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I think Aria of Sorrow is better than Symphony of the Night

Mondai

Mondai

Member
They are both great games and at the top of their genre, but AoS is just way more enjoyable for me , plus I love the soul mechanic (even if farming some of them can be fucking tedious). I've replayed AoS at least 5 times already while I could only replay SoTN 2 times. It's also easier to get broken in AoS as well, which is always fun, both games are way too easy though. I am excited to buy Dawn of Sorrow next week. I just wanted to clear my head and this was on my mind lol.
 
Punished Miku

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Mondai said:
They are both great games and at the top of their genre, but AoS is just way more enjoyable for me , plus I love the soul mechanic (even if farming some of them can be fucking tedious). I've replayed AoS at least 5 times already while I could only replay SoTN 2 times. It's also easier to get broken in AoS as well, which is always fun, both games are way too easy though. I am excited to buy Dawn of Sorrow next week. I just wanted to clear my head and this was on my mind lol.
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You're going to love Dawn of Sorrow then. Probably the best gameplay in a Igavania.

I give nostalgia points to SOTN, and like Alucard more as a character. But the gameplay is obviously improved in the newer ones.
 
SpiceRacz

SpiceRacz

Member
I finished Aria last week and disagree. Symphony is just a more memorable game. Aside from the weapon options, I prefer just about everything in SoTN over Aria. Especially the darker style of graphics. It's how Castlevania should look.

9Osl.gif


SOTN-Cross.gif


1f8de4938226cbb8c5727321fc82642a.gif
 
BlackTron

BlackTron

Gold Member
SotN just really feels great moment to moment because of its beautiful graphics and CD quality soundtrack.

Aria of Sorrow is tighter for pure gameplay I suppose, but is held back by its GB origins. It holds up very well graphically despite this, but just isn't the masterpiece in motion that SotN is.

Both games offer their unique strengths and its good that we have a variety of IGAvanias depending on what you are in the mood for.

The one I could never get into much, for whatever reason, was Harmony of Dissonance. I still even have the GBA cart from when it came out. Just never cared for it, never got very far in it. I sampled it again on Switch but it just can't get attention with CotM and AoS flanking it on a menu screen lol.
 
O

Outlier

Member
The thing about SotN is the music.
Otherwise, it's an overly easy game, that can be broken early on.

Never played the other Castlevania, but I can tell you the only thing I ever found worthwhile in SotN was the music.
 
alabtrosMyster

alabtrosMyster

Banned
nah, I never cared to finish any of the Game Boy (any game boy) castlevania games... ever in 30 years! never like any of the portable games in this series enough to finish them.

SOTN on the other hand... that one gets replayed regularly since 1997!
 
Zannegan

Zannegan

Gold Member
SotN deserves credit for putting the series into the metroidvania groove, and for doing it so well on its first try. The graphics are also obviously a cut above thanks to the hardware.

That said, Aria took that formula and perfected it. The soul mechanic was an inspired addition for the series, the map was tons of fun to explore, and the story (though not a major focus for the series) was pretty great, especially for the way it dovetailed into the ganeplay.

Honestly, Aria was so good that DoS, which is objectively better in most respects, felt like an anticlimax. It's my favorite Castlevania, hands down.
 
SpiceRacz

SpiceRacz

Member
BlackTron said:
SotN just really feels great moment to moment because of its beautiful graphics and CD quality soundtrack.

Aria of Sorrow is tighter for pure gameplay I suppose, but is held back by its GB origins. It holds up very well graphically despite this, but just isn't the masterpiece in motion that SotN is.

Both games offer their unique strengths and its good that we have a variety of IGAvanias depending on what you are in the mood for.

The one I could never get into much, for whatever reason, was Harmony of Dissonance. I still even have the GBA cart from when it came out. Just never cared for it, never got very far in it. I sampled it again on Switch but it just can't get attention with CotM and AoS flanking it on a menu screen lol.
Click to expand...

This. Aria feels like a portable game next to Symphony.

As for HoS, the game is kind of a mess. Especially when it comes to navigating the castle and how the portals are spread out. It's just not fun to traverse through. Feels like a lot of time is wasted backtracking. Graphically, it's all over the place. It goes from bright and colorful to flat and ugly. I'd sooner replay CoTM.
 
NeoIkaruGAF

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
cireza said:
Symphony lasts for way too long. I prefer both Aria and Dawn. If you liked Aria, Dawn should be a fantastic game.
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Symphony is just as short if you know your way around these games. And the random drop element plus the soul-based puzzles in Aria make it a little longer to 100% than it would be otherwise. I think they’re even in that.

