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Castlevania

Posted: 31st March 2014 16:37

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Chocobo Knight
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Any Castlevania fans here?

A close friend of mine is a big CV fan. He's into the whole series and has probably all of them, including having some JP systems to play some of them and the Haunted Castle arcade game. I'm mostly into it just because of being around it so much because of him and some general respect for the series in general... but I'm not much of a platformer and the truth is, the NES ones give me fits... I have a short tolerance for failure and they are tough games.

I actually have a really soft spot for Simon's Quest, which is pretty much the black sheep of the series... especially on NES. Despite the overall cryptic insanity of the game and the hints to nowhere, the RPG elements always attracted me to it. I'm also a huge fan of Symphony of the Night, it's one of my favorite games of all time even if it's beyond breakable and really easy to take any of the CV difficulty out of it once you are established. I've messed around with some of the other "Metroidvania" games but not long enough to really have a fair opinion on them.

I just figured since pretty much everybody here is into classic gaming there had to be some CV fans.
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Posted: 31st March 2014 17:39

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Black Waltz
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I used to think Simon's Quest was an improvement on the first game...then AVGN comes along and like lemmings, everyone just jumps over the cliff with him.

I didn't used to like the first game much, but over the years I've got it down to a science. I've even managed to beat VS Castlevania without dying...but I don't have that on tape.

The music has always been great, and I really need to give the GBA Metvans another once-over. I played through Circle of the Moon a couple times, and as for the others...well, we'll see.


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Posted: 31st March 2014 18:16

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Maniacal Clown
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~raises hand~

Played many of the games. (Exclusions are the 3D games, cell phone games, some of the Cv1 alternate versions, the Sharp/Chronicles game, the PSP game, console downloads, and pachinko games.)

I'm especially in love with their music. Symphony of the Night, of course, has one of the best soundtracks of all time. But Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, and Order of Ecclesia all had great soundtracks, and Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, Bloodlines, and the NES games weren't far behind. In what may be a bit of strange opinion, I consider Rondo of Blood / XX Vampire's Kiss to have the weakest soundtrack.

Yes, I just said that Harmony of Dissonance has a great soundtrack. Set aside the tinniness for a moment and consider the richly dissonant harmonies (no pun intended, I mean it!) of many of the tracks -- they really fit the claustrophobic, confusing two-castle layout and the increasingly convoluted plot quite well.

Also, I think that composer Michiru Yamane needs to break out of the gothic-classical-with-backbeat mold a bit more often. Her work on Symphony was absolutely epic in part because she had odd out-of-place things such as a Latin-like beat for the Marble Corridor or a disco vibe for the Colosseum or this very ominous gradual buildup of texture in 5 time and chromatic harmony for half of the inverted castle.

Circle is also notable for proving that a Cv game could potentially "live off of" many of its existing tracks yet still provide a fulfilling soundtrack. Circle's soundtrack is 75% remixes, and it is also awesome.

As a player, I'm most fond of the metroidvania-style games. My two favorites in this regard are Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Dissonance, which have the most intricately interconnected areas. I love how HoDiss has that two-castle layout where you have to go between them.

I know how to do the ice fist glitch in HoDiss and that means I know how to sequence break into the other castle from the wrong side of the map. And it's fun to do that. I've done that extensively.

I've 100%'d HoDiss's item drops. Also have gotten all the souls in Aria, and same in Dawn -- even wrote an enemy-grinding FAQ for Dawn, which I have to post somewhere sometime... I've also gotten all the boss medals in Ecclesia.

Have also extensively read through the humorous fan site Castlevania: the Inverted Dungeon, as well as the webcomic Darkmoon's Silly Web Comic. And yes, I'm aware of TGMagus's remixes; those things are awesome. smile.gif

Fun fact: I once made a list of all the different versions of the Vampire Killer theme. That really helped tell me about all the different Cv games -- including the cancelled ones like Resurrection.

I've lately thought that the Castlevania games should focus less on story. When we had a relatively simple story with maybe one major plot twist, such as that of Symphony, Circle, Aria, or Ecclesia, we could get a nice game around it. The focus could be on the exploration and sense of discovery. But then some games really had to go too far with making an involved story, such as Portrait and (as I've heard) the Lords of Shadow games, and kinda take the focus away from the exploration.

My Castlevania pipe dream is a 4-castle 3D game with richly-detailed environments and lots of remixed music from predecessor Cv games, with tons of nods to older games -- both Cv and non-Cv -- in general. With an emphasis on exploration and interconnectedness, and with areas designed such that they feel like organic parts of a castle, rather than just video game levels. For example, Olrox's Quarters might have a special warp to the Dungeons. And make this an excuse to bring back tons of great music, and redesign some bosses to be even more spectacular.

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins
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Posted: 31st March 2014 19:05

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Chocobo Knight
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Bloody Tears is one of my favorite BGMs of all time.

I really should give the GBA ones a genuine try but every time I mess with one of them I just want to go back to SotN. That was such an amazing game when it was current and I've enjoyed every replay I've ever done.
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Posted: 1st April 2014 05:16

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Ahahahahahaha. Yes. I'm a Castlevania fan. This topic is from before you joined CoN tongue.gif .

