As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
We're funding a new Acquisitions Incorporated series on Kickstarter right now! Check it out at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pennyarcade/acquisitions-incorporated-the-series-2

Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (PSP)

1246

Posts

  • Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Wren wrote: »
    so now I need a PSP, huh? just great.

    also I think the new script for SotN is much better. for nostalgia reasons its amusing to listen to in the original, but it was really quite corny when you were first playing it.


    I like the new script better too. I think it's pretty neat. What I've read of it anyway...

    Magic Pink on
  • DVGDVG No. 1 Honor Student Nether Institute, Evil AcademyRegistered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Glal wrote: »
    In what sense?

    In the sense that it sucks there there is so much unused screen real estate. I would probably be happier with it if they had used the maximum possible 4:3 resolution area available (like when watching a Fullscreen movie on the PSP), but this has dead space on all sides of the image.

    DVG on
    Diablo 3 - DVG#1857
  • arcatharcath Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    DVG wrote: »
    Glal wrote: »
    In what sense?

    In the sense that it sucks there there is so much unused screen real estate. I would probably be happier with it if they had used the maximum possible 4:3 resolution area available (like when watching a Fullscreen movie on the PSP), but this has dead space on all sides of the image.

    in the options, there is that option, although you still have bars on the side. but at least you wont have them on top.

    And because even that still aggravates me, ill probilly still just play it on XBLA.

    arcath on
    camo_sig.png
  • JebralJebral The guy nobody pays attention to Down South in the land of free thinkingRegistered User regular
    edited October 2007
    arcath wrote: »
    DVG wrote: »
    Glal wrote: »
    In what sense?

    In the sense that it sucks there there is so much unused screen real estate. I would probably be happier with it if they had used the maximum possible 4:3 resolution area available (like when watching a Fullscreen movie on the PSP), but this has dead space on all sides of the image.

    in the options, there is that option, although you still have bars on the side. but at least you wont have them on top.

    And because even that still aggravates me, ill probilly still just play it on XBLA.

    Where it still isn't widescreen, unless you stretch (and destroy) the image.

    Jebral on
    steam_sig.png
  • LCDXXLCDXX A flask of wood and glass Terre Haute, INRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited October 2007
    It would be too much of an undertaking to remaster the entire game for 16:9 support. But I don't find the wallpapering offensive.

    But having played a ton of SOTN on Live Arcade earlier this year, I can't say I'm all that excited to play it again even though it's a new translation. I'm really anxious to play the 2D Rondo, personally - though the 3D remake is damn nice.

    LCDXX on
    XBL: LCDXX | PSN: LCDXX | Steam: LCDXX
  • Cilla BlackCilla Black Priscilla!!! Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    What exactly is wrong with the old psp's dpad? I haven't noticed any problems with it, or difficulty in using it or anything.

    Cilla Black on
  • GilderGilder Aw snap Macaroni PartyRegistered User regular
    edited October 2007
    What exactly is wrong with the old psp's dpad? I haven't noticed any problems with it, or difficulty in using it or anything.

    It's almost impossible to do diagonals on it without doing something like taping a quarter on top of it. It's very annoying in games like Megaman where jumping up and then grabbing are a necessity. I'm looking at you Time Man's stage. I can't even play Gradius with it because I can't go diagonally to dodge shots.

    Gilder on
  • WyndhamPriceWyndhamPrice Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    I like the idea of portable SotN because every time I try to play it on XBLA I just end up playing a real game.

    WyndhamPrice on
    WyndhamPrice.png
  • GageGage Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    I just found the unlock for the original Rondo. (No you don't have to finish the remake, plus it's fairly early in the game.)
    Play stage 4 until you reach the very tall dragon skull pillar. At the end of this room, beyond the bouncing platform/ball and chains, is a wall that you can blast with a hidden bomb. Past this, stay on the top path above the pillars and axe knights and you'll eventually reach the item unlock.

    Gage on
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited October 2007
    How many level branches are there? I've found another hidden one in Stage 3.
    In the room with the real tall candle pillars with the spear men and the floating skulls, right-to-left. Right before the end, there's a dangling boulder. Hit it with an axe, and the scale takes you up to a hidden floor that leads to a different Stage 4.

    So it looks like Rondo has lots of replay value. Which is good, because after glancing at SotN, 3d Rondo almost looks more polished. Won't stop me from playing SotN to death once I finish Rondo, though.
    (Seems only fair I finish Rondo first, since the two are so closely connected.)

    cj iwakura on
    y3H3Fa4.png
  • Cilla BlackCilla Black Priscilla!!! Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    As far as I can tell, from the stage select, there is an alternate stage for every one except the last 3. (Not counting the final battle)

    Cilla Black on
  • GilderGilder Aw snap Macaroni PartyRegistered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Oh my. Stage 6 is not a very nice stage your first time through. Not very nice at all.

    Gilder on
  • Cilla BlackCilla Black Priscilla!!! Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    I would say that for the entire game.

    But I suppose this is a walk in the park after Lost Levels.

