Topic: Does HoD suck?

[X]

For me HoD sucks and yet it doesn't suck. The castle environments were definitely a few steps up from CotM however there were some distant backdrops beyond the backgrounds that felt cheap and rushed. Like the lava rivers to name one such backdrop.

Juste overall does not come off as unique to me. He very much resembles Alucard in Belmont form. From his white hair and tailcoat, to his pale skin complexion. That, and leaves behind a blue energy streak like Alucard does. I think much more thought could have gone into him rather then virtually cloning Alucard's design.

His whip was a tad too short. Kinda reminds me of Sonia's whip. Why are they a tad too short? The vampirekiller isn't a short whip, it's got range and it's very deadly when it hits something. At least CotM had range.

The magic system was far more limited then CotM's DSS system. So much so that, to be honest, I've never even used it. I got more enjoyment out of LoI's magic system and it's almost the same concept with regards to the sub-weapons. And in LoI you are almost forced to use it if you want to survive certain fights. An example would be against the Forgotten One.

The Music...sadly due to the limited space on the cart at that time it had to take the big hit. Is the music in HoD better then CotM? Personally I'd have to give this a definite no. Sure CotM has reused tracks but at least they are decent and even catchy which helps to keep one engaged in the game. For some reason HoD's tracks almost make me feel board and that has absolutely nothing to do with their quality either. I don't have a problem with chip tunes so long as they're engaging and catchy. HoD just didn't do it for me. The better attempt was done in AoS and that game could afford better music quality.

The sounds were good. No question about that. Although I think that was one of the reasons why the music quality had to take a backseat. There were also some brief voice clips that also took away from the music being better then it was.

The animations for the characters (Boss armors mainly) were animated like they were in SotN and I also feel this lead to the lack in music quality. Sprite Vectoring would suck up a lot of memory if I'm not mistaken. Juste's animations, sadly, were not as smooth, nor done well as they could have been. He looked awkward to me. Nathan's animations in CotM (though more limited) were better executed and flowed more naturally.

The story here is nothing new. It's the old cliche love tale of two friends rescuing someone very dear to them. Although given my severe dislike for love triangles, this story isn't nearly as bad as most others (Judgement's being the worst for reasons I've stated in the past). The way it is done is more along the lines of good friends rescuing a very dear friend and we don't see the love triangle BS overtaking or overshadowing everything else. So IMO the story is passable for me. It's nothing new or groundbreaking but it works for what it is. Although I think almost everyone knows who Lydie eventually shacks up with and it's not Maxim. Sorry Maxim fans 

The Mirrored castle was a bit of an odd duck. It's like the inverted castle but is not flipped on its head. This felt really tedious having to go through the same castle a second time. They didn't even give it it's own music to make it stand out. At least SotN's inverted castle was something that was just a little different so It kept me engaged enough.

Over all HoD is passable for me but it doesn't beat CotM with really anything new. AoS was much better at this and is, by far, more closer to SotN quality on a handheld.

[DarkPrinceAlucard]

It's definitely my least favorite out of the 3 castlevania games on the gba and thats mostly due to it having terrible music quality.

Other than that the game is great for me, although I wish it was possible to collect and use swords/spears/clubs etc as weapons in the game like Portrait of Ruin did but still keep the main focus and most powerful weapon as the vampire killer.

[Aceearly1993]

Btw, has anyone played the hacks for the Japanese version? They let you play as Simon, Mario, Megaman, and an evil sword weilding Juste in single player and it looks WICKED awesome!

The hack/mod just rocks my soul. I'll never forget such a great hack, called Castlevania Revenge On The Findesiecle.
Heard about that the hack is still in update progress and my soul is filled with hope and light

[X]

I played that hack a long time ago and it was very, very buggy. However it was an awesome attempt to add in more characters for you to play. Unfortunately due to the nature of said characters I could progress very far into the castle. Hopefully they will fix that.

