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LTTP: Castlevania: Rondo of Blood / Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles

Considering playing this game at some point myself, and with people talking about versions I thought I'd ask "how is the Wii VC version?" So I will: How is the Wii VC version?

It's good! Unfortunately it's straight up the unmodified version of the Japanese game. So other than critical stuff like menus being in English everything is in Japanese which is a bummer cause I feel like Rondo was the first really semi-story heavy entry in the series. Not that the story is amazing but it is entertaining. Either way, it's a great version of Rondo.
 
I think I'm the only person who prefers the remake over the original Rondo.

I think it gets a bit underrated, but I have some difficulties playing with Richter for whatever reason that doesn't happen in the original. He's just stiff as fuck. Maria controls perfectly but makes the game broken easy.
 
Dunno if a lot of people know this but in the original Rondo Maria has a secret attack that can pretty much kill any boss in a hit or two. If you quickly tap up and then do a "fire-ball motion" she will project a phantom of herself to attack. It's ridiculously overpowered and costs nothing to use.
 

Ahasverus

Member
Actually this, I never got Castlevania Rebirth on the Wii and I do not own a Wii U so can I still get it or is there something I need to do or just get a Wii U lol
I think you can still play it on the Wii? I'm not sure. You can always buy it online and then emulate it on PC, it works wonderfully on Dolphin.
 

stuminus3

Member
I don't get people saying the original is different. I'l bet if you made a side by side comparison, the movement would be the exactly the same. I think it's a psychological effect from the 3d graphics, that also makes people think Bloodstained is slower than Symphony.
It's the framerate. Original is 60fps, remake is 30fps.
 

DSix

Banned
The remake is alright in my books, even tho I do prefer the original (which you can unlock pretty fast, along with SOTN).

All in all, Dracula X Chronicle is an amazing package, with the two best Castlevanias from both styles of gameplay. A shame the translation was changed for SOTN, but it's a minor inconvenience.
 

MoonFrog

Member
Fantastic.

Also play "Castlevania: Rebirth" on WiiWare. It's a classic Castlevania made in modern times. It totally rocks.

It's good! Unfortunately it's straight up the unmodified version of the Japanese game. So other than critical stuff like menus being in English everything is in Japanese which is a bummer cause I feel like Rondo was the first really semi-story heavy entry in the series. Not that the story is amazing but it is entertaining. Either way, it's a great version of Rondo.

Thanks. I'll keep this in mind!
 
I think that DXC is the best Castlevania game and I vastly prefer it over Rondo of Blood. I actually really like the visuals and music upgrade, plus the final boss is much better. My favorite memory of the game is the first time I died with Rictor we both said "Noooo" in the same exact manor and tone. It was perfect.
 
Hate when people ignore these reasons and reduce it to sprites vs polygons

Yeah it's really not about sprites vs polys. There's no law that says polys have to have bland dull colors.

In addition to these, I just didn't like how the colors in the Remake seemed so dull compare to the original's. Considering Ultimate Ghouls n Ghosts was on the same platform, and yet, was just as colorful as its predecessors, it only seemed that much more jarring.

Yeah I really don't get Konami's choices with this remake.

It's a great game. The controls are stiff, but you have to habituate yourself to them. It's a game where combat is about positioning and precision, not mobility.

Mobility definitely comes into play in the original. While it's not loosey goosey I wouldn't call the original stiff.


I don't get people saying the original is different. I'l bet if you made a side by side comparison, the movement would be the exactly the same. I think it's a psychological effect from the 3d graphics, that also makes people think Bloodstained is slower than Symphony.

It's not a psychological effect. There's a difference, you can watch youtube videos side by side and see the difference. There's less frames of animation for some movements, and other differences. Compare jumps where the remake literally has no frames of animation and Richter just lifts into the air, in the original his pose changes as he rises up. Also there was a comparison done, Bloodstained is slower than Symphony with some actions.

You should look at this http://askagamedev.tumblr.com/post/161855768904/hi-not-sure-if-you-are-interested-in
 
The Original Rondo of Blood (included in the PSP package I think you get access after beating the game) is so much better than the remake.

It's too bad it's riddled with audio sync issues.

I have it for my PS Vita but I don't even know what do you unlock lol

Is it Rondo of Blood or it also has SOTN? I really don't know.

