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Thread: GBA Castlevania

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    Default GBA Castlevania

    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.
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    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.

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    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.

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    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.
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    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
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    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".
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    I'd score CotM lower than Aria of Sorrow: worse bosses, less enemy variety; but because it feels so much like a classic Castlevania with a heavy emphasis on platforming, it's always been my favorite of the epxloration titles. The different modes also introduce a lot of replay value. Warrior gives Hugh better stats, but there's a 0% drop rate for cards. Magician mode starts Hugh off with all cards and a very high amount of MP, but poor stats. I think thief mode is the second to last, and if so, thief mode has similar stats to magician mode but a much higher luck stat giving near guaranteed drops for even the rarest items. Shooter mode is last I think, which would give it the worst stats in all categories but with a has a high heart count and takes far more damage against enemies with sub weapons. Shooter mode also gets access to a sub weapon found only within this mode, not that great, but if you already have the dagger sub weapon, you'll be able to pick up a second dagger and you'll have a homing dagger.

    Harmony of Dissonance is the worst exploration game in the series when it comes to gameplay, but the amount of secrets within the game, the amount of fan service to past games in the series, I still play the game often. The issue with this game is Juste Belmont is comparable to Michael Jordan which is why he moon jumps. I have a theory IGA was trying to make a basketball game when Konami asked him to make another Castlevania so IGA decided to use what he's already done on the new Castlevania, hence Juste's moon jump. The other thing I hate about this game is the inclusion of a backdash that is made in a way that you can't help but constantly press L and R. Whenever I play this game I almost never push left and right because of it and almost only use the L and R dashes. Some other issues with the game is the massively poor balance. It's actually fairly well balanced on hard mode until you meet up with Death at the portal halfway through the game and find that you're actually traveling back and forth between two different castles. Throughout the rest of the game except very specific parts, you're constantly killing either severely under leveled enemies or the same enemies going back and forth through the castle. The game does have some really cool ideas though. The sub weapon/spell book combo thing is something I actually prefer over card combos and the souls from the future games, because there's no random luck behind it. You find the book and it is all determined on your equipped sub weapon. There's also the different rings you can get to modify your sub weapons, etc. Another good thing about this game is stuff that happens in one castle changes stuff in the other. For example, the part that kainemaxwell named in one of his posts. There's a part where you step on a switch for a hammer to knock an armored knight through a wall, while in the other castle there's no way for you to get past that area before you do this(which btw you hold the whip and keep hitting right to keep knocking the knight off his balance into the gears and you'll get his full set of armor.) The castle design is pretty good. So while this game has a lot that's wrong with it, there's a lot about this game that I really like.

    Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow are the two all around best exploration style CV games. Well balanced, great castle design, excellent control(from then on out there was excellent control with these games honestly.) All around these games are the best with Dawn of Sorrow the one I'd put a bit above in quality. Julius mode on Dawn of Sorrow is leaps and bounds above the original AoS Julius mode and Richter mode from SotN which solidifies it as my favorite. If there's one thing I can say I don't like about Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow, and by extension every other game created by IGA afterwards including Bloodstained, it's the damn soul system. The randomness of what's going to be dropped when killing an enemy is really irritating, not only because forces the player to get lucky to get certain skills, but also messes with the damn ocd tendencies.

    Portrait of Ruin is better than Harmony of Dissonance somewhat, sure, but this game has just as many issues that keep me from really loving this game. First off, Jonathan and Charlotte, or rather pretty much all the art in this game is rather terrible, but what's really the problem is the dungeon design, the balance, everything. The main castle is unbalanced as all hell, and by that, I mean pathetically easy throughout. Whenever you reach a painting, exploration is almost non existent as you're almost always on a straight one way path all the way to the end of the painting, maybe the slightest branching off for a single room here and there, but yeah. The spell and art system is called something different, but don't let it fool you, it's the same damn system all over again, you're just picking up item drops instead of souls flying to your character. With the paintings it is probably one of the bigger games in the series, but it the flaws are still there. The controls to the game are great though just like Aria and Dawn of Sorrow, the other character being able to be summoned as an assist or ai controlled works well. Oh yeah, the biggest disgrace to Castlevania ever appears in this game with a dual spell called "The Greatest Five." The greatest five consists of Leon, Simon, Trevor, Juste, and Richter. Wait, aren't they missing someone? Christopher Belmont is not only in the crappy Castlevania Adventure, but the excellent Castlevania 2 Belmont's Revenge, and even the eshop exclusive remake of Castlevania Adventure on the Wii. How could IGA overlook this?

