TheCardPlayer
Likes to have "friends" around to "play cards" with
Great Stairway.Ichigo said:
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Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Castlevania Portrait Of Ruin (DS) thread
- Thread starter Lyte Edge
- Start date
So I'm missing 8.5% from unlocking the secret area, and I'm wondering if there are some breakable walls I'm missing. I'll post my %s for each map, I only have 3 at 100%.
Castle - 94.7%
City of Haze - 96.8%
13th Street - 92.3%
Sandy Grave, Forgotten City, Nation of Fools - 100% each
Burnt Paradise - 99.3%
Forest of Doom - 99.2%
Dark Academy - 97.2%
I've tried most of what would seem like dead ends and gotten nothing as far as secret rooms, so I don't know if I should just grind Peeping Eyes for their rare drop or not.
Castle - 94.7%
City of Haze - 96.8%
13th Street - 92.3%
Sandy Grave, Forgotten City, Nation of Fools - 100% each
Burnt Paradise - 99.3%
Forest of Doom - 99.2%
Dark Academy - 97.2%
I've tried most of what would seem like dead ends and gotten nothing as far as secret rooms, so I don't know if I should just grind Peeping Eyes for their rare drop or not.
Oldschoolgamer
The physical form of blasphemy
firex said:
O_O Yea. You should get the rare drop from the peeping eyes. I'm almost sure that you are missing some small rooms.
I can't even remember where Peeping Eyes are, but I just did some running around areas and found a couple more secret rooms. Still, I'm not even at 880%.
e: ok, finally after like 20 minutes of grinding them with about all the luck bonuses I could get and a thief ring, I finally got the stupid thing. At least all this grinding's also gotten my javelin skill nearly maxed out (didn't realize until way late that you could get SP just by hitting an enemy with it, I thought you had to kill them).
e: ok, finally after like 20 minutes of grinding them with about all the luck bonuses I could get and a thief ring, I finally got the stupid thing. At least all this grinding's also gotten my javelin skill nearly maxed out (didn't realize until way late that you could get SP just by hitting an enemy with it, I thought you had to kill them).
CharlieDigital
Banned
I broke through a bunch of random secret walls in the ground with the Bible spell.
Might be useful if you're trying to hunt down secret rooms.
Might be useful if you're trying to hunt down secret rooms.
Oldschoolgamer
The physical form of blasphemy
MegaTen said:.. :lol
:lol :lol
Dude Burnt paradise is kicking my ass at the moment. I can dodge all of the medusa heads, but, the effing fleamen touch me and I die
I'm so close to the end of this run though. I can't wait for the final boss fight with this cap on.
brandonh83
Banned
I soooo wish I liked the game as much as you guys did. =\
and it rocks... doesn't save the main game for me though.
Been playing Richter mode
TheCardPlayer
Likes to have "friends" around to "play cards" with
Simple. Play DoS again. Realize it's flawed just as much as PoR but worse. Bingo.brandonh83 said:
seems there's quite the debatoring going on in here, I'm like 500% complete at the moment and while I am most certainly enjoying the game the reduce/reuse/recycle crap that's been going on is getting more then a little tired now. This is the 6th! metroidvania style game and it just doesn't match up to the quality present in the previous 2 games, there is but a single thing it does better then dawn of souls- doing away with the retarded SEAL THE BOSS gimmick. The basic gameplay of having essentially a character with souls and a character with weapons and belmont style techniques is interesting and fun to use but the levels are just very drab, portrait of ruin reminds me of megaman x5 and x6, certainly it's not as terrible as those 2 games but there's just a huge element of cheapness going on , like the whole game feels competent yet rushed out the door to sell another couple hundred thousand copies. As a 20th anniversary game it still sort of works though becuase it incorporates a hodgepodge of elements and enemies from every game in the series but this also becomes it's undoing becuase atleast 90% of the sprites are the exact same sprites from the last 5 games in the series. Even the painting levels, while a bit of a change of pace from the incredibly drab castle are very boring in their layout- a spooky village! ooh scary, an egyptian pyramid!, a spooky forest with a boring mansion , wow! and a demented carnival... actually the carnival level was kind of neat.. but what's the boss? oh ... that ball of dead bodies... for the 3rd time in 6 games. The game excels when it adds something completly new, every new enemy sprite I saw was well animated and cool looking, most of the new bosses are kind of neat but for every interesting new thing there are 3 boring old ideas. It should also be noted that the music simply isn't up to snuff in this release, it's about 50/50 mediocre/decent so far. This is the most dissapointing part of portrait of ruin actually , given that dawn of souls and aria had fantastic soundtracks.
