Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (IgaVania)
- Thread starter X-SOLDIER
- Start date
Shademp
420
Well I encountered my first major bug already.
When I ground-slide into the water on this particular spot, Miriam refuses to respond to the jump button. The way I got out of this mess was to use a Waystone.
I speculate the problem is somehow related to ground-sliding into the shallow waters on the right before immediately getting into the deep waters. I think the game is interpreting Miriam as being in a tight spot where she isn't supposed to be able to jump. As you can see I do not have any diving ability at this point.
Aaaand I can see I'm not the only one who reported on this.
When I ground-slide into the water on this particular spot, Miriam refuses to respond to the jump button. The way I got out of this mess was to use a Waystone.
I speculate the problem is somehow related to ground-sliding into the shallow waters on the right before immediately getting into the deep waters. I think the game is interpreting Miriam as being in a tight spot where she isn't supposed to be able to jump. As you can see I do not have any diving ability at this point.
Aaaand I can see I'm not the only one who reported on this.
YouTube comment said:
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X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
Woah, I messed around in the water in that area to try and cheese my way through where I wasn't meant to be a LOT before getting the things that actually allow you to traverse through it, and never managed to encounter that one myself. I'm glad it's been reported and isn't a huge issue overall though.
X
X
Shademp
420
My whole playthrough is f*cked in a different way now though. Because I found the voice manipulator item. I can't bring myself to unequip it! 
MEANING I'LL GO THROUGH THE ENTIRE REST OF THE STORY LISTENING TO MIRIAM'S SQUEAKY VOICE 
This game is having too much fun
EDIT: Oh and as you can see I'm wearing the Santa hat which I'm really proud of finding through the floor and I can't bring myself to unequip that either because it looks awesome and it heightens my luck stat the most
MEANING I'LL GO THROUGH THE ENTIRE REST OF THE STORY LISTENING TO MIRIAM'S SQUEAKY VOICE This game is having too much fun
EDIT: Oh and as you can see I'm wearing the Santa hat which I'm really proud of finding through the floor and I can't bring myself to unequip that either because it looks awesome and it heightens my luck stat the most
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X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
Bahahahaha! The Santa Hat room was actually the VERY last room I got when 100%ing the map, so props to you for getting that one so early on! 
Boosting your Luck is definitely something that I have a whole loadout designed for in post-game. Also – what weapon types are you making use of? Do you have a preference on particular types? I'm also curious which Shards you end up really taking a liking to as you play.
X
Boosting your Luck is definitely something that I have a whole loadout designed for in post-game. Also – what weapon types are you making use of? Do you have a preference on particular types? I'm also curious which Shards you end up really taking a liking to as you play.X
Shademp
420
I JUST WANT TO UNLOCK THE FINAL AREA ALREADY
I've turned the castle upside down trying to find Gremory and Alfred after I cut the moon in twain. The two hints provided by the game have not been enough.
#1: Finding Gremory may be faster than finding Alfred
#2: "The moon"
I assume this to mean that the Zantetsuto is still important. But I've visited every area where the moon is visible in the background and this has not helped me unlock the final area. For lack of a space whale to take me to the moon and let me sail among the stars I've even tried inverting myself into the sky in hopes of getting to "the moon".
I am at Level 62 with 81.30% map completion, 25 hours in and seriously overpowered. No enemy or boss available to me poses a challenge at this rate in Normal mode. It was only after hours of frustration and some luck that I found how to properly end the Gebel fight. Now to find myself stuck immediately again afterwards is making me rather peeved. I've searched the entire map and there's just no trace of Gremory or Alfred.
I don't want anyone to tell me how to unlock the final area I just want to vent my rage a bit. The main characters made it sound like the next step was obvious but it damn well isn't. Yet I'm sure that by the time I figure this out I will look like the biggest fool.
I've turned the castle upside down trying to find Gremory and Alfred after I cut the moon in twain. The two hints provided by the game have not been enough.
#1: Finding Gremory may be faster than finding Alfred
#2: "The moon"
I assume this to mean that the Zantetsuto is still important. But I've visited every area where the moon is visible in the background and this has not helped me unlock the final area. For lack of a space whale to take me to the moon and let me sail among the stars I've even tried inverting myself into the sky in hopes of getting to "the moon".
I am at Level 62 with 81.30% map completion, 25 hours in and seriously overpowered. No enemy or boss available to me poses a challenge at this rate in Normal mode. It was only after hours of frustration and some luck that I found how to properly end the Gebel fight. Now to find myself stuck immediately again afterwards is making me rather peeved. I've searched the entire map and there's just no trace of Gremory or Alfred.
I don't want anyone to tell me how to unlock the final area I just want to vent my rage a bit. The main characters made it sound like the next step was obvious but it damn well isn't. Yet I'm sure that by the time I figure this out I will look like the biggest fool.
X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
Minor hint: Your character model will actually change slightly when you're in the correct segment of map, which may help alleviate some frustration in searching (I think that your character's outlines turn solid red). I BELIEVE IN YOU!!!!
Also – Weapon Mastery and Skills are way cool, and I wish I'd done more with them earlier on.
Additionally, I've gotten all the Shards to Rank 9 that you can upgrade, and aside from the Boss Shards, I've got almost all of them to Grade 9 now (a few Purple and Yellow ones left), which is my current misc side quest. My Dullahammer Head Familiar's level 99, and I'm slowly letting Carabosse level up while I wander about shard farming. After that I've just gotta finish the final stages of all the 8-Bit Weapons, and I'll've completed basically everything that I can possibly think of.
I think that one of the DLC updates will be available later tonight, so looking forward to doing a new fight soon! After that, I think that I'll finally be able to start out my NG+ on Nightmare, since I've been purposefully waiting for that to release before going through and replaying it end-to-end.
X
I actually had to look up that I needed to cut the moon in half, because Gebel kept insta-dying on me in that fight because my Familiars were such badasses that I had to disable them to get through that fight. The place that they're referring to was somewhere I'd actually gone back two at least 4-5 times in the game earlier on and had marked on my map because I knew I'd be coming back there at some point, so it's interesting that you seem you have the exact opposite issue that I did here.
