Concept for a new Castlevania game

[REPO Man]

Working title: "Castlevania: Cantata of the Damned"

Plot:

Nicolo Paganini was one of the firsts true violin virtuosos. But what was his secret? Some speculated that it was a deal with the Devil. But it was in fact, a deal with someone far more twisted... Dracula! In exchange for the gift of music, Paganini must compose for Dracula a musical piece that, when played, will allow him to transcend time and space. But when Paganini rebels and refuses to play it, he attempts to escape from Castlevania, only to be confronted by one of Dracula's prisoners, a Vatican priest who has created a rosary that will "bring the light of God into the Darkness". But now, armed with this divine weapon, Paganini now seeks to redeem himself by killing Dracula.

Meanwhile, a fighter pilot over WWI Europe, has crash-landed in the ruins of Castlevania. But now, new life has begun to course in the wretched ruins. And just then, everything is enveloped by darkness, and the castle returns from the depths of Hell. And now, he must fight through Castlevania to save his soul.

Meanwhile, in the 22nd Century, the last living Belmont has discovered an ancient shrine in the ruins of an old castle in Southeastern Europe. And now, she must confront her destiny.

But while none of them know it yet, these three are charged with defending the world from a newfound darkness that shall spread across time and space. And while they don't realize it know, they are all tied together by destiny, a destiny that transcends the boundaries of time.



So basically, time travel is a major player in this one. One gameplay mechanic, perhaps the most important one, is the ability to move between three different time periods, each one with a different character. But they each have their own abilities. Paganini can use his violin to cast spells, which he can learn with manuscript pages. The as-of-yet WWI fighter pilot is sort of a rough-and-tumble character who can use all sorts of weapons, including guns (think Alucard with a trigger finger). And the third character is a variation of Alucard and your standard Belmont, as she can not only use the trademark Vampirekiller whip, but also double-wield weapons like staves, swords, projectiles, et al.

Another great thing is the intricate plot. You see, cuz you're hopping through time, you don't see everything happen in a chronological order. Also, since you can change the past (like destroy a statue as Paganini and the othe two characters, if not just one of them, can access another part of the castle).


Now, the game, as you can already imagine, is the same kind of Metroid-vania gameplay of games like Symphony of the Night.

I imagine that the graphics would be 2D sprites, though they'd be the kind you'd expect in a game for this game's intended systems: The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. So imagine something that would look sofa king gorgeous on a 100some-inch HDTV.

As for the music, I'd imagine it being the traditional Castlevania tunes, though get someone like Christopher Young and/or Phillip Glass to drum out some sweet renditions.

And also, another thing... LIVE ACTION FMV'S! But not like those crappy ones like from Resident Evil 1. I mean ones like sweet-ass acting and high-quality production values. I mean the kind to where this thing would have to see thrice the copies of SotN just to barely make a profit.

[ott0bot]

that actually sounds like a good idea....especially the Phillip Glass music. Time travel could get a little confusing between 3 charaters. I'd probably narrow it down to two because there isn't enough difference between the WW 1 pilot and belmont/alucard character. The paganini idea is cool though. I jsut don't want to see lightening shooting out of his violin!

[NeoRage]

Sounds great. I love the time travel idea!

[Kevman]

Cool idea, but no battle of 1999? Darn!

[Haoie]

Nice ideas and what not.

Too bad the next game is in the fighting genre. Crazy, huh?

[REPO Man]

Also, I'm cooking up ideas for new monsters:

* Sweeney - a twisted version of Sweeney Todd that lashes out with razors. He can also sneak up behind you and slit your throat, doing massive damage. The "real" Sweeney Todd appears as a boss, with more powerful attacks.

* Caligari - a monster that pops out of furniture and attacks you. If you don't kill it, it goes back in. Also, the furniture is usually something in the background that can't be attacked.

* Re-Animated - nearly indestructible zombies. In a boss fight with Dr. West, they swarm in droves.


And some bosses:

* Bathory - the original vampyre herself, now a slave to Dracula's demented nature. She lives in The Crimson Tower. She attacks with various weapons and is one of the most powerful bosses in the game. She holds the key to killing Dracula.

* Sweeney Todd - unlike the Sweeney ghosts, this version is imbued with ghostly powers like teleportation, illusions, and so forth. According to him, Dracula pulled him from Hell and granted him dark powers.

