Tag: Symphony of the Night

Metroidvania Mania

This week’s post comes following a relaxing weekend of just snacking and slacking…and video games. Being somewhat unsure what I was wanted to write about, what I’ve decided to do is highlight some Metroidvania games that I’ve been enjoying anywhere between the last few days or months….and NOT have Metroid or Castlevania in the title. The massive successes of games like Super Metroid and Symphony of the Night have spawned countless action-adventure games emphasizing exploration and acquiring newer, more powerful upgrades as you venture around the map.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

I said games NOT containing the word Castlevania in the title…but I’m going to start with Bloodstained anyway. Koji Igarashi’s successes with Symphony of the Night on the Playstation and the subsequent Castlevania releases for Game Boy Advance made the eventual release of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night a no-brainer to pick up this past summer. I love nearly everything about this game – the setting, music, art style, and characters are all great! Everything you loved about SotN or the Castlevania GBA games is found in Bloodstained. My only complaint would only be the fact I purchased the Switch version rather than PS4 which has been plagued by a number of gameplay issues. Most of the issues have been patched out, but there’s still just enough of a drop in framerate and loading issues due to the inferior horsepower of Nintendo’s otherwise phenomenal hybrid console.

Blasphemous

A game that was described as Dark Souls meets Super Metroid, Blasphemous was an indie game I knew immediately I was going to play. Souls-type is a more recent description of a sub-genre due to the popularity and influence of From Software’s Dark Souls games. The game’s visuals and gameplay are very grisly and morbid as the setting takes much inspiration from the Black Plague and Inquisition during the Middle Ages. The heavy religious themes and imagery focus on things like pain, suffering, and guilt as you control the Penitent One brandishing a giant sword the Mea Culpa as you venture across Cvstodia, collecting Rosary Beads and Prayers to uncover the mystery around the Silent Sorrow which has decimated the population. Blasphemous is certainly not an easy game; traditional hack and slash mechanics are not enough to survive the merciless creatures of Cvstodai, but one’s survival requires a more methodical approach, as you would find in From Software games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne. The giant bosses you face wouldn’t feel out of place in a Souls game. The game is VERY unsettling(and difficult), but there’s still something compelling within its bleak world…

Ori and the Blind Forest

I finally purchased Ori and the Blind Forest recently on my Switch after knowing of the game for several years. The beautfiul visuals found in the forests of Nibel can be misleading as this game has already proven to be quite challenging, despite its colorful, friendly appearance. Many have sung the praises of this charming Metroidvania title and are eagerly anticipating its sequel Ori and the Will of the Wisps, which releases on February 11. My biggest complaint of the game is the jumping feels a little too light and “floaty” making precise jumps difficult, along with the feeling of any weapons/attacks I have seem vastly underpowered, even for a game of this type which emphasizes acquiring upgrades to your weapons and attacks. I have only played Ori and the Blind Forest for about three hours, so here’s hoping this is just something I’m overly critical about in the initial stages of this gorgeous game.

Gato Roboto

In casually perusing various gaming publications, I came across Gato Roboto, which immediately had me sold using keywords like: “Metroidvania”, “Cats”, and “Mech-suit”. Developed by doinksoft and published by Devolver Digital, Gato Robot was released this past summer and was an instant purchase, especially given the meager release price of $5. I wrote up a summary of my playthrough of Gato Roboto a few months ago, cringy use of “Mewtroidvania” and all. At its worst, one could describe this rather short game simply as “Metroid, but with a cat”. But, it still provided an enjoyable experience for only a few dollars and definitely worth checking out if your a fan Metroid games….a series greatly UNDERREPRESENTED on the Nintendo Switch(just sayin’).

Hollow Knight

Another acclaimed indie Metroidvania game, Hollow Knight was released back in 2017 on PC and later released for the Switch in 2018. Similar to Ori, Hollow Knight hides a significant challenge behind its visual charm. The hand-drawn animations and music are great, but combining with the responsive controls and moody, strange atmosphere create an incredible experience. What I found interesting about Hollow Knight is for a modern Metroidvania game, it was still rather cryptic concerning clues about where to go next and relies more on pure exploration, where many modern games will offer more hints and waypoints to provide a slightly more linear experience. Hollow Knight has gone on to become one of the definitive Metroidvania indie games of recent years, with fans also awaiting Team Cherry’s sequel – Hollow Knight: Silksong.

