/vr/ - Retro Games

The game is poorly designed, no one's gonna deny that.

>SotN is designed retarded
More news at 11.

>>3901086
>It seems that early game you get a dagger and a short sword which you use for 50% of the game.

But you find new shit constantly. Why would you stick with one weapon for most of it? I always buy the elemental swords from the library. At least by the inverted castle you should have tons of weird shit to try out.

Also even if I have to hack in a completed save file first, I now always, always start in the 99 luck, Lapis lazuli mode. It makes the beginning a touch more challenging and finding all those weird weapons a lot faster.

Sword of Dawn roxors my boxors.

>>3901108
>But you find new shit constantly.

They're just variants of the short sword though.

>>3901112
Sure but even in the first half of the game many of them have special effects if you experiment with them a little.

My first couple times through the game that was one of the really fun things. Finding some weird weapon I didn't know and then seeing if it had any special attacks or attributes.

>>3901129

Rapier is super cool. One of those weapons that seems weak and useless until you find it's flurry attack. Anything dies to that up close.

>>3901086
try dual crissaegrims

What I don't understand is why did the devs make so many little details that went unnoticed by 99.5 of the player base yet they forgot to add some sort of difficulty, or adding more bgm tracks for the inverted castle. Why not put resources into the important stuff.

>>3901147
>so many little details that went unnoticed by 99.5 of the player base

lol

>>3901156
>>3901147

I think it was Iga at one point talking about how they added a few insects to the forrest in the intro. I've NEVER seen the damn things, but supposedly they're there.

They just had a more powerful console, so they just went nuts with all the things they could do. A bunch of guys just made up exotic weapons in their spare time.

> yet they forgot to add some sort of difficulty,

Intentional. Iga wanted to draw in new players, ie women, casuals, etc.

>>3901086
I got like three Crissaegrims on my first playthrough, one of the most gamebreaking weapons I've ever seen.

>>3901147
>or adding more bgm tracks for the inverted castle.

Don't you dare dis Final Toccata.
That thing is purposefully meant to be nerve wrecking. It's fucking great.

>>3901173
Sheild Rod is even crazier and you don't even have to farm for it.

>>3901183

Moon rod isn't as broken, but it's VERY strong. Sends out like 4 waves of energy that do good damage.

>>3901219
Ohh yes, Moon Rod is good fun.

Shield Rod is also a lot of fun, it's just when you pair it with Alucard shield that it breaks the game. All the sheilds have fun effects. Medusa Shield shoots beams all over, Skull Shield shoots one big beam, Knight Shield ups attacks, Axe Knight Shield summons one to go attack for you, Herald Shield gives elemental protection... It's all pretty cool.

>>3901147
SotN is designed around bloat.

>not using the astral dagger from the Saturn version and its cool as fuck super attack

Why haven't you switched to the superior version already?

>>3901246

Why haven't you necked yourself already?

>>3901237

I never used half the shield spells.

I just went baislard or what ever that knife was and then combat knife until almost the end of the game. Why get anything else?

>>3901246
Throwing in more content doesn't automatically make something superior.

>>3902721

Same. They're SO god damn fast.

I strongly suspect that fist and knives are more powerful than intended. At a range, you hit at a decent rate. But when you get up close, you seem to be hitting them twice as fast. I think it counts TWO hits, going in the hitbox and going back out as separate hits up close.

>combat knife

It's a god damn work of art. High attack, good range, nice animations. I drool.

>>3901237
I've completed the game (with max % on both castles) and I've never seen most of these special effects, never seen that one for example.
I wrecked the whole game with shield rod

>>3901137
This is the most broken weapon

I remember finding a Jewel Sword one playthrough and never again. Turns most kills into those sellable gems, so you can make phat cash and totally buy out the shop. It's slow and not hugely powerful, but great when you want stuff like the pallete edit cloak.

>>3902734
Of course not. When it is when said content is of quality.

Double tap running in the reverse castle, alone, makes the game twice as fun.

>>3903394
>When it is when said content is of quality.

>>3901086

I always cheat Death and use the Alucard gear through the whole game with shit stats. Makes the game better imo.

>>3903419
I use luck mode and Ring of Ares. And I only equip the cosmetically best looking cloak, usually the one you can change the colors of.

What does the AlucarT stuff do?

>>3903426
When you have all of it it ups your luck.
Just bits= low stat weapon/armour

>>3903445
When it am it do be ups luck have it all. My empire of dirt.

>>3903445
>mfw grinding rings of arcana but they're not dropping because i don't have a ring of arcana.

did doubling up on those actually double your chance of rare shit dropping? could you extend your luck beyond 99?

>>3903394
Enjoy your tall pixels dumb namefaggot

>>3903363
That thing was a pain in my bum. It most always yielded the shit tier jewels. Admittedly I never tried anything like upping my luck though.

