/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.10047075]

Peak ludo.

[Anonymous No.10047081]

This game is just OK at best i dont know what the fuck "ludo" means

[Anonymous No.10047205]

>>10047081
It's a new word like "kino" I think.

The game is balls hard, and frustrating at parts, but I do like the simple gameplay. I feel like it's easier than IV, but the final boss I just can't beat it. One of the best soundtracks on the SNES.

[Anonymous No.10047215]

>>10047081
Ludonarrative, it's a hipster buzzword that means the gameplay complements the story.

[Anonymous No.10047216]

>>10047075
Prefer IV and Bloodlines, maybe I'll give it another shot though

[Anonymous No.10047221]

>>10047075
ludo kino?

[Anonymous No.10047228]

>>10047075
meh game desu

[Anonymous No.10047236]

>>10047205
The finals boss really isn't hard. There's a platform on the right where you can lean against the wall and not get knocked back by demon Dracula. Just stand there and spam axe until you win.

[Anonymous No.10047258]

>>10047075
Replayed this recently and it was a lot better than I remember. Really interesting to contrast it with Rondo; DX is slower and stiffer but definitely way harder and it's cool that it's actually hard enough to justify Item Crashes existing.

[Anonymous No.10047298]

>>10047075
Once I got over it not having a damn thing to do with Rondo, I could really enjoy it for what it is on its own merit. Its a legit CV game and one I wish I had given more of a chance sooner.

[Anonymous No.10047524]

>>10047075
>>10047216
Nah OP I'm sorry, I tried it again and I still can't get into it. Super Castlevania IV and Bloodlines hold my attention for longer. The graphics are great but the art style is weird, people complain about Harmony of Dissonance but I see some of the same pastel stuff in this game. Enemy placement is horrendous though, makes Bloodlines look like a masterpiece. Now I just want to play Chronicles and SotN, and... Something else in general ol

[Anonymous No.10047851]

Best Castlevania and one of the bests SNES action games

Captcha: PHMAD

[Anonymous No.10047958]

>>10047205
>>10047215
Kino = movies
Ludo = games

[Anonymous No.10047975]

>>10047851
Why do you think people want to know what your captcha was?

[Anonymous No.10047978]

I think the difficulty of this game is vastly overrated. Rondo has harder bosses (especially the Shaft boss rush), 4 has harder lategame levels with all the instakill platforming, and Bloodlines is just harder in general. And 3 is obviously harder than them all. Dracula X is a pretty smooth experience all things considered. I think people dismiss it as a bullshit assets flip without even trying.

[Anonymous No.10047984]

>>10047978
The game is *supposed* to be bad so people will say and tell themselves anything to try and defend that instead of admitting they were victim of sheep mentality. Like complaining about the level design or enemy placement or enemy design, despite most things about it being just like in 1 and 3, with the added bonus of Richter having more moves which should make things easier.

and then there is this guy focusing on mundane details like the hanging bats which can't be killed as long as they're alseep, which are nothing more than fodder enemies which appear twice in the entire game, which is supposed to represent the design mentality of the game except well no, they don't.

[Anonymous No.10047989]

peak kuso

[Anonymous No.10047994]

>>10047989
That looks pretty nice.
>b-but it doesn't make sense!
It's a game.
The castle is demonic and can create illusions if your autism demands justifications.

[Anonymous No.10048063]

>>10047978
I agree that the difficulty is overstated, but I'd still say it's harder than Rondo. DX's bosses are mostly the same as Rondo's and when they're different, they're harder (Bat, Death, Drac etc). Plus Richter moves slightly slower in DX which can make it harder to fight an identical boss. I think they tried to do a few little tweaks to compensate for this (you have way more room to move in the Dullahan fight and the Minotaur room layout lets you spam axes to kill it) but I'd still say they're harder on average.

Agree about IV and Bloodlines though. Speaking of IV's instakill platforming, has anyone else just randomly fallen through stairs in IV? Was replaying it over the past few days and it happened to me like 5 or 6 times, and I'm dead certain I was holding up every time.

[Anonymous No.10048147]

>>10047978
It feels hard for the wrong reasons like Mega Man X6, mostly bad enemy placement and level design. At least SCIV and Bloodlines save all the crazy stuff for later in the game

[Anonymous No.10048154]

>>10048147
The enemy placement and level design aren't any different than in the NES games, if anything they're way less assholish than what 3 could come up with. If you prefer the more horizontal and spacious levels of Rondo that's fine, but Dracula X wants to stick closer to the classic formula.

[Anonymous No.10048160]

>>10047215
>hipster buzzword
I think it's a useful term, a good ludonarrative is what all games should aim for.
Also ludo on its own just refers to gameplay, it means play in latin.

[Anonymous No.10048161]

>>10048160
The word was literally invented by a YouTuber a few years ago

[Anonymous No.10048165]

>>10048161
That's not true, it was coined by a game designer on his blog. But why does it matter?

[Anonymous No.10048183]

>>10048154
That they're less assholish is true (there's nothing in DX that's as bad as 9-2, 9-4 or A-1), but they're definitely different. I feel like DX is more generous with Medusa Heads/bats (compared to C3 on normal, that is - hard is another story), and the platforming is tricky in different ways. C3 liked to fuck you over with stairs and autoscrollers, with DX there's a lot of horizontal/vertical moving platforms. Depending on individual taste, that could be more annoying.

It's also worth noting that DX ramps up the challenge earlier than C3, 3 doesn't really start getting brutal until Syfa 5 or Alucard 7 (assuming you skip the Clock Tower), whereas DX is throwing some pretty tricky shit at you by level 3.

