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Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow?

SantaC

SantaC

Member
I am surprised this game hasn't got more attention. It's on the show, but not much have been heard. Both IGN and Gamespot have 1 short movie each. According to gamespot, it has a Release Date: 10/03/2005.

Anyone seen more impressions? Are there more videofootage anywhere?
 
I played for a bit yesterday ...it's very nice looking on the DS screen, but gameplay wise, there's not much to say that hasn't been said about Aria or Harmony or Circle or Symphony. Yea yea, touch screen, blah blah, whatever, but at its core, it's the same game we've all played before (and still love, very very much).
 
BuddyC said:
I played for a bit yesterday ...it's very nice looking on the DS screen, but gameplay wise, there's not much to say that hasn't been said about Aria or Harmony or Circle or Symphony. Yea yea, touch screen, blah blah, whatever, but at its core, it's the same game we've all played before (and still love, very very much).
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exactly, most of us love the SotN/AoS forumula. Can we get more videofootage anywhere? Is the releasedate of october 10th real or placeholder.
 
neo2046 said:
I don't think the game will be delayed so much in the US
I just saw Famitsu list the Jap ver's release date is AUG 25
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Thanks. I asked Jerermy Parish at 1up, and he said that 05/05/2006 is just placeholder and that the game will definitley be out this year. He also said that it looks polished and far along. No worries then.

so august 25th in Japan it is, then it's maybe 2 months later in the US.
 
does the new Castlevania retain the SOTN dual equipment control scheme? If I remember correctly, in SOTN you could equip two items, like a shield and sword, to two different buttons....does DoS have the same set-up? Or is it like the GBA ones where you only get to equip one weapon to one button? If so what do the other face buttons do?
 
That trailer was very nice looking. Showing some great animation on the part of Soma and those people he was fighting. (Not just the usual "swipe weapon" animation seen in SOTN... there's some unique moves in there.)

The anime FMV part made me like a bit better the "new" design of Soma. Makes me wonder if there's going to be anime FMV in the actual game.
 
Here are my impressions if you're interested.

The real "new" information (most everything else I wrote about is common knowledge):

Throughout our play time, we noticed many familiar enemies with familiar powers to offer, such as the Flying Armor, which slows your rate of descent, as well as a soul that allows you to double-jump. The environments are all quite suitable for a Castlevania title. We played through the first area in the game, and followed a warp thereafter to a house filled with the undead and killer evil clowns. Now everyone wearing those evil clowns T-shirts will have something to back up their claims.

The music is also excellent. While it doesnÂ’t sound quite Symphony of the Night-ish, itÂ’s definitely better than what we heard in Aria of Sorrow and especially Harmony of Dissonance.
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~os
 
oh, and here's the box art, unless it's not final


dawnofsorrow_packshot_right.jpg


dawnofsorrow_promo_main.jpg
 
i HATE HATE HATE that art. egh. they get a good relationship with one of the top artists to me, and they do this shit?


why.
 
http://ds.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=2027

There are my impressions of the game. I'll freely admit that it wasn't my best write-up from the show (was the first game I played and was settling into the whole E3/hectic mode).

Dawn of Sorrow is definitely an upgrade of what was already a great Castlevania game in Aria of Sorrow. The game makes use of the Nintendo DSÂ’s power to generate 3D backgrounds like those seen in Symphony of the Night. Also, the animation has been tweaked so that Soma, the enemies and the environments are smoother and more detailed than they were in the past Game Boy titles.

The core control scheme is pretty much identical to the GBA titles with only a few additions, veteran Castlevania gamers should have absolutely no problem picking up and playing immediately. Difficulty is hard to gauge, but the game did seem somewhat harder then itÂ’s GBA predecessor as the second boss battle was difficult enough to end my game. Regular enemies did seem to be a bit more difficult as well, although that could have been due to going into a more difficult area before I was prepared.
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The second boss monster is shown in the video. It's the one with the face in the middle of the screen, and it totally kicked my ass.

One thing I didn't note in the preview was that in the demo at least, Soma didn't attack so quickly, at least not with any of the weapons I used.

I also ain't gonna get my panties in a bunch over the art. I think its fine for what they're doing. And like someone said, its probably so that Konami could have some animated movies. I doubt Ayami Kojima would do that.
 
My favorite part is that you no longer enter intials as you start a game. Instead, you write your name with the stylus. Who wants to guess what I drew?
 
Dragona Akehi said:
The anime FMV part made me like a bit better the "new" design of Soma. Makes me wonder if there's going to be anime FMV in the actual game.
Click to expand...

I thought similar about Circle of the Moon after hearing the menu music; will the music actually be this cool and retain a similar quality for the rest of the game? ...

If Dawn of Sorrow has anime FMV during the actual game, I will be (positively) surprised. :D
 
BuddyC said:
My favorite part is that you no longer enter intials as you start a game. Instead, you write your name with the stylus. Who wants to guess what I drew?
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Your head rocking back and forth on a hammock?
 
Kiriku said:
I thought similar about Circle of the Moon after hearing the menu music; will the music actually be this cool and retain a similar quality for the rest of the game? ...

