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Whats so good about Castlevania: SotN?

Moonrise

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Having enjoyed Castlevania II most of all, SotN was everything I wanted from a sequel. The production value is undeniable. Being able to save your progress may be casual, but better to choose where to indulge in ones masochistic tendencies. SotN, and every one of the GBA and DS games offer alternate modes of play. If you find the game too easy with Alucard, and don't like the RPG mechanics, the designers thoughtfully provided a solution.
 

Silva

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Also, action feels pretty dull so far. Combat is just a matter of poke>poke>back off, rinse repeat. Enemies and levels are too straight. Neither involve patterns recognition or puzzles like old Castlevanias or Souls series.

SotN, and every one of the GBA and DS games offer alternate modes of play. If you find the game too easy with Alucard, and don't like the RPG mechanics, the designers thoughtfully provided a solution.
Which is?
 

Moonrise

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Which is?
In the Saturn version, Maria and Richter are playable from the start. Just enter their name. In the PlayStation version, you have to have cleared the game with Alucard first (and only Richter is available.) If you don't want to do that, download a save file. Konami always had a love affair with secret codes.
 

Silva

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Heh, it's growing on me. I'm stuck but can't stop playing. :)

So, what's the deal with Firebrand or Icebrand swords? Both have less damage then the Damascus but cost more. What's the catch?
 

Ash

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+ Music: the music here is unrivalled in the Castlevania games. Really classic stuff.
+Art style: dark gothic pixel art. What else could you ask for? Also the best in the series.
+Gameplay depth: an RPG-sidescroller hybrid? Systems are interesting, generally well done and enjoyable? Nice.
+Story: it's basic as fuck yet still more interesting than all the others in the series. The ending is quite cool.

-Challenge: everyone that gives a damn about challenge or is versed in the ways of the old school should grab the SoTN romhack by Landon Ray. It doesn't fix the difficulty (e.g soul steal still exists) but it goes a long way.
-Level design: Really, the level design is more good than bad. It's open, it's entertaining enough, and it's diverse enough, but it's not as good as it could have been. If every level were as interesting as the underground lake this game would be something else. As another user pointed out, overall there's a severe lack of environmental hazards (pitfalls, traps etc), engaging platforming etc and not really for any good reason. Nonetheless it's not completely devoid. See: clockwork tower medusa heads w/platforming, or the underground lake hazardous water.
Additionally, the second half of the game being a semi-recycle of the first...it's not a terrible thing, but you'd think they'd be able to deliver a bit more since it's not a terribly huge game.

And that's about it. It's a great game nonetheless, a fine example of a time where even console games used to be awsum and all should play it.

Heh, it's growing on me. I'm stuck but can't stop playing. :)

So, what's the deal with Firebrand or Icebrand swords? Both have less damage then the Damascus but cost more. What's the catch?

They have special powers. Or at least the ice brand does. Not sure about firebrand but I'd assume so. Do a street fighter Hadouken to execute. down, down-forward, forward, attack. Not really possible if you're playing w/Keyboard and mouse.
Also, elemental damage.
 
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Bigg Boss

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At the time the voice acting, music, and FMV's were impressive. The art style is also vastly better than any of the shitty handheld entries. No, it isn't very hard unless you go for optional bosses, but as mentioned above romhacks are good for shit like that, if you care enough to bitch about it that is. I still prefer Super Castlevania 4.
 

Dev_Anj

Learned
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The art style is also vastly better than any of the shitty handheld entries.
Even Order of Ecclesia? I find that a bit hard to believe, especially since it was obvious they had focused hard on that aspect in that game.

Regardless, yes, SOTN had some of the best art direction in the series. But I would argue Aria does art direction pretty well too, albeit it had to work with stricter console limitations, and Order of Ecclesia even surpasses it in places.
 
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Aria of Sorrow is generally regarded to be the best SoTN-style sequel and I agree. It's not quite as good but almost.

Order of Ecclesia should not be lumped together with the other GBA/NDS castlevanias, it's quite different and way way harder. It's the best portable Castlevania by far, in my opinion, and definitely worth a try.

There are some rage inducing HP spongy bosses though, especially Dracula. Fuck that motherfucker.
 
