(Originally published to Glitchwave on 12/25/2024)
[Image from hubworldhq.com]
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Genre(s): Metroidvania
Platforms: DS
Release Date: August 25, 2005
So how is our favorite effete, bleach-haired Latino one year after his episode of internal strife? He’s quite peachy, actually. He’s successfully suppressed his vampiric urges that come with being the reincarnation of the fiendish Count Dracula, living a tranquil existence in Japan with his best friend Mina. In a sudden flash as if merely mentioning his demonic destiny has jinxed him, yet another pretender to the throne has come to kill Soma and absorb the potency of his birthright. Like people from New Jersey who tend to exude the stereotypical personality traits of the state’s citizens when other people from Jersey are in their vicinity, unleashing conflict back into Soma’s life by sicing hostile enemies on him has reawakened his soul-sucking powers, much to Mina’s chagrin. To continue making Mina (and Arikado) fret, Soma is rightfully peeved at this modest assassination attempt and confronts the cult connected to it located in a fortress that resembles Dracula’s castle. One might negatively comment on the lightning-quick pacing that immediately catapults the characters into the thick of things, but skipping any introductory pleasantries is the suitable choice for the story. Because we’ve already been acquainted with many of the characters through Aria of Sorrow, we can move past the formalities. All that was necessary was to methodically lead Soma to this game’s intricately designed estate by interrupting his frivolous afternoon with Mina. Were there really any players clamoring for Dawn of Sorrow to start us off with Soma and Mina shopping or having a spot of tea in a cafe?
The most indirect aspect of Dawn of Sorrow is that Konami forced fans to purchase an entirely separate console from the one that housed Aria of Sorrow. Dawn of Sorrow was a game on the Nintendo DS during its first full year as Nintendo’s handheld representative, succeeding the final console brandishing the Game Boy moniker of which the previous three Metroidvania Castlevanias were released. The aspect of the DS’ legacy that most gamers will immediately recognize is the dual-screen gimmick, and Dawn of Sorrow certainly takes advantage of its idiosyncratic functions as a quality-of-life feature. Now, the player can see Soma in action on one screen and quickly glance at the map and character status menu from their peripheral. Displaying both the gameplay screen and the paused reference one simultaneously allows the fluidity of gameplay to be uninterrupted, even if squeezing the entire space of the map into a screen cut in half will make the player squint so hard that they’ll pop a blood vessel. Another deserving credit to the DS that is less obvious is that it was the first Nintendo handheld system that could competently render 3D graphics, albeit with polygons that will remind players of the blocky and anatomically bloated visuals of the N64 and debut Playstation era. Still, if we use Symphony of the Night as an example, games that adhered to the pixelated recent past released on these 3D trendsetters were beaming with glossier sprites and setpieces beyond what the staunch 2D systems could ever dream of depicting. Finally, Dawn of the Sorrow is the successor to Symphony of the Night on par with that game’s striking visual splendor. Considering that the developers were forced to creatively compensate to divisive degrees due to the GBA’s comparatively lackluster hardware, the advancement in handheld hardware the DS provided was probably a huge relief. Some sprites are even copied and pasted from Symphony, which is something I noticed when I encountered a howling wolf enemy. However, one creative liberty that Dawn of Sorrow takes with its visuals is adopting an anime aesthetic for the cutscenes and character’s faces alongside text boxes. It’s pleasing enough, but the anime art style is a bit too commonplace across the video game medium whereas the spellbinding, gothic watercolors of Ayami Kojima’s work were distinctly Castlevania.
