Castlevania Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night coming to PS4 10/26

A kill is 1 XP for familiars no matter the size of the enemy. Zombie runs into shield, instantly dead and they are endless. Go watch a movie or something while the shield does all the work.

Reminds me of the Circle of the Moon whip trick. Find the snakes, tape down the button to create the twirl, go to sleep. Wake up several levels higher. Of course, you needed an AC adapter for the GBA.
 
Been awhile since I did it but I learned a trick to max out familiars and possibly gain a few levels. Find a shield that does damage, like Medusa Shield. Then go almost all the way to the start of the first castle with those endless zombies. There is one corner you can put your back into, find a way to tape down the shield button then go do something else.

A kill is 1 XP for familiars no matter the size of the enemy. Zombie runs into shield, instantly dead and they are endless. Go watch a movie or something while the shield does all the work.
That is fine for XP, but I'm talking about getting money for the Duplicator. You have to pick up the items they drop. I'm using the Jewel Sword currently. I want to see if farming the $2000 bag in Inverted Caverns is anymore efficient.
 
That is fine for XP, but I'm talking about getting money for the Duplicator. You have to pick up the items they drop. I'm using the Jewel Sword currently. I want to see if farming the $2000 bag in Inverted Caverns is anymore efficient.

Right. I never got it myself so I'm no help for that.
 
I've not researched this, so can someone explain how I end up at a different boss in Rondo of Blood? I restarted the game and got to the werewolf instead of that serpent thing; the werewolf is easier, but I believe I got to it because I went into some other hidden area.
 
I've not researched this, so can someone explain how I end up at a different boss in Rondo of Blood? I restarted the game and got to the werewolf instead of that serpent thing; the werewolf is easier, but I believe I got to it because I went into some other hidden area.
https://castlevaniadungeon.net/games/rondosecret.html

These pages show the different route exits in order to reach the alternate bosses. Stages 2-5 each have an alternative area called 2', 3', etc. 5' has no boss and is perhaps the toughest level of the game.
 
Got the Platinum trophy, finally. Never played Rondo and I thought it was pretty good. Loved the 8-bit/16-bit cutscenes. Jumping took some time to get used to after being spoiled in recent times by the ability to freely change direction in midair. Took me about 3 hours to get 100%. For some reason Shaft G. was giving me the hardest time.
 
Got the Platinum trophy, finally. Never played Rondo and I thought it was pretty good. Loved the 8-bit/16-bit cutscenes. Jumping took some time to get used to after being spoiled in recent times by the ability to freely change direction in midair. Took me about 3 hours to get 100%. For some reason Shaft G. was giving me the hardest time.
What gets my goat is that Castlevania 4 was developed before Rondo and yet the stupid whip in Rondo can only fire horizontally. I played the heck out of CV4 since that's what I had back then and that omni-directional whip spoiled me. Getting Maria is probably one of the best things I did to make Rondo easier, I used her to make my way through. I've found that I need to exhibit some amount of self control in this game due to the lack of motion. I get frustrated, but I'm enjoying the challenge.

The recovery pause pisses me off, here's an "FML" moment that I couldn't avoid because of the enemy's targeting and my inability to avoid:


I look forward to finishing this so that I can replay Symphony.
 
I had some trouble with Death in Rondo so I went to Symphony. I completed SotN at 193% in 12.5 hours and really enjoyed it except for that F'ing clock tower with the Medusas; I used the armor with the mirror finish to avoid getting stoned, but that was some hell. I have the Alucard shield and Shield Rod, so beating Shaft and Dracula is super easy, which means I might try to tidy up the last bits of the game to get ~200%.

Are there instructions in the game for how to use certain items? I'd have never known how to use the Shield Rod with the Alucard shield if I didn't look it up online. I had the gravity boots forever and didn't know how to use them; maybe I need to dig around in the menus a bit more.

Anyway, it's a quality port.
 
What gets my goat is that Castlevania 4 was developed before Rondo and yet the stupid whip in Rondo can only fire horizontally. I played the heck out of CV4 since that's what I had back then and that omni-directional whip spoiled me. Getting Maria is probably one of the best things I did to make Rondo easier, I used her to make my way through. I've found that I need to exhibit some amount of self control in this game due to the lack of motion. I get frustrated, but I'm enjoying the challenge.

The recovery pause pisses me off, here's an "FML" moment that I couldn't avoid because of the enemy's targeting and my inability to avoid:


I look forward to finishing this so that I can replay Symphony.

git gud.
 
I had some trouble with Death in Rondo so I went to Symphony. I completed SotN at 193% in 12.5 hours and really enjoyed it except for that F'ing clock tower with the Medusas; I used the armor with the mirror finish to avoid getting stoned, but that was some hell. I have the Alucard shield and Shield Rod, so beating Shaft and Dracula is super easy, which means I might try to tidy up the last bits of the game to get ~200%.

Are there instructions in the game for how to use certain items? I'd have never known how to use the Shield Rod with the Alucard shield if I didn't look it up online. I had the gravity boots forever and didn't know how to use them; maybe I need to dig around in the menus a bit more.

Anyway, it's a quality port.
You know the Clock Tower is a completely optional area in both castles, so unless you're going for map coverage you never have to set foot in there.

The game teaches you the gravity boots through the tactics in the library, among other maneuvers and secrets. The gravity boots are specifically shown during the Granfaloon tactics demo. In it, you can see the player's motions used to initiate the jump.

