#sotn map

[batcastlesociety]

iarchmybacula strikes again featuring Yet Another One of my art styles

[niehuaisang]

HoD was by far the most frustrating of the castlevania games i've played so far

[foxstens]

ender lilies' map is fine actually

[fluffypichu876]

what's your story with FF and what do you like about it? (<- clueless about this series and intimidated by the number of entries it has)

Heya mutual!! I see that my incesant FF rambling has finally bothered someone, eh? xDDD

My story with Final Fantasy is actually quite recent, as surprising as that may be! It all started with one game that is responsible for introducing many franchises for many of its players like me, none other than Super Smash Bros. Ultimate itself.

I had been playing SSBU pretty much since release, having enjoyed SSB4 on the 3DS, but I never really cared about the one FF character available there at the time: mister Cloud Strife himself (boy wouldn't that change quickly xDD). And I didn't know much about the franchise either, except for very brief knowledge about Kingdom Hearts (a crossover between FF and Disney, yeah don't ask I've always found that strange xD), so I never had much of an incentive to look into it.

Until one faithful day in december of 2020, of course, the day that The Game Awards of that year aired, bringing with it a very unexpected (but very welcome) reveal of a new character that was joining Smash.

THE videogame anime swordfighter himself, Sephiroth.

I didn't actually watch TGA that day (it was pretty late at night here in my country), so I only learned about it the next day. When I watched the trailer, my immediate thought was, no lies, "Hey, isn't that guy from Kingdom Hearts?"

Technically not wrong, he does appear in the first two KH games, but also very wrong lol. I went into Smash's official site and saw there that he came from Final Fantasy VII. Huh.

I didn't pay much mind to it, but I did see many fans' reactions to Seph getting into the game. They seemed to love the guy a lot, given that they recognized it was him the second the first note of his theme started playing in the trailer (tbh if I was a FF7 fan by then I too would recognize him. One-Winged Angel is that damn iconic.) That made me understand that, well, this FF7 must be a very dear game to many.

And then came the memes. Oh boy did the Youtube algorithm enjoy the "Sephiroth gets into smash to torment poor Cloud" memes. I watched so many of these damn memes that it was only a matter of time until I decided to finally check the franchise out. And so I did. I downloaded the 3 FF7 discs on the internet (shhhhh don't tell Square), booted my PSX emulator (previously only used to play SOTN), and started the game for the first time.

I fell in love with it pretty damn fast.

In the first 4 hours in fact.

Now, FF7 is 27 years old. It was one of the first PSX games, so naturally it's outdated as hell. But despite the low-polygon graphics, the pixelated 240p pre-rendered backgrounds, the terrible CGI that would look like an amateur's first animation nowadays, and the obscurity of the game design that led to some confusing mechanics and lots of missable content, the game still manages to hold up quite well through time and I find it to be a very enjoyable experience overall, even nowadays.

The characters, the story, the combat, the very world map, which made Midgar look so tiny and at the same so big, the fucking soundtrack, composed by Nobuo Uematsu, which carries every single emotion you feel in this damn game, making up for the lack of voice-acting and character expressions in a really unique way. All delivered in that charming early 3D videogame fashion. In other words, it's hard to not fall in love with the sheer uniqueness of FF7. Like I did. I couldn't stop playing it.

Right, FF7 rambling done! This game was my first in the franchise, and beating it felt really good back in the day. So good that pretty much instantly I was already looking into another one to play, Final Fantasy 8.

The sheer jump in technology from FF7 to FF8 can impress even a modern player that has seen countless realistic modern games, honestly. It sure did impress me, at least. Seriously, they jumped from this:

To this:

In two fucking years. On the same console.

But anyways, after beating FF8, which I enjoyed a lot (not as much as FF7 though), I jumped into FF9 after a short while. That one quickly became my favorite in the series for multiple reasons, mainly for the characters and their amazing moments in the story.

After a brief hiatus with FF, I played FFX, which immediately jumped into a fight with 9 for the title of favorite FF game in my head xD (I may have to replay both to finally settle that internal debate, honestly) I just loved the combat (and the soundtrack that still makes me cry, wow).

And not long after beating X, the FF brainrot began to naturally cease and finally, it went into a deep slumber...

...until it came back out of nowhere quite recently, as you might have noticed, dear mutual xD. I blame FF7 Rebirth for making everyone talk about the game I love again lol.

And here we are today! Final Fantasy stands out to me for it's uniqueness, really. It's that simple. It follows many of its traditions, but it also breaks and innovates them in pretty much every new title, for better or for worse. Every FF game feels different, each set in its own universe and fictional world, and yet they are the same, familiar enough so that you keep coming back to the franchise every once in a while without feeling lost or overwhelmed.

And yes mutual, I too was confused at first because of ever increasing number of entries xD FF is one hell of an old franchise, dating all the way back to the NES era, and I respect it a lot for not suffering too much stagnation like the majority of old-running game franchises.

