Board 8 > Well, Symphony of the Night is pretty fantastic.

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Panthera
06/23/18 2:06:07 AM
#101:


Symphony of the Night does have pretty easy bosses. It's a pretty easy game on the whole, really. Still fun but it definitely never challenges you the way the early games do, or even the ones on DS
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StartTheMachine
06/23/18 5:39:00 PM
#102:


Thanks for the bumo LOLIAmAnAlt, though you know I can't risk reading the spoilerific stuff yet.

Yeah, I would constanty die on the DS Castlevania bosses but here it just never seems to happen. I've had a few deaths, but not sure a single boss did it. Maybe one of the very early ones.

Oh, I will say the Inverted Castle bosses have been both tougher and much cooler, so that's a plus! They're getting better.

Didn't get the chance to play at all yesterday, but will be playing tonight and should have a substantial update coming then!
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Panthera
06/23/18 6:26:26 PM
#103:


There is a decently tough boss somewhere in the Inverted Castle, I can't remember much about it because it's been ages since I played this game but I remember that thing put up a fight and had a ton of hp to give you plenty of time to fuck up. Think it's an optional fight though.
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crazygamer999
06/23/18 10:17:36 PM
#104:


that's Galamoth. Gives you the ability to poison enemies quickly in gas form,iirc
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Turducken
06/23/18 10:18:46 PM
#105:


And he's an old friend of Alucard's...

(or should I say a young friend?)
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LOLIAmAnAlt
06/24/18 1:45:20 AM
#106:


I don't know exactly how to phrase this but.

When you get good at playing the game, dying becomes more intense and you are almost more prone to die it almost seems...becasue it will happen on a run and you will not have saved for a long time due to laziness and you will need to playback like an hour and you will not want to.
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StartTheMachine
06/24/18 2:32:14 AM
#107:


LOLIAmAnAlt posted...
I don't know exactly how to phrase this but.

When you get good at playing the game, dying becomes more intense and you are almost more prone to die it almost seems...becasue it will happen on a run and you will not have saved for a long time due to laziness and you will need to playback like an hour and you will not want to.

Exactly this. Or actually, this is how I was playing like 4 or 5 hours in when I thought I was the shit. Then after losing some substantial progress thanks to a clock tower death, I've pretty much become a save whore now.

Also also my apologies for the lack of updates again. Had female company tonight, but tomorrow I may just do a full Inverted Castle run and finish this bad boy off. I really need to, because I want to put my $1 Xbox Game Pass month to use and that started like three or four days ago already!
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StartTheMachine
06/24/18 10:03:24 PM
#108:


Alright, back to playing this bad boy!

- Currently exploring the Reverse Caverns and maaan this place is massive. But fuck those plant enemies here that take off an absurd amount of HP with each hit.
- Found me the Alucard shield, awwww yeah. No more of that "Alucart" shield crap (even though I was using the herald shield before that). Also found me some badass new weapons and my max HP is 443 now, hot damn!
- Been focusing on leveling up my ghost familiar because I heard he eventually gains the ability to soul steal, which I thought might be very useful. Is this worth my time or not? He's at level 12 and when does he get these cool new abilities? Like 20 or so?
- Though this game is radically nonlinear, I still love how it feels like I'm generally exploring the Inverted Castle in the backwards order from the original castle. Does this mean the true final boss will be at the entrance from the very first area of the game!? Hmmmm.
- E: OH and there's this $2k money drop in the reverse caverns that I have been farming the hell out of this. This is da best.
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GOGZero
06/24/18 10:40:04 PM
#109:


Ghost Familiar is not even good IMO. At this point of the game you're already strong enough to take down most things by other means. Ghost gets more abilities at Level 70.
I would use other Familiars over the Ghost any day.
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StartTheMachine
06/24/18 10:51:45 PM
#110:


GOGZero posted...
Ghost Familiar is not even good IMO. At this point of the game you're already strong enough to take down most things by other means. Ghost gets more abilities at Level 70.
I would use other Familiars over the Ghost any day.