>>3903457
Yeah man this looks so fucking wrong indeed.

>>3903394
Yeah but the content isn't of quality either and not only that the Saturn port was lazily put together. The only fun extra it had was the Maria mode but that got old after ten minutes when the novelty wore off.

>>3902746
>I wrecked the whole game with shield rod
Funny because that's a Shield Rod effect right there.

The first time I found the SR/Alucard combo I did the whole rest of the game like that too. But when even Drac dies in mere seconds while you just stand there getting healed the whole time I was done. Now I still use it, but mostly for the other fun effects.

>>3903468
>>3903363
The fastest way to make money is actually using the Axelord armor because of it's walking speed and then farming a big money bag drop in the inverted catacombs or somewhere near there.

The Duplicator is stupidly expensive but a lot of fun to play with. I've always wanted to do a hacked run where I start with one and try to beat the game using no normal attacks.

>>3903506
Oh that's right, it's the Duplicator that's the priciest cus it literally breaks the game. Foodspamming the floor with meal tickets is beautiful, as is infinite shurikens and the like. Don't even have the game here offhand to check but seem to remember the palette edit cloak being cheaper now you mention. It doesn't have any significant stat boosts, just an extra menu option.

>>3903494
Not quality, seriously?
2 entirely new areas (and their reverse castle counterparts) which include: new graphics, new musics, new enemies, new weapons and items, some of which with their own newly designed special attacks which are brand new as well. Also most of it is based on unused content, so things made by the original devs. The new weapons and items are fun to use and balanced.

On top of the that one of the two new areas is actually challenging if you go there early, the only challenge the game has out of that one optional boss. Also that area connects the east wing to the west wing and avoid having to backtrack a long way either through the upper or lower part.

Like I said the double tap running alone gives an entire new layer to the gameplay and comes at a point when it doesn't break the gameplay any more than it already is.
That's without mentionning Richter actually having a unique costume and an entirely new playable character.

It's everything "new content in ports" should be and more. Unlike the kind of lazy terrible stuff we've seen in the recent years in stuff like SE's ports of old FFs games and Chrono Trigger.

It's crazy the kind of things some of you say over what seems be brand fanboyism and/or "developer" fanboyism because one of the original dev said he may or may not approve of it, even though that guy was part of releasing the original game, unbalanced and full of glitches.

I bet at least half of the people saying the Saturn version sucks haven't even played it and just parrot whatever they nitpicking they heard over meaningless points.

>>3903523
>Oh that's right, it's the Duplicator that's the priciest cus it literally breaks the game.

Which is funny cause even spamming the powerful items still doesn't break it as much as Shield Rod/Alucard but it takes a ton of farming to get it.

Meal ticket mixed with duplicator is awesome fun though. As is going around summoning masses of skeletons, bats and mermen to fight for you.

what the fuck, weapons in sotn have special moves?

all I knew about was the different shit alucard can cast and the shield rod

I've never even gotten a crissaegrim

>>3903628
>>3903628
I wonder how many of the people who relentlessly shit on the game are like you.

>>3903425
>I only equip the cosmetically best looking cloak, usually the one you can change the colors of
Crystal Cloak or bust.

>>3901086
How do you know the first list of weapons is "cool" if you've never used them?
Should have listed what they do if you do know.

>>3903628

Shoryuken, and Hadouken, and back forward moves tend to do something.

Rapier + Shoryuken = flurry attack
Basilard + back forward attack = proper swing (+5 attack, but basically useless).

>>3903704
found the hipster

patricians use royal cloak, blood cloak

>>3903642
hell I love sotn and I never knew there were so many weapons with special moves

this is big news to me

>>3903534
So, Richter is Reheater in moon-speak, got it.

>>3903534
Yes I played it.
It was shit.
The new stuff was out of place.
The new monsters looked silly.
The new areas added nothing of value.
The whole game was displayed at the wrong aspect ratio.

The only good things it did were the extra equipment slot for usable items and that cool Bloody Tears remix.

>>3904303
>The new monsters looked silly.

The sprite work is especially terrible. Real B-team effort. Much of it is quite cartoony and doesn't match the tone and art style of the rest of the game.

>>3904303
it's NESfag, for him, quantity > quality. That's how he got his shit taste in vidya

>>3904337
He also thinks Resident Evil is better on PC lol

>>3901086
It's bad design that's common in many games.

>>3904303
That's bullshit. Show monsters like the Gargoyles, Wight, all the new Skeletons, Copper Armor, Will O Wasps to someone who's never played SOTN and he'd never be able to tell they weren't part of the original game.

