Easily my favorite GBA game ever!!! Aria of Sorrow was mind blowing greatness. I even felt this was better than Symphony of the Night in a lot of ways.
To me this is the best review of the whole advanced trilogy. And given the length, this is the return of the king of these reviews. Yay on secret question
Ahaha, thanks! Yeah, over all, I'm happy with how this one turned out. And as for secret question, good good. Cause I was probably gonna do it anyway, but figured I'd at least gauge opinions haha.
An additional note on the name of Julius' theme is that it also was referred to as "Can't Wait until the Night" (also known as "Don't Wait until Night") in the Japanese version of Aria of Sorrow. Essentially it only ever was referred to as "Heart of Fire" in the English version of Aria, but due to this being the first instance of the medley and how Haunted Castle is less-known, causes subsequent confusion for English-speaking fans.
I've heard different answers to that. It's entirely possible it's just a localization issue, but there's also the chance that perhaps he was an exchange student from a very young age or something, and therefore still grew up in Japan.
Good, thorough analysis here. You even included a reference to Haunted Castle, which means you had to PLAY Haunted Castle. If that's not dedication, I don't know what is.
Really awesome review, AJ! I picked up the Advanced collection after watching the Castlevania animated series on Netflix. Still working my way through it, but Aria of Sorrow will be the first Castlevania I ever beat, and really ever played (I played maybe an hour of Lord of Shadow & SotN years ago on the 360). Playing Viewtiful Joe last year really triggered a desire for me to play a lot of these games I missed out on. AoS really is fantastic, I'm going to have to make a video on it once I beat it.
Thanks man! Glad you enjoyed it. And yeah, I feel like a lot of the early 2000's games are an absolute treasure trove of enjoyment. Viewtiful Joe was great as well.
I really like your coverage. I don't know if care for feedback, sorry if not. I feel you go over the same point over and over in your videos. In this one, it's the "stat souls" thing. In Harmony of Dissonance, you go on and on about the music quality. And then you go on about HoD music in *this* video. Sometimes you use the literal exact same words to make the same point multiple times. A point like "music helps with immersion" doesn't need to be made. I'd argue your scripts could be 1/3 to even 1/2 shorter. Showing more and telling less would help with this. But I love your energy and passion, it comes across so well in your videos which is why I've watched a whole bunch. Hope to see your channel grow.
I appreciate the feedback. Typically, I'm not looking for advice, but that's not to say I won't heed it if I'm able. Typically, when I write these scripts, I don't have anyone who reads them. Occasionally I'll shoot'em over to a friend of mine, but for the most part, I just write my thoughts, then record my thoughts. Usually while recording, I make changes on the fly, which honestly could be good or bad. Sometimes, I'll make a change, because something I wrote doesn't sound natural when I speak it aloud, but it's also possible those on the fly changes could lead to a duplicate point or something. Ultimately though, when you mentioned my passion, I think that's really the central part to all of it. A majority of my videos are things I just genuinely enjoy, and because of that, I write them, and then speak them, in a way that I would normally speak with say.. a group of friends. In those situations, it's possible that one might repeat things from time to time, just because their gushing about whatever topic they're talking about. Those conversations are natural, because, well, we don't typically speak on a script haha. Now, obviously I know that this is UA-cam, and I'm creating videos, so that gives me every opportunity to edit, tweak, and prevent that kind of stuff from happening, but I do think that those types of "mistakes" helps show my authenticity towards how much I care about whatever it is I'm talking about, if that makes sense haha. That being said, I AM always looking to improve my videos, and I do think that over time (especially if you watch them in release order), you'll see that I have. Originally, I know I came off as a lot more stiff, just because talking to a camera in your living room is far from the most natural thing haha. I will definitely try to not repeat stuff as often in the future though, but no promises that it won't happen from time to time too haha. Regardless, I do appreciate the kind words, so thanks again!
Aria of Sorrow was the second Igavania game I ever played, the first being SOTN and to this day it is my favorite. SOTN, Dawn of Sorrow, Order of Ecclesia, even Bloodstained, receive nowhere near the level of love I have for this game. Fantastic review as always. Can't wait to see what you do next
Yeah there really is something just so special about Aria. LIke Dawn and Bloodstained are REALLY good, but obviously the core ideas for both those games started right here with Aria, and some things I think are even better. (Like, as silly as it is, I always disliked how in Dawn of Sorrow the Claim Solais became this big slow swinging sword, so I just... never bothered to use it?)