Level fucking 70? Jesus christ...thanks for the advice! Demon it is then (except in low HP circumstances when I need the fairy). Or maybe I should go back and scour the regular castle for the Sword familiar...hmm.
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Xiahou Shake
06/24/18 10:54:07 PM
#111:


Sword familiar is awesome
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GOGZero
06/24/18 10:57:55 PM
#112:


Sword Familiar is the best
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LOLIAmAnAlt
06/24/18 11:06:00 PM
#113:


Xiahou Shake posted...
Sword familiar is awesome

GOGZero posted...
Sword Familiar is the best

LOLIAmAnAlt posted...
my favorite sub weapon/familiar.

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StartTheMachine
06/24/18 11:55:34 PM
#114:


Gahhh I'll go back and find it. But I'm already so far in Inverted Castle -- 160% of the map explored aw yeah. And here's some more stats!

Time: 13:06
Level: 42 (EXP 134,833)
HP: 518
MP: 211
Heart: 272

Kills: 3331
Rooms: 1505

Though I've died very seldom lately, the difficulty has definitely ramped up a lot in the Inverted Castle. So I'm no longer really exploring every nook and cranny for now, out of fear of dying before I find another save room, and I'll be coming back to a lot of these areas to find what I missed. But damned if the Reverse Colosseum (if that's even its name) wasn't the most brutal area of the game so far.

That actually brings up possibly my biggest pet peeve of SotN, and it's one that's really bothered me from the onset of this game: I HATE that you can only see the name of the area you're in if you save and back out of your file. At least in the original castle, the very first time you entered a new area, it told you the area's name. Even then though, you could never see it again even from the map screen -- so silly. So I constantly forgot the names of the areas and their unique identities suffered for it.

But somehow it's worse in the Inverted Castle, as it never displays the name when you enter a new area. And some of these areas have unique names, not just "Reversed" so-and-so. Like I know the Long Library became the Forbidden Library and the Alchemy Laboratory became the Necromancy Laboratory off the top of my head. I would know a lot more, but I never back out of a game after saving just to see the names.

Such a shame because it just kind of makes all the areas blend in too much and stick out less in my mind.

Oh and one last thing...there's no librarian in the Inverted Castle's Forbidden Library, right? I think the next thing I'm going to do when I start this game back up is use a library card, buy some goodies, and search for that legendary sword familiar.
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Epyo
06/25/18 1:12:29 AM
#115:


IMO, all of the familiars take waaaay too long to get their cool stuff, so long that, familiars are barely part of the game, besides novelty.

a cool part of SOTN, is the crazy variety of the stuff they crammed in there, and the worst part of SOTN is how it's all crammed in there not so carefully.
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StartTheMachine
06/25/18 1:30:45 AM
#116:


Whoa, I just stumbled upon the upside down version of that room with the confessional booth where you can get the grape juice -- is there anything to do in this version of the room? Because I can't figure it out.

Also hot damn, now these are some Castlevania bosses. This Beezelbub fight was dope, though super annoying to get hits directly on him after you've chopped off his lower half, since his minions fly around and guard him and more and more appear as the battle goes on. And cooler still, this boss where -- and I'm not too brushed up on Castlevania lore -- but I think I was fighting like evil versions of Belmonts or other prior Castlevania characters. They all appeared out of graves and it was a three-on-one fight and it was spectacular. I whooped their asses, but Beezelbub also killed me on my first fight. Almost killed me again, and then I pulled out a neutron bomb, heh. I hardly use those one-time use weapons because they feel cheap, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
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StartTheMachine
06/25/18 1:37:09 AM
#117:


And yes I lied and still haven't gone back to search for the sword familiar

Inverted Castle too good

three consecutive "go get sword" and you guys win
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Murphiroth
06/25/18 1:38:15 AM
#118:


If you find an enemy called a Schmoo it drops a super broken weapon. Get two and you can literally walk through anything in the game.

Don't really recommend it for a first playthrough obviously but it's super fun to dick around with.
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Panthera
06/25/18 1:52:24 AM
#119:


Murphiroth posted...
If you find an enemy called a Schmoo it drops a super broken weapon. Get two and you can literally walk through anything in the game.

Don't really recommend it for a first playthrough obviously but it's super fun to dick around with.


Even ONE of those things is unreasonably strong, so you can imagine how busted two of them at once are
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LOLIAmAnAlt
06/25/18 3:07:15 AM
#120:


Murphiroth posted...
If you find an enemy called a Schmoo it drops a super broken weapon. Get two and you can literally walk through anything in the game.

