October Retro Community Playthrough - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

[Slowman]

Anyone develop a quick way to kill

Spoiler (hover to show)

Beezelbub

I always take a solid 10-15 to get him done and am wondering if any of you found a way to get the job done without climbing up and jumping down for every hit.

Yes, I use the bat form's Wing Smash ability.  Go left and right through the core a few times and that fight is over in less than 30 seconds.  Same strategy I use when I fight Granfalloon.  You could also use the Shield Rod + Skull Shield combo for it's laser blast.

[Boshamp]

I had no idea that would do so much damage. I don't think I have picked up the skull shield before either. Is the laser blast similar to the one the nova skeletons fire?

[JerryGreenwood]

@ Banana - I didn't know that piece of equipment did that. The item I was referring to was

Spoiler (hover to show)

 the Beryl Circlet, which absorbs lightning in HP, but I don't remember where it is. I think it's a rare drop from an enemy.

Re: Confession Room - I guess I really don't know a lot about Dracula, just what Castlevania taught me. I didn't think about his human side. I didn't even know he was human once, I just thought he was the original vampire king.

Here's what I've always thought of when you sit...
When you sit in the priests chair and the woman comes to confess, Alucard is not holy enough to relieve her of her sins so her sins attack Alucard.
When you sit on the other side, there are 2 outcomes. The priest attacks you or blesses you. I'm not sure if this is random or not, but I think it's because Alucard is good in nature, but he also has evil blood in him. Maybe it's based on time of day like the Sun Stone and the Moon Stone is.

Or maybe I'm over thinking this way too much and they are just monsters in disguise.

[JerryGreenwood]

Is the laser blast similar to the one the nova skeletons fire?

I think it's longer and more narrow.

[RetroRage]

I agree with RetroRage in that it's not easy to get to the inverted castle, yet I don't feel like it's overbearing or super difficult at all. With that said, I understand that people have limited time in a month and have encouraged that those who have not played it before consult a playthrough or ask for advice here. Maybe it's my age and the fact that the only game I owned for my NES for 6 months was Metroid, but compared to other games of the prior eras, the inverted castle puzzle in SotN is a cakewalk. Hidden paths/items is what made games like this fun when I was growing up, finding all of these little intricate surprises, extra rooms, weapon uses, etc.  Plus, there was excellent replay value, which is still very high in this game today.

My feeling is that developers wanted games to last longer back then, before figuring out that there was more money to be made in making games more straight-forward. When players finish quicker, they are in line sooner for a new $60+ game and if games are a little easier, it certainly increases the audience.

I completely agree with you and its why Super Metroid is my favorite game of all time.  the exploration of an enormous world with a complete absense of tutorials is what made the game so great.  The sequence breaking too.  As soon as I learned the special techniques and figured out how to navigate through environments at times that werent intended made the game brand new again.  I can't tell you how excited I am to play that game next month.

And to be honest I felt dirty consulting a walkthrough.  I never like using those things because it removes the satisfaction of figuring out puzzles on your own.

[MaterialHandlerMike]

@ Jerry Greenwood

the item you are referring to is:

Spoiler (hover to show)

in the reverse entrance. you fly through the upside down cave as a bat a few times and it opens up a room in the top right hand corner.

[Boshamp]

And to be honest I felt dirty consulting a walkthrough.  I never like using those things because it removes the satisfaction of figuring out puzzles on your own.

Two words: Lufia II

I spent DAYS as a young child trying desperately to figure some of the puzzles in that game out. No walkthroughs growing up, so I really didn't have a choice but to struggle, but I much preferred having my brother and our friends over to put our heads together to try to figure some of them out instead of just being able to pull up GameFaqs and have the answer spelled out for me.

[JerryGreenwood]

@ Engineer Mike - Good call. Now that you bring it up, I vaguely remember that.


Before this discussion is put to rest in about a week, I'd like to bring up some of the flaws in this game.

1 - I hate using items. It's a pain to go to the menu, scan through all the BS to find a potion, return to the game to use it, go back to the menu and re-equip whatever you were using. It could've been much simpler.

2 - To piggyback off of that, I would've liked separate menus for things like weapons, shields, and items. Not one inclusive menu for everything handheld. I can't remember if PS has an organizer button, but the Xbox version doesn't have one. All of my items and weapons are mixed up. Bad menus.

3 -

Spoiler (hover to show)

There is a balance issue in this game. I would've liked the Inverted Castle to be longer and a little more difficult. All of the running around and almost all of the difficulty is in the Normal Castle. In the Inverted Castle, there are no items found that are needed to clear obstacles and Alucard is so OP that you're pretty much running and slashing the entire time you're in the I.C. Don't get me wrong, it's fun to run and slash, I just wish it was longer.

4 - This might only be an Xbox thing or my TV, but I thought the sound effects level was too high and the music was too low. I didn't see an option to adjust the levels.

[singlebanana]

All valid points of concern. Some of them we address in the podcast.

[RetroRage]

So I got to the inverted castle...and holy crap has the difficulty ramped up.  It reminds me of the first time I made it to the Dark World in A Link to the Past. 

I'm so happy I decided to join in for this playthrough.  This game is easily the best game I've played all year.

[Boshamp]

Same here. Not my first rodeo, but best game I have played this year. Haven't played much though...I really need to play the other Castlevania games...and the LoZ games now that you bring up my favorite of the few I have played. Only beaten one CV game (this one), and one LoZ...(the original)

REALLY looking forward to a new experience with Super Metroid once I get back home though. That will be a ton of fun.

[JerryGreenwood]

@RetroRage - As a long time fan of this game, I'm glad you're loving it. It's certainly in my top 10.

@Boshamp - Check out the first CV on the NES, just so you can see the roots. Most people don't like CVII, but I think it's brilliant. I think the general consensus is that Super Castlevania is the best. Castlevania - Hamrony of Despair (on Xbox Live and PSN) is easily my favorite download-only game. And what planet are you from?! Get off your ass and play some Zelda!   

[MaterialHandlerMike]

I know it causes a lot of dissension amongst fans of the series, but Castlevania II:SQ for NES is my favorite Castlevania for that platform.
 

[techwizard]

@Jerry i didn't notice any sound issues on mine, the volume seemed balanced enough. does your tv have an equalizer? maybe it's set out of wack

[Boshamp]

@RetroRage - As a long time fan of this game, I'm glad you're loving it. It's certainly in my top 10.

@Boshamp - Check out the first CV on the NES, just so you can see the roots. Most people don't like CVII, but I think it's brilliant. I think the general consensus is that Super Castlevania is the best. Castlevania - Hamrony of Despair (on Xbox Live and PSN) is easily my favorite download-only game. And what planet are you from?! Get off your ass and play some Zelda!   

Given its ties to this game, I would want to go for CV III to see Alucard again with his "team". I plan to get a lot more played next year, but with my new position and hours, might be a lot more difficult in practice than in theory.