[Anonymous No.10048185]

>>10048160
Hey I only know about it because it was referenced in an ELoG video, so I have no room to talk lol
>I don't use the term ludonarative dissonance because I'm not a yuuuge fucking faggot

[Anonymous No.10048191]

>>10048185
What does ELoG stand for?
>that line
Some people are so scared of appearing pretentious lol

[Anonymous No.10048680]

The trek to free Maria is genius. In Rondo finding the key and getting to her prison was trivial, but here you have to beat a boss and traverse a pretty long level with no subweapons and without dying once to get to her. You'll be pretty much forced to learn to use the key item crash offensively and for invincibility frames.

[Anonymous No.10048815]

>>10048063
>has anyone else just randomly fallen through stairs in IV? Was replaying it over the past few days and it happened to me like 5 or 6 times, and I'm dead certain I was holding up every time.
Never happened to me, but you sure you didn't press the jump button? IV lets you drop off stairs if you press jump, then Rondo, X68K and Bloodlines implemented being able to jump while on stairs.
But no, randomly fall off never happened to me.

[Anonymous No.10048896]

>>10048063
Not exactly but in the final level where the buzzsaw is chasing you sometimes the stairs will crumble the moment I land on them, despite me pressing up as usual.

[Anonymous No.10048902]

>>10047994
The thread is about ludonarrative. This is one of the biggest examples of ludonarrative dissonance in gaming.

Ludonarrative synergy = The PHS system in FFVII being a cell phone.
Ludonarrative dissonance = Not reviving Aeris with a phoenix down.
Ludonarrative fuck you it's just a game = using the castle you're supposed to be inside of as the background.

[Anonymous No.10048908]

>>10047984
The game isn't terrible, it's just worse than most other Castlevanias except the legitimately shitty ones like Castlevania Adventure and Haunted Castle. People are comparing it to the rest of the franchise, which does put it near the bottom. The fact that it's bitch hard for silly reasons like making you fight Dracula on a bunch of uneven platforms just makes people prefer to play Bloodlines or SCV4. It also doesn't help that it's an alternate take on Rondo, which is, despite /vr/'s notorious contrarian takes, an excellent game.

[Anonymous No.10048927]

>>10047984
>mundane details like the hanging bats which can't be killed as long as they're alseep
One of the most annoying things about the game is that it does shit like this throughout. If you don't rescue Maria and try to use the key on the door that takes you to stage 5', the door simply will not open. There's no reason for it other than the game designers deciding that they don't want you rescuing Annet without having saved Maria. "It's just a game" doesn't justify these moments of "go fuck yourself, it works when WE want it to work" from the devs.

[Anonymous No.10048939]

>>10047989
I don't think even people who like the game would defend the presentation, the game is a low budget assets flip and it shows. The tilesets gets recycled for multiple levels with a simple palette swap (especially the caves). The sprites quality varies wildly, the first boss (giant wolf or whatever it is) looks horrible while Shaft looks better than the Rondo version. On the other hand the music sounds surprisingly good.
Overall I'll still take lacking presentation over something that looks gorgeous but is boring to play, like IV.

[Anonymous No.10048954]

People who go out of their way to defend this game are lonely (You)-hunting weirdos. It's OK, okay? Yes it's a little more challenging than Rondo yadda yadda, but it's still an asset flip and you can tell they considered making a straight port and changed their mind half-way. It's slower and floatier overall. Fucking christ can we STOP? It's just not good enough to fluff as much as you morons do. 68k is the better hipster-vania anyway.

[Anonymous No.10049129]

>>10048908
I like DX more than IV and (maybe) Bloodlines. Item Crashes are OP but it's fun to make decisions about when to use them and it makes Heart management more interesting. The Dracula fight's frustrating but once you figure out the right positioning tricks it can be cleared really safely/consistently.

[Anonymous No.10049325]

>>10049129
Same. So far I'd rate the 16 bit games:

Rondo > Dracula X > Bloodlines > IV

I still have to play X68000 though. And III is probably still my overall favourite anyway.

[Anonymous No.10049330]

>>10047075
Best Castlevania on the SNES and it's not even close

[Anonymous No.10050324]

>>10049325
I like x68 just about as much as Bloodlines, definitely give it a shot.

[Anonymous No.10050336]

>>10048165
Why mix english and latin? Couldn't they just just use an existing latin or english phrase?

[Anonymous No.10050473]

>>10050336
TV Tropes calls it gameplay and story segregation but that's kind of long winded.

[Anonymous No.10050712]

>>10050336
>mix english and latin
"Narrative" originates from Latin too anon

[Anonymous No.10051267]

>>10047075
I agree that it's one of the better Castlevania games gameplay-wise, it's incredibly satisfying to master it and learn how to deal with each threat, so much so that even beating it without dying can become relatively trivial. But it's just so bland visually. I like Stage 1 and Stage 5B (the water ruins) but most of the game looks extremely bland and it just lacks that charm and style even Castlevania 2 had in spades. Areas such as the later part of Stage 2 or the first rooms of Stage 6 look like they could be put in any other game and they wouldn't stand out: it just doesn't feel like Dracula's castle most of the time, nor the areas around it. I like the location variety, but I think Castlevania 3 has far better aesthetics and also a lot more replay value. Also, the battle against Dracula, while not as anticlimactic as Rondo's, is still boring and not very fun.

[Anonymous No.10052704]

On its own, its shit
When you know its a rondo downgrade its turbo shit

Nintendrones will shill anything on the fag box but there's no reason why the snes couldn't have made rondo with just a musical downgrade.

