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Rondo of Blood is disappointing D:

D

dock

Member
I picked up Castlevania Rondo of Blood recently (on Wii/Virtual Console), and I've been pretty disappointed by it so far. I'm finding it ridiculously hard, and not all that interesting.

I enjoyed and completed Super Castlevania 4 and Order of Ecclesia, but those are the only Castlevania games I've played. Everything about these games seems better than Rondo of Blood, and yet people gush like crazy over it.

I'm going to give Rondo of Blood another try, but is there any advice on how I should play, or how I can have more fun with it?

I feel like I'm getting Sonic CD syndrome, after years of people saying it's the best in the series I end up spending less than 15 minutes with it :(
 
dock said:
I feel like I'm getting Sonic CD syndrome, after years of people saying it's the best in the series I end up spending less than 15 minutes with it :(
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Welcome to NeoGAF. Seriously, ppl tend to hype the shit out of like.. everything.
 
This thread is disappointing :P

I didn't find Rondo to be entirely too tough, even the infamous stage 5' (the hardest in the game) can be beaten with some practice. In fact, it's probably the best balanced CV game there is - not as frustratingly difficult as CV1 and 3, but not a cakewalk like the Metroidvanias. Rondo was definitely a technological marvel in its era, and the music is fantastic. Just give it more time I guess... though to someone who didn't grow up on the oldskoolvanias, it may just not be your cup of tea.

Then again I didn't care for Sonic CD myself.
 
You spent 15 minutes with it? No wonder. The game is filled with stuff, and once you start to get good it'll all fall into place and you'll realize just how amazingly balanced and paced it is.
 
dock said:
I picked up Castlevania Rondo of Blood recently (on Wii/Virtual Console), and I've been pretty disappointed by it so far. I'm finding it ridiculously hard, and not all that interesting.

I enjoyed and completed Super Castlevania 4 and Order of Ecclesia, but those are the only Castlevania games I've played. Everything about these games seems better than Rondo of Blood, and yet people gush like crazy over it.

I'm going to give Rondo of Blood another try, but is there any advice on how I should play, or how I can have more fun with it?

I feel like I'm getting Sonic CD syndrome, after years of people saying it's the best in the series I end up spending less than 15 minutes with it :(
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This is the second best Castlevania after SOTN. Your taste fail. Capcom ninjas will kill you
 
RedNumberFive said:
I'm sorry to correct you, but Symphony of the Night is the best in the series.
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A lot of people prefer the classic Castlevania to the style that came starting at Symphony of the Night. I'm not one of those people, but it's a valid opinion. Completely different gameplay styles, and it's understandable that somebody would prefer one over the other.
 
You can try playing as Maria if you find it too hard. Though I found it to be easier than CV4 even when playing as Richter. Maybe you just need to give it more time.
 
I would be disappointed with myself if I found Rondo hard.

Spike said:
I guess you had to play it when it first came out all those years ago.
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I played it when it came out w/ the remake on psp. It's my favorite Castlevania. SotN would be my next choice. Fun to see where all the sprites/weapons/bosses came from in SotN, though. :lol
 
dock said:
I picked up Castlevania Rondo of Blood recently (on Wii/Virtual Console)
Click to expand...
yha7cft


dock said:
I've been pretty disappointed by it so far. I'm finding it ridiculously hard, and not all that interesting.
Click to expand...
yh6tvmh
 
yurinka said:
This is the second best Castlevania after SOTN. Your taste fail. Capcom ninjas will kill you
Click to expand...

Not that funny anymore...

On topic:

Be a man and finish the game, damn, gamers these days are too acustomed of todays games pusyfication.
 
It does help to have some historical perspective going in. The original Castlevania games had very rigid mechanics; For those that grew up with the games, they're equally as much a defining aspect of the series as they are a limitation.

For those that loved CVI-III, Rondo is a heaven-sent continuation. For those who have no such context and only know the series from games where player movement is far less restrictive, the appeal may be lost.
 
Unlock Maria, proceed to completely break the entire game. There's at least part of your problem solved, though I'm not sure we can help with the rest.
 
Is this the same game that was remade on PSP Dracula X Chronicles?

I beat the remake, but didn't bother for the original. It did seem to have some "control" issues that made it tough.
 
Adam Prime said:
Is this the same game that was remade on PSP Dracula X Chronicles?

I beat the remake, but didn't bother for the original. It did seem to have some "control" issues that made it tough.
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Indeed it is.
 
