I still don't get why people call that castlevania series "anime".
I know it doesn't ultimately matter because anime means animation, but I just don't remember any other instance of a non-japanese animated product being called "anime".
Or maybe I'm super out of the loop and there's a lot of "western anime" now.
I call Avatar anime, I don't give a frick in making the distinction of western anime with normies, also I think that Netflix has a couple more shows that can be considered western anime.
It's just the Netflix israelites calling their garbage anime because the term hadn't been associated with low tier American cartoon trash yet so they could trick people into watching their propaganda.
yeah the difference, I think, is that Avatar was never really officially labeled anime, right? It's obvious it has anime influences but as far as I know it was always treated as another cartoon, along with I dunno, other anime inspired ones like Samurai Jack.
The castlevania thing was weird because it was officially called anime. I guess yeah they want to get people's attention, I dunno.
I love castlevania but sadly I couldn't get into it, weird sensibilities that I didn't think matched Castlevania.
Well, vampire Hunter D still exists as a virtual CV anime.
2 years ago
Anonymous
The problem with the Castlevania """anime""" was all the blatant unabashed homosexuality.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Blame Anne Rice for that.
2 years ago
Anonymous
bram stokers original novel is loaded with homosexuality, it's a stretch to call the gayness of the relationship between Dracula and harker subtext, its basically implicit. Read a book Black person
It's just the Netflix israelites calling their garbage anime because the term hadn't been associated with low tier American cartoon trash yet so they could trick people into watching their propaganda.
you have no idea how often this happens >do you like Danganronpa >yea the anime was great >what do you think about God Eater >i binge-watched that shit but it's just aight >i love Devil May Cry >i dunno it was ok but that blonde child was annoying
It's just heavily advertised Netflix garbo. The moment ads stop, it will be immediately forgotten. In twenty years, CV1, CV3, RoB, and SotN will still be respected games, while the fact that there were several seasons of a "Western anime" will be hard-level trivia. Like the Zelda cartoon.
It's really not as good as people make of it. The RPG mechanics are poorly implemented, making the difficulty take a nosedive after the first hour because you get too strong too fast. Which turns every boss after the Long Library into a joke. You also get showered in way too many weapons, so every few rooms you have to menu for another one. And even more menuing if you want to use the correct elements. Inverted Castle is a cheap rehash with too many bat transformations to get through. And balance is completely out of whack there. One room enemies hit me for 20 HP or less, the next room it's 120.
I give the game that it looks gorgeous and that it has way more enemy diversity than I expected from a game of its length. But it doesn't do much with them since battles feel so meaningless.
This, as someone who actually grew up in the early 2000s with this game, this is the game that made me want to get a playstation, like for real, i always wanted a mod chipped ps1 just to play this game, but sadly i could never get it cause i was really that poor, so i had to rely on emulators which i couldnt even get a hacked version of Bleem to run on my PC from a diskette no matter how hard my cousin tried to pass it on to me, he used it to play FF8 and RE3 A LOT.
it was around 2000s when my other cousin lend me his original ps1 disc backups to me and i still have em, even tough they are pretty much useless now, i dont care.
>You have no idea how incredible this was when i was twelve
The truth of the matter is, we knew that level design in SotN was terrible. We just couldn't put it in words. I distinctly remember being bored by hallways with enemies just standing there is focusing on the music, Alucard's animations, and anticipation of the upcoming boss fight or a glimpse of my wife Maria or something else. The castle was bad and we felt it even if many of us never realized it.
This might surprise you, but the power fantasy of being a dhampir swordsman, sliding around, slashing stuff and spamming SOUL STEAL[/Spoiler] is, in and of itself, fun
Too many tryhards infest this board who will shoot down any positive discussion of SotN so they can beat off over liking classic Castlevania as if most fans also don't enjoy those too.
Is the Japanese version of this game enjoyable if you don't know moon?
I wanna play the Saturn romhack that uses the RAM card but it hasn't incorporated the English translation yet.
I like this version the most too, but I feel like for a first playthrough you should play the psx version so you actually have context for all the changes and new content added. It makes it more special that way.
It's not the best version, but it's not entirely worthless either. >dat added music, esp.GUARDIAN
Before you shout YouTube, just imagine if Konami/IGA was smart and they repurposed the tracks to replace the repeat instances of the redundant, SIX-AREA Finale Toccata and maybe the bosses "guarding" the Dracula relics or something instead of giving us a subpar version of a fan-favorite character and forever ruining her mystique. I'm surprised that's not already a hack. Otherwise yeah the Saturn version shits for the birds.
It's funny now because everyone knows this game and stuff but back in the early 2000s it really felt like it was a sort of hidden gem. Not many people cared about a 2D game back when it came out, and while Castlevania was a revered franchise, it was still actually kind of cult, and not "cult" in a hipster way like it is today.
I've played SoTN for the first time recently and wasn't very impressed either. I've been putting this off for so long because of the hype. Presentation, music and technical aspects are top notch but the reversed castle, difficulty and the final Dracula fight were very underwhelming.
Are there any other Igavanias/Metroidvanias in the series that I might like better?
If it's difficulty and/or balance you're looking for, you might want to try CoTM, PoR, and OoE.
