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Castlevania Portrait Of Ruin (DS) thread

brandonh83 said:
It's amazing. It really, really is. The level design, the bosses, the music... god I just don't know why they can't do something like that again. It was on the DAMN SNES. Not that I'm belittling the SNES but seriously we have much better technology and I would like to see the same level of inspiration and creativity that we used to see way back then these days on the tech we have now.
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It's still the only CV where you can whip in all 8 directions, isn't it? I always thought that was awesome. The game really showed off the SNES's strengths, like that rotating corridor level.
 
I don't think the formula is stale, I just really think they've ran their course on levels and bosses. My problem with Portrait wasn't the formula, but the content in said formula. None of the levels or boss fights impressed me at all, save for a couple here and there. Seriously, I don't even remember many of the bosses. They were just plain awful in this one IMO. 1st part of the final battle was pretty awesome but even that was flawed in the dumbest ways possible.

It's still the only CV where you can whip in all 8 directions, isn't it? I always thought that was awesome. The game really showed off the SNES's strengths, like that rotating corridor level.
Click to expand...

Yep, like I said, the levels are astonishing in Castlevania IV. It has an elegance to it that a few other installments lack. The game makes you truly feel that Dracula, as well as his castle, has class and majesty. It's sick, but elegant. One thing I miss is how Dracula used to have a frightening presence. Climbing those classic steps in the older games made you feel uneasy, but these days, especially with
Portrait
, you're like well here we go again.
 
I see your complaints, brandon, about the formula not being stale to you...it was just poorly executed here. I could understand that.

Oh, and on your last point...YES. Totally. Climbing the clock tower had a certain finality to it...the organs were playing and you were following the red carpet...all for that final confrontation with Dracula, who you knew was behind the scenes and not some stupid puppet or something. In some ways, the exploration-focused Metroidvanias have killed that feeling because, well, oftentimes you'll get to the Castle Keep only for a minute or so and then have to turn around.

SotN was the last game to make me think "oh shit," and that was probably helped by the Rondo of Blood opening that triggered there "here we go!" impulse in my mind.
 
Y2Kevbug11 said:
I see your complaints, brandon, about the formula not being stale to you...it was just poorly executed here. I could understand that.

Oh, and on your last point...YES. Totally. Climbing the clock tower had a certain finality to it...the organs were playing and you were following the red carpet...all for that final confrontation with Dracula, who you knew was behind the scenes and not some stupid puppet or something. In some ways, the exploration-focused Metroidvanias have killed that feeling because, well, oftentimes you'll get to the Castle Keep only for a minute or so and then have to turn around.

SotN was the last game to make me think "oh shit," and that was probably helped by the Rondo of Blood opening that triggered there "here we go!" impulse in my mind.
Click to expand...

Agreed 100%. Another reason is that the Metroidvanias are sooooo much easier in comparison, but I still like the fact that some of the bosses can be tough at times. Portrait of Ruin wasn't totally lacking in difficulty but I still got through it very easily without much leveling up at all.

Oh, by the way, honestly one reason why I wish they'd go back to the level-based style is because I, under no circumstance, should have to level up in a ****ing Castlevania game; this coming from an RPG whore.
 
Where is the Ghoul King.

Why do I only have 878% (yet I need 888% to activate a quest) -- yet, as far as I know, I have all the maps covered.

What the hell is that big gold cross looking this for? I saw it -- and btw, where was it again?

TIA
 
I just started playing in
Richter mode
today, and wow. As if the default Jonathan and Charlotte weren't enough on their own... Way, way better than
Julius mode
, assuming that's even still a spoiler, from Dawn of Sorrow. This is my third favorite DS game of the year so far--though the way that sounds really doesn't do it justice, since it's also my fourth favorite DS game period. And hovering somewhere around my sixteenth or seventeeth favorite game overall, for that matter; basically it's in competition with F-Zero GX, which is a superb place to be.


Incidentally...
These characters come from Rondo of Blood, right? I recognize Richter from being in Dracula X too, or Richiter as they somehow managed to spell it, but I've pretty much only seen the girl in Red Scarlet's avatar--yet she's far and away the coolest of the six characters I've played so far. If she's from Rondo indeed, that just moreover cements that I need to get that if it comes to VC.
 
