God of War, CastleVania LOI & Rygar...

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 10:09 pm

With SOTN, it isn't as much the fact that the game is a non-linear, RPG entry into the series as it is that KONAMI REMOVED THE DAMN WHIP!!!

ahem.

Seriously, you need a whip to deal with the enemies that are thrown at you in ANY Castlevania game. But in SOTN, all you get, except for the first boss fight, is a pathetically-short sword. You get a longer one as the game progresses, but it still doesn't begin to match the reach of the whip.

The sword in the upcoming DS Castlevania looks a lot longer, but I am still pretty skeptical. IMO, Konami NEVER should've removed such a key element of the series gameplay.

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 10:28 pm

hhm...
Maybe you haven't played it enough to obtain all the weapons.
There are hundreds of swords of different lengths & strengths.
One of the longest I've obtained, was the "Rune Sword" similar to Strider's Fully powered Beam Saber, but longer. It covers more than half of the screen length & in no way could the classic CastleVania whip cover that distance.

Personally I was never that fond of the classic whip... it was too slow compared to the lightning-fast sword slashes in SOTN.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 1:37 am

dave4shmups wrote:With SOTN, it isn't as much the fact that the game is a non-linear, RPG entry into the series as it is that KONAMI REMOVED THE DAMN WHIP!!!

I hate the whip. I was very happy to see it gone. I'd like the option of it though.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Mon Sep 12, 2005 1:57 am

I found most swords from hour 1 on to be long enough to deal with any hazzard. Unless, one s*cks big time.

NTSC-J · Post by **NTSC-J** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 2:35 am

DMC is pretty weak. The sequels I haven't played...

LoI is almost as weak, but the soundtrack is better, and it has the bonus of being Castlevania.

Rygar sucks.

GoW I just finished today and it was weak, yet better than the aforementioned games. I hate games that give me a million and one moves that I can do, when only one or two are necessary. The puzzles were old hat, the soundtrack and graphics generic, and the story a miserable misogynist pile. I liked the QTE stuff tho.

I've yet to get into Ninja Gaiden, but Shinobi and Berserk for PS2 are the kings of this tired genre.

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 3:23 am

NTSC-J wrote:DMC is pretty weak. The sequels I haven't played...

LoI is almost as weak, but the soundtrack is better, and it has the bonus of being Castlevania.

Devil May Cry had the bonus of level design that wasn't created by a random level generator that can only handle halls and large empty cubes.

TWITCHDOCTOR · Post by **TWITCHDOCTOR** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 3:41 am

NTSC-J wrote:DMC is pretty weak. The sequels I haven't played...

LoI is almost as weak, but the soundtrack is better, and it has the bonus of being Castlevania.

Rygar sucks.

GoW I just finished today and it was weak, yet better than the aforementioned games. I hate games that give me a million and one moves that I can do, when only one or two are necessary. The puzzles were old hat, the soundtrack and graphics generic, and the story a miserable misogynist pile. I liked the QTE stuff tho.

I've yet to get into Ninja Gaiden, but Shinobi and Berserk for PS2 are the kings of this tired genre.

So, whats Berserk like? Could it be compared to say, that PS1 game with Brude Willis voiceovers "Apocolypse"? Maybe a little Neo Contra-ish?

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 3:53 am

UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:I found most swords from hour 1 on to be long enough to deal with any hazzard. Unless, one s*cks big time.

Well thanks for that info, because I never got that far into the game!

NTSC-J · Post by **NTSC-J** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 3:55 am

TWITCHDOCTOR wrote:So, whats Berserk like? Could it be compared to say, that PS1 game with Brude Willis voiceovers "Apocolypse"? Maybe a little Neo Contra-ish?

Uhhh...no. It's based on the manga and it rules, mainly due to it's brilliant fan service. Don't bother if you're not into the series.

TWITCHDOCTOR · Post by **TWITCHDOCTOR** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 4:43 am

NTSC-J wrote:
TWITCHDOCTOR wrote:So, whats Berserk like? Could it be compared to say, that PS1 game with Brude Willis voiceovers "Apocolypse"? Maybe a little Neo Contra-ish?
Uhhh...no. It's based on the manga and it rules, mainly due to it's brilliant fan service. Don't bother if you're not into the series.

Well, I never knew that Berserk was a Manga. All this time I thought it was an update to the arcade original.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:01 am

TWITCHDOCTOR wrote:
NTSC-J wrote:
TWITCHDOCTOR wrote:So, whats Berserk like? Could it be compared to say, that PS1 game with Brude Willis voiceovers "Apocolypse"? Maybe a little Neo Contra-ish?
Uhhh...no. It's based on the manga and it rules, mainly due to it's brilliant fan service. Don't bother if you're not into the series.
Well, I never knew that Berserk was a Manga. All this time I thought it was an update to the arcade original.

