Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Review - Quickies Don't Cut It
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 พ.ย. 2024
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[Description coming]
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Writing, editing & narrating: Michael Hardeman
Game creation: Konami
Castlevania © Konami
The Legend of Zelda © Nintendo
Super Metroid © Nintendo
Mega Man © Capcom
Wonder Boy © Sega
Ape Escape © Sony Computer Entertainment
All music & imagery © to their respective owners
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the single thing that gets on my nerves with SOTN is the astounding amount of music tracks in the normal castle vs the embarassing lack of variation in the reverse castle OST.
I agree, it's mostly the Black Marble Gallery Music and the Lost Painting one. It's super annoying.
same, i love the game but in that regard, it was annoying
Let me ask you did you bought the game 20+ years ago?
I am very late replying to this comment sorry.
But I think the problem might because of disc size. I could be wrong though.
@@santocomet bruhhhhhh they could literally just play the respective themes or just put in an option to play the respective themes from normal castle after beating the game once.
200.6% was never so satisfying a number.
Me and my freinds make it 235%
Perfectionist's nightmare
I never made it. I have a file with 200.4. And in another one 200 lol
Took me forever to figure out that the rings said "wear in clock tower" and not "wear clock in tower" so I would use the clock powerup in the Clock Tower.
I know this comment is old but I looked around for like a clock ring or something
To be fair... That is actually how you receive the alucart mail, as well as one of the Alucart items in the reverse castle.
This is hilarious to me lol
It's great to still see this game getting different viewpoints even in this modern age; and I love how this is an actual full review video, and not just a 5 minute summary video with a rating at the end.
This game is wayyy too easy to find exploits to the point where you have to avoid doing everything once you realize something can break combat(Cough Soul Steal Cough). This was their first attempt, but still. Powerful weapons are everywhere.
The Metroidvanias started getting more and more balanced around themselves, but the only one I've found to be quite difficult was the most recent one on the DS, Order Of Ecclesia. Most of the enemies are placed where you can't just plow through the levels, and your full OP powers start coming out during the final phase of the game; which is Dracula's Castle. That's right, most of the game takes place outside of the castle until the final stretch, where it's basically as big as a castle on the GBA games.
+kylele23 I have only played Symphony of the Night of all the Metroidvanias! I'd be curious to check out the sequels and see how they compare some day. :)
soul of woof
You're not the only one who scoffed. :-P
inventery 6:26
@@bear5016 that's a fairly common pronunciation
7:44
What IS a man?
a miserable pile of Secrets...but enough talk have at you!!!
Can't let you do that, Star Fox.
a talking penis
HEY!
Lot's of spaghetti!
I can remember being awestruck by the Majesty of this game when it came out. You just don't know how good this game experience was back then. I wish any of the people who are younger or missed it could feel how good this game felt to play in the late 90's/early 2000's. I can still remember how floored I was playing the open scenes at a friend's how.
Amen. It was a breath of fresh air. It wasn't the graphics either, although of course, they were excellent. It was the entire adventure of it all......done to perfection. For once, it was exactly what a beloved series deserved. :D
This review made me go tearing through my ENTIRE house to find my old copy
Thank you for making me want to play it again! It's been too long
I always wondered why the Sega Saturn version of SotN had Maria as a playable character but not in the PS1
Finally got around to playing this game, it's a true masterpiece with the likes of Ocarina of Time, Chrono Trigger, Dark Souls, etc.
it's the dark sos of castlesus
@@XRTVicious NO. It isn't. Castlevania is NOT comparable in any way to that game. >.
If the clunkfest called Dark Souls is a "True Masterpiece" then i'm a Chinese Jet Pilot! That janky trash has no place among these Masterworks!
@@mikejonesnoreally I'm not even a big fan of souls games at all but I would be lying if I said DS1 isn't anything other than fuckin awesome and influential as hell. The jankyness is part of the charm and satisfaction of wrecking shit, kind of like classic survival horror games and their jank.
@@XRTVicious No it's poor control. Anyone who says "The jankyness is part of the charm" is someone suffering from a confirmation bias. i guess if you clear a plot of land with your own face, you will defend that plot of land no matter HOW much dirt you ate. xD Hey y'know what? From soft games and it's players *deserve each other.* They can keep pretending to make games and their fans will happily pretend to keep playing them.....
i remember i got this for Christmas in 1997 and when i played it for the first time i was completely blown away.
i even told my neighbor i got this game and he immediately came over, we were hooked lol
one of my favorite all time playstation game for sure.
