Metroidvania is apparently one of the most popular hardcore genres I could never get into. I guess the music is kinda nice but I hate being forced to explore till I can find my way.
they massacred my boy so bad in this disgusting artstyle. ayami kojima u deserve better
Pior que o Aria
It’s fine. The graphics are detailed and look fantastic. But I just found it kind of boring.
Liked: graphics
Didn’t like: upgrading weapons with souls. The pitiful drop rate of said souls.
It was fine but maybe I’m just castlevania’d out. Aria wasn’t as good looking but I thought it was the better game.
Liked: graphics
Didn’t like: upgrading weapons with souls. The pitiful drop rate of said souls.
It was fine but maybe I’m just castlevania’d out. Aria wasn’t as good looking but I thought it was the better game.
Não tao bom quanto o Aria, porém e bem legal.
Esse é o apice em muita coisa na franquia. O melhor castelo da franquia, infestados de areas tão carismaticas quanto Symphony of the Night, e todas elas tem uma exploração rica e complexa em ligações de areas, é uma delicia o backtracking e todos os segredos são interessantes de se ir atrás.
Os bosses do jogo são os melhores de todos os jogos da franquia até o momento. É mitada atrás de mitada, cada um mais épico e desafiador que o outro, ainda mais com aquela trilha sonora de fundo.... e puxando o gancho, a trilha do jogo, mistura perfeita entre Classicvania e Metroidvania em estilo, é uma fodendo delicia e passa a exata atmosfera pra area.
Tem vários sistemas interessantes envolvendo as souls que ajudam bastante na gameplay e são bem legais de explorar. E por fim, linkando com o castelo, ele é bem longo, vai te dar umas 7-10 horas de gameplay na primeira jogada explorando.
Acho que de coisa ruim que posso citar seria a reta final do jogo, as duas ultimas areas e os ultimos chefes, eles são bem qualquer coisa. A morte é chata e tem uns ataques que são quase hit kill, aquela porra daquele garfanhoto não tem forma de desviar se tu não for um genio que viu Evangelion 20 vezes, e o boss final é só ruim mesmo, tive que ficar uns 30 minutos gridando pra matar ele.
Se tirasse isso, esse jogo seria facilmente pra mim o castlevania perfeito. Amo essa merda.
Os bosses do jogo são os melhores de todos os jogos da franquia até o momento. É mitada atrás de mitada, cada um mais épico e desafiador que o outro, ainda mais com aquela trilha sonora de fundo.... e puxando o gancho, a trilha do jogo, mistura perfeita entre Classicvania e Metroidvania em estilo, é uma fodendo delicia e passa a exata atmosfera pra area.
Tem vários sistemas interessantes envolvendo as souls que ajudam bastante na gameplay e são bem legais de explorar. E por fim, linkando com o castelo, ele é bem longo, vai te dar umas 7-10 horas de gameplay na primeira jogada explorando.
Acho que de coisa ruim que posso citar seria a reta final do jogo, as duas ultimas areas e os ultimos chefes, eles são bem qualquer coisa. A morte é chata e tem uns ataques que são quase hit kill, aquela porra daquele garfanhoto não tem forma de desviar se tu não for um genio que viu Evangelion 20 vezes, e o boss final é só ruim mesmo, tive que ficar uns 30 minutos gridando pra matar ele.
Se tirasse isso, esse jogo seria facilmente pra mim o castlevania perfeito. Amo essa merda.
It introduces some cool new mechanics like the weapon upgrade system, but overall it's a downgrade from Aria of Sorrow, the new villains are awful, the game is visually uglier, alot of the map layout design gets really annoying and some of its bosses are quite boring to fight.
Also please play the hack that removes all the touchscreen garbage, I would rate this game a 2/5 of how bad the touch magic seals are.
Also please play the hack that removes all the touchscreen garbage, I would rate this game a 2/5 of how bad the touch magic seals are.
I have the rereleased version of this game where the box art is just a photograph of the original DS case for this game like some avant garde artistic inception and that alone elevates this a game a star for me
This was also my introduction to Metroidvanias and it absolutely slaps so that's cool too
This was also my introduction to Metroidvanias and it absolutely slaps so that's cool too
"what if we took our character design, and made it shit?"
