Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all?

Pure Miriam
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[TI1] "A new, vital heart, pulsing with the old blood." -IGA

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Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Jul 30, 2017 16:54:19 GMT -6 Saint Germain and Lestaroth like this

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Post by Pure Miriam on Jul 30, 2017 16:54:19 GMT -6

After creating THIS THREAD, it was suggested that more questions could be made, breaking them at topics. At first i thought about one thread ber theme, but, why don't put everything in a single thread, so people can take ONE HOUR to answer them all? Great idea, right?

So, without further ado, here's 25 questions for all of you to answer, about these themes: Overall (Enemies, Plot, Content, etc), Equipment & Shards and Stratch Goals. Again, some of those questions i did before in old threads, but mosf of them are new.

OVERALL

1) Do you prefer less enemies, but they are all unique, or more enemies but with pallete swap ones among them? Biggest Igavanias normally have 100+ enemies, but all of them had pallete swaps. Considering Bloodstaine's scale, it can reach a number around 150 or more. So, would you prefer, for instance, 150 enemies with 30 pallete swaps or 100 unique enemies?

2) What are your thoughts over cryptic secrets? Secrets that are so hard to find or require so out-of-the-box thinking that is almost impossible to find out without a guide, like turning into a wolf inside a cavern and getting out in the form of a bat to open a passage (Symphony of the Night)?

3) Some Igavanias had secrets, items and equipment that could only be found by sheer luck. Enemies with extremely low percentage drop rate for those things, or something even more challenging, like Order of Ecclesia, that had rare chests randomly appearing at scenarions and having random rare items, forcing the player to replay areas countless times to get them. What are your thoughts over luck-based gameplay like that?

4) Say the name and make a small description of a scenario you would like to see in the game that is NOT Entrance, Library, Clock Tower or anything related to Caverns or Dungeons of any sort.

5) IGA said in a old interview that Miriam has her heart crystalized already (we can see that by the fact that her left breast has a crystal rose) but Gebel has almost all his body crystalized, EXCEPT his heart (we can see that by the fact that his chest has a left-angled area clean of crystals) and IGA said that this is relevant to the plot. What do you think that could mean?

6) "Hard Lock" is a term for areas that it is completely impossible to reach without the right progression ability, while Soft Locks are areas that you cannot traverse normally without a progression ability but you CAN find a way to do that without it, by clever thinking. For instance, a Hard Lock would be a door that requires a key or a absurdly high plataform with walls covered in spikes that requires flying. A Soft Lock would be a high plataform that requires double jump but you can reach it using a specific Shard combined with a specific set of weapon moves to propel yourself up in a really intricate way. Igavanias always had both of them. Hard Locks are mandatory to stop sequence breaking, but even so, Hard locks VS Soft Locks. What do you prefer?

7) Igavania games are famous for offering a lot of options, gameplay-wise. Lots of powers, dozens of weapons, crazy combinations of equipments. There is a developer term called "Decision Paralysis" and that is also a psychology term. It means when you have so many options that you don't know what to do and feel overwhelmed in a bad way. Some people reach the point of paralyzing to do anything. Some criticism towards some Igavania games (specially Symphony of the Night and the Sorrow series) is that they offer a lot of options (weapons, items, souls) that a ton of them are rendered useless by others, inducing in a overwhelming feeling of either not use anything or trying to use them all. Playing Igavania games, did you ever felt that? Do you think Bloodstained could have that problem?

8) What would be the worst offender for you, considering Bloodstained overall, between the options below. YOU CAN ONLY CHOOSE ONE:
a) Microtransactions (the ability to use real money to buy stuff that would require game-money, like buying a ring at Anne/Dominique shop for 2 real life dollars instead of 20.000 in-game gold).
b) Plot-relevant DLCs (A fundamental piece of the plot can only be played by buying DLC)
c) Out-of-place Boob jokes (Anne complaining how small her breasts are comparing to Dominique or Miriam, the first time she mets Miriam, considering she just lost her parents).
d) The main aspect of plot turning out to be a love triangle, with Miriam being the love interest of Gebel and Johannes.

9) Miriam should move and fight faster than she is right now, by default? (considering her without any powerups whatsoever)

10) Exp degradation is something that was used on Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Dissonance to prevent grinding. The same enemy started to give less and less exp (A LV 10 enemy gives 10 EXP when player is at LV 10, but gives 5 EXP when player is at LV 20 and 1 EXP after LV 30+, for instance). This was abandoned in later games. Do you think Exp degradation could make a comeback to prevent grinding?

11) Choose ONE enemy from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that enemy is.

12) IGA loves references. Symphony of the Night had The Magic of Oz, Aria of Sorrow had Black Kamen Rider and a lot of Igavania games had Jojo's Bizarre Adventure references. What reference would you like to see in Bloodstained?

EQUIPMENT & SHARDS

13) Choose ONE Weapon from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that weapon is.

14) Choose ONE Power / Magic from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that power / magic is.

15) Bonus-increasing Enchant Shards, like CON boost or element resisting ones like Holy Resist (mentioned to exist at E3 2017 demo) are things that can be easily covered by equipments. What do you think of shards like that? Clever, necessity or lack of creativity?

16) Regarding progression abilities, abilities and equipment required to keep going at the game, like double jump and such, a lot of Igavanias had some clever ideas. Symphony of the Night had the Mist form, that could traverse grids. Portrait of Ruin had Frog transformation, letting the player enter at really tiny areas while Order of Ecclesia had Paries, a magic that let you enter inside walls at certain spots to reach the other side.
Create a progression abilty that you would like to see in Bloodstained, aside from the basic (Double Jump, High Jump, fly) and what was used before (armor to break spikes, glasses to see hidden spheres to attack them...).

STRATCH GOALS

17) 2nd and 3rd playable characters should have complete plots for themselves (that would most probably steal resources from the main game), small plots or no plots at all?

18) Mention a SILLY CHEAT CODE, something comical and funny, that you would like to see in the game.

19) There is a Stratch goal called "New Boss" that went completely overlooked. It was created as a filler to fill up the space when Bloodstained got funded in less then a day and reached 1.5 million. It's description was "New Boss! You unlocked this one while we were writing this update! Now IGA and Inti Creates will be able to add another boss to the castle. We'll profile the extra bosses, enemies, and weapons you earn this way in a future update."
The game didn't had any decided size at that time or any of that. Regarding that, do you think that this stratch goal was useless and just a filler to fill up space because they didn't had any idea what to do or it still has any meaning?

20) Should Classic Mode, where the game will be rearranged to at least six punishing and hard stages like the old times of Nintendo hard games, unlock items and stuff for the main game? Or that would be unfair for completionists that can't beat Classic Mode due to how hard it will be?

21) Do you think Nightmare mode, a really hard difficulty mode for the main game, could have items and stuff for exclusive for it? Or that would be unfair for completionists that can't beat Nightmare mode due to how hard it will be?

22) IGA's biggest castle is promised to be at least 1600 rooms. Both Symphony of the Night castles have 1890 rooms combined. Do you think that means that IGA's biggest castle stretch goal WILL NOT BE REACHED if the game ends up having less than 1890 rooms?

23) Roguelike dungeon should be like most roguelike games (random generated dungeons that are hyper hard and has no saving) or it should be "Igavania's style" roguelike dungeon, something different? (random generated dungeons maybe easier or with checkpoints).

24) We will be able to play with bosses in Boss Revenge Mode, in special areas against heroes. Do you expect Vepar to be playable in that mode?

25) How much do you think would be fair to ask for a fourth playable character in a slacker-backer campaign before the game's release? 100.000 (the same amouth for second playable character), 250.000 (the value for the third playable character) or 500.000? Or the game doesn't need a fourth playable character?

That's all folks!

Last Edit: Jul 31, 2017 1:30:09 GMT -6 by Pure Miriam

I consider Igavania and Metroidvania the same genre, but i call" IGAVANIA" if the game was created, directed or with some involvement of Koji Igarashi OR the game closely follows his path on "Metroidvania Gothic game" style.

neff
Loyal Familiar

Posts: 239

Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Jul 30, 2017 18:51:53 GMT -6

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Post by neff on Jul 30, 2017 18:51:53 GMT -6

1. I think I could understand Unique enemies better. One pitfall I've always thought existed in igavanias was the many enemies do not have an attack of note, or are simply there to die. I think the ideal should be that each enemy should mean something.
2. sure, but I wont read the guide.

3. while I can understand the design descision behind both, unless chests respawn in short order, the low drop rate for them seems more annoying.
4. An idyllic garden that comes alive with plant enemies or enemies hidden in camoflauge once Miriam shows up.
5.Miriam knows she is on borrowed time, perhaps she has resigned herself to the whims of her masters, and her quest is finding a way to be free, both of the curse and her servitude. Her interactions with others might not be emotionless like Shanoa's, but more of a sick person finding hope. Or maybe she is pushed the other way, to see Gebel but not kill him, desperate enough to brave any foe, take any risk to body and soul to live. She's already dead, after all.
6. Soft locks do make it more interesting, don't they? Though I think hard locks also have their place, like I found the cerberus door in OOE very cool, and its forboding music the best in the game!
7. Sometimes. I get that, I remember beating dracula with the fist of tulkas and thinking, "did I take the cheap way"? "Couldn't this be harder?" But at the same time, those interesting weapons are what makes someone come back, in a fresh game. This is why I think some of the other game modes can be a real hit!
8.
a. The worst, microtransactions are controversial and go a long way in making a game even as good looking as Bloodstaind seem done on the cheap.
b. Bad, but standard shady business practice bad.
c. Anne:bent over, looking at her fist , deadly serious: "If I had only pushed them upwards like she did, my parents would still be alive!"
Miriam: :tilts her head: "Huh? Pushed what up?"
d. Annoying, I think this would be 2nd to a. It would just seem like cheesy story, and could hurt bloodstained long term, but as short term...eh.
9. How fast would the enemies be moving?
10. I think instead of stopping grinding you could introduce a game mode that either scales enemies to a particular level. Or make sure your beastiary is large enough to include really high level enemies.
11. The Venus flower from sotn sounds like an appropriate choice.
12. Nausicaa, Hansel and Gretel
13. The heaven sword from SOTN.
14. A shield to stop projectile attacks and give bonus to defense.
15.They might a good fit for some of the more exotic choices of weapon.
16. a crystal or seal that is powered by light, and requires a dark weapon to break and allow miriam through to the next room. Dark weapons get so little love...
17. Perhaps slightly smallers plots, but plots nonetheless.
18. Give all hit attacks comical sounds. Give alernate status effects like blind.
19. Well we have several goals like that already, such as IGA biggest castle...
20. it would be nice to get something, make it cosmetic so that they don't feel too bad about it.
21. Oh absolutely! Make it interesting,
22. Ugh, that is one of those nitpicky answers.... im going to go with no, as symphony did not have any other modes of play that changed the castle.
23. Maybe something akin to HoD, with more roguelike added on top, no saving on death, erase the save as it is loaded to prevent save scumming, make the player have to save again or perish trying!
24. That's the fun, isn't it?!
25. The game doesn't need a fourth unless it is already in the works as dlc.

Last Edit: Jul 31, 2017 7:51:00 GMT -6 by neff

CastleDan
Fifty Storms

Posts: 1,514

Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Jul 30, 2017 19:11:09 GMT -6

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Post by CastleDan on Jul 30, 2017 19:11:09 GMT -6

Jul 30, 2017 16:54:19 GMT -6 Pure Miriam said:

After creating THIS THREAD, it was suggested that more questions could be made, breaking them at topics. At first i thought about one thread ber theme, but, why don't put everything in a single thread, so people can take ONE HOUR to answer them all? Great idea, right?

So, without further ado, here's 25 questions for all of you to answer, about these themes: Overall (Enemies, Plot, Content, etc), Equipment & Shards and Stratch Goals. Again, some of those questions i did before in old threads, but mosf of them are new.

OVERALL

1) Do you prefer less enemies, but they are all unique, or more enemies but with pallete swap ones among them? Biggest Igavanias normally have 100+ enemies, but all of them had pallete swaps. Considering Bloodstaine's scale, it can reach a number around 150 or more. So, would you prefer, for instance, 150 enemies with 30 pallete swaps or 100 unique enemies?
Honestly to me it doesn't matter either way. Enemies have never been an issue for me in the Igavania games whether it was a huge roster whether it was slightly smaller but more unique. In the perfect world, more enemies that contain a lot of unique enemies and palette swaps too would be preferred.

