Castlevania Season 1 (TV-series)

Love the homage to the game covers.

A little Christmas special as this goes up (although a bit early for Halloween as of writing). So I got my hands on the blu-ray dvd of the first season of the Netflix series (since I don't have Netflix and are a bit old-school that way) and watched it an early Sunday morning. Great decision. It begins as Lisa, arrives at Castlevania and wants to speak with Dracula about the secret knowledges he possesses and almost like an homage to the Beauty and the Beast-movie (animated of course) she seems to like a person with a big library... I clearly need more book shelfs in my home.

Cut to Lisa burning at the stakes a couple of years later and Vlad Tepes going berserk promising retribution on the people of Wallachia if they don't leave within a year. They don't listen so all hell breaks loose. Meanwhile we are introduced to Trevor Belmont being hounded by some locals in the countryside until he beats them up. Arriving at the last town standing he saves an old man being harassed by priests and it turns out that he is the leader of the seekers, a nomadic people gathering knowledge, but like the Belmonts being blamed for the demons overruning the land. One of the seekers have gone missing and Trevor reluctantly agrees to help. Apparently there is some legend about a saviour beneath the city sleeping and they try to awaken it. Trevor find the seeker turned to stone and defeats the cyclops and its Sylpha. They return and Trevor gets taken to the bishop who was the one that burned Lisa at the stake and ask him to leave town as the seekers shall all be killed for causing this... according to him. Trevor don't take lightly to this news and evacuates the seekers to the chamber he found Sylpha and then awaits the church move.

He kicks their asses until he is cornered on a town square, but Sylpha shows up using her magic to allow him to escape and turn the people on the church right before the demons attacks. Fighting them off Trevor and Sylpha falls into the catacombs and ends up at a tomb, where Alucard sleeps. Trevor and him fights for a while until Alucard finds them worthy on the quest to kill his father that wounded him as Alucard tried to stop him from unleashing the demons. 

Awesome shot!

I really liked this series, just waiting for the blu-ray release of season 2 this November (when I'm writing this, while you read it I probably already seen it). The visuals are amazing, and the voice actors... fantastic. The music is good for its purpose with the Gregorian chanting and such... but I would like something like the game music for the action scenes. But I'm hooked now.

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (Switch)

This ship pulled in without a sound
The faithful captain long since cold
He kept his log till the bloody end
Last entry read "Rats in the hold.
My crew is dead, I fear the plague"

Continuing my Castlevania adventure with the third game in the series on the Anniversary Collection and it's a return to the first game with how the game plays. Playing as Trevor Belmont a 100 years before Simon Belmont, you are the last of the Belmont family to make a stand against Dracula's armies after being exiled from Walachia due to the Belmonts super-natural powers, but eastern Europe is being overrun so the church have no other choice. On his quest he meets Grant Danasty, a pirate that was turned into a monster that you had to defeat in order to save. His abilities is that he can climb on walls and such making certain portions easier to traverse. Next they meet Sylpha Belnandes, a sorceress that have been turned to stone by a cyclops and when freed joins up with her different spells. 

Now, in the game you can only have one companion with you (Trevor is permanent) and I don't think you can meet all in one playthrough since depending on which route you take you either get Sylpha or Alucard, the fourth companion, the son of Dracula and the protagonist from Symphony of the Night. I've never got him since it's the harder route I gathered and this game is hard enough for me. Also, I would have missed the ship if I didn't get Sylpha.

See, it fits the lyrics!

Mostly I preferred to play as Trevor since he is a Belmont and play like most of them. This game is hard. Dracula has 3 forms, and the ending form demands that you run back and forth avoiding beams from the count while jumping on floating floors to reach his hit zone and since the floor is flying around there is bottomless pits under you if you miss, or more likely, gets shot of the platform. Thank God for save states. Hey, if the game cheats so can I! I don't feel as much for this. Technically it's more replayable with the choices you can do while traversing the world map and the different companions you can gather differing the gameplay due to the different characters and their abilities. I would never have finished this as a child. Music is good, graphics looks pretty much like the other NES games, maybe a bit more refined. This game is also the inspiration for the Netflix TV-series... which gives me an idea!

Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line (Switch)

Why do the princes have flying googles?

Continued with the second game in the series released back in 1987, the most important year ever. It starts off with a retelling of the first game and that there is 100 years since the warrior Niklas defeated the draconlord and went travelling with his princess and founded several other kingdoms where his lines rule the land until this day. Now the forces of Hargon attack the castle of Moonbrooke where the king sends his daughter princess Peronel to safety and one lone soldier to warn the King of Midenhall before the whole castle is destroyed. The king of Midenhall sends his only son, Prince Niklas (yes, I named him after myself... again) and you are off. First by finding his cousin prince Randolph and with his help finding the mirror of Ra and using it to break the curse on Peronel so that she is turned back into a human after being turned into a dog by Hargon. Together the three sets out on a quest to find the five sigils that allowed them to speak with the goddess Rubis and get the eye of Rubis and then finding the False Idol and together with these items charged at Hargons castle and defeated him and the demon Malroth. So now I know what was up with Dragon Quest Builders 2. 