[Crying Freeman]

I played that hack a long time ago and it was very, very buggy. However it was an awesome attempt to add in more characters for you to play. Unfortunately due to the nature of said characters I could progress very far into the castle. Hopefully they will fix that.

Makes sense it'd be buggy, its an ambitious project. Plus, like you mentioned, some characters cant progress due to jump hight or speed.

[JR]

HoD is weeeeeeeeird. I don't necessarily think it's great or horrible, just...weird. That's the best way I can describe it. The whole game just feels off to me, but in an interesting way. It just has this experimental feel to it.

[zangetsu468]

HoD is weeeeeeeeird. I don't necessarily think it's great or horrible, just...weird. That's the best way I can describe it. The whole game just feels off to me, but in an interesting way. It just has this experimental feel to it.

I think your description hit the nail on the head. I believe the incarnation of CV is also the most abstract. Something about the Castle is really eerie to me.

[eryson]

Well, to me, HoD is a great game, Because the musics, Graphics and scenario give it a Strong identity.
Ive saw a lot of people complaining about the music, because its 8-bit-like, the weird story, etc. To me, it make the game very original, Its one of my favorites and i love it.

[theplottwist]

The only thing that really bugs me about this game is that, apparently, IGA sat with his team and said "What... What if Alucard had only a whip and could dash forward??"

And people complain about the inverted castle not being creative, but Castle B is the epitome of lazyness.

I like the rest in varying degrees. The music is 8-bit, but I love my chiptunes, and this game's chiptunes are very well composed. The color choices bug me a bit, I much prefer Aria's palette, but I can live with them.

I like the enemy choices too, but I dislike how they lack a proper background info.

Dunno... I feel like this game is a "What if SotN were made by someone less experienced in making games?" somewhat.

[Crying Freeman]

The only thing that really bugs me about this game is that, apparently, IGA sat with his team and said "What... What if Alucard had only a whip and could dash forward??"

And people complain about the inverted castle not being creative, but Castle B is the epitome of lazyness.

I like the rest in varying degrees. The music is 8-bit, but I love my chiptunes, and this game's chiptunes are very well composed. The color choices bug me a bit, I much prefer Aria's palette, but I can live with them.

I like the enemy choices too, but I dislike how they lack a proper background info.

Dunno... I feel like this game is a "What if SotN were made by someone less experienced in making games?" somewhat.

Castle B is crap. The Castle in SOTN was at least designed in a way that made playing the map upside down playable. CASTLE b is literally copy paste. Obviously not THAT easy in development, but pretty much.

[zangetsu468]

The only thing that really bugs me about this game is that, apparently, IGA sat with his team and said "What... What if Alucard had only a whip and could dash forward??"

Funny that they still made him a Belmont.
I think it's ironic fans bitch about SOTN's inverted castle when Castle B is a hell of a lot lazier in design.

I think HoD was actually an experimental game for LOI.
If you look at the story about Maxim being possessed by Dracula's remains, luring Lydie into the Castle, Juste following suit etc as well as Maxim and Juste compared with Mathias and Leon (even simply at an artwork level) I think 'experiment' is the correct term.

Also Juste = Alucard with a whip... Because Leon + Belnades blood

[Aceearly1993]

I think HoD was actually an experimental game for LOI.

Yeah I've heard a rumor that HoD was originally planned to be a PS2 game though the info source is not very clear

[zangetsu468]

Yeah I've heard a rumor that HoD was originally planned to be a PS2 game though the info source is not very clear

I'll bite, who/ what was the source?

Very interesting indeed.

[PFG9000]

I've heard that too, and I want to say it came from an interview, but I really don't feel like searching through dozens of interviews to find it, so I'm not going to say that (but I just did!).

[zangetsu468]

I imagine if HOD was a Consolevania (yes, I went there ;P) the Castle A/B scenario would've been similar to Soul Reaver: Legacy of Kain, which had two alternate dimensions from memory.

Personally since consolevania's seemed to need to be 3d I'm relieved HoD was for the GBA.