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Koji Igarashi (Castlevania) Leaves Konami, Founding New Studio, Metroidvania GDC talk
- Thread starter V_Ben
- Start date
He could, but I guess my thinking is, why would he want to tie himself to slivers of another company's IP when he could tell whatever story he wants.
Nah, you pretty much hit them all. Legends was completely removed because IGA disliked the idea of a female progenitor to the Belmont family, not because it conflicted with any of the established lore. Mostly it was to clear the way for Lament of Innocence. Castlevania 64, Legacy of Darkness and Circle of the Moon were all removed from canon at one point, but Konami included them on a series timeline so they're sort of "unofficially officially" back in. I believe at one point IGA also considered Bloodlines to be non-canon because it shoe-horned in the Stoker Novel, but since Portrait of Ruin is pretty much a direct sequel it's back in or never left, I guess.
Good news, was wondering where he had gone. To me it wasn't worth losing some great Metroidvania titles for what we ended up getting out of this Castlevania Reboot with Lords of Shadow, especially after the awesome Order of Ecclesia.
Going from what he said he knows what we want from him, and these are the games he enjoys making, so regardless of what IP it is under, as long as I have a system that can play it then I will buy it.
Going from what he said he knows what we want from him, and these are the games he enjoys making, so regardless of what IP it is under, as long as I have a system that can play it then I will buy it.
KojiKnight
Member
The more the old guard leaves their suit based masters, the better. I'm glad so many of the best Japanese developers have left places like Square, Capcom, Konami, etc and are starting their own development studios.
I'd rather play a SotN clone any day of the week to every other big budget thing Konami throws out.
I'd rather play a SotN clone any day of the week to every other big budget thing Konami throws out.
Because when I think Castlevania I imagine a Castle in a mountain not a beautiful world
But it's ok, Belmondo is Belmont in japan and i respect that, it just feels so wrong to me. I wonder how they explained that in the japanese Lords of Shadow as Babriel chooses Belmont for his love of the mountains.
AcademicSaucer
Member
Belmont is actually a surname you know, a prick with that surname was a congressman in my country
That statement alone created a burning hatred inside me.. The fucking nerve of those suits.
The Cartographer
Member
It's actually a common surname here in Piedmont, Italy.
Kinda already fell off when they released MoF.
My is it wasn't reffering to the Belmondo surname part but about Belmont not being one
Because when I think Castlevania I imagine a Castle in a mountain not a beautiful world
I wonder how they explained that in the japanese Lords of Shadow as Babriel chooses Belmont for his love of the mountains.
I actually think that even in Japan in the end have changed to Belmont... i'm not sure though.
LoS is another universe so they could've called him Belmont regardless of anything.
My bad, i admit i'm ignorant on American surnames.
Where is your evidence.. Those are some pretty serious accusations, if you are going to shame a man's integrity. Have the decency to back it up.
Nah, it's still Belmondo, I looked it up.
So now Inafune is making Not-Mega Man and Not-Mega Man Zero, and now IGA can make Not-Castlevania?
Shit, I'd be down for that. It sucks that Battle of 1999 is dead in the water, but the actual lore of Castlevania got so labyrinthine anyway. Plus, if they play their cards right like Inafune did, he has the potential to make a new setting that has the same appeal as the old. Plus, I do like Metroidvania from a gameplay standpoint.
Too bad Castlevania proper is probably going the way of Silent Hill given how badly LoS2 sold and performed critically.
Shit, I'd be down for that. It sucks that Battle of 1999 is dead in the water, but the actual lore of Castlevania got so labyrinthine anyway. Plus, if they play their cards right like Inafune did, he has the potential to make a new setting that has the same appeal as the old. Plus, I do like Metroidvania from a gameplay standpoint.
Too bad Castlevania proper is probably going the way of Silent Hill given how badly LoS2 sold and performed critically.
The Cartographer
Member
...what?
Says you, bro. I think both sound wonderful. :3c
vagabondarts
Member
He should call Inafine at comcept and get some support because they seem to be doing everything right.
Can't wait to see what he comes up with!
Can't wait to see what he comes up with!
Always called him Seyemon
Honestly? Why not, at this point?
One of several things that I think was limiting his CV games was that he went through the trouble of constructing a "timeline" with certain "rules" in place...and then went ahead and started breaking/deconstructing those rules because he was running out of space to make games. By the time timetravel shenanigans was introduced as a subplot in Lament, you know something was amiss.
So, by all means! Use Dracula and any amount of CV elements again. My hope would just be that since you do have an effective "clean slate" to work with, you won't worry about such things like a "100 year resurrection" cycle, if female vampire hunters can exist at certain points in history and things of that nature.
It was always meant to be read like it was French never like it was American so yeah (even if the Japanese pronounce it like the protagonist of TTGL)...
Pyrrhus
Member
Simon Belmont is Shimon Berumondo in Japanese. Shimon is a transliteration of the French pronunciation of Simon, which is more like See-mun than the English Sy-men. So, again, are you guys down with calling the greatest of vampire hunters Semen?
It is true, though.
- http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9110610IGA said:
Why he was so concerned about that, of all things, is beyond me. But then again, this is the same guy who apparently didn't get the Rondo team's "sense of humor" when it came to Maria's inclusion in that game.
