Castlevania kicks muchos assos

[OB1]

Damn I'm good as Spanish!

I've been Lament of Innocence for a couple of hours now and the game really does kick ass. It starts off slow but then really begins to build up, and it's a great combination of the SotN play style and Castlevania IV. The graphics are very nice, the level design is... okay that could be improved upon, the music is really incredible (my vote for best video game soundtrack of 2003), and the combat system is superb. At first glace it does seem a bit like DMC but once you get deeper into the fighting system it becomes very different. It's far more complex, and much more acrobatic. However this is definitely not a straight beat-em-up like DMC is. The emphasis is on exploration even more than it is on fighting, so this is definitely more like SotN and the past three GBA Castlevanias then it is like DMC.

[A Black Falcon]

For some reason Castlevania games always seem to have good music... so it works well in the move to 3d? That's good... the N64 games really were awful. As much as I'd love to see it stay 2d for longer, I know that it'll have to move to 3d like most everything else before it...

[OB1]

Yeah the N64 games suck. Lament of Innocence isn't quite as good as the past four Castlevanias, but it's still excellent. It plays a lot like the 2D games.

[A Black Falcon]

But one of the last four Castlevania games was on the N64! :D

[The Former DMiller]

Yep, the N64 games came after SotN.

[OB1]

I don't count those as Castlevanias. :D

[A Black Falcon]

Sorry, but they DO count... I know you'd rather not count them, but they are Castlevania, and by Konami, so they count. :)

[Dark Jaguar]

Isn't the second N64 one just a remake of the first N64 one?

Anyway, they count as much as the CD-i Zeldas count as Zelda games. In other words, best just to pretend they don't exist.

[OB1]

Right.

The N64 "sequel" was a Director's Cut version of Castlevania 64.

[A Black Falcon]

Its a seperately sold game that youcould buy for like $50 (or more?) so it counts as another game though its really not...

Actually, what it is is what the first one was supposed to be when they shipped it. .. though it didn't help that much with the badness.

[OB1]

What on earth did that last sentence mean?

[A Black Falcon]

That they "fixed" the game to make it what it should have been at launch... but that didn't help with the fact that the game still stinks.

[OB1]

Oh, right.

[A Black Falcon]

Okay, I could have found a better word than 'badness'. :)

[Private Hudson]

I understood what you meant..

[A Black Falcon]

OB1 just has issues with understanding people.

[OB1]

Yes, I have trouble understanding people with poor English skills. And come on, it's not fair comparing me to Marky here since he's Australian and everything. They have to understand gibberish! :)

[A Black Falcon]

Look. At least I ADMIT that I have trouble understanding people! I know I do! That's been a problem of mine for a long time... I remember when I was little I'd be constantly asking my parents what was going on in movies... but you? You seem to have the same problem but blame it on the other person! Now sure in some cases it is poorly worded or somewhat confusing, but nowhere near all the time... you need to admit that some of that confusion is from your side!

[Dark Jaguar]

I understood what you meant too.

[A Black Falcon]

When I wrote it I thought it was poorly worded... but in the 'I don't like the word 'badness' way, not the 'that is confusing' way. As I said, OB1 just has major issues with being confused with things...

[Weltall]

Badness = Steaming, damnable five-ton mountain of flybearing pig shit crammed into a cartridge.

It's great to be blessed with the skill of colorful description. :love:

[A Black Falcon]

Is it really THAT awful? :)

[OB1]

Actually, what it is is what the first one was supposed to be when they shipped it. .. though it didn't help that much with the badness.

Say that aloud and try to tell me that it makes sense. It doesn't.

[A Black Falcon]

Actually, what it is is what the first one was supposed to be when they shipped it

Talking about reviews of Legacy of Darkness. They said that it was essentially a patched version of the original and was what that version should have been when it came out... but that it still wasn't very good.

Sure I could have worded it a little better but without using a paragraph I think that is okay...

[Dark Lord Neo]

I just got the game and I have to say it is awsome compared to some of the other games I've bought recently, but it's still not the best Castlevania game

[OB1]

Well of course not. That honor goes to SotN. So far LoI is probably my fifth favorite Castlevania game, and if they improve enough things for the inevitable sequel then it could very well take the crown from SotN.

[Weltall]

Isn't Harmony of Dissonance one of your favorites?

[OB1]

Yeah. So the four Castlevanias that I like more than LoI are SotN, Aria of Sorrow, Harmony of Dissonance, and Circle of the Moon.

[Weltall]

Oh.... cause HoD was a krap game.

[OB1]

Now that's just crazy talk. HoD was a fine, fine game. Did you hate all of the Super Metroid-like Castlevanias or just HoD?

And in case anyone was wondering just how crazy Weltall is, HoD has an average score of 86% based on 53 media outlets, with SotN having an average score of 90% (making it the highest rated Castlevania since the NES days).

[Weltall]

I LOVE the Metroidesque Castlevanias. I've played SoTN and AoS through more times than I can count, and I would have with COTM too had my copy not met a mysterious demise.

But HoD was a shitty game in comparison to those. It was slow, boring, tedious, and had horrible design and sound.

[OB1]

...

Were you on crack at the time? I can't think of any other explanation for you not loving HoD. It was even better than CotM! I mean yeah, the sound was crappy (although the tunes were still great), but everything else was a huge improvement over CotM.

[A Black Falcon]

OB1 shows how accepting he is to other people's ideas once again!

[Dark Jaguar]

Hmm, I can see how the design of that castle was different than the usual design. For that matter, I can see how it can be viewed as bad compaired to the other 3. Why, I myself had the game for a couple months before REALLY getting into it. The map design certainly has this different quality to it. Not saying it's inherently bad, but I can see how some might not like it compaired to the other map designs... I liked playing as Simon :D.

Do do do doooooooooo do de do de do duh do di duuuuu

[Weltall]

Originally posted by OB1
...

Were you on crack at the time? I can't think of any other explanation for you not loving HoD. It was even better than CotM! I mean yeah, the sound was crappy (although the tunes were still great), but everything else was a huge improvement over CotM.

Well, I honestly don't remember COTM enough other than it being much harder and more fun. The design might have been as bad but I don't remember that being so. What I DO know is that in comparison to the two that I know very well, the design of the castle is very uninspiring, consisting of way, way too many long, empty hallways with almost no obstacles. The only thing I'd say about it that was superior to at least the other GB incarnations is monster design, it took a hit in AoS... but AoS is so much better in practically every other way.

[OB1]

Well yes, Aria of Sorrow is the best of the three, but I think you might have been playing another game that you thought was HoD. The new graphics engine that they made for HoD allowed for many more enemies on screen at once than CotM's did, and that is why there were so many more enemy encounters in the game than there were in CotM. And again, when you said empty hallways I immediately thought of CotM because that's one of the beefs I had with the game. You'd spend most of the time running through empty hallways and most of the areas looked very similar to each other. HoD had a far greater variety between sections.