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[jarrod]

didn't CV 3 introduce alucard or am i remembering wrong?

Now that was a great game.

Platformvania >>>> Metroidvania

 

[TheAdamantShot]

eh, I like Dracula X the best.

 

[Trevelyon]

Not to mention the fact that if you have holy water, you rule the game.

um, I wonder how much holy water helped during the Galamoth & Legion battles? seriously.. two of the hardest bosses ever. :/

SOTN was the ultimate rebound game, after being severely let down & digusted by Castle 64, Symphony blew away any doubt of the series crumbling away in the 3D era. Though CV seems to be going through abit of a grey patch as of late, lets hope for good things with PSP approaching.

 

[Gattsu25]

SOTN styled games > Older CV games

CV 2 - 4, and bloodlines are the only older CV games i can still enjoy...none as much as SOTN (debatable: or CotM and AoS)


Lament of Innocence is shit

 

[Nintendo Ate My Children]

SOTN was the ultimate rebound game, after being severely let down & digusted by Castle 64, Symphony blew away any doubt of the series crumbling away in the 3D era.

SOTN came out over a year before Castlevania 64.

 

[Gattsu25]

and we all know every gamer buys games on the day they're launched.

:thumbsup

 

[Kuramu]

You don't fight Richter twice. You have to equip these two rings you find at the Big Clock face in the middle of the map. This leads to Maria giving you a special pair of glasses. Wearing these glasses while fighting Richter will allow you to see an orb floating about the room. Destroy the orb in stead of Richter, and you'll set him free from Shaft controling his mind. This leads to the upside-down castle, which is an exact duplicate of the normal castle, but with completely new bosses, and mostly new enemies. not to mention a slew of more (and insanely cool) weapons, armor, and other such items. The best two swords in the game IMO, are Narsil (found by killing a Fire Demon, and luckily having it drop the sword), and the Rune Sword (by getting lucky when you kill the Do-Do bird).

The Final enemy is Dracula (big-surprise). The largest % I've gotten (aside from the outside the castle cheat-glitch) is 200.6 . Awesome, awesome game.

ah yes, it has been a while. forgot about the rings. I think the best sword was the weed wacker one, whatever that was called. No special move required, it just let out multiple arcs of white death. Had to stop using it though, because it was too deadly and made everything too easy. I ended up using some blue sword with the blue cape (room above richter's... not sure if upsidedown or normal) Damn Alucard looks cool all decked out in blue

 

[Alucard]

I'm going to have to chime in here and defend Lament of Innocence. I felt it was a great entry into the franchise and definitely a step in the right direction as far as 3d Castlevanias go. The soundtrack was stellar, and I didn't mind the respawning enemies at all since they gave you a chance to practice your combos and dispatch your foes in a variety of ways. Plus, the game totally had the Castlevania atmosphere DOWN. Oh, and the box art alone craps all over most actual games.

I still don't get the "SotN is too easy" arguments either. Just put on the luck code and the rest of your stats will be extremely low. Or challenge yourself and try to beat the game using some of the weaker weapons. Yes, it is possible to completely own the game if you spend enough time leveling up and finding the best weapons, but the true fun lies in finding the game's little secrets. In many ways, it IS about style. For me, SotN was all about exploration and trying to uncover every single secret that the game had to offer. Even little things like sitting Alucard in a chair while having the faery familiar equipped and having her sit on his shoulder...then just leaving him there until he starts snoring. These are the subtle things that give this game that extra edge. That extra charm that vaults it into the upper echelon of gaming. But I digress...

And you can't slag SotN's difficulty and then praise CV4 because it wasn't all that hard to get through either. I think the nostalgia goggles are on a bit too tight for some people.

 

[Trevelyon]

SOTN came out over a year before Castlevania 64.

and we all know every gamer buys games on the day they're launched.

 

[LakeEarth]

I don't mind it when a game has a secret which requires you to do things that a normal person would never think of doing.

But come on... half the game? I feel only a small population of people could've figured the ring/clock without being told by someone.

 

[SiegfriedFM]

The ring stuff was rather well explained. You found two rings, one with "Wear...clock..." and the other "...in...tower". Only stupid thing was that it was the clock junction in the middle of the map, not the big church bell area.

I figured that out myself the first time I played.

 

[SD-Ness]

I like it for what it is. It was awesome at the time. All games age over time though.

 

[explodet]

I really really enjoyed the game, but there was something that bugged me:

How could Alucard pick up and carry ALL these weapons, shields, healing items, yet only be able to carry one sub-weapon (holy water, dagger, cross, etc)?

Just a holdover from the previous Castlevania games, I know, just found it curious.

 

[clipunderground]

lol! who is that? that shit is funny dude

lol... thats my girlfriend being a goof like usual.

 

[Ranger X]

Explodet, how can my characters in all traditionnal console RPGs (like FF series) can carry all those items and weapons with them? They don't even wear a backpack!!

It's the lamest comment in ages man. You can almost any kind of videogames in a stupid way if you get into that. Anal.

 

[Matlock]

And now I have a level 99 bat familiar. Woo!

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

And now I have a level 99 bat familiar. Woo!

Leave that shit on all night you gonna break it !