    Cilla Black on
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited October 2007
    It's definitely a slap in the face after years of Metroidvanias.

    cj iwakura on
    y3H3Fa4.png
  • Cilla BlackCilla Black Priscilla!!! Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Oh my yes.

    Cilla Black on
  • GilderGilder Aw snap Macaroni PartyRegistered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Stage 6 kind of reminds me of
    those gauntlet areas in the handheld games. Complete with Frankenstein's monster.

    And Cilla Black I wouldn't say that the game is a walk in the park after Lost Levels. All Lost Levels has really done is prevented me from ever looking at mazes or firewheels for the next 5 years of my life. My skills at jumping have not improved in the slightest. Plus, there weren't any birds to knock me into a pit in LL.

    Gilder on
  • Cilla BlackCilla Black Priscilla!!! Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Well if nothing else it should have given you absurd amounts of patience.

    Cilla Black on
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Thing about Stage 6,
    It got easier each time I died. Those monsters all have pretty easy patterns, even the sorcerer.

    cj iwakura on
    y3H3Fa4.png
  • DVGDVG No. 1 Honor Student Nether Institute, Evil AcademyRegistered User regular
    edited October 2007
    For SotN, to say nothing of the new translation, I kind of like the new voices.

    DVG on
    Diablo 3 - DVG#1857
  • Unco-ordinatedUnco-ordinated NZRegistered User regular
    edited October 2007
    So Konami Europe's site now lists its Euro release date as Q1 2008. :| I am not amused.

    Unco-ordinated on
    Steam ID - LiquidSolid170 | PSN ID - LiquidSolid
  • ElendilElendil Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    This is... surprisingly... hard.

    I should have practiced on CV1 before I picked it up.

    Elendil on
  • JPS3JPS3 regular
    edited October 2007
    cj iwakura wrote: »
    Has anyone figured out how to keep the red zombie gates open yet?

    I too must know the answer for this. Must.

    This game is very difficult for me after the handheld metroidvanias. Seriously. I got through Aria, Dawn, and Portrait like they were nothing. This is raping me.

    JPS3 on
    On the subject of the Zero Punctuation Bioshock Review:
    Gyral wrote: »
    Renzo wrote: »
    reVerse wrote: »
    I didn't much care for the Bioshock review. It didn't deliver on the funnies like the previous reviews, but it wasn't bad.

    The ending was very weak, though. Usually his videos have good endings.

    Did you just review a review?

    I found reVerse's review to be too short and a little light on content and quality. Still, his punctuation and sentence structure was better than most.
    Amazon Wishlist
  • dmaurodmauro Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Did we yet talk about the fact that the original Rondo of Blood does not display in its native resolution even in Normal (supposed pixel to pixel) mode because this is really upsetting. What is even the point of having Normal and Full screen options if they are both scaled anyways?

    dmauro on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • EvanderEvander Disappointed Father Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    powersurge wrote: »
    I haven't found it to be a big help. Jeebus this game is brutal. I'm only on stage four yet I am dieing repeatedly. Could easily see myself beating the game with over 100 continues. I'm already in the high 10s.

    Heck CV4 is my favorite and I'm finding this one to be a bitch. It took me a lvl or 2 to figure out that I can use the stick but its not much better than the gimpy D pad. I wonder if the PSP slim is much better (the d pad).

    People continuously sing multi praises for the Slim's D-Pad. I never owned the fat so I can't say if it's better but I'm having no problem.

    Oh, god yes.

    slim d-pad is SOOO much better, after owning the fat for a couple of years.

    when I press "down", things actually go down, instead of having to smash the button to get a response.

    Evander on
  • DiscoalucardXDiscoalucardX Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    cj iwakura wrote: »
    Has anyone figured out how to keep the red zombie gates open yet?

    For the red zombie gates, you need to rescue the nun in Stage 3'. (The Graveyard) At the end of the first section, right where the mudmen are, there's a door on the upper part of the screen. DON'T GO IN. Instead, go to the wall beneath it and start whipping the blocks, starting from the top and going down. You'll open a passage that lets you into the lower part of the next section. Walk down the stairs and you'll rescue Tera, so you can destroy the red gates.

    For the ice gates, you need to rescue one of the other girls. She's in Stage 4', though I don't know the exact way of getting her, because they changed it from the PCE version. I think you have to let one of the frogs live and jump all the way to the end to leap on that platform where all of the frog statues are, which opens up the area below the bridge. (This is in the second part of the stage - don't go down on the water raft ride.)

    DiscoalucardX on
  • shyguyshyguy Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Has anyone played this game using the Slim's TV-out yet? I picked up the game this afternoon, and I've been vaguely tempted to pick up the output cables, but I haven't read many impressions of how games would look on my TV (a 42" HDTV).

    shyguy on
  • LCDXXLCDXX A flask of wood and glass Terre Haute, INRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited October 2007
    That's why I'm considering upgrading to the PSPslim. That plus a set of component cables would rock for this.

    Edit: And God dammit this game is hard. The bats on the bridge in stage 7 or 8 (can't remember which) piss me off.

