We are still waiting on a suitable Amiga AGA emulator with robust recording features before tackling such games.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
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Player's Review
Maybe I am giving the Xbox 360 D-Pad too much hate. I keep saying "I'm going to use the DS D-Pad.", and yet, I am still using the 360 D-Pad, XD
3rd Metroidvania game on the GBA. FOllow the story of Soma, an ordinary high school student, who goes to a castle and learns about his skill of dominance. Oh, and Batman is dead. Permanently. CotM was hard. HoD was easy (TOO easy). AoS is just right. The game uses the good ol' SotN formula. It also plays a bit TOO much like SotN (Soma can use all sorts of weapons.) The game also has a system called the Tactical Soul System, where you assign 3 type of souls (Bullet aka Up+Attack; Guardian, use by holding R; and Enhance, which activates automatically), Mix and match for a favorite setup.
Game info thingamabob: standard ol' 100% map playthrough on Hard Mode (used a save that had clear data). I did do one of me going through the game, but I decided "Why not 100% soul?". So...started over, made a VBA movie file (rerecording FTW), and took it from there. I probably won't do Dawn of Sorrow 100% souls. It is a pain. Hard Mode also gives access to Silver Gun, Death's Sickle, Death's Robe, Tear of Blood, and Kaiser Knuckles. Decided to throw in all 3 endings (defeating Maharg without equipping specific souls, getting Game Over at final boss, and..well, the True Ending). Jumping and backdashing will be abused to hell and back. Jumping is to cancel attack animation (for those that can be cancelled, like the majority of short swords and Claimh Solais) and going up slopes. Backdash is used to also cancel attack animations. From there, I can do another jump or use a Bullet Soul. Mix them together for high damage output (jump attack-ground attack-backdash-jump attack~).
Some stuff: I decided to take the "backdoor" to the Underground Reservoir (from the entrance near the Floating Garden). This way, I can quickly enter the Forbidden Area (enter by using Curly, Manticore, or Devil Soul to get past the waterfall) and get the super-powerful Claimh Solais (arguably the best damn weapon in the game.) From there, I hardly switch weapons (I switch on Suiluj because he resists Holy. Gungner is where it's at.) Also, near the end, I missed out on two rooms, the passage from Reservoir-Castle Gate Merman room, and one room in the Clock Tower. =_= After I get 100% souls, I go back to pick up the Chaos Ring, which pretty much grants infinite MP.
WIth that said, Red Minotaur + Lubicant = broken game.
Trick of the trade: Luck manipulation: The RNG in this game is meh. I had to look around the interwebz to figure it out...sorta. Found info on what address to look at. Basic RNG manipulation is caused by attacking with weapon, backdashing, and using Guardian Soul. However, some enemies, attacks, and areas scramble the hell out of the RNG (Catoblepas, Creaking SKull fireball attack, and the tub in the Arena to name a few). For some enemies, I go through the RNG by attacking the air and spamming Flying Armor (or other Guardian Souls) until I get the soul to come out. For some more other enemies, I do a grind of 5 or so kills (it isn't that bad) in hopes of getting a soul. Others I get without any effort. LOL So...if I am spamming a Guardian Soul and attacking without killing, I am going through the RNG.
Fun fact: Legion soul is missable. Don't destroy the 4 outer shells and kiss that awesome soul goodbye. Sky Fish can only be obtained by using Chronomage soul. Mandragora can be obtained by killing it when it is above surface before it screams.
Fun fact 2: English errors: Curly (Kali), Lubicant (Rubicant), Skula (Scylla), Skull Millione (Scarmiglione), Ronginus' Spear (Longinus' Spear), Zombie Officer soul (you can recover from damage animation in midair by pressing the jump button), Sherman Ring, Gungner? (Gungnir), mid-jump o_o, lid-jump. XD
3rd Metroidvania game on the GBA. FOllow the story of Soma, an ordinary high school student, who goes to a castle and learns about his skill of dominance. Oh, and Batman is dead. Permanently. CotM was hard. HoD was easy (TOO easy). AoS is just right. The game uses the good ol' SotN formula. It also plays a bit TOO much like SotN (Soma can use all sorts of weapons.) The game also has a system called the Tactical Soul System, where you assign 3 type of souls (Bullet aka Up+Attack; Guardian, use by holding R; and Enhance, which activates automatically), Mix and match for a favorite setup.
Game info thingamabob: standard ol' 100% map playthrough on Hard Mode (used a save that had clear data). I did do one of me going through the game, but I decided "Why not 100% soul?". So...started over, made a VBA movie file (rerecording FTW), and took it from there. I probably won't do Dawn of Sorrow 100% souls. It is a pain. Hard Mode also gives access to Silver Gun, Death's Sickle, Death's Robe, Tear of Blood, and Kaiser Knuckles. Decided to throw in all 3 endings (defeating Maharg without equipping specific souls, getting Game Over at final boss, and..well, the True Ending). Jumping and backdashing will be abused to hell and back. Jumping is to cancel attack animation (for those that can be cancelled, like the majority of short swords and Claimh Solais) and going up slopes. Backdash is used to also cancel attack animations. From there, I can do another jump or use a Bullet Soul. Mix them together for high damage output (jump attack-ground attack-backdash-jump attack~).
Some stuff: I decided to take the "backdoor" to the Underground Reservoir (from the entrance near the Floating Garden). This way, I can quickly enter the Forbidden Area (enter by using Curly, Manticore, or Devil Soul to get past the waterfall) and get the super-powerful Claimh Solais (arguably the best damn weapon in the game.) From there, I hardly switch weapons (I switch on Suiluj because he resists Holy. Gungner is where it's at.) Also, near the end, I missed out on two rooms, the passage from Reservoir-Castle Gate Merman room, and one room in the Clock Tower. =_= After I get 100% souls, I go back to pick up the Chaos Ring, which pretty much grants infinite MP.
WIth that said, Red Minotaur + Lubicant = broken game.
Trick of the trade: Luck manipulation: The RNG in this game is meh. I had to look around the interwebz to figure it out...sorta. Found info on what address to look at. Basic RNG manipulation is caused by attacking with weapon, backdashing, and using Guardian Soul. However, some enemies, attacks, and areas scramble the hell out of the RNG (Catoblepas, Creaking SKull fireball attack, and the tub in the Arena to name a few). For some enemies, I go through the RNG by attacking the air and spamming Flying Armor (or other Guardian Souls) until I get the soul to come out. For some more other enemies, I do a grind of 5 or so kills (it isn't that bad) in hopes of getting a soul. Others I get without any effort. LOL So...if I am spamming a Guardian Soul and attacking without killing, I am going through the RNG.
Fun fact: Legion soul is missable. Don't destroy the 4 outer shells and kiss that awesome soul goodbye. Sky Fish can only be obtained by using Chronomage soul. Mandragora can be obtained by killing it when it is above surface before it screams.
Fun fact 2: English errors: Curly (Kali), Lubicant (Rubicant), Skula (Scylla), Skull Millione (Scarmiglione), Ronginus' Spear (Longinus' Spear), Zombie Officer soul (you can recover from damage animation in midair by pressing the jump button), Sherman Ring, Gungner? (Gungnir), mid-jump o_o, lid-jump. XD
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