Crazy how noone is objective about the Saturn version. Even some wikia claims the following: "some rooms are missing entirely": false.
"The load times are more frequent and much longer": they're the equivalent of the kind of load times you get in Resident Evil on PSX when you open up the menu or enter a new camera angle.
"the Saturn version was ultimately denounced by Assistant Director IGA" False. He basically said he could neither recommend it nor bash it.

>>3904345
Well yes, yes it is. For many, many reasons, and not just extra content this time.

>>3903506
>Funny because that's a Shield Rod effect right there.

Really? I just never even knew how to do these effects, I guess.

>>3901086

Is Blue Knickles a unique animation?

>le epin SotN is a bad game meme!

Most people in this thread should kill themselves.

>>3905418
How did you wreck the whole game with the Shield Rod then? Outside of it's special effects it sucks.

>>3903479
Don't ever speak to me faggot.

>>3901108
>I now always, always start in the 99 luck, Lapis lazuli mode.

This, I can't not play the game in luck mode now. Also I prevent myself from getting the jewel knuckles using that duck for 5 seconds trick so when I fight doppelganger with the short sword or combat knife all my hits do only 1 damage except for crits. So its like you have to fish for rng crits in order to kill him while trying to stay alive. Unfortunately only the beginning of the game has any real challenge and once you level up a bit your stats even out and it becomes easy peasy again.

Another self imposed challenge I like to do in luck mode is only use the alucart gear, this increases rare drop rate so it also increases the chance to get all those weird hard to find weapons, armors, shields, etc.

>>3905548
It just dealt a lot of damage, I dunno. The combination of shield rode and a certain shield made it stronger, iirc.
I believe at some point very late in the game (maybe inv. castle) I started using another weapon, Alucar'd sword or whatever, but shield rod was what got me through most of the hardest part of the game when you're still very underleveled/equipped.

Doing a fists only run of SotN is pretty fun.
You learn to make better use of your spells and abilities, but also find the merit of special abilities and different combinations of fist weapons.

>>3906520
I just did this. Even with zero equipment and no spells, almost all the bosses are push overs (even Galamoth). The only really difficult boss is Beelzebub, oddly enough. Fists actually have terrific DPS, just shit range.

>>3906691
>The only really difficult boss is Beelzebub, oddly enough
Because he's stuck to the ceiling?

>>3903534
>I bet at least half of the people saying the Saturn version sucks haven't even played it and just parrot whatever they nitpicking they heard over meaningless points.


No it's the other way around. People who have played it realize the new content was awful and doesn't make up for most of the port's short comings.

>>3907389
>>3906691

I beat him with fist weapons in the hardtype.

I did fist flurry on his legs for a few minutes. That pretty much killed him. But you need to actually hit his parts at least once to kill them. So I got did summon spirit a few times on the lower parts. Then his last phase is summoning a circle of flies with only a brief window of attack. I'd hadouken during the opening, then mist when they attacked. For his head and upper torso, I turned into mist, and let my Devil Familliar do the rest.

I finished the whole game using the Heaven's Sword. Rune Sword may be stronger and faster but I like this due to its deadly special.

>>3902721
>>3902738
Combat knife also gives you noticeably increased critical %. I think other short weapons like fists do as well.

>>3908308
>mfw I think of the time I spent grinding for 2x Crissaegrim
>mfw I think of the time I spent grinding for 2x Rings of Varda
>mfw I think of the time I spent grinding to buy the Duplicator

Actually, I'm kind of glad. Symphony of the Night made me realize that I was wasting my damn life doing that shit in games, and I burnt myself out enough that I stopped caring about being an autistic completionist in any game ever game. I enjoy games a lot more now. Thanks, SotN.

>>3901183
Shield rod makes the game super easy.

Two handed swords are under rated. Everyone wants to roll with a shiled, but they're n ot THAT useful.

Werebane is awesome.

>>3908653
I never use a shield except for Olrox.

>>3908325

>>3901242

>>3909025
BANE?

>>3909025

I tried farming it one time to no luck. On a recet playthrough, it dropped.

It's an upgraded Rapier It's flurry attack destroys anything.

Interestingly, it seems to do jack shit against "Were" enemies. Likly a programming error.

>>3901086

Anyone know why the Castlevania wikia decided to use that format for their weapon demos? It seems a bit odd to have the librarian there too.

>>3908225

Yeah, knives and fists are crit weapons, which makes them EVEN MORE op.

Also crit = attack + luck right?

>>3905440

It's just the first part of the regular fist weapon animation. The blue fist also uses two frames of the crouch animation to make it look more like he's punching upwards.

>>3909768

They really knew how to make the most use of frames of animation, eh?

Post your favorite weapons.

>>3913717

This one >>3908208
One of the weapons that I know that requires two on each hand to use the specials. The only one thing that Heaven's Sword is not good to is killing really small enemies like fleaman. I just use the special facing backward in this case to destroy them.

