Zangetsu and Randomizer Announce!

I think there is something people might have forgotten. Zangetsu Mode was finished actually a while ago for PS4 and XB1 but they wanted to wait with the release until they finished it for ALL Systems to release simultaneously. Also the Switch Fixing got in the way too!

So this Mode was already done for quite a while for some Systems and we just didn't got it until it was ready for all.

So pitiful excuse to make...SOTN had Richter mode integrated in game when DLC's weren't even an idea 23 years ago and you praise what??? A laughable mode of a 2nd character that offers nothing besides a small diversion in gameplay that was ready not a whole year after the release of the main game but 3 months less of a year...Well you should give Pulitzer to the developers for their extraordinary effort. I guess journalists are journalists everywhere,always trying to make "white" seem "black".
PS.As for the people that expect "13 free DLC" you know what you'll get eventually...13 cucumbers most likely

LOL, 13 cucumbers. Anyways and others GBAs and DSs had Alucard, the Vampires Twins ( I forgot their names) and others already integrated in those  older Castlevania games. SOTN had Ricther and Maria in the game. I had the gameshark for my PS1 and I was able to play as Maria and unlock all of the familiars that were put away for the USA version and they had their names written in japanese letters. All that was in 1999. Lol

I read you like a book.

I was disappointed at first, but now I'm quite enjoying myself. He is so ridiculously overpowered that it wasn't very fun at first, but then I started doing challenge runs on nightmare, and it's actually really great. I like him way better than secondary characters in older games.

I'm currently doing a run where I'm not allowed to chain anything into anything else until its full animation has ended, rising slash move may only be used once until landing again, no double jump. This makes the chain his main air mobility tool (which I'm loving) , and any mistakes in spacing for the leaping attack, etc. are heavily punished in boss fights.

I'm also experimenting with starting with nothing and then giving myself one more move to use for every boss beaten. That helps a lot with making early bosses way more interesting (except vepar, zan1 and craftwork, there's just no saving those fights). No elemental blades and only chain, kunai and the leap attack made andrealphus and bathin surprisingly great fights.

All this of course means that the implementation of Zangetsu was kind of a failure. The fact that I had to make up so many rules for myself to enjoy it speaks to that clearly. However with these rules in place I'm enjoying it immensely, which I never thought I would. The potential is there in spades, but the execution is really rough.

You are not wrong.

But it is weird to have the character start there. For a regular playthrough of these games, I usually never even get to that level of power, because it requires a lot of grinding or lucky drops. With Zangetsu it is unavoidable since you start with everything, and I would argue that a very large mana pool coupled with fully invulnerable and infinitely chainable moves makes him just generally overtuned.

Maybe not very different from a recycling hat and diamond bullets or Gebel's glasses and everything, but those have more the feel of extra bonuses for those who really want to put the time in rather than the intended end game power level for the character.and of course, you can choose to not equip them to have them not even be an issue even if you happened to get them.

I guess I just want the game to cater to my self imposed challenges more, instead of just having to remember not to press button sequences that I would rather not exist. The main game actually does that very well in my opinion.

I'd say that on average, at least if you're able to do his special moves reliably and have familiarity already with the castle and how the enemies work, Zangetsu should at standard be played on Hard mode.

However, if you're someone that struggled with the techniques and something like chaining his invincible moves isn't something you feel like you can really do, Normal should be about right.

Imo I think the playability of Zangetsu mode is OK compared with other bonus character mode in Castlevania series, or it is better to say that its playability is actually better than most bonus character mode in Castlevania series.

However, it still has many shortcomings. Also as some other players have said "this is 2020"...

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First, The control: About Annihilated Mind, is it necessary to switch sequentially with one button? Isn't it better to use R1+△/☐/✕/〇 or R1+↑/←/↓/→ to switch normal/thunder/ice/fire (just a personal example, I illustrate this according to the button-symbol color of DualShock, there can be other configurations) mode?
As for Form Is Emptiness, isn't there an easier way to release it, like use ↓+L1 or just L2/〇? Is it because if its release easily then it will too powerful, so the devs make its release more complicated intentionally? Or just "maintain a unified control style"?
And about airborne Empty Blade, why not just press L1 to release like Miriam's High Jump but need to press ↑+L1 like on the ground?

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Second, skills & combos: The playable version Zangetsu does not fully reproduce all skills & combos of the boss version (although the playable version has his own abilities and more nimble combo). For examble the playable version lacks the three Ofuda skills, Death Seal (「死封印」 - the "black hole" skill), the high-speed dashing with afterimage, targetable Throw Knives; and the combo that "Downward Slash" after Restrain - The playable version can release this "Downward Slash" (its appearance similar to Wild God's Blade but with different performance) after Empty Sword but not after Restrain like the boss version can do.
I know that the three Ofuda skills and Death Seal are difficult to implement (identically) in Zangetsu mode, but at least we can expect adjusted versions? After all the official said "players will be able to play through Bloodstained using all of Zangetsu’s movement and combat abilities".

