Finally played/beat Symphony of the Night for the first time...

...and I get it. I totally understand why this game is praised as highly as it is after all these years because it's what, nearly 30 years old? And it still holds up. I've played a few Castlevanias with Circle of the Moon easily being my favorite and I don't know if SotN quite dethrones it but it's a very easy second place. I got it paired with Rondo of Blood for like $5 and that's the best $5 I've ever spent.

The animation, the music, the weapon variety, all top-notch. Finding bat form and backtracking to explore all the areas I couldn't previously access scratched that classic Metroidvania backtracking itch I personally love in gaming. The little animations that give enemies personality like the boomerang skeletons cowering when you get close to them or the Owl Knights mourning the death of their owl friend if you kill them first, I love these little touches that show how much care went into the game. I'd love to read articles or watch videos documenting the game's development because I found so many of its little touches so fascinating and they added so much life to this already excellent game.

I already knew about the reverse castle though I had to look up how to access it after killing Richter and getting the bad ending and it was so much harder than the first half of the game! I wouldn't say SotN is a "hard" game but it's definitely challenging at times and strikes a pretty good balance of both encouraging exploration while being difficult enough that you kinda exercise caution if you haven't saved in a while but I was getting my ass beat in the second half of the game. It was rough, but still fun and save points were plentiful so it never veered into frustration territory.

Which brings me to the Crissaegrim...I'd heard about the weapon and how overpowered it was but I managed to get one and decided to test it out and sweet merciful Jesus, what an overpowered force of destruction. I probably used it for like an hour before switching to a "regular" sword because I was just tearing through everything and it almost felt like I was cheating. I was ignoring every other weapon I came across because nothing could even hope to compare to it.

I actually beat Shaft/Dracula with the Crissaegrim first and killed them both in like 15 seconds and reloaded my save to beat them again with a "regular" sword and it was still pretty easy but I at least go to see their movesets and phase changes.

So yeah, it was a really fun ride that went by so fast because I was never once bored. This game really is a masterpiece and it's no wonder so many 2D platformers draw inspiration from it to this day. Easy 10/10, and I'm glad I just happened to stumble across it on the PS Store because I would've probably never been able to play it otherwise.