Also – Weapon Mastery and Skills are way cool, and I wish I'd done more with them earlier on.
Additionally, I've gotten all the Shards to Rank 9 that you can upgrade, and aside from the Boss Shards, I've got almost all of them to Grade 9 now (a few Purple and Yellow ones left), which is my current misc side quest. My Dullahammer Head Familiar's level 99, and I'm slowly letting Carabosse level up while I wander about shard farming. After that I've just gotta finish the final stages of all the 8-Bit Weapons, and I'll've completed basically everything that I can possibly think of.
I think that one of the DLC updates will be available later tonight, so looking forward to doing a new fight soon! After that, I think that I'll finally be able to start out my NG+ on Nightmare, since I've been purposefully waiting for that to release before going through and replaying it end-to-end.
X
Shademp
420
I hate it when games make me have to choose between wasting potentially tens of hours or looking up the answer in a guide.
I am almost finished with re-exploring the whole game map AGAIN, this time looking for the red outline (or whatever character change might happen) but so far I've come up empty. I even changed Miriam's entire looks and outfit to black just in case this might help any color changes to the character stand out more. But who knows, maybe the black color scheme will actually make things harder for me. Or maybe I'm supposed to notice something about Miriam's shard-filled back glowing, which is something that I usually don't see on the character because I almost always wear the back-covering Valkyrie dress.
I am angry as ALL FUCKING HELL because I know I may easily lose more post-work afternoons to this obscure shit. I love this game I really do but this type of bullshit hits a nerve. Bloodstained you are not being fun with me right now.
I am almost finished with re-exploring the whole game map AGAIN, this time looking for the red outline (or whatever character change might happen) but so far I've come up empty. I even changed Miriam's entire looks and outfit to black just in case this might help any color changes to the character stand out more. But who knows, maybe the black color scheme will actually make things harder for me. Or maybe I'm supposed to notice something about Miriam's shard-filled back glowing, which is something that I usually don't see on the character because I almost always wear the back-covering Valkyrie dress.
I am angry as ALL FUCKING HELL because I know I may easily lose more post-work afternoons to this obscure shit. I love this game I really do but this type of bullshit hits a nerve. Bloodstained you are not being fun with me right now.
X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
This is so surprising to me, because I marked and intentionally checked and re-checked this area probably no less than 15 times during my first playthrough, because it stood out so prominently when I first encountered it I was just waiting for something to happen there. I actually got briefly hung up before finding the Oriental Sorcery Lab for a good while. By the time I got the clues at this stage, I already knew exactly where they were talking about, and was going to've gone there anyway even if nothing had been said. Do yourself a sanity favor & stay within the Garden of Silence zone. That way you'll at least turn it into a more reasonable search area. (Also, in wandering to it in my current game to see which zone it was in, I just discovered a completely new way to get there that I'd never encountered before, so thanks for that!)
Related: There's a section of the Forbidden Underground Waterway that feels like it REALLY ought to connect to the rest... but it doesn't, and getting there from any of the warp sections takes friggin' ages. It's my one complaint (also probably because it's the zone area where my power died and I had to reset my progress a couple times, but it's so weird that it's really convenient to get everywhere else except this area – especially because that's where the warp room is closest.
Additionally, I've got all of the Shards to Rank 9 and Grade 9 (even with Demon #44 which was a bit of a slog), but it feels super satisfying. I'm really hoping that the Iga's Back Pack DLC hits soon, so that I can be fully motivated to dive into NG+ and finish off the last Grade increases for the Silver Knight and the other Shortcut slots.
X
Related: There's a section of the Forbidden Underground Waterway that feels like it REALLY ought to connect to the rest... but it doesn't, and getting there from any of the warp sections takes friggin' ages. It's my one complaint (also probably because it's the zone area where my power died and I had to reset my progress a couple times, but it's so weird that it's really convenient to get everywhere else except this area – especially because that's where the warp room is closest.
Additionally, I've got all of the Shards to Rank 9 and Grade 9 (even with Demon #44 which was a bit of a slog), but it feels super satisfying. I'm really hoping that the Iga's Back Pack DLC hits soon, so that I can be fully motivated to dive into NG+ and finish off the last Grade increases for the Silver Knight and the other Shortcut slots.
X
Shademp
420
Thank you X for saving me from myself. I am flabbergasted that in all my exploration I only ever visited this room ONCE. Despite my conviction that I had been combing each and every room, I somehow managed to avoid this room every time. At the time when I first visited this room it was so early in my playthrough that I didn't think anything special of the red moon (assuming it was there at the time) and I hadn't begun marking areas on the map yet.
I still think that this location was needlessly obscure but there may actually be a good explanation for this. The shop is normally holding the player's hand and providing hints about how to progress through the story, but the hint about the moon in the garden is only provided AFTER you solve this puzzle. This MUST be an error in the programming, either due to badly written code or because there was a confusion as to the order in which certain events would occur.
The final boss has now been defeated and I've cleared 100% of the full map. Good times again (at last).
I still think that this location was needlessly obscure but there may actually be a good explanation for this. The shop is normally holding the player's hand and providing hints about how to progress through the story, but the hint about the moon in the garden is only provided AFTER you solve this puzzle. This MUST be an error in the programming, either due to badly written code or because there was a confusion as to the order in which certain events would occur.
The final boss has now been defeated and I've cleared 100% of the full map. Good times again (at last).
X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
You're welcome. 
The Red Moon is there and it even changes as soon as the modified Gebel fight is available, because the Moon matches how it looks when you go to confront him – it's Red the whole time while you haven't got the Zangetsuto yet, and then it looks regular either after the Gebel fight unlocked, or after you've got the Zangetsuto the way that it does during that fight before it changes, and then it goes back to being red again after you've fought Gebel, so there's some story telegraphing that's happening there as well. I also farmed the fights up there periodically as I was learning the combat, since there's a good mix of enemy types with the two flytraps, the two floating pigs, and the archery man (I liked the true archery shard a lot), so I probably spent a lot of extra time there. It had actually become a habit of mine to just say, "Hi, Gremory" every time I walked past, since I recognized it as his lunar form from Curse of the Moon.