My advice for anyone looking to get into FF is too simply pick the one that looks the best for you. Like I mentioned before, the games are rarely interconnected and always take place in different universes, being loosely similar thanks to recurring elements like chocobos, enemies like the cactuar, some classic tracks, character jobs and archetypes, spells like Firaga and Esuna, summons like Shiva and Bahamut, etc. So no matter which game you pick to try out and get a taste of the franchise, if you enjoy it you may be inclined to try more, turning into a vicious cycle of wanting to play more than like 10 games with the same name back-to-back wtf xD.

As for me, recently XV has caught my attention thanks to fucking youtube again jesus christ that damn website is responsible everytime i get insane over a ff game i swear pretty easily, and I will probably end up playing it sooner or later. I like the roadtrip aspect, the friendship and banter between the main characters, as well as the realistic modern setting that basically never happens in FF (Noctis looks so damn normal compared to every other FF protagonist xD. Just look at him in Dissidia NT, man!).

Alright, I think I have typed enough words. Thanks for the ask mutual, I get pretty giddy at every opportunity to scream about Final Fantasy xD.

[randomthefox]

People comparing Trip to Dulcy. Me: Who TF Is Dulcy???? I never heard of that character until Trip became a thing I don't even know what they look like for that comparison

The sad part is when you realize they're being genuine

they honestly, sincerely, genuinely, earnest believe. That Sonic Team created Trip with Dulcy in their minds. Like, they were looking at a picture of Dulcy while crafting Trip.

It reminds me of how, like. People insist upon "Metroidvania" as a genre term, right? And were acting like Symphony of the Night was "obviously" following the model of Super Metroid? Because they both... had a map screen and backtracking. Or something. And then finally someone asked Iga in an interview about it, and he was like " ???? I'd never played Metroid? We were more inspired by Zelda when we were making SotN."

Like, people are just. Self deluded narcissists. I don't know what else to call it.

[spinningbuster98]

Castlevania Symphony of the Night Part 5: eltsaC detrevnI ehT

And here we are in the half of the game that makes it pretty obvious that this game was subjected to some crunch later in development

Yeah the idea of just having you explore the castle again only this time it’s upside down and with tougher enemies is just inherently kinda lazy and reeks of wanting to extend play time at all costs

I used to hate the Inverted Castle, mostly due to the enemy placement. Most areas are fine enough, but the Clock Tower, the Caverns and the fucking Alchemy Lab just spam enemies relentlessly without rhyme or reason, and since Sotn has a similar issue with knockback and invincibility frames as Rondo you’re gonna find yourself being more frustrated here than anything else. Then you combine the upside down level design being inherently more awkward to traverse and you have an experience that in many ways could be considered subpar

Over time however I’ve started to view this place in a more positive light

For starters the atmosphere is deliciously oppressive and dark. Yeah sure having Finale Toccata as the ost for 70% of the areas was not the best choice, but the actual track is great once it truly gets going and in general the Inverted Castle really does give off more dangerous, even abstratc vibes, also thanks to the overall darker color pallette

The fact that you have complete freedom in how you wanna approach it is also quite nice, as it means that you’ll be able to do things like gunning for the strongest weapons as soon as possible, or just go for the 5 bosses that hold the pieces of Dracula while skipping everything else just to get going if you don’t feel like it 

And while I wouldn’t call this difficulty spike well executed (or even long lasting) it at least finally forces the player to tackle the game in a more strategic way rather than just power through. It’s usually a good idea here to stand back and use spells to take out enemies, which isn’t the easiest thing to do given how irritating some of their button combinations can get, but it’s satisfying to clear a room full of tough enemies with a well placed Soul Steal or Tetra Spirits 

The worst enemy in the game by far to me are the Blue Roses. Unless you have Holy Water (which you should as it’s beyond broken in this game, like in Castlevania 1), these bitches take a while to kill and they just spam their hard hitting attacks relentlessly, not giving you a second to properly attack them. Luckily they’re only really present in the Caverns (and 1 room in the Entrance), but jeez!

Unfortunately getting 200% map completion for the best ending is a real pain here due to the inverted level design, especially in the Caverns where you have no choice but to use the wolf’s swimming ability to “poke” specific spots that won’t register on the map otherwise for some baffling reason

I have one question though: what is this place? Was it conjured up by Shaft’s magic somehow? Then why are the monsters who posses Dracula’s remains here? And also Alucard’s stolen equipment? Say what you will about HoD’s twin castles but at least that game gave a nice explanation as to their existence. Alucard? Mister “this Castle is a creature of Chaos”? Wanna explain things a bit?

[chibishortdeath]

So uh, first actual post I guess. This is all random dumps (taken from my instagram stories, so they’re formatted weird lol) of symbols and things associated with Simon. I’ve never seen anyone do this for him before so mwahaha I guess I’m the first >:3c. Sorry if this is kinda just a random stream of words, I’m just getting a bunch of thoughts down and anyone can use this information for theories, art, story analysis, and etc later d(^^ ).