[Anonymous No.10052712]

>>10047081
Ludo just means game, nothing else.

[Anonymous No.10052719]

Lmfao why would I play Drac X on the pooper nintendo when I could just play Rondo of Blood on TGCD

[Anonymous No.10052752]

>>10047978
The game is a bullshit asset flipping but it is really fun. Better than super snoozevania

[Anonymous No.10052754]

>>10052704
>Snes
>only musical downgrade
lmao

[Anonymous No.10052782]

I have fond memories of playing this while drinking hot chocolate after coming home from college.

[Anonymous No.10052786]

>>10052754
He is technically right, SNES is more powerful than TG-16 and could've easily handled a proper Rondo port without the CD audio. Maybe even some bonus features like playable Simon or something

[Anonymous No.10053292]

The cutscene artstyle is actually really cool, the Mignola-like art is a great fit for Castlevania.

[Anonymous No.10053327]

>>10051267
>it's incredibly satisfying to master it and learn how to deal with each threat

That it is, and in that aspect it's more fun than 1, Bloodlines and Rondo; and this is what people who claim it's a "shitty version of Rondo" don't get, outside of the boss fights (some of which aren't that good either) and of the final level, Rondo is an incredible bore to play and mastering it requires low skill. This game on the other hand took the assets from Rondo and said "I'll show you how Castlevania is done".
Out of all the people shitting on DXX, 90%+ haven't played it, the remaining 10% only played it on surface level

Somehow 3 is just as fun to master for me despite having inferior boss fights (for the most part).

[Anonymous No.10053346]

>>10053327
I kinda respect the Death fight in Dracula X. If I remember right the knife is the only subweapon near the checkpoint before him, so there's a decent chance that you'll be going into the fight with just that instead of an axe or cross, encouraging more whip use. The actual battle is in a pretty cramped space (perhaps more than the mast in Rondo) so there's a nice feeling of a one-on-one duel.

[Anonymous No.10053347]

>>10053346
The knife is actually the best subweapon to use against the first form because you can keep it at bay and it's easy to aim

And its item crash is a nice "NOPE" button to use when you know you're going to get hit against the 2nd form

[Anonymous No.10054251]

>>10047994
Based neurotypical narrative realist

>>10048902
Cringe whatever the fuck that is

[Anonymous No.10054273]

>>10048902
>Ludonarrative dissonance = Not reviving Aeris with a phoenix down.

Phoenix Down heals knock-outs, it doesn't "revive". The real dissonance doesn't come from there, it comes from being killed by a mere simple sword in a cutscene when so much worse shit including planets being thrown at you or whatever only knock you out in the worst case.

[Anonymous No.10054368]

>>10054273
Cloud surviving Sephiroth and tossing into the pit is the worst offender.

[Anonymous No.10054392]

>>10048939
>I don't think even people who like the game would defend the presentation
They're doing it right in this thread.
>>10054251
>>10047994

[Anonymous No.10054398]

>>10054368
Falling several stories and through a roof of a church and being no worse for wear thanks to a flower bed might top even that.

[Anonymous No.10054431]

>>10054398
But that's not really ludonarrative dissonance... The Sephiroth thing is especially egregious to me because the game took the time earlier to show through the battle mechanics how stupidly powerful he is, while Cloud is a lv 1 shitter. Why bother expressing that overwhelming difference in strength through gameplay if you're gonna ignore it later?

[Anonymous No.10054493]

>>10054431
True. At least that scene has narrative purpose though. It's meant to undermine Cloud's insecurity and show that even as a lv 1 shitter he was able to tank Sephiroth's attack and throw him over a railing. It also calls into question Cloud's perception of how badass Sephiroth is. He wasn't nearly as superhuman as Cloud thought he was. In fact that was a running theme throughout the game. Every SOLDIER you meet gets assfucked, either by random Shinra guards or by you in random encounters. A lot of their reputation was pure propaganda.

[Anonymous No.10054505]

>>10047075
based on waht?

[Anonymous No.10054510]

>>10053292
It's some of the best stuff presentation wise of the entire series, it's genuinely one of the best Classicvanias too. People bitch about this game so much just because their favorite ecelebs don't like it.

[Anonymous No.10054542]

>>10047215
Ludo isn't short for ludonarrative, that's like saying message is short for messageboard

[Anonymous No.10054718]

Why does Dracula X even exist in the first place? Why didn't they just port Rondo to the SNES? It clearly could handle it. Even the "FMV" might have been possible given it's mostly still images.

[Anonymous No.10055069]

>>10054718
I don't know, but I'm glad it does.

Maybe they thought that Rondo was "too Japanese" for the SNES with its moeshit anime cutscenes?

[Anonymous No.10055258]

>>10054718
I have a strong feeling the anime aesthetic had something to do with it, plus the audio problems, but IDK

[Anonymous No.10055275]

>>10054718
>>10055069
>>10055258
Konami always operated like that. Dracula X is to Rondo what Hyperstone Heist is to Turtles in Time. It seems like Konami had entirely independent teams, each dedicated to a specific platform. So while they sometimes shared assets, they were constantly making entirely different games rather than porting anything. There also may have been some exclusivity arrangement between Konami and NEC and Dracula X was a clever way to dance around that. I can't help but think Dracula X was made as a response to Rondo's Japanese exclusivity. They probably wanted to get a facsimile of the game overseas and so they did a quick and dirty SNES game with the assets. The American box art lends some credibility to that, I think.