Don't really recommend it for a first playthrough obviously but it's super fun to dick around with.

Panthera posted...
Murphiroth posted...
If you find an enemy called a Schmoo it drops a super broken weapon. Get two and you can literally walk through anything in the game.

Don't really recommend it for a first playthrough obviously but it's super fun to dick around with.


Even ONE of those things is unreasonably strong, so you can imagine how busted two of them at once are

Woah woah super spoiler alert (imo)
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Murphiroth
06/25/18 3:19:18 AM
#121:


Pretty sure he's seen that enemy already if he's been to the Forbidden Library!
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StartTheMachine
06/25/18 3:50:21 AM
#122:


175% map exploration completed and I'm fiiiinally done for the night. Looks like I'm nearing the end game.

Uhh yeah I've seem like a million Schmoos, and I can't quite figure out how that's a spoiler either!

I got a super dope weapon called the Terminus EST that, despite saying the attack power is weaker than weapons like the Dark Sword, it's doing like double the damage to most enemies. The description says it's a poisonous sword so I suppose that's why. Made fighting those Guardians so so much easier.

Speaking of which, holy shit that was by far the hardest part of the game so far. You know, the two hallways to the Inverted Clock Room with four of those Guardian guys that are insanely powerful. I beat all four and then died on my way to a save room too >_< Luckily, experience fighting them and learning their patterns made them not so bad after a while. But if you mess up -- OUCH. Some of their attacks can do like 80 damage.

Alright, warped back to the regular castle with my library card, bought quite a bunch of stuff, and holy shit I STILL have 180k gold >_> Maybe I shouldn't have spent so much time farming that $2k drop in the Reverse Caverns. I didn't realize how much all those jewels I'd been collecting would be worth!

Now, important: I need some serious advice on these gravity boots librarian drops. I looked it up and it seems like they are just completely spontaneous, after the max heart upgrade of course? And I guess there's a Dracula Tunic that can only be gotten after visiting the Inverted Castle, but that's no issue for me. So do I just super jump below him forever until I get these drops? Do I need to leave and reenter the room every attempt? Can I just keep super jumping without touching the ground and still get a drop, since that would be the most efficient way if possible. So many questions; any help is greatly appreciated. I spent like ten minutes with no luck and got bored so I high tailed it out of there.

Well that about wraps up tonight's SotN goodness. Will scour for the sword familiar tomorrow, but I'd love some hints because I don't feel like retreading this whole map, especially with enemies that are now pathetically weak.
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GOGZero
06/25/18 5:28:32 AM
#123:


You want to keep using the Gravity Boots Jump underneath him but make sure he doesn't hit the roof when you jump underneath him. You want to be at the right height to do repeated Gravity Boots Jumps until you run out of MP. You can wait to regenerate your MP if you run out and keep trying until you get the 3 items.
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crazygamer999
06/25/18 8:33:50 AM
#124:


StartTheMachine posted...
And cooler still, this boss where -- and I'm not too brushed up on Castlevania lore -- but I think I was fighting like evil versions of Belmonts or other prior Castlevania characters.


They come from Castlevania 3...which is also where Alucard comes from.

So yea, feels kinda awkward for him to fight his friends as reanimated bosses.
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StartTheMachine
06/25/18 1:08:47 PM
#125:


okay someone give me hints for the sword familiar location

at this point I guess you can just say the general area and I can search that. not scouring this whole damn map!
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LOLIAmAnAlt
06/25/18 1:25:49 PM
#126:


I didn't find it until several years after my first playthough, i however didn't know it existed. It was quite the surprise.
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Rexxar500
06/25/18 1:41:29 PM
#127:


The sword familiar is in Olrox's headquarters, in the normal castle. It is rather hard to find, though. Maybe the Faerie can help?
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LOLIAmAnAlt
06/25/18 1:57:00 PM
#128:


I was going to give a more cryptic clue but stating that clue now would just blatantly give it away. Good luck in Olrox's place!
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StartTheMachine
06/26/18 8:43:52 PM
#129:


aw yeah, Sword familiar get and we back in the Inverted Castle. endgame time baby

STATS !!