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Drog Black Tooth

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In the Saturn version, Maria and Richter are playable from the start. Just enter their name. In the PlayStation version, you have to have cleared the game with Alucard first (and only Richter is available.) If you don't want to do that, download a save file. Konami always had a love affair with secret codes.
He's playing the PSP version, which also includes Maria, but she plays very differently from the Saturn version's Maria and is more similar to how she was in Rondo of Blood.
 

Tehdagah

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Feb 27, 2012
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Art, music, mood and a constant feeling of progress/empowerment are the reasons this game is so praised. But almost all the sequels are better, really.

+ Music: the music here is unrivalled in the Castlevania games. Really classic stuff.
+Art style: dark gothic pixel art. What else could you ask for? Also the best in the series.
+Gameplay depth: an RPG-sidescroller hybrid? Systems are interesting, generally well done and enjoyable? Nice.
+Story: it's basic as fuck yet still more interesting than all the others in the series. The ending is quite cool.
Heh.
 
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Drog Black Tooth

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Order of Ecclesia should not be lumped together with the other GBA/NDS castlevanias, it's quite different and way way harder. It's the best portable Castlevania by far, in my opinion, and definitely worth a try.
OoE is a very polarizing game. Plenty of its levels are literally just a straight corridor. And while there's plenty of genuinely good stuff, it all falls apart if you don't have any self-imposed rules. I mean it's possible to kill any boss in the game in seconds with a combination of certain glyphs, completely skipping their elaborate patterns and transformations. Even Dracula can be killed in like 5 seconds by abusing glyph unions.

The grinding aspect is pretty addicting though, same goes for the semi-secret arena location. Also the Albus mode where you can teleport anywhere on the screen by just touching the spot is lit af.
 
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Drog Black Tooth

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Do it's followups (Aria/Dawn/Ecclesia) fix the formula somehow? At least the difficulty aspect?
I'd say both Sorrow games (one on the GBA and the other one on the DS) and Order of Ecclesia are must plays, they were pretty revolutionary in expanding on the formula and all have excellent production values. Circle of the Moon is by far the hardest metroidvania, but it plays exactly like the Richter mode in SotN, and the production values are somewhat lacking. Harmony of Dissonance is just a cheap ass clone of SotN for the GBA and Portrait of Ruin is more like Castlevania: Greatest Hits, just a mishmash of everything (IIRC like 70% of enemy sprites in the game are borrowed from the previous games), could be p fun though, especially as Richter + Maria in one of the level capped hard modes.
 
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Drog Black Tooth

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Fuck man, this takes me back to 2006 when I was in Japan and bought my NDS Lite + Dawn of Sorrow. Was absolutely crazy about the game, just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that they managed to produce a handheld Castlevania that looks even better than SotN. The first location (snowy village) was just breath taking. So many animation frames, actual physics for the gore and destroyable objects. And the extra mode a la Castlevania III where you play as 3 characters at once? Man oh man.

Animu portraits, rehashed plot and very patchy difficulty kinda bring it down though, sadly.
 

Ash

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I'd say both Sorrow games (one on the GBA and the other one on the DS) and Order of Ecclesia are must plays, they were pretty revolutionary in expanding on the formula

Wut? Explain. Because I noticed fewer RPG systems (that also encouraged extreme grinding to boot), a stupid gimmick with the stylus during boss fights, animu art style and story, and less interesting music. CoTM, PoR and OoE are the better games post-SoTN. The Sorrow duo are totally forgettable and didn't do a lot new.

CoTM plays exactly like the Richter mode in SotN

Exactly like? It still has RPG systems, you don't start off an overpowered god, and the game is actually designed around sliding and whipping etc, rather than being a tacked on mode.
 
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Drog Black Tooth

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Wut? Explain. Because I noticed fewer RPG systems that also encouraged extreme grinding to boot, a stupid gimmick with the stylus during boss fights, animu art style and story, and less interesting music. CoTM, PoR and OoE are the better games post-SoTN. The Sorrow duo are totally forgettable and didn't do a lot new.
Aria of Sorrow is p much excellent and is often named the best metroidvania. The balance is very good and the game stays challenging no matter if you grind for the extra souls or not. DoS is more of a mixed bag and is pretty much just a rehash of Aria except with much better production values and a very enjoyable extra mode. I dunno, I have a soft spot for it probably.

Portrait of Ruin completely overdosed on the animu style, the main characters are your typical shounen anime whiny brats and the whole game is more like a theme park collection of various Castlevania set pieces. I liked the extra hard modes though. Richiter level cap 25 mode is an amazing experience. But it's hard to deny that the game is incredibly derivative and I'd suggest a new player skips it entirely in favor of Order of Ecclesia. They could always go back if they want more.