Given that the remnants of Dracula are being suppressed in Soma’s body like vomit, the magnificent estate that usually accompanies his reemergence is also subdued by proxy. Fear not, for this continuity convention does not inhibit this uncanny setting from exhibiting the same breadth and Metroidvania allure as a bonafide castle. For starters, the winter wonderland directly outside the premises is especially fetching with the moody blue color palette complimenting the white snow that is beautifully blanketing the ground. One might also notice the subtle hint of 3D architectural models with the Bavarian buildings in the background. Other than the seasonal shift surrounding the entrance, this incarnation of a labyrinthian Castlevania setting features the typical districts that usually comprise The Count’s castle. “Subterranean Hell” is the watery cavern section located in the southern region where Mermen leap from the surface, the “Wizardry Lab” is the place allocated for morbid scientific experiments, and there is naturally a clocktower where Medusa Heads will bat Soma around like a floating stampede of zebras. One particularly notable district in the eastern section is the “Condemned Tower,” a lofty vertical stretch that spans the longitudinal length of the entire estate with the “Mine of Judgment” below it attached to the equation. The map is standard fare for the series, and maybe the narrative stipulation of it serving as a loyal reproduction of The Count’s Castle excuses its lack of inspiration. All that matters in a Castlevania setting is if the castle fosters the utility-gated Metroidvania progression smoothly and coherently, and there aren’t any major objections to this rule present in Dawn of Sorrow. The various warp gates between every district are also as convenient as ever, namely, to teleport to the “Lost Village” entrance and purchase potions and mana restoration items from Soma's bald acquaintance Hammer.
Speaking of sticking to series traditions, Soma’s special ability to absorb his enemies’ souls that defined the mechanical brilliance of Aria of Sorrow naturally returns. Get ready to become a compulsive trainwreck once again, for collecting the orb-shaped essences of the enemies and using them as Soma’s auxiliary weapons and skills at the low likelihood of obtaining them when slain is only one degree lower than Pokemon on the scale of gaming stimuli. However, the dopamine rush of collecting may prove to be less strong for returning players, for the bestiary of monsters roaming around the castle has barely been altered from the previous game. I’m unsure as to whether or not there are any quality-of-life enhancements for any particular enemy soul that was transported from Aria. The soul set actually organizes the souls by their categorization instead of dumping them all into one scroll, but I’m referring to the enhancements of the souls themselves. I cannot comment whether the sonic boom shriek of the Mandragora seedling decimated enemies to this extent in Aria, nor do I know if the chauffeuring of Soma by the Bone Ark palanquin was so superb that he should feel obligated to leave a tip for their services. Still, these are some of the exemplary souls that stood out to me and found a solid footing in my revolving arsenal. However, what I am confident is a fresh utilization of the souls that debuts in Dawn of Sorrow is the process of soul transfusion. Across the hall from Hammer in the “Lost Village,” an intentional angle of which I’m sure he spends an inordinate amount of time gawking at her from afar like a peeping tom, is Yoko Belnades who conducts this new mechanic. Bringing her the excess souls that are congesting Soma’s inventory will allow Yoko to craft them into various weapons, provided that Soma also has a similar tool to work off of. Instead of having to find the upgraded versions of the swords, axes, etc. on the field later in the game when their stronger offensive powers are needed, the player can simply find a combination leading to the more formidable weapon’s creation by coinciding a number of souls to their weaker equivalent and teleporting to Yoko’s shop. The player can also dispose of unwanted souls that tend to pile up with the constant cutting down of common enemies, but tossing them seems wasteful. With this blacksmithing perk provided by Yoko, the challenges of the later portion of the game can be handled by matching the necessary firepower. Exploration is a tenet of the Metroidvania genre that always titillates me, but I can’t say that scouring every corner of the map for a particular weapon is a sizable portion of that joy. My monetary tip given to the Bone Ark guys extends to Yoko for this convenience.
