I tend to kinda hate dropping games but holy shit this game is just so boring I can't take it anymore!
It has everything in the world going for it too, aesthetically and musically it really has such a strong presentation and vibe to it. Leon himself is an interesting character with some cool movement abilities for combat and the guard MP building deal is neat as a concept. It all just ends up feeling so wasted here though.
Like one of my biggest issues with this game is just how flat and boring the level design is and how copy and paste and repetitive the whole thing feels. I dig that you can approach things in a nonlinear order BUT everything is so boring and repetitive that the game just can't support anything else. The platforming is so basic and everything becomes so boringly copy and paste that after a certain point I just didn't wanna boot the game up again, I just knew I was done and had to tap out.
At least I can see the rawest line in the entire game whenever I want elsewhere instead like why didn't the whole game have this energy guys c'mon!
It has everything in the world going for it too, aesthetically and musically it really has such a strong presentation and vibe to it. Leon himself is an interesting character with some cool movement abilities for combat and the guard MP building deal is neat as a concept. It all just ends up feeling so wasted here though.
Like one of my biggest issues with this game is just how flat and boring the level design is and how copy and paste and repetitive the whole thing feels. I dig that you can approach things in a nonlinear order BUT everything is so boring and repetitive that the game just can't support anything else. The platforming is so basic and everything becomes so boringly copy and paste that after a certain point I just didn't wanna boot the game up again, I just knew I was done and had to tap out.
At least I can see the rawest line in the entire game whenever I want elsewhere instead like why didn't the whole game have this energy guys c'mon!
Any game with an Item Duplication glitch is an immediate 10/10, so yeah. That's the review.
Ok, for real though. It's fun! And a nice origin story for the Belmont clan.
We're back in 3D land, and in a post Symphony of the Night world, it's only natural they would try to replicate the search-action formula in the third dimension.
It obviously doesn't work as well as it did for SotN. This is one area in which I feel Castlevania 64 actually one-ups this game, the level-to-level structure and platform-heavy design of CV64 just worked for me. Lament's approach to exploration isn't exactly bad, but I'd be lying if the multiple repeated rooms in each area and the long corridors with fuck all in them didn't have me thinking of Reinhardt and Carrie's adventure instead.
That said, in all other aspects, Lament comes out on top compared to its 3D predecessors. It obviously looks better, both in terms of 3D models and character design, the music has Michiru Yamane's fingerprints all over it, and the combat is far more elaborate than the 1-hit max slapfest of CV64. It's not Devil May Cry 3 levels of intricate, but considering it's their first attempt at something like this, it does a fine job.
Lament serves as an origin point for the Castlevania timeline, so there's more emphasis on story this time around, meaning lots of voice acting and cutscenes after each boss.
The voice performance is... Alright. It's clear that the voice cast is talented, and the script is much better than SotN's, but the voice direction is a little stilted. Since most of the cutscenes are pre-rendered, I assume the voice actors had no choice but to talk as fast as the cutscene runtime demanded. That doesn't mean it lacks cool lines though; Leon's speech to Death at the end comes to mind, very badass.
Overall, a very accessible entry in the series. It really doesn't ask a lot from the player and it's not very long either, which might be a downside to some, but as someone who's marathoning a whole bunch of Castlevania games in one go and also appreciates short games a lot more nowadays, I like that about it.
Ok, for real though. It's fun! And a nice origin story for the Belmont clan.
We're back in 3D land, and in a post Symphony of the Night world, it's only natural they would try to replicate the search-action formula in the third dimension.
It obviously doesn't work as well as it did for SotN. This is one area in which I feel Castlevania 64 actually one-ups this game, the level-to-level structure and platform-heavy design of CV64 just worked for me. Lament's approach to exploration isn't exactly bad, but I'd be lying if the multiple repeated rooms in each area and the long corridors with fuck all in them didn't have me thinking of Reinhardt and Carrie's adventure instead.
That said, in all other aspects, Lament comes out on top compared to its 3D predecessors. It obviously looks better, both in terms of 3D models and character design, the music has Michiru Yamane's fingerprints all over it, and the combat is far more elaborate than the 1-hit max slapfest of CV64. It's not Devil May Cry 3 levels of intricate, but considering it's their first attempt at something like this, it does a fine job.
Lament serves as an origin point for the Castlevania timeline, so there's more emphasis on story this time around, meaning lots of voice acting and cutscenes after each boss.
The voice performance is... Alright. It's clear that the voice cast is talented, and the script is much better than SotN's, but the voice direction is a little stilted. Since most of the cutscenes are pre-rendered, I assume the voice actors had no choice but to talk as fast as the cutscene runtime demanded. That doesn't mean it lacks cool lines though; Leon's speech to Death at the end comes to mind, very badass.
Overall, a very accessible entry in the series. It really doesn't ask a lot from the player and it's not very long either, which might be a downside to some, but as someone who's marathoning a whole bunch of Castlevania games in one go and also appreciates short games a lot more nowadays, I like that about it.
Lament of Innocence é um jogo que eu não esperava nada honestamente. É um dos Castlevanias que eu nunca tive o interesse de jogar direito mas PRINCIPALMENTE nunca tive uma maquina que pudesse rodar esse cara. Agora finalmente tentei e estou mais surpreso do que nunca.