SUPER glad that you've completed it now though! What's your Demonic Bestiary looking like? I'd suspect that there's probably one extra boss you might not've fought yet, and maybe the dreaded Demon #44. Also – What weapons and shards and whatnot did you tend to use during your playthrough?
X
The Red Moon is there and it even changes as soon as the modified Gebel fight is available, because the Moon matches how it looks when you go to confront him – it's Red the whole time while you haven't got the Zangetsuto yet, and then it looks regular either after the Gebel fight unlocked, or after you've got the Zangetsuto the way that it does during that fight before it changes, and then it goes back to being red again after you've fought Gebel, so there's some story telegraphing that's happening there as well. I also farmed the fights up there periodically as I was learning the combat, since there's a good mix of enemy types with the two flytraps, the two floating pigs, and the archery man (I liked the true archery shard a lot), so I probably spent a lot of extra time there. It had actually become a habit of mine to just say, "Hi, Gremory" every time I walked past, since I recognized it as his lunar form from Curse of the Moon.
SUPER glad that you've completed it now though! What's your Demonic Bestiary looking like? I'd suspect that there's probably one extra boss you might not've fought yet, and maybe the dreaded Demon #44. Also – What weapons and shards and whatnot did you tend to use during your playthrough?
X
Shademp
420
Shademp's more extensive impressions from Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
WARNING: Heavy gameplay spoilers.
It should be noted that in Metroidvanias I have very limited patience for pausing my progress to try out various equipment. My primary focus is exploration and just spamming attacks until I've familiarized myself with the full map. If the game allows me to spam and rewards me for it, then that is what I will do.
For the same reason I almost never tried out Techniques, plus I knew the failure rate of these combos would be too high for them to be useful in a bind.
Relevant Extra Credits episode:
While my commentary may sound negative, this is precisely the sort of gameplay experience I was expecting and indeed it caters to my limited patience. To have normal mode be so easy and spam-friendly may very well be intentional, so as to not scare away new players and warm them up for higher difficulties where epxloring the game's true depth will be encouraged more. Or at least I hope that's the case.
In the spirit of nitpicking...
WARNING: Heavy gameplay spoilers.
It should be noted that in Metroidvanias I have very limited patience for pausing my progress to try out various equipment. My primary focus is exploration and just spamming attacks until I've familiarized myself with the full map. If the game allows me to spam and rewards me for it, then that is what I will do.
For the same reason I almost never tried out Techniques, plus I knew the failure rate of these combos would be too high for them to be useful in a bind.
Relevant Extra Credits episode:
Because I found shards that worked so well early on I rarely found a reason to switch. When I did try other shards I typically found them to be comparatively useless, or the MP consumed was far too high for the shard to be a realistic choice.
Heretical Grinder in particular was a shard gained early on that was so overpowered it stayed with me throughout almost the whole playthrough. The MP consumption was low and the damage output was great. Whenever a boss was kicking my ass I could just whip out Heretical Grinder and make quick business of the fiend. Indeed, in any area where I seemed underlevelled I could just use Heretical Grinder to save me.
The ultimate shard at the end became the Shuriken. It was/is RIDICULOUSLY OVERPOWERED, consuming extremely little MP relative to massive damage output. When upgraded, it made each and every boss and area a breeze. As far as offensive shards go I've pretty much been spamming Shuriken for 7 hours and never had a reason to switch.
Ergo my impression of the attack-based shards is that it doesn't motivate you to try out all of them. I'm sure that Hard mode and Nightmare mode will motivate more customization and experimentation but to what degree I can't say.
Heretical Grinder in particular was a shard gained early on that was so overpowered it stayed with me throughout almost the whole playthrough. The MP consumption was low and the damage output was great. Whenever a boss was kicking my ass I could just whip out Heretical Grinder and make quick business of the fiend. Indeed, in any area where I seemed underlevelled I could just use Heretical Grinder to save me.
The ultimate shard at the end became the Shuriken. It was/is RIDICULOUSLY OVERPOWERED, consuming extremely little MP relative to massive damage output. When upgraded, it made each and every boss and area a breeze. As far as offensive shards go I've pretty much been spamming Shuriken for 7 hours and never had a reason to switch.
Ergo my impression of the attack-based shards is that it doesn't motivate you to try out all of them. I'm sure that Hard mode and Nightmare mode will motivate more customization and experimentation but to what degree I can't say.
My lack of patience comes into play. I want to easily and quickly be able to destroy all the candles/lamps in search of money. Any weapon that stops Miriam in her tracks, or that just makes aiming for the candles difficult, is usually a no-go for me.
This contributes to why Flying Edge, and later its upgrade "Oracle Blade", became my weapon of choice for almost the entire playthrough. The weapon is quick, can be used while running and it can deal multi-hit damage. Most weapons with higher stats would still end up comparatively weak because they were slow and couldn't deal multi-hit damage.
Ergo my story here is boring in the same way as it is with shards: If I find a weapon that always works and rewards spamming, I will stick to it. I have tried other weapons but they've always disappointed me.
What this also means is that the game mechanics of strike, thrust, etc NEVER came into play for me. I never had a reason to care. Maybe the more difficult modes will encourage you to actually care about this game mechanic and other platforms for strategy but Normal mode certainly doesn't.
This contributes to why Flying Edge, and later its upgrade "Oracle Blade", became my weapon of choice for almost the entire playthrough. The weapon is quick, can be used while running and it can deal multi-hit damage. Most weapons with higher stats would still end up comparatively weak because they were slow and couldn't deal multi-hit damage.
Ergo my story here is boring in the same way as it is with shards: If I find a weapon that always works and rewards spamming, I will stick to it. I have tried other weapons but they've always disappointed me.
What this also means is that the game mechanics of strike, thrust, etc NEVER came into play for me. I never had a reason to care. Maybe the more difficult modes will encourage you to actually care about this game mechanic and other platforms for strategy but Normal mode certainly doesn't.
There is A LOOOOOT of ground to cover here.
