View Full Version : Dracula X: Rondo of Blood and the topic of remakes
Graham Mitchell
08-12-2008, 02:54 AM
I'm sure there's been about 20 threads about this topic already, but the search function NEVER works for me. Mods, if you can find a better thread, please merge this to it.
That said...
Okay, I got a PSP for my 30th birthday, and the first thing my fiancee' hunted out for us was the Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles. The remake of Dracula X that it contains is great, and it's cool to have a new version of Symphony of the Night.
But yesterday I unlocked the original PC-Engine version of Rondo of Blood. This is a game I've been drooling over since I was about 13 or 14. Of course I've read over the years that it's not that great considering the advances made in that other CV game released in 1997. But despite my curiosity, I never looked it up on Youtube or any such thing. I wanted my first experience with that game to be virginal and unspoiled. Well, I finally got my wish.
Holy fucking shit is this game fantastic. It doesn't disappoint me one bit. To see it running on the PC-Engine hardware just blows my mind for some reason. I never had that many Super CD games, but as far as I can tell, this game pushes that machine farther than any other game I've ever seen. And every aspect of its presentation is just perfect--the animation style, the voice samples, and that red-book audio (the 'Dinner of Flames' music is just gorgeous. It rivals Yuzo Koshiro's Y's soundtracks in my opinion. In fact, most of the original compositions for that game are really good.) This game has something almost indefinable about it that's not only unique to any Castlevania game, but it's something that the remake just can't reproduce.
I commented to my fiancee' that I actually preferred the original to the remake. She then groaned and argued that there was no way I could honestly think that. She assumed I was saying it to sound knowledgeable or snobbish. But I went back and compared directly. When I'm at the file select screen for the PC-Engine version, and I hear the redbook rendition of "Requiem", and I watch the flames dart around the screen, I get chills down my spine. It's electrifying, like being moved by a film or a piece of music. But when I load up the remake, it's cool but it kind of just feels like another PS2 game.
You'd think that it would be easy to improve on a video game, because I think the popular opinion is that the quality of a game is dependent on technology anyway. Improve the technology and you improve the game. But I find that it just isn't that simple. Is my preference for one over the other purely subjective? Or is it that sometimes the right combination of elements is what makes a game great-not necessarily the number of polys or unlockables that it contains?
Anybody else have a similar story/thoughts/opinions?
Blitzwing256
08-12-2008, 06:34 AM
as for the remake,the graphics were bland the play control was sluggish and everything they "added" was retarded. like you said they drained all the magic out of a wonderfull game and replaced it with another shitty ps2 style go right game, all the little details that the pc engine vershion has just shows how much the creators loved the game.
MarkMan
08-12-2008, 11:42 AM
As a big fan of the original I still enjoyed the remake, sure it felt slower and didn't have the same beautiful 'look' of the 2D version, but as a fan, I was happy to replay it from another perspective...
eugenek
08-12-2008, 11:50 AM
Not to say that the original game isn't fantastic, because it is, and while I haven't played the remake, perhaps your expectations are subtly lower because it was a PC Engine game. I know that happens with me a lot.
Tommy
08-12-2008, 11:53 AM
OOHHHH Boyyyy, never, I mean, never, tell your girl that you prefer something else over what she got you. Just trying to look out for a brother. :)
eskobar
08-12-2008, 12:59 PM
Holy fucking shit is this game fantastic. It doesn't disappoint me one bit. To see it running on the PC-Engine hardware just blows my mind for some reason.
Anybody else have a similar story/thoughts/opinions?
Just to be clear about something : I understood you played it on PSP, but why did you say about the game running on the PC-Engine Hardware ?:deadhorse:
I think that playing the original game emulated on PSP loses all the magic the original had .... Feeling the original Controller with the Duo or the PC Engine CD Rom with the super system card is an experience far beyond than using a PSP ....
The original was magic indeed ... and has aged very well, sometimes i plug my Duo to play this great game. Obviously the remake is not as magical as the original, but is a solid and well structured game that it is polished enough to be MUST HAVE for PSP, 3 castlevanias for 29.99 usd or less :D
Clownzilla
08-12-2008, 01:31 PM
OOHHHH Boyyyy, never, I mean, never, tell your girl that you prefer something else over what she got you. Just trying to look out for a brother. :)
Lol, don't worry. He will learn quickly just like the rest of us:)
Leo_A
08-12-2008, 07:51 PM
He unlocked a emulated verxion of the original on the PSP game (And clearly stated it). The emulator seems nearly perfect, he's not losing out on anything playing it there, and he didn't say anything about liking something better than his girlfriend's gift.
Graham Mitchell
08-12-2008, 09:00 PM
He unlocked a emulated verxion of the original on the PSP game (And clearly stated it). The emulator seems nearly perfect, he's not losing out on anything playing it there, and he didn't say anything about liking something better than his girlfriend's gift.
Yeah, what he said!
She gave me the remake, the original came included. She's a Castlevania freak herself (SotN being her poison of choice), but to her, she looks objectively at the 2.5D presentation versus the dated sprite-based/hand-drawn representation and she doesn't take into account the subtle details (ie-the stylish whip animation in the original, or how the game's narrative is told via subtle observations in the original versus grandiose, overblown cut-scenes). But I made it clear to her that she gave me the access to a childhood dream for my birthday, and overall she's cool with that.
As for eskobar's comment...I've played A LOT of PC-Engine/TG-16 in my day, and I know what that sound chip sounds like, etc. I have a feeling this is pretty close. Plus, I just watched some video on Youtube and, other than resolution differences, the two games look identical (except for the English subtitles in the intro).
