Castlevania DS - Dawn of Sorrow

UnscathedFlyingObject · Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:55 am

Yeah, it just gets better after the difficulty picks up. Try unequipping armor, cheap souls, and not using items for maximum enjoyment.

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 4:16 am

With that in mind, at times I liked Julius Mode more than the main game. Great challenge there if you don't power level, plus several areas have remixes of classic Castlevania songs play in that mode.

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 4:20 am

Oh yeah, did anyone else realize there was an opening cinema before the start of the game? I was at level 30 last night, had played the game for a few hours and before starting the game, pressed the bottom button and hey! an animated cinema.

I can go through entire games without noticing something crucial like that.

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 10:55 pm

I beat DOS a few days. Wicked cool last boss, I wish I could have gotten a glimpse at his entire body. Good game, I'm not too interested in playing Julius Mode now, though.

After that, I put in PS1 Castlevania Chronicles and played it for awhile...surprisingly, I beat the game, something I hadn't done before. The music was fantastic, but my main problem with the game was the assloads of stair climbing. I mean even for a Vania game there was too much stair climbing and cheapness abound. Death and Drac were surprisingly easy, though. That boomerang cross man, that was a godsend.

And after that, last night I played Bloodlines. I had beaten it before years ago, but only using the Password system. I was really into beating it all the way now. So I played through it the first time as the spear boy, died at Drac, then at 2 this morning I booted it up again as John Morris (how the hell is he a Belmont if his last name's Morris? Something I never got) and beat the game using one credit. I was really proud of myself, but something I noticed and didn't want to admit was how it wasn't as amazing as I used to think it was...to me, it's still a 16-bit work of art, but it's aged. Still, everything about this game was pushed to the limit, some of the best music on the Genney.

Three Castlevania games in three nights, that's a record. Guess I'm becoming a better gamer.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Tue Jan 03, 2006 4:40 am

You should play Julius Mode for the other final boss. It's really cool.

PFG 9000 · Post by **PFG 9000** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:37 am

LoneSage wrote:Three Castlevania games in three nights, that's a record. Guess I'm becoming a better gamer.

I've been meaning to play through the series again, but there're too many shmups and newer games I'm working on. Hats off to you for your CV feat!

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 2:40 am

Man, this game was a bitch to find! I found the last copy at a Wal-Mart, but it was worth it. 2D Graphics never looked so beautiful, and the gameplay rocks!

I love the soundtrack in this game! Now I've got this bad habit of plugging my DS into the car so I can listen to the music in the game.

I now have acess to the final area, right now I'm collecting souls and leveling up so I'll be ready for the final boss. I tried to not look up hints on Gamefaqs and try to figure the game out, but I couldn't resist the urge and now I find out that I'm past the point where you can get the bad ending, so I'll have to play again on New Game+ and "forget" to equip the charm Genya gives you.

I wonder how the other Castletroids are? I bet Sympthony of the Night is uber-expensive now.....

UnscathedFlyingObject · Wed Jan 25, 2006 2:46 am

FatCobra wrote:I wonder how the other Castletroids are? I bet Sympthony of the Night is uber-expensive now.....

SoTN is great and not uber-expensive.

Post by **Ghegs** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 11:26 am

UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:
FatCobra wrote:I wonder how the other Castletroids are? I bet Sympthony of the Night is uber-expensive now.....
SoTN is great and not uber-expensive.

Symphony is indeed pretty damn good, and the US version got a re-release so it's easy and cheap to find. The PAL version, however, didn't and is always in demand. I sold mine for ~US$ 80 and bought a US version.

It's technically better with the 60hz, after all.

PFG 9000 · Post by **PFG 9000** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 4:23 pm

FatCobra wrote:I wonder how the other Castletroids are? I bet Sympthony of the Night is uber-expensive now.....

Fans seem to be pretty split on the 3 GBA Castleroids. I love all three, but I think Aria of Sorrow is the best. But they are all very highly regarded in the GBA library.

Symphony of the Night is fantastic. The game is hyped up enough already, so I won't say too much about it. But I highly recommend picking up a copy if you can find one. The US Greatest Hits version is still not terribly hard to find these days.

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:21 pm

I just picked up the Castlevania Double Pack yesterday so I now have all thee of the GBA Castlevanias. I haven't had a whole lot of chance to play HoD yet, but it seems a lot easier to control than CotM. I don't see it as replacing Aria as my favorite of the three though.

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 4:25 am

FatCobra wrote: I love the soundtrack in this game! Now I've got this bad habit of plugging my DS into the car so I can listen to the music in the game.

I too love the soundtrack of this game. So much so that I didn't even wait to unlock the sound test. I recorded the music on to my computer and encoded them to high-quality 192kbps MP3s, then I slapped them into my iPod.

I did this by going to the sound options and turning sounds and voices all the way down, and visiting each area by going to the Warp Rooms, then recording each area's music. Yes, I am missing a few boss themes, except the best one, called "Into the Dark Night," which I recorded by starting an Enemy Set Mode game. I made each theme loop twice and fade out on the third loop. I haven't even beaten the game for the good ending, nor have I gone through all the areas yet. The music in this game is that good.

I generally like the DoS tracks composed by the Castlevania 64 composer (Masahiko Kimura) better than those composed by Michiru Yamane. My favorite song hands down is "Dracula's Tears," played in the Wizardry Lab. That song has to be the most catchy, technically-sound piece of music I've heard in a very long time, period (video game, movie, or regular music). In this age of games that use licensed music and generally uninspired-sounding soundtracks, it's great to hear a game song that's actually this well-written. "Pitch Black Intrusion" (The Lost Village), the minimalist "Platinum Moonlight" (Garden of Madness) and the gothic "After Confession" (Dark Chapel) are favorites as well. The music in Condemned Tower and Cursed Clock Tower are catchy as well. The only song I didn't like is the one played in Subterranean Hell.

The last time I felt this way about a game's soundtrack is when I heard Battle Bakraid's soundtrack.

PM me if you want me to send you these DoS MP3 files I made, and I shall as soon as I can get regular Internet access.

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 7:34 pm

The game has a sound test mode once you have beaten it (I think you have to get the good ending for it though.) That might be easier to record off of. I happen to like the music in the Pinnacle, as well as the two tracks found in Julius Mode (which I believe are remixes of songs found in Bloodlines.)

Post by **nZero** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 8:09 pm

Alluro wrote:I too love the soundtrack of this game. So much so that I didn't even wait to unlock the sound test. I recorded the music on to my computer and encoded them to high-quality 192kbps MP3s, then I slapped them into my iPod.

JI picked up the original soundtrack a couple months back, I'll bet he'd be more than happy to share rips.