Axiom Verge

Any Metroidvania blog post is downright obliged to mention Axiom Verge. This indie game released back in 2015 takes only a split second glimpes of the art style and level design to notice a not-very-subtle Metroid influence. This is where I come clean and admit I have never finished the game, though I downloaded it a couple years ago, but ended up buried under a pile of Switch eShop games. I will have to rectify that issue shortly, especially with Axiom Verge 2 being announced during Nintendo’s most recent Nindies presentation for a Fall 2020 release date.

What are some of your favorite Metroidvania games? Is there anything that you have played recently that you enjoyed? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading!

Blogtober 2019 – Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

One of my goals for a gaming blog site was to document my experiences with games I had never known as well as catching up on some older games that I’ve never gotten around to playing despite knowing full well of their existence. For my final Blogtober gaming entry I’ve chosen one Konami’s Playstation masterworks – Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I wasn’t going to go through the entire Halloween season without at least one Castlevania game, and given how much I love Metroidvanias it’s downright embarrassing I hadn’t played through this before.

Symphony of the Night was first released in 1997 for the Playstation and Sega Saturn. It is the result Konami project starting in 1994 to create a sequel to Castlevania: Rondo of Blood(the 1995 SNES port in North America was known as Dracula X) for the Sega 32x…oh the alternate history that could have been. The 32x project was abruptly scrapped and thus plans to create a brand new Castlevania title for the Playstation were created. Koji Igarashi, the writer and eventual assistant director for the project implemented some new gameplay elements to reinvigorate the beloved franchise. Symphony of the Night presents a departure from the formula in previous Castlevania games by eschewing the entirely linear side-scrolling action and incorporating non-linear exploration, with some RPG elements added in as well. This evolution in gameplay soon became one of the series’ defining features and in the process is responsible for all other entries within the sub-genre of action/adventure games with heavy emphasis on exploration and upgrades being known simply as a “Metroidvania”; a word used somewhat regularly on this site as it is among my favorite types of games to play.

Symphony of the Night begins with a prologue in which you play the finale of Rondo of Blood. Players control Richter Belmont and ascend the steps to the uppermost tower of Dracula’s castle to confront the Prince of Darkness himself. The battle with Dracula is similar to many older games in which you begin at the end of the previous game and play through a boss battle(usually fixed) to serve as a summary of the events leading up to the game you’re currently playing. The story then shifts to four years later – Richter Belmont has disappeared just as the foreboding Castle Dracula reappears from mist. Enter Alucard – the half-human son of Count Dracula we first met in Castlevania 3, who awakens from his slumber and is drawn to his father’s castle to investigate its sudden re-appearance. While traversing the castle he meets Maria Renard who is searching the castle for Richter. He happens upon the lone descendant of Simon Belmont, proclaiming himself to be the ruling of Castle Dracula before dispatching two monster henchman to destroy Alucard. After further searching the expansive fortress, Alucard once again meets up with Maria who begs him not to kill Richter as she hands over a pair of Holy Glasses(Batman!), allowing the user to see “beyond illusions”. He confronts the vampire hunter in Dracula’s tower as he sits upon the throne of his vanquished nemesis. Wearing the newly acquired spectacles allow Alucard to see the floating green orb above Richter and destroy it, releasing him from the control he was subject to. After the orb is destroyed the dark priest Shaft(you’re damn right…), a servant of Dracula affirms that he was the one to lure Richter to the castle and was controlling him while he works to resurrect the Dark Lord himself. Shaft then retreats as Alucard follows him upward to a phantom of Castle Dracula that sits inverted, directly above the former. He then proceeds through the inverted castle, fighting many familiar minions to gather the five body parts of Dracula before battling Shaft in the ritual room where he is preparing to resurrect his master. After Shaft is defeated he informs Alucard that he is too late and there is no way to stop Dracula from returning to this world once again. Count Dracula emerges from the darkness as he is confronted by his half-human son, who swears to his father that he will not seek revenge against the humans that killed his mother and he has no other choice but to stop him. After defeating his father and dispelling him back into the darkness, Alucard then meets up with Richter and Maria who await his return outside the castle as he bids them farewell, stating his blood is cursed and he intends to disappear from this world as Castle Dracula fades away behind him.

Symphony of the Night is unique in the fact you are not controlling a vampire hunter descendant of the house of Belmont, but rather the immortal half-vampire Alucard. The game bestows a sense of freedom to explore and discover every corner of the castle, all while upgrading your health and equipment in order to survive the nightmarish creatures that dwell within its confines. Rather than the ultra linear “point A to B” levels of previous Castlevania games, Symphony of the Night emphasizes the adventure element of Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest. You are not pointed which direction to go, but simply to explore every inch of the castle and uncover its secrets along the way. This is one of the aspects of Metroidvania games that have always appealed to me: being able to chart your own course throughout and allow your own curiosity and sense of adventure to guide you.

