Is it just me, or the Magic Seal 4 glitch makes it have lesser margin error than Magic Seal 5? I mean, it took me like 2-3 tries for Abaddon, about 3-5 for Death, but it took me like over 4 for Zephyr, fortunately 2 for Bat Company and Aguni... so many fails, I just got damn frustrated and skipped him with Succubus glitchnote Now I am back for REVENGE. With moar power. And Abaddon soul. Fun fact: did that on first revenge try. had best katana (masamune, quite high damage and curse), dracula's tunic, satan's ring, abaddon, golem and black panther. before it was kotetsu (weak for late midgame/early endgame... how did I got there?), three lucky 7s (why I did wore that) and satan's ring, plus killer clown, bone pillar and bat company.
I don't think it's just you. Magic Seal 4 requires 6-7 motions to do properly (for six, you use a curve for the bottom two "strokes"). By comparison, Magic Seal 5 can be done with 5 motions (the first six "strokes" can be done as a one-motion circle). Technically each seal requires more strokes, but Magic Seal 5 is only a challenge if you try to draw it as a hexagon or if you miss the visible marks when drawing the seal (the latter being a challenge for any of the Magic Seals). With practice, it's very possible to draw any of the Seals, but there's a reason that mechanic never showed up in later entries.
So Mina's Charm, in Dawn, the acessory that does nothing to your status yet you must equip it before stepping inside the last room of the normal game... Summons Arikado to your position? No, REALLY. That's the only difference that happens between the bad and the good ending: Arikado steps in and ruins Celia's (laughable) attempt at making Soma succumb to his own darkness. And this only happens because Soma is wearing Mina's Charm, which according to the very item's description, "suppresses darkness"... Uh, yeah, it was totally the charm. Not the dashing interpol agent butting in and revealing that it wasn't Soma's beloved who got killed in his front. Yup. Okay.
Maybe Arikado sensed the suppression effect of the Talisman and made a beeline for Soma's position. It makes a bit more sense when, as I did, you go back and talk to Yoko after every major step in the story, which may open up the possibility that Yoko briefs Arikado regularly on Soma's doings in the castle.
Even if you assume that the only difference between the two events was the talisman—and that in both cases Arikado was attempting to reach Soma in time—the fact is that Soma's full corruption without the talisman happens at the exact moment that Arikado would have stepped in to interfere with the talisman. It's possible that in the former case, Arikado didn't step in because he realized it was already too late to save Soma (there wouldn't have been enough time for Arikado's interference to stop the transformation). But with the talisman slowing Soma's transformation, there was plenty of time for Arikado to interfere and keep Soma from going to the dark side.
The explanation for Magic Seals is that they are used to destroy the gate used to call the boss monsters. Makes sense. The boss can come back if it dies as long as the gate is open. Except Soma has the power to take the souls of things he kills. Wouldn't taking its soul be much more permanent and efficient than doing a seal?
Soma can't absorb the souls of monsters at will. If he could, then he'd only need to kill one enemy per soul. There are some factors of soul drops that aren't explained.
That, or maybe the gates don't just call the bosses back when they're killed; they also draw energy to heal them. Soma can't take their souls until they're dead, and they can't die until the gate is destroyed.
Soma trails afterimages whenever he performs any kind of movement in Dawn, something that didn't happen in Aria. Is there some chance he may not be completely human anymore after escaping from Dracula's castle in Aria?
Mostly Rule of Cool. Juste used to do the same and he was simply the son of a Belmont and a Belnades.
What happened to Dario in Dawn's third ending? He's straight up killed in the first one, killed by Julius in the Another Side, Another Story mode following the second ending, but the third? Pretty much completely forgotten about after the boss fight.
