[PlayerOneCJ]

"What is man?! Nothing but a miserable pile of secrets!"



Yes it's another Konami game for our 12th game club -- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. And it's available for darn near everything. PSN, XBLA, PSP, PS1.



Record your comments as an MP3 and send to playeronepodcast@gmail.com, or call our voicemail line at 713-893-8069. OR, just reply to this post. DEW IT.

Unlock Symphony of the Night in Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles for PSP (stolen from GameFAQs):

In Stage 2, while the minotaur is chasing Richter, immediately fall into the first hole in the ground. You will not die, but instead be taken into the sewers. Play the level out normally and defeat the boss. Afterwards, you will be taken to Stage 3' (this is different from the normal Stage 3!).

In Stage 3', whenever the path branches, taken the upper route. Make sure you obtain the "axe" subweapon sometime during the stage. Eventually, you will meet a skeletal snake that is attached to a wall. Nearby is a vine-like cage; use the axe to cut it. It now serves as a platform for Richter to jump to the upper ledges. Continue along the upper ledges until you see a breakable tombstone. Inside is the item that unlocks Symphony of the Night. Return to the main menu to play it.

[Enchy]

Fantastic game, although I have not beat it, I definitely enjoyed it when I played it last summer. I got the crappy ending and then tried for the better one, but the inverted castle was just too hard. I also could never quite get a hang of the spell system.

[Rigby]

Pretty good game. It became way too easy once you got that one weapon that you can just hold down the button and it keeps slashing, but I think that is pretty rare anyway. I beat the game with most of the percentage, I can't remember if I got the good ending or bad ending. Is the bad ending if you didn't beat the inverted castle? I had the black label PS1 disc, but I sold that awhile ago for a pretty penny, it doesn't matter because if I wanted it again I can get it for $10!

I enjoyed the game at the time, but I have tried to get back into the Castlevania games, but I don't think they are for me anymore.

[Banzaiaap]

WOOHOOO! I'm going to play this again on my psp this time I guess ..

Edit: Oh on a side note:
If you are having trouble getting through this game, watch Liquid Mk's SOTN playthrough (his second.. He's doing it twice because he didn't like the first one.) Really good walkthroughs and explanation. http://youtube.com/v...C1B3A68CED14A00

This post has been edited by Banzaiaap: 06 June 2008 - 01:05 AM

[JDUB X]

OMG YES!

Fantastic choice!

Best $10 you can spend on the XBLA and PSN. I just completed my first playthrough recently so it is pretty fresh on my mind. This has to be my favorite 2D action game.

Thoughts:

- The graphics are absolutely beautiful, the sprite work is fantastic and the character designs are really amazing, and the various environments spread across the Castle are a work of art.

- The "Metroidvania" gameplay is awesome, leveling up Alucard and getting new weapons is a really rewarding experience. Knowing that you have finally acquired the power you need to explore more of the castle is a great feeling.

- Weapons and Armor are varied and a lot have special effects such as the Shield Armor and Shield Rod when used together you get a attack bonus. Walk Armor, which gives you a defense bonus based on how much of the castle you have explored. There is even a weapon that damage depends on how many hours you have played the game. Really unique Ideas here

- The Voice acting is all terrible, but in a fantastic way

- The Flying Medusa heads will make you angry many times

- Using the Menu system and actually having to equip potions and health items to use them, resulting in having to unequip a weapon is a Blast from the Past and not a good one

- Trying to get 200.6% is really annoying and I am not doing it

- The Best weapon in the game(The Crissagrem) paired with the Walk Armor and a level 63 character will make you so powerful, you will actually feel bad for the Bosses and enemies, But you will have to spend some time to get the Crissagrem to drop.

- Alucard is dracula spelled backwards, I SEE WHAT THEY DID THAR

Thats all for now, I may post more later

[Brennzky]

Die monster! You don't belong in this worl........sorry.

LOVE THIS GAME!

Its the reason why I bought my ps1, played it for hours and hours. Whats not to say about this game. Its the best 2d game ever, tied with Super Metroid.

A lot has allready been said so I won't go into detail but if have to talk about the music in this game absolutley brilliant.

Such a huge success for Konami that every CV game after it has tried to mimic it.

Weapons are unbeleivable. I want to talk about this because this is something that has been missing in the later castlevania games since. easter egg weapons. For intance:

- Sword of Dawn: Doing the 'fireball' movement and pressing the weapon button will summon a mini army of undead. How cool is that.

