Comments on: Anatomy of Castlevania III: Block 4-0A to 4-0E

By: jparish

jparish — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 04:14:44 +0000

Again, I feel the opposite — Sypha’s strengths and weaknesses are the best complement to Trevor’s, and the battle at the end of the ghost ship demonstrates how they make a great team if you know when to swap them.

By: Lilfut

Lilfut — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 03:17:28 +0000

Yeah, Sypha is just no fun to use. It’s like using legendaries in Pokemon, sure you can wreck everything in one hit, but you don’t feel like you’ve accomplished anything. Grant’s controls are just unwieldy enough to feel like I’ve still accomplished something when I’ve skipped a portion of a stage with him.

By: MetManMas

MetManMas — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 02:26:41 +0000

@jparish: Yeah, I guess I could understand that view on Grant, but I see him more as an advantage on the platforming front in a harsh and cruel world where one wrong move leads to death. Even with his mobility and climbing, I’ve still had many deaths.

Anyway, if Grant’s climbing skills or Al’s bat transformation are cheating the player out of platforming, couldn’t Sypha’s magic spam also be considered cheating the player out of combat?

By: Mr. P

Mr. P — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 00:01:42 +0000

Yeah–the whole deal with “ownership” of the souls.

It makes it seem less like Franky, the Mummies, and the rest have a choice in all this. They’re not, as coverage of the games used to suggest, a bunch of buddies who voluntarily showed up for the party–they’re kind of obligated to be there.

There was more a tinge of mystery when I thought it the former.

By: jparish

jparish — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 22:08:21 +0000

Hmm, where was that mentioned? I don’t remember seeing that. Are you implying it from Soma’s power of domination?

By: Mr. P

Mr. P — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 21:51:06 +0000

It’s creepy to think that Medusa is slithering around in the innards of a ghost ship in the middle of the ocean. What is she (or “he,” “The Sentinal Man” – as coined by Nintendo Power) doing there?

It makes sense and is a nice bit of implied storytelling if the seemingly self-guiding ship only exists to pick up and transport monsters to Drac’s castle in preparation for his rule. Though, IGAvania essentially killed such a thought-train (and several others) by giving Dracula “possession” and direct control of his demonic followers.

By: Anatomy of Castlevania III: Block 4-0A to 4-0E – Telebunny.net | Pirate Ships

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 19:39:08 +0000

[...] More: Anatomy of Castlevania III: Block 4-0A to 4-0E – Telebunny.net [...]

By: jparish

jparish — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:45:48 +0000

Yeah, but this actually gets down to why I don’t like Grant so much. I feel like in cheating myself if I skip chunks of the game, and Grant is all about skipping over difficult parts.

By: Lilfut

Lilfut — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:08:26 +0000

One of the things I loved about Ecclesia is how it brought back the horror movie enemy themes, using moderns one this time. Stuff like Leatherface becoming Mad Butcher and the girl from The Ring becoming Banshee.

By: turkish101

turkish101 — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 14:56:07 +0000

It’s a testament to your writing ability, Parish, that I am engrossed in this series of articles despite having very little interest in the Castlevania series.