Castlevania Dungeon Forums
The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => General Castlevania Discussion => Topic started by: Ridureyu on May 11, 2011, 02:34:10 PM
-
Betcha thought I was gone, didn't ya? Nah, Real Life just took over for a few weeks.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is a rather diviszive game. You'll find plenty of people quick to call it THE WORST CASTLEVANIA EVER, or even THE WORST GAME EVER. I fyou say you enjoy it, insults will flow! A lot of this is "New Installment Syndrome," where the "newest" instlalment in any franchise (whether book, movie, set of roleplaying miniatures, or episode of a TV show) is automatically the "Worst ever." PoR isn't the most recent CV game, but Order of Ecclesia hit it so far out of the park that it MOSTLY avoided "New Installment Syndrome." Mostly. There are plenty of people who hate OeE with such a passion that it burns. It BURNS (like that one time I let those hobbits tie me up. Burrrrrrrrrrns!)! Okay, that's all hyperbole. But seriously, a lot of people really, really hate this game. If you ask, you'll learn that all the graphics suck, the gameplay is horrible, it's too hard, it's too easy, there's no creativity, it's too weird, the ploit is flat, the plot is too complex, the characters are annoying, the characters don't have personality, the play control is weird, the weapons are weird, the art is horrible, the music is terrible, and if anybody has fun while playing it, they are anathema.
I think this is somewhat of an exagerration.
Heck, you wanna talk about the WORST CV game? Judgment, Legends, Adventure 1, Haunted Castle(ONE LIFE!??!?), Vampire Killer, MSX Dracula, Curse of Darkness, Simon's Quest... right. I kinda like Simon's Quest, but you get the point. Lighten up a little.
In fact, I'll be honest. Now that the most recent metroidvania is three years old and none of them really have a New Game Smell (and are all old enough for at least some nostalgia), I have to honestly rank Portrait of Ruin as pretty good. My own personal opinion?
-Better than Harmony of Dissonance
-Better than Dawn of Sorrow
-Worse than Symphony of the Night
-Worse than Order of Ecclesia
-Sometimes better, sometimes worse than Circle of the Moon, depending on the part (though usually better)
-Sometimes better, sometimes worse than Aria of Sorrow, depending on the part (though usually worse)
Those last two mean that the most annoying parts of Portrait of Ruin (gameplay-wise) are less annoying than, say, dealing with those stupid armors in Circle of the Moon, or the yawn-fest that is Aria of Sorrow's endless parade of guest houses, studies, and chapel guest houses. So pretty much, I rank Portrait of Ruin in the middle/upper-middle. It's not perfect, but not even Symphony of the Night is perfect. SotN can be your favorite game, but if you call it perfect, something is very wrong with you. Remember: It's okay to like things that are imperfect. This is what allows us to like anything. Anyway, all of this is a preamble to justify: I will mostly be complimenting this game. Just tossing out a laundry list of criticisms is redundant at this point, and it would be more useful to actually point out what it did right.
PLOT AND THEMES
A criticism often levelled at PoR: "It doesn't have a story!" You mean, it has less of a story than most CVs? "Dracula is back! He kidnapped somebody you like. Go and whip him!" Or how about less of a story than most Metroidvanias? When you look at all of them sarcastically:
SOTN - "Richter is mind-control;led by Shaft into resurrecting Dracula. Alucard must wake up from his slumber to stop him.{
Circle of the Moon - "Dracula's back again. A non-Belmont needs to punch his brother in the face."
Harmony of Dissonance: "Juste's best friend resurrected Dracula, and there are two castles. Intetior decorating."
Aria of Sorrow: "Dracula's reincarnation fights Dracula's other reincarnation."
Dawn of Sorrow: "Dracula's reincarnation fights two more of Dracula's reincarnarions."
Portrait of Ruin: "Some guy tries to become the next Dracula. Meddling kids beat him up."
Order of Ecclesia: "Amnesiac girl accidentally helps revive Dracula, but she magics him to death."
Ha-ha. Personally, OoE has my favorite (read: the most genuinely nuanced) storyline, and both Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance have the worst. But Portrait of Ruin is not the worst story ever. In fact, let's compare it to its prequel, Bloodlines, since a lot of people praise Bloodlines for a "deep" story and crioticize Portrait of Ruin for being "shallow."
Bloodlines: One of Dracula's relatives and a sorceress resurrect Dracula during World War 1. Quincy Morris's son and a friend who lost his love to vampirism have to travel the world to track down the villains and win.
Portrait of Ruin: A man curses God over his deceased daughters and becomes a vampire. During World War II, he resurrects Castlevania himself in order to become the next Dark Lord. John Morris's son, who is bitter at his father, tries to stop this new threat. Along the way he discovers the truth about his father's death as well as that of the other hero from Bloodlines, and rescues Eric's brainwashed daughters. But his actions play into Death's overarching plan to resurrect Dracula, and he must stop this before it's too late. Also, there's Charlotte.
Portrait of Ruin actually has a pretty good story, mostly because of its villain.
Brauner
Brauner is not just another Dracula henchman (even Barlowe fell into that trap). He's something different - he's potentially the next Dracula. Compare their origins. Mathias's wife died, and so he cursed God, became a vampire, and became Master of the Castle. Brauner's daughters died, so he cursed God, became a vampire, kidnapped replacement girls, and then tried to become master of the castle. The only reason why he lost was because Death remained loyal to Dracula, and manipulated the heroes into a victory. Brauner isn't just a usurper to Dracula's throne, he's also a potential replacement - the first sign that the Source of all Chaos may be ready to let Dracula stay dead. He's failed so much over the centuries that now other masters of the castle can appear (and unlike Maxime, Brauner wasn't possessed by Drac!). Brauner himself is a sad figure - you don't get to see him very much (although more than, say, Shaft or Carmilla or Maxime or Graham or Dario), but the game gives you a clear picture of his personality. Scenery-chewing evil aside, about 90% of what he says or does amounts to "Don't touch my daughters! I built this castle for my baby girls! Go away!" Even his plan to rule the castle reflects this, as what would be safer for his girls than bringing the world under his control? They aren't his real daughters, but he seems too delusional to realize this - in his desperation, Brauner kidnapped Eric's kids and brainwashed them, then promptly convinced himself that they were always his. When you cure the girls, Brauner's immediate response is to clench his fists so tightly that it breaks his cane. When you defeat him, it almost looks like he's coming to his senses - and perhaps he would have, if Death hadn't killed him.
Another interesting thing is Brauner as an artist. Evidently, he really loves surrealism.
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/forumstuff/studioportrait02.png)
This brings up his Portraits. The game doesn't make it entirely clear if Jonathan and Charlotte are going to real locations, or alternate worlds inside the paintings, or maybe a bit of both (like what the castle is). I kind of like the "both" interpretation, as it gives you the awesomeness of City of Haze being in England, while at the same time bringing up Nation of Fools' symbolism. Now, about that one. The annoying topsy-turvy circus. Look at it this way. Brauner lost his daughters in the first WOrld War. This destroyed him so much that he turned into Nosferatu-with-a-paintbrush. Nation of Fools is an empty circus amidst a war-torn city. The stage turns upside-down the way Brauner's life turns upside-down. You're travelling around in a painting of his grief.
