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Post by mourningxsun on Mar 24, 2018 0:06:12 GMT -6
It's been a thing in every single igavania so I'm not all that concerned.
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Post by mourningxsun on Mar 18, 2018 23:53:24 GMT -6
3) I don't think it'll affect the difficulty. Players can choose to use or not to use a certain system in a game. If you want a challenge, simply don't buff yourself up. It's always good to have an extra option for those people are bad at action games. Honestly the argument that you can just purposely gimp yourself to make the game better balanced is just... not good. If the option is there the players are going to take it nine times out of ten. "Just don't do things that make the game easier" isn't really an excuse for a game that isn't balanced. Not that I'm implying that the game will be easy. In fact every Castlevania game is challenging on the first run through so I'm confident that the game will be well balanced.
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Post by mourningxsun on Mar 18, 2018 13:49:23 GMT -6
I'm not a fan of having Miriam do anything cutesy. It just takes away her badass-ness entirely. You would never catch Alucard doing something like that. Miriam should have a similar attitude, IMO. The dude throws peanuts in the air and catches them in his mouth.
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Post by mourningxsun on Mar 18, 2018 11:19:39 GMT -6
1) Vepar's new look has smaller and less "bouncing" breasts. What do you think of that? She looks smaller and more menacing as a result. I dig the sharpened teeth as well. Now it looks like an evil demon instead of... not.2) Did you liked Vepar's darker look? Yes yes yes, a million times yes.3) What do you think Vepar's shard will be? The Shards on her body changed from Red (Trigger?) to Blue (Effective?) if that's any indication, although Shards colors and enemie's colors doesn't have that link in the game... Since I have absolutely nothing to go off of, I'll just say something like shooting water.--- 1) What do you think of the feature of increasing Miriam's parameters by using a new cooking item for the first time? Personally I love it. It doesn't seem overpowered at all and is more stuff to grind for. As somebody who likes grinding, this bodes well.2) Miriam's animation while cooking is cute / kawaii japanese style. That kinds gives her a carefree vibe. Do you like that or do you think it doesn't fit due to the game's darker nature? It's just a menu animation. It has nothing to do with the story and I think it's fine. All the other 'vanias after AoS had silly/cute moments like that.3) IGA said during the interview that the game will have some subtle signs on where the "natural flow" of it will go and that if you get lost you may overpower yourself a bit by leveling. It seems that alone was a reason to make the game a bit harder than those of the past. Considering that and considering food give permanent bonuses by cooking and using it for the first time, do you believe the game may end up being too easy? I think there is potential for it being too easy yes, which is why I make my monthly suggestion for having some way to play the game on nightmare right from the get-go. Angel-Corlux --- 1) Do you believe Buer's old Shard will be fit in some other enemy or is gone for good? re-purposed. It was a very very basic stat increase. 2) IGA said in the past that the game will have a good number of familiars, but it will not be a ton of them, probably to better develop each one. For now, we have 3: Armor (placeholder name, winner at fan voting on Kickstarter), Dullahammer Head and Buer. We have no idea how Armor will behave, Dullahammer Head is a flying one that attacks anything while Buer must be somehow "stimulated" to really do something. How many familiars do you expect, and also, you expect other gimmicks like Buer? Eh. My imagination is a bit dry right now. St. Patty's hangover if you will. I expect less than ten familiars, and no other gimmicky ones.
Also I'll just throw out some random observations I had from the stream.
-Jumping physics seems to be back to normal so that's pretty cool. -The Vepar fight seemed to be zoomed out, so a dynamic camera zoom is probably in the cards. That's neat.
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Post by mourningxsun on Mar 13, 2018 0:42:44 GMT -6
Re: Effective Shard.
If I'm going to base my assumptions off of the Sorrow sub series, it's my guess that effective shards are going to fill the role of guardian (blue) souls. aka: Hold down button = Thing happens as long as it is held down and/or button simply toggles the effect.
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Post by mourningxsun on Mar 4, 2018 17:42:35 GMT -6
I can go in!
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Post by mourningxsun on Mar 1, 2018 15:22:58 GMT -6
I'm a big fan of what Redogan just suggested.
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Post by mourningxsun on Mar 1, 2018 13:11:14 GMT -6
Right let's get this show on the road
1) At the $3.750.000 stretch goal, "Orchestrated tracks" was reached. At the time, it was described as "Yamane and Yamada are thrilled to see this goal on the horizon, as it will enable them to have some of their compositions performed and recorded by a live, professional orchestra! These tracks will, of course, end up in the game, not to mention on the soundtrack." Of course, Yamada finished his work after Inticreates departure, but the question still stands. "Some of their compositions" means not ALL the game's tracks will be recorded by a live, professional orchestra. How many songs do you believe will be orchestrated in the game? 50%? Maybe 30% of them? Or more?