>shit Iv'e discovered on a replay through

I figured out what Skill of the Wolf does. Shoryuken movement and you insta-dash. Very useful for going through certain areas that you don't feel like normally going.

Holding the attack button down with the two daggers puts you into a "guard" pose. I could never figure out what this meant. I thought, maybe if you hold it, you can unleash some special move. Then I got hit by an axe... and it disapeared. See, the guard pose works as a shield and blocks projectiles. I've NEVER seen any page mention this.

>>3908325
Just equip the alucart gear fag. Took me like 5 minutes to grind 2 Vardas.

>>3914358
>Holding the attack button down with the two daggers puts you into a "guard" pose. I could never figure out what this meant. I thought, maybe if you hold it, you can unleash some special move. Then I got hit by an axe... and it disapeared. See, the guard pose works as a shield and blocks projectiles. I've NEVER seen any page mention this.
I came here just to post this, since I discovered it just yesterday (Love discovering new things in this game even after a hundred playthroughs).
I did it with the Jewel Knuckles, I have no other fist weapons to try this with but it doesn't work with the default fists.
If you hold the button it does the same guard pose, but for me, doing it while standing up does nothing. However, doing it while crouching destroys projectiles, but not like a shield, it's actually doing damage constantly, so the projectiles are hit and destroyed. If you do it next to a stationary enemy, like the steel ball in the big cathedral staircase, they'll die in no time.

>>3914382

There's all sorts of tiny little details in SotN that aren't properly documented since they're just fluff and not useful. sure, people have discovered them, but no one's bothered to write them down since they're easy to miss and they don't really matter.

>>3914396
Well I don't mean I was the first to find out, but it was news to me.

Also recently I figured out you can make your fairy sit on you if you wait for a while. It's pretty cute.

>>3914405
>Also recently I figured out you can make your fairy sit on you if you wait for a while. It's pretty cute.

In the Saturn version if you get the Fairy card, you can get her to sing you a song.

>>3905295
>"The load times are more frequent and much longer": they're the equivalent of the kind of load times you get in Resident Evil on PSX when you open up the menu or enter a new camera angle.
We're talking about SotN here

This is why SOTN is one of the best games of all time:

It's really all the little details- the way a blue aura appears around Alucard when your MP is full, the way your heart meter turns green when your hearts are maxed, the gigantic amounts of work that went into the numerous frames of animation- even the special cases some players may not even see(like when you wedge yourself in a tight nook and Alucard can't stand and gives a confounded "What?!?"), the pointless flavor like the confession room.


I could go on, but if you've played this game you know what I'm talking about. It's been polished so much and with such love and care it's just a damn shame we don't have more like it.

>>3914814
>even the special cases some players may not even see(like when you wedge yourself in a tight nook and Alucard can't stand and gives a confounded "What?!?")

What?

>>3914827
There's an area where the ceiling is lowered on your way to count Olrox(sp?) where you need to transform into a bat or wolf to get through, and if you transform back into your base form while in that nook(or any area where Alucard can not stand), then Alucard will say his line.

Surprisingly, there's no videos of this on youtube. At least, if there are I missed them.

Also, for what it's worth, the what line is exactly the same as the opening;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VX1KzkJt1s

>>3901246
Because the Saturn version could have been the superior version, but Konami made some bad decisions when porting it.

>trying to farm the blue knuckles

JESUS CHRIST this is stupid. An hour to get these stupid things. Drop rates are stupid in this game. It's not even that great a weapon.

>>3914938
Just play in luck mode and use the luck+ ring. You may also use luck potions.

>>3901097
>>3901102
>assblasted retards are mad that they're too young

>>3906406
I dunno man, that all just sounds super weird. Aside from it's special combo attacks the weapon is shit. It's damage is terrible and the attack animation is slow as hell. Even compared to other club weapons in the game it has the second lowest damage of all of them.

Even if you never got a single weapon drop from enemies you would come across way better weapons long before the inverted castle.

Are you sure you're talking about the Shield Rod? Or even the same game?

>>3915247
Maybe he used Holy Rod but remembered it as Shield Rod? Good reach and light-based damage can carry you throught the first castle easily

>>3908325
>grinding for weapons in a game that's piss easy

Why? They were clearly meant to be rare little rewards that come up when you replay over many years rather than try to get it all in one run.

>>3914358
>Shoryuken movement and you insta-dash.
It's just a half-U.
Does anything in this game require a shoryuken motion?

>>3916418

I think it;s just backfowards, and half motions.

>>3914956

I eventually got it. But it's annoying.

>>3915802
Yes that's possible. Holy Rod isn't bad.

