Why Symphony of the Night Is Not True Castlevania

Lizzy Finnegan

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Why Symphony of the Night Is Not True Castlevania

While Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was an exceptional game, it and its successors did not really belong in the series. The last "true" Castlevania title was Super Castlevania IV.

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Scars Unseen

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May 7, 2009
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Umm... Rondo of Blood? More research required for this article.

EDIT: I'd also be wary of using words like "true" in these kind of articles. I know what you mean, and I don't disagree, but it kind of sounds like black metal fans talking about their music. Usually, people go with Classicvania. It gets the point across without coming off as claiming one style is superior to the other.
 

Scars Unseen

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Kaimax said:
No offense, but the wording in this article reeks of elitism.
Misplaced elitism at that for gushing about classic Castlevania without even realizing that Rondo of Blood exists. I know it was never released outside of Japan, but any hardcore Castlevania fan should know about it. It was the last of the classics, and considered by many to be the best of them.
 

Imperioratorex Caprae

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May 15, 2010
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Now Ms. Finnegan, I hate to pick a bone with you, but defining "true" successors of a game by what came before is at best a subjective term. It'd be like a Super Mario Purist saying that Mario64 and the subsequent 3D style Mario games not being true Mario games because of their more open-ish world approach to the game. It certainly isn't the same feeling playing M64 as playing say the titular SMB3. Both are essentially platformers, yes but in the same vein, Castlevania was a linear platformer as well and SOTN, while following the more open level design of Metroid, is still essentially a platformer with added RPG elements. It is still at heart a Castlevania Game, it comes directly after the previous game, is tied to the story of that game, and has returning characters from earlier entries of the more "traditional" Castlevania series (Alucard, Dracula, and the everpresent incarnation of Death).
Previously, though it doesn't have Dracula as the antagonist, Castlevania Bloodlines for the SEGA Genesis and Bloodlines X (which reintroduces Dracula as the antagonist) are the last "traditional" linear Castlevania entries, not Super Castlevania IV. Bloodlines X segues into the main story of SOTN.
So at heart it is still a Castlevania game. Just because the setup doesn't match the previous entries does not make it not a "true" Castlevania. I'd dare say that the Lords of Shadow series is less Castlevania than SOTN.
Also Simon's Quest was ambitious, though a lot of people didn't enjoy it, I loved it. It broke away from the linear aspect and made an interesting and (for me) fun quest through the post Castlevania I storyline. Castlevania III added in a wonderfully realized system of having "companions" to aid you in your quest to defeat Dracula as well as semi-non-linear paths to the endgame.
I'm of course very passionate about Castlevania, I grew up with the series as a staple, and found most of the entries (aside from the N64 games) to be mostly excellent executions of the theme, gameplay and all. Except for those damnable medusa heads. Fuck them.
The post SOTN "Metroidvania" entries are still great, they still carry the weight of the previous games (my personal post-SOTN favorite is Dawn of Sorrow).
Honestly ma'am, you're making the "no true Scotsman" argument, and that honestly is poor journalism even in an op-ed piece.
 

RealRT

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Lizzy Finnegan said:
Why Symphony of the Night Is Not True Castlevania

While Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was an exceptional game, it and its successors did not really belong in the series. The last "true" Castlevania title was Super Castlevania IV.

Read Full Article
Yeah... No. Rondo of Blood and Bloodlines would like to have a few words with that statement.
Misplaced elitism at that for gushing about classic Castlevania without even realizing that Rondo of Blood exists. I know it was never released outside of Japan, but any hardcore Castlevania fan should know about it. It was the last of the classics, and considered by many to be the best of them.
Second-to-last of the classics. The last one was Bloodlines.
 

SilverHunter

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I have a number of issues with this article, and only one of them is immediately apparent. The title is painfully misleading. This isn't a "why SotN isn't Castlevania" so much as "why I have a boner for Super Castlevania 4, and all the misguided opinion-laden reasons why this is the only true Castlevania game"...

Seriously... I got bored reading halfway through the damn article because all it was is the author gushing about how Super Castlevania 4 is the best while, as others have pointed out, it wasn't the last of the classic Castlevania-styled games. I mean god, when an article reads like a press release for trying to generate game hype than an actual look into the games, you've written a pretty terrible piece. And backtracking... Really? SotN may of had back tracking, but it was made quite lenient in all honesty.


And I'm going to agree with the whole "misguided garbage elitism" thing a couple others pointed out. It comes from the same place as people whining about how anything Final Fantasy after 6 isn't a "true final fantasy game", when not even final fantasy 2 played the same as final fantasy. No two games ever really played quite the same, because each one changed up mechanics to an extent here or there.
 

Scars Unseen

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RealRT said:
Lizzy Finnegan said:
Why Symphony of the Night Is Not True Castlevania

While Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was an exceptional game, it and its successors did not really belong in the series. The last "true" Castlevania title was Super Castlevania IV.