2) What are your thoughts over cryptic secrets? Secrets that are so hard to find or require so out-of-the-box thinking that is almost impossible to find out without a guide, like turning into a wolf inside a cavern and getting out in the form of a bat to open a passage (Symphony of the Night)?
Cryptic secrets is what made SOTN my favorite in the series among other reasons. The discovery of figuring out something that you never realized was there or could be done is exciting. I never got why it would ever be considered anything less than that. Some surprises are always good, not everything needs to be incredibly obvious in gaming. So of my favorite moments in games are the ones that make you ... "HOLY CRAP I HAD NO IDEA....."
3) Some Igavanias had secrets, items and equipment that could only be found by sheer luck. Enemies with extremely low percentage drop rate for those things, or something even more challenging, like Order of Ecclesia, that had rare chests randomly appearing at scenarions and having random rare items, forcing the player to replay areas countless times to get them. What are your thoughts over luck-based gameplay like that?
I'm all about that low drop rate. I'm totally cool with more of that, I want special enemies to drop items that are totally unique and their uniqueness should encourage the item to be harder to get.
4) Say the name and make a small description of a scenario you would like to see in the game that is NOT Entrance, Library, Clock Tower or anything related to Caverns or Dungeons of any sort.
Not really sure what you mean...
5) IGA said in a old interview that Miriam has her heart crystalized already (we can see that by the fact that her left breast has a crystal rose) but Gebel has almost all his body crystalized, EXCEPT his heart (we can see that by the fact that his chest has a left-angled area clean of crystals) and IGA said that this is relevant to the plot. What do you think that could mean?
Not exactly sure what it means but I have a feeling Gebel will be a good guy in the end because of it.
6) "Hard Lock" is a term for areas that it is completely impossible to reach without the right progression ability, while Soft Locks are areas that you cannot traverse normally without a progression ability but you CAN find a way to do that without it, by clever thinking. For instance, a Hard Lock would be a door that requires a key or a absurdly high plataform with walls covered in spikes that requires flying. A Soft Lock would be a high plataform that requires double jump but you can reach it using a specific Shard combined with a specific set of weapon moves to propel yourself up in a really intricate way. Igavanias always had both of them. Hard Locks are mandatory to stop sequence breaking, but even so, Hard locks VS Soft Locks. What do you prefer?
As I always say the reason why I loved SOTN the most was due to it's sheer variety. I love them both and I think both are important and should be in it. Why settle for one or the other?
7) Igavania games are famous for offering a lot of options, gameplay-wise. Lots of powers, dozens of weapons, crazy combinations of equipments. There is a developer term called "Decision Paralysis" and that is also a psychology term. It means when you have so many options that you don't know what to do and feel overwhelmed in a bad way. Some people reach the point of paralyzing to do anything. Some criticism towards some Igavania games (specially Symphony of the Night and the Sorrow series) is that they offer a lot of options (weapons, items, souls) that a ton of them are rendered useless by others, inducing in a overwhelming feeling of either not use anything or trying to use them all. Playing Igavania games, did you ever felt that? Do you think Bloodstained could have that problem?
I had the problem in the sorrow games, because I was never huge on the magic abilities I was always an equipment guy, i wanted more unique weapons and less spells. However, for me the more they give me in both realms the better. There might be a lot of pointless stuff but in future playthroughs it gives me more options to experiment.
8) What would be the worst offender for you, considering Bloodstained overall, between the options below. YOU CAN ONLY CHOOSE ONE:
a) Microtransactions (the ability to use real money to buy stuff that would require game-money, like buying a ring at Anne/Dominique shop for 2 real life dollars instead of 20.000 in-game gold).
b) Plot-relevant DLCs (A fundamental piece of the plot can only be played by buying DLC)
c) Out-of-place Boob jokes (Anne complaining how small her breasts are comparing to Dominique or Miriam, the first time she mets Miriam, considering she just lost her parents).
d) The main aspect of plot turning out to be a love triangle, with Miriam being the love interest of Gebel and Johannes.
You and your sexual comments

C. I'd prefer they keep the story relatively serious and it seems so out of place in a game within this setting and in this time period.
9) Miriam should move and fight faster than she is right now, by default? (considering her without any powerups whatsoever)
No, she shouldn't. Having played the demo it feels like the IGAVANIA games I know and love. If people want to play some other type of sidescroller than play that, IGA was very clear that he's making a game in his other games style. So....my honest opinion is he shouldn't conform to other games in the market now he should do what he's good at doing otherwise he runs the risk of changing what he's known to be good at.
10) Exp degradation is something that was used on Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Dissonance to prevent grinding. The same enemy started to give less and less exp (A LV 10 enemy gives 10 EXP when player is at LV 10, but gives 5 EXP when player is at LV 20 and 1 EXP after LV 30+, for instance). This was abandoned in later games. Do you think Exp degradation could make a comeback to prevent grinding?

I think it should.
11) Choose ONE enemy from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that enemy is.
The damn skeletons, Morte are more like zombies.

Another choice : Dracula.... I know most people want this to be something different but folks we aren't getting castlevania anymore and if we are it'll be from some other creator. So I want my dracula fix again.....

12) IGA loves references. Symphony of the Night had The Magic of Oz, Aria of Sorrow had Black Kamen Rider and a lot of Igavania games had Jojo's Bizarre Adventure references. What reference would you like to see in Bloodstained?
Not really sure but i'd love for them to do it more because it's cool

EQUIPMENT & SHARDS

13) Choose ONE Weapon from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that weapon is.
Alucard's sword....... >_> under a different name hint hint nudge nudge. I loved the sound, i loved the look, and i loved it's special ability. SOTN

14) Choose ONE Power / Magic from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that power / magic is.

An equivalent to Dark Metamorphosis form SOTN. Again, the visual, the yelling of the words, and just the ability itself were so wicked cool.

15) Bonus-increasing Enchant Shards, like CON boost or element resisting ones like Holy Resist (mentioned to exist at E3 2017 demo) are things that can be easily covered by equipments. What do you think of shards like that? Clever, necessity or lack of creativity?
This is a perfect example of what I stated earlier. I'm an equipment person so spells or abilities that are kinda meh...i could do without. As you say equipment can handle stat boosts already. I guess it's cool for people who don't care for equipment changing.
16) Regarding progression abilities, abilities and equipment required to keep going at the game, like double jump and such, a lot of Igavanias had some clever ideas. Symphony of the Night had the Mist form, that could traverse grids. Portrait of Ruin had Frog transformation, letting the player enter at really tiny areas while Order of Ecclesia had Paries, a magic that let you enter inside walls at certain spots to reach the other side.
Create a progression abilty that you would like to see in Bloodstained, aside from the basic (Double Jump, High Jump, fly) and what was used before (armor to break spikes, glasses to see hidden spheres to attack them...).
SQUIRREL ABILITY SO YOU CAN CLIMB WALLS. ( they would restrict it so you can only climb a certain amount before you start to fall so then you'd have to jump to something else )

STRATCH GOALS

17) 2nd and 3rd playable characters should have complete plots for themselves (that would most probably steal resources from the main game), small plots or no plots at all?
Nope nope nope... Keep their plots small. This was exactly my problem with all the stretch goals to begin with. I just wanted an incredible main game but with all the stretch goals they're putting money into extras i care less about. So the less resources they take from the main game the better.
18) Mention a SILLY CHEAT CODE, something comical and funny, that you would like to see in the game.
Well, maybe sound effects change when you use your weapons?
19) There is a Stratch goal called "New Boss" that went completely overlooked. It was created as a filler to fill up the space when Bloodstained got funded in less then a day and reached 1.5 million. It's description was "New Boss! You unlocked this one while we were writing this update! Now IGA and Inti Creates will be able to add another boss to the castle. We'll profile the extra bosses, enemies, and weapons you earn this way in a future update."
The game didn't had any decided size at that time or any of that. Regarding that, do you think that this stratch goal was useless and just a filler to fill up space because they didn't had any idea what to do or it still has any meaning?
Yes I do because...it's kinda easy to claim you added a boss without knowing how many bosses were planned to begin with. Either way it's no biggy...lol
20) Should Classic Mode, where the game will be rearranged to at least six punishing and hard stages like the old times of Nintendo hard games, unlock items and stuff for the main game? Or that would be unfair for completionists that can't beat Classic Mode due to how hard it will be?
I'm fine with that but it's no biggy either way for me.
21)
Do you think Nightmare mode, a really hard difficulty mode for the main game, could have items and stuff for exclusive for it? Or that would be unfair for completionists that can't beat Nightmare mode due to how hard it will be?
Same as above.

22)
IGA's biggest castle is promised to be at least 1600 rooms. Both Symphony of the Night castles have 1890 rooms combined. Do you think that means that IGA's biggest castle stretch goal WILL NOT BE REACHED if the game ends up having less than 1890 rooms?
Technically speaking.... if it was one castle at 1600 rooms it's the biggest castle but it's definitely a bit wishy washy considering SOTN has the upside castle which to be fair does change the layout feel completely adds new enemies and bosses.

23)
Roguelike dungeon should be like most roguelike games (random generated dungeons that are hyper hard and has no saving) or it should be "Igavania's style" roguelike dungeon, something different? (random generated dungeons maybe easier or with checkpoints).

Honestly don't know much about roguelike games to even comment. I'm down either way.
24) We will be able to play with bosses in Boss Revenge Mode, in special areas against heroes. Do you expect Vepar to be playable in that mode? Probably not, she's crazy big. Lol

25) How much do you think would be fair to ask for a fourth playable character in a slacker-backer campaign before the game's release? 100.000 (the same amouth for second playable character), 250.000 (the value for the third playable character) or 500.000? Or the game doesn't need a fourth playable character?

The game has wayyyy too much extra content as is. I just want the main game to be good.

Arsenical
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Posts: 120

Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Jul 30, 2017 21:42:52 GMT -6 Saint Germain likes this

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Post by Arsenical on Jul 30, 2017 21:42:52 GMT -6

YES MOAR!!!

1) Do you prefer less enemies, but they are all unique, or more enemies but with pallete swap ones among them? Biggest Igavanias normally have 100+ enemies, but all of them had pallete swaps. Considering Bloodstaine's scale, it can reach a number around 150 or more. So, would you prefer, for instance, 150 enemies with 30 pallete swaps or 100 unique enemies?

As a i said in your morte thread i say it again here: Lots of unique great enemies = great bestiary. after thinking for a bit more monsters means more grind and farming and also more content so thats enough for me to pick 150 enemies.

2) What are your thoughts over cryptic secrets? Secrets that are so hard to find or require so out-of-the-box thinking that is almost impossible to find out without a guide, like turning into a wolf inside a cavern and getting out in the form of a bat to open a passage (Symphony of the Night)?

what i said in your completionist tool thread! you actually read what i write _heart

so i will quote myself... NO just wtf were they thinking with this nonsense??? are they really expecting players to do absurd things like those? my completionist heart hurts!!!

3) Some Igavanias had secrets, items and equipment that could only be found by sheer luck. Enemies with extremely low percentage drop rate for those things, or something even more challenging, like Order of Ecclesia, that had rare chests randomly appearing at scenarions and having random rare items, forcing the player to replay areas countless times to get them. What are your thoughts over luck-based gameplay like that?

Its PERFECT IN EVERY WAY! encourages grinding and makes revisiting certain areas a fun thing to do, i still remember when i opened my first green chest in OoE and got a heart repair i was really happy when i found out they were luck based and i revisited the monastery trying to get all posible drops also killing monsters for their drops its a task that i do with pride and joy.

4) Say the name and make a small description of a scenario you would like to see in the game that is NOT Entrance, Library, Clock Tower or anything related to Caverns or Dungeons of any sort.

Enchanted Garden: A huge garden with really big plant like monsters fused with demon shards and stained glass, cursed demonic gardeners and the flora tries to kill you as you fight your way to the boss: THE GARDEN MASTER and his gracious poisoning and slashing attacks. you better bring your flamethrower.

5) IGA said in a old interview that Miriam has her heart crystalized already (we can see that by the fact that her left breast has a crystal rose) but Gebel has almost all his body crystalized, EXCEPT his heart (we can see that by the fact that his chest has a left-angled area clean of crystals) and IGA said that this is relevant to the plot. What do you think that could mean?

Theres still a human side inside of Gebel and well... the power of feelings and memories will see to that but i dont want to think about it.

6) "Hard Lock" is a term for areas that it is completely impossible to reach without the right progression ability, while Soft Locks are areas that you cannot traverse normally without a progression ability but you CAN find a way to do that without it, by clever thinking. For instance, a Hard Lock would be a door that requires a key or a absurdly high plataform with walls covered in spikes that requires flying. A Soft Lock would be a high plataform that requires double jump but you can reach it using a specific Shard combined with a specific set of weapon moves to propel yourself up in a really intricate way. Igavanias always had both of them. Hard Locks are mandatory to stop sequence breaking, but even so, Hard locks VS Soft Locks. What do you prefer?

