Castlevania DS - Dawn of Sorrow

[Herr Schatten]

It's fantastic! If you waited for the killer app that convinces you to buy a DS, this is it. The graphics are amazing, as is the music. And the gameplay is of very high quality. At the moment, I'm about 70% through the game and I'm still amazed by the incredible variety CV-DoS throws at me.

Bosses in particular are very imaginative (with the exception of only very few ones). For example, one of the bosses is a flock of bats that takes on various shapes, among them a donut-laser spitting moai head. How ace is that?

The game makes moderately good use of the DSs abilities. Being able to see the map all the time on the second screen is a big plus and very helpful. Breaking ice blocks with the stylus seems a little gimmicky to me, but I'm nearly sure there will be a spot later in the game where a good puzzle will evolve around this. Sealing bosses by drawing magic seals is actually a great addition to the gameplay. If you don't seal the bosses in time or if you draw the magic circle the wrong way, they will attack more fiercely. And you don't have to have the stylus ready during the boss fight - drawing the circle with your finger works just fine.

I didn't know the game was to be released this early, so I was quite surprised to see it sitting on the shelf of my games store a week ago. Is it out in the rest of the world yet? If not, maybe they need a bit of time to change the graphics for the US version, as there are a lot of pixelated bare breasts on enemies and on statues in the background (no, really, I didn't remember CV being this naked), not to mention the many crosses, etc. Or have they finally stopped messing with the game graphics to make them suit the "taste" of their customers in recent years?

I think now I'll have to go and play the other non-linear Castlevanias (the ones for the GBA and the PSX/Saturn one) as the last CV I played before this one was actually Castlevania Bloodlines.

[Klatrymadon]

Good to hear. Apart from it being another "Metroidvania", I haven't heard any serious criticisms levelled at this one yet. I don't have a DS, but I'm going to pick it up soon, just in case there's only one production run (again).

I've played every single CV, and I still think CV IV is by far the best. In fact, I started a lightheartedly pretentious "appreciation thread" on IGN's Castlevania board, if you fancy going over there to wax poetic.

[GaijinPunch]

Yeah, it's good. I bought the import when it came out, and am pretty happy with it, although it only took me like 4 hours to clear. Maybe I should do hard mode.

[Turrican]

I think now I'll have to go and play the other non-linear Castlevanias (the ones for the GBA and the PSX/Saturn one) as the last CV I played before this one was actually Castlevania Bloodlines.

What? Yes, you need to play them. Start with Symphony of the Night, do yourself a favor.

And yes, recently completed Dawn of Sorrow and it's quality stuff, althoug a bit more of the samey. Then again, these are minor gripes that only a fanatic of the series can consider.

Oh, and like I was saying in the other thread, the use of DS feature proved to be gimmicky, but didn't harm the game either. ^_^

Anyway, it's my first DS purchase... Thank god, I could finally remove that Metroid Hunters demo from the slot. -_-

[Herr Schatten]

Yeah, it's good. I bought the import when it came out, and am pretty happy with it, although it only took me like 4 hours to clear. Maybe I should do hard mode.

I'm currently at the point where I can fight Dario for the 2nd time and get *some* ending, which is, of course, not very satisfying.

Fortunately, there's still some exploration to be done. (If only I knew how to get through the spikey narrow underwater passage in the underground hades area. No, don't tell me!)

[Turrican]

(If only I knew how to get through the spikey narrow underwater passage in the underground hades area. No, don't tell me!)

Be creative

[iatneH]

I pre-ordered it earlier this week when I saw that Venus Weed makes an appearance. SHE IS HOT. I mean, I knew I'd get the game sooner or later, but Venus Weed just changed that to ASAP.

Ahem...yeah.. hopefully this will be the killer app that will convince me to keep my DS. Not even the wannabe shooter Nanostray could hold my interest. I'm keen towards Advance Wars, but that's $30 that could be put towards RSG....

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

My DS is the Castlevania player for me. I didn't buy it for Meteos, Nanostray, or X whatever game. I bought it for Castlevania DS. I'm so obsessed, I've been counting the days since 50 days ago and unfortunately, spoiled quite a bit of the game to myself.

3 days left.

[SNKJorge]

This will make me buy a DS for sure.

[Turrican]

My DS is the Castlevania player for me.

