Topic: Ds games Revisited

[darkwzrd4]

I'm pretty sure the male icon under my avatar should make it obvious what gender I am.

Personally id kind of like Soma becoming a monster/vampire hunter. I mean come on, how cool is that. The reincarnation of Dracula hunting down vampires? besides, its pretty obvious by now that no matter what Julius or Alucard do, they wont stop him from getting involved in that shit.

Sorry about that.  I forgot we have our gender icons under our avatars.  I do also like the idea of Soma becoming a monster/vampire hunter.  And, your right.  Somehow, Soma will always get dragged into these situations whether he wants to be involved or not.  It seems that in the CV universe, if you have supernatural powers, you will be dragged in regardless of what you want.  Julius, Yoko, and Alucard should have taken the time to train Soma after the events of AoS.  This way he learns to protect himself and they can keep a close eye on him at the same time.  Besides, Julius is getting old and won't be able to help out for much longer.  Plus, I like the irony.  He goes from being one of humanity's greatest (if not the greatest) enemies and reincarnates to be one of its greatest defenders.  It would be like a Belmont and Alucard in one person.  That could be really epic.

[K.G. Morder]

I agree about the poor plot in Castlevania. And I prefer DoS over AoS because it's basically AoS done right in terms of gameplay, even if the story "shits all over AoS". The story in AoS wasn't even that great to begin with so it all boils down to this: Which game is more fun to play? DoS, IMO. They're both fab, but DoS wins. Fatality.

AoS' gameplay had nothing wrong with it. In fact, I preferred most of it's souls. They just seemed better. <3 killer mantle

I DID find the succubus sol in DoS amusing, how it made soma take a bite out of an enemy in front of him, but it was hardly practical.

Also, the ability to only be able to get certain weapons by giving up unique irreplaceable boss souls, seems more like a downgrade to me.

DoS was fun, but felt more empty. it didnt have the same charm Aria had. At all. The music was also not as great, even though it was good in it's own right. And lets not forget that it nerfed Julius. I mean, im not xpecting him to be on the same broken level as Aria, but really, He just seemed so watered down. No omni Vanitas, no super jump, and his Holy Cross just didnt look as cool. Alucard got hit with he bat too.

Aria was the superior Sorrow game. In Atmosphere, writing/story, music, and I daresay gameplay. All Dawn really added was the weapon synth, and it involved trading off boss souls or grinding for one specific soul, which got boring really fast, since it could take a long ass time. It also switched around and changed certain soul abilities. Some for the worse. The seal system was also highly unnecessary, and Menace was a shitty final boss. He was only hard because of those godammned things he spews which take huge chunks of health out of you.

Aria also had a few continuity nods here and there, (Olrox's clothes, DRACULA'S Clothes, the Alucard save coffin in the save room background)
Even Yahtzee liked Aria, citing it as one of the "stallions" of the series, along with Symphony.

[thernz]

Yeah, leveling souls and weapon synthesis just made the grind aspect more apparent. The weapon synthesis also downplayed the exploration aspect of the game, and it showed in the level design. And by tuning down the exploration, they did nothing to replace that. The combat was pretty much like AoS, but slower. Sure, there were new weapon types and special attacks, but they didn't really add much depth if any at all. Any depth added to Castlevania came wtih OoE. AoS's level design was much more tighter too. DoS just felt amorphous at times, like with the Wizardry Lab and Garden of Madness.

[beingthehero]

I never did get the hate for the Wizardry Lab. It was one of my favorite areas in DoS.

[shelverton.]

But I still had more fun with DoS. So it's superior to me. Except maybe the soundtrack which was ten times better in Aria. And the story but that doesn't count since the story is barely tolerable in any Castlevania. Both games are great though. Aria is 8.5 out of 10, while Dawn is a 9.0. But that's just me (literally, it seems).

