Koji Igarashi Kickstarts Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (2.5D, backdash, 2018)

I hope this game has the depth and quirky details and secrets that sotn had. All this was unfortunately missing in the gba and ds games.

I agree 100%.

As good as Order of Ecclesia was, no Igavania game has actually matched SotN in terms of sheer detail of the game world and secrets. The insane amount of tiny artistic background details are what help to flesh out SotN, to me.

I hope this game matches that.
 
I think the last time stump ran stats on this it was something like 90-95%+ of game Kickstarters get delayed past their initial target date.

The shocking thing would be if the game came out on time.
 
This game is looking the best of all the things I've helped Kickstart.

That list includes:

1) Project Phoenix (I honestly feel this will never come out)
2) Mighty No. 9 (extremely delayed and looks disappointing)
3) Chasm (very slow dev, but looks good)
4) La-Mulana 2 (looking good)
5) This (looking good)
 
I think the last time stump ran stats on this it was something like 90-95%+ of game Kickstarters get delayed past their initial target date.

The shocking thing would be if the game came out on time.
If it looks like it's slipping, IGA just has to crack his whip a little and suddenly it's actually shipping sooner than expected.
 
This game is looking the best of all the things I've helped Kickstart.

That list includes:

1) Project Phoenix (I honestly feel this will never come out)
2) Mighty No. 9 (extremely delayed and looks disappointing)
3) Chasm (very slow dev, but looks good)
4) La-Mulana 2 (looking good)
5) This (looking good)

Chasm is looking so good it is just a bummer it's so delayed but at least the game is going to be better for it.
 
Part of what facilitated that was engine and asset reuse, which for obvious reasons isn't happening here. Apples and oranges.

They are using the Unreal 4 Engine though. Also the game isn't coming out until around a year from now it's a much longer dev cycle than a lot of the games he did in this style. The staff is much larger than the SoTN staff was and they aren't exactly reinventing the wheel here.

Realistically I don't think they should have much difficulty in hitting their date.
 
I agree 100%.

As good as Order of Ecclesia was, no Igavania game has actually matched SotN in terms of sheer detail of the game world and secrets. The insane amount of tiny artistic background details are what help to flesh out SotN, to me.

I hope this game matches that.

I honestly do not feel that SotN is the end all and be all of these games and I think it's been surpassed by several of the games that came after it.

Having said that, none of them have beaten SotN on that front of even come close. It would be nice to see that sort of thing return.
 
I think the last time stump ran stats on this it was something like 90-95%+ of game Kickstarters get delayed past their initial target date.

I don't remember ever finding one of a significant size (say, > $10k) that delivered on time. It is extraordinarily unlikely, even once people started setting dates based around the idea that they were going to be delayed.

EDIT: Having just spot-checked, the only video game Kickstarter over $1m that in any meaningful way met its deadline was Shadowrun Hong Kong, the third game (and third campaign) from a developer who had a 100% finished engine and was significantly into the actual game development when they started a campaign for a game they intended to release seven months later.
 
I agree 100%.

As good as Order of Ecclesia was, no Igavania game has actually matched SotN in terms of sheer detail of the game world and secrets. The insane amount of tiny artistic background details are what help to flesh out SotN, to me.

I hope this game matches that.

Exactly, that's the magic ingredient that elevates SOTN above all the others.
 
Exactly, that's the magic ingredient that elevates SOTN above all the others.

Well seeing as in terms of IGA's 2D Igavania titles, SOTN was the last time one was released on console, and Bloodstained would be the return to form in that sense, I'd hope the work into those details in the background and other elements is considered.

If it releases late next year (probably missing the March trajectory date by a few months) but still release in 2017, it would make it 20 years since the last console release Igavania style Castlevania game on console.

I know some may bring up the digital release of Harmony of Despair, but that wasn't a traditional game in the sense that SOTN was due to it's more online / multiplayer focused nature.