Overall I liked this game, more fun with a party of three compared to alone and therefore some strategy. Mostly no problem figuring out what to do, but in the dungeons and towers I usually used a map from the internet since I can't really bother with it. And when they threw in trap doors at the cave to the final area, I really can't stand it. Also, really problematic finding the star sigil and the sunken treasure that allows you to get the echo flute. Problems that still exist is the limited inventory and the end was just walking up the castle over and over again until I've reached a high enough level and getting by without getting attacked that much so my resources aren't all spent. But **** those kamikaze monkeys that one shot the whole party regardless of the health level. Fun enough and probably more fun to replay since there is more plot, and it's just not grinding for money and levels compared to the first game and it's bigger. So big in fact that it have most of the original world within this one (minus most towns and caves).

Civilization VI (Switch)

L'État, c'est moi.

I was a short time obsessed with Civilization, played the original with my best friend in school, and then I read about the fourth game in the gaming magazine Super Play where two of the writers reported about their game against each others. They never finished it but it caught my attention and then I asked and got Civilization IV for PC for my birthday/Christmas. As usual when playing games that actually needs a bit of thinking there is a learning curve that for IV took me a long time to get. Maybe I was to young (or rather to stupid) at the time, think it took the second expansion getting out that I bought before it really got fun since I then discovered how to change which tiles each city was supposed to use to boost either production, gold or population. Rather important since I before that just let the cities go on auto and if you wanna beat the AI, you gotta prioritise. 

Now, the fourth game was fun, it had Leonard Nimoy as the narrator. Then I heard Sean Bean was the narrator for this game and then that the expansions where heading for the Switch so I caved in and got it. First off, getting to know the controls was a bit weird, but playing it in handheld mode allowed me to use the touch screen so it helps. Secondly, the game is working pretty much as the fourth one so not that hard to adjust. The problem is probably all that is new and more subtle that I probably need to get before making a fool of me. At least I notice certain differences. Like, no more water transportation ships just to get settlers, soldiers or workers across the islands if you start, say, in Japan. Also, the workers are limited to a minimum of 3 actions before disappearing. Forcing you to constantly make new ones... and I have no problem with that since it limits it instead of the 10 workers you had in IV just waiting for the next city being founded or finding a new discovery that forces you to build a mine on a farm or changing all roads to rails.

Talking about discoveries, they implemented national wonders that you can find around the world, doing certain things enables you to gain advantage for research and you can choose to research one discovery and if it needs something researched before it puts it in the fastest way to get there. Simplicity. I haven't played it that much since there isn't really a point since it's an endless game, you always feel the need for just one more turn. Mostly been playing the actual earth and Rome and Japan since it was the civilisations I played the most in fourth. Bit surprised that it wasn't Caesar and Tokugawa, but hey, more people to learn about. Also rather many new civilisations that I haven't seen before. Haven't played V so they might have been there. Game crashed on me once when I tried to check if it was me that offered peace or if it was Australia and I had to pay for it. It isn't that clear if they mean me or him when they use My and Their. Still, I just gotta... play one more turn.

Dragon Quest (Switch)

They say he comes for those whose souls are weak
and call his name upon the wind
The night is cold and thick with mystery
Oh I can feel his beating wings

As described before, I've played most of the mainline Dragon Quest-games, all released for the DS (and Playstation 2) and I've had this inclination to play the first 3 games as well (since those are the only ones I've hadn't played before) and lo and behold... they are all released for the Switch. Playing the first one, you can feel that it is a bit archaic. At least it's a bit mitigated in this version. It's based on the mobile port that is based on the SNES remake of the game that originally arrived on the Famicom/NES back in 1986, although not in Europe. So basically we get a better version with a graphical overhaul and a lot more gold and Exp. that hasten the game, I've read at least. And that is probably best since there isn't much in it and just to grind to get anywhere... we don't do that anymore, I still had to grind a bit to finish of the game, but I don't want to think about how much that would have been if I've played the original.

Basically you are a decendent to Erdick, this famous warrior and you now have to find Erdick's treasures in order to gain access to the Dragonlord's castle and save this land from his darkness. You need the armour and sword of Erdick, the harp of Galen the bard, the rain bow and sun stone to make the bridge appear that take you to the island where the castle is. And you also better save the princess of the land while you at it that is guarded by a dragon herself. There's something like 5 town (+1 one destroyed), 2 shrines, 3 dungeons and Tantegral Castle and the Dragonlord's Castle. 

A journey to the centre of the earth

It's really simplistic in its approach. Really, grind for level ups and gold so that you can take more punishment and dish out more damage in order to go further on the maps and dungeons. Some things are more irritating than others, for example the limited amount of space in the inventory that both have to deal with equipment, special items and items like torches, herbs and such. I guess that with higher levels you get magic spells that take away the need for some items, but why would I waste magic points on Glow instead of healing and attack spells? Especially since the torch is actually better than the Glow spell? Those are a bit weird. Then we have the magic keys that open locked doors... and then breaks so you gotta buy more keys and when you leave a town or dungeon where you unlocked a door, the door appears again and you gotta use yet another key. Also, the game crashed once when I put the game speed at the lowest, but lucky enough the game autosaved so I didn't waste the grinding from level 20-23. Then we have the cryptic nature of some things like finding things out in the overworld just by accident while walking over it. I guess the map forces you to walk over there, but it is missable and you need the item as far as I understood it. It was charming at least with the art work of Toriyama and the music while not as diverse as in later games at least works. I've at least played it now, not sure if playing it again would be high up on my priority list.

