Castlevania - What a horrible night to have a curse - The Bear and Badger

hylian_elf

Yeah I was just kidding. I'll finish it and pick up LoS2 in about 2 years at little to no cost and when priorities and my Piles.

retroking1981

Good man!

JonB

So how has LoS2 gone so wrong compared to the first game?

hylian_elf

You trudge around in sewers and underground car parks a lot. And do really bad insta-restart stealth bits as a rat. Looks like Kojima failed to share his stealth knowledge and expertise.
Graphics are apparently bad. Terrible camera. Bad notification of enemy attacks. Combat is frustrating and flawed. It's overly long and padded.

hylian_elf

That's from Edge review.

retroking1981

Bloody hell I might not even bother with the bargain bin.

Maybe I should get that PS2 one you guys are on about instead.

hylian_elf

Do it. I have the Jap collectors edition that came with a painting picture thing.

retroking1981

Lament of Innocence right?

Is it on PSN?

hylian_elf

Yes

No idea

hylian_elf

I think in the UK it was just called Castlevania. And had an atrocious cover that didn't look like anything by Ayami Kojima. She is great. Art.

retroking1981

Its on PSN in USA and Japan but not EU. Damn!

JonB

hylian_elf wrote:

You trudge around in sewers and underground car parks a lot. And do really bad insta-restart stealth bits as a rat. Looks like Kojima failed to share his stealth knowledge and expertise. Graphics are apparently bad. Terrible camera. Bad notification of enemy attacks. Combat is frustrating and flawed. It's overly long and padded.

Right so. Bizarre that they could have messed up the combat when there was already a good system from the first game.

Oh well, I'll replay that instead some time.

retroking1981

Did anyone here play Castlevania on N64?

Interesting article about it here:
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/02/soapbox_a_case_for_the_defence_castlevania_64

davyK

Never played it. I was dubious of the leap to 3D; especially with the whip mechanic. It got a redux which was supposed to sort out some of the problems but I hear the camera and some jumping sections are still painful.

The high production values of the 2D games such the background graphics couldn't have been matched by that gen's abilities in 3D either - so I made a decsion to avoid it - especially after reading reviews.

I suppose of I came across it I would give it a go - the video at that link looks pretty good.

hylian_elf

Blame game about LoS2

I'm on the verge of giving up on Mirror of Fate 'cos it's rubbish. It makes me wonder whether the original LoS really is actually as good as I remember/thought. Maybe I was very forgiving and looked over the flaws, but I don't remember the combat being bad, it wasn't great, but had no real flaws like Mirror or apparently LoS2. Might have to dig it out at some point and see.

retroking1981

You really don't like Mirror of Fate? I thought it was ok, not great but I thought it implemented the LoS combat in to 2D quite well.

It felt part old skool A-B, part Metroidvania and part LoS to me, definitely a jack of all trades master of none but ok nonetheless.

From what I remember I'd probably give it a solid 7/10

Whilst I liked LoS I did think it was overrated by many upon release so I don't feel totally suprised by the harsh scores for the sequel.

JonB

From the Edge review at least the problems with the sequel are new things that weren't in the previous game. The set pieces, world building and combat were very good in LoS. The platforming was a bit dull, but otherwise the whole thing was solid and even rather impressive in places. I hope to play it again eventually.

hylian_elf

Yeah, its the combat mostly that I'm not liking in Mirror and it plays like how Edge described LoS2... I don't remember LoS being like that. I intend on playing it again. Missed lots of achievements.

fronkhead

I wasn't big on MoF either, and I suspect me not being impressed might be down to the game being a Castlevania game, with all the expectations of that series not really being part of it. The slow combat, uninteresting level layouts and below par enemy design just weren't for me.

It did remind me that I still had to play Dawn of Sorrow, which I thought was utterly amazing and had me yearning for that sort of higher budget, complete package 2D production again. Certainly has the best balance of exploration out of the three DS Castlevanias. I got fed up of Order of Ecclesia thanks to its cheap bosses. I really wanted to finish it, too, but I really didn't have the patience.

hylian_elf

Got rid of MoF and two of the three DS ones last week. Kept Dawn of Sorrow though. As you say, it's a great game.

Gonna do the same with GBA ones. Keep Circle, get rid of Harmony and Aria.

fronkhead

Funnily enough I got rid of the other two DS games as well. Never picked up any of the GBA games, I'm guessing I should be getting Circle to the Moon when it eventually arrives on the virtual console?

JonB

Order of Ecclesia was poor. The DS ones started well and got worse each time.

I still intend to play LoS again soon though.

hylian_elf

fronkhead wrote:

Funnily enough I got rid of the other two DS games as well. Never picked up any of the GBA games, I'm guessing I should be getting Circle to the Moon when it eventually arrives on the virtual console?

It was certainly my favourite of the bunch, but part of that may have been due to it being the second Metroidvania game after SotN and still fresh-ish. Also, it was harder than the next two which were piss easy, and also had the best spell/side weapon system of the lot IMHO.

Edit: graphics were a bit pish, but I'm sure you won't care about that!

fronkhead

Sounds great, I'm looking forward to it. Especially the harder difficulty, which I'm sure is hard for all the right reasons unlike Order of Ecclesia.

hunk

Circle of the moon GBA was actually very good. A handheld SotN, I was quite impressed with it.

fronkhead

It's reminded me that GBA had a stunning launch lineup -- plenty of variety and a lot of solid games. Obviously not much in there to match the landmark launch titles but the support Nintendo received was tremendous.

What did everyone make of Rondo of Blood, if you don't mind me asking? I've been tempted to pick it up from the Wii Virtual Console (I have Dracula X Chronicles as well, but I would like to play it on the big screen) but I went for Super Castlevania IV instead on the Wii U.

The old EDGE review is a bit vague now that the series has branched out so much.

hylian_elf

Haven't played it to this day. I wouldn't be surprised if I now find that kinda game a bit dull.

Fond memories if SCIV on SNES though. I still have it CIB. Worth a bit. One of the best soundtracks.

fronkhead

SCIV's soundtrack really is special. Great sound design all around, too, I love how meaty the sound effects feel.

retroking1981

fronkhead wrote:

What did everyone make of Rondo of Blood, if you don't mind me asking? I've been tempted to pick it up from the Wii Virtual Console (I have Dracula X Chronicles as well, but I would like to play it on the big screen)

Top top drawer imo. Take into account I'm a big A-B Castlevania fan though. That IV and Bloodlines are my top 3 followed by I and III. Was never a fan of the SotN style.

fronkhead

Cheers, that's good enough for me.

I've pretty much exhausted the SotN style titles (though I do wish to pick up Circle of the Moon), so I've been visiting the older style ones as I now appreciate them where I didn't when I was much younger.

On the topic of Konami sidescrollers, I wish Goemon 2 and Goemon 3 were released somehow. Virtual Console no longer being as high profile as it once was saddens me (though 60hz for Europe does at least show Nintendo is listening): remember the Hinabi Festivals Nintendo did, where JP-only games were released?

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