Another addition to the formula is some lighter RPG elements such as a character progression system that upgrades Alucard’s health and magic as he continually gains xp by defeating enemies. You have your four standard character attributes: strength, defense, intelligence, and luck which can be upgraded by consumable items or by finding better equipment. Your equipment can also have elemental damage or resistance as you encounter enemies later in the game that deal fire or lightning-type damage. As with nearly any Castlevania game you have a number of hearts allowing you to use familiar sub-weapons like axes, holy water, and knives; these can be upgraded by finding heart icons in the same way you would find missile expansions in Metroid games.

The visuals have held up reasonably well for a game released in 1997, especially in comparison to other games of the era showcasing the groundbreaking(at the time) 3D graphics that consoles were capable of. The 2D graphics provide a nice complement to the dark gothic setting inside the castle. The soundtrack of the game is an amalgam of moody goth rock, classical, and just a touch of new age and is a perfect accompaniment to exploring the castle, where the mood and feeling can shift within the next screen. Symphony of the Night provides the eerie ambience one has come to expect of the series and I love it.

The levels are well designed without many areas that may serve as a source of irritation for WHEN, not if you will need to make your way through a particular section multiple times. I even enjoyed scaling the bell and clock towers of Castle Dracula, something I can’t always say when discussing Castlevania games; the enemies awaiting you(to no surprise) will test your patience and determination. There are many sections within the castle that feature long corridors or large spacious areas, this didn’t seem all that impressive at first, but make for a unique experience once you reach the Inverted Castle as nearly every inch of the castle inverted or not is accessible. Symphony of the Night has a plethora of boss fights that through the first few hours of the game didn’t seem to pose much in terms of difficulty, but the boss fights found in the Inverted Castle provide a greater challenge, especially if you’re not optimally equipped to face them. The Inverted Castle certainly ups the difficulty and sheer number of enemies thrown at your every direction. It also contains a gauntlet of familiar Castlevania bosses: Mummies, Frankenstein monsters, Medusa, and Death make appearances in opposition to Alucard…flying scythes and all. One of the more memorable encounters was Granfaloon – a giant mass composed of decaying bodies. The bodies are continuously dropped to the ground and require you to fend off the hordes of mindless husks as you attack the main…blob.

What will probably be my most memorable moment of my playthrough of Symphony of the Night will probably be the moment it dawned on me I had to make my way through the entire castle a second time, only mirrored. I had spent the previous 5 hours combing every room of the castle and my game file showed that I was 76% of the way through…only to discover if you truly have completed everything in the game your progress will show 200.6%. This reminded me of my first time playing through Resident Evil 4 – you make your way from the village to the castle, only to be informed that in order to rescue Ashley, you need to make your way through another entire island where she has been taken. You’ve probably had a similar experience in a game where you’re thinking the end must be soon only to realize it was merely the halfway mark…right?

Nearly everything about Symphony of the Night is exceptional; the controls are wonderful with the combat having that familiar “crunch” of older Castlevania and Ninja Gaiden games and the jumping has the lightness as though you’re elegantly floating through the air. The visuals are sound are top notch and don’t overtly give the appearance of a 22 year old game. The boss fights are one of the highlights of the game, as in most Castlevania titles. My only gripe about the game is the fact that quite often you will enter an adjacent room or an area above you, a clock tower for example, and you will get hit by an enemy waiting immediately on the other side and because of the knockback damage(as much a part of Castlevania games as anything) you will be pushed backwards into the previous area only to re-enter the room and have to clear out any enemies you may have defeated already as they have respawned….that and Medusa heads in the clock tower 😉

All in all Symphony of the Night is a phenomenal game with exquisite gameplay that in the years since its release it is considered among the elite titles in the Playstation’s impressive library of games. And to think three of the most memorable PS1 titles – SOTN, Silent Hill, and Metal Gear Solid were all from Konami. Its legacy was also carried on in the beloved Game Boy Advance titles – Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, and Aria of Sorrow. What may be the most impressive is the way Symphony of the Night was able to reinvigorate the franchise while still possessing the essence of its esteemed predecessors. This also being the case of other games like Metroid: Prime and God of War(2018) in they were able to breath new life into an established franchise while holding on to what made them special in the first place. The night is still young…

That’s all for now! Have you played Symphony of the Night? How do you compare it to other Castlevania games? Let me know in the comments. Thank you to everyone bothering to read my Blogtober posts, I enjoyed writing about(and playing) all the games over the past month. Now I’m off to go do some ghost busting in Luigi’s Mansion 3 and graze on a box of Boo Berry cereal…Happy Halloween!