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.
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.