JONATHAN
Jonathan is, for the most part, a typical Belmont(or pseudo-Belmont) hero. They're all pretty shallow. Someone like Soma or Alucard or Shanoa is actually pretty rare by Castlevania standards - even Richter is pretty shallow, especially considering that his heel turn was just mind control and not really him. Jonathan's not completely shallow, at least. He's got baggage. His father never told him how to use the Vampire Killer, died of "unknown causes," and apparently was generally a pretty bad parent. If the guy had just TOLD his son what happens when a non-Belmont uses the whip, most of that would have been solved. And the funny thing is, it actually is. Jonathan's attitude does a complete 180 when he hears the trutgh. He actually couldn't have been that resentful if it was easy to drop it. Jonathan's also way too eager to prove himself - this manifests every time he encounters Death, actually. Most protagonists, when speaking with the Grim Reaper, are happy to trade words for information, and especially eager to stay out of a fight with him. Jonathan just charged in headlong. Death even commented on this - but then, if Jonathan had listened, would things have gone worse? Would he have gone along with Death's plan? It happened regardless, even though he passed up the chance at a temporary ally. But for the most part, he's a cypher, same as all the others. At least he has some character development as the game continues.
CHARLOTTE
Charlotte is not a very deep character. She's actually kind of funny, though. Just think of her as the Hermione of Castlevania!
Hermione Granger:
-Extremely intelligent and talented witch
-Insufferable know-it-all
-Is usually right, but royally freaks out when she is wrong.
Charlotte Aulin:
-Extremely intelligent and talented witch
-Insufferable know-it-all
-Is usually right, but royally freaks out when she is wrong.
Ta-da! Charlotte acts like she's not out to prove anything, but she really is. She wants to prove her own ego, which is kind of amusing considering that she waltzed into Castlevania without any spells. Her main contribution to the plot is to, during any conversation, say, "And my magic." "With my magic." "Well, my magic did it." "Don't forget my magic!" "I did it! Look at me! LOOK AT ME!" "Panties!"
It's both funny and grating at the same time. Charlotte could have been a lot more, but there's something memorable about
Death: *serious conversation*
Jonathan: *serious conversation*
Death: *serious inquiry*
Charlotte: "LOOK AT ME I AM USEFUL!!!"
Jonathan: *serious statement*
WIND
Poor Eric Lecarde. obody from Bloodlines really had a happy ending, did they? In the end, Eric died and his daughters were turned into vampires, just like his first love. However, even though his spirit was trapped within the castle,m he was able to influence Jonathan and Charlotte, and save his girls from beyond the grave, thus making up for all his failures. At least this game develops his personality a little beyond Bloodlines (not gonna bring up Judgment).
VINCENT
He's more developed than the Master Librarian or Harmony Merchant. Still an annoying putz. He kind of reminds me of that friar from Van Helsing. "I haven't taken my vows yet, so BOOBIES!"
DEATH
Along with Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Dissonance, this is one of Death's finest hours. in SOTN, you got hints of his personality when he talked with Alucard. In HoD, you got a lot more of his conversational nature, and also saw how much Death can be an opportunist if necessary. In PoR, you get both of the above, but you also see just how much of a careful schemer he can be, and you also see a lot more of his friendship with Dracula. Admit it: When Death jumped in to block Jonathan's attack at the end, that was awesome.
THE SISTERS
The sisters are more plot devices than charcaters, but they have an interesting running theme. Whether normal humans or brainwashed vampires, they're loud, headstrong, and desperate to prove they can fight with the big boys. What got them vampirized? Rushing in to fight Brauner and show daddy what they can do. What got them cured? Rushing in to fight Jonathan and show "daddy" what they can do. They don't do much after you save them, but it's implied that they're just kind of tired and beaten up, and really can't do much else. The sisters could have been much better, though, and the game should have let you fight both individually before the (awesome) team-up battle.
So, I kind of like the plot progression. Brauner is an interesting, unique villain in the series with actual discernible motivations besides "DRACULA YAY!", and Death is in top form. Charlotte and the Sisters really could have been better, though.
AESTHETIC DESIGN
A lot of people complain about Portrait of Ruin's art style, but really, how bad could it be?
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/forumstuff/porportrait01.png)
Oh, right. You know, I really don't like any of the character portraits, either.
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/forumstuff/porportrait03.png)
Stop it.
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/forumstuff/porportrait02.png)
AUUUUUUGH!
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!
Okay, moving on. 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? And besides that, there's a surprisingly huge amount of new stuff in this game, too. Portrait of Ruin has the best zombie sprites of all the Metroidvanias. A lot of the new enemies (such as Death Mask, Andras, and Dullahan) look great, too, although a few seem wonky (Glasya Labolis just looks a little too smooth). And I love some of the "new surprises," like The Creature's machine gun. Actually, let's go back to Andras and Death Mask for a second. These two enemies appear very early in the game - if they only attacked faster, they'd have been pretty rough enemies. Death Mask is basically a speedier, flying Malphas, anyway. And as far as new sprites go, you can't ignore the fact that Portrait of Ruin has the best werewolf in Castlevania. The only one to even approach it is Chronicles' She-Wolf. The Rondo werewolf sucks, and they resisted the urge to use it! The PoR one is really one of the best boss fights in the game.
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.
No, I'm not terribly hapopy with all the reuse in PoR, and there is enough room on the ROM for new stuff, but they also had a deadline, and presumably ran out of time. Eh. That said, Nation of Fools seems like the only REALLY reused area. When you compare the areas:
-Dark Academy is laid out completely different than Forest of Doom, eschewing the foresty segments for a densely-packed academy.
-Burnt Paradise is pretty much just Nation of Fools, but meaner.
-Forgotten City is Sandy Grave, only reversed (Hey, it's Symphony of the Night!)
-13th Street is remixed from City of Haze, with less underground, a much bigger marketplace, and even a bigger chapel.
Two are significantly different from the originals, one is similar but creative (Forgotten City. Putting it underground is kinda witty), and one is just a copypaste. That's... not that bad, really. In fact, if you whine about this, then you need to extend those complaints to Symphony of the Night, Harmony of Dissonance, Order of Ecclesia, Aria of Sorrow (the abyss!), and Circle of the Moon.
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.
But eh, Death sure looks goofy in this game!
-
GAMEPLAY
Portrait of Ruin's difficulty level is about the same as Dawn of Sorrow: Overall kind of easy (easier than old-school platformers), with a few difficult "sweet spots," mostly near the beginning (and in the Nest of Evil). This is normal for Metroidvanias. Circle of the Moon bypassed this by making the play control horrible and giving you bullet hell enemies (Ice Demon AAAAARGH). Order of Ecclesia bypassed this by making enemies do a lot of damage, attack quickly, and take a few hits to go down. Symphony of the Night is the easiest Metroidvania, but they were just starting out with the format, that time. Notably, Portrait of Ruin IS tougher than either Aria or Dawn of Sorrow, for whatever it's worth.
