I had good intentions. I was going to talk about houses. Or maybe clothesline-stealing squirrels. But I'm really trying to put forth some positive effort re: home ownership, so I have nothing to say on that at the moment.
So.
Let me tell you about Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. Why I bought it. Why I played it. Why I'll never play it again.
Don't get me wrong. I love me some Castlevania. Symphony of the Night is my favorite game of all time. Despite never finishing many of the early games, I own all 3 original NES games, GBA games, and all 3 DS games. The games have gotten easier over the years. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia "fixes" that.
Trust me when I say the game is gorgeous. Beautiful, even. Great music. Evocative enemies. But it's hard. How hard? SO HARD. I bought it last fall, set it aside after a few weeks (yes, that's right, weeks) and just picked it up again this week after some malaise with my stand-by DS titles.
I play DS at work (lunches and breaks, represent!), so lately it's been crosswords and turn-based strategy. Seeking something different, I turned to my DS pile of shame (more in the future) and remembered never finishing C:OoE.
I'm finished now.
I have been on the same boss for 2 solid days. That's approximately 2 1/2 hours of the Same. Boss. Fight. I have searched FAQs online. I have tried any number of options. I even have the pattern mostly figured out. But it's just too freakin' hard.
Why, my character has 548 hit points. That sounds like a lot. It might as well be the 3 hearts of 1986 NES games, because I'm dead within 3 hits. Seriously. Screw up on the pattern once, and you're toast.
I'm too old for this. I don't have the patience for this anymore. The internal game clock has me logged at 8 hours, 56 minutes. In real life? Double it. Easily. 3 days spent on the 2nd boss, but I wasn't ready to quit that early on. 70% unlocked at this point. That's enough.
Back to the shelf. The pile of shame. It will sit there and mock me as an example of my gaming failures. But y'know what? That's OK. The frustration saved by not playing - and the money saved by not throwing my DS against a wall - that'll do. Because I'm a homeowner now, and I can't afford to replace that DS until we get a dining room table.
Oh I feel your pain, I have yet to beat the Double Headed Dragon on Circle of The Moon. How long ago did GBA come out? Wasn't that one of the launch titles? Talk about having to hand in my gamer dork card...
ReplyDeleteThe only Castlevania games I've beaten
ReplyDeleteSymphony of the Night and Lament of Innocence
Do you have an actual Pile of Shame? You should take a picture...
ReplyDeleteI've got so many, TMNT, Rush'n'Attack, I've actually gone back and watched a lot of them on YouTube just to find out what I missed and how anyone could do it!
Circle of the Moon *was* a launch title, I believe. At least, it was a major selling point for me to get a GBA. GameFAQs tells me that I made it past boss 4 (Adramelech), but it's unknown if I ever found the 2x Headed Dragon, which is boss 5. Symphony of the Night is the earliest game I finished. Harmony of Dissonance, Lament of Innocence, Dawn of Sorrow, and Portrait of Ruin all fell before me. I was on such a good streak...
ReplyDeletere: Pile of Shame - it's coming. Pics will be taken. Shame will be had.
ReplyDeleteAre you saying your first system was a Game Boy Advance? I had a Nintendo.
ReplyDeleteTechnically, my first system was an Atari 2600. Old school, baby!
ReplyDeleteHaving had the NES since childhood, I didn't actually get the Castlevania games on there until well after beating Symphony of the Night on Playstation, and honestly? Probably not until after buying the GBA games.