[Anonymous No.10055304]

>play Rondo
>it's braindead easy up until the Shaft boss gauntlet
>play Dracula X
>it's challenging out of the gate
>work up to no-continue run
>go back to Rondo
>suddenly suck at it

[Anonymous No.10055320]

>>10055304
Yeah switching between the games is always a trauma, walking speed and jumping are completely different.

[Anonymous No.10055348]

>>10055320
It's a mixed blessing tho. Makes them different enough from each other to make them both worth playing.

[Anonymous No.10056908]

>>10053292

[Anonymous No.10056973]

>>10055348
This.
And it's why I'll never understand the simple-minded ideology of "you HAVE to pick ONE game and LOATHE the other, even though they're similar and enjoyable!"
I know humans are wired to be tribal and binary minded, but the internet made everything even dumber.

[Anonymous No.10056990]

>>10050336
Narrative is Latin too, lol

[Anonymous No.10057105]

>>10047081
>There are people who are so contrarian they say this was better than Castlevania IV.

And they eat pieces of shit for breakfast because according to them, it tastes better than waffles and pancakes

[Anonymous No.10057128]

>>10057105
Having a different opinion from you doesn't mean being a contrarian. I've played both games many times and I would easily say that Dracula X is a better game in terms of anything gameplay-related aside from the Dracula fight.

[Anonymous No.10057820]

>>10057105
closed minded, sad

[Anonymous No.10057842]

>>10057105
If you value IV for anything other than its OST and presentation, you haven't played enough Castlevania.

[Anonymous No.10057887]

>>10054392
You gonna have a little cry over it, faggot?

[Anonymous No.10057893]

>>10057842
>I'm literally having a panic attack over other peoples opinions
Why are you like this? Touched in the butt as a kid?

[Anonymous No.10057902]

>>10048165
A real game designer or some indie douche?

[Anonymous No.10057948]

>>10057842
It's a great classicvania, the "diagonal whip is OP" thing is exaggerated, and for all the shit some shitposters make drama about "muh mode 7 gimmicks!", there's only 1 small part of a long level with a single gimmick, the rest of the game, which is rather long, is nothing but pure action-platforming. Can't say the same about Rondo and Bloodlines with the many actual gimmicks in Bloodlines and "wandering around looking for secrets" in Rondo.
IV is still one of the most orthodox Classicvanias, and before you cry about "but it has this and that change from the classic formula" I'll remind you that no other classicvania played exactly like CV1 except for CV2 (but the whole game design is different) and CV III (If you limit to Trevor only). Every other classicvania changed stuff from the formula around. IV didn't even have that many changes out side of the diagonal whip and the jump arc control - and being able to fall off stairs (which isn't as broken as being able to jump while on stairs).
People who complain about IV for being "easy" or being "too different" aren't real Castlevania players (that is, people who actually played through the series, several times each game). Those who did know IV is one of the actual most challenging to beat without dying, even if you remember the game by memory.

[Anonymous No.10057996]

>>10057948
>Those who did know IV is one of the actual most challenging to beat without dying
Exclusively because of some instakill platforming near the end, more specifically the shitty disappearing bridge before Frankenstein and the rancid vertical autoscroller before the final boss rush. Nothing else in the game can come even close to killing you, in fact in my last playthrough the only times I ever got hit was when some odd bat dived into me while I was too bored of the game to keep paying attention. It's simply a shit game, and the reasons have been stated a million times. Your sprites is gigantic and your whip can cover one third of the screen, between that and the multidirectional attack you are excessively efficient, side weapons that should make up for your limited attack capabilities are instead useless and no enemies placement can challenge you. 80% of the game is just busywork, where you whip enemies from a position of safety and they can do nothing to you. It's especially egregious with bone towers, what even is the point in putting so many of them in places where if you can destroy them from below before they can even be a threat? It's illusion of gameplay, just a pure time waster. There is no challenge, no push and pull. This is as game design 101, anyone who doesn't realize I is legitimately retarded.

[Anonymous No.10058009]

>>10057948
My biggest issue (aside from the categorically indefensible 8-2 platform bridge) is whip flailing. It's almost completely useless and fucks up buffering movement inputs while attacking, which every other CV does flawlessly. Makes the whole game frustrating to play.

[Anonymous No.10058023]

>>10057996
IV has the best levels in the series by far, game design guru.

[Anonymous No.10058028]

>>10058023

[Anonymous No.10058081]

>>10058023
>slippery instakill gimmick #1
right into
>slippery instakill gimmick #2
not making a strong case there anon

[Anonymous No.10058086]

>>10058081
>actual level design that isn't just a straight hallway?
>gimmick!

[Anonymous No.10058103]

>>10058086
now this is a much better showcase of your point, in the future only post this webm

[Anonymous No.10058375]

>>10057948
>Those who did know IV is one of the actual most challenging to beat without dying
Not really, I no death'd it a few years back. I knew the game really well but it wasn't like it was something I was practicing for. I was just playing it enough at the time that it happened. I wouldn't say it's easy but if you know the game well it's not that bad. I have a harder time getting through Castlevania 1 no death, personally. Still haven't no death'd Dracula X but Rondo and SCVIV weren't a problem.

[Anonymous No.10059145]

>>10058375
As someone who has gone for no deaths on a lot of CV games, my biggest issue with no deathing SC4 was the length. You have to slog through 45 minutes of filler levels before getting to the 8-2 bridge to dice roll for your death, then another filler level until the instakill gauntlet of A-B.

[Anonymous No.10059281]

>>10048680
Pointless when you cant play as her.

