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I've looked through the comments but I don't see a single person mentioning the Scary/Trick Candles for Pluto/Uranus Cards. At level one, there is no way you can do enough damage to kill them before they die, so boosting your level for the luck also has the unintended effect of giving you 2 cards you shouldn't have been able to get.
I love Circle of the Moon, it's a very nostalgic game for me. It would be great if there were rom-hack that does things like let you get potions at a save point, but only a certain amount at once (like bottles in zelda or estus flasks), or if cards were unlocked through unique mini-bosses instead of rng from regular enemies.
Have my own nostalgia for this game. Didn’t grow up with it, but I did grow up with the first issue of Nintendo Power Advance, which was pretty much a 5-in-1 guide for GBA launch games. Including Circle of the Moon. Kid me certainly found the guide interesting, even if I didn’t have the game. I have since picked the game up, along with every Metroidvania style title except Dawn of Sorrow (which I emulated with the No touch screen patch recently). Freaking love these games and this genre.
I'd go for a mod that makes you dash by default. Once I had the item for it there was never a time I wasn't running, and after playing the DS 'Vanias I don't think I can go back to having to double-tap left/right constantly to have that kind of movement speed.
They could also just buff drop rates and remove the drop rate caps. That'd probably help a lot, especially if you play in thief mode which starts with 1600 luck. (Vampire killer mode maxes out at I think 1080 at level 99. Also thief mode gains 160 luck per level up and hits 9999 luck around level 52 or 53 iirc.) I was reading somewhere recently that apparently luck has a limited affect on drop rates and that after you hit the cap on a given item's luck drop rate boost, it no longer increases.
Circle of the Moon got so much flack after the SOTN hype and even from IGA himself, but damn, this game really took risks with being a launch GBA title and the card system.
I actually really like how Circle doesn't have a shop. The isolation is cool. Also, the "quicksand" with Death Turtle is when he has that magic circle appear in front of him I'm reasonably sure.
Yeah as much of a pain it can be it is also a fun and unique sort of way to handle getting items. Like you’re in an old school dungeon crawl. Though it woulda been kinda nice for certain things to not be as rare. At least we have Thief Mode as a prize for going through that with the other modes. It’s definitely my favorite mode to play with stuff not being such a pain to get. And if I don’t go out of my way to grind for shit tons of potions and meat, largely just use what healing items I get my hands on naturally the game is still nice and challenging. with most of the other stats being lower than normal.
There's a funny exploit in the Hugh Fight, where if you fight him close range, you can loop him consistently. Not 100% perfect, but less stressful overall and easy to dodge rather than keeping your distance from Hugh.
Speaking of potion drop rates, the Potion EX, the best potion in the game, drops from a single monster (Alraune), which has like a pair of locations it can spawn and has a base drop rate of 0.5%. the drop rate cap for rare items is 25%, and this is the beautiful formula for probability calculation: Probability = Rate + (Rate * (Luck - 100) / 200). With a Luck stat of 100, you get that 0.5% base rate, and if my math does not fail me, you'd need about 9700 luck to hit the cap.
And funny enough you can legitimately hit 9999 Luck just from leveling up on Thief Mode. But that’s the only way to get anywhere close to that much sadly lol. Gambler Armbands only get you so far.
Yknow, turning October into a Castlevania-only month sounds like a really cool idea. Not to say you shouldn't ever do them outside of October, but I think they're really enjoyable, and it gives you an excuse to make more of them lol
To me the worst part about this game is that unlike every other Castlevania game, you don't get a health restore after beating a boss. I can't count the number of times I'd beat a boss with low health and then get killed making my way back to the nearest save point.
Yep, I hated that too, and unless you got the DSS cards for healing you had to be a master in the art of dodging. Many of deaths and refights ok bosses were because of that.
Note for the Zombie Dragon: Axe is the intended weapon for them, afaik. Sure, you can use the Crucifix if you time it right, but the Axe... really was meant for that fight.
Yoo I just finished replaying this one on the advanced collection. The minotaur room in the battle arena was such a pain... Until I realized I could just use a Mind potion and summon real quick before the MP fully drained again lol. I regret nothing. Your Castlevania content rocks and I'm definitely down for more!
