Design Review Poll for Castle Design and Miriam's Room

actually, a hospital/asylum type area would be cool, problem is i think something like that would go one of 2 ways, if its its own area i think itd end up being redundant if theres a torture chamber, cathedral, and alchemy lab already in the game

however, if this sort of area was set at a crossroads between those 3 areas (and you need to visit all 3 before you gained access to it so you get the full effect), where all the different ideas of human physiology and torture, providing aid to your fellow man, and pure experimentation came together in this subtly twisted way set against the already gothic landscape, could make for a truly unsettling place to venture through. itd be very hard to pull off, but if done right it could make for a very memorable area

I mean, its not like stuff like a torture chamber (which would be a room, not a region) of a laboratory are even confirmed. It's a shame something like an infirmary (which could give us an actual castle section) wasn't suggested earlier. I like it more than a lot of the options already on the poll list. Plus, similar to as you said, it could actually incorporate rooms/sections from the choices already on the list.

will the castle just be one big 2D map, or will it exist in layers at this point? it is a big thing to make note of.

There are just over 100 voters who have participated. Mana with these numbers it's easy to calculate a percentage. Should we lock the thread or leave it open?

Heh. I was going to wait until tomorrow (a week) to say anything but if you're going to push on the subject than I feel empowered to speak up. So yeah, at this point, I think everything that is going to polled on this subject has been polled. We aren't going to get a significant number of new voters and the overall patterns/ratios haven't really changed in days. If I were to summarize this data (boy it it kind of hard to read though ) I'd say:

Castle Sections
Garden (64)
Observatory (58)
Ballroom (57)
Theater (57)
Treasury (54)

50% (Majority) cutoff---------------------------------------

Bell Tower (49)
Overgrown Tower (47)
Coliseum (46)
Living Quarters (45)
"Sacred Grounds" (43)
"Submerged Grounds" (42)

The majority of those polled would like to see a Garden, Observatory, Ballroom, Theater and Treasury be sections within the castle. Fewer, but a non-insignificant number, would also be keen to seeing a Bell Tower (perhaps somehow linked with Miriam's condition), Living Quarters section (similar to the Demon Guest House of Dawn of Sorrow?), an Overgrown (with vegetation) Tower with perhaps a large Alara Une type boss and a Coliseum. "Sacred Grounds" are somewhat nebulous in their meaning but I think can best be approximated by some background concept art already done for this game. "Submerged Grounds" are another nebulous category but likely refer to something similar to any of the water-logged areas in past Igavanias (see the Forbidden Area in Aria of Sorrow).

*As a personal interjection, I think it would be really cool that if a garden gets into the game that it really plays up the lush and vibrant aspect of it (think a botanical garden) and if there was an observatory that it really plays up the "space" aspect of it (maybe even mess with the gravity of the section). Also a Treasury taking queues from the Treasury stage in Super Casltevania IV would be super swell.

Castle Rooms
Waterfall (56)

50% (Majority) cutoff---------------------------------------

Torture Rooms (51)
Wine Cellar (46)

The majority of those polled would like to see a Waterfall in the castle. Fewer, but a non-insignificant number, would also like to see "Torture Rooms" and a Wine Cellar.

Miriam's Room
Miriam's Room starts out simple but can be upgraded over time (73)
A ghostly piano or similar motif that can be used as a sound test or to change background music (56)

50% (Majority) cutoff---------------------------------------

Expansions to Miriam's Room - Armory, Familiar Pen, Tea Room, Kitchen, etc. (46)
In-Game decisions influencing the nature of Miriam's room and any treasure that could be found within (46)
Warp Points (via paintings, stained glass portraits, etc.) to other sections of the castle (44)
Recruitable demons that can serve as item vendors, take care of the room or familiars, dispense monster data & lore, etc. (43)

The majority of those polled say that if Miriam were to have her own room in the castle, they would like it to start off simple but be something that can be upgrade (new furniture, etc.) over time. A sound test option through a musical instrument like a ghostly piano is also in high demand. Fewer, but a non-insignificant number, would like to see expansion to the room over time that could turn it into a guest house, have the morphology of the room changed by in-game narrative decisions, like warp points that link to and from the room and recruitable enemies that can serve a variety of small but useful functions.

Other
Interactive background elements (76)
Interaction between the castle interior and exterior (76)
Complex architecture such as ornamental balconies, parapets, bridges, terraces with balustrades (63)
Secret rooms/passageways accessible though means besides destructible walls (56)

50% (Majority) cutoff---------------------------------------

Statues of previous victims of Gebel (such as the alchemists) (43)

The majority of those polled say they would like there to be elements in the background of the castle you can interact with in some way and that, though the game may take place within the castle, would still like to be able to interact and partially explore its near exterior. Ornate architecture (where appropriate) and secret passages exposed via puzzles, switches or means aside from just breaking walls is also highly requested. Fewer, but a non-insignificant number, think it would be cool to see statues in the castle that were actually the remains of some of Gebel's previous victims (such as the alchemist guild).

*I'm not including "Unique room shapes and design touches for a continuous engaging, 'new' experience while exploring" because that strikes me as just "make a good castle" type of feedback.

I made sure to highlight anything that got approval by 50%+ of voters (the majority) but I also included everything that got 40%-49% of voter approval as well. Those options weren't liked by the majority but were liked by enough people that I think they are worth mentioning. I think the bullet points in the poll are easiest to translate but I made sure to try to explain some of them in more detail here so that people had a better understadning of what they meant. Hopefully I myself didn't misinterpret anything Hopefully this is useful to you Mana ?


Yeah that's kind of the issue when some choices above are like entire wings of the castle and others are like literal rooms. All that being said, I certainly support mixing & matching when it makes sense. I also hope they are able to come up with some locales that have never been represented in past Igavanias to really mix things up.

To the bold part, I'd also mention inner quarters is similar to the living quarters idea. ( I love that location has a very unique chill calming feel to it)
I also think the garden forgotten by time in lament visually was quite nice looking. I would love to see a garden again if done in a really cool way.

Good summary btw! 

Yeah, that's how sidescrolling travel works in Valkyrie Profile 1 (2D) and 2 (2.5D). You can move into the fore/background after a short blackout transition.

In most other games that use something like this, it's just for doors that always appear to be in the background (Mega Man Zero, Zelda 2).

as for my comment on the layered castle.
bloodstainedfanforums.com/thread/953/layered-castle