Maybe Dracula was more clever about barricading his castle back in the day.
The only part that might have bugged me was the falling-block portion. It was an easy pattern; it just took a while to stack high enough.
I just flew up. :P
Was there any other way?
I...kept using Trevor. It was an easy pattern to recognize, so I would just stand on a safe column before a block fell on it, move out of the way in time, and then jump right back to the same column. I repeated that for about seven minutes. :P
That's why I flew up. That part sucked. It started out like a real level and then you just climbed blocks for God knows how many screens.
Neo Rasa on
"You know how Batman hangs people over the edge of buildings and gets them to spill information. That's Neo Rasa's way of it, but instead of information, he just likes to see people suffer." ~Senor Fish
I'm stuck on the mummies in CV1. I always die when I reach them, then die harder on the next attempt because there are barely any hearts or upgrades on the last stage of the level.
If this is true, it's because you've fallen prey to the biggest challenge in CV1: misinformation.
There's a ton of strategies and tips that exist for the game that are simply useless.
What you need to do in Castlevania is this: There's a point in the second level where you can get the Holy Water. It's inbetween the crushers towards the end of the level. Use the Holy Water for the remainder of the game.
You can also get the Holy Water at the very beginning of level 3.
Get this and use it constantly, you'll get the triple shot for it in no time.
If you have Holy Water you can kill the Mummies without even being hittable by them because you can get on the uppermost platform where they can't reach you (don't be a chump and break the lowest block for the meat or you're screwed).
Also don't be a chump and get the dagger they put right before the entrance to the Mummies' screen. :x
There are odds that you can get an Axe from a normal bat, the Rosary, Ghosts can drop money bags, etc. You need to ignore this and just remember which candles drop what weapon so you can avoid all of them except for the ones that drop Holy Water (if you already have it they give you a big heart or a 300 point money bag).
The problem here, though, is knowing which candles to hit to sustain a steady supply of hearts, while not accidently grabbing a new item.
Not to mention avoiding death, which ruins everything.
LBD_Nytetrayn on
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
Second down on the Hot List is a really entertaining retrospective on the Saturn version of Symphony of the Night. I never read 1up or EGM, but their preview of Dracula X Chronicles and this video have been some good stuff. Those who whine about lacking the extra content of the Saturn version should take a gander at this and, if not turned off by the new levels themselves, realize all the work involved in making the various other inconsistencies not suck as much.
Edit: In case this falls off that list before some people get to see it and you have to Search the site, its title is Retronauts Bonus Stage Episode 2.
It'd be nice if they took the extras from that version, polished them up, and put them in the PSP game. Maria looks fun to play as.
I'm thinking right now that it wouldn't be worth the effort. I hear porting from a Saturn is bitch-hard, and just taking the features and coding them into something for another system would probably be just as much work. I think people should be happy to have more ways to play arguably the best Playstation game ever made.
The problem here, though, is knowing which candles to hit to sustain a steady supply of hearts, while not accidently grabbing a new item.
Not to mention avoiding death, which ruins everything.
The latter is just a matter of skill. The former though is easier than it sounds. You're going to get a candle with a new weapon roughly at the beginning of each stage that's immediately before a boss, the beginning of each level, and the midway point at each level. There are additional spots but this is a handy guideline.
From my memory though:
Level 1 Stage 1:
Just prior to entering the castle you can get the Dagger.
Stage 2:
When you come to the two sets of stairs with the Panthers on them. Ascend the stairs and you can get the Holy Water.
Stage 3:
You can get the Stopwatch at the center of the Mermen area (right over that two block wide platform).
Stage 4:
You'll get the Axe from one of the candle on the ground after descending that flight of stairs approaching the Phantom Bat.
Level 2: Stage 1: The candle on the immediate right of your starting point has the Cross.
Stage 2: The first candle that's located on a window opening has the Dagger.
Stage 3: You can get the Stopwatch in the area with the Evil Knights (assuming you don't let a Medusa Hit you through the ceiling to circumvent this area).
Stage 4: You can get the Holy Water here inbetween the crushers.
Level 3 Stage 1:
You get the Holy Water in the second or third candle after you start the level. You can get the Axe from the candle on the lowest platform right before the exit from this stage (there's a skeleton on it and a stairway leading down to it). Make sure you stand a bit off the ledge, the drop this candle tends to fall right past the block instead of landing on it.