>CoTM
SoTN's first spiritual successor and by a different team for the GBA, the card grind for new powers is obnoxious but then, you don't actually need it if you git gud enough. There's still a level up mechanic, but you're unlikely to get too far ahead just through normal play. You'll probably especially appreciate Dracula here, dude's a meteor-dropping c**t. >PoR & OoE
The last two games on the DS and last two mainline games made, by IGA, and it shows. He and his team were taking steps towards balancing things out and actually giving their 2D games some damn bite, and if not with DoS, then it's here starting with PoR that they finally succeeded. Of particular note is that, on top of a decent Normal mode, PoR and OoE have a Hard mode with level caps from 50 to 25 to 1, and it actually works. Arguably the best way to play them and in my own opinion and likely others, one of the best experiences in the franchise especially with PoR's Richter mode. Every aspect of the games' design pop here with even the RPG mechanics beyond levelling up mattering for once, though if I had to recommend just one, PoR for its whips and more traditional CV exploration, OoE for better enemy/level design and synergy along a with a set of glyphs & equipment that manages to be straight to the point with little fluff yet still allowing for catering to playstyles. Defense still matters in OoE's hard mode, for what it counts.
Also, while they do come with their own issues, having been replaying the PS2vanias recently, I'm inclined to say that they're probably where they started to learn how to make decently challenging games. Just saying.
I think checking out CoTM next is the logical step. I've heard that there's one game which does the reversed castle concept better (I think it was one of the Sorrow ones).
if you put in X-X!V''Q at the name entry alucard gets 99 luck but rest of his stats are severely lowered. i played with up until i beat the first real bossfight. normal enemies take so many hits to kill and you can die very quickly. you really need to learn how to avoid taking any damage, at least early on.
The american PS1 release replaces the idol fairy and comedian imp with an overpowered sword with holy damage. I don't give a shit about the content in the other versions but the balancing is slightly better.
That's not the Xbox version
The Xbox 360 version is a port of the PSX port with original voice acting, no 3d cutscenes, and no I Am The Wind.
That looks like the PSP release-- or maybe PS4?
I'm planning on playing Harmony of Dissonance and one of the DS games because I know they have dancing spectres and they're one of my absolute favorite enemies and I only seen them on Castlevania IV.
ummmmm actually yes.
In the World of Warcraft Burning Crusade expansion there is a whole wing of an instance (Kharazan) dedicated to dancing ghost. Im pretty sure its a nod to the castle Vania or some other media.
>WoW
damn, I never got into these type of games... but I'll check it out anyways, thank you anon!
It's strange how the trope isn't utilized more, the gap between "romantic couple dancing" and "they're actually monsters/ghosts/spectres" is just very appealing to me.
Anyone older than a zoomer was so inundated with praise for it that it's not really an interesting thing to say >super mario bros was an important game
I too "discovered" it in 2018. I had played Classicvanias and the GBA Metroidvanias, and love them all for the most part. The presentation of SotN and controls and feeling of the experience really stood out.
I won't say it's the best game because I can't say that for sure, but I can say that people who dislike it are truly puzzling. Are you daft? moronic? Trolling?
Is there a way to transfer my data saves from PS1 memory card to my PSP?
I started playing SOTN on the PS1 but realized metroidvanias are better suited as portable games, I don't want to keep playing on the TV.
For the time it was released? yes
For current standards? It has aged quite badly in a lot of aspects, mainly rpg scaling and limitations of the time.
Don't get me wrong, jt's a good game, but not great if you play it now
I make a point to not take anyone who says "this game is the best/one of the best of all time" seriously. You can't just put Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario Galaxy side by side and rate them objectively in relation to each other. Likewise, you can't properly compare an action adventure game with a JRPG without getting into really subjective territory.
As for SOTN: it's a good game. It might not be the best, and it's certainly not flawless, but I don't regret playing it.
There is, but it doesn't help. The increased difficulty just shows how bad level and enemy design really is. Castlevania games used to be hard, so I think the dip in challenge level was a conscious choice because the game falls apart if monsters start to actually kill Alucard.
While I haven't tried it myself, this was the impression that I've had since I heard of that hardtype hack. I don't think Alucard can handle that sort of shit like how later DS protags can because his skills and abilities rely on being overly resilient and powerful versus being able to move out of the way of and deflect attacks. Poor guy doesn't even have proper backdash cancelling.
It's a lot like Simon's Quest where the game probably wouldn't even be fun if Simon wasn't able to take hits so well, because Simon has frick all to deal with with shit unless you're fine with spamming golden daggers, I guess. Think of those situations involving slimes running amok in the outside areas or the knights hogging stairs. Game would be shit probably if it weren't so comfy.
t. just played SQ recently and is afraid of slimes roaming the countryside
While I haven't tried it myself, this was the impression that I've had since I heard of that hardtype hack. I don't think Alucard can handle that sort of shit like how later DS protags can because his skills and abilities rely on being overly resilient and powerful versus being able to move out of the way of and deflect attacks. Poor guy doesn't even have proper backdash cancelling.
