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#31 Haylee

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Posted 09 August 2015 - 01:30 PM

I don't know that I have any interest in any of the 3D games. 64/Legacy of Darkness for morbid curiosity and Lament of Innocence because apparently it's the origin story of Dracula and the Belmonts' crusade against him, but that's it; if I like Lament of Innocence (assuming I ever get to it) I may play the others. And yet another part of me wants to play the Lords of Shadow series just to see how badly they screwed up the Castlevania storyline in this godawful reboot setup.

Legacy of Darkness added a Hardcore Parkour level if that helps.



#32 Koh

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Posted 09 August 2015 - 04:45 PM



I don't know that I have any interest in any of the 3D games. 64/Legacy of Darkness for morbid curiosity and Lament of Innocence because apparently it's the origin story of Dracula and the Belmonts' crusade against him, but that's it; if I like Lament of Innocence (assuming I ever get to it) I may play the others. And yet another part of me wants to play the Lords of Shadow series just to see how badly they screwed up the Castlevania storyline in this godawful reboot setup.

Seriously, try Curse of Darkness.  It's like Symphony of the Night, except 3D.  The Heart System in this game is used for Devils you summon (think of a Pet system in MMOs where the pet follows you around, and can attack), and also for special "tool" devils that help Hector navigate Zelda style.  If you're a fan of metroidvania games, and a fan of Zelda, you can't go wrong because it blends the two.

 

It's got an excellent crafting system, and you can equip all kinds of weapons.  There are also a bunch of secret areas you can get to using the "tool" Devils if you pay attention to your surroundings.  I don't know why this entry is overlooked so much.

 

Here, a sample, of an optional boss in the game.

 


Edited by Koh, 09 August 2015 - 04:47 PM.

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#33 Matthew

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Posted 09 August 2015 - 04:59 PM

I do enjoy castlevania quite a bit. I'm not a huge fan of the RPG mechanics of SoTN, but I still love that game none the less.

#34 Air Luigi

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Posted 09 August 2015 - 09:38 PM

I started Circle of the Moon... and I gave up quickly after two hours xD AVERAGEEEE
 
The graphics and music aged HORRIBLY. All the rooms are generic. Bad art direction. Rehashed music and bad sound quality. The same tune is repeated in a lot of zones. Grinding for getting the cards. Map design is quantity over quality... Just no...
 
The exploration would be much fun if you find equipment or cards. Exploring for health and mp don't generate much accomplishment and the player get discouraged quickly. 
 
On the positive note, the difficulty is good and I love the bosses in this game. The card system is great but the grinding kill it, sadly. It's not enough. This game lacks the atmosphere that do Castlevania games something really mindblowing. It feels like a fangame at times, and totally forgettable.

Edited by Air Luigi, 09 August 2015 - 09:43 PM.


#35 The Satellite

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Posted 09 August 2015 - 10:08 PM

Since I only have two other Metroidvanias in the series to compare it to, I thought it was alright, though the castle itself certainly doesn't flow nearly as well as in SotN. Still leagues better than Harmony of Dissonance's castle though. I liked the card system, but I agree that they would have been better as hidden collectibles rather than rare drops. I too was a fan of the bosses, they were a pretty decent challenge. Where it doesn't shine at all though is the story... Wow it's full of bland and cliched characters. And they're not even compelling or make you feel invested. I mean, you stand before Dracula, ready to fight him, and the most "witty" statement Nathan can summon is "I'll get you for that." ... really? I guess Igarashi considered this game non-canon for a good reason.

 

Screw it, I'm gonna start Aria of Sorrow tonight.



#36 Air Luigi

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Posted 09 August 2015 - 10:44 PM

I started Aria of Sorrow and I had a fucking blast with the game. What a freaking difference! All the things click in place, graphics, music, combat, enemies, backgrounds, rooms are memorable, atmosphere.... In Circle of the Moon the music never fits the places! It's pretty obvious in less than 5 minutes than this is a beast of a game. Circle and Harmony were bad jokes.

 

Best castles ranking is clear:

1. SOTN

2. AoS

3. DoS


Edited by Air Luigi, 09 August 2015 - 10:46 PM.


#37 KingPridenia

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Posted 09 August 2015 - 11:56 PM

The DSS Cards are the ONE thing I didn't like about CotM. There are 100 combinations, but most of them are either useless or are just gimmicky in a poor attempt to add variety. I mean why would you bother with the Flame Whip or even the Flame Sword? The only worthwhile combinations in my opinion are the Cockatrice and Thunderbird summons, the basic +STR combination, the double Heart drop one, Ice Whip/Sword (for freezing Brain Floats only, useless otherwise), the one that halves your damage at the cost of every hit knocking you back (debatable), the Ice Shield and for enemies with destroyable projectiles, Poison Mist. All of the other combinations are useless or just too gimmicky. It's a huge letdown to have 100 different spells but only have maybe 5 or so be useful with another 5-10 being situational and the rest just there for fluff.

