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/vr/ - Retro Games


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5129368 No.5129368 [Reply] [Original]

>*does nothing to block your path*
Horrifically unbalanced toddler game.

>> No.5129380

>>5129368
Obviously it's unbalanced because the fucking castle can flip upside down

>> No.5129390

>>5129380
Cute, but you know it’s because there’s no challenge whatsoever.

>> No.5129447

>>5129368
>toddler game

But that's why it's the most popular game in the series. It's the only one most kids under 30 can actually play without getting frustrated.

See also: Super Mario World, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Mega Man 5.

>> No.5129475

>>5129447
>sonic 3&k
so true

>> No.5129489

>>5129368
Easy doesn't mean unbalanced. It means it's easy. And this was necessary, by the late 90s, market for extremely hard platformers has evaporated. Castlevania series would be dead in the water if it wasn't for the easier metroidvanias which could appeal to more casual gamers.

>> No.5129490
File: 32 KB, 572x303, 1523835369112.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5129490

>>5129380

>> No.5129679

I'm playing a castlevania for the first time and I'm being stomped in the royal chapel
I've seen easier games, of the same genre I'd said super metroid is easy shit
or are you saying this because the game allows you to grind so you can be overleveled?

>> No.5129697

>>5129489
nah it's unbalanced because the bosses actually have some nice moves and would be fun to fight if the character wasn't so overpowered.

>> No.5129834

>>5129489
It's unbalanced because the player can accidentally become a superpowered killing machine long before finding the "next" boss they should be finding, and end up murdering them 5 seconds after entering the room. The sequel IGAvanias got much better at this, while at the same time just not being as good at most other things.

>> No.5129835

>>5129489
The game is unbalanced, you retard.

>> No.5130301

>>5129368
It kind of does though, you need to defeat bosses and actually go find special abilities which allow you to progress. It IS an easy game though.

>>5129390
It really needed a hard mode, I'll say.
And a new game + hardmode.

>>5129489
The balance actually is really wonky though.
Like there's a million ways to just get really powerful, trivializing most bosses.
Like not just even the Crissaegrim, you can stumble upon shit like the Mourn Blade, which lets you steal life like crazy, as long as you just hit (so hits against like candles gives HP, even blocked hits where you fail to do damage, even against inanimate objects, will give you free HP).
And that shit can be great, I see the fun in it, I like to Münchkin sometimes, but the issue is that SOTN really quickly can get way too easy, which kills a lot of the replay value.

I think the GBA and DS games did SOTN much better, where you can find some real fun and powerful equipment, but they have a better balance overall, and they offer you a hard mode.
COTM for instance is actually reasonably challenging throughout, with one of the hardest Dracula fights in the series (at least that I remember), and also offering you some unlockable challenge modes, so to say, as well as a bonus arena which automatically drains your MP and forces you to rely only on your strength and gameplay skill.
Grinding for items isn't nearly as easy or profitable in COTM, so a stocked inventory isn't an easy solution for problems.

>> No.5130321

>>5129679
>or are you saying this because the game allows you to grind so you can be overleveled?
There's that, but there's also just a shitload of items in the game, some which are hilariously overpowered.

The famed Crissaegrim lets you strike while moving, and in fact let off an entire flurry of strikes while doing this, and you can button mash it to stack lots of strikes, giving you very high DPS with full mobility.
This is dropped by a mook monster fairly early in the second castle, the drop-rate isn't particularly high, but it's entirely plausible to just bump into it.
It's a real fun weapon to use at first, because Jesus you just look at the power and maneuverability on screen, but then as you fight the bosses, you notice they get just way too easy, and it really does kill the fun after a while.

And that's just one of them, the game has a bunch of items which give you a crazy great advantage and which breaks the gameplay balance over its knees.
I once wielded Crissaegrim in one hand, and Mourneblade in the other, letting me DPS rape with one button, and steal health (or outright manifest it out of nothing) with the other, this combo makes you pretty much completely unstoppable against every monster and boss in the game.
The problem with having really powerful assets like these for the players is that you really need to give the player challenges where stuff like this only helps so much, like especially complex enemy encounters, or enemies with special immunities, or some which are only weak to certain things. Getting to this point, you can just walk over everything in the entire game and it becomes kind of boring.

