GBA Castlevania

[kainemaxwell]

So I decided to start playing the GBA castlevania games on my gba emulator on my phone. Started with circle of the moon. Hard game, doesnt feel as hard as a lot of people have said. Toughest bosses to me were the Cerberus, zombie dragons and death (that was a weird fight!). At 93.1%, about to fight dracula the second and last time. Didnt do the battle arena, at level 50. Any thoughts?

Gonna start on harmony of dissonance soon.

[celerystalker]

I didn't care much for Circle of the Moon. I wouldn't say it's bad, but I really wasn't into its card system, and I felt like it was kinda lacking in the way of secrets to discover in the castle.

Harmony of Dissonance I liked a lot more than Circle of the Moon, although it also has very few secrets. I felt like it controlled much better all around, and its two-plane gimmick was reminiscent of A Link to the Past.

Aria of Sorrow is the clear winner of the bunch to me. Its soul system wasn't something I was big on, as it wasn't all that different from the cards in Circle of the Moon, and in all three games I missed the big inventory of Symphony of the Night. Still, Aria has a nice map with lots of secrets to find, and it controls well to boot. The DS follow-up is even better, although Prtrait of Ruin ended up being my personal favorite of the portable games. It brought back a bigger map, the big item lists/inventories, and some interesting ties to Bloodlines on Genesis.

[Aussie2B]

Not as good as SotN, but probably my favorite of the SotN clones I've played. I appreciate that Circle of the Moon was made by a different group of people than Igarashi and his team, so that helps give it a bit of its own unique identity. I also like that it puts up more of a challenge. While it's fun in spite of it, SotN is pretty pathetically easy, and most of Igarashi's other SotN clones are about on par with SotN's difficulty level. Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow are decent time wasters, but they're just so derivative of SotN that, when I play them, I end up asking myself in my head "Why don't I just replay SotN, if I'm playing these games that just feel like less-good versions of SotN?"

The bonus modes in Circle of the Moon are also pretty fun. I'm not one to normally replay games using those kinds of modes, but I actually replayed Circle of the Moon on every mode. The game definitely isn't as hard as some people make it out to be (still easier than most of the pre-SotN Castlevania games), and if you do the other modes, you'll get so adept at the game that you'll breeze through them, but it is fun how each forces you to approach the game in a slightly different manner.

[calthaer]

None of the Castlevania games that feature leveling could ever be as hard as the pre-SotN games, in my view. The ability to grind out a bit more power with leveling does tend to make all the games a bit easier.

Circle of the Moon isn't hard in general, but that battle arena does provide a challenge. It's the only place to get some of the cards and best items, though - IIRC there are some plant enemies (Alraune?) that rarely drop large health potions, which are pretty much required to collect in order to grind through the whole battle arena and beat some of the dudes way far down that drop the highest level cards. That grinding did kind of put me off the game a little bit.

Harmony of Dissonance is a lot of fun but the entire game is a little less polished. IIRC the music was tinnier, and I can't remember what else. Also not as many option in the form of cards, powers, etc.

I liked Aria of Sorrow the best. The whole soul collecting thing added a lot to the game. Dawn of Sorrow was kind of a repeat, but I didn't mind. I think Aria and Dawn are my two favorite Castlevania games of all time, although for whatever reason I did also like that one where you had to draw seals on the screen - the last DS game, I can't remember what it was called.

I'm a little sorry that they're not producing more games like this. I know they eventually felt a little same-y, but I played and enjoyed every one of them - which is way more than I can say for a lot of other series.

[kainemaxwell]

2nd dracula in circle of the moon is a pain in the ass.

Playing harmony now. In the clock tower, after max slimer and i go back to the fishmen area i'll talk to Death and open up the 2 castles. Is that giant gear in the room before the "fight" with the guardian armor supposed to do anything later? I really feel like im missing stuff too. lol

[Wraith Storm]

I always really liked Circle of the moon. Out of the GBA trilogy, its the one I have always found myself coming back to.

I really like the level design in it, but more than anything i like all the hidden areas where you can break the walls. This style of design PROMOTES exploration and MOTIVATES one to go out of their way to inspect every nook and cranny. Not to mention it absolutely unequivocally can be nothing but a good thing for a video game to feature a remix of "Sinking Old Sanctuary".