Stage 2:
The candle on the left side of the platform at the top of the first stairway (you have to jump to get it) has the Cross. When you ascend to the next area, one of the first candles available will give you the Stopwatch.
Stage 3:In the Mummies chamber you can get the Dagger from the candle on the left.
Level 4 Stage 1: The second or third candle will have the Stopwatch. It's a fairly common drop from the bats on this screen also. Before you get on the moving platform that goes under the stalactites, the candle on the top of the ledge you're at has the Holy Water. Catch this ASAP because it can fall through BOTH platforms and disappear.
Stage 2: The Axe is a semi-common drop from one of the Igors here.
Stage 3: The second candle has the Dagger. Great.
Level 5:
I DON'T REMEMBER A DAMN THING EXCEPT FOR THESE.
Right at the first stairway of the final stage you can get the Cross. If you're very lucky the Medusae here can drop the Holy Water.
In the middle stage (a one screen area with two Axe Knights) you can get the Axe.
Interesting oddity, there's a candle right before the end of the level with the Axe in it. It's so high up that the only way to hit it is to have the Axe.
Level 6: Stage 1: You can get the Stopwatch. The Phantom Bats here can drop the Axe kind of regularly.
Stage 2: Enjoy getting the Dagger all the damn time fuck this level and it's indoor Eagles with their indoor Igors.
DRACULA: Don't even mess around, get the Holy Water from the far left candle ASAP. Use it on his fireballs and you can have it at the triple shot by the time you get him to his second form.
Want the hidden treasure/meat/big heart/shot multiplier locations too? I like the original Castlevania.
A little.
Neo Rasa on
"You know how Batman hangs people over the edge of buildings and gets them to spill information. That's Neo Rasa's way of it, but instead of information, he just likes to see people suffer." ~Senor Fish
Well, I sat through a (grueling) video of a an interview with Koji Igarashi I found on Game Informer's website, and it has some interesting tidbits.
First off, I think you should thank me for sitting through that stammering lisp-filled nonsense to get this brief litany of facts out in the open. Though I feel it was worth it, since there were a few details I was not aware of.
-On Rondo of Blood: The remake will apparently include some entirely new gameplay segments and "a new plot twist."
-Michiru Yamane is not handling the music (in case you hadn't already guessed).
-Igarashi claims that the DS would not be capable of a remake to the scope that he had hoped for, going as far as saying that a DS release would include nothing more than the original TurboGrafx game.
-Once confronted about his amorphous stance on the Wii, Igarashi insists that he never had doubts in the system, but rather could not think of a way to utilize the whip without tiring the player's arm. (I interject: This is a nonsense complaint. We have Zelda as proof.)
-This one's really interesting: The interviewer asks Iga about Castlevania's presence on the Virtual Console, receiving the response, "Well, the Wii can already emulate TurboGrafx games.... We hope they wait a while." I can only take this to mean, "I hope they wait a while [before potentially putting Rondo on VC]" (as this would obviously conflict with sales of this remake). The manner in which Igarashi says it, though, suggests that either A) Igarashi has no control over the game's appearance on VC; or He already gave it the OK without foresight of this remake. Regardless of which response, this segment of the interview makes me want to wait a little bit and see how this turns out before rushing to get a PSP. I read somewhere else that Hudson entered talks to get Rondo supported... I hope it pans out.
-Another interesting note: The interviewer specifically mentions the voice-acting of Symphony of the Night, and Iga seems totally on the fence over whether or not he wants to go through with changing it. He expresses some obvious dispproval of the sound in the final product, but he stumbles around a bit in his answers here. It makes me far less sure that the VA will get overhauled for sure as many people have acted in this thread.
-Lastly, Igarashi gets a little steam in his collar when asked about a 2D Castlevania on a next-gen console. The resulting PR cop-out is a typical "We will do whatever makes the best game," or as I prefer to translate it, "I would love to but Mommy and Daddy at Konami won't let me."
Now, this interview isn't brand new, so plenty of people might have heard it. But I haven't seen anyone refer directly to it (it's possible I missed it), or talk a whole lot about the specific points brought up in its duration.
I can vouch for the Saturn extras being not worth it, as I recently bought it for kitsch value (and cooler boxart >:\ )
Keep in mind I'm trying to go over a few niggling things that weren't really covered in the 1up video.