I wish I felt the same. Aria is a close 2nd for me behind SotN, and that’s only because I can’t get over the charm of SOTN. That game has the best castlevania soundtrack and one of the best videogame soundtracks in general and the atmosphere that the game gave off is honestly second to none for me, even after all the other castlevania games. Alucard is also sick af. I still love aria though
Well, sure they can be used to help ever so slightly boost the Headhunter Soul, but it doesn't change the fact that acquiring them AFTER you already have better stat souls is a disappointment. Each soul should have its own purpose, and not be relegated to just making a totally different soul slightly better.
I'm currently playing through Aria of Sorrow for the very first time and i'm really enjoying it. It very much feels like a love letter for Castlevania fans, somewhat nostalgic but fresh at the same time. The graphics are beautiful, animated wonderfully and very colourful. The sound is great too, pumping that glorious bass through my earphones. Aria of Sorrow is fast becoming my favourite Castlevania game, i'm having a blast playing it, and exploring the castle and slaying the many monsters along the way is so much fun. Excellent video bro, highly enjoyed it 👍
Yeah, I think describing it as a love letter for Castlevania fans is pretty accurate, for sure. It's definitely one of the ones I can play pretty endlessly. Thanks for the kind words, dude!
Thanks! What a great video ! P.s. as for your secret question… nay, I really dislike those… but hey, I wouldn’t be mad or anything if you choose to do them, follow your heart !
Glad you enjoyed it! And yeah as for the question, no worries, I respect your opinion. Essentially, the idea was/is to keep them in the same style I do all my other videos in. IE, scripted and actually edited. So even though they'd be "shorts" they wouldn't be like like just me holding my phone or and doing a Tik Tok style video, they'd still have some ... for lack of a better word "quality" to them, with edits and the like. Basically just figured there are SOME games that I think it'd be cool to highlight and draw attention to but that don't necessarily need their own 8-20 minute deep dive, and to go alongside this random coffee theme I've apparently put myself into with the JAVA reviews, they'd be Expresso Reviews. Small, quickly digestable videos but retaining my own personal style haha. Truth be told, I haven't finished fleshing out the idea yet, but thought it could be something to perhaps suppliment my other vids (and in no way replace them), but we'll just have to see. Time is a big factor, and if making things like that ever prevented me from making THESE videos, well, then I wouldn't even bother making the short ones haha.
@@SimplyAJ makes sense, I would be interested to see quality shorts, I admit you’re making me curious The shorts I’ve seen up to no are… heh, I’m sure you’ve seen them Keep it up! Cheers !
Awesome, in-depth and enthusiastic review! I’d love to see what you think about the other, non-GBA, Castlevanias. Like the NES trilogy, Rondo and Castlevania 4. I’d like to see your reviews on the Bloodstained games too. I know you only have so much time, and videos require a lot of it, but that’d be awesome to see. This is great stuff man. Thanks again and Big Ups!
Thanks so much man! Glad you've been liking my Castlevania stuff. So, truth be told, I AM going to cover basically like EVERY Castlevania game. In fact, I've been replaying them all in my free time (finished up the first 4 just the other day). I did JUST release an "Expresso Review" on Castlevania Bloodlines a few days ago, but I'll still be making a full on JAVA for that as well. I just haven't quite decided the order I want to do them in. I thought of maybe touching back to the classics on the NES first, then doing the DS games, or who knows maybe I'll cover the 16-bit ones first. We'll see. And yeah, it only makes sense to throw Bloodstained in there as well. Again, all iin due time of course. The only reason I haven't released more Castlevania videos yet is cause I was afraid of pigeonholing myself as JUST a Castlevania guy, so I do want to try to do them here and there, but yeah. I've now taken entirely too many words to simply say "yes, I'm going to do that" but, yes I'm going to do that haha. Thanks again for the sub and support!
@@SimplyAJ Lol hey I get it. And I understand not wanting to pigeonhole yourself as a Castlevania guy. Regardless, I dig your review style and look forward to your future work. Big Ups and thank you for the response!
as a kid i bought the bundle that has this and harmony of dissonance on one cartridge, i first tried harmony of dissonance, i was like "wtf is this crap" i then tried aria of sorrow, the graphics alone looked so much better, it was like comparing a gba game (aria) to an old orgininal game boy game, it was like night and day. looking back at it, harmony is still a pretty decent game, its just mindblowing to me that two games on the same system look so drastically different in quality.