    LCDXX on
    XBL: LCDXX | PSN: LCDXX | Steam: LCDXX
  • PbPb Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Oh man, this game is raping my face but I love it so much.

    Pb on
  • ElendilElendil Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Okay, admittedly, I miss Alucard's old voice.

    It was so much better.

    Elendil on
  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Elendil wrote: »
    Okay, admittedly, I miss Alucard's old voice.

    It was so much better.

    any youtube videos out there with an example?

    Wren on
    tf2sig.jpg
    TF2 - Wren BF3: Wren-fu
  • ElendilElendil Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Wren wrote: »
    Elendil wrote: »
    Okay, admittedly, I miss Alucard's old voice.

    It was so much better.

    any youtube videos out there with an example?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLHHa2Xvh8E
    That has a couple of the redone scenes.

    Elendil on
  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    eh, it isn't bad

    Wren on
    tf2sig.jpg
    TF2 - Wren BF3: Wren-fu
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    DVG wrote: »
    For SotN, to say nothing of the new translation, I kind of like the new voices.

    Whoa whoa, they put in new voices for SotN? Is there someplace to get an example via audio file?

    Henroid on
  • The_SpaniardThe_Spaniard It's never lupines Irvine, CaliforniaRegistered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Oh this is tough.. I like it. Also I just unlocked SoTN yay!

    The_Spaniard on
    Playstation/Origin/GoG: Span_Wolf Xbox/uPlay/Bnet: SpanWolf Nintendo: Span_Wolf SW-7097-4917-9392 Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/Span_Wolf/
  • The WolfmanThe Wolfman Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Considering the only memorable and quote worthy part of SOTN was the opening Dracula/Richter exchange, the rest of the new translation is pretty top notch. A few changes here and there, but everything is roughly the same as before. But it's kind of the opposite of the new FFT translation. They took out all the slightly antiquated speak, and everybody just talks plainly. The only major change I didn't care for is Dracula no longer recites a bible passage at the very end (something that I though was pretty fitting). Drac and Richter are the same voices from Rondo, and I think Maria is the same as well, just no longer doing the sugary sweet voice. And Alucard sounds pretty much the same. Different voice, but it's still light and fair sounding, except he actually emotes here and there (he sounds genuinely freaked out during the "You're a Belmont!" scene).

    Other than the obvious, there's also a couple of new surprises for the people who've played the game to death. Nothing major, just pleasant surprises.
    I honestly don't remember if he always did, but the boat keeper now has dialog the first time you ride him, with portrait.

    Richter and Maria stay in the throne room for the rest of the game, and you can talk to them.

    Finally, the biggest surprise. You have to fight Maria before she hands over the holy glasses. This caught me off guard. Not a hard fight, but she uses the exact same animal helpers she had as a child. Pretty much a sneak peak at how she'll play when you unlock her.

    And speaking of playing at her, she got hit with a nerf hammer compared to her younger self. You can shoot out 4 birds now in a constant stream, but there's a delay when an enemy gets hit before they can be hit again with them. So you're shooting out 4 birds rapid fire, but only every other bird actually does damage. She also dies in 3 hits at the beginning. On the plus side though, she runs pretty darn fast, and has both a forward and backward dash, so she's not lacking on the mobility department. It's just a shame she no longer does insane damage anymore.

    The Wolfman on
    "The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
  • NorfairNorfair Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    I'm only up to Stage 3 at the moment; I keep going back and looking for music discs and other crap. I did find Maria, though (tip: when you find a key, try using it as an item crash for a chuckle). It is a bit hard, but not as bad as it could have been. I mean, there's always Haunted Castle. Forget about touching anything in that game; I'm pretty sure just moving will kill you, and if you don't move, something will come along to touch you and make you die anyway. Rondo isn't in that league.

    The main problem I have is that I'm not used to the controls. I haven't mistakenly jumped into any pits (I came close in that one branch area in level one, where you jump up on the buckets), but I have, to my everlasting shame, managed to jump into two or three bats, and I also walked into a zombie when I was running away from the Behemoth (d'oh). I'm trying to resist the temptation to use Maria, which seems kind of like Easy Mode, but I'm definitely going back to deliver bird death to everything once I finish with Richter.

    Norfair on
  • TimestonesTimestones Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Spoilered for well, SOTN changes:
    Hah, awesome. So they made Maria playable and added the boss battle with her like they did the Sega Saturn version then? That's pretty cool. I'll definitely I have to pick this game up once I get a PSP.

    Timestones on
  • WrenWren ninja_bird Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    did they edit out the boobies in SotN? most notably on the venus plant girls

    Wren on
    tf2sig.jpg
    TF2 - Wren BF3: Wren-fu
  • GilderGilder Aw snap Macaroni PartyRegistered User regular
    edited October 2007
    I am quite certain that Stage 5, "Shudder", is made of hatred. I assume you can get there as Richter but I struggled as Maria, even with her amazing double-jump. My mediocre skills certainly didn't make it any easier.

    Gilder on
  • ElendilElendil Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    I fucking hate stairs.

    Elendil on
Sign In or Register to comment.