>> No.5130327

>>5129697
Exactly.
Galamoth is supposed to be one of the hard bosses, but it's so easy to just find something which just makes it a curb stomp battle.

>>5129834
I find the later IGAvanias to be much more focused, whereas SOTN overall feels kind of thinly spread and full of afterthoughts.

>> No.5131110

I'm currently replaying it. And I'm 9 hours in halfway through the inverted castle and I can count on one hand how many times I've died.
Yes it's easy, but so much fun, I simply love running through the castle halls, taking in the details admiring the character sprites and listening to the soundtrack.
I simply love it.

>> No.5131131

>>5129390
>being this bitter

reevaluate the things that are important to you

>> No.5131156

>>5129368
>>5129447
and people say popular games were good.
how low the standards of gaming are.

>> No.5131163

>>5129447
>Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Mega Man 5.

Sonic 2 and MegaMan 6 are both easier

Even Sonic CD is easier, as you can save your game but in return, you can just piss your way through the levels if you wish

>> No.5131168

>>5131163
And thats why they are garbage like all popular games

>> No.5131173

>>5129368
>half of the items are just keys.
>One is a just a blue gem in the item shop that you just buy.
>transformations are slow, and outside of flight have no practical uses.
>Speed boosting ability requires wolf transformation and tons of empty space to use properly
>2nd half of the game flips the castle upside down, but you can barely access anything without flying as if they never designed the castle the map to play like this.

I hate this game so much.

>> No.5131181

Can we admit popular games are bad?

>> No.5131231

>>5131110
Yeah, it's not a bad game by any means.
It's just kind of flawed, but being flawed doesn't have to mean irredeemable.

I really think it could have used a hard mode or something though.

>>5131173
>but you can barely access anything without flying as if they never designed the castle the map to play like this.
The upside down castle kind of feels like a huge afterthought, yeah.
Like as if they were a month away from the deadline and kind of had the idea of a second castle, but then stalled on the concept and implementing it, settling for just flipping the existing castle and rearranging some things, due to lack of time.

Have you tried Harmony Of Dissonance on the GBA? It kind of apes Symphony in a lot of ways, but I think it does a lot of things better and feels more focused and fully realized.
There's a pair of dimensional layers to the castle which you transition between throughout the game and it has some thought put into it, rather than just being flipped turned upside down.

>> No.5131239

CV games before it were not only hard, but SLOW. Slow and meandering walk, slow whip, just not fun to play at all. The series was never interesting to me before SOTN.

>> No.5131268

>>5131173
Wolf is useless but TO BE FAIR poison mist is the quickest way to grind for levels in the upside down castle, not that you'd need it.

>> No.5131324

>>5131231
Playing HoD now. Via Wii. It's amazing how much detail was put into it that you really can't see on a GBA screen.
Overall the metroidvanias outdo the classicvanias IMO, because there's nothing like skulking around a haunted castle for hours on end listening to good music with the lights out. Games don't need to be hard to be awesome. See SMW and ALttP.

>> No.5131337

>>5131324
>Games don't need to be hard to be awesome
That's true, but I think the old games still have a lot to offer.

>> No.5131364

>>5131231
>I really think it could have used a hard mode or something though.
Absolutely. Or NG+.
They had a good chance to add one on the ps4 port.
I would have bought instantly.

>> No.5131371

>>5129447
>sonic 3&K
>play without frustration

Funny joke, the Sonic games move too fast for you to see what's coming. Super unbalanced, unfair games.

>> No.5131470
File: 1.46 MB, 217x217, chuckle m8.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5131470

>>5131337
Well yeah. That's not due to difficulty, it's just style and substance. You play some shit like Fortnite, and it looks and feels like something bred for an Android phone. You play Castlevania 3 and there's no question where or what it was born and bred for. Hell, you play Castlevania SotN and you get the same idea. No one is going to give a shit about Fortnite 21 years from now. But SotN will still be legendary. Rondo will still be legendary. Two different styles of the same series will still be legendary because there's style and substance. Not just some fad bullshit.
Same with classic Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Streets of Rage, etc. Hell even the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy will be more revered than Fortnite. People already DGAF about PUBG.