Ele tem seus problemas graves de level design mas tirando isso, a gameplay é uma das melhores da franquia, conseguiram transmitir bem o estilo metroidvania para algo com um combate mais elaborado, o que ficou sensacional. As músicas, gráficos, histórias também tão incríveis então é um prato cheio.
A exploração é o mais paia, a navegação não é muito boa e é isso que impede esse jogo de entrar no panteão dos melhores da franquia pra mim, mas mesmo com isso, ele tá bem alto na lista hein!
Ele tem seus problemas graves de level design mas tirando isso, a gameplay é uma das melhores da franquia, conseguiram transmitir bem o estilo metroidvania para algo com um combate mais elaborado, o que ficou sensacional. As músicas, gráficos, histórias também tão incríveis então é um prato cheio.
A exploração é o mais paia, a navegação não é muito boa e é isso que impede esse jogo de entrar no panteão dos melhores da franquia pra mim, mas mesmo com isso, ele tá bem alto na lista hein!
A beautiful Castlevania game, while in some aspects the gameplay and it's details feels simplistic and easy, I consider it a comfortable kind of easy. I quite enjoy the story, the acting was pure theatrics as it should be and voice acting was above my expectations, without spoilers, the origin of Vampire Killer made me tear up and I never had trouble believing Leon's determination. Only character I say was kind of a wasted potential was Joachim, I expected to see more of him or him to be explored more but no, he's just there, beat him and bam. I guess they had to put someone in their own mode as per series tradition and didn't have anyone better, I also imagine he was picked on how fun to play as they felt, which is fair. Music is great, especially Anti-Soul Mysteries Lab is straight up fire, Dracula got the best damn gay club raves in town! Overall it's a great origin story that I'm glad they got to explore. I also really gotta admire how well they transitioned the gameplay and atmosphere into 3D this time, all that experience with the N64 titles payed off. I really like how they reinvented and changed the sub-weapons to work in this enviroment, Cross is easily the best one tho, very OP....now that's some good Christian propaganda huh? lol
Bosses are pretty fun, I expected a more variety to the two health bars thing, maybe some having just one or three but nope, same throughout...this is what I meant earlier, I expect this game to have a biiit more detail, mix it up a little but it doesn't..making me go, huh alright I guess. A bit underwhelming but also not the worst in the world. Tho the game can feel a bit formulaic once you figure it out.
And holy shit, The Forgotten One is terrifying. His presence alone is what gave this game an M rating, that's awesome!
I do not regret doing his boss battle! Oh yeah he did have three phases, so that's some mixing up!
Now for the bad quickly besides Joachim, camera is...not always very flattering and because it has to be locked to an angle, almost every room feels like it has an unused square dedicated to it cuz of it, not sure how I feel about that...platforming, especially the ones where you gotta do a whip swing was easily the hardest part of the game for me and sometimes just landing on a platform period, luckily we don't have the instant death situations of the N64 games anymore but good god, it's hard enough to line these things up with this camera angle (there's a whole right stick there guys, which you didn't even use) but who's bright idea was it to have those dark rooms on top of it?! Heh...bright...good thing these bottomless pits (tho sometimes you see Leon land on the bottom with the scream triggering anyway) just spawn you back up and again, not do it the N64 way. I am aware of it's DMC inspiration but I realized this game is technically not unlike an isometric game, if this thing was on a GBA I'd drop it so quickly and so hard I tell you lol.
I dunno how to feel about only equipping in real time...it's pretty weird but at the same time I don't mind it too much, it's no Silent Hill 4 that's for sure.
Game runs excellent at 60FPS 1080p on PCSX2, I used a widescreen patch which looks much better than I expected, pretty damn native feel. Tho it kinda stretched the HUD where atleast the healthbars look longer than they realy are and it caused the other minor issue of the HUD being over Leon's model in the menu and the rotating items when you examine them overlapping a bit on the text cuz they're a bit to the center instead of left.
I went for 100% Map, which means all optional bosses, upgrades and items too...what I didn't do is go for all the relics or item drops or whatever and...frankly I'm not insane lol. I also really appreciate us not having to cover every single square of a room or something, that'd be a nightmare and I'm glad developers had the insight, pretty sure they'd hate that themselves.
I also wanna say, this game basically feels like the early framework of it's type for me, and that has some parallels with other parts of Castlevania for me. If the N64 games were Castlevania Legends, I guess then this is Circle of the Moon and would that make Curse of Darkness the Aria of Sorrow? (I prefer Harmony of Dissonance among the GBA titles tbh but nobody will get it if I use that game as the parallel, I also haven't played CoD yet so we will see). Another parallel I see is that both this game and Circle are missing a key component that would make them much better if they had it...Circle lacked a Shop, while Lament lack an XP system, which is odd cuz it really feels like both games should have these features, oh well...
From this day on, the Belmont Clan will HUNT the NIGHT!
Bosses are pretty fun, I expected a more variety to the two health bars thing, maybe some having just one or three but nope, same throughout...this is what I meant earlier, I expect this game to have a biiit more detail, mix it up a little but it doesn't..making me go, huh alright I guess. A bit underwhelming but also not the worst in the world. Tho the game can feel a bit formulaic once you figure it out.