Spoiler warning for people who haven't played this game but still see this comment. This game is incredible! I have not completely beaten it since the last thing I did was the Julius fight, but WOW! I only have a few gripes: First, there's a couple misleading and cryptic lines of dialogue. You can go back to the start of the game and the girl will tell you tips from Arikado, one of them being something along the lines of "Running into a waterfall at full speed and with stopped time will break through it." This is a lie. There's no need to stop time and the black panther soul won't break through the waterfall to the Forbidden Area (which was a letdown in it's own right, since I found it blocked off early on and thought there was something really scary there. It's called the forbidden area, yet there's not even a boss iirc). Instead you need to use one of a few bullet souls, which sucks because the soul system is random and again, you're most likely not going to have the soul you need. There's also the "Beautiful Nightmare" line in one of the Dracula books. The enemy you defeat for the soul isn't a nightmare, but succubus (despite the fact that beauty is subjective and there's an enemy literally called NIGHTMARE.) Second, you get the black panther soul WAY too late. It makes backtracking much more tedious than it needs to be, since by the time you get it in a first playthrough you may have 95+% of the map completed (like me). Third, the underground cemetery isn't well conveyed in it's location. It's simply off the beaten path like any any other location despite being a cool set piece and literally required to get the true ending (because of the fire demon soul needed for the true ending). It was literally the last area I discovered since it was followed by "Big character reveal- quick, get him!" and followed "Annoying water level with constant soul switching and cryptic level set pieces" (Like I said in my waterfall complaint). The last one is probably my fault, but I do wish you had the option to more quickly switch souls. Aaaaannnd.... That's basically it. It sounds like a lot, but those are all nitpicks that basically don't matter on a second playthrough since you can circumnavigate them. This game's climax (imo) was the Julius fight and OH MY GOD!!! It's my favorite boss in any video game from *at least* the past year! The way his bada$$ theme starts, the high but not unfair difficulty, the character and motivation reveal that follows it, the way his grand cross move literally destroys parts of the castle in the background, the callbacks to his sub weapons, the role reversal of YOU fighting a Belmont, it's all just SO GOOD! I am *REALLY* glad SimplyAJ didn't spoil that fight while still demonstrating the theme of Julius.Once I heard that guitar drop, I knew I was in for the real deal. It took a long time for the game to click, but now that it has I can finally see why it gets so much praise, and I have nothing but hype for the rest of the series!
Yeah, I try my best to talk about everything that I think is important or awesome, without giving the ENTIRE game away via footage haha. I do agree that getting the black panther late can be a bit of a bummer, but at the same time, if you had any earlier, it would absolutely trivialize certain parts of the castle.
To the point about the books, I think that it's implied by the devs that you're supposed to have fought a huge array of monsters by that point before getting them, and have been using the in-game bestiary. The "beautiful nightmare" is the description given to the succubus enemy; however everything else you mentioned is a valid criticism.
I appreciate the view and comment! Honestly been pretty surprised by the bump in views after the Dominus Collection, just happy to see people finding my extremely small corner of UA-cam haha.
As soon as you finished explaining the soul system, I was like "damn this is bloodstained rotn" and sure enough you said it too lool Also, go for the shorts! They all the rage nowadays
Currently playing through Aria for the first time and thought I'd check out some reviews. The hair and the smile drew me in, but I think I'm gonna stick around for the good content (and also the hair and the smile).
Mmm, MAYBE? I wouldn't have much more to add to them that I didn't already say in each individual games review, aside from "this is probably the best way to play these games now" haha. I could see myself covering the two Haunted Castle games, cause that'd be entirely new. If, after a while, we find out that there have been some changes to each game worth noting (like, adjusting drop rates or something), then maybe I'd make a video going over all the new changes. So, yeah, we'll see!
