Topic: Circle Of The Moon

[NicholasDuffy]

A huge dissapointment to me. I like the other two GBA installments but this game was boring. The colors were dark and stale, and they pretty much used the Level 4 track in "Super Castlevania IV" for where Death is in COTM. It was hard at the end, but now it turned boring.

The fun modes were the Magician and the Fighter modes, but the other two seemed nearly immpossible, and the fact that in shooter mode your stats are so low, without the holy water, your hopeless on fighting Cerebus. It is also a good game in the storyline, but I dislike the fact that when using new characters they almost redone the richter/hugh possessed factor (though Hugh was just jealous), and even though each GBA title tries to emulate Symphony, I think that Harmony has done the best job. I like this game, but then hate it aswell..

[Mr Sven]

The Castlevania Dungeon disowns you for such slander.

[John Capricorn]

Nice opinion.

[NicholasDuffy]

To Mr. Sven ; I only gave my opinion on a game....
To John; Thanks.

I updated the review BTW

[Long John Silver]

and they pretty much used the Level 4 track in "Super Castlevania IV" for where Death is in COTM.

And that's bad why?

I mean, they constantly overuse beginning, vampire killer, bloody tears and dance of illusions in many of the recent games, but you had to pick on the track that was remixed for the first time instead of vampire killer or dance of illusions, both remixed countless times and in cotm inferior to their original versions.

[gamegrinder]

I do have to agree here.  I played Circle of the Moon after Harmony of Dissonance which is a superior game so I was kinda disappointed as well.  If I hadn't played either Harmony or Aria before Circle I would probably have a different view.

[A n t r a x x]

Circle of the Moon was better to me than HOD (mostly cause of soundtrack and level design).

BUt I was irked by COTM's controls. HOD definitely felt smoother, but it just wasn't as fun.

ALso, yeah, COTM can be too drab in some areas.

Nathan's also a lot cooler IMO than Juste.

[PFG9000]

For the last few years CotM has been too boring for me to play.  But lately I've been bored enough that Circle actually seemed like it could be fun!  And believe it or not, I've been having a pretty good time playing through it again.  It's been so long that I don't remember where most of the save rooms and secret areas are, so that's a little refreshing.  I still wish there was more original music...having all but one of the area themes being remakes is way, way over the top.

On the contrary, I've always liked Harmony a great deal more than Circle, but this last time I play through HoD (about a month ago), I actually had to force myself to finish it.  It was just...drab, boring.  Towards the end at least, where you have to trek back through the alternate version of the early parts of the castle(s).

[shelverton.]

I still wish there was more original music...having all but one of the area themes being remakes is way, way over the top.

I think both the Catacombs and the Chapel Tower have original music, though some argue that the Chapel Tower theme is a remix of Tragic Prince, which I absolutely do not agree with. A nod, yes. A remix? no.

Anyway, I kinda like the Machine Tower for its oldschoolness (with the moving platforms and all)

Other than that I have nothing to say about Circle of the Moon... It just hasn't aged particularly well IMO.

[Mooning Freddy]

CotM was much more arcade than HoD.

End of opinion.

[mistressalucard]

I recently won this on ebay, I am enjoying it so far.  It's a fun game, I've read before about it being dark. I don't think it is. It's gothic looking.  But I am playing on a DS, and I have heard that makes a difference from a GBA.

[PFG9000]

I think both the Catacombs and the Chapel Tower have original music

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

[Marto]

In Reply To #11

Yes, the GBA and the DS light have drastic lighting differences, and when playing even Harmony of the SP, it can seem much darker than it does on the DS.

I have never cared fir Circle of the Moon. I didn't care for the stages, which to me all looked rather... identical, but also because there was no real distinction between what was going on anywhere. Heck the thing used more grey pixels than Curse of Darkness, which alone in itself is...sad, to say the very least.

The card system was terrible. Very glitchy, you had no clue which monster you could get a card from, which monster you HAVE gotten a card from, or anything. Stiff, unpleasant controls. Yes, while it works for the old-school ones, in this one, which was more metroidvania, it just felt out of place, and bad. His sprite looked unpleasantly anorexic, and  that was something that many of the sprites suffered from. They felt like they were badly animated, and the music, as many have pointed out was nothing more than repetition of previous music, and certain tracks were overused.

At least Vampire Killer, Bloody Tears and Dance of Illusions were all extremely fun songs, and not rather okay compared to others.

Circle is the only Castlevania aside from Dawn of Sorrow that to me just lacked many things, despite having their own "charm"...at least in Dawn the charm was visible...

[NicholasDuffy]

And that's bad why?

I mean, they constantly overuse beginning, vampire killer, bloody tears and dance of illusions in many of the recent games, but you had to pick on the track that was remixed for the first time instead of vampire killer or dance of illusions, both remixed countless times and in cotm inferior to their original versions.

now you see, you made a perfect point, i liked it, but it seemed worse on the gba. the vk remix was terrible aswell as the others though.

[crisis]

I was excited when CotM was announced as one of GBA's launch titles, but now the game is very plain & boring. What was the deal about them trying to make the Hunter Whip akin to Vampire Killer? They should've added Hugh as a playable character, since Nathan was extremely boring to begin with.

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