Why do people treat the inverted castle like it's some big mystery? The clues in the game all but tell you outright what to do. One ring says "Wear...clock..." and the other says "...In...Tower."
If you're paying any attention to the item descriptions at all (which you should be, since they tell you items' special properties), you'll know something's up with these rings. From there, it's not to hard at all to work out that they're a set, and the inscriptions work out to "Wear in clock tower." between them. This gets you the Holy Glasses from Maria. Along the way, you'll have had several scenes talking with Maria about Richter. However, the most important comes _right_ when you get the glasses. Maria outright tells you that Richter is being controlled, and that the glasses will pierce illusions, right when she gives them to you. The fact that there's a whole cutscene for this should cue the player in that this is a special story item and not just some generic accessory. The fact that it's related to Richter should clue them in on where to use the glasses, if they don't just put them on and leave them on to be sure, which is also a valid choice, but basically, anyone paying attention should be able to figure out what to do without much trouble.
yeah this guy is a bit silly "this added to the mystery in 97" as if he played it in 97. also as if we didn't have GameFAQs back then lmao
I was disappointed when the glasses didn't reveal other invisible things later on
@internetTAB, when a kid is playing Symphony of the Night in '97, it's probably more likely they won't catch on to the clues. So the mystery will be bigger. He almost mentioned people discovering the Inverted Castle through magazines as well, which probably took people by surprise.
I think many people just fought Richter the first time through, saw how disappointing the ending was, and wondered if there was more. I know I did. It was easy to miss that crucial scene with Maria on your first playthrough. But luckily for us the game is amazing and definitely deserving of multiple playthroughs 😃
You can also bust into the heavily glitched 3rd and 4th castles by doing the "Double Heart Refresh technique". ; )
That soundtrack.... It really never gets old... Makes me wana play it again right now.
they will release a double feature with symphony of the night and rondo of blood for the PSN this Halloween :D
18:25 "getting slothered" LOLOL
That was good. I enjoyed that. I'm glad I finally gave it a try this year. One of the most appealing aspects for me was the RPG elements. Particularly getting stronger as I progress. I love games like that. Though I am a newbie to this franchise, I find some bits hard. I will try to finish this next year sometime. Nice work.
+Darkstar263 I don't think you'll regret doing so. Thanks and Happy New Year, buddy! :D
Darkstar263 Was it like Mega Man X. Where you can physically and visually feel and look stronger at a good pace throughout the game?
T Dub kind of, but without leveling
Is it Blackstar or Darkwater?
Eh, Captain Romulus Slag is the best in my opinion.
Without question: the BEST Castlevania Game ever made! Period!
Annette and Maria being sisters is not cannon.
To know that you're facing a boss, the music cuts off.
it's really easy to tell when it's Saturn footage, because Sega Saturn could never do transparencies, so they used dithering on the "afterimages" of the main characters.
It would have looked transparent on a CRT, but modern LCD and capture equipment expose the trick.
Didn't expect to see Somecallmejohnny, nice to see another fan.
Holy SHIT. The saturn version has A DASH!?
So I've watched most of the videos on your channel now. I found it last night while I was pushing through the first 10 hours of Final Fantasy 13 again. I really enjoy your content, and I wasn't surprised when you said that you were inspired by Somecallmejohnny, because he is exactly who you reminded me of. Hope you keep making content and you see some success from it.
+Florence Ledger Thanks for your supportive comment. I'm glad you've enjoyed the videos so far.
Lately I am finding my own style more and more, though. Still somewhat like Johnny but also not from my own experience.
+Retropolis Zone I love your review!!! you got PSN account?
+Mr. Martell Nelson Thank you! Ain't got a PSN account, though. Only Steam.
Retropolis Zone I got a Steam account: "martellthacool" (all lowercase letters please)
Dracula X Chronicles Dracula Dub, is also the English voice of Dio Brando in JoJo’s bizarre adventure, both in Part 1 and part 3.
The fact that your channel is over a year old and only has 1,500 subscribers disgusts me. Keep up the good work, I've been Bing watching these all day
Thanks man! I just keep going at it and hoping it pays off eventually. If not, well fuck. lol
I think it's because of how lengthy and detailed the reviews are. He pretty much covers everything including spoilers, so these kinda fit for those who have already played the game for the most part. These are amazing reviews, but it's kinda like music nowadays, the best things aren't appreciated by the average person since the work is above average. Also, it's retro gaming. I wish nothing but prosperity nonetheless because it's deserving.