Hard locks. soft locks feel more like cheating the game.

7) Igavania games are famous for offering a lot of options, gameplay-wise. Lots of powers, dozens of weapons, crazy combinations of equipments. There is a developer term called "Decision Paralysis" and that is also a psychology term. It means when you have so many options that you don't know what to do and feel overwhelmed in a bad way. Some people reach the point of paralyzing to do anything. Some criticism towards some Igavania games (specially Symphony of the Night and the Sorrow series) is that they offer a lot of options (weapons, items, souls) that a ton of them are rendered useless by others, inducing in a overwhelming feeling of either not use anything or trying to use them all. Playing Igavania games, did you ever felt that? Do you think Bloodstained could have that problem?

Yes in SOTN there are so many options but once you know which is the most powerful weapon in the game you dont even look at your inventory for the other weapons you got in the way and you just stick to using the weapon you have without giving the others a chance and yes im sure it will be the same in Bloodstained. this is a game mechanic also known as "META" and i hate it with passion. why would you use those silly bland swords when you have the rapier and its insane damage special attack?

8) What would be the worst offender for you, considering Bloodstained overall, between the options below. YOU CAN ONLY CHOOSE ONE:

a) Microtransactions (the ability to use real money to buy stuff that would require game-money, like buying a ring at Anne/Dominique shop for 2 real life dollars instead of 20.000 in-game gold).

b) Plot-relevant DLCs (A fundamental piece of the plot can only be played by buying DLC)

c) Out-of-place Boob jokes (Anne complaining how small her breasts are comparing to Dominique or Miriam, the first time she mets Miriam, considering she just lost her parents).

d) The main aspect of plot turning out to be a love triangle, with Miriam being the love interest of Gebel and Johannes.

A) Microtransactions are the cancer of RPGs and makes the games P2W (Pay to Win) if its only skins or cosmetics i dont care at all but actual stuff that has an effect on gameplay its a NO NO NO. Final fantasy 15 did this with their season pass weapons and the Ragnarok turned my 10 year old brother into a cheap player to the point he actually beat many hard stuff by just pressing 1 goddam button over and over again! (to those unfamiliar the Ragnarok was a special weapon given to season pass owners. the weapon dealt massive damage after using an attack that could be spammed all day potentially breaking the game and reducing the dificulty considerably).

9) Miriam should move and fight faster than she is right now, by default? (considering her without any powerups whatsoever)

my dream is to see a combo system for normal attacks similar to that in Curse of Darkness but i think its fine as it is right now. haters can go play HK if they dont like what we have here.

10) Exp degradation is something that was used on Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Dissonance to prevent grinding. The same enemy started to give less and less exp (A LV 10 enemy gives 10 EXP when player is at LV 10, but gives 5 EXP when player is at LV 20 and 1 EXP after LV 30+, for instance). This was abandoned in later games. Do you think Exp degradation could make a comeback to prevent grinding?

Given how the demos have worked so far no. Exp degradation its stupid nonsense and im glad its gone for good.

11) Choose ONE enemy from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that enemy is.

There are so many.... mmm... that would be... 10 minutes later... normally i would go for final guards but i hate them so my choice is the mistaken Malachi/Ctulhu from... many igavanias

12) IGA loves references. Symphony of the Night had The Magic of Oz, Aria of Sorrow had Black Kamen Rider and a lot of Igavania games had Jojo's Bizarre Adventure references. What reference would you like to see in Bloodstained?
MORE JOJOS!

Whew that took me some time so heres part 2

13) Choose ONE Weapon from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that weapon is.

Icebrand From Castlevania Symphony of the night. i like ice weapons, if i was a runic forger i would craft an ice mace for Miriam.

14) Choose ONE Power / Magic from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that power / magic is.

Shanoa's Glyph union Swords+Fire/Ice/Holy/Dark but if asked to pick one of those that would be the Holy sword even tho i like the ice one but i prefer the holy version... HOLY POWER!!!

15) Bonus-increasing Enchant Shards, like CON boost or element resisting ones like Holy Resist (mentioned to exist at E3 2017 demo) are things that can be easily covered by equipments. What do you think of shards like that? Clever, necessity or lack of creativity?

i think its more a little bonus and this scale with game progression just like equipment does at first they provide weak stats then they become more powerful but honestly i think players can do just fine without them...

16) Regarding progression abilities, abilities and equipment required to keep going at the game, like double jump and such, a lot of Igavanias had some clever ideas. Symphony of the Night had the Mist form, that could traverse grids. Portrait of Ruin had Frog transformation, letting the player enter at really tiny areas while Order of Ecclesia had Paries, a magic that let you enter inside walls at certain spots to reach the other side.

Create a progression abilty that you would like to see in Bloodstained, aside from the basic (Double Jump, High Jump, fly) and what was used before (armor to break spikes, glasses to see hidden spheres to attack them...)
Demon Abysses: Miriam can only enter the demon areas if she transforms into a demon with the power of a special shard but doing so has its risks such as draining miriam's health or limiting her abilities.

Yay Almost done.

17) 2nd and 3rd playable characters should have complete plots for themselves (that would most probably steal resources from the main game), small plots or no plots at all?

Small plots.

18) Mention a SILLY CHEAT CODE, something comical and funny, that you would like to see in the game.

GITGUD: instantly levels miriam to 255

19) There is a Stratch goal called "New Boss" that went completely overlooked. It was created as a filler to fill up the space when Bloodstained got funded in less then a day and reached 1.5 million. It's description was "New Boss! You unlocked this one while we were writing this update! Now IGA and Inti Creates will be able to add another boss to the castle. We'll profile the extra bosses, enemies, and weapons you earn this way in a future update."

The game didn't had any decided size at that time or any of that. Regarding that, do you think that this stratch goal was useless and just a filler to fill up space because they didn't had any idea what to do or it still has any meaning?

oh so you noticed.. they didnt have any idea. stuff like this is added as dlc in many games and theres no need to make it a stretch goal that was just filler.

20) Should Classic Mode, where the game will be rearranged to at least six punishing and hard stages like the old times of Nintendo hard games, unlock items and stuff for the main game? Or that would be unfair for completionists that can't beat Classic Mode due to how hard it will be?

Completionists shouldnt argue about dificulty in fact i think most would enjoy this. i understand there are completionists that do it just to say i did it but many completionists i know actually do it because its fun. Order of ecclesia and curse of Darkness Crazy modes make many of those old games look easy and im not exagerating as these are actually 1-2 hit dead.

21)

Do you think Nightmare mode, a really hard difficulty mode for the main game, could have items and stuff for exclusive for it? Or that would be unfair for completionists that can't beat Nightmare mode due to how hard it will be?

if im going to torture myself and let the game make fun of me then i want a reward for kicking its ass not just saying wohoo i did it. in Smash bros brawl beating boss rush in intense dificulty with my favorite character (Lucario) was something that felt so good that i even made a party to celebrate it but after my glorious victory mood was gone i realized i spent to many hours of my life just to get a congratulations screen.

22)

IGA's biggest castle is promised to be at least 1600 rooms. Both Symphony of the Night castles have 1890 rooms combined. Do you think that means that IGA's biggest castle stretch goal WILL NOT BE REACHED if the game ends up having less than 1890 rooms?

just like many people said in that thread we need more acurate information about how this is going to work. if it has at least 1800 rooms then thats a big castle to me.

23)

Roguelike dungeon should be like most roguelike games (random generated dungeons that are hyper hard and has no saving) or it should be "Igavania's style" roguelike dungeon, something different? (random generated dungeons maybe easier or with checkpoints).

Igsvania's style sounds great.

24) We will be able to play with bosses in Boss Revenge Mode, in special areas against heroes. Do you expect Vepar to be playable in that mode?

No... this kind of game mode is limited to humanoid or small enemies only, enemies that cant move or have special mechanics in order to beat them are out of the list. unless the devs come up with some great ideas.

25) How much do you think would be fair to ask for a fourth playable character in a slacker-backer campaign before the game's release? 100.000 (the same amouth for second playable character), 250.000 (the value for the third playable character) or 500.000? Or the game doesn't need a fourth playable character?
250000 the game has been overfunded and honestly i think asking for more would be... greedy but i know nothing of games business and economy so my opinion is irrelevant. the more the merrier! Miriam, Zangetsu, Johannes, Dominique.. i can see those Left4Dead survivor mods coming.

Fire, Ice, Thunder, Wind, Holy, Dark, Earth, Slash, Smash, Pierce, Poison, Curse, Stone. so many colors...

DSLevantine
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Posts: 224

Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Jul 30, 2017 23:47:44 GMT -6

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Post by DSLevantine on Jul 30, 2017 23:47:44 GMT -6

Jul 30, 2017 16:54:19 GMT -6 Pure Miriam said:

After creating THIS THREAD, it was suggested that more questions could be made, breaking them at topics. At first i thought about one thread ber theme, but, why don't put everything in a single thread, so people can take ONE HOUR to answer them all? Great idea, right?

So, without further ado, here's 25 questions for all of you to answer, about these themes: Overall (Enemies, Plot, Content, etc), Equipment & Shards and Stratch Goals. Again, some of those questions i did before in old threads, but mosf of them are new.

OVERALL

1) Do you prefer less enemies, but they are all unique, or more enemies but with pallete swap ones among them? Biggest Igavanias normally have 100+ enemies, but all of them had pallete swaps. Considering Bloodstaine's scale, it can reach a number around 150 or more. So, would you prefer, for instance, 150 enemies with 30 pallete swaps or 100 unique enemies?

100 unique enemies are more interesting but I accept pallet swap

2) What are your thoughts over cryptic secrets? Secrets that are so hard to find or require so out-of-the-box thinking that is almost impossible to find out without a guide, like turning into a wolf inside a cavern and getting out in the form of a bat to open a passage (Symphony of the Night)?

They need to find a balance. Not too easy but not so hard, there is no point to create a secret that no player can find it.

3) Some Igavanias had secrets, items and equipment that could only be found by sheer luck. Enemies with extremely low percentage drop rate for those things, or something even more challenging, like Order of Ecclesia, that had rare chests randomly appearing at scenarions and having random rare items, forcing the player to replay areas countless times to get them. What are your thoughts over luck-based gameplay like that?

For me, it is a nuisance, I will get the item eventually but grinding for random chest is not fun.

4) Say the name and make a small description of a scenario you would like to see in the game that is NOT Entrance, Library, Clock Tower or anything related to Caverns or Dungeons of any sort.

5) IGA said in a old interview that Miriam has her heart crystalized already (we can see that by the fact that her left breast has a crystal rose) but Gebel has almost all his body crystalized, EXCEPT his heart (we can see that by the fact that his chest has a left-angled area clean of crystals) and IGA said that this is relevant to the plot. What do you think that could mean?

Miriam killed Gebel to get his heart to replace her own.

6) "Hard Lock" is a term for areas that it is completely impossible to reach without the right progression ability, while Soft Locks are areas that you cannot traverse normally without a progression ability but you CAN find a way to do that without it, by clever thinking. For instance, a Hard Lock would be a door that requires a key or a absurdly high plataform with walls covered in spikes that requires flying. A Soft Lock would be a high plataform that requires double jump but you can reach it using a specific Shard combined with a specific set of weapon moves to propel yourself up in a really intricate way. Igavanias always had both of them. Hard Locks are mandatory to stop sequence breaking, but even so, Hard locks VS Soft Locks. What do you prefer?

Get rid of both

7) Igavania games are famous for offering a lot of options, gameplay-wise. Lots of powers, dozens of weapons, crazy combinations of equipments. There is a developer term called "Decision Paralysis" and that is also a psychology term. It means when you have so many options that you don't know what to do and feel overwhelmed in a bad way. Some people reach the point of paralyzing to do anything. Some criticism towards some Igavania games (specially Symphony of the Night and the Sorrow series) is that they offer a lot of options (weapons, items, souls) that a ton of them are rendered useless by others, inducing in a overwhelming feeling of either not use anything or trying to use them all. Playing Igavania games, did you ever felt that? Do you think Bloodstained could have that problem?

Nope. I never felt that and it is not a problem.