The easy answer is he just ran off, no longer interested in Celia or her crazy idea. Still, it doesn't answer a whole lot. Soma seemed to hint he lost his powers, but that doesn't make sense. Aguni was only recently bonded to his soul and it only enhanced his powers, it wasn't his source. By all accounts, he should still have fire abilities even after Aguni's defeat. Still, he's very much outclassed by Soma at this point, so it's likely that he said Screw this, I'm outta here and took off, possibly to be arrested later. Either way, Soma and the gang had to worry about Celia and didn't have time to chase some thug down.
A possible alternative answer that goes along with the premise of the above answer to a certain extent: Dario, much to his misfortune, wound up becoming one of the sacrifices alluded to for Dimitri's ritual. Most likely, after Dimitri's gambit succeeded in the wake of Celia's own gambit to turn Soma into the Dark Lord failing, the two of them manage to track down Dario, seeking him for the aid he could offer. After all, even if Aguni was already destroyed, Dario still could be of use to the cult. There are many ways that this could go down, depending on one's interpretation of the characters. But the outcome that this troper believes would come about is that Dario, still reeling from what happened earlier and believing that continuing to fight against Soma would only end poorly, refuses to go along with Celia and Dimitri's schemes. Such an answer isn't taken well by Celia and Dimitri, and they are able to subdue and kidnap Dario, taking him to the intended location for Dimitri's ritual.
In Dawn of Sorrow's Julius Mode, Alucard has no reflection, but his breath shows up when outside.
He's a dhampir, not a vampire, so it makes sense he has only some of the symptoms.
In Dawn of Sorrow, you can get money in the form of coins by destroying lamps and chandeliers. Only, since it's in the present day, they're lightbulb powered. And the coins are worth between 1 and 100 dollars. Let me just reiterate that. You can find a coin... INSIDE of a lightbulb... worth 100 AMERICAN DOLLARS, in a JAPANESE reconstruction of an EUROPEAN Castle.
There's nothing mentioning that the castle in DoS is in Japan. The outdoor section, along with the names of Celia, Dmitrii, and Dario indicate it's probably European.
Promotional material put it in Europe, IIRC. Wasn't it Yen in the JP version? It could just counting the gold obtained in what it's worth in modern currency. As for why it's there, same reason candles have daggers, crosses, axes, pocket watchs and hearts in them. I think Word of God is that they are gifts from the trapped souls you are freeing.
I'd say it makes less sense in the modern context. But the idea of light-bulbs being filled with fairy-fire is badass, so I accept it.
In Julius Mode in Dawn of Sorrow, what was the point of traveling through The Abyss? You just end up in the throne room in The Pinnacle, which you already could have gone to anyway. The only reasonable thing I could think of is to shoehorn Aguni into the game, but that really wasn't necessary.
Do you mean Aguni or Abaddon?
I meant to say both (I forgot about Abaddon earlier). Still not necessary though.
Well, considering Soma isn't in the Pinnacle room when you first go there, it's obviously quite necessary. May be a Hellish Reflection that Soma kept because he found it stylish, or he only reveals himself after you've destroyed all his other minions.
Ooh! Perhaps Soma, having awakened as Dracula, chose to return to his castle's throne room to recover his strength. You know, the castle that the game didn't actually take place in, but that the game's castle was intended to mimic. It would also explain why the only way to get there at that point was to leave the game's castle and go through hell.
Okay, I understand that Death and Soma didn't recognize each other in Aria, but after Soma became aware that he was Dracula's reincarnation, he also got his old memories back (something that a villain mentions in Dawn). So why didn't Soma even bother to talk to Death in Dawn? I would have accepted Death saying something like "you're not my friend/master anymore" but I'm surprised that Soma didn't even tried to talk Death into backing down or letting him pass; they were best friends!
Death and Dracula were best friends. Soma may have the memories of Dracula, but he is still his own person. (At least, a big deal of the games is trying to maintain his own identity in the face of holding such power and memories.) Still, many people consider it a wasted opportunity that Death never says a word to Soma, despite how talkative and integral Death is in the plot of other Castlevania games. Read some theories as to why in another JBM on this page.