[Anonymous No.10059282]

>IV has the best levels in the seri-

[Anonymous No.10059525]

Only people with erection problems like 4, they identify to the protagonist

Since I'm rock-hard big dick chad I'm a fan of Dracula X myself

[Anonymous No.10059601]

>>10054542
Maybe not here, but seems to me it could be a legitimate abbreviation, in the way BOARD is used to mean message board, in context

[Anonymous No.10059602]

This game is so boring I tried to get good but halfway through I got bored and took the dracula X pill.
>Backflip is useful unlike whip swing
>Item crashes are also useful
>Level design is still lame but better than CV4
It's hard to defend asset flipping, bosses with stupid a.i (Dracula is just dumb in this game), uninspired level design but for some reason it all comes together and makes a good game somehow

[Anonymous No.10059635]

>>10057996
Shit arguments based on hyperbole. It's you that is irredeemably retarded for not recognising that it was a natural and decent evolution of the series for its time, regardless of personal taste

>>10058081
Hope you aren't the anon above. That would make for a second life altering disability you need to address. The video clearly shows an environment with diverse obstacles/methods of egress beyond even most later series entries. Most normal folk find that kind of innovation interesting, if not entertaining

[Anonymous No.10059645]

>>10059525
Wut? You saying only have one move, and hate 4 play?

Please explain.

[Anonymous No.10059879]

>>10059281
The point is getting the best ending. Playing as Maria was a fun idea but in practice little more than a gimmick, a God mode where you're basically untouchable. I would have preferred if she was actually balanced and about as valid as Richter, but with a different playstyle.

[Anonymous No.10059912]

>>10057996
The point is that you could make similar cynical posts about every Castlevania, from criticizing CV1 for the holy water stunlock on bosses, to Rondo's screen-filling Bible subweapon, Bloodlines' easy, pace-breaking mini bosses, etc, etc.
In the end, it's all nitpicks, they're all great games, not "shit game" as you say, shitposter. Wanna play an actual shit castlevania? Play Castlevania on Amiga.
Also, post your no-damage run on Castlevania IV. You have trouble being observant on the Frankenstein bridge or pressing up on the d-pad for the vertical level on stage B? Okay, you can die there, but for the rest of the game, take 0 damage. Post a video with proof that it's you.

[Anonymous No.10059918]

>>10059525
Auster, you never had sex.

[Anonymous No.10059935]

>you will never play the 3 level preview version with different stage 2 and 3

[Anonymous No.10059936]

why even live?

[Anonymous No.10060364]

>>10047524
Why did you post such a trainwreck of an AI generated image?
You looked at that and thought it was good enough to save, and then post. Seek help.

[Anonymous No.10060370]

>>10053327
>Out of all the people shitting on DXX, 90%+ haven't played it, the remaining 10% only played it on surface level
I like the game but get outta here with that shit. You sound like one of those gross Melee' players explaining why its the best fighting game ever.

[Anonymous No.10060590]

>>10059635
The first one isn't new, it's a very similar section to the gear in the CV3 clocktower. The second section is also not particularly interesting: get on the hook, get off, quickly kill skeleton. You should have showed the vertical section afterwards, that one is pretty fun and does a good job at showing IV's strengths.
>>10053327
I remember 3's Dracula being better than almost any other Dracula battle in the series. Especially the US version, where Axe usage was more encouraged and the lasers were modified to aim more accurately. I do agree that Dracula X has some great battles. I really enjoy the Death fight in particular, it's one of my favorites alongside the one in Rebirth

[Anonymous No.10060606]

>>10047205
the final boss is easy just stay on the right side of the stage for the first phase and use your axe sub weapon, the second phase seems scary but i f you spam the axe he dies pretty quickly he doesnt have invulnerablity when you hit him

[Anonymous No.10060610]

>>10047075
i really like this one but i usually skip it when im replaying the classic castlevanias unless my castlevania hunger hasnt been satified yet

[Anonymous No.10060618]

>>10060610
also castlevania 4 sucks ass and it puts me to sleep with how boring and braindead it is

[Anonymous No.10061312]

>>10059912
>being observant
Even speedrunners, the biggest autists who have every reason to dissect the game down to its tiniest details, agree that the Frankenstein bridge is RNG. Yes, there are good and bad ways to play it, but whether you die there is ultimately not up to you. Please don't make excuses for bad game design.

Also, SC4 is extremely hard to no-damage. Doesn't mean it's not an unchallenging game in a casual playthrough and more importantly, whether it's hard to no-damage it or not has nothing to do with whether it's fun or interesting to play.

[Anonymous No.10061491]

Super CV4 used to have Super FUCKING Metroid levels of praise until it became cool to call it overrated, then egoraptor made a shitty video that was sound purely from a theory standpoint and failed to take into account the act of actually playing the game

[Anonymous No.10061512]

>>10061491
And DK64 was released to overwhelming critical acclaim too, before people realized it was a piece of shit. The majority of gamers are idiots and videogame critics even more so, so there are instances where it might take year for someone with a brain to point the obvious and formulate even a simple argument.

[Anonymous No.10061519]

>>10061491
IVrager is just one guy samefagging a lot, australia-kun or whatever.
I don't think anybody here takes ecelebs seriously, at least I'd hope so.
IV is still one of the most praised CV games by both the fanbase and video game fans in general. Don't let vocal minorities and samefags fool you.

[Anonymous No.10061649]

>>10061512
Gamers shat on DK64 on release, just like they did FFVIII, Chrono Cross and MGS2, which all received high scores. Shit, even Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 did well with reviewers. I'm not talking about "critical acclaim."