The best deterrent is in the first like, 15 seconds of the video. Killing the first warg in the game causes ridiculous slowdown that you need to be prepared to deal with for the rest of the game almost all the time.
A lot of cool little effects are missing that I really missed because I played the hell out of the PS1 version. The reflecting(?) cloak (you get it underground) isn't transparent, flickery awesome in the Saturn version. It's like, teal. I don't know if it's a different item altogether as I don't speak Japanese, but it's ugly. At the bottom of the waterfall underground there's no awesome light effect, the reflections in the chapel are limited to the window and what appears to be another window on the floor... I understand why the port is like this but there really isn't an excuse other than lazy porting.
(sorry for length of post, rambling and/or grammar)
It really is important to note that both of the new areas are pretty annoying and tedious, and the only cool thing about either is the Alucard Spear. Although, one of them links the underground and marble gallery pretty conveniently.
I got bored enough to also watch another, seperate interview on GameTrailers. It doesn't cover any new ground except for one thing: The new content for the remake seems to be an entirely new level.
God, even if the original does crawl onto Virtual Console, this is a mighty tempting buy for anyone expecting to buy a PSP eventually.
Also, I'm willing to put money down that the new plot twist has something to do with Alucard. Maybe foreshadowing.
Most likely. Alucard and Shaft describe Richter and Alucard fighting as "but if two vampire hunters were to fight each other..."
It implies that Alucard took some action at some point other than CVIII.
Shame as I wish they'd further development some of the less plot-exposed characters instead like any of the Belmonts.
Neo Rasa on
"You know how Batman hangs people over the edge of buildings and gets them to spill information. That's Neo Rasa's way of it, but instead of information, he just likes to see people suffer." ~Senor Fish
you are all a bunch of castlevanerdians. i am deeply ashamed, i am dying in my first try of SotN on like the first boss... 6 times in a row... and i played all GBA and DS ones... maybe i am not backwards compatible
and yes, i am a mario-based-player, who usually tries to jump over projectiles, maybe that is my problem...
you are all a bunch of castlevanerdians. i am deeply ashamed, i am dying in my first try of SotN on like the first boss... 6 times in a row... and i played all GBA and DS ones... maybe i am not backwards compatible
and yes, i am a mario-based-player, who usually tries to jump over projectiles, maybe that is my problem...
you are all a bunch of castlevanerdians. i am deeply ashamed, i am dying in my first try of SotN on like the first boss... 6 times in a row... and i played all GBA and DS ones... maybe i am not backwards compatible
and yes, i am a mario-based-player, who usually tries to jump over projectiles, maybe that is my problem...
Shields aren't as useless as they look.
i am totaly new to using shields, did any of the DS CV games have shields? i don't think so...
you are all a bunch of castlevanerdians. i am deeply ashamed, i am dying in my first try of SotN on like the first boss... 6 times in a row... and i played all GBA and DS ones... maybe i am not backwards compatible
and yes, i am a mario-based-player, who usually tries to jump over projectiles, maybe that is my problem...
Shields aren't as useless as they look.
i am totaly new to using shields, did any of the DS CV games have shields? i don't think so...
They didn't. It's a shame, too, because it could've grown to make battles more interesting if they stuck with it and made some tweaks.
So, has anyone else wondered how Symphony will control on the PSP? It doesn't have enough buttons for all the actions (it'd be one transformation short). Made all those form-transitions would be activated with a flick of the nub or something.
you are all a bunch of castlevanerdians. i am deeply ashamed, i am dying in my first try of SotN on like the first boss... 6 times in a row... and i played all GBA and DS ones... maybe i am not backwards compatible
and yes, i am a mario-based-player, who usually tries to jump over projectiles, maybe that is my problem...
Shields aren't as useless as they look.
i am totaly new to using shields, did any of the DS CV games have shields? i don't think so...
They didn't. It's a shame, too, because it could've grown to make battles more interesting if they stuck with it and made some tweaks.
So, has anyone else wondered how Symphony will control on the PSP? It doesn't have enough buttons for all the actions (it'd be one transformation short). Made all those form-transitions would be activated with a flick of the nub or something.
yeah, i think so, you have like 8 buttons with the nub and 2 shoulder buttons, so you get 24 combinations out of that... no, even 36 with holding both shoulderbuttons. i guess that will be sufficient.