- Crissagream: Spelled it wrong, but if you want to spam the game, this hard to find but powerfull sword will make this game way too easy, but fun to create choas with

- Sheild rod: Already mentioned above, but so many possibilties for cool looking spells.

- I forget the name of this one, but you throw it like a boomerang and it write out Verboten, which is german for Forbidden.

- Heavens Sword: Another neat blade that is thrown, looks very colour full.

I liked the fact that when you get any weapon, there is a chance that it will have a secret ability. Check it out for yourself, there are a lot more with cool little things. They need to become creative again in the next CV games.

Level design was wicked as well, a personally like the catacombs and abandoned mine spooky.

I also liked the Ghosts in the confession room at the chapel, another litte touch that was haunting.

The revovling bookcase, bat/wolf hidden room, ferry mans hidden river, tons of secrets to find.

Familiars kick ass, level 50 sword brothers FTW

Annd the best part was I thought I had finished it, then THERE WAS ANOTHER WHOLE CASTLE TO EXPLORE! Thats just awesome.

SO I have said enough, one of my favorite games of all time, still a classic and you would be insane not to have this game in your XBLA or PSN collection. Try it out if you have never played it you will be hooked. Heres hoping for the next CV to finally outdo this one. Good luck Konami!!!!!!

This post has been edited by Brennzky: 06 June 2008 - 01:07 AM

[Balb]

Castlevania SotN is one of my favorite PS1 games (though my first playthrough was on the XBLA version) along with Metal Gear Solid and Mega Man X4.

I want to start off by saying that the soundtrack is incredible, and probably one of my top 5 or 10 video game soundtracks.

This game gets some criticism for borrowing several gameplay and graphical mechanics from Super Metroid (hence the term 'Metroidvania'), and though that may be true to some extent, I still believe that SotN is an excellent game.

That's all I can think of for now. I only played the game for the first time a year ago, so I don't have many nostalgic feelings for this game.

[Kirbutashi]

Square hunting and comparing maps for the last bits to complete your percentage is an irritating process. My last squares were in the inverted castle on the damn water-filled ceiling that you could only get as a wolf. Double ugh.

[Rigby]

Does the PSN version have the enhanced graphics? Are they any good? Or is the normal version upscaled not stretched and weird?

[StinkingBishop]

I have been on the fence about this game since it was released. I loved the last 2 DS games. Thank you Player 1 Podcast, since it is the game club game I will get it.

[probune]

I'm gonna call in on this one.

[Sunflower4000]

I feel fortunate I could dig up my Saturn and the SotN for it - playing as Maria isn't all that fun though, but I do love the Garden.

Also bought this on 360 and PS1...gosh, how silly is that? That being said, the game is super excellent, and everyone owes it to themselves to play it.

[drasle]

shit game. played it for the achievements.

Spoiler

best soundtrack award

[Linkthelegend]

I'll be calling on this one if I don't forget. Plus along with a funny story that involved my brother and SOTN

[Kirbutashi]

probune, on Jun 6 2008, 03:50 PM, said:

I'm gonna call in on this one.

Damn, way to threaten them off the bat.

[MojoBox]

Hm. I've owned this game 3 times now, bought the original PS1 version in '05, sold that, on XBLA, later sold my Xbox, and again on the PSN. I've yet to beat it either, and it's never really sunk it's teeth into me. I've loved the GBA games, and Dawn of Sorrow, but whenever I play SotN I just get bored. Maybe I'll try it some more this weekend.

[levitynyc]

MojoBox, on Jun 6 2008, 07:51 PM, said:

Hm. I've owned this game 3 times now, bought the original PS1 version in '05, sold that, on XBLA, later sold my Xbox, and again on the PSN. I've yet to beat it either, and it's never really sunk it's teeth into me. I've loved the GBA games, and Dawn of Sorrow, but whenever I play SotN I just get bored. Maybe I'll try it some more this weekend.

Very similar for me. I played the XBLA demo, liked it, bought it, played for another 20 minutes and havent gone back.

[NURSEric]

I've got SOTN bundled with with the Dracula X Chronicles. Luckily I unlocked the the original SOTN... I'd like to play it remastered, but I'm having trouble getting past death in Rondo of Blood. I guess I'll stop playing Beowulf (which is some fine shovelware) and start working on SOTN. It's nice to see some old school games that will play on current systems....especially showing a little Sony Love I've haven't logged on recently I've been working overtime and had guests....