Although I did enjoy this video, my main issue with the level 99+ isn't necessarily that you're not level 1, it's more that it feels like you're using it as a way to make bosses easier instead of trying to figure out a boss' moveset, trying to find cheese for it, and testing different things. Although you could technically farm the same stuff at level one, you'd realistically get tired of it eventually, go back to the boss, and try more stuff. I don't mind it if you feel like you have to farm for something and the rest of the game is unbeatable otherwise, but using it as a cheat code to farm for a bunch of items super quickly kinda defeats the purpose of a level one run in most games. Then again, I've never played a Castlevania in my life, so I could just be 100% wrong and there aren't a lot of other options
To be fair this game definitely wasn’t designed to really be progressed at a super low level. Unlike the way Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia were designed partially around the lower level cap modes. Even Though a fresh level 1 max file for those are brutal as fuck lol. But maybe they intended level 1 max to be more for new game+ And He kinda had to farm all those items to be able to do it
More correct than you know. Some of those later cards, like Uranus for the summons, would have been basically impossible to farm at level 1 because the enemy is only on screen for a brief duration and at level 1 you wouldn't be able to do enough damage to kill them, so even at 100% drop rate, you couldn't get them. The fact that they were instrumental in the success of the run is what kills it for me; if he didn't have those later cards and had to find another way to win, it would have been far more interesting. Thunderbird summon against Dracula is literally the same as every other run, he just swapped a bunch of mana restoring items for having a decent level and it was otherwise the same fight as most casual playthroughs. Up until that point though, it was super interesting!
If you’ve never played the game, keep the cake hole shut. Not everything requires input, reaction or interaction. Especially when you have no familiarity with the subject matter or the mechanics being discussed.
@SomaCruz500 you missed the entire point. It's not about being perfect, it's about trying to figure out those weird and obtuse interactions before maxing out. I wasn't trying to be rude or snobby, nor do I feel as though I came off that way. I'm providing my subjective opinion about being maxed early. If someone decides they need to max out for a boss? That's different. But I am allowed to provide constructive criticism
I mean, the alternative is to abuse the DSS glitch to spam Thunderbird summons against every boss from the beginning of the game, which would be incredibly uninteresting.
I hope these runs convince people to buy the Advance collection. It's available on every modern platform and it's really well done. Thanks for doing these runs!
It did actually make me realize the Castlevania collections (barring the SotN+Rondo one) were on PC. All this time, I thought they were console-exclusive.
Beating the game unlocks a new character class with different gimmicks and stat growth, clearing the game with that class unlocks another, and so on for a total of 5 different character classes if you include the default Vampire Killer class. This run reminds me of playing as the thief class, only taken to an extreme. All of your stats start low and grow slowly, except for luck which gets a huge boost. Until you get some levels under your belt you will actually be weaker than a normal level 1 character thanks to the lower starting stats and stat growth, and by the end you'll probably have the stats of a mid level character, but thanks to your insane luck you'll have no trouble getting the best equipment available to you and stocking up on some restorative items. As someone who has completed the game as every class I'd recommend playing as the thief class if you want a challenge similar to this if you're playing on console or don't want to use cheat engine. Of course this does require you to beat the game 3 times, but I found the first two unlockable classes, magician and fighter, easier than the basic Vampire Killer run. IMO the hardest run without hacking the game is the final class: the shooter. Like the thief, all of your stats are nerfed. The upside is that your subweapons deal far more damage, and I think you have a higher heart capacity. The problem is that even with the extra damage multiplier, the base damage of your subweapons still scales off of your strength which is abysmally low, so in practice they're about on par with those used by the Vampire Killer if not weaker.
Yeah, the Shooter class does not sound fun. At the very least you still get access to DSS unlike Fighter mode (although Fighter mode makes you so powerful it isn't even funny)
While I for sure love SMT, Persona, and your content about them, I also ADORE Castlevania, and I love seeing these challenge videos. Don't be afraid to make the content you want - you're an entertaining guy, so I'm gonna watch regardless!
I gotta say, I can hardly call this an actual run. Farming the few items I can kinda understand, since you can kill them and you're basically speeding up the process. However, Uranus is absolutely not possible to get at Level 1 with such little damage, which is why I'm calling this invalid.
You can completely cheese the Hugh fight. Just stand right in front of him. He will 98% of the time just use a sword swipe, which you can dodge just by jumping. He won't even move closer to you between swings as long as you're still in range. You can just jump attack the entire fight and not take a hit, even during his second phase.
lol in the Hugh battle you can cheese it by standing next to him, and when he tries to hit you with the sword, you jump a little bit tooo the side just to avoid the attack, and even use the whip while jumping and turn around to hit him on your way back to the ground, if you do this your healing items will be safe and you have nothing to worry, because as you are on his attack range he will try to stab you, every time
when i was a kid i can't play this game in my advance sp, not because i don't like the game, but because everytime i pluged the cartridge and open my sp i always getting scared vibes on the themesong of this game lmao
This is my favorite game. I’ve done a whip only magician run, which isn’t necessarily hard but is kinda tactical. The Zombie Dragons are by the most difficult part of this challenge. I’d even say it was more of a pain than the Minotaur Room in The Battle Arena for this run.
This was great. Rarely will I sit down and watch a 40 minute long youtube video from start to finish. I love seeing challenge runs like this. It's satisfying to watch you problem solve and succeed, and I don't have to do any of the grinding lol.
I just finished this game a few days ago, i got the advance collection and being honest even with the recommended levels the bosses can get really hard, so this is a huge feat, congratulations!