- The triangle button doesn't always respond
Sometimes when pressing triangle to use a shard Miriam would hold out her arm but no projectiles would spawn. This is understandable when there is a cool-down period after the previous attack, but this empty attack error could happen at ANY time.
- Dialogue text not appearing
Single words and sometimes whole sentences will be missing from the text boxes in cutscenes. This error appeared for me at the very start of the game and then became frequent again near the end.
- Dialogue text not matching voiceover
This happened half a dozen times or so, with one of the worst offenders being at the end of the game when a voiced line in the shop was entirely different from the text in the dialogue box.
- Item bag pick-ups not registering visually
Thankfully the item bag will be registered after a 20-25 second wait or when moving to a new area, but the frequency of this glitch is staggering.
- Weapon/attack-shard speed-line gfx extending across the whole screen
Flashy effects like the red speed-lines when using the Flying Edge or the trajectory-lines when firing shurikens would often enough glitch to cover the entire length of the screen, far beyond the actual trajectory of the attack you are using. The effect actually looks kinda cool but it is obviously an error.
- White outlines not showing up in random map regions
In both the large map and the minimap, areas you've already covered will suddenly lose their white outlines. This error continuously pops up, disappears and then pops up again.
- Framerate drops and outright freezes
The video by Digital Foundry accurately spoke about environmental slow-downs and the particularly egregious endgame boss fight slow-down example. What it failed to mention was that multi-projectile shards ABSOLUTELY SLAUGHTER THE FRAMERATE.
I spam Shurikens happily but very often the framerate would drop to a small percentage of 60 fps and sometimes the game would freeze for 1-2 seconds before picking up again. Thankfully I am yet to experience a full soft lock but I'm sure that I've been right on the edge of that happening multiple times because the Shurikens are so overpowered that they break not just every enemy but also the game performance itself.
- The shortcuts are broken AS F*CK
Saving different equipment configurations and creating shortcuts to these would be awesome...if it worked properly. Often the main weapon will become unequipped when switching to a different shortcut, just as Yahtzee described. Apart from this it is difficult for me to tell how much of my problems with the shortcuts is due to unintuitive user interfaces and functionality or if the shortcuts are bugged in more ways, but I often find myself having to change back a shortcut configuration because it would inexplicably change to something else than I had decided on earlier. Because shortcuts so often got fucked up for me I didn't explore them much apart from switching between two shortcuts, praying that the shortcut wouldn't glitch out on me.
- The hint to the red moon in the garden being given too late
Like I mentioned two posts ago this crucial hint can only be triggered when it's too late to be useful. Hopefully this gets fixed in a patch.
- Two consecutive voice clips for Miriam being awkwardly triggered and cut off
This happens every time you sit in the barber's chair. It's a tiny detail in the scene choreography but it's an awkward moment where I think only one sound effect (or none) is supposed to play right before the barber gets his line. I believe the same thing happened when you sat down to have your photograph taken plus a few other moments.
- Super nitpick
At the train station (left side) Miriam's cursor on the map will reach the "end" of the map room long before she ACTUALLY reaches the end of the train station room. This is the only case I noticed where the 3D environment and the menu map are not scaled properly, though I haven't checked for any other places where this sort of inconsequential error occurs.
There is the water jump glitch that I already went over...and another one that I discovered purely by chance in the Livre Ex Machina area.
The way that this happened was that the chair in the adjacent room jumped me straight into this large room with the dragon and the result was me spawning inside the floor. Same as with the jump water glitch, this could be solved by suspending the game and then resuming from this tempsave. I spawned inside the dragon this way but hey it was way better than being stuck in the floor.
- The triangle button doesn't always respond
Sometimes when pressing triangle to use a shard Miriam would hold out her arm but no projectiles would spawn. This is understandable when there is a cool-down period after the previous attack, but this empty attack error could happen at ANY time.
- Dialogue text not appearing
Single words and sometimes whole sentences will be missing from the text boxes in cutscenes. This error appeared for me at the very start of the game and then became frequent again near the end.
- Dialogue text not matching voiceover
This happened half a dozen times or so, with one of the worst offenders being at the end of the game when a voiced line in the shop was entirely different from the text in the dialogue box.
- Item bag pick-ups not registering visually
Thankfully the item bag will be registered after a 20-25 second wait or when moving to a new area, but the frequency of this glitch is staggering.
- Weapon/attack-shard speed-line gfx extending across the whole screen
Flashy effects like the red speed-lines when using the Flying Edge or the trajectory-lines when firing shurikens would often enough glitch to cover the entire length of the screen, far beyond the actual trajectory of the attack you are using. The effect actually looks kinda cool but it is obviously an error.
- White outlines not showing up in random map regions
In both the large map and the minimap, areas you've already covered will suddenly lose their white outlines. This error continuously pops up, disappears and then pops up again.
- Framerate drops and outright freezes
The video by Digital Foundry accurately spoke about environmental slow-downs and the particularly egregious endgame boss fight slow-down example. What it failed to mention was that multi-projectile shards ABSOLUTELY SLAUGHTER THE FRAMERATE.
I spam Shurikens happily but very often the framerate would drop to a small percentage of 60 fps and sometimes the game would freeze for 1-2 seconds before picking up again. Thankfully I am yet to experience a full soft lock but I'm sure that I've been right on the edge of that happening multiple times because the Shurikens are so overpowered that they break not just every enemy but also the game performance itself.
- The shortcuts are broken AS F*CK
Saving different equipment configurations and creating shortcuts to these would be awesome...if it worked properly. Often the main weapon will become unequipped when switching to a different shortcut, just as Yahtzee described. Apart from this it is difficult for me to tell how much of my problems with the shortcuts is due to unintuitive user interfaces and functionality or if the shortcuts are bugged in more ways, but I often find myself having to change back a shortcut configuration because it would inexplicably change to something else than I had decided on earlier. Because shortcuts so often got fucked up for me I didn't explore them much apart from switching between two shortcuts, praying that the shortcut wouldn't glitch out on me.
