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Konami are releasing a new Castlevania game for the Xbox 360 and PS3. SO is a huge Symphony of the Night fan. I mean, really huge. She has a beautiful piece of Ayami Kojima Alucard flash art tattooed on her thigh. Okay, she doesn't, but it's the sort of thing she might do.
Having looked into the 360 and PS3, we've decided to invest in a 360. The PS3, frankly, is still over-priced and sucky. It's badly supported and the announcement of text chat kind of put the nail in its coffin for me. We're going to have to have an extension built for the 360, of course, due to its vast size and set up an alter with dribly candles to ward off the red ring of death. We're also going to have to start rescuing kittens and helping small orphans with huge, innocent eyes to off-set the evil we'll be accruing by owning it, but I'm assured that this is all worth it.
The Castlevania franchise is the sort of thing I grew up with. Platforms, bad guys, power-ups, bosses. I completed Curse of Darkness a while ago, and I'm pleased they've kept true to the original intent. Games that require a significant portion of your life are fine, but not for me. I found a Chuckie Egg game yesterday, and it's the best game I've played in years. Sure, nostalgia all you like but it's just me, the eggs and the birds. None of this fancy graphics or silly plot lines or anything like that to get in the way. Just pure gaming experience. Castlevania's like that, for me, but with better graphics. It's a game, not a life-style choice. It's good to know that someone still remembers us.
It does make you wonder a bit, though...
DRACULA: Prepare the Castle! Summon the evil minions!
EVIL PRIEST: Erm, my lord, the other evil priests and I... we've been thinking...
DRACULA: Thinking?
EVIL PRIEST: Yeah... I mean, we went through a lot of trouble to summon you. Finding a comely seventeen-year-old virgin to sacrifice isn't easy these days. John--that's John, there--he had to get married, have a child, and keep her locked in a cellar so we'd have a virgin to sacrifice--
DRACULA: And I appreciate your efforts. Really, I do. It's good to be back.
EVIL PRIEST: It's good to have you back. And that's just it--every time we summon you, we do the whole evil castle thing, and then a Belmont comes along and kills you.
DRACULA: It will be different this time.
EVIL PRIEST: We want it to be different, too. So... that's what me and the other priests were talking about. I mean, the whole 'evil castle' thing... we were thinking we might skip that.
DRACULA: Skip the evil castle?!
EVIL PRIEST: Yeah, it's just it... I mean, you know. We've done it, what? Thirteen times? Fourteen? It's never worked. So, we were thinking--
DRACULA: Prepare the castle! Summon the skeletons!
EVIL PRIEST: My lord---
DRACULA: Destabilise the ledges! Take these bags of money and hide them in the light fixtures!
EVIL PRIEST: (sigh) Yes, my lord.
DRACULA: Take this one item which can defeat me and hide it behind a cracked wall! Summon the succubus!
EVIL PRIEST: The succubus is busy, my lord. She has her own YouTube channel on growing and making her own natural remedies.
DRACULA: Summon her I say! We don't pay her a retainer for nothing!
Meanwhile, in a faux-medieval village somewhere...
COMELY MAIDEN #4: My love! Strange portents are abound!
BELMONT: Hush wife! I'm working on my speech for when I fight Dracula, just like my father and his father before him.
COMELY MAIDEN #4: I feel an abhorrence in the generic mystical forces...
BELMONT: You think I can quote Shelley? Or is that too much? I just want to get across this feeling of the grand cycle of the years, how everything turns to dust, even unimaginable evil.
COMELY MAIDEN #4: My dreams tell of dark forces moving against us, my love.
BELMONT: Day follows night... I am the sun, and you are the moon. The moon only reflects the light of the sun... hm, that's good. I think I'll use that...
COMELY MAIDEN #4: I'm going out into our garden to pick flowers, or sit on our garden swing, or something equally twee.
BELMONT: Mmm.
After a few moments, there's a scream from the garden.
EVIL PRIEST: Belmont! We have captured your wife!
BELMONT: What?!
EVIL PRIEST: We've taken your wife captive. She's in the evil castle.
BELMONT: How can this be?!
EVIL PRIEST: (sigh) Just... come and try to rescue her.