It's a lot like Simon's Quest where the game probably wouldn't even be fun if Simon wasn't able to take hits so well, because Simon has frick all to deal with with shit unless you're fine with spamming golden daggers, I guess. Think of those situations involving slimes running amok in the outside areas or the knights hogging stairs. Game would be shit probably if it weren't so comfy.
t. just played SQ recently and is afraid of slimes roaming the countryside
So I've been playing the mod thanks to
I hear hardtype is good, or you could just only use shitty weapons and avoid health max ups
When I learned the guy who made was also the guy who made FF8 Requiem (difficulty mod that went full moron and required full grinding to have a chance to beat it), I got uneasy.
So as for the SOTN mod, he made all enemies do a shitton of damage, and defense is so pitiful here that you might go full double ring of ares since the difference between 0 and what you get with high defensive equipment is barely worth the effort. Also he nerfed a lot of weapons taking out some of the fun, like I know the shield rod was broken, but he directly turned it into a 2-handed weapon so lots of cool spells are now gone, and because defense matters so little, shields are now completely and entirely useless. That's not the biggest nitpick however, the worst problem is how spongy the bosses are, you spend an eternity trying bring their HP to 0 while they repeat their simple patterns over and over.
It's not a disaster as I've been having some fun with it nonetheless but I wouldn't recommend it either.
>defense is so pitiful here that you might go full double ring of ares since the difference between 0 and what you get with high defensive equipment is barely worth the effort >lots of cool spells are now gone >spend an eternity trying bring their HP to 0 while they repeat their simple patterns over and over
So is it a little like PoR Lv 1 Hard Mode? Because I get behind something like that.
>So as for the SOTN mod, he made all enemies do a shitton of damage, and defense is so pitiful here that you might go full double ring of ares since the difference between 0 and what you get with high defensive equipment is barely worth the effort. Also he nerfed a lot of weapons taking out some of the fun, like I know the shield rod was broken, but he directly turned it into a 2-handed weapon so lots of cool spells are now gone, and because defense matters so little, shields are now completely and entirely useless. That's not the biggest nitpick however, the worst problem is how spongy the bosses are, you spend an eternity trying bring their HP to 0 while they repeat their simple patterns over and over.
Its almost as if the idea of making it "harder", was a dumb idea.
The whole thing about game being "is not really that good cause is too fricking easy" just came from, "the usual suspects".
I still think the game could be made a bit harder and not suffer for it, problem is that the modder is known for going full moron with HP amounts. I've just beaten the mommy boss from the inverted castle, his pattern is so simple that I was never at risk of being hit, but he had soooo much HP that the battle dragged forever, repeating the same shit over and over. The actual challenge are the bosses that WILL hit you no matter what, when they are relatively simple to evade you're just wasting 15 minutes pressing the attack button.
>Its almost as if the idea of making it "harder", was a dumb idea.
Only games with good enemy and level design can afford to be hard. Lesser games just fall apart if you crank up the difficulty.
This, this is pretty much what I was getting at earlier. Making a game like SoTN seems like a terrible idea without putting in a lot of effort to practically change what it is. I mean, you could keep some things about SoTN intact, like exploration and whatnot, but you would have to change things like how Alucard handles, how enemies behave, the very structure of the castle's differing segments in some parts and how and what order you go through them to address easy difficulty, or perhaps rather, its trash balance.
And I suppose that's just the thing, balance and difficulty, to me, aren't exactly the same thing. I think you can have an easy but still decently balanced game, but I do suspect that when a game's difficulty is tilting way hard towards either being really easy or really hard, you should probably start thinking about whether it's balanced, and SoTN's balance is, outside of a surprising difficulty spike when dealing with a small handful of mooks or certain boss attacks, heavily in favor of the player and Alucard.
>because they all grind for crissagrim then cry that it's too easy,
This really seems to be the zoomer MO. >watch your steamer eceleb speedrun the game multiple times >read a bunch of strategy guides online >research everything there is to know about the game >finally decide to play it >already know everything there is to know about the game >cry that it's too easy
They have zero sense of adventure or discovery. I don't even know why they play games at all.
>zoomer MO >They have zero sense of adventure or discovery
Probably the only time that SoTN was interesting was when it was the hot new shit in 1997. Actually playing the game in 2013 after years of listening to its soundtrack nearly ruined said soundtrack because SoTN is just as boring an adventure game as it's a bad action and platforming game. I honestly suspect that it was either hastily put together or the development team working on it didn't know or didn't give a frick about what they were doing, because otherwise, there would actually be interesting stuff to do between sending heads rolling and there would be an actually interesting story that works with its setting. Ffs, Richter is only a villain because apparently, despite no hint of this in either Rondo or even SoTN's own damn intro, he lacks a purpose outside of fighting powerful monsters like Dracula.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Ugh if you really are that lovespelled that you think SOTN map design is bad, you must hate CotM emphasis on verticality and plattforming
2 years ago
Anonymous
>lovespelled
Why are you SoTN fans so damn determined to get one up on others that you resort to such nonsense? Are you actually giving CoTM flak for having more interesting level design? Are you that bitter? Are you that desperate and out of your mind? What other babblings do you want to get out of the way?