I'm going to raise every eyebrow in the comments section by saying, but here goes: I think that Aria of Sorrow is the weakest and most overrated entry in the GBA trio of games...you still here? Then let me explain as to why I think that. First off, the soul system is both the best and worst thing about the game. On one hand, it allows for a fair bit of replayability, as you're likely to try out new equipment and soul combinations with each subsequent playthrough. However, the fact that the soul system takes center stage means that the rest of the game suffer for it. Not only is the game both incredibly easy and incredibly short, but so many pieces of equipment require you to use abilities that you get two or three areas later, meaning that these items will only become useful yesterday. On top of all of that, most of the souls and weapons are situational at bestand, as you mentioned with the enchant souls, will usually be made obsolete very quickly. But it's not just the enchant souls, but all of the soul types as well. Also, as previously mentioned, much of the non-endgame equipment isn't that good to begin with. And then there's the bosses. Can I talk about the bosses? Oh please let me talk about the bosses. I've been dying to talk about the bosses all day! And what I want to say is this: ALL BUT three of them suck. The first four bosses are just enemies you'll fight later. And I'm not talking in the "Demoted Mook" sense where, as bosses, they are difficult but they're not as much of a threat as you become stronger as the game progresses, I mean that these feel like regular enemies that they used because they couldn't think of a boss for ther first four areas in time. As for the remaining bosses, the only three that are actually fun to fight are The Headhunter, Death and Balore. the rest? Unmitigated garbage. Basically, I'm far from being against people singing praises for Aria of Sorrow, but you will never find me singing along with them. And with that, I fully expect to find a pipe bomb in my mailbox tomorrow morning courtesy of all of the AoS fans.>;P
Honestly, I'd say you have a fair point about the bosses. Especially when you think about the bosses in say... Circle of the Moon. Twin Dragon Zombies, Adramelech, hell even Hugh feel like really solid bosses. The Necromancer being like "Death Jr" but fought as the second boss in the game is also pretty neat. Where as with Aria, yeah, a lot of these bosses are just enemies, and seeing them elsewhere in the castle IS pretty lame haha. That being said, I do still adore the game, buuut, I will say sometimes it feels like IGA never "recovered" from the Soul System. Using it again in Dawn of course, and then the watered down version AKA, Glyph System from Ecclesia. Portrait at least had a ton of sub weapons and what not, but then he fell right back into the Soul System with Bloodstained Ritual of the Night. So it's definitely one of those systems that, while it IS really good, and IS fun, it's become a tad overdone over the years as well (not that that can really be a fault of ARIA though, since ya know, it's like old as hell now haha)
@@SimplyAJ Yeah, the soul system concept has become a little overdone, but hey, at least it got better with time, eh? That being said, even though I consider this game the weakest of the GBA games, it's still an obectively good game and can appreciate it for what it is, what it does and what it wanted to be and that it should be given a shot by any and all new players to the game.
Towel dry hair after shower, add "Enjoy Clay Medium Flexible Hold" to finger tips. Style accordingly. Finish with a little Paul Mitchel Elastic Shaping Paste. Whole process takes like 3 minutes haha.
Aria of sorrow is the best game in the series. Only downside is the luck based drops for the souls. That's it. That's the only thing "wrong" with the game.
3:16 This is not the first full solar eclipse of the 21st century and it's not even the first one of it's cycle. 3:34 The shadow of the eclipse is also wrong. According to solar eclipse calendar, the shadow should be on the upper right side of the sun instead of the lower right. I've seen ProJared use the gun on Julius Belmont. You'd think a gun would seriously harm a human character when it for some reason doesn't. A man that is definitely not Alucard XD. 6:55 I didn't know there was a doll ability. I didn't know Harmony of Dissonance had audio issues. It's been a long time since I played that.
Niceee, cool hair
Gotta pin this comment, respect for the hair
Annnnnnd done haha
Heck yeah yo thanks lol
@@xryxix best comment+best hair =Win
Best comment
Easily my favorite GBA game ever!!! Aria of Sorrow was mind blowing greatness. I even felt this was better than Symphony of the Night in a lot of ways.
To me this is the best review of the whole advanced trilogy. And given the length, this is the return of the king of these reviews. Yay on secret question
Ahaha, thanks! Yeah, over all, I'm happy with how this one turned out. And as for secret question, good good. Cause I was probably gonna do it anyway, but figured I'd at least gauge opinions haha.
@@SimplyAJ Never a bad Idea to poll engagement haha. Looking forward to the next java!
An additional note on the name of Julius' theme is that it also was referred to as "Can't Wait until the Night" (also known as "Don't Wait until Night") in the Japanese version of Aria of Sorrow. Essentially it only ever was referred to as "Heart of Fire" in the English version of Aria, but due to this being the first instance of the medley and how Haunted Castle is less-known, causes subsequent confusion for English-speaking fans.
1:15 bruh try hearing this in 2024 💀
Wait, I just realized Soma is supposed to be a foreign exchange student, but Mina is supposed to be his childhood friend?
I've heard different answers to that. It's entirely possible it's just a localization issue, but there's also the chance that perhaps he was an exchange student from a very young age or something, and therefore still grew up in Japan.
Good, thorough analysis here. You even included a reference to Haunted Castle, which means you had to PLAY Haunted Castle. If that's not dedication, I don't know what is.
Haha, thanks! I just really like this series.