The game is still fun though so you know I'll finish it but it just makes me wish they'd take a break for a year or 2 on this series. Since 2000 there have been 7 castlevania games. Howsabout they go back to the drawing board on the next console release and study ninja gaiden and devil may cry for ways to make 3d action/adventure games fun. Let's see a fantastic 3d castlevania followup in 2008 and release the 1999 death of dracula game for DS2 a year or 2 after that. I'm not completly sick of the series yet but 1 more metroid vania within the next 18 months and I'm sure I will be.
The game is still fun though so you know I'll finish it but it just makes me wish they'd take a break for a year or 2 on this series. Since 2000 there have been 7 castlevania games. Howsabout they go back to the drawing board on the next console release and study ninja gaiden and devil may cry for ways to make 3d action/adventure games fun. Let's see a fantastic 3d castlevania followup in 2008 and release the 1999 death of dracula game for DS2 a year or 2 after that. I'm not completly sick of the series yet but 1 more metroid vania within the next 18 months and I'm sure I will be.
yeah Im that crazy blame the Megaman Zero games!MegaTen said:.. :lol
But yes, PoR is by far the best portable Castlevania.
but I dont know it's insanely fun to me 1 hit usually means death in this mode, awesome. besides no healing items to bail me out
:rock
richter is very fast tho it's actually kind of hard going back to jonathan and kid maria ftmfw.
and the sisters rock
TheCardPlayer
Likes to have "friends" around to "play cards" with
How can the soundtrack divide people this much? I think this is one of the best soundtracks in the entire series.
brandonh83
Banned
Pedobear said:
Oh
Well...I just beat the Egyptian boss, and I'm enjoying it so far. It seems to be missing something that DoS had, though - I can't put my finger on what, especially since DoS was stolen from me awhile ago. It might ahve something to do with the animation of the characters and the smaller enemies, or maybe the terrible dialogue.
brandonh83
Banned
I think the dialogue is fine but the levels are just so boring for me to play through. I know Pedo is about to come in here and tell me to go back and replay Dawn of Sorrow and then come back and say the same thing because apparently I've never played through one of my favorite Castlevanias before multiple times already. I'm not saying that DOS has the best levels ever, but **** at least you don't have to play through them twice in some lame ass excuse to extend the length.
omfg
level 1 cap on hard mode=godly
this brings back the style of play I use in Megaman Zero games to not get hit or touched by baddies and you know what? it's ****ing awesome.
best thing that ever happened to castlevania. PoR :bow
richter=best belmont ever, he is fast and agile makes it hard going back to jonathan hehe
level 1 cap on hard mode=godly
this brings back the style of play I use in Megaman Zero games to not get hit or touched by baddies and you know what? it's ****ing awesome.
best thing that ever happened to castlevania. PoR :bow
richter=best belmont ever, he is fast and agile makes it hard going back to jonathan hehe
TurtleSnatcher
Member
Error2k4 said:
I dunno I enjoy johnathan with charlottes speed spell <3
another bad bug..
fighting doppleganger.. go in with nebula and hit him once.. then swap back to vampire hunter and he still uses nebula which does 1 dmg to u..
brandonh83
Banned
Tain said:
Mine? I personally though the upside-down castle was a very clever and unexpected twist, and at least there was good challenge and great bosses. Portrait of Ruin just takes its same four portrait areas and gives them new colors; they added new bosses to them, sure, but I only really liked one of them. I felt Symphony at least gave good incentive and nice presentation and challenge to the upside-down castle and I just liked the music and bosses a hell of a lot more.
huh? SOTN even in the inverted castle is a cakewalk, the bosses in SOTN were nothing special and they were mostly brain dead aside from a selected few of course.brandonh83 said:
I seriously dont know how you can say the inverted castle is fine but the 4 'remixed' portraits arent? whatdog.gif
PoR have the luxury of having the best last boss in a castlevania ever imo not to mention the fact that the game is actually *gasp* challenging
people are putting this game down and bashing for the stuff that the castlevanias they love have: poor level design, no challenge (wtf?) etc.. etc...hell I found the game to be pretty challenging in normal, didnt grind tho.
