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Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night |OT| We Have Paid Our Tribute, Igavania Is Resurrected

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John Rabbit

John Rabbit

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,104
I finally got a chance to put some real time into this last night and it's finally starting to get it's hooks in me after about 2 hours. Once you start collecting some of the passive shards and start working your way down upgrade paths (katana expertise, etc) the combat gets much more enjoyable. I still have some serious issues around the general feel of the movement and control, and the hitboxes on things like scones/torches/etc feels unnecessary specific, but I'm definitely jones-ing to play more tonight.

The music so far is good but not leaping out at me, and the art style is still kind of strange to me but it's definitely growing on me. I love how much detail some of the background areas have.

Necromanti said:
I can't think of anything as broken as the Alucard Shield and Shield Rod combo in any other Igavania game, honestly.
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Especially two of them.
 
DaveB

DaveB

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,513
New Hampshire, USA
Richter1887 said:
I would say just restart to be sure. I did the same thing and the second time I played it I cameback to where I was really quickly.
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It sounds like I haven't reached the bugged chest yet based on a thread over at Gamefaqs. They said...

The silver bromide needed to beat the game is in a chest after defeating a twin-headed dragon in the tower. I haven't gotten to that fight yet.

After being generally unimpressed with BS so far (performance wise), I went back to playing Darksiders. Maybe by the time I am done with that, they'll have patched the Switch version of BS and improved some things.
 
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SugarNoodles

SugarNoodles

Member
Nov 3, 2017
8,625
Portland, OR
TyrantGuardian said:
The beauty of these games is that it's very easy to create self-imposed challenges if you feel like it. You just don't use the stuff that trivializes the game. I personally enjoy feeling incredibly broken in a game like this, especially when it feels very tight to play. Once I get bored of that I know there are a plethora of other more challenging options even without having to select a higher difficulty. To each their own I suppose, but to me this is a major pro.
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Breaking games is part of fun, but I maintain that it's bad design if breaking the game requires zero experimentation or optimization or setting up combos.

And let's be clear that higher difficulty doesn't fix balance. Bad shards are even worse on higher difficulties.
 
Jake2byFour

Jake2byFour

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,836
Finished and platinum. Solid 8.5/10 game. I would like Iga make a 3d game in the bloodstained universe like Curse of Darkness.
 
Tfritz

Tfritz

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,271
"These portraits break ~my immersion~, let me replace them with the cover art from Castlevania Chronicles and Symphony of the Night and the character art, none of which look remotely like a painting you'd see hanging in an old timey castle"

Solidus said:
That's exactly what the linked mod does.
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they're saying they want fewer paintings, period, not they only want some of the paintings changed to incredibly out of place video game cover art.
 
Baccus

Baccus

Banned
Dec 4, 2018
5,307
The portrait replacement mod would have been better if it used Kojima's non-Castlevania illustrations instead of Castlevania official one. She's got hundreds of those.

I mean more this:
10-1561550320-1068232487.png


No
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Or leave one as an homage or something.
 
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Jinfash

Jinfash

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,095
id. said:
Quick question. My 8-bit weapon choice was the Hakari, but I practically never use it. My main weapon has been the Rhava Bural.

I mastered the Hakari's weapon skill (quarter-circle forward attack) and now all swords(and even clubs) can use this attack... except Rhava Bural, even though it's listed as a sword.

Anyone know why that seems to be the only sword that doesn't get this weapon skill when all the other ones did?
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Wait, is that how weapon skills work? If I master the skill with the weapon indicated it becomes available for everything?
 
Bakrider

Bakrider

Member
Oct 31, 2017
911
Jinfash said:
Wait, is that how weapon skills work? If I master the skill with the weapon indicated it becomes available for everything?
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Yes, if you master a skill with a certain weapon you can then use that skill with any weapon of the same type.

There are a few exceptions with skills that don't level/master and are locked to that weapon.
 