Really awesome review, AJ! I picked up the Advanced collection after watching the Castlevania animated series on Netflix. Still working my way through it, but Aria of Sorrow will be the first Castlevania I ever beat, and really ever played (I played maybe an hour of Lord of Shadow & SotN years ago on the 360). Playing Viewtiful Joe last year really triggered a desire for me to play a lot of these games I missed out on. AoS really is fantastic, I'm going to have to make a video on it once I beat it.
Viewtiful joe is such a good series
Thanks man! Glad you enjoyed it. And yeah, I feel like a lot of the early 2000's games are an absolute treasure trove of enjoyment. Viewtiful Joe was great as well.
@@REblll Suplex to anyone who don't like viewtiful joe
I love that Bloodstained's shard system is pretty much Aria's soul system
Yeah, it's nearly identical haha.
I really like your coverage. I don't know if care for feedback, sorry if not. I feel you go over the same point over and over in your videos. In this one, it's the "stat souls" thing. In Harmony of Dissonance, you go on and on about the music quality. And then you go on about HoD music in *this* video. Sometimes you use the literal exact same words to make the same point multiple times. A point like "music helps with immersion" doesn't need to be made. I'd argue your scripts could be 1/3 to even 1/2 shorter. Showing more and telling less would help with this. But I love your energy and passion, it comes across so well in your videos which is why I've watched a whole bunch. Hope to see your channel grow.
I appreciate the feedback. Typically, I'm not looking for advice, but that's not to say I won't heed it if I'm able. Typically, when I write these scripts, I don't have anyone who reads them. Occasionally I'll shoot'em over to a friend of mine, but for the most part, I just write my thoughts, then record my thoughts. Usually while recording, I make changes on the fly, which honestly could be good or bad. Sometimes, I'll make a change, because something I wrote doesn't sound natural when I speak it aloud, but it's also possible those on the fly changes could lead to a duplicate point or something.
Ultimately though, when you mentioned my passion, I think that's really the central part to all of it. A majority of my videos are things I just genuinely enjoy, and because of that, I write them, and then speak them, in a way that I would normally speak with say.. a group of friends. In those situations, it's possible that one might repeat things from time to time, just because their gushing about whatever topic they're talking about. Those conversations are natural, because, well, we don't typically speak on a script haha. Now, obviously I know that this is UA-cam, and I'm creating videos, so that gives me every opportunity to edit, tweak, and prevent that kind of stuff from happening, but I do think that those types of "mistakes" helps show my authenticity towards how much I care about whatever it is I'm talking about, if that makes sense haha.
That being said, I AM always looking to improve my videos, and I do think that over time (especially if you watch them in release order), you'll see that I have. Originally, I know I came off as a lot more stiff, just because talking to a camera in your living room is far from the most natural thing haha. I will definitely try to not repeat stuff as often in the future though, but no promises that it won't happen from time to time too haha. Regardless, I do appreciate the kind words, so thanks again!
I can't tell if this guy is 22 or 42.
Bro if I got to meet Soma in 2035 that would be crazy
I don’t understand how you’re dying with Richter in one hit in SOTN reverse castle. Did you just skip all health upgrades intentionally?
Aria of Sorrow was the second Igavania game I ever played, the first being SOTN and to this day it is my favorite. SOTN, Dawn of Sorrow, Order of Ecclesia, even Bloodstained, receive nowhere near the level of love I have for this game. Fantastic review as always. Can't wait to see what you do next
Yeah there really is something just so special about Aria. LIke Dawn and Bloodstained are REALLY good, but obviously the core ideas for both those games started right here with Aria, and some things I think are even better. (Like, as silly as it is, I always disliked how in Dawn of Sorrow the Claim Solais became this big slow swinging sword, so I just... never bothered to use it?)
I wish I felt the same. Aria is a close 2nd for me behind SotN, and that’s only because I can’t get over the charm of SOTN. That game has the best castlevania soundtrack and one of the best videogame soundtracks in general and the atmosphere that the game gave off is honestly second to none for me, even after all the other castlevania games. Alucard is also sick af. I still love aria though
I still can't understand why everyone call the lesser status souls uselless when all of them add to thr Headhunter soul...
Well, sure they can be used to help ever so slightly boost the Headhunter Soul, but it doesn't change the fact that acquiring them AFTER you already have better stat souls is a disappointment. Each soul should have its own purpose, and not be relegated to just making a totally different soul slightly better.
I'm currently playing through Aria of Sorrow for the very first time and i'm really enjoying it.