No, it's not. Those idiots at Nintendo thought well to remove features already present on gba, and as a result you cannot use it like you (we) should have:

to play The Adventure, Belmont's Revenge and Legends as well as the others.

Don't want to complain too much, but how come that there happen to be always a reason to keep the previous hardware instead of selling it. Could it be intentional? Notice that the old GB carts fit perfectly in the slot.

[Moogs]

My DS is the Castlevania player for me.

No, it's not. Those idiots at Nintendo thought well to remove features already present on gba, and as a result you cannot use it like you (we) should have:

to play The Adventure, Belmont's Revenge and Legends as well as the others.

Don't want to complain too much, but how come that there happen to be always a reason to keep the previous hardware instead of selling it. Could it be intentional? Notice that the old GB carts fit perfectly in the slot.

Doesn't bother me at all, as I wouldn't touch any of the GB Castlevania games even if they were the only ones I could play. That's just me, though.

[BrianC]

My DS is the Castlevania player for me.

No, it's not. Those idiots at Nintendo thought well to remove features already present on gba, and as a result you cannot use it like you (we) should have:

to play The Adventure, Belmont's Revenge and Legends as well as the others.

Don't want to complain too much, but how come that there happen to be always a reason to keep the previous hardware instead of selling it. Could it be intentional? Notice that the old GB carts fit perfectly in the slot.

I thought you hated legends? Anyway, I would love to play the other two GB Castlevania games on DS (and maybe try out Legends), but I'm fine with the DS not having backwards compatibility with the GB and GBC. However, the GB Micro is a different story.

Edit: Oops, I typed NES when I meant DS.

[Turrican]

I thought you hated legends? Anyway, I would love to play the other two GB Castlevania games on DS (and maybe try out Legends), but I'm fine with the NES not having backwards compatibility with the GB and GBC. However, the GB Micro is a different story.

Oh, yeah, Legends is quite awful. You can say that I hate it. But I was just talking by principle, because I don't see a reason to not have GB compatibility on DS. I mentioned CV but of course I miss all the great GB masterworks.

Anyway, I'll just keep my previous hardware: GB, GBpocket, GBColor, GBadvance... Actually, there were a pair of funny Penny Arcade strips about this situation.

And Moogs, you don't know what you're missing not playing Belmont's Revenge ^_^.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

I just dreamed of a new Contra, and it was amazing. It had stupidly good 3d graphics that even bettered 2d iterations of the series. One level featured a gigantic multicolored typhoon in the middle of a post-apocaliptic city. The thing went round and round and round until I was left mesmerized by the purty colors. It was then that I noticed I was watching the game from my computer instead of playing it and somehow had about half a dozen of clips. They were from levels 1, 2, and 3, and they made me regret spoiling the game to myself.

Let's hope there's more 2D goodness from Konami. That teaser dream was more amazing than anything they have ever put out.

[Turrican]

sorry, I must be the one high on something. Deleted.

[Vexorg]

If you're waiting for the killer app for the DS, then it means you must have missed Meteos when it came out, but I digress. I got to see this one when they were showing it at PAX back in August, and I didn't really get a good look at it (they had their trade show kiosks which displayed on LCD TVs, which I think distorted the graphics a bit) but it still looks quite nice, and the effects will probably look quite impressive. I've got a preorder in for it, and since I enjoyed AoS, I'll probably spend hours and hours playing it.

[BrianC]

Slightly OT, but I "tried out" the second GBC Hunter X Hunter game and it turned out to be a Castlevania clone! A pretty good one from what I played too. It even has some cherry like objects that you whip instead of candles. The main character has a yo-yo that works just like the whip in Castlevania. The game even has Castlevania-ish enemies and music.

Dawn of Sorrow sounds very cool. It will probably be one of the first games I get when I get a DS.

[Moogs]

And Moogs, you don't know what you're missing not playing Belmont's Revenge ^_^.

I've played Belmont's Revenge. I'll admit it's the better of the three GB games, but it felt too slow and rigid, just like the other two. I know they had to work within the limitations of the GB, but it just didn't feel right.

Music was excellent, though.

[PFG 9000]

CV is by far my favorite series. The game comes out here tomorrow, and I've been looking forward to it for a long, long time. I bought a DS just for Dawn of Sorrow (well, also so that I can finally play my GBA games without emulating). I'm sure it'll be quite good, but I would still prefer a new classic style CV, i.e. not a Castleroid.

