Your 2025 Gaming Diary

[Cube]

I'd be doing the PS1, Saturn and PSP versions of Symphony of the Night.

The collections collection doesn't seem badly priced, so I'll keep an eye out for an offer. 

Edit: oh, I already have the Anniversary Collection.

[Nolan]

15 hours ago, Dcubed said:

PC versions of the Lords of Shadow games are the way to go.

Alternatively, instead of Lord of Shadow, one could just play God of War (pre-reboot) or Devil May Cry instead. It’ll be much less frustrating than Lords of Shadows attempt at character action. 

I do kind of wish Konami would give an easy method of playing Curse of Darkness though (I think it’s that one or Lament of Innocence) I have it via PS3 but that’d be a chore at this point. 

[Jonnas]

Harmony of Dissonance was my first Castlevania, and for that reason I will always be fond of it. There are some legitimate flaws to that game (too large of a map, can become a slog, unpleasant soundtrack), but it's got a lot of cool things going for it as well (creepy atmosphere, intimate story, interior decorating, the most disgusting Legion in the franchise). It's a solid 3, and one I'd like to revisit someday.

On 5/9/2025 at 2:52 PM, Glen-i said:

By the way, this is officially the last game of this style left on my list of these kinds of Castlevania games! Apparently, there's some weird one called "Empathy of the Light", or something, but it can't be very good because it's in neither of these collections.

I have never heard of that title. Where did you get that name from?

On 5/9/2025 at 2:52 PM, Glen-i said:

That said, the Bible is so insanely good

Top 10 quotes out of context

[Dcubed]

4 hours ago, Jonnas said:

Harmony of Dissonance was my first Castlevania, and for that reason I will always be fond of it. There are some legitimate flaws to that game (too large of a map, can become a slog, unpleasant soundtrack), but it's got a lot of cool things going for it as well (creepy atmosphere, intimate story, interior decorating, the most disgusting Legion in the franchise). It's a solid 3, and one I'd like to revisit someday.

That's kind of the point though.  The music is purposely dissononant... I mean... it's literally in the game's title! (Yes, I know that the Japanese title translates directly as "Concerto of the Midnight Sun", but it too is an oxymoron; that's the point).

The music is purposely composed to be uncomfortable to listen to; lacking a harmony to latch onto.  It's a brave creative choice, and I do appreciate what the soundtrack is going for; but the music is let down by the awful sound quality of the audio driver the game uses.  I have no issue with the compositions themselves (in fact, I actually quite dig what they're going for), but the actual audio quality is pretty rough; even by GBA standards.

Of course, that's something that Aria of Sorrow would address directly, but that also goes for a more traditional style of Castlevania music.

Edited Tuesday at 05:11 AM by Dcubed

[Glen-i]

15 hours ago, Jonnas said:

I have never heard of that title. Where did you get that name from?

Vague memories. Some crummy PlayStation game that reviewed poorly because it was 2D, ewwwww!

[Dufniall]

I haven't been gaming that much but have dabbled in a couple of things. But there are at least two games I can talk about that I've completed recently:

Little Nightmares (Steam Deck)

I've played through this game as I was looking for a short experience and had it in my Steam backlog. Little Nightmares is the first game in the series and it's easy to call it Limbo/Inside but 3D. There is a similar vibe going on, with the premise of a kid in a hostile adult world and a narrative that's told by the context of the situations you get in. There are plenty of difference though. As mentioned Little Nightmares is 3D, which gives it an extra layer of depth although I sometimes had trouble navigating, for example when crossing a narrow pipe or plank and I would just walk off.

The game has a lot more colour as well, with the yellow raincoat of your character standing out. 

Most of the gameplay is some light platforming, being stealthy and solving puzzles. Nothing too complex, but it has enough variation to stay interesting for the ~4 hour the game lasts. Here and there it's a bit tricky to see what you can climb or pick up, and being detected by (quite disturbing looking) enemies felt a little cheap sometimes. Nevertheless it's a fun short little game and it definitely made me curious about part 2 and the upcoming part 3.

Resident Evil 3 Remake (Steam Deck)

Another game I played on the Deck and this time it's a pledge game! I've completed Resident Evil 3 Remake somewhere last week and loved it, in fact I'm currently replaying it again (shame there is no official Mode B this time like 2 has) just to blast my way through with some weapons I got from the shop.

It runs amazing on the Steam Deck by the way, kudos to the RE:Engine for running these type of games. The city with all the shops and neon are pretty to see. It's just a matter of time before these come native to the Switch 2 right? Anyway, it's a lot more action focused than 2, but I definitely enjoyed my time with it. The Nemesis was less of a pain in the bum than I expected, especially after the horrible tales of it and the Tyrant in 2. A bunch of satisfying boss fights, and fun to return to a couple of familiar locations. I've never played the original so don't know how it compares, and no it doesn't last that long but that fit me perfectly as my gaming time is quite limited.

4 Remake is already on my wishlist but I'll tackle Village first. And with that, I can finally cross something off the list!

I'm currently also making some progress in Hyrule Warriors and StarCraft Remastered, so hopefully I can cross these off this month before Switch 2 arrives and probably kills my pledge for the remainder of the year.

Other gaming stuff I've been doing is softmodding my 3DS so I can now install homebrew. Took the occasion to try out the Virtual Boy emulator which is fun to dabble with. But I've also spend too much time using NetPass to play StreetPass Mii Plaza games and collecting puzzle pieces haha. I just love the 3DS and all its gimmicks, what a shame the Switch and Switch 2 (for now) are a lot more bland in that regard.

Edited 15 hours ago by Dufniall

[Hero-of-Time]

Glad to see you enjoyed both games, @Dufniall. If you enjoyed Little Nightmares I highly recommend the sequel as well. 

Resident Evil 3 gets hard done by a lot of people. I loved it. Sure, it has some areas cut from the original but it was still a blast to play. @RedShell also enjoyed his time with it.