It very much feels like a love letter for Castlevania fans, somewhat nostalgic but fresh at the same time.
The graphics are beautiful, animated wonderfully and very colourful.
The sound is great too, pumping that glorious bass through my earphones.
Aria of Sorrow is fast becoming my favourite Castlevania game, i'm having a blast playing it, and exploring the castle and slaying the many monsters along the way is so much fun.
Excellent video bro, highly enjoyed it 👍
Yeah, I think describing it as a love letter for Castlevania fans is pretty accurate, for sure. It's definitely one of the ones I can play pretty endlessly.
Thanks for the kind words, dude!
@ 17:38 He does his legendary OMNIA VERITAS! Now you have the name 🙂
Omnia Vanitas
but thanks to your comment i found its name
Just found your channel a bit ago and been binging all your vids, love your stuff
Right?! Dude should have way more subs
Eyyy, thanks! Honestly makes my day to read that haha.
Thanks! What a great video !
P.s. as for your secret question… nay, I really dislike those… but hey, I wouldn’t be mad or anything if you choose to do them, follow your heart !
Glad you enjoyed it! And yeah as for the question, no worries, I respect your opinion. Essentially, the idea was/is to keep them in the same style I do all my other videos in. IE, scripted and actually edited. So even though they'd be "shorts" they wouldn't be like like just me holding my phone or and doing a Tik Tok style video, they'd still have some ... for lack of a better word "quality" to them, with edits and the like. Basically just figured there are SOME games that I think it'd be cool to highlight and draw attention to but that don't necessarily need their own 8-20 minute deep dive, and to go alongside this random coffee theme I've apparently put myself into with the JAVA reviews, they'd be Expresso Reviews. Small, quickly digestable videos but retaining my own personal style haha.
Truth be told, I haven't finished fleshing out the idea yet, but thought it could be something to perhaps suppliment my other vids (and in no way replace them), but we'll just have to see. Time is a big factor, and if making things like that ever prevented me from making THESE videos, well, then I wouldn't even bother making the short ones haha.
@@SimplyAJ makes sense, I would be interested to see quality shorts, I admit you’re making me curious
The shorts I’ve seen up to no are… heh, I’m sure you’ve seen them
Keep it up! Cheers !
Awesome, in-depth and enthusiastic review! I’d love to see what you think about the other, non-GBA, Castlevanias. Like the NES trilogy, Rondo and Castlevania 4. I’d like to see your reviews on the Bloodstained games too. I know you only have so much time, and videos require a lot of it, but that’d be awesome to see.
This is great stuff man. Thanks again and Big Ups!
Thanks so much man! Glad you've been liking my Castlevania stuff. So, truth be told, I AM going to cover basically like EVERY Castlevania game. In fact, I've been replaying them all in my free time (finished up the first 4 just the other day). I did JUST release an "Expresso Review" on Castlevania Bloodlines a few days ago, but I'll still be making a full on JAVA for that as well.
I just haven't quite decided the order I want to do them in. I thought of maybe touching back to the classics on the NES first, then doing the DS games, or who knows maybe I'll cover the 16-bit ones first. We'll see. And yeah, it only makes sense to throw Bloodstained in there as well. Again, all iin due time of course. The only reason I haven't released more Castlevania videos yet is cause I was afraid of pigeonholing myself as JUST a Castlevania guy, so I do want to try to do them here and there, but yeah.
I've now taken entirely too many words to simply say "yes, I'm going to do that" but, yes I'm going to do that haha. Thanks again for the sub and support!
@@SimplyAJ Lol hey I get it. And I understand not wanting to pigeonhole yourself as a Castlevania guy. Regardless, I dig your review style and look forward to your future work. Big Ups and thank you for the response!
as a kid i bought the bundle that has this and harmony of dissonance on one cartridge, i first tried harmony of dissonance, i was like "wtf is this crap" i then tried aria of sorrow, the graphics alone looked so much better, it was like comparing a gba game (aria) to an old orgininal game boy game, it was like night and day. looking back at it, harmony is still a pretty decent game, its just mindblowing to me that two games on the same system look so drastically different in quality.
Spoiler warning for people who haven't played this game but still see this comment.
This game is incredible! I have not completely beaten it since the last thing I did was the Julius fight, but WOW!