And why the dead horse?
Graham Mitchell
08-12-2008, 09:32 PM
Another thing I failed to mention is that I am playing this on a slim-model PSP with an RGB-Component out attachment connected to a 50" DLP TV running in progressive scan, with the sound coming through an $1100 stereo system, so I'd say my conditions for playing the game are probably better than if I was running it on a Duo, as the Duo can't run in RGB. I really don't think I'm missing much simply because this is emulated. ;)
Haoie
08-13-2008, 03:13 AM
Darn, I thought this topic would be about Dracula X on the SNES.
Which wasn't really that bad, thank you!!
Compared to the masterpiece that was Super Castlevania IV, yes, it was that bad.
Simply Dave
08-13-2008, 08:48 AM
as for the remake,the graphics were bland the play control was sluggish and everything they "added" was retarded. like you said they drained all the magic out of a wonderfull game and replaced it with another shitty ps2 style go right game, all the little details that the pc engine vershion has just shows how much the creators loved the game.
Wow, you summed up everything I was going to say. The majority of the time I was playing the remake I was like wtf.
Graham Mitchell
08-13-2008, 10:56 AM
Darn, I thought this topic would be about Dracula X on the SNES.
Which wasn't really that bad, thank you!!
I think that one's called "Vampire's Kiss", no?
E Nice
08-13-2008, 09:09 PM
Compared to the masterpiece that was Super Castlevania IV, yes, it was that bad.
Castlevania 4 the easiest and most boring 2D Castlevania game ever?
TonyTheTiger
08-13-2008, 09:55 PM
I think that one's called "Vampire's Kiss", no?
It was called Castlevania: Vampire's Kiss in Europe. It was Castlevania: Dracula X in North America.
Castlevania 4 the easiest and most boring 2D Castlevania game ever?
I think the award for easiest 2D Castlevania goes to Symphony of the Night or Harmony of Dissonance.
The award for most boring 2D Castlevania probably goes to Castlevania Legends.
As you can tell, I <3 Super Castlevania IV.
On a side note, I think the aforementioned Castlevania: Dracula X is the hardest game in the entire series.
I did like the Rondo remake. Rondo holds the record for most money I spent on a single game and it probably will stay that way as I have no desire to splurge like that on much else. I just happen to be a Castlevania fanatic so I had to have this one game.
While the remake is different, it's not bad. The only problem I have with it is that it's sometimes really hard to tell where your hit boxes are. I was also rather confused by the odd rewrite of the intro dialogue.
And am I in the minority of people who actually prefer the original acting in Symphony of the Night? Not because it was better but because it had more personality. Like watching a B-rated Off Broadway play.
or how the game's narrative is told via subtle observations in the original versus grandiose, overblown cut-scenes).
To be fair to the remake, the original was probably that way out of necessity. Hell, you didn't even need a CD to do that "FMV."
Graham Mitchell
08-13-2008, 09:58 PM
And am I in the minority of people who actually prefer the original acting in Symphony of the Night? Not because it was better but because it had more personality. Like watching a B-rated Off Broadway play.
Oh, I'm right there with you. We were kind of disappointed when we didn't hear "Die, monster. Mankind ill needs a savior such as you."
G-Boobie
08-14-2008, 05:29 AM
He unlocked a emulated verxion of the original on the PSP game (And clearly stated it). The emulator seems nearly perfect[...]
Am I the only one who had issues with the emulation of Dracula X? The sound was subtly out of synch for me and the colors were less than perfect.
That being said, I really enjoyed the remake; I thought of it as more of a remix, though. Hitboxes changed, Dracula has an extra form and attacks slightly differently than in the PC Engine game, etc. etc. etc. Taken apart from Dracula X, I thought it was well worth my time. An excellent piece of fan service.
Dracula X is out in Japan on virtual console, so there's still hope that we'll eventually be able to play it on something other than a PSP for less than four hundred dollars here in the states.
as the Duo can't run in RGB.
Completely wrong.My Duo,my Duo-R and my Duo-RX are RGB.
They've been modified here in France,since RGB was the standard back at the time.
We are hundreds/thousands of players playing Duo games in RGB (and there was indeed a PC Engine Monitor which came out in Japan for playing hucards in RGB as well, official stuff)
Graham Mitchell
08-14-2008, 07:40 PM
Completely wrong.My Duo,my Duo-R and my Duo-RX are RGB.
They've been modified here in France,since RGB was the standard back at the time.
We are hundreds/thousands of players playing Duo games in RGB (and there was indeed a PC Engine Monitor which came out in Japan for playing hucards in RGB as well, official stuff)
Okay, well, MY duo, with a broken capacitor that doesn't play red book audio anymore, won't run in RGB.
Graham Mitchell
08-22-2008, 02:46 AM
Just finished the game at 100%. That was nice. The boss music at Dracula is identical to what plays in the intro to SotN when you "re-live the moment". Hell of a game. It's kept my attention from Bionic Commando: Rearmed all week.
Gentlegamer
08-22-2008, 10:55 AM
I've sadly only played Dracula X via Magic Engine emulation, but I can truthfully say that it is a game that truly lives up to its reputation.
I wrote the original History of Castlevania for GameSpot many years ago and, as part of that research, got a version of Rondo that I was able to play on my Duo. It was quite a good game. Someone later bought the whole system from me specifically so they could play Rondo.