Aria is a good game but, like I said elsewhere, I don’t care for the series leaning so much towards random drops post-SOTN (clearly they did this to make these portable games last longer, see above) and the various weapons, that could have made the game a bit more interesting, are mostly too unpractical to really use them. Aria’s anime style and terrible dialogue also don’t do it any favors compared to Alucard’s badass voice and that so-bad-it’s-good dialogue in SOTN.

Aria plays better, but SOTN is the better package.
 
Shadowstar39

Shadowstar39

Member
Going to have to disagree here. SOTN has amazing soundtrack, and the old ps1 version has the best voice overs and lines ever (outside of another 2d vampire games blood omen, but I digress).

The 2d graphics with paralax scrolling was amazing on SOTN, and was unmatched with any gba or ds games. Not until dracula X chronicles (rondo's 2.5 remake on psp) did we get better 2d style graphics.
Aria limits the amount of gear and equipment compared to SOTN, as it's a smaller game.

Also I didn't dig Aria's starting setting or the anime characters/artstyle.
SOTN felt castlevania. It didn't take place in 2035 Japan with a high school student. Aria feels like more like Castlevania SOTN lite.

SOTN took place in the proper 1600s/1700s setting in Transylvania area.
Continuing the CV linage from CV1, 2,3, 4, and Rondo. It oozes Bram Stoker and Dracula lore.

Not saying Aria was bad, it was a good game for the platform it was on, same with Portrait of ruin, harmony of dissonance, circle of the moon and dawn of sorrow.

Now i will say I straight up didn't like Order of Eccelsia... that game had great artwork but shit gameplay. I wanted SOTN not 2d dark souls (without the souls part).
 
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lame gag1990

lame gag1990

Member
Some things are better on both games. SOTN does have a fantastic soundtrack, better main character, familiars. Aria also has really good soundtrack, though not as good as SOTN. I really like the castle too. The 3 souls thing is really good too. I think the fact that Aria is a GBA game is also one of it's strong points. Incredible effort for the hardware it's on. Both are really good and I would understand anyone who prefers one over the other. Though SOTN can fuck off with the upside down castle half way through a.k.a. "amazing game design". It's terrible, unnecessary padding. There's absolutely no need for it.
 
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kunonabi

kunonabi

Member
BlackTron said:
What's the matter with Aria of Sorrow? Too easy?
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Too easy, don't care for Soma much or the souls and the random drop stuff. It isn't terrible as these games go I just don't care about grinding for loot/drops especially in a Castlevania game of all things.

II'll take it over Curse of Darkness in a heartbeat though. Of course, I'd rather have my head dunked in a dirty toilet while somebody punches me in the balls 40 times than play Curse of Darkness again so maybe that doesn't mean much.
 
AlteredForms

AlteredForms

Banned
You can choose most of the Castlevania games as a personal favourite and every answer is correct. Symphony of The Night, Aria of Sorrow, Harmony of Dissonance, Dawn of Sorrow. Pick one and it’s all good.
 
RDaneelOlivaw

RDaneelOlivaw

Member
MacReady13 said:
Love AoS but I still prefer Symphony. SotN is god tier level gaming.
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It really is. Kind of amazing how they captured lightning in a bottle for that game. Everything is amazing. The level design, the art, animations, soundtrack, all of it. I wonder if they knew it was such a masterpiece as they were making it. Like did the team walk into work each day going "this will be one of the best games ever created in the entire history of mankind" or was it just another day in the office, lol?
 
Astral Dog

Astral Dog

Member
I wouldn't go as far to say its better, since SotN is a masterpiece and a new genre for Castlevania, but its up there, many fanboys dismiss the portable games for some reason and talk only about Symphony so watch out friend, but yeah the Sorrow duology are my favorite Castlevanias, they felt fresh and the Soul system was so cool its been copied on Bloodstained.
 
SpiceRacz

SpiceRacz

Member
RDaneelOlivaw said:
It really is. Kind of amazing how they captured lightning in a bottle for that game. Everything is amazing. The level design, the art, animations, soundtrack, all of it. I wonder if they knew it was such a masterpiece as they were making it. Like did the team walk into work each day going "this will be one of the best games ever created in the entire history of mankind" or was it just another day in the office, lol?
Click to expand...

I think it benefits from not being so far removed from the classic vania games. Symphony carries more of the spirit of the older games imo. They got further away from the look and feel of the older games as they went along.
 
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