8) What would be the worst offender for you, considering Bloodstained overall, between the options below. YOU CAN ONLY CHOOSE ONE:
a) Microtransactions (the ability to use real money to buy stuff that would require game-money, like buying a ring at Anne/Dominique shop for 2 real life dollars instead of 20.000 in-game gold).
b) Plot-relevant DLCs (A fundamental piece of the plot can only be played by buying DLC)
c) Out-of-place Boob jokes (Anne complaining how small her breasts are comparing to Dominique or Miriam, the first time she mets Miriam, considering she just lost her parents).
d) The main aspect of plot turning out to be a love triangle, with Miriam being the love interest of Gebel and Johannes.

I can't choose. I will say ABD will make me regret for backing this game.

9) Miriam should move and fight faster than she is right now, by default? (considering her without any powerups whatsoever)

NOPE

10) Exp degradation is something that was used on Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Dissonance to prevent grinding. The same enemy started to give less and less exp (A LV 10 enemy gives 10 EXP when player is at LV 10, but gives 5 EXP when player is at LV 20 and 1 EXP after LV 30+, for instance). This was abandoned in later games. Do you think Exp degradation could make a comeback to prevent grinding?

Why get rid of grinding. It is taking away a play style, it feels like the players who don't grind want to away the grind option from the players who grind.

11) Choose ONE enemy from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that enemy is.

12) IGA loves references. Symphony of the Night had The Magic of Oz, Aria of Sorrow had Black Kamen Rider and a lot of Igavania games had Jojo's Bizarre Adventure references. What reference would you like to see in Bloodstained?

EQUIPMENT & SHARDS

13) Choose ONE Weapon from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that weapon is.

valmanway

14) Choose ONE Power / Magic from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that power / magic is.

weapon + beam skeleton glyph union

15) Bonus-increasing Enchant Shards, like CON boost or element resisting ones like Holy Resist (mentioned to exist at E3 2017 demo) are things that can be easily covered by equipments. What do you think of shards like that? Clever, necessity or lack of creativity?

16) Regarding progression abilities, abilities and equipment required to keep going at the game, like double jump and such, a lot of Igavanias had some clever ideas. Symphony of the Night had the Mist form, that could traverse grids. Portrait of Ruin had Frog transformation, letting the player enter at really tiny areas while Order of Ecclesia had Paries, a magic that let you enter inside walls at certain spots to reach the other side.
Create a progression abilty that you would like to see in Bloodstained, aside from the basic (Double Jump, High Jump, fly) and what was used before (armor to break spikes, glasses to see hidden spheres to attack them...).

STRATCH GOALS

17) 2nd and 3rd playable characters should have complete plots for themselves (that would most probably steal resources from the main game), small plots or no plots at all?

small plots

18) Mention a SILLY CHEAT CODE, something comical and funny, that you would like to see in the game.

19) There is a Stratch goal called "New Boss" that went completely overlooked. It was created as a filler to fill up the space when Bloodstained got funded in less then a day and reached 1.5 million. It's description was "New Boss! You unlocked this one while we were writing this update! Now IGA and Inti Creates will be able to add another boss to the castle. We'll profile the extra bosses, enemies, and weapons you earn this way in a future update."
The game didn't had any decided size at that time or any of that. Regarding that, do you think that this stratch goal was useless and just a filler to fill up space because they didn't had any idea what to do or it still has any meaning?

20) Should Classic Mode, where the game will be rearranged to at least six punishing and hard stages like the old times of Nintendo hard games, unlock items and stuff for the main game? Or that would be unfair for completionists that can't beat Classic Mode due to how hard it will be?

Igavania game is not about difficulty.

21)
Do you think Nightmare mode, a really hard difficulty mode for the main game, could have items and stuff for exclusive for it? Or that would be unfair for completionists that can't beat Nightmare mode due to how hard it will be?

Igavania game is not about difficulty.

22)
IGA's biggest castle is promised to be at least 1600 rooms. Both Symphony of the Night castles have 1890 rooms combined. Do you think that means that IGA's biggest castle stretch goal WILL NOT BE REACHED if the game ends up having less than 1890 rooms?

I am fine with 1600+ rooms

23)
Roguelike dungeon should be like most roguelike games (random generated dungeons that are hyper hard and has no saving) or it should be "Igavania's style" roguelike dungeon, something different? (random generated dungeons maybe easier or with checkpoints).

24) We will be able to play with bosses in Boss Revenge Mode, in special areas against heroes. Do you expect Vepar to be playable in that mode?

Nope

25) How much do you think would be fair to ask for a fourth playable character in a slacker-backer campaign before the game's release? 100.000 (the same amouth for second playable character), 250.000 (the value for the third playable character) or 500.000? Or the game doesn't need a fourth playable character?

$0 since we can still back the game, I am sure Iga gained more than 5.5m from this campaign.

DRM on COTM.. Lesson Learned

ghaleon
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Posts: 611

Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Jul 31, 2017 1:27:16 GMT -6

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Post by ghaleon on Jul 31, 2017 1:27:16 GMT -6

1: I'm cool with palette swapping. Having a unique enemy is better than a palette swap of course. but I find the diversity in combat mechanics and encounter difficulty to be far far more important than the visual uniqueness of enemies. This is especially true for bosses. Sometimes an early game boss that balanced around you having limited gear/ability options plays COMPLETELY differently even with the same AI, when you have more tools and gear under your belt.

In addition, I like the diablo2-style 'elite' monster thing. Where normal monsters can get random perks and whatever to change how they feel as well, even though they sometimes aren't EVEN a palette swap (just a name/title swap!).

2: I hate em. But at the same time I fancy games that have secrets so hard to figure out that even with guides and the Internet it might take years before ANYONE finds them. Ideally though, I STILL would like it to not really be cryptic so much as long, complicated, etc. I mean if I made my own game with a huge explorable world, I'd have one really big secret that I expect nobody to discover for years. BUT I'd make it sequential, so that it would partially be discovered over time, and portions of its discovery unlock goodies along the way

3: I like them to a point. I don't like it when something less common than a flea man or medusa head has like a 0.1% chance of dropping anything more exciting than a big money bag or something. I don't want to have to kill 500 mirage skeletons for that invincibility relic or whatever. But like SoTn, where those posessed books have a lowish chance of dropping a 500 dollar money bag, that was cool. That crisingram drop form the inverted library wasn't THAT bad because the shnook enemy or whatever it was called wasn't THAT rare, but that's not the kind of thing I like.. It would be ok if its drop wasn't super amazing best in game something or whatever though.

4: Maybe a monastery. I mean it's normal for a chapel or cathedral area, and I like those, but a monostary would feel more 'normal', and 'liveable' whilst keeping the churchy feel as well.

5: I imagine it has something to do with humanity or some such. Honestly I don't expect to care much. Even amongst RPGs, I don't care for the story 90% of the time. Xeno and Kiseki are really the only series I can think of that the story matters a lot to me.

6: I think a combination of both is best. Honestly I think most of the time soft-locks are kind of unintentional where the devs 'didn't think of that'. Which is just as fine with me. If they DO 'think of it' though and it's intentional, yeah, both.

7: No. In fact I think the problem is kind of in the other direction. Often times you find enemies ore treasures granting the player with equipment that was not possible to obtain before that point, and later on these items are pretty much useless right away compared to something the player likely has already. It makes the excitement of getting new equipment and loot less exciting. I mean obviously it can't always be better all the time, but getting some super rare crystal sword of you wont see it until 3/4 of the way thru the game that has no special features or abilities and has an attack stat lower than say a damascus sword you can reasonably afford to buy within the first 5% of the game is lame.

8: B. even though I said I don't play games for plot, it's just not cool to do that.

9: Could she? Maybe, I wouldn't mind.. but SHOULD she? I don't agree. If she moves faster, I expect the enemies to do so too. But honestly I don't see faster movement across the board being normal without the game turning into a combo-esque one like megaman zero, or elsword, or uhh.. that new roguelite game where you are a parasite thing possessing a headless dude

10: Don't care. But that said, It should not be implemented in roguelike mode.

11: Skeletons I guess. they're just so easy to make do whatever you want with them. They're like the lego of evviillll.

12: I don't care about references too much, but Kiseki, Touhou, and dark souls would be a start I guess.

13: That bendy lightsaber whip thing in curse of darkness. It's like a lightsaber only cooler cuz it goes swoosh and woosh better! I DONT like sword whips normally, but seeing one do raiden style toothpaste laser effects is nice.

14: Anything cross-related. Though I doubt it will happen. Too many game devs censor crosses and Christian symbolism out, which sucks. Fight censorship darnit!

15: I wouldn't call it clever or necessary but simply a welcome option that's.... optional. Options are good y'know.

16: Didn't we have a thread about this like the first month this forum was created? I think I had an idea that was like runner-up for a contest winner too darnit! I don't remember anymore though. How about a mirror that reflects light from background stained glass windows and allows you to 'refract' into it and appear wherever you reflect the light towards? Lazy example, I honestly don't like inventing these kinds of things.

17: Small unless they are constantly part of Miriam's own main plot, then it can be symbiotic and large or something.

18: Now this I KNOW we had a thread about back in the day. I said a code that made attacks and damage appear like the original Batman TV series, where you'd get stuff like 'POW', "OOPH!", "BAM", "CRASH!".

19: Probably.

20: No, and not just because of unfair. But because Some people may want to play it first, others later. If the rewards for completing it are good, they will be op if you do it first, and if they suck well. they suck so what's the point. And not being able to do it early/first wouldn't be cool for those who WANT to. And just to be a nitpicky @%#%@, I doubt level 1 is going to be terribly punishing and hard, and if it is, it wouldn't really be too reminiscent of 'nintendo hard' games since level 1s were generally easy even back then.

21: I like hard games but I odn't like this thing either. not because of unfair again (though that's there too). But simply because sometimes you want to play a hard game, sometimes you want to play an easy game, but you shouldn't be penalized somehow for whatever you feel like by not having an option which should otherwise be there imo.

22: We had a thread about this too. My argument was that I expect the game will have over 1899 rooms, and that one singular castle will 'only' have 1600 rooms. While having one castle AND the entire game limited to under 1899 rooms (but over 1600) would TECHNICALLY not be a lie according to the strech goal. I think it would be kinda... err... I wouldn't say slimey or dirty but...certainly not honorable. Iga comes across as a pretty down to earth genuine guy. I don't think he would do anything dishonorable like that. I expect over 1900 rooms in the game even though I know he technically wouldn't be lying if it wont be.

23: First off, I expect it to be a roguelite, not a roguelike, which sounds nitpicky, but it's a huge distinction. That said, I HOPE it's going to be hyper hard with no checkpoints or reloading save files (but suspend files so you can take a washroom break or goto bed or whatever are fine).

24: Well if they are given special areas, I don't see why not. Honestly I find this stretch goal is probably going to be a gimmick more than something truly cool. But I will judge it after I play it.

25: I'd rather see the game in full before we decide what it needs more of... except I know what I know I want for the game. modding support. Replace all the enemies with warcraft units, or star trek, or my little ponies! or cows! Play as barney the dinosaur! Yeaaahh!

purifyweirdshard
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Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Jul 31, 2017 9:59:54 GMT -6 Saint Germain likes this

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Post by purifyweirdshard on Jul 31, 2017 9:59:54 GMT -6

1) I don't mind palette swaps, and we're obviously getting them already. If we're hitting 100 enemies without swaps, then of course more enemies with that method to add to their number would be fine. I think they have a good grasp on how not to overdo it.

2) Well, the wolf transform inside the cavern isn't so much a cryptic secret to me as it is more of a kinda-sorta intended workaround to flesh out map completion. An obscure secret is like the alchemy lab elevator trick, or the birds in the observation room at the bottom of the outer wall, high jumping the librarian's chair for items, etc. Those are awesome.

3) It's a given. Rare drops are part of exploration-based, collection gameplay.

4) A church in a forested area. Perhaps an annex to the main cathedral in the castle, or part of the village. I'd like to see it as kind of a quiet, secluded area with secret interactions. It would have the serenity and feel of a save location, but also somewhat unsettling and out of place. More or less the new "confessional booth", but a larger, more fleshed out area.

5) It could mean that Gebel has more of a handle on human emotion than Miriam, and it could be a tragedy in that she is unable to live as a normal human. That is if "heart" is applied in more of a figurative sense as well. Physiologically, it could mean just about anything depending on how IGA wants the magic part of it to work.

6) A mix of both like usual, of course. Soft is obviously more enjoyable, but they can't be a majority of what bars progression, and they have to be careful just how soft those are.

7) Mainly I just feel that more weapons and items should be useful, and I think the crafting system aims to address just that. There were some really interesting weapons in the games that just weren't particularly strong enough to warrant using over other things, and it's a shame to pass up a favorite just because something else is way better stat wise. That said, a game like SotN is easy enough that it didn't really matter - you could roll with whatever you wanted and be fine. There should be a balance here, depending on the difficulty of the game and the reliance on stronger equipment. Ideally, there's an opportunity to make everything at least "viable" though, if not on par with the strongest.

