anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on Jul 17, 2021 15:29:00 GMT -6
So, I noticed a long time back that the spells that have names use a consistent naming and grammar. Always element first, and then (presumably) effect. Light: "Tis"
Fire: "Riga"
Dark: "Fald"
Lightning: "Teps"
So, obviously if it's consistent, the dev team had some kind of planned naming system. My question is, is this an actual language? I thought maybe they were using words in Enochian, but the Enochian dictionary I found didn't match up.
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on Apr 5, 2021 18:18:27 GMT -6
That was definitely one of the most lackluster aspects of Zangetsu mode. Bloodless Mode improved on things a little, by adding in a form of progression and minimal storytelling ("Where have all the humans gone?"), but the extra characters just don't feel all that satisfying to play. I get that some people like the "Richter style" sandbox approach, but in my personal opinion, it should be an option, not tied to a character. Plus, even with a mode that lets you sandbox, they could have had some form of plot to tie it together.
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on Apr 5, 2021 18:14:18 GMT -6
I seem to recall hearing that it was based on map completion, but I can't say if that's right since I don't have a source for it.
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on Jan 15, 2021 8:10:28 GMT -6
Personally, I think that Classic Mode leans a bit too heavily into old school design sensibilities. I couldn't put my finger on exactly what it is, but there's something less enjoyable for me about Classic Mode than Curse of the Moon was.
Don't get me wrong, that's not a fault of Classic Mode. It's entirely a "me" problem. The classic, pre-Iga Castlevanias are beloved by a great many people, and they're considered classics for a reason. I've just never liked them. For me, they were too stiff, and too unforgiving - a perfect example of a series I always thought was cool, but sucked at. Classic Mode plays just like that, with some modernizations, and it's easy to see how it could be a big hit with the people that liked the older games.
The thing is, I did really love Curse of the Moon. Somehow, the team at Inti Creates managed to take the retro style, and adapt the license to it in a way that felt really natural to play. Even someone like me, who hated the way the old Castlevanias before Symphony played (with the possible exception of Bloodlines, but I couldn't ever get far in that either) was able to enjoy CotM...and not just enjoy it, but enjoy it on Veteran. It's hard for me to place why CotM seems to knock it out of the park for me, and Classic Mode falls flat, but that's the way it is. One kept me engaged to fight boss after boss, gradually improving my skills as the difficulty ramped up. The other? I cleared a few screens, but never even made it to the first boss before deciding, "This mode is for people with different preferences from mine."
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on Oct 5, 2020 19:29:51 GMT -6
They...updated the game?
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on Jun 26, 2020 18:58:58 GMT -6
I'm expecting that it's not Dominique because she's actually already going to be playable in Boss Revenge mode.
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on Jun 26, 2020 18:36:28 GMT -6
I don't think we'll see a AAA Curse of the Moon, no, but more Bloodstained? Definitely. In my mind, CotM has been firmly established as its own retro-styled side series, and I think the publishers agree, since it was definitely a design choice to repeat the four playable characters and Normal/Veteran difficulty split for the sequel. Anything with the Curse of the Moon name on it, I think we can expect to continue in the style and loose continuity of the first two, while anything of a more modern design I think will end up under the umbrella of the main series, whatever that ultimately means. I do believe that there will be more of that main series, though. Ritual of the Night development isn't finished, but I don't think Iga founded Artplay just to produce one game. However, according to Giant Bomb, Bloodstained is their "main focus", and I think he's been pretty clear about seeing Bloodstained as part of a series. Plus, who wouldn't want to build off of success? If the point of Ritual of the Night was to show that there was still interest in the old style of 'vania games that Iga was producing when he was with Konami, well...it did that in spades.
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on Jun 21, 2020 3:58:13 GMT -6
It's not necessarily that I'm being insincere. I definitely do feel that the marketing was mismanaged, and that the mode didn't offer all that it could have. My intent in being contrarian is simply to point out that, while it's easy to offer excuses/explanations, there's more than one way to look at those things. It's up to a good marketing team to take those possibilities into consideration, and to the development team to make certain that marketing team understands the scope of content, and how high they should be setting people's expectations.
