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[Nocturnowl]

Playing SotN earlier, I picked up some variety of fist weapon that i've never had before dropped by that Lion chap in the inverted library, where has this thing been all my life? both rapid punches and a fireball for special moves is just lovely.

 

[Seven Force]

Playing SotN earlier, I picked up some variety of fist weapon that i've never had before dropped by that Lion chap in the inverted library, where has this thing been all my life? both rapid punches and a fireball for special moves is just lovely.

Fist of Tulkas? Yeah, it's pretty awesome. I almost always end up getting one every time I farm for a Crissaegrim since the enemies that drop that are in the same area.

 

[Easy_D]

I actually like that Castlevania a lot, despite it's flaws. It kind of reminds me of Zelda II where if you play it with a guide, it becomes a lot more fun. I need to do that myself, guess I'll chalk that on the list for 4.

Both Zelda 2 and Simon's Quest are a poor man's Battle of Olympus

 

[Nocturnowl]

Fist of Tulkas? Yeah, it's pretty awesome. I almost always end up getting one every time I farm for a Crissaegrim since the enemies that drop that are in the same area.

Yeah that's the one, there's something satisfying about punching death to pieces in a flurry of critical hits, I mean sure the whole game is a breeze at this point anyway and there's certainly far more powerful stuff out there but i've been getting more enjoyment out of this weapon than I expected.

 

[sphinx]

probably already asked but... why did the OP decided to exclude Circle of the Moon? It really is a good metroidvania, far bettern than HoD...

 

[Lee Chaolan]

One thing I really liked about the Harmony of Despair DLC is that they added in Fuma from Getsu Fuma Den, and his world from the game.

Harmony of Despair DLC - The Legend of Fuma - Chapter 11

http://youtu.be/XjVa6_-1SEI?t=35s

The music is also amazing, once again.



I'll have to do that, then! I actually would've played by now, but I have a 39 inch TV coming in on Wednesday so I'll wait to play on that. Sounds like good fun.

Cool keep us updated when you start playing Rondo! It's hard as hell just get ready for the challenge!

Also, Fuma was really cool in Harmony of Despair. Would love an expansion with more characters!

 

[Bishop89]

bought SONT a couple weeks ago on that psn sale, still havnt touched it (and ive never played it before)

I really want to though but my backlog =[

 

[RadarScope1]

bought SONT a couple weeks ago on that psn sale, still havnt touched it (and ive never played it before)

I really want to though but my backlog =[

Damn, it was on sale a couple weeks ago? I might have jumped on that to play it on the Vita I plan to buy later this year.

 

[Ainaurdur]

bought SONT a couple weeks ago on that psn sale, still havnt touched it (and ive never played it before)

I really want to though but my backlog =[

How old are the other games in your backlog?

Whatever the age, your answer is to drop them all, and immediately start playing SotN right now.
You will love it.

 

[cartman414]

Both Zelda 2 and Simon's Quest are a poor man's Battle of Olympus

BoO is a poor man's Zelda 2.

 

[Creaking]

probably already asked but... why did the OP decided to exclude Circle of the Moon? It really is a good metroidvania, far bettern than HoD...

I don't know. Perhaps because Iga excluded it from the Castlevania canon. It really is a good Metroidvania. My third favorite of the whole bunch, I think.

 

[Arkanius]

I knew I was missing a great music that I forgot to post a few days ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=JGv5upEejsY

What an epic way to start a game.

 

[ULTROS!]

Finally, after a long 16 years I managed to these in SotN:

- 100% the maps
- Get all the items
- etc.

The only thing that I didn't manage to do is get obtain all the rare drop items. :/

 

[IrishNinja]

If anybody's hungry for some Castlevania-like games, then i recommend

Majuu Ou - King of Demons (Super Fami; get an English translation patch)

Master of Darkness (SMS)

never heard of the first one - will totally check it out now! 2nd one ive been looking for on ebay since Black Falcon put me onto it...man as a kid, id play CV1 at a friends house & was dying for a clone, this would've been so awesome!