And holy shit, The Forgotten One is terrifying. His presence alone is what gave this game an M rating, that's awesome!
I do not regret doing his boss battle! Oh yeah he did have three phases, so that's some mixing up!
Now for the bad quickly besides Joachim, camera is...not always very flattering and because it has to be locked to an angle, almost every room feels like it has an unused square dedicated to it cuz of it, not sure how I feel about that...platforming, especially the ones where you gotta do a whip swing was easily the hardest part of the game for me and sometimes just landing on a platform period, luckily we don't have the instant death situations of the N64 games anymore but good god, it's hard enough to line these things up with this camera angle (there's a whole right stick there guys, which you didn't even use) but who's bright idea was it to have those dark rooms on top of it?! Heh...bright...good thing these bottomless pits (tho sometimes you see Leon land on the bottom with the scream triggering anyway) just spawn you back up and again, not do it the N64 way. I am aware of it's DMC inspiration but I realized this game is technically not unlike an isometric game, if this thing was on a GBA I'd drop it so quickly and so hard I tell you lol.
I dunno how to feel about only equipping in real time...it's pretty weird but at the same time I don't mind it too much, it's no Silent Hill 4 that's for sure.
Game runs excellent at 60FPS 1080p on PCSX2, I used a widescreen patch which looks much better than I expected, pretty damn native feel. Tho it kinda stretched the HUD where atleast the healthbars look longer than they realy are and it caused the other minor issue of the HUD being over Leon's model in the menu and the rotating items when you examine them overlapping a bit on the text cuz they're a bit to the center instead of left.
I went for 100% Map, which means all optional bosses, upgrades and items too...what I didn't do is go for all the relics or item drops or whatever and...frankly I'm not insane lol. I also really appreciate us not having to cover every single square of a room or something, that'd be a nightmare and I'm glad developers had the insight, pretty sure they'd hate that themselves.
I also wanna say, this game basically feels like the early framework of it's type for me, and that has some parallels with other parts of Castlevania for me. If the N64 games were Castlevania Legends, I guess then this is Circle of the Moon and would that make Curse of Darkness the Aria of Sorrow? (I prefer Harmony of Dissonance among the GBA titles tbh but nobody will get it if I use that game as the parallel, I also haven't played CoD yet so we will see). Another parallel I see is that both this game and Circle are missing a key component that would make them much better if they had it...Circle lacked a Shop, while Lament lack an XP system, which is odd cuz it really feels like both games should have these features, oh well...
From this day on, the Belmont Clan will HUNT the NIGHT!
Kinda repetitive but it's still a pretty decent game, there's so many things on this game that could've been fixed tho
o primeiro da linha cronológica, e também meu primeiro contato com a franquia.
amei cada segundo dentro dele por inúmeros motivos, leon belmont virou meu xodózinho e dificilmente acho que alguém vai superar ele (quem sabe o ritcher quando eu chegar no rondo of blood).
amei cada segundo dentro dele por inúmeros motivos, leon belmont virou meu xodózinho e dificilmente acho que alguém vai superar ele (quem sabe o ritcher quando eu chegar no rondo of blood).
Facilmente um dos títulos que mais me surpreendeu da franquia.
O primeiro jogo da cronologia de Castlevania definitivamente não decepciona, música e ambientação são lindíssimos, gráficos ótimos e uma história bem decente até.
O combate e o foco no mesmo foi bem colocado, temos vários golpes e o chicote nunca fica enjoativo de usar, mas não posso dizer o mesmo do level design. Infelizmente as salas são repetitivas e o backtracking é muito cansativo visto que Leon é um personagem relativamente lento e a exploração não é mais o foco.
Mas ainda sim, é um ótimo jogo.
O primeiro jogo da cronologia de Castlevania definitivamente não decepciona, música e ambientação são lindíssimos, gráficos ótimos e uma história bem decente até.
O combate e o foco no mesmo foi bem colocado, temos vários golpes e o chicote nunca fica enjoativo de usar, mas não posso dizer o mesmo do level design. Infelizmente as salas são repetitivas e o backtracking é muito cansativo visto que Leon é um personagem relativamente lento e a exploração não é mais o foco.
Mas ainda sim, é um ótimo jogo.
Castlevanias em 3d são estranhos... Mas o Leon é absurdo🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Mixing classic Castlevania items with the orbs is a really fun idea but the relics are a bit useless and the combat sometimes gets a bit repetitive. I took a big break in the middle of the game and it felt realy nice to come back to.
I enjoyed my first time through the areas but it becomes a bit tedious to move through when you come back for secrets. Being able to go through the areas in any order you want is always appreciated. I also think the bosses have a better connection to their respective areas compared to other games in the series,which is neat.
I think Leon's design and lines are really cool, he might be my favourite Belmont.
Overall I enjoyed my time but I don't think the game excells at anything.
I enjoyed my first time through the areas but it becomes a bit tedious to move through when you come back for secrets. Being able to go through the areas in any order you want is always appreciated. I also think the bosses have a better connection to their respective areas compared to other games in the series,which is neat.
I think Leon's design and lines are really cool, he might be my favourite Belmont.
Overall I enjoyed my time but I don't think the game excells at anything.