Still having Bloodstained release within the 20 year anniversary of SOTN would be awesome.
 
Exactly, that's the magic ingredient that elevates SOTN above all the others.

Think it took me about 4 years across two platforms to fully discover everything in SoTN. The game had a stupid amount secrets, 90% of them being just there because the devs thought it would be cool. I mean what practical purpose would you ever need to use the Sword of Dawn or the tall boots?
 
Please tell me my eyes are deceiving me and that that's not Miriam's boobs jiggling in that short video. Please tell me that I'm seeing things!

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Is it just me, or does the coloring of Dullahammer seem off? The others have a water color vibe, whereas Dullahammer looks plasticky or acrylic.

But I guess that's just concept art. I'm sure they'll all use the same shaders in-game.
 
Please tell me my eyes are deceiving me and that that's not Miriam's boobs jiggling in that short video. Please tell me that I'm seeing things!

Have you ever seen a woman in real life? Their boobs sometimes jiggle.

With that outfit she wouldn't be wearing a bra, so they would jiggle.
 
Please tell me my eyes are deceiving me and that that's not Miriam's boobs jiggling in that short video. Please tell me that I'm seeing things!

Boob physics ftw! Team Ninja is still the best at it, though. Real boobs jiggle. Why can't video game character boobs jiggle?
 
Please tell me my eyes are deceiving me and that that's not Miriam's boobs jiggling in that short video. Please tell me that I'm seeing things!
Given Mariam is about my size in the chest it seems reasonable movement for them, maybe a tad exaggerated but even in a corset or sports bra they would move some so I don't think it was bad all things considered,

Overall I love her movement and the designs are interesting.
 
Both Miriam and the Morte enemy's animations are looking pretty good. The flow of her ribbons and dress make the motion look really natural, it makes sense that they added the ribbons to accentuate the player's movement through the world. I was also surprised how well the flow of her dress in particular has been animated, you can set the video to half speed to be able to see the motion in more detail by right clicking it. The animation seems to be a good step above the last video. Yes, she also clearly has some boob-jiggle, but it doesn't personally bother me too much. They should probably tone it down by release, so it is a tad less obvious, but I think it is so brief and such a quick action-reaction with her movement that in my opinion it is not too bad in in principle.

It is clearly not the focus of the animation or the camera, and as it is so quick that I think they really were just trying to make the animation of her movement active, and not to emphasize her breasts. What's notable is that the animation does not make her chest "bounce" up and down for a while like the worst offenders of this, it is more like it gets deformed with movement and quickly snaps back into place after she stops moving. As everything is a work in progress here, I'm betting they will make it more natural and less pronounced.

Edit:
Please tell me my eyes are deceiving me and that that's not Miriam's boobs jiggling in that short video. Please tell me that I'm seeing things!

I am also not sure if Alex_Mexico is being entirely serious here with their reaction. It reads as being little bit sarcastic, but I might be wrong. No problem having an issue with the animation, but the melodrama in the post comes off as sort of jokey.
 
Dude, have you ever seen a woman in real life?
Real life boobs do no jiggle like that but I now realize that it's more the exaggerated animation of her whole body that gives that feeling so I'm not sure how much of that we're the actual boobs jiggling and how much was her torso. But yeah of course this is a work in progress. I expect this to only look better with time but I continue to wish for Iga to give us a strong female protagonist who's not sexualized. But maybe that's just me.
 
I am also not sure if Alex_Mexico is being entirely serious here with their reaction. It reads as being little bit sarcastic, but I might be wrong. No problem having an issue with the animation, but the melodrama in the post comes off as sort of jokey.
I wasn't being completely serious but I do wish we could get a non sexualized strong female protagonist which is still up in the air so we'll see.

I'm still super excited about this game happening. It's just the depiction of Miriam that has me a little iffy.
 
I am also not sure if Alex_Mexico is being entirely serious here with their reaction. It reads as being little bit sarcastic, but I might be wrong. No problem having an issue with the animation, but the melodrama in the post comes off as sort of jokey.

