CastleVania: Symphony of the Night is an interesting game in that you can clearly tell the developers had no fucking idea what they were doing. Don't get me wrong; the game is amazing despite that. But its easy to see that Konami was in uncharted waters in this title.
Yahtzee wasn't just referring to the whole series when he said this game made up the latter half of 'MetroidVania;' this very game was the first of the series to actually go in this direction, with the previous games in the series being simplistic and thoroughly unfun platformers with a bit of hack & slash.
SotN was the first to pursue the RPG elements and the huge, free-roaming, exploration based maps, and collecting items, and pretty much everything that has defined the series since except the whole 'Dracula oh noooooo' concept the series has had since its roots. And it really shows its origins, in often incongruous ways.
It's a bit hard to explain, really; it's like if a country that used to make farming tractors wanted to start making regular cars, and their first offering was a muscle car with 4-foot rear tires and no windows.
Symphony of the Night remains a very odd game at times due to what could honestly be called a lack of polish, but it is still and always was an amazing title, very indicative of a series just coming into its own.
Now if only Konami would stop missing the point by rehashing SotN forever and ever. Seriously, does anyone think 'Genya Arikado' is a good character? Anyone?
rembrandtqeinstein said:
I remember when I played through SotN I found a shield and weapon combination that would make everyone who touched you take 1k damage. It felt like a cheat.
Ah, the Alucard Shield Rod Cheese Bonanza. You must be one of the few who actually found it by accident. It's only purpose is beating Galamoth, whose dong-diculous HP just makes it seriously un-fun otherwise. Other than that, yeah, it's pretty much a ridiculous 'WIN' button.