I would assume that any and all uses of traditional string and brass instruments would be recorded live. So, we'd have a good handful of songs that are only "partially" orchestrated, with synth piano/drums/guitar/etc. filling in the rest of the song
2) Still regarding the orchestrated songs, how do you believe will be the overall criteria to choose what songs will be orchestrated? Songs for important parts of the game, such as Voyage of Promise, from Galleon minerva, as proven on the video, for being the first scenaro, or Luxurious Orverture (entrance song) for probably being the first area of Gebel castle? Maybe songs that sounds "better / more classic"?
See above
3) What do you think will happen to the common versions of songs that got orchestrated (such as Voyage of Promise)? They will be in the game as optional pieces or will be gone for good? Or maybe something else?
Might be in the sound test, or even the "classic mode"
4) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night had 36 tracks, Portrait of Ruin had 37. Harmony of Despair (XBLA game) had 40. Many Igavania games had a really large selection of songs. How many songs do you expect for Bloodstained?
Given the expected size of the game? At least 50.
5) Symphony of the Night is IGA's largest castle, with 1890 rooms (two castles). Bloodstained is promised to have at least 1600+ rooms, and that is without any confirmation if the game will have two castles or something else. Symphony's first castle has a song for each area, but the second castle reused some of the same songs for several areas. Harmony of Dissonance, that also has two castle, reused the same songs of the first castle, to the second one. Do you expect Bloodstained to somehow reuse some of it's area songs?
I just want to take a second express my overall annoyance with the "SotN is the largest castle with 1890 rooms" meme. It's two castles, one is just upside down but it's the exact same layout. Divide 1890 in half. It's disingenuous at best.
Anyways I'd at the very least be massively annoyed if songs were reused very much besides for a generic boss theme or three. Honestly one of the biggest downfalls of SotN is that whole music reuse thing.
6) Considering Bloodstained has at least three / four main composers and a lot of freedom was given to them and that each one seems to have it's own method, do you fear the game may end up with too much of a diverse soundtrack? Or do you expect that as a good thing?
Diversity has always been a strength when it comes to 'vania soundtracks.
7) Considering all the songs revealed until now, how much do you like, or dislike, these songs? Give a score for each of them, using the basic, 0-5 score (0 = terrible, 1 = weak, 2 = regular, 3 = good, 4 = great, 5 = perfect). Here's the songs for a easy copy/paste to score:
Theme of Bloodstained (Title Screen): 1 - The main theme of the game/character should inspire the player and give a powerful vibe for the protagonist. This just sounds... meek. It's put together fine, I just don't like it at all
Cursed Orphan (Unknown usage): 4 - Nice and punchy. It's not festival of servants but it really excited me when I first heard it. The last time we got some decent metal out of a CV game was Curse of Darkness.
Voyage of Promise (Galleon Minerva): 3 - Standard sound for Michiru's music. Not bad at all.
Vepar's Boss theme: 0 - Sounds like a B track boss theme from OoE which had notoriously weak boss themes in the first place. Absolutely hated it.
Luxurious Overture (probably Castle Entrance song): 4 - Would be right at home in any CV game.
Holy Wisdom (Church of Dian Cecht): 2 - Meh. It's put together fine, just entirely forgettable.
The Executioners (Boss theme): 5 - Pretty sure this is going to be the song to overthrow Festival of Servants as the reigning king of Castlevania metal. (Granted I think that Insane Aristocracy did that already but I'm in a vast minority)
Theme of Johannes (Johannes alchemy lair / shop): 1 - I can't even remember how this song sounds off the top of my head.
Gears of Fortune (unknown usage): 3 - Without hearing the whole song I really can't have much of an opinion on this, but I do like what I hear.
Asian Song (Asian area): 4 - It gets a four just for being so unique. Sounds like a lost track from a Metal Slug game though to be honest.
8) The demo is going to be a game slice, it seems that it will start on galleon level and allowing the player to progress further into the game. Considering that information, what would you like or expect for this new demo? Some possibilities include: A) Following the game as it will be, in a linear path. Starting at Galleon, going for the second area after Galleon and so on, with closed doors and paths until the end of the demo. B) Unrelated slices of the game. A menu where you can select what area you want to play, from some areas of the game, because they aren't really connected on the final product. So you could play, let's say, Galleon (at LV 1) finish it and then go and select some other area, like Forest of Silence at LV 10, with some gear and shards that they "expect" the player to have by that point, and so on.
I would expect option A to be the most likely. Will be avoiding playing it though for the most part.