Games pretty cool. Its like a bare bones dmc with some castlevania flair. You wont be doing any crazy combos here. That said the gameplay is pretty enjoyable. My biggest complaints being that level design is really tedious, lack of collectibles, combat being lacking. The boss fights were pretty fun and good, none of them were bad. The worm boss is boring but not bad. If this is the weaker one of the ps2 castlevania game then i think ill like curse of shadows a lot more.
Honestly, it’s impressive how good the game actually is. I’ve never heard anyone talk about this game yet it has a lot of strong gameplay elements that it makes me want to go on a crusade to spread the word.
I tried playing this on Xbox Gold and boy did it take some getting used to! So I didn't.
O cara faz uma parceria com a Dona Morte, se tornando o maior vampiro de todos os tempos, por quê sua esposa morre kkkkkk tchola.
This game is pretty decent, but I think you have to get the correct mindset first to enjoy this game.
If played as a normal action game, this game might be decent, kinda repetitive, but still fun. Combo can get repetitive but it has a nice feeling to it. It also has a bit of simple puzzle to solve. Bosses are good, but not great, most of them are easy and in fact I actually only died once to a boss and that's to a super boss.
If played as a metroidvania (which this game is kinda), then it's pretty bad. The backtracking for item is abysmal, there's no teleport in between area so you have to walk/run back and forth. There's a teleport item which will either takes you to the starting area (of the entire game) or to the last save point, but they cost money.
Not to mention that walking speed feels a bit too slow for how big the map can be.
The cherry on top is that the optional item isn't even that useful or fun most of the time, there's ONE item that I like which is wolf's foot that can make you run and jump faster, and as far as I know, is the only ability that is essential in getting some optional items (apart from straight up key).
To sour the game even more, to use the wolf's foot (and any other RELIC), you need mana, but mana doesn't recover automatically when you go to a save room. You have to either use item or perfectly block an enemy attack (which is almost useless when dodging is a lot easier).
So... I barely use the wolf's foot anyway, or any other relic for that matter.
If played as a normal action game, this game might be decent, kinda repetitive, but still fun. Combo can get repetitive but it has a nice feeling to it. It also has a bit of simple puzzle to solve. Bosses are good, but not great, most of them are easy and in fact I actually only died once to a boss and that's to a super boss.
If played as a metroidvania (which this game is kinda), then it's pretty bad. The backtracking for item is abysmal, there's no teleport in between area so you have to walk/run back and forth. There's a teleport item which will either takes you to the starting area (of the entire game) or to the last save point, but they cost money.
Not to mention that walking speed feels a bit too slow for how big the map can be.
The cherry on top is that the optional item isn't even that useful or fun most of the time, there's ONE item that I like which is wolf's foot that can make you run and jump faster, and as far as I know, is the only ability that is essential in getting some optional items (apart from straight up key).
To sour the game even more, to use the wolf's foot (and any other RELIC), you need mana, but mana doesn't recover automatically when you go to a save room. You have to either use item or perfectly block an enemy attack (which is almost useless when dodging is a lot easier).
So... I barely use the wolf's foot anyway, or any other relic for that matter.
It ain't the best, but it felt a lot closer to a Castlevania experience than say Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Worth it just for the iconic line "I'll destroy you AND the night!"
nunca tinha jogado algum Castlevania antes e resolvi começar por esse e seguir jogando em ordem cronológica. eu gostei apesar de ter suas falhas, depois de um tempo o design dos níveis se tornou cansativo e a exploração também MAS A TRILHA SONORA É MUITO BOA e achei legal o combate contra os chefes (tomei uma surra do Doppelganger), vou jogar os próximos
This review contains spoilers
Castlevania is one of my favorite game series. Not only do I love the linear stage-based game style, but I love the castleroid style as well. However, there is a third game style that Castlevania never seemed to really get right. No, not a fighting game with art by the creator of Death Note. No, the 3D style of game.
Adapting to 3D can be hard. I started taking Calculus III recently and have had a bit of trouble adapting to the third dimension. However, I think Lament of Innocence just barely gets a thumbs up from me. It's a faithful adaptation of the castleroid style of the series, but it definitely stumbles a bit. I'd honestly sell the game as Harmony of Dissonance in 3D. I'm not a huge fan of that game, but I think this game does enough to improve upon that one.
For example, my biggest gripe with Harmony of Dissonance is that to actually play optimally, you have to enter the menu a lot. Let's say I wanted to use a spellbook once in that game. I go into the menu, activate the book, go out of the menu, use it, go back into the menu, turn it off, then leave the menu. It's dumb, and despite being a GBA game they could've easily done better. Ironically, you still have to menu a lot in Lament of Innocence, but it's all in real time. Want to use a potion? Real time menu. Want to turn a relic on or off? Real time menu. Want to use a ticket to get out when your health is low? You better be quick in that menu! It makes fights tense, and it's something that even the most critically acclaimed game this year got wrong, so I have to give Lament of Innocence credit.
The combat isn't particularly great aside from that though. It's usually pretty button mashy. If you've played PS2 God of War, you have a good idea of how this game is with its combat. However, a few elements elevate it. First is the subweapons. They're all well-balanced, and using orbs changes their utility. There's also relics, which upgrade you for the cost of MP. To get MP back, you have to time blocks well. Dodging is less risky, but also less rewarding. It's a very simple but effective system.
