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Castlevania Portrait Of Ruin (DS) thread

ThirstyFly said:
Quick question guys, I've heard there's only
2
endings, including the one
where you don't cure the sisters and fight them instead
.

So does that mean I can either
unlock the power of the Vampire Killer or totally skip it
or
not bother healing Vincent
?

I plan to do everything anyway, but I want to make sure I'm not screwing myself out of getting another bad ending (I want to see them all, using the same save) buy doing them early on and saving my game.
Click to expand...

You aren't. So far the only two endings i know about are the bad one and the good one.
 
any hints against
frankenstein
?

level 24 and he is kicking my ass.
 
Error2k4 said:
any hints against
frankenstein
?

level 24 and he is kicking my ass.
Click to expand...
the dark rift spell annul both his missile attack and his machine gun attack,the other should be pretty easy to avoid
 
I dont have any of that stuff wtf?

anyway I beat with jumping around avoiding his attacks.
 
I just got to the halfway point (did the little special thing with the two sisters).

Why is this game so mindlessly easy -- holy shit Konami, hardcore fans are the only people buying this game why not give them what they want.

And so much shit is unbalanced. If the must, they should cut down on 75% of your items and abilities to better balance shit out.

1000 blades.
1000 blades.
1000 blades.
Nebula.
Nebula.
Nebula.
Nebula.

Dissapointing.

But I can't stop playing so I guess that means its my DS game of the year :)

Question: Wind says you need to get 'meat' -- at the butchers town.

I presume it's the first portrait area, and I think I have found the butchers room (there are pig hangings in the backdrop that you can interact with an shit) but to no avail, I've had that quest posted up for the entire game (50% done) and I still can't get it/figure it out.
 
C- Warrior said:
Question: Wind says you need to get 'meat' -- at the butchers town.

I presume it's the first portrait area, and I think I have found the butchers room (there are pig hangings in the backdrop that you can interact with an shit) but to no avail, I've had that quest posted up for the entire game (50% done) and I still can't get it/figure it out.
Click to expand...

Punch them with your bare fists.
 
Error2k4 said:
c-warrior dont use abilities? I mean I dont use items in the game
Click to expand...

Sure. But the game would be a lot more enjoyable if you gave it all and you still barely emerged victories, instead of having to implement self-inflicted handicaps just to properly balance a game that the developers should have done themselves. It takes you out of the experience.

Although it's still fun stuff.
 
Have the game.

Do some of the swords have special moves like in SotN? With a down-forward motion? The special move button from DoS no longer exists in this one.

Also, there are two many swords in this game that are the 'heavy-type'. All of these weapons suck ass, because they are soooo goddamn SLOW. I just got a guardian knight to drop a 3-star rare sword, and it's stats are good for where I am but it's heavy and slow as crap. I hate these.
 
C- Warrior said:
And so much shit is unbalanced. If the must, they should cut down on 75% of your items and abilities to better balance shit out.
Click to expand...
You know, you don't have to use the overpowered items. Just like you don't have to use cheats even if they include them in a game.
 
I think I'm at the final battle, and if I am... I hate to say it, but I think this is one of the worst Castlevania games I've ever played. I'll explain why after I beat it (and if I still have the same feelings) but a lot of things seriously bug me about it.
 
Docpan said:
Do some of the swords have special moves like in SotN? With a down-forward motion? The special move button from DoS no longer exists in this one.
Click to expand...
There are some special moves in this game, but you gotta learn them before you can use them.
 
brandonh83 said:
I think I'm at the final battle, and if I am... I hate to say it, but I think this is one of the worst Castlevania games I've ever played. I'll explain why after I beat it (and if I still have the same feelings) but a lot of things seriously bug me about it.
Click to expand...
werent you calling it the best 1 page ago.. :lol
 
holy crap i had no clue this game was out. I was just at ebgames and this game had a coming soon sticker so i sorta ignored it. Ill pik it up sometime in the next couple days.
 
C- Warrior said:
Sure. But the game would be a lot more enjoyable if you gave it all and you still barely emerged victories, instead of having to implement self-inflicted handicaps just to properly balance a game that the developers should have done themselves. It takes you out of the experience.

