Farming money and finding secret areas should be fun.

I don't like grinding in general. I do like discovery though.

In my opinion, your experience shouldn't require grinding, but if you get stuck and a few extra levels would fix it, I hope there are rooms that are set up kind of like a fun and rewarding thing to do a few times. Maybe a quest of sorts... Not sure there.

I think farming is one of the key elements. Especially when it is unintentional and rewarding through that. Game itself should just make it happen while your concentration is kept on exploring. You shouldn't meet many spots which tells you to "STOP WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING AND GET FARMING TO PROCEED" or make it totally unnecessary..

I don't want to sound rude, please don't take me wrong, but is that really your idea of fun? Why do you seem to have fondness for leaving your game running while you sleep (that is, not playing it at all)? Personally I never cared for levelling familiars in any Castlevania game, but if I did, I'd rather do it myself than just cheese the game like that. Honestly I'd laugh at the idea of leaving this power-thirsty, heat-dumping monster that is my computer on just to level familiars as I try to sleep.

As far as grinding spots go, I feel that if developers want you to grind, they shouldn't make it hard, especially if the game is singleplayer (and thus has no online economy). It felt really good in OOE when I equipped two gold rings, Winged Boots and Irine Pecunia, found the room with the closest candle possible and racked up 100k gold in less than two minutes. I wanted to have lots of money to compensate for my lack of skill, and the game, mercifully, didn't ask me to spend hours on that task. I don't see why farming in SOTN was any more special or objectively better (if such a thing existed).

For me, this grind was never fun. Some of the drop rates are pretty bad, especially in SoTN (Heaven Sword for example, just what were they thinking?).
Also souls in AoS/DoS had pretty bad drop rates and the item that helps you with the drop rates, it was like 300K. Dang! Not cool.

Let me guess SOTN is not your favorite IGAVANIA?



I get what the OP is saying, and I don't think it's nostalgia based though. Like you said there's a lot of the castle in SOTN that isn't there for any exact purpose and the other reason being that the castle is pretty well designed compared to a lot that came after ( copy and pasting started getting more and more prevalent which killed exploring for me) . The lack of purpose is what gave that castle character compared to the games that came after. It felt like an actual character to the game. There's a lot of optional content that's there just for the fun of it. That is part of the joy that game had, not everything is necessary but the fact that it's there anyways is a joy. It makes you want to explore. I think people here have the particular game they like most either SOTN or POST SOTN and that very clearly shapes their opinions.

For instance, the equipment drops were more enjoyable to me than the soul drops ( though I wouldn't mind a more equal balance of both).  I preferred the spell system with button inputs and relics over a soul system for instance, i preferred the huge assortment of equipment and items over the huge assortment of magic. Its really a flip side of a coin. People say a lot of the equipment was pointless like the shields, but to me a lot of the souls would be pointless as well.

It's all preference. I definitely think there should be a return of a castle that feels way more part of the character in the story, with locations that might not have much purpose other than something fun to explore ( confession room ) or bosses that are not necessary to beat but if you find them you can fight them or a place that's hiding a cool equipment piece.

The best way to say it is...

Exploring every nook and cranny of SOTN's castle was an absolute joy, finding a new area was an absolute joy. Later in the Igavania's as it relied more on copy and pasting ( which I assume was budget and time related) it became less a joy and more of a.... how quickly can i get through this area to see something different.

I'm really hoping for the former here, it's so unbelievably important to come up with a very memorable castle with many interesting and unique rooms with lots of hidden nuggets and secret rooms to find. ( with awesome equipment hidden in them not just health items that gives searching more incentive)

This isn't about what my favorite Igavania is. It's about the fact that I played SOTN for the first time not when I was a child in 1997 but when I was an adult in 2010 (and again recently during the campaign because I was feeling hype and I could actually easily access the game off PSN). I played it after I had played the other Igavania games. As such my perspective is different from a lot of the fanbase. There is no question that it is a superlative title that stands the test of time and will likely continue to do so moving forward. I however don't have the nostalgic attachment to it others do and I feel I'm more willing to recognize the game's faults and the very real way future Igavanias improved on the formula. Bloodstained should be a game that takes all the lessons IGA has learned over the past 20+ years to build a truly outstanding game. I feel way too many people are most interested in seeing the game become Symphony of the Night 2: Electric Buggaloo and I think that is a bit of a shame.