9) Are you afraid that this new demo may reveal too much of the game and kill some potential spoilers, specifically regarding enemies and areas? Or do you expect it to show things we already saw before?
Like I alluded to above, I think that releasing whole sets of areas will be revealing far too much.
10) How much do you expect to be in that demo, regarding the final product? 5% of the game? 10%? less?
From the sound of it, unless this game is just ungodly massive, it would have to be at least 10% We're getting at *least* two areas. So if that was 10% of the game, that means we'd end up with 20 areas which already makes it the largest castle in terms of number of areas. (Again, not counting Inverted/Spirit areas of SotN and HoD)
11) Some enemies in Bloodstained (such as Morte) will not have shards. Do you think Tord will have a Shard? If yes, what shard type could it be and what would do?
Probably not no.
12) What kind of voice do you expect David Hayter is doing for Gebel? Something old and deep, like Dracula? Dark and sorrow, like Alucard from SOTN? Maybe something like Snake, his most iconic character, from Metal gear?
No idea, but I'm going to pretend he's going to sound like the clean singing off of a Bal-Sagoth song because the though of it is hilarious to me.
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Post by mourningxsun on Mar 1, 2018 1:46:17 GMT -6
I can rest happy when we get a full release of The Executioners OST instead of the one minute clip and trying to listen to it over the Bloodless fight.
Really just want to reiterate that the focus on music and the amount of detail about that particular aspect of the update was amazingly well done. You wanted to make meatier updates? This is definitely a great start.
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Post by mourningxsun on Feb 28, 2018 21:57:42 GMT -6
"Unless you actually mean Harmony of Dissonance."
Yeah, meant Dissonance. Now that you mention it though Harmony of Despair did have a rather robust hard mode in comparison.
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Post by mourningxsun on Feb 28, 2018 19:07:10 GMT -6
"Technically, Curse of Darkness' Crazy Mode was locked behind completing the game once to unlock it, too."
Correct you are, but it forced you to start a brand new game to play it. What is *most likely* going to happen based off of previous games is that Nightmare mode will unlock, and then you can just transfer your leveled and geared Miriam right over. I waxed on this a bit in another thread, but as somebody who lacks the self discipline to just reset and start a brand new character in a game that will encourage keeping the same character, I'd rather just start things off as hard as possible.
"I've found that Hard Modes usually do much more than just limit your level (though, in all Igavanias before Portrait of Ruin, they didn't). All enemies definitely hit harder, certain attacks are modified, some are much faster, and enemies that are [normally] from later points in the game can appear earlier."
Compared to other series, hard mode *really* didn't do all that much in 'vanias
Harmony of Despair is just buffed enemy stats.
Aria of Sorrow again, just buffs enemy stats. Also there are like three or four top end items scattered throughout too.
Dawn of Sorrow give enemy buffs again. A couple move faster now, and zombies can poison. Bosses seem to attack more too but nothing really groundbreaking
Portrait of Ruin does the same thing as DoS except now with the really unfun level cap mechanic. Bonus points because you can't even play hard mode without a level cap.
Order of Ecclesia finally did something interesting and added new enemy spawn locations, but it's painfully underutilized. Otherwise same as PoR but at least you unlock level 255 hard mode if you beat the no level hard mode.
I'm just saying, the meat and potatoes of hard modes in 'vanias just boil down to tougher enemies. I prefer the truck load of meat and potatoes that CoD offered compared to the rather meager offerings of other ones if you get what I mean.
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Post by mourningxsun on Feb 28, 2018 18:47:55 GMT -6
Probably Aria honestly because that was a reaaaaaally wordy game. Granted the series isn't particularly dialogue heavy so it's all relative.
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Post by mourningxsun on Feb 28, 2018 17:01:46 GMT -6
Aight well my future replies are going to be consolidated here then lol. I'm hoping that the secret thing that you're working on but can't talk about is the online mode. I've put a disgusting amount of time into Harmony of Despair so I'm extremely interested in how this mode is going to stack up to HoD. Lost track of my HoD playtime over the years/hard resets but at one point I had a Soma with dual miser rings, dual valmanways (not +1 though), sonic boots, and a bunch of other things I can't remember. "Roger that on your Nightmare mode feedback, I'll make sure to include it in the report I send preiodically to Iga and the team." Awesome. One of the most rewarding 'vania experiences I've had was throwing myself at the brick wall of insanity that was Curse of Darkness's Crazy Mode. The difficulty was above and beyond ridiculous, Mostly because there was no character/level carryover, and that is an experience I would like to relive in Bloodstained. As there's going to be a NG+ mode, it's clear that we'll just be able to plop our geared up Miriam over into Nightmare mode, and that's just not the same for me. Sure we could just start a new file but I honestly lack the self discipline to start from scratch I'm going out on a limb and assuming that we'll have sort of a globalized save that will keep our level/gear/etc. in between NG+ modes, rougelite, and "Totally not Harmony of Despair" modes, so the game already kind of discourages hard character resets. To be frank, the other "hard modes" in 'vania titles were pretty trash, as the game was only marginally harder, and the only real challenge came from level cap limitations, so I really hope that Nightmare mode is comparable to Crazy mode, and really just makes the game outrageously unfair. Also copy copy on lighting, thanks!