Maedhros

Maedhros

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,871
I would love if they brought back the X Y attacks from Order of Ecclesia... I prefer it a lot than spamming x to do my attacks faster... =(
 
MikeProtagonist

MikeProtagonist

Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,325
SyndicateWars said:
Are you seriously suggesting an indie game like this is a hardware pusher and needs serious sacrifices in order to run on Switch? C'mon dude, this is no Witcher 3 or any other big budget AAA title where it needs to be rescaled and downgraded to run at Switch hardware. It's obvious they done a poor job handling the Switch version and can perform better than this. They need to fix it.
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Are you a developer? The scale of a game has exactly nothing to do with the performance. In fact, it being an indie game primarily being made for more powerful platforms probably makes it harder to scale down. There are several instances of slowdown even on PS4 Pro, so the engine is pushing that hardware regardless of whether you think it should be trivial or not.

Another developer could probably make a more optimized game and make it run better on Switch, if they had more experience. But IGA doesn't necessarily have those developers. Saying that "they can perform better than this" is basically saying "lazy developers". Clearly they couldn't, within the cost and time framework for this game. It's not like the porting team were sitting around going "ok, this looks a bit rough, shouldn't we fix it?" "Nah, fuck those players".

Also, without being a developer myself I'd say Bloodstained pushes a lot of stuff. Cel shading isn't free, some of the backgrounds have a ton of detail and there's no real limit to how many items a screen may need to render if you're using a ton of shards at once. Being an "indie" game means nothing. It's not Thomas Was Alone.
 
Maedhros

Maedhros

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,871
daxy said:
Would doing this game in 2D (i.e. sprites) have been more expensive or difficult than 3D? I haven't followed the Kickstarter, but I assume they justified their choice at some point. I do think I read somewhere that 3D can be a lot cheaper. It's just that Dust: An Elysian Tale, Hollow Knight, Guacamelee, Axiom Verge and many others managed to do it independently and with really small teams. I would think it should've been possible here, and it would've supported more platforms with less compromises in terms of fidelity. For platformers it also just tends to play better, because visual cues are clearer.
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All of these are passion projects for their teams. They have talent and they are willing to work past their worktime just to make the game better for everyone.

Bloodstained follows a more traditional way of developing games. There aren't many 2D sprite workers on this market with that would work with the budget IGA had.

Maybe Bloodstained 2 will be in 2D? Maybe it'll have better 2.5D than this one... we can only hope.
 
Baccus

Baccus

Banned
Dec 4, 2018
5,307
2.5D can look absolutely amazing. They just need better lighting and texture artists. The former is just atrocious by any standards. Including 2002 standards.
 
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Dancrane212

Dancrane212

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,962
Sagroth said:
So I saw that the 1.02 Xbone patch was delayed so they could fix the progression issue, and instead they're doing a small 1.004 patch this week. Does anyone know if this patch will add the Imbued items as drops from the optional bosses? I'd really like to finish my weapons list and get me a Rhava Velar.
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Sounds like the mini patch is just touching some localisation issues and that's it.
 

Deleted member 19702

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,722
MikeProtagonist said:
Are you a developer? The scale of a game has exactly nothing to do with the performance. In fact, it being an indie game primarily being made for more powerful platforms probably makes it harder to scale down. There are several instances of slowdown even on PS4 Pro, so the engine is pushing that hardware regardless of whether you think it should be trivial or not.

Another developer could probably make a more optimized game and make it run better on Switch, if they had more experience. But IGA doesn't necessarily have those developers. Saying that "they can perform better than this" is basically saying "lazy developers". Clearly they couldn't, within the cost and time framework for this game. It's not like the porting team were sitting around going "ok, this looks a bit rough, shouldn't we fix it?" "Nah, fuck those players".

Also, without being a developer myself I'd say Bloodstained pushes a lot of stuff. Cel shading isn't free, some of the backgrounds have a ton of detail and there's no real limit to how many items a screen may need to render if you're using a ton of shards at once. Being an "indie" game means nothing. It's not Thomas Was Alone.
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I've already mentioned a list of games running at the same engine and at solid performances in my previous post and there's already consent here that the Switch version was mishandled, 505 Games already acknowledged this as well. If they, from all people, are saying this, I don't think I'll ever top this. You don't need to be a dev to check the facts. Calling me a "lazy developer" sayer just shows you're arguing in bad faith.
 