Death's second form slows down your movements when his magic circle active. It's that thing that looks like a magic very-thin-oval. And yeah, many of the later-game enemies are very annoying to fight. The demons and armors especially. By the way I'm amazed you made it through your first playthrough sequence breaking through the poisoned water.
Would love to see Portrait of Ruin with only Charlotte's melee attack and Order of Ecclesia with only Bow glyphs. I tried both and the latter is not that difficult (barring the fact you need to play in Hard mode so that you can get a bow glyph in the first area), the former is really sweaty due to how short your attack range is (I dare say even less than Soma's fists). At least you can get new books with slightly better attack range later on, though you're limited to Physical and Dark element attacks for the entire run.
Like you, I usually try my hardest to only play through CV games during October in spite of my love for the series, so I'm very happy that you're practicing the same tradition in your own unique way. Your SMT content might be your trademark style, but I always look forward to these videos whenever this holiday rolls around.
Castlevania is one of my favorite series of all time, and I just beat Circle of the Moon for the first time a few weeks ago, so let's just say I'm enjoying the CV content
Ah yes, everyone gotta admit that the Zombie Dragons boss are HARD, even harder than the final boss himself. Also, like in Aria or Dawn, the Death/Grim Reaper is a silent one, and also for this version of him, is the easiest (now think again back in Dawn, where his one attack to summon spectral skulls that bites left and right, is the source of all misery - not just for the character that got bitten, but also the player having to reset the game again and again. especially if they dies after messing up Magic Seals)
Also I gotta say Thief Mode is my favorite because of the huge Luck numbers you get! Items become much less of a pain in the ass to get. And combat still remains nice and challenging if you don’t go out of your way to grind healing items. With most of your other stats being lower than normal.
honestly I actually really really like the castlevania vids, I was disappointed to not see something else for it for a year. This is awesome, keep it up please
it's great to see CotM get some love; it's under appreciated. i'm pretty sure any Castlevania game is possible nohit, but damn that minotaur room is rough. i could clear the arena countless times in a row without healing using the fighter, but i never made it through with the mage, even stacking full mana potions.
COTM was my first Castlevania games, borrowed it from my buddy and played the fuck out of it. It's definitely not the most balanced of the Igavania style games, but it's got a special place in my memories for being the first Igavania I played.
This challenge might work better on other modes. Thief, for example, has less strength and defense but starts at 1600 luck which would make grinding for items a lot easier without having to use Cheat Engine for it. Gladiator has high physical stats but no access to the DSS card system while magician starts with all cards and has higher magic stats. Shooter mode has a lot more hearts and also has access to the unique homing dagger subweapon if you collect a second dagger subweapon while already having one. Magician and thief would probably be the best options for a run like this overall. Considering you're only going to have level 1 strength, the lack of DSS cards kinda makes gladiator unviable while shooter mode's homing dagger isn't half as useful as it would seem, especially since your hearts aren't enormously greater than on the other modes.
Honestly, I really love the Castlevania stuff, and truth be told if it wasn't for your Aria of Sorrow video I probably never would've actually given the game a try
Well, that was a tough, interesting playthrough on this game, dude! I wonder how it would shape up if you tried this again with a New Game+ file by using the MAGICIAN name on it after you finish the game for the first time. One awesome discovery I found with the boss battle against Hugh is that when you actually stay within melee range of him, most of the time he'll attack you with his sword and on ocassion, use a subweapon. I tell you this because if you plan to stay away from him on seconds at a time, he'll hunt you down with his special attacks, which is something you DO NOT WANT in a low level run like this. So how do you attack him, besides using your subweapon? Go for the Stone Tonfa in this fight (Mars + Cockatrice)! The tonfa's range is short, but you can still remain within arms' length away from Hugh to give you enough space to avoid his sword swipes, it hits hard and you can attack more quickly compared to the Hunter Whip. You need to save every microsecond to avoid his normal attacks and limit his options by remaining within melee range all the time. It's kind of like the strategy against Elecman in Megaman 1, if that makes sense to ya.
I'ma be honest with you, Nyarly, I only have a passing interest in MegaTen, never even played a Persona game. But Castlevania? Especially Igavanias? Now THOSE ARE MY JAM. Love me some challenge runs, this was fun to watch, thumbs up from me.
If I remember correctly, Hugh is actually easily cheesed by doing a super jump to ledges at the top of the room and spamming summons. Wouldn’t even break your rules.
I'm always happy to see more Castlevania content from you! I say keep it coming. Maybe if you want to do another CotM challenge perhaps play the game Skeleton% or Bear Tank%? Those two DSI transformations don't get talked about enough.
This game is an underrated classic. It has its issues but I spent hours playing and collecting the cards and wasting countless double A batteries battling dracula and his minions. Plus being the little skelly and throwing a massive bone at monsters was alot of fun.
While I found you because of Atlus content there's just so much you can do with it before getting burned out. With that, I honestly appreciate the Castlevania things you are doing. Doesn't hurt that I'm also a fan of the franchise.
