Topic: Was Bloodlines always this difficult?!

[Alutwon]

I recently picked up bloodlines again because I realized I haven't played it in a few years. I went in not quite sure what to expect. I thought this game was supposed to be one of the easier classicvanias but I can barely get passed the second level...
I've beaten most of the classics save for legends and adventure and none of them proved this difficult. I think it has something to do with the speed with which John walks and some delay after he lands. He also jumps strangely too...

[Inccubus]

I remember it being pretty hard and the character animations often had a lot to do with it.
On a side note the animations for John & Eric are rather horrible. Especially the stair climbing ones.

[corneliab]

I thought this game was supposed to be one of the easier classicvanias

Whoa, no. I'm pretty sure the consensus has always been that it's a tough one. The limited continues also play a big part in that (Castlevania is not Contra dammit)...

[Thunderbrand]

Yea, Bloodlines is a good game but always very challenging (in my experience with it anyway). I remember being VERY happy when I finally beat the game---similar feeling I had when I finally beat CV1 LOL.

[Alutwon]

CV I isn't even this hard lol heck x68000 isn't this hard. I am most confuzzed....

[crisis]

Crisis never had a problem with Bloodlines... maybe StriderKumori should just quit!!!! :p


or use savestates but only noobs do that *looks around the forum*

[Ahasverus]

or use savestates but only noobs do that *looks around the forum*

Take your gaze out of me!! *shrugs in shame*
Bloodlines is not hard... it's frustrating as hell! That Death battle? It took me 12 years to see what happened next, and it was because an emulator, gameshark and savestates.
I still love that game though, it has a lot of personality and it has the "journey" feeling I love about CV that the saga lacked until Ecclesia.
Kinda frustrating that non-hard ending sucked...

[Dremn]

Limited continues was such a terrible idea, made the game 10 times more frustrating. Granted, Bloodlines is definitely a hard game. I always play as John Morris.

[PFG9000]

Bloodlines is kinda the black sheep of the classicvanias.  It's been made clear here in past threads that it's a highly appreciated game, but it still never gets much discussion or praise.  And I really need to play through it again; apart from the first two levels, I haven't played much of it since my first trek through about ten years ago.  I have fond memories of the Piza level, and I remember frustrating moments in the last level, but other than that I don't even remember much of the game.  That being said, I don't recall it being terribly difficult compared to other CVs, but the levels are pretty long.  I will make it a top priority for my oldschool game replays.

[ShinAkumaXX]

Ha funny, I had this same problem. While I never actually beat the game, I never thought it seemed that tough when I bought it and played about 6-7 years back. Well, like someone else said. Limited Continues!!!! This is what makes basically every genesis game I have played hard. It's also the reason I've never beat any of em. I bought Sonic's Ulitmate Genesis Collection but barely touched it. I've played very little Genesis stuff. I have so many games, I never take the time to master these. I grew up a on NES and SNES as a kid. You could always continue. It seemed brutal even being able to continue on some games. I guess I'll have to step up my skills!! In this day and age of being able to continue limitless times and basically right where you die, it's hard to go back and play titles like this. Bloodlines is the only reason I actually have a Genesis. SNES always seemed WWWWAAAYYY better. Still does. Maybe I will try and beat Bloodlines via emulation (so I can use Save States) While I've beaten the NES Vanias, I generally only play em now on my PC. I just don't have the patience to try and master old games like this anymore.

[knightmere]

Bloodlines is a good challenge but its not even close in difficulty to X68000, 1 or even 3.  If your having trouble getting through play as Eric, because the game is much easier with him.  He can attack in multiple directions and even use his pole vault to take short cuts through parts of some levels.  Bloodlines is an amazing game and one of my top 3 in the WHOLE series. Every Castlevania fan owes it to themself to play through this gem at least once.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I think that Haunted Castle, X68000, and (maybe) Castlevania Adventure Rebirth, in Classic Mode, on Hard (or higher) is tougher.
Bloodlines is cake in comparison.  Just play as Eric Lecarde and PoleVault your way through (he's invincible during this move).
It's a little tougher with John, but not even that much (he's invincible during whip-swinging).

[knightmere]

Oh i forgot about Haunted Castle.  Thats probably the hardest Castlevania ever made.  That game is so cheap it isn't even fair. I'd say Bloodlines normal mode is more challenging then Rebirths, but i haven't really compared each game's hard mode.

[X]

I've done Bloodlines on all modes before (without GG codes). It was tough but I eventually succeeded. But yeah, as hard as Bloodlines was, it's still a cake walk compared to Haunted Castle. But what I thought was interesting about Bloodlines was that dependinf on the difficulty you are playing at, there would be extra extentions in the stages, more half-bosses to fight and even the golom boss in the Atlantis shrine gets taller. Death's little cardgame changes too. In easy mode there are two things of meat. Normal mode only has one and in hard mode, there is none at all. It was a dissapointment that it wasn't made on the SNES, otherwise we could've gotten another SCV4-ish game out of it. And perhaps a more story-involved ending for the heros.

-X

[Inccubus]

Oh i forgot about Haunted Castle.  Thats probably the hardest Castlevania ever made.  That game is so cheap it isn't even fair. I'd say Bloodlines normal mode is more challenging then Rebirths, but i haven't really compared each game's hard mode.

Yeah. That was the Demon Castle's quarter munching monster form. I'm actually playing that thing right now in order to map out the stages for my ultimate CV1 8-bit remake. It would take some serious time & training to beat this thing without save states between stages. =P