- The hint to the red moon in the garden being given too late
Like I mentioned two posts ago this crucial hint can only be triggered when it's too late to be useful. Hopefully this gets fixed in a patch.
- Two consecutive voice clips for Miriam being awkwardly triggered and cut off
This happens every time you sit in the barber's chair. It's a tiny detail in the scene choreography but it's an awkward moment where I think only one sound effect (or none) is supposed to play right before the barber gets his line. I believe the same thing happened when you sat down to have your photograph taken plus a few other moments.
- Super nitpick
At the train station (left side) Miriam's cursor on the map will reach the "end" of the map room long before she ACTUALLY reaches the end of the train station room. This is the only case I noticed where the 3D environment and the menu map are not scaled properly, though I haven't checked for any other places where this sort of inconsequential error occurs.
There is the water jump glitch that I already went over...and another one that I discovered purely by chance in the Livre Ex Machina area.
The way that this happened was that the chair in the adjacent room jumped me straight into this large room with the dragon and the result was me spawning inside the floor. Same as with the jump water glitch, this could be solved by suspending the game and then resuming from this tempsave. I spawned inside the dragon this way but hey it was way better than being stuck in the floor.
In the spirit of nitpicking...
- Mastering techniques actually having an effect
As it stands, mastering a technique neither lowers MP consumption nor makes the technique more powerful. "Mastering" a technique is just a pointless formality. It should hold some weight and have some positive outcome.
- Variations to NPC dialogue (and Miriam's reactions), particularly for the quest givers
NPCs that start out as the unfortunate village folk you feel sympathy for quickly turn into jokes as they repeat the same dialogue across all quests. "KILL THOSE MURDERERS DEAD!" is almost a meme to me now (so admittedly this example is a bit funny). The quest givers quickly lose their narrative flavor.
- Extra teleportation room
Like X-SOLDIER said, a section of the Forbidden Underground Waterway could use an extra teleportation room.
- Blue treasure chests on the map
Why does the map only show some of the re-spawned blue treasure chests? I don't see a reason why it shouldn't show all of them.
I can't tell if this is an error or an intentional thing to have the player memorizing and re-exploring on their own.
- Manually switching the "Seeker" circle on and off without turning the shard off
Currently the game seems to randomly decide whether the circle is visible or not. Yes you can deactivate the Seeker shard altogether but I'd still prefer control of this visual feedback for when the shard is active as well. The Seeker circle is yet another example where I don't know if I'm observing an error or an intentional design choice.
- Being able to use the Aqua Stream shard in conjunction with the Deep Sinker shard
Yes I know it acts counter to the fact that you are supposed to be sinking like a stone underwater, but having to choose between one or the other was annoying. You either had severely slow movement speed but the ability to open chests underwater, or you had a fast movement speed but being unable to open chests underwater. All this does is make you visit the menu to change your equipment more often than you'd prefer (remember that I use shortcuts sparingly because of how buggy they are).
The Accelerator ability at the endgame will almost certainly alleviate this underwater issue but my point still stands for most of the game.
As it stands, mastering a technique neither lowers MP consumption nor makes the technique more powerful. "Mastering" a technique is just a pointless formality. It should hold some weight and have some positive outcome.
- Variations to NPC dialogue (and Miriam's reactions), particularly for the quest givers
NPCs that start out as the unfortunate village folk you feel sympathy for quickly turn into jokes as they repeat the same dialogue across all quests. "KILL THOSE MURDERERS DEAD!" is almost a meme to me now (so admittedly this example is a bit funny). The quest givers quickly lose their narrative flavor.
- Extra teleportation room
Like X-SOLDIER said, a section of the Forbidden Underground Waterway could use an extra teleportation room.
- Blue treasure chests on the map
Why does the map only show some of the re-spawned blue treasure chests? I don't see a reason why it shouldn't show all of them.
I can't tell if this is an error or an intentional thing to have the player memorizing and re-exploring on their own.
- Manually switching the "Seeker" circle on and off without turning the shard off
Currently the game seems to randomly decide whether the circle is visible or not. Yes you can deactivate the Seeker shard altogether but I'd still prefer control of this visual feedback for when the shard is active as well. The Seeker circle is yet another example where I don't know if I'm observing an error or an intentional design choice.
- Being able to use the Aqua Stream shard in conjunction with the Deep Sinker shard
Yes I know it acts counter to the fact that you are supposed to be sinking like a stone underwater, but having to choose between one or the other was annoying. You either had severely slow movement speed but the ability to open chests underwater, or you had a fast movement speed but being unable to open chests underwater. All this does is make you visit the menu to change your equipment more often than you'd prefer (remember that I use shortcuts sparingly because of how buggy they are).
The Accelerator ability at the endgame will almost certainly alleviate this underwater issue but my point still stands for most of the game.
- The underwater traversal using the Aqua Stream shard. I was expecting a shard to simply allow you to dive/swim, so this unconventional control scheme was a welcome surprise.
- How little of the environment was actually unlocked with the double-jump. Some Metroidvanias have the double-jump unlock most of the rest of the game, but this one went "lol nope" and teased you with the fact that you still needed the Ray Reflector to make any serious traversal advancements. This is one moment where I liked the game trolling me because it played with my expectation.
- The visual effect and fluttering sound of the double jump. So satisfying.
- I was expecting the game to give me some infinite super jump (like what Alucard gets in Symphony of the Night) or flight ability but instead they replaced it with the Invert ability. Can't remember for sure but I believe the button combo for Invert is the same as for Alucard's infinite jumps in SotN. Just like with the underwater traversal I like that I got something different from what I was expecting.
- How relatively easy it is to farm for items when you're wearing the right equipment. Some Metroidvanias and RPGs keep item drop percentages low as a stupid way to extend your playtime, but this game knows how to keep a good balance with item drop frequency (and your ability to manipulate said frequency).
- Quirky enemy designs. The game knows how to have fun, true to the spirit of Castlevania/IgaVania/Metroidvania.
- Miriam's equipment changes being visible on screen, made all the better with the plethora of joke equipment.
- Shovel Knight. Even though I haven't played this game I know I love it and I love Shovel Knight. FEEL THE KICKSTARTER LOVE!
