Design-a-Castlevania

[A-Yty]

Maybe I should've saved some of this crap for an article but here's something that LoS and the "CV timeline crisis" got me thinking.

Castlevania: Destiny Beyond / Exodus

This would be the "Crisis on Infinite Earths / Infinite Crisis / Zero Hour" of Castlevania. It would retcon things, clean up the timeline and basically end the CV universe as we know it by starting a new one. By the end of the game, things would come to a sort of conclusion.

Main points of the plot:

Dracula would get to destroy the world.
Dracula's enemies would do the necessary, but difficult sacrifices to prevent the end of all existence.
The biggest threat would not be Dracula, but rather what the long battle has brought about.

Story: The struggle between the Dark Lord and his opponents (as it has been separated from LoS and things in the timeline that simply don't make sense) has caused a malfunction in the flow of time, largely due to the so called heroes trying to get rid of evil forces by tampering with time. To prevent complete erasing of everything, the history of the Dracula vs. Humans war needs to be corrected and the war has to end.  Now, I know that largely due to its overexposure as a plot device in fiction in general (and Judgment..grr..), time travel has become a curse word but bear with me.

It would be the final chapter in the "IGA/Classicvania" timeline and because cramming all things in one game might not be the best idea, the story would offer both catharsis and leave room for more prequels/sequels explaining the rest of the story in case the game would do well in the market. Example: the Belmonts would show up at the middle of the story, go on a mission and return later. The game would not be needlessly detailed about what happened during their mission.

There would be multiple playable characters and you could play the missions in whatever order you choose. Depending on the character you finish the game with, you would have a completely different ending. In Dracula's case: ultimately he gets freed of his curse, but not in a sappy, simple way. Rather, his sinister persona would be manipulated by powers greater than him (but not in a too simple way). He would be as arrogant and cruel as he has always been. Playing as him, we would even get to kill Belmonts and other do-gooders and see a possible future where he has destroyed humanity. The time distortion thing would largely explain all the inconsistencies of the timeline.

We would play as St. Germain who, along with other time-travelers, would play a key role in the story. As St. Germain, you would finish missions by reversing and stopping time and primarily using fencing skills (Move, Kinetic etc., anyone?)

Small touches: use of the candles depends largely on the character; for the heroes, it mostly contains useful stuff. Destroying candles darkens the area and can cause trouble or be used for advantage. So you can't just go around smashing them blindly.

Belmonts..their final mission would be the 1999 battle. There would be multible Belmonts to play as, due to the time traveling.

These are just a couple of the playable characters I can think of at the moment. They would all have their individual strenghts and weaknesses.

After the credits, all endings would offer a teaser glimpse of what the next continuity might bring about; what would happen to the characters, who would be included in it and so on.

And here's the cherry on the top; it wouldn't have to contradict LoS nor would it have to follow it blindly. It could please both LoS lovers/IGA haters and Classicvania Timeline respecters. It could be a bridge between the continuities.

The primary focus would be on gameplay. Platforming, bats, whipping, subweapons, whip-swinging, Balls of Destruction (hehe), magic, soul-stealing, wall meat eating (sorry, I just had to..), nostalgia..you name it. This game's got it. It would be all about what makes Castlevania great and getting rid of what it doesn't need.

[ParasiteX]

Ok. This is the second time I'm writing this post. The first time I was automatically logged off and when I pushed the 'preview' -button my post was deleted into the oblivion. Since I don't want all that brain activity go to waste, I wrote it all anew.

I believe the original message was something like this:

I remember the times when games were simple. Those times it wasn't required for the game to be perfect in every definition of the world, but no one really appreciated clones. The original was always the better one and so people learned to appreciate everything new and unique. Bringing in something completely new is a risky thing to do, but if it won't flop, it will be remembered forever.

My console(3D) Castlevania contains giant robots, lazer whips and space Dracula who seeks to harvest souls by turning planets to demon slavery. Also, yes, it's laZer with a 'z' because "laser" sounds like something a kid would play with eventually blinding himself. And if you say that middle-age horror and sci-fi can't be put together, I can reassure you that I've already done it. Besides, anything that involves a lazer whip can't fail.

Story:
Main character isn't a human but a humanoid being who arrives to his home planet from being on a trip (he could have been smoking weed for all we know). A horrible sight awaits him as he finds his beloved planet in terror, full of undead, demons and evil humans that turn out to be vampires. The main character's family has been killed and he goes on a revenge. Despite of these events not turning out on Earth, the environment quite resembles any middle aged scarytail: it's loyal to the dark and morbid horror atmosphere. The main character manages to defeat the evil that has been set upon his home, but the prize he pays is high. He also finds that the real culprit is the evil human lord, Count Dracula, who is still out there spreading evil and chaos amid the Galaxy.

Plot:
It's the 37:th century space travel age. Humanity has lost Earth to the evil vampire lord Dracula and his minions are now spreading across the universe like a plague. Our hero goes on a quest to stop the forces of darkness.

Races & Characters:
Apart from all the undeads, demons and vampires:, there are mechs, golems, humans and aliens. Golems are a new race that separated itself from the Dracula's magic and mechs are highly sophisticated machines. Mechs are technological, golems magical, humans and aliens are from the between. The main character can find allies and take them with him to the battles, but he can have only three followers at a time. It's possible to switch between characters much like in PoR. There's at least one character available that has the Belmont Bloodline.

Items and Weapons:
There are magical and technological items and weapons. The more you use one type, the weaker becomes the skill to use the other. Items can be purchased from merchants, are dropped by enemies and are hidden all across the universe. Technological weapons include guns, modified meelee weapons, and a whip that can be upgraded and modified to give electric shocks, burns, freeze etc.  The magical weapons include magical abilities, enchanted weapons, and spells that are based on an elemental scale (fire, ice water wind etc.).

Gameplay and tactics:
The gameplay is a realtime combination of skill and tactics. The key points to win a battle is to evade, dodge, and change weapon types to fit the purpose. It's possible to lock on to enemies and to preform combo attacks.

Navigation and map
The map represents a part of the Galaxy overtaken by evil. It contains many planets, ships and hidden bonus levels. Each planet has a nest of evil, which must be destroyed to free the planet. The navigation in the map is based on the idea that it's not possible to move beyond headed area unless all evil is perished from the path. The player has to reach into the core of the map to destroy the ultimate evil, Dracula, who resides in his castle on Earth. Earth can be reached from many directions. Some additional stores and locations can be found on the edges of the map.

Levels:
Levels are varying environments on different planets and different nests of evil, from which some are castles. This creates a whole new meaning for the term "Castlevania" as we strugle or way through castles, one more bizarre than the other. Sometimes there's an element present in the level, which makes the elemental tactics important. Additional paths that lead to bonus levels are found much like in Order Of Ecclesia.

Music:
We have the usual classical, creepy sounds, badass metal aaaaand INTRODUCING PSYTRANCE TO THE GENRE. Imagine this bloodrush fast tempo drum'n'bass when you splice enemies asunder with your lazer whip!!!

So, did I win a cookie now??      :afro: