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Castlevania |OT| A miserable little pile of episodes - Netflix 7/7

Z

zashga

Member
Watched this tonight; liked it a lot. Biggest issue I had was the audio balance, which made it hard to understand some of the voices. I'm also a little surprised how hard they went with
the evil priest angle, though I guess with the bishop dead that might be done now. Or not, depending on what the arch-bishop's "indiscretions" were and how important that thread ends up being. I guess it's also possible that the bishop didn't really die and will re-appear as a demon or something
. Personally, I'm hoping for more classic monsters in the next season.

Loved the depictions of Trevor,
Sypha
, and
Alucard
. It'd be cool to hear some classic Castlevania themes, too.
 
K

Kinsei

Banned
zashga said:
Watched this tonight; liked it a lot. Biggest issue I had was the audio balance, which made it hard to understand some of the voices. I'm also a little surprised how hard they went with
the evil priest angle, though I guess with the bishop dead that might be done now. Or not, depending on what the arch-bishop's "indiscretions" were and how important that thread ends up being. I guess it's also possible that the bishop didn't really die and will re-appear as a demon or something
. Personally, I'm hoping for more classic monsters in the next season.

Loved the depictions of Trevor,
Sypha
, and
Alucard
. It'd be cool to hear some classic Castlevania themes, too.
Click to expand...

If the bishop didn't really die then I'd say it's highly likely that he'll become Shaft. The dark priest from Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night.
 
F

Firemind

Member
OnPoint said:
I don't agree that Dracula isn't the villain. I agree his motivation is sympathetic. But at no point is genocide an acceptable response and it makes him a monster.

Lisa not aging can be handwaved away by Dracula's science and somehow slowing or halting the process.
Click to expand...
I think it's implied that the church used the Belmont family for vampire genocide in the past, which is why Dracula is more or less the only vampire around in Castlevania. And when all vampires were eradicated, the church excommunicated the Belmonts. So it's not as black and white as you may think. Dracula even said people could oppose the witch hunts. Mob mentality and general indifference and ignorance don't make them absolved from the deed. It's a parallel to today's world where indifference and ignorance helped make Trump president / Brexit happen.

Also one of them is a goat fucker.
 
S

SpaceBridge

Member
Just watched it and loved it. ALOT.

Had no idea Castlevania had such lore and plot to it.

If I wanted to get into the games; where would you guys recommend I start keeping in mind what drew me to the Netflix series is the lore and characters.
 
R

Retro

Member
SpaceBridge said:
Just watched it and loved it. ALOT.

Had no idea Castlevania had such lore and plot to it.

If I wanted to get into the games; where would you guys recommend I start keeping in mind what drew me to the Netflix series is the lore and characters.
Click to expand...

Castlevania really isn't a plot heavy series, for most games it's an intro crawl and an ending scene with the rest being tucked into the manuals, if that. The games didn't try to get too story-centric until Symphony of the Night and got progressively more talkative from there.

Super Castlevania IV is the game everyone recommends to newcomers; there's not a ton of story but it'll give you an idea what the series is all about (with the difficulty dialed back a bit). You'll get a solid taste of the mechanics, atmosphere, music (oh god, the music) and such.

Symphony of the Night is another good stating point, though you'll technically be spoiling yourself on the Netflix series (don't worry about it though, it'll just get you excited for things to come). This is where the games went from "tough-as-nails-action-platformer" to "Metroidvania," and may be a bit more accessible (and certainly more available).

One last note; the Lords of Shadows games are their own little continuity so while they have more story than most Castlevania games, it's not exactly the kind of story Castlevania is known for and it takes a lot of liberties with the characters.
 
S

SpaceBridge

Member
Retro said:
Castlevania really isn't a plot heavy series, for most games it's an intro crawl and an ending scene with the rest being tucked into the manuals, if that. The games didn't try to get too story-centric until Symphony of the Night and got progressively more talkative from there.

Super Castlevania IV is the game everyone recommends to newcomers; there's not a ton of story but it'll give you an idea what the series is all about (with the difficulty dialed back a bit). You'll get a solid taste of the mechanics, atmosphere, music (oh god, the music) and such.

Symphony of the Night is another good stating point, though you'll technically be spoiling yourself on the Netflix series (don't worry about it though, it'll just get you excited for things to come). This is where the games went from "tough-as-nails-action-platformer" to "Metroidvania," and may be a bit more accessible (and certainly more available).

One last note; the Lords of Shadows games are their own little continuity so while they have more story than most Castlevania games, it's not exactly the kind of story Castlevania is known for and it takes a lot of liberties with the characters.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the response.

I was eyeing the Lords of Shadow game for 3ds.

Is Synphony of the Night playable on PS vita?
 
R

Retro

Member
SpaceBridge said:
Thank you for the response.

I was eyeing the Lords of Shadow game for 3ds.

Is Synphony of the Night playable on PS vita?
Click to expand...

I have the 3DS Lords of Shadow game on Steam and found it to be pretty mediocre, and with it serving as the middle chapter of a saga that's completely off the rails in terms of what the mainline series (and thus, the Netflix series) is doing... I can't honestly recommend it.