- some konami exec
- some konami exec
Castlevania is a series rich with history. Created back in 1986, these action platforming titles have have gone through numerous changes, including characters, gameplay, as well as systems, yet at their core have changed very little. This format is part of what has made them so successful, Castlevania titles are always something new, yet something oh so familiar.
Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow is the first title of the series to arrive on the DS and is a sequel to the GBA title, Aria of Sorrow, which I never played. Fortunately that is not actually a prerequisite to playing, and can be enjoyed on it's own with no prior knowledge required.
The hero to this title is a young man known as Soma Cruz, the rebirth of Dracula. Having learned he was destined to become the dark lord he rebelled, quelling the chaos within him. Now however, a cult is trying to resurrect their evil lord once more with new candidates, and Soma must use his powers with the help of his friends to stop them.
The key point to almost all Castlevania games is the exploration of Dracula's Castle, and the main point all Castlevania games have in common. The layout of the average Castlevania title is as follows: Start at the main castle gate, work their way through the Castle beating bosses and solving puzzles to eventually progress to either the top floor or the basement the whole while fighting a horde of enemies in between.
While knowing what to expect is a staple of the Castlevania fan, things are consistently different in how the Castle is explored. Souls are the key to Dawn of Sorrow, monsters souls to be precise, for Soma has the power to absorb the souls of his enemies and use their skills. These include giving him extra moves including double jumping, flying, extra attacks and various other unique abilities. The souls of bosses that Soma defeats grant the biggest benefit as they often allow Soma access to other parts of the Castle he previously couldn't reach.
These souls can also be used to combine with weapons either bought or found in the castle to create more powerful versions of the same type, some with unique abilities or stat increases. This is not the only RPG like gameplay involved however, armour and accessories can also be equipped, and when defeating enemies experience is gained leveling Soma up and increasing his stats from attack down to luck.
Visually Dawn of Sorrow looks fantastic. Though in 2D the game uses multiple layers in detailed backgrounds to give an almost 3D effect. The designs throughout the game are brilliant matching the Gothic atmosphere perfectly with plenty of zombies, skeletons and demons not to mention some gigantic bosses to fight along the way. I will say however I absolutely hate the anime cover art, why they would use that over the more traditional art style the series is known for since Symphony of the Night is beyond me.
The sound is also top notch with some older themes here and there for Castlevania veterans as well as plenty of new tracks to spruce things up. The sound comes through brilliantly clear on the DS with some also surprisingly good sound effects, though a lot of which come across as pretty old school.
Dawn of Sorrow is a surprisingly big game taking me a good 16 hours to finish including quite a bit of leveling up and soul hunting along the way. It might have been shorter had it been a bit more obvious occasionally about where to go, but that is the fun of Castlevania titles, the exploration. Getting 100% of the castle map, fighting all enemies and collecting all souls will take a while for the collector. There are also added modes playing as a different character as well as boss rush after the game is finished bringing quite a bit of value to the game should you wish.
Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow is simply a fun game, fans of the series will feel right at home yet it's got more then enough variety to offer a new experience, and a welcome one to those new to the games. If you own a DS you owe it to yourself to pick up Dawn of Sorrow and give it a blast, you may be pleasantly surprised.
+ Using souls is an excellent way of mixing things up.
+ Exploring the castle is fun.
+ Fairly good value.
- Cover art is hideous.
Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow is the first title of the series to arrive on the DS and is a sequel to the GBA title, Aria of Sorrow, which I never played. Fortunately that is not actually a prerequisite to playing, and can be enjoyed on it's own with no prior knowledge required.
The hero to this title is a young man known as Soma Cruz, the rebirth of Dracula. Having learned he was destined to become the dark lord he rebelled, quelling the chaos within him. Now however, a cult is trying to resurrect their evil lord once more with new candidates, and Soma must use his powers with the help of his friends to stop them.
The key point to almost all Castlevania games is the exploration of Dracula's Castle, and the main point all Castlevania games have in common. The layout of the average Castlevania title is as follows: Start at the main castle gate, work their way through the Castle beating bosses and solving puzzles to eventually progress to either the top floor or the basement the whole while fighting a horde of enemies in between.
