It truly is and one of my favorite castlevanias
-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Koji Igarashi Kickstarts Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (2.5D, backdash, 2018)
- Thread starter PranooY
- Start date
Same here.
Ignoring the story, I wonder how Iga feels about it as a game. He did kind of borrow the whole battle arena idea for a few of his own titles (Curse of Darkness's Tower of Eternity, Portrait of Ruin's Nest of Evil, Order of Eclessia's Large Cavern, etc)
I'm guessing there's probably several out already that you never played.
Astral Dog
Member
Im not sure where but i remember IGA saying the Circle of the Moon team was absorbed with his own, at the very least since Portrait of Ruin if not before.
CoTM was not perfect, but it was a strong title with great music, challenging bosses, and good atmosphere (even if it looked very rough and was unfit for the GBA screen)
I know I need to play Shovel Knight, but what else????????????
Igarashi commented about Circle of the Moon in EGM's preview for Harmony of Dissonance. I don't know what the policy is on old magazine scans, but it can be looked up on Castlevania fansites. The N64 Castlevanias and CoTM were considered "Another Story" by the developer but were reinstated into the timeline around the time of Portrait of Ruin or Curse of Darkness (Legends was left out for several reasons, like interfering with Castlevania 3's story).
EGM Harmony of Dissonance Preivew ~ 2002
Our prayers for a new Castlevania in the 2D tradition were answered in the form of last year's excellent GBA launch title, Circle of the Moon. All was well for a time as we basked in the glory of its excellence, but when it was over, we hungered for more. More is exactly what we're about to get with Harmony of Dissonance, the latest chapter in Castlevania's long running saga.
For the GBA encore, Konami has given the series back to the able hands of Koji Igarashi, the visionary behind Symphony of the Night (PS1), a game that all but reinvent Castlevania with its Super Metroid (Super Nintendo)- inspired gameplay.
"[Super Metroid] is a great game that had a lot of direct influence over Symphony," Igarashi tells us during a recent visit to Konami's American headquarters. "I can't wait for Metroid IV on the GBA."
After acknowledging his roots, he went on to say that his latest game, Harmony, recaptures SoTN's delicate balance of fast-paced action, epic exploration and deep RPG-isms like growth and expansive inventory.
"Don't get me wrong," Igarashi explains while we get hands-on with the prerelease version of Harmony, "I thought CoTM was a well-made game, but there were certain aspects of it that I thought could be improved."
Well, from the few hours we spent with his latest creation, it looks like things have more than just improved from CoTM - Harmony is better in nearly every respect. This is the successor to Symphony that we've all been pining for.
"It was difficult to balance out the CPU resource needs," he says. "This time, we allocated much more processing power to graphics, as opposed to CoTM, which concentrated most of its resources on music."
For the GBA encore, Konami has given the series back to the able hands of Koji Igarashi, the visionary behind Symphony of the Night (PS1), a game that all but reinvent Castlevania with its Super Metroid (Super Nintendo)- inspired gameplay.
"[Super Metroid] is a great game that had a lot of direct influence over Symphony," Igarashi tells us during a recent visit to Konami's American headquarters. "I can't wait for Metroid IV on the GBA."
After acknowledging his roots, he went on to say that his latest game, Harmony, recaptures SoTN's delicate balance of fast-paced action, epic exploration and deep RPG-isms like growth and expansive inventory.
"Don't get me wrong," Igarashi explains while we get hands-on with the prerelease version of Harmony, "I thought CoTM was a well-made game, but there were certain aspects of it that I thought could be improved."
Well, from the few hours we spent with his latest creation, it looks like things have more than just improved from CoTM - Harmony is better in nearly every respect. This is the successor to Symphony that we've all been pining for.
"It was difficult to balance out the CPU resource needs," he says. "This time, we allocated much more processing power to graphics, as opposed to CoTM, which concentrated most of its resources on music."
Tales from the Crypt Castlevania's 20th Anniversary Blow-Out - 1up.com
http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3152109
IGA: (about CotM, C64, LoD) These games were taken out of the timeline, not because I didn't work on them, but because they were considered by their directors to be side projects in the series, especially Legacy of Darkness and Circle of the Moon. The only exception to this trend is Dark Prelude (Castlevania Legends) - I intentionally redacted it from the timeline so that it doesn't conflict with the timing used in other titles.
Koji Igarashi - Castlevania Wiki
http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Koji_Igarashi
http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Koji_Igarashi#About_IGA.27s_Games
CVG: What advancements have you made over the first Castlevania title on GBA?
IGA: First of all, the screen is visible.... it's much, much brighter than it was with Circle of the Moon. With our Harmony of Dissonance, you will not be frustrated too much with the darkness of screen. What I learned from Circle of the Moon was that the game control wasn't good enough - that was one of the major issues I felt was frustrating with the game. The game control wasn't that responsive. In this game, you will notice that game control has improved a lot from the previous game in the series.