8) lol, A easily. The other things would be slight annoyances at worst. I can't see IGA going for microtransactions with this game.

9) Not really.

10) It doesn't matter so much to me, because I'm not someone that's ever going to grind that much. I think it's fine if they implement measures against it if they feel it's important for balance, but it shouldn't dampen players' enjoyment either. Maybe there could be other, more difficult to obtain things in the form of extremely rare craft materials in addition to EXP farming (and shard level farming).

11) Death. And I hope he talks trash.

12) Castlevania, lol, and other video games.

13) Were Bane from SotN.

14) Hydro/Holy Storm from Rondo/SotN.

15) We don't know how vital stats will be to the game yet, so it's hard to say. Having a bonus could be very important or not at all, but having them is better than not. All of the other important categories are covered, so I don't see how they're a bad thing. It's also good that they're not sharing real estate with other options.

16) Crystal creation. Stained-glass looking platforms like Mega Man item/arrow platforms that can either be free-standing or temporarily attach to walls, as well as perhaps a kind of diamond dust she can float/hover with.

17) The other two characters should at least have plots in Miriam's main game (as related to hers) that you are assumed as playing out in their own respective game modes. That should be sufficient, with some light scenes interacting with Miriam and adjustments to paths. Of course, having a full fledged plot for each of them would be great, but I think just allowing them a plausible, context-agreeable reason to be going through the castle mentioned in the main game + occasional Miriam cameos would be enough.

18) Goofball Day mode, of course.

19) They will be careful to pointedly tell us which boss is the extra one here, as they're good and careful about separating things out from what I've seen. It should be clear to us which one is an "extra" boss, and I still think they'll tell us in an update. It will likely be a hidden boss like the IGA boss, something that takes some effort to find and beat. Kind of like a Galamoth or Forgotten One.

20) Well, first of all, if you want to be/call yourself a completionist, you should be okay with getting better at the game lol. I think this unlock thing would be fine and neat. Same for the prequel mini-game, but maybe in that one's case, more things along the lines of clues for those obscure secrets.

21) See above lol. Yeah, I think there should be reason/incentive to get into it. I like challenging gameplay, but if there's no real reward to it otherwise, then I may not dive in since I've already seen everything.

22) Well, regular SotN + inverted SotN is two castles, not one, and yet it's actually, well...still just one. lol. So yeah, I think 1600 unique rooms is plenty, so long as that 1600 isn't reached by 800 + 800 reused. Would I rather it be over 1890? Sure, and I think they could potentially achieve that with using an inverted-ish method, but somehow different. We'll see. Do I think they're meeting the goal with a straight 1600? Yes.

23) The roguelike dungeons should be roguelike dungeons because that's what they're supposed to be. The IGAvania is the main game and will be inherently easier than the standard examples of the genre just because of the leniency of the gameplay. I'm interested to see the result of this mix of the two.

24) Hah, probably not. I'm expecting human-sized bosses like Bloodless, Gebel, "rival person" (Zangetsu probably), etc, but the big ones would be super neat lol.

25) Hm, well this is purely hypothetical if you ask me, and yeah it's not necessary, but probably another 250k would cover everything they'd need for it. Would be nice to have a full playable roster of all the likely assumed possibilities though (Miriam, Zangetsu, Dominique AND Johannes).

Last Edit: Aug 2, 2017 12:01:34 GMT -6 by purifyweirdshard

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Enkeria
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Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Jul 31, 2017 13:23:12 GMT -6 Galamoth and Saint Germain like this

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Post by Enkeria on Jul 31, 2017 13:23:12 GMT -6

1) Do you prefer less enemies, but they are all unique, or more enemies but with pallete swap ones among them? Biggest Igavanias normally have 100+ enemies, but all of them had pallete swaps. Considering Bloodstaine's scale, it can reach a number around 150 or more. So, would you prefer, for instance, 150 enemies with 30 pallete swaps or 100 unique enemies?

First, I would like to see almost all unique, with exception of a few enemies that use same attacks but with different elemental attacks. Like the Axe Knight in Circle of the Moon. There were Poison Knight and Electricity Knight etc. Second, if we pick Nightmare as a difficulty. All the enemies could have other colors. This would instant show if you play normal or nightmare mode. The Nightmare difficulty could give us a few more monsters that we have not seen before, in places that were empty the first playthrough.

AxeArmor

2) What are your thoughts over cryptic secrets? Secrets that are so hard to find or require so out-of-the-box thinking that is almost impossible to find out without a guide, like turning into a wolf inside a cavern and getting out in the form of a bat to open a passage (Symphony of the Night)?

I need a guide for this, nothing like this have ever happen to me by mistake. Do I really need internet to enjoy the game to it's fullest? I do enjoy simple riddles however. Super cryptic things like Castlevania II whirlwind from a wall or the pink elevating platform in the wall, in Symphony of the Night needs a guide to let people know about it. It is very tricky to make these work, because once you know them, they might not be as charming anymore. I hope to see something at least, not only silly cheatcodes.

3) Some Igavanias had secrets, items and equipment that could only be found by sheer luck. Enemies with extremely low percentage drop rate for those things, or something even more challenging, like Order of Ecclesia, that had rare chests randomly appearing at scenarions and having random rare items, forcing the player to replay areas countless times to get them. What are your thoughts over luck-based gameplay like that?

If I know the thing should be in that area, or from that enemy. I will grind. I do not mind. The random factor could be applied to other things that are less important, but good things would be where you think you will find them. A New Game + could spice up this by rearrange some of the items, that would be cool, or in Nightmare difficulty, make powerful items harder to reach / find / get early on.

4) Say the name and make a small description of a scenario you would like to see in the game that is NOT Entrance, Library, Clock Tower or anything related to Caverns or Dungeons of any sort.

The nine circles of hell, all represented in a tower with each two ways to the sides. Leading up to the main chamber above, the frozen pit. Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Heresy, Violence, Fraud and Treachery.

5) IGA said in a old interview that Miriam has her heart crystalized already (we can see that by the fact that her left breast has a crystal rose) but Gebel has almost all his body crystalized, EXCEPT his heart (we can see that by the fact that his chest has a left-angled area clean of crystals) and IGA said that this is relevant to the plot. What do you think that could mean?

Two parts from a same power. Once united, that power can 'become' whole. The true threat would be revealed.

6) "Hard Lock" is a term for areas that it is completely impossible to reach without the right progression ability, while Soft Locks are areas that you cannot traverse normally without a progression ability but you CAN find a way to do that without it, by clever thinking. For instance, a Hard Lock would be a door that requires a key or a absurdly high plataform with walls covered in spikes that requires flying. A Soft Lock would be a high plataform that requires double jump but you can reach it using a specific Shard combined with a specific set of weapon moves to propel yourself up in a really intricate way. Igavanias always had both of them. Hard Locks are mandatory to stop sequence breaking, but even so, Hard locks VS Soft Locks. What do you prefer?

bloodstainedfanforums.com/thread/2293/bloodstained-details-matters-lot-2
Quote: "I like combination of those two, balance it out. Hard Lock is what I would love to see with the new "familiars". You need them to unlock parts of your journey, so they ALL are used at one point."

7) Igavania games are famous for offering a lot of options, gameplay-wise. Lots of powers, dozens of weapons, crazy combinations of equipments. There is a developer term called "Decision Paralysis" and that is also a psychology term. It means when you have so many options that you don't know what to do and feel overwhelmed in a bad way. Some people reach the point of paralyzing to do anything. Some criticism towards some Igavania games (specially Symphony of the Night and the Sorrow series) is that they offer a lot of options (weapons, items, souls) that a ton of them are rendered useless by others, inducing in a overwhelming feeling of either not use anything or trying to use them all. Playing Igavania games, did you ever felt that? Do you think Bloodstained could have that problem?

Never felt that. Feels good to have a variation each time I pick up the game, even with a playthrough. Duplicator was too powerful! There will be things that always are better than others, but if the loot are given at random, or somewhat random - things would be original right at the start. I have seen games that lets you only carry x amount of weapons, you can throw away one to use another, you can only do so however when that option arrives, this without knowing whats to come. I think that would be a cool mode. Make us carry less, but with high random faction involved, all tiers included. And in a mini-game of some sort. Boss Rush mode maybe?

8) What would be the worst offender for you, considering Bloodstained overall, between the options below. YOU CAN ONLY CHOOSE ONE:

b) Plot-relevant DLCs (A fundamental piece of the plot can only be played by buying DLC)

9) Miriam should move and fight faster than she is right now, by default? (considering her without any powerups whatsoever)

Fine as she is. Powerups might come early, and those seems to push the game into right direction. Many games with stages and such usually do the last stages shorter so the player feel the progression is speed-up, with powers this comes more natural, and the backtrack is easier / faster.

10) Exp degradation is something that was used on Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Dissonance to prevent grinding. The same enemy started to give less and less exp (A LV 10 enemy gives 10 EXP when player is at LV 10, but gives 5 EXP when player is at LV 20 and 1 EXP after LV 30+, for instance). This was abandoned in later games. Do you think Exp degradation could make a comeback to prevent grinding?

Grind should be fun, if the game needs the grinding. Grind is not fun for everyone, so at least do not put a rule on it.

11) Choose ONE enemy from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that enemy is.

Succubus. Liked those creatures in all games.

12) IGA loves references. Symphony of the Night had The Magic of Oz, Aria of Sorrow had Black Kamen Rider and a lot of Igavania games had Jojo's Bizarre Adventure references. What reference would you like to see in Bloodstained?

Kickstarter & Fan Gamer references. The Campaign "Goals reached" castle siege design would be a nice banner in the background somewhere.

13) Choose ONE Weapon from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that weapon is.

Crissaegrim. OP sword is OP. If not (due to the animation?), maybe Rune Sword, great distance! If Alucard's sword were an option, that alone would probably alone be the biggest nod towards the Castlevania franschaise in my opinion, if we saw Alucart, it would probably be worse than the medium swords in Bloodstained.

14) Choose ONE Power / Magic from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that power / magic is.

Hydro Storm! Cleaned Dracula in a could of seconds. Again.. OP. If you ment more like those combination-thingies. I never used t hem. So I do not really care about that.

Holy Water

15) Bonus-increasing Enchant Shards, like CON boost or element resisting ones like Holy Resist (mentioned to exist at E3 2017 demo) are things that can be easily covered by equipments. What do you think of shards like that? Clever, necessity or lack of creativity?

Lack of creativity is a word, but we all love buffs, right? I would however enjoy to know if we could craft shards to make different atributes on these shards. If Johannes are the one doing that job, we have another salesman in the game.

16) Regarding progression abilities, abilities and equipment required to keep going at the game, like double jump and such, a lot of Igavanias had some clever ideas. Symphony of the Night had the Mist form, that could traverse grids. Portrait of Ruin had Frog transformation, letting the player enter at really tiny areas while Order of Ecclesia had Paries, a magic that let you enter inside walls at certain spots to reach the other side.
Create a progression abilty that you would like to see in Bloodstained, aside from the basic (Double Jump, High Jump, fly) and what was used before (armor to break spikes, glasses to see hidden spheres to attack them...).

Seems like Miriam might explode when she have too much power, this could be cool. Clear a room from lesser enemies with one "poff!". How that one would trigger could perhaps be after collected a few "Level Ups", then unleash it with a shard of some kind that would not do anything if we did not know about the "level up" being the source to this power. Other suggestions would be that her hands could shape into glass-shard weapons and shields. Perhaps she also could enter any normal mirror, giving us a reflected reality where the music goes backwards and time seems to stop for a short period of time, once over she is flung out of that realm into ours, or if she, by choice, steps out of another (or same) mirror. I would enjoy wings on her too.

17) 2nd and 3rd playable characters should have complete plots for themselves (that would most probably steal resources from the main game), small plots or no plots at all?

Small plots with mystery - so we can continue to speculate, for fan fiction or for future projects.

18) Mention a SILLY CHEAT CODE, something comical and funny, that you would like to see in the game.

Code: ABRLRLDDUU (A B Right, Left, Right, Left, Down, Down, Up, Up) - Upon death in game, with this code intact, we see IGA on his throne, with a floating sword and a floating whip in front of him with the text "This is just the beginning" instead of "Game Over".

link

19) There is a Stratch goal called "New Boss" that went completely overlooked. It was created as a filler to fill up the space when Bloodstained got funded in less then a day and reached 1.5 million. It's description was "New Boss! You unlocked this one while we were writing this update! Now IGA and Inti Creates will be able to add another boss to the castle. We'll profile the extra bosses, enemies, and weapons you earn this way in a future update."
The game didn't had any decided size at that time or any of that. Regarding that, do you think that this stratch goal was useless and just a filler to fill up space because they didn't had any idea what to do or it still has any meaning?