Yes, SoTN's level design is boring. The best it manages most of the time is some nice tongue-in-cheek jokes and references like the Scylla section or the crows knocking you down in the church.
I unironically love CoTM's level design. It's not my favorite, but it does a decent job of giving scope and it tends to complement the surrounding enemies well, and not just the vertical platforming sections, either. It also does a real good job of giving you wellplaced entrances and exits in and out of each area with the Abyss Stairwell working as a hub. Shoot, Like SoTN, after a certain point, you can start going through places out of order.
If it bothers you that much, SoTN fan, you could always just ignore posts instead of making an ass of yourself.
>How come nobody told me how great this game is ?
Because you are woman who just stumbled upon the series after watching sodomy of the night on Netflix, Stop trying to make new narratives.
The levels are boring hallways and the secrets are just random breakable walls, it's nothing like metroid. It just has good presentation. Legacy of Darkness was always the better game
Not that anon, but it's funny you mention that, I've actually been enjoying it as of late doing a second playhrough, not that I disagree with your post or that post.
Same, actually, I enjoy SoTN for bringing Alucard back with looks and abilities now iconic to him for how much shit I give the game for wasting its setting and characters, there's still stuff that I like about it. The arena looks like it has human skeletons and weapons buried in its shallow dirt ground, and it's like, frick, dude, I just get this idea that so many fights take place here so often that probably innocent human beings just get stamped into the ground, which is kind of chilling. Too bad that's basically just headcanon and SoTN doesn't do much to play with that.
>while never even beating the game with Richter once.
I wish playing the game as Richter or Maria was actually fun, but that's when you realize how radically different SOTN is to the classic games. There's no real platforming challenge, and bosses, if trying to beat them without using item crash are just tedious damage sponges, or go down too quickly with a few hydro storms/dragon attack.
The game was clearly way more balanced toward Alucard, playing as Richter or Maria is not a bad feature at all and I'm glad it's there, but yeah you notice the game is not really a tight action-platformer like the classics, as it is more about exploring and gaining new abilities to reach new places.
I actually tried to get the most amount of % possible with both.
Maria on PSP can get through some places thanks to her air dash, I managed to make it to the other side of that one spiked room where you can only pass in bat form or mist form as Alucard, but then I couldn't make it back as Maria.
>because they all grind for crissagrim then cry that it's too easy,
This really seems to be the zoomer MO. >watch your steamer eceleb speedrun the game multiple times >read a bunch of strategy guides online >research everything there is to know about the game >finally decide to play it >already know everything there is to know about the game >cry that it's too easy
They have zero sense of adventure or discovery. I don't even know why they play games at all.
Oh no one told that the most impressive game from castlevania is amazing? You probably didn't meet any tryhard fan.
Game is good, but isn't a masterpiece like everyone says.
>PAL
Awesome drawing of Alucard, the main character of the game, with Dracula's castle in front of a giant full moon the background >NTSC-US
spooky haunted house, could be any game involving ghosts, zombies, or vampires
It's the crème de la crème of Castlevania, pretty much universally approved opinion.
homie everybody told you
There are fans of the show? Aside from fujoshi
My niece saw me playing Aria of Sorrow so she asked what it was, and when I told her it was Castlevania she said "Oh, like the anime".
I still don't get why people call that castlevania series "anime".
I know it doesn't ultimately matter because anime means animation, but I just don't remember any other instance of a non-japanese animated product being called "anime".
Or maybe I'm super out of the loop and there's a lot of "western anime" now.
I call Avatar anime, I don't give a frick in making the distinction of western anime with normies, also I think that Netflix has a couple more shows that can be considered western anime.
yeah the difference, I think, is that Avatar was never really officially labeled anime, right? It's obvious it has anime influences but as far as I know it was always treated as another cartoon, along with I dunno, other anime inspired ones like Samurai Jack.
The castlevania thing was weird because it was officially called anime. I guess yeah they want to get people's attention, I dunno.
I love castlevania but sadly I couldn't get into it, weird sensibilities that I didn't think matched Castlevania.
Well, vampire Hunter D still exists as a virtual CV anime.
The problem with the Castlevania """anime""" was all the blatant unabashed homosexuality.
Blame Anne Rice for that.
bram stokers original novel is loaded with homosexuality, it's a stretch to call the gayness of the relationship between Dracula and harker subtext, its basically implicit. Read a book Black person
It's just the Netflix israelites calling their garbage anime because the term hadn't been associated with low tier American cartoon trash yet so they could trick people into watching their propaganda.
No offense to anon's niece but morons have always called shit like Avatar 'anime'
No, if anything, the lack of the dreaded anime label is what let them enjoy those things.
Yup I knew multiple people who did call Avatar an anime. Meanwhile European classics like Heidi and the Moomins are actual animes and nobody knows.
It's only anime if it comes from the Anime region of Japan. Otherwise it's just Chinese cartoons.
you have no idea how often this happens
>do you like Danganronpa
>yea the anime was great
>what do you think about God Eater
>i binge-watched that shit but it's just aight
>i love Devil May Cry
>i dunno it was ok but that blonde child was annoying
>>do you like Danganronpa
>>yea the anime was great
This conversation never happened.