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Post by mourningxsun on Feb 28, 2018 16:43:46 GMT -6
Just going to copy/paste my reddit post on this because I'm lazy.
As somebody who thinks that music is one of the most important aspects for this genre of game, I'm a big fan of this update.
Otherwise I'm glad the radio silence on the demo has finally been broken, still was hoping for a bit more news on it besides the already assumed "It's coming."
"This month the team has been working super hard on quite a few things, and something in particular we can’t talk about publicly yet"
I assume not, but just for clarity's sake, is the "something in particular" the demo?
Also since I don't feel like making a new topic for this: Nightmare mode should be unlocked from the beginning, if not by default, then by a cheat code since we will be getting those as well.
And finally, why does Tord look like he's literally made of chrome? Jesus Christ.
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Post by mourningxsun on Feb 28, 2018 12:34:07 GMT -6
Since it's generally assumed that you'll have to beat the game to unlock Nightmare mode, one thing I'd like to see is a cheat code to unlock it from the start. We've unlocked cheat codes, so why not? I want the hardest challenge possible right off the bat. Really what I want is something comparable to Curse of Darkness's Crazy mode.
I don't want a hard mode that relies of limiting the player level. It's not fun from an RPG element standpoint, and it's not objectively challenging from a gameplay standpoint. Level limits just make the game harder through limitation, it doesn't actually make the game harder. I feel like most 'vania have fallen flat with their hard mode, and as mentioned above, the only one that got it "right" imo is CoD
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Post by mourningxsun on Feb 15, 2018 16:48:16 GMT -6
In OoE the cap of 255 was locked behind Hard Mode level 1, so I can imagine a level cap bump could be hiding behind nightmare mode.
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Post by mourningxsun on Feb 15, 2018 3:21:05 GMT -6
Miriam will at some point crying in the game or have tears close to falling, a way to make her more human?
Iunno, crying/sadness just seems a bit typical when it comes to humanizing characters. It's the easy option. The microwave burrito of writing if you will. I'd rather her be humanized by seeing her explore more negative emotions/traits. Let's see some jealousy, anger, drive for some straight up murder revenge, etc.
Realistically though yeah, we're going to see her crying. I love Iga's work but every single character the man creates is just a walking jumble of tropes. Not his strength.
Goofball appears as a symbol or as a statue in the game. Either in a few rooms (or one room) or in the menu.
He'll show up/live in the game's obligatory item shop room. Calling it now.
Johannes will be trying to use his whip against Alfred?
I don't really picture Johannes as somebody who would be quick to attack an old mentor, so no.
Will the levelcap be 255?
Since it's pretty heavily implied that our Miram's level/items will be able to be kept when bouncing between normal/rougelite/totally not Harmony of Despair modes, it kind of has to be that high, if not higher. Nobody wants to hit a level cap way before they're done with the game's content. Iga's last game had a 255 level cap, so I can't imagine him reverting.
Dominique and Zangetsu will be playable characters?
Yes on Zangetsu, no on Dominique. My longshot bet is on Gebel.
Before making the final blow against the end boss, you get to decide his (or hers) fate?
I'll eat my shirt if this ends up being in the game.
Modding will be allowed through an external service provided by 505 Games?
Really depends on the level of post launch support this game is going to get. If there's plans for DLC/future content releases, I can picture there being some sanctioned modding tools being released. At worst modding is just going to be tolerated without official support.
Are there multiple endings in Bloodstained?
Smart money is on three endings.
1: You kill some boss in the middle of the game without doing some sort of obligatory and not that hard to find "secret" so the game just ends for *plot reason.* (let's be honest guys, the "secret" endings of the game haven't been even remotely hard to find since AoS.)
2: You kill the last boss of the second castle that we all know is going to be in the game, but you didn't do something random so you get an unsatisfying ending. Bonus points if getting the "real" ending requires you to wear some shit piece of equipment that a main character gave you earlier. (See: Dawn of Sorrow and Harmony of Dissonance)
3: You did the random thing and/or wore the mcguffin so you get treated to the real ending. Possibility of a "true final form" of the end boss exists in this scenario.