One major flaw that reduces the game's difficulty is how early in the game you can buy Shurikens. Or Ice Needle. It's kind of like DoS's issue with the Mandragora soul.
With the subweapons in general, this is actually one of the game's best elements. Remember Symphony of the Night and its limited-0use weapons? And how you had to griiiiiiind for the Duplicator before you could have a ball happy-assholing around with them in the castle? Well, Portrait of Ruin exists SPECIFICALLY because of this! You pretty much get all of the SOTN weapons (Although the steel ball isn't as much fun), only most of them are balanced for normal play (except the shuriken). Also, cream pies, hahahahahahahahaha. But yeah, even after you've beaten the game, collected all the items, and levelled to 99, it's fun to screw around with subweapons and spells. This plus is the same in SOTN (with duplicator only), AoS, DoS, and OoE. This is also a reason why Harmony of Dissonance has problems - the fun gets sucked out once you've levelled up. Charlotte's spells are situationally like nukes... or situationally useless, depending. It's true that you really only "need" three or four of them, but I do get perverse pleasure out of using Acid Bubble on random things.
Also, there's something else where Portrait of Ruin succeeds, and very surprisingly: The intro area. Compare "opening areas" in Metroidvanias:
Symphony of the Night - Castle entrance, Alchemy laboratory. Good music, good spectacle, good demonstration of game mechanics, awesome fight against Slogra and Gaibon.
Circle of the Moon: Catacombs: Cool music, otherwise boring.
Harmony of Dissonance: Entrance and, uh, Marble Gallery. Bland.
Aria of Sorrow: Entrance. Good music, atmopshere, and a kind of weak boss.
Dawn of Sorrow: Lost Village: Good atmosphere, moderate music, wuss of a boss.
Portrait of Ruin: City of Haze: Awesome music, design, map, enemy design, and surprisingly tough boss.
Order of Ecclesia: Monastery: So-so music, good visual design, decent map (one of the larger ones in this game), good boss.
Portrait of Ruin's opening level is up there with SotN. I love City of Haze. Percentage-wise, it's probably got the most "new" enemies of any part of the game (pretty much everything except the skeleton, bat, student witch, and tiny devil). The music is awesome, the new monsters are great, it's got a lot of secrets (Skeleton Bartender! HA!), and the boss is just fantastic. He does enough damage for the game to teach you to actually dodge and not just spam attacks, nicely enough. The opening of a game is VERY important, and PoR succeeds in making its mark quickly. City of Haze is probably my favorite of the individual paintings.
As far as the othe rportraits? They've got their ups and downs, but to be honest, it's mostly ups. The pyramids are cool and creative (mini-mummies!), the forest levels the same. The circus ones are creative but not as much fun. Eh. The castle itself is all right, although a little repetitive in some places.
But you know what? This game has some awesome new enemies. Remember the zombie dragon?
The bosses in general are actually pretty good, too, though for this, I need to go into individual-analysis mode again.
Dullahan: Difficult, dramatic, great new sprites, needs some level of strategy if you want to live.
Behemoth: A great new take on an old enemy. No sprite reuse here! Also pretty damaging, too.
Keremet: A great idea (a boss that forces you to use both party members). Very easy, and seems out of place. It WOULD have been great if more situations and bosses forced you to team up and carefully place your teammates. As it is, this seems like they started a great idea but didn't follow through. The result makes it boring when it could have been a great "tutorial" boss.
Astarte: A nicely sadistic boss. If you pick Jonathan, you'll get mind-controlled. If you pick Charlotte, you can't hurt her. THis one is a nice tutorial on character-switching.
Legion: I've gont into detail about this. Better than most Legions, not as good as the best.
Dagon: Aside from his hilarious resemblance to Bogun, nothing really special here.
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/forumstuff/bogun.gif)
Stella: A pretty good fight. SHould've also had a solo-Loretta battle later, too.
Death: You know how Astarte taught you to switch players? Death puts you to the test on that. As much as I hate his visual design in this game, there's no denying that Death has a really good fight, as he always should.
Stella & Loretta: One of the high points of the game. You can go about this the traditional way, and try to deal with their team-up attacks, or you can do it the "right" way, and learn everything about carefully positioning teammates. Getting Charlotte's spell to work is difficult and awesome, and I really like doing it even though it SHOULD be frustrating and bad. You have to place Charlotte so she won't get hit, but is close enough for the spell to work, you have to keep the sisters' attention as Jonathan, you have to go without hurting them, and you have to survive all the huge attacks coming your way. It's one of the few boss fights in a Metroidvania that's better than "stand in place and spam attacks until you win."
Whip's Memory: "What, it's Richter? Well, that guy was always easy and OH CRAP 150 DAMAGE AAAAAAAGH." I too love hitting him with cream pies, although shurikens usually are a little more effective.
The Creature: If you're going to reuse old sprites, this is how you should do it. Give him new attacks! The Creature is a pretty good fight, only made better by the dual-Creature battle in the Nest of Evil.
Mummy Man: They should've called him Akmodan. I mean, come oooooon. "Mummy" and "Mummy Man?" That's almost as bad as Order of Ecclesia's "Merman" and "Merman!" It's kind of nice how an enemy who was kind of a throwaway half-boss in Rondo becomes a halfway decent boss fight in Portrait of Ruin. Kind of funny how he's one of the toughest enemies in Sisters Mode, too, but he's overall kind of bland. Needed new attacks, Creature-style.
Medusa: This is a pretty good medusa fight. I'ma little bummed that the soldier statues are A: all upside-down and B: only in her room, because they could have been cool in context. The fight isn't bad, has some difficult aspects, and Medusa has new graphics. Certainly makes up for her underwhelming Symphony of the Night appearance.
Werewolf: I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Best. Werewolf. Ever. Coincidentally, the Dungeons & Dragons Miniature line made a Werewolf Lord mini that pretty much is this guy, including being the size of a house. But yeah, seeing this awesome guy made the return of ROndo werewolves in Order of Ecclesia so laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame.
Brauner: A pretty good fight. His only real flaw is that he stands still and lets you hit him a lot ("The painting of the SOUL!"), but the fight still forces you to think on your feet, DODGE, and use some strategy. Also: Wow, that dude can draw some freakish stuff. He must've been reading H. P. Lovecraft.
Balore: Same as in DoS.
Gergoth: Not as awesome as in DoS, but a little tougher because of the higher level.
Zephyr: Not memorable, either.
Aguni: He doesn't roar anymore!
Abaddon: Now that you've got a whip, there's a trick to neuter most of his attacks. Still a nicely TOUGH boss, though.
The Zombies Three: Tougher than in SotN, although not that bad. Still, nice to see them again.
Doppelganger: Can be cheesed into easiness. Please resist this temptation and fight it for real. You'll have fun.
Death&Dracula: Not bad, not bad at all. They found a way to make Dracula's teleportspam intimidating. Only thing I would have changed? I'd have forced the player to defeat them BOTH. The "beaten" baddie would stick around, but stop taking damage. The Demonic Megiddo "time out" instadeath move would only happen if you hadn't beaten one, of course.