I'm not too sure about that. In the previous subject on Miriam's bust, you'll see Alex_Mexico always constantly bringing up the issue as a detracting point towards the game. So this seems to be par for the course as usual.

There is nothing wrong with finding the issue in something, but when it comes to the point of bringing it up, over and over and over. It becomes a tired subject when there could be other things discussed about the game.

Another Kickstarter update and the new information it brings will likely be drowned out in discussion in regards of Miriam's appearance....again.
 
I can't see shit, what the hell are you guys talking about?
Right as she dashes her chest moves slightly to the side, it doesn't bounce up or down and while it might move a little far I find Alex's assertion that boobs don't move like that to be ludicrous.

At that bust size and in anything out side of a binder your chest will bounce/move when you make fast movements. Again it's exaggerated but only as much as her dress is to show the movement of the character and really make it stand out as a whole. As a woman I don't see the sexulization to this animation,
 
Right as she dashes her chest moves slightly to the side, it doesn't bounce up or down and while it might move a little far I find Alex's assertion that boobs don't move like that to be ludicrous.

At that bust size and in anything out side of a binder your chest will bounce/move when you make fast movements. Again it's exaggerated but only as much as her dress is to show the movement of the character and really make it stand out as a whole. As a woman I don't see the sexulization to this animation,

I'll admit that that short and blurry video isn't clear enough, that's why I was asking here if someone else saw it besides me because I wasnt sure. I'll reserve judgement for later and like I said, I'm still unbelievably excited for this game.
 
Hey dudes. Just as a general reminder, if you don't want to discuss something, you don't have to discuss it. But we prefer that people not try to prevent other people from discussing things that they personally don't want to discuss. If you're not into it, by all means be proactive and talk about the stuff that does interest you.

Okay, fair point. I understand.

Sorry for the derail.

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Now on the subject of the Bloodstained update.

I've noticed that Miriam does a kick attack. I wonder if there is any functional reason for the existence of the kick attack as opposed to the regular weapon swing.

I wonder if the will include certain enemies with varying weaknesses which the weapon might not be viable and the kick would be better suited instead.

Unless the kick is just her unequipped weapon attack, but I distinctly remember the weapon and kick being separate moves in a previous showcase of the game.
 
Hey dudes. Just as a general reminder, if you don't want to discuss something, you don't have to discuss it. But we prefer that people not try to prevent other people from discussing things that they personally don't want to discuss. If you're not into it, by all means be proactive and talk about the stuff that does interest you.
Definitely, but the boob complaints come every update like clockwork, and there's never really anything new brought to the table each time it happens. It's obviously come to the point that people are choosing not to participate in the thread at all rather than trying to sift through yet another retread of the same topic. Maybe it should be split off into another thread so we can talk about non-breast tissue subjects without interruption and those that really want to sound off on that subject for the 20th time can freely do so elsewhere?
 
I'll admit that that short and blurry video isn't clear enough, that's why I was asking here if someone else saw it besides me because I wasnt sure. I'll reserve judgement for later and like I said, I'm still unbelievably excited for this game.
I'll agree with you that it certainly needs work Alex.

I don't see the sexualization but there is some jankiness to that animation, I hope they fine it and find a sweet spot on it to both be good looking but also really smooth so everyone can be happy with it.
 
Based on what they have so far I'd be very surprised if they can finish it up in one year... I know how long this stuff takes based on my experience with Ori and I wouldn't be surprised if large parts of the map aren't done yet or will be redone, etc.

We have prototypes in development that are way further ahead than what they have and that are still years out of actually shipping.

But who cares, let them take the time they need. And yeah, the people who compare him 'just' making a Metroidvania with the same engine that was used before with a lot of the same codebase with what he's doing here with Bloodstained don't really get it. This game will take him far longer to complete and I'd be very surprised if he manages to do it under 3 years total development time.
 