Another major enhancement will be enemy characters. You will confront various dynamic monsters in various animations, and they're lovely and awesome! Please experience the multi-joint animated characters here with our game! System-wise, you'll notice that we have a new one called "Spell Fusion," whereas CotM had "Dual Set-up System." We all agree that CotM has a good system, but the card attribute did not match with the world Castlevania had established over a long period of time, so we strictly stuck with spells and magic and a sub-weapon type of system here! Let me explain as we go further with this interview...
IGA: First of all, the screen is visible.... it's much, much brighter than it was with Circle of the Moon. With our Harmony of Dissonance, you will not be frustrated too much with the darkness of screen. What I learned from Circle of the Moon was that the game control wasn't good enough - that was one of the major issues I felt was frustrating with the game. The game control wasn't that responsive. In this game, you will notice that game control has improved a lot from the previous game in the series.
Another major enhancement will be enemy characters. You will confront various dynamic monsters in various animations, and they're lovely and awesome! Please experience the multi-joint animated characters here with our game! System-wise, you'll notice that we have a new one called "Spell Fusion," whereas CotM had "Dual Set-up System." We all agree that CotM has a good system, but the card attribute did not match with the world Castlevania had established over a long period of time, so we strictly stuck with spells and magic and a sub-weapon type of system here! Let me explain as we go further with this interview...
charlequin
Banned
Axiom Verge (good), Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (good), and Ori and the Blind Forest (awesomesauce) have both come out this year; Xeodrifter (apparently short and alright), Guacamelee: Better Edition (the base game is amazing, anyway), Full Bore (more on the puzzly side), Batman Blackgate (bad), and Strider (apparently pretty solid) hit in 2014. Valdis Story: Abyssal City technically came out in 2013, but they only made the final finished release, with all the playable characters, a few weeks ago.
If you're willing to go further afield, Castle in the Darkness is an excellent exploration action-platformer that takes somewhat after Castlevania 2, and Super Win The Game is a Zelda 2 clone.
Shovel Knight isn't a Metroidvania at all, it's 100% a classic action-platformer. Outland is another fantastic example.
Thanks for the list! Guess I need to start with Axion Verge and Shantae! Don't have an XBO or running 360 for Ori (looks awesome though!).
Does anyone know if IGA/Inti ever said if the Sprite based prequel game was supposed to come out before Bloodstained?
When I was going through the comments he made and first got to the "things could have been done better" thing I wondered what he could be talking about. When he actually went into specifics I kind of agree that those were legitimate weak point for the title and he addressed them or at least attempted to with HoD.
That being said just about everything else aside from those was stronger in CoTM and while I don't feel the controls in CotM were bad they could be improved, HoD went a different direction with them and I don't think they worked as well.
Ori is also on PC if you have one that can run it.
I'll just throw this in there in case some people forgot about it:
http://www.chasmgame.com
Another kickstarter game that is in development. This one is actually toted as a Metroidvania since day 1, and I think that when it finally comes out it would be a good game to hold some people over until Bloodstained releases.
It's got procedurally generated maps too.
http://www.chasmgame.com
Another kickstarter game that is in development. This one is actually toted as a Metroidvania since day 1, and I think that when it finally comes out it would be a good game to hold some people over until Bloodstained releases.
It's got procedurally generated maps too.
Finale Fireworker
Member
That actually does look good. I wish it was hitting Vita too. It would be hard for me to get into it on a giant HDTV. Especially with the authentic resolution.
Yep. Kickstarted this day one, even though I don't really have a computer to play it on. Luckily it's coming for PS4 and said something about upgrading to that for a small fee or even free.
I can recommend BloodRayne: Betrayal by Wayforward. (PC, Xbox 360, PS3) The core design team was made up of the people that formed Yacht Club Games and made Shovel Knight.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/281220/
BloodRayne: Betrayal developer diary with director Sean Velasco (and now Captain @ Yacht Club Games)
#1 https://youtu.be/Sh8HSpyWkT0
#2 https://youtu.be/pASJ9h4Pmd0
It's not a Metroidvania, but stage based like classic Castlevania with exploration during the stages and action like Mega Man X with a Castlevania vibe. It kind of controls like SoTN, and there's also a bat-like transformation. The game plays best with an Xbox 360 controller. The soundtrack is Castlevania-ish and you can unlock an 8-bit NES soundtrack http://virt.bandcamp.com/album/bloodrayne-betrayal-official-soundtrack
Well the whole thing is procedurally generated, so meh.
theSlacker
Member
Astral Dog
Member
Nice cover, lots of interviews with IGA lately, i wonder what could they ask that wasn't asked before 
names2hard4you
Member
Woah that looks so damn good!