Happy to see some love for Circle of the Moon ❤️ i played it so many times and i like the cards system even tho the luck % its sooo twisted lmao, subscribed! And yes, i want to see mods of this title, i wish that the community could do a reworked version with more modes and quality of life adjustments.
32:34 Juuuust one thing. Now, I know you're only boosting your level just to speed up grinding standard enemies, but, I feel like the Devil is a special case here. That enemy is arguably harder to beat than the final boss of the game, potentially even the strongest single target opponent in the game, bosses included. I feel like showing you could beat it at level 1 would have helped the legitimacy of boosting your level in that scenario. Otherwise, well done!
I personally would only take issue with you breaking the rules of the challenge if it was something that wouldn't otherwise be an issue, it's not our time being wasted, it's yours, if you want to speed things up, and that involves bending the rules slightly, and in a way that doesn't directly affect progress, then it's fine by me.
Look man i for one really love the castlevania concert nobody else is doing these types of challenge runs So I'd appreciate it if you keep them as a regular channel upload Not saying do all castlevania but remember to do some every once in a while Big love keep it up
I always thought that the leveling systems in these metroidvania castlevanias were kind of unnecessary (for the player). It's pretty cool to see something like this to prove me wrong, at least for this game.
Another way to deal with Second Form Dracula’s Meteor spell is Neptune+Cockatrice. It’s considered Stone element even though it doesn’t inflict Petrification like that element typically does.
My man, idk about this challenge but having played that game, that sounds like torture. I would only do this on magician mode. What i love about this game is all the movement options.
9:40 shop? WHAT SHOP!? I can feel (and relate to) the frustration, also the save points are SO far away from the boss rooms and u don't even get healed when killing a boss 🤣Truly a metroidvania for the hardcore fans back in the day
Circle was the first castlevania game that I was able to play, beat, massacre and have a boatload of fun with. Now that its on my PS4 with achievements its just a matter of sitting down and doing it all over again. This time for shiny shiny dopamine and watching numbers go up.
Its actually a good idea to kill the minions the necromancer summons whenever possible. Theres a limit to how many there can be. He wont stop moving to make more if you dont destroy them
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i am loving the castlevania content!
Raid shadow legends got him 💀💀
Video starts at 3:43.
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Nope
@@horesfan400 just get sponsorblock
I for sure first came here for Persona. But with that said I stayed for you Nyarly. We're fans of you. Do what makes you happy dude.
@Ry h8r
@@lukemorgan6166 says the one being followed by the fbi
this tbh. nyarly's videos are just genuinely entertaining :)
Amen to this
@@lukemorgan6166 You sound annoying.
I've looked through the comments but I don't see a single person mentioning the Scary/Trick Candles for Pluto/Uranus Cards. At level one, there is no way you can do enough damage to kill them before they die, so boosting your level for the luck also has the unintended effect of giving you 2 cards you shouldn't have been able to get.
The Castlevania videos have been awesome to watch! I would love to see more of this in the future even outside of the Halloween season.
I love Circle of the Moon, it's a very nostalgic game for me. It would be great if there were rom-hack that does things like let you get potions at a save point, but only a certain amount at once (like bottles in zelda or estus flasks), or if cards were unlocked through unique mini-bosses instead of rng from regular enemies.
There IS a romhack that at least drops DSS cards through the castle, often locked by abilities
There is a Card Mode hack that puts the cards in various areas instead of being item drops.
Have my own nostalgia for this game. Didn’t grow up with it, but I did grow up with the first issue of Nintendo Power Advance, which was pretty much a 5-in-1 guide for GBA launch games. Including Circle of the Moon. Kid me certainly found the guide interesting, even if I didn’t have the game.
I have since picked the game up, along with every Metroidvania style title except Dawn of Sorrow (which I emulated with the No touch screen patch recently). Freaking love these games and this genre.
I'd go for a mod that makes you dash by default. Once I had the item for it there was never a time I wasn't running, and after playing the DS 'Vanias I don't think I can go back to having to double-tap left/right constantly to have that kind of movement speed.
They could also just buff drop rates and remove the drop rate caps. That'd probably help a lot, especially if you play in thief mode which starts with 1600 luck. (Vampire killer mode maxes out at I think 1080 at level 99. Also thief mode gains 160 luck per level up and hits 9999 luck around level 52 or 53 iirc.) I was reading somewhere recently that apparently luck has a limited affect on drop rates and that after you hit the cap on a given item's luck drop rate boost, it no longer increases.
Circle of the Moon got so much flack after the SOTN hype and even from IGA himself, but damn, this game really took risks with being a launch GBA title and the card system.
I actually really like how Circle doesn't have a shop. The isolation is cool. Also, the "quicksand" with Death Turtle is when he has that magic circle appear in front of him I'm reasonably sure.
Yeah as much of a pain it can be it is also a fun and unique sort of way to handle getting items.
