I am Soma. 100% map completion. 100% souls. 100% enemy drops. I didn't get max level like in Aria, but that shit would've taken way too long.

I've been very slowly chipping away at the 100% for this game, so I've been waiting a while to make this review.

I would like to start this review by apologizing to my good friend, Jack. Jack, I promised you that the next metroidvania I would play was Super Metroid. I have Super Metroid, I told you I'd do it, I said I wouldn't play another Castlevania game. That was a lie. A few days after finishing Aria, I was lying in bed and I made the decision to start up Dawn of Sorrow on my DS. Since then, I've 100% the game. For that, I sincerely apologize and hope you forgive me.

With that out of the way, honestly, Dawn is pretty good, but Aria is just better in my opinion.

I'll start with all the things I don't like because they definitely thought that they had to change the game since this is a direct sequel and damn, some of these changes are mad ass.

-The magic seal system sucks ass and so does the Balore effect (but that's only important for maybe, 3 rooms so it's not a big deal). The amount of times I fucked up drawing a seal and having to keep fighting a boss is too many to count and I hate having to put the DS down so I can draw some stupid lines on the touch screen. I hate when I have to physically let go of my controls so I can play some dumb ass mini game they put in that adds nothing to the experience. I don't care that the DS has a touch screen.
-Weapon Synthesis is stupid and takes away from the exploration part of the game. The map is really big and (for the most part) well designed. Why bother forcing the player to farm souls to craft stronger weapons (which you can't find in the map now because they're tied to crafting) when you could just take advantage of the map and make them things you find as rewards. The amount of souls I farmed just to craft some weapons which I never used because I would farm the next version immediately is too many to count.
-Just like in Aria, you get Hippogryph (super jump) and Black Panther (run really fast) late in the game. The difference is that in Aria you still have some time to mess around with them and have some fun moving around the map with those abilities before beating the game. In Dawn, you literally get Hippogrph halfway into The Abyss (same as Aria's Chaos map section) and Black Panther within THE LAST 10 ROOMS OF THE GAME. You have basically no time to mess around with these abilities before you reach the final boss, which is just mad stupid in my opinion. To go on a little bit of a tangent, one of the best parts of SotN is that you get a bunch of great and relevant movement options which when used together and practiced, you get an amazing movement system which feels satisfying. Also, you have every ability before the final sections of the game, then you have the entire inverted castle to mess around with them. In Aria, you get super jump and super speed kind of late, but it still works. In Dawn, you literally get them at the end of the game and it stinks.
-The final two sections of the map in Dawn are straight dog water butt cheeks. The Mine of Judgement and The Abyss are both horribly designed and there's nothing anyone can say to change my mind on that.
-Final point and kind of unimportant especially on my end for a metroidvania, but the story in this game is pretty bad. Not important, but it was bad enough that I took note of it and the writing isn't very good either. When I say that, I mean that its even worse than some of the cheesy stuff in things like SotN, which definitely isn't well written, but at least it's not offensive and has some charm.

Okay, with all that out of the way, I still did really enjoy the game and think its good. The combat is fun and has a bit of a learning curve from Aria, but nothing that ruins the game. The game is overall more much more difficult than Aria, which isn't necessarily a good or bad thing, but was noticeable. The souls were still fun to mess around with, but weapon synthesis kind of fucked it since I'd have to use souls for weapons and I was too lazy to farm multiple of a bunch of souls. The weapons are satisfying to use and the bosses are still (for the most part, fuck Rahab) well designed like in Aria (nothing as good as Julius or Chaos though, but I also haven't done Julius mode yet so I haven't fought Somacula). Finally, the castle (not including The Mines and The Abyss) is well designed, but they put in a lot of the really tall and open rooms which just made me want super jump early and that sucks ass. Overall, good game, definitely has flaws, but still a solid time and I'm biased.

PHD in Pyronology. I am Bishamon.

I BEAT THIS SHIT ON THE HARDEST DIFFICULTY WITHOUT SWITCHING CHARACTERS AND I HAD TO LEARN HOW TO CHEESE THE SHIT OUT OF EVERY CPU, SO HERE'S MY GUIDE ON HOW TO BEAT ARCADE MODE ON THE HARDEST DIFFICULTY WITH BISHAMON (I HAD TO PLAY THIS SHIT ON PAD BECAUSE I WAS PLAYING ON A PS1 EVEN THOUGH I PLAY FIGHTING GAMES ON STICK, I'M A GOD).

Some of this shit took very long to figure out, but most of it is pretty consistent once you get a feel for it. Here's what to do in every matchup as Bishamon:

Jon Talbain: For the entire fight, just hold down back and block any air attacks. Whenever he uses the dive move, block it and punish with crouching HK. Repeat until win.

Viktor: First off, fuck this character. This one is a little weird. You have to space yourself and whiff crouching MP, the CPU will try and whiff punish you right after, but if you spaced yourself right, they'll whiff too. Now, whiff punish them with crouching HP. Repeat until win.