Destructoid/Game Fan are making a online/print magazine (digital version comes out later this week to everybody) with an exclusive Bloodstained interview/story. Cover art was cool so I thought I'd share what I found.
Zero Lab?? Hope thats not gonna ship like that.
Didn't know about it to begin with. Looks pretty cool, not too hot on the idea of procedurally generated maps for the main game but that's not enough to stop me from checking it out.
Destructoid/Game Fan are making a online/print magazine (digital version comes out later this week to everybody) with an exclusive Bloodstained interview/story. Cover art was cool so I thought I'd share what I found.
Wow that art looks great. It will be interesting to see how the overall aesthetic shapes up over the course of development/
Pitch Black Flint
Member
Destructoid/Game Fan are making a online/print magazine (digital version comes out later this week to everybody) with an exclusive Bloodstained interview/story. Cover art was cool so I thought I'd share what I found.
Holy shit, if I didn't know anything about this game, that artwork would have sold me on it.
FF Seraphim
Member
Quoting this post so I can look at it later and see what I am missing from said list.
HellBlazer
Member
Send a message on Kickstarter, I guess?
Though today's update says they are very close to launching the Bloodstained site.
DecoyOctopus
Member
Destructoid/Game Fan are making a online/print magazine (digital version comes out later this week to everybody) with an exclusive Bloodstained interview/story. Cover art was cool so I thought I'd share what I found.
"What if Samus Aran was a nature photographer?"
?
???
Destructoid/Game Fan are making a online/print magazine (digital version comes out later this week to everybody) with an exclusive Bloodstained interview/story. Cover art was cool so I thought I'd share what I found.
That settles it. If equipped weapons are for two hands, I'm havin' two whips.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Metroid Snap confirmed!
HellBlazer
Member
Sounds cooler than Federation Force... <_<
CorporateClown
Member
I just want to throw out another recommendation for metroidvanias, if it hasn't already been mentioned: Alien Infestation was a blast and IMHO my favourite Alien game until Isolation came out. Plus, the ending theme is downright magical.
Sword Familiar
178% of NeoGAF posters don't understand statistics
Pokémon snap was fun. I'd welcome this.
I tried. haven't heard from them - been a few days. guess I'll just wait a little more
Alex_Mexico
Member
Didn't they announced last Friday we'd get a new update from them "early this week"? It's already Friday in Japan. Did I miss it?
Also, I've gotta come clean: I take back those few times I complained about Bloodstained's Kickstarter. It's wasn't perfect (none are) but after seeing Shenmue's and Red Ash's I realize just how incredibly well managed and thought out was Bloodstained's. Hats off to Iga & Co.
Also, I've gotta come clean: I take back those few times I complained about Bloodstained's Kickstarter. It's wasn't perfect (none are) but after seeing Shenmue's and Red Ash's I realize just how incredibly well managed and thought out was Bloodstained's. Hats off to Iga & Co.
Graphics Horse
Member
Might be a spell book in her other hand? I have no idea.
Stone Ocean
Member
Bloodstained's KS was janky but at least they showed they knew what they were doing by quickly picking up the pace to the point we've even seen a glimpse of an early prototype version of the game.
In your defense, lot of us thought the KS was poorly managed at first.
Alex_Mexico
Member
It wasn't just that. It was the physical copies, it was the console ports announced from the start, it was the additional ports announced in a timely manner, it was the clear-as-day stretch goals and publisher deal, it was the ingenius social achievements, it was the great use of every social media, it was the PR, it was the launch AND closing streams they made with a bunch of guests.
Bloodstained set the bar of what a gaming Kickstarter can be.
I remember seeing stuff like that the first couple days but in retrospect I just kind of dismissed it. I think a lot of us were just really excited about the project (Myself included) and that was just part of how it manifested for some people. Once they caught up with the early momentum they stated in everything really well and they did so many things right I could go on and on about it.
Excellent job all around.
Not every Kickstarter is as privileged, don't forget that
I think you have to wait for surveys? Did you send a message to Fangamer or anyone else running the campaign?
The only thing I can recommend about Betrayal is the fantastic soundtrack. I pushed myself all the way through that game and was severely disappointed with it. Starts off OK enough, and yeah it's not ugly, but the combat is too easy with exploitable strategies and the level design is pretty banal.
New update
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iga/bloodstained-ritual-of-the-night/posts/1286023
Three more NPCs, do it IGA.
Also, the surveys for our platform of choice should come at the end of this month.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iga/bloodstained-ritual-of-the-night/posts/1286023
IGA said:
Three more NPCs, do it IGA.
Also, the surveys for our platform of choice should come at the end of this month.