The PS2 Backlog Committee Game Club #1 - Castlevania: Aria Of Sorrow

[canedaddy]

Pretty good first run of the game club I'd say!

Agreed!


I beat it last night, then went back and did it again with the required items to move to the bonus stuff. I reached what apparently is the ultimate boss but lost on its second phase. Unfortunately, I ran out of healing items on the previous bosses, the journey and the first phase, so I'd have to fight it perfectly (or spam R2). I'll try it again, but I'm probably screwed when it comes to going back to right before the pre-credit boss... I saved a couple of times in the end game so I'm sure they overwrote that save.

But rewind though ! Old man, you use rewind by holding down R2 and pressing left on the d pad. I probably would've stopped playing without rewind on Balore. I did not like that boss...but his intro was cool .

Ha, I never did that. Could have saved myself some headaches.

[isthatallyougot]

Beat it tonight w/ the regular/bad/whatever ending. Looked up how to get the good ending (izzy, those books - there are only 3 - are hints to what you need for the good ending) and will do that next. Don't think I'm gonna grind out the rest of the souls.

Very good game, I'll sort my thoughts & post more on that later. Pretty good first run of the game club I'd say!

Agreed!


I beat it last night, then went back and did it again with the required items to move to the bonus stuff. I reached what apparently is the ultimate boss but lost on its second phase. Unfortunately, I ran out of healing items on the previous bosses, the journey and the first phase, so I'd have to fight it perfectly (or spam R2). I'll try it again, but I'm probably screwed when it comes to going back to right before the pre-credit boss... I saved a couple of times in the end game so I'm sure they overwrote that save.

Ok thanks. And yeah, fun Game Club run. We'll do it again when/if the stars ever align and we're all feeling it.

Btw, cane & argyle, do you think the bonus/final boss/etc is something that is worth trying to figure out on my own or is it one of those things that would just be too big a hassle? I really don't want to look it up, but I'm also satisfied with my experience overall and ready to move on.

[canedaddy]

Btw, cane & argyle, do you think the bonus/final boss/etc is something that is worth trying to figure out on my own or is it one of those things that would just be too big a hassle? I really don't want to look it up, but I'm also satisfied with my experience overall and ready to move on.

If you look at the three Ancient Books, you can probably figure out what you need to do going into the final boss if you want to go further.

Whether it's worth it probably depends on what you have in your inventory (whether you have what is needed or have to go get it).

I had it so it wasn't much of a hassle at all.

(I did look up what was needed... I didn't realize the Ancient Books were the clue.)

[isthatallyougot]

Ok thanks cane.

[argyle]

One of the books is kinda cryptic IMO, but then again I didn't really try very hard to figure them out - I was ready to just look it up. As far as being worth it, I think the true ending is much more interesting than the "bad" one. And that final boss...yikes. That thing is H-A-R-D. I was rewinding like crazy, and didn't think I would make it (I was at one hit left w/ no healing for a while at the very end, rewinding constantly to take back that last hit & try to avoid it). I have no idea how people ever beat that thing w/o the rewind.

Overall I really enjoyed the game. It's miles better than Circle, tho I still think the DS games I've played - especially Portrait - edge it out. And no, it doesn't touch SotN IMO. Still, it was a worthy game in the series and I'm glad to have finally gotten to play it.

A few random stats of my playthrough. I believe in the end I was lvl 50 (would have to recheck, but it was definitely 50 or 51). My most-used attack soul in the early game was Ghost - it hit hard, tho it did often just veer off into the wild and not hit anything. Mid-game I switched to Disc Armor and stuck with it for the most part for the rest of the game. For passive I used the Luck boost way too much - especially after reading towards the very end of my playthrough that it doesn't make any real difference in soul drops. Around mid-game I started using Headhunter a lot, since at that point it gave me a pretty significant boost to my stats. The middle soul ability I really didn't use a whole lot beyond the Flying Armor & Giant Bat abilities.

And I need to give a shout-out to the worst room in the game, that conveyor belt / spike / medusa nightmare. Just...no.

Also - is this the only Castlevania to not use the traditional sub weapons? (axe, cross, holy water, etc.) I will say, it KINDA makes sense when you get the true ending, but it was still odd. Especially since the hearts still dropped (and I guess they give you a little bit of magic back, but not a lot).

I agree w/ Izzy on the music - the music kinda sucks on the GBA anyway, but none of the tunes really stuck with me. I liked the mellow underground music OK, but again, Symphony it ain't. And it isn't a pretty game, but again, that's mostly due to the GBA. Honestly, SotN is such a step-up in pretty much all aspects compared to this game that it really feels like this game should have released first. Again, it's definitely not bad, I had a lot of fun with it - it just compares poorly.

[canedaddy]

A few random stats of my playthrough. I believe in the end I was lvl 50 (would have to recheck, but it was definitely 50 or 51). My most-used attack soul in the early game was Ghost - it hit hard, tho it did often just veer off into the wild and not hit anything. Mid-game I switched to Disc Armor and stuck with it for the most part for the rest of the game. For passive I used the Luck boost way too much - especially after reading towards the very end of my playthrough that it doesn't make any real difference in soul drops. Around mid-game I started using Headhunter a lot, since at that point it gave me a pretty significant boost to my stats. The middle soul ability I really didn't use a whole lot beyond the Flying Armor & Giant Bat abilities.

I didn't quite grasp just how many attacks you got via souls until pretty late. For most of the game I used Evil Butcher (knives). Mixed in some Flame Demon at the end.

And I need to give a shout-out to the worst room in the game, that conveyor belt / spike / medusa nightmare. Just...no.

Ha, that one was infuriating. I said the heck with it until I got Giant Bat and just flew through it.

Especially since the hearts still dropped

That's something I meant to ask here. I saw no evidence that the hearts moved my health bar at all... throughout the entire game. Even when I picked up a giant one. Did I miss something?

[argyle]

That's something I meant to ask here. I saw no evidence that the hearts moved my health bar at all... throughout the entire game. Even when I picked up a giant one. Did I miss something?

Hearts have never refilled health in Castlevania games (yeah, it's weird, but just a remnant of NES weirdness). Traditionally they have given you uses of your sub-weapons, but since there are no sub-weapons in Aria they refill a tiny bit of your magic meter - it's honestly not even noticeable unless you are staring at the bar when you get one, and even then I had to pick up a few to be sure.

[canedaddy]

Hearts have never refilled health in Castlevania games (yeah, it's weird, but just a remnant of NES weirdness). Traditionally they have given you uses of your sub-weapons, but since there are no sub-weapons in Aria they refill a tiny bit of your magic meter - it's honestly not even noticeable unless you are staring at the bar when you get one, and even then I had to pick up a few to be sure.

Good to know, thanks!

The little hearts will always remind of of the old Popeye arcade game.

[Phaseknox]

I decided to check out the Castlevania Advance Collection last night, and I played a little of Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow. I didn’t really like Circle of the Moon, but I did like Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow. I’m not really in the mood for them right now, but I’ll play them again in the future when I am.

[argyle]

Hearts have never refilled health in Castlevania games (yeah, it's weird, but just a remnant of NES weirdness). Traditionally they have given you uses of your sub-weapons, but since there are no sub-weapons in Aria they refill a tiny bit of your magic meter - it's honestly not even noticeable unless you are staring at the bar when you get one, and even then I had to pick up a few to be sure.

Good to know, thanks!

The little hearts will always remind of of the old Popeye arcade game.

I loved that game as a kid - there was a arcade cabinet of it at the grocery store we went to and I used to beg my mom for a quarter whenever we went.