 

One other thing I didn't like about the cards is that almost ALL OF THE COMBINATIONS rely on your STR to deal damage. Thus, Magician mode is a joke. Sure you have all the cards right off the bat, but without getting all the best STR boosting equipment, they're pathetically weak. Still, set damage ones like Diana + Griffin make the first four bosses a joke.

 

As for the music, I will agree. Most of it doesn't fit, but then again, I never really cared enough to let it bother me. I almost feel like I'm liking CotM a bit too much and am being that one weirdo that likes it when I should be like "Lol, CotM sucks, 3/10". I sank a massive amount of time into CotM, probably more than I should have.



#38 Nicholas Steel

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Posted 10 August 2015 - 12:41 AM

In SoTN, don't you get knocked back when you take damage, even while walking? I notice that after a while you seem to stop getting knocked back even while walking... is there like some kind of damage received/current max health ratio for determining whether you get knocked back?



#39 Koh

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Posted 10 August 2015 - 06:27 AM

I believe so, or just a certain amount in general.  If the enemies do like 75 damage, Alucard goes flying like a speeding rocket, likely into the next room over.  Like the infamous Luck Mode skip for Death stealing Alucard's equipment in the beginning.

 

https://youtu.be/nnzoKdIybXY?t=71


Edited by Koh, 10 August 2015 - 06:32 AM.


#40 Nicholas Steel

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Posted 10 August 2015 - 07:10 AM

Also I notice in Aria of Sorrow you have no invulnerability period after taking damage. if an enemy knocks you in to another enemy you almost certainly will take damage the instant your sprite touches that other enemy. This might not be an issue mid-late in to the game, but I can see it being a bit of an issue for some people in the early game.


Edited by Nicholas Steel, 10 August 2015 - 07:10 AM.


#41 Air Luigi

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Posted 10 August 2015 - 09:14 AM

Aria of Sorrow is easy, so that's hardly a factor. Not pissy easy like SOTN, it's a well balanced game, but clearly in the easy side.

#42 Air Luigi

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Posted 11 August 2015 - 10:23 PM

I finished Aria, very good game. It doesn't disappoint after all of these years, it's a good thing because I became really nitpicking with games in the last years. It's a shame that is so short, easy and low-tech (GBA >.>), because this is the only sequel to SOTN that I feel genuine inspired, enjoyable and with a mildly interesting plot.
 
Dawn was the first game with SOTN quality graphics, but it has some annoying things that push the game back (still, very fun). And after that, Portrait-Ecclesia are very differents games compared to SOTN (Very linear games). Ecclesia is awesome in their style, Portrait was a big fail.

Edited by Air Luigi, 11 August 2015 - 10:27 PM.


#43 Koh

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Posted 11 August 2015 - 10:32 PM

I wouldn't say that at all.  Portrait is especially good with its attention to detail with the environments, something that simply didn't exist in SotN.  Not just scenery, but interaction too, like when shuffling on shelves and having objects flying about.


Edited by Koh, 11 August 2015 - 10:33 PM.


#44 Air Luigi

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Posted 11 August 2015 - 10:52 PM

Lol, Portrait backgrounds are super repetitive. It's a rehash of a rehash. Practically all the enemies are copy/paste from SOTN and Dawn, and the "worlds in the pictures" are repeated two times in a incredible lazy way. The level design is super weak with just generic corridors. It's even full of fetch quests. Circle and Harmony are disasters, but at least you can see that they were trying. Portrait feels like a fan romhack of SOTN-Dawn, it was a constant uninspired dejavu. They were so lazy than they reused even the Dawn of Sorrow bosses without any change! Really bad.


Edited by Air Luigi, 11 August 2015 - 10:54 PM.


#45 The Satellite

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Posted 12 August 2015 - 03:11 AM

And now I too have completed Aria of Sorrow. From the start it certainly was a vast improvement over Circle and Harmony, especially since it felt as close to SotN as a GBA game could get in feel and style. The castle certainly gave you a much better sense of location and I didn't feel the need to look at the map to know my location much at all, much like SotN. The soul system was really cool, having various weapon types again was great, it was a lot of fun. I feel that in the end the castle didn't feel as cohesive as SotN's and didn't carry the same mystery and intrigue, but it did pretty well. The story was... decent, it succumbed to a cliche here and there, but wasn't unbearable. And I think Julius suddenly became my favorite Belmont next to Simon, and he was only a story character! Well, minus Julius Mode I suppose, but that's not important.

 

So yeah. Aria of Sorrow outclasses its GBA predecessors easily and was a hell of a good time. I'll probably tackle Dawn of Sorrow next, then finally try Rondo of Blood; I'd go for Rondo next, but since Dawn is a direct sequel to Aria, it would make more sense to head to that one.


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