*binj
@@Scroteydada *Binge
The peanuts are the best lol. U have to look up to eat it when u throw it into the air. 50 hp. Plus you can collect an infinite amount in the inverted castle where you would fight succubus
THAT'S A LOT OF NUTS!!!!
Man, there reviews got me through some really tough times when I first watched them, some over a half-decade ago. It still amazes me that there are so few subs and views relative to other in depth reviews that aren't half as good. (And by the way, these reviews may be some of the most influential in the game retrospective-deep dive genre)
no complaints perfect 10 music art style tons of spells familiars weapons skills man i love it
Metroidvania
Such an Amazing word for an Awesome sub-genre
Sorry it took so long for me to find your channel. Your videos are great!
Finally got around to finishing this one.
I had no idea IGA worked on a dating simulator game. I love how comprehensive your stuff is.
The more you know! Thanks, dude. :)
you should watch Arino play through it on Game Center CX. it's pretty good
I prefer richter mode.
but my only complaint is that there isn't any story despite the amount of potential there was for one for Richter.
you should try Maria on the Saturn version (easy to emulate with yabuse). Her PSP version is garbage compared to the saturn one (or the saturn one is garbage if you think OP is garbage)
Not sure if your still looking at comments but, I really like this review. Not just due to the content either, but the presentation factor as well. Makes me want to get to that level one day. It is going to be a long road, but the result is very much noticed and inspiring.
i finished super metroid and castlevania SotN... before the term 'metroidvania' exist. Great to see that 2 of my favorite games created a strong genre on their own: MetroidVania. The best 'tag' to give a game... once you heard that a game is a 'metroidvania', you know what kind of game it will be, clearly. For the good and for the bad things...
"alucard cannot do item crashes"
i don't think you ever got the cross, did you?>
Extremely quality review and channel, bravo and keep it up!
Thanks man!
I think the fact that this game throws good equipment at you (shield rod + alucard shield is just sitting there, for instance) really hurts the difficulty. I think Aria of Sorrows is balanced much better and is over all the better game
Yeah some of the Castlevanias after SoTN were more balanced, Circle of the Moon was good... except for Dracula's second form, that one was bullshit, Harmony of Dissonance was good altough too easy, Aria of Sorrow is the best GBA game with great bosses (besides Creaking Skull, Manticore, the Golem, and the Armor Knight, the bosses get good after the headhunter, Dawn of Sorrow was amazing too, all of the bosses were great imo, Portrait of Ruin was easier, but god it's so good and fun, and the nest of evil is always there if you want more challenge, and Order of Ecclesia is extremely challenging, all of the bosses were a challenge in that game
All I could think about when I heard Dracula's voice acting in the PSP port was Seymour Flux from FFX
I thought of Scorpion and Ragna the Bloodedge from Mortal Kombat and BlazBlue respectively.
I've watched countless reviews and love letters to this game but your title honestly gave me a hint of curiosity. Sometimes that's all it takes. I honestly would have ignored it if it didn't have the added "Quickies Don't Cut it". Well done. When I first played this as a young teen I certainly found it pretty hard on the first play. And you're totally right. It wasn't until I learned about certain item drops and the odd secret room that the game became extremely easy unless you choose to limit yourself. Oh and bro...you should always be prepared ;P
This game by far is one of my favorite side scrollers for sure. Though the spells reminded me of playing MK or SF. Cant wait to play it again
Just found your channel. I'm enjoying your reviews; they're really well made. Keep it up! Subscribed
+Notgivingmy nametogoogle Thank you very much! Appreciate your support! :)
Bought this today, very interested to see if it lives up to its legendary reputation. SC IV was my kind of game on the snes, so should be fun.
I hear so many people say peanuts are useless and do nothing. Peanuts are HARD to use. Using it tosses it up in the air, you must position beneath it and tap the up button as it would hit his head and he catches it in his mouth. If I remember it, each peanut heals 50-100 health.
Symphony of the Night has that added fun where if you just really don't feel like fighting too much, you can "visit" the areas of the game, same way as you can just drive around the countryside / cityscape in a modern Grand Theft Auto game.
I found the second castle organically. I felt a bit let down when I beat the first castle, but I thought (well I found this rather enjoyable) might as well explore it's secrets. I loved the double meaning of the rings, and liked the glass cannon play of Richter.
