Like previous Castlevania titles, game play is your typical 2d sidescroller. This means that you can count on lots of fighting, climbing and jumping. You play Soma Cruz, a high school student studying abroad. Konami bills this as the first Castlevania game that is set in the future'2035 to be precise, but what they don't tell you is that it really doesn't affect game play. After witnessing a solar eclipse, you pass out and awaken within a strange castle. The owner of the castle is, of course, Count Dracula. The only way to get home is to fight your way through a labyrinth of mazes, populate with all assortment of hostile monsters.What made this game really enjoyable, aside from the awesome level of detail and graphics, was the interesting game play elements worked into the game.
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Hack Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow Alter (Game Boy Advance). (8) Obtained Alucard Sword. Sword of Many Slashes. The patch doesn't work.
Every creature that you kill is recorded and earns you experience points. Earn enough experience points and you actually go up a level. This increases your abilities, the most critical of which is hit points.
Another nice twist is that as you kill creatures, you have the potential to steal their souls. With their souls, you gain the use of their special abilities, many of which are necessary for you to get to locations that are out of your reach. You will also find many of the special attacks are required to take out some of the more powerful monsters.
You don't get unlimited usage though'each use drains some of your MP. Don't worry though; your MP restores itself over time. Want to trade souls with your friends? You can do that by hooking up with your friend's GBA. Wouldn't your mother be proud of you!While I didn't like it at first, I grew to like the ability to only save your game in the special sanctuaries. Yeah, it makes the game more challenging, but it really fits in with the Castlevania world.
Now, even the best of games have their annoyances. One that particularly bothered me was the immediate re-spawn that occurs as soon as you exit an area. While this is a good way to get experience, it's extremely frustrating to finally clear an area, accidentally exit the area and come right back, only to have to fight the same critters over again. With each passing year, gamers can count on timely updates to their favorite franchises you can pick up a freshly crafted Madden, Tony Hawk, and.what the hell? Yep, Aria of Sorrow will be the third GBA Castlevania title in as many years. Don't fret, though Konami doesn't disappoint here: Not only does this latest journey through Drac's pad improve upon the previous game (Harmony of Dissonance), but it also takes the series somewhere it's never been before to the year 2035.Don't start envisioning phaser-wielding skeletons and goth robots. Keep an open mind.
Since the release dates for Aria and Harmony were relatively close together, we really needed to create two distinct games, explains Producer Koji Igarashi. We want to begin a new generation of Castlevania, one that explores what happens after Dracula's utter destruction. That's right Vlad's really dead this time. According to the game's story, a group of heroes were ready for Dracula's reappearance in 1999 and successfully obliterated him by trapping his castle in a solar eclipse.
Apparently, without his castle he's a total wuss, so after he was destroyed, they scattered his dust to the winds. Now, back to the future. In 2035, the mild-mannered (and disturbingly feminine) Soma Cruz is visiting Japan as an exchange student. A freakish solar eclipse occurs while he's visiting a local temple, and blammo! He's transported to good old Castlevania. Even though Dracula bit the dust, his castle's still teeming with legions of horrible monsters.
Luckily, Soma's been blessed with some nifty powers using the Soul system, he can use his enemies own skills against them (see below), and can also equip a full range of weapons, armor, and items, just like Alucard in Symphony of the Night (PS1). The Soul system replaces the traditional sub-weapon setup of past games, so you won't be picking up any axes, holy water, or crosses this time around. Certainly, it is a gameplay revolution, Igarashi says. But the control scheme itself will still be familiar to players, so they shouldn't have a tough time adjusting. The unexpected addition of the Soul system definitely shakes up the series fundamental gameplay (in a good way), but the development team didnt forget to address the few quibbles that gamers had with Harmony of Dissonance. First, the music has been substantially improved.
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Hot was the first GBA game we did Circle of the Moon was developed by a different team: Konamis Kyoto group we didn't know how far we could push the machine, says Igarashi. Now, we have a much better idea of the GBA's capabilities, so we can pull some really high-quality stuff out of it.
We've heard it, and yep much better tunes. Konami has also tackled gamers other main peeve: the difficulty. Harmony was a fantastic game but rather easy.
Hopefully, the undead cakewalks are behind us. The internal evaluators playing it at Konami keep telling me that its too hard this time! Laughs Igarashi. Three wonderful GBA games in as many years.how do they do it?
Deal with the devil? A legion of undead coders slaving away at night, perhaps? All I know is that Aria of Sorrow is the best GBA title to date-it perfectly blends the exploration-based gameplay of (PS1) with a refreshing story (set in 2035 and packed with cool twists) and a fiendishly addictive new PokemonAWe power-up system. Well, you don't gotta catch 'em all, but 110 of the game's foes drop unique ability-bestowing orbs, or 'souls,' you can equip (or trade with friends via link cable).
