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Bloodstained: The Dracula-Style Monster Castle Game
Some months ago I cleared Nightmare difficulty on NG+ as a sort of victory lap. Inside the final boss chamber, my pause menu said I had 100.00% map completion, but back in the main menu load screen, it says it's back down to 99.80%, with the Clear indicator. Finished it again today just to check (and to assess whether I want to pick it up on a non-Switch platform so it'll be prettier), and it's still happening.
Well, I know I did it, anyway. And that got all the boss medals a second time.
I guess one of these days I should actually try randomizer mode out.
Well, I know I did it, anyway. And that got all the boss medals a second time.
I guess one of these days I should actually try randomizer mode out.
It can be pretty fun but you might want to wait for the upcoming release since it has fix(es?) for issues that can occur in that mode.
Tomm Guycot
(he/him)
This would be called a "Classic Vania"
Octo: "Oh, like Curse of the Moon."
Tomm, Jeremy Parish: "No, CotM does not feel like an authentic Classic-vania."
also look carefully at aforementioned Road Map
jpfriction
(He, Him)
Maybe he’s saying specifically Castlevania 1? IE, one character, no upgrades?
I too am extremely curious by what metric Curse would not be considered Classicvania. Because I feel like the only way you can come to that conclusion is having a definition of Classicvania that excludes the likes of Super 4, Rondo, Bloodlines, and even 3. And if that's your definition of a Classicvania and the intent of Ritual's Classic mode, that's cool. I just think that's likely a minority opinion among people who use the term Classicvania, and some confusion may result without clarification, as seen in this thread.
Furthermore, in episode 4 you pick your level, completing stages gives you access to new abilities, and you can use those abilities to find upgrades by revisiting levels.
R.R. Bigman
Coolest Guy
Now that Michiru Yamane has gone full bat familiar crazy, I feel confident saying that Ritual of the Night’s soundtrack was bad and I can only remember about three songs from the game a year after last playing.
Wrote a response to Yamane here - https://lvls.wordpress.com/2020/11/11/site-news-regarding-michiru-yamane/
Really disappointed. Luckily, one thing I've learned over the past couple years is to keep your heroes local, so this doesn't sting as bad as it could.
I do think Ritual has a pretty good but not absolutely exceptional soundtrack, and my favorite song from it was not one of Yamane's, so it works out for me at least.
Really disappointed. Luckily, one thing I've learned over the past couple years is to keep your heroes local, so this doesn't sting as bad as it could.
I do think Ritual has a pretty good but not absolutely exceptional soundtrack, and my favorite song from it was not one of Yamane's, so it works out for me at least.
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Fuck, that's rough about Yamane. I've been playing Bloodlines with my son and he has memorized all the music in that game, it's so good. 
Well, I think I'll probably do like Wildcat and stop paying attention to her new stuff from here on out. It's a real drag, and personally I liked her work on Ritual. Any word on whether she'll continue working on the Bloodstained series?
I'm interested in the updates to the randomizer mode, but is there anything beyond "it won't be broken" (admittedly, very important)? Don't want to sound ungrateful, it's a very cool mode and I'd love to see it get developed further. But since they're still adding stuff to Ritual elsewhere, I'll understand if it isn't the highest priority right now.
ETA: OK, I looked it up and it seems like the focus is on bug fixes for randomizer. Well, still hoping that we haven't seen the last update for that mode! I think there's still a lot of cool stuff that could be done with it.
Well, I think I'll probably do like Wildcat and stop paying attention to her new stuff from here on out. It's a real drag, and personally I liked her work on Ritual. Any word on whether she'll continue working on the Bloodstained series?I'm interested in the updates to the randomizer mode, but is there anything beyond "it won't be broken" (admittedly, very important)? Don't want to sound ungrateful, it's a very cool mode and I'd love to see it get developed further. But since they're still adding stuff to Ritual elsewhere, I'll understand if it isn't the highest priority right now.
ETA: OK, I looked it up and it seems like the focus is on bug fixes for randomizer. Well, still hoping that we haven't seen the last update for that mode! I think there's still a lot of cool stuff that could be done with it.
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Tomm Guycot
(he/him)
Ritual's base code is extremely uh... temperamental. You might have noticed. But keep sharing your feedback with 505.
Mega Zan.
Tomm Guycot
(he/him)
Goggle and Torzel have the heart of it.
Inti made a fun game that gives you the fuzzies. I am hoping to rip the soul out of your body and transport it back in time.
There is nothing wrong with Mega Zan, but when waiters ask if Pepsivania is okay, I say no.
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Tomm Guycot
(he/him)
I am just guessing here, but dem Moon games really do feel like Mega Man games, with a myriad of attack options, and skills/powers/people that simultaneously solve puzzles and beat back bad guys. Also: you can control your jump like a champ. All the hallmarks of the Mega Man X series are featured there, complete with random life powerups hidden about.
That ain't classic Castlevania, though. Classic Castlevania is being tossed into a pit because your damn Belmont couldn't be arsed to get out of the way of a floating, severed head. It's dying in four hits, and knowing your only recourse is the one piece of meat hidden in one wall in this one specific place. It's climbing a long way to a "Dracula" that has a very predictable pattern, and you'd be able to beat this, but you're out of hearts right now, and that dagger isn't helping anymore. What I'm saying is that Castlevania is pretty damn hard and unforgiving, while Moon gives you four life bars worth of dudes and ladies to take down one lousy giant sarcophagus.
.... Just guessing here.