The first one is a bunch of possibility important references, primarily things from HoD, but also a couple from OoE and the Hanged Man Skeletons, which are explained a bit more in the second and third image. There’s a couple details I didn’t have the space for oof (T_T ). If I remember correctly, the Smiling Statue is found in the area where the Hellmont enemies are. I’m not exactly sure if there’s any significance to any of the statue placements, but they’re definitely supposed to be a Carmilla and Simon reference, not sure on who the Sage statue is supposed to be tho. My best guess is maybe Death since he’s the other Simon’s Quest boss lol, but the statue really doesn’t look like him. It’s interesting. The Hero statue is very obvious, Juste gets the little flavor text that “that’ll be me someday” kinda referencing how Simon looked up to Christoper in a similar way (yes, Christopher, he is mentioned in the first manual in Japan I believe, I should talk about him eventually). The whole Hellmont/Shimon thing is nuts and idk why it’s just never mentioned again. Like the name Simon has the ability to be a pun in Japanese on “Death Gate/Gates of Death” which is 1. Badass and 2. Ominous as heck! I also didn’t get to fit in the random family heirloom clock that’s in ghost Dracula’s castle for some reason in HoD, the one that has the nice description of having been “bought on the day your grandfather was born” (not an exact quote word for word but yeah). It feels significant to me idk, why would family heirlooms end up in there? Also didn’t mention the Bullet Tip (called “Christopher’s Soul” in Japan), but that one’s interesting too.

Also I wasn’t able to fit the OoE and Simon’s Quest maps on there so I might make a post about comparing them later :3. That Anna girl could be talking about someone else, but considering the similarities and references to Simon and his games in the rest of OoE (which I also should explain if I can manage to get it all together) it’s safe to assume she’s having nightmares of one of Simon’s fights against Dracula. Which is also interesting in the context that her whole side quests revolve around helping her cat protect her from dark spirits.

I know this wiki isn’t the most reliable source, but I’ve seen other sources that claim the skeletons on the outer wall of SotN and DoS (I believe) are supposed to be a reference to the whip swinging in CV4. It’s really interesting that they’d make a reference to Simon by having the skeletons be hung by one foot like the hanged man is commonly depicted considering the meanings behind that card, but since the position of the skeleton is pretty much the same in both, it’s probably intentional.

The last Chronicles one is kinda based on the assumption that these are rose thorns, but when looking up thorn symbolism a looooot of the specific red rose symbolism kinda started to line up really well. Roses also have a lot of religious significance too so I figured it wouldn’t be that big of a stretch to say they were rose thorns. Chronicles is not the first time flowers have been mentioned with Simon in mind however, I couldn’t fit it anywhere, but the Japanese text for the fastest Simon’s Quest ending mentions he “brought full blown flowers in next spring”, just a fun fact tho, idk how to add it into anything here tbh (-w-; ).

What was the most interesting about this dive into random symbols and other details was how often things ended up symbolizing “self sacrifice” and/or “martyrdom”! Usually twice or thrice wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but considering the vague nature of all the Simon’s Quest endings in all versions of the game and the general lack of focus on Simon’s story aspect, it’s pretty cool to see some things that line up like that :O! Also I am thoroughly aware that I might just be looking to deep into things and connecting things and aren’t there, but I don’t really care cause I had fun!!! :3 Anyway, do with this knowledge what you will, hope you guys like it.

[beevean]

Oh no the dsvania randomiser is really impressive, it has customisable randomness, from just like, items to EVERY LOCATION, STATS OF EVERY ITEM ATTACK AND MONSTER, TEXT, SPRITES FOR EVERY ATTACK... it is INSANE. and when it randomises the map it gives you a correct minimap for it too! Genuinely cannot reccomend it enough, it works for all of the dsvanias too. Also i just ran into albus absorbing a piece of dominus and shanoa said "you can absorb glyphs" and albus said "you're welcome, I'll make you a dress" then left. This is the most I've seen the text make sense lol

Here's an example of a ecclesia run with random text and abilities on if you want to see an example

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyC4gdcxbYQ

Atm my shanoa's main attack consists of giant rotating stone dinosaur heads that fill the screen and do 60 damage with each hit. They cost 3 mp to use. My first boss fight was DEATH. I'm wearing a hat called stephanie that gives me 50 defence. You can customise a LOT in this thing.

https://github.com/LagoLunatic/dsvrandom <- this is the one i use.

Beautiful. I am in awe. I honestly never checked the DSvania randomizers because I assumed they were like the ones for SoTN and the GBAvanias! Thank you for the recommendation <3

[wygolvillage]

You've reminded me that I haven't played Harmony of Dissonance, which is on my "to play" list pretty high. Would you recommend it? Is it easier or harder than Symphony of the Night?

i like it quite a bit! my advice is to play with map completion as a main priority and to be as thorough as possible, since youre less likely to get lost that way.

i think its about the same difficulty as sotn, sotn is a little easier towards the endgame though.

would reccomend ^_^

[groggydog]

Groggy's Favorite Games of 2022

Every year I keep a list of video games I played, and go over my top five regardless of the year they were released. But this year, I'd instead like to try honing in on my top three for the 2022 release year.