Hiding in the fog
Where darkness meets the moonlight
I will sing a melody 'til the morning comes
Living for you only
Take my hand and show me
There will be much sorrow when the morning comes
[Electric guitars play]
Fearless I’m fighting the pain burns inside of me
Find the forces of my soul
No one can understand me
Am I condemned to ride the blackest night alone?
Tragic painting on the walls
In this castle where affliction reigns
So many died in vain
Hear their distant cries
Never again!
This is my symphony
My dark blessing falls from the skies
I hear the voice
Rising from the void
Of the memories gone by
Dark is the path for me
I’ll find my peace another way
Under the stars where we’ll shine again some day
Torment and sadness unleashed through these corridors
Fear is leading to the night
Bloodline of vampires doomed to fulfill their need
Once united by the light
Father! Look into my eyes
I shall kill you tonight to avenge
All those who died in vain
Hear their distant cries
Never again!
This is my symphony
My dark blessing falls from the skies
I hear the voice
Rising from the void
Of the memories gone by
Dark is the path for me
I’ll find my peace another way
Under the stars where we’ll shine again some day
[3 Minute Guitar Solo]
This is my symphony
My dark blessing falls from the skies
I hear the voice
Rising from the void
Of the memories gone by
Dark is the path for me
I’ll find my peace another way
Under the stars where we’ll shine again some day
'Til the stars where we’ll shine again some day
'Til the stars where we’ll shine again some day
Nice channel name. I very much appreciate how you pointed out the bad difficulty, upside down castle and that abundance of items & skills isn't particularly a good thing. I think I'll subscribe.
+AzureSymbiote Thanks man! I tell it as I see it and try my best to not have any significant biases. :)
I am now subscribed to you sir. you deserve better since you have good content.
Thank you very much! :D
27:02 I guess Richter's portrait-accurate coat sprite also did meet his quality standards? :P
Seriously, why didn't they fix that in the PSP version? That's the outfit Richter's *supposed* to be wearing. Just look at how he looks in the Colosseum.
The fairy past lvl 50 makes all your potions usable without you equiping them. She will use them on you when you enter, lets say, the lower fire area. SHe will use the fire potion on you to basically null fire damage.
The inverted Castle is a treat. It make alucards best skills somewhat necessary and you can fly through with all the power and knowledge you've gained so far.
First played it blind a while back while visiting my grandparents. Late at night, headphones plugged in and the volume cranked, the confessional prank actually made me jump out of my chair, awkwardly trying not to yelp since everyone else was asleep. I love little moments of discovery like that in Symphony, makes me want to play more games blind. And if you thought THIS Castlevania was easy, check out Harmony of Dissonance on the GBA! Item crashes are ridiculously overpowered to the point of being pretty much infinite screen nukes!
Harmony of Dissonance actually gave me a little bit of trouble. Unlike Richter, Maxim's AI isn't broken so he actually killed me a few times, Dissonance accounts for a strict order making a lot of areas much harder than the other (frequently giving me times where I'd have around half health and think I was okay before getting hit for just over what I had left).
Symphony of the Night I played when I was far younger and it actually did give me more trouble. I used to think it was way too hard in the inverted sections and could never get through inverted tower or marble gallery without spamming mist incessantly. However I still think it's easier, despite being more experienced with it, as the many overpowered tools you get nerf the challenge big time, while even in the inverted castle there's very few difficulty spikes.
Im playing hod for the 1st time. Its easy but i confess i died many more times in the start thsn in sotn
This game was in the trash when I was working at Blockbuster in about 99’ or 00’, because it was skipping. I cleaned it, and took it home. Had never heard of it. I knew of NES Castlevania. This game blew me away! It was so much fun. There was always a ledge you couldn’t quite reach or a door you couldn’t open yet. The music was fantastic, and its the type of game that you can figure out if you just persist a bit.
This is a definite top 5 PS1 Classic.
Richter is more durable if you collect the HP Max Potions (they are in the same places they were during Alucard's run). If you don't collect those potions, you will die very fast. Heck you still die fast without. Anyways, the game hints at the existence of the upside-down castle in the fact that some rooms in the normal castle have things that are upside down... statues, etc. Go to the room where you fight the Hellhound (or Death) and look at the ledges there. Note how the statues are upside down. I always thought that was strange... until I found the upside down castle and then I was like "OOOOH that's why those are upside down..." Also, if you go to the Colisseum, you'll note that the numbers on the doors are written backwards and upside down... well simply put when the castle gets flipped upside down, the numbers are written on the floor underneath the door. Also the "Loading Corridors" have an upside down secret in them too, one of the features on the wall looks more appropriate when flipped upside down.
