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For those who don't know, forums.penny-arcade.com will be closing soon. However, we're doing the same kind of stuff over at coin-return.org with (almost) all the same faces! Please do feel welcome to
join us.
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It was a good time to discover the series as I had a years long buffet of going back to older entries in between new DS releases.
(edit: I just realised one of these is upside-down, I was playing around with them and forgot to un-flip it)
Because the series' real name is Demon Castle: Dracula??
It's the Metroid issue all over again.
Not that there's been any new game in ages...
Lords of Shadow (the PS3/XBOX360 Castlevania) mixed up the cast. To varying degrees of success.
Interestingly the Japanese titles for this sub-series are mostly the same english words, with nary a Dracula or Demon Castle to be found.
But Grimoire of Souls is back to good ol Demon Castle: Dracula. (Then again, it's basically a compilation of retro characters.)
Nah, Dawn shows its age way worse than SotN. Visually it's all over the place, with not great animation, inconsistent design of areas (some being ultra low quality, and some being a weird mishmash of an attempt at photorealism, against anime-ish characters and random enemy designs), and hit or miss enemy designs that borrows from previous games and also changes some needlessly and not for the better. EDIT: SotN is technically more visually dated, but it is has consistency throughout that doesn't show its age as much as Dawn does. I mean, in Dawns defense, it tried some new things, and probably attempted some of them to deal with the limitations of the DS, while having more horsepower than the GBA games, it just didn't come together in a way that I think feels good these days. SotN (which I will admit has substantially more nostalgia for me) still feels like something that was better designed and had more consistent direction throughout. I'm actually getting annoyed that it's not on Steam or Switch right now. :rotate:
And the audio in Dawn isn't great. The sound effects are terribly low quality, and the music, while decent, isn't even in the same league as SotN's. Sure, some of that is because of the limitations of the cart and the DS's audio, but it just kinda peters around in the audio department.
Plus, SotN doesn't have touchscreen bullshit for boss fights.
I'm not trying to say Dawn is bad, but all of the portable Castlevania games, while good games, had limitations that hold them back due to their platforms. They're relatively short, have limited animations and all over the place visuals (though Portrait and OoE were a lot better, despite the gameplay getting a bit repetitive and stale and lacking much innovation by that point), and generally have lower quality audio across the board. Portrait and OoE have some great tracks, but again, pretty much every song in SotN knocked it out of the park, so it's a pretty absurdly high bar to be held to (even Bloodstained, which has some fantastic music, still just doesn't have the same level of memorable tunes IMO as SotN).
Dawn is good, but overall it feels like it and Aria should have been the same game, and not two different ones. They're both relatively short and would have worked well as one product; they kinda feel like half a game each.
I just definitely don't think SotN has aged worse than Dawn. The main place it could be argued is in gameplay, as SotN doesn't have the soul system, and thus theoretically simpler gameplay; but it doesn't feel that way. The vast majority of souls (in any of the games that had those systems, even Bloodstained) are fairly useless and they typically boil down to a handful of actually useful ones that you ever use unless you're forced to use something else, which in the end kinda breaks even with SotN and the different abilities you get, that all have their uses throughout.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
It doesn't make it a bad game in the slightest, but it is pretty noticeable as a game where they were still figuring some stuff out.
I can't imagine spending half a paragraph comparing the aesthetics of old games as the most important thing. Especially when that's the last thing someone full of nostalgia would care about.
Dawn isn't weighed down by a second half of the game that lacks any level design, cuts off the metroidvania movement progression, and is filled with reject mobs posing zero threat.
Iga has done things that hint in that direction but has never exactly repeated that decision, because it was a mistake, full stop.
Speculation is that it's because Sony was involved with this collection, so it hasn't left their platforms.
My Backloggery
I can't remember if it's Aria, Dawn, or possibly both. But there's one that just spins an enormous fuck-you sword around Soma that does insane damage. It's more or less the "I win" soul of the game.
I don't believe I've found that yet. But to be honest, I'm not sure exactly how soul acquisition even works. As far as I can tell, it's RNG based. Sometimes I'll kill a mob and get it's soul, but most of the time not.
I'm "kupiyupaekio" on Discord.
I think the thing being mentioned is the Red Minotaur Soul. It makes a giant axe appear, bend back behind Soma, and then whirl around hitting everything around him.
It's funny, I swear I've played this game before. But I have no memory of it. It's like I'm playing it for the very first time.
Lucky for me I guess. Like a long lost classic. A hidden gem that I just discovered. But I'm pretty sure I even own the original GBA cartridge for it somewhere.
That's in Aria, though Dawn has the Great Axe Armor soul that replicates it, though that version doesn't quite fill the whole screen, which is a good thing when
So long orundum hoard, it was nice knowing you.
It honestly doesn't really matter until Contingency Contract comes around... and then... it depends on what's valuable for that main stage or rotating daily bullshit.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Biggin dale:
Been very lucky with the weather in October!
My Backloggery
Checked with the people we gave the puzzle to, and it was http://www.jigsaw2order.com, for what it's worth.
Anyways, just in general, what should I be focusing on map wise? I think I'm not that far along on the main scenario compared to my level (I think I just started episode 6), so should I be focusing on progressing there? Spending my sanity on promotion mats? I only have Myrtle, Ptilopsis, and now Exusiai at E2. At E1 I think my notable units are Siege, SilverAsh, Eyja and Silence.
Also, if any one has room on their friends list, I'm Zerth#9711. I've been away so long my friends list is empty.
I’d also prioritize SA and Eyja to E2 S3M3 and S2M1 on Eyja as well. Probably higher priority since they’ll be really useful.
Also don’t ignore your 4/5 star Ops. Amiya is a good E2. Build a healing defender. Sussuro is best medic.
For me only the EX-8 stage was difficult, the rest were no prob for normal/CM. I did need some extra tries to finish the medals for EX-5/6.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
No Demeter, no sale