Completed Portrait of Ruin.
I usually prefer two handed swords in Castlevania games for their reach, overhead pattern and damage. But in this installment I ended up using Heaven Sword most of the game, switching to Flame Whip and Vampire Slayer at later stages.
After beating the four paintings, you just have a set of bosses left. First, there’s optional Memory of the Whip, which is Richter from Super Castlevania. He can kill you in 5-6 hits, his whip is super quick and has a very good range. I ended up stocking on potions and just kiting him at a range. He basically runs into your weapon, and then you can backdash. With his whip, I just overpowered Brauner, not messing with all his painting magic. It’s impressive technologically how he draws a pattern on a canvas, then the same pattern covers the screen damaging you, but I don’t have patience for this shit.
Then there’s the Dracula and Death duo. Honestly, I think that’s one of the thoughtests bosses I had to face in Castlevania games. Death hovers above Dracula making it difficult to jump over him, hits you while you try to dodge the usual fireballs, can be hit only in double jump, and generally, a pain in the ass. Then there are some Dracula attacks that simply one-shot you.
I’m not sure if it’s the necessity of double jumps, or just the intensity of this fight, but I felt that the controls were very sluggish, like there’s a lag every time I press a button. Maybe it’s the Dominus Collection, or just me. At least the game itself didn’t lag, like the Order of Eclessia when I played it on the original console.
Or maybe the developers intended that you’d attempt this fight only after finishing all the quests. But with the quests such as “kill 1500 enemies with the Javelin skill”, no, thank you very much.
If it wasn’t for the two inverted paintings, and the frustrating final fight, I’d say the game was fantastic. But all in all – I’m not sure.