Started this game this week and I'm nearing the end, great game
You're now one of my new favorite youtube reviewers, even surpassing SomeCallMeJohnny in my opinion! I was wondering if you've heard of Matthewmatosis as your critical thinking style of examining games actually reminds me a lot of his reviews.
Either way I can't wait for your next projects and I'm wondering if you're going to do the other metroidvania castlevanias in order to compare and contrast? Also will you be doing Mega Man X4-6? Thanks a lot for your awesome content and good luck for 2016! (ps. where's your accent from? I can't quite put a finger on it lol)
+souio What a flattering comment, haha. I really appreciate it!
Funny that you mention Matthewmatosis. I'd actually never heard of him until a friend of mine brought him up like two weeks ago. I haven't watched any of his stuff yet, but yeah, my friend is a huge fan of his work. I ought to check him out when I get the proper time to do so. Also, yeah I will do other Igavanias as well as Mega Man X4-6. I just won't make any promises as to when, since there are a ton of games I want to look at. So many games, so little time.
I am actually from the Netherlands, so there ya go. Now you know, haha. Once again, thanks a lot! :)
I think I read something interesting in the idea of power escalation of battle manga. A good way to get around characters getting stronger and stronger, and having to be creative with new enemies and villians, the ebst way to do this is to introduce, Likely early on, a *Power Ceiling. Castlevania's leveleing system can take the same idea and put it to fantastic effect with the metroidvania style - "full castle" structure it has going for it. It did do this with alucard being OP in the first minute of the game, it didn't scale the enemies in the 2nd castle to be a match for him, balance wise.
I just finished this game twice again, and it still holds up. SOTN also makes a great handheld experience too.
great review man. Very in depth. Keep it up!
+Retro Arcanum Gracias! I am glad you liked the video. :D
FYI the pixel AR of SotN wasn't 1:1, much like the NES and SNES wasn't. Thus the 1:1 screen captures of the game are inaccurate. Imagine scaling 256x240 to a 4:3 AR, preserving the 240 but wideneing the 256 without artifacts due to it being represented in a NTSC signal designed for a horizontally-moving electron gun hitting static phosphor patterns. The 240 - 224 = 16 vertical black bars (eight rows on each side) were generally not noticeable due to the inherent overscan of a CRT TV. Anyway, it was pretty cool when you saw it like that.
One thing to point out, just because I see it all the time in the video:
That ring that shoots lighting? Hold down the attack button to make it a constant stream of attacks.
I wish there could be a game like this again, same look, same character, just new areas, enemies, and great music.
It's called Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. You're Welcome! :D
Bloodstained:Curse of the Moon 1&2 & Rotn are worth every penny.
Symphony of the Night is just such a highly enjoyable game for me. I love everything about this game, even its few weaknesses.
Games don't need to be difficult. Kirby isn't difficult either, but never becomes boring. Same with SotN. Besides, this game was just beyond beautiful, back in the good old days. There are so many details and the soundtrack is nothing short of amazing. Not just the music, but also the sound effects. But it doesn't end there! The game also controlled incredibly well and it was HUGE for its time. There were so many small things to discover. I have played this game countless times on original hardware and to this day, I did not know that you could catch peanuts with your mouth. And the game is full of little details like that. I remember how proud I was, when me and a friend discovered the angel of the holy sword. I guess my eyes were just so much better when I was ten years old. Today, I do not see the angel. I know that it's there so I can use the map screen to catch it, but back in the days, I simply spotted it. I was like "Hey! Do the special attack again! I think there's something there!"
The difficulty curve was acceptable for the first couple of times, but after that it became WAY too easy to beat so i have to limit myself to not use any armor or stat-improving items in the game
The Saturn version has a ton of slowdown.
Square din't file for lawsuit at Konami because they had partnership and ideas given forth to each other associate behind the scenes.
this was only the first generation of consoles that made saving mandatory. So just be happy that it was even possible.
Regarding the difficulty, during my recent playthrough the normal castle was a cakewalk. Enemies only hit me for 1 dmg and whatnot. But the reversed castle kicked my ass, was a crazy spike in difficulty for me. That is, until i spent 45min farming for Crissagrim! So much worth.
