Topic: Circle Of The Moon

[John Capricorn]

CotM is the best Castlevania since SotN.  All I'm saying is CotM was unique pretty much it's own style whereas the other GBA games were Sotn ripoffs no matter how good they were, and the DS games aren't worthy of comparision.

[Marto]

whereas the other GBA games were Sotn ripoffs no matter how good they were, and the DS games aren't worthy of comparision.

 : Yes, the other GBA games are SotN ripoffs, the same way that metroid prime echoes, and corruption were ripoffs of Metroid Prime, and Castlevania 2, 3, 4, and Chi no Rondo were ripoffs of Castlevania 1...

I do however agree on the DS games being unworthy of comparison, despite trying desperately to prove myself wrong....

[NicholasDuffy]

As another thing I would like to say, this feels like it has the most dark and gothic feel, out of all of the GBA titles, since HoD (even though it is good), it is like a castle rainbow with 1,000 colors, and then there is AoS (even though this is also good aswell), which has a dance hall with flying mini-replicas of the dancing ghosts of SCV4, this has the most dark feel to it.

[DoctaMario]

In Reply To #17

HoD IS a SoTN ripoff. There are just WAY too many similarities between the two games for me to believe otherwise. AoS is a very cool original game, but HoD owes so much to SoTN it's not funny.

[shelverton.]

In Reply To #17

HoD IS a SoTN ripoff. There are just WAY too many similarities between the two games for me to believe otherwise. AoS is a very cool original game, but HoD owes so much to SoTN it's not funny.

I don't get it. I think AoS plays A LOT more like SotN.

[PFG9000]

Yeah, I think AoS is much more SotN-like than Harmony.  Although Harmony is closer when it comes to storyline and the dual castle thing, and I suppose with the relics too.  It's the overall gameplay though that makes AoS seem more like SotN. 

[CastleToastM]

I beleive that circle is acually fun, and I played through all modes. It was acually pretty much my first CV game as well (but not my very first), as it was the game that got me hooked on the series.

The dracula in this game is ACUALLY hard. Amazing isn't it? Of all the CV games I have ever played, the only one that's even comparable is CV4.

HoD's dracula was a total pushover. Hahaha! Throws a fireball. Repeats until defeated. Then the second form? All you do is slide or use the medicine jar to get behind him, then all challenge at all is lost. Lame.

[NicholasDuffy]

I beleive that circle is acually fun, and I played through all modes. It was acually pretty much my first CV game as well (but not my very first), as it was the game that got me hooked on the series.

The dracula in this game is ACUALLY hard. Amazing isn't it? Of all the CV games I have ever played, the only one that's even comparable is CV4.

HoD's dracula was a total pushover. Hahaha! Throws a fireball. Repeats until defeated. Then the second form? All you do is slide or use the medicine jar to get behind him, then all challenge at all is lost. Lame.

Wow you pretty just owned Drac in HoD lol, I used the bolt-cross combo. Boom! He was owned.

[A n t r a x x]

Oops, you're right, I forgot about the Chapel Tower.

Don't forget the awesomeness of the final fight theme, "Proof of Blood", either

Great, original tune. (later remixed into homebrew "Dracula's Shadow" in the main menu).

[A n t r a x x]

The level design of HoD is way better than CotM in my opinion.

explain....

[Azmodan]

Maybe he felt CotM was too wide, muddy, and bland, whereas HoD utilized a layout more akin to SotN, with areas being more visible and memorable so exploration isn't so tedious.
*shrug*
I'm not Crisis, so I don't know.

~EDIT~
The edit button is your friend.

[A n t r a x x]

The dracula in this game is ACUALLY hard...
HoD's dracula was a total pushover. Hahaha!

Another point: COTM had a difficulty that consistently raised the bar with each new boss defeat. Soon, older areas were filled with harder baddies, and so backtracking was kept interactive still.

Overall the difficulty was solid.

I'm still impressed with this idea, because IGA still hasn't embraced it in his games -- well, only on occasion.

I really only had problems with the controls, and at first the dark visuals.

Once I got used to them (you never really get used to Nathan's running though), I found COTM a blast to play, and still think so to this day. I think it still holds somewhere on my top ten CVs list.

I also don't mind all the remixes in the soundtrack, 'cause to me they were done well. I even like "Nightmare" better here, though I know there are several here who'll bite my head off for it. "Sinking Old Sanctuary" was better composed than the Bloodlines original, due to a more pleasant chorus sample. I still think COTM had the best version of this song. Also, there was a nice upbeat version of "clockwork".

This is why I was pissed to find the COTM/HOD soundtrack favored HOD's score with longer loops. The music is grating by comparison. COTM still holds the "best quality sound" award for any GBA Castlevania. Even AOS didn't sound as clear.

I find HOD has aged much worse than COTM. It feels unprofessional by comparison. It feels older than it should due to crappy low-end music; repeating room designs and tiles, and a boring difficulty. Even on "hard" I wasn't impressed. The presentation overall is often ugly.

THough in many ways HOD had a more robust graphics engine, it didn't feel well used and most areas were underwhelming.

On a side note, both games have beauftiful chapels. Many visual memories made in those.