267 replies to this topic

[Koh]

You now prossess Dracula's Rib!

[Air Luigi]

It's funny how Dracula's Rib is so useful (well, and the Eyeball), but the rest of relics are just glorified keys. It's the type of stuff that frustrated me about this game. So much wasted potential.

 

Imagine this game with a better world layout (not a single straight line that became a circle, please), cities with more personality and attention to detail, clues that aren't hidden in random places (explore to find your reward), whips that differ itself in some ways that it isn't simply strength, varied subweapons (not three daggers), mansions that feel like proper Castlevania levels and bosses that aren't pushovers...

Edited by Air Luigi, 22 August 2015 - 05:58 PM.

[The Satellite]

I did a test, and it turns out that Castlevania: Bloodlines does not have unlimited continues in the Japanese version. What made this game so special that they had to take out such a core element? Well, I guess I'll just use that method earlier where I save state at the beginning of each stage and reload after a game over whenever I go back to it... Which I think I will before Portrait of Ruin, since it's a sequel to Bloodlines.

[Air Luigi]

Lol, the wiki fooled me, then.. It's super easy anyway, I always liked the limited continues in this one, it compensated the low difficulty and added a bit of necessary tension into the game. You can use passwords with full continues anyway if that really bothers you:

 

Stage 2
Empty Axe Bird Empty
Bird Empty Bird Empty
Jewel Empty bird axe
axe Empty axe axe 

Stage 3
axe bird jewel axe
Empty Empty Empty jewel
axe Empty bird Empty
Bird axe axe axe

Stage 4
Empty bird Empty bird
bird Empty bird Empty
axe Empty bird Empty
axe Empty jewel axe

Stage 5
axe axe jewel jewel
Empty Empty Empty jewel
Empty bird bird jewel
bird axe jewel axe

stage 6
axe axe Empty jewel
Empty bird Empty jewel
Empty axe bird jewel
bird axe Empty Empty

 

 

I finished AGAIN Akumajou Densetsu. With Sypha. It's awesome how she can freeze the water and can destroy easily the majority of bosses like Death with electricity. Great spells. After CVII, it feels even more awesome *.*

Edited by Air Luigi, 22 August 2015 - 10:56 PM.

[Nicholas Steel]

Stage 2

Empty Axe Bird Empty
Bird Empty Bird Empty
Jewel Empty bird axe
axe Empty axe axe 

Stage 3
axe bird jewel axe
Empty Empty Empty jewel
axe Empty bird Empty
Bird axe axe axe

Stage 4
Empty bird Empty bird
bird Empty bird Empty
axe Empty bird Empty
axe Empty jewel axe

Stage 5
axe axe jewel jewel
Empty Empty Empty jewel
Empty bird bird jewel
bird axe jewel axe

stage 6
axe axe Empty jewel
Empty bird Empty jewel
Empty axe bird jewel
bird axe Empty Empty

Colouring the background behind your text isn't the same as marking them with spoiler or hidden tags. There is more than one theme for this forum. The white background sticks out like a sore thumb on this green forum theme and the text is black anyways.

Edited by Nicholas Steel, 22 August 2015 - 10:52 PM.

[The Satellite]

Well I had too much of a Castlevania itch and had to scratch it, so I did my little setup with Bloodlines where I played through every level on one set of lives, reloading a save state at the continue screen each time I lost all lives. In that way, yeah, it's not a very hard Castlevania, until the last two levels, but on the last level I allowed myself a checkpoint between each boss cuz I ain't doing all those on one life. Well, Death and Elizabeth Bartley aren't too hard to get down, but if Super Castlevania IV's final stage had three different checkpoints, so can this one!!!

 

At the same time, it still doesn't feel right, and while I feel like it should have had infinite continues from the start, now I just want to (someday, not now) get through it on the allotted continue amount. It definitely seems doable. Would require a lot of memorization and patience, but doable. Some other time. So again, I'll abstain from adding it to my rankings list.