- Being rewarded for my exploration, like when I jumped on top of the rising bridge to the castle and found the hidden stat boosts. It made me feel smart and especially so for finding this secret at the earliest possible point.
- Johannes' subtle parental doting on Miriam.
"Are you eating properly?"
"Pace yourself out there."
"Return if things go awry."
He's quite the adorable pseudo-big-brother/pseudo-father.
- FOR FUCK SAKE OLD LADY WHEN WILL YOUR GARGANTUAN HUNGER BE QUENCHED ARE YOU A BLACK HOLE OR WHAT?!?!
- Sinus-wave Dullahammer Heads are a perfect substitute for Medusa Heads. Genius.
- What a wonderful surprise that Kari Wahlgren (the voice of Shelke) was the voice of Gremory!
- Alucard's English PS1 voice returning here as the voice of Orlok Dracule is AN ABSOLUTE DELIGHT. I accidentally spoiled myself about the O.D. boss fight though now that I went to confirm the voice actor. XD Probably for the better. Speaking of O.D....
- The déjà vu trophy. Glorious. I feel sorry though for those who don't know about this same thing from Symphony of the Night.
- The classic sounds of a Michiru Yamane soundtrack. At times I felt like I was playing Castlevania: Lament of Innocence or Curse of Darkness because the instrumentals and atmosphere was so wonderfully familiar.
- In all but name this is a true Castlevania game.
- How little of the environment was actually unlocked with the double-jump. Some Metroidvanias have the double-jump unlock most of the rest of the game, but this one went "lol nope" and teased you with the fact that you still needed the Ray Reflector to make any serious traversal advancements. This is one moment where I liked the game trolling me because it played with my expectation.
- The visual effect and fluttering sound of the double jump. So satisfying.
- I was expecting the game to give me some infinite super jump (like what Alucard gets in Symphony of the Night) or flight ability but instead they replaced it with the Invert ability. Can't remember for sure but I believe the button combo for Invert is the same as for Alucard's infinite jumps in SotN. Just like with the underwater traversal I like that I got something different from what I was expecting.
- How relatively easy it is to farm for items when you're wearing the right equipment. Some Metroidvanias and RPGs keep item drop percentages low as a stupid way to extend your playtime, but this game knows how to keep a good balance with item drop frequency (and your ability to manipulate said frequency).
- Quirky enemy designs. The game knows how to have fun, true to the spirit of Castlevania/IgaVania/Metroidvania.
- Miriam's equipment changes being visible on screen, made all the better with the plethora of joke equipment.
- Shovel Knight. Even though I haven't played this game I know I love it and I love Shovel Knight. FEEL THE KICKSTARTER LOVE!
- Being rewarded for my exploration, like when I jumped on top of the rising bridge to the castle and found the hidden stat boosts. It made me feel smart and especially so for finding this secret at the earliest possible point.
- Johannes' subtle parental doting on Miriam.
"Are you eating properly?"
"Pace yourself out there."
"Return if things go awry."
He's quite the adorable pseudo-big-brother/pseudo-father.
- FOR FUCK SAKE OLD LADY WHEN WILL YOUR GARGANTUAN HUNGER BE QUENCHED ARE YOU A BLACK HOLE OR WHAT?!?!
- Sinus-wave Dullahammer Heads are a perfect substitute for Medusa Heads. Genius.
- What a wonderful surprise that Kari Wahlgren (the voice of Shelke) was the voice of Gremory!
- Alucard's English PS1 voice returning here as the voice of Orlok Dracule is AN ABSOLUTE DELIGHT. I accidentally spoiled myself about the O.D. boss fight though now that I went to confirm the voice actor. XD Probably for the better. Speaking of O.D....
- The déjà vu trophy. Glorious. I feel sorry though for those who don't know about this same thing from Symphony of the Night.
- The classic sounds of a Michiru Yamane soundtrack. At times I felt like I was playing Castlevania: Lament of Innocence or Curse of Darkness because the instrumentals and atmosphere was so wonderfully familiar.
- In all but name this is a true Castlevania game.
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X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
It sounds like we have pretty similar play styles initially at least, so I have LOTS to talk about.
Techniques can only initially be performed with the specific weapon(s) listed in the book entry. Once that technique is mastered, you can use it for any weapon of that TYPE (i.e. you can only learn the technique with the Zangetsuto, but once mastered you can perform it with Katana weapon). This actually opens up a LOT, because the techniques for the weapons are all the same 2-3 arrow / button configurations, and they're pretty easy to use as soon as you figure them out, and some of them are REALLY strong, and that allows you to have all the techniques on the strongest version of any weapon whose type you like to use.
Particularly, I'd recommend starting out checking out the Katanas, because I think that their techniques are the most viscerally satisfying to learn, and being able to do all of them with the best ones is really, REALLY damn satisfying. The Iaijutsu one in particular I really can't get enough of, and it also shows you the parrying options for attacks. These come into play because the game has some passive play-tracked achievements for defeating bosses without getting getting hit, where you get a unique key item, but there's no trophy or achievement for it, so that it's really just for people who want to get more into the combat of the game, while letting other players just max out and wreck through the game without feeling that they're missing things that require a higher skill ceiling (I got my first once accidentally after just damage-spamming through the 8-Bit boss for the 57th time and being increasingly efficient at it). Once you have all the techniques of a weapon type mastered, you get a lot more options in Combat to respond to a particular boss without taking damage, and you can swap between the shortcuts that will give you more options when facing them. It's going to be one of the primary things I focus on for my NG+ because the other things are otherwise maxed out. (Also the Valkyrie Sword gets its own secret Technique with Down+Down+Attack once you've mastered all the other weapons, which is another example of the game giving things that aren't tied into the game's trophies or anything else.)
That being said, it's still nice to have a spam weapon build for quick exploration, which is why I have the Rhava Velar (the Crissægrim of the game) equipped with Aegis Armor, Amphibian Speed (which is the shard you want for moving underwater normally), Accelerator, & Dimension Shift shards for just hauling ass through into new areas, since that weapon gets no techniques and blasting through everywhere at top speeds.
