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By the way, the odd tiling in the background of the run up to the tower isn't a bug, at least as far as I can tell. I don't have a cartridge of this game to test on my GBA SP, but that shows up on both my copy of the Advance Collection and a completely unrelated rom + emulator setup. This one is from my copy of the Advance Collection.  This was taken from mGBA with an Aria of Sorrow rom running.
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May 20, 2022 16:49
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Yeah, the game obviously wasn't made with non-tiny screens in mind.
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May 20, 2022 17:06
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Let’s also not forget the original GBA screens were notoriously awful and dark, so something like that could very well have been imperceptible on original hardware.
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May 20, 2022 18:34
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I checked on my GBA SP and the odd tiling is there, but I had to be very close and in good light to notice because it was all so dark on the screen. It does genuinely look like a shadow cast on the wall, though.
Whammiewazzle fucked around with this message at 23:03 on May 20, 2022 |
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May 20, 2022 20:39
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I'm not even sure the odd tiling that's supposed to be seen there.
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May 20, 2022 20:45
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Epsiode 20 - Forbidden Area Apologies everyone. Delays and art missing are due to my massive drinking problem.
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May 21, 2022 02:23
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pointlessone posted:"Hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen, I am Natural 20, and this is an angry mob. Joining them today is Yorkshire Tea." 
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May 21, 2022 02:52
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there was the question about graham's powers, and i...don't think the game ever really explains what his deal is? he's just kinda generic and 'fit to inherit dracula's powers' or whatever but nothing else is really said or shown that implies anything along what soma does. in dawn of sorrow it gives the other candidates something that's more distinctly their thing to work with that isn't what soma does but i don't think they had thought that far ahead for aria with graham.
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May 21, 2022 03:14
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"Tallhammer" is another weird translation, it's supposed to be Mjolnir (I think they wrote 'Thor hammer' and then had an L/R transposition thing happen). Claiomh Solais is completely busted, for most of the reasons you've outlined, but also because it has Holy element on it so it hits weakness damage on nearly everything. They piled so much onto this weapon that you barely even notice it being an overhead swing (and in this case it's even a benefit, the area it covers is ludicrous). Tea, thank you for not being subtle, I suspect Nat's had quite enough frustration in this LP already.
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May 21, 2022 03:55
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Did some digging around, and Claimh Solais is Irish, so in typical fucky linguistic fashion, it's not all pronounced like it looks. Apparently it's said like "kleevuh suhleesh", the same way Cait Sith's name in FFVII is said like "ket shee."Johnny Joestar posted:there was the question about graham's powers, and i...don't think the game ever really explains what his deal is? he's just kinda generic and 'fit to inherit dracula's powers' or whatever but nothing else is really said or shown that implies anything along what soma does. in dawn of sorrow it gives the other candidates something that's more distinctly their thing to work with that isn't what soma does but i don't think they had thought that far ahead for aria with graham. I think their deal is the same as Graham's. Being born on the day of Dracula's final death made them very distant heirs, the equivalent of distant cousins of the king's sister, whereas Soma is the prince, and therefore the next in line. The only difference is that their powers are like gimmicky sentai villains, where it's never specified what Graham's particular power is. Shitenshi fucked around with this message at 08:16 on May 22, 2022 |
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May 21, 2022 04:36
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Explopyro posted:Claiomh Solais is completely busted, for most of the reasons you've outlined, but also because it has Holy element on it so it hits weakness damage on nearly everything. The exception, of course, is Julius and we’ll see him real soon.
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May 21, 2022 04:44
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 I was worried that you wouldn't think to look over there, the Claimh Solias whips rear end. I think every area in the game has at least one secret room (Floating Gardens might not?) but this one is by far the most important.Also the Joyeuse isn't a great weapon but it does have one thing going for it - it sells for a ton of money. If you want the Soul Eater Ring on a new playthrough it goes a long way towards making that happen.
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May 21, 2022 21:43
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Calling someone a Muppet will never not be funny to me.
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May 22, 2022 07:36
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Congrats to Nat for not immediately unequipping the Claim Solais the second he saw an overhead swing.
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May 22, 2022 16:50
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honestly kind of amazed they made the claimh solais as good as it is. it'd be pretty busted even if it didn't have the holy element attached. it's not like it was even hidden all that well in the forbidden zone! well i guess there's the waterfall puzzle protecting it, but drat. you can get there the moment you have undine + scylla and can reach any of the 3 monsters that give the soul you need. Shitenshi posted:I think their deal is the same as Graham's. Being born on the day of Dracula's final death made them very distant heirs, the equivalent of distant cousins of the king's sister, whereas Soma is the prince, and therefore the next in line. The only difference is that their powers are like gimmicky sentai villains, where it's never specified what Graham's particular power is. yeah that's the funny thing. the other candidates in dawn of sorrow each have specific powersets they kind of draw from and you can very easy tell that they've got something going on. meanwhile all you ever see graham do is uh. stab yoko? i guess? and then he just runs to the throne room and grabs the evil energy to turn into Weird Woman Amalgamation which as we all know is very dracula-core.
