Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

I'm gonna be controversial and say that I might like this game more than Symphony of the Night. Might. Some of that may be nostalgia; after an almost two year break from any gaming whatsoever during my first two years of college I finally got a DS in 2006 with two games, New Super Mario and this, and I played the HELL out this. But I actually do think its world design and abilities and especially its terrific soundtrack ("Condemned Tower," wow!) hold up so well. Maybe my favorite DS game.

The story seems meh. Few parts of the map design is a blockade to exploration but overall I still like the interconnect of the map. boss fights are annoying and not fun. There's rarely any new weapons, so stuck with basic weapons through out the game... Weapon damage is horrendous in boss fights. Didn't bother to finish the final boss with basic ass weapon. Youtube the ending. Found out weapon synthesis is essential 4 dmg but didn't use it at all. Don't like the upgrade requires RNG soul grind.

The game is a huge leap in visual flair over Aria despite the crappy looking portraits. It also adds a lot to the core soul system not only expanding its gimmicks in cool ways but also offering new purpose for repeated captures. Granted, I think the boss fights manage to be even more one note than AoS and it doesn't have much going on in terms of mechanics overall, especially since the main campaign is pretty bleh. But the Julius mode offers so much cool shit it's worth trudging through.

a step down from Aria of Sorrow. the Magic Seal system is nothing but a gimmick to force the DS's "additional functionality," and the gothic ambience of Aria has been sort of replaced by a more traditional anime style. just look at the box art for both games and tell me Aria's isn't infinitely more appealing to anyone over the age of 10. that said, these are minor grumbles, and the strengths of Aria are still largely present.

An entry that really embraces the engrossingly convoluted variety of power and equipment, some more useful than others, that makes up the latter Castlevania formula. The variety of reasons to just keep on grinding for one more soul to get a new power, or strengthen an existing one, or make a new, more overpowered weapon, really makes you want to keep at it. Absurdly gimmicky little touchscreen integrations notwithstanding (it was early in the DS lifecycle, after all), a great iteration.

An absolutely phenomenal sequel to Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow improves upon the original with more powers, more monsters, a bigger map, a semi-secret end game, and a crafting system using the souls of your enemies to evolve your weapons to mythical weapons of lore. The only downside to this game in my opinion: the touch screen controls being shoehorned in via 'seals' you need to trace with your stylus as you kill a boss, or they regenerate health. Unnecessary addition to a great game.

Playing through these games in order, the main points that stick out here are 1) how pointless and gimmicky the touchscreen segments are, especially those laughable iceblock puzzles, and 2) how grind heavy this entry is. Grinding the ape skeleton soul was one of my worst gaming experiences in years.