While knowing what to expect is a staple of the Castlevania fan, things are consistently different in how the Castle is explored. Souls are the key to Dawn of Sorrow, monsters souls to be precise, for Soma has the power to absorb the souls of his enemies and use their skills. These include giving him extra moves including double jumping, flying, extra attacks and various other unique abilities. The souls of bosses that Soma defeats grant the biggest benefit as they often allow Soma access to other parts of the Castle he previously couldn't reach.
These souls can also be used to combine with weapons either bought or found in the castle to create more powerful versions of the same type, some with unique abilities or stat increases. This is not the only RPG like gameplay involved however, armour and accessories can also be equipped, and when defeating enemies experience is gained leveling Soma up and increasing his stats from attack down to luck.
Visually Dawn of Sorrow looks fantastic. Though in 2D the game uses multiple layers in detailed backgrounds to give an almost 3D effect. The designs throughout the game are brilliant matching the Gothic atmosphere perfectly with plenty of zombies, skeletons and demons not to mention some gigantic bosses to fight along the way. I will say however I absolutely hate the anime cover art, why they would use that over the more traditional art style the series is known for since Symphony of the Night is beyond me.
The sound is also top notch with some older themes here and there for Castlevania veterans as well as plenty of new tracks to spruce things up. The sound comes through brilliantly clear on the DS with some also surprisingly good sound effects, though a lot of which come across as pretty old school.
Dawn of Sorrow is a surprisingly big game taking me a good 16 hours to finish including quite a bit of leveling up and soul hunting along the way. It might have been shorter had it been a bit more obvious occasionally about where to go, but that is the fun of Castlevania titles, the exploration. Getting 100% of the castle map, fighting all enemies and collecting all souls will take a while for the collector. There are also added modes playing as a different character as well as boss rush after the game is finished bringing quite a bit of value to the game should you wish.
Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow is simply a fun game, fans of the series will feel right at home yet it's got more then enough variety to offer a new experience, and a welcome one to those new to the games. If you own a DS you owe it to yourself to pick up Dawn of Sorrow and give it a blast, you may be pleasantly surprised.
+ Using souls is an excellent way of mixing things up.
+ Exploring the castle is fun.
+ Fairly good value.
- Cover art is hideous.
This review contains spoilers
Joya infravalorada
This review contains spoilers
Overall: 9/10
Good:
- The most balanced Metroidvania in the series. Making it so there aren’t too many overcentralizing weapons/strategies.
- Features the best boss design in the series. Where the bosses are always dynamic in how they will attack and how the player will respond to them, and takes into account the souls/equipment the player will have at the time of their encounter.
- Souls are way more varied than they are in Aria of Sorrow.
- A great escalation of movement abilities from the time you start off.
- Presentation in everything but the official art is top notch. Great attention to detail, fun Easter eggs, and amazing music make this game an absolute joy to the senses.
- Julius mode is a pretty fun alternative way to play Dawn.
- Soma as a character has improved from being mostly a generic protagonist to someone who has drive and importance in driving the story. Something that Soma in Aria lacked until after the fight with Graham.
Bad:
- Plot is overly contrived, with many stupid reasons as to why certain characters not being able to help out. Such as Julius not being able to help out due to Grand Crossing a random door, Yoko being shunned from helping by Julius, or Arikado having his “magic reversed”. Just overall makes the games plot feel messy, when it did make sense why certain characters didn’t/couldn’t help in Aria.
- Villains are some of the weakest in the series. Celia is supposedly the big bad and yet you can’t even fight her, Dimitri is only in 3 entire scenes in the game, and Dario is just a one note gangster.
- Characters writing are overly flanderized from their portrayals in Aria. Hammer constantly talks about Yoko, Julius just immediately turns into some edgy “don’t get in my way” type of character, Arikado just loses that mysterious and competent edge to him, and Yoko is just “woman”. Which unironically was better than what they did with her in Aria.
- The Anime Artsyle is ugly on characters from Aria, and a lot of the design changes are not welcome. Julius looks like he’s Fred’s Dad from Scooby Doo, Arikado went from mysterious badass to pale looking man, and while Soma’s design is an improvement from Aria, his art design is not consistent in key art, and just looks so generic. Harmony of Despair later gave him the Kojima design, and it was however a welcome improvement.
- Souls have very low percent chances of being had. Of my 3 play throughs of this game, where I killed quite a number of enemies, I only got 3-5 Bullet Souls that weren’t either required or given to me. Which hurts a lot of this game for me, since the souls are a main focus of Dawn’s gameplay.