Level: 52
EXP: 243,826 (holy shit killing those Guardians near the inverted Clock Room gives like 5,000 EXP every time -- kinda abused that)
Time: 15:54
Map: 185.8% hot dayum
Gold (bonus statz): $162,827 with plenty of jewels to sell still

HP: 768 dear gawd
MP: 252
Heart: 302

Rooms: 1751
Kills: 4048

At this point, despite not having a screw attack type move, I'm getting to godmode vibes like that in this game even in the Inverted Castle. Only some places have enemies that can really be bothersome, like pretty much anywhere near that Clock Room.

Yeah, that Sword Familiar location was fucking stupid. Like...just ridiculous. There was no clue or anything whatsoever, and the Faerie didn't say anything either. I got it through pure luck by attacking every wall in Olrox's Quarters. Totally absurd, but in a way, it's kinda cool they put this super secret Familiar (that's legit awesome, useful, and not just an easter egg thing) in the game like that. Especially since this came out in '97, that must've been some urban legend shit. Oh and my Sword boy is already level 16. Yesss.

So at this point, I'm basically wondering around trying to fill in the rest of the map that I can in the Inverted Castle. I played the Inverted Olrox's Quarters (think it was called Dark Wing Lair or something) and fought this really weird but easy Pharaoh Zombie thing boss that came out of a sarcophagus. His whole gimmick seemed to be that he was invincible to regular attacks, but my lightning subweapon made quick work of him.

Now I'm kinda itching to find out how to get to the final area/what it is. Like...it HAS to be the area connected from the Inverted Clock Room right!? Except the path is going up this time instead of down. I tried wearing the silver and gold rings in that room and...no luck. Even tried using the cross subweapon and other random ideas and.... nothing. Hmmm. My hunch is that maybe there are two other types of rings that must be found to activate that path. Either way, I continue forth!

Game beated tonight? We'll see.
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StartTheMachine
06/26/18 10:51:28 PM
#130:


Man Death was a pushover in this game. Or maybe I'm just way OP at this point since I'm nearing 200% map completion and just hit level 54.

Really silly SotNism: the Reverse Caverns rooms with all that water that seem unreachable. Googled that shit because I spent forever trying to figure it out and... that was the dumbest possible thing ever. Like dumber than the Sword familiar location! Turning into a wolf and swimming -- something they once again never explain you can do -- up at a very specific spot. It's silly unpolished things like this that keep me thinking DoS is best Castlevania.

this game still fucking rules though
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StartTheMachine
06/26/18 11:00:13 PM
#131:


Well this area feels suuuuper endgamey.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention the Alucard sword. This weapon man. Alucard sword + Alucard shield aw yeah. I don't mess with the Alucard Mail though -- the Walking Mail's defense seems a lot better and I have no idea just how useful "resistance to fire, lightning, and ice" really is.
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Epyo
06/26/18 11:30:27 PM
#132:


Yeaaaah I started to write you a warning about the broken squares that you have to transform into a wolf for. Actually, if I compare the maps, I'm pretty sure that those squares are a glitch they couldn't fix. Because, those squares don't exist in the right-side up map. And just, they only had 2-3 programmers on this game, so... And 1 more reason I won't say yet...
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StartTheMachine
06/26/18 11:51:35 PM
#133:


I have no idea what that last part is hinting at Epyo, but....

DING. DING. DING. DING. DING. DING. DING.

It's time.

I'm guessing I had to collect all the relics to open this final Clock Tower room up? Well, it's open. I have saved. Level 56 with 900+ HP. Let's see what this game's gotttt.

(Random aside: I find it hilarious I said all this game needed was a screw attack and it would be true Metroid endgame godmode style....then I got the Poisonous Mist Gas which is basically just that. Wonderful.)
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StartTheMachine
06/27/18 12:25:23 AM
#134:


Symphony of the Night beated babyyy !!

were the last words of this game really "Fare thee well!" - "And you, my dear Lady"? so cringe, so good

Talk about a fucking Final Fantasy-esque final boss. That was epic as shit. Again, I was too OP and thus it wasn't really a fair fight. Never had to use any healing items or anything and beat him on my first go, but I will say he was no slouch. Got me down to ~200 HP at least. And it was just an all around spectacle. I loved it.

So the game doesn't perma-save after beating Dracula huh? Does that mean there's no way to get that last little room where you fight Shaft saved toward your map percentage? Is that what you were talking about earlier, Epyo?