Spoiler

instead i had Ghost House and just pretended...rough summer

 

[NervousXtian]

Since I got a Vita, 1st game I loaded was SOTN.. which really seems to be made for portable play.

Spent a good portion yesterday knocking out the 1st castle, saved and quit after Beezlebub in the Inverted. Haven't played since it was first out on the PS2.

Wow, it's just so smooth and doesn't hold your hand.. but it is easy having only died a few times from not paying attention.

 

[Dremark]

There are a [/i]ton[/i] of Castlevania games stuffed into that time period. In IGA's canon, there are Order of Ecclesia, Bloodlines, and Portrait of Ruin. That period also includes Legacy of Darkness/Castlevania 64 and Circle of the Moon. There are also the events of Bram Stoker's original Dracula novel, which are semi-canonical to the series. There was going to be that Castlevania Ressurection (sort of, it had a Belmont from the 19th century), but that was cancelled and a game key to it was stricken from canon. It would have explained the whole "Belmonts are forbidden from using Vampire Killer" thing, too.

Post-Dawn of Sorrow is also tricky since that is still in the future. Castlevania isn't exactly Mega Man where you can comfortably set games five hundred years from now.

There are a ton of games in that time period, that's because you can put a game there and pretty much put whatever type of story there you would like to as long as you deviate from the traditional Belmont Vs. Dracula story. Similarly they have a similar freedom between Lament of Innocence and Castlevania 3 where they could pretty much do whatever they want to as long as they don;t have a Belmont killing Dracula at the end of the game.

Honestly though the could have been creative and taken a bold new step for the series by putting it after Dawn of Sorrow but they instead decided to regurgitate the old lore with some twists. When it comes down to it I don't really see how you can argue there was no where to put a story, they choose to reboot it rather than work with the existing time line.

 

[Host Samurai]

Monster Party on the NES is also a good Castlevania type game if anybody gets an itch.

 

[Bishop89]

How old are the other games in your backlog?

Whatever the age, your answer is to drop them all, and immediately start playing SotN right now.
You will love it.

I figure i would love it, I HAVE played the DS games and loved them a lot so i figure sotn will be similar.

 

[Jazzy Network]

Once I finish SotN I wanna beat CotM.

 

[Ahasverus]

Once I finish SotN I wanna beat CotM.

You won't

 

[Noogy]

Once I finish SotN I wanna beat CotM.

I love CotM, it's probably in my top 5 all time favorites. It sadly took me about a decade to realize that though. And it'll kick your ass.

 

[Kokonoe]

Cool keep us updated when you start playing Rondo! It's hard as hell just get ready for the challenge!

Also, Fuma was really cool in Harmony of Despair. Would love an expansion with more characters!

Wouldn't be whip Castlevania without a good hearty dosage of challenge, my Belmont is ready. I'll post my impressions, actually, the time is today because this arrived in the mail! Woo!

Above all else, I'd actually like more character balance instead of just "Super Soma". Haha.

Both Zelda 2 and Simon's Quest are a poor man's Battle of Olympus

Battle of Olympus is good? I haven't ever played it.

 

[OnFire331]

I'm thinking of getting around to playing the Dracula X Chronicles and after the main game playing the remastered SotN included. How is the remake?

 

[DjangoReinhardt]

I'd like to see WayForward make a 2D entry on 3DS that goes back to the pre-SotN design style and then retire the series for awhile on a good note. Come back if/when there is a compelling reason to revive it. As much as I love the series, there are plenty of Castlevania games in the world already and there's no need for more uninspired games with a Castlevania coat of paint.

 

[Sgblues]

I didn't think cotm was super hard in anyway, sure there were the various armor enemies you had to lookout for(hated ice, light and dark) killer bees, were-creatures(wolf, bear, jaguar) and the devil enemies also were a pain, but the game can be cheesed through with summons(

Spoiler

cockatrice's slow moving, full screen attack was the best

).

 

[Morrigan Stark]

I got as far as Dracula in Circle of the Moon but I was nowhere near strong (or skilled ;_; ) enough to beat him, and eventually gave up. Is that the one with the super-maddeningly-hard Death? I remember a GBA or DS Castlevania where I must have restarted Death like 20 times, maybe more, but I'm not sure if it was CotM or maybe Aria or Dawn of Sorrow.

