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chuckroIn 1999, a final battle was raged against Dracula. He was killed once and for all, and his castle was sealed into a solar eclipse. Now, 35 years later, Soma Cruz is pulled into the castle in the eclipse with a number of mysterious strangers, and he begins to develop strange powers.
The difficultly jump when you reach the clock tower is really noticeable—I was cruising along until then and eventually had to hike back to Hammer and buy a full lot of potions, which I used all of against Death. My next big stumbling block was really once I got past the Bad Ending, because both of those bosses are nasty. I ended up exploring the last few bits of map and grinding a dozen levels (I beat Graham at level 40) in order to finish the game. Nonetheless, the game went really fast. I had 6 hours on the in-game clock, so probably 7 when you include deaths and lost progress. My notes claim I played 12 hours of this last time, and I’m really not sure how.
I did get the Claimh Solias, because I never met a game-breaker I wasn’t willing to exploit, but that was the only time I used a map or FAQ.
Much less of the content is gated behind the bad ending than many of the other Igavanias, upon reflection: Two bosses and less than 5% of the map. Which is good, because I think the path to the good end is a bit more on the obtuse side than some of the other games: Equip three specific souls, only one of which you get automatically, which are hinted at in three hidden books. Then again, I didn’t take off Giant Bat or Succubus once I got them because they’re both so useful, so I suppose stumbling into using Flame Demon against Graham wouldn’t be too big a stretch.
I realize that the Castlevania timeline has officially been rebooted with the Lords of Shadow games, and Iga has moved on to making Bloodstained, but upon reflection, I would have loved another couple of Soma games, or a game that depicted the 1999 final battle.
Overall: Solid Castlevania. Relatively short, relatively easy, with a lot of fun quirks and variety—and none of that is criticism.
The difficultly jump when you reach the clock tower is really noticeable—I was cruising along until then and eventually had to hike back to Hammer and buy a full lot of potions, which I used all of against Death. My next big stumbling block was really once I got past the Bad Ending, because both of those bosses are nasty. I ended up exploring the last few bits of map and grinding a dozen levels (I beat Graham at level 40) in order to finish the game. Nonetheless, the game went really fast. I had 6 hours on the in-game clock, so probably 7 when you include deaths and lost progress. My notes claim I played 12 hours of this last time, and I’m really not sure how.
I did get the Claimh Solias, because I never met a game-breaker I wasn’t willing to exploit, but that was the only time I used a map or FAQ.
Much less of the content is gated behind the bad ending than many of the other Igavanias, upon reflection: Two bosses and less than 5% of the map. Which is good, because I think the path to the good end is a bit more on the obtuse side than some of the other games: Equip three specific souls, only one of which you get automatically, which are hinted at in three hidden books. Then again, I didn’t take off Giant Bat or Succubus once I got them because they’re both so useful, so I suppose stumbling into using Flame Demon against Graham wouldn’t be too big a stretch.
I realize that the Castlevania timeline has officially been rebooted with the Lords of Shadow games, and Iga has moved on to making Bloodstained, but upon reflection, I would have loved another couple of Soma games, or a game that depicted the 1999 final battle.
Overall: Solid Castlevania. Relatively short, relatively easy, with a lot of fun quirks and variety—and none of that is criticism.
