Castlevania Dungeon Forums
The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => General Castlevania Discussion => Topic started by: Twizman on January 11, 2009, 06:01:18 AM
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I finished CotM over Christmas and it was an awesome experience.
I highly reccommend it to anyone who has not bothered with it due to the general lukewarm reaction it seems to receive from many people.
Also, Nathan Graves rules
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It's almost as dull as PoR, really. It's kind of like LoI in 2D, but with worse level design.
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Oh come on, it's more enjoyable than HoD and I thought the level design was fine. Far better than Portrait of Ruin OR Dawn of sorrow imo.
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Great game. Much better than crappy Order of Ecclesia.
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I think Circle of the Moon is a fine game. I've enjoyed it a lot. Personally I like Harmony of Dissoance and Aria of Sorrow more, but it was way better than Dawn of Sorrow or Portrait of Ruin. It's kinda annoying though that you have to double-tap when you wanna run :/ No one's gonna choose walking before running, so not being able to run from the beginning of the game is completely pointless.
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In Reply To #4
0/10
not even trying.
the game was ok. it was nice how non-bright it was. its stage designs were crappy though with all the zigzags and random monsters on shelves, only a step above portrait's, but that's no wonder since the same guys designed the stages for both.
also best second form design for dracula ever.
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Oh come on, it's more enjoyable than HoD and I thought the level design was fine. Far better than Portrait of Ruin OR Dawn of sorrow imo.
lolwut
What makes CotM so much better than HoD(it actually had music that gave off a great atmosphere and a great feeling while CotM's makes the tedium so much worse, not to mention that HoD had good level design)? DoS was also a good game, so I don't see how it's so much better than that, either.
The level design is absolutely terrible. It's like the inspiration for PoR. HALLWAYS HALLWAYS HALLWAYS(bumpy hallways everywhere) with the same damn enemies every freakin' time. Not even PoR's enemy placement was that repetitive, and that's saying something.
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lukewarm response... it had a glowing response to my recollection.
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I got the most enjoyment out of Circle of the Moon compared to HoD, AoS, and DoS. (I haven't played PoR or OoE). It was the first game I got for GBA and the reason I got GBA on day one.
Nathan Graves was a cool character, it had a great soundtrack, a N64-ish moody visual style, awesome bosses, and good old-school whip challenges mixed with the modern Metroidvania exploration.
AoS is a close second out of those mentioned above, as it had an intriguing storyline and a new play-style with the Tactical Souls. HoD I found interesting, but too "all over the place" in terms of design. DoS was pretty, but was too much of a retread.
To be honest, though, I have trouble (interest-wise) playing through any of the Metroidvanias more than once, and I find it largely unrewarding to play that kind of Castlevania game at all now. By AoS, I think we'd seen about the best that format can offer design-wise without drastic revisions--which haven't happened. I'll probably still get PoR and OoE, but not for a while. And I think I'd get PoR first because it has the whip, ensuring some sense of the old-school.
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In Reply To #9
You'll regret getting PoR.
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It's a fun game.
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It was ok. There are better CV games, but it certainly isn't the worst.
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You'll regret getting PoR.
That's a little harsh.. Although by cv standards Portrait may seem mediocre, it's still a fairly decent game. Don't make it seem like it's unplayable.
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The soundtrack is excellent with some really memorable tunes (such as the opening one).
I found the level design and difficulty to be superb.
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Nathan is the hottest whip wielder ever.
and the boss fights are kewl.
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lolwut
What makes CotM so much better than HoD(it actually had music that gave off a great atmosphere and a great feeling while CotM's makes the tedium so much worse, not to mention that HoD had good level design)? DoS was also a good game, so I don't see how it's so much better than that, either.
The level design is absolutely terrible. It's like the inspiration for PoR. HALLWAYS HALLWAYS HALLWAYS(bumpy hallways everywhere) with the same damn enemies every freakin' time. Not even PoR's enemy placement was that repetitive, and that's saying something.
For a start it doesn't use the same castle twice ( or is it even 3 times? ) with a different colour scheme just to make it appear as though you're getting more game.