If by "first boss" you mean Slogra and Gaibaon (the human/pteranadon skeleton with the lance and the blue gargoyle) they're not as daunting as they seem.
You gotta use sheilds though. Also a big part of the older Castlevanias in general involves you actively destroying projectiles instead of just avoiding them.
You can kill Slogra with just a few basic attacks and a shot from the Hellfire magic spell though.
Hit up, then perform a quarter circle forward motion and hit the attack button. You'll do Dracula's trademark "teleport and shoot three fireballs attack." So you can move yourself right up against him, then hit him immediately with the fireballs.
If you hold down up as Alucard is rematerializing, instead of shooting three piddly fireballs he'll shoot two large ones like Dracula can, this will usually kill Slogra with a single attack.
Good timing will also let you destroy Gaibon with this whenever he lands to shoot fireballs across the screen.
If you don't want to use the magic spells then go in with the Axe sub weapon.
Neo Rasa on
"You know how Batman hangs people over the edge of buildings and gets them to spill information. That's Neo Rasa's way of it, but instead of information, he just likes to see people suffer." ~Senor Fish
you are all a bunch of castlevanerdians. i am deeply ashamed, i am dying in my first try of SotN on like the first boss... 6 times in a row... and i played all GBA and DS ones... maybe i am not backwards compatible
and yes, i am a mario-based-player, who usually tries to jump over projectiles, maybe that is my problem...
Shields aren't as useless as they look.
i am totaly new to using shields, did any of the DS CV games have shields? i don't think so...
They didn't. It's a shame, too, because it could've grown to make battles more interesting if they stuck with it and made some tweaks.
So, has anyone else wondered how Symphony will control on the PSP? It doesn't have enough buttons for all the actions (it'd be one transformation short). Made all those form-transitions would be activated with a flick of the nub or something.
yeah, i think so, you have like 8 buttons with the nub and 2 shoulder buttons, so you get 24 combinations out of that... no, even 36 with holding both shoulderbuttons. i guess that will be sufficient.
Yeah, nub most likely. That's how it's handled in the PSX->PSP thing Sony's doing(though there's also a setting where the nub is your directional buttons and the dpad has your L2, R2 and the two combined thing going on), at least.
If by "first boss" you mean Slogra and Gaibaon (the human/pteranadon skeleton with the lance and the blue gargoyle) they're not as daunting as they seem.
You gotta use sheilds though. Also a big part of the older Castlevanias in general involves you actively destroying projectiles instead of just avoiding them.
You can kill Slogra with just a few basic attacks and a shot from the Hellfire magic spell though.
Hit up, then perform a quarter circle forward motion and hit the attack button. You'll do Dracula's trademark "teleport and shoot three fireballs attack." So you can move yourself right up against him, then hit him immediately with the fireballs.
If you hold down up as Alucard is rematerializing, instead of shooting three piddly fireballs he'll shoot two large ones like Dracula can, this will usually kill Slogra with a single attack.
Good timing will also let you destroy Gaibon with this whenever he lands to shoot fireballs across the screen.
If you don't want to use the magic spells then go in with the Axe sub weapon.
It almost never occurs to me to use magic in Symphony.
The spells are all very useless outside of the very early portions of the game. The only one I used with any regularity was Soul Steal and even then it was more for getting tons of weak annoying enemies out of the way fast while backtracking or to quickly see if an area had any breakable walls. Nothing really vital.
I do try to use Hellfire at other points just because it looks cool but the damage even the large fireballs do doesn't really increase enough to make it useful.
Neo Rasa on
"You know how Batman hangs people over the edge of buildings and gets them to spill information. That's Neo Rasa's way of it, but instead of information, he just likes to see people suffer." ~Senor Fish
If by "first boss" you mean Slogra and Gaibaon (the human/pteranadon skeleton with the lance and the blue gargoyle) they're not as daunting as they seem.
You gotta use sheilds though. Also a big part of the older Castlevanias in general involves you actively destroying projectiles instead of just avoiding them.
You can kill Slogra with just a few basic attacks and a shot from the Hellfire magic spell though.
Hit up, then perform a quarter circle forward motion and hit the attack button. You'll do Dracula's trademark "teleport and shoot three fireballs attack." So you can move yourself right up against him, then hit him immediately with the fireballs.