>>3916426
Like most of the stuff it's not really worth farming for. The game was designed so you could play through it multiple times and find different things along the way to keep replays interesting. Not so much for someone to try and farm for specific items.

>>3917601

Yeah, but I have played through the game endlessly, and never got half this shit. You only visit the caverns a few times, and fight a handful of toads and frogs.

Got blue knuckles. Tons of fun. Using that instead of a shield.

Any other interesting fun first castle weapons?

Playing no shield is kinda fun.

>proper sword or flail in one hand
>knife in the other

http://www.insanedifficulty.com/board/index.php?/files/file/80-castlevania-symphony-of-the-night-hardtype/

Anyone try this?

>>3921695

>Anyone tried this?

It has some nice ideas. And SotN desperately needs some balancing. But it does a lot of "hard and more HP for the sake of it" changes, and a lot of shit is unbalanced. Someone should make a version that does balancing without being retarded.

3/4 of the katanas suck balls.

Red Rust and the wooden sword are joke weapons. You don't get a real katana until castle 2.

>>3909025

Rapiers are under rated.

>mfw moon rod special attack

>>3921695
I enjoyed it, but some things are still unbalanced, such as anything spell related still being OP as fuck (basic magics, thngs like shield rod, etc)

>>3926539

I'm wondering if he's unable to edit special attacks yet.

>>3927507

yeah, he might be.

>knuckles and knives have TWO attacks per button press
>far away they hit once like intended
>but up close they hit twice because drawing the weapon back counts as a separate attack
>absolutely demolish enemies early game unarmed, basilard, and combat knife

Who designed this?

>>3921695

PSP version would make more sense to use as a base.

>>3903534
At least the Saturn Version has the Maria boss battle and it's awesome music. I was quite dissapointed how gimped the PSP version of that fight in both the boss and the music compared to original.

>>3930501

Maria operates totally differently in Saturn vs. PSP.

Saturn she has all new powers. PSP she has Rondo powers. I think the story is that Maria grew in power over time, while PSP implies she kept the same powers as before. Not sure which is "better" or more "canon". Saturn was made by a b-team so who knows if any of that is anything.

>>3901086
whats up with SOTN criticisms becoming threads post-WOFF episode?

>>3931487
>post-WOFF episode?

post what?

>>3930096
>>but up close they hit twice because drawing the weapon back counts as a separate attack
Not that, if you keep holding the button they just keep hitting really fast. I bet it's a bug.

Has anyone beaten the game using only spells to attack?

So I'm playing a romhack of this game that cranks up the difficulty. It is pretty neat, but there's some pretty odious bullshit. Some bosses, for example, have absolutely absurd hit point totals. I spent a solid 10 minutes just wailing on Beelzebub's legs before they finally went down, and I couldn't beat him before I got killed by the flies that do 170+ damage on hit (I only have about 380 health right now).

I had also gotten stuck on Olrox, and Richter Belmont was fucking ludicrous. Even with the Holy Mail, his blade dashes chunk a third of your health total, and Shaft's Orb also has an insane amount of health so you've gotta be really good at dodging Richter

All in all, though, I'd say its a definite improvement. If you are experienced with the game, consider giving it a swing but expect to die a lot. I only just arrived to the inverted castle, and I've only fought the piss-easy Medusa with her terrible AI, as well as Beelzebub who I'm going to give up on for now and head for Darkwing Bat instead.

A few have just been "Pin them into a corner and press square for minutes on end", yeah. That's how I beat Medusa. Some of them felt "just right", though, like the Griffin, Cerberus, and even Granfaloon felt good.

I'm really dreading fighting Death and Doppel 40. As for Galamoth... I can't even fucking imagine what his health total is like. I played a lot of FFXII - because of Yiazmat in that game, I'm no stranger to 3+hour boss fights but I'd really rather not do that in SOTN :^)

Also, Faerie is the only familiar worth using. Never forget that, /vr/

>>3932143

Spells are very powerful, so that's not a challenge.

>>3908208
the fuck I have replayed this game more than 6 times and I never have seen this one

>>3905531
>le epin SotN is a bad game meme!
It's not bad, it's a classic, but that doesn't mean it's the best. There have been games that have perfected the formula, and even other Castlevanias like Aria of Sorrow does better a lot of things that SotN did wrong.

>>3903361
The most broken weapon is easily the Alucard Shield.

>>3901147
> yet they forgot to add some sort of difficulty

They didn't "forget" to add it. They made it intentionally easy as fuck.

Can this meme die now, please?

>>3905295
>That's bullshit. Show monsters like the Gargoyles, Wight, all the new Skeletons, Copper Armor, Will O Wasps to someone who's never played SOTN and he'd never be able to tell they weren't part of the original game.