Like you’re in an old school dungeon crawl.
Though it woulda been kinda nice for certain things to not be as rare.
At least we have Thief Mode as a prize for going through that with the other modes.
It’s definitely my favorite mode to play with stuff not being such a pain to get.
And if I don’t go out of my way to grind for shit tons of potions and meat, largely just use what healing items I get my hands on naturally the game is still nice and challenging.
with most of the other stats being lower than normal.
There's a funny exploit in the Hugh Fight, where if you fight him close range, you can loop him consistently. Not 100% perfect, but less stressful overall and easy to dodge rather than keeping your distance from Hugh.
I believe you can also jump to the top of the room and spam summons. Don’t think he can do much to you up there.
@@isenokami7810 he can toss those annoying homing ghost blades, iirc
@@isenokami7810only Thunderbird and I think Cockatrice can hit stuff off screen? Not all the summons are exploitable in that way
Speaking of potion drop rates, the Potion EX, the best potion in the game, drops from a single monster (Alraune), which has like a pair of locations it can spawn and has a base drop rate of 0.5%. the drop rate cap for rare items is 25%, and this is the beautiful formula for probability calculation: Probability = Rate + (Rate * (Luck - 100) / 200). With a Luck stat of 100, you get that 0.5% base rate, and if my math does not fail me, you'd need about 9700 luck to hit the cap.
And funny enough you can legitimately hit 9999 Luck just from leveling up on Thief Mode.
But that’s the only way to get anywhere close to that much sadly lol. Gambler Armbands only get you so far.
Yknow, turning October into a Castlevania-only month sounds like a really cool idea. Not to say you shouldn't ever do them outside of October, but I think they're really enjoyable, and it gives you an excuse to make more of them lol
To me the worst part about this game is that unlike every other Castlevania game, you don't get a health restore after beating a boss. I can't count the number of times I'd beat a boss with low health and then get killed making my way back to the nearest save point.
Yep, I hated that too, and unless you got the DSS cards for healing you had to be a master in the art of dodging. Many of deaths and refights ok bosses were because of that.
Note for the Zombie Dragon: Axe is the intended weapon for them, afaik. Sure, you can use the Crucifix if you time it right, but the Axe... really was meant for that fight.
Yoo I just finished replaying this one on the advanced collection. The minotaur room in the battle arena was such a pain... Until I realized I could just use a Mind potion and summon real quick before the MP fully drained again lol. I regret nothing.
Your Castlevania content rocks and I'm definitely down for more!
Oh yeah, I remember doing that! Good trick!
How do u pull that off the mp drains so quickly
@@mia3033 You gotta pull off the button combo before you run out of MP, but yeah, the window to do so is TIGHT.
Although I did enjoy this video, my main issue with the level 99+ isn't necessarily that you're not level 1, it's more that it feels like you're using it as a way to make bosses easier instead of trying to figure out a boss' moveset, trying to find cheese for it, and testing different things. Although you could technically farm the same stuff at level one, you'd realistically get tired of it eventually, go back to the boss, and try more stuff. I don't mind it if you feel like you have to farm for something and the rest of the game is unbeatable otherwise, but using it as a cheat code to farm for a bunch of items super quickly kinda defeats the purpose of a level one run in most games. Then again, I've never played a Castlevania in my life, so I could just be 100% wrong and there aren't a lot of other options
To be fair this game definitely wasn’t designed to really be progressed at a super low level.
Unlike the way Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia were designed partially around the lower level cap modes.
Even Though a fresh level 1 max file for those are brutal as fuck lol.
But maybe they intended level 1 max to be more for new game+
And He kinda had to farm all those items to be able to do it
More correct than you know. Some of those later cards, like Uranus for the summons, would have been basically impossible to farm at level 1 because the enemy is only on screen for a brief duration and at level 1 you wouldn't be able to do enough damage to kill them, so even at 100% drop rate, you couldn't get them. The fact that they were instrumental in the success of the run is what kills it for me; if he didn't have those later cards and had to find another way to win, it would have been far more interesting. Thunderbird summon against Dracula is literally the same as every other run, he just swapped a bunch of mana restoring items for having a decent level and it was otherwise the same fight as most casual playthroughs. Up until that point though, it was super interesting!
If you’ve never played the game, keep the cake hole shut.
Not everything requires input, reaction or interaction. Especially when you have no familiarity with the subject matter or the mechanics being discussed.
@SomaCruz500 you missed the entire point. It's not about being perfect, it's about trying to figure out those weird and obtuse interactions before maxing out. I wasn't trying to be rude or snobby, nor do I feel as though I came off that way. I'm providing my subjective opinion about being maxed early. If someone decides they need to max out for a boss? That's different. But I am allowed to provide constructive criticism
I mean, the alternative is to abuse the DSS glitch to spam Thunderbird summons against every boss from the beginning of the game, which would be incredibly uninteresting.