This is good, because it features a couple of interactive-fiction-esque games, but also because I only just started Elden Ring and I otherwise mostly just played so-so games this year. But let's go!

#1: Neon White

I've seen a lot of whinging about Neon White's dialogue, but to me this game represented a really fun late-90s, early 00s tone that was complemented by some of the most challenging, fast-paced, and satisfying gameplay I touched all year.

And you know what's wild? I did this game on Switch. And it still absolutely kicked ass.

#2: Citizen Sleeper

Citizen Sleeper is not a long game, but it is a fantastic one. Following the story of a person who wakes up with a near-fatal lack of memory on a massive station, you're forced to make difficult choices, fend off existential threats, and find a way to make a meager living.

The way the game transforms from a survival game into one more focused on story is a real treat, and makes every single storyline feel earned. I felt really satisfied with my first ending (which involved the Greenway) but played through every single one I could. And even the failures felt like satisfying endings.

This game was especially a great lesson in building solid IF games, and anyone who makes those would be well served by playing through Citizen Sleeper.

#3: NORCO

NORCO surprised the hell out of me. It is a beautifully rendered point-and-click game (and the first one I played on my Steam Deck) set in the real town of NORCO, LA in the near future. It is believable while also being absolutely wild in its storytelling, and had a beautifully affecting ending.

The mechanics of the mind map were an appreciated way to link the game's disparate bits together (and reminded my not a little of Outer Wilds), and the characters were super well-formed and well-written.

This is one of those sleeper games I still haven't seen a lot in other media discussions, but I can't recommend it enough.

Honorable Mentions from 2022:

Chocobo GP, which I took to Summer Games Done Quick and which is a shockingly fun game

Strange of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, which was more enjoyable than it had any right to be

Lunistice, which is a beautiful PSX-era platformer that is short and crisp

Marvel Snap, which has dominated my phone's battery for months

Honorable Mentions from not 2022:

This was the year of Metroidvanias for me: Hollow Knight and Ori 2 were two of my favorite games (and both might be top 5 all time for me), but games like Timespinner and Momodora 4 were fantastic. I also finally played through Castlevania SOTN and Super Metroid for the first time

Final Fantasy X-2, which is silly and quite enjoyable even if it doesn't hit the emotional highs of its predecessor

Final Fantasy 9, which I did an emotional playthrough of just a month ago

Thanks for reading, and happy new year! I'm excited to share more updates for The Familiar soon.

[stevetown]

Metroid Dread

Completed: 2/26/23 Playtime: 7h30m

After finishing up Symphony of the Night, I had my appetite whetted for more metroidvania. While everyone else went crazy for the new Prime Remaster, I decided to stick with the 2D trappings of Metroid: Dread.

The game is...good, although I'm not sure it worked for me as a complete package. Or rather, I'm not sure if I got from the game what I wanted.

For starters, the game is hard as hell. This can be fun, and I really found some early boss fights fun to learn, but far too often the brand of difficulty the game employed was "you must execute this series of steps perfectly repeatedly." I realized that's just not my thing. I like to be able to either hit the boss when I want, or have the ability to make opportunities to exploit myself.

I was also let down by the map design overall. The game is incredibly knotty, but it still manages to shepherd you down a linear path so you don't have to think too hard to find where you needed to go next. This kept things moving, but it really lost the spark of fun that metroidvanias have given me in the past. I never felt like I learned where I was going or got to recognize portions of the map. Things never folded in on themselves in a way that let me use new abilities to get that secret I couldn't get before. What secrets I did find through my playthrough almost always required some other power up I wouldn't get for hours. By then I wouldn't remember where it was and felt ready to move on anyway.

To cap it all off - none of the exploration ever really feels worth it. Where exploration in SotN yielded me new weapons, familiars, or secondary items, the only collectibles in Dread are more missiles and health upgrades (even then, sometimes just 1/4 of a health upgrade).

There are moments where the game really shines though. The aesthetics and atmosphere of the levels are top notch. Samus' movement is slick. A handful of bosses really worked for me, particularly the Chozo warrior fights and the final boss. I just wish it had built on all the good stuff instead of feeling like I was losing momentum between difficulty spikes.

[master-of-47-dudes]

I'm playing Bloodborne now so-

Okay: I'll actually admit, when it comes to the Souls games? I don't actually know what the fuck is going on, I'm just this guy:

BUT since I just played the Prime games beforehand I want to talk about something I love about the Souls games; that being the inspiration they take from the Metroid Prime Series in terms of design philosophy, level design, and world building.