However, I think a lot of the other series staples weren't adapted very well. It's extremely apparent that Igarashi had a comically small amount of resources to work with when it came to this game. This was probably true of the handheld games, but those are obviously gonna be cheaper than this kind of game. One way this shows is the exploration. Most areas do have unique theming visually, but the areas themselves are pretty repetitive when it comes to layout. Most rooms are flat arenas, and the ones that aren't are dedicated platforming areas. There's no blend of action and platforming, or at the very least interesting level design for battle arenas. Thankfully, the enemies themselves are pretty varied though.
This issue also extends to the actual exploration. I like that you can choose the order in which you play each stage, but actual exploration in each stage is super dull. You go somewhere, do a thing that opens a door far away, go to that door, repeat. There are some optional areas, which is neat, but an actual sense of exploration between levels just isn't there because the room visuals and layouts are just so repetitive.
Another issue is that the game doesn't really have much you can actually buy in the shop. Unlike many of the Castlevania games at the time, you can only use the whip here, so no buying alternate weapons. Subweapons are obtained in-stage. Orbs are obtained by defeating bosses. You can buy a few relics, but only a few. The rest is consumables, but most of those will be potions to heal and tickets to teleport. There should've been much more to obtain here, because after a point I had tons of money and little to spend it on.
Another area where the lack of resources is apparent is the visuals. Not just the environments, but the character models and animations. Our protagonist looks like a dope. Walter looks dumb too. The main villain looks kinda like Takumi from the Shoujo classic Nana. Spoilers from her on (For Nana as well). Honestly, I could see Takumi becoming an evil vampire. It seems he's characteristically two-timing Hachiko with some girl named Elizabetha, which is the dumbest name I've ever heard. Elizabetha dies though, and Takumi is so pissed that he becomes a vampire to get revenge on God. Actually, this is nothing like Takumi, he would just shrug if his wife died.
Uh... Anyway, Our hero Leon Belmont has to save his wife Maria from a vampire named Walter. He does so, but Walter bit Maria, so Maria is becoming a vampire. Apparently though, killing a willing vampire with a whip makes it a super whip. It like imbues the vampire's soul into the whip. So, Maria offers herself to upgrade Leon's whip because it's the only way to defeat Walter. This is like a step above the wife arm from Bionic Commando. Anyway, Leon defeats Walter, but then Takumi comes in and takes Walter's soul to power himself up or something. Apparently, he planned all of this. So, he planned for Walter to kidnap Maria, bite her so that she would start to become a vampire, then Leon would come and save her without dying, she is becoming a vampire but isn't one quite yet, she consents to becoming a powerful whip, then Leon would defeat Walter so that he could take his soul. Wait, Leon only knew about the whip thing because his buddy Rinaldo told him, and Rinaldo was only around because Walter killed his family and vampirized his daughter. Did Takumi plan that? Was Walter working with him? It doesn't seem like it. What if Walter killed Rinaldo? How would Leon know about the whip thing? What if Leon died, or took too long to rescue Maria? I dunno, whatever. Weirdly enough though, the final encounter here is Death, not Takumi. I mean, it's fine, but it was a bit surprising. Such ends one of like, three Castlevania origin stories.
Anyway, while the visuals aren't great, just look at that box art. Even among Castlevania box art it stands out. The same goes for the music. It's really, really good.
So, the game is good overall, but just barely. I'm definitely gonna try Curse of Darkness soon. 6/10.
Adapting to 3D can be hard. I started taking Calculus III recently and have had a bit of trouble adapting to the third dimension. However, I think Lament of Innocence just barely gets a thumbs up from me. It's a faithful adaptation of the castleroid style of the series, but it definitely stumbles a bit. I'd honestly sell the game as Harmony of Dissonance in 3D. I'm not a huge fan of that game, but I think this game does enough to improve upon that one.
For example, my biggest gripe with Harmony of Dissonance is that to actually play optimally, you have to enter the menu a lot. Let's say I wanted to use a spellbook once in that game. I go into the menu, activate the book, go out of the menu, use it, go back into the menu, turn it off, then leave the menu. It's dumb, and despite being a GBA game they could've easily done better. Ironically, you still have to menu a lot in Lament of Innocence, but it's all in real time. Want to use a potion? Real time menu. Want to turn a relic on or off? Real time menu. Want to use a ticket to get out when your health is low? You better be quick in that menu! It makes fights tense, and it's something that even the most critically acclaimed game this year got wrong, so I have to give Lament of Innocence credit.
The combat isn't particularly great aside from that though. It's usually pretty button mashy. If you've played PS2 God of War, you have a good idea of how this game is with its combat. However, a few elements elevate it. First is the subweapons. They're all well-balanced, and using orbs changes their utility. There's also relics, which upgrade you for the cost of MP. To get MP back, you have to time blocks well. Dodging is less risky, but also less rewarding. It's a very simple but effective system.
However, I think a lot of the other series staples weren't adapted very well. It's extremely apparent that Igarashi had a comically small amount of resources to work with when it came to this game. This was probably true of the handheld games, but those are obviously gonna be cheaper than this kind of game. One way this shows is the exploration. Most areas do have unique theming visually, but the areas themselves are pretty repetitive when it comes to layout. Most rooms are flat arenas, and the ones that aren't are dedicated platforming areas. There's no blend of action and platforming, or at the very least interesting level design for battle arenas. Thankfully, the enemies themselves are pretty varied though.
