Similar areas, similar games, but the Dawn of Sorrow equivalent ditches a lot of the regalia for some jammin' beats.
Ah, I see what you mean. But even Symphony had its own jammin' beats (think Tragic Prince, for one). And Dawn had many of its own solemn melodies (Condemned Tower, After Confession). And most of its other, more lively tracks are in fact quite enjoyable, if you can look past the prominent beat. But I'll admit DoS had its particular musical style -- one that also isn't a favorite of mine. Yet they're different games, with different musical influences, even if they're both from the same composer. But of all Castlevania games to compare it with, Symphony certainly had one hell of a sountrack!
Yet I still don't understand why you're singling out DoS. Almost every modern game in the series had its own share of upbeat music. How about Invitation of a Crazed Moon in PoR? An Empty Tome in OoE? And to take it to the extreme, how about Anti-Soul Mysteries from LoI?
But in older Castlevania's enemies served an instrumental purpose in the level design, moved with purpose, and you could kill them just as quickly as they could throw you into a pit. And from my experience, a lot of the time getting thrown into a pit tended to be more of a threat than the damage from actually getting hit.
Metroidvania's have never really had that, it's always been "here's a room, here's a bunch of enemies, have at it". Thus, you get those "floating ball" enemies that just kind of swirled around you in circles in a "come at me bro" mentality, or suits of armor that just kind of run at you. I usually have no issue with high damage in games, but in OoE it just felt like a cheap way of increasing the difficulty, rather than designing a difficult game.
You're perfectly right here -- but you've missed an important point. In earlier games, often because of technological limitations, you were assorted with a comparatively shallow moveset, with little possibilities for attack and movement. This meant each of these possibilities came under careful scrutiny, something which allowed the game's creators to create a consequent level design, to optimize enemy patterns, and plan their positions, all taking into account the actual options you had to defeat them.
But in more modern Castlevania's, where you're given considerably more freedom in your movements, and where you're granted a far richer set of abilities, this isn't possible anymore: the methods you can use when defeating an enemy, the ways you can jump, kick, dash, attack with myriads of different weapons -- there are far too many of them to be planned. Enemies could no longer be given fixed, set patterns to follow. Instead, they were given freer modes of attack; they became more agile, more numerous, more varied. Hence the "come-at-me" patterns you'd noticed. There wasn't exactly any other option.
Super Castlevania 4. That's right, I said it.
Even when I first played it, as much as I loved the music ("love" isn't even a strong enough word), I was just on the heels of Castlevania 3 and 4's level designs just screamed "get the CV3 designers". I soon grew used to the levels and started to love the game for what it was - but maybe a little too much. I played it from the beginning so many times that now, I all but refuse to play it from the beginning because even when I get nostalgic, as soon as I go through that first door in the fence, a feeling of "ugh not this again" washes over me and 9 times out of 10, I stop playing before the first stage is through. If I make it through that, the feeling persists until stage 4 - at which point, the wall skulls that watch you and other awesome level design quirks win me over. The only stages I can consistently enjoy and claim as my favorite Castlevania stages these days are 4, 6, 7, 9, and the Dracula battle (although 7 just makes me want to play SotN's Long Library). The one time I was able to play the whole game beginning to end and enjoy every minute was on the game's 20th anniversary - and only because I was playing it for that very reason. I still have a lot of respect for the game and what it did for the series, listen to the soundtrack regularly, and get giddy with any new CV with whip-swinging or whip-dangling (I'm looking at you, Portrait of Ruin), but it just lacks in replay value.
I agree with Pfil; it sounds like you actually love SCIV, but have played it so often that its charm has begun to wear off on you. Don't play it for a while, then come back to it -- it'll feel so much more enjoyable.
Circle of the Moon - or "CircleVania", if you will. I bought it with my Gameboy Advance (the first one) and it was the first Castlevania I'd played since 64, so I was pretty excited about it and it felt fun. Over time, I'd get to a certain point in the game that I couldn't get past (usually not very far), stop playing for a few months or years, delete my file and start over, get to another impassible point, stop, start over in another few years, etc. Now whenever I start it up, it's the same "ugh I've done this 1000 times" feeling as above, combined with either "Why am I playing this? I'll only get so far" or the inevitable hard part actually happening and stopping me yet again.
It's almost the same problem with Circle of the Moon: it's not that you don't appreciate the game in itself, it's that you've tried to play it so many times that it has begun to irritate you. Have you, by any chance, been trying to defeat Carmilla before fighting Death and the twin dragons? That happens to be extraordinarily difficult. So remember to take the right path. And stop deleting your file. That is absolutely idiotic. So my best advice? Come back to it after a long break, and, well, as terrible as it sounds... try again. The game's hard, but beatable -- I've beaten dozens of times. Read strategies. Increase your level. Be victorious. I'm confident you'll learn to love Circle of the Moon again. I certainly did.
Aria of Sorrow. It had its moment in the sun and I got about 75% through the game (and then lost interest or got distracted) when it was new, but then I played Dawn of Sorrow; now playing Aria is the same "Ocarina after Twilight Princess" effect and I just can't look at it.
Why would you be losing interest in a game like Aria of Sorrow? It had pulled out all the stops -- its visuals were stunning (even on GBA); its gameplay was fast-paced, varied, addictive; its ability system is one of Castlevania's best; even its plot was interesting... what is there not to like about it?
There were quite a few "THIS is Castlevania" moments in Dawn (like in the Alchemy Laboratory) that I just didn't experience with Aria - especially when I started Julius Mode with "Beginning" blaring in the background. THAT was Castlevania.
I never liked what DoS did with Julius. He became slow, heavy; he lost his signature ability; and he felt... old. And of course, he is, but in AoS he was quick, powerful, effective... it felt good to use him. DoS also took away his extraordinary theme -- it was replaced with Beginning, which didn't fit anywhere near as well.
And are you telling me that playing as Julius in AoS with Heart of Fire as his theme doesn't feel like Castlevania?