Although it's still fun stuff.
Click to expand...

I dunno, I've found the bosses challenging so far. I probably suck though
 
brandonh83 said:
I think I'm at the final battle, and if I am... I hate to say it, but I think this is one of the worst Castlevania games I've ever played. I'll explain why after I beat it (and if I still have the same feelings) but a lot of things seriously bug me about it.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty far in now (I died three times after playing two hours without saving, and I got mother****ing pissed off, so I sped through it), and I am just not really enjoying it at all.

I don't know if it is this game in particular or just that I'm officially burnt out on this style of Castlevania, but a drastic change is needed.
 
It could be a variety of things for me. For one, we just got Dawn of Sorrow a year ago. Now, I'm not condemning the idea of getting a Castlevania every year, but since this doesn't change much, it really does just feel like an extension of DOS, with a couple of new characters and levels, while very nice, cool, and with great music, just don't really do much for me. I liked going outside of the castle but I just don't think they did a very good job of it. Plus it did get a little repetitive after a certain.. uh point which I won't bother to detail. Oh, and the actual castle itself this time is extremely bland and poorly designed.

Another thing is that I'm more a fan of the old school, level based, please shoot me difficulty of the older installments. Castlevania IV is still my favorite, followed by Symphony and then probably Dawn of Sorrow. But Portrait of Ruin IS a good game, I had fun with it, it's just that I guess they didn't change things up enough after only one year or so of almost the same thing. I love the formula, don't get me wrong, but there is a way to keep the formula fresh and I'm not under the belief that they accomplished that with this game. I mean when I got Dawn of Sorrow, it wasn't too long after I played Aria of Sorrow and Circle of the Moon, and I still enjoyed it so much that I'd say it's my third or fourth favorite installment overall as I pointed out above.

Still, like I said, Portrait is a very good game, IMO. I guess I just expected more from it after they said it was so much bigger than Dawn of Sorrow... I put 30 hours into Dawn of Sorrow getting everything, and while I haven't gotten everything in Portrait yet, I beat it around the 8 hour mark (which IS good for a game like this) but I think I'll be tapped out by 15 hours. Oh, and the game is far too easy. Sorry, it just is. I was hearing word that it was the hardest Metroidvania and apart from a COUPLE of hair-raising boss fights (which you come to expect anyway), NO, this game is not difficult whatsoever.

As of right now I'd give it a 7.5/10, but that may go up after I've explored more of the secret/hidden stuff.
 
brandonh83 said:
It could be a variety of things for me. For one, we just got Dawn of Sorrow a year ago. Now, I'm not condemning the idea of getting a Castlevania every year, but since this doesn't change much, it really does just feel like an extension of DOS, with a couple of new characters and levels, while very nice, cool, and with great music, just don't really do much for me. I liked going outside of the castle but I just don't think they did a very good job of it. Plus it did get a little repetitive after a certain.. uh point which I won't bother to detail. Oh, and the actual castle itself this time is extremely bland and poorly designed.

Another thing is that I'm more a fan of the old school, level based, please shoot me difficulty of the older installments. Castlevania IV is still my favorite, followed by Symphony and then probably Dawn of Sorrow. But Portrait of Ruin IS a good game, I had fun with it, it's just that I guess they didn't change things up enough after only one year or so of almost the same thing. I love the formula, don't get me wrong, but there is a way to keep the formula fresh and I'm not under the belief that they accomplished that with this game. I mean when I got Dawn of Sorrow, it wasn't too long after I played Aria of Sorrow and Circle of the Moon, and I still enjoyed it so much that I'd say it's my third or fourth favorite installment overall as I pointed out above.

Still, like I said, Portrait is a very good game, IMO. I guess I just expected more from it after they said it was so much bigger than Dawn of Sorrow... I put 30 hours into Dawn of Sorrow getting everything, and while I haven't gotten everything in Portrait yet, I beat it around the 8 hour mark (which IS good for a game like this) but I think I'll be tapped out by 15 hours.

As of right now I'd give it a 7.5/10, but that may go up after I've explored more of the secret/hidden stuff.
Click to expand...

Is it true PoR has like 5 castles?
 
MoxManiac said:
Is it true PoR has like 5 castles?
Click to expand...