This issue also extends to the actual exploration. I like that you can choose the order in which you play each stage, but actual exploration in each stage is super dull. You go somewhere, do a thing that opens a door far away, go to that door, repeat. There are some optional areas, which is neat, but an actual sense of exploration between levels just isn't there because the room visuals and layouts are just so repetitive.
Another issue is that the game doesn't really have much you can actually buy in the shop. Unlike many of the Castlevania games at the time, you can only use the whip here, so no buying alternate weapons. Subweapons are obtained in-stage. Orbs are obtained by defeating bosses. You can buy a few relics, but only a few. The rest is consumables, but most of those will be potions to heal and tickets to teleport. There should've been much more to obtain here, because after a point I had tons of money and little to spend it on.
Another area where the lack of resources is apparent is the visuals. Not just the environments, but the character models and animations. Our protagonist looks like a dope. Walter looks dumb too. The main villain looks kinda like Takumi from the Shoujo classic Nana. Spoilers from her on (For Nana as well). Honestly, I could see Takumi becoming an evil vampire. It seems he's characteristically two-timing Hachiko with some girl named Elizabetha, which is the dumbest name I've ever heard. Elizabetha dies though, and Takumi is so pissed that he becomes a vampire to get revenge on God. Actually, this is nothing like Takumi, he would just shrug if his wife died.
Uh... Anyway, Our hero Leon Belmont has to save his wife Maria from a vampire named Walter. He does so, but Walter bit Maria, so Maria is becoming a vampire. Apparently though, killing a willing vampire with a whip makes it a super whip. It like imbues the vampire's soul into the whip. So, Maria offers herself to upgrade Leon's whip because it's the only way to defeat Walter. This is like a step above the wife arm from Bionic Commando. Anyway, Leon defeats Walter, but then Takumi comes in and takes Walter's soul to power himself up or something. Apparently, he planned all of this. So, he planned for Walter to kidnap Maria, bite her so that she would start to become a vampire, then Leon would come and save her without dying, she is becoming a vampire but isn't one quite yet, she consents to becoming a powerful whip, then Leon would defeat Walter so that he could take his soul. Wait, Leon only knew about the whip thing because his buddy Rinaldo told him, and Rinaldo was only around because Walter killed his family and vampirized his daughter. Did Takumi plan that? Was Walter working with him? It doesn't seem like it. What if Walter killed Rinaldo? How would Leon know about the whip thing? What if Leon died, or took too long to rescue Maria? I dunno, whatever. Weirdly enough though, the final encounter here is Death, not Takumi. I mean, it's fine, but it was a bit surprising. Such ends one of like, three Castlevania origin stories.
Anyway, while the visuals aren't great, just look at that box art. Even among Castlevania box art it stands out. The same goes for the music. It's really, really good.
So, the game is good overall, but just barely. I'm definitely gonna try Curse of Darkness soon. 6/10.
Has a great soundtrack and pretty cool combat. It definitely copied DMC1 a bit with the camera.
Overall pretty good, the only things I dislike are the horrible backtracking and really repetitive room layouts (2D Castlevania does that as well but it's way more noticeable in 3D)
Overall pretty good, the only things I dislike are the horrible backtracking and really repetitive room layouts (2D Castlevania does that as well but it's way more noticeable in 3D)
ILL KILL YOU AND THE NIGHT!
a falta de conectividade entre os mapas dentro do castelo deixou a exploração muito fraca nesse jogo. o que é uma pena pois eu acho que é possível um castlevania 3D existir de uma forma melhor mas lament of innoncence me desapontou um pouco. tem pontos bons como as batalhas de chefes (pelo menos as que eu joguei) e trilha sonora eclética mas é meio que isso mesmo.
Lament of Innocence tries to combine the unique exploration style of its own predecessors while introducing fast-paced hack 'n slash gameplay from contemporary titles like Devil May Cry. Unfortunately, it fails to do either very well.
The exploration is slow and stunted due to dull, repetitive areas; an unintuitive and often unhelpful fast-travel system; and slow, stiff character movement. These combine to make traversal (and backtracking, which you will do an excessive amount of if you wish to get any items or upgrades whatsoever) a chore. Additionally, Lament includes some of the most cryptic, unintuitive, and sometimes outright opaque progression in the entire series (yes, including Simon's Quest). Although much of it is not necessary for game completion, it will lock the vast majority of players out of the actually fun and interesting aspects of the game's combat altogether.
The combat, while not completely boring, is too simple and repetitive to remain interesting for the game's already stretched length of about 10 hours (more if you go for 100%). You start the game with almost no combos (a detriment to a game of its style), and even once you do progress enough to unlock more, you realize that only one or two out of the already extremely limited supply are actually worth performing consistently. The camera is fixed in each room, meaning that if it's in a bad angle, you have no choice but to try to move to another part of the room to see the action better. The Relic system is also laughably underdeveloped, having only 6 options to choose from in the entire game, 3 of which will ever be useful; of these 3, none are unlocked without copious amounts of backtracking and cryptic nonsense. The saving grace is the legitimately fun and interesting mixture of classic sub-weapons (Daggers, Axes, Holy Water, etc.) and Orb powers, which combine to grant Leon many exciting abilities. The system is almost exactly like that of Harmony of Dissonance, making it a welcome return from another troubled Castlevania title. Unfortunately, some of the best and most interesting of these are, once again, locked behind the game's poor exploration.