- Weapons may be balanced, however they’re now filled with end lag and start up lag. Though the enemy design usually takes into account for this, and there are techniques the player to do to cancel the lag, ultimately the weapons don’t feel as fun to mess around with compared to Portrait of Ruin.
- Yoko’s weapon transmutation system relies on getting souls in order to turn bad weapons/low attack weapons into good weapons. However, since soul rates are very small, it can be 10’s of mins of flat grinding for a specific soul to get up your attack points just a few points. Overall just a botched and unneeded system.
- The worst final boss fight in the series.
- The Sealing system is an unnecessary addition to the game, that just exists to force touch screen controls into the game. Which I wouldn’t mind so much, if the game stopped misreading inputs and having to refight a boss everytime I “mess up”.
Overall, I do love Dawn of Sorrow. It’s one of my favorite games in the series, however the choice to anime everyone up, and just thoroughly assassinate their characters made this the worst plot line in any of the series with a large plot structure.
The very rare soul rates, and the lag on a lot of the weapon types sadly make sense he combat and options the player has pretty small unless you go out of your way to grind. The weapons also with the really high attack, are locked behind a system that requires you to grind for even more souls, which just extends the grinding even more.
The bosses in this game are phenomenal, and though they’re pretty meh and generic until after Dario 1, bosses like Puppet Master, Paranoia, Aguni, and even Gergoth. There are a few duds like the final boss/Rahab, but overall these are cuts above games like SoTN/PoR/Aria in terms of boss design.
The game’s enemy design is also quite good for Soma, with fighting each enemy giving the chance of giving a completely new Soul, it can be addicting to fight everyone you fight. Whenever you get that soul, it can be a rush to see what I can do, and that’s really that moment to moment gameplay that Dawn exceeds in.
In conclusion, my feelings on this game are very complicated. The poor sealing system, the laggy weapon system, the over reliance of grinding for souls to have a varied play session are pretty big knocks against it. However this game shines in aspects where it is the gold standard, and though the art/plot is one of the series lows.
Even through that, this game is a remarkable experience and for those who loved SoTN, I believe that in most ways this game utterly and handily beats it.
Good:
- The most balanced Metroidvania in the series. Making it so there aren’t too many overcentralizing weapons/strategies.
- Features the best boss design in the series. Where the bosses are always dynamic in how they will attack and how the player will respond to them, and takes into account the souls/equipment the player will have at the time of their encounter.
- Souls are way more varied than they are in Aria of Sorrow.
- A great escalation of movement abilities from the time you start off.
- Presentation in everything but the official art is top notch. Great attention to detail, fun Easter eggs, and amazing music make this game an absolute joy to the senses.
- Julius mode is a pretty fun alternative way to play Dawn.
- Soma as a character has improved from being mostly a generic protagonist to someone who has drive and importance in driving the story. Something that Soma in Aria lacked until after the fight with Graham.
Bad:
- Plot is overly contrived, with many stupid reasons as to why certain characters not being able to help out. Such as Julius not being able to help out due to Grand Crossing a random door, Yoko being shunned from helping by Julius, or Arikado having his “magic reversed”. Just overall makes the games plot feel messy, when it did make sense why certain characters didn’t/couldn’t help in Aria.
- Villains are some of the weakest in the series. Celia is supposedly the big bad and yet you can’t even fight her, Dimitri is only in 3 entire scenes in the game, and Dario is just a one note gangster.
- Characters writing are overly flanderized from their portrayals in Aria. Hammer constantly talks about Yoko, Julius just immediately turns into some edgy “don’t get in my way” type of character, Arikado just loses that mysterious and competent edge to him, and Yoko is just “woman”. Which unironically was better than what they did with her in Aria.
- The Anime Artsyle is ugly on characters from Aria, and a lot of the design changes are not welcome. Julius looks like he’s Fred’s Dad from Scooby Doo, Arikado went from mysterious badass to pale looking man, and while Soma’s design is an improvement from Aria, his art design is not consistent in key art, and just looks so generic. Harmony of Despair later gave him the Kojima design, and it was however a welcome improvement.