Dracula Round 2: Awesome. It's a subtle reference to his final Bloodlines form (missing the mouthbelly, of course), and again: This guy hits hard, takes a lot of damage (unless you cheese him with Greatest Five), has a HUGE variety of attacks, and forces you to use both teammates in a couple of spots. It's a good fight.
So yeah, I like the bosses in this. Like in Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin mostly hit it out of the park with boss battles.
The Nest of Evil is fantastic. Of all the "Random arena" areas in Metroidvanias, it's the best. Circle of the Moon's arena was just annoying. Order of Ecclesia's Large Cavern was weak and tiny. The Nest of Evil is fun, has a huge variety, fills the place with new/reused/wtf enemies, and in more than a frew3 places forces you to use some strategy. Yay!
But ultimately, Portrait of Ruin is an easy game. The main reason for its lack of difficulty is pretty simple: Enemies are too slow.
In old-school platformer CVs, you were slow and unwieldy, and enemies had TIME to dick around before unleashing their attacks. Not so in Metroidvanias (Circle of the Moon excepted). Take the Dogether, for example. In fact, this could be named after him. The Dogether was never THAT tough, although if you didn't have the axe in Rondo, he could be kind of tricky. In Portrait of Ruin, it';s too easy to kill him before he casts a spell. If they had been smart, they would have had him tossing fireballs and stone circles all over the place as soon as he showed up. A lot of enemies fall into this same trap - Death Mask could be awesome if it weren't so easy to kill him before he did anything - and that's just too bad. Note how some enemies, like Vapula or the Zombie Dragon pretty much attack from the get-go, and are genuine problems until you level past them.
Also: Skeleton Bartender lol.
Anyway, one more thing: The Vampire Killer. If I had been in charge of this game, I would have made it much stronge,r but made it cost you health or MP when you used it. Make the "Don't use it too much" part of the game, not just the plot. As it STANDS, it's certainly not the "Strongest" weapon (beaten by Holy Claymore, Alucard Spear, and Golden Axe)... but it kind of is. See, the Vampire Killer's holy damage is a higher percentage of the whole, or rather it gets increased FAR more than other holy weapons. So, when against somebody who's weak to Holy, it does more damage than anything except the Golden Axe (Yeah, I know. Holy Claymore is kind of useless). And the Golden Axe is slooooooow and unwieldy. The best endgame weapons really are the Vampire Killer (for holy-weak enemies) and Alucard Spear (for other enemies). Yep. In Portrait of Ruin, the best weapons are the Vampire Killer and the Alucard Spear. That's kinda cool.
Okay, OOOOONE more thing: If you're a reasonably fast reader (i.e., me), then the music for the final battle is extra-awesome. There is a music sting TIMED to coincide with Death blocking Jonathan, if you're a reasonably fast reader. That's kinda cool!
Anyway, OVERALL?
Portrait of Ruin is not the best metroidvania, but it's hardly the worst. It doesn't deserve all the venomous hate it gets, especially when things like Harmony of Dreaking Dissonance are allowed to run free, playing in the fields. It's a fun game, it actually has a decent story (mostly because of its villain), and a good amount of the gameplay is fun. You know, fun. The reason we play these things. If a Castlevania game had the best story ever... but played like Castlevania Adventure 1, I wouldn't like it. This one manages to have a good story (a potential new Dark Lord) along with good gameplay. Now, if only the art were a little better...
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/forumstuff/porportrait04.png)
...Stop that!
-
tldr
but...... i do agree, it's not the worst ever.
-
I pretty much agree with this whole review/assessment. I never really understood why a vocal few hate on this game so much....or LoD....or LoS.
-
As before, a fantastic read. Though I disagree that it's better than Dawn of Sorrow as DoS was more like the second half of a full story, Portrait of Ruin does try.
Some things of note to add onto your stuff:
- The Sisters. I never saw them as being fully vampirised. As you can see, they only have one eye each that has turned blood red, and they eventually can be purged of the vampiric taint. This goes to an old theory of mine that the Belmont bloodline over the hundreds of years has eventually become so strong and so in-tuned against the vampire kindred, that they have a inbred resistance to infection. The battle between vampires and the Belmont's continues to even the cellular level, as usually the only way a vampire victim can be cured is by killing the vampire that bit them. PoR brings the concept that a sanctuary spell can do the same for someone who isn't completely tainted. This, honestly, is a fascinating concept and it's be awesome if it could be used more in the future.
-
This is nice, and I do agree that people shouldn't call this a bad game when there are things like Harmony of Dissonance running around (which I'm still trying to like more and not succeeding much at it).
But if you're arguing that 'a game is supposed to be fun', then why attack Judgment? The game IS pretty fun.
I also agree that it's not fun to have bullet hell enemies in Circle of the Moon.
-
Well yeah, you do like Judgment, and more power to you. It just never really clicked with me, and I kind of breathe fighting games. But that's probably just personal preference - a lot of mdoern 3D games aren't terribly much fun to me, but I won't, say, call Gears of War a "bad" game because I don't have much fun with it.
Although Judgment's art style makes me want to kick puppies.
And here's the thing with Harmony of Dissonance: Although I do have fun playing it, I only have fun playing through it. That temptation to just screw around that comes with Symphony of the Night or Aria/Dawn of Sorrow or Portrait of Ruin or Order of Ecclesia just... isn't there. There's no "random fun" factor in it. I mean, if you could level up to 99 reasonably, sdtat progression would be interesting (it becomes exponential startiny at 91), but that's it.
-
A criticism often levelled at PoR: "It doesn't have a story!"
is this just another made-up exaggeration of yours? i've never heard this complaint lobbied at Por; if anything, I've heard only praise for the concept of its story. any complaints pushed towards the story have always been about how absolutely miserable its execution was.
-
Great review Ridureyu! I very much agree with this. Keep up with these detailed reviews too.
-
is this just another made-up exaggeration of yours? i've never heard this complaint lobbied at Por; if anything, I've heard only praise for the concept of its story. any complaints pushed towards the story have always been about how absolutely miserable its execution was.
Well...
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) but yeah DoS is the worst of the bunch, it's just.. unnecessary, hollow and silly. Great gameplay though.
Im complaining about story/setting, not gameplay.
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.
And these were all from just one thread. Which wasn't even about Portrait of Ruin.
-
the first quote is about the execution of the story, which is legitimately horrid. i actually stated that above, if you had bothered to listen. the third complains that it doesn't have a whole lot to do with bloodlines: neither of these are specific criticisms of the storyline itself as its own thing.
instead of going out of your way, it would have been much easier if you had just admitted "yeah, its a made-up exaggeration using meaningless, limited anecdotal evidence".
ps.
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!"
the reuse argument doesn't really work within this context: the complaint isn't the reuse of graphics from within the same game - the complaint is the reuse of graphics from previous games. Every single one of Symphony's backgrounds are original, made by scratch for that game specifically.
further: the thing that elevates the upside down castle above the remixed concepts from portrait is its execution: the upside down castle had a different feel, a different flow; it was far more free than the original castle, and it being upside down altered the level design on a microscopic level. it showed just how smartly designed the right-side up castle was, by exploiting its nooks and crannies and revealing that this was planned from the start. The singular level design of the castle was designed on a dualistic level, meant to accommodate two totally different approaches.