That New Boss is the IGA boss, so I find it funny that he ended up in the game. Voice recordings are already finished.

20) Should Classic Mode, where the game will be rearranged to at least six punishing and hard stages like the old times of Nintendo hard games, unlock items and stuff for the main game? Or that would be unfair for completionists that can't beat Classic Mode due to how hard it will be?

Why not? I am all in for unlocking things, but only if they are visuals, not items in such a way that you gain an advantage.

21) Do you think Nightmare mode, a really hard difficulty mode for the main game, could have items and stuff for exclusive for it? Or that would be unfair for completionists that can't beat Nightmare mode due to how hard it will be?

Exclusive things? Yes, few of them, that makes that mode a bit easier, but not too easy. Those things should however stay in that mode - and be lost in New Game +, it wouldn't be something that you get once and keep so to speak.

_mac

22) IGA's biggest castle is promised to be at least 1600 rooms. Both Symphony of the Night castles have 1890 rooms combined. Do you think that means that IGA's biggest castle stretch goal WILL NOT BE REACHED if the game ends up having less than 1890 rooms?

Since they already said 1600+ rooms. It would mean they either have plans for a mirrored castle, or inverted, which will double it, or, they ment the castle only and not the Galleon Minerva, The Village and any other areas outside of the castle that we might see. This is a hot topic which we will not get our answers to until we can actually play the game. I hope for two castles, one village and one boat. I wish for three castles, three villages and three boats. He he.

23) Roguelike dungeon should be like most roguelike games (random generated dungeons that are hyper hard and has no saving) or it should be "Igavania's style" roguelike dungeon, something different? (random generated dungeons maybe easier or with checkpoints).

Rougelike or Rougelight, that is the question. They mention rougelike, so that would mean hard stuff, no saves, no checkpoints. Keeping a record how well you made would be nice to keep though.

_cthulhu

24) We will be able to play with bosses in Boss Revenge Mode, in special areas against heroes. Do you expect Vepar to be playable in that mode?

I expect bosses that can move around are the ones you can play. Not Vepar or similar giant creatures.

_vepar

25) How much do you think would be fair to ask for a fourth playable character in a slacker-backer campaign before the game's release? 100.000 (the same amouth for second playable character), 250.000 (the value for the third playable character) or 500.000? Or the game doesn't need a fourth playable character?

No need for a fourth character, but if they want to give us something while waiting on their next project, I am all in for it! That is, if we get the playable character for free. If we talk money. I would think 100.000 would do just fine, because I think a fourth one would just be a re-skin of something that were to be created anyway in the game.

_iga

Thanks for the mind-blown questions. Now rest, you deserve it.

Last Edit: Aug 6, 2017 5:33:25 GMT -6 by Enkeria

Pure Miriam Legendary Comrade Shardbinder [TI1] "A new, vital heart, pulsing with the old blood." -IGA Posts: 1,068 Pure Miriam inherit Legendary Comrade Male 445 0 Oct 20, 2019 3:32:00 GMT -6 1,600 Pure Miriam [TI1] "A new, vital heart, pulsing with the old blood." -IGA 1,068 Shardbinder Jul 25, 2015 2:19:20 GMT -6 July 2015 puremiriam	Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Jul 31, 2017 15:02:56 GMT -6 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by Pure Miriam on Jul 31, 2017 15:02:56 GMT -6 Thanks for the great answers guys
	I consider Igavania and Metroidvania the same genre, but i call" IGAVANIA" if the game was created, directed or with some involvement of Koji Igarashi OR the game closely follows his path on "Metroidvania Gothic game" style.

Arsenical
Loyal Familiar

Posts: 120

Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Jul 31, 2017 19:13:22 GMT -6 XombieMike likes this

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Post by Arsenical on Jul 31, 2017 19:13:22 GMT -6

i know you took the time to write the whole quiz and now you know what some of us think. but now im curious and i would like to see you answer them all >

so i request the 25 answers of Pure Miriam

Fire, Ice, Thunder, Wind, Holy, Dark, Earth, Slash, Smash, Pierce, Poison, Curse, Stone. so many colors...

CastleDan
Fifty Storms

Posts: 1,514

Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Jul 31, 2017 20:11:29 GMT -6 via mobile neff and Saint Germain like this

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Post by CastleDan on Jul 31, 2017 20:11:29 GMT -6

About the super hard to find secrets question:

To me guide or no guide it doesn't matter does it? If you don't have a. guide and you missed it will you be disappointed? It's not like you would even know. The specialness of stuff like this is when you find out and it makes you re-think and re-explore the game. The fun of that is not everything needs to be so obvious. What's the fun putting everything in such a plain to see way? Being able to find surprises tucked away makes for a more special experience.

It's what made sotn so damn special to me in the first place. The fact that there was so many hidden things and hidden features I constantly wanted to replay it because I always had a feeling there could be more. The thing I hated about the igavanias that came later was that they felt much more concise and everything was in the open to the point of when completeing it I didn't feel the need to replay it 100s of times. I didn't feel the need to try a bunch of crazy things, what's there was there. Those games didn't feel like a mystery box waiting to be opened so I didn't care to open it more.

Last Edit: Jul 31, 2017 20:14:29 GMT -6 by CastleDan

purifyweirdshard
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Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Jul 31, 2017 22:40:26 GMT -6 CastleDan and Saint Germain like this

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Post by purifyweirdshard on Jul 31, 2017 22:40:26 GMT -6

Yeah, I'm still hearing/learning new things about SotN I didn't know, like that the Balmung can use the Shield Rod spells. It has the passive defense boost, too. Just can't make Gradius shields lol.

Brent Taylor - (Stained glass profile theme created by XombieMike)
Have a question about Bloodstained? Check for an answer here, and if you don't already see it, ask away!:
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Angel-Corlux
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Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Jul 31, 2017 23:34:47 GMT -6 XombieMike and Saint Germain like this

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Post by Angel-Corlux on Jul 31, 2017 23:34:47 GMT -6

This is an awesome thread, I'm busy working on "something" right now, but it's always so cool to see such passion.

_heart

Last Edit: Jul 31, 2017 23:36:11 GMT -6 by Angel-Corlux

Pure Miriam
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Posts: 1,068

Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Aug 1, 2017 2:47:09 GMT -6 Enkeria and Arsenical like this

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Post by Pure Miriam on Aug 1, 2017 2:47:09 GMT -6

Arsenical asked me to answer my own questions. I normally don't do that in order to not direct people's answers, but since some already answered, i decided to answer my questions. I also answered them at MY OLD THREAD OF QUESTIONS. My answers at THIS COLOR. Here goes:

Jul 30, 2017 16:54:19 GMT -6 Pure Miriam said:

OVERALL

1) Do you prefer less enemies, but they are all unique, or more enemies but with pallete swap ones among them? Biggest Igavanias normally have 100+ enemies, but all of them had pallete swaps. Considering Bloodstaine's scale, it can reach a number around 150 or more. So, would you prefer, for instance, 150 enemies with 30 pallete swaps or 100 unique enemies?
More enemies with pallete swap among them. I'm probably one of the few people that actually likes pallete swaps. You can do creative things with palleted swap enemies. And, more enemies means more Shards too!

2) What are your thoughts over cryptic secrets? Secrets that are so hard to find or require so out-of-the-box thinking that is almost impossible to find out without a guide, like turning into a wolf inside a cavern and getting out in the form of a bat to open a passage (Symphony of the Night)?
I love them, as long as they don't hide anything critical.

3) Some Igavanias had secrets, items and equipment that could only be found by sheer luck. Enemies with extremely low percentage drop rate for those things, or something even more challenging, like Order of Ecclesia, that had rare chests randomly appearing at scenarions and having random rare items, forcing the player to replay areas countless times to get them. What are your thoughts over luck-based gameplay like that?
I think the game needs a balance on this and that balance didn't existed in Order of Ecclesia, specially with the whole "let's put some unique items inside a single rare chest at the hardest game's dungeon and make the player replay it 10 times until finally he gets all of them". Even through the rare chest was always there, that was silly.

4) Say the name and make a small description of a scenario you would like to see in the game that is NOT Entrance, Library, Clock Tower or anything related to Caverns or Dungeons of any sort.
The Doll House. A childish scenario full of stuffed animals and dolls, with a bizarre music that mixes children's lullaby with sinister tunes, with weird dolls and stuffed animals as enemies. There could be a secret costume there that resembles a childish doll-like dress for Miriam (a pink dress with white puffy shorts and Babushka hat). Plot-wise, this could be an area Gebel built for Miriam, hoping she would wake up from her coma sooner than what happened (Miriam had coma for 10 years, she is 18, so, she was 8 when the coma started. (Unless she was 18 and didn't age, but i don't remember anyone anywhere saying that).

5) IGA said in a old interview that Miriam has her heart crystalized already (we can see that by the fact that her left breast has a crystal rose) but Gebel has almost all his body crystalized, EXCEPT his heart (we can see that by the fact that his chest has a left-angled area clean of crystals) and IGA said that this is relevant to the plot. What do you think that could mean?
I have no idea, but i think it has something to do with emotions. I still believe Gebel isn't the true villian and he may have a higher plot on all of this..

6) "Hard Lock" is a term for areas that it is completely impossible to reach without the right progression ability, while Soft Locks are areas that you cannot traverse normally without a progression ability but you CAN find a way to do that without it, by clever thinking. For instance, a Hard Lock would be a door that requires a key or a absurdly high plataform with walls covered in spikes that requires flying. A Soft Lock would be a high plataform that requires double jump but you can reach it using a specific Shard combined with a specific set of weapon moves to propel yourself up in a really intricate way. Igavanias always had both of them. Hard Locks are mandatory to stop sequence breaking, but even so, Hard locks VS Soft Locks. What do you prefer?
Hard Locks are mandatory. I believe we can have a mix of both, but i think Hard Locks must have a small upper hand due to the necessity to block sequence breaking.

7) Igavania games are famous for offering a lot of options, gameplay-wise. Lots of powers, dozens of weapons, crazy combinations of equipments. There is a developer term called "Decision Paralysis" and that is also a psychology term. It means when you have so many options that you don't know what to do and feel overwhelmed in a bad way. Some people reach the point of paralyzing to do anything. Some criticism towards some Igavania games (specially Symphony of the Night and the Sorrow series) is that they offer a lot of options (weapons, items, souls) that a ton of them are rendered useless by others, inducing in a overwhelming feeling of either not use anything or trying to use them all. Playing Igavania games, did you ever felt that? Do you think Bloodstained could have that problem?
Never felt that. I would like of most things could be useful one way or the other, but i know that's really hard to do.

8) What would be the worst offender for you, considering Bloodstained overall, between the options below. YOU CAN ONLY CHOOSE ONE:
a) Microtransactions (the ability to use real money to buy stuff that would require game-money, like buying a ring at Anne/Dominique shop for 2 real life dollars instead of 20.000 in-game gold).
b) Plot-relevant DLCs (A fundamental piece of the plot can only be played by buying DLC)
c) Out-of-place Boob jokes (Anne complaining how small her breasts are comparing to Dominique or Miriam, the first time she mets Miriam, considering she just lost her parents).
d) The main aspect of plot turning out to be a love triangle, with Miriam being the love interest of Gebel and Johannes.
B all thr way. That would be a betrayal to backers and non-backers!

9) Miriam should move and fight faster than she is right now, by default? (considering her without any powerups whatsoever)
Not at all. The game's speed is fine as it is.

10) Exp degradation is something that was used on Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Dissonance to prevent grinding. The same enemy started to give less and less exp (A LV 10 enemy gives 10 EXP when player is at LV 10, but gives 5 EXP when player is at LV 20 and 1 EXP after LV 30+, for instance). This was abandoned in later games. Do you think Exp degradation could make a comeback to prevent grinding?
I don't like exp degradation at all. i'm glad that was removed.

11) Choose ONE enemy from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that enemy is.
Alura Une from Symphony of the Night. She matches the game's theme. She could have a powered version (pallete swap maybe) of her with her rose as a stained glass crystalized rose.

12) IGA loves references. Symphony of the Night had The Magic of Oz, Aria of Sorrow had Black Kamen Rider and a lot of Igavania games had Jojo's Bizarre Adventure references. What reference would you like to see in Bloodstained?
Jojo's all the way. Miriam MUST have a Shard where she uses by doing a Jojo like pose. She is almost doing that already at the main menu!

