Spoilers Thread! (During release window)

A Boss Rush mode without the game's main bosses... that's... novel... 

purifyweirdshard I invoke YOU to change the thread title, lol.

On topic, yeah having finished the two courses already the boss rush made is indeed lame and way too incomplete. I hope there is going to be a patch for it.

Completed the base game on the 1.01 build and started a NG+ run after patching to the latest build. Overall I'm satisfied with how the game turned out even if it could have been better in terms of art direction for both sound and visuals. I do have to give the team credit where it's due in that the 1.02 build significantly improved on the visuals especially for the Galleon Minerva which now looks quite respectable.

Yes the sound design doesn't live up to SotN, LoI, or AoS but I found that the music was a good fit for the levels themselves. Would love to see IGA look for a fresh take on sound design for the next Bloodstained game; my top pick would be studio MONACA of Nier and Drakengard fame. The biggest let down sound wise were the brief segments that didn't have any music whatsoever and I felt that was a missed opportunity.

Wasn't really a fan of the art direction and it took me quite some time to get used to it (more than I thought it would going into the game) but at this point I'm beginning to appreciate some of the artistic environmental details on my second play-through.

The game's performance was nothing to write home about for the 1.01 version even on the PS4 Pro but the latest version appears to fare much better from what I've played so far. I wasn't able to 100% all aspects of the game on the 1.01 build but hopefully will be able to do so with my transferred save file; no open chests so far on NG+ Will check to see if the glitches I experienced in the first play through are still present in the latest build; the worst glitch I had (other than freezing and crashing) was Miriam loosing her head due to certain accessory combinations which persisted for quite some time even after reloading the game.

No real surprises in terms of gameplay, just the tried and true Igavania fare. Had to look up a few segments like underwater movement and how to obtain the spike proof armor but other than that had no real issues. Bosses were pretty easy on normal but maybe they'll be more challenging on the harder difficulties.

Looking forward to playing the upcoming content.

I do have to ask how does one access Boss Rush mode? Is it available on PS4 yet and if so how can I access it?

Doesn't matter, still spoiled and further spoiled something for another player. That in itself was not right and things of that nature have had spoiler tags or the whispering smiley used to insert said spoilers, for a reason.

Arikado Had wanted to be surprised and now no longer can be, which actually can ruin an experience for someone, at times. Besides, if something is labeled as 'Secret Boss', it usually speaks for itself as to what it is.....a secret to be found, not told.


Edit: Also, just because it's a spoiler thread, doesn't mean we haven't all been using spoiler tags in our discussions. Some people truly wish to avoid those as much as possible.

I only have two major gripes with the game:

1. Pacing.
    If you're the type, like myself, who plays to completion first and grinds later, and you get stuck because
   
... or if you haven't figured out that ...
... it can be a real chore getting through the castle the first time around.

2. Enemy design/graphics.
     I didn't wanna whine about this before the game was released, since it's not something they could do anything about once mass production started with IntiCreates at the helm, but imho most of the monster assets suck, both their design and their 3D models. This can be said for pretty much all enemies, with the few exceptions thankfully being the main bosses:


You'll notice two of these were touched up by Mana.

As far as the 3D modeling is concerned, my guess is a lot of these were outsourced models and the firm they hired delivered cheap, but not good. 

But, as CastleDan points out, they could have gone with creeper, more mature designs from the get-go. This also applies to the "sexy" elements in the game: the Lilith character design was... I mean, it's not that it's really bad per se, and I get that some people might be into demonic bunny girls with footwear that looks plucked from a Dr. Seuss cartoon, but compare the Lilith design to Miriam's design: it looks like they came from two different games. Same for the - it just looks like it was plucked from a game with an aesthetic closer to Smash Bros. than Symphony of the Night.

The point is, we're big boys and girls - we can handle gorier, sexier, more gothic designs - and as gamers, we can handle better 3D models.

Unfortunately, I understand recycling enemy models is probably the best way to make the sequel better as a whole, because they're the one asset you can reuse without much trouble, but that was the most disappointing part for me.

Honestly, most of these assets aren't reusable from my perspective, they're THAT bad. If IGA's plan was to create a "database" of assets so he can reuse them on later games, he probably failed at that. I wouldn't like to see any of these models in a sequel, if we are ever to get one. And you can call me a hater, but I do think this is again DICO's fault.

Oh, it does, @bloodymiri , and I can see our tastes align - so your thread plug is good.

I mean, it's ultimately up to IGA, obviously, but they already got the partial nudity descriptor for Vepar's nipple-less breats.

And like CastleDan points out, 98% of us are legally adults here.

I'm sure publishers have an aversion to the Mature rating, that it negatively impacts sales and creates controversy; I mean, obviously, because games like Grand Theft Auto and Mortal Kombat have sold so poorly oh, wait, never mind.

So I think IGA and 505 (Angel-Corlux  , Question ) should know that, should they choose to go there, they'll probably do better financially, not worse.

I get the feeling the player base cares more about the quality and aesthetics of the enemy designs than their level of gore/nudity/sexuality.

They should probably have Mana  do enemy designs for the sequel. She's already an ArtPlay employee and she obviously knows what she's doing. She'll be invaluable to the franchise going forward if she stays on board.

I never said
Until he somehow come up with that Idea (which requires further digging out of the post), and you can complete
So either way canonically Miriam may very well be

And I just noticed I didnt mark the boss rooms at the end. Oh well, that is something for tomorrow.