- Pronouns
- He/Him
Funny thing is that this was my second time through SotN and I still died a bit in the early game, nothing that was super bad though but just annoying as it had been a while since a save room. I think it was the same area that tripped me up in my first playthrough, that long long hallway in marble gallery that leads to the outer wall. I just hasn’t found a save room close enough to there. And I accidentally triggered doppelgänger battle without going into the save room lol.Oh man ... thank you all SO MUCH for reassuring me I'm not crazy! :-D I love classic Castlevanias and a good challenge so I was feeling real bad about putting the game down (at least temporarily), but now I know I'm not the only one that at least has some serious issues with the game!
Don't feel too bad about it. Symphony of the Night is a bit easier when you know some of the secrets of the game, but they are secrets, so. Also, it's one of the only Castlevania games I've played where dying from knockback was a reoccurring issue, weirdly enough, because the knockback is really huge in Symphony of the Night, with no/almost no invincibility frames, so you'll often knockback into another enemy. All of this is to say, it's understandable why you'd find the game challenging at times and there's no reason to feel bad.
There's also gameplay differences between the two versions that are significant. Like from what I remember, a friend who first played American Castlevania III and hated it was SHOCKED to find out Grant's knife actually traveled across the screen. Yes - you heard that right, from what I remember being told, Grant's knife in the original American release of Castlevania III doesn't act like a normal knife. It literally just stabs enemies close to you, so a worse whip lmao.
Castlevania III's Japanese version is honestly super fair, the issue to me is just that the last few levels are poorly balanced. They get to a point where they are so long and contain a lot of devious enemy placements, that they become more monotonous without using save states. It's the kind of distinction that's hard to make - it's never really "unfair", just a bit annoying towards the end. Still, it's a really great game and I'd even say that the difficulty in the first half or so is the best difficulty balancing in a Castlevania.
Also in the other route you didn't take, there's apparently a bullshit falling block part reminiscent of Tetris. I haven't played that route, either, so I can't attest to how bullshit it is, but I imagine it's bullshit in both versions from what I get.
But yeah by the time inverted castle rolls around I’m super OP. Except galamoth. I still don’t know the “strategy” for that boss aside from the cheeses. I just slashed and spammed healing and attack items and prayed lol.
On CV3, yeah I read that about Grant’s knife. What a dumb change, makes the character completely worthless