[JustinR]

levitynyc, on Jun 7 2008, 05:53 AM, said:

Very similar for me. I played the XBLA demo, liked it, bought it, played for another 20 minutes and havent gone back.

Similar issue here. Although I happily played through the DS games this one just didn't hold my attention. I did get a few good hours of happy play out of it, but I eventually got bored and moved on to other things.

I suppose my issue is that the game play is a bit too open ended for what this game is today. This is now a "dated" title. The graphics, sound, and game play are not amazing by 2007 (when I played) standards - so when the game fails to delivery instant entertainment it doesn't have that "oooohh ahhhh" factor to fall back on like it probably did in the 90's.

This post has been edited by JustinR: 08 June 2008 - 05:49 PM

[Jonnjonzz]

NURSEric, on Jun 8 2008, 04:24 PM, said:

but I'm having trouble getting past death in Rondo of Blood.

Use Maria and her dragon subweapon.

[nasero]

All that can be said is, this is the best and my favorite Castlevania game.

[Matias]

I need help with this game... I got it and played it for the first time when it was released on PSN because of all the said hype. I loved it and finished it but I know I played it wrong because it seems that 1/4 of the map screen or so I haven't found.

My last save is right before I confront dracula, Have I somehow managed to force myself ahead than I should have? I can beat dracula by using my super power items and spraying the Cross book secondary fire at his face. I get pretty close to death but I do beat him unless he does his rain attack or some other of his big hits.

So how can get more out of this game? Would posting a picture of my character and map screen help?

[Rigby]

Matias, on Jun 10 2008, 08:35 PM, said:

I need help with this game... I got it and played it for the first time when it was released on PSN because of all the said hype. I loved it and finished it but I know I played it wrong because it seems that 1/4 of the map screen or so I haven't found.

My last save is right before I confront dracula, Have I somehow managed to force myself ahead than I should have? I can beat dracula by using my super power items and spraying the Cross book secondary fire at his face. I get pretty close to death but I do beat him unless he does his rain attack or some other of his big hits.

So how can get more out of this game? Would posting a picture of my character and map screen help?

Did you go to the inverted castle?

[Linkthelegend]

Rigby, on Jun 11 2008, 01:18 AM, said:

Did you go to the inverted castle?

he can't confront Dracula as Alucard without going to it

[levitynyc]

I just tried playing it again for the gameclub and I still just dont dig it. I love Castlevania 1 and the one for the SNES...this one I find too confusing and big. I hate the metroid feel the game has to it. I wish it was more linear.

[Linkthelegend]

levitynyc, on Jun 12 2008, 12:23 AM, said:

I just tried playing it again for the gameclub and I still just dont dig it. I love Castlevania 1 and the one for the SNES...this one I find too confusing and big. I hate the metroid feel the game has to it. I wish it was more linear.

I feel the opposite I love the Metroidvanias, and don't dig the classic ones that much

Interestingly enough, I don't really like Metroid too much

This post has been edited by Linkthelegend: 11 June 2008 - 10:33 PM

[PlayerOnePhil]

Game Club Update!

This week's Game Club has been delayed a week. We will now we discussing Castlevania: SOTN in Episode 87.

We just recorded this week's show, and due to an exceptionally busy week in gaming, our Whatcha Been Playing segment ran rather long. For the sake of our editor, CJ (who doesn't want to put together a two and a half hour show), and Greg, our dude on the far east coast (it was approaching midnight for him by the time we finished WBP), we decided to bump Game Club back a week.

So what does this mean for you? Well, all you folks playing along at home now have an extra week to clear that upside down castle. Feel free to leave more comments on the board or on our voice mail.

Thanks!

[probune]

Awesome, I didn't finish my comment yet, so I'll record it and mail it off tomorrow.

[Rigby]

PlayerOnePhil, on Jun 13 2008, 11:21 PM, said:

Game Club Update!

This week's Game Club has been delayed a week. We will now we discussing Castlevania: SOTN in Episode 87.

We just recorded this week's show, and due to an exceptionally busy week in gaming, our Whatcha Been Playing segment ran rather long. For the sake of our editor, CJ (who doesn't want to put together a two and a half hour show), and Greg, our dude on the far east coast (it was approaching midnight for him by the time we finished WBP), we decided to bump Game Club back a week.

So what does this mean for you? Well, all you folks playing along at home now have an extra week to clear that upside down castle. Feel free to leave more comments on the board or on our voice mail.