If you hold down up as Alucard is rematerializing, instead of shooting three piddly fireballs he'll shoot two large ones like Dracula can, this will usually kill Slogra with a single attack.
Good timing will also let you destroy Gaibon with this whenever he lands to shoot fireballs across the screen.
If you don't want to use the magic spells then go in with the Axe sub weapon.
It almost never occurs to me to use magic in Symphony.
Same here. 'Tis the damn dpad for me. Too hard to bust out a soul steal on command, so I adapt to not using it.
Speaking of SotN, what would be the best way for getting this damnable sword familiar leveled up?
I'd sadly have to list soul steal as one of the things that made the game too easy. It was incredibly easy to boost your hp considerably if you could reliably perform that spell.
The spirits, though, seemed worthless. As was Dark Metamorphosis. What was the other spell?
Speaking of SotN, what would be the best way for getting this damnable sword familiar leveled up?
Early on I remember going to the Forgotten Chapel and Abandoned Mines to level it because those areas have so many small weak enemies around that it can't miss. After that I would use the Colloseum because it has many corridors of Werewolves/Minotaurs to wait around for it to kill. Though I never really tried to see what the most efficient method is.
I'd sadly have to list soul steal as one of the things that made the game too easy. It was incredibly easy to boost your hp considerably if you could reliably perform that spell.
The spirits, though, seemed worthless. As was Dark Metamorphosis. What was the other spell?
Hellfire, the one where he imitates Dracula's classic attack.
Dark Metamorphosis
Hellfire
Soul Steal
Summon Spirit
Sword Brothers
Tetra Spirit
Wing Smash
Wolf Charge
That's the real reason no one uses them. One is a familiar's special ability, two are animal form special abilities. So you've got five "spells" total in the classic sense. Such a small selection that there's no incentive to even look at it when you're constantly picking up so many different kinds of weapons to play around with.
Neo Rasa on
"You know how Batman hangs people over the edge of buildings and gets them to spill information. That's Neo Rasa's way of it, but instead of information, he just likes to see people suffer." ~Senor Fish
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SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
Speaking of SotN, what would be the best way for getting this damnable sword familiar leveled up?
Early on I remember going to the Forgotten Chapel and Abandoned Mines to level it because those areas have so many small weak enemies around that it can't miss. After that I would use the Colloseum because it has many corridors of Werewolves/Minotaurs to wait around for it to kill. Though I never really tried to see what the most efficient method is.
I could've sworn that you don't need to let the familiar do the killing for it to get experience points. I remember repeatedly going to the chapel to kill that one "swords and shields" enemy to level them up. Eventually the sword familiar got fast/powerful enough to do it before I could, but it's rather slow to start.
The spells are all very useless outside of the very early portions of the game. The only one I used with any regularity was Soul Steal and even then it was more for getting tons of weak annoying enemies out of the way fast while backtracking or to quickly see if an area had any breakable walls. Nothing really vital.
I do try to use Hellfire at other points just because it looks cool but the damage even the large fireballs do doesn't really increase enough to make it useful.
If I didn't have Soul Steal, I would have died so many times in my most recent uber-luck run.
Dark Metamorphisis is handy as well, especially with the Bloodstone.
If by "first boss" you mean Slogra and Gaibaon (the human/pteranadon skeleton with the lance and the blue gargoyle) they're not as daunting as they seem.
You gotta use sheilds though. Also a big part of the older Castlevanias in general involves you actively destroying projectiles instead of just avoiding them.
You can kill Slogra with just a few basic attacks and a shot from the Hellfire magic spell though.
Hit up, then perform a quarter circle forward motion and hit the attack button. You'll do Dracula's trademark "teleport and shoot three fireballs attack." So you can move yourself right up against him, then hit him immediately with the fireballs.
If you hold down up as Alucard is rematerializing, instead of shooting three piddly fireballs he'll shoot two large ones like Dracula can, this will usually kill Slogra with a single attack.
Good timing will also let you destroy Gaibon with this whenever he lands to shoot fireballs across the screen.
If you don't want to use the magic spells then go in with the Axe sub weapon.
It almost never occurs to me to use magic in Symphony.
Same here. 'Tis the damn dpad for me. Too hard to bust out a soul steal on command, so I adapt to not using it.
Speaking of SotN, what would be the best way for getting this damnable sword familiar leveled up?