I've just got the game, and... well, feelings are mixed.

The biggest complaint in this game is that it feels rushed. I know my feelings of 'enh' can't be Metroidvania burnout because I've played so few of them.

Nation of Fools and Burnt Paradise are the really big culprits in terms of level design. Metroidvania level design isn't anything special - it's just good enough for me to progress through the game and kill things. But those two stages were just flat-out confusing. I put off Burnt Paradise to the last of the four paintings because I hated Nation of Fools. Pity, really. The look of the area was brilliant.

Boss fights are definitely tougher in general than DoS, and more fun to fight. However, a lot of the bosses LOOK generic. A Werewolf, a Creature/Frankenstein's Monster... Compared to Gergoth and the Puppet Master... Weak. Still, Death and Dracula are miles better than their counterparts in DoS. That's a plus.

Music... tracks are pleasing to the ear, but are generally forgettable. Favourite track in Iron Blue Intention, which is, incidentally, a remix. Boss fight tracks suck in comparison to DoS.

And the 'endings'... DEFINITELY rushed.

In conclusion, the frills of the game are nice, but there are several flaws in the game - either through design choice, or due to being rushed - that marred my enjoyment. It's still a good game, but probably not worth the USD 35 I dropped for it. Maybe USD 25.

And I'm back after two weeks, BTW. Anyone notice (or care?)
 
the last set of bosses in the 4 remixed paintings are actually a homage to castlevania 1 bosses btw.
 
Pureauthor said:
I've just got the game, and... well, feelings are mixed.

The biggest complaint in this game is that it feels rushed. I know my feelings of 'enh' can't be Metroidvania burnout because I've played so few of them.

Nation of Fools and Burnt Paradise are the really big culprits in terms of level design. Metroidvania level design isn't anything special - it's just good enough for me to progress through the game and kill things. But those two stages were just flat-out confusing. I put off Burnt Paradise to the last of the four paintings because I hated Nation of Fools. Pity, really. The look of the area was brilliant.

Boss fights are definitely tougher in general than DoS, and more fun to fight. However, a lot of the bosses LOOK generic. A Werewolf, a Creature/Frankenstein's Monster... Compared to Gergoth and the Puppet Master... Weak. Still, Death and Dracula are miles better than their counterparts in DoS. That's a plus.

Music... tracks are pleasing to the ear, but are generally forgettable. Favourite track in Iron Blue Intention, which is, incidentally, a remix. Boss fight tracks suck in comparison to DoS.

And the 'endings'... DEFINITELY rushed.

In conclusion, the frills of the game are nice, but there are several flaws in the game - either through design choice, or due to being rushed - that marred my enjoyment. It's still a good game, but probably not worth the USD 35 I dropped for it. Maybe USD 25.

And I'm back after two weeks, BTW. Anyone notice (or care?)
Click to expand...


i agree with

the generic bosses, and the difficulty on some bosses.. 1000 blades kinda kills it, though you have the choice of not using it.. Music tracks are forgettable but a few

I dont agree with

Nation of fools was amazing! I loved that level though it was hard to navigate around.. It was fun to quickly rush down past blades and buning wheels.. I loved how they had everything upsidedown/sideways.. and then the middle of the level was the massive ball of humans.. was really really fun..


=]
 
Now I'm confused. Why is it that on GFAQS or many French boards I go on, people are calling it the best portable Vania ever...Heck it's like that everywhere but on GAF.

What the hell is up with that?
 
Chris Michael said:
I just killed
Brauner, without the Vampire Killer at its "true power"... then I saved. Was I supposed to do that, or would it have made a difference? Did I just screw up any chances of getting the best ending?

PS: are there ANY walkthroughs for this game?
Click to expand...

ANSWAR MEH
 
Pedobear said:
Now I'm confused. Why is it that on GFAQS or many French boards I go on, people are calling it the best portable Vania ever...Heck it's like that everywhere but on GAF.

What the hell is up with that?
Click to expand...

We have higher standards lol.

