Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow Interview

September sees the release of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, the ace-looking Nintendo DS debut of the classic vampire-slaying series.

We recently took time out with the game’s producer (and snappy dresser) Koji Igarashi to discuss dating sims, evil cults and Iron Maidens (the torture machines, not the band).

Nintendo of Europe: Mr Igarashi, you’re best known for Castlevania but are there any other games you’ve worked on that people might be familiar with?

Koji Igarashi: “Well, I’m not sure if you know this title, it’s a Japanese game series called “Tokimeki Memorial”, which is a dating sim about being in high school, that I used to work on. I was a programmer and a scenario writer at that time. Then came Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, where I was director, programmer and scenario writer. And I’ve been the producer of Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow for GBA.”

NoE: “As a scenario writer, can you explain the story of Dawn of Sorrow, and how it ties in to previous Castlevania games?

KI: “Dawn of Sorrow takes place a year after the events in Aria of Sorrow. After escaping his destiny to become the Dark Lord, the character Soma is now living peacefully as a normal person. But all of a sudden one of the members of the evil cult he fought appears in the town where Soma lives, and tries to kill him. This assault was based on the cult’s belief that by killing Soma they could release Dracula’s soul from him so that they can use its power. It is their belief that, in order for there to be a God, there also has to be a Dark Lord. What they think is that having a Dark Lord could create a God.

“So the story starts with these cult members attacking the people in the town where Soma lives. Therefore Soma decides to go to the place where the cult resides to try and stop them once and for all.”

NoE: So the main goal in the game is for Soma to stop this evil cult?

KI: “Yes. Although he’d rather solve the situation peacefully, you know, by having a good discussion perhaps (laughs)”¦ But these people won’t listen, so he has no choice but to fight.”

NoE: Can you explain how you control the game and how the touch screen is used?

KI: “Well, you control the character with the directional pad and the four action buttons are used for things like attacking, jumping, and using special moves. Then you use the shoulder buttons for special abilities. So those are the basic manoeuvres, but you can also use the touch screen. One feature is what we call Magic Seals.

“You see, a boss doesn’t die just because its HP reaches zero. You need to seal the boss character, so when his HP gets to zero a special screen comes up where you need to follow a line [with your stylus] based on the shape that is set. This can be a circle, or a triangle or whatever. Then after successfully making these lines you can seal the character.

“Also there are these crystal blocks, which work like a puzzle. You can destroy the blocks by tapping them on the touch screen, but depending on how you remove the blocks, you can create steps for yourself to progress through the level.”

NoE: Does the game also use the DS microphone, and how are the dual screens used?

KI: “We thought about implementing microphone functionality for a while, but eventually we decided not to use it. But as for the dual screens ““ since Castlevania is a game in which you need to search a lot, the top screen shows the map and the bottom screen shows the actual gameplay.

“However, we knew that it can be hard to understand how much stronger the player becomes after levelling up. So in order to make it clearer, you can change the map screen to an abilities screen to see how the character is growing up.

“One of the other additional features that DS has is a wireless system, and in the previous version of the game ““ on GBA ““ the players can swap souls over a cable. We have this system for DS as well, but with wireless communication of course. There are also special maps that each player shares and the user can place enemies in the map, enemies of which the player has the soul, and the player can send that map including enemies to another person. And then they can play that level to decide who is faster. Whoever clears the level quickest wins the “˜race’. So you could really create nasty levels, you know ““ put a boss in there somewhere”¦”

NoE: So you can basically send a challenge that you created to another player?

KI: “That’s right. We are currently testing this feature. We’re hoping we’ll be able to implement this into the final version.”

NoE: Could you tell us a bit more about the bosses in the game?

KI: “As an example I could tell you about the boss character called Puppet Master, who uses an Iron Maiden. This boss character can make Soma switch places with a doll which is placed in the Iron Maiden, so that the player gets damaged. That’s the sort of tricky boss character we are trying to create this time. This way we are adding a puzzle element. In the previous version, when you defeated a boss character, you would get the soul of that boss, but it wasn’t related to where you needed to go. This time it’s closely related, so unless you get the soul, you cannot go to a specific area.

“So in the case of Puppet Master, if you defeat him, you get to use his ability so that you can switch Soma with the doll. So imagine you’re blocked by a wall but there is no way to get past it, you can throw the doll over the wall and then switch places with the doll.”

NoE: Would you say that there is a lot of action in this game or is the emphasis more on puzzling this time? What would you say is the ratio between action and puzzles?

KI: “It’s hard to put a percentage on it, but I would say generally there is a bit more emphasis on the action element. The puzzles really dramatise the action.

“We have expanded the Tactical Soul System from Aria of Sorrow, so this time around even if you get the same soul again and again, by having say 5 of the same souls, you can combine them for another purpose. This will require users to search deeper than ever before.”

NoE: Could you tell us something about the size and scope of the game? For example, how many levels are there, how many different weapons or abilities? Characters, even?

KI: “There are about 10 levels, and some additional ones. You can play about 10 hours to complete the game. Of course, it can be done faster, but you’d have to be really skilful for that! We should have more than 100 abilities if you take into account all the weapons and the souls of the enemies. You will meet around 8 other characters. Soma is the only playable character”¦ though”¦ perhaps you can play as a different character as well, as an additional feature. But this is still sort of a secret.”

NoE: Do you have any other secrets to share?

KI: “Well”¦ There will be three different endings to the game. And if you were to get a bad ending, this would actually mean that you get to have more fun in your next game”¦”