I only have a few gripes:
First, there's a couple misleading and cryptic lines of dialogue. You can go back to the start of the game and the girl will tell you tips from Arikado, one of them being something along the lines of "Running into a waterfall at full speed and with stopped time will break through it." This is a lie. There's no need to stop time and the black panther soul won't break through the waterfall to the Forbidden Area (which was a letdown in it's own right, since I found it blocked off early on and thought there was something really scary there. It's called the forbidden area, yet there's not even a boss iirc). Instead you need to use one of a few bullet souls, which sucks because the soul system is random and again, you're most likely not going to have the soul you need.
There's also the "Beautiful Nightmare" line in one of the Dracula books. The enemy you defeat for the soul isn't a nightmare, but succubus (despite the fact that beauty is subjective and there's an enemy literally called NIGHTMARE.)
Second, you get the black panther soul WAY too late. It makes backtracking much more tedious than it needs to be, since by the time you get it in a first playthrough you may have 95+% of the map completed (like me).
Third, the underground cemetery isn't well conveyed in it's location. It's simply off the beaten path like any any other location despite being a cool set piece and literally required to get the true ending (because of the fire demon soul needed for the true ending). It was literally the last area I discovered since it was followed by "Big character reveal- quick, get him!" and followed "Annoying water level with constant soul switching and cryptic level set pieces" (Like I said in my waterfall complaint).
The last one is probably my fault, but I do wish you had the option to more quickly switch souls.
Aaaaannnd.... That's basically it. It sounds like a lot, but those are all nitpicks that basically don't matter on a second playthrough since you can circumnavigate them.
This game's climax (imo) was the Julius fight and OH MY GOD!!! It's my favorite boss in any video game from *at least* the past year! The way his bada$$ theme starts, the high but not unfair difficulty, the character and motivation reveal that follows it, the way his grand cross move literally destroys parts of the castle in the background, the callbacks to his sub weapons, the role reversal of YOU fighting a Belmont, it's all just SO GOOD!
I am *REALLY* glad SimplyAJ didn't spoil that fight while still demonstrating the theme of Julius.Once I heard that guitar drop, I knew I was in for the real deal.
It took a long time for the game to click, but now that it has I can finally see why it gets so much praise, and I have nothing but hype for the rest of the series!
Yeah, I try my best to talk about everything that I think is important or awesome, without giving the ENTIRE game away via footage haha.
I do agree that getting the black panther late can be a bit of a bummer, but at the same time, if you had any earlier, it would absolutely trivialize certain parts of the castle.
To the point about the books, I think that it's implied by the devs that you're supposed to have fought a huge array of monsters by that point before getting them, and have been using the in-game bestiary. The "beautiful nightmare" is the description given to the succubus enemy; however everything else you mentioned is a valid criticism.
There's some additional equipment added in Hard mode including a gun that is less shitty.
Hell ya! Been waiting for this!!
Super well done! Please do Warioland next :D
I actually REALLY like Warioland. Well, the first one, anyway!
The algo brought me here after another Castlevania collection. Extremely blessed.
Commenting to placate the UA-cam gods
I appreciate the view and comment! Honestly been pretty surprised by the bump in views after the Dominus Collection, just happy to see people finding my extremely small corner of UA-cam haha.
As soon as you finished explaining the soul system, I was like "damn this is bloodstained rotn" and sure enough you said it too lool
Also, go for the shorts! They all the rage nowadays
Yeah, like once you play Aria you definitely realize that Bloodstained was totally inspired by it haha.
Currently playing through Aria for the first time and thought I'd check out some reviews. The hair and the smile drew me in, but I think I'm gonna stick around for the good content (and also the hair and the smile).
Aha I appreciate the compliment! Glad you're enjoying the content!
Very good comments about video game music. I totally agree with you!
Okay AJ, you have me intrigued.
I uh, hope that's a good thing? haha
New to the channel,great job.
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it.
15:30 what with this... Git with spear on bloodlines
This video is perfect. Well covered!
Thank you so much!
Im really into this game the most, of the 3 gba games. I like them all though. Great review! ❤️🖤
Good review my second favorite of Castlevania series.
Thanks so much! Glad you've been enjoyin' the CV reviews.
Yooo are you gonna review the Dominus Collection?
Mmm, MAYBE? I wouldn't have much more to add to them that I didn't already say in each individual games review, aside from "this is probably the best way to play these games now" haha. I could see myself covering the two Haunted Castle games, cause that'd be entirely new.
If, after a while, we find out that there have been some changes to each game worth noting (like, adjusting drop rates or something), then maybe I'd make a video going over all the new changes. So, yeah, we'll see!