Read Full Article
Yeah... No. Rondo of Blood and Bloodlines would like to have a few words with that statement.
Misplaced elitism at that for gushing about classic Castlevania without even realizing that Rondo of Blood exists. I know it was never released outside of Japan, but any hardcore Castlevania fan should know about it. It was the last of the classics, and considered by many to be the best of them.
Second-to-last of the classics. The last one was Bloodlines.
Ha, you're right! I forgot that Bloodlines came after because Rondo looked so much better. But yeah, that's two that came after SCv4.
 

khululy

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I'm a self proclaimed fan of and expert on all things Castlevania and I disagree with this article!

Claiming that Castlevania games past symphony of the night had bad music. Let me prove you wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg1PDaOnU2Q

there you go!
 

Hyrist

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This follows the same logical fallacy as saying the last Final Fantasy was FFVI.

But say that to the scores of fans who cheered when the Remake for FFVII was just confirmed yesterday.

You're entitled to your opinion, but you're also factually wrong. Anything Konami marks with the brand is official. In the realm of opinion, the megaphone you have as a journalist does not validate your opinion above any others. I respectfully disagree with your opinion, and I must question the reason behind such an article, as it feels more like the first post in a thread looking to spark debate.

They're all Castlevania in my view - to various levels of success in being good games, for sure. Fortunately the spiritual successor, Bloodstained, will have the "Classic" mode you seek.
 

WhiteTigerShiro

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But it's not a true Castlevania.
And even if the rest of the article was flawlessly worded, this one sentence would still kill the entire thing. Heck, the rest of the article could BE flawlessly written for all I know, but I don't know because I didn't read it because the first thing I noticed as I skimmed over it was this No True Scottsman statement. So that's it. That's all I'm reading of the article, because it's all I need to read of the article.

Now, I dunno, maybe you weren't intending the article to come-off as elitist as it did (based on that one sentence), but that's how it is. Maybe you intended to write an article simply talking about how you prefer the original style level-by-level model of Castlevania, and that's fine. There's a reason that the series lasted long enough for SotN to be a thing. That said though, SotN is still a Castlevania sequel. It might use a new gameplay style, but it's as much a true Castlevania title as Metroid Prime is a true Metroid title.
 

CaitSeith

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Scars Unseen said:
Kaimax said:
No offense, but the wording in this article reeks of elitism.
Misplaced elitism at that for gushing about classic Castlevania without even realizing that Rondo of Blood exists. I know it was never released outside of Japan, but any hardcore Castlevania fan should know about it. It was the last of the classics, and considered by many to be the best of them.
In certain way it was released in USA; but as a SNES port. Castlevania: Dracula X
 

Dalrien

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This article is rather conveniently written after Bloodstained just finished it's campaign... Coincidence, I THINK NOT!
 

Kajin

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Apr 13, 2008
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Obvious click bait title is obvious. Top notch hard hitting journalism, right here.

I'm going to have to disagree. Others put it better before I even got here, but SotN is true Castlevania because it's a flipping Castlevania title! It has Castlevania right there in the title! It might have a different style to what you think of as true Castlevania, but that doesn't change the fact that it is an official Castlevania product.
 

JCAll

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SotN was basically Castlevania II, only done properly this time. Now I miss whipping it up in Castlevania games, and I certainly miss 8-way whipping because Simon was boss, but your entire central premise is bunk.
 

Xerosch

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Still my favourite Castlevania game to date. Also features the best soundtrack I've heard from the series so far (in my opinion).
 

Nazulu

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You forgot your *This was exaggerated for effect* bit there, Lizzy. lol

Yeah, I understand why you said it is the last. It improved on so many features, so the rest that came out after don't feel like it improved as much (or at all) or didn't live up to the preferred game play style I've seen so many praise.

I've been down that road many times. Super Metroid, Super Smash Brothers Melee, and some others, but I don't agree with you at all when it comes to Castlevania though. I'd say they were still as fun as before because they were still designed around the new game play well, plus it improved where I felt it needed to.

I actually found the design in SC4 rather boring and samey, and not even interesting to look at, honestly. It may of had the original theme, but it didn't do it very well. Meanwhile Bloodlines had some really interesting design, colour choices, and allowed for good movement and powerful abilities. And Symphony of the Night allowed you to warp back and fro saving lots of time, and new enemy's spawned in frequent paths to add to the flavour. And I can see how they repeated some of the soundtrack, but they suited each area and most players were too busy to notice anyway. Plus I can see the anime-ish trend setting over the series, but they never had the best writing, though SotN had the most interesting dialogue to me.

And to you agro's here who need to use those labels. Will you lot knock it off with the elitist crap! Seriously, we're allowed to have an opinion on how we see things. Getting pissy all over nothing. It's embarrassing.