I know someone think Zangetsu is overpowerful (or at least in early stage), added three Ofuda skills & Death Seal & Afterimage Dashing & targetable Throw Knives & etc will only make him more op. But to be honest balance (and story) has never been the focus of bonus character(s) mode in Castlevania series. Personally what I value more is whether I can use all skills/abilities/actions of the bonus character.

And about the "Throw Knives - Ice", the playable version is different from the boss version. Personally I hope devs can adopt the boss version because one: It is the original version and it's not unsuitable for Zangetsu mode; two: the playable version "Throw Knives - Ice" not only similar to "Throw Knives - Thunder" but the former is less practical than the latter. So here I am seriously asking if devs can change "Throw Knives - Ice" to the original version? Or maybe players can use two versions of "Throw Knives - Ice": the current version for normal Throw Knives, the original version for targetable Throw Knives (the premise is that devs added this system).

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Third, the enemies: Although there is a original boss in this mode but it is unfortunately that players can't fight O.D, Kunekune and IGA. Does the devs think it is too difficult for Zangetsu to fight O.D & IGA? Or because they set the final boss of Zangetsu mode in Castle-master's room so they think it maybe conflict with IGA (since he also appeared in there)? How about setting it like Zangetsu can only fight IGA after he defeated Gebel but before he defeated Dominique & Bael?
As for Kuneknue, just let Zangetsu can sit on the chair by the window since he can sit on Chair Mimic...

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Fourth, the systems: Zangetsu could not get the HP MAX UP which in the disk-saw room of Livre Ex Machina, and he has no skill to heal himself. Since "Restrain" is called 「魂縛」(Soul Chain/Binding) in Japanese, then how about make this skill can recover/absorb a little HP every time it hits a enemy, and can draw item to Zangetsu (I know these may not matter since he have some invincible actions and can get more MAX UP by playing more round/loop)?

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Fifth, the glitches: According to other player's discovery, although the timer is not displayed on the screen but if you stay over 5 minutes before you fight Glutton Train then Zangetsu will be forced to teleport to the right platform, and he can no longer fight Glutton Train (even if he takes the train again) - in other words: clear the game - with this savedata.

Because the opening and closing of the door of boss room is different from Miriam mode, Zangetsu can leave some boss room even if the battle has begun and reenter the boss room to restart battle; or lead some boss out of the room and shut them out; or skip some boss battle.

If you use Form Is Emptiness from "planar-moving" room (area-changing channel is not included) to "stereoscopic-moving" room (like the outdoors of Towers of Twin Dragons, front of the castle gate and its underground, etc) or vice versa, you will found that Zangetsu can not stop himself until he hit something. A exception is from indoors to Valac-battle area.

And Zangetsu can block the ice thorn that created by his own Wild God's Blade & Flying Vajra & "Downward Slash".

When Restrain with element hits bosses and some enemies it will not launch the additional elemental attack,  nor when the chain hit the enemy at its longest range; the difference is that the former still consumes MP, the latter is not.

May I solicit devs to please check Japanese & English & etc walkthrough/guide net/wiki of RotN to see HOW MANY glitches this game have (I even found many myself)? I knew that debug is a hard job, but players have done a lot for you...
Well in terms of so many glitches, RotN has the remnant of SotN...

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Sixth, the translation: Since IGA san is Japanese so I presume that the original name is Japanese.

小斬り/Quick Slash, 大斬り/Fierce Slash
Well it is weird to translate them into "Small Slash & Big Slash" or "Minor Slash & Major Slash", but at least they can be called "Light Slash & Heavy Slash"...

苦無/Throw knives
This, the translator can directly use its romanization like Shuriken. Even if the translator want to use paraphrase, is it better to translate this into "Throw(ing) Dart/Daggers"?

魂縛/Restrain
Where is the "Soul" (「魂」)? And should it be "Restraint"? I personally will use "Soul Chain" (a pun. xd) or "Soul Binding".

灰身滅智/Annihilated Mind
The translator only translated 「滅智」 but not 「灰身」 (Incinerated Body). Of course I understand that the full translation may be too long as a skill name...

虚空剣/Empty Blade
Should 「虚空」 be translated as "Void"?

荒神剣/Wild God's Blade
Considering the "God Cross" was renamed to "Gold Cross" in a update, I'm not sure is this translation ok...So how about called it "Wild Deity's Blade"? And I personally might translate 「荒」 to "Stormy" but "Wild" is also ok I think.

飛び金剛/Flying Vajra
「飛び」 means not "flying" but "leaping" in this context.

久遠/Eternity
This should be ok I guess.

空即是色/Form Is Emptiness
"Form Is Emptiness" means 「色即是空」, the translator reversed the meaning. It should be translated as "Emptiness is/precisely Form".

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And here is a personal configuration that can contain all Zangetsu's skill (perhaps). The buttons are based on DualShock. I only list the parts that are different from the original.
R1+△/☐/✕/〇: Switch Annihilated Mind
R1+Right Stick: Targetable Throw Knives
L2+△/☐/✕/〇: Three Ofuda skills & Death Seal
R1 or L2+←→: Afterimage Dashing (similar to Miriam's Accelerator but only on ground and without damage field)

This configuration has not changed much from the original, of course there can be other combinations/layouts.