LittleTokyo
Member
Overall, I love both DS CV games, but I give the nod to DoS so far. I like the castle layout better and something just feels better about it. Something about both main characters in PoR is annoying. Probably the horrible dialogue...
I'm not a huge fan of PoR's mastery system either. So far, I've mastered one throwing attack and found it quite tedious and boring to do so. Mostly because the attack just isn't that efficient, and the MP cost was waaayy to steep. With that said, I loved the soul system in DoS.
Oddly enough, I actually like the 2-character setup. I don't think it was implemented all that well, but the potential is there, and it's always fun to have a partner grabbing some much desired experience points here and there for the party. I also like the painting levels. They're a nice change of pace, and more importantly, a change of scenery. Not that the castle setting in PoR is poor, but it just seems to lack any creativity at all. The painting levels are quite rewarding to play through, feeling more like seperate levels than an integrated part of the castle, which isn't a bad thing.
As for the music, utterly fantastic. Right up there with the best of the best in the series.
Visually, I'd like to see some more polygons in the backgrounds. For the most part, when 3D graphics make it into the backdrops, they're effective, but like DoS, the developers seemed to use polygons very sparingly. I think they could go a long way to give some life to dracula's den next time around.
All in all, I'm really enjoying PoR, and the preorder bonus is just icing on the cake.
I'm not a huge fan of PoR's mastery system either. So far, I've mastered one throwing attack and found it quite tedious and boring to do so. Mostly because the attack just isn't that efficient, and the MP cost was waaayy to steep. With that said, I loved the soul system in DoS.
Oddly enough, I actually like the 2-character setup. I don't think it was implemented all that well, but the potential is there, and it's always fun to have a partner grabbing some much desired experience points here and there for the party. I also like the painting levels. They're a nice change of pace, and more importantly, a change of scenery. Not that the castle setting in PoR is poor, but it just seems to lack any creativity at all. The painting levels are quite rewarding to play through, feeling more like seperate levels than an integrated part of the castle, which isn't a bad thing.
As for the music, utterly fantastic. Right up there with the best of the best in the series.
Visually, I'd like to see some more polygons in the backgrounds. For the most part, when 3D graphics make it into the backdrops, they're effective, but like DoS, the developers seemed to use polygons very sparingly. I think they could go a long way to give some life to dracula's den next time around.
All in all, I'm really enjoying PoR, and the preorder bonus is just icing on the cake.
brandonh83
Banned
Error2k4 said:
Well I knew this was coming, but that's still my take on it. I can't explain it really. I didn't mind the inverted castle, I just personally found it a bit harder, longer, and thought it had more content, plus much better bosses and music. The music when you get to the alternate Royal Chapel is just goddamn gorgeous and one of the best pieces of music ever written for a videogame, IMO. The atmosphere in the inverted castle just sent me into a great nirvana and that just didn't happen with me in POR, I just found it to be very boring, dull, empty, and easy.
Pachinko said:
Edit your post to make it readable mutherfuccker and then come in here and try and talk shit about DS's best 2D action game. Goddamn I'm so sick and tired of people's little complaints about this ****ing game I just want to go crazy!!!!!
PoR is on par with SOTN and actually plays better. I haven't followed this thread so I don't know any of the glitches or game breakiing things though. I just beat it and now I'm going and mapping every thing. So ****ing awesome.
TheCardPlayer
Likes to have "friends" around to "play cards" with
What I love is how they nitpick PoR for having the same problems as any Castleroids but less horrible. Play DoS again people. See the pasted rooms everywhere!!! Everywhere!Error2k4 said:heh people forget that SOTN was full of bugs and glitches too
The fact remains, I think that NeoGAF is the only place where I saw negativity toward the game. Everywhere, it's all praise. I think there's a bandwagon thing going on here.
brandonh83
Banned
I'm not even talking about glitches. I just think POR has piss poor level design, boring bosses, and is generally bland overall. I think the bonus content is great and definitely gives some life to the game, which is why I do like it, but I just think it's a disappointing installment. Please don't lump me in the negativity category though, as I think it's a swell game overall. I just think it's a letdown as far as Castlevania goes. And, a bandwagon thing? Uh, I got the game the first day of release and pretty much had my opinions founded before I even made too many posts about it online. Hell I wasn't even online until later that day after I put some good time into it.