Mostly because most people don't pay the least attention to this stuff. Anyone who knows the least bit about art style can spot right away these sprites are of very low quality.

And, Wight? Seriously? The ghost with comically huge hands you think nobody can tell the difference to the rest of the enemies?

God, tripfags I'll tell you...

>>3905295
>Crazy how noone is objective about the Saturn version.

-The screen is stretched on a game supposed to have stunning pixel art.
-The load times are increased and the loading rooms are meaningless.
-No transparencies even though Saturn could do transparencies (already explained to have been the job of unskilled devs).
-Terrible sprite work on the new enemies.
-Meaningless extra levels

>they're the equivalent of the kind of load times you get in Resident Evil on PSX when you open up the menu or enter a new camera angle.

Except Castlevania SotN is not Resident Evil.

>He basically said he could neither recommend it nor bash it.

Pic related. Pretty obvious he's calling it shit.

>>3933878

>arguing with NESfag

he's a huge fanboy faggot.

>>3933873

All the new Saturn sprite work is sub-par. A lot of it is outright cartoony and doesn't match the art style of the rest of the game.

>>3933878
>The screen is stretched on a game supposed to have stunning pixel art.

Pretty sure that can be fixed if you play emulated, which considering the game is a Jap exclusive you're most likely to do.

>The load times are increased and the loading rooms are meaningless.
>Except Castlevania SotN is not Resident Evil.

My point was, it was a PS1/Saturn game, the amazing thing isn't that the Saturn version has loading times, but that the PS1 version doesn't. The loading times in the Saturn version are really not much and on par with any disc game of the era.

>No transparencies even though Saturn could do transparencies (already explained to have been the job of unskilled devs).

This is always brought up like it's a big deal, but it's not like transparency is everywhere in the game, it's a rather small detail blown out of proportions. The dithering is fine, and besides IIRC emulation can turn it into transparency as well.

>Terrible sprite work on the new enemies.

Your point of view, I think they're fine and either fit Castlevania as a whole like the new skeleton or ghost enemies. The only enemy I can think that can be considered "cartoony" is the human face tree and it fits its environment well.

http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Castlevania:_Symphony_of_the_Night/Saturn

>Meaningless extra levels
Again, your opinion. I've already went over why I think they're great, but I can also add they're fun to explore.

>Pic related. Pretty obvious he's calling it shit.

Yeah, no. He's basically saying he doesn't like them because it wasn't done by him for what he considers "his" game and it was probably done without his consent too, or even telling him about it until it was done. That's how it's done and he sounds like he's just sour and bitter because he doesn't own the games and can't take the decisions.
Besides "I couldn't put my name on that stuff" to me means he's saying he had nothing to do with it, and he's avoiding responsibility.

>>3934469

NESfag just throw yourself off a cliff no one gives a shit.

>>3933878
>-No transparencies even though Saturn could do transparencies (already explained to have been the job of unskilled devs).

Yes and no. It can do either per-sprite transparency, or sprite-to-background transparency. It can't do both. Since SOTN Saturn is very heavy on both backgrounds and sprites, it is unable to do transparency properly at most places without some visual glitch (like the ones in Guardian Heroes).

There are places where it does it just right though, like the extra dungeons, or the fight with Shaft.

>>3901086

>Grim Atmosphere
>Excellent Music
>Excellent 2D Graphics and animation
>RPG Elements
>Non-linear
>Items and spells
>Undead, Demons, Blood
>Inverted Castle Master Quest


This is my type of game and one of my all time favorites. The only criticism i have is the aspect ratio, but that's a non issue.

>>3934469
>This is always brought up like it's a big deal, but it's not like transparency is everywhere in the game, it's a rather small detail blown out of proportions. The dithering is fine, and besides IIRC emulation can turn it into transparency as well.

It is actually a big deal since the game relies a lot on transparencies, gouraud shading, and stacking multiple transparencies to do a lot of effects. The Saturn lacks nearly all of those.

Instead they relied on other tricks, like flashing a sprite on/off fast, or mixing opaque and meshed sprites. The stacked transparency effects cannot be replicated that way. On top of that a lot of graphics didn't even get any transparency flags either, they are opaque.

So no, you are missing like half the special effects in the game, even if you use an emulator to turn meshes into transparent sprites.

>The loading times in the Saturn version are really not much and on par with any disc game of the era.

Point is that there is no reason why it should have any loading at all, because they already got it done without loading on the PSX... yet it has loading.

>>3935283
>>Grim Atmosphere

I think it's more like, abandoned or decayed? You get the sense this was a nice place once. But it has been abandoned too long.

>>3908308
dual crissaegrim master race reporting
i didnt even know this weapon existed til my friend told me about it and i had already beaten the game like 3 or 4 times

>>3935283

>no sotn romhacks ever

How come no nerd has risen to the task of rebalancing the items in this game?