- Souls have very low percent chances of being had. Of my 3 play throughs of this game, where I killed quite a number of enemies, I only got 3-5 Bullet Souls that weren’t either required or given to me. Which hurts a lot of this game for me, since the souls are a main focus of Dawn’s gameplay.
- Weapons may be balanced, however they’re now filled with end lag and start up lag. Though the enemy design usually takes into account for this, and there are techniques the player to do to cancel the lag, ultimately the weapons don’t feel as fun to mess around with compared to Portrait of Ruin.
- Yoko’s weapon transmutation system relies on getting souls in order to turn bad weapons/low attack weapons into good weapons. However, since soul rates are very small, it can be 10’s of mins of flat grinding for a specific soul to get up your attack points just a few points. Overall just a botched and unneeded system.
- The worst final boss fight in the series.
- The Sealing system is an unnecessary addition to the game, that just exists to force touch screen controls into the game. Which I wouldn’t mind so much, if the game stopped misreading inputs and having to refight a boss everytime I “mess up”.
Overall, I do love Dawn of Sorrow. It’s one of my favorite games in the series, however the choice to anime everyone up, and just thoroughly assassinate their characters made this the worst plot line in any of the series with a large plot structure.
The very rare soul rates, and the lag on a lot of the weapon types sadly make sense he combat and options the player has pretty small unless you go out of your way to grind. The weapons also with the really high attack, are locked behind a system that requires you to grind for even more souls, which just extends the grinding even more.
The bosses in this game are phenomenal, and though they’re pretty meh and generic until after Dario 1, bosses like Puppet Master, Paranoia, Aguni, and even Gergoth. There are a few duds like the final boss/Rahab, but overall these are cuts above games like SoTN/PoR/Aria in terms of boss design.
The game’s enemy design is also quite good for Soma, with fighting each enemy giving the chance of giving a completely new Soul, it can be addicting to fight everyone you fight. Whenever you get that soul, it can be a rush to see what I can do, and that’s really that moment to moment gameplay that Dawn exceeds in.
In conclusion, my feelings on this game are very complicated. The poor sealing system, the laggy weapon system, the over reliance of grinding for souls to have a varied play session are pretty big knocks against it. However this game shines in aspects where it is the gold standard, and though the art/plot is one of the series lows.
Even through that, this game is a remarkable experience and for those who loved SoTN, I believe that in most ways this game utterly and handily beats it.
I love the Sorrow cast and a good IGAvania more than anything but so many things about this game piss me off.
It feels like beating a dead horse to complain about the art style shift, but the change is stark and depressing. The pseudo-anime opening is charming and ALMOST makes it up to me personally, but the character redesigns are so fucking ugly that it doesn't quite do it for me. There are also way better anime art style choices that could have been used and still been viable for animation like that.
The writing has some semi-solid ideas but its quality is only second-worst to Legends to me given it's working with pre-established characters and just completely ignored their pre-established traits, for the most part.
The soundtrack wins A LOT of points back -- really worked with the DS hardware extremely well and as a veteran HOD fan I can appreciate that.
The gameplay's great, if you can ignore the glitched, non-effective luck stats making a couple of major gameplay features (souls & the weapon forge) completely useless. The seal mechanic is unnecessary and cumbersome, as well, but nowhere near the most uncomfortable experience I've had with a DS-family game before.
Additionally, 100%-ing the game requires NG+, which is infuriating to any completionist who isn't aware of that going in.
It feels like beating a dead horse to complain about the art style shift, but the change is stark and depressing. The pseudo-anime opening is charming and ALMOST makes it up to me personally, but the character redesigns are so fucking ugly that it doesn't quite do it for me. There are also way better anime art style choices that could have been used and still been viable for animation like that.
The writing has some semi-solid ideas but its quality is only second-worst to Legends to me given it's working with pre-established characters and just completely ignored their pre-established traits, for the most part.
The soundtrack wins A LOT of points back -- really worked with the DS hardware extremely well and as a veteran HOD fan I can appreciate that.
The gameplay's great, if you can ignore the glitched, non-effective luck stats making a couple of major gameplay features (souls & the weapon forge) completely useless. The seal mechanic is unnecessary and cumbersome, as well, but nowhere near the most uncomfortable experience I've had with a DS-family game before.
Additionally, 100%-ing the game requires NG+, which is infuriating to any completionist who isn't aware of that going in.