Sure, there’s a lot more obvious inspirations in play with the Souls games. The Gothic horror stylings of Castlevania as well as the RPG mechanics of SOTN-style Castlevania is a big one, European fantasy as a whole (iirc Miyazaki is a huge European fantasy nerd), Berserk, and some other stuff I'm not as familiar with are the clear inspirations in terms of themes and style of the games. The gameplay and combat is notably 3D Zelda inspired, albeit taking everything that OOT pioneered and making it slower and more deliberate while placing a higher emphasis on using your movement and dodging.

So where does Metroid Prime come in?

Well, the most obvious place to start is in pointing out the map of Dark Souls 1: Heavily interconnected, looping around on itself with an emphasis on finding and unlocking shortcuts that further connect the areas you explore to the rest of the world.

You are given a few distinct goals, but not the path to get there. The world, through various barriers, naturally leads you down the critical path.

In Metroid Prime, this is accomplished with an abundance of locked doors and ability gates. Through some ingenuity by the player (and heavily frowned upon by the devs), you can do some tricks to break out of the critical path in order to take different paths, such as grabbing Space Jump first.

In Dark Souls, while locked doors do play a part in the path, the idea of the player being able to break from the "intended path" is intentionally expanded upon; Weapon level, and your soul level form the largest combined "ability gate" in the early game but player skill can overcome both, a few early keys can be bought or alternate, harder routes can be found around doors while still breaking from "intended" progression. And the Master Key you can start with as a gift opens up even more routes to take!

This 3D Metroidvania-esque world design heavy in backtracking and in linking all of the world together was pioneered by Metroid Prime and used to incredible effect in Dark Souls. But that isn't the only similarity.

Isolation is used to great effect in the Souls games; while you have a handful of allies and shopkeepers, the world at large is entirely hostile to your presence. Many of your alliances are temporary or fleeting, several NPCs untrustworthy, and many friends you make slowly losing their battles with the world over the course of the game as you end up more alone than you started.

The world tells its story as well, both in the gorgeously detailed environments as well as the small scraps of information you can glean from everything you pick up; while you may not have a scan visor, the items enemies drop can similarly give you information about their place in the larger world and it can all be put together to form an incomplete picture of what happened, why you're here, and what you're really doing.

Huge bosses that take up most of the screen are the norm, your only places of respite being your save points, etc. Etc.

I could go on. It's just neat to talk about tbh.

Anyway the funny thing I noticed is that the changes in world design philosophy in the numbered Dark Souls games mirror the changes in world design philosophy in the Metroid Prime games too, going from:

1. An interconnected and backtracking heavy world that winds around on itself

2. A central hub branching out in multiple directions to progress through, with each branch terminating in a dead end

3. A linear progression of areas where each area is to be fully or mostly explored to the end before moving on to the next one.

It's kind of funny.

[kirbyddd]

random memoir about the time i played genshin

i haven't seen how it's progressed so i can't speak for it in 2022 but in late 2020 i played genshin impact and it was amazing how you straight up could just play 100% of the content with like 10 different characters without paying a cent and like no timer walls or anything

and i remember even back then people were tearing apart the game and anyone who liked it for falling for a predatory gacha moneypit and it was like either you haven't played it or you're exposing your own lack of self control claiming you have no choice but to pour money into one of the only truly free to play games ive ever seen

like back then it was so early in development they didn't even have daily quests or anything there was literally no hook yet, the only incentive to play or pay was just that the game was so damn good and you wanted a new character on top of the huge array a free playthrough would give you

and I remember complaints that the game suddenly dropped off once you finished the content and there was nothing left to do but grind to min-max characters and it was like, the games been in development for not even 2 years and they clearly stated the launch is early access with only 1/8th of the planned scope like do you want to play now or do you want to wait 5 years for a full development cycle you can't have it both ways, you're not supposed to keep playing once you're done with the current content there is no endgame because they've only published the prologue and half of the first chapter

i cant believe i forgot, the writing was actually shockingly good, i mean like really good, the complete opposite of what you expect from the imagery, the writers and the character designers were separate groups. whoever was writing it was actually educated in philosophy and was weaving a layered metaphysical background to the world and would hide like super poignant bits of prose in all the flavor text, the complete opposite of the vague existential musings you usually expect from an anime styled game

it was also just amazing how even though the map was probably not quite as big, gameplay wise the initial launch of genshin had far more content and variety than botw with a fraction of the budget and development time, it was like a knockoff in the same way that sotn was a knockoff of metroid and if sotn was made by some random chinese company whose only experience was making arcade beatemups

to tell the truth the only reason i stopped playing besides not having time for games was that i was like yeah im in no rush I'll just play in 2026 when it's done and hope it's still free by then or like a one time purchase or something

anyways maybe its gone completely downhill since then or maybe it's gotten even better, but i always remember that you'll never be able to tell from online commentary cause even at launch people were just making stuff up to feel superior to people who enjoyed it

[gertlushgaming]

Ebenezer And The Invisible World Review (PlayStation 4)

For this Ebenezer And The Invisible World Review, we play a story-rich 2D Metroidvania adventure with breathtaking hand-drawn art, playing as miser-turned-hero Ebenezer Scrooge in a reimagined Victorian-fantasy based on Charles Dickens’s classic novel, A Christmas Carol. Enlist the help of ghosts to save the people of London before it’s too late.