I'm going to raise every eyebrow in the comments section by saying, but here goes: I think that Aria of Sorrow is the weakest and most overrated entry in the GBA trio of games...you still here? Then let me explain as to why I think that.
First off, the soul system is both the best and worst thing about the game. On one hand, it allows for a fair bit of replayability, as you're likely to try out new equipment and soul combinations with each subsequent playthrough. However, the fact that the soul system takes center stage means that the rest of the game suffer for it. Not only is the game both incredibly easy and incredibly short, but so many pieces of equipment require you to use abilities that you get two or three areas later, meaning that these items will only become useful yesterday.
On top of all of that, most of the souls and weapons are situational at bestand, as you mentioned with the enchant souls, will usually be made obsolete very quickly. But it's not just the enchant souls, but all of the soul types as well. Also, as previously mentioned, much of the non-endgame equipment isn't that good to begin with.
And then there's the bosses. Can I talk about the bosses? Oh please let me talk about the bosses. I've been dying to talk about the bosses all day! And what I want to say is this: ALL BUT three of them suck. The first four bosses are just enemies you'll fight later. And I'm not talking in the "Demoted Mook" sense where, as bosses, they are difficult but they're not as much of a threat as you become stronger as the game progresses, I mean that these feel like regular enemies that they used because they couldn't think of a boss for ther first four areas in time. As for the remaining bosses, the only three that are actually fun to fight are The Headhunter, Death and Balore. the rest? Unmitigated garbage.
Basically, I'm far from being against people singing praises for Aria of Sorrow, but you will never find me singing along with them. And with that, I fully expect to find a pipe bomb in my mailbox tomorrow morning courtesy of all of the AoS fans.>;P
Honestly, I'd say you have a fair point about the bosses. Especially when you think about the bosses in say... Circle of the Moon. Twin Dragon Zombies, Adramelech, hell even Hugh feel like really solid bosses. The Necromancer being like "Death Jr" but fought as the second boss in the game is also pretty neat. Where as with Aria, yeah, a lot of these bosses are just enemies, and seeing them elsewhere in the castle IS pretty lame haha.
That being said, I do still adore the game, buuut, I will say sometimes it feels like IGA never "recovered" from the Soul System. Using it again in Dawn of course, and then the watered down version AKA, Glyph System from Ecclesia. Portrait at least had a ton of sub weapons and what not, but then he fell right back into the Soul System with Bloodstained Ritual of the Night. So it's definitely one of those systems that, while it IS really good, and IS fun, it's become a tad overdone over the years as well (not that that can really be a fault of ARIA though, since ya know, it's like old as hell now haha)
@@SimplyAJ Yeah, the soul system concept has become a little overdone, but hey, at least it got better with time, eh?
That being said, even though I consider this game the weakest of the GBA games, it's still an obectively good game and can appreciate it for what it is, what it does and what it wanted to be and that it should be given a shot by any and all new players to the game.
4:18 LOL perfect
Aria of Sorrow is way better than Symphony of the Night.
Great review! ❤
Aha thanks so much!
Ok fine I’ll pass through all the advance castlevania again
How is your hair both messy and organized at the same time?
Towel dry hair after shower, add "Enjoy Clay Medium Flexible Hold" to finger tips. Style accordingly. Finish with a little Paul Mitchel Elastic Shaping Paste. Whole process takes like 3 minutes haha.
this is the only gba era castlevania game i havent played!
Duuuuuude. Ya gotta fix that! In fact.... m-maybe it's time to dust off the ol' Steering Wheel again?
You've definitely got me hyped up to play this, AJ. I really look forward to a run (or two) of Aria. Great work, AJ.
Yeah dude, lemme know your thoughts once ya get through it!
Aria of sorrow is the best game in the series. Only downside is the luck based drops for the souls.
That's it. That's the only thing "wrong" with the game.
Dawn of sorrow is also pretty good
3:16 This is not the first full solar eclipse of the 21st century and it's not even the first one of it's cycle. 3:34 The shadow of the eclipse is also wrong. According to solar eclipse calendar, the shadow should be on the upper right side of the sun instead of the lower right.
I've seen ProJared use the gun on Julius Belmont. You'd think a gun would seriously harm a human character when it for some reason doesn't.
A man that is definitely not Alucard XD. 6:55 I didn't know there was a doll ability.
I didn't know Harmony of Dissonance had audio issues. It's been a long time since I played that.
You look British
Please don’t cuss it is rude ok
Bro they’re just words, chill
You should have so many subs man.
Aha, I appreciate it. Hopefully, one day the algorithm will work in my favor haha