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[Cobralad]

I had forgotten how great the pixel art was in this game.

Its actually all over the place in terms of quality. There are different styles and shading technics on many sprites.
Not helped by the fact they used some Castlevania IV and Rondo of Blood sprites.

[SirNiko]

I find myself comparing it to Dark Souls in that on your first play through, you explore the castle in a kind of loose but still intended path by the developers. But playing it a second time you can change your route through the castle by going to areas that aren't really intended and challenge yourself to get better equipment that you wouldn't normally get until later on.

What kind of path changes would you consider on a subsequent playthrough, or what items would you obtain early?

For the most part, I found the early part of the game to be very restricted, and the inverted castle to have no intended path at all.

What I think you might be seeing is that the game makes you feel like you have a lot of choices of progression, but they don't really exist. The game is pretty strict on how to progress - you need the library for the blue jewel, then you need to get the double jump, mist and bat in that order. The caverns is the only part you can do out of order, and the game is pretty up-front about that being a choice, since it's one of two places that the blue jewel lets you reach. The way that you get to visit some areas before you can advance through them (eg, Olrox's Quarters and the Clock Tower) makes you feel like you could explore them, but are choosing not to do so.

I had forgotten how great the pixel art was in this game.

Its actually all over the place in terms of quality. There are different styles and shading technics on many sprites.
Not helped by the fact they used some Castlevania IV and Rondo of Blood sprites.

What's an example of a character or enemy that doesn't fit with the others, and how would you fix it? Please post a picture. Bonus points if you also post your improved version of the image.

[Dragonmaw]

i really love how easy sotn is. it's not difficult at all (especially if you go with a few broken builds) but it's just so much fun to explore and find out how everything interconnects

[gunswordfist]

Except the Clock Tower.

But yeah, it is really easy. One of the only two Castlevanias I've actually been able to beat. I'm going to need 27 more years of experience to beat Bloodlines 2nd level. Sheesh.

[Cobralad]

just found my totally legtit cd-rom disk copy, found there is secret track on a disk:

What's an example of a character or enemy that doesn't fit with the others, and how would you fix it? Please post a picture. Bonus points if you also post your improved version of the image.

Dont know if i have time do overpaints.
Rondo of Blood artist used some sick clusters for shading and largely warm and complementing colors(blue/orange, yellow/purple etc), here there are many greys and instances of pillowshading.

[quan]

What kind of path changes would you consider on a subsequent playthrough, or what items would you obtain early?

I'm talking more about the inverted castle where you might want to go to a specific area to get a better weapon or piece of armor before tackling a certain boss. Although this idea likely doesn't ring as true as I think because I've only just actually finished a playthrough recently.

[Türbo Bröther]

i really love how easy sotn is. it's not difficult at all (especially if you go with a few broken builds) but it's just so much fun to explore and find out how everything interconnects

Even if you intentionally handicap yourself by equipping only the Red Rust it's still not a difficult game. Maybe it's time for me to do another one of those play throughs. That Clock Tower though...

[Alevice]

Yeah, everything but the clock tower is manageable. Well, the inverted castel has the marble corridors with those spike traps that get really annoying.

Also, I had to cheat in beating the egyptian god boss on my first playthrough because argh, I hate the lighting stunlock, even with lighting resistance gear and shit. I managed to pseudo stunlock it somewho and kept shooting at it until it died.

Also, I was totally hoping they would do more with the doppleganger thing, but it seems the concept wasnt really explored much until Harmony of Dissonance.

[gunswordfist]

Oh yeah, Alucard's copy. The first fight was a pain to me. That thing's reaction time is ridiculous.

[Alevice]

All of the human bosses have some exploitable AI regarding their jumps, which I managed to sort out and not get terrible annoying. <i mean, fuck richter otherwise

[quan]

Richter wasn't too bad because his attacks didn't do much damage, but he is pretty annoying.

While the pixel art is kinda mixed, the animations for Alucard looks fantastic. His movement is just so fluid and cool looking it's a real joy to play as him.

[gunswordfist]

Richter's made out of fucking glass. Recently I joked about how I had to carry him through his fight so he can last long enough for me to actually enjoy his great boss music  (arguably the best boss tune in the game). Honestly, the only humanoid boss that gives me trouble is probably just the first Alucard. At least from what I can remember. Once I think about it, you fight Doppelganger 3 times, right?

Anyway, my Xbox came in. I'll join your ladies and gents a little bit later today. I'll start a Thief run (love how you don't need a clear file to do so)

Yeah, everything but the clock tower is manageable. Well, the inverted castel has the marble corridors with those spike traps that get really annoying.

Also, I had to cheat in beating the egyptian god boss on my first playthrough because argh, I hate the lighting stunlock, even with lighting resistance gear and shit. I managed to pseudo stunlock it somewho and kept shooting at it until it died.

Ah yes, the spike traps.

Ok, now I remember the Egyptian boss you are talking about. That's the toughest boss from what I remember. Pretty much literally.

[Alevice]

Richter got me the first few times because he got his whip on fire, because he dealt a fair amount of damage.

ALso, it grated me that the shield was pretty much worthless for anything that would have benefitted from using it (the only exception was the thorns thrown by the plant ladies around the caverns).

I didnt find any of the dopplegangers that bad because of the exploitable AI. I think you only fight the them twice.

[gunswordfist]

The shield is pretty useless against anything that's not small projectiles.

I think you do face them in each Crystal Cave (or whatever that place is called) but I could be wrong.

[Alevice]

IIRC is one on the outwer wall area and another on the inverted caverns (you fight a snake wolf giant beast lady thing in the regular caverns).

[gunswordfist]

...I remembered one right before the hydra lady in Crystal Caves 1 for some reason. Yeah, I have to be wrong. lol Well, tomorrow I'll actually start playing this game..erm, later today.

[Alevice]

you are sort of misremembering - you face one of the hydra heads under the caves, and during the inverted caves, on that same room, you face the 2nd doppleganger

[Tanner]

re: the pixel art

i don't care, i like the mismatched stuff. it's such a maximalist game that it all works for me. it's like a big patchwork quilt that's your favorite because it was made with love. <3

[Faust06]

Man, I would be down for this but my PSX copy and consoles are in boxes somewhere.

SOTN is such a gem. I like the archaic roughness of it, like a finished prototype. Mostly it's amazing that the visuals are still unparalleled by any CV game since. This game has serious flow, even with it being on the "easy" side of the scale, it's still fun to explore and smack things.

[s0]

i dont get why ppl say this game is "rough". the only thing that is really bad/janky about it is the menu interface.