Portrait... while the levels are technically totally different, the actual design therein is practically identical; the exact same concepts, the exact same flaccid series of rectangles and boxes. the differences in the levels for portrait of ruin are entirely superficial.
Order of Ecclesia: Monastery: So-so music, good visual design, decent map (one of the larger ones in this game), good boss.
...how is the boss good, exactly? it looks cool, but it fails on every level beyond that. likewise the "map" (level design). except the monastery doesn't look cool.
it actually has a decent story
in concept. its a shame that the execution is ass-terrible.
-
I was about to post a longer response, but then I looked back and realized you pretty much only post to troll me. "talk about pwned." Right. There's decently disagreeing, and there's... I guess you got offended on a personal level because of something I said?
Not gonna work :P
Although I have to say it: So, in essence, completely rearranging a layout is changing "less" than just flipping it?
The upside-down castle is just taking the original map and flipping it. That's. It.
Dark Academy is a complete change from Forest of Doom, and not just because it goes right-to-left instead of left-to-right (hey, something's flipped, too!). Different room layout,m no underground, different outdoor locations, different secrets, different atmospheric things, and completely different boss chamber. How exactly is lazily pressing "Flip horizontal" in MSPaint more creative?
-
I don't know man, it's not any stage that can be flip-turned upside-down and still be playable. That team had thought about that from the very beginning. There's no way that when you started playing the game the first time, you would think that you would be navigating the entire thing in reverse and that it would still work properly.
It does mean that team put a more dedicated deal of work into the design, and not only of one stage, but of the entire game.
-
Eh, not all of it works so well upside-down. Certainly not the Keep, and really not the clock tower. It really doesn't work with the caverns. Mainly it's just because everywhere had a flat ceiling to go with the flat floor. There were a few places where the reversal worked well, though, like the spikes in Olrox's quarters. But for the most part? You could flip any indoor area upside-down in Castlevania, and still play in it. As long as there's a ceiling, it'll be playable.
-
I was about to post a longer response, but then I looked back and realized you pretty much only post to troll me. "talk about pwned." Right. There's decently disagreeing, and there's... I guess you got offended on a personal level because of something I said?
...you actually think there was some kind of personal offense, there? no. i reply to things when i feel a compulsion to do so: generally, if i have something to say. this forum does little to interest or stimulate me anymore, and i'll be honest even you only tend to do so on a cursory level - hence, why i couldn't be bothered to post anything more than that before. you failed to admit your mistake and were called out on it.
trolling is a matter of deception - this is hardly deception. this is disagreement, discussion; criticism.
I don't know man, it's not any stage that can be flip-turned upside-down and still be playable.
this is what i was getting at. they put more work into designing that one castle than they did the entirety of Portrait of Ruin's level design.
Dark Academy is a complete change from Forest of Doom, and not just because it goes right-to-left instead of left-to-right (hey, something's flipped, too!). Different room layout,m no underground, different outdoor locations, different secrets, different atmospheric things, and completely different boss chamber.
again, these are completely superficial alterations. the level looks different (technically, so does the inverted castle), and its design is arranged differently, but the design was never interesting to begin with. no matter how different it is, it offers no difference in approach because the levels never elevate themselves beyond just big rectangles and squares. it doesn't matter if something is technically different, it matters how different it is, and what the quality of those differences are.
Certainly not the Keep, and really not the clock tower.
it certainly works, but for a different reason. it lacks the same sense of ease of flow the original castle did, because this one is trying to force you to actually use the abilities you've attained intelligently. in those cases, the level design was not designed for you; it was designed for itself, and you simply have to go through it. its intentionally challenging you with something difficult to navigate, on a conceptual level - which is more than i can say of anything we've had since, aside from some of OoE's more brilliant moments. in many ways, it is kind of the level design equivalent of Harmony's soundtrack - difficult to wrap your head around, but still brilliantly constructed.
-
If you flipped PoR's levels, they'd probably mostly play the same anyway.
-
How exactly is lazily pressing "Flip horizontal" in MSPaint more creative?
how is lazily repeating the exact same design ideas and layouts over and over again creative?
-
how is lazily repeating the exact same design ideas and layouts over and over again creative?
I dunno, it worked well in... Symphony of the Night!!!!
Seriously. "it's a totally different level, but with the same background tiles" versus "It's turned upside-down. Miraculously, the game still works." But since after I pointed out that those aren't all "the same levels," but you refuse to acknowledge this fact, then I guess this part of the conversation is at an end.
Actually, Order of Ecclesia's castle level would work pretty well if flipped upside-down, especially the clock tower with the way the spikes and magnes points are.
-
Seriously. "it's a totally different level, but with the same background tiles" versus "It's turned upside-down. Miraculously, the game still works."
I don't understand what point you're trying to make. are you trying to assert that the first is portrait, whereas the second is symphony, or are you trying to assert that they're both symphony? the first interpretation suffers from the fact that, within that context neither of the statements are true; the second interpretation suffers from the fact that it fundamentally misunderstands the obvious nature of Symphony's castle. It was designed with the inverted castle in mind from the very start - it wasn't just flipped because they couldn't think of anything else to do. This is obvious if you look at the design of the castle itself. that, and the second interpretation offers nothing in the form of a conclusion or observation.
ps:
you completely ignored my previous post, and with it, much of the context of what i was alluding to. here, i'll make it easy for you to understand.
previous post:
---------------------------------------------------------
I was about to post a longer response, but then I looked back and realized you pretty much only post to troll me. "talk about pwned." Right. There's decently disagreeing, and there's... I guess you got offended on a personal level because of something I said?
...you actually think there was some kind of personal offense, there? no. i reply to things when i feel a compulsion to do so: generally, if i have something to say. this forum does little to interest or stimulate me anymore, and i'll be honest even you only tend to do so on a cursory level - hence, why i couldn't be bothered to post anything more than that before. you failed to admit your mistake and were called out on it.
trolling is a matter of deception - this is hardly deception. this is disagreement, discussion; criticism.
I don't know man, it's not any stage that can be flip-turned upside-down and still be playable.
this is what i was getting at. they put more work into designing that one castle than they did the entirety of Portrait of Ruin's level design.
Dark Academy is a complete change from Forest of Doom, and not just because it goes right-to-left instead of left-to-right (hey, something's flipped, too!). Different room layout,m no underground, different outdoor locations, different secrets, different atmospheric things, and completely different boss chamber.
again, these are completely superficial alterations. the level looks different (technically, so does the inverted castle), and its design is arranged differently, but the design was never interesting to begin with. no matter how different it is, it offers no difference in approach because the levels never elevate themselves beyond just big rectangles and squares. it doesn't matter if something is technically different, it matters how different it is, and what the quality of those differences are.