Do your roll motions from the center of the D-pad and not the edge. It makes it loads easier.
"You know how Batman hangs people over the edge of buildings and gets them to spill information. That's Neo Rasa's way of it, but instead of information, he just likes to see people suffer." ~Senor Fish
Speaking of SotN, what would be the best way for getting this damnable sword familiar leveled up?
Early on I remember going to the Forgotten Chapel and Abandoned Mines to level it because those areas have so many small weak enemies around that it can't miss. After that I would use the Colloseum because it has many corridors of Werewolves/Minotaurs to wait around for it to kill. Though I never really tried to see what the most efficient method is.
I could've sworn that you don't need to let the familiar do the killing for it to get experience points. I remember repeatedly going to the chapel to kill that one "swords and shields" enemy to level them up. Eventually the sword familiar got fast/powerful enough to do it before I could, but it's rather slow to start.
Yup thats what I did too. In the 2nd castle in the chapel room with the sword enemies with spears and shields, I walked in and out of the room using Power of Sir + duplicator and leveled my familiars to 99 really quickly.
Aaah the duplicator. So many good times to be had.
Neo Rasa on
"You know how Batman hangs people over the edge of buildings and gets them to spill information. That's Neo Rasa's way of it, but instead of information, he just likes to see people suffer." ~Senor Fish
It's worth it just to get a billion Bwaka Knives or one of the other weak expendable weapons and then go through the game using it as your default. :P
Neo Rasa on
"You know how Batman hangs people over the edge of buildings and gets them to spill information. That's Neo Rasa's way of it, but instead of information, he just likes to see people suffer." ~Senor Fish
I can't even remember how I got that much. I think I just went crazy with the Jewel Sword all over the Forgotten Chapel.
Neo Rasa on
"You know how Batman hangs people over the edge of buildings and gets them to spill information. That's Neo Rasa's way of it, but instead of information, he just likes to see people suffer." ~Senor Fish
Posts
That's why I flew up. That part sucked. It started out like a real level and then you just climbed blocks for God knows how many screens.
The problem here, though, is knowing which candles to hit to sustain a steady supply of hearts, while not accidently grabbing a new item.
Not to mention avoiding death, which ruins everything.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
Second down on the Hot List is a really entertaining retrospective on the Saturn version of Symphony of the Night. I never read 1up or EGM, but their preview of Dracula X Chronicles and this video have been some good stuff. Those who whine about lacking the extra content of the Saturn version should take a gander at this and, if not turned off by the new levels themselves, realize all the work involved in making the various other inconsistencies not suck as much.
Edit: In case this falls off that list before some people get to see it and you have to Search the site, its title is Retronauts Bonus Stage Episode 2.
It'd be nice if they took the extras from that version, polished them up, and put them in the PSP game. Maria looks fun to play as.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
It's not Symphony of the Night without it!
WHAT IS A MAN?!
The latter is just a matter of skill. The former though is easier than it sounds. You're going to get a candle with a new weapon roughly at the beginning of each stage that's immediately before a boss, the beginning of each level, and the midway point at each level. There are additional spots but this is a handy guideline.
From my memory though:
Level 1
Stage 1:
Just prior to entering the castle you can get the Dagger.
Stage 2:
When you come to the two sets of stairs with the Panthers on them. Ascend the stairs and you can get the Holy Water.
Stage 3:
You can get the Stopwatch at the center of the Mermen area (right over that two block wide platform).
Stage 4:
You'll get the Axe from one of the candle on the ground after descending that flight of stairs approaching the Phantom Bat.
Level 2:
Stage 1: The candle on the immediate right of your starting point has the Cross.
Stage 2: The first candle that's located on a window opening has the Dagger.
Stage 3: You can get the Stopwatch in the area with the Evil Knights (assuming you don't let a Medusa Hit you through the ceiling to circumvent this area).
Stage 4: You can get the Holy Water here inbetween the crushers.
Level 3
Stage 1:
You get the Holy Water in the second or third candle after you start the level. You can get the Axe from the candle on the lowest platform right before the exit from this stage (there's a skeleton on it and a stairway leading down to it). Make sure you stand a bit off the ledge, the drop this candle tends to fall right past the block instead of landing on it.
Stage 2:
The candle on the left side of the platform at the top of the first stairway (you have to jump to get it) has the Cross. When you ascend to the next area, one of the first candles available will give you the Stopwatch.
