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Death
is the first boss to repeatedly kick my ass. :(
I just died like 6 times on the boss of the second painting!
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fucking charming succubus bitch...if that hits you, it's over, cause Charlotte can't do shit
It's awesome! I had to learn patterns! And apply strategy! Something I haven't seen in a portable Castlevania game in a long long time! :hyper
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If you change into Charlette when she does the attack you don't get damaged!
The boss fights are AWESOME! :hyper
CVIII was good. Bloodlines is also very underrated. (Iron Blue Intention on the soundtrack rocks me.)
I can't do the Spinning Art quest:
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Forward, Down, Back, Forward + Y
I've tried about 50 times and it never executes. Do I need a certain weapon equipped? Is there some trick of timing? I put in my time with Street Fighter in my youth. This shouldn't be a cockblocking moment.
Anyway read this if you got the really lame unexpected ending after defeating those two bitches
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you have to get the spell sanctuary and use it on them in order to decurse them or whatever, its in the sandy grave, the game doesnt really end here :)
The game is really short. :(
I got the "bad" ending within spoiler (click to show/hide)
4:30
and look to get the "good" ending within spoiler (click to show/hide)
10 hours.
I'm hopeful that the replay modes are good, though--they've been steadily improving with each game, and I thought that Dawn of Sorrow's replay mode was better than the actual game. I've also only done about 7 quests, so working on those would probably kill a few more hours.
Still, really fuck awesome so far. Portrait of Ruin is very distinct in my mind when I think of it compared to the previous Castlevanias--Harmony of Dissonance and Dawn of Sorrow being the two least distinct. Aria of Sorrow is still my mostest favoritest.
Oh, my ranking was just for the Milktroidvanias since Circle of the Moon. Symphony stands alone!
I do like Aria an unnatural lot, though. I like its near-future vibe and somewhat more varied weaponry, I like the Soul system and how it encourages grinding and backtracking exploration, and I really like the castle and color palette--it's more colorful and vibrant than Symphony, without venturing into the Fox Box animu of Portrait. I also really like the scenario--the characters and supporting cast are actually memorable, and the post-"bad ending" plot continuations are just fucking out-of-left field and awesome. And I'm a sucker for the "previous story you didn't see" post-shadowing plot structure, so thinking about the unmade Castlevania set in 1999 makes me giddy. :hyper
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Seeing references to the 1999 plot in Portrait of Ruin makes me hope that it's still on the table. When I met the scenario designer at TGS, I told him he better fuck do it OR ELSE. :punch
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PoR has a Richter mode
:)
Dracula is a bitch!
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He teams up with Death, what horse shit!
Tell me about it! :o It's totally unjustifiable.
I've done most of the quests and the secret area (unlocked at 888%) and have gone up about 10 levels since I last fell prey to...that.
Do you know any good places with a whole bunch of easy respawnable candles? I need to get 200,000 gold and buy that fricking Master Ring...
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Shouldn't take too long now that I've got the GOLD RING! $500 money bags, baby!
Just need a good candle source...
Where's the Gold Ring, btw?
Also, Drinky's strategy of spoiler (click to show/hide)
Cream Pie + Jet Black Whip
really does the trick on the Memory Whip Belmont.
Gold Ring is dropped by
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Gold Skeletons, found only in the Nest of Evil area unlocked at 888%
There's a lot of enemies only found in the secret area that you only get 1-3 shots at per run through. I intuited which enemy would drop the Gold Ring and ran a few grinding passes, but I'm sure the rest have cool rare drops, too.
I found the best place to get money in a hurry:
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Have Charlotte cast Speed Up on you, then run up and down the stairs in front of Dracula's room. Six candles and probably 1000 gold per run, with a Gold Ring--since you don't have to stop and whip if you jump through the candles in arcs of 3 and 3, you can grind several thousand gold a minute very easily.
Another money-making tip:
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Apparently the Gold Rings stack, if you have two of them. $2000 money bags from candles?!
I'm L53 now and have done all the quests but the final 5 (which are pretty bitchy, and I may pass.)
I tried the last boss a few more times; haven't won yet, but discovered this strategy:
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Ignore Dracula and focus fire on Death. Death's...death is what triggers the next stage of the fight.
You're missing some secret rooms! How to find them:
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Peeping Eye drops breakable-wall revealing specs.
And yeah, I can certainly win at L53, I'm just too lazy/nonplused to learn the patterns.