Keep in mind for a good while the games were trapped on the Vita.
I hate that Castlevania is associated with that Tumblr garbage now
Eventually.. EVERYTHING will associated with Tumblr garbage.
It's just heavily advertised Netflix garbo. The moment ads stop, it will be immediately forgotten. In twenty years, CV1, CV3, RoB, and SotN will still be respected games, while the fact that there were several seasons of a "Western anime" will be hard-level trivia. Like the Zelda cartoon.
Not sure if it will reach there
>the author of the caption thought there's one Castlevania game
We were afraid you'd overreact.
It's really not as good as people make of it. The RPG mechanics are poorly implemented, making the difficulty take a nosedive after the first hour because you get too strong too fast. Which turns every boss after the Long Library into a joke. You also get showered in way too many weapons, so every few rooms you have to menu for another one. And even more menuing if you want to use the correct elements. Inverted Castle is a cheap rehash with too many bat transformations to get through. And balance is completely out of whack there. One room enemies hit me for 20 HP or less, the next room it's 120.
I give the game that it looks gorgeous and that it has way more enemy diversity than I expected from a game of its length. But it doesn't do much with them since battles feel so meaningless.
Decent to good game, 6/10.
You don't understand the game.
What is there that I don't understand?
You have no idea how incredible this was for the time
This, as someone who actually grew up in the early 2000s with this game, this is the game that made me want to get a playstation, like for real, i always wanted a mod chipped ps1 just to play this game, but sadly i could never get it cause i was really that poor, so i had to rely on emulators which i couldnt even get a hacked version of Bleem to run on my PC from a diskette no matter how hard my cousin tried to pass it on to me, he used it to play FF8 and RE3 A LOT.
it was around 2000s when my other cousin lend me his original ps1 disc backups to me and i still have em, even tough they are pretty much useless now, i dont care.
I acknowledged that the game (still) looks gorgeous. But it's incredible how they fricked up those other points I mentioned.
>You have no idea how incredible this was when i was twelve
The truth of the matter is, we knew that level design in SotN was terrible. We just couldn't put it in words. I distinctly remember being bored by hallways with enemies just standing there is focusing on the music, Alucard's animations, and anticipation of the upcoming boss fight or a glimpse of my wife Maria or something else. The castle was bad and we felt it even if many of us never realized it.
All this reviaionism is really bad for your soul.
He's right, though.
No he is just really deranged, unfortunely.
This might surprise you, but the power fantasy of being a dhampir swordsman, sliding around, slashing stuff and spamming SOUL STEAL[/Spoiler] is, in and of itself, fun
Yeah. But you grow out of it and find better games.
>he uses batform to traverse the traverse castle instead of gravity boots
Absolute pleb
wrong race poster detected
opinion discarded
Too many tryhards infest this board who will shoot down any positive discussion of SotN so they can beat off over liking classic Castlevania as if most fans also don't enjoy those too.
Is the Japanese version of this game enjoyable if you don't know moon?
I wanna play the Saturn romhack that uses the RAM card but it hasn't incorporated the English translation yet.
Played the HD port in moon. Very little that gets in the way of understanding things. Having an item list still comes in handy.
saturn port is the best
I like this version the most too, but I feel like for a first playthrough you should play the psx version so you actually have context for all the changes and new content added. It makes it more special that way.
Plebbit-tier opinion. Nothing good is added in that port.
It's not the best version, but it's not entirely worthless either.
>dat added music, esp.GUARDIAN
Before you shout YouTube, just imagine if Konami/IGA was smart and they repurposed the tracks to replace the repeat instances of the redundant, SIX-AREA Finale Toccata and maybe the bosses "guarding" the Dracula relics or something instead of giving us a subpar version of a fan-favorite character and forever ruining her mystique. I'm surprised that's not already a hack. Otherwise yeah the Saturn version shits for the birds.
>t. zoomer poser and never played the ps1 og
Not with that performance, it's not.
I'm still waiting for the English and graphic fixes patch before I try it
It's funny now because everyone knows this game and stuff but back in the early 2000s it really felt like it was a sort of hidden gem. Not many people cared about a 2D game back when it came out, and while Castlevania was a revered franchise, it was still actually kind of cult, and not "cult" in a hipster way like it is today.
it's a great game, with a fantastic atmosphere but too easy unfortunately
because you just were born
i would've told you if i didn't get stuck on the last square for a day
>tfw i cleared out the inverted castle but it was the square above the warp
You were too busy watching videos about how to eat tidepods on tiktok to read posts here?
I've played SoTN for the first time recently and wasn't very impressed either. I've been putting this off for so long because of the hype. Presentation, music and technical aspects are top notch but the reversed castle, difficulty and the final Dracula fight were very underwhelming.
Are there any other Igavanias/Metroidvanias in the series that I might like better?
No, they are all fairly similar.
i think the first one on gba is different but idk i haven't played em
If it's difficulty and/or balance you're looking for, you might want to try CoTM, PoR, and OoE.
>CoTM
SoTN's first spiritual successor and by a different team for the GBA, the card grind for new powers is obnoxious but then, you don't actually need it if you git gud enough. There's still a level up mechanic, but you're unlikely to get too far ahead just through normal play. You'll probably especially appreciate Dracula here, dude's a meteor-dropping c**t.