>>10061519
It's definitely become cooler to hate on it. People judge its mechanics in a vacuum as if the game is just a monster gauntlet.

[Anonymous No.10061760]

>>10061491
I've never seen the egoraptor video, what does he say about it?

[Anonymous No.10061856]

>>10047975
ph mad faggot

[Anonymous No.10062421]

>>10060590
I'd say C3 US Dracula is the best Dracula fight in the series. PoR's is pretty good, as is Bloodlines and DX's, but the Dracula's Curse fight is so vicious and interesting, not to mention unique in many aspects.

[Anonymous No.10062563]

>>10061519
>IV is still one of the most praised CV games by both the fanbase and video game fans in general.

Praised by who? Literally by people who claim Dracula X sucks because "it's a bad port of Rondo" and "it doesn't even have moonwalking like 4".

Except X has actual moonwalking (not "the devs didn't think the controls through for stairs" moonwalking) so they didn't even play the game(s).

In otherwords 4 is the Earthbound of the CV series, and shit players like it because they genuinely don't see the issue with 8 way whipping and think killing all the enemies before they are within reach of attacking makes them "badass"

[Anonymous No.10062569]

>>10062421
3's Dracula fight is great but it lacks random factors that would keep the player on his toes even when he knows the fight. The first and second phase are too easy to control and the pattern of the third one is completely static, not to mention there is a safe spot on the left side of the screen the player can fall back to

[Anonymous No.10062571]

>>10057902
nta but I'm pretty sure it was Clint Hocking, lead dev of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Far Cry 2. So yes, a real game designer.

[Anonymous No.10062591]

>>10062569
Lack of randomness is part of why I love it so much, and personally I always feel tense during phase 3 even with the safe spot

[Anonymous No.10062706]

James Rolfe claims that the multidirectional whip and not fixed jumps of IV put it above every other game and make it the best Castlevania. That tells me everything I need to know about the people who like it.

[Anonymous No.10062751]

>>10061519
I don't disagree that IV is the more popular and praised game, I just believe that Dracula X is easily better from a gameplay standpoint and I've played both a ton. IV simply has too many moments where it may feel like you're doing something cool, like the section with layers of moving blocks before the Mode 7 golem fight, but once you memorize the game it just becomes a chore. Too much of IV wastes your time and to have the game put it's two most obnoxious sections late into the final parts of the game is a horrible way to do things. There is nothing well designed about the bridge, hell, even the entirety of Stage 8 (aside from the Frankenstein boss, he's pretty good). I do think that in the end, IV is definitely a good game and there are reasons why people love it so much, and australia-kun's attempts at shitposting his hatred for the game into reality will never change that. Ultimately, even if I am right about Dracula X being the better game, that will not make the people who love IV wrong nor will they change their opinion because of that.

[Anonymous No.10062890]

>>10062563
>Praised by who? Literally by people who claim Dracula X sucks because "it's a bad port of Rondo"
Funny, because probably the only /vr/ poster who actually hates Dracula X is Australia-kun, who also hates IV. He hates both for being on the console that lives rent free inside of him forever.
>>10062751
I like both games... I like most Castlevanias except for Haunted Castle (good visuals and music, but really bad gameplay) and the non-Japanese ports of CV1, the rest all vary from decent (The Adventure) to masterpieces (most of them).
Auster's attempts at making people hate IV only bring even more attention to an already highly unanimously beloved game.

[Anonymous No.10062960]

>>10047081
The vidya version of 'kino'.

[Anonymous No.10062971]

>>10047075
You know, after spending a few hours plating x I just can't see the issue. It's not rondo but it isn't supposed to be, it's just classic castlevania imo. I had fun with it.

[Anonymous No.10062990]

>>10062971
That's the usual conclusion when people who aren't autistic finally play Dracula X.
The "bad port of Rondo" meme is probably one of the longest running memes in the video games community, I'm surprised people still fall for it when emulation for both games is so accessible now.

[Anonymous No.10063003]

>>10062890
I agree, and I really don't understand why he's so hellbent on trying to make IV seem like some garbage game. Nobody is going to get mad over something as trivial as one rotating segment.

[Anonymous No.10063009]

>>10063003
At first I thought he was just being a clown, maybe drunkposting for shit and giggles. But as time went on... years went by... and he still posts the same shit over and over, yeah. It's autism.

[Anonymous No.10063019]

>>10062990
Dracula X was even included in the Castlevania GBA collection as a bonus... I wonder if that'll improve its reputation a bit.

[Anonymous No.10063073]

>>10062706
life on ez street

[Anonymous No.10063205]

>>10062971
It comes down to most people not playing it when it came out. Everyone knew SCV4 because it was among the earliest SNES games and represented the 16-bit leap all those NES franchises were making. Bloodlines was uniquely on the Genesis. Dracula X meanwhile was a relatively quiet release and didn't get a big print run. People just overlooked it. And if you play it long after its easy to think "meh."

[Anonymous No.10063220]

>>10062990
It's baffling, some stupid shit an eceleb said eons ago ruined discourse for this game for years

[Anonymous No.10063845]

>>10062971
>not Rondo
This was my initial issue with DX, I played it right after Rondo and the slower pace was really tough to get used to. My first impressions were very bad. Went back and replayed it a few weeks ago and I appreciate it much more now.

[Anonymous No.10063918]

>>10063205
Honestly I was young and swayed by bad DX reviews when it was released. It took an obscenely long time for me to try it and it does have its moments - nothing like the reviews suggested

[Anonymous No.10063931]

>>10063918
Yeah the reviews back then weren't glowing. I feel like this "everyone pretends DX is bad because e-celebs" is misplaced. It was always seen as the mediocre entry it is. It's reputation never changed.