Man, it makes me so happy to see so many people inspired by SomecallmeJohnny. So great to see it wasn't just me
i played this game back on the ps1 when i was 6. GREAT TIMES were had because of this game. Just bought a psp go, supposed to be arriving today. Excited to start up this gem again.
If 10 was a perfect game, with no flaws whatsoever. This game is a 100, out of 10.
It's 10x more perfect than the most perfect standard.
nah
Eh, objectively not. Mainly because of its difficulty issues. But subjectively, have at you.
I don't care if the game is easy or hard as long as you're having fun.
peanuts recover a small amount of hp but you have to get into Alucard's mouth when they fall down
I've beaten this game several times and am seeing a bunch of abilities for the first time in your video. Cool.
Godsmack and Disturbed being chaotic and aggressive help me calm down.
Slow and easy country music (that doesn't have a positive nostalgia effect on it) frustrates the heck out of me until I NEED to leave or have it shut off.
I got a question to ask and i sorry for my bad english: The other version of SOTN that you mention is Akumaju? o another one? because i got the Akumaju version and i don't know why i can't play neither maria nor ritcher. thank you!.
Javier Marrufo The PSP version lets you play as Maria and Richter.
the music has to be some of the best ive ever heard in a video game
I would have appreciated the inverted castle a little more if they had altered the interior more (statues, reliefs, ornate motifs and design) in addition to changing the colors of everything.
I only just discovered this game on the xbox one marketplace last year. Started it up one weekend and fell in love.
I find that regarding the power fantasy of Symphony of the Night, the game that most people seem to be talking about in the comments here is Order of Ecclesia. I love the game, and it's certainly as difficult as the others give it credit for, but if you play the game with two extremely fast, powerful weapons, you still need to pay attention and focus to get past everything, but you get the euphoria of absolutely obliterating something. The bosses and enemies have a lot of health for this purpose in particular, I feel. With the souls you can get and the buffs you can put on Shanoa, and the ability to spam two rapiers constantly, the numbers and damage you deal keeps going up but you can't disregard the boss/enemy because they'll at the very least hit you before they die, and at the most they'll still have most of their health left anyway.
It's just one particular sword that made the game a complete cakewalk. But there where many fun combinations of equipment to experiment with. The Duplicator that allows you to spam your one-use attack items for example. The game was never overly difficult and most of the bosses in the inverted castle where a complete joke. Konami seems finally more interested in rereleasing their old games, as Capcom has been doing that for awhile now. Glad it comes on PS4 next week. Now I hope Konami will rerelease The Genso Suikoden series through a collection at some point.
The game definately needed a hard mode, and going to hell to really finish off castlevania would be awesome (as a non canon scenario). There definately needs to be an overhauled remake. So many things that can be done; Vs. Mode, Co-op, hard mode, crazy mode, Boss rush, new game plus, more areas, more weapons, more spells, perhaps a new game mechanic, perhaps in crazy mode your life can constantly drain, play as various bosses/enemies, let Alucard obtain souls/summon demons, maybe have a map editor for people to make their own levels (perhaps even their own games), etc.
Alien Solder, Gunstar Heroes, Symphony were the first three reviews I watched and ALL of them were extremely well done and fair reviews. Truly enjoyed these. Thank you! I subbed after the second review and this is one of my favorite channels. I'm glad someone else has that magical feeling when replaying Symphony.
I recall having no job and winter was approaching in Ontario, Canada. The air was crisp and cool. Halloween was just around the corner and I was a night owl! I was hyped for this game when it was announced in Gamefan magazine with a whopping 6 or 8 page spread on the game. I nearly fainted out of glee at its magnificent 2D splendor!! Then...the game came out. At night, solitude and quiet, playing this haunting masterpiece, in between seeing my girlfriend and being a bump in the night, I was infatuated with all it dark mysteries. Ahhh...I do love Symphony.
+steph des No problem! I'm glad you're liking the video and that you wanted to subscribe. :)
Judging from your story, I'm taking you're quite emotionally invested in Symphony. That's awesome, honestly. Like I said, I only started playing the Castlevania games in recent years so it's not wholly liek that for me, but the feelings you're describing is something I can apply to other childhood games.
+Retropolis Zone Also, Alien Soldier? I don't have a review for that game yet, haha.
Oh? Oh maybe I was watching another reviewer. Ah well, Love the reviews you made that I did watched!
