Inspired by the forthcoming release of Bloostained, I picked up SOTN in the Xbox sale and replayed it on my One (via BC). I hadn't played the game extensively in well over 10 years. I think closer to 15.
While I appreciate what the game did for the genre, it doesn't really stand up well to the test of time. Certainly not as well as many people think. Reading through GAF, I still see many posters rank it as the best (or second-best) Metroidvania ever made (or, in some rare cases, the best game ever made). I think there have been many Metroidvanias in recent years that have surpassed SOTN in quality. Both Ori and (despite its bugs) Guacamelee come to mind. (Haven't tried Hollow Knight just yet -- it's on my playlist).
To be clear, the game remains incredibly entertaining and I would still recommend it to almost anyone. Especially given the era it came out of: Few games from that time period (late 90s) are still as enjoyable as SOTN is today. The game's presentation notably holds up extremely well. The graphics are great. The music is incredible.The boss battles are memorable -- iconic. The cheesy voice overs and bad writing works so well. All the items and spells -- it's just so charming.
So, it's not overrated?
The gameplay, however, doesn't. The controls are, quite simply, clunky. Controlling Alucard isn't intuitive at all. He doesn't feel tight or responsive. And he's slow. That's an issue because the game -- another gripe I have with it -- forces you to do so much back tracking. You can get around this by back dashing. But that only highlights the issue from a design standpoint. (If I have to hear that brush-on-stone SFX one more time....)
Learn to use the Soul of wolf, backtracking is fun , learn to use bat + special boots.
Movement around the castle gradually becomes faster.
Fighting enemies, more often than not, feels like a chore (haha, no) . And they're everywhere. Most of the challenge they pose comes from annoyance. You better jump or that horse enemy will knock you out of the room! What happens then? You'll have to do this entire segment over again. Oh no, the horror! The clocktower and the Medusa heads, the belltower and the ravens, etc.
Sorry, but a minor annoyances like these are almost based upon your skill alone,not the games fault.
SOTN has a weird challenge curve. It starts off somewhat difficult (might just be the learning curve with the controls), but somewhere around the second boss, becomes insanely easy. The second half of the first castle, and even most of the inverted castle, do not present a challenge whatsoever, even if you ignore the game's RPG elements (ie, finding the right special weapon for the right boss, or the right resistance armor, or the spells, etc). But then there are those rare times when the game is brutally difficult seemingly out of nowhere. Galamoth is almost impossible to beat unless you know to get the Beryl Circlet. Then he's really easy. But it's hidden in such a bizarre place you'd basically never find it without a guide.
I never had to get any sorta item to beat Galamoth, I have no idea what you're even talking about, like I said you cant blame the game for your lack of skills here.
The inverted castle itself is a cool concept, but really only works about half the time. The other half the time, it feels like you're playing some sort of strange ROM hack, duct taped together with Alucard's flying skills.
Again, I don't agree at all - it was original in it's own way, and provided extra length to game, plus it had all new bosses and some enemies.
Lastly, the game offers absolutely no suggestions about what you're supposed to do next. No hints. No tips. Nothing. Combined with the annoying combat and the need to back track so often, SOTN is a bit of a confusing slog if you don't have a guide of some sort to work with. I'm aware that blind wandering is, to some extent, fundamental to the Metroidvania genre, but SOTN seems especially egregious.
Non-sense, item descriptions were enough to get you by, and obvious stuff the librarian guy sold you.
Bait thread title - trust me I know