Castlevania General

Now I'm wondering if it has to do with unlocking more items in the store. Like, spend a certain amount, and you'll get to see more items.

Anyone know of a Youtube video of someone defeating Graham's laser ring (before defeating Graham) in Aria of Sorrow?

I did that once. Doesn't really change anything, just makes the monster part easier to kill.

What's your favorite incarnation of Castlevania's Dracula?

Either the original where he looked like Statler and turned into the Cookie Monster, or his Symphony of the Night Gary Oldman look.

this is a awesome DELICIOUS remix of Chamber of Ruin

edited 2nd Nov '14 10:30:22 PM by GlennMagusHarvey

Decided to give them metroidvanias a try. Just finished Aria of Sorrow with a neutral ending.

Wow, Graham, you can't do battle for shit. Now I just need to, sigh, farm Succubi and Flame Demons to get a hold of those other two souls needed for other endings. In general, Ao S seemed much, much easier than Po R and Oo E which I finished earlier. Only Death and Balore were somewhat challenging bosses, the latter only because I still can't figure out how to battle through his first phase and not get punched across the room. On the other hand, Top Floor was hell on earth and the middle stretch with conveyors in The Arena seemed tailor-made to piss people off. Still, enjoyed it a lot.

Apart from Do S which seems like a natural next step which metroidvanias would you folks suggest?

There's always Symphony of the Night.

Symphony of the Night is, was, and forever shall be amazing.

Balore's harder mostly because his punches hit hard and thus give less room for error.

Though, if you've earned yourself boss medals in Ecclesia, learning to dodge Balore's punch patterns shouldn't prove to be too difficult.

I suggest Harmony of Dissonance, personally. The castle itself feels like a maze, and that's exactly how it should feel given the confusing circumstances that the protagonists get themselves mixed up in. The music — while often panned for its choice of instrumentation — lends itself quite well to the claustrophobic atmosphere, in my opinion, by being both rhythmically engaging and tonally unsettling.

edited 8th Nov '14 7:06:02 PM by GlennMagusHarvey

Also, let me know when you play Dawn of Sorrow. I would love for someone to test out my soul-grinding guide for that game.

Whozzat aimed at?

Fergard Stratoavis.

I'd recommend Circle of the Moon if you're looking for a challenge. It's a little stiffer than the more modern games, and you'll have to learn to double tap the directionals to sprint, but it's got a very unique flavor about it, both in the Castle and the gameplay (kind of a blend of the old style [character's weapon is a whip] and the new [character collects magical cards that allow him to transform his whip into other weapons and use other abilities, 100 in total]). And like I said, it can get pretty brutal. It's a little easier on Vampire Killer or Fighter mode (there are 5 different modes, each of which changes your character's starting stats and sometimes limits his abilities. For instance, Fighter has great physical stats for strength and defense, but has no MP and cannot use magic cards. Magician is weak as butts in every category except for Mind & Intelligence, but possesses all of the magic cards at the start of the game).

It's also got a nice soundtrack with a lot of old tunes from various games remixed and a few worthy new tunes thrown in as well.

I still find it comical that Nathan Graves needs an item to be able to run. C'mon Nathan what the fuck man no wonder you didn't make the cut for Ho Des.

Circle's soundtrack is 75% remixes...and really, really awesome.

1. Requiem - Rondo of Blood
2. Sign of Blood Relations - 64
3. A Vision of Dark Secrets - Bloodlines
4. Inversion - (original)
5. Awake - (original)
6. The Sinking Old Sanctuary - Bloodlines
7. Clockwork - 3 Dracula's Curse
8. Shudder - 64
9. Game Over - Super IV
10. Fate to Despair - (original)
11. Aquarius - 3 Dracula's Curse
12. The Trick Manor (a.k.a. Clockwork Mansion) - combined remix of Rotating Room x Spinning Tale from Super IV
13. Big Battle - 3 Dracula's Curse
14. Nightmare - 3 Dracula's Curse
15. Vampire Killer - duh
16. Illusionary Dance - Rondo of Blood
17. Proof of Blood - (original)
18. Inclined Repose of Souls - (original)
19. Circle of the Moon - (original)
20. (extra track, a fanfare) - fanfare from Legacy of Darkness, derived from Simon's Theme in Super IV

If I ever make a Castlevania game, I will craft its soundtrack in this style — reusing and remixing lots of old tunes.

And too bad this came out before Harmony of Dissonance. I quite enjoyed its soundtrack, and if the instrumentation were cleaned up a bit I think they could really, really shine.

edited 10th Nov '14 12:37:02 PM by GlennMagusHarvey

Decided to start Ho D first.

Huh, so Juste has ATATATATATATA as a sub-weapon? That's mighty cool even if Knife/Holy Water/Bible remains better. A pretty long whip too and these awesome dashes, this does shape up to be rather ea-SONOFABITCHVICTORYARMOR.

It's like just outside the first boss area. D:

@Harvey: Sure thing, will likely play it once I'm done with this/Ao S' good endings.

edited 10th Nov '14 12:53:03 PM by FergardStratoavis

Should I make a GameFAQs account just to post that guide?

Indeed.

sure, go for it.

In general Juste can't take a hit to save his life, he has it worse than Shanoa. ._. Bosses are so far easy, pathetic even, but random enemies just up and deal enormous damage. And they stunlock.

Looking at you, Feather Demon.

Man, I really want to play Dissonance again. I only ever played it once when I was 13. If I could find the double pack with that and Circle, that'd be great, since my copy of Circle has broken save files.

To be fair, once he does get his running ability, he's faster than just about anyone save maybe for Richter. Unless we're counting wolf-form Alucard (but that ain't exactly a smooth transition) or Soma's black panther soul (but Soma is OP, and he doesn't so much run as he does zoom)

Also, there are two reasons that Nathan didn't make the cut. 1. He, like Juste, has no sprites that are bigger than those in the GBA games (Simon and Getsuu are exceptions since they're retro on purpose) 2. Circle of the Moon was struck from series canon because IGA had no hand in guiding the story, and thus it did not fit in with his plans. The Baldwins and the Hunter whip (discount Vampire Killer?) aren't supposed to be things that exist in the Castlevania canon.

edited 10th Nov '14 2:46:09 PM by Ryuhza

What about how fast Saturn Alucard is with the Boots of Godspeed?

Did those make that big of a difference? I'd have to see video of them...

I heard they buff his run speed so he's as fast as Richter's run. No idea since there's not much good vids of the Saturn port of the game.

Well, I've tried to submit it through GameFAQs. After wrestling with the site's editor for hours.

Meanwhile, you can enjoy the plaintext version of the CvDoS Enemy Grinding Guide that I've posted on Pastebin: http://pastebin.com/XzrdBy1x

edited 10th Nov '14 7:53:18 PM by GlennMagusHarvey