The Cartographer
Member
Ok, but Shimon doesn't sound like Semen at all to me...maybe it's because I'm not a native english speaker.
wtf is thiz shit
Bob Dobalina
Member
Will his GDC talk be available to view online after the event or streamed?
Well what he said is mostly true. When ypu look at the stories often told its about a dude going after tge woman.
I don't see what he said as a slight against females like was implied, even less so when he created OoE with a female being one of the most powerful Castle characters.
Maybe he went really, really HAM on it as even Dracula's Curse tried to emphasize that sexism with Sypha hiding her identity, which was set only decades later.
I think he used it as an excuse though, because Legends is terrible.
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
I've played a number of indie Metroidvanias so I'll go ahead and say it.
Most of them are garbo by comparison.
Okay that's a little harsh but I've yet to play one that provides a level of depth and creativity similar to IGA's titles. Titles with tons of equipment to find and use are very few and far between, let alone ones that offer unique sub-systems like the souls, familiars, spells, etc that are a constant in Igavanias.
Some of them like Valdis: Abyssal City get a lot right, but there's simply not enough freedom in terms of how you build your character. The later IGA titles offered a lot of flexibility via different builds, so you could discover multiple ways of playing through the game. Valdis on the other hand there's either the optimal build or the build where you spend hours on bosses and eventually shelve the game due to frustration.
The article contains a link to a transcript of the EGM interview itself, thus why I just linked to blog itself.
John Harker
Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
I blame the platform transition and poor release schedule/planning on Konami's part...
They likely saw more revenue off of LoS than they had in years off of previous Castlevania titles. At least the first one. It had the critical an commercial success to make it worth-while investment and bring new blood into the franchise, which was their primary goal; however, it wasn't properly capitalized on from the publisher. That said, everything on previous gen hardware is significantly underforming the past 6 months, no one had predicited this big of a bottoming-out.
That said, Silent Hill keeps performing subsequently worse with each iteration, and that hasn't stopped them!
The funniest thing is that IGA can actually do another Dracula game and there's nothing Konami could do to stop him.
ShockingAlberto
Member
Things must have gotten really bad at Konami.
Maybe he realized they were never going to let him out of the supplies closet they shoved him in to.
Maybe he realized they were never going to let him out of the supplies closet they shoved him in to.
No, it's fine, thank you. i was talking about his statement.
Of course women weren't supe empowered at the time, but of course there weren't vampires roaming medieval europe either. he just wanted to make his petty little (lame) origin story. There's no need into hiding that.
It wasn't just LOS2, MOF also tanked. And while revenue/sales for LOS likely hit franchise records so did the investment. That's why the last two games bombing might spell doom for the brand.
I think it would be prudent to blame the games/studio and not the series. LoS1 was a great success for Konami. MoF was made like with 20 people I'm sure it turned a profit with all the ports and stuff.sörine;104733972 said:
Yeah why not, they love outsourcing anyway, it would be funny.
Tizoc
Member
Well what I mean is what if in the near future, they for whatever reason, need a new Castlevania game, they could 'outsource' it to Iga's studio?
GhostTrick
Banned
I dunno. If Konami wasn't interested in continuing with IGA's games, which also had small staffs and low budgets to go with their decent sales, what hope does the series have with a larger price tag?
Relaxed Muscle
Member
Unlikely considering the costs of AAA console development compared to cheap handheld games with zero marketing and reused sprites. Even if that was true, they probably lost all that revenue and more with LoS 2.
I don't think you can spin LoS sales enough but you did. LoS II sales are a catasthrope whatever way you try to paint them.
Or Yu-Gi-Oh. Gotta rake in that tcg monies.
Just FYI, Belmont is "a French locational name from any of the five places in Normandy so called, deriving from the Old French "beu", fair, lovely, with "mont", a hill."
2003 Interview with EGM, cited by this 1up article (obviously they do not have scans):
"IGA: I purposefully left the Sonia Belmont character (from Castlevania: Legends for GBC) out of the official Castlevania chronology. (laughs) Usually, the vampire storyline motifs, females tend to be sacrificed. It's easier to come up with weak, feminine characters. I'll think about it more in the future, though. It's tough to fit a female hero into the early history of Castlevania, but as you move into the modern day, females can then more easily become a hero.
He didn't think women could be vampire hunters in the 11th century. I'll even give him the benefit of the doubt that he's only making reference to the role of women in the existing vampire mythology, but he's pretty clear on that point; women back then couldn't be Castlevania heroes.
Edit: Beaten by Trelll
2003 Interview with EGM, cited by this 1up article (obviously they do not have scans):
"IGA: I purposefully left the Sonia Belmont character (from Castlevania: Legends for GBC) out of the official Castlevania chronology. (laughs) Usually, the vampire storyline motifs, females tend to be sacrificed. It's easier to come up with weak, feminine characters. I'll think about it more in the future, though. It's tough to fit a female hero into the early history of Castlevania, but as you move into the modern day, females can then more easily become a hero.
He didn't think women could be vampire hunters in the 11th century. I'll even give him the benefit of the doubt that he's only making reference to the role of women in the existing vampire mythology, but he's pretty clear on that point; women back then couldn't be Castlevania heroes.
Edit: Beaten by Trelll
Well yes, there's nothing stopping them on that front if Iga agreed.
It's just that Iga heading out the door suggests that Konami probably isn't interested or likely to be anytime soon.