Secondly it doesn't teleport you all over the place in a confusing manner while you're exploring the castle. HoD did have had nice level design for small areas but getting to each different one was a headache..
Perhaps you were thinking of the eternal corridor as I don't remember large flat areas filled with enemies - even the arena wasn't flat.
Abyss stairway was straight up with very few lengthly areas to just walk through and the underground waterway which was poisoned, full of traps and high ledges.
It actually gives you a nice variety of weapons and magic to use, what did harmony give you? four whips and about the same variety of magic as sub weapons you could pick up.
Imo the gloomy art style fits castlevania better. Don't bring up the fact that you can't see it unless you have the backlit screen because that isn't a fault in game design it's hardware.
HoD had intricate detailed backgrounds fitting for the game but a lot of sprites are far too gaudy.
While CoTM colour swapped enemies and reused them at least we didnt get "Big" versions of everything. Lazy and thoughtless if you ask me
The music of both was fine. How can you say CoTM had tedius music when it had remixes of proven castlevania classics as well as original pieces? people complain about the sound quality of HoD but I agree the music is fine.
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Everyone keeps saying CotM was so dark, you couldn't see it, etc. I never had a problem with it, and I got it when it came out, so I played and beat it on the original GBA.
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I've never had the chance to play it on an original GBA, only via emulation or on my DS, thats why i think people should quit whining about it being dark as playing it via another format proves it's not the games fault.
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I Hated CoTM. Crappy enemies, stupid method of path blacking (crates? CRATES?), the rooms were huge and vacuous compared to the tiny characters and the card system was a pain.
A lot of people like it because it wasn't piss easy like the others but that's really the only thing good about it for me.
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Yeah, now CotM is shit
ROFLMAO
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In Reply To #19
Don't forget to mention the art style doesnt look like something out of Beyblade
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I got circle when it first came out and it is somewhat hard to see if you play the game outside because of the glare. However, if you play it indoors, there is no problem
It was an okay game though I can't say it is hard since my brother beat all the m0des in the game w/o using potions or dyin' (he hates using potions and dying in CV games).
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In Reply To #20
CotM > j00
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Circle of the Moon was a really solid little entry in the series I felt. After Symphony of the Night this first GBA title took much of the same fundamental ideas and applied them to a whip-wielding protagonist. I enjoyed that. I also found the challenge, the special abilities, the return of familiar tunes, and the new art style to be a welcomed change of pace. As for the dark graphics, I found them to be fitting for a Castlevania game. Palette-swapped sprites? I didn't think much of them when I was trying to fight my way through them. If anything, my only gripe was that the game could have used more variety. I mean, I enjoyed the added challenges of the additional modes, but I did wish for some reason at the time that I could have played through the game as Hugh. No big deal though.
HoD, on the other hand... That seemed to me like a failed attempt at continuing the Symphony trends, right down the Alucard-wannabe Belmont at our control. The colorful, eye-grabbing visuals were a distraction, the big bosses felt more like obstacles than opponentes, and the story just felt artificial. At least Circle's plot had a sense of urgency beneath its simpleness, and a touch of originality on the surface (I happen to be a fan of non-Belmonts de-throning Dracula). Juste's little jaunt through the castle felt bland by comparison, with the only bright spots being a truly unique musical score (screw the limited technology) and a much more interesting view on the inverted castle idea. The bottom line though? HoD was a straight-forward and highly unusual cakewalk compared to CotM.
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I Hated CoTM. Crappy enemies, stupid method of path blacking (crates? CRATES?), the rooms were huge and vacuous compared to the tiny characters and the card system was a pain.
A lot of people like it because it wasn't piss easy like the others but that's really the only thing good about it for me.
QFT :P
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In Reply To #25
CotM is a great game. So great that, I probably enjoy it more than every other portable CV game from HoD(garbage) to OoE and Dracula X Chronicles. I only enjoy SOTN more, and DoS/OoE almost come close to being as good as CotM for me.
