Topic: Multiple versions of Bloodlines with extra development between

[Sinful]

You guys probably all know that there are a total of 4 versions of Bloodlines out there by now (3 region releases + Euro Beta), and at least between 3 of these you can see added development. Earliest version is the Euro Beta, then the Japanese version, and then the US version (not sure of any difference between final Euro and US version besides the cosmetic stuff?)

If you play these in that order you can see additional development as you go from one to the next, and it's great insight at how these games were refined balance wise across all 3 difficulty levels (well, sadly the beta seems to be missing the hardest difficulty level, so only has 2 that I know of so far).

The Castlevania Realm (http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/cvbl/game-castlevaniabl.htm) has a great start at listing the differences between 3 versions (remember that it incorrectly lists the final Euro with the Euro beta version). Anyways, to me it's always great fun to compare multiple versions of games, especially during multiple development timelines (Castlevania 3 falls into this too, since the US version was further tweaked as well).


So I don't know, you guys notice any more differences? From the beta I'll mention some, like;
- that last level has something like two rooms completely devoid of any enemies;
- level 2 has a stabbing Minator in the second section that can fall off to a lower ledge toward the left and nail you easily (hey may not fall off depending on your position, I think?);
- then the part with the 3 bosses on stage 2 has no crows after the first boss;
- the final upgrade item found in level one won't work if your not at full power (this may be the case with the spear hero in the Japanese version too?)
- the Konami code makes you invincibly to enemy damage/knockbacks (probably for testing) instead of the extra second loop difficulty (this sucks!)
- the small section before stage 3 final boss plays stage 4 music (go read here to find out why this it's like this http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=21890 Hint; has to do with that dropped level)
- them flying skeletons in stage 3 don't fly around you first, but instead just go for you (or something different? Haven't played this in awhile... the slower Euro playing speed ain't as fun, it's like I'm playing an SNES game (lol, couldn't resist... remember it's all in good fun... no wait! Feed me, I'm a monster. Mmm, let me lick your tears)... gots to figure out how to turn this off via an emulator setting?
- the spear hero guy sorta has an extra move, you can do that spear spin from up to forward and vice versa over and over/repeatedly. Or from diagonal forward to forward and vice versa and over and over (not sure about you being able to repeat it form the diagonal forward anymore? Try it out)

Well, this should get you guys fired up if you want to list more differences or to just check it out for yourself. Remember to try out all kinds of stuff, you never know?

[crisis]

the spear hero guy

lol really


his name is Wind

[C Belmont]

his name is Wind

Don't you mean Eric

[PFG9000]

I'm pretty sure it's Hector.  He had a spear.

[Sinful]

Don't you mean Eric

Eric! That's it.

I'm pretty bad with names sometimes or something related, then to lazy to quickly look it up... besides, I much more prefer the whip guy... er, is it John? ... Whatever, it's not important and I at least know he's from Texas, oddly? But that's not important either, at least he looks very man and muscular like, and hits whip like a body builder like Arnold who is fully control on stage of his body thanks to ultra manly ballet lessons... man, why did Arnold have to stop doing movies for so long. ... you know it's weird how moods switch around? After playing SotN way back then, then going on to CotM next, I was like "Oh no's. I gets to play with a crummy slow whip again?" But now it's like when I discovered the whip sword in Aria and was like "Yes, finally! The whip is back!!!"




And alright, stupid me figured out why the Fusion Genesis emulator wasn't playing in USA mode! It was because of that lame country auto detect mode I had a quick hunch would be the problem (just followed on this hunch right right now so I can add something more on topic ). So stay tuned, more differences to come!

I'm pretty sure it's Hector.  He had a spear.

Hector?! That can' be right, can it?

[knightmere]

Eric! That's it.

I'm pretty bad with names sometimes or something related, then to lazy to quickly look it up... besides, I much more prefer the whip guy... er, is it John? ... Whatever, it's not important and I at least know he's from Texas, oddly? But that's not important either, at least he looks very man and muscular like, and hits whip like a body builder like Arnold who is fully control on stage of his body thanks to ultra manly ballet lessons... man, why did Arnold have to stop doing movies for so long. ... you know it's weird how moods switch around? After playing SotN way back then, then going on to CotM next, I was like "Oh no's. I gets to play with a crummy slow whip again?" But now it's like when I discovered the whip sword in Aria and was like "Yes, finally! The whip is back!!!"




And alright, stupid me figured out why the Fusion Genesis emulator wasn't playing in USA mode! It was because of that lame country auto detect mode I had a quick hunch would be the problem (just followed on this hunch right right now so I can add something more on topic ). So stay tuned, more differences to come!

Hector?! That can' be right, can it?

Damn dude you try explaining the game to us and don't even know one of the protagonists names?

FOR SHAME!!!!