Basically, if I reviewed it, it would get above a 7, which is not a bad score.
Basically, if I reviewed it, it would get above a 7, which is not a bad score.
The inverted castle is fun, but it isn't that hard to me. Of course, right now I say that because I've played SOTN enough to know where to get most of the secret stuff (great weapons, etc.) but really, the only time I think SOTN can be tough is early on in a 99 luck game simply due to the terrible HP alucard has (2-3 hits = dead on most bosses early on). I can barely remember my first time through. But... when I replayed SOTN recently I realized just how many bosses you can beat simply by jamming down the attack key and spamming some holy water in their face. It's not a lot, but SOTN has some REALLY shitty bosses, like Medusa, the Hippogriff, and everyone's favorite Karasuman. Not to mention some of the instant win gear like Crissaegrim and Ring of Varda (doesn't always drop in games, but if it does in yours, just one will make you overpowered, 2 makes you a god - especially if you can farm them early without leveling up a lot). Oh, and guys like The Creature... the only bosses I can think of that are hard are Richter (if you go for the bad ending) and possibly the big egyptian-styled boss in the inverted catacombs. Well, ok, I've always had trouble with the first doppelganger, but that's just because whenever I play SOTN anymore it's a 99 luck playthrough, so I'm usually weak, and I'm not perfect at dodging his attacks with the crappy reach of early game weapons.
I can't say yet whether I think PoR is the best DS castlevania. I really liked DoS, but that was in spite of the soul collecting and seals/other stylus gimmicks, and I know I didn't really play Aria all the way through (I beat it with the good ending, but I'm sure I didn't collect everything/explore the castle fully). I do think PoR so far is tougher than DoS or AoS, just going by the number of game overs I've had (especially on the last boss, and I haven't beaten him yet!). It's obviously not as hard as COTM, but I think if COTM just had a shop and money, it'd be a lot easier. And most of COTM's difficulty to me is easily negated by getting a few levelups, since your stat gains seem to easily make Nathan catch up with the enemies and overpower them.
I can't say yet whether I think PoR is the best DS castlevania. I really liked DoS, but that was in spite of the soul collecting and seals/other stylus gimmicks, and I know I didn't really play Aria all the way through (I beat it with the good ending, but I'm sure I didn't collect everything/explore the castle fully). I do think PoR so far is tougher than DoS or AoS, just going by the number of game overs I've had (especially on the last boss, and I haven't beaten him yet!). It's obviously not as hard as COTM, but I think if COTM just had a shop and money, it'd be a lot easier. And most of COTM's difficulty to me is easily negated by getting a few levelups, since your stat gains seem to easily make Nathan catch up with the enemies and overpower them.
brandonh83
Banned
To me it was hard at the time, it was back in 1997 and it was the first Castlevania I had played in a long while, and the first of the "Metroidvanias." So the formula at the time was still fresh and I was still trying to figure it out, and the game DID get considerably tougher at that point, and not knowing where to go, at least to me, provided to be something of a challenge.
yup, like I said if you find the bosses in PoR to be more bland than the ones in SOTN there is something really wrong there I mean PoR you HAVE to avoid attacks, learn boss pattern, learn when to switch characters. none of that mattered in SOTN. I loved SOTN but some people hold it on a crazy pedestal that really cloud their judgementsfirex said:
man you gotta play the game on hard with the level 1 cap it's ****ing insane you are not looking like a badass anymore, you are just trying to survive and looking for that warp point that's hidden somewhere it completely changes the way you play the game and it's awesome.
seriously give it a shot it's worth it
TheCardPlayer
Likes to have "friends" around to "play cards" with
Nah. SOTN IS perfect. No game can touch it. It's simply insane. Possibly the best game ever besides Super Metroid.
PoR is nowhere close to it. Yet it's the best Roid after it. Simply because it tried something new rather than copy.
PoR is nowhere close to it. Yet it's the best Roid after it. Simply because it tried something new rather than copy.