If Dawn of Sorrow has anime FMV during the actual game, I will be (positively) surprised. :D
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Well COTM Menu music, even though it was nice was still HAMPERED BY NINTENDO'S FUCKING CHEAP ASS 8BIT AUDIO OUTPUT EVEN THOUGH THE FUCKING THING MIXES INTERNALLY AT 16BIT....

er.... I digress... at the very least the DS doesn't suffer from that atrocity. :P

Though I'd still much prefer Ayami Kojima's design, I'm truly wondering if that's why they went with the art change. It would make sense... but I suppose it depends on how much space is left on the DS card. They could be using one of the bigger sizes already I suppose.

As for the music, I'm expecting something around the level of PSX chip music, not redbook. But even that would be quite good.
 
BuddyC said:
My favorite part is that you no longer enter intials as you start a game. Instead, you write your name with the stylus. Who wants to guess what I drew?
Click to expand...
CydduB
 
By the way, looking over the Fact Sheet I eventually acquired, it looks like DoS supports local soul trading, as in, being within 100 feet of each other, but not online. Also lists a Fall 2005 release, so it's definitely coming this year (there was some confusion from, I believe, 1up.com's listing).
 
Its funny, I always told myself that Castlevania DS would be the game that would sell me on a DS, and since it was the first game I played at E3, it did. :)

Of course, all the other games I played (Mario Bros., Mario&Luigi, Lost in Blue, Trace Memory, Nanostray, Meteos) just made the cake's icing all the more sweeter. :D
 
I just realized something...Castlevania DS...Dawn of Sorrow...did they do that on purpose, or is that a coincidence?
 
Dragona Akehi said:
Well COTM Menu music, even though it was nice was still HAMPERED BY NINTENDO'S FUCKING CHEAP ASS 8BIT AUDIO OUTPUT EVEN THOUGH THE FUCKING THING MIXES INTERNALLY AT 16BIT....

er.... I digress... at the very least the DS doesn't suffer from that atrocity. :P
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Absolutely. But didn't the GBA output at 4 bit?
 
Ancestor_of_Erdrick said:
I just realized something...Castlevania DS...Dawn of Sorrow...did they do that on purpose, or is that a coincidence?
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What do you think? ;)

Do you think Advance Wars: Dual Strike was a coincidence? :P
 
Though I'd still much prefer Ayami Kojima's design, I'm truly wondering if that's why they went with the art change. It would make sense...
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http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=3&cId=3138794
1UP: Previous handheld Castlevania games featured the art of Ayami Kojima, but the new game for Nintendo DS features a very different art style.

IGA: Yes, we contracted the character art to an animation company in Japan. The reason being that Ayami Kojima is a very busy lady and I wanted her to focus on the art for Curse of Darkness on PS2. Basically, I was afraid to ask her for additional help. (laughs) And from my perspective, the Castlevania demographic and the user base of Game Boy Advance doesn't match. The games may be geared for an older audience. So with that in mind we decided to do this game on Nintendo DS using character art that could appeal to everyone. I'm hoping to catch a younger audience with the DS Castlevania this time around. And of course Ayami Kojima is a terrific artist, but I think her art is best suited for an older audience.

1UP: So has this new Japanese anime style of character art influenced the gameplay at all?

IGA: Absolutely not.

1UP: Will this anime style be something we'll see in future titles after the Castlevania DS game?

IGA: I think that really depends on consumers' reactions. It's a bit of an experiment actually. I'm sure there will be people who won't like the anime style of the character art, but I remember back when we first started using Ayami Kojima's art there were many fans opposed to it.
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AFAIK, when the art style was first unveiled, people asked Iga if it was so he could use anime in the game. He said no, because anime would be an added expense. The negative response seems to have pushed him to open Konami's purse strings a little.
 
Kulock said:
Absolutely. But didn't the GBA output at 4 bit?
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No it was 8bit sound output. I think 4bit output was the original Game Boy. That really really pissed me off. An entire generation of portable games could have sounded on par with the SFC (even without a dedicated soundchip) for not even pennies a bloody unit. Goddamn Nintendo.
 
It makes sense.

Castlenania's box-art (art) look more mature than the game actually is.

Which might detract parents, or whatnot and whatnot.
 
I wish I had brought my headphones to the show at E3 so I could listen to the music. But the music in the movie sure sounds nice.
 
Wow, I've been watching the trailer over and over again and cant get enough of it. Man, I wish that Nintendo had been playing that on their big screen at E3. As if I didn't need any other reasons to get psyched for the game.

I really need a DS, I wonder if that "Electric Blue" color will look nice in real life.
 
BuddyC said:
By the way, looking over the Fact Sheet I eventually acquired, it looks like DoS supports local soul trading, as in, being within 100 feet of each other, but not online. Also lists a Fall 2005 release, so it's definitely coming this year (there was some confusion from, I believe, 1up.com's listing).
Click to expand...

Then I guess Iga's team didn't have the time. Back in March I think, Iga said that there would be an online mode for trading if they had the time since they wanted to get the game out this year. Well doesn't really bother me since Castlevania has always been about the single player experience.


The music in the trailer is definitley awesome, especially during the gameplay footage. I hope that the music is solid all way through. Doesn't Michuri Yamae making some of the tracks? I know Konami praised the sound capabilities.
 
demi said:
Right after my birthday. Perfect.


Which one of you is gonna buy it for me?
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I will.

As long as you get me my Birthday copy on 10-05 :P
 
MadOdorMachine said:
Does anyone know if there's a way around drawing hexagrams to defeat the bosses?
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Most likely there won't be since it's a major feature I guess. I don't see how they'll be that much of an issue really.
 
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