There is one rather large castle that serves as a hub for 8 or so other levels, but they're relatively small and there isn't much to them. One in particular, while very atmospheric, is an absolute pain in the ass to navigate which just doesn't make it very fun at all.
 
C- Warrior said:
I just got to the halfway point (did the little special thing with the two sisters).

Why is this game so mindlessly easy -- holy shit Konami, hardcore fans are the only people buying this game why not give them what they want.

And so much shit is unbalanced. If the must, they should cut down on 75% of your items and abilities to better balance shit out.

1000 blades.
1000 blades.
1000 blades.
Nebula.
Nebula.
Nebula.
Nebula.

Dissapointing.

But I can't stop playing so I guess that means its my DS game of the year :)

Question: Wind says you need to get 'meat' -- at the butchers town.

I presume it's the first portrait area, and I think I have found the butchers room (there are pig hangings in the backdrop that you can interact with an shit) but to no avail, I've had that quest posted up for the entire game (50% done) and I still can't get it/figure it out.
Click to expand...

1000 blades has a crappy range which won't hit a boss like
death
not to mention that while you are doing it,you are just standing there and the boss can just hit you with anything and interrupt it,i used it for the egyptian boss and i never touched the move again because i always found a better way to deal damage or i couldn't hit the boss with it, so i don't see how it can make the game unfair (and what's nebula?)
 
has anyone else had POR freeze on them I've only played about 2 hours and its froze 3 different times once during the first 2 boss fights than once trying to access the menu has anyone else had this happen or is my copy defective?
 
1'000 blades quickly loses its usefulness on the later bosses. It leaves you wide open for attacks and its invincibility frames are extremely short. I used to rely on it somewhat, but, after
Death and Medusa
I no longer use it. Even when I got to the demon's den, I found out that after a few rooms, its use was nullified.

As for the nebula whip. Its range might be a little cheap, but, the VK slaughters it in terms of everything else.
 
I got it, but Gamestop shipped the game and preorder box together in a shitty Jiffy mailer and the cardboard box got crushed. I don't think anything inside could have gotten damaged, though.. I'm just giving it as a Christmas gift for my brother who loved SotN, AoS and DoS, so I'm not as concerned as I would be if I ordered it for myself.
 
While I can understand the complaints ( i mean, truly and fully understand), I don't understand the comparisons of difficulty and the knocks against castle for being "poorly designed". The castle eliminates the need to do 90% of the annoying backtracking that the ones before it had. There are enough warps to keep you from having to run through an obscene amount of hallways to get to where you need to go. If that wasn't enough, you could buy what is essentially the library card from SOTN to go back to the shop! There isn't a thing wrong with the castle this time.

As for the difficulty...well, the bosses are slightly more challenging than the ones in DoS. That and the Demon's Den/Evil's nest is much harder than the older games. The lvl1 cap with the bonus characters, also proves that the only reason the older games could even be mentioned in the same sentence as the word difficult, is because of controls. Nothing more. The enemy placement is the exact same as the older ones and the bosses have more moves than the older ones. They were never rip your hair out difficult. The low level runs on DoS won't even hold a candle to the Lvl 1 cap runs.
 
brandonh83 said:
NO, this game is not difficult whatsoever.

As of right now I'd give it a 7.5/10, but that may go up after I've explored more of the secret/hidden stuff.
Click to expand...
Try the secret area. I think you will cry!:lol Most challenging thing I've been put through in years.

And I still think you're overreacting a bit. I did the same thing too after the real crappy paintings near the end but in retrospect the game still rocks harder then most CVs games so I give it 9.
 
I just got this game, and I finished 4 portraits. I'm not super excited about this game. If you had played previous Castlevanias, you will find that this series, esp with PoR, recycles so much shit from the other games - enemies, stage themes. Games like Rondo of Blood and Symphony of Night, I thought, did a great job bringing fresh stuff the the series, but almost of all the enemies I've encountered in PoR are from either Dawn of Sorrow or Rondo of Blood. It just makes me feel like I've played this game somewhat previously. I agree with posters here that this series needs a serious change in direction.

I doubt I'll get anymore Castlevanias in the future if they retain the same design...
 