Oldschoolgamer
The physical form of blasphemy
brandonh83 said:
Listen to what Error says about the lvl 1 cap with
Richter
Backgrounds get reused in a lot of freaking 2D games. I think overall the backgrounds in PoR surpass those in SOTN. Better use of the pallete, parallaxing effects, and tasteful 3d enrich the experience a lot more than SOTN.
Also to talk about shitty level design... SOTN has a goddamn upside down castle! I mean sure they make it challenging and everything but it doesn't flow as well as the main game. Also it makes you reliant on the bat and the super jump to navigate to most of the areas making it more of a chore. That was a poor design choice!
I play SOTN about once a year just because I enjoy the first castle mostly, and because I enjoy the music but overall PoR has it beat in gameplay and level design.
Another thing about people saying PoR has shitty level design is that they actually bring back a lot of oldschool elements to the levels. Climbing towers while dodging medusa heads, avoiding all kinds of traps, platforms that you can't jump on because they spin you off, etc. I think this is an improvement over DoS's levels and especially over SOTN. Nation of Fools in particular is one of the most memorable levels I've ever played. It's kind of like a Strider level or something. Freaking sweet!
Plus the whip is as awesome as ever.
There are some poor parts to PoR though. Specifically both forms of the dark forest level, and some of the bosses. While Nation of Fools is an awesome level they reuse Legion and make him way too freaking easy. He wasn't difficult in SOTN either but you were confined to a much tighter space and he was harder to attack directly.
I would rate this game a 9/10 and anyone who thinks different needs to go back and replay the series in its entirety if they don't think this lives up to them! Hopefully they release a version that fixes the exploits and glitches for those who have ran into them... (I haven't thankfully)
Also to talk about shitty level design... SOTN has a goddamn upside down castle! I mean sure they make it challenging and everything but it doesn't flow as well as the main game. Also it makes you reliant on the bat and the super jump to navigate to most of the areas making it more of a chore. That was a poor design choice!
I play SOTN about once a year just because I enjoy the first castle mostly, and because I enjoy the music but overall PoR has it beat in gameplay and level design.
Another thing about people saying PoR has shitty level design is that they actually bring back a lot of oldschool elements to the levels. Climbing towers while dodging medusa heads, avoiding all kinds of traps, platforms that you can't jump on because they spin you off, etc. I think this is an improvement over DoS's levels and especially over SOTN. Nation of Fools in particular is one of the most memorable levels I've ever played. It's kind of like a Strider level or something. Freaking sweet!
Plus the whip is as awesome as ever.
There are some poor parts to PoR though. Specifically both forms of the dark forest level, and some of the bosses. While Nation of Fools is an awesome level they reuse Legion and make him way too freaking easy. He wasn't difficult in SOTN either but you were confined to a much tighter space and he was harder to attack directly.
I would rate this game a 9/10 and anyone who thinks different needs to go back and replay the series in its entirety if they don't think this lives up to them! Hopefully they release a version that fixes the exploits and glitches for those who have ran into them... (I haven't thankfully)
question: i've been playing without the girl activated for some time until i realized that she actually helps fighting the enemies. DUH. now - is there any sort of disadvantage to fighting together all the time? if not - i don't understand why you can even deactivate the other character... what's the point of that?
Naked Snake
Member
I can't fricken wait to get my copy of this game, it's taking forever to get here! There's a tiny chance that I might get it tomorrow, but most likely on Saturday or Sunday.
I crave me some Castlevania!
I crave me some Castlevania!
Chris Michael
Banned
Sapiens said:
Use the same healing spell used around the priest who sells stuff. You can use that spell after you defeat
Legion
Still haven't gotten my game (it's in the custom-house in the border)...
Q: Did anybody get the game+bonus (those who ordered from GS/EB/BN) delivered in two separated UPS packages? I really need to know, my UPS page says "2 packages" and they were delivered in different dates... and apparently one is missing...
Q: Did anybody get the game+bonus (those who ordered from GS/EB/BN) delivered in two separated UPS packages? I really need to know, my UPS page says "2 packages" and they were delivered in different dates... and apparently one is missing...
Sapiens
Member
Chris Michael said:
I have the spell, and im trying to cast it in the fight with the sisters - how do i cast the spell effectively
it takes so long to charge
Edit: Nevermind
I used the "decoy" spell for the John and used my left finger on the touch screen to make the sisters focus attention on him while I charged my spell.