Chris Michael said:
ANSWAR MEH
Click to expand...

Don't worry it shouldn't make a difference.
 
So I'm kind of curious (because I'd really, really, REALLY like to get this quest out of the way after so long): where can I get another pair of Thick Glasses? Either as a drop or if someone wants to do shop mode, I'll figure out what my FC is.
 
Pedobear said:
Now I'm confused. Why is it that on GFAQS or many French boards I go on, people are calling it the best portable Vania ever...Heck it's like that everywhere but on GAF.

What the hell is up with that?
Click to expand...

GAF hates all games. There are hated games, and REALLY hated games.
 
Jcgamer60 said:
Don't worry it shouldn't make a difference.
Click to expand...

ty.

also, holy moly... is there ANY way to beat
Richter?
He is kicking my as to oblivion. I've probably tried 20 times by now. How much HP does that guy have!?
 
Chris Michael said:
ty.

also, holy moly... is there ANY way to beat
Richter?
He is kicking my as to oblivion. I've probably tried 20 times by now. How much HP does that guy have!?
Click to expand...


I beat him with nebula before the 4 portraits before brauner lol... jump forward attack but jump back before i land

he always did axe throws or cross throws at me... but when i got cornered to a wall he would begin whipping.. I then would double jump over him and rinse and repeat
 
Pedobear said:
Yeah...I guess I should get used to it.
Click to expand...
'higher standards' :lol whatever

anyway... this game kicks ass, in gaf I dont think there is ever going to be a game that everybody here likes and hey that's part of the fun of being here.
 
Pedobear said:
Now I'm confused. Why is it that on GFAQS or many French boards I go on, people are calling it the best portable Vania ever...Heck it's like that everywhere but on GAF.

What the hell is up with that?
Click to expand...

I called it the best here back when the game was released in Japan. :P

Well I agree with some of the bad things pointed out by other people. I love additional modes and higher difficulties where you really need to master your skills and personally, this is where I think POR truely shines.
 
I've BEEN saying it was the best handheld CV title for 3 months now when I first got the English version. :P

But I agree, different strokes for different folks. But I stand by my claim.
 
I still stand by my claim that it is the BEST Castletroid period. I'm surprised by the negativity, I thought most people would love it here. But it seems DoS was far better received than this...oh well.

The extras/replayability did it for me. From DoS' release up until PoR's release, I played DoS every month, I'll be doing the same for PoR until when the next one comes up.
 
Well I'm usually one of those people that loves everything, unless it's GTA. :lol But Portrait of Ruin thoroughly disappointed me for the reasons I gave. This is actually one of the very few times I've bitched about something on GAF. I still think it's a good game, but I find it a tad disappointing for a Castlevania game.

By the way, getting opinions from GameFAQS is like getting opinions from 10 year old Harry Potter fans about the artistic merits of the Prisoner of Azkaban film.

OMGSUX THEY LEFT OUT HARRY'S COUGH FROM CHAPTER 2

not that Harry Potter has anything to do with Portrait of Ruin besides having Hermione as a playable character
 
Magicpaint said:
I still stand by my claim that it is the BEST Castletroid period. I'm surprised by the negativity, I thought most people would love it here. But it seems DoS was far better received than this...oh well.

The extras/replayability did it for me. From DoS' release up until PoR's release, I played DoS every month, I'll be doing the same for PoR until when the next one comes up.
Click to expand...


Same here. I liked the main game, but, playing with
Richter and Maria
feels ****ing great. Maybe its the inner masochist in me, but, I think that the level design and enemy placement, is freakin genius with the lvl 1 cap on. It pushes your reflexes and abilities to memorize enemy placement more so than the old ones. The nation of fools was confusing on normal with the regular two, but, on this mode its an outright bitch to navigate. One false jump has you falling onto an enemy and seeing the game over screen. The famous clock tower has you jumping and attacking like crazy. I was stuck in burnt paradise for like a half hour, because i had to figure out away to get from the save point all the way at the bottom of the map, up to the one next to the boss, without getting hit. I could not get past the queezle(whatever...fleamen on skeletons)for the life of me, and, I couldn't kill it because i would die before it took half the damage to do so. The bosses will kill you insanely fast, especially
Death and Frankenstein (Maria outright rapes him, but..he activates his moves in rapid succession and i end up touching him somehow).

