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[Castlevania & Bloodstained] sitting in a tree, S-L-A-Y-I-N-G

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Posts

  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    Aria of Sorrow is really good, you guys.

  • The Dude With HerpesThe Dude With Herpes Lehi, UTRegistered User regular
    Hedgethorn wrote: »
    Having all three of the GBA games together so that you can play them all back to back emphasizes both how much better and how much shorter Aria is than the other two.

    Yeah I just did Aria again, and I forgot how short it is.

    I mean, it's crazy short.

    Each section of the castle feels way smaller than I remember, or think they were in other games. I don't know how true that is, though, it just felt smaller.

    Also really easy.

    I thought about doing a new game+ to collect the extra items, but forgot they take away the boss/ability souls, and once you get the Panther, you can't go back to how slow it is without it.

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  • KalnaurKalnaur I See Rain . . . Centralia, WARegistered User regular
    I realize that I'm constantly confusing Dawn of Sorrow with Aria of Sorrow when I realize one is super short and the other is much longer.

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  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    Is Dawn of Sorrow available in any of the existing collections? What system was that game on?

  • KalnaurKalnaur I See Rain . . . Centralia, WARegistered User regular
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    Is Dawn of Sorrow available in any of the existing collections? What system was that game on?

    The DS. So no.

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  • skeldareskeldare Gresham, ORRegistered User regular
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    Is Dawn of Sorrow available in any of the existing collections? What system was that game on?

    It was DS. It was also rereleased on Wii U Virtual Console. So it's basically not easily available.

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  • cooljammer00cooljammer00 Hey Small Christmas-Man!Registered User regular
    If they ever remake the DS ones, they should probably remove the touchscreen nonsense (removing ice blocks, drawing runes after boss battles to fully beat them)

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  • Jealous DevaJealous Deva Registered User regular
    If they ever remake the DS ones, they should probably remove the touchscreen nonsense (removing ice blocks, drawing runes after boss battles to fully beat them)

    I believe the megaman x collection removed/reworked some similar touchscreen crap for the ds games in it, didn’t it? So if M2 does the Castlevania ds collection hopefully they can do the same.

  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    Portrait of Ruin is actually my favorite of the DS games. Definitely the most fun.

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  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    I really like Portrait and Order both. Those might even be my favorite games in the whole series.

    Aria of Sorrow is damn good, but it's almost too easy. I've beaten every boss so far on my first attempt with really no fear of death. I'm not asking for Souls combat, but a bit more challenge would be nice.

  • rahkeesh2000rahkeesh2000 Registered User regular
    I have to say Portrait hard mode is kind of badly tuned so far. Where, because just about everything kills you in the same 2 or 3 hits, the most terrifyingly difficult enemies are... bats and ghosts.

  • Warlock82Warlock82 Never pet a burning dog Registered User regular
    edited October 2021
    Hedgethorn wrote: »
    Having all three of the GBA games together so that you can play them all back to back emphasizes both how much better and how much shorter Aria is than the other two.

    Yeah I just did Aria again, and I forgot how short it is.

    I mean, it's crazy short.

    Each section of the castle feels way smaller than I remember, or think they were in other games. I don't know how true that is, though, it just felt smaller.

    Also really easy.

    I thought about doing a new game+ to collect the extra items, but forgot they take away the boss/ability souls, and once you get the Panther, you can't go back to how slow it is without it.

    Yeah I remember playing it for the first time on Wii U and thinking this. It's a shame because the game is fantastic but it's over so fast.

    (I blame Circle and Harmony for that btw.. I bought both, they were fun, but not exactly SotN.. after Harmony I was just like, I don't feel I need to play the third one... too bad, cuz it was actually much much better.. haha.. I think I realized my mistake when I picked up Dawn of Sorrow but by then it was kinda too late)

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  • 38thDoe38thDoe lets never be stupid again wait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered User regular
    I have to say Portrait hard mode is kind of badly tuned so far. Where, because just about everything kills you in the same 2 or 3 hits, the most terrifyingly difficult enemies are... bats and ghosts.

    That was Order of Ecclesia Hard mode too. Or Max Level 1 mode.

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  • MaytagMaytag Registered User regular
    38thDoe wrote: »
    I have to say Portrait hard mode is kind of badly tuned so far. Where, because just about everything kills you in the same 2 or 3 hits, the most terrifyingly difficult enemies are... bats and ghosts.

    That was Order of Ecclesia Hard mode too. Or Max Level 1 mode.

    Order of Ecclesia hard mode was awesome though, as it also changed the patterns and attacks of almost all monsters and bosses. Completely changed the game, even if it was a bit too difficult for everyone to be able to enjoy.

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  • TelMarineTelMarine Registered User regular
    38thDoe wrote: »
    I have to say Portrait hard mode is kind of badly tuned so far. Where, because just about everything kills you in the same 2 or 3 hits, the most terrifyingly difficult enemies are... bats and ghosts.

    That was Order of Ecclesia Hard mode too. Or Max Level 1 mode.

    Yeah Order of Ecclesia's hard mode was way too hard.

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  • rahkeesh2000rahkeesh2000 Registered User regular
    Yeah my issue is, all the fearsome hard-hitting monsters in Portrait are appropriately much easier to dodge. But in hard mode, bats/ghosts hit about the same, which were designed as nuisance chip damage in normal. So its perverse when those things are far more intimidating than any boss. And this isn't even using level limits...

  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    Hit my first difficult obstacle tonight in Aria of Sorrow. The headhunter boss. Phase 3 stopped me dead in my tracks. The lizard with its super erratic movement and long reach has completely kicked my ass.

