General Gaming Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night OT

[Xbob42]

Game seems great so far! You can tell that it's a bit low budget, but not in a terrible way or anything. Doesn't hurt that I get 200-300 FPS on maxed out settings, so it plays super smooth. Also they don't have those awful sluggish controls that I've hated in so many (but not all) Castlevania games. The characters look like ass in dialogue for some reason. At first I thought they were using some weird pre-rendered videos to save on performance or something, but your character's accessories change based on what you're wearing, so I have no idea, because they look crystal clear outside of dialogue. Not a big deal, just kind of odd and out of place.

Gameplay itself is really solid, which was my biggest concern going in. Unlike Mighty No. 9, this feels like Castlevania-plus-more, rather than Mega Man-but-bad. It also doesn't take itself super seriously, which I appreciate. It's a little silly, but not full of memes or completely over-the-top.

 

It doesn't seem to have any sort of auto-save or checkpoint feature, so make sure you find those save rooms! If you die, you go back to your last save. Be careful!

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, Xbob42 said:

 

It doesn't seem to have any sort of auto-save or checkpoint feature, so make sure you find those save rooms! If you die, you go back to your last save. Be careful!

 

It does have a “suspend” option though which serves as a one time checkpoint if you have to quit somewhere and there is no save room.

[Xbob42]

Yeah, the suspend feature is nice. More games need something like that. Reminds me of old GBA/DS games.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

I'm glad I'm playing it on Switch so I can just put it to sleep quickly if I need to. 

 

But good on them for at least putting in the suspend feature. 

[atom631]

5 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

It does have a “suspend” option though which serves as a one time checkpoint if you have to quit somewhere and there is no save room.

 

So how do you save your progress? 

[Keyser_Soze]

20 minutes ago, atom631 said:

 

So how do you save your progress? 

 

In a save room.

[DPCyric]

6 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

The characters look like ass in dialogue for some reason.

 

This is my only criticism of the game so far  I think after all is said and done this will be my favorite Igavania 

[atom631]

1 hour ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

In a save room.

lol. i misread your post. got it. thanks. 

[Bloodporne]

9 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

Game seems great so far! You can tell that it's a bit low budget, but not in a terrible way or anything. Doesn't hurt that I get 200-300 FPS on maxed out settings, so it plays super smooth. Also they don't have those awful sluggish controls that I've hated in so many (but not all) Castlevania games. The characters look like ass in dialogue for some reason. At first I thought they were using some weird pre-rendered videos to save on performance or something, but your character's accessories change based on what you're wearing, so I have no idea, because they look crystal clear outside of dialogue. Not a big deal, just kind of odd and out of place.

Gameplay itself is really solid, which was my biggest concern going in. Unlike Mighty No. 9, this feels like Castlevania-plus-more, rather than Mega Man-but-bad. It also doesn't take itself super seriously, which I appreciate. It's a little silly, but not full of memes or completely over-the-top.

 

It doesn't seem to have any sort of auto-save or checkpoint feature, so make sure you find those save rooms! If you die, you go back to your last save. Be careful!

I'll probably pick it up soon based on your impressions. I tend to agree with your opinions so I'll swallow the whole fugly backgrounds thing. 

 

 

[Anzo]

Did KS Backers get the game early?

[Rodimus]

I am really enjoying the game. It is what I wanted. Yeah save often. It took a few tries to beat the first boss and then shortly after I beat them I died before reaching a new Save Room. So I have to beat the boss again. it also took a few more tries. Then I back tracked and saved. Now I try to survive to the next save room. I have died often.

 

Did KS Backers get the game early?

The PS4 version was mailed out and arrived on Monday for backers. So like a day early.

[Xbob42]

There's a boss you beat to get your first real navigation upgrade, and I think my build might be a little OP. Held one button and emptied my MP bar into the thing and it never even got to move from where it spawned before it died. 

[Keyser_Soze]

8 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

I'll probably pick it up soon based on your impressions. I tend to agree with your opinions so I'll swallow the whole fugly backgrounds thing.

