Topic: Akumajou Dracula X Gekka no Yasoukyoku (Saturn Version) - The right and wrong

[Claimh Solais]

Well, I checked out the Saturn version of Nocturne In the Moonlight, and I gotta say, I don't think this version deserves all the harsh criticism it deserves.

The Right
-Adding in Maria as a playable character. This made the game more interesting, although her moveset is a little more questionable.
-Two more castle areas. While they are badly designed from reused parts and are... rather pointless, it made the castle more interesting. More places to explore and all that, and adds more for the Saturn owners who didn't own a PSX (what, like 4 people? lol, I kid).
-A whole new slew of enemies. There weren't that many new enemies, but there were new ones. And they were rather cool ideas. Especially the Skeleton Leader.
-New tracks. I thought it was cool how familiar tracks "Vampire Killer", "Bloody Tears", and "Beginning" were all added into the game. They were pretty cool arrangements (except Beginning, not a big fan of jazz music). It also added other new tracks into the game such as Chaconne C.moll (or whatever) and Guardian.
-Battle against Maria. Adding in this new boss fight was pretty cool. She didn't have to kill Alucard if you lose, though.
-Updated Richter outfit. I think it's cool how the Saturn team went sorta outta there way to make a new outfit for Richter. (For those of you who don't know, to use this outfit, press Up + C when selecting Richter).
-New items. The game was in Japanese, so I didn't exactly know what they did. They did however add in Godspeed Shoes, which enabled faster travel.



The Wrong
-Maria's moveset doesn't resemble her moveset in Rondo in any way (almost). It might be a tad confusing for people who were familiar with her in the original game. This isn't too big a problem.
-The castle areas are, again, designed by reusing parts from the rest of the castle rather than with new parts.
-The new enemies are bland and boringly designed. One is actually an edit that was amateurish.
-The new Richter outfit is just an edit of his RoB outfit, and doesn't quite resemble the SotN appearance he has in his portrait and in his two short appearances throughout the game.
-Quite a few new items were either useless or half-assed.
-What the hell is up with the third hand? Why give him a third hand for items rather than use that button for... I dunno, the map?
-Rather than improving the resolution for the Saturn version, they just stretched the game to fit the screen. This created rather ugly graphics, and Richter looked like a fatso.
-Some rooms and halls were either A) split into two rooms, or B) taken out entirely.
-The map completion ratio still thinks you're playing the PSX version.



A lot of graphical errors I did not include, for most of it is the system's fault, not the game (such as transparency effects).

Overall, though, the Saturn version is quite well done. It's a game worth playing, if you ask me. If you've played the original SotN but not the Saturn version, you should go for it. The new stuff in the game is rather interesting to find and look at. Screenshots and videos don't cut it. Actually play it and you'll think, "Wow. That's kinda cool."

What do you guys think was right and wrong about the game?

[Flame]

Ive heard certain effects like the 3D effects looked worse than on the PSX too.

[Claimh Solais]

Ive heard certain effects like the 3D effects looked worse than on the PSX too.

Yeah, but again, that was the system's fault. I can't blame that on the game.

[Neflyte]

I've played the Saturn version pretty extensively, and I believe it's definitely worth owning and playing. Despite the graphical shortcomings and stupid loading times, it has a different overall feel to it. You're pretty spot-on with the pros and cons.

Before I forget, the 3rd hand thing is because of the Saturn having three buttons in a row, as opposed to the PS having two. They tried to make the controls tailored to the controller, which in itself was good and bad. To me it adds to the game's overall feel 

[Profbeanburrito]

I have the Saturn version andhave played it, but whenever I'm in the mood to play SotN, I'll take the PSX or PSP version anyday. The added stuff mostly sucks so I don't see the point of wasting any time digging it out of my CV boxes and setting everything up for it

[DarkPrinceAlucard]

The Saturn version is definitely worth a try if you have already played Symphony of the night for the PSX and liked it.

The new items are cool and my favorite is the boots that lets you run faster which I found very usefull.

However as its been pointed out the graphics are not on the level of the PSX version which had beautiful artwork and textures. Also the loading times where 3x longer then the PSX version. And although it was nice to have newer areas they both fail to really catch my interest since they were both really short and irrelevent to the story.

Overall I completlely agree with Claimh Solais's initial post.

[Claimh Solais]

Wow. This is probably the first "Pros & Cons" list of a game I've actually done right. ^.^

But yeah, if ya'll got time, and enjoyed either the PSX or PSP versions of SotN, I say give the Saturn version a shot. It has tons of nice things to look at, though practically 95% of it is completely irrelevant to the main story, but hey... What's wrong with a bit of a side quest? :3

[Odile Kuronuma]

I played it too, and while it's not perfect, it's a good port of the PSX game. Plus the new areas are interesting, especially the underground garden.It adds more strangeness to the castle, and the idea of evil plants attacking you is just awesome. Maria is a good character, although a little too overpowered.
Yeah i recommend anyone who played  SOTN to play the saturn game, just for the sake of playing the lost levels.
On another note, has anyone played the E3 demo of SOTN? I think you can find on the web.
It's nice because the voices are in japanese, with english subtitles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDbOdEZ8O6U.

[Gemini]

The only good part about this port is the boss fight with Maria and the theme playing during the battle. Aside from that, most additions feel rather stupid and not consistent with the rest of the castle, resulting amateurish and dull. Unless you want to see the extra content with your own eyes, do yourself a favor and skip this title. You won't miss a thing.

[Flame]

The saturn version is responsible for one of the creepiest looking enemies ever.

[Pemburu Vampir]

It looks goofy to me.

The same goes for the Luigi with scissors enemy.

[DragonSlayr81]

^^^ I never cared for the look of that tree. Looks more Disney, or even Legend of Zelda-ish than CV-ish.

Most definitely the two added stages were horribly done. Konami should've just made them from the ground up, unique in their own right, instead of reusing assets from other stages in the game. I would've respected the attempt more had they done that. Just slopping pieces from other places, and pasting them together seemed half-ass IMO.

[thernz]

The new sprites were just really really bad, and the tree is the epitome of that.


But that's why in a twist, the tree is the best thing about the game.

[uzo]

The tree was about the best one of the new ones. Then again, the tree was in the data files for SotN on PSX. That may be a cancelled/left over, but the GHOST from the Saturn game, now THAT'S a shitty sprite. The worst in the game that I remember.

[thernz]

Oh yeah, that might be more accurate. The tree's a lot more imaginative than any of the other Saturn enemies, and the shading is a lot better. Tree is just great.


why did i say the tree was the epitome of the really bad sprites