  • KoopahTroopahKoopahTroopah The koopas, the troopas. Philadelphia, PARegistered User regular
    emnmnme wrote: »

    This is really cute. Would play an entire fan-make of CV with this lol.

  • StormwatcherStormwatcher Blegh BlughRegistered User regular
    i like easy games nowadays.

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  • never dienever die Registered User regular
    In terms of timelines and story, I would honestly be fine with a new continuity, cause I feel Aria and Dawn wrapped up the original storyline very well.

  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    I’m not sure if I really want to play Dawn of Sorrow again or if it should continue to live as unsullied memories in my head. It was my first Metroidvania and it was very special to me.

    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.

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  • rahkeesh2000rahkeesh2000 Registered User regular
    What is there to sully, Dawn is still one of the best. Symphony has more dated elements.

  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    I think it's silly how rigidly they have tried to stick with the whole Hero vs Dracula thing. Why haven't they introduced new villains to the franchise? Why do they keep reusing the same villain 14 times?

  • rahkeesh2000rahkeesh2000 Registered User regular
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    I think it's silly how rigidly they have tried to stick with the whole Hero vs Dracula thing. Why haven't they introduced new villains to the franchise? Why do they keep reusing the same villain 14 times?

    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...

  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    Oh, I didn't realize Dracula was right in the name. That does change things, yeah.

  • emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    I think it's silly how rigidly they have tried to stick with the whole Hero vs Dracula thing. Why haven't they introduced new villains to the franchise? Why do they keep reusing the same villain 14 times?

    Lords of Shadow (the PS3/XBOX360 Castlevania) mixed up the cast. To varying degrees of success.

  • rahkeesh2000rahkeesh2000 Registered User regular
    emnmnme wrote: »
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    I think it's silly how rigidly they have tried to stick with the whole Hero vs Dracula thing. Why haven't they introduced new villains to the franchise? Why do they keep reusing the same villain 14 times?

    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.)

  • The Dude With HerpesThe Dude With Herpes Lehi, UTRegistered User regular
    edited October 2021
    What is there to sully, Dawn is still one of the best. Symphony has more dated elements.

    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.

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  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    It's weird that the 2-game collection that includes SotN and Rondo did not make it to the Switch or Steam. I believe they called that collection "Castlevania Requiem Collection" or something like that.

  • EnlongEnlong Registered User regular
    I think one area in which SOTN shows its age is the way it just uses every mechanic and item in the world into the game. Alucard has a variety of weapons, Belmont subweapons, hidden magic stuff, and also throwing items that I never use (which are separate from the Belmont subweapons). I definitely feel like there are areas that make it clear this was a game of a lot of firsts, and they were just seeing what would stick if they threw everything at the wall. Later games of its type were a bit more focused in terms of item and mechanic design.

    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.

  • 38thDoe38thDoe lets never be stupid again wait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered User regular
    That's one of the things I love about Symphony though, you have infinite options to choose from, you can pick something you like. I love the thrown swords: the big one that writes Verboten when you throw it and the little ones that stab and circle back. I love the great sword that summons a giant army of skeletons. I love the katanas with their secret moves, the rapier with its multi-hit attack, the shield rod combos, etc. There is so much variation that the game has a ton of replay value. I love that they made an item to absorb cat-type damage. Its silly and fun and still fun to play. The thrown items are great with the duplicator.

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  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    Regarding special abilities and subweapons, I'm still playing Aria of Sorrow. And I have never changed my subweapon from the first one they give you. I guess it's a monster power this time. The starter ability is a spear throw. It has good range and decent damage for being a very safe spell to cast. So I just keep using it. I've never even tried any of the other options, because the spear is so good.

  • rahkeesh2000rahkeesh2000 Registered User regular
    Maybe we should slag SMB for its flat graphics too?

    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.

  • SteevLSteevL What can I do for you? Registered User regular
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    It's weird that the 2-game collection that includes SotN and Rondo did not make it to the Switch or Steam. I believe they called that collection "Castlevania Requiem Collection" or something like that.

    Speculation is that it's because Sony was involved with this collection, so it hasn't left their platforms.

  • The WolfmanThe Wolfman Registered User regular
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    Regarding special abilities and subweapons, I'm still playing Aria of Sorrow. And I have never changed my subweapon from the first one they give you. I guess it's a monster power this time. The starter ability is a spear throw. It has good range and decent damage for being a very safe spell to cast. So I just keep using it. I've never even tried any of the other options, because the spear is so good.

    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.

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  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    Regarding special abilities and subweapons, I'm still playing Aria of Sorrow. And I have never changed my subweapon from the first one they give you. I guess it's a monster power this time. The starter ability is a spear throw. It has good range and decent damage for being a very safe spell to cast. So I just keep using it. I've never even tried any of the other options, because the spear is so good.

    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.

  • 38thDoe38thDoe lets never be stupid again wait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered User regular
    Isn't that Claimh Solais? That weapon was pretty absurd. I mean nowhere near Crissegrim but what is.

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  • KupiKupi Registered User regular
    Whether you get a Soul or not is in fact random, generally with very low drop rates. I think Luck raises drop rates generally, and the Soul-Eater Ring (which you won't be able to afford even if you don't spend a cent from the beginning of the game) also raises the drop rate explicitly. The drop rates are increased overall in Hard Mode as well.

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  • EnlongEnlong Registered User regular
    38thDoe wrote: »
    Isn't that Claimh Solais? That weapon was pretty absurd. I mean nowhere near Crissegrim but what is.

    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.

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