What the fuck is this: Castlevania SOTN is now going for like $70?!!

http://www.twitch.tv/ffstv

Iga's playing through Shantae right now. They are celebrating the biggest video game kickstarter ever, ending tonight, with $5.5 million right now.

So insane. This couldn't have happened at the right time, with what's happening with Konami and all. Every time someone bashed 2d gaming, everyone that bailed after 3d started and uglied up and sold out games, all that karma is getting funneled into this project.

Now they are interviewing Michiru Yamane, who composed "SOTN".

Even though I haven't played any games that I've actually Kickstarted, what the hell... fine. In for the $60 physical edition. Maybe by the time it comes out I'll have finished playing the DS games.

I'm glad they managed to get there without me.

That's great that it did so well. I wonder how many backers are long-term fans, how many are very recent fans. I wouldn't have thought it normally but maybe Lords Of Shadow did introduce the series to a much wider audience?

Was there alternate language pages for this kickstarter? Because I'd assume a lot of backers would be non-english speakers.

Maybe I could find a cheap PS Vita to play this on? (Assuming I can get a physical copy of Bloodstained from shops).

http://i.imgur.com/Q7I79Ju.png

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iga/bloodstained-ritual-of-the-night/posts/1506864

gotta say i really like the way this is looking. even if she is a bit small on the screen, the design of the castle itself looks really nice from this one image!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4um6_cNpb6M

huuuuuuh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAL07Pbqx3c

Looks like they're playing it safe with the Igavania formula, which is fine. Backers shouldn't be disappointed.

https://www.twitch.tv/

live-streaming it right now

....and they're out of time! Iga says that a demo should come out for fans this week (hopefully)

that looks tight

Graphics are a bit disappointing but I'm sure it'll be fine.

feel the same. i don't even want to see anymore until it comes out

demo is out. plays like a dream. this really feels like the sequel to SOTN/AOS. it's so perfect they have backdash cancelling, instant-slicing-when-landing, etc. other kinds of Vania minutiae built in already.

i like the graphics, never thought the day would come when i had a Castlevania in 1920x1080 but here we are. they are a little rough (def need some AA) but this is exciting! and hey it's an alpha demo or whatever.

i really like when you get a shard and it's the huge splash screen.

http://i.imgur.com/6E7RM69.jpg

sorry if huge

http://i.imgur.com/cyM1OOu.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/fUCgQGa.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/QnT5a46.jpg

the boss fight is kinda blah but the game is a lot of fun to play. the cell shading graphics can look really rough. but for an early demo this is promising!

http://i.imgur.com/HrfZMDr.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/tt9W47q.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/tXc8j6Q.jpg

that Netflix show is pretty sick. not afraid to be goofy. i liked how much of the SOTN castle was in that first episode, looked like all the design was based on the og pixel art.

i liked the netflix show. main flaw is that is 100% setup for future seasons

i played Bloodstained at NYCC... not looking good. pretty clunky and early

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8zaNelwUU8

C'mon Iga, if they can do this level of 2d surely you can. This looks brilliant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfJ7TqkjKeU

recording the soundtrack & interviews w Michiru Yamane & other composers. also a little footage of the game.

yeah the game was supposed to come out last year but im all for them taking their sweet time. plus, this means i can get it on Switch. seems like the perfect system for this...

This game seems to have been in development forever, but it's obviously meant to scratch that Castlevania itch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyskUorhheg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTRohTxCRlk

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, the 8-bit style prequel game to Bloodstained, is coming out tomorrow. it has very strong Castlevania III vibes, and it has many og Castlevania creators working on it. in a lot of ways it is the first new Castlevania game in a long time.

not sure exactly when it comes out, but there has been an email sent out to Kickstarter backers. only confirmed dates so far for consoles are May 31st for 3DS and June 6 for Xbox. they are giving out temporary Steam codes for anyone who backed the game on consoles, as it seems they are still waiting on console keys, but have the Steam ones ready to go. i backed it for Switch and was able to get a Steam code that said it is valid until June 8.

it is 20MB lol

wait a minute i am playing it rn! looks like this game is out!

this is really cool. very CV3. the art isn't the prettiest (not nearly as good as classical Castlevania art but what is?) but it is still a fun and cheap Castlevania knock off. the music is awesome as heck, and the 8-bit presentation feels very true to authentic limitations of that era. the art not being pretty comes from over-use of tiles in some places, which is really just more economy. levels are visually varied with layers of parallax and lots of colorful well-defined sprites.