[K.G. Morder]

I would both hold them more or less at the same height since they are both great games, but id give Aria the 9.0, and Dawn the 8.5


I hear hour point on story, but I would stay Aria is one of the more "story important" games, since it's story is pretty crucial. (revolves around Dracula's ultimate demise and fate) And if a game is to have a story, it should be a good story. I think you can agree on that no? And since both have them, it has to be considered when judging.

Aria's story is much better written and thought out than Dawn's, which really just feels like a needless sequel to a game that would have probably worked best as a stand alone title.

Badly writtn, characters are cliche and shallow, and the overall air just seems almost... campy... (especially around Soma, who's character feels just plain off)

gameplay was like Aria, but the additions felt somewhat needless, and only served to make the grinding aspect of gathering souls more apparent than it should be. it also caused the level design to suffer a bit, since there was not as much exploration. the music was not as good, and some of the bosses were a bit lackluster. The final one in particular being shrouded in artificial difficulty (Menace was only ever difficult due to those OP things he spawns. DEATH was legit difficult)

I have to give credit though- Gergoth was a really cool boss battle, and Julius mode was just too much fun- the addition of Bloody tears and The beginning was great too. but otherwise, it just feels weaker as a game. not that its bad, just that it feels forced.

And I dont remember where I was going with this.

[crisis]

Dawn introduced great boss battles; Gergoth, Abaddon.. Menace should've took up both screens, t'would have been pretty epic right thernz?

What I loved about DoS was the little details, like seeing Soma's breath, jumping on cars, sitting in chairs. Seriously I wish Jonathan & Shanoa could sit in chairs too.

[thernz]

sure, if the boss was adequately designed around that increased playing field.

DoS was great with the small details it had, and it actually attempted to incorporate some pretty nifty secrets. I loved those secrets more than any of AoS's. Eh, I can't really remember AoS's anyway. DoS was more daring in some ways too. Gergoth being the biggest example. It also had those breakable walls that you needed specific souls with, and etc. They were okay ideas, but I didn't really care for them.

They probably only included chairs because of their intent to add Alucard, heh. And then they didn't even bother to let Julius or Yoko sit.

[knightmere]

AoS was much better than DoS in pretty much every category accept graphics and sound.  DoS was a good game but had too much forced grinding and some of lamest villains in Castlevania history.  AoS had a cool plot with a very interesting mystery vibe and Graham was way better than the 3 stooges.

[K.G. Morder]

One thing I loved about Dawn was the room in the guest house with all the female monsters in the same room.
Heh.

But then again, Aria had the Succubus and Lilith having a bath together.

[crisis]

With a fucking RUBBER DUCKY floating in the middle.


Seriously, how clever is that?

[K.G. Morder]

Very.

[Kingshango]

Let me go off topic for a bit:

Peolpe didn't like the Wizardry Lab!? That was my favorite area in the castle next to the Pinnacle plus it had a catchy tune to boot.

On topic:

DoS: I liked DoS but as everyone has pointed out already, the plot was not very good and the game was a little too easy (but then again so were all the Metroidvania's aside from COTM and OoE) but I did like the soundtrack and Julius mode was the best part of the game for me.

PoR: All I'll say about PoR is that the soundtrack was amazing and I did like the final battle, everything else was just....ehhhh alright *does the so so hand gesture*

OoE: Now this one I liked more than the other two, the music, the art style, the gameplay, the difficulty(im a bit of a masochist) and the story wasn't half bad, especially compaired to DoS and PoR.

Overall for me OoE>>>>DoS>>PoR

[K.G. Morder]

Julius Mode is really what saves DoS. Fighting Soma at the end is an awesome nod to the Promise made between Julius and Soma, and the battle is pretty cool.

I dont really like the wizardry lab music much, other than that its just meeeeh to me. Tower of Sinners or Condemned tower whatever its called, is my favorite area.

[KaZudra]

Personally, Demon Castle Pinacle is my favorite song in DoS, but I'm Still WORLDS dissapointed in the soundtrack since the fucking trailer had that shit with full Instruments and not the Midi.