For the love of God get the definitive edition patch, makes so many unnecessary things better (looking at you magic seals). Aside from that, I'd put this game on par with Aria in pure terms of gameplay, fun asf and the fact that one weapon didn't dominate the whole game is neat. Great exploration, great movement tools. No idea wtf was up with the villains and characters lmao, especially hammer, he went from cool shopkeeper who had some interest in Yoko to "I want to fuck Yoko this instant" which is understandable but cmon man. Villains were dogshit good Lord. Great game regardless. 8/10
ayni ben
This is my favorite castlevania. I love soma, the mechanics implemented, the music and all the character and enemy designs. Could go back to this one again and again.
Lastima el arte oficial que es el anime mas pedorro que hay en la vuelta.
I hate this game so much. So many hours spent looking for stupid Souls that I'm never going to use because it's all for completion sake. The game itself plays fine as it is, but the story is so barebones and forced that I can't bring myself to care. The art change doesn't help either. Anyway, if you liked it more power to you, but this is just not for me.
Trash-tier gaming. Endless recycled content, cringeworthy anime nonsense with the bald shopkeeper crushing on a female NPC and being a creep, awful balance in terms of weapon stats, economy, and enemy damage. Half the map is blocked by doors or passageways that you can't pass through until you have another skill. You just wander around for the next specific random location that allows you to progress or triggers a boss. And oh, yes--absolutely unnecessary touch control mechanics. This is like rancid fast food, the type you eat only because you can't afford a decent meal.
esse design de anime do dawn parece que ta vendo inuyasha com vampiro, mas o jogo eh foda demais, foi um dos motivos que fez comprar um DS na pandemia
This one is better than its predecessor.
Building weapons, some sidequests and draw glyphs in the end of the boss battle are the major changes.
The story still not that good, I leave that the real fans of Castlevania.
Building weapons, some sidequests and draw glyphs in the end of the boss battle are the major changes.
The story still not that good, I leave that the real fans of Castlevania.
Sequência de AoS do GBA. Castelo gigante porém massante, mecânica de selos desnecessária, gameplay ok, dificuldade que varia se você tem sorte de dropar as melhores almas e músicas ok. O pior castlevania do DS.
Who tf came up with the touchscreen magic seal garbage
Whose idea was it i just wanna talk
Whose idea was it i just wanna talk
its cool, magic seal and art style kinda not it tho
Not a fan of the art direction for promotion and in cutscenes but it's a decent CV game. I think it's one of the better metroidvania hand held ones. I had fun with it.
My favorite in the series
About on par with Aria, or maybe a little bit better. Dawn pretty much plays like Aria, except with improved visuals and music. The Magic Seal mechanic is also new, but it's really just a gimmick that uses the DS touch screen, and didn't need to be there.
Yoko's new weapon upgrade shop sounds good on the surface, letting you spend souls in order to improve weapons that aren't very good at first. However, the drop rate for enemy souls in this game is extremely low, and it's not worth trying to grind for the specific souls you need, so she ends up not being very useful. She and Hammer at least have funny/interesting stuff to say when you talk to them.
Also, I do kind of like the anime-styled portraits. They're very expressive, and they fit the aesthetic of this game well enough. Still, I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the Ayami Kojima art from Aria and the older games.
Yoko's new weapon upgrade shop sounds good on the surface, letting you spend souls in order to improve weapons that aren't very good at first. However, the drop rate for enemy souls in this game is extremely low, and it's not worth trying to grind for the specific souls you need, so she ends up not being very useful. She and Hammer at least have funny/interesting stuff to say when you talk to them.
Also, I do kind of like the anime-styled portraits. They're very expressive, and they fit the aesthetic of this game well enough. Still, I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the Ayami Kojima art from Aria and the older games.
I don't know what happened but this was a serious downgrade from Aria of Sorrow, to the point that I didn't care to finish it. The sheer number of returning characters was just weird.
I really enjoyed this game. Solid Metroidvania.
This game has so many great new ideas a lot of bad ideas. Mainly, I had issues with the seals, a lot of reused areas despite not being in Dracula's castle, and low soul drop rate. But it's still a blast to play since it's a Castlevania game and the game it's a sequel too is such a solid base it's hard not to enjoy the game still.