Mac & Cheese will give you close to full health, and is the most powerful food for health in the game?
Nah, although savory foods tend to heal more in Igavanias so I'm sure it will be a mid to upper tier of food item
The prequel mini-game is about Zangetsu's journey from wherever he is up until the moment Miriam wakes up from her coma?
Sure, why not.
The castle is shaped by Gebel's subconscious and with no real focus, except the parts for Miriam?
Doubtful. Concept art shows a very defined looking structure.
Only way to get Swordwhip is to defeat IGA?
Makes sense. Sure.
At least one room will be pitch black and of need of some kind of lightsource, item, switch or skill to get pass through.
Nobody actually likes these rooms so I really hope not. It's a coin-toss though since they've been in exactly half of Iga's 2D vanias. (SotN, HoD, OoE)
Amiibo for Nintendo Switch will give Miriam an alternative costume, this will result in a DLC feature for the rest of the consoles / PC to get the same costume to make everything fair or perhaps sold in a bundle when it comes to the PS Vita version?
It's late and reading that sentence three times has yet to give me a firm understanding of it. I'll just say probably.
There will be at least 2 items in the game that you can toggle around with colors to your own liking, similar to the Joseph's Cloak in Symphony of the Night. It could be either armor or some kind of weapon with a glow or intense color.
I'll bet my emergency pack of cigarettes hiding in my glovebox that we can just straight up change the colors of Miram's default dress
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Post by mourningxsun on Nov 16, 2017 10:24:09 GMT -6
In a nutshell it seems like we'd be getting Dark Souls-esque elements for the main game with literally a Harmony of Despair sequel tacked on as a side mode where it's implied we get to transfer character stats and inventory back and forth. Good stuff.
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Post by mourningxsun on Sept 18, 2017 8:59:19 GMT -6
3-Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2* (*): Never played. Decided it is very bad due to the Lords of Shadow Franchise itself.
I will say that Lords of Shadow 2 actually had imagination and creativity to it. Took some risks that didn't always pay off in terms of setting but at the very least it keeps my attention whenever I try to replay it whereas the endless ruins in the first game tire me out fast.
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Post by mourningxsun on Sept 16, 2017 0:54:57 GMT -6
I have the night off and I need something to do while I kill yesterday's wine bottle so I'm going deep. Will probably be a bit rambley. I'm limiting this to the games that will be comparable to Bloodstained. I'm leaving out Lecarde Chronicles II although I feel like I should have included it. #1: Portrait of Ruin
A pretty outlandish and unheard of choice for best Castlevania, I know I know.
Last played: Two years ago. Knocked the entire DS trilogy out during my downtime on a "friend-cation" me and five of my pals managed to work out. (Hilariously it was three couples and we're all broken up now after five year relationships but that's beside the point!)
Good: First off I rank this game at top because it's the most fun to me. That's it. Anyways so the game is just massive, and has a borderline unnecessary amount of items in it. This is clearly a result of having two playable characters of opposite genders that need their own apparel, but nonetheless, I appreciate excess in my RPGs. The paintings were a really good touch that added some really decent variety in areas, plus I didn't even mind the reskin paintings. Again, this is the largest Castlevania game in basically every regard meaning it is the size standard I'll be comparing Bloodstained to considering it's explicit advertised to be Iga's largest game yet. Other positives: Good difficulty curve, the Nest of Evil was probably the best challenge area in the series, lots of good original tunes, (Invitation of a Crazed Moon really sets the game's tone), and the final boss fight is probably my favorite Dracula encounter in the series. The whole "two character" thing was pretty whatever to me, but I feel like it was explored fully with the boss fight with Death. A very enjoyable encounter. Finally the game had some pretty cutesy gimmick rooms. I like the room in one of the London-esque paintings where you had to break a lamp to drop a coin into a cash register to purchase one of the food items on display.
Bad: The art style is almost criminally inconstant. The environments are fine, but the enemies? ugh. You'll have decent attempts at looking gothic/realistic, such as with the boss Dagon, but in the exact same area, you'll have cartoony enemies with bold black outlines like the Killer Bee. It really is my biggest gripe with the game. Otherwise, the castle itself is pretty weak sauce. It never feels like a threatening place. It's mostly just a hub for paintings. I also didn't like it's impossible to get a satisfying ending without meeting arbitrary requirements, a trend followed in Order of Ecclesia. In fact the whole "not-so-secret-secret-endings" has been a growing issue with the series starting at Harmony of Dissonance, and I'll get further into detail with it later. Finally the bosses in the portraits of the latter half of the game, while obviously tributes to classic-vania bosses, were pretty lackluster.