I notice a lot of you guys love AoS a lot. I like it as well, but I like DoS more. I don't know why, I've noticed a lot of you prefer AoS over DoS. I do agree AoS has the better story, but DoS' was interesting as well.
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HoD(garbage)
::)
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My opinion? COTM is abysmal. It is in near all aspects of execution bland and uninteresting - its graphics; including the areas, characters and enemies were nothing but forgettable, its soundtrack consisted of poor "remixes" and songs that quickly grew obnoxious, its storyline was awful and in general almost every aspect of its design I find to be either apalling or uninteresting.
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CotM is one of the strongest, most balanced handheld CV's ever made. It had some presentation issues but nothing like the unprofessional crap that sullied HoD. The bosses were actually challenging; something we wouldn't see again until DoS. I also like how it changed up the enemy placement: as you leveled you would see tougher monsters hanging around rooms where they weren't there before; so the difficulty never seemed to thin.
On the original GBA it was a little too dark. Back when there was no extra lighting of any kind for the system, you had to rely on the reflection from other light sources.
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It had some presentation issues but nothing like the unprofessional crap that sullied HoD
And what was that, I may ask?
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And what was that, I may ask?
SPRITES and ANIMATION
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With the exception of Juste's running animation and Maxim, I found most of the sprites to be acceptably animated and drawn. The 'guadiness' which you are likely referring too is not an inherent flaw or show of unprofessionalism but rather a stylistic choice (albeit its probable there were also technical reasons for it as well) - that is to say, its by its nature (heavily) subjective, as opposed to objective.
The sprites help add to the dissonance and sense of confusion that pervades the game, thus benefitting the whole. The sprites, like the game, are far from traditional - whether it is embraced or not is up to you, but that does mean that they are inherently bad from an objective standpoint or that they are unprofessional; simply different.
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Well that's your opinion, to me those sprites are straight up unprofessional; as if the team had not had enough experience with the medium (or handhelds) before.
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in the end everyone will have their opinions about Circle of the Moon. I honestly feel that it was a great game. I got it when it was first released and I have held onto that game ever since (still have it). It was the reason I bought an original GBA. Yeah the graphics were really Dark but if you play it on an SP+ or a DS Lite its really not an issue but it was a pain to play back in the day. It was the showcase #1 game for the system when the GBA was launched. Yeah Aria of Sorrow blows it out of the water graphically but the graphics in Circle of the Moon are ok and it has enough of an atmosphere. The music was always memorable I loved the music in the game. Plus overall it has a 89% rating on Gamerankings.com and I Gamespot.com gave it a 9.6/10 when it was released. I really can't say it didn't deserve it cause gameplay wise it extremely solid. Its also the hardest 2D Castlevania I have played so far I remmeber repeatedly dying in this game. Oh and I remember getting stuck in that one stage area with the "Poison Water" I ended up having to start the game over from scratch because of that lol. Good times with COTM.
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I liked CotM for the most part. I don't think it's aged well at all, though. :\
The level design was kind of iffy for me. Some places, like the Machine Tower and Observation Tower, were excellent. Several places, though, had really awful level design. Like CoD-worthy. The Abyss Stairway, Eternal Corridor, and Audience Room come to mind.
I was also wasn't all that hot for the animal-versions of Rondo's enemies. And the DSS card system was really crappily implemented. Grinding is never fun; making it to where you have no idea what enemies you need to kill over and over just makes it hellishly bad.
It's an alright game, but I prefer all the other Metroidvanias. But I still like it.
