Castlevania - Aria of Sorrow GBA
Just before the castle type boss
I just finished Castlevania Aria of Sorrow.
I would like to offer you the guide that I used to ensure my accuracy in the game but I am awaiting permission from the author of it so as I can post it here with all happy smiles and 'laa de daa'.
I really enjoyed this game, just so as to make myself clear, I am going to categorize this game as a 'Metroid' type game, the reason being is because its not so much a traditional side scroller game, like that of Mario Bros. Yea, sure, you can go right on the screen, and left (which is more than I can say for the classic Mario Bros), but most of the time you will find yourself having to go up and down as well, sometimes through tall, or deep, rooms like that of the classic Metroid franchise.
I would like to offer you the guide that I used to ensure my accuracy in the game but I am awaiting permission from the author of it so as I can post it here with all happy smiles and 'laa de daa'.
I really enjoyed this game, just so as to make myself clear, I am going to categorize this game as a 'Metroid' type game, the reason being is because its not so much a traditional side scroller game, like that of Mario Bros. Yea, sure, you can go right on the screen, and left (which is more than I can say for the classic Mario Bros), but most of the time you will find yourself having to go up and down as well, sometimes through tall, or deep, rooms like that of the classic Metroid franchise.
|
This, for me, adds a lot more excitement to my favorite 'Genre' of video gaming, 'Side-Scrolling'. But that being said, this does not automatically make this a good game! I am constantly (I think its my 3rd Castlevania on the GBA I have finished, not sure) surprised by the unique RPG elements that they implement during their games. In this particular game you play Soma Cruz, just an ordinary kid (type teenager/young adult... old adult, WHATEVER!) that was going out on the night of an eclipse with his girl to amaze her with the beautiful spectacle (I think it's HER that drags him out to see it) so as to get some ;-) later that night.
|
WOOT!! $1 Now i can buy that ring for my Girl!
|
Little does he (or she) realize that they are both about to be sucked into another plane of existence that exists INSIDE of the eclipse, where Dracula's castle was banished to. Within the first minute or two of the game you get attacked by some creatures and once you kill them, a shining ball of light swirls around and SMACKS into Soma's chest. "Oww!" he says. This pimp who just so happened to be there explains that Soma has a power to absorb the souls of the monsters here in this castle. He instructs Soma to find the Throne room asap and all will be made clear.
This is where you find the abilities, skills and stuff like that in the game... from absorbing the souls of your enemies and gaining certain 'attributes' from them.
I can not remember why, nor can I remember if they actually tell you why, but you get to use 3 souls at a time. a weapon type soul, a defensive type soul and a transformation type soul. Red, Yellow and Blue.
This is where you find the abilities, skills and stuff like that in the game... from absorbing the souls of your enemies and gaining certain 'attributes' from them.
I can not remember why, nor can I remember if they actually tell you why, but you get to use 3 souls at a time. a weapon type soul, a defensive type soul and a transformation type soul. Red, Yellow and Blue.
Yup, traditional Castlevania boss, much?
The Red souls are usually like weapons, like guns (yes, firearms in Dracula's Castle!) fireballs, lighting, poison spitting etc. The Yellow uses different things, like upgrades for your quest (walk on or in water), upgrades for your stats (luck +16, Strength +8, replenish health, etc) or immunities to stone or poison. The Blue are the Fun ones, transformations into giant demons, summon assists, and weird type guardians.
This is in addition to the traditional level up system, experience, strength, luck, etc etc, and your typical upgrades, like double jump. It took me a little bit to get the hang of the souls, using certain ones at certain times for certain goals, but after a bit of practice I found myself predicting what I would need prior to using it.
The story line itself was very pleasant, it involved a little assistance (from the guide I am trying to post here) to figure out how to obtain the final ending, but that is simply because of my impatience now-a-days. The more time that passes, the more games that I have to add to my list of 'Must finishes', which is the main reason why I use walkthroughs, to maximize my hold on secrets, upgrades and benefits with out having to spend quite a few hours wandering around in circles to figure them out on my own (I do not have trouble doing so, it's just the impatience and greed of wanting to finish ALL of the games on my list). But there is two endings. I am not going to go into specific details about the two endings but I will say this. Ending 1 is the happy "Hollywood" ending. And ending 2 is the more 'realistic' ending. Realistic because in real life you don't usual end up with the girl, the house with the white picket fence, the fancy new ride, all of your sanity intact and no debt to show for it.
This is in addition to the traditional level up system, experience, strength, luck, etc etc, and your typical upgrades, like double jump. It took me a little bit to get the hang of the souls, using certain ones at certain times for certain goals, but after a bit of practice I found myself predicting what I would need prior to using it.
The story line itself was very pleasant, it involved a little assistance (from the guide I am trying to post here) to figure out how to obtain the final ending, but that is simply because of my impatience now-a-days. The more time that passes, the more games that I have to add to my list of 'Must finishes', which is the main reason why I use walkthroughs, to maximize my hold on secrets, upgrades and benefits with out having to spend quite a few hours wandering around in circles to figure them out on my own (I do not have trouble doing so, it's just the impatience and greed of wanting to finish ALL of the games on my list). But there is two endings. I am not going to go into specific details about the two endings but I will say this. Ending 1 is the happy "Hollywood" ending. And ending 2 is the more 'realistic' ending. Realistic because in real life you don't usual end up with the girl, the house with the white picket fence, the fancy new ride, all of your sanity intact and no debt to show for it.
|
Both of the endings are great in themselves but by paying attention to the (get ready for the clue to gain access to the full story!!!) ancient tomes you find throughout the game, there is 3 of them to be exact, they contain a cryptic clue to give you a hint as to what 3 souls you should finish the game with. If you have collected the souls and have them in your list then it's not hard to figure them out! For example, Ancient Tome 1 reads something like "Big FIERY DEMON from hell with lots of FLAME and is a DEMON and stuff!" is a pretty good clue that the first soul you should equip is the FIRE DEMON soul!
Dodging, like a Boss!
|
Striking the pose like a good hero!
For the GameBoy Advance, I am (I guess because I'm easily pleased by Nintendo) very happy with the artwork/graphics in the game. Being kind of dark at heart I find scenes like the one above quite beautiful and as per is expected of Castlevania, I was not let down!
I seem to get some sort of sick pleasure out of hacking up zombies, banishing my way through demons, slaughtering various underground type creatures all the while doing so with style, that I do not think I will be getting sick of ANY of the Castlevania games on the GBA any time in this or the next lifetime! |
All being said and done I will Happily rate this game as a 9 out of 10 on the Awesome/Classic gaming scale.
Enough chit chat though...
Here are some screen shots I meticulously took so I could show off my 'Mad Skillz' or various other things that I found appropriate to show you. (I also wanted to post some mini movies but a free web account here doesn't allow that (blah blah blah). So I think I will upload them to YouTube and provide the links for them... more on that later).
Enough chit chat though...
Here are some screen shots I meticulously took so I could show off my 'Mad Skillz' or various other things that I found appropriate to show you. (I also wanted to post some mini movies but a free web account here doesn't allow that (blah blah blah). So I think I will upload them to YouTube and provide the links for them... more on that later).
Lets open a discussion on this game... Hit me up with the form below on your opinions, experiences etc and as long as its good I'll post it here on this page further below!