>>3938196
Because it's just as much the weapons as the level design and enemy ai.

>>3938196
>How come no nerd has risen to the task of rebalancing the items in this game?

There's a hard type. It half does it. I think it has some good ideas, and some bad ones.

It aims not to balance it, but to make it hard. But that means some bosses have absurdly huge HP and battles just become slugfests.

And on top of that, a lot of it is STILL unbalanced. Special moves, and spells are very OP. And maces/flails got way too much of a nerf.

Take the Hardtype, rebalance it with the aim at moderate difficulty, and it'd be great.

>>3901086

Man, this stupid thread gave me a dream where I discovered all these hidden spells in SotN no one else had found.

Mash O with the clock and razor weapon, and you spam out a thousand little razors. Like little disclord razors.

>Killing schmoos for 6 hours

>>3940607

You know what Schmoos are supposed to be? Beheading victims. Their undead heads fly around. He's wearing a mask with eyeholes.

I just thought it was a weird little flying monster.

>>3940614
I think you genocide the whole schmoo race every playthrough. Poor little schmoos.

>Lion is just a modified palette swap of the early-game Sword Lord that does not generate a Vandal Sword, and attacks in a similar way, although he has less reach due to his claws. He is less aggressive: initially he will back away to the edge of the screen if Alucard walks towards him and will only advance if Alucard's back is turned. He only attacks if Alucard is within his attack range: if Alucard remains close to him he will not try to back away and constantly attacks.

OH FUCK ME THIS GAME

I feel like I can never not learn something new about it. I never noticed that their AI is "cowardly" at all. It totally fits the Cowardly lion them.

One of my favorite sprites in this game.

>Ultra useful item
>occurs only in one drop by one enemy that appears in one small area
>a typical play through spends 10 minutes in that area
>need 50 to farm it

what's the best early game weapon with a special move?

>>3943143
Perhaps rapier? You get it in the library from Dhurons.

Really, though, fists are where it's at.

I always wondered why the PSP version ignored absolutely everything the Saturn port added, even Maria was significantly different than her OP Saturn version

>>3943374

Saturn version was poorly received. And Maria was some weird Kung Fu master in the Saturn version.

>>3943383
THIS

Only desperate Segafags defend SOTN for Saturn

>>3943406

A lot of the sprite work, like ther eis poor or doesn't fit the game. That tree is nice looking, but SotN had always gone for a more realistic proportional style. Then you have some weird cartoon tree. The "ghosts" are particularily bad looking.

Are the Sorrow sequels worthy sequels? Never played them but I know they continue Alucard's story

>>3943417

Yes. Aria of Sorrow is arguably better. Dawn is just a side story ultimately.

yeah man look at this shit lol wtf is this, definitely not on par with the serious and always fitting monsters from the original game such as Shmoo, Frog, Corpseweed, Slime and Venus Weed

plus iga said he may or may not like it and I'd totally suck his cock

>>3943436
what other Castlevanias are (arguably) better than Sotn? This is my first time playing a Castelvania and I'm hungry for more, but it's a big series

Any objectively shit ones that should be avoided?

>>3943523
All 3 on GBA and all 3 on DS are like SotN and are all good in their own ways. Play them in order. Then you'll be begging for more, so replay them in hard or other gameplay modes.

>>3943523
I think Circle of the Moon is better than SotN.

>>3943523

SOTN is the best Castlevania ever made. You cant compete with perfection.

>>3943918

LOL

>>3903479
That actually looks horrible

Wow, Maria actually hooks up with Alucard

>>3945731
>Wow, Maria actually hooks up with Alucard

She does?

They should have done a Dracula X3, with their child and an aged Richter and Maria. Would have been better than Rondo X remake for PSP.

>>3945971
Yeah, it's the plot of the radio drama sequel. The ending where she chases after him is canon. Too bad we didn't get a badass child from them

>>3945978
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttHbB7pq-rs

>>3943406
>tfw you can nearly crash the game by pressing dash and shield really fast
maria mode was pretty fun though

Playing this right now.

Where the fuck do i go? Where do i go? I've looked everywhere. Dead ends all around me.

I can't jump up there yet. I can't go through this most door yet. Where the fuck do i go ive ran around this fucking castle 6 times.

>>3946636
Go to the Castle Keep and thoroughly explore it for the Leap Stone, this gives you a double jump and the game progresses more smoothly from there on.

>>3946636

Find the shop in the library (in the outer tower) and buy the map and the item that opens blue doors.

>>3946651
>>3946702
Got those. Just recently got to the tower with all the gears. Fought some bitch that shoots bats. Thought it would lead somewhere important or give me a new ability but all i got was some new weapons.