The music, while legitimately good, starts to grate on you once it has looped for the 100th time on a stage. For as long as you will spend in each individual area picking your way through the same enemies in each cookie cutter room, there is a distinct lack of different music for different floors, sub-areas, etc.
The story is a mess, pulled in two directions by its archetypal nature and its new series lore. The majority of Lament is an uninspired narrative consisting of a young knight, aided by an old mentor, on a quest to save his girlfriend from a vampire (notably, not Dracula). While almost nothing about Rinaldo the Alchemist and Walter the Vampire is particularly compelling, Leon makes for a simple but effective protagonist, and the twists (one of which is extremely obvious) actually make the game's narrative stand out from its peers a bit.
Overall, Lament of Innocence, whether due lack of care or (much more likely) budget and time constraints, is a half-baked entry in the Castlevania series, but it is still far from the worst.
The exploration is slow and stunted due to dull, repetitive areas; an unintuitive and often unhelpful fast-travel system; and slow, stiff character movement. These combine to make traversal (and backtracking, which you will do an excessive amount of if you wish to get any items or upgrades whatsoever) a chore. Additionally, Lament includes some of the most cryptic, unintuitive, and sometimes outright opaque progression in the entire series (yes, including Simon's Quest). Although much of it is not necessary for game completion, it will lock the vast majority of players out of the actually fun and interesting aspects of the game's combat altogether.
The combat, while not completely boring, is too simple and repetitive to remain interesting for the game's already stretched length of about 10 hours (more if you go for 100%). You start the game with almost no combos (a detriment to a game of its style), and even once you do progress enough to unlock more, you realize that only one or two out of the already extremely limited supply are actually worth performing consistently. The camera is fixed in each room, meaning that if it's in a bad angle, you have no choice but to try to move to another part of the room to see the action better. The Relic system is also laughably underdeveloped, having only 6 options to choose from in the entire game, 3 of which will ever be useful; of these 3, none are unlocked without copious amounts of backtracking and cryptic nonsense. The saving grace is the legitimately fun and interesting mixture of classic sub-weapons (Daggers, Axes, Holy Water, etc.) and Orb powers, which combine to grant Leon many exciting abilities. The system is almost exactly like that of Harmony of Dissonance, making it a welcome return from another troubled Castlevania title. Unfortunately, some of the best and most interesting of these are, once again, locked behind the game's poor exploration.
The music, while legitimately good, starts to grate on you once it has looped for the 100th time on a stage. For as long as you will spend in each individual area picking your way through the same enemies in each cookie cutter room, there is a distinct lack of different music for different floors, sub-areas, etc.
The story is a mess, pulled in two directions by its archetypal nature and its new series lore. The majority of Lament is an uninspired narrative consisting of a young knight, aided by an old mentor, on a quest to save his girlfriend from a vampire (notably, not Dracula). While almost nothing about Rinaldo the Alchemist and Walter the Vampire is particularly compelling, Leon makes for a simple but effective protagonist, and the twists (one of which is extremely obvious) actually make the game's narrative stand out from its peers a bit.
Overall, Lament of Innocence, whether due lack of care or (much more likely) budget and time constraints, is a half-baked entry in the Castlevania series, but it is still far from the worst.
Went into this one wanting to like it but the core is just decrepit. The initial sensation of 'ooo this is some great PS2 texture work. And a fixed camera? Interesting choice, we might be in for a hidden treat here' turns to mush. You'll become numb to the visual design as you slowly amble through endless identikit hallways, and that fixed camera serves no real artistic purpose, only antagonising you with offscreen attacks and wonky platforming. Some of the bosses are solid enough but the majority of normal enemies have enraging timing on their movesets, with slow animations but little downtime between attacks meaning that - when combined with your incredibly slow recovery after your own attacks before you can block and how the enemies always appear in groups - you're spending a lot of time waiting, getting in a couple of hits, waiting, rinse repeat. Which would be fine if this were that type of game but it isn't. It's Devil May Cry not Dark Souls and the enemy health pools, your attacks and everything else are tuned as such.
The exploration aspects make a gesture towards some OK ideas, having you go back and forth between the different levels in the SOTN style. Yet you move way too slowly and clumsilty for that time spent travelling to be enjoyable and a lot of the goodies to find are hidden behind secrets that are either bizarrely obtuse or the game just tells you them outright.
There is some respite to be found in places. The cutscenes and their unintentional awkwardness are good for a chuckle during the downtime. And of course there is the eternal bright star in the darkness that is Michiru Yamane's work on the soundtrack which is varied, packed with thick synth pads and hard, hard carrying the atmosphere on this one. Her work deserved a better home
The exploration aspects make a gesture towards some OK ideas, having you go back and forth between the different levels in the SOTN style. Yet you move way too slowly and clumsilty for that time spent travelling to be enjoyable and a lot of the goodies to find are hidden behind secrets that are either bizarrely obtuse or the game just tells you them outright.