I still stand by my position about the bosses, especially
Death
. All of the
good bosses (minus the Death, Soma, and the Grasshopper freak who is in the game, yet I hate) are in the Demon's Den, and they are easiest things down there. The normal enemies in the rooms before them are much harder than any of the bosses from Dawn of Sorrow could hope to be.


All the oldschool CV fans need(yes, need) to play the game like I am playing. It feels like playing Rondo of Blood/Dracula X and SOTN together.
 
Oldschoolgamer said:
All the oldschool CV fans need(yes, need) to play the game like I am playing. It feels like playing Rondo of Blood/Dracula X and SOTN together.
Click to expand...

BINGO. The level cap is there for a reason, use it guys! :D

Seriously though, this game is thoroughly Castlevania. The content is staggering. It combines some of the best bits of the entire Castlevania series... the main game is just a portion of what it offers.
 
I agree. I love the content, and the main game is plenty good enough. It's not quite what I was hoping for but the entire package overall makes it worth it.
 
Yea, I'm with brandon on this one as well. I keep trying to love this game, but I'm giving it far more credit than it deserves. It's a rather bland Castlevania game, and the formula seems really stuck in it's current form. I am mostly questing on to 100% completion out of love of the franchise than for the game itself.

Area layouts haven't had the creative spark or technological intrigue of it's pre-1997 brethren for too long now, and this breed of corridor-hacking metroidvania really needs a break.

Much like DoS before it, this will return to my gamepouch to remain a relic of my library for years to come, doubtful to ever see the light of day again once completed. Shame really...
 
Magicpaint said:
PoR= HoD for the DS Castlevania games. Lol.

And I love HoD too. :P
Click to expand...
HoD was my favorite portable Castlevania game until I finished PoR. I went back to HoD yesterday and was impressed by the level design and background detail. Also, the physics seemed very solid. It reminded me of the old Castlevania games. Then I jumped right back into PoR using Richter and oh my- what a rush. The game looks, sounds and plays beautifully. Simply magnificent (especially in hard mode, lvl cap 1 on Nation of Fools).
 
Guys, where's the option for the "level cap" you speak of? I've cleared the game and have the sisters and "Richiter" (what?) unlocked and all, but I don't see that option. Does it come up when you start a game over with Jonathan or what?

Also, do your versions let you abuse the Wind glitch infinitely? With mine, I can do that with weapons, but when I tried to see how much HP/MP I could get (hey, I was done with the game by that point!) it only let me trick the game about 10 times and then it stopped giving me HP/MP boosts. Permanently. Doing it again on other quests, even if it was the first time, yielded no boosts. I'm playing a supposedly european copy.
 
aku:jiki said:
Guys, where's the option for the "level cap" you speak of? I've cleared the game and have the sisters and "Richiter" (what?) unlocked and all, but I don't see that option. Does it come up when you start a game over with Jonathan or what?

Also, do your versions let you abuse the Wind glitch infinitely? With mine, I can do that with weapons, but when I tried to see how much HP/MP I could get (hey, I was done with the game by that point!) it only let me trick the game about 10 times and then it stopped giving me HP/MP boosts. Permanently. Doing it again on other quests, even if it was the first time, yielded no boosts. I'm playing a supposedly european copy.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about the glitch, but, the level cap only comes up on hard more.
 
Seth C said:
Would someone please tell me where this meat is that I am supposed to beat?
Click to expand...


It's in the first potrait you ever go to.

It's the butchers room on the top left of the map (after you're inside the potrait).

"Punch" the meat hanging in the background to get it.

Basically take off your whip/sword/axe etc., and punch it.
 
brandonh83 said:
Yeah, the
Richter mode is better than the main game.
Click to expand...
Is it more fun than Julius Mode was? Because for all the fellatio that mode received from fans, it really just made it more obvious how horrible DoS's level and enemy design are. It's an empty game with next to no sense or flow. It's just boring, and I felt all the more ripped off because I'd played through DoS's awful main mode to get to it. I'm not making that mistake again.