On that note, I think that the "unequipping weapon" is actually a misunderstood "bug" that only happens when you've used a weapon to upgrade into another weapon, and the game holds a the weapon as a placeholder for the Shortcut rather than removing it completely (in case you make a new one). This bug only happened to me when using 8-bit weapons before I started ensuring that I actually put a weapon that I still had into the slots for all the configurations, especially because they keep the same name during all the upgrades. Assign your weapon again manually for all your shortcuts, and you won't have this issue.
When it comes to shards, that varies a good bit, and while you can DEFINITELY just level-up-and-food-buff your way through any barriers you want, knowing type weaknesses still makes some enemy grinding a lot more efficient to keep in mind.
I actually stuck with the Dullahammer shard for a long while in the early game to just be able to dish out REALLY heavy damage to clear out space. There are some spell-based ones that are ridiculously strong for clearing through rooms with lots of enemies (fuckin' bats). Mostly I use Welcome Company as a way to provide a good visual reference for when something's too close to me in combat and avoid the jackassess who run directly at my, but I mainly use these for fun for things like Upbeat Heat once I got a little better with the combat. Most of my MP gets saved for the Healing Conjure Shard or Directional Shards for actual combat.
I used True Arrow and Chaser Arrow for a while, because I mostly kept the Directional Shards for movement techniques, but eventually ended up sticking with Flying Dagger, since it's REALLY solid to be able to set and move away from in generic directions, but also be able to aim, and it's just murder in boss fights. if I just want to spam damage, I think that Chisel Barrage is probably a better Shuriken alternative if that's your jam.
Other misc things I wanted to mention:
All-in-all though, this is exactly why I like this kind of game, because I like being able to get absolutely Endgame OP as fuck and enjoy all the little minutiae about the game by wandering everywhere without fear and checking out enemies and trying out techniques and whatnot as I start learning more about the combat and things, and then increase the difficulty up to match after-the-fact – which is precisely what I can and am doing.
(Also, poison will still kick your ass no matter how tough you are, good god dayum)
X
Techniques can only initially be performed with the specific weapon(s) listed in the book entry. Once that technique is mastered, you can use it for any weapon of that TYPE (i.e. you can only learn the technique with the Zangetsuto, but once mastered you can perform it with Katana weapon). This actually opens up a LOT, because the techniques for the weapons are all the same 2-3 arrow / button configurations, and they're pretty easy to use as soon as you figure them out, and some of them are REALLY strong, and that allows you to have all the techniques on the strongest version of any weapon whose type you like to use.
Particularly, I'd recommend starting out checking out the Katanas, because I think that their techniques are the most viscerally satisfying to learn, and being able to do all of them with the best ones is really, REALLY damn satisfying. The Iaijutsu one in particular I really can't get enough of, and it also shows you the parrying options for attacks. These come into play because the game has some passive play-tracked achievements for defeating bosses without getting getting hit, where you get a unique key item, but there's no trophy or achievement for it, so that it's really just for people who want to get more into the combat of the game, while letting other players just max out and wreck through the game without feeling that they're missing things that require a higher skill ceiling (I got my first once accidentally after just damage-spamming through the 8-Bit boss for the 57th time and being increasingly efficient at it). Once you have all the techniques of a weapon type mastered, you get a lot more options in Combat to respond to a particular boss without taking damage, and you can swap between the shortcuts that will give you more options when facing them. It's going to be one of the primary things I focus on for my NG+ because the other things are otherwise maxed out. (Also the Valkyrie Sword gets its own secret Technique with Down+Down+Attack once you've mastered all the other weapons, which is another example of the game giving things that aren't tied into the game's trophies or anything else.)
That being said, it's still nice to have a spam weapon build for quick exploration, which is why I have the Rhava Velar (the Crissægrim of the game) equipped with Aegis Armor, Amphibian Speed (which is the shard you want for moving underwater normally), Accelerator, & Dimension Shift shards for just hauling ass through into new areas, since that weapon gets no techniques and blasting through everywhere at top speeds.
On that note, I think that the "unequipping weapon" is actually a misunderstood "bug" that only happens when you've used a weapon to upgrade into another weapon, and the game holds a the weapon as a placeholder for the Shortcut rather than removing it completely (in case you make a new one). This bug only happened to me when using 8-bit weapons before I started ensuring that I actually put a weapon that I still had into the slots for all the configurations, especially because they keep the same name during all the upgrades. Assign your weapon again manually for all your shortcuts, and you won't have this issue.
When it comes to shards, that varies a good bit, and while you can DEFINITELY just level-up-and-food-buff your way through any barriers you want, knowing type weaknesses still makes some enemy grinding a lot more efficient to keep in mind.
I actually stuck with the Dullahammer shard for a long while in the early game to just be able to dish out REALLY heavy damage to clear out space. There are some spell-based ones that are ridiculously strong for clearing through rooms with lots of enemies (fuckin' bats). Mostly I use Welcome Company as a way to provide a good visual reference for when something's too close to me in combat and avoid the jackassess who run directly at my, but I mainly use these for fun for things like Upbeat Heat once I got a little better with the combat. Most of my MP gets saved for the Healing Conjure Shard or Directional Shards for actual combat.
I used True Arrow and Chaser Arrow for a while, because I mostly kept the Directional Shards for movement techniques, but eventually ended up sticking with Flying Dagger, since it's REALLY solid to be able to set and move away from in generic directions, but also be able to aim, and it's just murder in boss fights. if I just want to spam damage, I think that Chisel Barrage is probably a better Shuriken alternative if that's your jam.
Other misc things I wanted to mention:
- High Jump is your infinite mega jump if you want it, but you have to craft that Shard on your own.
- Johannes' dialogue will comment differently based on the time of day that you're playing the game, "You're up early." "You're up late tonight" or "It's been a while, I was getting worried" if you haven't been back in a while.
- If you equip the armor that Shovel Knight drops, you can actually play AS SHOVEL KNIGHT, somewhat similarly to how Bunnymorphosis allows you to play as a Lili, but not as a spell.
