Castlevania General

Vampire!Annette is a neat idea...until you see her DXC art where she's making her version of the Alfred E Neumann WHAT ME WORRY face

Replaying SOTN and I never realized how good firebrand's command attack is. It's also the first playthrough I beat Galamoth in, first attempt too. Turns out with high enough resist his lightning strike deals like one damage per hit(I never found the beryl crown) and the rest of his moves are easy to avoid, he just takes a lot of hits is all and you can't get touched by his balls or kicks. I actually found dracula harder since it feels hard to avoid him touching you in that fight. Speaking of...it's a bit lame he just sits down the entire fight. Not exactly my favorite Dracula fight, despite him being among my favorite Draculas otherwise.

BEHOLD MY TRUE FORM AND DESPAIR!!!

-sits down threateningly-

also how come he says "AH SARCASM" before he starts quoting the bible? Cheesy as alucard's "you were doomed ever since you lost the ability to love!" was, I wouldn't exactly call it sarcasm. That whole exchange was pretty narmy lol. Felt like it was trying to be Shakespearean light but just came off as clumsy and corny...which admittedly describes the dialogue for entire game.

I also love how succubus says "you're a vamPIRE?" like some gossiping californian mom lol. Also I find it slightly silly she knows his name and tries to convince him humans are his prey, which would imply she knows he's not human yet apparently doesn't know he's a vampire and barely figures out he's drac's son, despite members of the castle such as Death and the librarian knowing who he is? I can only hazard a guess that succubus isn't a regular inhabitant of the castle or something.

Edited by Vertigo_High on Nov 8th 2018 at 2:15:45 AM

I don't remember how much lightning resistance I had against Galamoth, but I do remember abusing the fuck out of Mourneblade's effect and the mist transformation.

Dracula is just outright impossible to beat outside of cheesing. A Goddamned Boss if there ever was one.

Edited by Rynnec on Nov 8th 2018 at 4:13:41 AM

SOTN Dracula? SOTN Final Boss Dracula? As in "rub him with Crissaegrim for a bit" Dracula? As in "Pop Alucard Shield spell and get rubbing down" Dracula?

Like I said, "without cheesing it."

SOTN actually can be a decently difficult game, it's just that there are so many ways to completely break it over your knee turning it into a negative difficulty game.

You know whats even funnier? The earliest you can break the game without Death-skipping is buying an Iron Shield and snagging the Shield Rod from the Coliseum and basically spamming the Iron Shield spell. Game's won!

SOTN is one of those games you have to try at not breaking.

I actually just beat SotN for, like, the seventh time the other day. I am so familiar with this game that I can actually 100% the map without having to look one up. That time, my run was with the PSP version. I've done at least three with the original PSX version, two with the PSP version, and one with the Japanese PSX version with a fan translation of the text.

Despite not being my favorite Castlevania game, it is easily my most played.

I think Aria of Sorrow is probably my most played, what with being portable much earlier.

Aria of Sorrow's tied with Portrait of Ruin for my favorite Castlevania game and I'm actually in the middle of another run of it.

The PSP version of the final speech with Drac is pretty great.

I find it great how in that version, you don't even have to do the Luck Mode skip with Death. If you just walk out of the room really fast the moment you can turn around, you'll just skip the trigger and keep the equipment.

Yeah, I like to imagine that Alucard sees Death floating there and is just like "Nope." Then Death is like "Well, shit. Guess I'll leave."

And because Requiem uses the PSP version as it sbase, you can do that piss easy skip in the PS 4 version and break it wide the fuck open from the word go!

Shame it doesn't have the minigame in there though, at least as far as I'm aware.

I never got crissegem actually. I didn't even know it existed until looking it up online.

I didn't know about the alucard shield/rod combo either. I knew it did something cool but I never knew what it was.

As much as I rag on the script I actually do like alucard's voice in the game. His "WHAT!!??" never fails to crack me up. Also his "I'm interested in this." is quite easy on the ears.

Speaking of Po R, I feel Jon and Charlotte get a lot of undeserved hate from fans. Jonathan's crotch grab alone makes him worth protecting. Watching a playthrough of it made me remember how nice City of Haze was as a level.

Edited by Vertigo_High on Nov 8th 2018 at 8:35:50 AM

"Replaying SOTN and I never realized how good firebrand's command attack is."

...I'd forgotten there was a sword by that name in the game. As a result, the potential of a Gaibon rivalry found its way into my mind again.

Alucard's was by far the best in the original dub.

Nation of Fools is such a delightful unsettling level. A carpet bombed or maybe even atomic bombed city turned into a nightmarish amusement park full of evil circus freaks set to carnival music topped off with one of the creepier bosses in the franchise. I like to think this incarnation of legion's bodies is made from the bodies of the victims who were killed in whatever disaster befell the city.

Burnt Paradise isn't as good and is probably my least favorite of the "Inverted paintings" since thematically it doesn't feel as coherent plus all the medusa heads FTL.

The first thing that pops to my mind is the 1945 Dresden bombings, since there was a carnival being held there when the bombs fell. I can definitely see that being the inspiration for Nation of Fools, since it fits the time period. (Even if it's a year earlier, as Portrait of Ruin is set in 1944)

Carpet bombed. Atomic bombs didn't exist yet.

Edited by Larkmarn on Nov 9th 2018 at 9:42:28 AM

When has a little thing such as chronology stopped this series from referencing or quoting something?

huuuuuh doesn't portait of ruin takes place in the aftermath of WWII ? Or is it just set in 1944 ?

Also that makes nations of fools suddenly much more disturbing. never thought about that. hun.

Ah right, it was 1945, Po R takes place in 1944. My mistake.

Portrait of Ruin (tied for my favorite Castlevania game, by the way) is set smack dab in the middle of World War II. The opening narration states as much.

Edited by Zelenal on Nov 9th 2018 at 1:49:35 PM