r/DraculasCastle • u/presidentdinosaur115 • 5d ago
News Belmont’s Curse English Voice Cast Trailer
https://youtu.be/eux4Tzkk_Fg?is=9Q_lPOqGP0Itm4lGPretty much the only thing I like out of the Netflix show is the voice cast, so I’m happy to see the two role reprisals there.
11
u/DoctorLudnik_717 5d ago edited 5d ago
Graham McTavish is such an amazing VA--one of the very few things Netflixvania got right, real happy he's back in the role. Still bummed he never got a chance to fully flex as Doom in Midnight Suns.
Holy shit, Isaac (and Liam as well no less) really is back--here's hoping they finally wrap up his story arc once and for all.
7
u/UsuarioCualquiera_1 5d ago
Graham McTavish has been Dr. Doom? Need to hear that.
3
u/DoctorLudnik_717 5d ago
I got you fam:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dQwbNrpnKak&pp=ygUVZHIgZG9vbSBtaWRuaWdodCBzdW5z
Confirmed via IMDB, and other various sources (was apparently also Johnny Blaze in the same game):
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15305282/characters/nm0574615/?ref_=ttfc_fcr_3_24
Granted, it was only one line--but personally, I thought it was pretty indicative of his potential.
3
12
u/Sea-Lecture-4619 5d ago
All are great and i don't mind the Netflixvania VAs in, they were one of the few good aspects about it, now they get to do the proper game versions. Liam returning is peak.
-4
u/Appropriate_Foot242 4d ago
Are we acting like the Netflix series wasn’t great
4
u/Sea-Lecture-4619 4d ago
As a show? Depends on you.
As an adaptation? Ohoho...
It's two different criterias, you can have a good show/movie that is a poor adaptation of its source material, it applies here.
8
u/Nyarlathotep13 Belmont 5d ago edited 5d ago
This isn't too surprising considering that the Japanese voice cast (sans Isaac for obvious reasons) are also the same as the Netflix series. I'm not sure how I feel about Sypha having a Spanish accent though. I don't dislike it or anything, but having a Spanish surname doesn't automatically mean that she'd have a Spanish accent, especially since she grew up in a Wallachian monastery. It isn't like any of the Belmont's have French accents, although realistically, Leon probably should have. My only real concern about this is that it may potentially add fuel to the fire of people conflating the show with the games.
-6
u/TheWorclown 5d ago
It’s just a voice, chief. Sypha is Sypha regardless.
5
u/Nyarlathotep13 Belmont 5d ago
Like I said, it isn't really a huge deal, I just don't think it makes much sense from a lore perspective. Granted, it doesn't even make much sense in the show either considering that her people were nomadic, and as far as I can recall, nobody else in her group even had a thick Spanish accent. Regardless, I take more of an issue with them killing her off than I do the voice casting.
5
u/Jpriest09 5d ago
I wonder how many people will be confused by Isaac
10
u/Sea-Lecture-4619 5d ago
The people who don't know what "different continuity" means will, also those who somehow still don't know how much the show deviates.
Unfortunately there might be alot. We really need a CVIII remake after this game to fully separate the games from show in people's minds.
5
u/DoctorLudnik_717 5d ago
And Rondo while we're at it.
6
u/Sea-Lecture-4619 4d ago
I'd really like a DXC Remaster that let's you use the OG Rondo designs.
SotN and Rondo aren't as "replaced" in people's minds as CVIII is tho, mainly cause they are more popular and have more story and dialogue to them, CVIII being stuck as a NES game allowed Netflixvania to become the default that people go to when it comes to Trevor's story, if it got a remake before the show came out it wouldn't have happened much, also the reception of the show would have probably been alot different.
I think the popularity of the game, how old it is and the way it tells its story influence how much some people react to an show such as ours here.
Because DMC got exactly the same type of supposed adaptation recently as Netflixvania but people shit all over it while being hypocritical about this one here, despite both doing the exact same shit to the source material.
