Castlevania DS - Dawn of Sorrow

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 1:20 pm

Thanks a lot. I assumed there were puzzles I had not solved yet. I only found one of the breakable walls I think. So that's why I don't get the 100%, I guess.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Sun Oct 09, 2005 6:00 pm

Someone help me get the good ending. It's too spoily over at Gamefaqs.

Post by **system11** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 7:09 pm

UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:Someone help me get the good ending. It's too spoily over at Gamefaqs.

Which ending have you seen?

UnscathedFlyingObject · Sun Oct 09, 2005 7:36 pm

bloodflowers wrote:
UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:Someone help me get the good ending. It's too spoily over at Gamefaqs.
Which ending have you seen?

The one where I kick the fire guy's behind and go back to church.

Edit: found out half by myself. I got some hints when reading some stuff over at Gfaqs.

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 5:51 pm

Man, you weren't kidding about the throwing sickle/skelerang combination. Once you come up with that there's almost no point in using anything else.

SAM · Post by **SAM** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 2:02 am

I bought it yesterday, together with other DS gamee I had bought my collection is now as follow:

Castlevania
Mario 64
Advanced Wars DS
Lunar

but I still haven't tried them out yet, since I don't even own a Nintendo DS yet

I would wait and see if Nintindo make any add-on on their console which would allow playing DS games. It is a fairly long shot, since DS does got a touch screen interface which have to be provided with the add-on.

And yet even the add-on previde a touch screen, your eye would have to constantly changing focus distance between the TV screen and the touch screen, this induse lag, which is bad for action game...

Any chance? (I guess I would most likely to garb a DS when the price of the system goes down a bit.)

jp · Post by jp » Tue Oct 11, 2005 2:31 pm

Anyone here played through Julius Mode? I've killed all the bosses I can and I can't figure out how to break the seal to go to the last area (I did miss one of the boss orbs...)

PFG 9000 · Post by **PFG 9000** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 2:31 pm

I'd say there's almost no chance of a TV player for the DS, because of both the touchscreen and the dual screens. Some games would be unplayable, most games would be awkward.

I was stuck after the Death battle for about four days. Then I realized you could drop through the floor in that first room of the Abyss. :/

UnscathedFlyingObject · Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:21 pm

jp wrote:Anyone here played through Julius Mode? I've killed all the bosses I can and I can't figure out how to break the seal to go to the last area (I did miss one of the boss orbs...)

Did you try using the big cross on that teleporter thing? I dunno if that's correct, just a suggestion.

jp · Post by jp » Tue Oct 11, 2005 8:53 pm

UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:
jp wrote:Anyone here played through Julius Mode? I've killed all the bosses I can and I can't figure out how to break the seal to go to the last area (I did miss one of the boss orbs...)
Did you try using the big cross on that teleporter thing? I dunno if that's correct, just a suggestion.

I did indeed. That was the first thing I tried actually. ^_^

UnscathedFlyingObject · Tue Oct 11, 2005 9:40 pm

jp wrote:
UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:
jp wrote:Anyone here played through Julius Mode? I've killed all the bosses I can and I can't figure out how to break the seal to go to the last area (I did miss one of the boss orbs...)
Did you try using the big cross on that teleporter thing? I dunno if that's correct, just a suggestion.
I did indeed. That was the first thing I tried actually. ^_^

Hmmm I just got into the underground, and I didn't even try. I readied my cross and moved toward the teleporter without realizing there was a hole there

. Are you sure you decimated every boss?

The last boss is uber cool

.

Edit: The second form is kinda recycled. Boooo Konami, Boo.

jp · Post by jp » Tue Oct 11, 2005 10:49 pm

I'm positive. Every single room is shown on the map. There's no more bosses for me to kill aside from Death and the Lotus thing.

I'm starting to think the people who programmed Dawn of Sorrow just suck ass and made it so that the player had to grab every boss "orb" in order to open the hole.

Then I'll have to start all over again... the fuckers.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Tue Oct 11, 2005 10:56 pm

jp wrote:I'm positive. Every single room is shown on the map. There's no more bosses for me to kill aside from Death and the Lotus thing.

I'm starting to think the people who programmed Dawn of Sorrow just suck ass and made it so that the player had to grab every boss "orb" in order to open the hole. Then I'll have to start all over again... the fuckers.

Nope, that isn't it. I grabbed none of the orbs.

jp · Post by jp » Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:13 am

Interesting...

Did you have ay encounters in the sealed room in the middle of the castle where one of the bad endings takes place?

UnscathedFlyingObject · Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:34 am

jp wrote:Interesting...

Did you have ay encounters in the sealed room in the middle of the castle where one of the bad endings takes place?

Nothing there, which was disappointing because I was expecting to fight a doppleganger.

Btw, I left huge portions of the map left to cover, so map completion isn't a requirement either. Go and see if it's open again just in case.

DEL · Post by **DEL** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:37 am

I bought the game last night - Now to buy a DS

.

Its the kind of game you make sure you buy before you have the machine!

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 4:13 am

Finally bought it a few days ago.