The arcade game is spelled "Berzerk". The manga and anime is called "Berserk". I love the Atari 2600 Berzerk port! The Berzerk sequel, Frenzy also rocks. I love how you can bounce your projectiles off walls in the sequel.

howmuchkeefe · Post by **howmuchkeefe** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 6:36 am

I haven't played LoI or Rygar.

GoW, NG and DMC all rock, in my book. But since we're ranking them:

NG>DMC>GoW

It's a 10>9>8 thing, not a 10>6>1 thing.

I'd never played anything like DMC before when it came out; it made one hell of a first impression. Ninja Gaiden just kept getting better and better as I progressed through the game, plus it had UPDATES! Good updates. FREE updates!

Meanwhile, GoW was just really good. It could have used more bosses, and a higher difficulty level, IMO. If NG and DMC didn't exist, GoW would have absolutely amazed me.

I did enjoy the many ways that Kratos could kill his opponents.

PFG 9000 · Post by **PFG 9000** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:46 am

landshark wrote:
dave4shmups wrote:With SOTN, it isn't as much the fact that the game is a non-linear, RPG entry into the series as it is that KONAMI REMOVED THE DAMN WHIP!!!
I hate the whip. I was very happy to see it gone. I'd like the option of it though.

I also wish these newer CV's would include the whip. I love all the SotN/Adventure-style Castlevanias, but I vastly prefer the classic-style action based games. And it seems somewhat lacking in CV goodness to have a Castlevania without a whip. I don't understand why they can't hide a whip someplace in the castle, even if it isn't the Vampire Killer (which wouldn't make sense in the overarching story if it wasn't a Belmont using the Vampire Killah). Aria has the Whip Sword, but it's really just another sword with a new name. I like my whips to act like whips, thankyou.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 1:04 pm

i prefer the soul reaver games to GoW (and pretty all the others mentioned here).. only 3D platform action games i really like..

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 1:06 pm

dave4shmups wrote:With SOTN, it isn't as much the fact that the game is a non-linear, RPG entry into the series as it is that KONAMI REMOVED THE DAMN WHIP!!!

ahem.

Seriously, you need a whip to deal with the enemies that are thrown at you in ANY Castlevania game. But in SOTN, all you get, except for the first boss fight, is a pathetically-short sword. You get a longer one as the game progresses, but it still doesn't begin to match the reach of the whip.

The sword in the upcoming DS Castlevania looks a lot longer, but I am still pretty skeptical. IMO, Konami NEVER should've removed such a key element of the series gameplay.

play SOTN with richter for all the whip-action you can handle...

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 2:00 pm

NTSC-J wrote: GoW I just finished today and it was weak, yet better than the aforementioned games. I hate games that give me a million and one moves that I can do, when only one or two are necessary. The puzzles were old hat, the soundtrack and graphics generic, and the story a miserable misogynist pile. I liked the QTE stuff tho.

I've yet to get into Ninja Gaiden, but Shinobi and Berserk for PS2 are the kings of this tired genre.

I'm not sure we played the same game. The music and graphics in GOW were fantastic. Even the cut scenes were great. I usually bypass cutscenes, but I actually watched these.

Seems we have different opinions as Shinobi bores the hell out of me. Maybe I haven't gotten far enough in it.

Post by **nZero** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 3:12 pm

You want generic graphics and soundtrack, and a game with a shit-ton of moves and items where only a few are ever useful, go take a look at NanoBreaker. Wonderfully flawed PS2 action game based on the Castlevania engine. I think the best part was either the opening movie or the obscene amount of blood spilled by pretty much any attack/combo. Sadly enough, I still enjoyed it more than Castlevania Lament. Maybe because NB was only $10, thank you Circuit City clearance.

PFG 9000 · Post by **PFG 9000** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 4:01 pm

For some odd reason I picked up Nanobreaker despite mediocre reports all around. It's not a horrible game, and I did have some fun with it (I gave up after the first time I reached the final form of the last boss, and haven't gone back to it since...yet). The platforming parts were frustrating as hell since you drop off the edge of any platform to your watery/acidey/pitty demise, without any warning whatsoever. Cripes, even in lots of sidescrollers (Rayman, Sonic, Toejam & Earl) you'll get a warning when you're about to drop off the edge of a platform. Not in Nanobreaker.

Anyway, I thought the combo system was sorta fun, and I really liked the graphics during the cutscenes. I like many parts of the soundtrack as well. And the part towards the end when you're climbing up the final tower, and the camera shifts to make it a sidescrolling view...that was just awesome. But overall I was disappointed by the game. I should've listened to the reviews, but I'm afraid I'm turning into a Koji Igarashi fanboy. :/