Personally, I stop buying them the minute they change formulas. If they ever go back to platformers, I'm done with this series.
 
Pedobear said:
Personally, I stop buying them the minute they change formulas. If they ever go back to platformers, I'm done with this series.
Click to expand...
Actually, I'd like to see them make a 2D actionvania again.. I love the non-linear igavanias to death but it would be interesting to see them go back to the roots a bit only with new hardware.
 
Yeah, I'm about to be burned out on Metroidvania after this game. I was listening to the bonus CD that came with the preorder, and I started remembering how great those older games were. Not that there's anything really wrong with the newer ones, but this makes the 6th game in a row to use the Symphony style (if you don't count Chronicles).

It would be so great if Iga made the next CV a 2D effort for a console instead of a handheld, in the vein of the older games. He even said he liked CVIII the best, I wish he'd make something like that.

I've finished 7 paintings, and that level recycling near the end just sucks. Nice boss fights though.

Anybody gotten 100% of the map yet?
 
When I said poorly designed, I meant there was nothing interesting about the main castle. Nothing really jumped out at me as original or neat. It wasn't bad, it was just dull to me. I have 100% in each portrait stage and 97% in the main castle, so suffice it to say, I've seen a good majority of the game, and very few areas really snagged my interest. I was briefly amused by the
Nation of Fools
stage until it proved to be the most annoying level to navigate through. I think the best two levels were the
Dark Academy/Forest
stages.

I also wasn't impressed with many of the boss fights; the first part of the final battle rocked but after that it was "been there, done that." Which is, sadly, what I think of the rest of the game. I just didn't feel much originality or things to be really excited about. Dawn of Sorrow seemed to have so much more to it as well as much better boss fights and level design. My opinion of course. I know a lot of people didn't find Dawn of Sorrow anything special but I truly think it's a much better game than this.

Nonetheless, I want to reiterate that I think this is an awesome game. Is it what I hoped it would be? Hm, it's pretty much as I imagined it would be, save for some really boring levels and bosses, but it's still Castlevania, and that alone makes it better than a lot of games to come out this season.

As far as changing formulas, I do want the next one to have more action/platforming about it. You know, timing jumps, long stretches of intense play without a save or something of the sort, excruciatingly hard bosses, etc. The new ones are a bit on the easy side. I don't really care if it takes the old school formula or the "Metroidvania" formula; to me it completely has to do with how well it is executed. I just think Portrait of Ruin is probably the worst of the "Metroidvanias" so far due to the lack of interesting levels and things to do (but then again I haven't played Harmony of Dissonance but I heard it was goat ass).
 
Omfg.
Death is a real bitch now. Two small sythe kill you, and either touching him or getting hit with anything else means death.
 
Docpan said:
Have the game.

Do some of the swords have special moves like in SotN? With a down-forward motion? The special move button from DoS no longer exists in this one.
Click to expand...

I know there is a way to trigger a weapon's "special attack". For most weapons this is just a normal dashing attack, but some weapons have their own unique move, like SOTN.
 
Oldschoolgamer said:
Omfg.
Death is a real bitch now. Two small sythe kill you, and either touching him or getting hit with anything else means death.
Click to expand...
i killed him easily with no items on my second try..

Was the most enjoyable boss fight ive had in the game.
 
Zepking said:
i killed him easily with no items on my second try..

Was the most enjoyable boss fight ive had in the game.
Click to expand...

This fight should be a lot easier than it is. I'm using
Richter and Maria. Maria's magic doesn't really do much to death at all. I would Cross Crash him, but, for whatever reason Richter won't do it with the lvl 1 cap on. I've been throwing crosses at him, but, I keep slipping up and getting killed @_@.
 
Don't you unlock the ability to cap your level at 1, 25, or 50 after you beat the game? That should help with the challenge...
 
jwj442 said:
Don't you unlock the ability to cap your level at 1, 25, or 50 after you beat the game? That should help with the challenge...
Click to expand...

Once you beat the game you unlock the level caps. Some people are going to hard mode and starting with some of the higher caps. They are also using the glitches to ease the pain.