I've played about 2 hours of it so far; the bosses are pretty tame (and what's with the Karasuman name change?), except Balore who had a cool design.

I haven't been wowed or anything yet, I guess I'm just playing out of curiosity and because it's Castlevania. Graphically I think it's drab and the stages are un-inspiring. There's absolutely nothing visually interesting about in this game, honestly I think it's very plain in many aspects. Playing this really makes me want a traditional Vania more than anything.

I guess I'll never understand why so many people love Iga's Vanias. SotN was good, but I can't recall it ever wowing me a lot -- something IV and Bloodlines did every ten steps in the game.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 3:38 pm

LoneSage wrote:I guess I'll never understand why so many people love Iga's Vanias. SotN was good, but I can't recall it ever wowing me a lot -- something IV and Bloodlines did every ten steps in the game.

SotN is not an Iga's Vania. SotN is directed by Toru Hagihara, the same director of Rondò of Blood. Iga was just an assistant director at time.

Moogs · Post by **Moogs** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 8:16 pm

LoneSage wrote:Finally bought it a few days ago.

I've played about 2 hours of it so far; the bosses are pretty tame (and what's with the Karasuman name change?), except Balore who had a cool design.

Karasuman? I take it that would be Malphas now?

Graphically I think it's drab and the stages are un-inspiring. There's absolutely nothing visually interesting about in this game.

You make me fucking cry. You're just beyond cynical now.

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 12:25 am

Yeah, it's Malphas now.

Moogs wrote: You make me fucking cry. You're just beyond cynical now.

I guess I just don't see the beauty of boring hallways and libraries. Granted, the design of gameplay makes it so that there isn't much to implement to make it look different, but still -- it's a very boring game to look at.

You want to view Castlevania stage design at its apex? Stage 2, Bloodlines, 'nuff said.

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 1:02 am

The main problem with SotN and the other Igarashi-directed Castlevanias (he didn't direct SotN on paper but everyone on the staff that's interviewed agrees that he was the primary driving force on the project and its direction) is that they're all JUST in the castle itself. The name Castlevania is a contraction of castles and woods. Some garden can only cut it for so many games.

Curse of Darkness did a pretty good job of having a lot of outdoor areas and felt more like the Dracula's Curse/Super Castlevania IV/etc. type journies where you go through the entireity of Castlevania instead of just Dracula's castle.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:04 am

Neo Rasa wrote:(he didn't direct SotN on paper but everyone on the staff that's interviewed agrees that he was the primary driving force on the project and its direction)

Yeah, the guy worked hard to make you believe that. Interviews and such... basically the series needed a spokeperson in this age of "videogames-are-art-where-is-castlevania's-kubrick-the-one-who-envisioned-the-whole-thing-philosophically-the-almighty-one-and-only-author" and he jumped in.

Some of the japanese die hard CV fans I used to chat with were of the opinion that he's just a glory seeker. Not that I dislike the guy entirely, mind you... but his "director" role is largely myth. "Iga Produce" and "Iga Supervisor" is more like that. This applies to GBA entries as well, of course.

Edit: I won't question his role as Scenario writer though: it's true that he came up with the plots of the games since SotN, thus creating a sort of continuity and coherence... Again, a commendable effort by him, I liked some of the twist he came up with; but game's director is a different story. All CV recent games are usually directed by Takeshi, Shimamura, or Murakami; they did a fine job carrying it over, but legendary directors like "Axelay" Ueda or Toru Hagihara are unmatched.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:08 am

Neo Rasa wrote:The main problem with SotN and the other Igarashi-directed Castlevanias (he didn't direct SotN on paper but everyone on the staff that's interviewed agrees that he was the primary driving force on the project and its direction) is that they're all JUST in the castle itself. The name Castlevania is a contraction of castles and woods. Some garden can only cut it for so many games.

Curse of Darkness did a pretty good job of having a lot of outdoor areas and felt more like the Dracula's Curse/Super Castlevania IV/etc. type journies where you go through the entireity of Castlevania instead of just Dracula's castle.

The original name of the game, Akumajou Dracula, translates to Demon Castle Dracula. A couple of the GB games have names that translate to Castle of Dracula. Even though many Castlevanias have areas outside the castle, there is no land of Castlevania that the Belmonts (or other heroes) roam about, the main setting of the game is still the Castle.

I find the CoD area remarks ironic considering how most of the areas, indoor or not, are either straight paths or squares. DoS may still have areas that look just like ones in other games, but it does have a couple areas outside the castle (the one with the cars is especially notable) and the final area is extremely cool.

Turrican wrote:
Neo Rasa wrote:(he didn't direct SotN on paper but everyone on the staff that's interviewed agrees that he was the primary driving force on the project and its direction)
Yeah, the guy worked hard to make you believe that. Interviews and such... basically the series needed a spokeperson in this age of "videogames-are-art-where-is-castlevania's-kubrick-the-one-who-envisioned-the-whole-thing-philosophically-the-almighty-one-and-only-author" and he jumped in.

