(Concluded) Castlevania: SotN 20th Anniversary, 2k members
Oct 3, 2017 14:54:27 GMT -6
ReySol, Motoko, and 4 more like this
Post by lovelydumpling on Oct 3, 2017 14:54:27 GMT -6
Oooh, okay. I always have loved doing that, and haven't really done it in a while.
The game actually felt like a really strong part of my childhood. Growing up with an older brother and stepdad both into gaming and a mom who'd step her toes in it once in a while, it seemed like during the age of the PS1, it was all their favorite game to play. I wasn't often given the chance to play the game myself back then but I was always mesmerized by the its quality music and beautiful visuals. The mighty Alucard seemed like he could do anything! He had every tool at his disposal between swords and shields and bombs and even potions on the ground that he could use to summon monsters. He found familiars that grew and evolved as he did and he could even do cool spells that had nothing to do with what was equpped. He seemed to charge through an army of all sorts of various beasts of the night with ease as they flared up in a fantastic display of flames upon defeat. I watched them play more and more of the game and I watched them learn find all sorts of secrets and easter eggs. I loved the gongs of the bells as he leaped atop them and how sitting at the Chapel caused ghosts to appear: some nice, some not-so-nice. I still remember how terrified I was as a little one when I first saw the HUGE skull enemy in the Clock Tower. It actually gave Little Dumpling nightmares.
I was often grounded a lot so I never really got to play the game myself back then. I was usually kept in my room not allowed to do much. But even when I was grounded, I still had the opportunity to watch my stepdad play this game. See, my stepdad was a blind man, and his vision only continued to worsen. We bought a big 52 inch TV (absolutely ridiculous for the time, lord knows how anyone moved the thing around) so that he could see just enough detail in the blurs to continue to play his games. So what would happen is that, even though I was always grounded, he'd call me out into the living room to help him play the game. I'd help him navigate the map, and when he was grinding for items I'd let him know when that item dropped. So for large parts of my childhood, watching him play the game was the most interesting aspect of my life. It was my life.
One of the things I was allowed to do when I was grounded was read. It was basically the only thing I was allowed to do when grounded. But it just so happened that my Dad had a copy of the unofficial strategy guide for Castlevania SotN, which he gave to me. I still have it to this day!
I spent a lot of time overlooking this book, the closest thing I could do to playing it at the time. When I was younger I spent most of my time looking through the Monster List in the back because I was fascinated with just how many there were.
As I got older I started looking more than just the pictures and actually through the walkthrough, every step of the game. So by the time I actually got my hands on it, I was prepared.
I didn't actually get to play the game myself (completely) until about when I entered high school. On my birthday (October 18th, so shortly after Freshman year began), my stepdad bestowed to me his PS2 with all of his PS1/PS2 games and accessories. Said his sight had gotten too bad and that he couldn't play video games anymore. It was really tragic but also bittersweet. To this day I still have his games and PS2, and I cherish all of his favorites. From Drakengard to Zone of the Enders, to PS1 discs of 30 Activision and Intellivision classics each of games that he played when he was a kid. And of course, this one here, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Since then, SOTN is definitely the game I've played the most out of any. It was the prefect game for me to rub that itch of childlike whimsical wonder and exploration. I've played SotN on a PS1, on my PS2, on my friend's 360, on my PSP, on my PS3, and on PC with PS1 and Saturn emulation. I've beaten the game again and again and again and again, and for some reason I can't stop. For most games, I beat it once and I'm done. For a few like Dragon's Dogma, I might play again to make another character or do another build. But SotN is a game that I just can't stop playing. It's my comfort game. The one I always fall back to when I don't feel like playing anything else. It's a game I wish to explore every little nook and cranny of and I'm honestly shocked when to this day I occasionally learn something new about the game that I had never found before. I recently got my first ever Platinum trophies: for Lego Marvel Superheroes and for NieR Automata. And while I love NieR to death, I know that had achievement systems been a thing during SotN's time, it'd have been my first years ago.
————————————
I'm going to be honest. I didn't hop on this project because it was Koji Igarashi's work, or because it was a spiritual successor to Castlevania. I did it because it was pitched as a successor to Symphony of the Night specifically. No other game has captured its magic for me and I know that Bloodstained isn't exactly going to be able to combat my nostalgia for Symphony either. But I still want to show it the same love and passion that I feel for Symphony. I want to see a new world to explore through Miriam's eyes. I want to create new memories with Bloodstained and share them with others the way my family and especially my stepdad did for me. NieR Automata is my second favorite game of all time because it did the same for me and how I grew up with my stepdad's love of Drakengard. So I am absolutely excited in every way to jump into the world Igarashi and his team are weaving for me here with Bloodstained. I may be a cynical adult now who has lost her childhood whimsy and wonder but I can feel it coming back just this once for this game.