I picked it up for the first time on the VC too and, although I haven't played it for too long yet due to other games/stuff to do, what I played of it was fantastic. Have you seen the multiple paths you can take? Like in the beginning with that giant bull thing chasing you. You can either outrun it and keep going straight or fall down the hole and take another path. There are more parts like this and I'm sure I haven't seen them all. It's brilliantly done, much better than Castlevania III's level selector.

The music is fantastic. Visuals too. I've only been a bit disappointed by the sound effects. Whipping has no 'oomph' to it at all.

I can understand the complaints about difficulty since your only other traditional Castlevania game is IV. Super Castlevania is a great game, one of my favorite in the series... but it's quite easy. I mean, the first time I played I found it hard and was quite satisfied by beating it. But then I played the NES entries. Castlevania III especially... now that is a hard game. After that, when I played Super Castlevania again, I found the game a cakewalk. Rondo of Blood is much harder than Super, no doubt, but it's not in the masochistic levels of Castlevania III either. It's a nice balance.

So my advice is, keep practicing. This is old-school game design. You'll die and die and die again until you get it right. But when you finally do, it's really, really satisfying!
 
I'm afraid of getting it myself, afraid it will sit on my wii and mock me for not completing it, like Mega Man 9.

Metroidvania is when CV got good, IMO. I was a fan of SCIV back in the SNES days though.
 
I tend to agree. The game was hyped to absurd levels over the past decade, so there really wasn't anyway it could hold up to my expecations. Is it a horrible game? No, not by any means, it is a very good Castlevania title in the traditional vein, but I really don't get why people mess their drawers over it.
 
TheUglyDrunk said:
I tend to agree. The game was hyped to absurd levels over the past decade, so there really wasn't anyway it could hold up to my expecations. Is it a horrible game? No, not by any means, it is a very good Castlevania title in the traditional vein, but I really don't get why people mess their drawers over it.
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Because it's like sex in videogame form. Sometimes you mess your drawers when you have sex.
 
Rondo of Blood isn't a bad game, but it's nowhere near as good as the hype would have you believe.

It's not as good as 3, 4, the PS1 Sharp 68000 game, Symphony... but it's still an enjoyable entry to the series. It is my least favorite of the 16-bit CV's, barring the arcade game and Dracula XX on the SNES.

Sonic CD is a mess. People who praise it don't know what good level design is nor what a Sonic title is supposed to be. I've played Sonic homebrew hacks with better design.

That being said, I would recommend playing the Rondo Remake for PSP. It's a much better version of the original game.
 
Adam Prime said:
Is this the same game that was remade on PSP Dracula X Chronicles?

I beat the remake, but didn't bother for the original. It did seem to have some "control" issues that made it tough.
Click to expand...

Same as the bonus original minus the poor graphical/sound emulation on the psp and english translation. It's different from 3d in control because of the nature of 3d versus 2d. An example is that some of the jumps were harder because it's easier to slide off when going from one ledge to another, while in 2d you do that weird hanging off the edge because your toe has a few pixels on top of the ledge. Also, Dracula in the original
only has 2 forms even if you get the perfect ending requirements
. There some other differences as well, but those are the only two I remember.
 
Arpharmd B said:
That being said, I would recommend playing the Rondo Remake for PSP. It's a much better version of the original game.
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ew yuck barf

Though it is nice that Dracula doesn't look like an 8-foot tall Sailor Moon character in that version.
 
Arpharmd B said:
That being said, I would recommend playing the Rondo Remake for PSP. It's a much better version of the original game.
Click to expand...

I finished the remake first and had never played the original. I thought the controls in the remake to be much stiffer than the original. The original felt much better to me, but that might just be sprite nostalgia. /shrug

I thought the remake was really good, though, unlike many people around here.
 
Princess Skittles said:
Can we just give him a tag and close the thread before it gets dirty? :\
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But the op made Tumbledrop, which is a great iPhone game, so this is kinda conflicting. =/
 
I didn;t like the game when I first tried it, I dunno why. I just couldn't accept I couldn't like this game, I've always loved classic Castlevania and this was supposed to be one of the best. So, I tried it again a few months later and loved the hell out of it. It's definitely not my favorite in the series, I even consider it be one of the lesser ones tbh, but it really is a very worthy Castlevania.

I'm referring to the PSP remake btw, but you can unlock the original after finding something in one level or another. I played that immediately after unlocking it and it really is a lot better than the remake. I'll never get why they would ditch sprites in favor of 3d models, you just don;t get the same control over a character. It's the same reason I hated Mega Man Powered Up. The ugly graphics, terrible remixed music and 2.5 D-ness made it unplayable for me.
 