I remember the previous IGAvania games had four assigned moves to the face buttons.

Basic Attack (Square button), Circle was either a Defensive shield raise (Alucard in SOTN for example) or the Sub-Weapon Attack, X was usually Jump, and Triangle was the Evasion / Back Dash move.

So I guess maybe they added the Kick to replace the shield / off-hand swing, or they removed the dodge mechanic?
 
Enemies are looking good, the updates are promising, and I like the general improvements to Miriam. It's great to have regular info with very little to complain about.
 
Based on what they have so far I'd be very surprised if they can finish it up in one year... I know how long this stuff takes based on my experience with Ori and I wouldn't be surprised if large parts of the map aren't done yet or will be redone, etc.

We have prototypes in development that are way further ahead than what they have and that are still years out of actually shipping.

But who cares, let them take the time they need. And yeah, the people who compare him 'just' making a Metroidvania with the same engine that was used before with a lot of the same codebase with what he's doing here with Bloodstained don't really get it. This game will take him far longer to complete and I'd be very surprised if he manages to do it under 3 years total development time.

Interestingly I glossed upon this in an old post from the previous page (well 100 post per page board setting at least)

To quote myself

The biggest hurdle is the entirely new assets that need to made of this game.

As opposed to Iga's previous works which he could borrow sprites and stuff from previous games. Although SOTN also was mainly comprised of a small portion of assets from Rondo, a majority however was entirely new assets and the game had a dev cycle of roughly 3 years or so, so it's debatable if he managed to refine the process of using Caramel Map as a basis before any art assets, enemy placements, items are incorporated.

It's the art assets which seem to be the biggest hurdle though.

The biggest take away, I think which is probably a positive since this isn't the first time Iga produced this sort of game despite the lack of assets to carry over and needing to create everything all new, hopefully he found a means to streamline the process of map creation based on the previous experience.

Oh, Ori Definitive Edition is excellent by the way. Thank you and the rest of the staff at Moon Studios for the enjoyable game.
 
I hope not the latter, I always liked turning around and back-dashing to move in SotN. :P
Moonwalk of the Night was funny at first but it quickly got tiring for me. It was just so much faster than regular movement that there was really no reason not to use it all the time, and it turns from goofy fun to a chore pretty quick. I'd be happy if we retained a backdash but had it limited similarly to the way later Metroidvanias did it.
 
I am never disappointed when I see an update hit my inbox. I'm really looking forward to this game and I hope they don't let forums and tweets change the design too much. I want to play Iga's game, not somebody else's. That's why I backed it.

I don't want to discourage anyone from speaking their mind, but I can't help but get annoyed with the talk of sexualization. I just don't really see it. I'm sitting here looking at the last animation and studying it for boob physics and I realize I hate that I got persuaded into even looking for it. I didn't see it before, I still don't see it, so I'm left feeling annoyed that it's even being brought up as if it is the latest Nude Raider mod or something. I just don't see it, guys. I mean this is pretty tame in terms of Japanese character design. This ain't DOA here, yknow?

Sorry, I don't know what else to say. I came in here excited to talk about the enemy designs and I got so disheartened to see boob discussion.

Anyway, I really like the enemy reveals so far. The head/flail guy is a cool idea I haven't seen before and I think it speaks to the promise of that Vania feel you get (gothic, vaguely demonic, etc). Plus I love the part about larger enemies that can actually be pushovers. That's something you don't see a ton of in modern games.

Between this and Shenmue, 2017 is gonna be awesome.
 
Moonwalk of the Night was funny at first but it quickly got tiring for me. It was just so much faster than regular movement that there was really no reason not to use it all the time, and it turns from goofy fun to a chore pretty quick. I'd be happy if we retained a backdash but had it limited similarly to the way later Metroidvanias did it.

Ha ha are you guys serious? You felt like you had to do it all the time? I don't know anyone who plays the game like that outside of speed runners.
 
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