* Dr. West - another enemy brought forth by Dracula's time-bending prowess, he operates out of The Morgue, a secret wing of the Laboratory. He has the ability to churn out waves of Re-Animated monsters, as well as Re-Animated versions of other enemies. To kill him, you must hit him a certain number of times. At which point, she dumps the Re-Agent all over him and the corpses and morphs into a Grand Re-Animated, which looks like a gigantic amalgamation of various monsters. To kill Grand Re-Animated, destroy the Re-Animated that it's made of and then keep hitting Dr. West. This form is similar to a boss from SotN.

* Dorian Gray - is nearly invincible. He can, however, be killed. To hurt him, lash out at the painting in the center of his room. After a while, he'll begin to look faded and gray, at which point you wail on him. Do this enough times and he'll die.


Also, since I'm bringing back the infamous Rosary item, I've thought about making it an important item.

* It's story is this: The cross is made from the nail that pierced the right hand of Christ, and the beads were blessed by several religious leaders. Supposedly, it can "bring the light of God to vanquish the darkness".
* As a useable item, it can destroy low-level monsters and damage mid- to high-level monsters and bosses. The cost, however, is too great for it to be used casually. It will consume all your MP and hearts, but the more hearts and MP it consumes, the more powerful it can get.
* As an equippable item, it can be equipped to your weapon to give it holy powers. When equipped to your armor, it can give you resistance to Dark attacks and magic.

[Kevman]

Also, I'm cooking up ideas for new monsters:

* Sweeney - a twisted version of Sweeney Todd that lashes out with razors. He can also sneak up behind you and slit your throat, doing massive damage. The "real" Sweeney Todd appears as a boss, with more powerful attacks.

* Caligari - a monster that pops out of furniture and attacks you. If you don't kill it, it goes back in. Also, the furniture is usually something in the background that can't be attacked.

* Re-Animated - nearly indestructible zombies. In a boss fight with Dr. West, they swarm in droves.


And some bosses:

* Bathory - the original vampyre herself, now a slave to Dracula's demented nature. She lives in The Crimson Tower. She attacks with various weapons and is one of the most powerful bosses in the game. She holds the key to killing Dracula.

* Sweeney Todd - unlike the Sweeney ghosts, this version is imbued with ghostly powers like teleportation, illusions, and so forth. According to him, Dracula pulled him from Hell and granted him dark powers.

* Dr. West - another enemy brought forth by Dracula's time-bending prowess, he operates out of The Morgue, a secret wing of the Laboratory. He has the ability to churn out waves of Re-Animated monsters, as well as Re-Animated versions of other enemies. To kill him, you must hit him a certain number of times. At which point, she dumps the Re-Agent all over him and the corpses and morphs into a Grand Re-Animated, which looks like a gigantic amalgamation of various monsters. To kill Grand Re-Animated, destroy the Re-Animated that it's made of and then keep hitting Dr. West. This form is similar to a boss from SotN.

* Dorian Gray - is nearly invincible. He can, however, be killed. To hurt him, lash out at the painting in the center of his room. After a while, he'll begin to look faded and gray, at which point you wail on him. Do this enough times and he'll die.


Also, since I'm bringing back the infamous Rosary item, I've thought about making it an important item.

* It's story is this: The cross is made from the nail that pierced the right hand of Christ, and the beads were blessed by several religious leaders. Supposedly, it can "bring the light of God to vanquish the darkness".
* As a useable item, it can destroy low-level monsters and damage mid- to high-level monsters and bosses. The cost, however, is too great for it to be used casually. It will consume all your MP and hearts, but the more hearts and MP it consumes, the more powerful it can get.
* As an equippable item, it can be equipped to your weapon to give it holy powers. When equipped to your armor, it can give you resistance to Dark attacks and magic.

Those all sound pretty cool. I like some of the boss designs.

I do have one gripe though. Sweeney should be renamed to something more original. Mainly because even though Castlevania has enemies based off of myth and folklore, the enemies have original names. An example is Frankenstein being named "The Thing" and the Grim Reaper being named "Death", with the exception of Dracula of course.

Also you should have the rosary beads able to be equiped to sub-weapons or magic to activate crush attacks.

[AwesomeMonstar]

pretty damned cool, my only gripe is the fmv's... in a game with such a recognizable art style throughout it's current generation, changing from that artistic in gameplay look to fmv cut scenes would be a rough transition.

By the way... I dig the reanimator reference.

[link343]

This proposal sounds cool! Would there be any puzzles that would use all three characters? The changing the past idea sounds familiar to a one Sonic CD!