What I'd like to see Bloodstained learn from this game: I'd like to see a large and challenging optional area on par with the Nest of Evil. I'd like to see an excess of items. I'd like to see a very large diversity in environments. I'd like to see a level cap of 255 or higher, especially considering all the different modes we have, along with a genuine NG+ experience.
#2: Order of Ecclesia
Last played: See above
Good: The difficulty was perfect. It's just hard enough to ensure that you never feel "safe," but not too hard that you hate the game. This is a level of difficulty that I want to see by default for Bloodstained. On that note, this was the only Castlevania game where I found myself caring if I was doing sharp or blunt damage because some enemies had some HEAVY resistance to one of them. I'm looking at you skeleton cavern. Next, the quest system introduced in Portrait of Ruin was refined to near perfection in this game. The quests made sense, and the whole rescuing villagers angle was a fantastic way of introducing them. A far superior approach compared to having an exposition dumping ghost do it. I find this game to be the only example of an iga-vania where the Dracula's castle feels like it lives up to it's namesake. Saving the castle itself for the last third of the game was a very good approach and, I stress, made the castle feel like a genuinely oppressive location. Additionally, I felt as if a lot of creativity went into the bosses for this game. Eligor is a fantastic example of how to keep boss fights fresh in a series with hundreds of them. Finally, I feel like OoE had the most consistent art style of the DS trilogy. Never was I taken aback by how an enemy clashed with the environment. They all felt natural.
Bad: Some of the pre-castle areas were just too small. I'm fine with bite sized areas, but the forest and swamp were both literally just twenty square hallways. A waste of overworld space if you ask me. The glyph absorption mechanic was criminally underutilized. You can absorb spells casted from demons, the goat enemies, a necromancer, and two(??) bosses. That's it. Such a great idea that was borderline wasted to the point where it's just a slower soul absorption mechanic from the Sorrow duo. On that note I didn't really like the lack of weapons. Obviously glyphs replaced them, but glyphs are naturally a bit more uncommon. The point is that the game follows a very strict character progression path and you only get stronger when the developers let you have a new glyph. There's no farming for better items because there aren't any. It's a game that's very tightly controlled as far as difficulty is concerned, which ends up being a blessing and a curse. Finally, while I praised the fact that the castle is at the end of the game, having the game arbitrarily end beforehand if you don't have all the villagers is just dumb.
What I'd like to see Bloodstained learn form this game: I'd like the "normal" difficulty to still be heavily demanding on the player. I'd like to see choices in weapon damage type actually matter. I'd like the game to be oppressive. I'd like to see a creative spark in the bosses. (On that note, Bloodless from Bloosdatined looked quite similar to Rusalka mechanically. Still sorting out my opinion on that.)
#3: Curse of Darkness
Last played: Up until my original xbox died on me senior year of high school. 2010.
Good: The music. The music on display in CoD is the best that the series has to offer. You have catchy tunes, chill tunes, head-banging tunes, and unsettling tunes. Hearing the works of Michiru Yamane unrestricted by the limits of a handheld device was an absolute treat. Otherwise the familiar system in this game is a perfect evolution of the familiar system in SotN. The crafting system, while simplistic, was kind of a novelty considering the game came out before crafting was the latest trend in gaming. Speaking of novelty, the whole stealing/theft mechanic was really interesting. Frustrating at times? Sure, but it was a really well done aspect of the game regardless. I found the Towers of Eternity/Evermore to be an excellent optional challenge area. Not up to par with the Nest of Evil, but the concept of having to tackle 100 floors of nonstop combat really wowed me back when the game was brand new and I was a little guy. (Fun-fact, Curse of Darkness was my first M rated game.) I find the difficulty level known as "crazy mode" to be worthy of it's name. Two hit deaths ahoy. Stupidly hard and that's how it should be. Finally, the bosses were all just really well done. By far the best of the 3D iga-vanias
Bad: I'll just knock this out fast since this part seems to be generally agreed upon: World progression is boring, areas are pretty boring, combat isn't deep enough, character design was overly gothic and came off as silly half the time. nobody really like having to evolve familiars down specific paths to unlock optional areas, and the game is kind of easy until the difficulty curve heads straight into the stratosphere towards the end. Also Trevor should have actually died instead of being deus ex saved by Julia. Not that I particularly care about Castlevania plots because they're always threadbare on their own, but this was just stupid.
What I'd like to see Bloodstained learn from this game: I'd like to see the familiars in this game be able to dynamically evolve. I'd like the quality of the music to be up to par with this game. I'd like Bloodstain's "Nightmare mode" to be comparable to CoD's Crazy mode.