Also where's dat Richter mode? I know it exists! And maybe a Maria mode too? Hmmm... (EDIT: LMFAO figured out Richter mode...just had a hunch on that file select screen...and it worked! Memories of the DKC games doing things like this with file names probably helped.)

Final time was 17 hours on the dot (well, and however long it took me to beat Shaft/Dracula) and final map percentage is 198.6%. I believe there is actually 200.6% and not just 200%? Heh, we'll see how much patience I have to scour for these final areas before just googling them.

In conclusion, I give this game a MASTAHPIECE/10.

(Will have actual, lengthier final thoughts later. Stay tuned!)
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crazygamer999
06/27/18 12:40:52 AM
#135:


StartTheMachine posted...
Also where's dat Richter mode? I know it exists! And maybe a Maria mode too? Hmmm...


Richter mode: make a new game while having a completed save file on your card and put his name in.

Maria mode: if this is based on the PS version, sadly no. Only the Saturn and PSP versions have that.
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StartTheMachine
06/27/18 1:48:00 AM
#136:


crazygamer999 posted...
StartTheMachine posted...
Also where's dat Richter mode? I know it exists! And maybe a Maria mode too? Hmmm...


Richter mode: make a new game while having a completed save file on your card and put his name in.

Maria mode: if this is based on the PS version, sadly no. Only the Saturn and PSP versions have that.

Yeah, I figured that out on my own like right after posting it, but you must have caught my post before the edit! It also even says on the input screen now that you can type Richter's name in to play as him. Not sure if that was always there or only after beating the game. Guessing the latter.

Typing Maria's name in does nothing, so it looks like that's a no go. However, watching the Tactics videos from the Librarian, on Akmodan II (that weird pharaoh zombie boss), there's an entirely different player character -- like an Axe wielding knight. So how do I play as him I wonder? I'm also pretty sure some of the DS games had a character/mode like that.

So yeah, Richter mode is fun and I might mess around with it a bit, but definitely not gonna do a full playthrough of it now. I'll save it for a few years down the road, most likely :) Does seem like it will be a lot more challenging. Is there basically no leveling up at all?
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GOGZero
06/27/18 3:54:37 AM
#137:


Congrats on beating Symphony of the Night.

You can still fill in the spot with the last room with Shaft. Use a Library Card when you enter to fight him.

The 5 Parts of Vlad is a callback to Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.

You can get the Axelord Armor in 3 different ways.

1. You can get one underneath the Master Librarian by repeatedly Gravity Boots jumping underneath him.

2. At the Royal Chapel, there's a Bone Pillar with a Spiked Ball. Destroying the Spiked Ball drops it. Might take a few tries for it to drop the Axelord Armor.

3. Since you have CLEAR Saved Data now, enter your name as AXEARMOR when making a new file and the Axe Lord Armor will appear in your inventory. This is in a new game of course.

As for playing as Richter, you don't level up but for every Life Pick Up you pick up it increases his HP by 10 and gives you a full heal. Playing with Richter is like playing old school Castlevania. He's a lot of fun to play with. You might want to look up a move list for him.
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JonThePenguin
06/27/18 8:17:15 AM
#138:


Also worth noting, the Saturn and PSP Maria modes are completely different.
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StartTheMachine
06/27/18 1:49:44 PM
#139:


Got that 200.6%, aw yeah. Man, you guys weren't kidding about getting that Jewel Sword...so weird. That alone makes legitimately 100%ing this map without looking anything up nigh impossible. I went straight to Google after my last post anyway and started comparing my map to filled-in ones. Without any super bombs or anything (you know I can't help my Metroid comparisons), just slashing every single wall/ceiling in the game would not have been very fun. But I'm incredibly proud that I got 197% all by my lonesome, minus looking up how to color in the weird glitched water blocks in the Reverse Caverns!

And okay, I lied...Richter mode is a blast and I can't stop playing it. After playing mainly the Inverted Castle for so long, going back to the original castle in this style is really cool. Apparently they took out some bosses though? No bueno. That minotaur + werewolf boss was so cool and was totally absent here.