Exactly like? It still has RPG systems, you don't start off an overpowered god, and the game is actually designed around sliding and whipping etc, rather than being a tacked on mode.
The controls are mostly the same as Richter, down to having to double tap the direction button in order to run, and Nathan's sprite is actually just a trace of Richter's (yes, that game had really bad production values). The only new thing is the cards system (combine two cards to get some cool effect, like a fire whip for example) and you can equip items and grind for better stats just like Alucard. The game really shines in its extra modes though, namely Warrior/Mage/Thief/Shooter, e.g. in the Mage mode you're p weak but start with all spells unlocked and have tons of mana. Still though, it's just your average run-and-whip Castlevania game in totally forgettable and samey looking locations.
 

Silva

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I'm in Inverted Castle now and lacking the strenght to go on. It's sad because the game got moderately challenging now, with some enemies having decent damage and behaviours (specially some bosses, like that Belzebuub dude) and the inverted layout is kinda creepy in a way. I can almost hear the devs telling "Hah! Now the REAL game begins!". But then after 8 or so hours this gameplay got tiresome and the prospect of having to open half the (inverted) map all over again feels more like a chore than fun. Don't know if I will have the will to endure it.

Overall an interesting game, specially for it's age. It's easy to see how it innovated by fusing and twisting some formulas. On the other hand, it's also appaling to see how many issues it has that were approved in playstesting (like the clutter, crude level design, etc).

What are good modern "Metroidvania" games nowadays? Would say Soulsborne series are good examples of the genre?
 

Dev_Anj

Learned
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Auldale, near the great river
I agree with the assessment of most here on the GBA and DS CVs, but feel Portrait of Ruin deserves more credit. Sure, its level design is quite lacking, it is fairly unchallenging and its extra systems are a little half baked, but the two partner system allows for a lot of inventive, interesting combos. It also has some really fun and creative powers to boot, like the Castlevania version of Deus Ex's ADS aug:



By the way, let me plug myself and state that I have been developing a mod for PoR to solve most of its balance and design issues alongside a programmer, as well as improve on its level design. Things have been going a bit slowly lately, but I have made some decent progress on it. Here are some samples of what I've got so far:

http://i.imgur.com/pTHZeWo.gifv

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3ktsS6vDLwVSkdEY0tDSW1weVU/view?usp=sharing

Oh, and:

a stupid gimmick with the stylus during boss fights

Mods exist to fix it: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3408/
 
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Silva

Arcane
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Jul 17, 2005
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Maybe unemployment is messing with my head but I can't stop playing this game. The inverted castle is all I wanted the default castle was - difficult enemies in tight gauntlet maps requiring some degree of tactics or pattern recognition, and actually difficult bosses (fuck Galamorth) that force you to experiment other map routes to power up and come back later. Add to that a bazillion new weapons and items with different move sets and the game is fresh again (just found the Chikage of this game, it's called "Gurthang" and is awesome). Oh, and there is this ring that increase drops of rare items, that makes even early enemies drop interesting gear, making you want to take a trip in the earlier areas just to see what comes up!

Yeah, sure the problems are still mostly there making it difficult to compare to modern takes like Souls or other vanias, but a game like this in 1997 in the end of Super Nintendo era? This is crazy good!

More than that, this is faggot transgressive good! I bet this Igarashi dude is super gay, because this game fucking twists the series in a way a straight man could never do - an entire new game after credits roll? Check! Effeminate protagonist instead of Schwarzenegger Belmonts? Check! Experimental music that goes from classic to rock to blues and jazz? Check! Bishonen art that makes everyone look gay? Check!

Bros, say unemployment is not messing with my head.
 

RuySan

Augur
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Jul 11, 2005
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777
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Portugal
I replayed all castletroids recently and order of ecclesia stands tall above all the others. It might even be one of my favourite games of all time.

Besides the perfect gameplay and difficulty, the soundtrack and pixel art are just glorious. And some of the boss fights are really amazing, although I agree that some can be cheesed too easily with the right glyph combinations.

All the others are fun because of the solid castlevania gameplay, but harmony of dissonance sound and graphics are horrible. Circle of the moon also shows low production values but is fun.
 

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