 

[Matlock]

Okay, just whipped Richter's ass and started the reverse castle. For the first half hour, I felt physically ill, as it felt as if I myself were turned upside down. Nothing made sense. Everything, of course, was UPSIDE DOWN.

...and if I have to do anything like hopping up that gear-tower hitting the gears until they click while cloaked knights and medusa heads fly in...again...ugh.

It's gotten better, but still not as good as AoS in my opinion.

 

[Semjaza Azazel]

I've always wondered why they removed some of the familiars in the US version. I have a strategy guide for the game that for some reason talks about the Japanese version instead of the US and there's several things in it that seemed different.

I used to own the Saturn version as well. Too bad that didn't turn out so hot. The new areas were pretty forgettable. The Green House was okay, but that haunted house looking one was abysmal.

 

[TAJ]

>>>didn't CV 3 introduce alucard or am i remembering wrong?<<<

Yes and no. Yes, CV 3 introduced Alucard to the Castlevania series, and no, it didn't introduce Alucard.
Alucard made his debut in the movie Son of Dracula in 1943.

 

[DCX]

Niche game is released
Niche game is the best game ever
Years pass
Niche game isn't so great
You like niche game? What a tool.

As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.

Preach it.

DCX

 

[dark10x]

Preach it.

DCX

Yeah, it's a shame that has to happen...

In this case, SotN really IS fantastic. The problem is that the hype levels have simply grown too high and new players are going into the game LOOKING for flaws.

 

[bjork]

I'm sure we have all heard the voice track that's stored away on the game disc, where Maria seems to turn evil, and Alucard says something about the fate of mortals, etc.

Anyone figure out how to actually access that as an ending yet? I've not heard of anyone actually seeing it, only digging it out of the disc's data.

 

[Matlock]

Yeah, it's a shame that has to happen...

In this case, SotN really IS fantastic. The problem is that the hype levels have simply grown too high and new players are going into the game LOOKING for flaws.

You have no room to talk, Mr. "I can see framerates, and can barely play games if there's any stutter."

If you'd pay attention to my posts throughout, I'm still highly reserved about this title, but with every passing update, I feel a bit better about it. Right now, the only thing standing in the way of it being inferior to AoS is the lack of a soul system. I mean, it's sort of there in the familiars and items and such, but eh.

Plus, I'm really hating the Street-Fighter move system.

 

[Matlock]

I'm sure we have all heard the voice track that's stored away on the game disc, where Maria seems to turn evil, and Alucard says something about the fate of mortals, etc.

Anyone figure out how to actually access that as an ending yet? I've not heard of anyone actually seeing it, only digging it out of the disc's data.

Maybe it's just leftover data without a reason. I dunno. Of course, I'm still trying to find a working ver of PSMplay (Playstation Media Player) to dig through and record some of the tracks for myself.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

You have no room to talk, Mr. "I can see framerates, and can barely play games if there's any stutter."

Dude, that's not nice. He can't help it.

 

[drohne]

i can appreciate the viewpoint that platformvania is better than metroidvania. i probably agree with it. but i can't imagine why people persist in mentioning IV as the best in the series. rondo of blood thoroughly decimates it, but i suppose most people haven't played that. castlevania III outclasses it as well, though, and there's no excuse not to have played that.

and i might as well address the sentiment implicit in most attacks on sotn: no, super metroid is not a better game. metroidvania > metroid.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

and i might as well address the sentiment implicit in most attacks on sotn: no, super metroid is not a better game. metroidvania > metroid.

Here here...

Same goes for the handheld realm.

 

[Lyte Edge]

I've always wondered why they removed some of the familiars in the US version. I have a strategy guide for the game that for some reason talks about the Japanese version instead of the US and there's several things in it that seemed different.

I used to own the Saturn version as well. Too bad that didn't turn out so hot. The new areas were pretty forgettable. The Green House was okay, but that haunted house looking one was abysmal.

I thought it was just one familiar that got removed. Can't remember; I've only played completely through the Japanese version. Didn't get the U.S. version until sometime last year IIRC, and that was just because I found an original non-GH version cheap in mint condition. The Saturn version is worth it just to mess around as Maria and for the extra music tracks, which ROCK.

I love SOTN. And I Love Aria Of Sorrow. But SOTN is still overall the better game in my opinion.

 

[drohne]

iirc the familiar removed in the us version was idenitcal to one of the other familiars in all but appearance. but i haven't completed the us version either - i'd sooner not understand the story than hear those voices.

 

[TheDiave]

Blasphemy!

 

[bjork]

The nosedevil familiar and a second fairy familiar were removed, afaik.

 

[Dujour]

Ah, but if you'd played MGS2 first, you'd be dissapointed at how much simpler the gameplay of MGS was. All the missing details, the instant-on alarm, nobody has eyes...

Maybe that's why we have Twin Snakes

I was going to come in this topic to dump on Matlock, but he's redeemed himself with his opinion of MGS and also, this post TAKES THE CAKE. The lack of eyes was a style choice. The gameplay was tons different because first person shooting makes for an easier game. Overall, MGS2's gameplay does kinda triumph over MGS, but as an overall package, it's the Shadow Moses incident, Metal Gear Solid. Hey bjork, is the chat server up or was it changed?

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

So... was that a dump? 'Cuz I think we agree.

 

[Dujour]

Oh, ok. Skip the make-up sex.