There's entirely too much emphasis placed on the plotting of a game that clearly couldn't care less. This is a series where such things have never mattered to begin with. About all you can or should say of stories in Castlevania is that they're a-ok if they don't intrude upon or otherwise compromise their respective games, for it is a rare treat when they actually manage to elevate the rest. Portrait's characters, dialogue and presentation are so juvenile and milquetoast that it in fact does hurt the game, to the point you can't just ignore it, and therefore it is bad. That's about it.
It's not that it's anime art, it's that it's bad anime art. THis is as bad as Rondo of Blood's artwork! UGH!
Rondo's art works beautifully in context. Bright, vivid colours and simplified designs support the game's cinematics, as they do the more lighthearted feel permeating most things in the game, notably music. It's a concisely conveyed example of the game's universal anime aesthetic. Portrait's cheap, flat scribbles do nothing but serve to put the game under an unflattering light, which is especially worrisome considering what kind of alternatives they had on hand even in the project's so-called bonus artworks.
Portrait of Ruin has a lot of reused graphics. But then, this was also the 20th Anniversary game, and reusing so much (more than the ones before or after) was an intentional tribute. Why else do you think they went far enough back to add things like the Dogether?
Because they were running out of things to recycle. Igarashi wasn't even aware about the anniversary during development until someone pointed it out to him during an interview. It's how they do things.
What a great way to pay tribute to the glories of the past by shamelessly ransacking those achievements to the teeth and bone, too. I was so pleased to see all my old friends back, limper than ever, among new faces that number in the least impressive. A couple of strong showers like the dragon zombie do little to mask that yes, this was the height of the Castlevania team's creative incompetence, at least until the fabled HODESPAIR. It's disgraceful.
And of course, there's the Portrait system and "recycled backgrounds." It recycles fewer backgrounds than Symphony of the Night merely by virtue of being less than 50%. And just to counter, a lot of people say:
"But Portrait of Ruin's reuse (by remixing and rearranging basic area ideas) is a lot less creative than Symphony of the Night (flipping it in MSPaint) shows real creativity!"
No. Symphony of the Night does not show real creativity by flipping the castle upside-down. In fact, that part of the game is where just about ALL of its problems lie.
Then you don't seem able to grasp what makes the inverted castle more excusable and, perhaps, even genuinely enjoyable when compared to its peers. The issue doesn't lie in if its inclusion was made with the best of intents in mind, or if it can be classified as creative or not. What does matter is that the end result works in a way that alters your whole perception of the game's geography and means of traversal. Symphony's architecture is involved and complex to such a degree that a mere flip of the axis gives birth to nuances in the game world that simply just wouldn't exist if it resorted to just rearranging pre-existing room patterns, as Portrait does.
Furthermore, it serves as a free-form playground for all those gradually discovered abilities you've attained up until that point, and they are indeed instrumental in navigating the twisty passages and precarious ledges. More obvious differences are the addition of traps such as the CV1-reminiscent maze of crushing spike boards in the clock tower or the high-speed wheeled spikes hiding behind background elements in the Marble Gallery. An enemy exists in the inverted chapel who can
only exist in that one room, in its upturned form (the Archer). Minute details hint at the oncoming change and duality of the game world, such as the mural of a face underneath the keep or the curiously flipped central throne room. The execution is too honed; beyond just mere bloat in search for easy new content.
Perhaps it was entirely accidental, but I just cannot see the inverted castle as something heartless or clinically put together, as so many things in this franchise can sometimes come across as.
So, yeah, I would have been happy with more new areas, but if you put it in the perspective of the other games... either it's okay, or EVERY METROIDVANIA SUCKS.
The problem is the context of the reuse. Brauner is supposed to be this supernatural painter, and after exploring four of his created worlds... we get to do it all over again? They literally had no restrictions of setting or imagination when constructing these environments that are by their very nature magical, yet we're fed recycled concepts as soon as the minimal quotient is reached. It's mind-boggling, especially considering how banal the source material is in places like the endless brown walls and stairways leading to nowhere in the Forest of Doom or the literal symmetry of the level design in the distorted circus areas. There are no good parts, and it takes up half the game. They could've excised the remixed portions completely and the game wouldn't have been any lesser for it - on the other hand, it probably would've ended stronger.
Harmony's means of reuse are instrumental to its "duality of the worlds" schtick, which like its forebearer, has elements that add pleasant flavour to the overall experience. Ecclesia's rehashes are more from the Portrait school of design, though them being laid out on a map and part of an actual geographical area makes it easier to digest there being two similar mountain areas and whatnot. Portrait just... can't match up to anything in the series. Maybe Harmony of Despair, heh.
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There's a disturbing amount of talk in regards to grinding things up to MAX LEVELS and how things measure up at that point. I just can't fathom that, but as it is apparently some people's pleasure, I guess I can't judge.