crap, I liked many aspects of it. Iga did some pretty cheesy stuff with the plot, but on the whole I liked the direction it was taking.

Anyway, as for the DS game, maybe this time it'll be the 1999 story alluded to in Aria of Sorrow... starring JULIUS! :isidro:

PS: UGH: http://www.necaonline.com/series/detail/97
 

Aazealh

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Well, I think none of us is surprised that the next 2D game will be on NDS, and since they released two in a row that break was to be expected too. It's too bad they're not releasing Rondo and SOTN on NDS though (without the ugly remade graphics, who cares about those), at least for me. I'm pretty sure they'd have sold more copies as well.

Concerning the 3D episodes, I guess they'll be in the line of COD and LOI... Which I still haven't played. =)
 

Walter

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Aazealh said:
Well, I think none of us is surprised that the next 2D game will be on NDS, and since they released two in a row that break was to be expected too.
I was honestly surprised they're already working on the next title. PoR just came out last year, though... I guess it makes sense. It'll give them ~1 year development time to be on track for a late 2008 release, 2 years after PoR. I'd just rather they take their time and put out a title with more quality than PoR.
 
I have a Gamer Magazine that I believe stated that their redoing Dracula X, SOTN, and And original Sequel and are going to release as one game. Maybe their just porting them together or some thing. But I heard this like 2 months ago. But they had screen shots and I guess their keeping the 2D side scrolling. But are revamping a lot of the effects and surroundings.
 

Aazealh

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Death May Die said:
I have a Gamer Magazine that I believe stated that their redoing Dracula X, SOTN, and And original Sequel and are going to release as one game. Maybe their just porting them together or some thing.

No, it's just Rondo of Blood being released on PSP, featuring a "classic" mode with the game in its original version, and a remade mode with new graphics. And as a (rather awesome) bonus they're including SOTN. There's no sequel or original game included. The title is Dracula X Chronicles.
 

Aazealh

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Well, Hudson Soft announced today that PC Engine CD-ROM games would be coming to the Wii's Virtual Console soon, 8 games this year and at least 10 in 2008. So I guess we can expect Rondo of Blood to be available sooner or later.
 

Aazealh

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Walter said:
Exxxcellent. Uh, what else was good for that system?

I don't know much about the system, but it had a lot of fighting games, and I know games like Spriggan or Lords Of Thunder are appreciated. It also had the original Street Fighter, games from the Ys series, games based on popular shows like Lodoss or Macross, etc.

EDIT: Well, Ys Book I & II and Chô Aniki will be the first PC Engine games to come out on VC. As a reminder, the Chô Aniki game series is a probable inspiration for Adon and Samson's names in Berserk. :guts:
 

Daijyashin

Berserk is Divine and Human
Speaking as one of the most hardcore gamer of the Dracula X series, I really hope that a similar project as the Dracula X chronicles, would be developed for SOTN.

At last Igarashi said that he will wait the selling of the game, but in this short time, SOTN has been offered again still in 2D (though it's the best ever).

I have played both DS titles, and sincerely, the smells too much for the "new" users of the series. Till the last moment I fear that the new Castlevania series, would be less evilful than before, but Igarashi didn't leave that way.

I'm almost sure that the new title, coming out in the new year, will be not that dark to resemble a Castlevania, (though I admit that the gameplay of PoR was nice, but the atmosphere was bad to me)

I really hope that the same way of producing will lead Igarashi to bring out a SOTN remake of the same style than the Rondo remake.
 

Walter

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Im not even sure what could be updated for SOTN without changing it fundamentally. The game already incorporates the cheesy 2d/3d models the new Rondo has. Graphics are hand-drawn and awesome... what could seriously be improved?
 

Daijyashin

Berserk is Divine and Human
Walter said:
Im not even sure what could be updated for SOTN without changing it fundamentally. The game already incorporates the cheesy 2d/3d models the new Rondo has. Graphics are hand-drawn and awesome... what could seriously be improved?

Yes, I agree with you. But Igarashi said that the starting project was to transpose a remake of SOTN. But it would have required an awesome budget without the certainty of selling well (since a lot of us played SOTN to death :guts:).

But surely the Rondo idea, as the most remarkable remake ever, is not a common thing at all.

SOTN, if I should be extremely fussy (course as you said well, it bounds the perfection as title) should be remapped, improving the details, or implementing some side scenario, such as the long hallway of the Marble Gallery and so on.

Fundamentally, every sprite and every monster should be redraw nin a poligonal point of view.
Surely, detailing more and more the actual SOTN. We will see the true rebirth of God... A worthy event, but since the normal 2D SOTN was recently released even on the XBOX Live, I think that even if the actual Castlevania Chronicles had a super generalaApproval, we would have to wait some years.

Anyway Koji said that he wants to make Castlevania, (even though his team developed PoR) for 20 year from now. So the hope still remains. :ganishka:
 

Aazealh

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http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/10/interview-iga-t.html

Cool interview of IGA. The new NDS game will be announced soon apparently! I also like his explanation for the candles, it's obvious he just made it up long after their introduction, but I like it. =)

I'm kind of interested in the Simon's Quest promotional figure they're making for the PSP remake, the ones NECA already released aren't too bad (and most importantly they're cheap), so I might let get tempted assuming it's available separately.
 

handsome rakshas

Thanks Grail!
Thanks a bunch for the link, Aaz. Fun interview, the explanation for the candles was pretty cool. Sorry I've been slacking with the Castlevania info lately, I've been pretty busy. The Gamestop figure is smaller than the SDCC version, a keychain according to Gamestop.
http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=b190427a
Do I think they could have made a more attractive preorder bonus? Yes. Did that stop me from reserving it at two different stores so I get two keychains? No. Anyway, I've been counting the days until DXC and have waited years for Rondo to come stateside. This is indeed a great time to be a Castlevania fan, a new game next week, another game and a movie in the works.