Thanks!

Maybe I will get a chance to play it then. Hows the PS3 treating you Phil? Did you pick up any PSN games? Definitely try the PixelJunk Monsters demo. Maybe you talked about this stuff in the show, either way I demand answers!

[Tron]

I remember playing this game on PS1. I borrowed it from my friend, and got all the way to 199.5%. I could never get that last .5% of exploration. Maybe I'll play this again when I unlock it on Castlevania X.

[PlayerOneStewy]

Tron, on Jun 14 2008, 08:44 AM, said:

I remember playing this game on PS1. I borrowed it from my friend, and got all the way to 199.5%. I could never get that last .5% of exploration. Maybe I'll play this again when I unlock it on Castlevania X.

You're actually missing 1.1%. It goes to 200.6%

[Uncle Fudgies]

Great game. Alucard is my favorite Castlevania protagonist. I loved the bat, wolf, mist vampire powers available to him, and how they played a role in your progression of the game.

My favorite moment was when I got the Alucard shield and accidentally activated it's spell, making you practically invincible.

This, and Drac's curse (Castlevania 3, NES) are among my favorite games of all time.

[Agahnim]

I didn't actually play this game untill about two years ago. I borrowed it from a friend for the Playstation and loved the hell out of the game. I've always been a fan of adventure games and 2D platformers, so this was right up my alley. After playing this I bought all the games for GBA and I also have both for the DS. Symphony of the Night holds up pretty well for a Playstation game, which very few of them does, but I like the DS games even better.

I was also pretty quick to download SotN when it came to XBLA, played the hell out of it again - I'm only lacking the achievement for playing through the game as Richter. Did anyone here do that? Seems insanely hard and brutal to me, since you can't level him up.

[Bob TZ]

Nice, you guys went and picked probably the two best Playstation games for back to back Game Clubs.

[drasle]

Agahnim, on Jun 15 2008, 12:54 PM, said:

I'm only lacking the achievement for playing through the game as Richter. Did anyone here do that? Seems insanely hard and brutal to me, since you can't level him up.

it's so easy. richter starts off ridiculously powerful, so all you really have to do is run straight to the end with a holy water. took me all of like 15 minutes.

[SlaveOne]

Great game, played it way back on the PS1. I would like to play it on my psp but I can't get myself to finish
Dracula X. Does anyone know if there is a code to unlock it. Can't wait for Episode 87.

[PlayerOnePhil]

SlaveOne, on Jun 17 2008, 07:47 PM, said:

Great game, played it way back on the PS1. I would like to play it on my psp but I can't get myself to finish
Dracula X. Does anyone know if there is a code to unlock it. Can't wait for Episode 87.

There's no code, but you don't have to finish Dracula X to unlock Symphony of the Night. Here's what you gotta do (stolen from GameFAQs):

Unlock Symphony of the Night

In Stage 2, while the minotaur is chasing Richter, immediately fall into the first hole in the ground. You will not die, but instead be taken into the sewers. Play the level out normally and defeat the boss. Afterwards, you will be taken to Stage 3' (this is different from the normal Stage 3!).

In Stage 3', whenever the path branches, taken the upper route. Make sure you obtain the "axe" subweapon sometime during the stage. Eventually, you will meet a skeletal snake that is attached to a wall. Nearby is a vine-like cage; use the axe to cut it. It now serves as a platform for Richter to jump to the upper ledges. Continue along the upper ledges until you see a breakable tombstone. Inside is the item that unlocks Symphony of the Night. Return to the main menu to play it.

[Casual PC gamer]

Remember kids:

Inverted library -> kill schmoos -> get chrissagram (sp?)

It's the most powerful weapon in the game...to the point where it pretty much breaks it. By the time you're a high enough level to reach the inverted library, if you get the weapon you'll do so much damage not a single enemy or boss poses a thread any more.

Also in the first catacombs, keep killing the discus dude to get an awesome projectile weapon. It goes in the regular sword slots, but it's like a deadly boomerang frisbee. As far as I know, it's the only projectile weapon in the whole game that isn't a special attack.

[Moonknight]

This game ranks second on my "ALL TIME FAVORITE GAME" list The best thing about it was how different it was compared to other games in that era. Where the age of 3D was upon us.....this game came and shattered that 2D ceiling!!

My Top 5 btw....

Super Metroid
Castlevania: SOTN
Contra 3
Super Castlevania
Super Mario Bros 3