Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

[Akito]

OMG intro video

Discuss.

And if there is already a thead about this game, then fuck you, I couldn't find it.

[The Diabetic]

I must have this game.

[Wind]

this game will beyond rape.

[LinkOcarinaMan]

What has Konami done to this once proud franchise....uggg.

At least the main character has a whip in this one, that is a step in the right direction.......right? *remembers HoD* Forget it, Castlevania is doomed.

[Akito]

Did someone say desu? Cuz I think I heard someone say desu.

Anyway, I am indeed looking forward to this game. Sure, it's exactly the same as all the other 2D 'vanias we've been playing for the past nine years. But oh well, it's still going to be fun. And I rather like the art direction in this one.

[Scarface]

Looks good to me.

[LinkOcarinaMan]

Did someone say desu? Cuz I think I heard someone say desu.

OMG!!! It's Souseiseki and Suiseiseki

[Scarface]

who?

[The Diabetic]

Sometimes I really hate this crazy nigger shit.

[Scarface]

huh?

[Natsu]

Sometimes I really hate this crazy nigger shit.

wtf man

[Akito]

If you don't mine dealing with File Planet's bullshit, you can download the Portrait of Ruin soundtrack here.

[LinkOcarinaMan]

Got the pre-order bonus.

I mean, it's nice, but I really don't see why everybody was going totally apeshit over it.

Although it is nice to see Konami finally acknowledge that the classic style CV games still exist.

[Scarface]

I got the pre order bonus too!

*dances*

[Akito]

Pre-order bonuses are in? Shit. I don't feel like going out and getting it. Hopefully they'll still have it when I picked the game up.

[LinkOcarinaMan]

The best thing about it is the stylus.

The soundtrack has too much current stuff and not enough classic stuff. Also, the selection of songs from the classic games is questionable.

The artbook is pretty nice aside from the fact that it was hard to find the classic stuff with the 8,000 pages devoted to the Sony CV games (and yes, that includes Lament and Curse, way too much of that shit)! Also, only one page devoted to Dawn of Sorrow art when the art in Dawn was a billion times better than the art in Aria is auto fail.

The little case for the CV DS games is a nice idea, but it is pretty useless for anybody who likes to keep thier games in good shape. I would never seperate my games from thier cases and manuals.

Timeline should be more detailed too.

[Elitist Indie Hipster]

well , it is better than nothing

[Kyoudai]

Damn, Akito beat me to it. I wanted to be the first to mention the fact that PoR contains DESU.

[Scarface]

wtf is Desu?

[Kyoudai]

I finally finished this game, getting the good ending.

When you beat the game you have the choice to play agian as the Desu sisters, which is interesting because it only uses the D-pad and the touch screen to control, or as Richter.

I didn't get around to trying out Richter because I thought "Been there, done that." but I tried it out last night anyway, and I discovered that Richter, like the two main characters, and the Desu sisters gets a partner of his own that you can switch back and forth between, and I was shocked to see who it was.

I'll give you a hint:

Suddenly new life was breathed into this game as I try to pretend like I'm playing Rondo of Blood. She retains ALL of her moves she had in Rondo of Blood, too.

[LinkOcarinaMan]

I am actually shocked at how much I am enjoying this game. It is the best MetroidVania since Circle of the Moon and probably takes 2nd overall.

MetroidVania rankings!!

1. Circle of the Moon

2. Portrait of Ruin

3. Dawn of Sorrow

4. Aria of Sorrow

5. Symphony of the Night

6. Harmony of Garbage (sadly this is the only one that actually stars a Belmont. An insult to the legendary Belmont clan)

[Akito]

Yeah, I'm liking Portrait of Ruin too. It still has many of the same flaws as the previous games, but it also has some improvements. Some of the bosses are giving me a bit of trouble, so it feels a bit more challenging than the previous entries (excluding CotM, of course). Unfortuantely, you can still speed through large portions of the castle too quickly since the level design is just as bland as ever and the enemies aren't terribly threatening.

I think what they really need to do to the series is implement the philosophy of quality over quantity. In this case, I mean give us a smaller castle (if necessary) but in return put more thought into how each room or hallway is designed. Look at Metroid Zero Mission, for example. Pretty much every area was unique enough to stand out due to various obsticles and enemy placement. But in Castlevania, they're using the exact same stage layouts they've had since Symphony of the Night. I'd even venture to say that they could make the next Metroidvania a randomly generated dungeon game since the simplistic level design would be perfect for it.

[Akito]

Man, I really should've leveled up a bit. I'm fighting this fucking mummy boss and his attacks are doing 99 damage... and I have less than 500 max HP.

[Kyoudai]

What I liked about PoR was the new strategy they implemented using 2 characters. Some bosses can barely be hurt by Jonathan, but get owned by one of Charlotte's elemental based spells. \

But I have to say I was very disapointed in the level design as well. And re-using the 4 paintings again as 4 additional areas of the game was pretty lame. This isn't LoI.

[Akito]

Well, I guess it's not as bad as Harmony of Dissonance and it's lame dual-layered castle gimmick. I mean, they didn't even bother to flip it upside down like in Symphony of the Night. They just changed the color scheme. Yay for exploring the exact same castle twice.