Discussion Castlevania Aria of Sorrow review(andvance collection edition)

[salty_apollyon]

today i want to gush over one of my favorite castlevania games and hopefully give someone who hasn't played it some reasons for them to try it

i will divide the review in 4 parts the same way i did with disgaea 7 where again i will tackle these aspects.
-technical
-gameplay
-story/dialogue
-audiovisual

 

[salty_apollyon]

First the easiest one, the technical aspect.
originally lauched on 2003 for the gameboy advance aria of sorrow is almost perfect in regards of technical performance, no frame drops, no bugs(unless you go out of your way to find them) and no visual errors of any kind.

oh and of course with NO PATCHES NECCESARY

playing through this game made me remember just how high the bar used to be in this aspect and how depressing is that most games nowadays struggle to have a decent performance

oh how low we have fallen

 

[salty_apollyon]

FOR STARTERS

in castlevania aria of sorrow you will play as soma cruz, japanese guy who got teleported into draculas castle for seemingly no reason.

you'll explore draculas castle the same way you do in previous games like symphony of the night, unlocking new abilities, fighting all sorts of monsters and unraveling the story of the game as you progress.

HOWEVER the way aria of sorrow gave its own spin to the formula is what made it stand out back when it released

you see, besides from the permanent upgrades you get through the story and all the equipment you can equip soma with you also have another mechanic which elevates this game from good to excellent
that being the soul system

SOUL SYSTEM
in aria of sorrow you are taught right from the first moments of the game that soma has the ability to dominate the souls of mosters and this right here becomes an integral part of the game, every enemy you slay has a chance of "dropping" their soul which will be then absorbed by soma granting him a new ability.

souls come in 3 categories:
-red: which function as special attacks(for the most part) that are fired in the direction soma is currently facing
-yellow: which have a passive effect that is always active as long as the soul is equiped
-blue: which vary from buffs to transformations to shields and other sort of aura effects that can be turned on and off with the press of a button

this right here is massive and plays a great role both actively and passively in the feeling of the game, the soul sytem both works as another way of grinding for the authists and also a box of pleasant surprises for those that just want to play the game and since the variety of souls and their uses is so great that means you get to have a very flexible and customizeable playstyle.

and before you ask it yeah not every soul is completely broken and there are a few souls that may feel useless but you are never forced to farm for any of these so it's not really an issue for me.

in regards to the other aspects of the gameplay such as equipment, balance, level design and permanent upgrades it's all well excecuted, with there being a decent enough variety for weapons and most of them with their unique designs, enemies hitting just hard enough to feel like a threat but not enough to feel unfair, draculas castle being big enough to make you feel like you are in one of those gigantic victorian houses but not big enough to make you feel tired just by seeing the map and with the permanent upgrades being decent without taking away the spotlight from the soul system aria of sorrow feels like a great game to play

 

[salty_apollyon]

first let's beggin with how the dialogue is written, as expected from an old but not so old game the dialogue is pretty nice, not overly flowery but not too plain or robotic.
as far as i remember(and please forget me because last time i played this game in english was years ago) aria of sorrow lacks any "localization" issues with most things staying as close as possible to the original japanese script, besides one of the characters having a somewhat noticeable way of speaking(which he also somewhat has in the japanese dialogue) nothing here seems wrong at first sight, no memes, no heavy slang nothing.
but then again im not an expert in this field so i might be missing some stuff(ene if you're seeing this feel free to correct me)



as for the story of the game this one takes a quite different approach from other games, unlike other castlevania games where there is a very well defined battle between good and evil aria of sorrow has more mystery to it.

dracula is dead in this game and for good, he's gone the only thing left behind of him being his castle and the remnants of his powers which have been sealed in a solar eclipse, our protagonist soma along with his beloved mina are both transported into the castle against their will and as mentioned before for no apparent reason.