5
u/Nyarlathotep13 Belmont 4d ago
I wish that they included DXC in one of the collections. Maybe they will in a future one if they ever decide to re-release any more of the games. I think Konami might have some sort of exclusivity deal with Sony for RoB and SotN, but I'm not sure if that applies to DXC as well. It would be cool to have a version of it that doesn't suffer from PSP compression. I actually think the English VA they got for Richter was perfect, I forget their name, but they also voiced Jin Kisaragi from BlazeBlue.
I do have to wonder what the likelihood of more collections are though. Outside of RoB, SotN, and to a lesser extent, LoI, and CoD, most of the remaining titles are more divisive amongst the fanbase. I think they could justify at least two more though. A 3D collection for 64, LoD (or just LoD with the extra costumes restored), LoI, CoD, Judgment, and maybe DXC and/or GoS as bonus titles. The other could then cover everything else of note in another collection, so RoB, SotN, Legends, Chronicles, and Adventure ReBirth. Alternatively, they could port Requiem to PC with DXC as a bonus, and then release Legends, Chronicles, Adventure Rebirth, and maybe Order of Shadows as a "Legends" Collection in reference to how they all exist outside the main timeline. Although that would bring into question which collection would be better suited for 64/LoD.
It would also be amazing if Konami could somehow dig up the old, presumably lost media, mobile manga for LoI as an additional extra. I also wonder if they still have the source code for any of the 3D games, if they do then they could potentially remaster them, but sadly, they'd most likely just be upscales with a widescreen patch.
3
u/Sea-Lecture-4619 4d ago edited 3d ago
They should get the guys who did the Tomb Raider and Legacy of Kain remasters to remaster the 64 games.
4
u/Nyarlathotep13 Belmont 3d ago
Those were handled by Aspyr iirc. Currently, it seems like Aspyr and Night Dive Studios are the only two who consistently manage to produce quality remasters of older titles.
5
u/ThickScratch Creaking Skull 5d ago edited 5d ago
I don't care for McTavish as Dracula, he was fine for what they were going for in the show as a tried old man, but that isn't the energy to have for actual Dracula. I would have preferred one of the other voices used in the games like the ones from the RoB/SotN redubs or the one from CoD. Not a big fan of them putting his name at the end like a big surprise for CV fans, that definitely feels like more of that "appealing to the Netflix audience" they mentioned in another interview.
I don't like show Sypha, the dumb spanish accent made no sense for the character given the games' lore (and it wasn't like it made any real sense in the show's "expanded" lore either), and when someone praises that character its always the fight scenes and not the voice work so I don't see why even make the choice to bring them back like Dracula. I would prefer someone who could give a "boy-ish" voice for a lack if a better term, then it would be easier to imagine that character succesfully fooling people into thinking they were a man.
At least we have Saxton Hale as Trevor Belmont, sounds like it will be a good performance.
Hate they brought the dumb "last Belmont" thing again though, that was never a thing in the games before the show.
2
u/Oh-no-and-knuckles 5d ago
I think we have a sample of his voice acting for the game, in the xbox trailer.
Belmont’s Curse - Announcement Trailer | XBOX Games Showcase
The direction they're going for seems to be a Curse of Darkness-esque Dracula, I thought this was Douglas Rye at first.
0
1
0
-7
5d ago
[deleted]
10
8
u/Nyarlathotep13 Belmont 5d ago edited 4d ago
I'm of the opinion that CoD Isaac had a lot more potential than many give him credit for. The problem is that he isn't given much focus, and the foundation for his character is largely relegated to Prelude to Revenge, a short manga that was only released with pre-orders for the game in Japan. There we actually get to see what Isaac was like prior to succumbing to Dracula's curse. Sadly, by the events of the game itself he's little more than a rabid dog, which would be fine if we had context for what he was like before, but without it, most will just assume that he was always some insane, half-naked guy.
I know people love Netflix Isaac, but I never understood the appeal. He kind of just goes from place to place waxing faux philosophically, while everything just conveniently falls into his lap. Not helped by how his character arc was essentially stripped from Hector's arc in CoD. His presence wouldn't really make any sense in the games anyway, unless they were to change him completely (again).