With regards to "character", I agree that is an important element of a game. "Character" isn't built because some aspects of the castle may not be required to beat the game (again no overall  section of the castle is hard to find or access) but rather through atmosphere, aesthetics, music, level design, etc. SOTN succeeds in many of those regards but somehow making an association between that and that "you don't need to 100%/200% the map to beat the game" seems nonsensical to me. I mean certainly think some of the optional content in SOTN is super cool and the fact that said content is cool adds to the "character" of the game but just the mere fact that said content is optional I don't think has anything to do with "character". Like, Galamoth doesn't become more impressive a boss battle just because its optional. The confession room isn't more impressive an Easter egg just because it was skippable. At least that's how I feel. Does that make sense what I'm saying?

Finally, the Soul and Glyph systems are very deep and allow for an immense amount of customization of your abilities - the collective movesets of Soma and Shanoa both dwarf that of Alucard. It's not a surprise that something of that nature is set to return for Bloodstained. The equipment list in SOTN is impressive but with a few exceptions (Shield Rod being the one that sticks in my mind the most but there are others of course) the weapons aren't doing  things even a fraction as interesting as the Soul/Glyph systems. The average equipment is not as large a fundamental change to your moveset as your average soul/glyph.

Sorry, I don't mean to suggest that the only reason someone might prefer some aspects of SOTN, or the game as a whole, to other Igavanias is solely due to nostalgia. That would be a silly and unfair claim. I do however think that nostalgia does color a lot of opinions on that game I've encountered here and elsewhere (with the OP included). I mean you can say "personal preference this and personal preference that" and to a degree that's obviously true but I think games, or any media, can be critically analyzed and compared - it doesn't just come down to personal preference all the time. Whether you like the soul system or not can come down to personal preference but arguing which one is more expansive isn't really a subjective question. Like I think Richter (or any traditional Belmont) and Alucard play significantly different enough that there is a strong reason why one may prefer one over the other or maybe be more suitable to one playstle over the other but the Soul/glyph system cover pretty almost anything Alucard can do. All these characters are basically Mage-Knights. Like you remember than both Soma and Shanoa have transformations right?  Or that both can also summon familiars right? Or that sound effects are conserved between SOTN and many later Igavanias?

Story and characterization is a bit more subjective.  SOTN has a narrative that I'd call fine. The best parts of SOTN are the character moments with Alucard and the way the prologue from Rondo of Blood leads into the rest of the game, the rest isn't really something I'd lord over the other games. However I certainly think there is room for more subjectivity here. I think liking Alucard specifically over Nathan, Juste, Maxim, Soma, Julius, Johnathan, Charlotte, Yoko or Shanoa isn't a controversial opinion. SOTN certainly has its own type of aesthetic  (gameplay sprites/environments or concept art) that I can certainly see why people may rank it the best. The OST is superb as well. When it comes to gameplay though, like I don't see how there's much of an argument. You liking equipment more doesn't change the fact that the Soul/Glyph system is deeper, does allow for more customization and incorporates pretty much all the playstyles Alucard had.  Any deficiencies in equipment (for the few in SOTN that were actually memorable - the Spike Armor and the Walk Armor are two more that come to mind) will clearly be incorporated into Bloodstained.

If you ask me farming was better in the games that followed. Aria of Sorrow, Order of Ecclesia, Portrait of Ruin, Curse of Darkness and even Lament of Innocence to an extent made me want to farm a lot. SOTN never really made want to farm a lot because I never used over 60% of all the stuff in that game if not more. As for grinding I don't have a problem with it, maybe because of all the Pokemon training that I've done and still do