I hope these runs convince people to buy the Advance collection. It's available on every modern platform and it's really well done. Thanks for doing these runs!
Only game worth playing is Aria so... not really worth it
@@wallacesousuke1433 I like all the games on the collection personally, but even just Aria was worth the $12 I spent on Steam
@@salsamonkey65 no need when you can download the ROMs and play for free :D
@@wallacesousuke1433 but that's so scummy
It did actually make me realize the Castlevania collections (barring the SotN+Rondo one) were on PC. All this time, I thought they were console-exclusive.
Beating the game unlocks a new character class with different gimmicks and stat growth, clearing the game with that class unlocks another, and so on for a total of 5 different character classes if you include the default Vampire Killer class. This run reminds me of playing as the thief class, only taken to an extreme. All of your stats start low and grow slowly, except for luck which gets a huge boost. Until you get some levels under your belt you will actually be weaker than a normal level 1 character thanks to the lower starting stats and stat growth, and by the end you'll probably have the stats of a mid level character, but thanks to your insane luck you'll have no trouble getting the best equipment available to you and stocking up on some restorative items. As someone who has completed the game as every class I'd recommend playing as the thief class if you want a challenge similar to this if you're playing on console or don't want to use cheat engine. Of course this does require you to beat the game 3 times, but I found the first two unlockable classes, magician and fighter, easier than the basic Vampire Killer run.
IMO the hardest run without hacking the game is the final class: the shooter. Like the thief, all of your stats are nerfed. The upside is that your subweapons deal far more damage, and I think you have a higher heart capacity. The problem is that even with the extra damage multiplier, the base damage of your subweapons still scales off of your strength which is abysmally low, so in practice they're about on par with those used by the Vampire Killer if not weaker.
xD
Yeah, the Shooter class does not sound fun. At the very least you still get access to DSS unlike Fighter mode (although Fighter mode makes you so powerful it isn't even funny)
While I for sure love SMT, Persona, and your content about them, I also ADORE Castlevania, and I love seeing these challenge videos. Don't be afraid to make the content you want - you're an entertaining guy, so I'm gonna watch regardless!
I gotta say, I can hardly call this an actual run. Farming the few items I can kinda understand, since you can kill them and you're basically speeding up the process. However, Uranus is absolutely not possible to get at Level 1 with such little damage, which is why I'm calling this invalid.
You can completely cheese the Hugh fight. Just stand right in front of him. He will 98% of the time just use a sword swipe, which you can dodge just by jumping. He won't even move closer to you between swings as long as you're still in range. You can just jump attack the entire fight and not take a hit, even during his second phase.
lol in the Hugh battle you can cheese it by standing next to him, and when he tries to hit you with the sword, you jump a little bit tooo the side just to avoid the attack, and even use the whip while jumping and turn around to hit him on your way back to the ground, if you do this your healing items will be safe and you have nothing to worry, because as you are on his attack range he will try to stab you, every time
when i was a kid i can't play this game in my advance sp, not because i don't like the game, but because everytime i pluged the cartridge and open my sp i always getting scared vibes on the themesong of this game lmao
Yeah... I missed Death in my first playthrough. Hell I didn't even fight the Zombie Dragons until after Camilla
This is my favorite game. I’ve done a whip only magician run, which isn’t necessarily hard but is kinda tactical. The Zombie Dragons are by the most difficult part of this challenge. I’d even say it was more of a pain than the Minotaur Room in The Battle Arena for this run.
I recently played Circle of the Moon for the first time and holy shit this one KICKED MY ASS
This was great. Rarely will I sit down and watch a 40 minute long youtube video from start to finish. I love seeing challenge runs like this. It's satisfying to watch you problem solve and succeed, and I don't have to do any of the grinding lol.
I just finished this game a few days ago, i got the advance collection and being honest even with the recommended levels the bosses can get really hard, so this is a huge feat, congratulations!
You've inspired me to finish aria of sorrow. Thanks man it's a great game and a great series
Aria of Sorrow is a great game, I wholeheartedly recommend it. Also has a great story.
Man, Dracula has such a cool monster form in this game.
Such a great game. Hated it at first but it grew on me as I went
The poison shield turns Death into even more of a joke than Carmilla.
It destroys all of his scythes so you can just keep attacking, non-stop.
Death's second form slows down your movements when his magic circle active. It's that thing that looks like a magic very-thin-oval.
And yeah, many of the later-game enemies are very annoying to fight. The demons and armors especially.
By the way I'm amazed you made it through your first playthrough sequence breaking through the poisoned water.
Would love to see Portrait of Ruin with only Charlotte's melee attack and Order of Ecclesia with only Bow glyphs. I tried both and the latter is not that difficult (barring the fact you need to play in Hard mode so that you can get a bow glyph in the first area), the former is really sweaty due to how short your attack range is (I dare say even less than Soma's fists). At least you can get new books with slightly better attack range later on, though you're limited to Physical and Dark element attacks for the entire run.