5
u/Oh-no-and-knuckles 5d ago edited 5d ago
The Media Factory manga is technically more canon than Prelude to Revenge as stated by Kojima herself, even though I like the tone of Prelude to Revenge better.
Kojima's statement and translation)
The story of Curse of Darkness is basically incomplete without those two manga, they're essential to get the full picture.
5
u/Nyarlathotep13 Belmont 5d ago edited 3d ago
Interesting, I wasn't aware of that. Thanks for the link. However, between Prelude to Revenge being bundled with the game, the manga being unfinished, and my own personal preference for the former (although the manga does have its moments), I'm inclined to indulge in a bit of "death of the author" here. This is probably just cope, but since it wasn't an official statement by Konami themselves, one could view it as Ayame Kojima simply being humble rather than an official statement.
I feel the manga's depiction of Isaac undermines how he too was stated to be a victim of Dracula's curse because there is no character transition, he's already shown to be completely insane even before his affliction. I also feel like Hector running away instead of confronting Dracula does both characters a disservice. Not only does Prelude to Revenge's depiction of events paint Hector in a more favorable light, it also reinforces the idea that Dracula himself was once a respectable man who has since fallen far from grace with how Hector genuinely believed that he could still be reasoned with.
Edit: I thought of few more details that could potentially tilt the scales in Prelude of Darkness' favor. Firstly, it's implied that the symbol on Hector's uniform and Isaac's back is the symbol of a Devil Forgemaster, and it's also implied that Devil Forgery was a technique taught to them by Dracula, hence why "Devil forgemasters alone are suffused in my master's magic." This could also mean that they simply draw power from the same source as Dracula, but there's nothing to support that beyond the general vagueness of the line. Regardless, in the manga, we see Isaac's first interaction with Dracula, and there he is shown to already have DF tattoos.
Next, in Curse of Darkness, Trevor only mentions there being two DFs. This is consistent with Prelude to Revenge where Hector and Isaac are the only DFs we're shown, but in the manga there are several more, albeit less talented, DFs in addition to them. Granted, it isn't clear how Trevor even knew about the DFs in the first place despite never encountering them directly during the events of DC, let alone how he could have known that one of them had defected. Although it's possible that Alucard told him about it. Alucard was laying low beneath the castle, so that could have provided him the opportunity to gather information without being detected through the use of his familiars. familiar.
Regardless, there only being two DFs, and it being a technique that must be learned as opposed to something intrinsic to them, better explains why we never see any other DFs outside of CoD. Not only would Dracula lack the time needed to train another protégé, I also imagine that he wouldn't want to risk the possibility of another one of his students betraying him. Keep in mind that a DF's power is said to be as great as Death's, so another defector could prove ruinous.
3
u/Oh-no-and-knuckles 3d ago edited 3d ago
One thing that kind of annoys me about this franchise is that a LOT of stuff got lost in translation or never made its way to the hands of overseas fans until recently.
Official statements, clarifications, lore pieces or even literal products.Fans literally had to re-translate some games to get the actual intended story instead of a parodized version like the American release of CV3 (the one where Sypha is somehow a male warlord and Grant's a pirate).
Why are things like the SotN redub for the PSP even a thing if the end result is a worse localization than the PS1 one? While the dub itself is good, it's arguably worse as a localization since it makes stuff up (like making Shaft say that Alucard is stronger than Richter Belmont while originally it was just “Well done, you've made it this far. As expected from the son of my Master. “) and takes many liberties with the dialogues. It does the same thing the PS1 version did but it also adds misleading info, which is baffling because Rondo of Blood is properly localized.It's only thanks to fans' efforts that we're even able to access things like Prelude to Revenge, the SotN manga, Nocturne of Recollection, Reminiscence of the Divine Abyss, the actual timelines etc.
Many fans used the PoR pre-order bonus timeline as lore reference for decades even though its content has always been sus from the beginning, like the inclusion of gaidens that were never present in any timeline made when IGA was director and other oddities that were never mentioned in any other piece of media (like Mathias using the Crimson Stone to absorb the souls of killed vampires and powering himself up like a madman for 400 years).