in the castle you'll also come across other characters, most of which seem to have some sort of connection to the now dead dark lord, these characters will help soma through his journey on discovering who he is and why he was summoned to the castle

now of course SPOILERS FOR AN OLD AS FUCK GAME






soma being the reincarnation of dracula instead of having a blood connection to the vampyre hunter clans is an approach i really like and i think that fact also makes other characters shine specially arikado(who we all know is alucard) and julius belmont

for alucard it's endearing that he's willing to give a seccond chance to the soul of his dad and he's constantly looking over soma to make sure he doesn't commit the same mistakes his past himself made

as for julius holy shit isn't he the best belmont period, him being old by the time aria of sorrow just makes him even cooler being not only the hardest boss in the game but also the fact that he
1. was holding back the whole time during his bossfight
2. is the only belmot who was capable of killing off dracula for good in his prime
3. he survived draculas castle out of his prime, without a weapon and with amnesia up until near the end of the game
the guy is a certified badass and it makes me sad that we probably will never get a game where he is the protagonist

overall the story of aria of sorrow is quite interesting, it isn't ground breaking maybe but it's an interesting spin to the castlevania formula, it's no longer about fighting the darkness outside but instead about fighting the darkness within yourself.

 

[salty_apollyon]

alright let's talk about audiovisuals.

now castlevania games have never been known for being the best looking games but they also have never been acused of being ugly.
same applies to aria of sorrow, you are not gonna see some sort of majestic views in this game, most of the game happens INSIDE draculas castle so corridors, walls, towers and such will be the most common sight but this doesn't necessarily mean the game is ugly, the monsters, weapons and characters all look good within the capabilities of a game boy advance game and of course for the portraits of the characters we have ayami kojima working on them as it was common for the series.
overall i'd say the game looks fine specially taking into consideration the capabilities of the GBA

now of course we also have the musical aspect which by god is as good as it's always been for this series having one of my favorite themes for the first area
THIS FUCKING THEME, GOD IT'S GREAT, it remains a bit melancholic while being fast paced and blood pumping, perfect to get you hooked and intriged to what kind of thing soma just got involved into.

there are also other themes that while not as agressive still make you get submerged into the atmosphere of the game and since im talking about this i'd like to go back to my first point in this segment

while aria of sorrow may not be a visual marvel its graphics and designs blend perfectly with the sound design and music to suck you right into the atmosphere of the game

one of the best examples(tho you may say im cheating because this area doesn't have a real "theme") is the first time you enter the underground cementery
now imagine this situation, you're about to enter a bunch of catacombs buried deep within draculas castle underground and then the moment you go inside you start seeing a lot of mummies rise from their graves and move in a single direction, all of them ignoring you and all while this plays in the background

it's absolutely terrifying
a similar case can be applied to the rest of the castle, while some of its aspects may not be that strong they all come together to give a great inmersion

 

[salty_apollyon]

FINAL THOUGHTS

i fucking LOVE this game
every aspect of it fits perfectly with the other parts giving it a flow that i quite enjoy, not to short but also not too long, just the perfect length to be super enjoyable

there is one line of thinking that defines every time i play this game ""man i should really go back and buy some healing items, eh maybe later" and it perfectly describes how i feel about aria of sorrows flow, the game constantly throws ne interesting things your way be it in the form of new areas, new souls, equipment, story or bosses and all of them motivate your curiosity, that desire to see what's around the corner

so yes it's a game i would highly reccomend, give it a try be it through emulation or whatever means you want

finally here are some clips of me playing the game

 

[PhantomXero1x]

too bad the physical copy is from lrg these days that company way too mega zesty as hell.

 

[salty_apollyon]

too bad the physical copy is from lrg these days that company way too mega zesty as hell.

yeah i agree i don't really buy brand new games anymore in general.

i get all my switch stuff via seccond hand stores and for pc stuff i get it through other means

 

[PhantomXero1x]

yeah i agree i don't really buy brand new games anymore in general.

i get all my switch stuff via seccond hand stores and for pc stuff i get it through other means

kek the last time i remember pre ordering a game was when live a live came out

otherwise pretty much second hand stores like jjust yesterday i picked up yggdra union

lrg higher ups im pretty sure are in the closest with the pred shit like diddy/brother love is lol