Koji Igarashi Kickstarts Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (2.5D, backdash, 2018)

Just beat the demo on my ancient Lenovo Y510p laptop.

It was absolutely absolutely fantastic and the music was classic Michiru Yamane.

It was all over way to quick.
 
Took 20 minutes or so to beat which is to be expected. For the ground floor this felt super fucking good. I didn't explore everything, so they're might be a few chests I missed or some other shards/souls to try out. I think having multiple attack shards is neat, but I hope they implement pushing the stick in one of 8 directions+RT to get it to fire that direction. Instead of having to aim up with the RS, I'd like to just push up+RT for a quick attack if I could. This might be outlined in the KS update for all I know, but I haven't looked yet.

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Also it ran a lil like butt, but I'm also on a very old machine. I'm sure it'd run much better on literally anything else.
 
Having some really weird performance issues with the demo. The game runs at 60fps fine but whenever it has to access the HDD for anything (presumably to stream data of some kind), the framerate just completely locks up. Then it runs fine again until it tries to load something else. It's like everything is being streamed on a locking call of some kind, which is weird (but it's also really, really early).

And yeah, this basically plays like what I would imagine a nice Metroidvania-like Metroidvania to play like. There are lots of minor issues (like the turn animation taking way too long to transition, stage elements getting lost in the background, etc.) but I'm not sure how much that matters as it's still clearly early, but it's also clear that thy more or less "get it" in terms of what people were expecting (or what I was expecting, anyway).
 
It's been almost 20 years since SOTN came out and I have been aching for a console level release/sequel ever since. The demo is everything I have hoped for. $150 well spent. The only thing I noticed is that the attacks seem a little slow and sometimes it seems like it was not registering my controller attack input. I'm well aware this is a demo so I'm sure that will be cleaned up before the real beta comes out. I'm on a i5 3470K with gtx 970 installed on an SSD and it runs smooth as hell for me in windowed mode. Feels so good for this to be back. Fuck Konami
 
kdoll08 said:
It's been almost 20 years since SOTN came out and I have been aching for a console level release/sequel ever since. The demo is everything I have hoped for. $150 well spent. The only thing I noticed is that the attacks seem a little slow and sometimes it seems like it was not registering my controller attack input. I'm well aware this is a demo so I'm sure that will be cleaned up before the real beta comes out. Feels so good for this to be back. Fuck Konami
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I found there was a mystery button (mapped to Triangle on my DS4) that both jumped and attacked based on context somehow, but using it to jump would mean I wouldn't be able to attack properly during that jump. The game worked as expected as long as I ignored the mystery button.
 
If you're getting poor performance on an nvidia card try adding a profile for RON-Win64-Shipping.exe (in RON/Binaries/Win64) in nvidia control panel and setting power management mode to "Prefer maximum performance". My card was stuck in 2d mode for the demo until I did this.
 
I just played E3 demo.
It was great. True castlevania experience is finally back since order of ecclesia. But moving with analog stick was kind a weird.
 
SuperLurker said:
If you're getting poor performance on an nvidia card try adding a profile for RON-Win64-Shipping.exe (in RON/Binaries/Win64) in nvidia control panel and setting power management mode to "Prefer maximum performance". My card was stuck in 2d mode for the demo until I did this.
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e: nevermind, its not capped. >_>
 
Dude igarashi is my hero. The timing of releasing this demo couldn't be more right lol. Inafune cryin' like an anime fan on a prom night right now.

Speaking of the demo itself. I find that the 3D texture looks really cheap compares to 2D levels but it's all good and still stunningly beautiful. The control is really fluid and accurate, exactly what I expect from a metrovania game. Music is amazing.
Overall I am really happy how this KS turned out so far. Hopefully Shenmue 3 would catch up too.
 
Just finished it and I am pretty impressed. It's still super early, but the movement and attacking feels really good. I just hope some of the abilities in the final game increase movement options and complexity.
 
Game feels pretty much like Castlevania. Movement feels right and I agree that the boss was easy but overall that Im pretty sure will change with time. I didnt expected the game to be this fun at this early stage. The game looks good and performs well. It acts up if you alt+tab but that was my bad since its a pretty early demo. It's looking up pretty good. Somehow I couldnt run it in 1080 tho. Can that be fixed?
 
This was great. Feel really good about backing this now, it's definitely on the right track.

Of course now I have a crazy hankering to play through an Igavania.
 
My poor laptop struggled to run this thing.

I enjoyed this. It felt a lot like your typical Castlevania except really easy (which I assume is just for the demo - the boss barely attacked whatsoever and the attack from the second form is slow and easy to leap).

I didn't really get how or why I earned magic spells and which encounters were earmarked for earning them, and the fire spell was a bit awkward for me on my controller - using the right stick to aim and RT to shoot for whatever reason didn't feel very natural, and I tried to stay away from using that spell and just stuck to the spell I got from the squid things. I never did get to use the horseman whip spell, either, so I'm not sure what I did wrong there.

I found one false wall. Did anyone find more than that? Trying to break random walls to see if I can find chests is one of the things that I did as a kid who got one game every year or two and I wanted to explore everything, and doing so still has its charm for me as an adult. I didn't kick every wall, though.
 
