Squire Grooktook wrote:
If you play Bloodlines just to get through it and survive, it's admittedly not nearly as tricky or involved as the other games. But where it really shines is when you replay it, pick Lecarde, and go about using all the tools at your disposal to swiftly and gracefully obliterate everything in your path as quickly as possible. Playing through stages with the non-stop forward speed of Ninja Gaiden and rushing down enemies and bosses with a mix of light/heavy attacks, i-frame pole vaults, and clever use of sub weapons and item crashes (all while maintaining the Shinobi style full power mode which you lose on hit) is relentlessly exhilaration and there are few games that manage to channel the same level of destructive, speed slaying fun.
That it manages to do all this while keeping the methodical, commitment heavy feel of CV is also a testament to it's excellence.
Bloodlines is a masterpiece, but only when played for mastery.
I think that since you like DMC, it is probably quite natural to you. I only remember playing one game like this ..... and that was the MD Pitfall ages ago. Though if I were to play the same again, I wouldn't play it like that. I can usually only imagine playing like that if:
(a) The game's aesthetics are too good and you just naturally develop that style playing over and over
(b) It is too much fun to play like that
In most cases, it doesn't happen for me. Regarding Bloodlines specifically, it is probably suited to it. But I think if the developers added some kind of end-of-stage/overall grading system that would probably encourage more players to try it (obviously this kind of thing was quite uncommon at that time).
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Now bloodlines is the only Castlevania that I have played to any significant extent. And I definitely play a fairly "passive" style. I would stay I still like it (it is definitely in "quite good" category for me). It is true though that the game can feel to drag a bit due to length of levels (this is why I would usually play separate levels with password in a leisurely style).
Surprisingly, I have picked it about 4 or 5 times with the intention of 1CC and after some time there is always abrupt break ....... and then "everytime" I had difficulty picking it up "again". I suppose some games are just harder to enjoy when picking up again (I think mostly it was length). So it is one of those overdue 1CCs for me. But I have been on a long (and currently continued ..... don't know when it will "end") break from platformers anyway.
One thing I would just add though is that game has different difficulty layers (like some other games). I don't know whether everyone would enjoy it (but I think I would). For example (this is with default character .... I have never picked/played with other characters):
---- playing without range weapon
---- max(expert) difficulty
---- playing without range weapon (max difficulty)
etc.
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Also, I would add briefly that I think a good castlevania guide is probably needed (maybe as a separate topic so it is not completely lost). I have decent knowledge on arcade platformers (and console platformers from 8/16 bit) but I have no idea about castlevania. For example, things like multiple difficulties/loops, overall quality, any specific playstyle suited to given game etc. And also of course, just to sort out the better games in the series (there seem to be too many when you add handhelds).
Finally I personally like classifying platform games into: (i) plain (mario, gimmick, marvel world etc.) (ii) action (castlevania) (iii) run and gun/long-range shooting (contra, daimakaimura, gunstar etc.). So I would quite like to see a list that generally classifies the better games on each system (arcade+console) using this. And that's because, at different times, I feel like playing a different game from one of these classifications.
I think an idea about lists was discussed here some time ago here, but kind of got dissolved.