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on Jun 19, 2020 6:19:24 GMT -6
purifyweirdshard - I was on my school's debate team. Bear in mind that a lot of the time, I am deliberately taking the role of the contrarian for the sake of discussion.
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on Jun 16, 2020 19:34:47 GMT -6
Looked at that way...well, either 505 or Artplay kind of left Mr. Hayter out in the cold too, then, didn't they? I mean, using his name to generate extra publicity after his involvement in the game is ended? As you point out, the trailer got extra mileage and attention out of his name, but he wasn't brought back to voice any additional lines, was he? The essentially asset-flip nature of the mode means that they paid him once and benefited twice. If I really wanted to promote, "We didn't screw this VA like other company did.", that's not exactly how I'd go about it, personally. I'd want the name I was using for star power to actually have a starring role. A bigger focus than just, "Oh yeah, he cameos a couple times."
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on Jun 15, 2020 21:39:28 GMT -6
Well, personally I think it was setting expectations high to have a trailer at all.
In my mind, at least, trailers are reserved for substantial and noteworthy content. Were I making a game, I wouldn't create a trailer for a mode that changed everything to joke dialogue or for a challenge difficulty mode, for example. Those things may change the way the game is played, but they wouldn't represent substantial new content. That's how I see Zangetsu mode. Yes, it adds content, but it isn't substantial content. Had it just been given a patch note, like Boss Rush and Speedrun Mode, it wouldn't have felt disappointing. It would have been implicitly understood that it was just a minor bonus mode. By giving Zangetsu his own full-on trailer, the implication was that it would be a major content update, which would naturally lead people to assume story content.
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on Jun 8, 2020 12:06:48 GMT -6
I'm going to assume one of my posts was among those moved, even though I can still see it. I apologize for losing my temper and rising to bait.
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on May 23, 2020 9:44:36 GMT -6
I like how you justify your entire post with what you should've expected in the the first line to bitch incessantly about a standard extra mode. I like how you come in a week after this thread is dead, with a New Blood account, and try to throw weight around like you're some big shot or in any way relevant. Very brave of you.
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on May 12, 2020 10:21:15 GMT -6
I think there's much more weight given to this little bit of content than necessary. I barely touched the extra character modes in Castlevania games of the past, just fiddled with them a bit and knew they mostly weren't for me, as I was already satisfied and moving on. With the nature of the Kickstarter being how it is, and this as the first content being delivered after almost a year, pressure was on it to be amazing/standout when it's just a tiny portion of what we're to have. I don't disagree that the content was given too much weight. However, I think at least part of the blame for this lies with the way the content was promoted. Giving the mode its own trailer and giving it special billing built it up as something big. Zangetsu/Randomizer was never going to really "turn things around" or save the game from the trouble it's had, to the people who see the game in monumentous amounts of trouble. Zang/rando might not be what some of us want or enjoy. Maybe it is/was just the main game that did it for you, or it'll be everything done as a complete package that finally can let some people say "okay this is good now". Some of us should probably take a step back and look at things for what they are rather than Bloodstained needing to be saved from a status of failure. It mostly just has that in your headspace, and no single pieces of content out of 15 are going to change your mind if your approach to evaluate it is colored like that. Long story short, you might just need to play something else for a while, and come back to this when it seems like something is in it you want to do; if that happens. If not, totally fine - you probably already beat it. This...I don't know where it's coming from. Bloodstained is far from a failure. I never said the game needed "saving" from any faults, or redeemed, or whatever else you want to call it. I don't believe anyone else here did either. That would be a ridiculous stance to take. Bloodstained is a great game (albeit with some...odd...balancing decisions at times). If anything, I'd say it's the fact that the base game is so good that makes the fact that Zangetsu Mode is so bare-bones feel so much more baffling. I feel like I'm being gaslighted here.