Someday, somebody will learn to make these modes accessible from the beginning, whether via a code or a simple mode select. I don't want to play your shitty main modes, IGA, so let me have your table scraps right from the start. Please?
 
So. How long did it take you all to beat the game? I read a ton of glitches that allowed sequence breaking so, I might put off trying to beat
Frankenstein
at the moment, and coming back to it when my reflexes are better. I wonder how much time it will take to beat it quickly with Johnathan. I can already cruise through the main castle with
Richter
. I'll do that first.


I ****ing love this game. lol
 
Captain N said:
I liked DoS a lot more..this one feels like circle of the moon.
Click to expand...

CotM had a lot of platform elements, though... and from what I gather, PoR has little to none.

Doesn't sound that similar to me.
 
I'm little disappointed that they didn't include some of
Maria's voice and animation from Rondo - they were so cute! Also missing are her super magic spells from Rondo...
 
Man, fighting
Dracula
AND
Death
AT THE SAME TIME is sooo cheap. Any tips on this fight?

Btw, as terrible as the art is for this game, I actually like the art they did for
Dracula
. It reminds me of the older Castlevania's.
 
Oldschoolgamer said:
So. How long did it take you all to beat the game?
Click to expand...
Granted, I have not been rushing it.. on the contrary I have been taking it pretty slow, doing quests, killing enemies, exploring and collecting stuff. But I've played for 7½ hours this far and I have covered
440% out of 1000%
on the maps.

Naturally, it can be done alot faster.
 
Chris Michael said:
Man, fighting
Dracula
AND
Death
AT THE SAME TIME is sooo cheap. Any tips on this fight?
Click to expand...
Use the axe subweapon alot and the
Vampire Killer. Strike Death mostly since they share the same HP. Use Meteor when they use a Dual Crash.
 
Chris Michael said:
Man, fighting
Dracula
AND
Death
AT THE SAME TIME is sooo cheap. Any tips on this fight?

Btw, as terrible as the art is for this game, I actually like the art they did for
Dracula
. It reminds me of the older Castlevania's.
Click to expand...

Kill Death first (with Jonathan alone) then tag team Dracula when he transforms
 
Oldschoolgamer said:
How long did it take you all to beat the game?
Click to expand...
I'm at 13 hours, I think, with 1000% and all quests cleared. But that's an extra couple of hours of questing and grinding monsters to get their spells and such, I think I beat the story (and reached 1000% at the same time) at around the 10hr mark.

Even though that's, objectively speaking, a fine playtime for a game, I always feel the CVs are too short. Can't get enough of it even if I don't love it (I'm in the "really like PoR, but don't love it" crowd), I guess.
 
Chris Michael said:
Man, fighting
Dracula
AND
Death
AT THE SAME TIME is sooo cheap. Any tips on this fight?

Btw, as terrible as the art is for this game, I actually like the art they did for
Dracula
. It reminds me of the older Castlevania's.
Click to expand...

There are around 5-6 unique attacks and once you learn their patterns you can consistently avoid most of them.

Whenever Dracula appears in the middle of the screen, jump over him so you don't have to deal with his attacks. Don't attack Dracula at all, concentrate on Death instead. Also learn how to lure Death to attack you because you don't want Death hovering above you while Dracula is shooting projectiles at you.

As for the 2nd part of the fight. I just wear the mana ring keep using spells to kill Dracula.
 
The worst art in the game is, IMO, the first
Death
fight. God, he looks like a mix between Maria from the Sound of Music and a primitive vertebrate.
 
Remember folks, hold down L before you start/load up the game and you can play Portrait Of Ruin with the original Japanese voices.:)
 
At the last battle all I did was
focus on Drac, just making sure to dodge Death's downward plummet he does when you walk underneath him. A good double-jump will get you over two of Drac's fireballs, and you can lure Death somewhat away from Drac then get underneath him to make him drop there, then proceed to nail Drac in the head while Death appears a little ways away and has to play catch-up to reach you
.

I didn't even use a subweapon.
 
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