Sub Boss

Sub Boss

Banned
Nov 14, 2017
13,441
Baccus said:
We're talking about a mod..
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Ah..ok :^(
Maedhros said:
All of these are passion projects for their teams. They have talent and they are willing to work past their worktime just to make the game better for everyone.

Bloodstained follows a more traditional way of developing games. There aren't many 2D sprite workers on this market with that would work with the budget IGA had.

Maybe Bloodstained 2 will be in 2D? Maybe it'll have better 2.5D than this one... we can only hope.
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And those games have the weird flash look to them i don't like, thats no IGAvania it wouldn't fit imo
 
Shift Breaker

Shift Breaker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,493
Remind me, is Augment Gold supposed to be a passive skill upon getting it to Rank 9? I think it does, and I think its currently in effect but it's not in my skill list to toggle on/off and I'm not entirely sure if it ever was, or if it was something weird that happened in my original playthrough when reverting to version 1.00 (PS4) to avoid the game breaking chest glitch.
 
harry the spy

harry the spy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,084
The controls feel so sluggish on switch . I never notice these things much normally (or care too much). Is it due to the performance on switch or is it how the game generally feels?
 
SoH

SoH

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,736
Dancrane212 said:
Sounds like the mini patch is just touching some localisation issues and that's it.
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You're still waiting, I imagine? Sucks. How easy is to prevent updates on xbox? Might be worth considering making a run at it to try and make it to NG+ (if necessary) before it drops. Unless they surprise drop tomorrow or friday should be very doable before next week on normal if you have the time.
 
Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Alt account
Banned
Jun 22, 2019
802
sweetmini said:
Thanks for removing my portrait (kidding)

I'll install it, it will make for a nice homage. I have seen my fellow backers more than 50 hours, they sure won't mind if i do, they are people of good taste obviously since they backed the game in the first place :)
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Ha, yeah no big deal. The backers deserve their portraits in game. But even if I backed at that price I would use this mod lol. It looks so nice.
 
Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Alt account
Banned
Jun 22, 2019
802
Absoludacrous said:
I get what they're going for, but to me walking past familiar Castlevania artwork is way more immersion breaking than the original portraits.
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I don't really understand how lol. These are all actual artworks, and they blend in the style of the game amazingly well. Real life portraits just don't blend well with the game. But hey you don't have to use it. The beauty of mods.

Have a Nice Day said:
I would love to have a mod that removes some of them and not all of them, I think Iga's portrait and couple other ones are fine.
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Iga's portrait is still there as is the cat and a few others.
 
OP
OP
Dancrane212

Dancrane212

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,962
SmiteOfHand said:
How easy is to prevent updates on xbox?
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You just turn off the auto-update in the console settings. I have it that way already just so I can back things up if there's a significant patch for a noteworthy game, but I might as well give it a bit more time before I jump in with Bloodstained. I still have a good bit left to finish in Hollow Knight anyways.
 
Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Alt account
Banned
Jun 22, 2019
802
SugarNoodles said:
Breaking games is part of fun, but I maintain that it's bad design if breaking the game requires zero experimentation or optimization or setting up combos.

And let's be clear that higher difficulty doesn't fix balance. Bad shards are even worse on higher difficulties.
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I honestly am waiting for a balance pass. I don't have time to play atm anyway. Way too many broken things. I GET it people like to walk through these games, but they need to make higher difficulties matter IMHO.

I've never seen so many on reddit and steam defend broken balance. Like, bro, I know people like it, but how can they not understand that people want a challenge that is not totally self-induced?

They need to make some changes to this game. I felt that way in a lot of Iga games, but they never could patch much. They have the stats and can patch now. No reason not to patch some of the obscenely broken stuff.
 
SoH

SoH

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,736
Miles Davis said:
I don't really understand how lol. These are all actual artworks, and they blend in the style of the game amazingly well. Real life portraits just don't blend well with the game. But hey you don't have to use it. The beauty of mods.
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Seeing cover art composition dracula/belmont in a castle literally warped out of hell is at the very least incongruent, to me. I don't have a problem with it. People can do what they like.