 

[Nocturnowl]

I'm thinking of getting around to playing the Dracula X Chronicles and after the main game playing the remastered SotN included. How is the remake?

Different script and voices to the original, otherwise it's the same except that there's like two more familiars if I recall.
It's actually the version I played first.

 

[Sgblues]

I got as far as Dracula in Circle of the Moon but I was nowhere near strong (or skilled ;_; ) enough to beat him, and eventually gave up. Is that the one with the super-maddeningly-hard Death? I remember a GBA or DS Castlevania where I must have restarted Death like 20 times, maybe more, but I'm not sure if it was CotM or maybe Aria or Dawn of Sorrow.

That might be Dawn of Sorrow, did he do a move where he summons skulls that do a bite attack from each side?

And yeah Dracula in cotm could be a little difficult, because of that charge move he does if you got hit unaware, also his meteor storm and the sweeping laser beam.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Yeah, I think that's the one. Dawn of Sorrow then. Was that the one with the boss called Paranoia? I don't know why but I really struggled against that boss. Well, when I finally got him I didn't do so badly, but every other time before it I died like a bitch about twenty times.

 

[MrT-Tar]

I've just started playing Circle of the Moon on my GBA Micro (it's been in my ever-shrinking backlog for around 18 months). The only previous Castlevania games I have played were Super Castlevania IV on the Wii VC and SotN on the PSX. Consider that I loved both and that I am a huge Metroid fan, it's strange I haven't played the rest.

Anyway, I've loving Circle of the Moon at the moment. The Catacombs music is fantastic and imo is up their with the best music from the other two games I played: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utl5udium0Q

 

[Sgblues]

Yeah, I think that's the one. Dawn of Sorrow then. Was that the one with the boss called Paranoia? I don't know why but I really struggled against that boss. Well, when I finally got him I didn't do so badly, but every other time before it I died like a bitch about twenty times.

Yeah Paranoia is the mirror boss, yeah he was a pain to deal with.

 

[Nocturnowl]

DoS Death was one hell of a ruck in Julius Mode, probably my favourite Death fight in the series.
Paranoia actually put me through my paces as well on my last standard run through coming to think of it.

 

[Salaadin]

I got as far as Dracula in Circle of the Moon but I was nowhere near strong (or skilled ;_; ) enough to beat him, and eventually gave up. Is that the one with the super-maddeningly-hard Death? I remember a GBA or DS Castlevania where I must have restarted Death like 20 times, maybe more, but I'm not sure if it was CotM or maybe Aria or Dawn of Sorrow.

As far as Im concerned, Death is the final boss in every game. I dont even know how many Castlevanias I played where I stopped at Death because fuck him.


My favorite Castlevania games are Aria and Dawn of Sorrow. I dont know what it is (sould collecting?) that just won me over but I played them so much.
If I was a rich man, Id pay Konami to put Iga back on the games and recapture that 2D Castlevania feel.

 

[kunonabi]

As far as Im concerned, Death is the final boss in every game. I dont even know how many Castlevanias I played where I stopped at Death because fuck him.


My favorite Castlevania games are Aria and Dawn of Sorrow. I dont know what it is (sould collecting?) that just won me over but I played them so much.
If I was a rich man, Id pay Konami to put Iga back on the games and recapture that 2D Castlevania feel.

Typically Death is usually harder than Dracula anyway. Dracula is actually a pushover more often than not.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Not in the CotM, though. ;_; He had this huge attack that I couldn't dodge and it 2hko'ed me, or something. I may be misremembering, but I felt too underpowered to take him on and I hate grinding so I gave up. I'm okay with having unfinished games. ^^

 

[zainetor]

I've just started playing Circle of the Moon on my GBA Micro (it's been in my ever-shrinking backlog for around 18 months). The only previous Castlevania games I have played were Super Castlevania IV on the Wii VC and SotN on the PSX. Consider that I loved both and that I am a huge Metroid fan, it's strange I haven't played the rest.

