Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

Regardless of difficult moments, it seems all worked out at the end.



Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, is an action-adventure game developed and published by Konami. It is part of Konami's Castlevania video game series and the first Castlevania game to be released on the Nintendo DS. Dawn of Sorrow continues the story of Aria of Sorrow, in which Dracula has been completely defeated, and his powers assumed by his reincarnation, Soma Cruz. With the help of his allies, Soma avoids becoming the new dark lord. A cult forms to bring forth a new dark lord by killing Soma.

The game received high scores from many video game publications, and was considered one of the best games on the Nintendo DS for 2005. The game was re-released in Japan on June 29, 2006 and later in North America during 2007 as part of the "Konami the Best" line.

Dawn of Sorrow incorporates many features from previous Castlevania games: the combination of elements from platform games and role-playing video games.

Many hardcore fans also call this type of Castlevania as Metroidvania since it is similar to another popular franchise called Metroid.


The "Tactical Soul" system featured in Aria of Sorrow has returned once again

Dawn of Sorrow introduces new gameplay elements using the touchscreen that the Nintendo DS. One example would be "Magic Seal" system, which requires the use of the DS stylus to draw a pattern in order to defeat powerful enemies, and a multiplayer mode, where two players compete for fastest times on a pre-rendered level.
Gameplay

Like previous Castlevania games, characters level up each time they earn a set number of experience points from defeating enemies. People can defeat multiple enemies to gain experience, and thus increasing their overall statistics.

Statistic examples include hit points, the amount of damage a character can receive; magic points, which determine the amount of times Soma can use magical attacks; strength, the power of a character's physical attacks; and intelligence, the power of a character's magical spells. Upon encountering an enemy, the player can use a variety of weapons to attack and defeat the enemy.

Weapons from the previous games return, including: swords, axes, spears, handguns and a rocket propelled grenades. These weapons differ in their damage output, the range of the weapon, and the speed of the attack.

Dawn of Sorrow is set in a castle, which is further subdivided into various areas. Areas of the castle differ in their composition, including monsters and terrain features. In addition, each area has its own theme music that plays while the player remains in that area. The player can go anywhere in this castle, however, the areas the character can move into are restricted based upon the items the player has, similar to most platform games. Progression, however, is not linear, as the player is free to explore the parts of the castle they have access to, and can backtrack or move forward as they see fit.


Tactical Soul

The primary method for the player to gain additional abilities in the game is the absorption of souls via the Tactical Soul system, which was originally featured in Aria of Sorrow. The soul system involves Soma defeating an enemy and obtaining that enemy’s soul with its special ability. The chance for absorbing a soul varies on the enemy, as certain enemies will release souls more regularly than others. The player can absorb multiple copies of the same soul and will increase in effectiveness depending on the number of the same soul a player possesses.
Souls provide a variety of effects, and are separated into four categories:

 Bullet: souls are often projectiles, and consume a set amount of magic points upon use.

Guardian: Guardian souls provide continuous effects, including transforming into mythical creatures, defensive abilities, and the summoning of familiars. The movement and attacking of familiars can be directly controlled with the stylus. Guardian souls continually drain magic points so long as they are activated. Several Guardian souls can be used in conjunction with Bullet souls to execute special attacks called Tactical Soul combos.

Enchant: Enchant souls offer statistical bonuses and resistance against several forms of attack. They are passive, and require no magic points to remain active.
Ability : Ability souls are souls that give Soma’s extra abilities like jumping really high, can walk underwater and so on. Most of these abilities are obtain once a boss is defeated. A player can be set on or off these abilities if the player thinks they do not need them.



 The player can only have one type of Bullet, Guardian, and Enchant soul equipped at any given time. When the player acquires the "Dopplegänger" soul, the player can have two different weapon and soul setups, and switch between them at will.

Overall:
I did not care about the Castlevania series until I saw a trailer of this game. I found it interesting due to its design and how the characters look like they come right out of an anime. Once I got the game, I grab my DS and played the game. At first, I had no idea what to expect, given the fact this is the first Castlevania game I am playing. The game introduces the combat mechanics as well as the souls system. I thought it would be easy to capture souls, until I look at Soma’s status and realize there are role playing action elements implemented in the game. Once Soma heads out to Dracula's castle that is known for always changing in deisn and levels, the castle seems linear. Granted, it was there so new players would get the hang of the game before it decides to spread the places a person can go. Once the training wheels are gone, the game expands and I was on my own. Like any other platform game, a person must explore to find a solution that will help them advance to the castle. Patience is a must for this type of game. There are some parts that may feel that the player is being cheated, but it might mean the player must gain experience to make Soma stronger. If a player decides to hold on and enjoy exploring the castle for items, weapons, and secret, then they will enjoy the game. I recommend this game for those who like to explore the unknown that also has role playing action elements.

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light Review


Final Fantasy the 4 Heroes of Light is another game in the Final Fantasy Series. This game is a spin-off as sticking to traditional RPG elements as much as possible. Random encounters when walking in the field, equipping armor, swords, shields with various effects, and letting the player choose the character’s fighting style, like a monk or a mage with the “crown system” this game introduces.