Ebenezer And The Invisible World Review Pros:

- Decent graphics. - 2.78GB download size. - Platinum trophy. - Works on Playstation 5. - Metroidvania platformer gameplay. - Four save slots. - In-game cutscenes with character portrait interactions. - Tutorial pop-ups as you play. - The map fills in as you explore. - Save rooms can be found and act as a respawning point. - Many hidden areas and routes are not always shown on the map. - Signposts are littered around. - Locations on the map are color-coded. - Fully animated background. - All set in a wintery London England. - Befriend ghosts and have them join you by completing their side quest. - Each ghost either grants a new ability or does a certain attack when equipped. - You run around with a cane and have a spirit bar for using ghost attacks. (bar fills when fighting) - Big boss encounters. many breakable objects like boxes, crates, lampposts, etc. - Damage numbers pop as you attack. - Many enemy types with some needing timing and countering. - Coins drop from enemies and breakables and are used for buying from traveling vendors. - A colorful cast of characters. - The game on the whole moves at a fast pace. - Beautiful art. - Breaking a light makes the level darker. - Heirlooms can be found and these do things like increase run speed or do more damage etc. - Find and equip many unique and quirky weapons that change your stats and how they work so a spirit chain allows you to hit multiple enemies but can't hit the smaller floor-based enemies. - many different biome types with unique monsters and enemies. - I really love the art and design of all the characters. - When the game is flowing and combat is good then the game really shines. - It could be argued that this is a Castlevania SOTN love letter with slight reskinning. Ebenezer And The Invisible World Review Cons: - Got stuck in menus unable to back out and lost a load of progress. - The Flow of the game is slow. - You don't get much help with guidance and with so much open you do spend the first hour just roaming around aimlessly. - Hit detection feels a bit off at times. - Finding health items is very rare. - Save rooms and fast travel points are so far apart and hard to find that you end up repeating large chunks of the game. - Having to pick up items is less than ideal. - Buying from the shop isn't just money, it's also items that randomly drop. - I lost faith in the saving system working so I will sit at the saving door and do it like 50 times. - The map doesn't fill in with useful information like vendors. - Had so many crashes and shutdowns that I feared moving rooms and still to this day I haven't spoken to a particular character as the game crashes every time I initiate a chat. - It could do with a lot more help with guidance. Related Post: UFC 5 Video Review (PlayStation 5) Ebenezer And The Invisible World: Official website. Developer: Play On Worlds Publisher: Orbit Studio Store Links -  PlayStation Read the full article

[fluffypichu876]

In retribution to my dear mutual @prototypelq's post, I will also be writing about my 3 favorites games of all time! Making this list was a bit easier than I expected, but because I have too many beloved games to choose from expect a lot of honorable mentions hehehe

And the first game on the list is, of course:

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

It's no surprise that this game would be here. I mean, it's not like I replay it every year!

SOTN is a game of the genre "Metroidvania". You probably know this term if you have heard of games like Hollow Knight or Ori, but if you don't, basically, a Metroidvania game takes place on a huge map consisting of interconnected smaller rooms. When playing, you'll travel and explore around these rooms, defeating enemies and unlocking new abilities that allow you to acess new areas that were unaccessible before.

The OG Metroid on the NES can be considered the very first game of this genre, but Super Metroid and SOTN together were responsible for defining its standards and popularity today. Hence the term, "Metroidvania".

This game is a heck lot of fun to play. Dracula's Castle is huge and full of interesting areas to explore, filled with enemies and secrets of all kinds. SOTN is based on an RPG-like stat and level system, and you gradually grow stronger as you defeat foes, gain EXP, and level up. Weapons, armor, and other equipment are found all through the castle, further increasing your stats and other attributes.

The soundtrack is an absolute masterpiece. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Castlevania as a franchise has some of the best OST's out there. Michiru Yamane is a great composer, and her instrumental works fit CV's themes and tone really well.

SOTN does not use MIDI samples processed by the PSX's sound chip (except for the Librarian's theme). Instead, all of the game's songs are played through audio streams, granting them CD-like quality, which is a little rare in other games on the system. Here's an example of what Yamane could do with this audio quality:

Sounds great, doesn't it?

Another aspect of SOTN that I love is of course, the visuals. To this day, I consider this game to have some of the best 2D graphics ever. The levels and backgrounds are beautiful, and every tile is filled with plenty of detail. All of Alucard's animations are fluid, graceful, and an absolute delight to watch and control. Often, the game will mix in 3D elements to enhance the beauty of an area, and it looks great.