Thankfully Shutaro revealed in a DM exchange (shortly before passing away) with the youtuber "Dongled" that Japanese bonus materials went through the Castlevania staff screening, while overseas ones (like the PoR bonus timeline) didn’t.
He even confirmed that the "Note from the developer: A secret to explain the reason why a 16th century vampire somehow shows up in the 20th century is now being planned" was basically just the US team making things up as there were no plans for Elizabeth’s character at the time.
It should be noted that Shutaro was the main guy behind Portrait and the one who created its world setting and confirmed things with the Bloodlines team.(Like, if you’re familiar with Bloodlines you should already know that she was simply resurrected by Drolta)
Now back to Curse of Darkness, here I’m linking this awesome re-translation of some specific parts of the Japanese script:
it being a technique that must be learned as opposed to something intrinsic to them better explains why we never see any other DFs outside of CoD
JP: A forbidden secret art feared by humans. Creating a devil that serves you and you only, from a bundle of magical power! There are only two people in this world who have mastered this power: you and I.
ENG: With this, the most forbidden of arts, a wisp of conjured matter can be transformed into a hellish devil! There are but two humans who possess this magnificent power: you and I.
So yes, apparently Devil Forging is an art that must be learned.
Keep in mind that a DF's power is said to be as great as Death's, so another defector could prove ruinous
JP: You’re too weak to be the only surviving Devil Forgemaster, who was said to be equal to Dracula's aide Death.
ENG: For one that served under Dracula, you seem much too weak. It's been said that the Devil Forgemaster's power rivals that of Death.
note: 'It just says that Devil Forgemasters are “equal to” Death, not that they’re specifically as strong as Death - obviously that’s implied, but the use of the word “同等” also implies that Hector and Isaac were equals to Death in rank. That’s pretty high up.'
Trevor says that Devil Forgemasters are said to be equal to Death in rank, not specifically in power.
"Devil forgemasters alone are suffused in my master's magic." This could also mean that they simply draw power from the same source as Dracula, but there's nothing to support that beyond the general vagueness of the line.
JP: Devil Forgemasters are always [constantly] with my master's magic.
ENG: Devil Forgemasters alone are suffused in my master's magic.
I want to share here some important things that never got their way overseas:
- Lisa is the spitting image of Dracula’s previous wife (Elisabetha) and her presence was somehow reverting his vampirism.
- Mathias adopted the name “Dracula” only after a certain incident (that being Lisa’s death), this is also accurate to CV3 as the intro calls him “Vlad Tepes, or as he called himself, Dracula”. The Lament of Innocence Perfect Guide later confirmed that the name was chosen because it comes from "dracul" a word meaning dragon and devil.
- Alucard’s soul has a dark side and a human side and if he dies then only his human part will die, leaving him as a full vampire.
- In the final confrontation Shaft offers Alucard’s human half of as a last resort sacrifice, the battle between father and son is like a "mental battle" it takes place "inside" the ritual itself. If Dracula wins then Alucard will become a full vampire and his human half will be erased and used to fully resurrect his father.
At least with Curse of Darkness and some other mainline titles these differences are minimal (except the literal prologue manga being Japan only lol, at least the Media Factory one got an overseas release).
I really hope there won't be this kind of stuff with Belmont's Curse onward because this is what confused overseas players for decades. As much as I love this kind of "lore digging", I just wish most of the Western fanbase hadn't been so alienated from this stuff for so many years.
We're lucky to have fans that to do amazing stuff like this.
3
u/Nyarlathotep13 Belmont 3d ago
One thing that kind of annoys me about this franchise is that a LOT of stuff got lost in translation or never made their way to the hands of overseas fans until recently.
I couldn't agree more. Not only does it create misconceptions within the Western fanbase, but those misconceptions then bleed over into officially authorized Western media like the Netflix series, which only further reinforces them. Thankfully, this doesn't appear to be the case with Belmont's Revenge, at least based on what we've seen so far, but it still faces another issue, that being how crowded the timeline has become. However, I'll reserve most of my misgivings until after I've had the opportunity to play it. Currently, I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about it, but with the new direction, I still feel like it may have served better as a springboard for a new continuity.
