264 replies to this topic

[Nicholas Steel]

Which Metroidvania Castlevania games give you more than 3 gear slots? The fact that SoTN gives you 2 weapon slots, a Cloak, a Chest  and 2 Ring's probably helps it pique peoples interests. It's the biggest issue I have with the GBA and DS games that I've played, they typically only give you 3 gear slots (1 weapon slot, cloak, and chest piece). The limited inventory system just makes the handheld games become stale much quicker than SoTN.

Edited by Nicholas Steel, 12 August 2015 - 06:52 AM.

[Koh]

I'm totally fine with a more simplistic equipment system honestly.  Rather than spreading out defense across a set of 8 pieces (Leather Hat, Armor, Cape, Gloves, Boots, Brass Rings x2, Brass Necklace), I'm fine with a lower amount of slots that give the same effect.  There's less need to be in the menu swapping everything out and selling a bunch of items, and more focus on the action.  All that's really necessary is a weapon slot, an armor slot, and one or two accessories for customization in regards to resistances, special activations, or whatnot.  This also lowers the chances of there being some unspeakably broken combination that just destroys the balance of the entire game.

[Air Luigi]

Dawn pros over Aria:
*Graphics.
*Bosses.
*Difficulty (harder)
*Better weapons
*Better souls
*Better Julius Mode

Cons:
*It feels like Aria 1.5
*Castle layout feels a bit stale at times, still good.
*Art direction
*Story
*Grinding souls to got new weapons is a chore.
*Souls drop ratio is very low.

*Magic seals, they aren't big deal, but they are gimmicky and unnecesary.

Edited by Air Luigi, 12 August 2015 - 09:29 PM.

[Air Luigi]

I couldn't resist and I'm now playing SOTN, lol.

 

The little details like meeting Slogra and Gaibon early (Death's room), the confession room or the bird's nest in the observatory room is what made this game so special. The music and atmosphere is a scandal. Time to spam soul steal...

 

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=2RqGeEsXJWY

Edited by Air Luigi, 12 August 2015 - 09:31 PM.

[The Satellite]

Done with Dawn of Sorrow now. I liked it. But the damn magical seal gimmick is terrible. It only seems to interrupt the gameplay, and exists to be a "mandatory DS touchscreen gimmick" that plagued many games during that era, some to good effect, some not. It just slowed down the boss fights, and in one instance, made one difficult not because of the boss itself, but because of the damn complexity of the symbol and the tight timeframe. I didn't like it. Also the power to break bricks in certain rooms was pointless as well.

 

Still, the game itself was fun, ranking only behind SotN and Aria in the Metroidvania category. The soul grinding was tedious, but the weapon crafting system was pretty neat. I want to say the castle was well-structured like in SotN and Aria in the sense that you didn't have too much trouble knowing where you were in relation to the rest of the castle, but that could have also been the (extraordinarily helpful) map on the second screen. That was easily my most favorite feature, and there were some other features the game did that were helpful, but on the whole, the package just wasn't as great as Aria and definitely not SotN.

[Air Luigi]

Now, good luck dealing with the odd enemy placement in Portrait of RUIN xd Specially in the second half, enemies rarely fit the scenarios >.>

I only have left the reverse catacombs to.finish SOTN. It never get old. The inverted castle is totally nonlinear and it's full of fun enemies and weapons. I get a marsil without grinding and is a lol xd

After this, I will go with Rondo, Chronicles and Ecclesia.

Edited by Air Luigi, 16 August 2015 - 07:42 AM.

[Haylee]

Julius remains the best belemont.

 

You can't get over that beard.

[The Satellite]

Simon's still my favorite, mostly for his inferred badassery. While I don't think he was involved in any story-heavy games at all in a canon game, he still had the power to storm Dracula's castle and conquer on his own, then, while on the verge of death from a curse inflicted upon him at their first meeting, traveled the country to recover parts of Dracula in order to destroy him again and free his curse. That's pretty awesome to me.

 

Also let's not forget he has all the best themes; Vampire Killer, Bloody Tears, and Theme of Simon.

 

But Julius is right behind him, basically for being a badass grandpa and also has some great story to him personally as well.

[Air Luigi]

Christopher Belmont is the best!

 

 

Spoiler

Nah

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=CHLsolltIJ8

Edited by Air Luigi, 16 August 2015 - 05:32 PM.

[Haylee]

But Julius is right behind him, basically for being a badass grandpa and also has some great story to him personally as well.

Also the infinite mega jump, can't forget that.

[The Satellite]

Haven't actually played a Julius Mode yet. I'm told the Dawn of Sorrow version is worth it. Maybe at some later date.

[Air Luigi]

Yeah, Julius Mode in DoS has three playable characters and a unique surprise, I suggest to play Castlevania III before to understand the point =P

 

Also the infinite mega jump, can't forget that.

 

Julius wasn't the first Belmont with super jump... Richter will whip you.

[Erdrick]

I've played just about all of the Castlevania games, missing a couple.

 

I do want to touch base with the GBA ones because I've played them the most. Not so surprisingly, I thought Aria of Sorrow was the best of the three. Circle of the Moon wasn't as good, however... I feel like the game was an experimental game in terms of game design and gameplay.

 

Harmony of Dissonance, however, was the weakest because of how easy the game was. SotN was easy too, but nowhere near Dissonance's level.

 

I do wanna play a couple of the DS games again to get a better opinion on them. Only one I finished was Dawn of Sorrow, but I promise to finish the other two.

[The Satellite]

For me, Harmony of Dissonance felt the weakest for more reasons than low difficulty. I dunno, there just wasn't a very good flow to the castle's structure, and it felt very tedious to navigate for me. That, and the soundtrack wasn't very memorable or interesting. People complain about its lower quality, sounding more akin to GB chiptune than what the GBA is capable of, but I didn't mind that. I just minded that the songs themselves weren't all that good.

[Air Luigi]

Circle of the Moon was made by another team, it's the only one that wasn't produced by IGArashi. Funny, they fixed the weak points of SOTN (low difficulty and easy bosses) but they messed ALL the rest of things xD The castle layout loss all the personality and there isn't much customization. It lacks the flavor and atmosphere of the IGAvanias, it just feel generic... All the music are rehashes that don't fit the places and so... Too much focused in wandering without finding nothing too useful.

 

Harmony was the first true sequel to SOTN by IGA. The problem is that they were too ambitious without understanding well the GBA hardware. Well, it's simply uninspired and rushed, but you can see that the atmosphere get a lot more of attention than in Circle of the Moon. 

 

But who cares? Both are forgettable titles in the series. I repeat, Castleroids are all about SOTN, Sorrow games and Ecclesia. Every Castlevania is different and has it own flavour, anyway, even the worse ones. It's not like Megaman, which are obvious romhacks xd