Topic: Beat the game, so I'll give my little review. Spoilers all over.

[Kale]

I'm bored and I just finished writing a bull crap paper, so I'd like to write something I'd enjoy writing instead.

Story:

(click to show/hide)

The story was not spectacular. It has it's moments, and those moments were very well done. One of which is the death of Claudia. I wholly expected her to play a larger part, and that the "dream" was a foreshadowing, but it was not. It just happened, and I was quite surprised. The other part that I felt was very well done was the ending. Now, I've already been spoiled by various topics on here and Gamefaqs. So I was expecting it. But as I've said before (probably on gamefaqs and not here) that just being told someone happened doesn't mean anything and that the things that leads up to it is the real story. This definitely held true for the ending. So I knew Gabriel was going to be Dracula, but the way the game ended it was different than what I imagined. Gabriel was a Dracula who wanted to die rather than a Dracula who thirst for vengeance against God like how Castlevania usually portrays him.

Gameplay:
The combat is very well done. A good number of moves to stimulate possible combos. So I don't have many complaints with the combat in terms of movement and combat. The enemies also telegraph their attacks, but it was not so long winded and obvious enough to make it so easy. One thing to note though, jumping in combat felt useless. It provided almost no advantage, and usually the only good thing it's for is to avoid the numerous ground slam attacks.
I felt the double magic bar was bad though. I thought they could've simply put one bar and just had both draw from the same bar. I also felt most of the magic was kind of unneeded, as the best thing for combat was just turn it on and whip away.
Platforming was pretty lousy for the most part, in my opinion. Sometimes it was unclear where to go, which is rather odd considering you are really limited in what you can do. You can't jump back without something to jump back to. The same can be said about almost every component of platforming. Maybe I'm too spoiled by Assassin's Creed's platforming but this game's platforming just didn't do much for me
The bosses were good. I hated the Titan fights... or rather, I hated the first Titan fight. The climbing on him just felt like you're trying to stand on someone who has seizure. The second one was much more bearable. Although not spectacular, it didn't feel as boring. The final titan fight, however, was phenomenal, it was almost Shadow of the Colossus worthy. You had to find your way to the runes, and it was not too easy (at least for me). The reason for being forced to fall off was also warranted, rather than just being shaken off by a seizure.
The regular bosses were rather fun. However, the second lord was disappointing, as she was like simple boss that I expected so much more from due to the first Lord's battle. The final boss was very cool. It was like a mini puzzle in the battle, and it really required you to pay attention.

Presentations:
Graphics were great, almost everything impressed me. But again, the second lord didn't seem as up to par, but that is probably just me. The music were pretty good as well. The remixes of old songs were also great, especially the one in the music box.

Stuff that annoy:
Platforming - obviously because you're stuck to do what it requires you to do.
Controls - As mentioned about magic, they could've simplified it and made it easier. Also, it should let you customize the buttons, but it does not. this is one thing I have against all games though.
Camera - I hate fixed camera, so I am biased against it. But even so, sometimes the camera is just badly positioned.
Invisible walls - I found so many unnecessary invisible walls. One would be in the labyrinth entrance that is obvious for you to make it jump up back on, but after you fall down, you're stuck.

There are probably more things, but this is enough for now I think. Any commenst? or even better your own reviews?

[corneliab]

I agree with you on the Carmilla thing. It's kinda funny, it's almost like the developers were like, "Damn, this isn't as good as Cornell. Maybe we should just make a particularly insane finisher?"

The platforming didn't bug me as much- it mixed things up and I liked the sense of progression. It would be great if future installments had more of an emphasis on actual platforms though. I liked those bits in the Clock Tower and especially in the Necromancer's Abyss.

Have to completely disagree on the subject of magic, though. I thought it was an excellent little system that, when combined with the focus gauge, injected a pretty unique layer of choice and strategy into the combat. It was already simple enough- reducing it to one bar would've been a bad choice.

[Munchy]

It would be great if future installments had more of an emphasis on actual platforms though. I liked those bits in the Clock Tower and especially in the Necromancer's Abyss.

Yes!

[Kale]

Have to completely disagree on the subject of magic, though. I thought it was an excellent little system that, when combined with the focus gauge, injected a pretty unique layer of choice and strategy into the combat. It was already simple enough- reducing it to one bar would've been a bad choice.

As it is, it's simple.. true. But It's also 2 bars on opposite sides of the screen. Makes it kind of awkward to look at. I don't see the need to have 2 bars for magic, when one can simply have one that handles both. This way, there's even more of a trade off where you can choose to heal or do more damage rather than just having one bar for each.