the level design, enemy combat, etc. are all classic CV. items are valuable again; they help you get past the gauntlet of enemies. it controls like CV3 except with ROB/SOTN stair-jumping. difficulty wise it is not a pushover, i died twice before beating the first level, i would say harder than SOTN at least. the boss fight was kind of like Order of Ecclesia, with a large, almost puzzle-light battle.

the game is so Castlevania. jumping around slicing floating lamps and candles while fighting goblins and monsters. i started as a dude with a sword or something and then met Miriam and gained her as an ally and she has a whip and basically controls like a Belmont, only she can slide like in Mega Man 3.

https://i.imgur.com/BkxEXU2l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/V3DQxKKl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ENikJkYl.jpg

Doh! Only the Steam version is available to backers, console codes aren't out yet.

Confused, is this out for Switch now or not? If I backed the Kickstarter shouldn't I get a code or something?

would like a new metroidvania castlevania for the switch though

unfortunately i don't think it's out for Switch yet. but if you backed the kickstarter for it on consoles, you should be able to use the Steam code in the meantime. look through your emails to find the Survey Resender and use that.

i hear the EShop gets updated around noon EST so maybe it will come then. kinda sucks but still it's nice to be able to play in the meantime.

I don't even know what Steam is.

it's an online PC hub/store where you can buy games. if you are writing on a computer it probably supports Steam.

So this is to play games on my computer? I've never really done that (have a laptop).

yeah. you can buy games through it and play them w it. not sure if you have to give them your CC or not for you to make an account.

install Steam, go to Games, and Activate a Product on Steam. then you post in the code and it installs the game. to get the code you have to go to the back survey, and you can resend a link to that, if you search your kickstarter emails.

i wonder if that is David Hayter doing the cheesy voiceover on the trailer.

The whole reason I have a console is to not play games on my computer.

hah. yeah w the amount of controller driver issues an stuff i deal with, i entirely understand.

i probably wont play this too much on Steam cos i want to play it on Switch.

it's no big deal to only play games on a console, but you miss out on a lot. like games that are just much better with a mouse

that's pretty much just shooters though and gyro aim makes up most of the difference.

i guess stuff like RTSes too but i don't really play those these days

4x strategy probably not a good fit for console either, or text adventures.

4x strategy probably not a good fit for console either, or text adventures.

― valorous wokelord (silby)

i thought you were saying 4x was not a good fit for text adventures and got to thinking about "suspended" (which isn't quite the same thing but has pretty strong strategy elements)

there was a console civ but it was pretty much what you'd expect from a console civ

man this is pretty awesome. feels nice to play this with a PS2 controller but i need my dang Switch code so i can play it there.

i can't get past stage 4 lol. Curse of the Moon is actually legit NES tough.

i am liking the graphics more and more. some of the art looks like random "level asset" tiles but for a game this big it makes sense, plus there is plenty of beautiful art throughout the game. important to remember they had to deal with creating everything from scratch. the 2D Castlevania series were always reusing art and repurposing character designs etc. and by Castlevania they 3 had this library of classic designs that had already withstood multiple teams and generations of games.

not only that but they had less screen space to deal with. the new game is still pixelated 8-bit art but on an HD widescreen scale. thank god they did not have camera zoom. i played some of Harmony of Despair and did not enjoy myself. having the screen too zoomed out makes it look more like a maze, the art looses definition, the sense of place is lost.

they really went classic with this and it feels like an NES game, just designed for a larger screen. level design is classic: some platforms, some stairs, some enemies placed among them. bottomless pits are back, reinforcing the ideal of enemy as level design. the threat of knockback deaths forces you to reconsider your approach. the ghouls and demons placed throughout are not mere combat challenges: they require adjustment of pacing, they require strategy. the bosses are the same, only on a bigger scale. large gorgeous pixel art, wider areas of attack, multi-stage fights. very much an evolution of OoE.

https://i.imgur.com/v9bcWpTl.jpg

this keeps getting better and better. i love the green bricks on red/purple bg they got going in some of these levels. its sort of punk. i love the alchemist, even though he is super slow and useless against most enemies, it is such a cool idea, and sometimes you can actually do some damage w that cane of his.

the enemies are duocolor cartoony horror fantasy throughout and they keep switching it up for every level. rn i am fighting evil giant scissormen and jumping blue bunnies. i just fought a painting (which was more or a puzzle than a fight, which was cool) and earlier i ended up fighting a cool boss on the top of the ship that reminded me of Rondo of Blood crossed w Mega Man.