I'm not sure what you mean by real life portraits, though. They are clearly in a painterly style. Stylistically different from Kojima, sure, but not like they are pixel art or water colored.
 
Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Alt account
Banned
Jun 22, 2019
802
Tfritz said:
"These portraits break ~my immersion~, let me replace them with the cover art from Castlevania Chronicles and Symphony of the Night and the character art, none of which look remotely like a painting you'd see hanging in an old timey castle"



they're saying they want fewer paintings, period, not they only want some of the paintings changed to incredibly out of place video game cover art.
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Yo man, I don't think the idea was that we need to have a mod that makes the castle look like a real life castle with painting from Rembrandt and the life, although, someone can surely do that if they life.

The mod was just meant to replace a lot of the ridiculous backer portraits. You all need to calm down. It's a mod. Don't use it if you don't want to. I think it looks great, and the pictures you guys are seeing don't show all the art he put in there. There are 30 plus new ones in there. And they blend fine.
 
Baccus

Baccus

Banned
Dec 4, 2018
5,307
The backer portraits should had been relegated to a single room, the hall of bureaucrats or whatever, as the castle is supposedly a wretched version of the Alchemists Guild, so they can lore explain them as the room where every headmaster is painted and got hunted.

There, saved your game's artistic integrity and kept backers happy.
 
Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Alt account
Banned
Jun 22, 2019
802
SmiteOfHand said:
Seeing cover art composition dracula/belmont in a castle literally warped out of hell is at the very least incongruent, to me. I don't have a problem with it. People can do what they like.

I'm not sure what you mean by real life portraits, though. They are clearly in a painterly style. Stylistically different from Kojima, sure, but not like they are pixel art or water colored.
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Disagree. Most of them are obviously real life portraits and a lot of them have weird facial expressions that I don't care for in the game. Is what it is. I much prefer all the cool Kojima art. Maybe some of the Kojima stuff isn't drop dead amazing, but a lot of it fits really well. And the mod author went to the trouble to blend it in game and use AI when needed.

The tone of the game is far from realistic. That's the point. I don't like super realistic photos with a painterly shader or whatever on them. I just prefer this mod by a landslide.
 
myzhi

myzhi

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,650
Shift Breaker said:
Remind me, is Augment Gold supposed to be a passive skill upon getting it to Rank 9? I think it does, and I think its currently in effect but it's not in my skill list to toggle on/off and I'm not entirely sure if it ever was, or if it was something weird that happened in my original playthrough when reverting to version 1.00 (PS4) to avoid the game breaking chest glitch.
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Yes, at 9, it's passive and can be toggle on/off.
 
Earthstrike

Earthstrike

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,232
Honestly, I thought the paintings were cool. I liked the fact that each one was unique too. Really made those levels more memorable.
 
nded

nded

Member
Nov 14, 2017
10,573
SmiteOfHand said:
1ujauj.jpg
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Part of the charm of Decreux is you know his subjects weren't 30 year old dudes who put Star Wars bumper stickers on their cars.

Or maybe it's the hat.

Edit: Hey, someone get me all the backer portraits and I'll try to paint hats, wigs, monocles or big moustaches on them.
 
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Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Alt account
Banned
Jun 22, 2019
802
nded said:
Part of the charm of Decreux is you know his subjects weren't 30 year old dudes who put Star Wars bumper stickers on their cars.

Or maybe it's the hat.
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I mean , I get that people have different tastes, but Kojima's art is both a homage to the past and it blends well with the game. Not all the backers were bad, but as you said some of them are way too salient to not take me completely out of the game every time I see them. Whereas with Kojima art it fits to me, and I like the art itself.
 
Voror

Voror

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,551
Completed the map, bestiary, and shard collection over the weekend. Still need to complete the item collection but I may hold off.

Also, did anyone who went to the higher tiers get things like the soundtrack? Mine came just with the game and I backed at $100. Wasn't sure if there was maybe a download site I needed to go to or if that was coming later.
 
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