The Four Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy is a role-playing video game developed by Matrix Software and published by Square Enix for the Nintendo DS.






Story

The story starts with the main protagonist Brandt (Player) waking up from his bed to only hear his mother telling him he must meet the king to be known as a man. Oddly enough he is only 14 years old, but hey, it is culture.

As Brandt walks around his home village of Horne, it just seems another typical day in an average boy’s life.
But atlas, this would not be a RPG if something horrible does not happen.

Once Brandt makes it to the castle, the king mentions that his daughter, Princess Aire, (who is considered rather selfish and only cares for her own desires that I called her Insular) was kidnapped by the evil witch of the north. He sent a rescue team beforehand, but they never returned. The king decides this is a perfect opportunity for Brandt to show his manliness by bringing back his daughter. Not to be rude, but Brandt looks like a peasant and he does not look like he can even afford any armor, but at least they gave you a sword. Luckily, you are not alone! Your friend (I called him Cacophony) decides to help you, only because the king commands him to go with you. Not the person I would trust in a dungeon. After the Princess is saved, you soon realize that the citizens of Horne are all stone! You quickly go to the Throne room and realize there is only one person who can help uplift the curse. This is where the adventure begins


The story is a straightforward Cliché. Four Heroes are chosen by the god (in this case, a crystal) to save the world from the evil that the world is going to face. Throughout the adventure, you will team up with other allies, solving the problems each individual areas are going through and solve it. In each town, a player can get more armor, weapon, magic, and so on. In each town, there is a adventurer who wears red and is the only way a person can save. Talk to him, and he will save your game.

Combat System

The combat system is indeed different from the original final fantasy games. The Magic Point (or MP for short) is nowhere to be seen. Instead, the characters use an AP system (Attack Points) the character can attack boost, item, and use six types of magic if they have some equip. This is where the AP system comes in. The AP is represented by yellow orbs. Each character can only stock to the maximum of 5. Each action in battle will cost AP. For example, an attack will cost one AP, a specific magic attack or healing will take 3 and so on. If a person wants to use the stronger attacks, but need more AP, then the Boost option will help the person get 2 instead of one AP per turn in exchange for not attacking.
This system prevents people from spamming certain moves over and over again like in all previous FF. this really makes players think what moves they should use and what time should they boost. This game is actually hard if the person is not careful with their AP.

Another big difference is the amount of magic one person can use. Each individual character can only use up to six types of magic. This system is a major downgrade for the fact in the other final fantasy games each mage can learn up to 30 or more spells. But nevertheless it makes the game interesting since players are now forced to figure out which magic you really need to keep and think about which magic should sit out.





Crown System

The Crown System is pretty much the class system from previous final fantasy games. In older games, each class gave the character effects that can be used in battle. These classes change the outcome of battles ahead if the person knows what they are doing. The problem with the crown system is that they feel really underpowered. One example would be the freelancer. Back then, as long as the character mastered a class, pick the freelancer and they will gain the abilities of the specific class. So a character can combine being good with medicine and can kill enemies with a single blow. In this game, freelancer has no real benefit. The only benefit it has is to keep gems the player may have collected during the adventure. This really baffles the mind if they either tried to experiment how people would react to this or they think the freelancer class was overpowered in some sense, which I can understand, but at times I wish I could make the characters master the way of alchemist to make better potions while being good with swords.
Not only that but each Crown only learns four moves, which is a mix bag since certain classes I know learn more than just six moves, but others learn less than six moves. This only hurts the ones who know what they know about the class and are sadden that a specific move or skill did not make it into the game.
You can power-up the crowns. Remember the gems I mention earlier? Use those to power-up the crowns. Some take a few while other take a ton. Expect to go fight monsters for these gems.





Impression
Leveling up in this game is a must. Unless you know the dungeon by heart and know what elemental shields to put against players, new players will mostly find themselves getting their butt handed to them. This would not be a negative since it is expected for people to level grind, but dang do they show no mercy on the beginning.

I like the idea that each character has their own personality, but all 4 of them have the characteristics of either being a hero or just playing mean. Then again, all of them are just kids round the ages of forth teen and sixteen so this understandable in a pre-teen mindset.

This game does remind me of the past since this game does not give a player any direction on where to go next. Talking to the people in villages can put the person on the right track, but most of the time it feels a person must guess where to go next. I am surprised I made it this far in the game without using a guide on where to go or how to beat a specific enemy. This game felt as if it was a trial and error type of game. Could not beat that dungeon? Look in the nearby town to find out the type of enemies you might face. Need a stronger weapon because you feel under powered? Explore and you will find items that will help you. I know it sounds “well of course” but this game tells you by its game play. This is not a game that will hold a person’s hand, you got to learn what it is to be an old-school RPG.

Despite what I said, I believe this game was a good experience. If a person has the time to level grind and actually gather information from village to village, you should be fine, if not, then expect a painful experience.

8/10