[Sinful]

I knew it, I'm just bad with names sometimes, since I just got into this game anyways as well... Though I finally found & bought Bloodlines soon after SotN came out (and played & beat SotN ASAP when it came out), I never gave Bloodlines chance back then until very recently now. So I just discovered what a beauty this game is just now during my Castlevania obsession explosion... Reason i never gave it a chance is because I though it was too hard!!!! (Thus i never made it past the 3 stage and stopped playing it almost immediately)

LOL, my first and last old school type game I played and beat was Super Castlevania 4 for SNES just before SotN came out (I bought that because EGM raved about it in their many Buyers Guides as it always was in their top 10 for SNES games). But even when I got SC4, I really didn't want to play it and couldn't see what the hell they seen in this game? Graphics looked pretty boring for me then during the end of the 16-Bit era. But eventually I found enough determination to press on through one day and I beat it that day too (I was impressed because I thought is was a true old school challenge )... As I was playing I was like "WHERE ARE THESE BEAUTIFULL GRAPHICS & AFFECTS?!" Then finally one level, level 4, showed me all them special effects everybody raved about... then nothing cool again until I seen the Treasury... That's when I said, OK, so this game is now cool then? ... But after I beat this game, I never played it again until now... and thought is was boring as hell. What made me think it was good? (Oh yeah, EGM brainwashed me ),... luckily I gave it more chances, and I now love it. ... But I love Bloodlines way more... and it's not because I'm a Genesis fan, otherwise I would of gave this game more of a chance back then and since. Instead I just new the SNES vania was the best and left it at that. What's wrong with that? ... funny, back then I thought Bloodlines didn't seem as good as the SNES version due to not whipping in every direction, lol, but now I hate that game's gameplay it the most since I prefer the more classic style now (hey, times and moods chance). And in my opinion now Bloodlines has the best 16-Bit evolution of Castlevania gameplay. Simple yet still very deep, Castlevania like, very fast, and thus feels very Arcade like. Which is why it's so awesome... plus the game is way more balanced for it's gameplay as a bonus.

[knightmere]

I agree with you I too prefer the gameplay of  Bloodlines over SCIV.  The game has a more classic feel and a better challenge level.  SCIV is too easy at times and does tend to bore me on replays after a few levels.  Its still a great game just not one that I like to replay often.  Bloodlines on the other hand always gives me a decent challenge and plus you get to choose from two very distinct characters which helps keep things fresh.

[Flame]

Bloodlines is a magnificent game. The music and look is just great. the Whip controls were also good. I liked how they incorporated multi directional whipping, but in a more limited manner so as to not make it so broken.

I loved the theme, which was traveling around Europe, and just everything. Actually, wasnt Bloodlines Michiru Yamane's first Castlevania game?

And yet on her first CV game she was already giving us epic tracks like the Palace of Versailles theme, Prayer of a Tragic Queen, or Iron Blue Intention for the Munitions Factory

Atlantis Shrine is also one of my favorite stages in any Castlevania game ever. I love that reflective water effect they pulled off with the Genesis.

if I had to criticize though, the Boss fight atop the Tower of Piza is a real headache with the platform swiveling around all the time. it LOOKS cool, but it's annoying.

Bloodlines i really just my favorite Classicvania.

If Aria is my favorite Metroidvania, then Bloodlines is my favorite Classicvania. yeah, that's about right.

[knightmere]

The only fault I have with bloodlines is some of the enemy designs come off looking kind of goofy, but everything is else gravy, especially the level design and the epic soundtrack.

[Sinful]

Just gonna mention a difference between the Japanese and US version of these games. It seem that every difficulty in the Japanese is a slight notch below the US one. And not that the US one just dropped the Easy difficulty and added a harder one, as each difficulty in the US is slightly harder then the Japanese ones.

Other then this I mention another difference in the second last paragraph (marked in bold letters)between the final and EUR beta version of the game.

Atlantis Shrine is also one of my favorite stages in any Castlevania game ever. I love that reflective water effect they pulled off with the Genesis.

It's one of my most favorites too.

if I had to criticize though, the Boss fight atop the Tower of Piza is a real headache with the platform swiveling around all the time. it LOOKS cool, but it's annoying.

I thought it seemed impossible to fight without damage at first. But after a few bouts with him, I fully figured out his pattern. But if I'm not patient enough, I'll take damage, and that pretty much happens all the time... except when I fight him for the second time. That's when I can do him no damage due to more patience and the fact that he only has half health... same with the other two repeat bosses.

The last pattern to figure out for me was his last one, because I tried to hit hm each time he landed. Except you shouldn't hit him when he's too close and/or when your pinched in the corner, as the level or something will drag you into him. But otherwise his last pattern is the easiest, big time. It's his first patterns that always keeps me on my toes, as I'm greedy to get in as many hits as possible.

The only fault I have with bloodlines is some of the enemy designs come off looking kind of goofy...

That's kind of hard to imagine for me as I find some of these designs to be the best. ie. them fish men type guys. They really improved them from the other games and beta screen shots too. But sure, I'll keep this in mind next time I play and see what I find?... Unless you mean how fast some of the animations animate? As this is one complaint I recall reading about. ie. the way the Hero animates like he's on speed, especially going up the stairs. But this was done to match his feet hitting the ground to the much faster pace of the game, and man, does it ever feel good to be blazing at a good enough speed through the levels and stairs (for the stairs I'm still not patient enough and jump a lot to speed things up even more... or does this even speed things up? But it feels good regardless... just don't try this in the beta as the hit detection is kind of off and you'll drop through the stairs at certain points)... oh, to solve this problem, play the slower EUR version of the game. Or turn the country setting during play to EUR (don't forget to turn auto detect off too, otherwise it'll override your actions to change country setting).


Him, not sure if  mentioned this, but one of my other fav things about this game is the game high speed. Makes this series more like an action game. Plus this game seems much more action orientated then platforming as the other Castlevania games? So yeah, just blazing through the levels kicking butt never felt so good in comparison to the other Castlevania game... my only complaint is that it's so good, I want more!!... This is why I picked Castlevania III as my fav, since it's replay & variety seems unmatched (and graphics, music, balanced controls, etc, are tops too)... but since I'm not very close to beating Castlevania III yet, I may yet still change my mind?