Stage 3:In the Mummies chamber you can get the Dagger from the candle on the left.
Level 4
Stage 1: The second or third candle will have the Stopwatch. It's a fairly common drop from the bats on this screen also. Before you get on the moving platform that goes under the stalactites, the candle on the top of the ledge you're at has the Holy Water. Catch this ASAP because it can fall through BOTH platforms and disappear.
Stage 2: The Axe is a semi-common drop from one of the Igors here.
Stage 3: The second candle has the Dagger. Great.
Level 5:
I DON'T REMEMBER A DAMN THING EXCEPT FOR THESE.
Right at the first stairway of the final stage you can get the Cross. If you're very lucky the Medusae here can drop the Holy Water.
In the middle stage (a one screen area with two Axe Knights) you can get the Axe.
Interesting oddity, there's a candle right before the end of the level with the Axe in it. It's so high up that the only way to hit it is to have the Axe.
Level 6:
Stage 1: You can get the Stopwatch. The Phantom Bats here can drop the Axe kind of regularly.
Stage 2: Enjoy getting the Dagger all the damn time fuck this level and it's indoor Eagles with their indoor Igors.
DRACULA: Don't even mess around, get the Holy Water from the far left candle ASAP. Use it on his fireballs and you can have it at the triple shot by the time you get him to his second form.
Want the hidden treasure/meat/big heart/shot multiplier locations too? I like the original Castlevania.
A little.
First off, I think you should thank me for sitting through that stammering lisp-filled nonsense to get this brief litany of facts out in the open. Though I feel it was worth it, since there were a few details I was not aware of.
-On Rondo of Blood: The remake will apparently include some entirely new gameplay segments and "a new plot twist."
-Michiru Yamane is not handling the music (in case you hadn't already guessed).
-Igarashi claims that the DS would not be capable of a remake to the scope that he had hoped for, going as far as saying that a DS release would include nothing more than the original TurboGrafx game.
-Once confronted about his amorphous stance on the Wii, Igarashi insists that he never had doubts in the system, but rather could not think of a way to utilize the whip without tiring the player's arm. (I interject: This is a nonsense complaint. We have Zelda as proof.)
-This one's really interesting: The interviewer asks Iga about Castlevania's presence on the Virtual Console, receiving the response, "Well, the Wii can already emulate TurboGrafx games.... We hope they wait a while." I can only take this to mean, "I hope they wait a while [before potentially putting Rondo on VC]" (as this would obviously conflict with sales of this remake). The manner in which Igarashi says it, though, suggests that either A) Igarashi has no control over the game's appearance on VC; or
-Another interesting note: The interviewer specifically mentions the voice-acting of Symphony of the Night, and Iga seems totally on the fence over whether or not he wants to go through with changing it. He expresses some obvious dispproval of the sound in the final product, but he stumbles around a bit in his answers here. It makes me far less sure that the VA will get overhauled for sure as many people have acted in this thread.
-Lastly, Igarashi gets a little steam in his collar when asked about a 2D Castlevania on a next-gen console. The resulting PR cop-out is a typical "We will do whatever makes the best game," or as I prefer to translate it, "I would love to but Mommy and Daddy at Konami won't let me."
Now, this interview isn't brand new, so plenty of people might have heard it. But I haven't seen anyone refer directly to it (it's possible I missed it), or talk a whole lot about the specific points brought up in its duration.
Keep in mind I'm trying to go over a few niggling things that weren't really covered in the 1up video.
The best deterrent is in the first like, 15 seconds of the video. Killing the first warg in the game causes ridiculous slowdown that you need to be prepared to deal with for the rest of the game almost all the time.
A lot of cool little effects are missing that I really missed because I played the hell out of the PS1 version. The reflecting(?) cloak (you get it underground) isn't transparent, flickery awesome in the Saturn version. It's like, teal. I don't know if it's a different item altogether as I don't speak Japanese, but it's ugly. At the bottom of the waterfall underground there's no awesome light effect, the reflections in the chapel are limited to the window and what appears to be another window on the floor... I understand why the port is like this but there really isn't an excuse other than lazy porting.
(sorry for length of post, rambling and/or grammar)
It really is important to note that both of the new areas are pretty annoying and tedious, and the only cool thing about either is the Alucard Spear. Although, one of them links the underground and marble gallery pretty conveniently.