Speaking of Richter Mode bosses, I just got to the Hippogryph and it was literally a 5 second fight. Two Hydro Storms and it was over...so it wasn't even really a fight at all. Kind of wish they'd nerfed Richter's sub-weapon special attacks but also increased his defense. Would make bosses actually last longer but keep the difficulty old school brutal like it's supposed to be. ("Brutal" being used a little leniently here.)

At some point, if I can find it laying around here, I may have to replay Dawn of Sorrow just to compare these games. In the order I played them, my Castlevania playquest has gone: Dawn of Sorrow back during its release, Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia in a similar fashion, Aria of Sorrow and Harmony of Dissonance on that "Double Pack" cartridge they released years later, Super Castlevania IV via the Wii's Virtual Console, and now Symphony of the Night at long last. Symphony and DoS are definitely the top tier for me, with Portrait being a tight third. Alas, this is all from memories many years old now. And this endeavor has kind of put me in the Castlevania mindset.

What is each of your all's takes on the DS Castlevanias (or your favorite Castlevanias in general) ranked next to Symphony?
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StartTheMachine
06/27/18 1:57:55 PM
#140:


Just read this since I was afraid of spoilers earlier:

LOLIAmAnAlt posted...
Yes, we kept finding legitimately awesome stuff for years and years after the first playthough. Part of this is why it is one of my top 3 games ever.

In general, I love that crazy secrets like these are starting to become a trend in gaming again.

No one's gonna top the stars in Braid though, just sayin'
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MegaWentEvil
06/27/18 4:17:56 PM
#141:


My favorite boss is Beelzebub, because he's so disturbing.
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Epyo
06/27/18 7:44:08 PM
#142:


The max percent being 200.6% was the thing I didn't want to say before, but it makes me think the extra squares in the inverted castle's underground caverns map, were a mistake they didn't have time to figure out how to remove (surely the max percent ought to be 200.0%).
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Epyo
06/27/18 7:57:23 PM
#143:


GJ on SotN! Yeah you should go back and re-play DoS now and compare. It's really hard to go back to the GBA games if you've recently played SotN 'cause the graphics/music are such a downgrade, (but the DS games are comparable there, along with the more carefully planned gameplay design).

I think my ranking of ones I've played more than 10 minutes of is:

Rondo of Blood > SotN > Curse of Darkness > Order of Ecclesia > Portrait of Ruin > Dawn of Sorrow > III > Aria of Sorrow > IV > Lament of Innocence > Chronicles (PSX) > Harmony of Dissonance > Circle of the Moon > CV1 > 64 > Judgment > Adventure Rebirth > Bloodlines > II

And if I could include Bloodstained Curse of the Moon I bet it would be third or fourth :thinking_face:...
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tazzyboyishere
06/27/18 8:40:13 PM
#144:


Good job on beating it! Glad you liked it. Inverted Castle is one of my favorite things in gaming. I just love the hands off approach the game puts you in allowing you to explore at your leisure. Truly a magnificent feat for the time, and still rarely sees replication on that level.

I didn't ever get full completion though. Usually I have my fill just killing all the bosses. Also never got anything out of familiars, but I'm glad some people enjoyed them!
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#145
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StartTheMachine
06/28/18 3:58:39 PM
#146:


Richter Mode beated and 200/200 achievements on the XBLA version obtained! Time to finally put this game down and utilize that $1 Xbox Game Pass E3 deal I haven't used at all yet.

Richter Mode Statz:

Time: 1:57
Map: 73.1%
Gold (like it matters): $9,322

If I could tell you how much HP I got from life max ups, I would! But yeah, no way to do that as far as I can tell.

I was originally trying to fight as many bosses as I could and explore a bit of the map as Richter, but once I got to the Inverted Castle and realized I could just go straight to the final boss, I pretty much did that. Though I did fight a couple of Inverted Castle bosses, like Malphas and The Creature, along the way. And The Creature was probably the most fun fight with Richter, if you use only his whip!

But no Dracula fight was super underwhelming. Again, I was also trying to fight Shaft with the whip only until I was forced to use Hydro Storm for the invincibility frames. And then It was just jarring to kill Shaft so quickly, see the achievement pop up, and the 10 second ending. But oh well, can't complain too much about a bonus mode! It was still pretty neat. If they had just done the balancing I mentioned earlier -- upping Richter's defense and lowering his offense, especially on subweapon specials, so that boss fights actually felt like real fights -- and included the final Dracula battle, Richter Mode could have been pretty great. Wonder how good the Maria mode was?

