I can definitely see why this game is hailed as a classic by many, that being said though there were many things about the game design that I found frustrating and hold the game back a lot. For one thing the game is really slow, Alucard cannot sprint or move faster than a walking speed at all and it just kind of slows down the pace of the game a lot, on top of that the controls are really stiff and unresponsive at times and that bogs down gameplay as well. Another gripe of mine is the difficulty, the game just feels unfair at times due to the enemy placement, literal death traps of rooms, and absurd amount of knockback and stun when you're hit by anything, it just makes the deaths feel unearned a lot of the time and it can be frustrating. Add onto this the fact that when you die you go back to the last place you saved and will have to slowly trudge back to where you were from that save room only for you to potentially die to the exact same things again and it's just not fun. And then there's the old metroidvania factor, and by that I mean the inevitability of getting lost, confused and frustrated by the way the game just drops you in and gives you no way at all to know if you're going the right way. The game doesn't even have a readily available map from the start, you have to buy it from a merchant if you want to have the slightest hint of where you're going. All these problems detract from the game for me and don't make it quite the masterpiece that many people make it out to be, but there are plenty of good aspects here as well. The 2D sprite artstyle looks really good and is very well detailed, the boss fights are pretty fun, the story and characters are interesting, the music goes hard, and for the most part the moment to moment gameplay is pretty fun. Despite all it's flaws I think Symphony of the Night is still a good game, just one that hasn't aged quite as gracefully as it's reputation.