That ain't classic Castlevania, though. Classic Castlevania is being tossed into a pit because your damn Belmont couldn't be arsed to get out of the way of a floating, severed head. It's dying in four hits, and knowing your only recourse is the one piece of meat hidden in one wall in this one specific place. It's climbing a long way to a "Dracula" that has a very predictable pattern, and you'd be able to beat this, but you're out of hearts right now, and that dagger isn't helping anymore. What I'm saying is that Castlevania is pretty damn hard and unforgiving, while Moon gives you four life bars worth of dudes and ladies to take down one lousy giant sarcophagus.
.... Just guessing here.
Yeah, I gotta say when I first tried Curse of the Moon some months ago, I was expecting more of a Classicvania and got... something... else... more like a Mega Man or Ninja Gaiden in feel. Even the most directly comparable Castlevania (3) isn't really the same feeling.
Needless to say I am very intrigued by Tomm's Classic Mode!
Needless to say I am very intrigued by Tomm's Classic Mode!
I only ran through the game once, and I left the setting enabled that knocks you back if you get hit in midair, so apparently more changes in repeat playthroughs than I expected if y'all more experienced than me are telling me that it stops being like Castlevania.
I'm not really seeing the distinction, if one is being made. Everything ascribed to "classic Castlevania" as the examples there is present in either Curse of the Moon, to varying expressions of the formula, and the ones on the opposite end like the ostensibly increased jump trajectory control are very rare across the playable cast, with most of the characters committing to set arcs as any archetypal Belmont would. If a sufficient level of pattern-based difficulty is a metric to be met, then the most demanding scenarios the Curse of the Moons provide are preposterously prepared to do so (and is an avenue where I do perceive a distinct difference in that most Castlevania bosses of old barely had any patterns to speak of and were almost exclusively battles of attrition versus pattern, as here). It feels like rhetoric that's supported by a type of confirmation bias in knowing that Inti Creates as a Mega Man veteran developer made these games, so their creative choices get interpreted through that lens even if there's precedent and overlap in the nominal source material. Belmont's Revenge had a stage select, but it didn't make it a Mega Man by virtue of sharing that prominent trait, and the implication that the Curse of the Moons aren't "authentic" enough to check enough boxes for their inspiration suggests a sort of limiting purism towards a series that in its most vibrantly creative period--its "classic" era--was often defined by its willingness to never settle on a rigid set of rules for itself, and allowed for many different voices to create that identity piece by piece. If a preference is given and the attempt made at capturing a specific piece of that history, sure, but it's not a holistic picture of what a term as wide as "classic Castlevania" encompasses.
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I can't speak to the sequel, but you have to commit to your jumps in Curse. I'll grant you fully-powered Zangetsu (who you must avoid powering up/can't use at all in two of the three major "story modes,") but Alfred and Gebel are so much closer to CV3 Sypha and Alucard than any Mega Man playable character. Miriam is slightly extravagant, having traditional Belmont abilities AND a slide, but even Rondo-style Richter has more tools/mobility at his disposal. Zangetsu without powers is basically a Belmont with a worse primary weapon and fewer subs.
As for abilities that emphasize puzzle-solving, that's all over the old games. 3 has hidden 1-ups all over the place and stuff you can only get with Grant/Alucard (sometimes requiring you to take a second loop through the game). Rondo has passages Maria needs to slide through, Bloodlines has paths dependent on which character you chose.
If hard and unforgiving is the qualifier, again, a lot of old Castlevanias don't make the cut. Grant has exactly the crazy moveset and controllable jumps that wreak havoc on enemies and navigation alike that goggles mentioned, and Sypha's super OP homing lightning is much more common and more cost-effective than Alfred's counterpart. Super 4 gives you tons of meat, sometimes just in plain ol' candles right in your path, not to mention the controllable jumps and super whip. That whole running out of hearts scenario goggles mentioned is really unlikely to happen in Rondo or Bloodlines, where your hearts carry over between levels. Plus Rondo gives you nice refill stations before each boss, semi-controllable jumps, and an easy mode character. And both have item crashes.
Again, if people are saying that Curse feels different than Castlevania 1, I agree. I just tend to think of "Classicvania" as all of the stage-based, platforming Castlevanias, and I don't see any significant gameplay/difficulty elements that disqualify Curse from that category without also disqualifying at least 3, 4, Bloodlines, and Rondo.
As for abilities that emphasize puzzle-solving, that's all over the old games. 3 has hidden 1-ups all over the place and stuff you can only get with Grant/Alucard (sometimes requiring you to take a second loop through the game). Rondo has passages Maria needs to slide through, Bloodlines has paths dependent on which character you chose.
If hard and unforgiving is the qualifier, again, a lot of old Castlevanias don't make the cut. Grant has exactly the crazy moveset and controllable jumps that wreak havoc on enemies and navigation alike that goggles mentioned, and Sypha's super OP homing lightning is much more common and more cost-effective than Alfred's counterpart. Super 4 gives you tons of meat, sometimes just in plain ol' candles right in your path, not to mention the controllable jumps and super whip. That whole running out of hearts scenario goggles mentioned is really unlikely to happen in Rondo or Bloodlines, where your hearts carry over between levels. Plus Rondo gives you nice refill stations before each boss, semi-controllable jumps, and an easy mode character. And both have item crashes.
Again, if people are saying that Curse feels different than Castlevania 1, I agree. I just tend to think of "Classicvania" as all of the stage-based, platforming Castlevanias, and I don't see any significant gameplay/difficulty elements that disqualify Curse from that category without also disqualifying at least 3, 4, Bloodlines, and Rondo.
Regulus
Sir Knightbot
I would definitely consider the Curse games much closer to Castlevania in experience than Mega Man. Though I suppose the pattern-focused boss design philosophy is much closer to Inti's Mega Man games than it is to the classic-era Castlevania games (which often have pretty shallow bosses).