Topic: Missed out on SOTN. What's the best Metroidvania that can substitute?

[Gunlord]

Let's not make fun of brain damage, but yeah, Flame, this is getting a little weird. RegalSin, me and the other mods offered our help if you're not a native English speaker, but your posts are so hard to read they're getting a little annoying. This is your second warning; we may take action if you make no effort to try and be more understandable.

[derision]

Aria of Sorrow is basically a successor to SotN, so I would recommend that. DoS follows a similar template, but there's some weirdness involving weapon acquisition that may not be everyone's cup of tea. Getting all of the weapons in that game, most of which were useless little stepping stones, was incredibly tedious.

[Gunlord]

Yeah, I didn't like the weapon system of DoS either, especially since not that many of them were unique or useful, aside from the final ones. I really liked the soul system, though, and thought it an improvement over AoS's. I liked how you could level up souls by getting more of them, though "releasing" souls did absolutely nothing. T_T

[Flame]

DoS felt way too grindy. Instead of making a Soul one way, it started weak and you needed to level it up. Its an interesting concept in theory, but the fact that you had to grind for more souls and shit made it too tedious. And yeah, that weapons thing was bullshit.

[Ahasverus]

In retrospective the only good thng out of DoS was Julius mode. The game itself is nothing to write home about and certainly not a worthy sequel of AoS.

If you're going to replace SOTN (I'll advice you not to) try Ecclesia. And only Ecclesia. maybe Aria. After Ecclesia.

You are correct, "the closest as far as content and resemblance to SOTN" is exactly what I'm looking for.

Then play Harmony of Dissonance, it's a SOTN super clone.

[derision]

If you're going to replace SOTN (I'll advice you not to) try Ecclesia. And only Ecclesia. maybe Aria. After Ecclesia.

Ecclesia is a sizable-enough departure from the SotN style, though. I like it, but I wouldn't recommend it as a "replacement".

Then play Harmony of Dissonance, it's a SOTN super clone.

Holy crap, no. I like Symphony, but there is no way I would recommend HoD to someone looking for more of the same. Harmony does ape visual elements from SotN as well as the whole "alternate castle" thing (although it does it much worse), but the game is hardly a clone. The weapon system is gutted, Juste handles very differently, the alternate castle is way too samey (on account largely just being reskinned instead of inverted), and the music quality just doesn't compare. It's like they looked at CotM and thought "let's make this like Symphony", while fumbling throughout.

[Ahasverus]

Ecclesia is a sizable-enough departure from the SotN style, though. I like it, but I wouldn't recommend it as a "replacement".

But it's the only one that is fine balanced. Aria was kinda short and predictable. Ecclesia is long, beautiful, and has the twist. It would be a comparable experience while not being a similar game experience.

And yeah, harmony isn't the super masterpiece, but he said the closest to sotn and hod is probably the most faithful clone. NOt the best experience for sure.

[Flame]

In retrospective the only good thng out of DoS was Julius mode. The game itself is nothing to write home about and certainly not a worthy sequel of AoS.

Even DoS Julius mode is a hack job. The spritework is terrible- youve got Alucard squeezed right outta SotN into the DS, and Julius with a solid black outline. Also, the mode is unbalanced as shit. Julius is nerfed from Aria, his Grand Cross being kind of weak, Alucard is almost worse than his CV3 incarnation, and Yoko... first she's animated very weirdly- second- she uses up way too much magic to be useful at all.

And by the time you are halfway through, everything suddenly becomes retardedly difficult because it's designed for Soma without any balancing factor for Julius and Co.

Also, Soma is a disappointingly shit Dracula fight.

[KaZudra]

Just play SoTN, any other substitute feels like a cheap knock-off... mostly because most were made like cheap knock-offs...

[Flame]

Just play SoTN, any other substitute feels like a cheap knock-off... mostly because most were made like cheap knock-offs...

Except Aria. Aria was the sequel SotN deserved.

[Shiroi Koumori]

The first thing that came into my mind was: How could someone miss out in Symphony?
But anyway, as mentioned by the rest of the gang, it is readily available on a lot of platforms.

As for your question, I would highly recommend Aria of Sorrow, although it is short and sweet compared to the massive size of Symphony.

[KaZudra]

Except Aria. Aria was the sequel SotN deserved.

I completely agree with that one

[beingthehero]

HoD was made by the same team behind SotN. Seriously, check the credits.

I mean I like HoD, but I wouldn't recommend it to a person starting out or anything. The deal with the Castle wasn't to be like the inverted castle (PoR toes that line far more closely), but to be more like Silent Hill. You have an evil world and an even more evil world, and what you do in Castle A (like smash a breakable wall in the Skeleton Cave A) will open a solid wall in Skeleton Cave B. Plus some areas like aforementioned Skeleton Cave will have different layouts. And box puzzles (hgngnghg). But constantly running back and forth will confuse a lot of less committed people and it's certainly the most divisive of all the Metroidvanias, CotM was far more accessible.

But yeah, I'd still Dawn of Sorrow would be the best bet if you're looking for the SotN experience. The castle is gigantic, the difficulty is juuuust right, the boss battles are very memorable and superior to the ones in SotN (topped by OoE and ReBirth, though), and the graphics still hold up very well 10 years later. The soul system is kind of wonky as Flame already explained, but I found that a lot of souls are effective enough as it is without upgrading them. The weapon system does stink, though, it was done much much much better in Curse of Darkness.

The music is also good but ironically I found that Masahiko Kimura's contributions were actually superior to Yamane's part of the soundtrack.

[Intersection]

Even DoS Julius mode is a hack job. The spritework is terrible- youve got Alucard squeezed right outta SotN into the DS, and Julius with a solid black outline. Also, the mode is unbalanced as shit. Julius is nerfed from Aria, his Grand Cross being kind of weak, Alucard is almost worse than his CV3 incarnation, and Yoko... first she's animated very weirdly- second- she uses up way too much magic to be useful at all.

And by the time you are halfway through, everything suddenly becomes retardedly difficult because it's designed for Soma without any balancing factor for Julius and Co.

Also, Soma is a disappointingly shit Dracula fight.

Eh, why complain? It was the only part of DoS that was actually difficult. 

But yeah. Everything about DoS Julius was off. The speed, the strength, the abilities, the sprite, the character design -- damn it, they even took away his theme. Thank god that one came back in CVHD.

[beingthehero]

You dawgs are crazy. They had to balance him to accomodate Yoko and Alucard. If he was the same as he was in AoS, he'd be too overpowered. He's still the most versatile and powerful of the three, even though Alucard was faster and more agile.

But yeah he looked leagues better in AoS.