I don't have a Vita, but I can't imagine any reason it wouldn't be playable. If you can find Dracula X Chronicles, that includes Rondo of Blood as well (a "Classicvania" that SotN is a sequel to). That'd be a great way to approach it, though the voice acting was redone so you won't get to experience the maximum ham that SotN's lovingly known for.
 
R

roflwaffles

Member
Gonna be real - I never played any Castlevania before LoS so most of this was new to me.

So when Trevor appeared, I originally thought it was a flashback for some reason lol.
 
M

mantidor

Member
SpaceBridge said:
Just watched it and loved it. ALOT.

Had no idea Castlevania had such lore and plot to it.

If I wanted to get into the games; where would you guys recommend I start keeping in mind what drew me to the Netflix series is the lore and characters.
Click to expand...

Castlevania does not have much plot but it has plenty of lore, like, a lot. This might sound strange coming from someone who hasn't play Symphony of the Night but seriously, just start there, its the game that is the core of what Castlevania is about. Netflix's Castlevania is based more around Castlevania 3 but I have this feeling it's more of a homage than the actual direction they want to take the show.
 
Sinfamy

Sinfamy

Member
Watched the first episode, a gripe as a Romanian is that the church portrayed in the show looks Catholic, when Romania is Orthodox and looks vastly different.
But fiction of course.
 
F

firelogic

Member
Considering it's only 4 episodes, they paced it agonizingly slowly and it literally ends when the story proper is about to begin. As a first season, it's mediocre to bad. Once we get another 8 episodes, my rating will hopefully go higher as it won't just be a glorified teaser.
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
firelogic said:
Considering it's only 4 episodes, they paced it agonizingly slowly and it literally ends when the story proper is about to begin. As a first season, it's mediocre to bad. Once we get another 8 episodes, my rating will hopefully go higher as it won't just be a glorified teaser.
Click to expand...

Its a first season in name but its basically the first third of the actual first season. Its like if you watched the first third of any other show where its all set up and world building but got none of the main body of the story. I think once all 12 episodes are out the entire story will work a lot better.
 
Dr. Zoidberg

Dr. Zoidberg

Member
I've enjoyed watching the show but the lack of any reference to the games' music is pretty disappointing, especially for Castlevania where the music is one of the best things about it.
 
Davey Cakes

Davey Cakes

Member
Calling this a first season isn't far off from calling Babylon 5's "The Gathering" or Battlestar Galactica's Miniseries the first seasons of those shows.

Castievania S1 is basically a pilot movie.
 
R

Rygar 8 Bit

Jaguar 64-bit
Dr. Zoidberg said:
I've enjoyed watching the show but the lack of any reference to the games' music is pretty disappointing, especially for Castlevania where the music is one of the best things about it.
Click to expand...

yeah the lack of the music and the monsters was a bummer but theres always season 2 hope they are taking in all the criticism
 
J

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
Rash said:
Calling this a first season isn't far off from calling Babylon 5's "The Gathering" or Battlestar Galactica's Miniseries the first seasons of those shows.

Castievania S1 is basically a pilot movie.
Click to expand...

I think the difference here is that "The Gathering" was 2 hours versus 22 episodes in B5 S1 and BSG's miniseries was 4 versus 13 episodes in BSG S1. Castlevania's 4 episodes versus 8 episodes in S2. It doesn't really seem like much of a difference to me.

Of course, it might seem like I'm just tossing numbers around for no reason. Maybe I am. But the point I'm trying to make is that a pilot movie that's as much as 50% the length of the next chapter doesn't really feel as much like a pilot to me. If Babylon 5's first season was 4 episodes long, then this would make more sense to me, haha. (That would suck though.)

I haven't seen Castlevania, for the record; I searched "Babylon 5" on GAF just now to get back to my B5 topic and ran into this. I kinda wanna watch this but I have no familiarity with the franchise.
 
F

Flux

Member
Finished watching just now. It feels more like testing the waters with a pilot movie-length episode. It was still enjoyable, just kind of wanted more going in expecting a "season". Didn't read anything about the production so I like the throwback with Castlevania 3 and how the whip really nails those demons.

Audio and voice work for Dracula are kind of hard to understand. Got the gist of what he was going for because he's Dracula, but I didn't know what was actually said to spook the villagers.
 
A

AndersK

Member
Well, that was awesome. I rarely Watch animation, and i haven't played any Castlevania. I only know there are whips and Dracula. I'm pretty impressed! Almost made Alucard not be a lame name
dont kill me

Some of the action reminded me to get on with watching Korra, got lost somewhere in the first season. Or something else?
 
N

NealMcCauley

Member
You know more than anything I'm glad this is getting a second season because Armitage has a gift for swearing with that voice, and his dialogue in seasons 1 & 2 will hopefully be ample enough to make a fantastic new fan cut of The Hobbit.

I enjoyed this more than I expected. Flaws definitely but the groundwork is beyond solid.
 
A

Auron_Kale

Member
NealMcCauley said:
You know more than anything I'm glad this is getting a second season because Armitage has a gift for swearing with that voice, and his dialogue in seasons 1 & 2 will hopefully be ample enough to make a fantastic new fan cut of The Hobbit.

