Exhuminator wrote:Sarge wrote:Rondo of Blood / I do think it's kind of overrated
I agree. I enjoy Castlevania 4, Bloodlines, and even Dracula X more. Not saying Rondo is bad, but yes, a tad overrated. Likely so due to its scarcity for non-Japanese players during its day. Forbidden fruit's always sweeter.
I think nobody will be surprised that I'm weighing in, but let me elaborate a little on why by talking about all these games.
I love Castlevania IV, Bloodline, and Rondo (but not so much SNES Dracula X), in part because each of these games capitalizes on their respective platforms' strengths. Super CV 4 goes for more realistic shading and coloring, implements rotation and transparency into the game mechanics, and pairs that with a super-strong sampled soundtrack that is creepier and spookier than any of the other Castlevania titles. Bloodlines plays with the 68k to produce lots of weird special effects and sticks to a more "Western" feel, for lack of a better explanation, highlighting, and indeed playing off of, the Mega Drive's outsider status in Japan. It also gives Michiru Yamane her 'Vania debut by letting her do some crazy stuff with FM synth. Where Super CV 4 was an HD remix re-imagining of sorts of the original Castlevania, Bloodlines is sort of an alternate universe where everything works similarly, but a little differently. Both are alien to the original NES trilogy as a result of these advancements. They are great games, but they feel, in retrospect (largely thanks to Rondo and its legacy) like outliers.
The PC Engine Rondo, then, is left to play to the PC Engine's strengths. The PCE couldn't as easily do all the CPU tricks the 68k in the Genesis could, didn't have the various graphical hardware tricks the SNES did, and didn't have as many spare sprites to throw around as either system. It did, however, have an incredibly flexible array of sprite sizes, many available color palettes, the option for a Redbook audio soundtrack, and the storage capacity of a CD combined with the large memory cache of the Super CD 3.x system card. The PC Engine, then, focused on making sure there were enemies of all varied sizes (behemoth and stone golem, anyone?), colorful and varied sprite and enemy designs, a large mix of varied levels, and animation out the wazoo. It is no coincidence that Rondo forms the base inspiration for Symphony of the Night, connecting SoTN to the classic NES series and providing enemy designs that were often reused wholesale for several subsequent games.
Yes, Rondo is not as challenging as Bloodlines, but I think that's part of the appeal. It's not a punishing game, but for a newcomer to the series it is still challenging. And it's not that the enemies go easier on the player. Hell, some of the bosses have post-death attacks. It's more that Richter has a nice set of moves and the game takes them into account with both level design and enemy placement and behavior (it does not take Maria's moves into account, especially her secret super death attack). You suddenly have that many more tools to use to deal with what the game throws at you. That accessibility extends to falling into most of the game's pits not being fatal, but rather opening up new areas of levels. Include all the secrets like girls to rescue, alternate stage exits and paths, and even random secret rooms, and you have the title in the series that I think has the most replayability. And even some of the enemies have surprises. I can't think of another Castlevania game which features and enemy with an instant kill attack, yet somehow that attack doesn't feel cheap.
I can totally understand liking Bloodlines or Super CV 4 better than Rondo, but I don't think Rondo is overrated. I simply think that all 3 of these games are really strong games. But Rondo is the one I'm most willing to replay, because it feels so comfortable and so carefully crafted. It also feels familiar, because so many of the later 'Vania games in the SotN model, including SotN itself, draw so strongly on this title's art, animation, and themes. Rondo marks the transition point of Castlevania from classic to MetroidVania. It is worth several hundred dollars? Nope. But you can get this game cheaply in the Wii Virtual Console as long as you buy it soon before the store closes. The emulation quality is pretty good.
The only thing good about SNES Dracula X is the soundtrack, which is a very strong effort on Konami's part to use the SNES sound chip to mirror CD tunes. The graphics have more detailed shading, but don't really end up looking any better. They are mostly just less colorful. The animations aren't as good. The sound effects have that weird SNES echo effect and end up sounding weird. The level designs are weak. It feels like they were designed simply to be annoying and hard, not to be cohesive or interesting. It's a much harder game than Rondo, but the challenge feels far less fair than, say, Bloodlines. Instead of feels frustrating, like someone went for cheap hard instead of well-designed, well-thought-out hard. The game largely fails to show off the SNES's strengths outside of the music and it fails to show off the Castlevania series historically interesting game design chops as well. The game is ultimately surprising in just how mediocre it is.
