I like it better than SOTN.  But then I liked Dawn, CV3 and DXC's Rondo better than that game too. Nothing will ever take CV3's place as my favorite, but I'll admit: this is now my second favorite game in the series.
I care what no person says: I like the story. No happy go lucky, cliche` ending or lame *** protagonist that make you want to punch him or her in the face. Yeah, Barlowe being evil was seen coming hell, before E3.  

 But the way it was done was nice.  I like that Shanoa didn't end up being related to anyone and her lost memories held more importance than just "And oh yeah: She's a Belmont.  Or distant relative. Or whatever.", the town of Belmonts was o_0 but okay, and the entire thing with Albus pretty much speaks for itself.  Dracula 'hits' on the protagonist, Barlowe is ****** up, and Shanoa's smile while she smiled at the end? I'll admit, the ending made me kinda...soften up there...
:cough:
Anywho, the music rocks, the graphics are awesome, I am in LOVE with the castle parts of the game, some of the villager dialog was funny, and honestly, I haven't liked bosses this much in a CV for a while.  Blackmore is like my favorite boss now...that isn't Death. Or Dracula. The difficulty wasn't even nearly as bad as it was made out to be either: certainly more of challenge but I actually had more fun figuring out ways to beat the **** out of things in the game.
Heck, even the quests were decent in this game, considering more than a few of them were worth bothering to do. (Like all of Abram's.) The VA's were good, kinda makes me wish all of the conversations were voiced though.  There's my nitpick about the game.
Sure, a few stages were rehashed but it wasn't bad enough for me to honestly complain about.  And all the fighting game references in it are only a plus. And someone on IGA's team apparently likes King of Fighters, which is always, a plus.