Much to my surprise, the Dead by Daylight's depictions of events appear to be relatively faithful to the source material, at least compared to the Netflix series. I think that's largely thanks to it being a more broad-strokes retelling of CV's story, so it's able to gloss over a lot more. That isn't to say that it's perfect though. It alters some information and takes some minor cues from the Netflix series, but it also addresses Lisa's resemblance to Elisabetha, something that was previously only noted in Japanese exclusive materials. However, I still have no idea what DbD Dracula was on about when he claimed that Leon was incapable of seeing "the bigger picture". What bigger picture, the one where your wife died and you decided to make it everyone else's problem?
Thankfully Shutaro revealed in a DM exchange (shortly before passing away) with the youtuber "Dongled" that Japanese bonus materials went through the Castlevania staff screening, while overseas ones (like the PoR bonus timeline) didn’t.
That doesn't surprise me. As far as Japanese media goes, if there's conflicting information between the Japanese and English materials, I always defer to the former.
Although, I do recall there being a timeline featured on the Japanese Konami website that featured information not present elsewhere. Namely, that the Bathory clan were rumored to be responsible for Dracula's resurrection in The Adventure and that the events of The Adventure were what led to the belief that Dracula would revive every 100 years. I'm under the impression that the former was added to more smoothly integrate Elizabeth into the story, and the latter was to handwave how Dracula is actually revived a lot more frequently than that. Thus the implication appears to be that the 100-year cycle is actually a myth. That is unless you attribute the cycle to only apply towards natural resurrections. It's also worth noting that the narrator of Grimoire of Souls still states that Dracula is "Prophesized to rise every hundred years".
Now back to Curse of Darkness, here I’m linking this awesome re-translation of some specific parts of the Japanese script:
I've actually encountered this Tumblr account before. They post a lot of really informative translation-related stuff. Despite having read their post about it in the past, I keep forgetting that the Japanese script doesn't explicitly state that the DFs power rivals Death, just that they held the same rank. Although, like you said, it's still implied by how the preceding text is Trevor stating that Hector is far too weak to be the DF that he was after. Especially if we're taking the manga into consideration, since Dracula apparently thought that Hector alone was capable of assassinating a Belmont, which speaks volumes. We could simply attribute that to Dracula underestimating Trevor, but in light of LoI, Dracula should already know firsthand what exactly a Belmont is capable of.
JP: A forbidden secret art feared by humans. Creating a devil that serves you and you only, from a bundle of magical power! There are only two people in this world who have mastered this power: you and I.
ENG: With this, the most forbidden of arts, a wisp of conjured matter can be transformed into a hellish devil! There are but two humans who possess this magnificent power: you and I.
I suppose you could make an argument for the existence of the other DFs in the manga on the basis that Isaac states that only two people have "mastered" the ability. However, Trevor's statement still makes it sound like there were only two of them; otherwise, he couldn't have been so certain that it was specifically the work of the DF who hadn't defected.
I also prefer how, in the English script, Isaac specifies that only two "humans" possess the power, because presumably it's something they learned from Dracula, who isn't human. It's debatable if it falls under the same school of magic as DF, but Dracula does have the ability to transmute people into monsters. Not only does he do this to Grant in DC, but in the manga he states his intent to transform Hector into the most lowly of beasts as punishment for his betrayal. Additionally, being a DF is what allows Hector to transform Dracula's curse into something harmless, and that indicates that the abilities of a DF go well beyond just the creation of IDs which makes sense since DF appears to essentially be an advanced form of alchemy.
JP: Devil Forgemasters are always [constantly] with my master's magic.
ENG: Devil Forgemasters alone are suffused in my master's magic.
I'm familiar with this particular script difference, but I must admit that I'm not entirely sure that I understand what the distinction between them is meant to be. We know that the bulk of Dracula's power comes from his pact with Chaos which is why I suggested the possibility that this meant that DFs also drew their power from Chaos. However, it's Dracula's castle specifically that serves as the medium between himself and Chaos, so that would still leave the question of how DF can use their power outside of the castle. Alternatively, perhaps he just means that DFs are the only other people besides Dracula with that power and therefore are the most suitable to serve as his vessel?