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May 23, 2022 02:44
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Graham's final form, with the person bound in the middle of the monster like that. I feel like I've seen it somewhere before. Was it just Adel from FF8? Anyway, insert joke of "Graham was actually the heir of [boss] and if he'd realized that everything would've gone very differently."
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May 23, 2022 02:57
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Bruceski posted:Graham's final form, with the person bound in the middle of the monster like that. I feel like I've seen it somewhere before.
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May 23, 2022 12:21
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May 23, 2022 23:44
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I thought Nat would get creamed by Julius for sure, but leave it to the guy who likes the Student Witch soul at this stage in the game and cheesed Balore with Medusa Head to win this fight from a distance spamming Death scythes.
Shitenshi fucked around with this message at 01:10 on May 24, 2022 |
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May 24, 2022 00:31
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I think the significance of the three souls is just that they're the most "Dracula-like", I guess? Dracula has had a three-fireball attack since the very first Castlevania, I think (and Graham has it too), the Giant Bat is pretty self-explanatory in how very Dracula it is, and the Succubus represents him stealing life from other people through vampire bites. Basically you cosplayed as Dracula so well that his spirit realized you were the perfect vessel. 
TheOneAndOnlyT fucked around with this message at 01:30 on May 24, 2022 |
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May 24, 2022 01:21
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I never put 2 and 2 together that the Claim Solais was a holy weapon and Julius would resist holy, and I never came up with a cheese strat like the scythes, so I just slugged it out with him in melee with the stupid holy sword. This fight took me so many tries...
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May 24, 2022 01:49
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Shitenshi posted:I thought Nat would get creamed by Julius for sure, but leave it to the guy who likes the Student Witch soul at this stage in the game and cheesed Balore with Medusa Head to win this fight from a distance spamming Death scythes. Dawn of Sorrow spoilers I like the student witch soul so much that I refuse to use anything else against Dimitri
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May 24, 2022 01:57
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One fun little thing is that, with the 3 "correct" souls equipped, you can actually use the Flame Demon ability to shoot fireballs while in bat form (but only with all three, it doesn't work if you swap out Succubus). Also, you can use the Bat soul as a bat. Most people struggle more than this with Julius at first (but, admittedly, I never thought of using Death, it's kind of shocking how well that countered him). He's fast, he hits hard, and his whip outranges most of Soma's melee weapons, so I think the usual strategy is to time your hits to punish him during the recovery animation after he swings. And yes, Julius resists holy, so this is the one fight where Claimh Solais is a bad idea; Kaladbolg is generally considered the best weapon to use against him. Still, this is one of the highlights of this game, both story and gameplay-wise. It's Dracula vs Belmont, but you're playing it in reverse! (Also, Julius has an awesome battle theme.) I also like how, if you read between the lines, this game's story is Alucard trying an outlandish plan to give his father a second chance, and actually succeeding.
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May 24, 2022 02:22
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Explopyro posted:Julius resists holy, so this is the one fight where Claimh Solais is a bad idea; Kaladbolg is generally considered the best weapon to use against him. I like Balmung for its obscene range in this fight.
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May 24, 2022 03:29
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drat, I wanted to make a joke about how you haven't finished the game yet because you haven't found the Deed to Dracula's castle, but I can't find that old thread anymore.  YT recommended me a video about behind the scenes stuff from the game. And one of the enemies in the castle is a joke directed at the main programmer, Iida: The Waiter Skeleton, since he was so skinny and loved eating curry
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May 24, 2022 04:15
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So, on the video when Nat came up with the amazing thread title, I first misheard "Soma Cruz's Drac Race" as "Soma Cruz is Dracula". Anyways I love how the post fight scene perfectly flows from how Nat fought Julius: "How did you know I wasn't really trying?" "Two reasons: one I'm not dead, two come on you let yourself get kited to death by Death's scythes" Omobono fucked around with this message at 16:50 on May 24, 2022 |
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May 24, 2022 16:02
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Yeah julius just uses the flashiest item crush to scare you. Entirely headcanon wise, since they say the belmonts get stronger each generation, its just the piled up knowledge of how to hunt monsters. Julius going at it seriously is like being attacked by TAS Richter
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May 24, 2022 18:03
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This fight rules, and you can hear clips of OG Castlevania music sprinkled into the music. Also the final ability/Gray Soul was in this episode - it's Kicker Skeleton.