Like you, I usually try my hardest to only play through CV games during October in spite of my love for the series, so I'm very happy that you're practicing the same tradition in your own unique way. Your SMT content might be your trademark style, but I always look forward to these videos whenever this holiday rolls around.
11:29 well if thats the case just give yourself 99 potions lol.
Castlevania is one of my favorite series of all time, and I just beat Circle of the Moon for the first time a few weeks ago, so let's just say I'm enjoying the CV content
Ah yes, everyone gotta admit that the Zombie Dragons boss are HARD, even harder than the final boss himself. Also, like in Aria or Dawn, the Death/Grim Reaper is a silent one, and also for this version of him, is the easiest (now think again back in Dawn, where his one attack to summon spectral skulls that bites left and right, is the source of all misery - not just for the character that got bitten, but also the player having to reset the game again and again. especially if they dies after messing up Magic Seals)
Also I gotta say Thief Mode is my favorite because of the huge Luck numbers you get! Items become much less of a pain in the ass to get.
And combat still remains nice and challenging if you don’t go out of your way to grind healing items. With most of your other stats being lower than normal.
honestly I actually really really like the castlevania vids, I was disappointed to not see something else for it for a year. This is awesome, keep it up please
it's great to see CotM get some love; it's under appreciated. i'm pretty sure any Castlevania game is possible nohit, but damn that minotaur room is rough. i could clear the arena countless times in a row without healing using the fighter, but i never made it through with the mage, even stacking full mana potions.
Nyarly got us eating good😭
Rosario + vampire background while playing the vampire slaying game? Poetry
The way the guy runs with the dash boots on looks like something out of a cartoon and I love it
COTM was my first Castlevania games, borrowed it from my buddy and played the fuck out of it. It's definitely not the most balanced of the Igavania style games, but it's got a special place in my memories for being the first Igavania I played.
This challenge might work better on other modes. Thief, for example, has less strength and defense but starts at 1600 luck which would make grinding for items a lot easier without having to use Cheat Engine for it. Gladiator has high physical stats but no access to the DSS card system while magician starts with all cards and has higher magic stats. Shooter mode has a lot more hearts and also has access to the unique homing dagger subweapon if you collect a second dagger subweapon while already having one. Magician and thief would probably be the best options for a run like this overall. Considering you're only going to have level 1 strength, the lack of DSS cards kinda makes gladiator unviable while shooter mode's homing dagger isn't half as useful as it would seem, especially since your hearts aren't enormously greater than on the other modes.
Be it SMT or Castlevania, I love your challenge runs. Cant wait for the next one.
Honestly, I really love the Castlevania stuff, and truth be told if it wasn't for your Aria of Sorrow video I probably never would've actually given the game a try
This was so much fun to watch. This was my first gba game ever back when it was released. I remember raging a lot cause I sucked at it
my favorite video you have done. super cool idea. great game
Promotion Skip Button: 3:45
Well, that was a tough, interesting playthrough on this game, dude! I wonder how it would shape up if you tried this again with a New Game+ file by using the MAGICIAN name on it after you finish the game for the first time.
One awesome discovery I found with the boss battle against Hugh is that when you actually stay within melee range of him, most of the time he'll attack you with his sword and on ocassion, use a subweapon. I tell you this because if you plan to stay away from him on seconds at a time, he'll hunt you down with his special attacks, which is something you DO NOT WANT in a low level run like this.
So how do you attack him, besides using your subweapon? Go for the Stone Tonfa in this fight (Mars + Cockatrice)! The tonfa's range is short, but you can still remain within arms' length away from Hugh to give you enough space to avoid his sword swipes, it hits hard and you can attack more quickly compared to the Hunter Whip. You need to save every microsecond to avoid his normal attacks and limit his options by remaining within melee range all the time. It's kind of like the strategy against Elecman in Megaman 1, if that makes sense to ya.
26:58 that quicksand effects comes from the magic seal he sometimes has up
I'ma be honest with you, Nyarly, I only have a passing interest in MegaTen, never even played a Persona game. But Castlevania? Especially Igavanias? Now THOSE ARE MY JAM. Love me some challenge runs, this was fun to watch, thumbs up from me.
love the castlevania challenge runs
Love the Rosario Vampire background. You're clearly a man of culture.
If I remember correctly, Hugh is actually easily cheesed by doing a super jump to ledges at the top of the room and spamming summons. Wouldn’t even break your rules.
Very nice.
Now do the arena.
Castlevania is one of my favorite franchises of all time with Circle of the Moon being my first one. Great Video! keep up the good work!
A person of culture I see ;)
I love your content in general. Persona, Castlevania or whatever please keep doing what you do.
I’ve never played castlevenia but I like watching you play it for some reason
I'm always happy to see more Castlevania content from you! I say keep it coming.