[Klatrymadon]

I would still prefer a new classic style CV, i.e. not a Castleroid.

Too right. Ten or so levels, Simon Belmont, no bullshit.

[Herr Schatten]

(If only I knew how to get through the spikey narrow underwater passage in the underground hades area. No, don't tell me!)

Be creative

I was. But I was a bit turned down by the solution. The puzzle looked as if could be solved using the Puppetmaster's soul, so I was quite a bit disappointed when the solution turned out to be quite different. IMO it's just wrong when you can access a whole area only with the help of a soul you can only get at random. I think every area should be reachable with only the abilities you get from the souls of bosses, as it is guaranteed that you obtain those. Ah well, nevermind, it's not that I would've missed a whole lot if I hadn't gotten through that passage.

I got every room of the castle explored by now, the game tells me that I've completed a little more of 90%. My next fight is against Death, whom I couldn't beat yet. The map looks as if there are two more rooms left, my guess is that I will meet Celia and Dmitrii there. Am I right?

However, a few questions remain:

I've seen every room in the castle, but spots number 29, 32, 81, 88, 89, 94, 97 and 99 in my monster list are still empty. Which monsters are those? And how could I possibly have missed them?

What does it mean when, while forging new weapons, the name of the next weapon upgrade is not displayed, but something resembling a little yellow crown instead? Does that mean my weapon has already reached the highest level?

Is it possible to summon the flying creature you can see in the distance when you are on top of the tower? I thought that maybe you could attract it using the big floodlights in the corridor with the giant knights, but I couldn't find a way to light them.

Is there a Yeti? Or is it just some nonsense from the Mystic News?



BTW, I love the new (much more linear, classic Castlevania-style) game mode that's unlocked when you get the bad ending and in which you can play with Julius, Yoko and Alucard.

[Pshooter]

This game is one of the main reasons I got a DS. When is the official date it hits store shelves? 10/4 ?

[PFG 9000]

10/4 (tomorrow) is the shipping date, so most stores won't have it until Wednesday. At least, that's the way it usually works around me.

[Moogs]

I would still prefer a new classic style CV, i.e. not a Castleroid.

Too right. Ten or so levels, Simon Belmont, no bullshit.

The weird thing is that Koji Igarashi claims that Castlevania III is his favourite game in the series. Given his track record, I have to wonder if the guy has even played the game. Although, supposedly Curse of Darkness ties into Castlevania III.

I'm not complaining, cos Castlevania is my favourite series and I love Igarashi's take on it, but he needs to watch what he says.

[BrianC]

I would still prefer a new classic style CV, i.e. not a Castleroid.

Too right. Ten or so levels, Simon Belmont, no bullshit.

The weird thing is that Koji Igarashi claims that Castlevania III is his favourite game in the series. Given his track record, I have to wonder if the guy has even played the game. Although, supposedly Curse of Darkness ties into Castlevania III.

I'm not complaining, cos Castlevania is my favourite series and I love Igarashi's take on it, but he needs to watch what he says.

Well, SotN had some ties into Akumajo Denestu/Castlevania III too. So do Aira of Sorrow and Harmony of Dissonance, if I remember correctly. However, I do agree that Igarashi needs to watch what he says. He was very harsh on Circle of the Moon.

[Klatrymadon]

The weird thing is that Koji Igarashi claims that Castlevania III is his favourite game in the series. Given his track record, I have to wonder if the guy has even played the game.

That's what I've always thought. The games he has worked on are all absolutely brilliant, but IGA's claim that CV3 is his favourite is a little hard to swallow when he and his team are clearly making no effort push the 2D games back into console territory (although I am aware of the real difficulties they would face in doing so), let alone try to reintroduce the 'classic' style in terms of gameplay and perhaps music. The references to the old games are there, but there's nothing substantial. I want to see the gameplay return, and to be honest, I'm not overly fond of Ayami Kojima's art either. Castlevania used to have a gothic style all its own (Super Castlevania IV standing out as the epitome of this in my mind), but I think it has a far too 'modern' gothic look these days, which takes far too much inspiration from other forms of creative media, such as television. It's a small point, but take Trevor Belmont for example, who used to look like this:



... and who now looks like this:



... if indeed it is him! The change in style is so dramatic that it's hard to tell, so I just cut out the one from the poster who I thought was most likely to be him.