Of the oldschool Castlevania games, Rondo of Blood is probably the best one, but Super Castlevania IV and Castlevania Bloodlines are both really good. Cv 1, 2, and 3 are all good games valuable for their precedent, but I find it hard to go back to them. Dracula X on the SNES isn't very good at all. The three on the Game Boy aren't worth playing either, but Adventure II is better than Legend or the first Adventure.

Of the modern games, Symphony of the Night is the best one, and the GBA trio (Circle, Harmony, Aria) and DS trio (Dawn, Portrait, Order) are all pretty good. The two on N64 are bad, and the two on PS2 aren't much better. I have a BUNCH of issues with Harmony of Despair on modern systems.; not recommended. I tried playing Lords of Shadow on the PS3, but wasn't impressed. Castlevania: Judgement on the Wii is AWFUL, but has some EXCELLENT music remixes.

Here's the Judgement version of Bloody Tears
Here's the Judgement version of Dracula's Castle / Alucard's theme
Here's the Judgement version of Mad Forest from Castlevania III

Look, my favorite Castlevania game is Symphony of the Night, but it's to pick favorites after that. Those six on the GBA and DS are all pretty good, and generally for different reasons. For example, I love the skill system in Order of Ecclesia and the combat is really solid, but it feels too short and has a lame castle. I could go on and on, but I'll spare you.

And hey, now that Igarashi has left Konami, maybe he'll start an independent studio and make the 2D nonlinear action RPG that he's always wanted to. Hey, it worked for Keiji Inafune.

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Posted: 1st April 2014 14:48

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Maniacal Clown
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Dracula X on SNES (i.e. the remix of Rondo) was just horribly difficult. Aside from that, it was okay; sure, it pales in content in comparison to Rondo, but on its own merits, it's not unlike an NES Cv game.

I call that game Dracula XX, or just XX, or Vampire's Kiss (the European name), in order to differentiate it clearly from Dracula X: Rondo of Blood (and Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight, though no one knows that game by the name "Dracula X").

I find Cv3 the most enjoyable of the NES Cv games, though Cv1 is the most pick-up-and-play-able. Cv2 is just confusing, like if someone did Deadly Towers but with significantly less suck, though in proper Cv tradition it also has good music.

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins
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Posted: 1st April 2014 16:12

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Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 31st March 2014 18:16)
My Castlevania pipe dream is a 4-castle 3D game with richly-detailed environments and lots of remixed music from predecessor Cv games, with tons of nods to older games -- both Cv and non-Cv -- in general. With an emphasis on exploration and interconnectedness, and with areas designed such that they feel like organic parts of a castle, rather than just video game levels. For example, Olrox's Quarters might have a special warp to the Dungeons.

Play dark souls already you tit!! happy.gif

And have you heard Yamane's work on the Skullgirls soundtrack? some really good stuff there - Check out maplecrest and bloody marie

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Posted: 1st April 2014 16:30

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Chocobo Knight
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Quote (laszlow @ 1st April 2014 05:16)
Ahahahahahaha. Yes. I'm a Castlevania fan. This topic is from before you joined CoN tongue.gif .


Hrmm, I ran a search for it and nothing came up. Oh well.

Cool links, I always love to hear different versions of Bloody Tears.

Here's a few links to videos I like of it:

Piano rendition

Metal rendition

Be sure to check out 331Erock's other stuff, he does all kinds including some FF.

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Posted: 2nd April 2014 13:15

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Maniacal Clown
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Quote (Blinge Odonata @ 1st April 2014 11:12)
Play dark souls already you tit!!  happy.gif

People keep telling me this (and I guess we've covered it in Steam chat but I'll repost it here) but it seems to me that Dark Souls is sorta more like the classicvanias in terms of difficulty, but minus the rich music the characterizes the Cv series in general (which is probably my favorite aspect of the Cv series).

Yeah, I know what music there is was written by Motoi Sakuraba. But from what I've seen, there's a lot of music-less parts of the game. And the gameplay seems to be rather slow for my liking.

I haven't played Dark Souls myself, though, so I can't say for sure. Though I don't have the game and I don't exactly have the time to play either...

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 2nd April 2014 13:17

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins
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Posted: 3rd April 2014 02:06

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Black Mage
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My preferences are the pre Metroid-vania games. (That's not an insult, the idea was actually a good one), and I'm actually trying something pretty hardcore for the original (and second most difficult of them all, next to III) Castlevania- the first one. An all-whip run. Right now, I'm stymied by Death, who is the toughest kill in the entire game.

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Posted: 13th April 2014 17:17
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I like "Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin" on Nintendo DS ^^
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Posted: 17th April 2014 14:09

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I've played through Symphony of the Night twice, great game. Played Lord of Shadows on PS3, that was good. I'm keen to try Lord of Shadows 2 at some point despite reviews being mixed on its quality.

I'd like to see them make Symphony of the Night in HD, although it doesn't really need it, the graphics stand up pretty well after so many years.
Looking forward to seeing what Iragashi comes with.




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Posted: 10th July 2014 14:41

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Chocobo Knight
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SotN is easily one of the best games I've ever played.
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Posted: 10th July 2014 17:22
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Behemoth
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My first Castlevania was actually Belmont's Revenge for the game boy, and while the game is actually quite well regarded for one of the original green 'n grey's outings, I think the music deserves special mention...

Specifically this track.

user posted image

This post has been edited by Narratorway on 10th July 2014 17:22

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