Topic: An Extremely Detailed Review of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

[shelverton.]

Hm.. For me, DoS was actually the strongest of the three DS games. PoR and OoE had questionable level design. Lots of recycling going on in both of them. They're all good games though, but DoS is the only excellent one, IMO.

[Ridureyu]

Hey, cool opinion with some reasoning behind it.  it's the opposite with me - OOE is my favorite, then PoR, then DoS.  PoR's level recycling is just slightly less than SOTNs, and OOE's is actually one of the biggest flaws (the game needed more.  And believe me, there was space on the cartridge).  I have fun with all three, but to put it in perspective, after level 99-ing all three of them, I have the most fun just randomly screwing around in OoE.



I know I didn't mention Julius mode but, uh, I love Julius Mode.  It needed Hammer, though, even if he was superfluous.

[Flame]

He was supposed to be in it. unused dialogue proves he was to stick along with Julius and crew. I guess they just couldnt figure how an army man like Hammer would be ANYTHING like Grant, gameplaywise. (climbing up walls and shit, hammer was an army guy, not a fucking navy seal)

[Munchy]

POR story was a waste of great ideas, terrible characterization (Because Cv just can't go worse after they gave Charlotte the infamous anime "rage vein" on her forehead)

Wholeheartedly agree here. It was supposed to be a sequel to Bloodlines and the plot just kind of ignores it except for a few name drops. Where's the globetrotting? Where are the hilariously proportioned mechanical knights? Especially the extra modes were a huge waste without a John Sr./Eric Lecarde combo.

[Flame]

Cant believe I forgot to respond to this

chapel and condemned tower are easy to completely forget

I actually found both of those to be among the few memorable tunes in Dawn.

The beginning (Julius mode intro stage)
Chapel,
Bloody tears (Julius mode chapel)
Condemned tower
Into the Dark Night (Boss theme)

The rest I cant really remember. (which says something) I actually rather disliked the vampire killer remix this time around too.

[PFG9000]

Yeah, the music in the condemned tower is possibly my favorite track from that game.  It's true that it isn't the strongest CV soundtrack, but I find enough likeable stuff in there to listen to it every now and then.  The BGMs from the Subterranean Hell, the Condemned Tower, the Clocktower, the Pinnacle, and the Boss theme from the Puppet Master and Gergoth are all really good, at least in terms of catchiness.  I think there's a lot more of a "sorrow" theme to this OST compared to Aria's, especially in tracks like the Condemned Tower and Pinnacle BGMs.  I agree that Soma isn't developed as a character at all in DoS.  It never bothered me though.  I guess I took the game as a direct continuation from AoS when I first played it, and so I didn't really need a character arc.  I remember feeling pretty sad for Soma the first time I made my way through the Pinnacle, though I don't recall exactly what went into making me feel that way.

I don't have much more of any relevance to add here.  Ridureyu's write-up was, again, a fun read, and thoughtfully-composed too.  I'll be looking forward to the PoR discussion, since I still don't care much for that game compared to DoS and OoE.

[Flame]

Well thing is, its like Celia cant make up her mind. She goes from wanting to kill Soma, to suddenly trying to make him Dracula again, right out of nowhere. Surprises me she didnt try from the beginning. No, instead she tried to eliminate him.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I actually really really dug "Dracula's Tears" (Wizardry Lab), "Demon Guest House", "Demon Castle Pinnacle" (The Pinnacle), "The Condemned Tower", and "Cursed Clock Tower".  I play 'em all the time and they're pretty catchy.  Dracula's Tears is like a modern Aquarius.  But that's just my opinion, hee.

[Flame]

Dracula's tears is nice, but for some reason, it grates on my nerves. Cant explain why. must be the STAGE that causes the effect. all them damn ghosts...

[Ridureyu]

It took a while before I realized that the game actually uses a Haunted Castle track.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Yeah they started a trend with the games:

Aria of Sorrow uses Haunted Castle's "Don't Wait Until Night" as part of Julius's Theme, blended with CV1's "Heart of Fire".
Dawn of Sorrow uses Haunted Castle's "The Basement's Melody/ClockTower's Beat" in the bottom of the Tower, and called it "Underground Melodies".
Portrait of Ruin uses Haunted Castle's "Cross Your Heart" for the Dark Academy, and renamed it "Crucifix Held Close".

Ecclesia breaks this trend... somewhat.  The Mechanical Tower uses another classic, Akumajo Dracula X68000's "The Tower of Dolls".

They've been bringing back music from the more obscure titles as of late.

[Puwexil]

Well, there's more. Portrait's Victorian Fear sounds like it's riffing on Haunted Castle's boss theme, Devil's Revival. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth has A Lullaby Sent to the Devils and The Final Battle. They've pretty much gone through the whole thing at this point, aside from some jingles and the stage 2 theme, Devil's Lullaby.

[X]

Portrait's Victorian Fear sounds like it's riffing on Haunted Castle's boss theme, Devil's Revival.

I thought Victorian Fear was taken straight out of Bloodlines and extended somewhat. I've both this track and the Devil's Revival one, but I'm not noticing any real similarities.

-X

[Puwexil]

It's subtle, but I think it's there. Yamane tends to do these kinds of callbacks in her music, even if it's not always literal. Compare CV1's Voyager to Curse of Darkness' Eneomaos Machine Tower, for one.

Not sure what you mean by Bloodlines, because the song certainly doesn't originate from there.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Castlevania: Curse of Darkness OST: Eneomaos Machine Tower

I hear Voyager's 2nd movement around 1:24 or so.  And again around 1:56 or so.

Castlevania The Arcade OST: Voyager ~ENDDING~

On this reorchestrated version, you can hear that same part around 0:15.