BELMONT: This can only be Dracula's doing! Wait, my speech! Dammit, I'll just have to ad-lib something...
Having looked into the 360 and PS3, we've decided to invest in a 360. The PS3, frankly, is still over-priced and sucky. It's badly supported and the announcement of text chat kind of put the nail in its coffin for me. We're going to have to have an extension built for the 360, of course, due to its vast size and set up an alter with dribly candles to ward off the red ring of death. We're also going to have to start rescuing kittens and helping small orphans with huge, innocent eyes to off-set the evil we'll be accruing by owning it, but I'm assured that this is all worth it.
The Castlevania franchise is the sort of thing I grew up with. Platforms, bad guys, power-ups, bosses. I completed Curse of Darkness a while ago, and I'm pleased they've kept true to the original intent. Games that require a significant portion of your life are fine, but not for me. I found a Chuckie Egg game yesterday, and it's the best game I've played in years. Sure, nostalgia all you like but it's just me, the eggs and the birds. None of this fancy graphics or silly plot lines or anything like that to get in the way. Just pure gaming experience. Castlevania's like that, for me, but with better graphics. It's a game, not a life-style choice. It's good to know that someone still remembers us.
It does make you wonder a bit, though...
DRACULA: Prepare the Castle! Summon the evil minions!
EVIL PRIEST: Erm, my lord, the other evil priests and I... we've been thinking...
DRACULA: Thinking?
EVIL PRIEST: Yeah... I mean, we went through a lot of trouble to summon you. Finding a comely seventeen-year-old virgin to sacrifice isn't easy these days. John--that's John, there--he had to get married, have a child, and keep her locked in a cellar so we'd have a virgin to sacrifice--
DRACULA: And I appreciate your efforts. Really, I do. It's good to be back.
EVIL PRIEST: It's good to have you back. And that's just it--every time we summon you, we do the whole evil castle thing, and then a Belmont comes along and kills you.
DRACULA: It will be different this time.
EVIL PRIEST: We want it to be different, too. So... that's what me and the other priests were talking about. I mean, the whole 'evil castle' thing... we were thinking we might skip that.
DRACULA: Skip the evil castle?!
EVIL PRIEST: Yeah, it's just it... I mean, you know. We've done it, what? Thirteen times? Fourteen? It's never worked. So, we were thinking--
DRACULA: Prepare the castle! Summon the skeletons!
EVIL PRIEST: My lord---
DRACULA: Destabilise the ledges! Take these bags of money and hide them in the light fixtures!
EVIL PRIEST: (sigh) Yes, my lord.
DRACULA: Take this one item which can defeat me and hide it behind a cracked wall! Summon the succubus!
EVIL PRIEST: The succubus is busy, my lord. She has her own YouTube channel on growing and making her own natural remedies.
DRACULA: Summon her I say! We don't pay her a retainer for nothing!
Meanwhile, in a faux-medieval village somewhere...
COMELY MAIDEN #4: My love! Strange portents are abound!
BELMONT: Hush wife! I'm working on my speech for when I fight Dracula, just like my father and his father before him.
COMELY MAIDEN #4: I feel an abhorrence in the generic mystical forces...
BELMONT: You think I can quote Shelley? Or is that too much? I just want to get across this feeling of the grand cycle of the years, how everything turns to dust, even unimaginable evil.
COMELY MAIDEN #4: My dreams tell of dark forces moving against us, my love.
BELMONT: Day follows night... I am the sun, and you are the moon. The moon only reflects the light of the sun... hm, that's good. I think I'll use that...
COMELY MAIDEN #4: I'm going out into our garden to pick flowers, or sit on our garden swing, or something equally twee.
BELMONT: Mmm.
After a few moments, there's a scream from the garden.
EVIL PRIEST: Belmont! We have captured your wife!
BELMONT: What?!
EVIL PRIEST: We've taken your wife captive. She's in the evil castle.
BELMONT: How can this be?!
EVIL PRIEST: (sigh) Just... come and try to rescue her.
BELMONT: This can only be Dracula's doing! Wait, my speech! Dammit, I'll just have to ad-lib something...
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