 

I don't understand. I said the same thing he did basically without the Xbob flair and he ended up getting more positive comments.

[Keyser_Soze]

4 hours ago, Rodimus said:

I am really enjoying the game. It is what I wanted. Yeah save often. It took a few tries to beat the first boss and then shortly after I beat them I died before reaching a new Save Room. So I have to beat the boss again. it also took a few more tries. Then I back tracked and saved. Now I try to survive to the next save room. I have died often.

 

 

I beat him on the first attempt.

[Xbob42]

9 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

I'll probably pick it up soon based on your impressions. I tend to agree with your opinions so I'll swallow the whole fugly backgrounds thing. 

 

 

I actually think some of the backgrounds are really nice. Like, technically they're nothing amazing, but they've got a few fun 2.5D (as in Klonoa-style) things and so far a pretty good variety of environments, which has surprised me. Again, nothing incredible, but a pleasant surprise as I really couldn't name a single Castlevania environment that I remember besides generic things like "castle" or "fuckin' holes."

[Nokt]

7 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

I actually think some of the backgrounds are really nice. Like, technically they're nothing amazing, but they've got a few fun 2.5D (as in Klonoa-style) things and so far a pretty good variety of environments, which has surprised me. Again, nothing incredible, but a pleasant surprise as I really couldn't name a single Castlevania environment that I remember besides generic things like "castle" or "fuckin' holes."

Man I need to play Klonoa again. 

[Xbob42]

Klonoa is good shit!

[Keyser_Soze]

54 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Klonoa is good shit!

 

@Kyio

[Bloodporne]

14 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

I don't understand. I said the same thing he did basically without the Xbob flair and he ended up getting more positive comments.

His avatar kind of resembles Aphex Twin, so he gets an like on everything.

[Anzo]

Hope this doesn’t happen to you and they patch it soon. 

 

 

[Keyser_Soze]

5 minutes ago, Anzo said:

Hope this doesn’t happen to you and they patch it soon.

 

According to this it's only consoles, well that they've found

 

 

And they say you have to restart the game with the new patch.

[Rodimus]

14 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

I beat him on the first attempt.

Good on you. I'm not as good. I start trying to hack and slash my way then I learn the patterns. I grinned out a few levels then beat the 2nd boss last night. Also I'm not sure it has been said enough. The music is great. It really is. The music is a big part of Castlevania and it is the same in Bloodstained.

[Keyser_Soze]

3 minutes ago, Rodimus said:

Good on you. I'm not as good. I start trying to hack and slash my way then I learn the patterns.

 

If you're not spamming magic you're doing it wrong.

[Rodimus]

1 minute ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

If you're not spamming magic you're doing it wrong.

I spam magic then switch to sword after out of mana. Which Shards are you enjoy using?

[Keyser_Soze]

I'm using the head flail, it's pretty good!

[Rodimus]

I think I might have to start over. They are not very clear where this is. The developers posted this just now on their Discord.

"Regarding the chest bug that is blocking some people:

Currently there is a bug that occurs on consoles when a player begins a game and then downloads the 1.02 update. The bug puts chests into the incorrect open/close state. As a result, some items that are required for progress are unobtainable.

On PS4, 1.02 is already live, so we recommend restarting your game if you are seeing this issue. We do not know if/when an update will be available to fix the issue and retain save settings.

The 1.02 update is not live YET on Xbox One. We are investigating whether we can work out a fix for Xbox to prevent the issue from repeating. Once we know whether a fix is incoming or not, we will let everyone know. We will let everyone know what is up before the 1.02 update goes live.

Multiple Xbox players (and PS4 players who are already past the critical item crates) have asked what happens if they complete the game. Good news. If you complete the game you can convert that save to New Game + or make a new save and you'll be good to go. Just make sure you convert AFTER downloading 1.02.

We will update this thread when we have more info. We apologize for the error."
 

[Anzo]

6 minutes ago, Rodimus said:

I think I might have to start over. They are not very clear where this is. The developers posted this just now on their Discord.