#4: Symphony of the Night
Last played: When I played this game last I recall my girlfriend at the time telling me "I love you" as she left in the a.m. Specifically I had just beaten the Hippogriff. My memory is weird. Anyways this places my last playthrough at early November of last year.
Good: Nobody shuts up about this game so I'm keeping it brief. Inverted castle is a cool bonus. Lots of usable items. The music is top notch. Reasonably non-linear. Castle progression is great. Lots of fun gimmicky rooms. Alucard has wonderful sprite movement.
Bad: Call me a hipster but I'm going hard on this. First off the inverted castle is bad. What made the first castle so special is the array of abilities you gather to eventually find all of it's secrets and make your way to the second castle. The problem is that the game blew it's load (and gave you flying WAY too early imo) and leaves you with absolutely no more character progression once you step foot in the second castle. Find and kill six bosses. Boom, that's it. That's your second castle. It doesn't help that the music variety nosedives in the second castle as well. Secondly, with the exception of Galamoth, the game is just stupid easy. The only way for me to get some form of challenge out of it anymore is to do runs where I only equip the Alucart set. That's it. Thirdly, nobody likes diminishing experience returns. When a difficult enemy, or God forbid, boss gives you a single experience point for killing it, something is jacked up. Fourth, a lot of bosses feel like filler. Cerberus is a great example of this. Next, form of the wolf is pointless. It doesn't deserve it's dedicated button on the xbox 360 rerelease. Additionally, only being able to freely traverse between castles from one specific point is dumb. Finally, there was just too much overpowered shit in the game. Soul steal in itself is almost game-breaking, but the sheer amount of "I win" weapons in the game is unheard of. Granted there's only like three, but most games have zero. Few have one. SotN has three. (Sonic Blade, Valmanway, and Alucard Shield/Shield rod.) Also Poison mist.
What I'd like to see Bloodstained learn from this game: I'd like to see a second castle of some sort. If Iga really wants to shock us, give us a third castle. I'd like to see non-linear castle progress. I'd like to see lots of interesting gimmick rooms, like the ghost confession booth room, or the room where you ram your head up the librarian's butt. I'd like to see input command spells, like hellfire, soulsteal, or hecta-spirit.
#5: Circle of the moon
Aside: I'm aware that Iga had nothing to do with this.
Last played: Sometime after my last SotN run so vaguely between Novemter of last year and January of this year.
Good: CotM deserves praise for having the only practical castle in the series. No cutesy areas like "The room of Illusions" or "The Floating Gardens." Nah, here we get "Basement," "Audience Hall," "Castle Wall," and "Observatory." I like how some areas get stronger enemies after certain points in the game. The Zombie Dragons stand as a fine example of how bosses should be done in this series. I enjoy the challenge in this game, though it's largely due to the old school feel to it. Another thing that is important to note, the time of day outside stays consistent the whole game. Whenever you look out a window or head outside, the sky is always midnight blue. It's a welcome aspect of the game that I wish following games would have had as well. Also the DDS (DSS?) system is kind of cool but the fact that it relies on often rare drops kills it. Finally wall jumping is a cool ability.
Bad: It's hard for me to call something bad in this game because there's very little that stands out, good or bad. It's easy to tell that this isn't an Iga-lead game simply because it lacks imagination, although I did praise the practicality of the castle earlier. Some bosses are kind of boring, like the one in the clock tower. The amount of reskinned enemies is almost comical. The arena area is poorly balanced. The difficulty curve in that area make a ninety degree turn upwards. The Horse Demon (or Minotaur?) room in particular is just beyond belief unfair. It wouldn't be so bad if you were able to utilize magic in this area. Also the items in this game are pretty boring. They're all strictly stat boosting items. Not a single interesting piece of equipment to be found. Finally, although they tried to disguise it, the "diminishing experience" issue with SotN returns here. Instead of diminishing experience though, the experience required to level up was exponential while experience given by enemies progressed at an arithmetic rate.
What I'd like to see Bloodstained learn from this game: I'd like to see a consistent skybox. I'd like to see random powerful enemies show up in previously low level areas. I'd like to see wall jumping.
#6: Harmony of Dissonance
Last played: 14 hours ago at a local coffee bar. Started and finished over a course of far too many pretentious coffee based beverages. My girlfriend works there so the over-the-top employee discount works wonders.
Good: The normal/spirit castles are a superior evolution to the normal/inverted castles of SotN. There are meaningful changes you can make in one castle that affect the other. Being able to hop between castles in multiple locations is a welcome addition. Design-wise this is probably the most adventurous castle in the series. While I appreciated the practicality of CotM's castle, I can also appreciate the outlandishness of HoD's castle. We have the "Wailing Way," a treasury with a crystal cavern in it, "Skeleton Cave," and "Sky Walkway." Very bold design choices. The magic book/subweapon system was a well done evolution of the DDS system in CotM. The "hidden" ending was actually hidden for once and was blatantly impossible to discover without actively looking for it. I also enjoyed how Talos returns as an actual fight late in the game after harassing you in the intro. Finally I appreciate the effort put in to make the game surreal and horrific. It's not exactly a scary game, but the effort is clearly there.