[Anonymous No.10063952]

>>10063931
>GamePro criticized that the stage design fails to encourage re-exploring stages, the bosses are not challenging enough, and the graphics and gameplay are primitive: "no knockout Mode 7 stages, no rotating rooms (like in Castlevania IV). Your character is also very small. The play engine feels like it's right out of the 8-bit versions ..."

lol

[Anonymous No.10063956]

>>10063952
Yeah this is completely wrong, barely played the game and judges it based on surface level first impressions which is what reviewers did a lot.

The bad reviews also came from "it's not Rondo!!" which is in part Konami of America's fault for advertising the game as "you're finally getting the Rondo you wanted!", whereas in Japan and Europe it's a lot more clear that it's a different game. See for instance how in the US all the key art re-used that of Rondo whereas the game actually had new cover/manual art made for it which the JP and PAL versions use.

[Anonymous No.10063963]

>>10063952
He left out mentioning that the gameplay mechanics aren't a gimmick like CV4. People complain about the directional whip and jump for the wrong reasons. In CV4 you barely use the whip and the platforming is simple

[Anonymous No.10063981]

>>10063952
I'm in absolute awe, I don't think I've ever seen a worse critique than this

[Anonymous No.10064854]

>>10063956
I believe this is how it played out.

Journalist gets game. Plays 5 mins.
> uh no multi direction whip. I liked that in CV4. I'll call it a step backwards.
> control seems a little different. I won't try to master it, and just call it something vague like "stiff"
> graphics are a bit uneven and familiar with Rondo, I'll call it a bad port.
> great! Job done

[Anonymous No.10064916]

>>10047075
It’s mediocre. Basically a worse version of Rondo with most of its assets seemingly reused from that game.

[Anonymous No.10065282]

>>10061760
He claims the game is "too easy", and yet couldn't beat it when he played. I honestly don't know why people care about what Arin has to say.

[Anonymous No.10065291]

>>10064916
It's a shitty romhack but it's fun shitposter convinced me to git gud and now it's one of my favorite games in the series

[Anonymous No.10065317]

>>10064916
Rondo is for boring people much like SotN. Good enemy design and levels have distinct styles but the way the enemies are arranged and piss-easy platforming are sleep inducing.

[Anonymous No.10065321]

>>10065317
Dracula X enemy placement is dumb it's pretty hard to defend the game when he does everything wrong.

[Anonymous No.10065375]

>>10063956
>The bad reviews also came from "it's not Rondo!!"
Bullshit. Most westerners didn't know Rondo existed until after SOTN.

[Anonymous No.10065382]

>>10065282
His Mega Man X video is legit excellent.

[Anonymous No.10065396]

>>10065382
It's not a good video because it doesn't get a lot of stuff
>Strider influences the X series
>Ignores that mega man had 5 sequels and spin offs before X
His point about gameplay innovations doesn't make any sense the only thing X brings is the intro stage and that's it

[Anonymous No.10065409]

>>10065396
The explanation about what makes the intro stage's specific design choices great though is spot on. You never think about things like how getting dropped into a pit is to teach you how to use the wall climb but more specifically the little gap is there to induce you to slide along the wall, showing you that climbing is an option in the first place. The video's overall premise is that teaching through level design is becoming a lost art.

[Anonymous No.10066197]

All console classicvanias are good.

[Anonymous No.10066287]

>>10065375
That's completely wrong, many magazines talked about it, it was one of the games journo used to be all like
>we're so superior to you readers and we are quite the connoisseurs, we play this HIDDEN JAPANESE ONLY GEM that you'll never get and man let me tell you IT IS AWESOME, now bow down to us and CRY

Pic related.
The main reason why Rondo is hailed as a hidden gem since the early 90's is precisely because it wasn't available anywhere; and all this shit is probably exactly why Konami pulled a shit move by replacing the art and even the name of the game to that of Rondo in the US (at the time Rondo was known as "Dracula X", since that literally is its name; while the SNES Dracula X is actually called Dracula XX)

[Anonymous No.10066386]

>>10066287
I'm surprised EGM covered it. Every so often you'd get a preview of a Japanese game that ends up not being localized like Tobal 2 but very rarely did magazines go out of their way to cover imports that weren't potentially coming out in the west. That was more of a GameFan thing to do.

[Anonymous No.10067390]

>>10047081
Buzz word

[Anonymous No.10067601]

The ending credits sound like gachimuchi and always make me laugh.

[Anonymous No.10067819]

>>10047081
>i dont know what the fuck "ludo" means

[Anonymous No.10069289]

I'm glad to see so many fellow Dracula X enjoyers.

[Anonymous No.10070216]

>>10067601
now I'll never be able to unhear this, thanks anon

[Anonymous No.10070249]

>>10069289
Long time coming, people really needed to drop the bad port angle

[Anonymous No.10071573]

>>10069289
This thread caused me to play it to completion for the first time. It was much better than I was misled to believe, and while the final boss was difficult and time-consuming, it wasn't tedious either. Only a few screens had truly poor design, but it wasn't enough to ruin the game.

