October Retro Community Playthrough - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

[singlebanana]

I'm going to speedrun it with a walkthrough.

I'm not sure what my current save file percentage is when I beat the game years ago, so I'm curious as to where I'm at. Regardless, I will be starting over for this playthrough. Anyone going for the 200.6%?

[ReddMcKnight]

I won't be going for 100 (or 200, in this case) percent. I'm just going to play my best, and hope to win. I'm debating on whether or not to go for the "real" ending, but I probably will. I have a twist in mind for my playthrough though...

[Boshamp]

I'm totally going for the 200.6% The reward you get past 100 is worth it, not to mention all the sweet items you can equip along the way.

Don't anyone ruin it for those playing for the first time though. Thinking about the nature of the bonus...how will checkpoints work? Ha ha

[ReddMcKnight]

Sooooo...how exactly do these Community Playthroughs work? Do we just post our progress as we go? When does this thing start exactly?

[wildbil52]

Let's do this.

[Boshamp]

Sooooo...how exactly do these Community Playthroughs work? Do we just post our progress as we go? When does this thing start exactly?

At the start of the month, we start playing the game. Each week, a checkpoint will be listed. So for a mario 3, it would probably be get to world 3 by end of week 1. Then, after week 1 ends, we can discuss the game up to that checkpoint in detail, since we all should be at least to that point. So for the mario example, people can discuss worlds 1 and 2 openly after week 1. This avoids ruining storylines and such for newcomers to games, but also allows us to see each other's reactions to certain events as they happen in game.

[ReddMcKnight]

What if we race too far ahead of the checkpoint? In fact, what if we complete the game before others? Do we say that we beat it, or do we just keep quiet until the last checkpoint?

[Boshamp]

That happens a lot, it seems. But no worries if you do. You can say you completed it, just don't spoil any key points for the others involved.

Example: the playthrough is again, Mario 3 to make it easy. There are 8 worlds, so each week we would be completing 2 worlds. Let's say we are 2 weeks in on the site, but you have finished the game. Others have only beat up to world 5, so even though you have finished, you should not talk about worlds 5-8 openly on the thread, but can still participate in discussion for the experience you had playing the first 4 worlds like everyone else.

Same goes for the other side of that coin. If you fall behind and don't want the experience ruined, you should probably avoid the discussions about the first 4 worlds if you are only to world 2 by the end of the second week.

[singlebanana]

Thank you Boshamp!

[Boshamp]

No Problem, I hope that was clear enough though.

[Duke.Togo]

Did someone say Castlevania???

[Fleach]

Thank you Boshamp!

You mean BoCHAMP!

[Boshamp]

I guess I better get to work on slapping my face on a Machamp and making it my avatar from now on, huh?

[techwizard]

Then, after week 1 ends, we can discuss the game up to that checkpoint in detail...

Boshamp has it all correct except this. there's been some confusion on this before but you can talk about everything up to and including the week 1 checkpoint during week 1 itself. waiting until after the week ends to discuss things would mean that we couldn't discuss the end of the game until week 1 of the following month, after most people have moved onto the next playthrough game.

if the game is story heavy and you don't want to risk spoiling some big plot twist that happens before the checkpoint, put it up in

Code:

[spoiler][/spoiler]

tags. you can also use spoiler tags to discuss something that happens beyond the week's checkpoint if you'd like, especially if you're asking for help getting past something. just be sure to put a warning before the spoiler tagged section to indicate how far along the spoiler would be. for example: i'm stuck at this part past the week 1 checkpoint, anyone know what to do at {spoiler} the level 3 boss that does the awesome thing, i can't figure out his pattern{/spoiler}

[Boshamp]

I was originally confused by that during the Suikoden playthrough, and saw some confusion as well during a couple more recent ones. Thank you for clarifying. I am glad I don't have to hold it in during the first week. I inferred from your post that you are to also mean that everything up to week 2/3/4 can also be discussed during their respective weeks as well?