Also, how does SOTN PS1 Classic work on PS Vita, does it have those long loading screens or are they shorter?

Anyway, loved Dracula X Chronicles (or what I've played of it)

You get both SOTN and Rondo as unlockable games in the compilation by collecting CDs in certain levels. As for the PS1 Classic, bc it's emulating the original PS1 hardware, you're gonna get those long-ish loading times (there's fast loading as an option iirc but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference).
 

D.Lo

Member
It's a pretty crap package. The 'star of the package' remake is pretty crap looking 2.5D, bland, blurry textures, skinny low poly poorly animated enemies, and features limp remixes of the music, which were themselves mostly already remixes. You can unlock the original soundtrack but you have to find a billion secrets.

And then you unlock sub-par versions of Rondo (get it on Wii VC instead) and Symphony.

How lucky, the GOAT Castlevania package (Seriously, how can you best having Rondo, its remake and Symphony on a single place?).

Poor you. The jelly wall is supposed to break with an ability you gain... and you already missed it. Welp.
You can always replay the level where they give it to you.
The ports of Rondo and Symphony are busted though. Symphony has broken sound effects and a blur filter even in original resolution. The original PSX game looks better running on PSP. Rondo also looks blurry.

Then there are the voices and new script, which are still cheesy and crap but less iconic and funny. Japanese version is fine as it has both as original I believe.

The version of SOTN is kind of disappointing due to the jacked up aspect ratio. It's weird, there are bars on the side but it's still way too stretched, so it's like they knew not to just stretch it all the way but they still didn't get it right.
Yep it's a hack job.
 

Opa-Pa

Member
Only downside to starting with this is that it's peak classic Castlevania and everything else (while still great) will probably not feel as good.

But yeah, Rondo is amazing and my favorite of the classic era, and thus pack is one is ridiculously great value. People will tell you that the included version of Symphony is heresy and that the borders are Satan, but honestly... It's a perfectly fine version of the game, and in many ways arguably the definitive one. Sure I'd prefer to introduce everyone to the game with the original dub, but it's a very small detail and the new one is objectively better, Lowenthal Alucard aside lol.

Also peoole despise the Rondo remake, and while I agree that it's inferior compared to the original, it's very much worth a playthrough if only to see the differences and added content, which I knew nothing about playing it for the first time because no one ever talks about the game! But yeah, it's awesome, framerate is worse, music isn't as good and much of the finesse of the original's visuals is lost with the new look, but it's still a great game, so I encourage you to go back to it once you're done with the original.

As a side note, I'm sure there are a couple technical flaws to both OG Rondo and Symphony in these versions and people will probably tell you they make them trash, but believe me, you won't ever notice them lol.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
I legit enjoy Alucard's voice in classic SotN, he has an honest good delivery.

Maria isn't bad either.

"So it seems you really are a gentleman."
 

D.Lo

Member
I legit enjoy Alucard's voice in classic SotN, he has an honest good delivery.

Maria isn't bad either.

"So it seems you really are a gentleman."
She sounds like she just woke up, she's legit awful. Alucard too, sounded like the VA was 'can I get this over with my parking meter is expiring'.
Really Dracula is the only good one as he hams it up. Death is okay too.
 

Opa-Pa

Member
I always thought Alucard sounded "unintentionally" good, if that makes sense. Like, he sounds extremely bored and uninspired but somehow the end result is kinda convincing. Richter is ridiculous though, it's like they just took some bystander and offered him ten bucks to get the job done.

Dracula is fantastic.
 

Fluxdyne

Member
I loved the remake (even though it would've been much better in 60fps) and it contains my favorite version of sotn too. I don't get you guys saying it looks stretched. If you use the "original" resolution it is still stretched because the original game has an anamorphic resolution and you can display that properly in a modern LCD without stretching the screen. You would get the exact same result emulating the PS1 original.
 
I loved the remake (even though it would've been much better in 60fps) and it contains my favorite version of sotn too. I don't get you guys saying it looks stretched. If you use the "original" resolution it is still stretched because the original game has an anamorphic resolution and you can display that properly in a modern LCD without stretching the screen. You would get the exact same result emulating the PS1 original.

SOTN version in DXC is in no way comparable to the original. It looks weird even at a glance. It's very close to just being a 4:3 game stretched to 16:9, the bars are tiny.
 
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