Well, this has been a lot of fun. Thanks to the people who stuck around! May post some more detailed final thoughts about the game as a whole still -- a sort of mini-review -- when I get the time.
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StartTheMachine
06/28/18 4:12:03 PM
#147:


MegaWentEvil posted...
My favorite boss is Beelzebub, because he's so disturbing.

No kidding! He's up there for me. Seeing his decapitated limbs falling was great, but trying to reach his head to get hits on him after everything else was severed could be pretty frustrating! Mostly in a good, tense way.

Epyo posted...
GJ on SotN! Yeah you should go back and re-play DoS now and compare. It's really hard to go back to the GBA games if you've recently played SotN 'cause the graphics/music are such a downgrade, (but the DS games are comparable there, along with the more carefully planned gameplay design).

I think my ranking of ones I've played more than 10 minutes of is:

Rondo of Blood > SotN > Curse of Darkness > Order of Ecclesia > Portrait of Ruin > Dawn of Sorrow > III > Aria of Sorrow > IV > Lament of Innocence > Chronicles (PSX) > Harmony of Dissonance > Circle of the Moon > CV1 > 64 > Judgment > Adventure Rebirth > Bloodlines > Dracula X (SNES) > II

And if I could include Bloodstained Curse of the Moon I bet it would be third or fourth :thinking_face:...

Rondo of Blood really is that good, huh? It is more old-school Castlevania style though, right? I couldn't possibly foresee myself liking it as much as this or the DS games if so; Metroidvanias are just one of my favorite genres period. I really need to go play like, Axiom Verge, Ori and the Blind Forest, and all those other more recent Metroidvania releases that people love so much.

Interesting that you think each DS Castlevania got better than the last. What's your reasoning there? The only way I could see that is in the bosses, but in terms of map design, I just really loved Dawn of Sorrow. Portrait was a neat hybrid of sorts though between the more confined, linear design of Ecclesia and the Metroidvania design of DoS (although it was obviously closer to DoS).

tazzyboyishere posted...
Good job on beating it! Glad you liked it. Inverted Castle is one of my favorite things in gaming. I just love the hands off approach the game puts you in allowing you to explore at your leisure. Truly a magnificent feat for the time, and still rarely sees replication on that level.

I didn't ever get full completion though. Usually I have my fill just killing all the bosses. Also never got anything out of familiars, but I'm glad some people enjoyed them!

Maaaan, the Inverted Castle would have just been so awesome if looking at the achievements didn't ruin it for me. Still kind of salty about that :( I wasn't even planning on checking them out either. I only did because I saw there were actually neat "challenge" achievements, like killing ten consecutive enemies with a subweapon and not getting hit, and wanted to see what others there were like that.

I can absolutely see why this game as heralded as a masterpiece in the Metroidvania genre, and it being 20 years old now is really mind-boggling. As a first-timer, it still feels modern in almost every way, with the archaic inventory management design being the major exception.

metaIslug posted...
Personally I'm kinda down on the inverted castle. The boss fights are too easy imo. I don't know if it's a result of the nonlinearity or what but yea. Only Galamoth feels like a real boss fight

Still, what a game. Love the dub

Agreed somewhat, though the boss fights in general in this game were a bit too easy for my taste. I'm a big fan of challenging bosses and just ensuring an obvious save room exists right outside the bosses confines. Speaking of Galamoth though, he may have been my favorite boss in the whole game. Him, Succubus (mostly for the set up), and Dracula are likely top three!
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crazygamer999
06/28/18 5:31:40 PM
#148:


StartTheMachine posted...
Wonder how good the Maria mode was?


Depends on the version. Both end the same way, but Maria has more freedom on the Saturn version. Sadly, the Saturn version also sucks in general cause load times sooooo
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Corrik
06/28/18 5:34:50 PM
#149:


I am super salty that Castlevania says I am missing one room from 200.6% to not get me 200/200.
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JonThePenguin
06/28/18 7:30:33 PM
#150:


Corrik posted...
I am super salty that Castlevania says I am missing one room from 200.6% to not get me 200/200.

Post your map?
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