It's fucking hilarious.

>> No.5131859

>>5131371
t. Mario

>> No.5131982

>>5131181
If you are a hipster.

>> No.5132031

>>5129368
This unfortunately is a trend when it comes to metroid-style games. Developers seem to think that having nonlinear level design and exploration mean you have to completely do away with any sort of challenge, as if exploratory gameplay and challenging gameplay are mutually exclusive concepts. This is true for SOTN as its also true for Super Metroid, which is IMO that game's only flaw.

But combining the two elements is certainly doable. Dark Souls 1 has a map design similar to metroid in 3D, and it didn't sacrifice the satisfying difficulty curve.

>> No.5132037

>>5132031
The DS Castlevanias NOT RETRO! were relatively challenging plus you unlocked hard modes and level caps which made it ridiculously challenging.

>> No.5132551

>>5131982
see>>5131168
>>5131156

>> No.5132552

>>5129368
>blocks your path meme
kid, this is not /v/

>> No.5132831
File: 126 KB, 781x903, Castlebaitya.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5132831

>>5129368
>Horrifically unbalanced toddler game.
it goes in all fields.

>> No.5132921

>>5132831
sorry i insulted your baby game

>> No.5133050

>>5132921
You're so fucking cool. Goddamn it.

>> No.5133075

SotN is the opposite of unbalanced. There's many ways you can play it. You don't HAVE to get Rings of Varda and Crissaegrims. Hell, you beat it once and you can even play as Richter. That's badass.

I get the feeling people who bash SotN for being easy are the same people who play FFVIII and use GFs to fight battles. If you play like that, you should probably not be playing videogames to begin with.

>> No.5133103

>>5133075
Some people can't help but use the most broken shit that's available. To those people I would recommend action games like Ghouls 'n Ghosts or Contra - there's nothing available except what you get, so feel free to spam the best weapon the whole game.

>> No.5133127

>>5129368
All of the castlevania games after this one are absolute shit, but grimoire of souls looks good

>> No.5133139

>>5133075
>>5133103
They make the crazy weapons really fun though, the paradox then being that those weapons eventually make the game less fun overall, as there's too little challenge.

It also doesn't change the fact that the upside down castle is a giant afterthought.

>>5133127
If you liked SOTN, you really should try the GBA/DS ones.
If you didn't, then probably don't.

>> No.5133151

>>5133139
Maybe i worded it wrong, i was talking more related to mainline console games, the DS games are fun, and the GBA games are uncomfortable to play, sorry

>> No.5133158

>>5133151
>uncomfortable to play
Because of the ergos of the system? They can be played on the original DS.

>> No.5133163

>>5129368
Check out Hardtype which makes it closer to the new metroidvanias https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2896/ but yeah, difficulty is the flaw I can overlook.

If you can't, tough luck. No game is perfect, you just love the game that have flaws you don't mind.

>> No.5133172

>>5130321
If you notice you are WILLINGLY doing a thing that is ruining your own fun, why keep doing it?
Your argument is, and has always been, retarded.

>> No.5133179

>>5129368
>STOP LIKING WHAT I DON'T LIKE HOLY FUCK REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

lol

>> No.5133202

>>5133172
Because the game tempts me with the really fun weapons, but then don't really give me anything which actually really matches up to them.

>> No.5133219

>>5129447
But Mega Man 2 was the easiest

>> No.5133316

>>5129368
Playing SotN on a default 360 dpad is a challenge in itself. Granted you can still beat the game, but it's a massive pain in the ass.

>> No.5133326

>>5133172
Because restricting yourself arbitrarily makes no sense. You could take any game and make it harder by deciding not to use anything that's 'too good', but in doing so you throw away the fun of trying to make the most of what the game throws at you, and you make exploration and experimentation pointless, since if you end up finding something good enough you might as well not use it.

>> No.5133342

>>5133158
i know, but that gives me another problem, the placing of the B and A buttons make it a bit confusing, so i end up attacking instead of jumping, it takes a bit of time getting used to it

>> No.5133347

>>5133219
Yeah and the most popular

>> No.5133368

>>5133326
>Because restricting yourself arbitrarily makes no sense.
By that logic, why not just use a game genie/gameshark on every game you can? Why restrict yourself?