EQUIPMENT & SHARDS

13) Choose ONE Weapon from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that weapon is.
Tyrfing. yes, that useless Sword from Symphony of the Night whose attack is -30 and if Alucard has less than 31 of base Attack, the sword does nothing. I find it really clever and funny. (Also, Tyrfing is the only weapon that has Dark and Cut damage and if you can do SOME damage with it, no enemy in the game can block it due to that (except for Specters in Saturn version).

14) Choose ONE Power / Magic from any Igavania that you would like to see a comeback at Bloodstained. State it's name and from what game that power / magic is.
Alure Une Familiar from Dawn of Sorrow. She hugs Soma like a crazy Yandere and doesn't let him move while killing everything around with her roots and tentacles, with Soma being completely invulnerable during that. I would love to see the same thing with Miriam! She couldn't be a familiar because she must use up a ton of MP (like Dawn of Sorrow) or it would be game-breaking (and Bloodstained familiars don't use MP as Iga already stated) she could be a Effective Shard, if effective shards ends up being things like that. It would be almost a carbon copy, but it would be fun. Maybe she could say things like "You are all mine! No one will touch you!" or something like that.

15) Bonus-increasing Enchant Shards, like CON boost or element resisting ones like Holy Resist (mentioned to exist at E3 2017 demo) are things that can be easily covered by equipments. What do you think of shards like that? Clever, necessity or lack of creativity?
I believe it is a lack of creativity, but i don't blame them for that. You have 100+ enemies to create powers for. It starts to be really hard to be creative after some time.

16) Regarding progression abilities, abilities and equipment required to keep going at the game, like double jump and such, a lot of Igavanias had some clever ideas. Symphony of the Night had the Mist form, that could traverse grids. Portrait of Ruin had Frog transformation, letting the player enter at really tiny areas while Order of Ecclesia had Paries, a magic that let you enter inside walls at certain spots to reach the other side.
Create a progression abilty that you would like to see in Bloodstained, aside from the basic (Double Jump, High Jump, fly) and what was used before (armor to break spikes, glasses to see hidden spheres to attack them...).
SKILL SHARD Mirror Image. Like some said, Miriam could enter in Mirrors to acess another dimension, a Mirror world to acess some other parts of the Castle. And maybe, later on, that would be revealed to be another world (or the real world) like Enkeria 's idea.

STRATCH GOALS

17) 2nd and 3rd playable characters should have complete plots for themselves (that would most probably steal resources from the main game), small plots or no plots at all?
Small plots. Something like Stella and Loretta from Portrait of Ruin.

18) Mention a SILLY CHEAT CODE, something comical and funny, that you would like to see in the game.
CHICKEN-USS. All enemies turns into different colors and sizes of real life chickens plastered in the game in the most crude way possible. They still have the same moves and powers.

19) There is a Stratch goal called "New Boss" that went completely overlooked. It was created as a filler to fill up the space when Bloodstained got funded in less then a day and reached 1.5 million. It's description was "New Boss! You unlocked this one while we were writing this update! Now IGA and Inti Creates will be able to add another boss to the castle. We'll profile the extra bosses, enemies, and weapons you earn this way in a future update."
The game didn't had any decided size at that time or any of that. Regarding that, do you think that this stratch goal was useless and just a filler to fill up space because they didn't had any idea what to do or it still has any meaning?
Totally filler. MAYBE the game will have a secret boss (aside from IGA, that i don't believe it is this stretch goal's boss) that will justify that.

20) Should Classic Mode, where the game will be rearranged to at least six punishing and hard stages like the old times of Nintendo hard games, unlock items and stuff for the main game? Or that would be unfair for completionists that can't beat Classic Mode due to how hard it will be?
Yes. Classic Mode should be unlocked only after finishing the game. When you choose Classic Mode, it asks you to choose a save for it's base. It means nothing when you choose, but, when you finish it, it could award you with a weapon, armor or something that can only be picked up there and will automatically go to the save you selected. If you are a completionist, you have enough patience to beat that.

21) Do you think Nightmare mode, a really hard difficulty mode for the main game, could have items and stuff for exclusive for it? Or that would be unfair for completionists that can't beat Nightmare mode due to how hard it will be?
Yes. Nightmare mode should be unlocked only after finishing the game. It would be avaliable only for fresh start (you can only have a new game+ at Nightmare mode if you beat the game on it) and Nightmare mode could have hidden items on it (like Hard mode on Aria of Sorrow that has things like Death Syckle and such). If you are a completionist, you have enough patient to overly grind and beat that.

22) IGA's biggest castle is promised to be at least 1600 rooms. Both Symphony of the Night castles have 1890 rooms combined. Do you think that means that IGA's biggest castle stretch goal WILL NOT BE REACHED if the game ends up having less than 1890 rooms?
Yes. I consider "castle" to be the whole game, like a metafor, so, for me, the boat, the village and such also enters on that math. Even so, IGA's biggest castle means 1891 rooms or more for the whole game, be it two castles, be it other worlds, be it with the boat and village. I'm fine with the game having 1600 or something, but it WILL NOT BE IGA's biggest castle of the whole game doesn't have at least 1891 rooms.

23) Roguelike dungeon should be like most roguelike games (random generated dungeons that are hyper hard and has no saving) or it should be "Igavania's style" roguelike dungeon, something different? (random generated dungeons maybe easier or with checkpoints).
Roguelike should be roguelike.

24) We will be able to play with bosses in Boss Revenge Mode, in special areas against heroes. Do you expect Vepar to be playable in that mode?
As bizarre as that may sound, yes. But i think that either all heroes will be at her place and we will be able to play her as a real boss or she will have a second form later on in the game where she will be more human-sized. (For some reason, i don't think Vepar will die at the beginning. It's too badass looking to be just a first boss and nothing else).

25) How much do you think would be fair to ask for a fourth playable character in a slacker-backer campaign before the game's release? 100.000 (the same amouth for second playable character), 250.000 (the value for the third playable character) or 500.000? Or the game doesn't need a fourth playable character?
The game doesn't need a fourth playable character but if Dominique ends up NOT being a playable character, than 250.000 to have her would be fair!

Last Edit: Aug 1, 2017 6:07:41 GMT -6 by Pure Miriam

I consider Igavania and Metroidvania the same genre, but i call" IGAVANIA" if the game was created, directed or with some involvement of Koji Igarashi OR the game closely follows his path on "Metroidvania Gothic game" style.

Saint Germain
Loyal Familiar

Posts: 251

Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Aug 1, 2017 7:28:03 GMT -6 Enkeria likes this

Quote

Post by Saint Germain on Aug 1, 2017 7:28:03 GMT -6

1) I am fine with palette swaps it adds more enemies and sometimes the new colors look better then the weaker versions.

2) Mystery is great and if I am to dumb to figure it out the age of the internet solves that problem both good and bad depending on your view.

3) I love luck based stuff because it gives reasons to explore areas multiple times and is a bonus gift for grinding in areas for xp.

4) Farmland, Textile mill

5) Love or something like that, maybe an illusion to adam and eve like how eve was made from adams rib but in this case the heart corrupted Miriam?

6) I prefer Soft Locks mostly because most metroidvanias have them, either or is not really a deal breaker for me.

7) I never had that problem; it adds more variety in play style and replay ability.

8) a) Micro-transactions are a cancer on the industry and anti consumer, especially the random loot type.

9) I am fine with abilities increasing speed and the default being as is.

10) I never liked Exp degradation I would not like it to return.

11) Legion it fits the demon theme and is cool/ horrifying

12) I would love guyver references

13) Lance from Order of Ecclesia

14) Nitesco from Order of Ecclesia/Nova Skeleton beam

15) It adds another layer of ring/clothing character improvements and that is great.

16) Beam of light form to travel between crystal points.

17) It is up to the dev I have no clue how the game design would work, the only game in recent memory that balanced juggling one story with three character is GTAV

18) Big Head Mode

19) Maybe I have no clue.

20) Completionists have beaten harder games than that they will be fine.

21) It’s up to the devs what items are in nightmare mode, I don’t really know how I would have made it

22) Really depends but what big means could be rooms, or actual size based on scale really it is vague at best what the goal means.

23) I am fine with random rooms with checkpoints

24) Yes all the bosses will be there similar to the boss areas in order of ecclesia and portrait of ruin.

25) In my opinion it does not need a fourth there is already a lot that needs to be added, also since it is staggered release it bums me out that the physical copy will not have the whole game but that is becoming more the norm now days with huge patches Street Fighter V for example.

Lestaroth
Wall Mac Hunter
Fifty Storms

[TI0]I have returned. Also find me in the credits!

Posts: 465

Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Aug 1, 2017 8:57:26 GMT -6 Enkeria likes this

Quote

Post by Lestaroth on Aug 1, 2017 8:57:26 GMT -6

Hi to you! It sure has been a while.

Let's see what I can answer. I opened another window just for this, haha.

1) I'd rather have a balanced mix between the two. Of course having unique enemies all the way would be wonderful, but let's be realistic, palette swaps are going to be in the mix. I'd be more in favor of a bunch of head swaps, like Malachi and Cthulhu.

2) That made them unique, it's good to me, as long as it's not near impossible to pull or required for a key item/health boost/powerful piece of equipment or shard.

3) I'm not so much into replaying areas for rare drops, I'm used to farm monsters... blame RPGs for that. That said, I generally don't go for it, unless I hit a tight spot (farming coins/gold at the same time).

4) Miriam visiting old grounds, with seemingly alive people... but they would be a bit hostile at first. It turns out they were instructed by Gebel to take care of Miriam, while needing to test her abilities. (yes, NPCs in the castle)
I almost thought about ghouls/zombies, but it's a bit too classic.

5) It's simple. Gebel still has that ounce of humanity, he can choose between hanging to that thread of hope or fully giving in to the demonic impulse. Quite the symbolic imagery.

6) I did answer this before and I will again.
Soft locks are preferred, as long as the difficulty remains the same. What is the use for one to go past an obstacle and get annihilated after, with no guarantee of finding anything of value?
Hard locks are frustrating, really. ^^

7) They're a double-edged blade, really. Some will appreciate it as a sign of freedom, others will be confused on how to go past the hurdle.
I'd just test it with what I'd have at that time, usually learning about the alternative ways from others or with a later ability.
It's a bit linked to #6, actually.

8) Microtransactions are pure evil. A fine game like Tales of Phantasia got literally desecrated when it was adapted in mobile form.
I encourage you to check articles about it. ^^

9) I'm fine with Miriam's walking speed, although a tiny bit faster would be cool. I'd rather have her getting a run ability than a backdash one, but hey, I'm sure there are many "dust-making dash" enthusiasts out there.

10) As long as there is balance in the end... I still found it stupid that in CSOTN, the usual max cap for grinding was lv 60-70... beyond it, it was totally idiotic since lv 99 exists.
I'm not fond of exp degradation, but it's possible it comes back. See if it was applied in the demo?

11) The spear guards/knights/armor knights from Rondo of Blood/Vampire's Kiss/CSOTN. A variety of attacks, able to parry, generally annoying. I think they had a special attack too.
In sum, smart enemies are always welcome to my book.

12) Subtle, mystical references to other indie games (travels, strange item with undefined origin). Let's make it meta without denaturing the game!

13) The heaven's sword of CSOTN, of course!

14) It may not be magic, but the aguen subweapon from CSOTN. Thunder pew pew!

15) As long as they're useful in all circumstances while not making it too easy. A bit too common to see, though.

16) Anything with shockwaves. I'm a sucker when it comes to such an effect.

17) Small plots are better. Of course a full plot would be great but then the game would take much more time to develop.
I just something beyond Richter, Maria, the sisters, Albus mode, where you control a secondary characters without explanation.

18) All playable characters are given silly idling poses/dances.

19) There is always a meaning to things. I guess they improvised a little then.

20) Classic mode should be doable for everyone, without it being easy. I guess that difficulty levels for it would be great.

21) Of course exclusive items. Got to have an incentive, plus a way to survive better in that mode!

22) We will see in due time. I'm more intrigued by the layout of the castle and its inhabitants, plus the lore that goes with every quarter.

23) The usual checkpoint and save points stuff. For those who want a hardcore experience, have them a permanent death difficulty level.

24) Vepar is one of the bosses. I think that we would be seeing that one in his(/her?) background.

25) I opt for Miriam, Zangetsu and Dominique. Maybe Johannes as a fourth playable character could work, but nah, I'm not into petitioning for it, or imagining any last-minute campaign.