It wouldn't be reasonable of me to expect Konami to stick with the old camp-gothic Robert E. Howard inspired characters from the older games forever, but I think this series, at least in terms of its visuals, is increasingly pandering to the Buffy crowd!

[PFG 9000]

Spoilers below, for CV: Curse of Darkness.

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That is Trevor, for the record. It's been confirmed by Iga himself several times.

[Turrican]

I was. But I was a bit turned down by the solution. The puzzle looked as if could be solved using the Puppetmaster's soul, so I was quite a bit disappointed when the solution turned out to be quite different. IMO it's just wrong when you can access a whole area only with the help of a soul you can only get at random. I think every area should be reachable with only the abilities you get from the souls of bosses, as it is guaranteed that you obtain those. Ah well, nevermind, it's not that I would've missed a whole lot if I hadn't gotten through that passage.

Be more creative that you have been: that passage can be solved with Puppetmaster, if you combine it with the use of another soul, that is

Well, SotN had some ties into Akumajo Denestu/Castlevania III too. So do Aira of Sorrow and Harmony of Dissonance, if I remember correctly. However, I do agree that Igarashi needs to watch what he says. He was very harsh on Circle of the Moon.

Well, Aria and Harmony are not so linked to CVIII. I mean, of course CVIII is homaged here and there, there's an object in Harmony called Sypha's Charm, and Yoko Belnades in Aria, but these are loose ties after all.
Igarashi was not so harsh on Cotm. He said it was a fine game overall, but he was turned off by two things: the screen was too dark (and I dare to see who disagree with this) and Nathan's controls were a bit awkward. I think those are legitimate issues with the game.

Oh, he also mentioned something about the DSS system not being too much related to ortodox church for a Belmont inheritor iirc...

[Vexorg]

My biggest issue with CotM was that it just plays too slow. You have to keep constantly doing a double-tap to dash if you want to get anywhere at a reasonable speed (or to execute most of the necessary jumps, for that matter). You also spend a lot of time backtracking to look for stuff until you finally get sick of it and look for spoilers for where to go next. It has some interesting mechanics to it, but the control is too much of a pain.

[BrianC]

I was. But I was a bit turned down by the solution. The puzzle looked as if could be solved using the Puppetmaster's soul, so I was quite a bit disappointed when the solution turned out to be quite different. IMO it's just wrong when you can access a whole area only with the help of a soul you can only get at random. I think every area should be reachable with only the abilities you get from the souls of bosses, as it is guaranteed that you obtain those. Ah well, nevermind, it's not that I would've missed a whole lot if I hadn't gotten through that passage.

Be more creative that you have been: that passage can be solved with Puppetmaster, if you combine it with the use of another soul, that is

Well, SotN had some ties into Akumajo Denestu/Castlevania III too. So do Aira of Sorrow and Harmony of Dissonance, if I remember correctly. However, I do agree that Igarashi needs to watch what he says. He was very harsh on Circle of the Moon.

Well, Aria and Harmony are not so linked to CVIII. I mean, of course CVIII is homaged here and there, there's an object in Harmony called Sypha's Charm, and Yoko Belnades in Aria, but these are loose ties after all.
Igarashi was not so harsh on Cotm. He said it was a fine game overall, but he was turned off by two things: the screen was too dark (and I dare to see who disagree with this) and Nathan's controls were a bit awkward. I think those are legitimate issues with the game.

Oh, he also mentioned something about the DSS system not being too much related to ortodox church for a Belmont inheritor iirc...

Oh. I didn't know he said that. I just read somewhere that he said something like that his games were superior and that he didn't like Circle of the Moon because it's graphics over gameplay. I agree that that other stuff isn't so harsh. That stuff I read was probably some unfounded gamefaqs rumor.

I'm fine with the controls in CotM (though manly becuase I'm used to the controls in Belmont's Revenge and Castlevania the Adventure), the game looks fine on the SP with backlight (and in very good lighting), and I found the DSS system to be very well designed (for the most part. Some of the DSS combinations are useless, especially the one that increases INT). BTW, I got through the game without use of a faq (except to see what a couple DSS cards do) and the game has a map that makes it so backtracking isn't too bad. As far as Aria and Harmony being linked to CV 3, it wasn't the items I was referring to. Did you notice anything about the last names of a few of the characters? It's confirmed that they are decendents of characters from CVIII.