Certainly not the Keep, and really not the clock tower.
it certainly works, but for a different reason. it lacks the same sense of ease of flow the original castle did, because this one is trying to force you to actually use the abilities you've attained intelligently. in those cases, the level design was not designed for you; it was designed for itself, and you simply have to go through it. its intentionally challenging you with something difficult to navigate, on a conceptual level - which is more than i can say of anything we've had since, aside from some of OoE's more brilliant moments. in many ways, it is kind of the level design equivalent of Harmony's soundtrack - difficult to wrap your head around, but still brilliantly constructed.
-
"Joachim" brings up some interesting points, specifically regarding the overall design. However...
this forum does little to interest or stimulate me anymore
Right, it does so little to interest you that you evade a long-term ban and log in from an alternate account to post, Giz.
Well, if it's so uninteresting, then be gone from it and do not return. I've been waiting for a reason to ban you again, and you just gave it to me. Good day.
-
(http://gyazo.com/76838e7d6f691602c03b0b782eca377b.png)
por left sotn right
-
P.S. I do love Symphony. But almost lal of its flaws come with the inverted castle, even though it IS fun. The thing is, there are really five (well, four) MetroidVanias that REALLY re-use stuff.
Symphony of the Night has the inverted castle. The game design is such that it's still okay, although there are some issues (most involving lack of plot and levelling imbalance)
Harmony of Dissonance has Castle B. In SOME rooms, the changes are awesome. In others, practically indistinguishable. it's easy to forget what's where.
Aria of Sorrow has the Abyss. The Abyss sucks in Aria of Sorrow, although at least it has good enemies. It's only a small place, though.
Portrait of Ruin has the last four paintings. Recycled graphic design, but (mostly) new maps. The circus area is just about the same, though.
Order of Ecclesia reuses MOST "stage" templates once. You have two forests, two mountain roads, two big houses, two mountain/cave paths, two underwater areas...
-
SotN needs moar horizontal mirroring.
-
Fun thing to do with the Duplicator:
Equip Meal Tickets on both hands. FOOD FOUNTAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-
Well...
And these were all from just one thread. Which wasn't even about Portrait of Ruin.
Hey!!! It's me!!! Yaaaay I'm famous1111
My main complaint was the lack of globetrotting that Bloodlines did a lot of. I did complain as well about the lack of utilization of the WWII setting, but yeah, story has never been Castlevania's strong suit, so it's not like PoR is unique here. (And boooy would that have caused localization problems in Europe.)
-
Yeah, it could've used fsome WWII bits. Thich brings up the question about those portraits. ARE you travelling around the world? The last portrait takes you to a physical location, not a made-up world inside the painting. Or is it a bit of both? I mean, City of Haze is very clearly Victorian London. And since this is Castlevania, they probably meant 1940s London. 13th Street is also probably London, although I'm almost willing to bet they thought it was "New York." Forest of Doom always struck me as Germany's Black Forest, the circus stages are war-torn France (likely), and Egypt is obvious.
Hm, a thought. Brauner really resembles Orlok from Nosferatu. Nosferatu was produced in the 1920s. Did Brauner become a vampire before then and influence the movie, or was it just happy coincidence?
-
I don't think they should've used the portrait idea at all. It just made the areas so detached. That was kinda a flaw in OoE too with the world map. There wasn't a cohesive bind between the areas, which I think is pretty important to a metrovania's level structure.
-
Well, I think Brauner was named for the WWII era painter Victor Brauner, who... looked more like Bela Lugosi Dracula anyway, last time I checked. Who knows.
One of the things I love about Castlevania are all these little bits of trivia that turn out to be bizarrely influenced by real-life trivia. If that makes sense.
This reminds me, I kinda wish some new Castlevania would use those film-reel holes on the sides of the screen for an introduction. I loved that touch in the first three.
-
That is totally awesome. So, Gille de Rais(how is that pronounced again? Jee-de-rye?), Elizabeth Bathory(Bartly. hehehe) and Victor Brauner walk into a bar...
-
You know you're taking these games too seriously when you start criticizing level geometry in such minute detail. Or maybe I'm just a lot simpler when it comes to what I enjoy in these games.....I'm usually too busy killing and jumping to worry about how fantastic/dull the shape of the rooms are. PoR, OoE, SotN....all very fun games, and all very solid additions to the Metroidvania legacy IMO. They all still take a back seat to SCIV, but I digress... ;D
-
I'm pretty sure "13th Street" is night-time London, but it does have a hint of New York, doesn't it?
BTW, the werewolf boss? Would it come from "An American Werewolf in London" perhaps?
-
You know, I totally forgot to post a picture.
http://www.tritex-games.co.uk/js/tinymce/plugins/imagemanager/files/products_minatures_dd/Werewolf_Lord.jpg (http://www.tritex-games.co.uk/js/tinymce/plugins/imagemanager/files/products_minatures_dd/Werewolf_Lord.jpg)
D&D Minis, Werewolf Lord, from the Unhallowed set, which released in March, 2007. I got Portrait of Ruin (and my DS) RIGHT BEFORE this set released, and fought the Werewolf boss RIGHT AFTER they previewed the Werewolf Lord. Scale-wise, a "human" mini makes it up to his knee or so.
-
You know you're taking these games too seriously when you start criticizing level geometry in such minute detail.
I guess, but at the same time there are some areas like the forest in OoE which are an inexcusable level of lazy. How about a platform? Or maybe two?
Which isn't to say I don't enjoy the Metroidvanias, but flat rooms and blatant copy-and-paste do sometimes ruin the mood, so to speak.
-
I don't mind the forest (and its copypasted swamp) in OoE per se... but they needed to be longer, or there needed to be more of them. And the non-forest levels needed to be a bit bigger, too. it's okay to have some little bridges between stages, but you just kind of need more space.
And anyway, Ruvas Forest gets surpriusingly awesome when you turn the difficulty up to Hard Mode and AUUUUGH THEY'RE GOING TO KILL ME HELP.
-
This was a great review and I do agree that PoR is a great game. I do admit that the story may have been a little weak, but in terms of gameplay, it's one of the best metroidvanias. Plus, that werewolf was EPIC. Why can't we have more like that? OoE was great too, but this tread isn't about it. I also like how the second set of portraits are similar yet very different from the first set. I agree with Rid that doing that is a lot more creative than simply flipping everything like in SotN. Not that I don't like SotN, I love it. It's just that PoR was a little more creative and challenging in certain spots. I also like how the unlocked Vampire Killer was the most useful weapon towards the end of the game. Plus, unlocking it is somewhat difficult.
Keep in mind that this is just my opinion.
-
I don't mind the forest (and its copypasted swamp) in OoE per se... but they needed to be longer, or there needed to be more of them. And the non-forest levels needed to be a bit bigger, too. it's okay to have some little bridges between stages, but you just kind of need more space.
And anyway, Ruvas Forest gets surpriusingly awesome when you turn the difficulty up to Hard Mode and AUUUUGH THEY'RE GOING TO KILL ME HELP.
Lols. Hard Mode did get hilarious when it felt like there were parades of enemies swarming your ass to the next screen. It's like IGA's polite way of saying, "What now, punk? The game too easy for you now? HUH?"