    Then there's Order of Ecclessia, which is a game I so wanted to like and I do, but barely. So first things first, the environments in this game are just absolutely beautiful. It's the first exploration title since Castlevania 2 that takes place in the countryside of Wallachia outside of Dracula Castle. There's even specific areas in the game, especially the swamp and enemies in the swamp that pay homage to Castlevania 2. With Order of Ecclesia, once again, just like Portrait of Ruin, there's very little exploration in the game, and you're usually going from point a to b. So there's a real lack of platforming and such in most areas throughout the game. Order of Ecclesia not only does that, but limits what the player can actually do. It still uses the soul system mind you, but now souls replace your weaponry and they've even added certain weapon types that damage enemies better or worse. So you're constantly forced to switch between multiple types of weapons to do optimal damage. Okay, that's not all though. Unless you want to do no damage in comparison, the game is built around enemies being damage sponges and you have to tap Y and X in turn repeatedly which will cancel your attacks and immediately allow you to do quick attacks in a row without having to use any backdash tricks. The problem is, with all the damage sponge enemies you're just avoiding attacks then constantly mashing the attack buttons and it just turns into a button mash fest. It takes a lot away from the game and makes it a much more unenjoyable experience unfortunately. And yet that still isn't all. The bosses in Order of Ecclesia are just shit. These bosses are pretty much pulled from a shmup game where if you are not standing in the exact place on the screen due to visual queues, you're getting hit, because all boss attacks pretty much have only a single area that's safe from damage. Have I played through this game several times and can make my way through these bosses(many times without getting hit?) Yes, but it doesn't change the fact that these bosses are bullshit and less based on player skill and more based on complete memorization. I'll include a link to one of the bosses, but nearly every single one of them is very similar in structure(meaning, a shmup boss.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCKQ7-8l3Sk

    On the 3DS, there's Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate. Lords of Shadow being a reboot of the Castlevania series in order to not get cancelled, but despite all the hate that you may have heard about this game, Mirror of Fate is a great game and is atleast near the top of the list compared to the rest of these games imo. Like Circle of the Moon the game has a lot of platforming and is so much more enjoyable than a lot of the others in that regard. The combat is like playing the PS360 Lords of Shadow but in 2D, and by removing a lot of the attacks and keeping the most base skills along with other useful upgrades, it actually works extremely well. The only bad thing about this game is that the check points are a bit forgiving, but there's an easy way to fix that. Finish 100% of the game so the journals and such can no longer be acquired, and play on hardcore difficulty(or maybe just hard if you'd rather do that.) It keeps the difficulty high and reduces the amount of check points to just the entrance point in each area. As enjoyable as the game was, this makes the experience far more enjoyable. I had 80 hours playtime of this game(multiple playthroughs) on my first 3DS XL, 30-40 on my New 3DS XL. Last thing about this game is the 3D is amazing. Nintendo really should have promoted this game as what the 3DS can really do with 3D honestly. It's jaw dropping and is the very reason I bought a New 3DS XL. I bought the New 3DS specifically for the 3D and honestly because of this game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw5sE0eqDdU

    Finally. Stay away from Harmony of Despair. Absolute piece of shit soulless game.
    Last edited by kupomogli; 04-24-2017 at 03:59 AM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by kupomogli View Post
    Then there's Order of Ecclessia, which is a game I so wanted to like and I do, but barely.
    I managed to play through Order of Ecclesia not long after it was first released. I personally liked it better than the other GBA and DS games for one of the reasons you disliked it; it's a much more straightforward affair than any other Castlevania post-SotN. I've dabbled in every game in the series (except for the last-gen releases) and being not the biggest Castlevania fan in the world, I much prefer the straightforward style of the 1, 3, and Dracula X. Not a big fan of grinding and backtracking, and definitely not fond of resuming a saved game months later with no idea where I'm doing or where to go next.

    Having smaller, bite-size levels allowed a bit more leeway for having much more varied environments, which was a nice change of pace.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Az View Post
    I managed to play through Order of Ecclesia not long after it was first released. I personally liked it better than the other GBA and DS games for one of the reasons you disliked it; it's a much more straightforward affair than any other Castlevania post-SotN. I've dabbled in every game in the series (except for the last-gen releases) and being not the biggest Castlevania fan in the world, I much prefer the straightforward style of the 1, 3, and Dracula X. Not a big fan of grinding and backtracking, and definitely not fond of resuming a saved game months later with no idea where I'm doing or where to go next.