The Last Door - Complete Edition (Switch)

Recall the dream of luxor

How fluids will arrive

As if by call or schedule

Resume through the morning tide

Where entry is by seaweed gate

And plan the plan of dreams

To lose oneself in reverb

In all that is and all that seems

Been on some kind of Lovecraftian kick since my summer vacation where I listened through Blue Öyster Cults Imaginos cycle and also got a Lovecraft collection. And then Switch got this game and since it was published by Phoenix Online that did the remake of Gabriel Knight and their own King's Quest the Silver Lining I decided to take the plunge and I gotta say, it really sucked me in. Beginning with the suicide by hanging we are introduced to Jeremiah Devitt that have received letters from an old classmate and decide to meet his old friend. Arriving at the old manor no person is there to meet him so he wanders the house, getting keys and some disturbing images and ravens following him. Turns out that after his friends wife died he went mad and hanged himself leaving some clue toward Devitt and his school back in Aberdeen. Calling the police after finding the corpse Devitt visits his psychiatrist, Dr. Wakefield and then travels to the school that was turned into a hospital. People are dying like flies and Devitts old teacher, an old priest, are the head of the hospital. He stumbles upon some kind of ritualistic murder of the patients in a room under a class room. In the catacombs he sees a light from a room and as he enters I see the most ghastly thing ever. A bug that stop me from progressing. It took them over a month to fix it with an update before I could continue. 

After that setback I could continue with watching the priest burning himself to death after retelling of their experiments in school where he part took in an experiment to enter the Last Door that Devitt and his friends tried to do. Now, game is really good. It's not hard since it's just a puzzle game where you walk around and try to get keys to enter doors and such, but the atmosphere is uncanny. The music, the sound and graphics all build this sense of dread as I played through it. And I admit, I had things running on the computer besides me, but that probably was for my benefit since it felt uneasy. And to be fair it used a couple of jump scares and quick cuts to unsettle the player, but I liked it overall.

The real story is that Devitt suffers from amnesia and looks for answers to what happened and therefore tried to connect with his old friend. Which took him to Aberdeen where he is knocked unconscious by a serial killer and transported back to London in a coffin and after being released stumble upon another friend, Alexandre DuPre where he is injected by a serum to enter the veil once again. Then the game shifts perspective to Dr. Wakefield and a Dr. Kaufman. Wakefield tries to find his patient and Kaufman is a friend that have connections to the occult and helps in the search. First they try to find information about DuPre at an asylum. That leads to an officer that puts them on course toward Kaufman's old teacher Dr. Wright who suffers some kind of Alzheimer. Kaufman grows sick and eventually dies and leaves the final clue for Wakefield to an island where they are in the midst of pagan rituals, dressed up in masks and a child have gone missing... am I the only one that got the Wicker Man vibes of that chapter? Turns out that the island used to have a ritual to enter the other side by installing terror on people so that they enter the land of fog. Which Wakefield is submitted too and there he finds Devitt. Looking through the lands he is given a choice to either turn back or try to save Devitt. 

I'm Burnin' for you!

It's hard to tell the story since it's not that hard and as stated earlier, it's the atmosphere you want. Think about a late autumn night, alone and silence with only the sound of the howling wind. This game gives me that chill, but interesting enough I knew I never could die and that doesn't need to be. I highly recommend it for the Halloween holidays... that is, what, like 20 days ago... I blame the bug. If there something I don't like about the game it's that the ending... wasn't that satisfactory. They hinted about this custodian that like a spider guarded the last door and would hunt down anyone it found within the fog. I assume it might have been the creature you saw below the tunnels around the Wright mansion, but it wasn't giving me a final ending winning over it to get to the door. And then of course, what happened after entering the door? What is its purpose and why did they seek it beyond the mere curiosity of the the bored student that had to return? And what about the eye? Why does it exist? Maybe it's just the lovecraftian way.

Dr. Mario (Wii U)

The Doctor is in the house!

Got a bit of urge to play some puzzle game and started up my Wii U again and found Dr. Mario. And the search function at the blog states that I haven't written on it before so, new game finished after 30 minutes!

We got it the first time for the NES back in the 90's and the most fun thing about it is its multiplayer action that me and my sister had going trying to beat it first or at least not die first since we were hardly any experts on it. Playing it on its own... I prefer Tetris actually. I will give it that the music is good and it is satisfying in defeating the viruses as they plop and then the big ones in the magnifying glass wriggles in pain until each of the colours are gone and they just... poff out of existence. Now, I can't recall if there ever was any story beyond that you have to destroy the viruses, but in one of the Nintendo Magazines we had I could read about this comic advertising the game:

Wish I had all of the comics since it's just campy fun.