There! Mission Complete!! Enjoy!
Lestaroth

Last Edit: Aug 1, 2017 9:17:39 GMT -6 by Lestaroth

Thanks Enkeria for the signature picture!
Thanks carlsson for the avatar!

Arsenical
Loyal Familiar

Posts: 120

Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Aug 1, 2017 15:40:50 GMT -6 DSLevantine likes this

Quote

Post by Arsenical on Aug 1, 2017 15:40:50 GMT -6

okay it looks like im the only one that totally disagrees with cryptic secrets ; -;
i understand average and "casual" <-- (i hate that term)... players dont mind missing those at all, if you found it, amazing good stuff! but if you missed it like CastleDan said then you cant be really dissapointed because you dont even know about its existance right? well im a completionist and things like this are A REAL PAIN THE ASS.

as long as the secret does not involve critical stuff i dont mind at all but when i have finished the game and i want to make sure everything is complete i find out my map is at 99.9% my bestiary is missing 1 monster and my item guide is missing 1 goddam ring and like i said in another thread its not fun when the ring im missing happens to be a drop from the monster im missing that happens to be in a room that i cant find because in order to find that room i need to do something extremely awkward and unthinkable and im pretty much obligued to spend hours of my life doing silly stuff or use the power of internet and feel bad about it..
Order of Ecclesia went as far as to hide a villager behind a breakable wall wich is necesary to finish the game. sure long time igavania players found it right away but imagine a newbie getting that game over screen because 1 stupid villager was trapped in a hidden room, that was evil, since i found all villagers on my first run i tought they were completely optional but a friend of mine told me he was stuck at the game for this issue and then i was really shocked.
hidden breakable walls have never been a problem and its really exciting when you find one by yourself as you can only imagine what will it be on the other side.
another kind of secret i liked was the hidden chests from OoE and i happened to find several of them by accident, then on my second run i disposed to try to crouch on every suspicious place.

find a secret elevator and sit there for 1 minute to go down and get early acces to mirror mail and jewel fist! sure i dont mind i can get them later with the mist form so its really not a problem. (Not Troublesome)(equipment that can be obtained later)

hit the ceiling to open a secret path to the sword familiar! sure i could have found that accidentaly on the inverted castle as it would be below me this time
(Troublesome but somewhat easy to find)(a familiar its serious business)

transform into a wolf then go the other side and transform into a bat to open a secret door to find jewel sword and a life appple that you can obtain as monster drops!! oh thats fine but WAIT!! thats 1 room and thats 2 rooms with inverted castle also inverted castle has a beryl circlet! a unique item needed to not get your ass kicked by the game superboss so have fun missing this.

secrets are nice and interesting but super silly secrets with critical stuff involved its just WRONG!

Fire, Ice, Thunder, Wind, Holy, Dark, Earth, Slash, Smash, Pierce, Poison, Curse, Stone. so many colors...

Enkeria
Silver in the Dark
Fifty Storms

Amzeer - Aurora of Rebirth

Posts: 1,908

Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Aug 1, 2017 15:51:28 GMT -6

Quote

Post by Enkeria on Aug 1, 2017 15:51:28 GMT -6

Aug 1, 2017 15:40:50 GMT -6 Arsenical said:

okay it looks like im the only one that totally disagrees with cryptic secrets ; -;
i understand average and "casual" <-- (i hate that term)... players dont mind missing those at all, if you found it, amazing good stuff! but if you missed it like CastleDan said then you cant be really dissapointed because you dont even know about its existance right? well im a completionist and things like this are A REAL PAIN THE ASS.

as long as the secret does not involve critical stuff i dont mind at all but when i have finished the game and i want to make sure everything is complete i find out my map is at 99.9% my bestiary is missing 1 monster and my item guide is missing 1 goddam ring and like i said in another thread its not fun when the ring im missing happens to be a drop from the monster im missing that happens to be in a room that i cant find because in order to find that room i need to do something extremely awkward and unthinkable and im pretty much obligued to spend hours of my life doing silly stuff or use the power of internet and feel bad about it..
Order of Ecclesia went as far as to hide a villager behind a breakable wall wich is necesary to finish the game. sure long time igavania players found it right away but imagine a newbie getting that game over screen because 1 stupid villager was trapped in a hidden room, that was evil, since i found all villagers on my first run i tought they were completely optional but a friend of mine told me he was stuck at the game for this issue and then i was really shocked.
hidden breakable walls have never been a problem and its really exciting when you find one by yourself as you can only imagine what will it be on the other side.
another kind of secret i liked was the hidden chests from OoE and i happened to find several of them by accident, then on my second run i disposed to try to crouch on every suspicious place.

find a secret elevator and sit there for 1 minute to go down and get early acces to mirror mail and jewel fist! sure i dont mind i can get them later with the mist form so its really not a problem. (Not Troublesome)(equipment that can be obtained later)

hit the ceiling to open a secret path to the sword familiar! sure i could have found that accidentaly on the inverted castle as it would be below me this time
(Troublesome but somewhat easy to find)(a familiar its serious business)

transform into a wolf then go the other side and transform into a bat to open a secret door to find jewel sword and a life appple that you can obtain as monster drops!! oh thats fine but WAIT!! thats 1 room and thats 2 rooms with inverted castle also inverted castle has a beryl circlet! a unique item needed to not get your ass kicked by the game superboss so have fun missing this.

secrets are nice and interesting but super silly secrets with critical stuff involved its just WRONG!

2) What are your thoughts over cryptic secrets? Secrets that are so hard to find or require so out-of-the-box thinking that is almost impossible to find out without a guide, like turning into a wolf inside a cavern and getting out in the form of a bat to open a passage (Symphony of the Night)?

I need a guide for this, nothing like this have ever happen to me by mistake. Do I really need internet to enjoy the game to it's fullest? I do enjoy simple riddles however. Super cryptic things like Castlevania II whirlwind from a wall or the pink elevating platform in the wall, in Symphony of the Night needs a guide to let people know about it. It is very tricky to make these work, because once you know them, they might not be as charming anymore. I hope to see something at least, not only silly cheatcodes.

So yeah, I agree with too cryptic messages is not "fun" for me. Things that you stumble upon at random are super cool however. I made discoveries in games by pure luck, and knowing after it was just luck made the game feel somewhat easy, but riddles should be easy in my opinion, not too easy, but after a few tries you should get the point.

Breaking a wall to find the missing people would be fine if we got a hint about it. I dunno.

I want options mostly so everyone can be happy, even if we get cryptic secrets I will find them, and I will solve them after guides. I will not use guides unless I am totally stuck, and that means (usually 2 tries in other games) a few hours in Igavanias games.

Cryptic secrets that will take years to get would be cool, if the secrets were nothing important and we lived in a day of age with no online guides.

Last Edit: Aug 1, 2017 15:54:05 GMT -6 by Enkeria

CastleDan
Fifty Storms

Posts: 1,514

Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Aug 1, 2017 16:16:13 GMT -6 Enkeria likes this

Quote

Post by CastleDan on Aug 1, 2017 16:16:13 GMT -6

Aug 1, 2017 15:40:50 GMT -6 Arsenical said:

okay it looks like im the only one that totally disagrees with cryptic secrets ; -;
i understand average and "casual" <-- (i hate that term)... players dont mind missing those at all, if you found it, amazing good stuff! but if you missed it like CastleDan said then you cant be really dissapointed because you dont even know about its existance right? well im a completionist and things like this are A REAL PAIN THE ASS.

as long as the secret does not involve critical stuff i dont mind at all but when i have finished the game and i want to make sure everything is complete i find out my map is at 99.9% my bestiary is missing 1 monster and my item guide is missing 1 goddam ring and like i said in another thread its not fun when the ring im missing happens to be a drop from the monster im missing that happens to be in a room that i cant find because in order to find that room i need to do something extremely awkward and unthinkable and im pretty much obligued to spend hours of my life doing silly stuff or use the power of internet and feel bad about it..
Order of Ecclesia went as far as to hide a villager behind a breakable wall wich is necesary to finish the game. sure long time igavania players found it right away but imagine a newbie getting that game over screen because 1 stupid villager was trapped in a hidden room, that was evil, since i found all villagers on my first run i tought they were completely optional but a friend of mine told me he was stuck at the game for this issue and then i was really shocked.
hidden breakable walls have never been a problem and its really exciting when you find one by yourself as you can only imagine what will it be on the other side.
another kind of secret i liked was the hidden chests from OoE and i happened to find several of them by accident, then on my second run i disposed to try to crouch on every suspicious place.

find a secret elevator and sit there for 1 minute to go down and get early acces to mirror mail and jewel fist! sure i dont mind i can get them later with the mist form so its really not a problem. (Not Troublesome)(equipment that can be obtained later)

hit the ceiling to open a secret path to the sword familiar! sure i could have found that accidentaly on the inverted castle as it would be below me this time
(Troublesome but somewhat easy to find)(a familiar its serious business)

transform into a wolf then go the other side and transform into a bat to open a secret door to find jewel sword and a life appple that you can obtain as monster drops!! oh thats fine but WAIT!! thats 1 room and thats 2 rooms with inverted castle also inverted castle has a beryl circlet! a unique item needed to not get your ass kicked by the game superboss so have fun missing this.

secrets are nice and interesting but super silly secrets with critical stuff involved its just WRONG!

Those hidden things from SOTN were never critical and I don't think i'd even want a hidden secret that prevented you from seeing something story related. All I'm arguing is developers being a bit more clever than just laying things out in the open for you is something to appreciated not hated. You might be a completionist but nothing is more infuriating than playing the game once and finding everything there is to find on your first playthrough. What's the fun in that? I want to be rewarded with replays, and a way to reward is to be a bit more clever than making everything obvious. That's all I'm arguing.

Pure Miriam
Legendary Comrade
Shardbinder

[TI1] "A new, vital heart, pulsing with the old blood." -IGA

Posts: 1,068

Bloodstained 25 questions!!! Do you DARE to answer them all? Aug 1, 2017 17:45:52 GMT -6

Quote

Post by Pure Miriam on Aug 1, 2017 17:45:52 GMT -6

I must politely disagree with you there Arsenical over villagers on Order of Ecclesia. If you don't manage to find them all and keep playing, after the boss at the Manor, you will automatically go to Ecclesia's chamber and do what you have to do. The game clearly says Game Over, so you don't think the game ended there AND after that, the game clearly shows every single villager you didn't find and where they are (the room they are inside). The game shows, one by one, and you can take a look at their room. By the room, you can easily guess what area each one is and it really doesn't take a whole lot of searching to find them, if you just pay attention to the room layout and colors.

Symphony of the Night, for instance, is a much bigger offender on that, with the whole glasses thing was WAY more cryptic than that because it actually had absolutely no clue whatsoever. You kill Richter, the game actually has a ending with Alucard talking and such, the credits roll with the ending music and the game ends. The only clue is if you go to the monster encyclopedia and notice that a big chunk of them is still missing, alongside Death and Alucard's equipment that was stolen you wasn't able to find it yet. The game doesn't try to tell you at all what you need to do.

Order of Ecclesia almost spills out for you what you need to do. If you friend wasn't able to understand that, then i'm sorry...he is quite the exception.

Last Edit: Aug 1, 2017 17:49:50 GMT -6 by Pure Miriam

I consider Igavania and Metroidvania the same genre, but i call" IGAVANIA" if the game was created, directed or with some involvement of Koji Igarashi OR the game closely follows his path on "Metroidvania Gothic game" style.

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Post by Pure Miriam on Jul 30, 2017 16:54:19 GMT -6

Post by neff on Jul 30, 2017 18:51:53 GMT -6

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Post by ghaleon on Jul 31, 2017 1:27:16 GMT -6

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Post by Pure Miriam on Jul 31, 2017 15:02:56 GMT -6

Post by Arsenical on Jul 31, 2017 19:13:22 GMT -6

Post by CastleDan on Jul 31, 2017 20:11:29 GMT -6

Post by purifyweirdshard on Jul 31, 2017 22:40:26 GMT -6

Post by Angel-Corlux on Jul 31, 2017 23:34:47 GMT -6

Post by Pure Miriam on Aug 1, 2017 2:47:09 GMT -6

Post by Saint Germain on Aug 1, 2017 7:28:03 GMT -6

Post by Lestaroth on Aug 1, 2017 8:57:26 GMT -6

Post by Arsenical on Aug 1, 2017 15:40:50 GMT -6

Post by Enkeria on Aug 1, 2017 15:51:28 GMT -6

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Post by Pure Miriam on Aug 1, 2017 17:45:52 GMT -6

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