-
The three DS hard modes are amusing. Dawn of Sorrow isn't THAT much more difficult. Portrait of Ruin is significantly tougher than the main game (Enemy damage goes way up! 100+ from medusa heads!), and it's kind of like a minor warning about Order of Ecclesia, which just wrecks you. Sorta.
I, um, finally did Hard Mode Level 1, only to find that it wasn't as bad as I thought. of course, I wasn't starting fresh, so with all the HP/MP/HEart upgrades and gear, I was pretty much Level 30-something in ability. But NOW I have 255 mode up, so I can increase each attribute one by one while levelling!
-
Hard Mode Lv1 is not so bad... if you have Simon's old armor, the "Ancient Armor" which has you take a percentage-based damage, instead of a numerical.
-
Hard Mode Lv1 is not so bad... if you have Simon's old armor, the "Ancient Armor" which has you take a percentage-based damage, instead of a numerical.
yeah, it's a life saver and yet still challenging. 10 hits is all you get. If you can't get to a save room before that, it's nice knowing you. It really is a challenge.
-
I used Robe Decollete for the extra magic power, and for healing, two Emperor rings makes healing items AWESOME.
But yeah, now that I'm on Hard Mode, I can't do the "hold up with the fomors" trick to max my attributes. Where's a good place to grind for ice? Devils resist it way too much to use it in that room.
-
I think the only hard mode I liked was LoI's. The rest just felt like adding cheap difficulty for the most part.
i dont remember ooe's though oops
or hod or aos's for that matter
-
What I liked about OoE's hard mode were all the extra enemies and extra attacks or properties to preexisting enemies. It made it seem like hard mode is the "complete" mode more than anything else.
-
Beating the Dullhan (sp?) on hard mode starting fresh is just plain evil. I'm dead in two hits, and since I'm starting fresh, I have no items to help me out.
-
Hard Mode Lv1 is not so bad... if you have Simon's old armor, the "Ancient Armor" which has you take a percentage-based damage, instead of a numerical.
I would have liked an extra mode like the Axe Armor one in SotN where you start with the Ancient Armor on a Hard difficulty. Would've made it feel more like kicking it old-school.
-
loved the review dude! Can't wait for the others ;)
My dislike for PoR was simply these tid-bits: The WWII intro. It was not explored nor followed up in any real context. If this was a real WWII story then it would have Nazis out the wazoo. And they would be an integral part of the plot itself since Hitler is an obsessed fanatic when it comes to the occult. The Nazis themselves were a cult (Order of the Black Sun) before Hitler made them into a military force. The legend of Castlevania would be too irresistible a prize for the Reich to decline. IGA should've left the WWII intro out and instead had an intro giving us a brief summery about Brauner and his purpose.
Circle of the Moon - "Dracula's back again. A non-Belmont needs to punch his brother in the face."
I don't know if you know this but Nathan Graves is a Belmont by blood just like Reinhardt Schneider. Otherwise he wouldn't be able to defeat Dracula. That, and that he and Hugh Baldwin aren't brothers by blood.
As for the rest: I'm glad we got to use a whip-wielding Pseudo-Belmont once more as I was getting sick of all the non-traditional CV sword-play. I'd rather use whips man! 8)
-X
-
I agree with you. Great analysis BTW. :)
I liked PoR, but it isn't the best CV, though it is not the worst.
-
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.
--
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.
-
Well,if you mess around enough in the game, playground-style, you will hit a max level. Atthat point, you won't have the "I'm getting stronger!" incentive to play anymore, and it's just a matter of how fun that playground is.
-
I don't know. Even in the solid experience value Castlevanias like Portrait, hitting the limit seems like an occurrence born out of boredom more than anything. You can do absolutely anything you'd ever want to before even coming close. Maybe you just like numbers going up.
And in Symphony and Harmony, where diminishing returns are in effect, reaching the top tells of lunacy.
-
Yeah, it's utter lunacy in Symphony and Harmony. But then, SOTN lets you upgrade the blood sword and all...
...In Dawn of Sorrow, I hit 99 while maxing the souls. In POR, I noticed that I was getting somewhat near, and Nest of Evil still earned me a ton of EXP, so I equipped that experience-increasing ring and went to town on the Nest for a few rounds.
In Ecclesia, there's just something perversely fun about Nitesco doing over 300 damage a pop.
-
loved the review dude! Can't wait for the others ;)
My dislike for PoR was simply these tid-bits: The WWII intro. It was not explored nor followed up in any real context. If this was a real WWII story then it would have Nazis out the wazoo. And they would be an integral part of the plot itself since Hitler is an obsessed fanatic when it comes to the occult. The Nazis themselves were a cult (Order of the Black Sun) before Hitler made them into a military force. The legend of Castlevania would be too irresistible a prize for the Reich to decline. IGA should've left the WWII intro out and instead had an intro giving us a brief summery about Brauner and his purpose.
Hmmm....good point. Hitler was indeed heavily into the occult (the SS symbol were actually nordic runes if i remember correctly). Still, I really think Brauner is a great villain.
Still, I can see why they wouldn't want to put Hilter as your main enemy (sans Drac). Too weird.
-
Hmmm....good point. Hitler was indeed heavily into the occult (the SS symbol were actually nordic runes if i remember correctly). Still, I really think Brauner is a great villain.
Still, I can see why they wouldn't want to put Hilter as your main enemy (sans Drac). Too weird.
Yeah. As awesome as it would be to whip Hitler in the face, that plotline would A) make people bitch about comparisons with Bloodrayne, and B) make fans in Europe suffer with either an inferior port or no game at all.
Would've loved to fight Dr. Mengele with a wacky but obvious pseudonym, like they did with Bathory-Bartley and Corvinus-Cronqvist.
-
I'd just love some new enemy types and variations, period. Like the Flea Man - they're not so intimidating anymore. Rippers werea nice touch, but what about more?
Tommyknockers - like flea men, except they toss pickaxes in an arc, like the axe subweapon.
-
I'd just love some new enemy types and variations, period. Like the Flea Man - they're not so intimidating anymore. Rippers werea nice touch, but what about more?
Tommyknockers - like flea men, except they toss pickaxes in an arc, like the axe subweapon.
I loved Bloodlines' really stupid knights, like the one with wheels and the one with the 17-foot tall torso.
And the WWII plot was also a missed opportunity for the return of Motorcycle Skeletons.
-
And the WWII plot was also a missed opportunity for the return of Motorcycle Skeletons.
lol, I would've actually enjoyed seeing them in PoR, since they'd make sense.
-
Portrait of Ruin can't be the easiest Castlevania game to try and defend, so credit for appreciating its merits, Ridureyu. I voted it as worst Castlevania game in another thread here. I haven't played every game in the series admittedly, and I think now I was voting my series' least favourite/biggest disappointment rather than technically out-and-out the worst. Legends is pretty dire, actually. Vampire Killer and Haunted Castle at least evoke a bit of mood in my opinion; they weren't completely shite at time they were released. On your 'ONE LIFE!??!?' comment: see the Gradius series: games were tough back then (many non-mainstream still are).