I enjoyed this more than I expected. Flaws definitely but the groundwork is beyond solid.
Click to expand...

Armitage had some really choice swears in this series, which is why I found his VA work to be quite endearing for Trevor. I hope he gets more great lines as his deadpan delivery were great.

Boobahzone said:
Why did they use Trevor and not Simon? Is it cause he's named Simon?
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that they went with Trevor's story as it its impact is related to Richter Belmont's eventual meeting with Alucard during the SotN storyline.

...oh and probably because he's not Simon.
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Castlevania 3 had more to work with even if that was bare bones in terms of characters and such. 1 and 2 its basically Conan the Vampire Slayer though I think a season after the Trevor storyline could work if they fleshed out Simon being cursed and then the subsequent quest to gather Dracula's body parts to cure himself. That and Simon needs a good redesign and some side characters to bounce off of.
 
A

Auron_Kale

Member
The design they went with for Trevor seems to be a mashup of Kojima's designs for both Trevor and Simon (due to the big furry cape).

So hopefully with Simon, while I like the Conan the Barbarian look... he really needs some trousers unless they make the hot pants work.
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Boobahzone said:
True, I forgot about that. Trevor is cool. If they do introduce other Belmonts in the future, I hope they make them unique. I was hoping for a more barbarian-y Trevor and Simon would be "generic hero" Belmont.
Click to expand...

Simon is the Barbarian looking Belmont.

1316460-60801_blowup.jpg
 
B

Boobahzone

Member
HStallion said:
Simon is the Barbarian looking Belmont.
Click to expand...

That's right. I had to look it up to make sure after I made that post. I guess it's weird to name your barbarian guy Simon. If Richter gets introduced they could make him a martial artist. Then they could forget Maria exists until she gets older.
 
B

Bobby Roberts

Banned
I thought this wasn't bad. I'm not a huge fan of the Castlevania story (I actually don't remember any of it at all) - had a friend who was a NUT for all the stories, but they just glanced right off me, so whatever changes/alterations/bastardizations that people familiar with those games' stories were having problems with basically didn't apply at all.

There were a couple times where Trevor looked like he was a John Romita Jr. drawing, which I thought was kinda cool.

The animation was choppier than I'd have liked but I got the sense this wasn't a high-budget affair, which also came through in the audio mix - I basically had to force my reciever to mix it down to 2 channel stereo to get a proper soundstage - the multichannel mix was just rough.

Between this and Ellis' adaptation of GI Joe, I think I'd give the nod to that production over this one, but both of them were a lot better than I feel either had any right to be. This one just felt a little more rushed (even with the multiple dead spots over the run) than that did.

Hoping the second season adds a little more polish. Looking forward to it.
 
A

Auron_Kale

Member
Razgriz-Specter said:
Funny thing is they even incorporated the terrible Judgement design well.
The hair is definitely inspired by it.
Click to expand...

The hair wasn't too terrible compared to that look but yeah, I'd have preferred it if Trevor's hair looked more... natural versus that choppy mess.

But at the same time, it does somewhat reflect Trevor's nomadic look which is why I'm mostly fine with it.
 
B

Boobahzone

Member
Just Finished it. I really liked it. The animation and audio is nothing remarkable especially when they linger on people speaking really slowly which happens a lot. I was hoping to see some Grant the Nasty mostly because he seems like such a weirdo in the games. Maybe he'll be in the next season. I also think the creature design could've been better considering the pool they have to draw from.
 
B

Bobby Roberts

Banned
Plaguefox said:
Everything else was good enough for an adaptation like this. How didn't they get any music rights? Are we just deaf?
Click to expand...

Well the sound mix was pretty bad (I do wonder how shoestring this whole operation really was) but it's not like themes got buried in the mix. I may not have any sort of serious grasp on the games' stories, but I do remember a lot of the music, and it really did seem like none of it was in there at all.

I can't imagine licensing the music would have cost all that much more - or that it wouldn't have been included with the license for the show itself? I don't know exactly how that all would have worked, but you'd think that getting the rights to make a show out of the game means you should have access to the music of that game.

So either the budget was that prohibitive, or it was a legitimate oversight.
 
A

Auron_Kale

Member
It's a bit odd but I found the lack of music seemed to hold my attention more than had there been music, but again, the sound mixing for the show itself was poop.

The omission of Bloody Tears though in any shape or form was quite jarring.
 
R

Razgriz-Specter

Member
Plaguefox said:
Both my wife and I wonder: where was the music?

Everything else was fine. But when she, who has barely played SOTN and nothing else, was wondering why the music was basically non-existent, I knew something was up.

Everything else was good enough for an adaptation like this. How didn't they get any music rights? Are we just deaf?
Click to expand...

Considering all this was mostly set up 10 years ago and the script was approved back then im guessing soundtrack would have needed new approval or oversight and potentially an extra cost.

I can see the crew making a case about it to Netflix and Konami for S2 though especially with that going more towards the main part of the games and having S1 as PoC.
 
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