There are so many little hidden details in the game that make you appreciate the developers's love and care even more. For example, in the Outer Wall area, a small suspended room can be found at the area map's bottom. In this room alone:

A falcon/hawk/eagle/bird of prey can be observed in her nest. As you progress through the game and return to this room, you can see the falcon coming back everytime to lay, incubate, and take care of her offspring. It's really damn cute.

A telescope can be found in the left wall. Using it allows you to see the Ferryman from the Underground Caverns.

Alucard can sit in one of the chairs. Leaving him there for a few minutes will cause him to fall asleep. Aditionally, in the Japanese version, the fairy familiar will sing him a lullaby (she can sing in any chair, in fact.)

Now, what is the purpose of this area, you ask? None. There are no items, weapons, enemies, or anything of use to the player (except for map completion). The devs just created this room to add more life and personality to the game. And this is just one example!

As much as I love this game, though, I do admit that it isn't as perfect as most people make it. It does have its flaws: the game has very bad balancing issues, and the difficulty curve is essentially non-existent.

I never liked the Inverted Castle. Not because it's just the normal castle turned 180º, but because it doesn't feel like it was coherently designed, instead just quickly put together so they could ship the game claiming it to have double the original content (Galamoth was a great addition, though. I might make a post someday on why I love this boss so damn much).

Overall, this game means a lot to me. It pretty much set up my standards and taste with video games, and it made me understand why I enjoy playing them so much. It's a great game that I recommend to pretty much everyone! It's fun and really easy to pick up, taking only about 12-18 hours to beat for the first time, at max.

Also, can we just appreciate Ayami Kojima's wonderful cover art for the game?

And now, for my second most favorite game:

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

My first (and only so far) FromSoft game, and boy did I fall in love with this game.

Well, to begin it, Sekiro has one of the best combat systems I have ever had the honor to experience. It's based primarely on player reaction, testing their ability to counter, parry, and dodge the various attacks thrown at them. Equipped with only one sword (and a few very useful prosthetic appendages), our protagonist Wolf must defeat all sorts of opponents, from respected warriors, shinobis with no honor, animals (yes I did die to a rooster. Twice), the undead, demons, and much more, all so can rescue and avenge his master.

Using your trusted katana, you have the ability to deflect enemy strikes based on your input timing, dropping their guard and allowing for attacks of your own. When fighting enemies in this game, you are not aiming for their health. Instead, you aim for their posture. As you deflect attacks with perfect timing, your enemy will slowy begin to lose posture, and once said posture breaks, you can go for a finisher attack that instantly depletes their whole health bar. It's hella satisfying to pull off. Deflecting attacks poorly can lead to your own posture breaking, though, so paying attention is essential.

There are other aspects to the game's combat, such as Perilous Attacks, which cannot be deflected. To deal with them, you must either dodge, jump, or counter, adding even more danger to a fight and demanding focus from the player. Your prosthetic can also hold a few unique abilities, such as the Firecracker, which helps stunning certain opponents. Wise usage of these Prosthetic Tools will greatly help you on the harder fights.

Oh, and there's a catch: Wolf is no mere shinobi. He was blessed (or rather cursed?) with the power of the Divine Heritage, granting him immortality and the ability to revive from the dead for all of eternity. Gameplay-wise, this means that whenever you die, you'll receive one (or two, sometimes three) chance to revive on the spot at half health, allowing you to properly finish off your opponent. But don't think this makes the game easy! Reviving in the face of a tough boss never means an immediate victory, trust me.

Unlike Dark Souls, which rewards a more defensive playstyle, in Sekiro, the player must be aggressive and constantly take risks to overtake their opponents. Dodging everything and staying away will only drag on the fight and allow the enemy to regain their posture. As a certain character would say, "Hesitation is defeat".

But the amazing combat isn't this game's only strength. Another aspect that I love is how beautiful the game looks. Everything from the lighting, the colors, the gorgeous views, and the very well designed areas come together really nicely, and exploring this rather linear game is an absolute delight.

The battles look graceful, and not just because of the combat system. The special effects look amazing, and add great beauty and danger to every strike. The Divine Dragon's bossfight is the most gorgeous part of the game. It's so cinematic and breath-taking that despite being one of From's easiest bosses, it's easily one of the most memorable ones.

The instrumental soundtrack is really nice, complementing each moment of the game pretty well. The Divine Dragon battle above has one of my tracks in the game.

And as expected, the game is tough as nails (I died like, 50 times at the first mini-boss. The Ogre has no fucking chill). One of the hardest FromSoft games, according to fans. This game demands a lot of the player's attention, skill, and mostly importantly: their knowledge of the game and how everything works. Your first few hours will be very difficult, as you slowly get an grasp on the game. But once you beat Lady Butterfly or Genichiro (two of the game's most important skill checks), everything just clicks and the rest of the game becomes a lot more doable.

Overall, this game was an blast to play, but it may not be for everyone. I recommend it for anyone who likes FromSoft's other titles, as well as for those who enjoy a good challenge. If you want to get into more difficult games, this game is not too bad of a choice, since it's extremely balanced and very skill-based, completely free of bullshit.