"Regarding the chest bug that is blocking some people:

Currently there is a bug that occurs on consoles when a player begins a game and then downloads the 1.02 update. The bug puts chests into the incorrect open/close state. As a result, some items that are required for progress are unobtainable.

On PS4, 1.02 is already live, so we recommend restarting your game if you are seeing this issue. We do not know if/when an update will be available to fix the issue and retain save settings.

The 1.02 update is not live YET on Xbox One. We are investigating whether we can work out a fix for Xbox to prevent the issue from repeating. Once we know whether a fix is incoming or not, we will let everyone know. We will let everyone know what is up before the 1.02 update goes live.

Multiple Xbox players (and PS4 players who are already past the critical item crates) have asked what happens if they complete the game. Good news. If you complete the game you can convert that save to New Game + or make a new save and you'll be good to go. Just make sure you convert AFTER downloading 1.02.

We will update this thread when we have more info. We apologize for the error."
 

In the YT video I linked above, the guy says where it is. I don’t have the game so don’t personally know where it is. It involves a chest that contains Silver Nitrate. 

[Rodimus]

44 minutes ago, Anzo said:

In the YT video I linked above, the guy says where it is. I don’t have the game so don’t personally know where it is. It involves a chest that contains Silver Nitrate. 

yup, I haven't gotten there yet so I need to start over.

[elbobo]

god damn I am bad at this game 

[Xbob42]

I think my main complaint with this game is that directional, multi-hit shards are so tremendously OP that they completely trivialize everything, even without being upgraded. The Heretical Grinder (I think that's what it's called) and the fire breath one just drop bosses in seconds. I got to the (alleged) final boss early (like, 50% map completion early) and downed him before I saw him do more than one attack. That's been the story pretty much the entire game. Of course, since it's Castlevania, I got a game over anyway as you can't just beeline for that dude and expect to get a good ending, so I was relieved at least. I actually wandered into his room entirely on accident.

I could just stop using them, which is probably what I'll do, but the issue is I also find these the most fun to use! Just swinging a massive grindy sword or fire breath around is a lot of fun, but not when they're so utterly devastating that nothing in the game stands a chance.

[Keyser_Soze]

8 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

I think my main complaint with this game is that directional, multi-hit shards are so tremendously OP that they completely trivialize everything, even without being upgraded. The Heretical Grinder (I think that's what it's called) and the fire breath one just drop bosses in seconds. I got to the (alleged) final boss early (like, 50% map completion early) and downed him before I saw him do more than one attack. That's been the story pretty much the entire game. Of course, since it's Castlevania, I got a game over anyway as you can't just beeline for that dude and expect to get a good ending, so I was relieved at least. I actually wandered into his room entirely on accident.

I could just stop using them, which is probably what I'll do, but the issue is I also find these the most fun to use! Just swinging a massive grindy sword or fire breath around is a lot of fun, but not when they're so utterly devastating that nothing in the game stands a chance.

 

I think a lot of it is normal attacks are kind of not worth doing. Like if you use the whip the recovery after swing is horrible, but you can spam any kind of magic without getting punished pretty much.

[elbobo]

1 hour ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

I think a lot of it is normal attacks are kind of not worth doing. Like if you use the whip the recovery after swing is horrible, but you can spam any kind of magic without getting punished pretty much.

 

the whip is good if you swing just before you land a jump, the landing cancels the recovery so you swing again immediately 

[Xbob42]

I mean frankly if you're ever attacking while on the ground you're wasting your time, ground attacks stop you in place unless you backstep, which really inhibits movement. You should just be spamming short hops with your basic attacks!

[Zaku3]

So Switch or should I get the game on the PC? 

[Rodimus]

I really put in a few hours yesterday on this game. I started over because of the game breaking bug. I one shot the bosses and got caught up in one day. The music is so good.

 

I’m surprising myself by playing it a lot via remote play in another room while watching movies on another monitor. I can see myself really playing this again on Switch.