Oh, and Japan is getting a pretty cool deluxe pack from KonamiStyle. No pics yet, but if it looks awesome I might consider forking up the dough.

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-9f-49-en-15-dracula%2Bx%2Bchronicles-70-299w.html
 

Aazealh

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handsome rakshas said:
The Gamestop figure is smaller than the SDCC version, a keychain according to Gamestop.

Oh wow, well, I don't want it anymore. :schierke:

Anyway, about the movie, I really hope they make something good... IGA already sounded like he didn't want to take responsability for it in this interview. :-\
 
Walter said:
I heard good things about Curse of Darkness for PS2, but never got around to playing it. I played through Lament of Innocence, and even though it was almost universally regarded as crap
Er, from what circle?

(Critic time oh no!) LoI received pretty good reviews for a CV game, let alone in 3d (I think the average is 75-80). I remember IGN giving it a 9 and Gamespot giving it something in the 7s. Throwing aside paid opinions of others and substituting my own, I rank it somewhere in between those scores. I liked LoI a lot, the only people I hear bashing it are those in the same camp over at SF, those that think the formula should never evolve beyond a certain established dimension. Curse of Darkness lowered my expectations for 3d Castlevanias. The visuals even seem downplayed in comparison to LoI and in general the game itself was some of the most tedious hack and slashing I could ever think of. Not really saying there's nothing wrong with LoI, but its one of my favorite Castlevanias and wasn't hampered by 3d.

As for the future, I do want to see a next gen CV, and as you mentioned Walter, the events regarding Julius. I hated how he was portrayed in DoS (Well in general, the story/art being my main and only issue with the game) and don't want to see another version of that without Ayanami's art returning and something that doesn't involve Desu twins. In general I'm scared about the events of "99", the PoR "20 year anniversary" swears that it is the "end" of Dracula, yet IGA promises he wants to make CV last another 20 years? Finally, its one of those games/plans I've let boil in my head since AoS, its hard to imagine what I would hope to be the "best" Castlevania to date living up to expectations. :judo:
 

handsome rakshas

Thanks Grail!
Hey brothas! I couldn't wait until tomorrow do my pal gave me a uh....."advance" copy of Dracula X Chronicles to play tonight at work. I'll let you guys know how it is, looks amazing so far!
 

Aazealh

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handsome rakshas said:
Hey brothas! I couldn't wait until tomorrow do my pal gave me a uh....."advance" copy of Dracula X Chronicles to play tonight at work. I'll let you guys know how it is, looks amazing so far!

Cool! Yeah, be sure to tell us! :serpico:
 

handsome rakshas

Thanks Grail!
AWESOME game so far! The visuals are really nice looking and the redone soundtrack is great! It's weird because you have to look for bonus content in the levels. I have found a couple of music tracks but I heard the original Rondo and Symphony are hidden in the game somewhere. I'm still looking...

Edit: Found Rondo!
 
*Hangs every one a gun.

As you may of heard the Paul W. Anderson is offically making the Castlevinia movie.(Old news) I believe you all know what we must do. :miura:
 

Aazealh

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Death May Die said:
As you may of heard the Paul W. Anderson is offically making the Castlevinia movie.(Old news) I believe you all know what we must do. :miura:

Nah he's been cast aside and now Sylvain White is going to direct it. Apparently even his script that was supposed to just be rewritten at first was pretty much ditched and redone from scratch. Unfortunately, I don't think Sylvain White is a better director... :(

This movie is going to break my heart.
 
Walter said:
I heard good things about Curse of Darkness for PS2, but never got around to playing it. I played through Lament of Innocence, and even though it was almost universally regarded as crap, I liked many aspects of it. Iga did some pretty cheesy stuff with the plot, but on the whole I liked the direction it was taking.
Curse of Darkness was alright. it was very different from most Castlevania games though. It really reminded me of Chaos Legion if you've ever played it. Plus the bonus stuff you can acquire really wasn't even worth it besides the fact that it looked cool. Like you can unlock this pumpkin familiar by compining armor/equipment and going to a specific "hidden location" but he litterally only does 1 damage, so hes no help other then entertainment, as he'll do things to make you laugh.
Lament tied up some loose ends to the very beginning of the story though, just the story behind the vampire killer was worth the play imo.

I can't wait to play Chronicles myself. Just alone for Rondo, that one of my favs. To get to play it in English other than German is a good thing for me. I am happy emulators exist as well as the luck in my finding the game.

Death May Die said:
As you may of heard the Paul W. Anderson is officially making the Castlevinia movie.(Old news) I believe you all know what we must do. :miura:
Yes I know T_T But Frakes is in it, lmao. As the grandpa i think? Unless that was changed recently... and oh no Sonia is in it? wow. I'm scared to see what direction this is going in. I wonder who will play Alucard? =/
 

handsome rakshas

Thanks Grail!
Okay, I just unlocked Symphony! I'm disappointed that it does not take up the entire screen, but the new voice actors aren't bad. I thought I was going to be offended by the new dialogue and voices, but they're pretty damn good. I look forward to seeing the new areas and enemies and I'll keep you guys posted with my impressions. Awesome so far, just wish it was BIGGER!

Edit: Alucard's voice actor isn't bad either. Hilariously, he calls death "old man" after Death tells him to behave in the castle. I'm liking this!

Edit 2: Just found an option that makes the screen bigger. Huge difference!
 

Aazealh

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Tell me when you unlock the original Rondo, I'm curious to hear your opinion on which is better between it and the remake. Personally I still think the remake's ugly, but I'd like to hear from someone playing it. Actually, now that I think, I'll probably ask my coworker to bring his pirated PSP to try it out next week. :guts:
 
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