- Miriam's voice changes its effect when you go under water. Welcome Company is a good test for that.
- The Faerie Carabosse Familiar has a bunch of little extras for how she points out secrets if you haven't found a breakable wall, or how she can sing you a song (which there is a trophy for), and I love that she sits down with you any time that you take a seat.
- Rul'sha is in two locations in Livre Ex Machina, and is one of the only demons who isn't actively hostile, but your familiars won't recognize this and will always auto-attack her. She actually directly fancies you though, which is why she's sad if you attack her, and cries out asking why if you kill her. If you just leave her alone but stay in a room with her, she'll conjure a spell up to buff your attack saying, "Blessings~" as she casts it on you, and then dimension shift away (I really wish that there was a trophy tied to this, because her in-game bestiary description is just great).
- Literally everything about Tamako-Death is the best, and I cannot be convinced otherwise.
All-in-all though, this is exactly why I like this kind of game, because I like being able to get absolutely Endgame OP as fuck and enjoy all the little minutiae about the game by wandering everywhere without fear and checking out enemies and trying out techniques and whatnot as I start learning more about the combat and things, and then increase the difficulty up to match after-the-fact – which is precisely what I can and am doing.
(Also, poison will still kick your ass no matter how tough you are, good god dayum)
X
Shademp
420
At last I have a 100% trophy collection. Had to look up some answers online in the end, but that's just the way it goes. One of the game's biggest trolls though is that there is no Hair Apparent V. This is quite curious.
I have mastered all the Techniques as well. The book shelf for Assassinate was pure EVIL. I couldn't find it on my own because it blended in with the background too much, ergo why it became the last technique I learned and mastered.
I have mastered all the Techniques as well. The book shelf for Assassinate was pure EVIL. I couldn't find it on my own because it blended in with the background too much, ergo why it became the last technique I learned and mastered.
X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
I think that Hair Apparent V was one of the styles that you start with, I've seen a few different theories, but I never noticed, because I tracked those just by the barber screen.
Did you try out the secret technique for the Valkyrie Sword now that you have all the other techniques mastered?
X
Did you try out the secret technique for the Valkyrie Sword now that you have all the other techniques mastered?
X
Shademp
420
Thanks to you pointing it out I have now learned about and tried out the secret Valkyrie Sword technique. Powerful that one.
I have begun a New Game+ playthrough (Hard mode) so that I might acquire all the boss medals and perhaps unlock Nightmare Mode. The boss medals and any DLC content are my prime motivations for continuing to play, but by and large I've already gotten what I wanted from this wonderful game.
One challenge still irks me: The "Encrypted Orchid" sword with the following encrypted description.
I do not want to look up the solution online but so far I haven't discovered it myself what the key or algorithm might be. Obviously it is a series of bytes expressed in hex which hints at a six-word sentence hidden inside.
6F 20 63 6B 6E 70 77 20 67 72 64 6C 7A 20 7A 77 6B 6A 20 70 75 70 73 65 75 6C 20 78 72 6B 76 74
o cknpw grdlz zwkj pupseul xrkvt
There are some obvious candidates for what words might be hidden, since this is presumably a description to the sword itself. For example one of the three five-letter words might be saber/sword or even laser/light since the sword in question is a purple laser sword. For this reason I imagined that the sentence might be
A light saber Jedi usually wield
but I didn't find a convincing algorithm for this. Plus I should perhaps assume that the final word is in fact four letters, with the final byte/symbol being either a punctuation- or exclamation mark.
What is the significance of the sword being an encrypted "orchid"?
This encrypted message teases me.
I have begun a New Game+ playthrough (Hard mode) so that I might acquire all the boss medals and perhaps unlock Nightmare Mode. The boss medals and any DLC content are my prime motivations for continuing to play, but by and large I've already gotten what I wanted from this wonderful game.
One challenge still irks me: The "Encrypted Orchid" sword with the following encrypted description.
6F20636B6E7077206772646C7A207A77
6B6A207075707365756C2078726B7674
I do not want to look up the solution online but so far I haven't discovered it myself what the key or algorithm might be. Obviously it is a series of bytes expressed in hex which hints at a six-word sentence hidden inside.
6F 20 63 6B 6E 70 77 20 67 72 64 6C 7A 20 7A 77 6B 6A 20 70 75 70 73 65 75 6C 20 78 72 6B 76 74
o cknpw grdlz zwkj pupseul xrkvt
There are some obvious candidates for what words might be hidden, since this is presumably a description to the sword itself. For example one of the three five-letter words might be saber/sword or even laser/light since the sword in question is a purple laser sword. For this reason I imagined that the sentence might be
A light saber Jedi usually wield
but I didn't find a convincing algorithm for this. Plus I should perhaps assume that the final word is in fact four letters, with the final byte/symbol being either a punctuation- or exclamation mark.
What is the significance of the sword being an encrypted "orchid"?
This encrypted message teases me.
Shademp
420
Found the motivation to test the "Share" video recording function on the PS4 when I somehow fell through the floor during the battle against the twin dragon Valac.
See glitch happen at 14:31 in this video that was made accidentally.
In the video below I investigate the perspective that shouldn't be available at this point.
See glitch happen at 14:31 in this video that was made accidentally.
In the video below I investigate the perspective that shouldn't be available at this point.
Shademp
420
X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
I've occasionally been coming back to this on Hard Mode for my second playthrough, and been picking my way through the game's bosses to get through them without taking damage. While doing it this time, I stumbled into a way to fight Orobas by approaching him before you go through the lab, which was neat (though took several attempts to finally get it and beat him without damage, since the save room isn't until after you reach him when approaching from this direction).
Also, I had WAY better attempts at him where I only got hit once than this one, but somehow the attempt where I got the medal I managed to just get in and get lasered, but got enough luck to guard it twice in a row, and still end with no damage, so...
It's been a good bit of fun to come back to when I just want to bash around.
X
X-SOLDIER
Harbinger O Great Justice
- AKA
- X
TONS of features coming along in the future as well: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iga/bloodstained-ritual-of-the-night/posts/2860891
X
X