Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

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DrLitch
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Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Postby DrLitch » July 14th, 2019, 1:52 am

Downloaded it on Steam, 10% off. Hard copy exists on the Consoles.

Heard that there were a few bugs on the Switch version. The Steam version I have found a couple of game breaking glitches. The PS4 version right now is best and "nearly" problem free. All versions will no doubt get the statutory patches/updates in the coming days/weeks. If you want to play this game and own a PS4, get it. I wanted to buy the Switch game but will wait it out. Got the Steam version to play on my laptop. I am somewhat surprised the Switch version got a butchered port of sorts - my laptop is no great shakes and it is running the game mostly at a solid 60fps with some dips here and there.

Initial thoughts:

If you are a fan of the Metroidvania sub genre of RPG's, in particular Castlevania Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow, this is a must play. While this game has an amazing soundtrack and is packed with solid Metroidvania sensibilities, it does not add much to the genre. However, what it loses in novelty it gains by just being a really good game. Sometimes we need a little old fashioned refinement now and then and I am loving it. Gets an A- from me judging it at the halfway mark.

Pro's:
Great Soundtrack.
Fair Difficulty.
Very Similar to Symphony of the Night.
Actual Hard Copies exist.

Cons:
Very Similar to Symphony of the Night.
Graphics, while clean,are a mixed bag. Would have preferred more realistic characters or hand drawn sprites.
Modern game, so will get patches/updates to iron out bugs.
Story is crap, but then again, so was Symphony of the Night's and that game was a masterpiece.

Let me know your thoughts if you are playing through now.

Sonicx9
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Joined: April 27th, 2015, 6:37 pm

Re: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Postby Sonicx9 » July 14th, 2019, 11:29 pm

DrLitch wrote:Downloaded it on Steam, 10% off. Hard copy exists on the Consoles.

Heard that there were a few bugs on the Switch version. The Steam version I have found a couple of game breaking glitches. The PS4 version right now is best and "nearly" problem free. All versions will no doubt get the statutory patches/updates in the coming days/weeks. If you want to play this game and own a PS4, get it. I wanted to buy the Switch game but will wait it out. Got the Steam version to play on my laptop. I am somewhat surprised the Switch version got a butchered port of sorts - my laptop is no great shakes and it is running the game mostly at a solid 60fps with some dips here and there.

Initial thoughts:

If you are a fan of the Metroidvania sub genre of RPG's, in particular Castlevania Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow, this is a must play. While this game has an amazing soundtrack and is packed with solid Metroidvania sensibilities, it does not add much to the genre. However, what it loses in novelty it gains by just being a really good game. Sometimes we need a little old fashioned refinement now and then and I am loving it. Gets an A- from me judging it at the halfway mark.

Pro's:
Great Soundtrack.
Fair Difficulty.
Very Similar to Symphony of the Night.
Actual Hard Copies exist.

Cons:
Very Similar to Symphony of the Night.
Graphics, while clean,are a mixed bag. Would have preferred more realistic characters or hand drawn sprites.
Modern game, so will get patches/updates to iron out bugs.
Story is crap, but then again, so was Symphony of the Night's and that game was a masterpiece.

Let me know your thoughts if you are playing through now.


So far Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is the closest thing to a AAA Kickstarter success store we have, it a shame the Switch port is such a hot mess, because if MK 11 can hit 60 using the older UE3 tech, then Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night on Switch could have been 60 which is inexcusable as the GBA and DS Castlevania games where all 60 which shows that hardware is going backwards in terms of framerate.

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DrLitch
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Re: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Postby DrLitch » July 15th, 2019, 12:18 pm

Sonicx9 wrote:So far Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is the closest thing to a AAA Kickstarter success store we have, it a shame the Switch port is such a hot mess, because if MK 11 can hit 60 using the older UE3 tech, then Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night on Switch could have been 60 which is inexcusable as the GBA and DS Castlevania games where all 60 which shows that hardware is going backwards in terms of framerate.


They will fix the Switch version. What they should have done is delayed until they got it running nicely. The graphics are not very complicated. If the Switch can handle Hellblade/Witcher 3 then Bloodstained should be a walk in the park. Just a poor port - probably a code dump from one platform to another with instructions pipelined to a sub routine so it can talk to the Nintendo Hardware. Should have been a ground up development using the assets established for the PC game.

