Topic: Castlevania: Portrait Of Ruin (DS)

[mephea]

well, i know some of you guys are usually interested in castlevania, but uninterested in the DS, so here:



http://img501.imageshack.us/my.php?image=castlevaniasy2.jpg



this is the official castlevania timeline created by konami;  games covered in the timeline are:



castlevania: lament of innocence

castlevania: dracula's curse

castlevania: curse of darkness

the castlevania adventure

castlevania II: belmont's revenge

castlevania

castlevania II: Simon's Quest

castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

castlevania: dracula x

castlevania: symphony of the night

castlevania: circle of the moon (no description)

castlevania: legacy of darkness (no description)

Castlevania 64

castlevania: bloodlines

castlevania: portrait of ruin

castlevania: aria of sorrow

castlevania: dawn of sorrow



There are a few entries that have naught to do with the games.  also, in the entry for bloodlines it mentions that the develepor is developing something that explains how some vampire from the 16th century appears in the 20th century.  should be big news for the guys who like that game.



blah blah.  i love you guys.

[TerraEsperZ]

Nice to hear from you Mephea The games with no descriptions are the ones that the series producer, IGA, sadly removed from the official timeline (depending on how anal you are about Castlevania's story, that can be either a good or bad thing. I tend to go with bad).



I've downloaded the bonus music CD which was disappointing to me because I already have every single songs on it. Still, not bad for those willing to hear music from all over the series.



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

[mephea]

why even list them on the timeline if they were axed from the story?  0-o  thats dumb.



its very neat though.  portrait of ruin is tied to bloodlines, the guy is the son of the guy from bloodlines.



the girl is a belnades descendant.  0-o

[TerraEsperZ]

It seems they were included because IGA himself wasn't involved in creating the timeline for the bonus CD. He has said that he doesn't want to pretend they don't exist, but rather that they are "side-stories" or alternate tales; and anyway, he apparently wasn't responsible for this timeline made for the package.



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

[JonLeung]

Wow, I wish I could remember what I was doing on August 11, 1999.  It's probably the only date on the timeline (until 2035) that we here have lived.



In the last sentence, I think they spelled "teeming" wrong.

[Revned]

Well, I'm happy with the bonus. The art book and the poster are smaller than I expected, but the paper they're printed on is high quality. Haven't listened to the CD yet, but it will be nice to have a collection spanning the whole series so I can listen on the drive to and from college. The game case and stylus are pretty coo and they're also made of nice quality materials, but the one thing that really bugs me is the fact that the stylus doesn't actually fit in the DS. It's just barely too big. I really wish it was smaller so I wouldn't have to carry it separately.

[JonLeung]

If you're playing the game, don't sell the Long Sword!  It's a weak early weapon but it's necessary for a mission!  As far as anyone knows no enemy actually drops it.  >_<



If someone could start a new file, quickly get a Long Sword and sell one to me over Wi-Fi, I'll be grateful.  

[Revned]

Yep, too late. I'll look for one online somewhere. How far are you? I'm at the final boss, and let me tell you, it's awesome. The game is very fun and graphically rich, but I don't like it as much as I liked Dawn of Sorrow. It seems like you rush through the areas too quickly, so you never really get to know the areas very well. There are lots of warps, so there is hardly any backtracking. Oh well, it's pretty darned good, regardless.

[JonLeung]

I have all the nun's clothes.  I've already finished that Quest involving them so I'll sell them to you if you don't get them before we have a chance to meet up on Wi-Fi.  Though supposedly you don't "lose" items you sell on Wi-Fi.



I made it to the sisters at 4:30 and thought the game was too short...but then I realized that that was of course the bad ending.  Then I decided to hold off on entering the final painting to do all of "Wind"'s Quests.  I'm killing Mummies in the Forbidden City (or whatever the "dark" version of Sandy Grave is called) to build up my mastery of the holy items, and with the LUCK Boost +60 spell I can easily get 8 or 9 Stone Masks before the spell runs out, which I then sell for money; I'm saving up for the Ring Of Mastery so this doesn't take so darn long.  I think I'm at like 10 hours, more than half of the time spent on Quests (and now more than 1/3 the enemies defeated are Mummies o_0 ).  Unless you know of a better place to build up money/mastery.



Agreed, some areas are rushed.  I also hoped there would be more paintings and more variety of them.  Maybe different painting styles, which could lead to vastly different landscapes and enemies, but no...I mean, come on, I tried Rondo Of Blood the other day and saw the exact same Wyvern, Golem, Crows, and other sprites!  >_<  However, it's still one of the better Castlevania (and DS!) games.



Sometime later this week I'll buy a Long Sword from you, I don't want this time spent on other quests to go to waste.

[Revned]

Thanks, but I found the shoes. I too felt like the game felt too short. DoS felt really long, but this game kept feeling like it should have been longer. Hopefully I'll stay interested long enough to do the quests and master the weapons, but I'm not really into that kind of thing. To tell you the truth, I used the quest glitch to get dozens of Thief's Rings to sell for money. I really don't like boring stuff like collecting money from monsters, so I just skipped it.



I can't get online with my DS here in the dorms, so I couldn't give you a Long Sword until at least Friday night. I suggest just logging on to random shops. I easily found the things I was looking for.

[JonLeung]

Is that Quest glitch something to do with re-selecting Quests to re-obtain the reward items?  Maybe I will do that.  It'll still take very long to master the weapons required for the Quests, but if I can buy the Ring Of Mastery that will help.  The reward for doing all the Quests, if it does what it does in DoS, should help with mastery as well.  

[Revned]

It's really easy. When you complete a quest, talk to Eric, select the finished quest, hit A twice, then start. Lather, rinse, repeat. I have two Rings of Mastery, so I get credited 4 kills for each enemy. I use a section of the City of Haze where zombies keep coming up. I mastered the javelin in about 15 minutes.

[JonLeung]

If you mastered it that quickly, it shouldn't take long to master everything.  o_0



Can I only get multiple rewards immediately after finishing a Quest?  Or can I get some now even though I've finished some Quests a while ago?



And does that work for HP Max Up and MP Max Up rewards?  Probably not recommended even if they did, though...



I see I've driven this topic off-topic...we're not really talking about the pre-order bonus anymore...  >_>  I forgot that I made this topic, too...I'll change the title.

[Revned]

Only after you've just finished them. The HP and MP work too, but they cap off. I haven't done it with HP, but my MP stopped at 600. Yes, I'm a dirty cheater.

[JonLeung]

Playing games properly or cheating isn't exactly a measure of morality.



I don't frown on taking advantage of in-game glitches to save oneself time from doing things like building up money or experience.  I've already experienced some money-and-experience-building so I don't think I miss out on anything (other than potential frustration) by taking a shortcut in that regard.