Thank you again everyone for listening to my story and giving me the chance to once again tell it~
I can't wait till Bloodstained is finally in our hands!
The game actually felt like a really strong part of my childhood. Growing up with an older brother and stepdad both into gaming and a mom who'd step her toes in it once in a while, it seemed like during the age of the PS1, it was all their favorite game to play. I wasn't often given the chance to play the game myself back then but I was always mesmerized by the its quality music and beautiful visuals. The mighty Alucard seemed like he could do anything! He had every tool at his disposal between swords and shields and bombs and even potions on the ground that he could use to summon monsters. He found familiars that grew and evolved as he did and he could even do cool spells that had nothing to do with what was equpped. He seemed to charge through an army of all sorts of various beasts of the night with ease as they flared up in a fantastic display of flames upon defeat. I watched them play more and more of the game and I watched them learn find all sorts of secrets and easter eggs. I loved the gongs of the bells as he leaped atop them and how sitting at the Chapel caused ghosts to appear: some nice, some not-so-nice. I still remember how terrified I was as a little one when I first saw the HUGE skull enemy in the Clock Tower. It actually gave Little Dumpling nightmares.
I was often grounded a lot so I never really got to play the game myself back then. I was usually kept in my room not allowed to do much. But even when I was grounded, I still had the opportunity to watch my stepdad play this game. See, my stepdad was a blind man, and his vision only continued to worsen. We bought a big 52 inch TV (absolutely ridiculous for the time, lord knows how anyone moved the thing around) so that he could see just enough detail in the blurs to continue to play his games. So what would happen is that, even though I was always grounded, he'd call me out into the living room to help him play the game. I'd help him navigate the map, and when he was grinding for items I'd let him know when that item dropped. So for large parts of my childhood, watching him play the game was the most interesting aspect of my life. It was my life.
One of the things I was allowed to do when I was grounded was read. It was basically the only thing I was allowed to do when grounded. But it just so happened that my Dad had a copy of the unofficial strategy guide for Castlevania SotN, which he gave to me. I still have it to this day!
I spent a lot of time overlooking this book, the closest thing I could do to playing it at the time. When I was younger I spent most of my time looking through the Monster List in the back because I was fascinated with just how many there were.
As I got older I started looking more than just the pictures and actually through the walkthrough, every step of the game. So by the time I actually got my hands on it, I was prepared.
I didn't actually get to play the game myself (completely) until about when I entered high school. On my birthday (October 18th, so shortly after Freshman year began), my stepdad bestowed to me his PS2 with all of his PS1/PS2 games and accessories. Said his sight had gotten too bad and that he couldn't play video games anymore. It was really tragic but also bittersweet. To this day I still have his games and PS2, and I cherish all of his favorites. From Drakengard to Zone of the Enders, to PS1 discs of 30 Activision and Intellivision classics each of games that he played when he was a kid. And of course, this one here, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Since then, SOTN is definitely the game I've played the most out of any. It was the prefect game for me to rub that itch of childlike whimsical wonder and exploration. I've played SotN on a PS1, on my PS2, on my friend's 360, on my PSP, on my PS3, and on PC with PS1 and Saturn emulation. I've beaten the game again and again and again and again, and for some reason I can't stop. For most games, I beat it once and I'm done. For a few like Dragon's Dogma, I might play again to make another character or do another build. But SotN is a game that I just can't stop playing. It's my comfort game. The one I always fall back to when I don't feel like playing anything else. It's a game I wish to explore every little nook and cranny of and I'm honestly shocked when to this day I occasionally learn something new about the game that I had never found before. I recently got my first ever Platinum trophies: for Lego Marvel Superheroes and for NieR Automata. And while I love NieR to death, I know that had achievement systems been a thing during SotN's time, it'd have been my first years ago.
————————————
I'm going to be honest. I didn't hop on this project because it was Koji Igarashi's work, or because it was a spiritual successor to Castlevania. I did it because it was pitched as a successor to Symphony of the Night specifically. No other game has captured its magic for me and I know that Bloodstained isn't exactly going to be able to combat my nostalgia for Symphony either. But I still want to show it the same love and passion that I feel for Symphony. I want to see a new world to explore through Miriam's eyes. I want to create new memories with Bloodstained and share them with others the way my family and especially my stepdad did for me. NieR Automata is my second favorite game of all time because it did the same for me and how I grew up with my stepdad's love of Drakengard. So I am absolutely excited in every way to jump into the world Igarashi and his team are weaving for me here with Bloodstained. I may be a cynical adult now who has lost her childhood whimsy and wonder but I can feel it coming back just this once for this game.
Thank you again everyone for listening to my story and giving me the chance to once again tell it~
I can't wait till Bloodstained is finally in our hands!