Sonicx9
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Joined: April 27th, 2015, 6:37 pm

Re: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Postby Sonicx9 » July 16th, 2019, 1:28 am

DrLitch wrote:They will fix the Switch version. What they should have done is delayed until they got it running nicely. The graphics are not very complicated. If the Switch can handle Hellblade/Witcher 3 then Bloodstained should be a walk in the park. Just a poor port - probably a code dump from one platform to another with instructions pipelined to a sub routine so it can talk to the Nintendo Hardware. Should have been a ground up development using the assets established for the PC game.


Exactly it a sloppy lazy port that was rushed to be released near the launch of the other versions only to be a hot mess. It a prime example of rushed ports and it shows.

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MSR1701
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Re: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Postby MSR1701 » July 16th, 2019, 8:54 am

At least the Switch got a version at all; the Vita version was cancelled outright.

ThePixelatedGenocide
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Re: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Postby ThePixelatedGenocide » July 16th, 2019, 10:50 am

I own the Switch version. The best way to describe playing it, is to imagine it's a launch title for the SNES CD. It combines the absurd load times of the Sega CD when jumping or falling into new areas with Super Ghouls N' Ghosts worthy slowdown whenever things get too demanding. The winding path around the tower is especially nostalgic, and hopefully that nostalgia will be addressed in the patch. Unfortunately, I've even run into a brief graphical corruption or two. It hasn't actually crashed, but it feels like a game that could.

I save often.

But even with those imperfections? It's like a director's cut of everything good in the Symphony of the Night style Castlevanias.

Especially the return of Aria of Sorrow's soul system.

The only thing that I'd describe as substandard is the character interaction. Everyone gets one character trait or less, and they're most likely to be remembered by their function instead.

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MSR1701
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Re: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Postby MSR1701 » July 16th, 2019, 3:23 pm

ThePixelatedGenocide wrote:I own the Switch version. The best way to describe playing it, is to imagine it's a launch title for the SNES CD. It combines the absurd load times of the Sega CD when jumping or falling into new areas with Super Ghouls N' Ghosts worthy slowdown whenever things get too demanding. The winding path around the tower is especially nostalgic, and hopefully that nostalgia will be addressed in the patch. Unfortunately, I've even run into a brief graphical corruption or two. It hasn't actually crashed, but it feels like a game that could.

I save often.

But even with those imperfections? It's like a director's cut of everything good in the Symphony of the Night style Castlevanias.

Especially the return of Aria of Sorrow's soul system.

The only thing that I'd describe as substandard is the character interaction. Everyone gets one character trait or less, and they're most likely to be remembered by their function instead.


Dang, now I really wish the Vita version hadn't been canned.., I'd have put up with all that if it was a 10th as good as described here...

Sonicx9
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Joined: April 27th, 2015, 6:37 pm

Re: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Postby Sonicx9 » July 22nd, 2019, 1:12 am

Late response:

MSR1701 wrote:At least the Switch got a version at all; the Vita version was cancelled outright.


and

MSR1701 wrote:Dang, now I really wish the Vita version hadn't been canned.., I'd have put up with all that if it was a 10th as good as described here...



Considering the Switch port is a hot mess, you could only imagine what the PS Vita version would have been like.

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MSR1701
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Re: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Postby MSR1701 » July 22nd, 2019, 3:04 pm

Sonicx9 wrote:Late response:

MSR1701 wrote:At least the Switch got a version at all; the Vita version was cancelled outright.


and

MSR1701 wrote:Dang, now I really wish the Vita version hadn't been canned.., I'd have put up with all that if it was a 10th as good as described here...



Considering the Switch port is a hot mess, you could only imagine what the PS Vita version would have been like.


Entirely possible the port may have been a wreck, or had to suffer more delays to be worked out (like Axiom Verge).

Sonicx9
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Re: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Postby Sonicx9 » July 22nd, 2019, 8:20 pm

MSR1701 wrote:Entirely possible the port may have been a wreck, or had to suffer more delays to be worked out (like Axiom Verge).


But the thing you have to consider is for Axiom Verge case is it was released back in 2015 to 2016 range when the PS Vita still had relevance (namily in the Japan market) along with strong indie and Japanese support as there was no Switch to accommodate their needs at that time period. Also if you look at Vita support in 2019: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/vita/upcoming it nothing compared to 2016. Also Axiom Verge is a simple 2D game that runs on toaster PC, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is using the ultra demanding Unreal Engine 4 tech which had no native support for Vita in the first place. So it probably would have never worked as even the Wii U version was canceled in favor for Switch.


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