Anyway, I've loving Circle of the Moon at the moment. The Catacombs music is fantastic and imo is up their with the best music from the other two games I played: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utl5udium0Q

it's definitely the hardest portable metroidvania. You'll have to use some card combination if you want to finish it.

 

[Kokonoe]

Actually, I made an error. I've actually played "Bloodlines", what I'm going to play is "Rondo of Blood".

 

[zainetor]

Actually, I made an error. I've actually played "Bloodlines", what I'm going to play is "Rondo of Blood".

you made the same mistake the translators did in SOTN

By the way, does somebody have the dracula bettle perfect selection cd? Those remixes are sick.

 

[kogasu]

I wish I had finished CotM. I really liked it when I had it. I always thought the DSS card magic system was pretty cool.

However, I WAS playing SotN yesterday. I've finished it on the Dracula X Chronicles but I ended up buying a copy for PS1 so I'm finishing that one up. Game is absolutely one of my favorites and I'm always happy to replay it heh.

 

[Ahasverus]

I wish I had finished CotM. I really liked it when I had it. I always thought the DSS card magic system was pretty cool.

However, I WAS playing SotN yesterday. I've finished it on the Dracula X Chronicles but I ended up buying a copy for PS1 so I'm finishing that one up. Game is absolutely one of my favorites and I'm always happy to replay it heh.

It hasn't aged a bit. Glorious.

 

[BosSin]

Have recently been playing sotn for the first time, excellent game.
Also, have got past that part.

 

[jdl]

It hasn't aged a bit. Glorious.

well, the CG intro has aged terribly, visually. the rest of the game still looks beautiful.

 

[Creaking]

However, I WAS playing SotN yesterday. I've finished it on the Dracula X Chronicles but I ended up buying a copy for PS1 so I'm finishing that one up. Game is absolutely one of my favorites and I'm always happy to replay it heh.

Any preference on the voice acting and lines?

 

[brandonh83]

I love Castlevania so much I often question which one do I like better, Castlevania or Zelda?

And it's probably Zelda. But Castlevania gives it a run for its money.

Kind of like how Star Wars is my favorite film franchise, but Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are like ehhhh I dunno!

 

[Ahasverus]

well, the CG intro has aged terribly, visually. the rest of the game still looks beautiful.

Well the 360 version cut it and replaced i am the Wind for an orchestral piece, heh.

 

[Wishmaster92]

It hasn't aged a bit. Glorious.

There was something about the character/monster design in circle of the moon. It looked less cartoonish than any of the handheld castlevanias. It has the best design imo along with sotn.

 

[Lee Chaolan]

Wouldn't be whip Castlevania without a good hearty dosage of challenge, my Belmont is ready. I'll post my impressions, actually, the time is today because this arrived in the mail! Woo!

Above all else, I'd actually like more character balance instead of just "Super Soma". Haha.

Nice pickup, man! Beautiful. Take some pics of our buddy Richter on that bad boy!

Also, yes. lol. Super Soma. He's fun to play as, just gets boring after a while. Gotta keep the Yorick boucing though. Wish Charlotte got more spells too. Richter gets pretty damn powerful in it too.

 

[Maedhros]

Any preference on the voice acting and lines?

The original ones are classic at this point... so always try that.

For me? Personally I only play the game in Japanese (it was the copy I owned back in the day of PSX). SOTN on PSP give me the option of have japanese voices and english script, so that's how I play.

 

[Sgblues]

There was something about the character/monster design in circle of the moon. It looked less cartoonish than any of the handheld castlevanias. It has the best design imo along with sotn.

Yeah all of cotm's sprites were original and not ported from other games or have been ported either.

 

[kogasu]

Any preference on the voice acting and lines?

Well it's been awhile since I've actually restarted DXC SotN so I don't exactly remember how all the voice acting parts went. Let's see, I know everyone sounds older in the original compared to Dracula X. I like them sounding older. Also, the original intro's lines and acting are just glorious heh. You may call it bad but I love the lines in the original heh. They're so damn quotable.

I'm pretty sure I like the original's voice stuff way more just because it's cheesy and bad (supposedly hehe) and sort of calls back to cheesy 90s voice acting for me.