My biggest complaint about SOTN is a very simple to avoid problem for Bloodstained: make sure you give us the option to turn up and down background music, sound effects, and voices separately.

Nothing irritated me more on SOTN than trying to listen to the spectacular soundtrack while playing and turning the volume of the tv up only to have to turn it down because of how loud the monsters are. Especially when dying.

The zombie in green armor with a blood dripping from his knife was particularly grating since he would bend over backwards, scream in agony and his insides noisily squirt blood upwards at the same time. This is all fine until you realize you can't enjoy the sublime music because of loud sound effects, shitty sound mixing, and lack of in-game music options.
 
Steam seems to have downloaded a 64-bit version of the demo? Is that why it won't start for me? How do I fix this? I'm on Windows 10 32-bit.
 
Psxphile said:
Steam seems to have downloaded a 64-bit version of the demo? Is that why it won't start for me? How do I fix this? I'm on Windows 10 32-bit.
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Bloodstained is built on Unreal Engine 4 which is a 64bit only engine. The only way to fix this is to install a 64bit version of Windows.
 
I just made it to the boss and accidentally exited out of the demo while trying to use an ether. Shit. Oh well, I'll finish it later.

So far, good stuff. Animation is nice, but choppy. That may be because of my PC though. Lot's of little glitches and things. The backgrounds and characters mesh nicely unlike a lot of 2.5D games, and it flows really well into the cinematics unlike, say, the Rondo of Blood remake.

Music is great. Miriam needs a voice. I'm sure she'll get one by release though. Don't like that the downward thrust attack only works with kicks. I prefer swords, but I need that move.

Not really a complaint, but I wish they'd done away with the trend of all IGA games having some new gimmick where every enemy has an ability to acquire like the card system of Circle of the Moon. Most of the abilities are useless and it was much more satisfying in Symphony of the Night to discover some new weapon had a secret ability that the game never really pointed out.

Also, the title of the game has started to grow on me. I like how it flows into the subtitle like it's just a preceding adjective of a longer title. It'll be a cool running theme if there are sequels to follow. Bloodstained: Alter of Defiance, Bloodstained: Shroud of Darkness, whatever. Kinda cheesy, kinda cool.
 
Glad I went for the PS4 version, this demo is chugging on my laptop. I know it hasn't been optimized or fitted with all of the toggles of a standard PC game, but still...

Looking good though. I like how the shoes actually show up on her feet when equipped. I wonder if they're planning on doing that with any armor or the like. I know they said something about customization a while back, but that seemed to emphasize the head. It'd be nice to be able to give her a (subjectively) cooler outfit.
 
Damn, just short of 20 minutes playing the demo and I'm sold. Besides some english errors on the item descriptions that bother me more than it should, the game plays beautifully.

Mighty no 9 really was Inafune's fault lol.
 
Lemon King said:
Bloodstained is built on Unreal Engine 4 which is a 64bit only engine. The only way to fix this is to install a 64bit version of Windows.
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welp

My CPU is x64 compatible so switching over to 64-bit would just require a clean install but I really don't want to go to all that trouble for a demo, especially since I pledged for the physical PS4 version and Bloodstained is the only PC game in my catalog that requires it. Ah well.
 
ShadowgeistX said:
Damn, just short of 20 minutes playing the demo and I'm sold. Besides some english errors on the item descriptions that bother me more than it should, the game plays beautifully.

Mighty no 9 really was Inafune's fault lol.
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E3 demos are often rushed to meet the deadline and the first thing that goes out the window when rushing an E3 build is the small details. Things like chosen font and English translation.

You can be certain the final game will have a proper and professional English localization. This demo didn't have that luxury.
 
Jinroh said:
I must be silly but how was I supposed to fill a survey? In the emails I received previously no instructions were given.
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They sent said survey many months ago. You must have missed it. Also, in the last Kickstarter backer update they gave before E3 they gave all the details regarding the demo as well as a reminder of filling the survey before a certain date. Did you miss that part too?

Also you had to be a $60 or more backer to qualify for the demo, btw.
 
Jumps look floaty and run animation is too slow imho. Like you play some old 50hz game lol.

Since the game is far from finished I hope this points will be addressed. (Didn't back it up, was short on money).
 
Mubbed said:
Did a quick no damage run. Game is pretty good
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This was mentioned in the update but not so much the thread - they are actually doing a speed run contest for the demo. You are supposed to put "Bloodstained Demo Speedrun" in the title whether its a Twitch VOD or a Youtube video. Person with the fastest time wins an artbook. If you can beat romscout's times (he's streaming the demo on Saturday) you'll get a shout out in the next update.
 
Everything about Bloodstained looks like the next generation Castlevania successor that I wanted, especially since 'Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia' is my favourite portable Castlevania title. I just hope there will be no curve balls that will hamper development for this game, and that it will run smoothly on the Wii U.
 
Blues1990 said:
Everything about Bloodstained looks like the next generation Castlevania successor that I wanted, especially since 'Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia' is my favourite portable Castlevania title. I just hope there will be no curve balls that will hamper development for this game, and that it will run smoothly on the Wii U.
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It's crazy when you realize this would be the second Igavania title ever to come to home consoles and not just portables. And first one since 1997. Crazy
 
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