>> No.5133373
File: 67 KB, 680x473, Analogy of this thread.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5133373

>>5129368
Have a (you), dunbshit.
-Popeye the Sailor Man.

>> No.5133376

>>5133368
That's outside the scope of the game though.

>> No.5133396

>>5133376
Why set arbitrary limits? Who cares if it's within the game? It no more matters if you use a gameshark than if you use an overpowered sword.

>> No.5133434

>>5133396
It's completely different and shows you don't get it. The developers created something intended it to be played in a certain way, and doing the best you can within those constraints is fun and interesting. Breaking that, by either introducing unintended cheats, or conversely limiting yourself arbitrarily, is not anywhere near as interesting.

And besides, what if you limited yourself to some level, then discovered that the game actually gets much harder than you expected (if not actually being impossible)? Are you going to 'unlimit' yourself then? If so, then you've simply created a difficulty threshold for yourself rather than committing to an actual challenge.

>> No.5133456

>>5133434
This is retarded. Just play the game however the fuck you want

>> No.5133481

>>5133434
This is basically my point- >>5133456

One thing I do understand is the ire Castlevania fans have with SotN being the beginning of the end of proper difficult CV games. Imagine having played through all the hard ones and beaten em, with nowhere left to go. Money talks though. It was never going to stay kino like the 5th gen or earlier, forever.

>> No.5133497
File: 388 KB, 185x150, SOTN_Sword_of_Dawn_Archer.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5133497

>>5133202
I think you're not looking at it in the right way. At first one might think that the fun weapons are the super strong ones like crissagrim and alucard/sheild rod. But really, they're so overpowered that it makes the game boring. The really fun ones are the mid powered weird ones with odd attack patterns or specail moves and mixing things with the duplicator. It's a bit like a sandbox game that way, the fun isn't so much from challenge as from playing with everything available to you.

>> No.5133572

>>5129368
Not retro, but Harmony of Dissonance is a joke compared to SotN.

I also wish you tryhard faux-Classicvania niggers would set aside this pointless feud, much of which is your doing.

>> No.5133583

>>5131231
>Have you tried Harmony Of Dissonance on the GBA? It kind of apes Symphony in a lot of ways, but I think it does a lot of things better
Like actually turning Symphony into a baby game with real piss easy difficulty? Or its awful garish color scheme?

>> No.5133609

>>5129447
>Thinking any game in those series is even remotely tough
Try harder, zoomer.

>> No.5133687

>>5133497
There's some truth to that.
I remember I was really fond of equipping small and fast weapons in my secondary slot, just for the DPS potential, like the Combat Knife, the Michael Jackson Glove, or the Holbein Dagger, then using a larger and slower weapon in the other hand.
Damage typing also makes a difference.

>> No.5133893

>>5131163
Eh, I'd argue Sonic 2 gets harder than Sonic 3&k by the time you reach Metropolis onwards.

Sonic 3&k is mostly just longer. The amount of rings per level, and the fact that bonus stages have low ring requirements means it's virtually impossible to get a game over.

>> No.5133905
File: 693 KB, 1000x800, sage-04[1].jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5133905

>>5132921
>sorry i insulted your baby game
I don't much care for Castlevania, but I think you are just an contrary troll.

>> No.5133945

>>5129390
play the game with the luck code and with out skipping death

>> No.5134123

>>5129368

Try beating this for the first time without a guide or the internet back in the 90s.

>> No.5134125

>>5129368
Horrifically bad topic

>> No.5134229

>>5134123
That is how many of us did and how the game was likely "intended" to be played. You're supposed to play it, get the bad ending but realise it's disappointing and go looking for more secrets and then have your mind blown.

>> No.5134414

>>5129489
>by the late 90s, market for extremely hard platformers has evaporated. Castlevania series would be dead in the water if it wasn't for the easier metroidvanias which could appeal to more casual gamers.
Or so they thought. But challenging games like DMC or Dark Souls were plenty popular.
The truth is that challenging games must be very welld designed to be enjoyable, while easy games can be bullshit and still pass because the broken controls don't frustrate if you aren't punished for failing. Meanwhile, you can jsut drop a bunch of cutscenes, which may make the experience lukewarm, but if you spend millions on marketing, you can still be profitable.