If you play hard mode with the lvl cap of 1 on the challenge jumps dramatically. I'm using two of the bonus character, so...I can't use any items. It also seems like one of their moves was disabled.
 
1,000 knives is not cheap due to its lack of invincibility. It's arguably the coolest attack too.

If you want cheap, try the
Greatest Five. Leon Belmont, Trevor Belmont, Simon Belmont, Juste Belmont, and Richter Belmont all attack everything on screen for nearly 1,000 damage. You get it by beating the Demon's Den area. *Definite* Castlevania nerdy moment.

Game is great overall, but I'm very disappointed by the lack of variation in the final four portraits.

Music runs circles around DoS.

Not sure where to place it overall, but I'd have to put it under Symphony of the Night but above the other castleroids.
 
PoR may have shitty level design (well some of the levels are cool what kills it is the last 4 portraits) but it has the best boss fights in any Castlevania ever. which totally makes up for the last 4 crappy portraits imo.
 
Error2k4 said:
PoR may have shitty level design (well some of the levels are cool what kills it is the last 4 portraits) but it has the best boss fights in any Castlevania ever. which totally makes up for the last 4 crappy portraits imo.
Click to expand...

I just... don't agree with that. SOME of the bosses are great, IMO, and a couple really really stand out, but most of them seemed pretty ho-hum to me... like
The Creature, the boss in Sandy Graves, the giant toad thing...
and etc. Still good enough bosses, sure. I just don't really get the praise. But I'm glad you do. :)
 
oh and I disagree with you on PoR ost.

PoR ost>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>DoS ost

its not even funny ;)
 
Error2k4 said:
oh and I disagree with you on PoR ost.

PoR ost>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>DoS ost

its not even funny ;)
Click to expand...

In POR I liked a couple of boss tracks, Jail of Jewels, the Egyptian music, and uh...

In DOS, I liked nearly everything. Thought it had better boss and stage music by far.
 
brandonh83 said:
It could be a variety of things for me. For one, we just got Dawn of Sorrow a year ago. Now, I'm not condemning the idea of getting a Castlevania every year, but since this doesn't change much, it really does just feel like an extension of DOS, with a couple of new characters and levels, while very nice, cool, and with great music, just don't really do much for me. I liked going outside of the castle but I just don't think they did a very good job of it. Plus it did get a little repetitive after a certain.. uh point which I won't bother to detail. Oh, and the actual castle itself this time is extremely bland and poorly designed.

Another thing is that I'm more a fan of the old school, level based, please shoot me difficulty of the older installments. Castlevania IV is still my favorite, followed by Symphony and then probably Dawn of Sorrow. But Portrait of Ruin IS a good game, I had fun with it, it's just that I guess they didn't change things up enough after only one year or so of almost the same thing. I love the formula, don't get me wrong, but there is a way to keep the formula fresh and I'm not under the belief that they accomplished that with this game. I mean when I got Dawn of Sorrow, it wasn't too long after I played Aria of Sorrow and Circle of the Moon, and I still enjoyed it so much that I'd say it's my third or fourth favorite installment overall as I pointed out above.

Still, like I said, Portrait is a very good game, IMO. I guess I just expected more from it after they said it was so much bigger than Dawn of Sorrow... I put 30 hours into Dawn of Sorrow getting everything, and while I haven't gotten everything in Portrait yet, I beat it around the 8 hour mark (which IS good for a game like this) but I think I'll be tapped out by 15 hours. Oh, and the game is far too easy. Sorry, it just is. I was hearing word that it was the hardest Metroidvania and apart from a COUPLE of hair-raising boss fights (which you come to expect anyway), NO, this game is not difficult whatsoever.

As of right now I'd give it a 7.5/10, but that may go up after I've explored more of the secret/hidden stuff.
Click to expand...

Whoa, no point giving my impressions, this man did a good job of summing it up for me.
I would have to agree with everything, even the difficulty. As for my favoute castlevania games i would have to say DOS > SOTN >SCIV.
 
brandonh83 said:
In POR I liked a couple of boss tracks, Jail of Jewels, the Egyptian music, and uh...

In DOS, I liked nearly everything. Thought it had better boss and stage music by far.
Click to expand...

I also agree with this lol. Wow we really think alike :lol
 
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