Snatching these souls to customize your abilities makes this romp through Drac's abode feel distinctly different and more rewarding than the previous GBA 'Vanias, Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance. Beyond this excellent soul system, Aria still outclasses its forerunners-the eerily beautiful graphics look great, the equipment you pick up is creative (you can wield everything from handguns to swords made of lightning), and the music's a big improvement over HOD's janky tunes.
Also, expect a sizable challenge this time around, as the regular enemies pack quite a punch and some of the bosses are hellishly nasty. Don't listen when John 'the Hater' knocks Aria for its length-he's dead wrong. Getting the true ending took me just as long as achieving 200 percent in HOD, and there's plenty of incentive to replay. Buy this game. For all the fuss over this being the first Castlevania game set in the future, you'd think Aria of Sorrow would have a few more guns, gadgets, and giant robots to fool around with. Aside from finding a handgun fairly late in the game, I can't remember anything that really took advantage of the futuristic setting, which is disappointing.
Still, Aria's gameplay is top-notch, and for the seven or so hours it lasts, you'll have a hard time putting down your GBA. My only gripe is that it ends too soon. There's plenty of stuff to keep you busy (two different ways to replay the game, a Boss Rush mode, over 100 enemy souls to collect, etc.), but the main quest this time around is a bit short. Aria of Sorrow? More like Ode to Joy-I haven't been this glued to my GBA since.
Another Castlevania in the same mold as the last two handheld adventures would have been welcome enough, but Konami really ups the ante in Aria with sharper graphics, great tunes, and the best animation I've ever seen on Nintendo's little system. Everything from the boss fights to the spacing between save and warp points is calibrated for a challenging (but never too difficult) experience. And the soul system? It adds meaning to combat and variety to gameplay, making this Castlevania that much more addictive. As far as length, though I'd always want more of a game this good, I agree with Shane: The quest, including soul collecting, is a fair size for a GBA adventure.
Otherwise known as 暁月の円舞曲 (Minuet of Dawn) in Japan, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow was the last of the Gameboy Advance 'Metroidvania' games, and in most cases the best-received. It was, in my opinion, the most polished of the three titles and it was the closest one to Symphony of the Night. It has its own flair, of course, and features its own unique characters even if some of them fall in normal Castlevania style.Unlike the other games in the series you are not playing a Belmont OR a Vampire as the main character, and you are also not a descendant or relative of either the Belnades or Belmont families. You're simply this one guy who was brought by perhaps coincidence, to Castlevania. It is a 2d exploration action RPG akin to the later Castlevania titles and it most heavily takes after Symphony of the Night with its equipment section at least. It has one thing really standing out for it, though: The Tactical Soul System.
The Tactical Soul System let you equip three different souls: Bullet Souls (red) that worked as sub weapons, Guardian Souls (Blue) that worked as special toggle skills, either as barriers or transportation or healing or even active attack skills. Enchant Souls (Yellow) gave passive abilities.
You gain these souls by being getting them randomly from defeated enemies, or through bosses or even from lanterns that hold souls that contain upgrades to your mobility or otherwise.
I love the system despite how lame it can be to farm for souls later on. Yes, there is a goal for farming 100% and I will show it when we get that far in the drat game.
So, what is this LP all about?
This is a straight hard mode run (and while you do not see it in the opening videos it will become apparent to anyone who has played the game before) with no added benefits of a New Game +. Unarmed/Fist weapon style was a lot of fun to me though it's not wholly entertaining to everyone else, especially those who were not too keen upon the game at the start.
I will be playing through normally how it would be, showing off secret rooms and the like as well as how to get the hidden weapons and with enough patience (and off-camera grinding) show how broken the game becomes when you complete your soul collection. Hard Mode doesn't do a lot for the game other than make the enemies slightly tougher and more lethal to you if you brush up against them.
To note, this is playing from a patched game, which changes the enemy names to be like the ones from Symphony of the Night. It also clarifies on some of the soul descriptions which I will show later on. It's pretty much a nitpick patch as it also fixed some weapon name and enemy name errors in the katakana. There's not much else it does really, besides clarify on some of the dumber souls that were given bad translations.
Here's the introduction to the game as well as the beginning conversation that takes place. I took it out of the main commentary section because it bogs down the actual LP itself, and it's suited more for viewing without my own voice mixing with things.
