So, I finished my primary play through of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I will provide a spoiler free section, a light spoiler section, and a full spoiler section.
Spoiler free:
This game came out in 1997, so right there it should tell you a few things:
1. I shouldn't have to worry about spoilers.
2. It's old.
3. It's ugly.
4. It shouldn't be competitive with a modern game.
But it is.
I think that's one of the highest forms of praise that can be offered to an old game: It's so compelling, that regardless of how 2D or ugly it might be, the gameplay can still capture your attention and imagination in such a way that you put aside the latest games that cost $Millions to produce and $60 to buy...
I had ignored the Castlevania series ever since I played 10 minutes of the first one on my cousin's NES. I was 10- the Medieval setting didn't interest me and I found it to be too hard to be fun. But I did love Metroid. I still love Metroid. When I first saw pics of the newish game Shadow Complex, I thought: meh. Then someone said the magic words: It's like Metroid. Then I was told it was also like Castlevania in the same way. This made me cock my head to the side and go, 'huh'? Because the Castlevania I played was in no way similar to Metroid. And that's because I hadn't played Symphony of the Night. Yet. After finishing Shadow Complex, I downloaded the C:SotN demo on Xbox Live. I played the first 10 minutes or so and still thought... hmm... I guess I still don't like it. Then I kept hearing the game get referenced and then it went on sale for half off, so I put my 400 MS points on the line and decided to add it to my collection, potentially to go unplayed. I played an hour here and there, but after I finished Assassin's Creed II- I don't know what happened, but I found myself totally engrossed into it. It's the "open world" exploration that I love from Metroid, and the "now that I have the double jump ability, what can I go back and go that I couldn't do before?" mechanic. But then there was something else that really got me. It's a minor spoiler, and a look at the Xbox Achievements will spoil this surprise as well, but I will enclose it in mild spoiler tags:
In conclusion, it's amazing to me how well the gameplay has resisted the effects of time. The only other game I can think of that has done this this well is Flashback. If you are a Metroid fan, or a fan of open world, exploration, secret item unlockation, you definitely should stop here and go play the game. It's on XBLA and I think PSN as well. Push comes to shove, I'm sure you can emulate one of the other systems it's been on.
Mild Spoilers:
It's possible to "win" the game without "winning" it. Whenever you load a saved game, it tells you what percentage of the castle you have explored. When you're approaching 80 or 90%, you have found Dracula's throne room and, if you feel inclined, you can go there, defeat the final boss, get your pat on the back, and watch the ending credits. THE END. However, if you continue to explore the castle to 100%, you'll obtain an item that will so fundamentally change the fight with the final boss... Well, let's just say that there's another castle to explore and that when I finally beat the game and the final, final boss... I had explored 200.6 percent of Dracula's castle. And this is what I wanted to focus on. In the modern era of videogames, much ado has been made about "morality." Sometimes you get to choose to play a good guy or a bad guy. Sometimes you're a guy and you get to decide to be good or bad. Sometimes you get to decide if you want to be selfish or altruistic. But the "morality" of C:SotN seemed really fresh to me. Instead of a question bluntly put to the player: Are you good or bad? It was more of a long con that asked "How responsible are you?" You are there to prevent the resurrection of Dracula. There are vague hints (that don't come across as hints) that something odd is going on in the castle and if you ignore those things, or discount them, then you head to the throne room and kill a boss, which accomplishes your main goal of preventing the rise of Dracula, but it doesn't bring the greatest brand of justice to the characters in the game. However, if you continue to search the castle- to investigate the mystery which is lightly laid in, you are rewarded with a game-changing artifact extends the game significantly and ultimately gives the greatest satisfactory ending to the game. To give you some idea of what you're missing if you don't play "the last half of the game", the strongest weapons and swords, appx half of the life and ammo upgrades, the final-final boss, and 5 or 6 macro bosses, and about a third of the total enemy types.
I found this to be awesome, and quite unique, despite the fact that I encountered the "short" ending first. I had read the achievements, so I knew I was supposed to accomplish more in the game than I had... but I was unsure of how to do it. So I was a little frustrated, but I knew there were a few corners of the map I had yet to explore. I returned to them and, with a little help from a full map I found online, was able to fully explore the first castle and then move on to the second. While the 2nd 100% is theoretically as much "content" as the first, there is a lot less repetitive exploration (since you already have the "double jump ability", etc.) and so it goes by much quicker.
Full Spoilers:
Richter, the "hero" of the opening segment (which is, apparently, the finale of the previous game) becomes the unwilling villain of the first half of the game. Only by obtaining the object referenced above, do you see that he is possessed and not in control of his actions. When you defeat him in this way, you free him from his possession instead of killing him the way you would have before. He thanks you and reveals the true villain in another castle visible from the topmost tower of the current castle. This other castle is actually the first castle, but rotated 180 degrees so that everything is upside down. A world you've been used to navigating one way is now a new challenge. As the stairs in a tall room are now found on the ceiling, getting from one level to the next can be a bit difficult. And, of course, the enemies are also a lot tougher, and the whole thing is familiar, yet unique. Perhaps I should have been more suspicious when Dracula wasn't the final boss in the "short" game. But, from a certain point of view, Richter was a worthy villain and a worthy boss for the finale to a 10 hour game. I'm glad that I found the very strong 3rd act to the game and the real fnale, but I could have been convinced that beating Richter was the actual end to the game.
At this point in time, since I have rescued Richter from his possession, I am able to restart the game and play as him. Richter is a completely different character than Alucard. He doesn't use objects found in the game, he can't change weapons, he is much weaker and he can't double jump (!!!). So playing the game as Richter is much more like the "classic" Castlevania formula: A traditional side-scroller. However, Richter must still navigate the castle and defeat the final boss. The castle is still laid out like an open world, but Richter should beat the most direct path from A->B->C because there is no advantage to exploring. Having the benefit of exploring the castle twice, you should have some idea of how to do this... But again you are navigating the familiar terrain, but under completely new rules, so it's a different challenge. I'm only about 10-15 minutes into this new mode, but I don't think it lasts more than an hour or two.