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In Reply To #35
Thats why you print out those maps they have on Gamefaqs. I know its a pain in the ass and the card system gets pretty damn deep and sometimes confusing (but depth never hurt a game). I think that the only downside was the graphics really and at the time this was the best GBA game at launch. I think HoD was way worse I mean come on Juste was a bitch (he even looks like one) and I beat the game at 100% with everything you could get even that awful piece of crap furniture thing (wtf was IGA thinking!). I like HoD for its gameplay but there was some messed up ideas and it feels a little bit out of place in the Metroidvania series. Its between HoD and PoR no HoD takes the cake. At least PoR's storyline kept me wanting to play to an extent. Once I beat HoD I was like "ok 5 hours and your done? I thought Symphony was easy". Its true I mean HoD has no challenge factor to it really. I guess I liked the graphics but they were a bit too vibrant but yeah COTM is a great game. Sure its been made better but think. W/o COTM this whole "Portable CV" thing would've never been as great. Sometimes things take awhile to get to where they start to stand out like Symphony did. I don't think IGA will ever top Symphony eventhough OoE, AoS and DoS are all really good and in some ways the features in those games outdo Symphony, Symphony is timeless and is a once in a lifetime thing. At least IGA and his team try to outdo it and OoE comes damn close (at least for me).
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In Reply To #35
Thats why you print out those maps they have on Gamefaqs. I know its a pain in the ass and the card system gets pretty damn deep and sometimes confusing (but depth never hurt a game).
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It's almost as dull as PoR, really. It's kind of like LoI in 2D, but with worse level design.
ouch man, thats insanely harsh. COTM is a fun romp and the difficulty manages to challenge the players like the older titles and the musical remixes were nice.
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CotM is one of the strongest, most balanced handheld CV's ever made. It had some presentation issues but nothing like the unprofessional crap that sullied HoD. The bosses were actually challenging; something we wouldn't see again until DoS. I also like how it changed up the enemy placement: as you leveled you would see tougher monsters hanging around rooms where they weren't there before; so the difficulty never seemed to thin.
On the original GBA it was a little too dark. Back when there was no extra lighting of any kind for the system, you had to rely on the reflection from other light sources.
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ouch man, thats insanely harsh. COTM is a fun romp and the difficulty manages to challenge the players like the older titles and the musical remixes were nice.
i second this...
and don't forget it is a portable game, it's just for a "fun", it can't get too "deep".
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In Reply To #33
I have to agree with ANTRAXX about the HoD sprites. To me it looks like a rush job. They didn't take their time to get it down good and the even the vampirekiller looks awful. But on the plus side the backgrounds, though simple were very good.
-X
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I played Circle of the Moon recently and think it's ok so far.I died on the first boss.It's a little too hard I think.
I hate video games that are too hard.
And Harmony of Dissonance was pretty good.I don't care if others claim the game's too easy.I don't like catching frustration over a video game I just shelled out big bucks for.
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Personally i found HoD to be about the same difficulty as SotN but not in the same ways. HoD as a whole is far more difficult, the reasons why are as follows: very few save points, normal enemies do a lot of damage and it is far more difficult to navigate than any game I have ever played save for CV2. Combine these together and you got one very difficult game especially since you will be back tracking from the lack of knowing where to go.
Anyhoo the main point is; I just ordered CotM off amazon on friday and despite what I've heard I'm very excited.
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CotM? It's been quite awhile, but I don't seem to remember the stage design being as bad as some of you claim. The DSS system was a bit disappointing --mainly due to the cheap drop rates and cookie cutter rewards. After SotN the game was just a tad straight forward for my tastes. The music quality was also way too high to be wasted on a bunch of remixes. The bonus modes were nice but it became a bit much to replay the game so many times to unlock them all --especially since my personal fav Thief Mode was the last one unlocked... Too bad there wasn't an alt character to play with.
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I thought Circle was a great game. I remember getting it when the GBA first came out, and getting pissed that it was so hard and I couldn't see what I was doing! But then the SP came out and all was well, so onto the game, the only problem I really had with it was the (lack of) animation. I also enjoyed the remixes a lot, I liked how faithful they were to the originals, sometimes I thought I was listening to Dracula's Curse on a newer system, lol. The difficulty kept me playing this game for a LOOONG time, and I thought the DSS cards were pretty neat.
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I got it last night and all i can say is a: A flame whip?!
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I got it last night and all i can say is a: A flame whip?!
Is that good or bad? They had one in Simons Quest
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I'd say it's a good thing!
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I've always wondered.... how does a flame whip extinguish the flame atop torches and candles?
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O its quite good. So far i'm liking it a lot especially the cards