>PoR & OoE
The last two games on the DS and last two mainline games made, by IGA, and it shows. He and his team were taking steps towards balancing things out and actually giving their 2D games some damn bite, and if not with DoS, then it's here starting with PoR that they finally succeeded. Of particular note is that, on top of a decent Normal mode, PoR and OoE have a Hard mode with level caps from 50 to 25 to 1, and it actually works. Arguably the best way to play them and in my own opinion and likely others, one of the best experiences in the franchise especially with PoR's Richter mode. Every aspect of the games' design pop here with even the RPG mechanics beyond levelling up mattering for once, though if I had to recommend just one, PoR for its whips and more traditional CV exploration, OoE for better enemy/level design and synergy along a with a set of glyphs & equipment that manages to be straight to the point with little fluff yet still allowing for catering to playstyles. Defense still matters in OoE's hard mode, for what it counts.
Also, while they do come with their own issues, having been replaying the PS2vanias recently, I'm inclined to say that they're probably where they started to learn how to make decently challenging games. Just saying.
I think checking out CoTM next is the logical step. I've heard that there's one game which does the reversed castle concept better (I think it was one of the Sorrow ones).
circle of the moon isn't symphony of the night's "spiritual successor" you stupid zoomer homosexual. they're totally different.
if you put in X-X!V''Q at the name entry alucard gets 99 luck but rest of his stats are severely lowered. i played with up until i beat the first real bossfight. normal enemies take so many hits to kill and you can die very quickly. you really need to learn how to avoid taking any damage, at least early on.
The american PS1 release replaces the idol fairy and comedian imp with an overpowered sword with holy damage. I don't give a shit about the content in the other versions but the balancing is slightly better.
Akshully the Maria BOSS FIGHT (not playable character) in either the Saturn or XBLA rereleases are pretty damn fun.
Here are the 2 versions:
That's not the Xbox version
The Xbox 360 version is a port of the PSX port with original voice acting, no 3d cutscenes, and no I Am The Wind.
That looks like the PSP release-- or maybe PS4?
I think PS4 is just the same PSP SOTN.
but the fairy and imp exist along side sword in all versions?
>"idol" fairy
>"commedian" imp
Pay attention. Those are different ones, and only exist in the japanese version
still exists along side them.
Yeah, SotN is pretty underwhelming, the sequels improve upon it in every way. AoS, PoR and OoE are simply better games, for various reasons.
best thing about the game is the music
I'm planning on playing Harmony of Dissonance and one of the DS games because I know they have dancing spectres and they're one of my absolute favorite enemies and I only seen them on Castlevania IV.
I think you mean Aria of Sorrow, I don't remember that enemy type in HoD.
>one of the DS games
DoS and PoR both, actually.
Ah, it was probably Aria then.
>both DS game have them
neat.
Any other Castlevania game with them?
any other video game with this trope? I love it.
ummmmm actually yes.
In the World of Warcraft Burning Crusade expansion there is a whole wing of an instance (Kharazan) dedicated to dancing ghost. Im pretty sure its a nod to the castle Vania or some other media.
>WoW
damn, I never got into these type of games... but I'll check it out anyways, thank you anon!
It's strange how the trope isn't utilized more, the gap between "romantic couple dancing" and "they're actually monsters/ghosts/spectres" is just very appealing to me.
Anyone older than a zoomer was so inundated with praise for it that it's not really an interesting thing to say
>super mario bros was an important game
Not really, if you are gen X, you might have missed the praise SOTN got over time, for example if you stopped following video game news after 5th gen.
I too "discovered" it in 2018. I had played Classicvanias and the GBA Metroidvanias, and love them all for the most part. The presentation of SotN and controls and feeling of the experience really stood out.
I won't say it's the best game because I can't say that for sure, but I can say that people who dislike it are truly puzzling. Are you daft? moronic? Trolling?
It was a good game, I remember the old times with my ps1 and my brothers. I'm So sad 🙁
>ALUCARD AHAHAHAHAHA
>castlevania: jam of depression
anyone else cringe at this naming formula
Castlevania: Mumblerap of Anhedonia
Excuse me? That would be Ensemble of Depression.
>castlevania, the bipolar acapella
Castlevania: Roaming of Romans
For me it's Castlevania: Blues of Blues
My favorite game in the series was Castlevania: No Gekko, No Turn
>Castlevania: Wangan Midnight
It's camp. It's meant to be too much. Embrace it.
Polka carnage
Is there a way to transfer my data saves from PS1 memory card to my PSP?
I started playing SOTN on the PS1 but realized metroidvanias are better suited as portable games, I don't want to keep playing on the TV.
Someone unironically told me they think this game is "easily" top 10 of all time. Do you agree?
For the time it was released? yes
For current standards? It has aged quite badly in a lot of aspects, mainly rpg scaling and limitations of the time.
Don't get me wrong, jt's a good game, but not great if you play it now
I make a point to not take anyone who says "this game is the best/one of the best of all time" seriously. You can't just put Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario Galaxy side by side and rate them objectively in relation to each other. Likewise, you can't properly compare an action adventure game with a JRPG without getting into really subjective territory.
