Topic: Circle of the Moon thoughts

[Mr Sven]

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.

[uzo]

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.

[Mr Sven]

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.

[Blue Cheese]

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.

[E. Alexer Belmont]

Yeah, now CotM is shit

ROFLMAO

[Mr Sven]

In Reply To #19

Don't forget to mention the art style doesnt look like something out of Beyblade

[le052383]

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).

[John Capricorn]

In Reply To #20

CotM > j00

[Mobius]

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.

[paletteswapmonster]

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

[sonicabid]

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.

[paletteswapmonster]

HoD(garbage)

:

[Giz]

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.

[A n t r a x x]

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.

[Giz]

It had some presentation issues but nothing like the unprofessional crap that sullied HoD

And what was that, I may ask?