>>3946710
The game is really badly designed. Here is the minimum of what you need to finish:

1) Jewel of Open (bought in Library)
2) Leap Stone (Castle Keep)
3) Form of Mist (Coliseum)
4) Soul of Bat (Library)

With only these, you can get anywhere in the game.

>>3946753
I found a staircase i missed and now I've got mist and bat. Fun game.

>>3946753
Ok this isn't true unless you want the bad ending apparently.

Did anyone here get the inverted castle without a guide? Don't lie.

>>3947157
You need the Gold and Silver Rings to get the Holy Glasses to get to the Inverted Castle, but technically this is possible with what I listed. Practically you also need either Echo of Bat or Power of Mist (to hold the mist transformation) to navigate the spikey room in the Catacombs. The spikey room in the Chapel can be bypassed with Bat, Mist, Jewel of Open, and a potion to give you temporary invincibility and time to open the door.

Btw, I love how you find Maria in the most absurd and hard to reach places. She always says some shit, and then peaces out like it was no problem to reach where ever she was. She's crafty.

>>3947157
>Did anyone here get the inverted castle without a guide? Don't lie.
I'm a completionist so I made sure to scour everything and get as close to 100% as possible before going to the "Dracula room" (not knowing it would be Richter).

I got the Holy goggles, fought Richter, got the bad ending. But that weird green orb that just flew away after you beat him seemed suspicious to me, so I reloaded my save and focused on attacking it instead. Voila.

Pretty much the thought process that the developers intended, I'm sure, without resorting to a guide to discover it.

>>3935342
Why do people reply to that contrarian namefag, everyone who has spent a little time on this board knows him an SevenTrans have the worst opinions and shit taste in games.

>>3947157
I didn't use a guide but I did beat it and get the bad ending first then was disappointed until I decided to go back and do more exploring, found Maria etc. First stepping into the inverted castle realizing there was a whole other game is one of the most amazing gaming moments of my life.

>>3934469
When he says he can't put his name on it and present it to CV fans he means the content is bad not worthy of a real CV fan you idiot.

And he is correct. None of it adds to the game and takes away from what is there.

>>3933873
>tripfag

>>3948205
It's been forever since I played sotn but I couldn't figure out how to open the clock tower without going to a magazine store and looking in the guide. I think I got to the inverted castle on my on though.

>>3946521
Don't like her design in that artwork

>>3948772

yeah, they did new art for some reason.

>>3946753

you can do a lot of sequence breaking shit too.

>>3947185

You can use the bat form to break the spikes on the floor by flying low and your wings will break them, you don't need invincibility potion.

>>3947185
> The spikey room in the Chapel can be bypassed with Bat, Mist, Jewel of Open, and a potion to give you temporary invincibility and time to open the door.

On my first playthrough I sequence broke the spike corridor. If you turn back from mist to regular form, next to the door, while taking out your shield at the same time, you can go through. Has to be precise though.

On my first playthrough I didn't even go through the Catabombs until I found out about them in the reverse castle.

>>3940614
>>3940625
>>3940607

Who the hell or what they're supposed to be is a mystery to me. See, they're called like Kyuu in Japanese. What is that a reference to? The rest of them are Wiz of Oz creatures.

>>3953751
:D

I can't be the only one, can I?

>this boss

Wtf man.

>>3955843
Wear Beryl circlet,laugh as his lightning heals you.

>>3956023
Or wear nothing, and laugh at his helplessness as you bash his schnoz.

>>3901173
Bullshit. You cant get those before playing a replay.

>>3956228
wrong. only applies to ring of varda

>>3934469
>being this delusional

>>3956221

lol

>>3931649
Some mouth breathing neckbeard faggots said something about the game. Disregard any discussion of them

>>3955579
>>3955579

yeah, I was confused by that library item thing too since I didn't recognize it. Only later did I realize it was the Alucard guy.

>>3908208
>>3909025

Is there a collection of all these gifs?

>>3908208
The only thing that would make this gif better is if the librarian exploded into chunks.

>>3948316
Richter going full MD Geist was the best moment of Symphony of the Night imo.

I was disappointed when I found out he was just being controlled by one of Dracula's henchman.

I just wish he was a more challenging end boss even for a fake ending.

This is still my favourite Soundrack of all vidya desu.
Takes me way back.
Thinking about this game always feels like a distant dream.
Never felt this sort of magic playing video games ever since.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYwS6481oQk

>>3963287
If you don't use Holy Mail he deals a lot of damage wtf you're talking about?

>>3964471

Yeah, but he's easy to avoid.

>>3901086
Any chance of a sotn romhacking scene arising? The game has so much unnecessary depth, it's a shame a lot of it never gets put to use. It'd be nice if someone tried to rebalance the game to give everything a use