Introduction! (Viddler / Grimfiend)
Now we move on to the actual gameplay itself! This is the first area of course, and it's generally a breeze. There's a jump that I missed though all it does is give me better armor to make the early game easier. That's no fun, right?
Soma's Route
Part 1. Guest: Medibot (Viddler / Grimfiend)
Part 2. Guest: Static Fiend (Viddler / Grimfiend)
Part 3. Guest: Oyster (Viddler / Grimfiend)
Part 4. Guests: Static Fiend and EnsignShiroAmada (Viddler / Grimfiend)
Part 5. Guest: Raar I'm a Dinosaur (Viddler / Grimfiend)
Part 6. Guests: Sartak and Syvalion (Viddler / Grimfiend)
Part 7. Guest: Evil Tim (Viddler / Grimfiend)
Part 8. Guests: Static Fiend and Scarboy (Viddler / Grimfiend)
Part 9. Guests: Medibot, Slowbeef, and Static Fiend (Grimfiend / Viddler)
Part 10. Guests: Evil Tim and Static Fiend (Grimfiend / Viddler)
Part 11. Guests: Static Fiend and Duet (Grimfiend / Viddler)
Part 12. Guests: Duet, Evil Tim, and Static Fiend (Grimfiend / Viddler)
Part 13. Guests: Jowy and Oyster (Grimfiend / Viddler)
Part 14. Guests: Krakhan and Jowy (Grimfiend / Viddler)
Part 15. Guest: Medibot (Grimfiend / Viddler)
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Endings!
Best Ending (Grimfiend / Viddler)
Bad Ending (Grimfiend / Viddler)
Chaos Ending (Grimfiend / Viddler)
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Julius Mode
Part 1. Guest: EnsignShiroAmada (Grimfiend / Viddler)
Part 2. Guests: Duet and Static Fiend (Grimfiend / Viddler)
Part 3 and Finale. Guests: Static Fiend and Krakhan (Grimfiend / Viddler)
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Bonus Features!
Bonus - Part 7 First Take
Guests: Facebutt and Cybershell
(Viddler / Grimfiend)
Bonus - Money is Pain
(Grimfiend / Viddler)
Bonus - From Static Fiend
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Soma PUNCH
Positron Rifle Cowboy
Bonus - SKY FISH
(Grimfiend / Viddler)
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Cast of Characters
Oh boy! Let's see who we know of so far, or at least of the people that we have encountered. I will update this from time to time as we reach them in the movies without being a spoiling bastard, because it's not nearly as fun spoiling games.
Soma Cruz - There's not much I can say about Soma. He is an exchange student studying in Japan and he likes Mina, maybe. His mysterious power is explained at the beginning of the game and he is super flowery. Honestly, there is a reason why a lot of the characters spend their introductory moments making fun of Soma.
Mina Hakuba - Mina is the caretaker of the Hakuba Shrine that she and Soma visit regularly, and is apparently Soma's childhood friend. How can she be Soma's childhood friend if he's an exchange student studying abroad in Japan? I don't know... Maybe he was brought on a drat slave ship or something because his parents couldn't stand the flaming stuff at birth. Mina's purpose in this game is to provide awkward lines and make Soma look retarded and semi-heterosexual as they both try to talk to each other and have fake romantic tension. Also, when you speak with her during breaks or trips back to the entrance she will heal you after the conversation.
Genya Arikado - The First of the Business Suit Men. Genya is cold and rude and right to the point for the most part, but he's always a good guy through and through. He helps Soma out by telling him to go and get lost or go on and continue his search when you do see him, but he also has the magical power to appear to watch over someone for Soma... so he can tell Soma to go. Genya is basically fanboy/girl fodder in this game, being the quiet, cool one with a crisp fashion sense.
Graham Jones - The Second of the Business Suit Men. Graham prefers wearing white and he is particularly known amongst the clergy he was a part of by having a set of absolutely freaking epic eyebrows. He's nice to Soma at first, but probably just because he thinks the guy is going to die anyway.
Yoko Belnades - The OTHER Female character in the game (tm). Yoko tries to be helpful but the most she accomplishes at the start is hurting Soma's feelings as well as confusing him. At the very least, she's spot on about Graham not being the greatest guy in the world.
Hammer - Too white, and too bald to have a last name. Hammer makes no sense and has very childish reasonings. He's the merchant of this game once you find him (and just behind him is one of the best ability souls in the game also) so at least there's some merit. I still have no idea where he finds poo poo to sell or the money to buy your items.
Julius Belmont - Finally revealed to be a Belmont, you can see the traditional family genes at work here, seeing as he... sealed his family's most precious item in Castlevania itself. Julius is an okay guy otherwise, and he has a big beard and epic eyebrows.
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