As for SOTN: it's a good game. It might not be the best, and it's certainly not flawless, but I don't regret playing it.
Is there a decent hard mode hack for SOTN?
I hear hardtype is good, or you could just only use shitty weapons and avoid health max ups
There is, but it doesn't help. The increased difficulty just shows how bad level and enemy design really is. Castlevania games used to be hard, so I think the dip in challenge level was a conscious choice because the game falls apart if monsters start to actually kill Alucard.
While I haven't tried it myself, this was the impression that I've had since I heard of that hardtype hack. I don't think Alucard can handle that sort of shit like how later DS protags can because his skills and abilities rely on being overly resilient and powerful versus being able to move out of the way of and deflect attacks. Poor guy doesn't even have proper backdash cancelling.
It's a lot like Simon's Quest where the game probably wouldn't even be fun if Simon wasn't able to take hits so well, because Simon has frick all to deal with with shit unless you're fine with spamming golden daggers, I guess. Think of those situations involving slimes running amok in the outside areas or the knights hogging stairs. Game would be shit probably if it weren't so comfy.
t. just played SQ recently and is afraid of slimes roaming the countryside
So I've been playing the mod thanks to
When I learned the guy who made was also the guy who made FF8 Requiem (difficulty mod that went full moron and required full grinding to have a chance to beat it), I got uneasy.
So as for the SOTN mod, he made all enemies do a shitton of damage, and defense is so pitiful here that you might go full double ring of ares since the difference between 0 and what you get with high defensive equipment is barely worth the effort. Also he nerfed a lot of weapons taking out some of the fun, like I know the shield rod was broken, but he directly turned it into a 2-handed weapon so lots of cool spells are now gone, and because defense matters so little, shields are now completely and entirely useless. That's not the biggest nitpick however, the worst problem is how spongy the bosses are, you spend an eternity trying bring their HP to 0 while they repeat their simple patterns over and over.
It's not a disaster as I've been having some fun with it nonetheless but I wouldn't recommend it either.
>defense is so pitiful here that you might go full double ring of ares since the difference between 0 and what you get with high defensive equipment is barely worth the effort
>lots of cool spells are now gone
>spend an eternity trying bring their HP to 0 while they repeat their simple patterns over and over
So is it a little like PoR Lv 1 Hard Mode? Because I get behind something like that.
Incidentally, did he fiddle with Richter mode?
>So as for the SOTN mod, he made all enemies do a shitton of damage, and defense is so pitiful here that you might go full double ring of ares since the difference between 0 and what you get with high defensive equipment is barely worth the effort. Also he nerfed a lot of weapons taking out some of the fun, like I know the shield rod was broken, but he directly turned it into a 2-handed weapon so lots of cool spells are now gone, and because defense matters so little, shields are now completely and entirely useless. That's not the biggest nitpick however, the worst problem is how spongy the bosses are, you spend an eternity trying bring their HP to 0 while they repeat their simple patterns over and over.
Its almost as if the idea of making it "harder", was a dumb idea.
The whole thing about game being "is not really that good cause is too fricking easy" just came from, "the usual suspects".
Who are "the usual suspects"?
It's Ganker so the israelites are to blame in some capacity.
I still think the game could be made a bit harder and not suffer for it, problem is that the modder is known for going full moron with HP amounts. I've just beaten the mommy boss from the inverted castle, his pattern is so simple that I was never at risk of being hit, but he had soooo much HP that the battle dragged forever, repeating the same shit over and over. The actual challenge are the bosses that WILL hit you no matter what, when they are relatively simple to evade you're just wasting 15 minutes pressing the attack button.
Very few modders know how to do balance well.
Quoting meself
>Mummy has 9600 HP.
>The same mummy that gets stun locked by holy water and can't do anything as a result.
Holy frick, what's the point?
>Its almost as if the idea of making it "harder", was a dumb idea.
Only games with good enemy and level design can afford to be hard. Lesser games just fall apart if you crank up the difficulty.
This, this is pretty much what I was getting at earlier. Making a game like SoTN seems like a terrible idea without putting in a lot of effort to practically change what it is. I mean, you could keep some things about SoTN intact, like exploration and whatnot, but you would have to change things like how Alucard handles, how enemies behave, the very structure of the castle's differing segments in some parts and how and what order you go through them to address easy difficulty, or perhaps rather, its trash balance.
And I suppose that's just the thing, balance and difficulty, to me, aren't exactly the same thing. I think you can have an easy but still decently balanced game, but I do suspect that when a game's difficulty is tilting way hard towards either being really easy or really hard, you should probably start thinking about whether it's balanced, and SoTN's balance is, outside of a surprising difficulty spike when dealing with a small handful of mooks or certain boss attacks, heavily in favor of the player and Alucard.