Maybe if you want to do another CotM challenge perhaps play the game Skeleton% or Bear Tank%? Those two DSI transformations don't get talked about enough.
This game is an underrated classic. It has its issues but I spent hours playing and collecting the cards and wasting countless double A batteries battling dracula and his minions. Plus being the little skelly and throwing a massive bone at monsters was alot of fun.
While I found you because of Atlus content there's just so much you can do with it before getting burned out. With that, I honestly appreciate the Castlevania things you are doing. Doesn't hurt that I'm also a fan of the franchise.
Love it. This was my first Castlevania game that I ever played. Got me into the fandom and I'm forever grateful for it. Loved the card system.
I LOVE CASTLEVANIA so happy u made two videos in a row
Glad to see ya back, m8. Definitely here for your narrative, so, don't fret so much about what game you're playing.
I'm here for the Castlevania content.
As usual, my response to the title of this video is, can *I* do it? No. Can it be done, yes.
Happy to see some love for Circle of the Moon ❤️ i played it so many times and i like the cards system even tho the luck % its sooo twisted lmao, subscribed!
And yes, i want to see mods of this title, i wish that the community could do a reworked version with more modes and quality of life adjustments.
32:34 Juuuust one thing.
Now, I know you're only boosting your level just to speed up grinding standard enemies, but, I feel like the Devil is a special case here. That enemy is arguably harder to beat than the final boss of the game, potentially even the strongest single target opponent in the game, bosses included. I feel like showing you could beat it at level 1 would have helped the legitimacy of boosting your level in that scenario. Otherwise, well done!
"can you beat COTM at level 1?"
*immediately cheats to level 99+ to grind
So the answer is no
I honestly can't believe it was only 2 weeks since the last video, which is a welcome surprise! :D
I hope you do more castlevania games in the future, they’re super entertaining
Love your Castlevania challenge videos. COTM is hard enough on its own but this is just ridiculous. (I love OOE Hard Level 1 though...)
I personally would only take issue with you breaking the rules of the challenge if it was something that wouldn't otherwise be an issue, it's not our time being wasted, it's yours, if you want to speed things up, and that involves bending the rules slightly, and in a way that doesn't directly affect progress, then it's fine by me.
Getting the cross before the Necromancer is a god send lol. Trying to use any other subweapon against this guy makes it feel like a different battle
I'm always up for anything Castlevania. Honestly a little worn out on persona so kinda appreciate the small break. This was an awesome run!!
Yes, more Castlevania
love me some Castlevania gameplay of my favorite game in the series.
Nice video
Make whatever content you want man. As long you're proud of it, go for it.
i’m loving these challenge runs man keep it up
I would love to see the same challenge (or any other challenge run) on the other 2 games. (Portrait of Ruin & Order of Ecclesia)
I’ve wanted to play this game for years, so happy they released tha advance collection
I have zero problem with Castlevania content.
I feel they have enough overlap not to feel out of place on an SMT focused channel.
Circle of the Moon and Aria of sorrow are my childhood Castlevania games
And yet to this day, I despise the twin zombie dragons
When I read the title I INSTANTLY started expecting the shit you were getting yourself into
Why do the devil towers have so many wrist bands if they have no wrists?
It's fair as long as no progress was made while you weren't lvl 1
At this point why would you even bother with the cheat engine farming when you could just cheat in 999 of every healing item?
Look man i for one really love the castlevania concert nobody else is doing these types of challenge runs
So I'd appreciate it if you keep them as a regular channel upload
Not saying do all castlevania but remember to do some every once in a while
Big love keep it up
2 videos in 1 month?? Damn, what a treat!!
I always thought that the leveling systems in these metroidvania castlevanias were kind of unnecessary (for the player). It's pretty cool to see something like this to prove me wrong, at least for this game.
Another way to deal with Second Form Dracula’s Meteor spell is Neptune+Cockatrice. It’s considered Stone element even though it doesn’t inflict Petrification like that element typically does.
My man, idk about this challenge but having played that game, that sounds like torture. I would only do this on magician mode.
What i love about this game is all the movement options.
Short answer is no then @11:20
Basically...
9:40 shop? WHAT SHOP!?
I can feel (and relate to) the frustration, also the save points are SO far away from the boss rooms and u don't even get healed when killing a boss 🤣Truly a metroidvania for the hardcore fans back in the day
Circle really has zero chills haha tough as heck
Circle was the first castlevania game that I was able to play, beat, massacre and have a boatload of fun with. Now that its on my PS4 with achievements its just a matter of sitting down and doing it all over again. This time for shiny shiny dopamine and watching numbers go up.
I came for quality Megaten content, and I got quality Castlevania content.
You know a video is going to be good when there´s 2 Allan Holdsworth chords in the intro.
i love Castlevania and your videos on it! keep up the good work
Its actually a good idea to kill the minions the necromancer summons whenever possible. Theres a limit to how many there can be. He wont stop moving to make more if you dont destroy them