Dominique as a playabe character! (Poll AND Discussion)

(I hope I won't mess up in my reply. Ahem)

Dominique has been drawing attention for sure since she was unveiled as a character.
Would she be playable? The signs do point to yes. Would I approve of it, absolutely.
An Japanese demon-hunter (Zangetsu) and now an exorcist... two different approaches on solving the crisis, two different battle mechanics, yet the same goal in mind. I'm sold on this.

As for your questions, I will do my best into replying to them properly.
Let's go!

1) Yes, additional characters in the Castlevania games rarely got a plot and that was particularly sad.
In CSOTN's Richter Mode, it is true that a certain crucial battle doesn't appear at all and you then can directly go... somewhere.
That said, it wouldn't have hurt to put some scenes explaining that history changed and that Richter went on his own and succeded in that (Some negative event is inexistent as well).

The same goes for the few games that succeeded.

I could be said that CSOTN had completely unfinished parts, like the castle textures in the cutscenes or the menu... (explained by Master IGA himself in the "Devs Play" vid I posted), that the handheld games had a limit in cartridge capacity.
I do feel that this argument is not legitimate anymore, especially that there is no corporate pressure, just a deadline that has been set.

In sum, Miriam, Zangetsu and now possibly Dominique should have an in-game plot, interactions and parallel routes (it would be even more fascinating if some bosses reacted differently towards the characters, like in the Megaman X series).

2) I guess that Richter mode (then Maria mode) was a full throwback to the classic Castlevania games.
I was a bit sad that the exp system did not apply to them but I guess it was part of the deal.

Making it so BOTH systems would be implemented on all characters as unlockable (a choice between the RPG elements and CV-like modes) would be wonderful.
...And of course, the first story (Miriam with the usual Igavania elements) would be unchanged.

As for leveling, I guess that the same approach on all characters should be the same.
Playing as a seemingly OP Richter then him being way less effective if not squishy the further you progress kind of disturbed me back then.

3) After a good discussion with DevAnj in the Bloodstained discord (Hello to you!), the general idea there would be for Dominique to be a strong wielder of Holy Powers/Magic.
She would probably be our titular mage (maybe an expy of Charlotte Aulin). But here are some questions to consider:

• Could she fight with other means than incantations? (We need something fresh!)
• If not, would she get offensive spells only (Beams of holy magic everywhere), or allowed to have some healing magic? What about channeling times?
  
• Would she be prone to be the glass cannon? Could she be a half-tank instead? Would she get alternate outfits making her leaning more towards the offensive or the defensive type or a balanced one?
• Would she have to resort to weak weaponry? (I am not asking about ridiculously-sized weapons, though)? Should it be the classic mace only?

Etc.