As Joachim stated:
"Portrait... while the levels are technically totally different, the actual design therein is practically identical; the exact same concepts, the exact same flaccid series of rectangles and boxes. the differences in the levels for portrait of ruin are entirely superficial."
And that's the root of the problem. There's no illusion, there's no fantasy, nothing more behind. There's no immersion in the game. There's no atmosphere. It's dead. Soulless. The opposite of Castlevania IV and what I hold dear to the series. I suppose that's what makes it the worst for me in my eyes. Or I'm just getting too old. ;)
To add: PoR was just one Castleroid too many for me, the straw that broke the camel's back (I am getting too old). If I'd approached that game with a different outlook, or I'd missed Symphony or Aria of Sorrow (both of which are fantastic), I could have looked upon the game entirely differently. It is still one of the better games on the DS.
-
With the difficulty: There is such a thing as tooo muuuuch difficulty. Haunted Castle's one-life thing just takes that and beats you over the head with it. I mean, come on, I won't even complain about the old NES games, or Bloodlines' optical illusion rooms, or the other things that make people tear their hair out. haunted Castle would have been fine if you had a little more margin for error.
-
With the difficulty: There is such a thing as tooo muuuuch difficulty. Haunted Castle's one-life thing just takes that and beats you over the head with it. I mean, come on, I won't even complain about the old NES games, or Bloodlines' optical illusion rooms, or the other things that make people tear their hair out. haunted Castle would have been fine if you had a little more margin for error.
If i had played Haunted Castle as a kid, i first would've thought "this looks really cool", but then after dyeing once and having to put in another quarter I would've been like "funk dat!"
-
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.
This is a good point. The Reverse Castle being good was entirely accidental as I seem to recall IGA saying they wanted to put something else in but they ran out of time and that was what they came up with. I think it ruins the pacing of the game a bit, but at that point the Castleroid formula was new so they were just shooting from the hip. I would have liked it better if it had been more of a grotesque mirror image of the first castle like Castle B was in HoD. Once I realized what was going on with all that castle jumping ish in HoD, I appreciated it a lot more. It was kind of a Silent Hill-esque thing but in Castlevania.
That said, I've been saying for years that PoR is the best of the DS games for many of the reasons Rid eloquently wrote about. Granted, I wouldn't call any of the DS games masterpieces, but PoR stands above the other two imo. OoE would have been a great game if not for the shitty characters. I wish someone would do a hack of that game and make it possible to play as a Belmont.
-
The thing with the inverted castle's difficulty is that you can easily go in one of two directions from the start, so they curved the difficulty to scale itg "evenly" in both directions. The result is that half of the castle will be super-easy. Also, Death is a COMPLETE WUSS, so pretty much the only challenge you get in the INverted Castle is:
-At the VERY BEGINNING (till you fight Creature or Medusa. the inverted bosses are mostly easy)
-Beelzebub (unless you know the wing smash trick)
-Galamoth
Compare this to the refular castle, which has many, many more difficulty spots.
-
What spots or bosses were even difficult in the regular castle? Heh.
I-I honestly found the Inverted Castle areas to be a tad more difficult because of the more claustrophobic placements and more dangerous enemies in some of the areas. You know like the traps in Marble Gallery combined with the dense population of monsters. The Outer Wall with enemies that actually caused good damage, the Library with enemies from more directions, the Entrance with the Ourosburos etc.
-
Well, the early segments had some difficulty, the clock tower certainly hurt me a lot (I'm thinking in terms of a first playthrough, not one after you know what you're doing and know the exploits), the approach to and fight with Scylla had some rough spots, the succubus can be pretty nasty if you don't know the trick, the chapel can whittle your health down (though the boss is easy), the arena has some rough rooms (although again, the bosses aren't too bad), Olrox isn't an easy fight, and Legion/Granfalloon, if you don't cheese it to death, becomes quite vicious.
That said, the toughest part for me in Inverted Castle (not counting Galamoth) was the alchemy lab. The particular types of enemies are a little harder to dodge in the vertical segments, and Beelzebub is a pretty rough boss.
-
There's a trick to Succubus? I just remember slashing it and it died. One of the easier bosses in the game, iirc.
Though I do agree with the rest of your post. The first castle does have some difficult parts, but overall, I think the Inverted Castle is harder. Necromancy Laboratory is one thing, but Black Marble Gallery was kind of a wall for me at first. The combination of Nova Skeletons and the traps were deadly. Outer Wall was kind of annoying, too.
-
For the succubus, try tossing an Agunea into her.
SHE DED
-
To get this back on topic, I didn't think PoR was bad. It was average and wasn't very inspired, but I still play it and enjoy it each time. I just wish World War II was acknowledged beyond the prologue and a couple of items. I liked most of the music, and I don't think Jonathan is all that painful of a character to play as.
To be honest, I really don't dislike any title. : /
-
I don't really dislike Portrait either (I usually don't dislike things), but I think it's a big case of lost potential. There's just so much they could've done with everything the game has, but they just didn't. Things are so, so bare bones and uninspired that the whole game falls flat on its face. Even Yuzo Koshiro bombed, so I'm just left here wondering what exactly happened.
-
The gameplay was good, but I did have a little trouble with the story. The fact that a wielder of the whip couldn't use it to its full capability without out it draining their life made no sense to me. Also, the fact Jonathan had to unlock its power despite being a Belmont decendent. So, he wasn't a direct decendant. Big deal. So long as the person has a drop of Belmont blood running through their veins, they should be able to use the whip at full power without having to unlock it and without it draining their life. Plus, nothing is said about why the main branch of the family can't wield the whip. All that is said, is that they can't touch it until 1999. Why? It should have been explained in detail. All we really know is that it has something to do with Richter seeing how he was the last "true" Belmont to wield the whip.
I think that if the reason was explained in depth, the game may have been received better by fans. This is just my opinion though.
-
The gameplay was good, but I did have a little trouble with the story. The fact that a wielder of the whip couldn't use it to its full capability without out it draining their life made no sense to me. Also, the fact Jonathan had to unlock its power despite being a Belmont decendent. So, he wasn't a direct decendant. Big deal. So long as the person has a drop of Belmont blood running through their veins, they should be able to use the whip at full power without having to unlock it and without it draining their life. Plus, nothing is said about why the main branch of the family can't wield the whip. All that is said, is that they can't touch it until 1999. Why? It should have been explained in detail. All we really know is that it has something to do with Richter seeing how he was the last "true" Belmont to wield the whip.
I think that if the reason was explained in depth, the game may have been received better by fans. This is just my opinion though.
No argument here.
-X
-
Yeah, those probably would've helped it a bit, although it still would have gotten some "New Game Hate." But I think it has to do with the Belmont family name, not just bloodlines, when it comes to using the whip. Or some other rules-lawyering like that.
-
When i played PoR for the first time I really hated it. But when I played it again some years later I started hating it less. Some parts are good, some are bad, and unfortunately it's BAD most of the time. Because of that it's one of my least favorite metroidvanias, along with DoS and Harmony. If it wasn't for the Julius mode , i'll prolly hate Dos more than PoR.