 

But it has Portrait of Ruin as its sequel, and I'll be heading into that next. We'll see how that goes. I also plan to, after I beat Order of Ecclesia, finally get Rondo of Blood and beat it before giving Symphony of the Night another shot.

 

Konami, when is a Castlevania Collection?

[Air Luigi]

My problem with Bloodlines is the cohesiveness in level design. Castlevania games are very strong in creating a journey through Transylvania and the Castle, that feels very natural and exciting. Arriving to the Throne Room is always awesome. Not with Bloodlines...  In a moment you are in an army camping, and in the next segment you are in another random place that doesn't fit. It feels a bit random xD Specially compared to Super IV. Bloodlines is the Castlevania that feels more like a "toy" for me, it has cool enjoyable gimmicks and a nice pace, but it's a lesser experience.

Edited by Air Luigi, 26 August 2015 - 08:42 PM.

[The Satellite]

I can definitely see that. I think it's a pretty fun game, even if the sound's a bit lacking (Genesis chiptune has not aged well), but I definitely think it would rank below every other Classicvania that I've played besides Dracula X. That's not Bloodlines' fault, the others are just that good.

[Air Luigi]

I think that the music is spectacular. The bad part is the sound effects, the sound effects can destroy the immersion at times, they sound really bad. Another weak point is the lack of many subweapons, there are only three.

[The Satellite]

Confession: I didn't find out until this playthrough that you could hold up and the subweapon button for a semi-powered-up version.

 

I mean, I knew said attacks existed, I just never knew how to pull them off until now. Not that they really helped.

[Koh]

(Genesis chiptune has not aged well)

Nope nope nope nope nope!  Ya just need the right composers for timeless pieces.  Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage games, Revenge of Shinobi) Technosoft games (Thunder Force games, Devil's Crush/Dragon's Fury), etc.

[Air Luigi]

Nope nope nope nope nope!  Ya just need the right composers for timeless pieces.  Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage games, Revenge of Shinobi) Technosoft games (Thunder Force games, Devil's Crush/Dragon's Fury), etc.

 

This can be the first time that I agree with Koh in my entire time here, lol.

 

There are awesome osts in Genesis... Rocket Knight Adventures, Sonic games, Castlevania Bloodlines, Streets of Rage, Revenge of Shinobi, Thunder Force, Ecco The Dolphin, Ristar, Phantasy Star...

[The Satellite]

Oh I don't mean to say there can't be some great Genesis tunes, and ones that use the chip effectively. I just feel like that, in general, the sound quality of the chip was kind of lackluster. Heck, we have a perfect comparison in Theme of Simon: SNES's Super Castlevania IV vs. Genesis's Bloodlines. The SNES version has so much power and energy. The Bloodlines version, while I like that intro, the rest of it just sounds kinda empty and grating in comparison. There's cool parts to it, but the SNES version is overall just more powerful, at least to me.

[Nicholas Steel]

The problem with the Sega Genesis/Master Drive console is that there are multiple models of the thing with each of them featuring different audio hardware/equalizer setups. Games will have their audio optimized for one of the models and, well, it just won't sound that nice on any other model. The games don't specify which model console their designed for so it's a crap shoot figuring out which console the game will sound best on (Without emulation). It doesn't help things that most Sega Genesis music players like VGMPlay don't let you specify which model console you want to emulate for music playback.

Edited by Nicholas Steel, 28 August 2015 - 08:07 AM.

[Nicholas Steel]

After figuring out that connecting my Sennheiser HD380 Pro headphones directly to the integrated soundcard (Or a computer case audio jack) produces significantly better audio than if I used the jack on my Logitech Z4 desktop speakers, I can definitely say that Harmony of Dissonance's Vampire Killer song isn't at all bad, it's actually pretty good.

Edited by Nicholas Steel, 28 August 2015 - 07:42 AM.