>> No.5134480

>>5133945
? I’ve literally never skipped the encounter with Death, I’m not a faggot speedrunner. And I have played with on luck mode, after the initial areas you’re still over leveled and now you get great drops all the time so you’re even more overpowered.

>> No.5134504

>if you go out of your way to make the game easier then it's too easy
>it's the games fault that I chose easy mode

>> No.5134508

>>5134414
DMC games are easy on normal and you can spam items, Dark Souls is even easier because you can overlevel/use cheese/easy builds or just summon and win instantly. Easy games and series will always generally be more popular.

>> No.5134532

>>5134504
Yeah, like I said, people like that should just play Ghouls 'n Ghosts and fuck off

>> No.5134579

>>5134504
I hacked every variable to make my stats very low and my HP just a fraction and the game still was a fucking cakewalk. For fuck's sake.

>> No.5134589

I did a fist and accessories only run of SoTN to try and make it more challenging.

Galamoth is a nightmare without the lightning circlet, and like 70% of the bosses tear your asshole apart while throwing you around like a ragdoll without the Dwarf Ring.

Also, the double-punch glitch is mandatory to deal enough DPS.

>> No.5134595

>>5134589
The problem with playing without equipment is that it's an exploration game. There's no point to most of it if you don't use what you find in the castle.

>> No.5134598

>>5134508
You can call any game "easy" or "hard". This is relative.
Compared to SotN, DMC is much harder even on Normal, let alone on higher difficulties. And DaS is much harder than DMC. Even if DaS is easy for you (whatever), it's harder than a lot of games including SotN, which is the point.

>> No.5134604

Popular games suck. See Adorno

>> No.5134616

>>5129679
>or are you saying this because the game allows you to grind so you can be overleveled?
No they're saying this because they've played the game a million times over and don't remember what it's like without being able to autistically map out how to get the best hidden gear in as little time as possible.

>> No.5135069

>>5129368
Corridor and Rectangular Room Simulator 1997.
At least the OST is great.

>> No.5135115

>>5129368
there is a patch that blocks levelling up

it's harder than castlevania 3 NES

>> No.5135128

>>5135115
You mean with the patch or without? Because I can't imagine a classicvania easier than SOTN.

>> No.5135461

>>5135128
He obviously meant with the patch. Everyone knows it's easy normally.

>> No.5135468

>>5134123
That makes it even easier, you just passively level higher and higher as you wander around. I don't even remember any of the bosses past the first few because they were such a non-issue.

This game is a prime example of a simplistic RPG grindan system replacing actual game design.

>> No.5135587

>>5134123
That's pretty much what I did back in the day.
The only boss that challenged me back then was Belzebub, and that's only because I sucked at videogames as a kid.

Now I can beat him real easy, even without the super items the game litters around the place.

>> No.5135953
File: 82 KB, 938x1000, 1540943678890.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5135953

For real though i played it for the first time last year on my phone with touch screen controls and it was a little tough. I finally played it with a DS4 controller and dear god most boss fights i can just spam flying axes and win. Or literally just stand and whack until the boss dies..... theres no need to even learn boss moves or try any strategt because just standing there and whacking seems to be optimal.

>> No.5136991

>>5129447
>and Mega Man 5.
But that one gets the most shit out of all of them.

>> No.5137326

>>5134595
I haven't tried that myself, but it might still be pretty fun if it's anything like the alternate modes in the DS Castlevania games, where in those exploring doesn't matter as the bonus characters have all movement options available from the start and can't equip gear. They're still entertaining because of just how difficult they can be, especially worth trying Lvl 1. Hard Mode Old Axe Armour if you want to see peak castlevania bullshit difficulty.

>> No.5139719

>>5134123
This was an easy as fuck game. Were you around back then? Because we beat lots of games without guides that were far far far more complex than this.

>> No.5139723

>>5129475
I played it and got lost in the huge levels and gave up. S2 is easier (other than the final boss rush).

>> No.5139791

What a horrible night to have autism