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on May 10, 2020 14:57:58 GMT -6
I think that the biggest thing that sets up the disappointment for me, aside from the wait, is this;
For me, this doesn't feel like announcing just a small extra. Everything about the way that Zangetsu Mode was announced, and the game having extra playable characters in general, makes it feel like these modes are supposed to be a Big Deal. Just the voiced lines from David Hayter in the trailer set up an expectation for some kind of story. Plus, it was packed into an update with Randomizer. Now, I know some people probably like the randomizer mode, but I don't think it can be considered a full game mode either, and it's definitely not as major as the Roguelike Mode it replaced would have been. Honestly...in my opinion, the inclusion of a randomizer is just a bid to get this game more exposure on Twitch and Youtube. It's content creator bait, not something for the core audience. Which leaves me with the question of, if Zangetsu is just a sandbox mode, and Randomizer is just a gimmick, what was the "star" of this update? We were promised something major. They thought the update was a big enough deal to make a promotional trailer for. So why is it just filler content?
Also, there's the "Richter Mode" aspect. Now, as I said, I am well aware that's how guest characters have usually been handled in the past. Why do that here, though? In almost every aspect, Bloodstained has been an improvement on the formulas of the past. It's taken the best aspects of Iga's legacy, and refined them. Shouldn't this have been a chance to do more with extra characters? There have been extra character modes with their own story in Castlevania. Even in the tie-in game, Curse of the Moon, there was a story for playing as the other characters. So why does Zangetsu feel like such a huge step backwards, presenting content in the most minimal way like when the concept of bonus characters were first introduced, rather than embracing the best that the past has to offer, if not improving on it, the way the rest of the game does for the Castlevania formula?
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on May 7, 2020 13:07:23 GMT -6
Zangetsu doesn't get a story mode of any sort? I figured the reason he took so long was because they were adding a small side story. Oh well, lol I have to try him out. Maybe I'll still find him fun. Honestly, that's what I thought as well. It doesn't seem like the moveset should have taken all that long, especially when the animations were all done already. He does have a good moveset, and being able to change the elements on your sword is neat, though even there I find some quirks. Like that while you have his grappling hook as your fixed directional ability, there's also a triple shuriken projectile, and a spammable rising slash, making it redundant to use.
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on May 7, 2020 12:40:42 GMT -6
All right, let me preface this by saying that, honestly, I should have expected this. Guest characters in Castlevania games have always been this way. You get a character with their own moveset, but they start off powerful and you really just play around with them. That's...fine...mostly. However, we had to wait a long time for Zangetsu. More than that, it was given more hype and billing than just "here's an extra toy you can play with". It was billed as a major feature of the game, and a mode in its own right. What's there...well, it's lacklustre. It doesn't have that spark that I'm looking for, and far from reigniting my spark to play a game that I love, it snuffed it out.
Zangetsu at the very least deserved to get a story. Seeing either the story of the game through Zangetsu's eyes, or an entirely new story that picks up after the game ends (less likely), would have given playing as Zangetsu a sense of purpose, and a sense of discovery. For someone who's gotten all the achievements and seen all the map, the current Zangetsu Mode is sorely lacking that. You can get basically anywhere from the start of the game, and Zangetsu is only unlocked post True Ending. Yes, you do still have the ability to level up, but there's two problems with that. First, on the critical path you start overpowered and can easily gain enough levels to stay that way. If you take advantage of your mobility to get to sequence break, you'll run into enemies that give you trouble unless you level up some, but that still just feels like grinding...it's busywork. As Zangetsu, the game becomes a big playground with nothing to really do in it. Nowhere emphasizes this more than Arantville, an empty ghost town without even the ability to talk to NPCs, it was there that I realized just how little interest I had in just going wherever I wanted and steamrolling. I'd already done that as endgame Miriam, and there it had a purpose. Miriam could actually use the money I collected, could craft items with enemy drops, and power up shards. Zangetsu doesn't need to do any of that, and without the thread of story to tie things together, it all just filled me with a profound sense of ennui and borderline nihilism. Nothing I do matters, so why do anything at all?
