Board 8 > Alucard's run encouraged me to replay SOTN for the first time in forever.

(+) Yeah! (+)

And man, I can see why one game made the guy so strong - what a fucking masterpiece.

The tight controls, combat mechanics, level design, and soundtrack have been praised for years, but one thing that stood out to me this time was the abundance of unique enemies. They barely recycle enemies at all.

I know Super Metroid will always be seen as the pinnacle of the 2D Metroidvania style, but I like Alucard's Plan: The Game a lot more.
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It's pretty good. I think Circle of the Moon, Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow are better though. I also think the second half of SotN, while clever, is dumb.
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Play the ps4 version for TROPHIES
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I couldnt get into SOTN but I cant get into ant Metroid or Metroidvania to be fair

His run did get me to watch S1 of Castlevania netflix which I did like

I should probably watch S2 since it will have more of Alucard easily hopefully
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SOTN is so good, played for the first time earlier this year. It would be top 10 worthy if not for the reverse castle
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OliviaTremor posted...

It's pretty good. I think Circle of the Moon, Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow are better though. I also think the second half of SotN, while clever, is dumb.

Circle of the Moon is the only other game in the series I've beaten. It's super nostalgic for me, but I prefer the combat and enemy/level design in SotN.

Regarding the inverted castle, it's true that navigation is more cumbersome (many more sections require the bat form), I give it points for creativity and for having some really cool bosses. It's also not long to get through if you just want to rush those bosses.
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ninkendo posted...

Play the ps4 version for TROPHIES

Yes sir! I downloaded it a few days ago on a whim. The achievements are fun, but I was really disappointed at the redone voice acting. The charm is gone.

Also, the Crissaegrim dropped for me in like three minutes. Couldn't believe my luck.
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Inverted castle is what propels SotN from great to reverent classic, wtf
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I feel like everyone who has a vendetta against this game clicked on this topic to let their opinions be known.
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Of the ones I have played

SotN > OoE> AoS > DoS
They are all great, this is a ranking of great games.

Yes, I do mean to play at least the other DS game, but I have been reluctant to put out the 20-30 bucks needed.

I want the copy to have the box/game/booklet but I just have no desire to play on my DS anymore lol. I wish there was a collection on Steam.
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I get stuck after fighting Alucard's doppelganger.
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Replayed it a couple months ago. Great graphics and music, corny but charming voice acting, Alucard moves and controls pretty well (I don't like fighting games though so I despise the control inputs for activating spells and for me spells might as well not even exist), lots of places to explore and things to find.

But the the upgrades (not sure whether level ups or equipment was more at fault) combined with the exploration and degree of nonlinearity completely shatters any balance or difficulty curve and it means you're very likely to totally steamroll huge chunks of the game, including bosses. And yeah, that annoyed me. It could also be that some of those segments are just kinda poorly-designed stomps no matter what you have equipped or what order you do them in but I want to give the game benefit of the doubt! And I don't agree that the game would have been better if you took out the inverted castle and replaced it with nothing but that issue is extremely present there.

Been planning on giving it another go, fighting the bosses in the order the librarian lists them (presumably the intended one) with suboptimal equipment and minimal effort spent on unnecessary exploration to see if that improves the experience. I'll probably get to that this weekend. Also gotta finally give Richter Mode a real go but I'm not expecting much.
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LOLIAmAnAlt posted...

I feel like everyone who has a vendetta against this game clicked on this topic to let their opinions be known.

I don't have a vendetta! I think it's a good game but it has been outshined by quite a few other Castlevania games. There are some weird design choices such as making the library out of the way, the game being super easy to the point you even wonder why there is a leveling system (not that the other Castlevanias are much better here), etc. Also, I'm not a fan of the inverted castle. I like the idea and it is nice you have freedom to collect Dracula's remains in whatever order but traversing it can be pretty cumbersome. I'm one of the few people that think Portrait of Ruin handled recycling areas better-- at least there the messed up portraits had unique layouts, wasn't annoying to traverse, and the environments were slightly tweaked to make things more demented.

Symphony of the Night is definitely good. It's just that there are better Castlevanias and, if you expand to the Metroidvania genre as a whole, there are even more games that excel at what it tried to accomplish. Then again, I think Circle of the Moon is the best Castlevania so take anything I say with a grain of salt.
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AxemRedRanger posted...

But the the upgrades (not sure whether level ups or equipment was more at fault) combined with the exploration and degree of nonlinearity completely shatters any balance or difficulty curve and it means you're very likely to totally steamroll huge chunks of the game, including bosses. And yeah, that annoyed me. It could also be that some of those segments are just kinda poorly-designed stomps no matter what you have equipped or what order you do them in but I want to give the game benefit of the doubt!

That's a very articulate way of conveying my gripe about the game being easy. In the past I would have chalked it up to how much more nonlinear it is than most of the Metroid/Castlevania games, but ever since I played Hollow Knight which is quite possibly the most non-linear Metroidvania there is I realize it is entirely possible to balance the difficulty while maintaining open ended exploration.
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Yeah SotN is braindead on the challenge front. I love the game but there's a reason most of my gameplay on it has come from self inflicted challenge runs like "No item crash no health pickup Richter mode" "play through the game as Alucart" etc etc. The game doesn't challenge you of its own volition very often at all.
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