Shield Rod is intuitive. The description mentions it's effective with a shield, and through observation you can see that by itself nothing special happens. Well, you have a button for each hand, so I wonder what would happen if I pressed both at the same time?

I remember the first time I played through the game I was doing the "fireball" (quarter-circle forward) and <-,-> motions with every weapon I found to see if there were any secret abilities attached to them.

For other things, the manual gave some hints to lead you to experiment. This game, like a lot of games back then, doesn't hold your hand.
 
You know the Clock Tower is a completely optional area in both castles, so unless you're going for map coverage you never have to set foot in there.

The game teaches you the gravity boots through the tactics in the library, among other maneuvers and secrets. The gravity boots are specifically shown during the Granfaloon tactics demo. In it, you can see the player's motions used to initiate the jump.

Shield Rod is intuitive. The description mentions it's effective with a shield, and through observation you can see that by itself nothing special happens. Well, you have a button for each hand, so I wonder what would happen if I pressed both at the same time?

I remember the first time I played through the game I was doing the "fireball" (quarter-circle forward) and <-,-> motions with every weapon I found to see if there were any secret abilities attached to them.

For other things, the manual gave some hints to lead you to experiment. This game, like a lot of games back then, doesn't hold your hand.
I definitely like the lack of hand-holding, it makes it more interesting. I figured I probably needed to visit the library more. I've done a number of things by accident, mostly the fireball.
 
I definitely like the lack of hand-holding, it makes it more interesting. I figured I probably needed to visit the library more. I've done a number of things by accident, mostly the fireball.
Ja, I think you can buy all the spell scrolls at the library, which put the motions in the spell menu for you.

Some of the tactics are entertaining to watch. Most of them drag on for way too long.
 
I had some trouble with Death in Rondo so I went to Symphony. I completed SotN at 193% in 12.5 hours and really enjoyed it except for that F'ing clock tower with the Medusas; I used the armor with the mirror finish to avoid getting stoned, but that was some hell. I have the Alucard shield and Shield Rod, so beating Shaft and Dracula is super easy, which means I might try to tidy up the last bits of the game to get ~200%.

FYI, The complete percentage goes up to 200.6%. Not sure why but always been that way. Just letting you know if you're going for all the trophies.
 
FYI, The complete percentage goes up to 200.6%. Not sure why but always been that way. Just letting you know if you're going for all the trophies.
It's because the Reverse Caverns has extra squares. Probably an artifact of flipping the map that the developers couldn't reconcile.

upload_2018-12-10_9-26-29.png
 
That's interesting. I've never thought to flip the map and compare them at all.
 
It's because the Reverse Caverns has extra squares. Probably an artifact of flipping the map that the developers couldn't reconcile.

There's also a VERY easily missable map block at the end of the first castle; after you automatically go through the teleporter to the reverse castle, go back to the normal castle and jump; you'll fill in one block that otherwise gets missed.
 
There's also a VERY easily missable map block at the end of the first castle; after you automatically go through the teleporter to the reverse castle, go back to the normal castle and jump; you'll fill in one block that otherwise gets missed.
While true, that block doesn't count toward the extra 0.6% Kinsaras was referring to.
 
As cool as these things look, you better be patient when it comes to actually getting your game from LRG, still waiting on my Zombies game I ordered in June of last year.

I for one will only order another game once I get that one if ever. Seems to take a lot longer then they suggest on their site.
 
As cool as these things look, you better be patient when it comes to actually getting your game from LRG, still waiting on my Zombies game I ordered in June of last year.

I for one will only order another game once I get that one if ever. Seems to take a lot longer then they suggest on their site.
They state how long they expect production to take. In this case it will be 8-9 months before they start shipping, which I find is pretty typical with LRG. They deliver every time, though.
 
They state how long they expect production to take. In this case it will be 8-9 months before they start shipping, which I find is pretty typical with LRG. They deliver every time, though.

So far I have no reason to doubt the game will eventually ship, but seems they (could be pandemeic related) changed delivery times, see excerpt from confirmation mail
"Please take note of the production status of your item: Any pre-order items are currently in pre-production. Our general production time is about 3-4 months after preorders close, or after the date of the initial sale for limited quantity items."
 
Sony. Also who cares? SOTN is on so many things already it's hard to avoid. I'd be more interested in a collection of the DS games for the PC.
I doubt it is Sony. It came out for the Saturn too back in the day. It proabably just Konami being Konami.
 
I doubt it is Sony. It came out for the Saturn too back in the day. It proabably just Konami being Konami.
Saturn port is asshoe. Once upon a time I played it on emulator to see the breakdown in use of the graphics chips. Almost all the work was dumped on VDP1. VDP2, which is the secret sauce for Saturn’s 2D might, was very under-utilized.
 
Saturn port is asshoe. Once upon a time I played it on emulator to see the breakdown in use of the graphics chips. Almost all the work was dumped on VDP1. VDP2, which is the secret sauce for Saturn’s 2D might, was very under-utilized.
This is a pretty good breakdown of what went wrong with the Saturn version:
 
This is a pretty good breakdown of what went wrong with the Saturn version:

Wow thanks! I should note that I did this back in… 2008? I was going through my own retro revival period. :). Good times. I don’t have my Saturn anymore. Oh well.

And yep their findings match mine. That castle scene is especially atrocious because VDP1 is rendering an entire forest that you can only see momentarily. Even when it’s covered by the interior walls it’s still all being drawn. And the 3D swirls and what not could easily have been done on the rotating playfields on VDP2. Really a shame how that port was handled.
 
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