Awesome review! I hope you'll have a chance to do the other CV games. Of all of the Metroidvanias, Symphony is my favorite. I feel that it's actually more solid than the rest of the ones going forward. BTW, SOTN as a whole is a shoutout to the series up to that point. Not sure if anyone noticed but after the first game, Konami REALLY started messing with non-linear level design & this game is the result.
+Ghaleonh41 Sure, why not do other CV games? It's just finding the time and place to do that. The only Metroidvania I have actually played is SotN so I honestly can't speak much on that.
Totally fair. You'll probably see that as you go along. Symphony was my second Metroidvania., so yeah...
I would love to see a Castlevania game that takes on a randomizer.
I've played and beaten SOTN about 5-6 times now, not counting previous save-loads.
and While I do like that the game is the same all the time, I would love to see a game in the series that completely changes each runthrough, making it so that you'll never play the same game twice.
However to unlock this ability, the player must beat the game at least one time, or enter a specific name code, similar to the DraculaX, AxeLord, and 99-Luck name codes.
In the mobile port, spells are stupidly overpowered- once you figure out the combination or buy the scroll you can access them instantly from your spells button rather than needing to perform the combo each time. I ended the Scylla fight almost instantly by just summoning a bunch of those homing spirits :P
I have seen many reviews on the Castlevania series and a few on Symphony of the Night, and this is one of the best and most informative on Symphony of the Night that you can find out there. Great job
+TheChuckFiles That's really nice to read. Thank you very much! This took a long time to make. :)
Kindred spirit. My negatives after the first time through were the same, and we also share the same favorite pieces of music.
I definitely agree with the difficulty of the game becoming way too easy pretty quickly. I feel like one contributing factor is also how many enemies seem to be designed for a non-metroidvania type of Castlevania. They are slow, both in movement and reaction, and they have very little health compared to how quickly Alucard can deal damage. Most times, even with subpar gear, you can kill most enemies before they can pose a real threat. Alucard is just too fast and agile compared to the sluggish enemies.
Castlevania SOTN is a great game, but it's success comes from breaking the routine of the old games. A Belmont going to destroy Dracula. It was all the same over and over until this game came out and broke that circle. Bringing us something new. Instead a whiplash they used a sword. Instead one castle they brought us two castles.
The only problem with this game is a lack of sell item feature. The short comings are because of the development team running out of time, due to the CEOs saying that IGA and his team need to release it. It’s nothing short of an 8 at worst.
Fucking great review! On one of my favorite games of all time
I just 100%'d Rondo of Blood innthe Castlevania: Requiem bundle, and the second part of the port is SotN which I'm on now and I'm thoroughly enjoying it, but not knowing where I should be going is certainly part of the challenge!
Great review of my favorite Castlevania game. I like your voice :)
this is three years late , but the one time use items are supposed to be for when you get the duplicator which allows you to use these for infinity and become super powerful .
(like filling an entire room with bats on the screen with monster vial 2 while also using the attack potion which multiplies their attack power, and also using Strength position and shield potion to duplicate the damage and on top of that Using the 1 time use Power of Sire which you can use for infinity. The game is a lot deeper.
(with all that you can destroy shaft in 1.5 seconds dracula in 5 seconds)
And once you level up to level 99, to show off, we can take everything off and bitch slap dracula with only punches. I did that lol.
You can also play as a knight with the axe armor.
Honestly, it pisses me off that they didn't add all areas to the PSP port of the game.
I don't give a damn if he didn't feel it was up to snuff, it's about having a complete game instead of one in shatters.
Best review of Symphony of the Night I've ever seen this review will hold up as brilliantly as the game itself has. Great job
For me, SotN is definitely one of the best games from that time. It's up there with Oot and MM for me. It's just such a charming game.
When you enter a boss room the music will stop and if you do not step forward the gates will not close behind you. There is even a bit of loading right before you enter to let you know this isn't a normal room so if you saw those signs and entered anyway than it's your own fault if you die and lose progress. And as for some of your complaints it seemed more like a skill issue like the getting hit in the air in a vertical space problem, back in the older games you'd just likely straight up fall down a cliff and die if you got hit in the air. And as for the tedious back tracking that's just a side effect of the game design and there are ways to mitigate it. I'm not in any way saying SOTN is perfect but a lot of the complaints seem very minor and not really worth complaining about.
Recently i discovered that Ritcher and Chris Redfield from RE1 have the same voice actor. I BELIEVE NOTHING.