Some of the japanese die hard CV fans I used to chat with were of the opinion that he's just a glory seeker. Not that I dislike the guy entirely, mind you... but his "director" role is largely myth. "Iga Produce" and "Iga Supervisor" is more like that. This applies to GBA entries as well, of course.

I'm wondering about some of his interviews. I could have sworn that I read an interview where Iga outright dissed Circle of the Moon and said that it's all graphics and no gameplay, though I was told he said otherwise in another review. I wonder if it was mistranslation, a false article or if Iga did indeed say different things in different interviews.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:28 am

BrianC wrote:A couple of the GB games have names that translate to Legend of Dracula.

Corrected.

BrianC wrote:I'm wondering about some of his interviews. I could have sworn that I read an interview where Iga outright dissed Circle of the Moon and said that it's all graphics and no gameplay, though I was told he said otherwise in another review. I wonder if it was mistranslation, a false article or if Iga did indeed say different things in different interviews.

It was an old gamespot interview I should have saved somewhere. It was not so hard on the game, but he remarked that Nathan was clumsy to control, and the screen too dark... He was pretty honest, imo.

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:49 am

Turrican wrote:legendary directors like "Axelay" Ueda or Toru Hagihara are unmatched.

Agreed. I think it's a shame that it's only after Igarashi became popular among gamers that Konami started trying to put potential rock star status on on their other names like Akira Yamaoka. You see it even on the US releases for Neo Contra and such, on the back of the packaging there's a "directed by ______" to build name recognition beyond it just being a Konami game. Figure they do that so they have someone to put on a pedestal whenever the day comes that Hideo Kojima is no longer attatched to them.

there is no land of Castlevania that the Belmonts (or other heroes) roam about, the main setting of the game is still the Castle.

This is pretty obvious, I'm using "Castlevania" as a catch all for the Transylvanian countryside and the other locations. Whether they call it Transylvania or the Carpathians or Wallachia in a given game it's still "castle" and "woods," I mean it's good enough that Konami uses it as the US name for the franchise so I figure it should be fine for this thread.

Either way, Curse of Darkness pulls this off. The structural design is bland, but visually you spend a good chunk of the game outdoors, which is step back in the right direction to me.

I found the outdoor area in Dawn of Sorrow to be a huge tease.

Igarashi did outright dis Circle of the Moon. In one interview he was more fair towards, it, but in a future one about a month before Harmony of Dissonance's US release he refers to HoD as an apology for the failure that was Circle of the Moon (ironically my favorite of the three GBA Castlevanias). I loved the controls in it myself.

After what he said, I was really let down by HoD because of how clunky its controls are and how rediculously bland its level design is to play through compared to Circle of the Moon.

Turrican:

I do agree that Igarashi is a glory seeker, though at the same time I think this is intended by Konami.

MadSteelDarkness · Post by **MadSteelDarkness** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 5:43 am

Just got a DS today (my awesome lady friend bought me the lovely bright red one), and so I'm finally getting to play this...

...and I like it. Sure, it's no SOTN (or Rondo or Bloodlines or IV, obviously), but I'm quite enjoying it.

Since, in some ways, the DS seems like a portable N64 (what with the SM64 and Mario Kart ports and all), it makes me sad that a 2D Castlevania (or Metrovania) never came out for the ol' N64.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 5:54 am

MadSteelDarkness wrote: Since, in some ways, the DS seems like a portable N64 (what with the SM64 and Mario Kart ports and all), it makes me sad that a 2D Castlevania (or Metrovania) never came out for the ol' N64.

Mario Kart DS is not a port. It's an exclusive DS game. Also, SM64 DS isn't a brand new game with some classic levels like Mario Kart, but it does have enough new to be more of a remake than a port.

MadSteelDarkness · Post by **MadSteelDarkness** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 6:06 am

BrianC wrote:
MadSteelDarkness wrote: Since, in some ways, the DS seems like a portable N64 (what with the SM64 and Mario Kart ports and all), it makes me sad that a 2D Castlevania (or Metrovania) never came out for the ol' N64.
Mario Kart DS is not a port. It's an exclusive DS game. Also, SM64 DS isn't a brand new game with some classic levels like Mario Kart, but it does have enough new to be more of a remake than a port.

Ah, fair enough. I guess I was thinking more of the graphical similarities than anything else. Thanks for the clarification.

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 10:53 am

That said, Mario 64 DS has some pretty dramatic improvements graphically. Had to see them side by side to realize it though. Some of the things that were sprites in the N64 game (like some of the trees) are 3D objects, and it looks like all the textures were redone in a slightly higher resolution and some things were re-textured entirely.

MKDS has made me very happy.

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 1:47 am

Played it some more, things started to interest me with the Puppet Master boss. I was surprised at how cool the boss after that was (the one all the way up in the tower). The best thing about DOS are the bosses, to me.
It's a good game, just disappointing after hearing how amazingly awesome it was.
I prefer the Magic Card system to this weapon/demon soul fusing crap.

I'm at the part where I've got to find a demon's soul who can move in and out of mirrors.