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May 25, 2022 16:21
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Episode 22 - Chaos
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May 26, 2022 00:22
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I had no idea the Gladiator soul could be so useful. I always thought Valkyrie gave pretty good bang for it's buck, being obscenely strong, holy elemental, having a cheap MP cost, and you get it relatively early, but that one really surprised me. Starting to wonder what Nat would think tackling Hard Mode. I don't think it's that big of a step up compared to other Castlevania's though. Shitenshi fucked around with this message at 04:18 on May 26, 2022 |
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May 26, 2022 00:52
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I seriously just realized, Soma's girlfriend is Mina Harkuba. In Bran Stoker's novel, the main female protagonist (and Dracula victim) is Mina Harker.
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May 26, 2022 01:12
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Congrats on beating Aria of Sorrow! It's a great game and I'm glad you enjoyed. There's a fun easter egg if you die in the final battle against Chaos, worth checking out.
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May 26, 2022 01:27
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I'm glad you enjoyed the game in the end; I definitely wasn't sure you'd come away feeling positive, after all that misery. The Chaos fight is very, well, chaotic; it's just that for better or worse the game gives you enough tools to just brute force it. It can be pretty difficult if you don't have the stockpile of potions. One detail you wouldn't have noticed: in the first phase, you lose all of your souls and only get them back by destroying the orb of the corresponding colour (e.g. when you break the red orb, you get back your red souls). I'm a bit disappointed you didn't get to see a hilarious exchange in the ending. I don't think I knew there were multiple versions of that final cutscene, maybe it cares about map completion or soul completion or something? Anyway, I looked up the lines because I don't want you to miss out on them. Aria of Sorrow best ending posted:Mina: I'm so glad your experience didn't change you. Oh, these two.  Bruceski posted:I seriously just realized, Soma's girlfriend is Mina Harkuba. In Bran Stoker's novel, the main female protagonist (and Dracula victim) is Mina Harker. There is also at least one Dracula adaptation in which they made Mina the reincarnation of Dracula's wife (which she isn't in the novel), which raises some interesting questions here. It's a common fan theory that Mina is Lisa but as far as I know the creators have never commented on it.
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May 26, 2022 01:41
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definitely would rec the ds castlevania games in general, people like to argue about which one they think is best of the 3 but they all have some neat stuff to enjoy
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May 26, 2022 01:53
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I don't think you have to destroy the eyes in Chaos pt 2, doing so just makes the center enemy take more damage. Anyway, I'm glad you ended up liking this! Definitely go back and die to Chaos when you get a chance, and try Julius Mode as well. E: and if you play through the main game again, definitely grind for the Lightning Doll soul. Trust. C-Euro fucked around with this message at 03:39 on May 26, 2022 |
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May 26, 2022 03:14
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I was kind of disappointed you didn't manage to die to Chaos. That leads to the Bad Ending.
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May 26, 2022 03:20
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I do hope they find a way to have Nat LP Portrait of Ruin, if for no other reason than "Jonathan!" "Charlotte!" "Jonathan!" "Charlotte!" "Jonathan!" "Charlotte!" "Jonathan!" "Charlotte!" "Jonathan!" "Charlotte!" Also to see if he plays them both equally or just plays one of them for the entire game like I did until the game makes you swap them out.
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May 26, 2022 08:50
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I do wonder how much how this was planned; that is, when exactly did Alucard realize Soma is Dracula's reincarnation? Because the latest Belnades being really good friend, basically the cool big sister, to Drac reincarnation's girlfriend is a bit of a coincidence. Also Yoko's "you're you" talk was kind too precisely targeted at Soma's set of identity problems.
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May 26, 2022 13:59
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Omobono posted:I do wonder how much how this was planned; that is, when exactly did Alucard realize Soma is Dracula's reincarnation? I imagine everyone but Soma and Mina knew about the prophecy around Dracula's rebirth. Alucard knew it wouldn't be Julius or Yoko, so that just leaves Soma and Graham. He probably didn't assume anything about Soma until he absorbed that soul in the opening cutscene. Graham is an rear end in a top hat who wants to inherit Dracula's power specifically, so he might be a front runner. Graham knows about the prophecy and actively believes he's the reincarnation of Dracula, so Alucard and Yoko are probably watching him more closely. Everyone probably believes that in the inevitable fight between the two potential candidates, the real Dracula would have to be the winner, so they just hang back and let the real dracula show his face.
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May 26, 2022 16:37
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Explopyro posted:I also like how, if you read between the lines, this game's story is Alucard trying an outlandish plan to give his father a second chance, and actually succeeding. I haven't beaten this game since beating Symphony of the Night for the first time, and Alucard/Arikado's "in my mother's name, I thank you" hits different now 
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May 28, 2022 02:39
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