It's a real shame, because there was a lot of potential to do things with Zangetsu. If you have him run a parallel story, there's plenty of chances to make that work. We know he was doing things while Miriam was on her own journey. There's even times where we're really left to wonder what he was up to. It would have been great to not just go through the game with his moves, but see the world through his eyes. Not to mention gameplay. Even with what a badass he is, there could have been progression, or at least some puzzles. Let's say that you didn't want to gate some of his abilities in his mode. You could still present him with unique challenges and paths to open. For instance, that cannon wall on the critical path is already opened for him, but did you know he can still open the shortcut with the other cannon? His fire sword lights the fuse. Imagine if there had been obstacles that required different techniques to clear. For that matter, stop assuming that they had to front-load him and imagine if he had to unlock his elements instead. Killing bosses could have led to him gathering their shards. After all, the lore tells us that you don't have to be a shardbinder to collect the shards, only to absorb them. Dominique could have had Zangetsu bring her shards in exchange for rituals that would afford him greater control over his curse, thus unlocking more elemental powers. Maybe in addition to money, sets of common shards could have been turned in for stat upgrades to replace the HP and MP increasing items, or like food for Miriam. Even the alchemy system could have still been used for accessories and armour, not to mention consumables, which the game really ought to still have for Zangetsu.
Enemies still deal damage, and can still cause status effects. Why is healing not a thing Zangetsu does? Why is a "you have all movement abilities, but you can't heal" mode not just a difficulty option or challenge, instead of being tied to a character? Especially a character that is not particularly difficult. All of this makes me feel like this content was not very well thought out. It's playable, and it works, but as I said before, it feels as lifeless as the empty environments left behind by gutting out content. (Seriously, not even enemy placements or upgrade items where things used to be?) The experience is all surface level, with nothing underneath.
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on Apr 15, 2020 10:13:19 GMT -6
With a randomizer replacing Roguelike Mode, I'd like to see some other options added to it.
For instance, randomizing the statistics of items, so that armour and weapons aren't just in different places, but of different value. I think that would encourage trying out different weapons with different movesets.
Also, changing the victory requirements. Even if from a dropdown menu, more options than just beating Baal would be nice. At the least, options like "Beat all Bosses", "Collect all Story Shards", or "Complete all Quests".
...and speaking of quests, maybe add a few more places for Benjamin to wind up, so that his quest can be randomized too.
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on Sept 10, 2019 8:13:54 GMT -6
These are changes oriented at players seeking challenge, and weighing the basic variety of shards. If this is your stance, then you have negated everything else you have to say. Players "seeking challenge" should not be playing on Normal difficulty, and should not be the target for the baseline balancing of the game. Full stop. Normal difficulty should be balanced for normal play. Challenge starts at Hard and above. There should probably even be an Easy difficulty for people looking specifically not to be challenged, though that is a separate argument still. However, there is absolutely no case to be made that the game should be balanced at baseline to players "seeking challenge". This isn't a souls-like, nor was it ever marketed as such. It is, and was marketed as, a successor to the Igavania generation of Castlevania games, which were overall a very accessible and beginner-friendly series of games, not known for offering particularly high levels of challenge.
|
|
anonthemouse
Loyal Familiar
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
Posts: 161
inherit
1770
0
Jun 28, 2023 2:03:14 GMT -6
149
anonthemouse
[TI2]What lies in wait behind the walls?
161
Dec 7, 2016 4:34:32 GMT -6
December 2016
anonthemouse
|
Post by anonthemouse on Aug 16, 2019 17:18:35 GMT -6
How it is going with the zangetsu playable character development for ps4? Probably not the right topic to ask about that.
|
|