>zoomer MO
>They have zero sense of adventure or discovery
Probably the only time that SoTN was interesting was when it was the hot new shit in 1997. Actually playing the game in 2013 after years of listening to its soundtrack nearly ruined said soundtrack because SoTN is just as boring an adventure game as it's a bad action and platforming game. I honestly suspect that it was either hastily put together or the development team working on it didn't know or didn't give a frick about what they were doing, because otherwise, there would actually be interesting stuff to do between sending heads rolling and there would be an actually interesting story that works with its setting. Ffs, Richter is only a villain because apparently, despite no hint of this in either Rondo or even SoTN's own damn intro, he lacks a purpose outside of fighting powerful monsters like Dracula.
Ugh if you really are that lovespelled that you think SOTN map design is bad, you must hate CotM emphasis on verticality and plattforming
>lovespelled
Why are you SoTN fans so damn determined to get one up on others that you resort to such nonsense? Are you actually giving CoTM flak for having more interesting level design? Are you that bitter? Are you that desperate and out of your mind? What other babblings do you want to get out of the way?
Yes, SoTN's level design is boring. The best it manages most of the time is some nice tongue-in-cheek jokes and references like the Scylla section or the crows knocking you down in the church.
I unironically love CoTM's level design. It's not my favorite, but it does a decent job of giving scope and it tends to complement the surrounding enemies well, and not just the vertical platforming sections, either. It also does a real good job of giving you wellplaced entrances and exits in and out of each area with the Abyss Stairwell working as a hub. Shoot, Like SoTN, after a certain point, you can start going through places out of order.
If it bothers you that much, SoTN fan, you could always just ignore posts instead of making an ass of yourself.
It's great in theory but I absolutely cannot stand the way Alucard handles or the fricked scaling. It kills the game for me.
cause you listened to the contrarians on this board
>How come nobody told me how great this game is ?
Because you are woman who just stumbled upon the series after watching sodomy of the night on Netflix, Stop trying to make new narratives.
The levels are boring hallways and the secrets are just random breakable walls, it's nothing like metroid. It just has good presentation. Legacy of Darkness was always the better game
Is this a review of Curse of Darkness?
Not that anon, but it's funny you mention that, I've actually been enjoying it as of late doing a second playhrough, not that I disagree with your post or that post.
Honestly, despite my post and general reviews of the game, I really liked it. I don't think it did anything special, but what it did I enjoyed.
Same, actually, I enjoy SoTN for bringing Alucard back with looks and abilities now iconic to him for how much shit I give the game for wasting its setting and characters, there's still stuff that I like about it. The arena looks like it has human skeletons and weapons buried in its shallow dirt ground, and it's like, frick, dude, I just get this idea that so many fights take place here so often that probably innocent human beings just get stamped into the ground, which is kind of chilling. Too bad that's basically just headcanon and SoTN doesn't do much to play with that.
Good aesthetics and music, stellar controls, hideous level design and sad enemy placement.
"It was good for its time"
Translation:
>It was good when I had only played ten games
because they all grind for crissagrim then cry that it's too easy, while never even beating the game with Richter once.
>while never even beating the game with Richter once.
I wish playing the game as Richter or Maria was actually fun, but that's when you realize how radically different SOTN is to the classic games. There's no real platforming challenge, and bosses, if trying to beat them without using item crash are just tedious damage sponges, or go down too quickly with a few hydro storms/dragon attack.
The game was clearly way more balanced toward Alucard, playing as Richter or Maria is not a bad feature at all and I'm glad it's there, but yeah you notice the game is not really a tight action-platformer like the classics, as it is more about exploring and gaining new abilities to reach new places.
>no real platforming challenge
Talk to me again once you get a sub 7 minute Richter time
I don't want to develop arthritis in my hands before the age of 30.
R.I.P Mecharichter.
He deserved it for being such a c**t.
I actually tried to get the most amount of % possible with both.
Maria on PSP can get through some places thanks to her air dash, I managed to make it to the other side of that one spiked room where you can only pass in bat form or mist form as Alucard, but then I couldn't make it back as Maria.
>because they all grind for crissagrim then cry that it's too easy,
This really seems to be the zoomer MO.
>watch your steamer eceleb speedrun the game multiple times
>read a bunch of strategy guides online
>research everything there is to know about the game
>finally decide to play it
>already know everything there is to know about the game
>cry that it's too easy
They have zero sense of adventure or discovery. I don't even know why they play games at all.
>moron detected
It has always been an easy game.
I played sotn blindly, as I do all games.
It's piss easy
Still a good game though.
easy games> hard games
hard games want to be hard
easy games want to be fun
A good challenge can also be fun, anon.
If you have anger issues when playing videogames, consider picking up folding papers as a hobby.
Just admit you are bad at games man.
well there can be some fun hard games too
but i wouldn't say they're fun cause they're hard necessarily
Oh no one told that the most impressive game from castlevania is amazing? You probably didn't meet any tryhard fan.
Game is good, but isn't a masterpiece like everyone says.
I know it's not retro but the fricking XBLA Co-Op game not being on PC will forever make me fricking butthurt.
it was not exclusive to xbla
Never said it was exclusive, but it's where I played it and I forgot the name
>PAL
Awesome drawing of Alucard, the main character of the game, with Dracula's castle in front of a giant full moon the background
>NTSC-US
spooky haunted house, could be any game involving ghosts, zombies, or vampires
What gives?