Having a superior weapon through the soul-crafting process doesn’t automatically render Dawn of Sorrow as breezy as a Sunday stroll through the countryside. Overall, I’d state that Dawn of Sorrow’s bosses are a more tenacious bunch than the crop of formidable baddies that Aria showcased. The trickster Zephyr will momentarily freeze Soma in time, which will give him ample opportunity to slash at the protagonist with his oversized Freddy Kreuger fingers. Abaddon, a demon from biblical folklore, masterfully conducts a plague of locusts with a baton to swarm Soma in flocks that need a significant amount of practice to avoid. Aria of Sorrow breached the bounds of its relatively smooth difficulty curve once Soma danced with Death, and the Dawn of Sorrow version of the long-standing Castlevania boss is equally as punishing with his swift scythe swipes and summoning magic beast skulls to bite off chunks of Soma like a crocodile. In addition to their aggressiveness, the graphical superiority of the DS has made some of these bosses truly grotesque and nightmare-inducing. I now understand why Balore chose to shroud most of his face in the shadows in Aria because now, we see that the brute is horrifically deformed. I can’t even do Gergoth justice in describing his physical form, for the monster is composed of nothing but pulpy, pixelated viscera of an indiscernible, freaky-deeky degree. His fight involves an exhilarating segment where his monstrous mass caves in the top floor of the Condemned Tower, crashing through each floor below until both he and Soma have to continue the fight on the ground. Still, my favorite boss trick is from the creepy Puppet Master, who will transport Soma to the painful impalement of an iron maiden if the player doesn’t catch the gangly arm holding the voodoo effigy before it enters the torture device. On the other end of the spectrum, the boss with the least appealing battle conditions is Rahab, who will only emerge from the water to take a breath in a flash while Soma is floundering at the pool’s surface. The game should’ve given Soma the soul that allows him to walk through water before this fight, not as a reward for completing it. Still, I can’t let this irksome fish soil what is a solid lineup of fantastically putrid and engaging Dracula underlings.
Well, I guess I should disclaim that each boss in Dawn of Sorrow is an invigorating challenge on paper. Each boss actually becomes incredibly irritating, but it’s obviously not due to a prevalently shoddy quality across the bosses. Each passageway to a boss’s arena is locked by a magic seal that Soma must find on the field like a rare item. I wish their interactivity was subdued as a meager special key because their utilization extends to what is quite possibly the most ill-conceived mechanic that the series has ever produced. To finish any of the boss battles in the game, the seal emerges and forces the player to recite its pattern as the battle’s coup de grace. If the player stumbles, they’ll be penalized with replenishing a bit of the boss’ health and prolonging the fight. Even though the player can commit these DS stylus swipes to memory in a practice menu, these sporadic sequences prove to be nothing but jarring, screeching halts to the flow of combat. Did I mention that these sequences are timed, and require the stylus to draw these zigzagging lines precisely? With all of the conditions at play, the most likely occurrence is that the player will accidentally fling the stylus across the room due to the tension of the fight, the suddenness of the sequence, and the strict time constraint. Plus, the seal sequences are completely superfluous to the player’s skill at conquering the boss, so the wedge they act as to artificially inflate each fight’s difficulty is particularly insulting to the player’s abilities. If Nintendo issued a mandate for Konami to implement stylus controls to highlight the DS’s mechanical capabilities, couldn’t they at least have used it for some soul powers instead of this pace-breaking, asinine chore?
Between all of the exemplary bosses whose soul powers keep the Metroidvania progression flowing, there are still the narratively relevant antagonists in the midst. Like the secondary characters who appear around the castle like Julius and Arikado, the members of the “With Light” cult will appear around unassuming corners just as episodically. Unlike Graham who held the persona of a mysterious stranger, encountering Celia or any of her peers will put Soma on high alert to evade any bodily harm they might attempt to inflict on him. However, what mirrors Graham with these new antagonists is that they share the exact same motivations for antagonizing Soma. Celia’s cronies, the dim pyromancer Dario and the so-smug-that-he’s-incredibly- punchable Dmitrii share the commonality of Graham’s birth year of 1999, the year that Dracula was officially ousted by Julius Belmont. Like Graham, they figure that this happenstance entitles them to Dracula’s immense power and are salivating at the chance to kill Soma to obtain it. Sorry to disappoint you boys but even without using Graham as an example, this is not how the reincarnation process works. We don’t know the precise age of Soma but considering he’s depicted with youthful characteristics and that his best friend is a teenager whom he’s grown up with, he was born sometime later in the 21st century. There is no correlation between Dracula’s demise and the births occurring in the same year. Also, the slayer of Dracula does not inherit his powers by defeating him, otherwise, Julius would become the thing that he seeks to destroy. Complications of their plan aside, without the mystery behind Graham’s intentions, multiplying him with two separate characters who make their motives clear from the start doesn’t really hold my interest in the moments of encountering them. Plus, their respective boss battles aren’t exactly all that stimulating either.