Oh well, time for my last but not least favorite!:

Devil May Cry 5

This shouldn't come off as a huge surprise xD

I might have only gotten into this game earlier this year, but the 160 hours I currently have on it speaks more than enough. I LOVE this game and don't plan on dropping it anytime soon!

It's rare for me to hyperfixate on one specific game and play it for hours and hours without tiring like this, and DMC5 is currently my second worst case of this xD (the first one being Castlevania of course, in which I have 100%'d like 4 games :P).

DMC's combat system is simply too much fun. You have lots of moves at your disposal, and using them creatively and with as much style as possible adds so much depth to the game that beating the heck out of demons never stops being fun and rewarding.

It's also very skill-based, adding another layer of satisfaction to everything. Building up the skill to perform a new combo, finally managing to use Royal Guard with consistency, defeating that one difficult enemy/boss with an SSS rank, or just beating the higher difficulties is absolutely worth it. And even if you don't have much skill with the game, nothing is ever stopping you from bullying enemies in your favorite ways.

The dynamic soundtrack fits the combat really well and gives you the right ammount of adrenaline and motivation to slash through hordes and hordes of enemies. Also thank you Capcom for adding the Jukebox. I can finally listen to Devils Never Cry during an actual battle (and not just the DMC3 credits one!)

The characters are another great strength for me. The DMC Crew is so unique and fun to watch, and the Spardas in particular have a lot of depth to them, keeping the mind of fans very busy thinking about them xD.

So yeah, this game is way too fun for my own good, aparently. Never saw such a powerful brainrot coming. Absolutely recommend it to anyone and everyone who likes some good video-gamey time!

And now, time to cast the spotlight to a few games that I love, but not enough to consider them my top 3 favorites:

Honorable Mentions

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow & Dawn of Sorrow

My second favorite CV games. Aria of Sorrow picked everything that was good about SOTN and polished it to perfection, creating one of the best metroidvanias out there. Dawn of Sorrow may not be as good, but it has a very special place in my heart.

Final Fantasy IX

One of my favorite JRPGs ever. This game is so charming, but under it's seemingly light appearance is a great story about the meaning of life, and about coming in terms with your own mortality. The battle system is fun and the music is as good as ever. The characters are wonderful and I cherish them to this day.

Final Fantasy X

One of the best games I have ever played. Of all the (4) Final Fantasy games that I've played so far, this one has the best battle system and some of the best enemy/boss design in the series. Alongside the gameplay, the story is the game's second biggest strength, and it has a very high chance to make you cry. The soundtrack is one of Nobue Uematsu's best works for this franchise, making you feel all sorts of emotions. Can't recommend this game enough.

The Legend of the Zelda: Breath of the Wild

This is the only Zelda game that I've ever played (please don't kill me), but boy is it a good one. The land of Hyrule is vast and very fun to explore. The game has such a relaxing vibe: sometimes I would just ride my horse, let it follow a road automatically, and just chill to the music watching the beautiful landscape. I put 170 hours in this game and didn't even realize it until I beat Ganon xD

Devil May Cry 3

Second favorite DMC game! This game is surprisingly polished for its time, and it barely feels dated at all! I personally prefer DMC3's DMD mode over 5's, as I find it more fleshed out, but it sure is a LOT harder.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

My first Metal Gear game. It may be short and relatively simple in terms of combat depth, but it's a lot of fun, the soundtrack is a BANGER, and the cutscenes are a joy to watch. The memes just never end, do they?

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Quite possibly Kojima's craziest game to date, but also one of the most fun ones! Not as good as MGS3, but there's something about the old-school MGS gameplay that I absolutely adore. Also the dialogue and plot are so batshit insane that you end up enjoying it despite not understanding a single thing xD

Castlevania: Bloodlines

Most underrated CV game ever, and my favorite old-fashioned Castlevania game. It stands up to SCIV, its SNES counterpart, really well. In fact, I personally enjoyed this game's gameplay and level design more than the latter.

(just three more games I promise)

Pokémon: Black and White (and their sequels)

These games are the most fun i've ever had with Pokémon. They're really good. They've got the best plot of any Pokémon game, and the first BW games actually made me question the morality of keeping these creatures and leading them into battles.

The Great Ace Attorney

My favorite Ace Attorney game. Great story with lovely characters. The cases were a lot of fun, and I'm a huge Sherlock Holmes nerd, so it's only natural that this game appealed to me, I guess xD. I still have to play the sequel, tho.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

This game might be technically unfinished, but it has some of the best gameplay in the series. The filler side-missions get repetitive but they're oddly fun to finish. It's my second most played MG game, right behind MGRR.

[sososososososomething]

so many possible new games to play and yet i mostly just feel like replaying sotn or maybe aria of sorrow... hey come to think of it why did only sotn & the handheld titles have the cool 2d metroidvania maps, everything else that i know of is level based or 3d. konami wtf