Retro Game of the Month March 2018: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Playstation)

While I'm waiting for my replacement copy of Dracula X Chronicles I decided to take out my PSP for a little spin. It's been years since I used it and I was surprised to discover the battery cover had popped off and the battery itself is swollen to the point where I can't fit it into the system any more. Sucks that I've got another part to replace if I want to stick with my plan of playing SOTN on a handheld.

Edit: Poked a tiny hole in the battery case to let the air escape, still doesn't work. I can use the system while it's plugged into the wall, even with no battery connected, but unfortunately the cord is a little finicky and if I rotate the jack even a little bit the system instantly turns off. Darned shame.

I started SOTN over on Friday on an emulator. Well, I actually started it over several times due to emulator issues and wanting to beat the Drac without dying. I put a couple of hours into it and was having a grand time when the game crashed on me and forced me to restore my game. That soured the experience because I can't really enjoy a game knowing it can freeze up on me at any moment so now I'm debating starting over yet again on my PS3. Having said that, I played enough to remind myself of several things I love about this game (I took notes):

- The attention to detail is very impressive. There are tons of little things they could easily have gotten away with not doing. Dracula's life bar, for instance, is being clutched by a skeletal beast, adding some flair and atmosphere. Most of the following is just me fawning over details, by the way.
- Enemy death animations are great. When you beat Dracula at the beginning, the screen turns into a sepia-toned photograph which then burns up. But besides that, it seems like every enemy has its own specific death animation (or more), adding a ton of spectacle when they could have easily gotten away with generic explosions for every enemy.
- The color of your cape changes depending on which one you have equipped. I've always loved games where equipment changes reflect on your on-screen sprite. While I didn't make it far enough on Friday, you do eventually get a cape whose color you can customize (awesome), as well as a cape whose color changes and a cape that's essentially transparent. Also, the color of your cape ends up also being the color of your bat's wings when you get the bat transformation. I love all of that.
- While this technically just counts as competent game design, I like how the first enemy you encounter after Death steals your equipment drops a sword for you (short sword), and the next enemy drops a different sword (red rust). Right off the bat you learn that you will acquire a variety of weapons with different stats and advantages/disadvantages.
- The character portraits during dialogue scenes are gorgeous.
- There's a long corridor with pillars and windows in the background, and while you're advancing and defeating enemies you can see a giant floating eyeball looming outside the windows in the back, trying to peer inside. It's a detail that can fairly easily be missed altogether, but it does a great job of adding to the creepy atmosphere. (See image below.)
- In that same corridor, you encounter Diplocephalus, a large reptilian creature whose tail ends in the form of a maiden (who flashes her butt crack when defeated). The enemy designs in general are fantastic, and they didn't shy away from including a little fan service.
- If you explore, you will find a telescope you can look through, foreshadowing your meeting with the oarsman. As far as I know this changes nothing, but it's a nice detail. Heck, I'm even impressed with the behavior of the birds just under the floor in the same room.
- In the underground cave, there are pools of water covered in a thin layer of ice which crumbles away when you step on it. Yet another detail you wouldn't necessarily notice unless you were paying attention.



I guess I'm just doing a lot of fanboy gushing here, but there are few games that consistently impress me as much as Symphony of the Night does. Heck, I didn't even mention the outstanding soundtrack! In a way I almost regret starting to play it again, as it's giving me doubts that Bloodstained will be able to achieve the same level of attention to detail. Anyway, if I decide to start over yet again, expect another update full of more observations.

I started up my PS3 and saw that my digital copy of SOTN was linked to my long-since-expired PlayStation Plus account, so I dug out my original PS1 disc and started over yet again. I'm not sure what I did differently this time, but the beginning of the game was a lot easier. Enemies that took two hits when I played on Friday now took one and I was able to breeze through much of the beginning.

Here are a few more delightful details:
- You can buy a "reversible" cape from the librarian. That's not just flavor text, you can actually turn it inside-out by accessing the "system" menu. Neat!
- There's a point where several spear-wielding enemies are safely surrounded by impenetrable rock walls. However, by pushing a crate against a hole that water is running out of you can flood their enclosed area, causing them to panic and drown.
- Speaking of water, initially you take damage when immersed in water. You can walk safely in knee-high water, but if you duck your head goes under water and you start to take damage again.
- Despite being a 2D game and looking all the better for it (most 3D PS1 games have not aged well), there is some good use of polygons to create more immersive backgrounds, such as the inside of a chapel where stained glass windows shift in perspective as you move through the room.
- There's a confessional booth where you can sit down and be visited by a ghost of a priest or a confessor. These can be either "bad" where they will cause spikes to protrude from the walls and damage you, or "good" where the priest has a chance of leaving you grape juice to add to your inventory.
- There's an adorable mouse who scurries and hops around in a crawl space.

Just like I do every time I play this, I accidentally beat the game when I just meant to access more of the map. I guess it's worth seeing the alternate ending, though. Feel kinda bad for Richter.

If anybody makes the same mistake I did and forgets about the metal grate under the library, you can get Soul of Bat there via Mist form. Remembering that would have saved me some time.

Xadion said:

I always wished that the bosses had higher difficulty... but mostly because I want "more sotn!

For that, play the Gameboy Metroidvanias - even circle of the moon, great games.

Click to expand...

I don't know if it's because of the initial stat boost or not, but most of the bosses I've beat have not put up much of a fight, compared to what I remember.

Also, like an idiot I went and spent money on a bunch of spells, having forgotten that you can access them just by doing the proper input. I learned this by accidentally doing Soul Steal, which I hadn't bought (but which is also the only spell I care about). It was a waste, but, on the bottom left of the map where the Ferryman takes you, there's a candle that's a little high up that gives you $2,500. It's pretty close to an exit on the left so this seems to be a good place to grind for money if one were so inclined. Are there any better spots?

I can also vouch for the handheld Castlevania games. I've beat most of them except for what I think was the last DS one. They've got great collection-based mechanics that are pretty engaging.