[Anonymous No.10071983]

>>10071573
>Only a few screens had truly poor design
I'm curious what people mean when they talk about the game having poor level design and enemy placement.
Do they mean stuff like the screens before Dracula's hallway?
Because yes, they're hard to traverse, full of traps and kind of assholish, but for me they're also the most tightly designed part of the game. Every element is extremely deliberate to require precise execution. And despite its difficulty, the game is extremely lenient in letting you retry as many times as you want, with the respawing porkchop at the top of the vertical screen and leaving you access to the most appropriate weapon for the medusa heads on the moving platforms (cross) and as many hearts as you need.
I'll take stuff like this over Rondo's straight hallways any day.

[Anonymous No.10072101]

castlevania fans are the most toxic, tribal people on /vr/

[Anonymous No.10072146]

>>10072101
It's just one shitposter.

[Anonymous No.10072253]

>>10071983
Dracula X has a lot of straight hallways too. Its just they often have a staircase that then involves doubling back in the other direction. That feels a bit more time wastey since it makes the level length feel more artificial. The NES game did it too but less so. There's also a lot of vertical areas, which again make it feel more artificial in the sense that they made the game hard by leaning too heavily on the most annoying stage gimmicks.

[Anonymous No.10072359]

>>10072253
>Dracula X has a lot of straight hallways too. Its just they often have a staircase that then involves doubling back in the other direction.
When Dracula X does it, it's centered around interactions between the two floors, with lancers stabbing up and down and skeletons throwing stuff. Not to waste your time. The only notable straight hallway on one floor in Dracula X is the castle's entrance, which is pretty much a series tradition. Meanwhile even the first level has moving platforms, vertical shafts and bottomless pits.
>There's also a lot of vertical areas, which again make it feel more artificial in the sense that they made the game hard by leaning too heavily on the most annoying stage gimmicks.
I fail to see how vertical levels are more "artificial" or "gimmicky". I'd understand if they locked you onto the stairs like in CV3, but here with the ability to jump on and off them all it's being tested are your fundamental skills on platforming, positioning and attack. And it's clear that the developers knew what they were doing seeing how the jump was overhauled from Rondo, making it much higher to complement the increased verticality.

[Anonymous No.10072423]

>>10072359
Maybe lazy is a better word than gimmicky. There's not much creativity in Dracula X's levels. The game employs three or four straightforward challenges and then just keeps reusing them in much the same way over and over again. It's a hard game because they doubled down on employing those things more than most entries but unlike those other entries there's not much in the way of variety. It's a perfectly serviceable game but it's also bog standard Castlevania fare. It's like if someone designed an SNES game having only played Castlevania 1 and wasn't allowed to deviate a whole lot from it. By 1995 that made it pretty mid compared to a bunch of other entries that were in recent memory. It's not bad but it is uninspired.

[Anonymous No.10072428]

>>10072359
>I fail to see how vertical levels are more "artificial" or "gimmicky"
While I don't exactly agree with that anon's point I think I get what he means. Most Castlevania games are pretty stingy with verticality since it's always trickier to deal with. To use C3 as an example, C3 sort of has designated "verticality levels" in 2, Syfa 5, and 9, while the rest of the game mostly fucks with you via respawning enemies or tricky platforming. In DX, there's a lot more verticality everywhere, which if you're coming into it from previous entries might make it feel like the developers are just doing the same "hard level design" thing over and over again (not to mention DX is very generous with the respawning bats/medusas, which could give a similar impression).

That being said, I think it's worth noting that DX doesn't really have any more verticality than Super Castlevania IV, but the lack of eight-direcitonal whipping and the higher difficulty in general means the average player will probably notice it a lot more. It's a good thing they made the Axe so OP.

[Anonymous No.10072491]

>>10072423
>It's like if someone designed an SNES game having only played Castlevania 1 and wasn't allowed to deviate a whole lot from it.
Well not really, since it retains Rondo's movement options. But it is true that of the 16 bit game it's the one that sticks closest to the classic formula. Which in my opinion isn't an issue at all if the game is as well designed as it is. Valuing "innovation" over solid gameplay, even when these innovations don't mesh well with the formula, is what leads to abominations like this review >>10063952

[Anonymous No.10072590]

>>10066197
this is true.

[Anonymous No.10073083]

>>10072491
The thing is, Castlevania III exists. Rondo exists. Even X68000 exists. What does Dracula X do better than them other than just being another Castlevania? Is it shit? No. But what makes it better than average?

[Anonymous No.10073196]

>>10047075
kys ludofag

[Anonymous No.10073340]

>>10073083
>What does Dracula X do better than them other than just being another Castlevania?
I think it has some really intriguing ideas in terms of level design, like that other anon said level 7 being a looping interconnected thing is interesting. Item crashes also add a new angle to resource management, and while yes Rondo also had Item Crashes, I don't think Rondo was difficult enough to incentivize them very much. In DX, you REALLY want those Item Crashes. And overall it just has a unique feel. You won't get the same experience playing it as you will playing any of the other games in the series.

[Anonymous No.10073412]

>>10073083
It's a better sequel to Castlevania 1 specifically than either III or Rondo

[Anonymous No.10075163]

>>10059935
This looks worse than the final stage 3

[Anonymous No.10076492]

>>10048815
>you sure you didn't press the jump button?
Went back and did some experiments and I think now I was just misjudging how high you have to be above the stairs to "snap" onto them, the game wants you to fall onto them more than jump horizontally into them as far as I can tell.

[Anonymous No.10078359]

i like the soundtrack of the nes version more than the OG version
specialy bloodlines
https://youtu.be/a_0PRUiz3Lk

[Anonymous No.10078497]

>>10078359
I agree. The music translated to the SNES SPC beautifully and the tracks properly loop.

[Anonymous No.10079470]

>>10057893
The guy he was replying to was closer to having a panic attack, you pathetic fanboy.