[DS] Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

Originally Posted by sprouticus

The other 2 GBA games are good and I recommend them, they're just not nearly as polished as Aria.

Whoa, what? Circle of the moon was a VERY successful leap to the GBA, and sports the music that is the most symphonic in any of the latest portable Castlevania games, including Dawn of Sorrow. Also, the bosses were more unique and awe inspiring in comparison to either of the Sorrow games (Seriously, Andramelech was one bad-ASS).

Also...

Why have there been no games like Simon's Quest? Honestly, I liked traveling to different towns and finding weapons and going on an adventure. If they can fit 2 Castlevania GBA games onto 1 cartridge, they sure as hell aren't making the games as big as they ought to be. I mean, why do you HAVE to be in pretty much the same goddamn castle EVERY time (that has a: dance hall / guest room, clocktower, chapel, underground reservoir, underground cemetary, highest tower / observation tower, and chaos realm). This is especially stupid when in Dawn of Sorrow you're in the cult's castle, not Dracula's, yet they are still the same.

I really hope they improve the battle system for the upcoming Castlevania games. This is particularly bothersome when they made the weapon-swings in Dawn of Sorrow slower than Aria of Sorrow. I mean, really, why does Soma have to stop every time he attacks? Can't he walk and attack at the same time?! Such a stupid limitation just makes me come up with equally stupid ways to negate said limitation, like land-canceling, backdash-canceling, and crouch-canceling. I want strategy! I want mobility! The recent 2d Castlevania games have been way too easy and feature NO strategy whatsoever, and I find myself simply pressing the attack button over and over again.

Don't get me wrong. I really like the Castlevania games. I bought Dawn of Sorrow because I knew it would be fun, and I know that I can expect the standard of quality for the Castlevania series to be higher than most any other sidescrolling action-rpg games. It just pains me to see when a great opportunity is missed, especially when the GBA games could have been way more than they are.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by sprouticus

Could Soma move and attack at the same time in Aria, because I don't remember him being able to. I don't think any hero in any CV game could move and attack at the same time. I think the land canceling and all that stuff is good strategy and adds to the game. it makes it more difficult for you since you can't move, so you need to figure out better ways to do it yourself.

No, he couldn't. And no, no Castlevania game features any hero being able to attack and move at the same time, with the exception of the Valmanway. You say that you think land-canceling and all that stuff is good strategy, but I disagree. I don't mean to get into an argument, but in Castlevania, I find myself mini-jumping and attacking in the air a whole lot so I can keep moving while I'm attacking. Have you ever seen somebody in real life do mini jumps to cancel their stop-movement when attacking? No! What I'm talking about is intuitive strategy, not my ability to press buttons.

When programming enemy A.I. in a videogame, the developers have to take into account what the hero's attack limitations are. The more a hero can do, the smarter the A.I. has to be, and the less a hero can do, the less the A.I. has to do as well, so as to balance the difficulty out. What Konami has done here with Castlevania is put attack limitations on Soma so that the enemy A.I. has to do less.

There's nowhere I can't reach.