There is some respite to be found in places. The cutscenes and their unintentional awkwardness are good for a chuckle during the downtime. And of course there is the eternal bright star in the darkness that is Michiru Yamane's work on the soundtrack which is varied, packed with thick synth pads and hard, hard carrying the atmosphere on this one. Her work deserved a better home
A atmosfera melancólica e trevosa de Lament é algo que eu sinto falta em Dark's Fantasy nos dias de hoje, sendo um piloto da saga ele consiste com uma bela direção de roteiro em sua trama, nos apresentando e adentrando na jornada dos Belmont, as soundtracks são incríveis e nos trazem um sentimento a mais de imersão dentre o castelo, diversos personagens interessantes e bem apresentados, deixando um ar misterioso para cada um deles, o único ponto negativo de Lament é seu maçante Backtracking, é totalmente chato e irritante perambular pelo castelo com seu Level Design patético e repetitivo.
Lament of Innocence is the franchise's first attempt at a 3D metroidvania game. Was it a successful one? Eh, kinda.
Let's get the bad out of the way — this game is much worse at being a metroidvania than any of its 2D siblings. To me, one of the biggest strengths of the genre is the ability to explore and reach new areas whenever a new ability or movement option is obtained. It's a core element of the gameplay loop, and getting to move around and become familiar with said abilities is what makes it a favorite of mine. Unfortunately, this game does not have much in the way of that. Most of the time, progressing will be done by unlocking doors, usually by hitting a few switches scattered around whatever area the door is found in. Secrets are sometimes found by acquiring a key in another area, and there's less than a handful of secrets that can be accessed thanks to elemental whips.
In the same vein, exploring the castle often feels tedious. Leon is lacking in movement options, and there's so many long, often empty corridors. Some have enemies, but most are devoid of anything to do except break candles to replenish Leon's hearts. It's possible to use a Relic to sprint through these rooms, or use a variation of the Axe subweapon to dash through them, but they're hardly interesting to traverse in any capacity.
The game's other aspects are actually pretty good— the combat is satisfying, boss design is fun and rewarding. The pace at which new combos are unlocked is just right, and there's just enough time to get acquainted with new options without getting bored of them. The atmosphere, of course, remains a highlight: immersive environments, cool enemy designs, and a quality soundtrack, as is par for the course for Castlevania.
As a 3D action-adventure game, or as a hack and slash, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence is competent and even quite good, but its metroidvania elements hold it back a lot of the time. It's still good fun, but not for the reasons I usually like a metroidvania.
Let's get the bad out of the way — this game is much worse at being a metroidvania than any of its 2D siblings. To me, one of the biggest strengths of the genre is the ability to explore and reach new areas whenever a new ability or movement option is obtained. It's a core element of the gameplay loop, and getting to move around and become familiar with said abilities is what makes it a favorite of mine. Unfortunately, this game does not have much in the way of that. Most of the time, progressing will be done by unlocking doors, usually by hitting a few switches scattered around whatever area the door is found in. Secrets are sometimes found by acquiring a key in another area, and there's less than a handful of secrets that can be accessed thanks to elemental whips.
In the same vein, exploring the castle often feels tedious. Leon is lacking in movement options, and there's so many long, often empty corridors. Some have enemies, but most are devoid of anything to do except break candles to replenish Leon's hearts. It's possible to use a Relic to sprint through these rooms, or use a variation of the Axe subweapon to dash through them, but they're hardly interesting to traverse in any capacity.
The game's other aspects are actually pretty good— the combat is satisfying, boss design is fun and rewarding. The pace at which new combos are unlocked is just right, and there's just enough time to get acquainted with new options without getting bored of them. The atmosphere, of course, remains a highlight: immersive environments, cool enemy designs, and a quality soundtrack, as is par for the course for Castlevania.
As a 3D action-adventure game, or as a hack and slash, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence is competent and even quite good, but its metroidvania elements hold it back a lot of the time. It's still good fun, but not for the reasons I usually like a metroidvania.
Castlevania Lament of Innocence is one of many examples I give when I want to show how not to do an exploration game.
This game is way too focused on the combat, you get locked into arenas, forced to fight, and to stop exploring. And that just isn't fun.
It's worse because this game has more indepth combat which slows everything down even more.
This game is way too focused on the combat, you get locked into arenas, forced to fight, and to stop exploring. And that just isn't fun.
It's worse because this game has more indepth combat which slows everything down even more.
Not as good as Curse of Darkness but definitely worth trying.
i like this one
Meh. Considering the budget, it's impressive how long this game is, but the repeating locations, shit ton of pointless backtracking, and lack of any memorable level design makes it questionable for such game to even be finished. The story, for how important of a task it tires to accomplish, doesn't deliver any hard hitting moments or significant revelations, and the game is simply not worth the 8 hour playtime it asks.
Strangely enough, Castlevania 64 ended up being a far better game.
Strangely enough, Castlevania 64 ended up being a far better game.
Disappointing 3D 'vania followup after the bangers on the N64. Bland corridors, bland fighting, bland bosses.
You see the cover art right there? That's where the game peaks.
You see the cover art right there? That's where the game peaks.
A lot of neat ideas for a 3d brawler. The presentation is great but the actual gameplay can get repetitive, especially when backtracking for secrets.