I've played through what the status screen tells me is a little over 50 percent of the map now. There are still plenty of mysteries, plenty of souls to steal, and I have to say after a slow start I'm damn happy with Aria of Sorrow. What I think really works is that the equipment system and the soul system are separate, allowing for a lot of different combinations of equipment. Yes, please!
I DID run into a sequence breaker in the Clock Tower area which was surprisingly easy that wound up trapping me, forcing a reset. Other than that, it doesn't seem to mind when I go exploring in places I probably shouldn't be; like any good nonlinear sequence it'll punish me for going out of order by making the encounters tougher, but I also get rewarded well if I can tough it out. Nice.
Now that I bought a particularly powerful sword I'm basically chucking most of what I find, but I still have room for a misc. item and armor, as well as all the different souls (favorite soul so far is the lightning doll. Now that's proper lightning!).
I still feel like I'll probably have to look the game up when I'm done to figure out a few things, but I don't mind too much. I still feel like Circle of the Moon managed a consistent horror tone better, but the variety of enemies and gameplay in Aria feels more densely packed, promising some replays in the future.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Game » consists of 6 releases. Released May 06, 2003
The third Castlevania installment for the Game Boy Advance, bringing the tale of Castlevania to the 21st century and putting players in the shoes of Soma Cruz, a seemingly-normal guy who has the power to absorb souls of the castle's demons.
Aria of Sorrow
I've played through what the status screen tells me is a little over 50 percent of the map now. There are still plenty of mysteries, plenty of souls to steal, and I have to say after a slow start I'm damn happy with Aria of Sorrow. What I think really works is that the equipment system and the soul system are separate, allowing for a lot of different combinations of equipment. Yes, please!
I DID run into a sequence breaker in the Clock Tower area which was surprisingly easy that wound up trapping me, forcing a reset. Other than that, it doesn't seem to mind when I go exploring in places I probably shouldn't be; like any good nonlinear sequence it'll punish me for going out of order by making the encounters tougher, but I also get rewarded well if I can tough it out. Nice.
Now that I bought a particularly powerful sword I'm basically chucking most of what I find, but I still have room for a misc. item and armor, as well as all the different souls (favorite soul so far is the lightning doll. Now that's proper lightning!).
I still feel like I'll probably have to look the game up when I'm done to figure out a few things, but I don't mind too much. I still feel like Circle of the Moon managed a consistent horror tone better, but the variety of enemies and gameplay in Aria feels more densely packed, promising some replays in the future.
I really got into the beginning of this game, but unfortunately, my DS's shoulder buttons broke not long after I picked it up. Still, a fantastic game from what I saw of it.
@Sparky_Buzzsaw: One of my big problems right now is controller related too. Basically my Gameboy Micro thing is so small I get like hand cramps and difficulty using the shoulder buttons. I'm also afraid the thing will slip out of my hands one day, since it's shaped like a bar of soap and about as slick. So far the only major problem was that there was some schmutz on the inside of the cart, to where Aria didn't boot up properly, but some NES-style contact clearing was all it needed.
I have Dawn of Sorrow for my DS. It's a pretty neat game but for some reason these series never really click for me. The wandering just doesn't have the same appeal to me as it does in Fallout 3 for some reason. I guess I just like digging in trash cans for bullets.
Along with Order of Ecclesia and Castlevania II, Aria of Sorrow is one of the few Castlevania games I've not played. I'm sure I will at some point, and although your blog post has got me quite keen to hunt the title down, I know as soon as I do I'll fall into Phase One of The Castlevania Cycle all over again. Dammit, Konami.
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