Rafaelcsa said:
I can understand the complaints about difficulty since your only other traditional Castlevania game is IV. Super Castlevania is a great game, one of my favorite in the series... but it's quite easy. I mean, the first time I played I found it hard and was quite satisfied by beating it. But then I played the NES entries. Castlevania III especially... now that is a hard game. After that, when I played Super Castlevania again, I found the game a cakewalk. Rondo of Blood is much harder than Super, no doubt, but it's not in the masochistic levels of Castlevania III either. It's a nice balance.

So my advice is, keep practicing. This is old-school game design. You'll die and die and die again until you get it right. But when you finally do, it's really, really satisfying!
Click to expand...

Interesting. In the Angry Video Game Nerd's review of the Castlevania games, I believe he listed 4 as his favorite of the series because of the 8 way whip. But when he reviewed Rondo of Blood, he didn't like it because you could only whip in one direction.
 
Shig said:
ew yuck barf

Though it is nice that Dracula doesn't look like an 8-foot tall Sailor Moon character in that version.
Click to expand...

Dude I am 2d graphics to the heart and soul, 16-bit to the bone, but Rondo leaves A LOT to be desired in the visuals department. That was probably the first thing that made my dick go limp when I finally played this game.

Rondo on the Duo has boring looking stages and bosses and a color pallette that would make the Genesis feel bad for it. This is another way the game is a HUGE step backwards from CV4.

The PSP version does a lot to enhance the visual design of the game. No I don't mean because it's 3d. The stages look better, more detailed, more a live, more colorful. The whole package is vastly improved.
 
it's my favorite game in the series, one of my favorite games of all time.

Arpharmd B said:
Dude I am 2d graphics to the heart and soul, 16-bit to the bone, but Rondo leaves A LOT to be desired in the visuals department. That was probably the first thing that made my dick go limp when I finally played this game.

Rondo on the Duo has boring looking stages and bosses and a color pallette that would make the Genesis feel bad for it. This is another way the game is a HUGE step backwards from CV4.
Click to expand...

all of the eye-raping purples, greens and mode-7 effects are so awesome, i know.
 
Dunno what to say, I love Rondo as well. It's definitely my favorite traditional game in the series.

I agree with the OP on Sonic CD, though. I DID play it back in the day along with the other Genesis games and always thought it was one of the weaker entries in the series. It has some cool ideas and great music, but the level design just isn't all that good. Sonic 2 is definitely my favorite.

Rondo on the Duo has boring looking stages and bosses and a color pallette that would make the Genesis feel bad for it. This is another way the game is a HUGE step backwards from CV4.
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Different strokes. I always thought it looked more cohesive than the CV4 on the SNES. It has a very specific style and it makes great use of it. Considering the hardware, it's very impressive.

I HATED the main character sprite in CV4 as well. Always looked awful to me
 
I'm in the opposite boat.
I'm surprised at how good it is.
However depiste the CD format I prefer Castlevania IV music.
 
dark10x said:
Different strokes. I always thought it looked more cohesive than the CV4 on the SNES. It has a very specific style and it makes great use of it. Considering the hardware, it's very impressive.

I HATED the main character sprite in CV4 as well. Always looked awful to me
Click to expand...

if we're talking about a cohesive castle, i gotta say that the ducktales-esque treasury of CV4 totally fits within the castlevania universe.
 
dock said:
I picked up Castlevania Rondo of Blood recently (on Wii/Virtual Console), and I've been pretty disappointed by it so far. I'm finding it ridiculously hard, and not all that interesting.

I enjoyed and completed Super Castlevania 4 and Order of Ecclesia, but those are the only Castlevania games I've played. Everything about these games seems better than Rondo of Blood, and yet people gush like crazy over it.

I'm going to give Rondo of Blood another try, but is there any advice on how I should play, or how I can have more fun with it?

I feel like I'm getting Sonic CD syndrome, after years of people saying it's the best in the series I end up spending less than 15 minutes with it :(
Click to expand...

ugh, no.

it's the best of classic CV, best classic soundtrack and stage design with lots of content. the difficulty is fair, you just got to learn the game and be a good gamer. i'm glad this game didn't come with a free god mode.
 
OT, but part of me is hoping Radiant Silvergun gets an official release on a current-gen downloadable platform like XBLA, PSN, or WiiWare just so more people can see how overrated it is.
 
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