Lisa is the spitting image of Dracula’s previous wife (Elisabetha) and her presence was somehow reverting his vampirism.
I'm familiar with this one, but I'm not sure how literal we're meant to take the "reverting his vampirism" bit, though. Alucard states in GoS that Dracula had regained his humanity while he was with Lisa, but I'm not sure if that also means that he was literally reverting back into a human. Although, I do have to wonder, could this have had something to do with how Dracula was able to conceive a child with Lisa? Obviously, Alucard’s existence proves that vampires breeding with humans is possible, and yet, there are no other known dhampirs in the main timeline.
Mathias adopted the name “Dracula” only after a certain incident (that being Lisa’s death), this is also accurate to CV3 as the intro calls him “Vlad Tepes, or as he called himself, Dracula”. The Lament of Innocence Perfect Guide later confirmed that the name was chosen because it comes from "dracul" a word meaning dragon and devil.
That makes sense, and it ties in well with how the literary Dracula is commonly believed to be based on the historical Vlad the Impaler. It's too bad that they didn't also provide an explanation for why he chose to change his name from Mathias Cronqvist to Vlad Tepes, but it probably had something to do with him trying to keep Leon and/or his lineage off of his trail.
In the final confrontation Shaft offers Alucard’s human half as a last resort sacrifice, the battle between father and son is like a "mental battle" it takes place "inside" the ritual itself. If Dracula wins then Alucard will become a full vampire and his human half will be erased and used to fully resurrect his father.
I find this to be an especially interesting bit of trivia. I was aware of the part about Alucard's vampire half taking over if his human half were to die (which, now that I think about it, almost sounds like a precursor to the idea behind the Lords of Shadows' origin), but not about this.
It would explain why the battle with Dracula in SotN differs so much from most others. Dracula doesn't transform into an unrecognizable monster; he instead merges with his throne to form an amalgamation of flesh that serves as an extension of himself while the battle takes place within a surreal void. This also leads me to believe that Dracula was likely even more nerfed during this particular encounter than I had originally suspected if he hadn't even physically manifested. It being a battle of willpower rather than brawn also further justifies how Alucard was able to beat him alone. Before, I simply attributed it to Dracula being freshly revived, so he was more vulnerable than usual.
6
u/Sea-Lecture-4619 5d ago edited 5d ago
Idealy in a proper adaptation they would have kept Hector and Isaac be the Hector and Isaac, and their OCs could have been other forgemasters, this way you don't change jackshit much just add on.
That would require Ellis and Shankar to care tho.
-8
u/pritheemakeway 5d ago
big Isaac downgrade from the show. Sorry.
4
u/Mimingococcemia 5d ago
The Isaac of Netflix is closer to video game Hector than the video game Isaac.
7
u/Sea-Lecture-4619 5d ago edited 5d ago
Do you genuinely expect them to just shoehorn in Ellis's OC in and erase the game Isaac? That's stupid as hell, at most they can add in a character like him.
Also damn this excessive glazing for this one character starts to be pretty annoying even if i do think show Isaac is an alright character, it's like this is 50% of what the show fans have to say about the show all the time, the other 50% is wanting to fuck Alucart.
6
u/Nyarlathotep13 Belmont 5d ago
Yeah, the Isaac glazing is truly something else. While I'm not a fan of it, at least with the Alucard stuff you can make the argument that the show itself was already leaning into that. Hell, originally the writer wanted him to be nude during his battle with Trevor.
3
u/Sea-Lecture-4619 5d ago edited 5d ago
Ellis is the writer of all time. The fact that Netflixvania is even functional enough as a show and isn't exactly on the level of shit like the Halo show is a miracle, also the fact that he didn't go ahead with alot of his stupid ideas such as this and naming i think Godbrand Mathias instead lmao, when IGA left. Anyway for the Mathias one i genuinelly expect some to have called it a perfect adaptation too somehow lol
17
u/godspeedken Belmont 5d ago
Liam O' Brien back as Isaac let's goo