Bad: Bosses mostly sucked. The castle is small. The physics are wonky. There's a lot of overpowered spells. The music is pretty bad, though Juste's theme/castle entrance is catchy enough. Diminishing experience returns in full force, to the point where nothing gives more than one experience point after level 60-ish. I didn't like how some of the shops didn't show up at all unless you met certain requirements. Most were fine enough, like having an even or odd number of hearts, but some were just ridiculous. Specifically the one that only appears after level fifty, and the one that only appears after you get the noonstar card which is a rare drop from two different enemies. Also the generic "rescue the girl" motivation for Juste was bland bland bland.
What I'd like to see Bloodstained learn from this game: I'd like to see actions in one castle affect the other. (let's be real, we're getting a second castle in some way, shape, or form.) I'd like to see a castle with horror and surrealistic elements.
#7: Dawn of Sorrow
Aside: We're getting to the point where the games below have very little to them that they do better than the other games in the series.
Last played: See Portrait of Ruin
Good: The evolution of the souls system from Aria of Sorrow was needed and is done well. Actually fighting Flying Armor instead of randomly getting his soul out of the blue in the prior game was neat. Hammer is my favorite NPC in the series. Playing as Alucard in the second character mode was fun. Actually having to put in effort to find the three "cryptic" enemies was a good mechanic.
Bad: The story was forced. This is the first game in the series that has the "really obvious secret ending." The bosses were mostly hot trash until after the "final" boss. Having to grind for souls to get a better weapon is an insane mechanic and is probably the most unfun thing in the entire series to me. The castle and progression as a whole is pretty bland and "safe." It's very by the books. You don't get any interesting movement or abilities. It's your standard glide->double jump->water movement->flying that's prevalent in metroidvanias. Again, not that I care about the individual stories in this series, but it felt really forced in this one.
What I'd like to see Bloodstained learn from this game: I'd like to see the shards level up and get stronger if you collect more of the same one.
#8: Harmony of Despair
Last played: A few months ago
Good: Bosses were stupid hard. There's an insane amount of gear. I really like the randomized loot, a mechanic explored in OoE and perfected here. 10/10 fanservice. 9/10 music. I enjoyed that some bosses were able to harass you before you even made it to them. It's just Gergoth and Death that can do this, but it was still really interesting.
Bad: I mean, there's not much to say that isn't glaringly obvious. As far as things that everybody doesn't already agree upon, I'd say that ripping environments sprites from SotN looked bad aesthetically. I'd also say that the "new" voice actors were pretty bad. I guess a leveling system of some sort would have done the game decently as well. Having the DLC characters show up as "old armor" enemies to people without the DLC is ridiculous.
What I'd like to see Bloodstained learn from this game: Since we're getting a spiritual successor to this in Bloodstained's "online challenge" mode, I'd like to see the timer gone. Because with the timer, you have people making dumb mistakes to rush. Then they turn into skeletons. Then they're stupid and still try to fight things. Then they die because skeletons are fragile. Then you lose two minutes on the clock. Then because the person controlling the skeleton is actually an idiot they return to the fight immediately and then die again. Repeat until the time runs out. Do I sound salty about this? Because I am.
#9: Aria of Sorrow:
Last played: Two nights ago
Good: The Japanese voices are good. Hammer is the best NPC. Headhuntress is a standout boss. It introduces the soul system. Of all the games in the series, it had the best balance between the difficulty in finding the "true" ending, and the amount of content in the "true" ending. The walking on water ability is cool. "Forbidden Area" is reasonably difficult to get to.
Bad: The most bland castle in the entire series. This is coupled with a very bland character movement progression system as discussed up in Dawn of Sorrow. The game is balanced poorly. Being able to get the best weapon in the game at about 2/3rds of the way in without any need for sequence breaking or insane movement tricks is silly. The music is mostly forgettable. The bosses in the first half of the game, up until Headhuntress are the least interesting in the series
What I'd like to see Bloodstained learn from this game: A decent amount of build up was present before you fight Legion so I'd like to see more bosses with a presence in the area they belong to. I'd like to see the true ending/second castle to be decently hidden, and unable to be discovered just by exploration.
Bonus: Things I universally dislike:
Hard modes with a level cap. That's it. I didn't really have a place to shoehorn this in so here ya go.
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