    Having smaller, bite-size levels allowed a bit more leeway for having much more varied environments, which was a nice change of pace.
    It's not just the point a to b, because it's only really a problem with the games IGA has created, Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia. Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate doesn't have too many open ended areas to explore, and when going through an area, most of the time you're going the only way that you can go with a small secret here and there. The reason why I enjoy Mirror of Fate and Circle of the Moon so much is the heavy platforming elements that they incorporate into their level design. Order of Ecclesia and Portrait of Ruin is just a whole bunch of walking down a straight corridor. So a whole bunch of walking on a platformer and then the bullet sponge enemies on Order of Ecclesia where you constantly swap between X and Y mashing the attack button? I guess you could say that it's a bit more realistic with the lack of platforming but different gameplay elements added together make a lot more enjoyable experience. Another example would be despite Vanquish technically being the better third person shooter for example, I haven't beaten the game because nothing but constant shooting, while I've beaten every Uncharted game on all difficulties because the platforming elements break up the monotony.
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    Still up to dracula's second fight in circle of the moon. holy crap this is a pain. Still havent finished the battle arena or farmed for more potions yet. I didnt have that many issues in game except for a few bosses. I'm level 51 btw.

    castlevania harmony of dissonance. I'm at 199.7%. So do i have to fight maxim for the bad ending in castle a, then go fight maxim and drac in castle b (with the bracelets) for the real ending and hit 200%?
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    So since im up to dracula in circle of the moon and harmony, figured id write something up.

    Circle feels like a good castlevania game, but just difficult with some bosses and enemies. Newer areas you cant charge in, you gotta think how to take some armors, demons and maidens at first. Game made harder since there's low item drops for everything and no way to purchase items, leaving heavy grinding your only option (im really tempted to use a potion code now). I dont mind it so much for enemies though. Battle arena is a neat concept. I do like the mythology behind the card system and some the combos are fun. Music feels like it belongs there, and circle has a great version of vampire killer. Some the bosses werent hard, only ones i died a lot (even with save states) was the Cerberus, zombie dragons and death. Death mostly for annoyance. Decent story too, kinda wish if it didnt get taken out of the timeline,. Isnt the old guy dracula captures from bloodlines? I like the amount of hidden passages around, Id roam around and jump everywhere with the ice shield up to find them when following the maps. Especially the dreaded clock tower. In all, decent Castlevania title, i give it maybe a 7 or 8.

    Harmony sems to go back to a real belmont vs dracula thing, even if he's a final thought going by the storyline. castle design is simple, few secrets which sucks. Like the idea of the 2 castles but wish more was done with the 'do something here, open something there" aspect. The furniture collecting...neat distraction. Shame Juste didnt take it all with him when the castle implodes at the end...he could open a furniture store. Graphics are kinda colorful, and like juste's look, that weird afterimage as he runs, walks and jumps is weird. The spell combos are a nice touch, and item drops are a decent amount. Music is too twangy for my taste which is a shame cause it could have some decent tracks if not for that. Bosses were more fun to fight then circle of the moon. I still dont get why death turns into a worm. Collecting dracula's parts feels like simon's quest all over again, but without the useless npcs. Harmony now i'll give a 7 or 8 again.

    Not sure what else to write for now.
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    Quote Originally Posted by kainemaxwell View Post
    Still up to dracula's second fight in circle of the moon. holy crap this is a pain. Still havent finished the battle arena or farmed for more potions yet. I didnt have that many issues in game except for a few bosses. I'm level 51 btw.

    castlevania harmony of dissonance. I'm at 199.7%. So do i have to fight maxim for the bad ending in castle a, then go fight maxim and drac in castle b (with the bracelets) for the real ending and hit 200%?
    Yeah, you wear both rings in one of the castles when fighting Maxim to fight Dracula. Also, after finishing the game, put in the Konami code while the game is loading to play as 8bit Simon Belmont during boss rush. Playing as 8bit Simon during boss rush accounts for most of my playtime. Always fun beating my past times.
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    Quote Originally Posted by kupomogli View Post
    Yeah, you wear both rings in one of the castles when fighting Maxim to fight Dracula. Also, after finishing the game, put in the Konami code while the game is loading to play as 8bit Simon Belmont during boss rush. Playing as 8bit Simon during boss rush accounts for most of my playtime. Always fun beating my past times.
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