Soma Cruz is boywife material fr
Anyway, I liked Aria of Sorrow a lot more than I was expecting! It's the best of the GBA trilogy, and a really great metroidvania (both in its series and its genre)!
Coming off the previous 2 games I don't think it can be overstated enough how solid the level design is here. There's plenty of paths between areas, lots of different room layouts and enemy configurations, and no bullshit 2nd castle mechanic! It honestly feels like such a step up from the previous entries in this series that I think this is a top tier metroidvania map just in general. After a single playthrough I could point out pretty much any area on the map, or even specific enemy placements because they just stick in my mind so much.
Speaking of enemies: the monster soul mechanic is brilliant. It feels like such a natural evolution of the DSS mechanic from CotM, and adds a layer to the RPG mechanics here that's both fun on a casual level, but also allows for much deeper builds than previous games. I haven't played the DS vania games, but I really hope this carries over, at the very least it carries over to Bloodstained and it's also great there.
If I had one complaint about this game it'd be the soundtrack. It's definitely not bad, but I feel the GBA soundchip holds its potential back immensely. If this game had a Rondo of Blood tier soundtrack it'd be pretty much flawless.
Anyway, I liked Aria of Sorrow a lot more than I was expecting! It's the best of the GBA trilogy, and a really great metroidvania (both in its series and its genre)!
Coming off the previous 2 games I don't think it can be overstated enough how solid the level design is here. There's plenty of paths between areas, lots of different room layouts and enemy configurations, and no bullshit 2nd castle mechanic! It honestly feels like such a step up from the previous entries in this series that I think this is a top tier metroidvania map just in general. After a single playthrough I could point out pretty much any area on the map, or even specific enemy placements because they just stick in my mind so much.
Speaking of enemies: the monster soul mechanic is brilliant. It feels like such a natural evolution of the DSS mechanic from CotM, and adds a layer to the RPG mechanics here that's both fun on a casual level, but also allows for much deeper builds than previous games. I haven't played the DS vania games, but I really hope this carries over, at the very least it carries over to Bloodstained and it's also great there.
If I had one complaint about this game it'd be the soundtrack. It's definitely not bad, but I feel the GBA soundchip holds its potential back immensely. If this game had a Rondo of Blood tier soundtrack it'd be pretty much flawless.