Lord Raptor: This one is also kind of weird. Focus on blocking and watch out for the teleport. If he teleports, try using any button to punish him popping up. The main damage you'll be doing is when he is in crouching LP range. If he's approaching, just start pressing it. Don't mash it, but only leave tiny pauses in between the presses. The CPU will usually block all of them, or end up getting hit by all of them. Don't jump in this matchup if you don't want to die. Repeat until win.

Morrigan: Quite literally, just jump back and use jumping HP for the entire round. It'll work eventually and shouldn't take too long. You might want to use jumping HK if you can visibly see that she hasn't jumped to follow you, but don't risk it if you can't tell. Repeat until win.

Anakaris: This one is one of the easiest ones. Start the round by putting yourself in the corner. Now, crouch block until you block a move of his. The moment you block anything, press standing MP and it should punish most of his moves. The only move you actually have to worry about is when he drops a coffin on you, but all you have to do is stand block and it's not actually that threatening. He even has some moves (some of his jump moves) that are punishable on hit. All you need for this one is standing MP. Repeat until win.

Felicia: This one is a little less consistent, but it's not too hard. All I did was use jump back HK and if she was too close, I used crouching LP or MP to keep her off. It's kind of similar to Morrigan, but a little more dynamic. Repeat until win.

Demitri: This one would be the hardest one if Pyron didn't exist, but Demitri is a bitch with a dive kick, DP, fireball, air fireball, and invincible dash that cancels into special moves (the one thing that Morrigan doesn't have which makes her way easier to deal with). There's a few things you have to keep in mind during this fight. First, start the round by cornering yourself. If he's approaching you, leave him alone, just block. If he grabs you, tough shit, take the throw. If he's backing away from you, press crouching medium punch repeatedly until he's out of range or dashes. If he uses DP or his dive at any point, just block and punish with crouching HP or standing MP depending on the spacing. If he dashes, DO NOT PRESS BUTTONS, he will cancel it into DP 90% of the time. Just keep blocking. To deal with his dash, after the dash is complete, you're going to want to switch to stand blocking and delay press back + MP. This should block DP if he does that, block any other attacks if he presses something else, but if he does nothing, you'll either throw him if he's too close or press standing MP. Repeat until win.

Rikuo: This one is a lot simpler. Just play footsies with the CPU and use Bishamon's crouching punch buttons to hit him when you have the chance. Rikuo himself isn't too threatening, just watch out for his poison cloud move. Repeat until win.

Sasquatch: This one was surprisingly easy. Quite literally, just press crouching HP every time he gets in range of it. Apart from that, just crouch block and wait for him to walk to you. Repeat until win.

Huitzil: I don't know if I just got lucky, but this was the easiest fight in the game. All I did was jump in, use jumping HK, then do crouching LP and crouching MP. Repeat until win.

Pyron: First off, fuck Pyron. This man has busted fireballs, a DP, teleports that can take him anywhere on screen, he does a fuck ton of chip damage, he's plus on most things, he does a fuck ton of damage in general, has huge moves that cover lots of space, and his moves have little startup and recovery. This one took the longest to figure out and fuck you Pyron, I beat your bitch ass, it only took all my quarters. Anyway, what you want to do is start the round with jumping forward and using jumping HK. Generally, when you do this, the CPU will jump in response. When they do, you can punish the jump with standing MP. Repeat that until he's in the corner. Once he's in the corner, just repeat using forward MP while he blocking and walk in a little to get back in range and repeat. Every now and then he'll try and jump and you should punish it with your forward MP. If he gets out of the corner, try and get him back in the corner with the round start strat, or by pushing him with crouching punch buttons. If he teleports at any point, time a standing MP to punish the recovery and you can get good damage. If you're late, he'll at least block it all, but don't be early or he'll punish you. If he's shooting ground fireballs, jump forward. If it's a low fireball, you can try hitting him with jumping HK, but if it's an high fireball, just hold back to block it. If he's shooting air fireballs, just block, it's hard and inconsistent trying to get over them and if they hit the ground, the create a fire pillar, so I would just wait it out. Also, the fire pillar is two hits rather than the one of fireball, so less chip if you don't block the pillar. Don't try too hard to punish his air tatsu, but if he flies over you, you can try using standing MP to punish it. When he's in your face mashing, you kind of just have to take it since he has some disgusting buttons if you get frame trapped. You're going to eat a lot of chip damage, but that's just how it is. Also, be careful when jumping in neutral because he will just read your inputs and instantly DP you. This is easily the hardest fight in the game and has the most things going on that you have to deal with. Anyway, good luck trying to get your PHD in Pyronology. Repeat until win.

Whether or not this any of this is optimal or if there's better strats, I have no clue. No one plays this version of the game in comparison to 3 and also, I figured this shit out on my own. BISHAMON FOR LIFE.

HOW COULD YOU HOPE TO DEFEAT ME! THE IMMORTAL SPIRIT OF BUSHIDO.