Celia’s invested interest in slaying Soma stems from her righteous belief that the world stands in a state of purgatorial chaos because there isn’t a penultimate exemplar of evil to balance God’s divine good. After finding that her two candidates are nothing but chumps, she cleverly tries to unleash the beast within Soma through other methods. Firstly, there is the slaughtering of a human being in cold blood, which is something that only an unholy entity would have the capacity to do. If Soma kills Dario during his second fight instead of pulling out the fire demon inside him that is reflected in a mirror and vanquishing it, the murder of this man will ignite a bloodlust in Soma and lead him to the dark side. Speaking of the dark side, the other tactic to trick Soma into embracing his (literal) inner demon is similar to how The Sith from Star Wars recruits naive Padawans. Celia leads Soma to a room in the Garden of Madness where she reveals that she’s conducted a ritualistic sacrifice using Mina as the subject. The sight of his best friend’s lifeless body dangling from an overgrown plant naturally infuriates Soma, and his intense rage is enough to let loose the tremendous evil that resides in him. If he preemptively has Mina’s charm equipped, he’ll be able to see that this is a ruse plotted by Celia and that it’s Dmitrii who has shapeshifted into Mina. Plan C from Celia isn’t an attempt to manipulate Soma, but it is the most shocking maneuver. In the catacombs of The Abyss, Soma will find that Celia has been sacrificed, and the result of this blood ritual has transformed Dmitrii into a Lovecraftian juggernaut as the game’s final boss. Discounting how the final boss elevates Dmitrii as the game's primary villain, we aren’t totally certain whether or not this was a calculated process on his part–gaining the gumption to murder his superior for his own gain. There stands the possibility that Celia executed herself as a last-ditch effort to give Dmitrii the strength needed to maximize his copycat demon soul. If Celia’s devotion to her cause results in doing something this drastic, provided this is really the true context of this event, then she’s miles more interesting and scary as a Castlevania villain than Dracula ever was.
Well, that perfectly met all of my expectations. To no one’s surprise, Aria of Sorrow’s direct sequel exhibited all of the outstanding elements of its direct predecessor that revitalized the fanbase’s enthusiasm for the Castlevania franchise. The problem is, that most if not all of the outstanding elements present in Dawn of Sorrow were merely transported from Aria, and it barely does much to discern itself, likely in the fear of diverting too harshly and failing to capture the same magic. Konami should’ve known that the same joke told twice isn’t as funny the second time and applied that rule of thumb to Dawn of Sorrow’s development. There are plenty of genuine quality-of-life enhancements present throughout, such as the utilization and organization of the souls, the exquisite boss battles and the graphical enhancements they display, and a puzzling main villain who will make me ponder on the game after I’ve finished it. Not even the magic seal mechanic is dumb enough to ruin everything else. Still, I can’t shake the feeling of deja vu that leaves me underwhelmed. Like the covetous wannabes who accost Soma for his power, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is kind of a copycat of something more genuine. I can’t completely write off Dawn of Sorrow because it’s still an objectively more pleasant and well-refined experience compared to Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance. Let’s just hope, oh God, the recycling process doesn’t persist in the subsequent DS Castlevania titles.
No comments:
Post a Comment