God, even if the original does crawl onto Virtual Console, this is a mighty tempting buy for anyone expecting to buy a PSP eventually.
Also, I'm willing to put money down that the new plot twist has something to do with Alucard. Maybe foreshadowing.
It implies that Alucard took some action at some point other than CVIII.
Shame as I wish they'd further development some of the less plot-exposed characters instead like any of the Belmonts.
and yes, i am a mario-based-player, who usually tries to jump over projectiles, maybe that is my problem...
i am totaly new to using shields, did any of the DS CV games have shields? i don't think so...
So, has anyone else wondered how Symphony will control on the PSP? It doesn't have enough buttons for all the actions (it'd be one transformation short). Made all those form-transitions would be activated with a flick of the nub or something.
Maybe Shaft was expecting some other Belmont to get his act together?
I never thought it implied Alucard becoming active. Assisting Trevor would have been enough for him to be branded as "vampire hunter".
I'll bet they'll just add parts to the ending that show Shaft isn't dead and then Alucard's coffin opening or something.
That would be awesome.
And GODDAMNIT I need a PSP now.
yeah, i think so, you have like 8 buttons with the nub and 2 shoulder buttons, so you get 24 combinations out of that... no, even 36 with holding both shoulderbuttons. i guess that will be sufficient.
You gotta use sheilds though. Also a big part of the older Castlevanias in general involves you actively destroying projectiles instead of just avoiding them.
You can kill Slogra with just a few basic attacks and a shot from the Hellfire magic spell though.
Hit up, then perform a quarter circle forward motion and hit the attack button. You'll do Dracula's trademark "teleport and shoot three fireballs attack." So you can move yourself right up against him, then hit him immediately with the fireballs.
If you hold down up as Alucard is rematerializing, instead of shooting three piddly fireballs he'll shoot two large ones like Dracula can, this will usually kill Slogra with a single attack.
Good timing will also let you destroy Gaibon with this whenever he lands to shoot fireballs across the screen.
If you don't want to use the magic spells then go in with the Axe sub weapon.
Yeah, nub most likely. That's how it's handled in the PSX->PSP thing Sony's doing(though there's also a setting where the nub is your directional buttons and the dpad has your L2, R2 and the two combined thing going on), at least.
It almost never occurs to me to use magic in Symphony.
I do try to use Hellfire at other points just because it looks cool but the damage even the large fireballs do doesn't really increase enough to make it useful.
Same here. 'Tis the damn dpad for me. Too hard to bust out a soul steal on command, so I adapt to not using it.
Speaking of SotN, what would be the best way for getting this damnable sword familiar leveled up?
The spirits, though, seemed worthless. As was Dark Metamorphosis. What was the other spell?
Early on I remember going to the Forgotten Chapel and Abandoned Mines to level it because those areas have so many small weak enemies around that it can't miss. After that I would use the Colloseum because it has many corridors of Werewolves/Minotaurs to wait around for it to kill. Though I never really tried to see what the most efficient method is.
Hellfire, the one where he imitates Dracula's classic attack.
Dark Metamorphosis
Hellfire
Soul Steal
Summon Spirit
Sword Brothers
Tetra Spirit
Wing Smash
Wolf Charge
That's the real reason no one uses them. One is a familiar's special ability, two are animal form special abilities. So you've got five "spells" total in the classic sense. Such a small selection that there's no incentive to even look at it when you're constantly picking up so many different kinds of weapons to play around with.
I could've sworn that you don't need to let the familiar do the killing for it to get experience points. I remember repeatedly going to the chapel to kill that one "swords and shields" enemy to level them up. Eventually the sword familiar got fast/powerful enough to do it before I could, but it's rather slow to start.
My Backloggery
If I didn't have Soul Steal, I would have died so many times in my most recent uber-luck run.
Dark Metamorphisis is handy as well, especially with the Bloodstone.
But then again, Gurthang...
It's like you win so hard that the game just shits itself.
Yup thats what I did too. In the 2nd castle in the chapel room with the sword enemies with spears and shields, I walked in and out of the room using Power of Sir + duplicator and leveled my familiars to 99 really quickly.
AKA Bowling Balls.
That does sound fun....But the damn cost of one. 500 thousand in game dollars. I do not have that kind of cash.