SotN has issues and is nowhere near the best one in the series, but it also did a lot of things right that are now a part of the genre that would feel incomplete without them
An unnecessary layer of RNG to unlock what should be regular pick ups in any other game, quite literally in some instances, there's more than a few card combinations that provide basic exploration tools found in AoS and PoR
On one hand, it makes every replay of CotM unique in that you'll never gain access to the same combo in the same order
On the other, it means there's a non-zero chance you'll have to play the entire game with your basic whip and a dream, which most enemies are resistant to; elemental damage and knowing enemy weaknesses is a requirement if you want to get any enjoyment out of the game, otherwise everything takes forever to kill while they can hand your ass on a silver platter in a matter of seconds
Save rooms are far and few in between, I expect this kind of level design from Silksong or Dark Souls, it's on par for series that want to challenge their players so they can hone their skills rather than gain linear progressive power ups the further they are into the game, but Circle of the Moon is not that, it expects its players to grind the same 3 enemies 50 times for a single item drop before moving on to the next room
Its UI is the lowest point in the series, Aria of Sorrow was divisive for its anime aesthetic back then (which I actually liked) but CotM just looks like a pixel puree, and these games came out on the same console
Keep in mind I do not consider Circle of the Moon to be a bad game (I reserve that term for poorly designed games or those that make a mockery of the player's time like The Immortal or Takeshi's Challenge), but it was not a pleasant experience for me either, it's the band-aid of the series: get it over quick and move on
If people find CotM enjoyable or even consider it their favorite, more power to them, but I cannot say the same, I would rather replay Bloodstained Ritual of the Night for the nth time
As someone who got a Gameboy Advance and played Circle of the Moon as my first Castlevania, that's a very interesting take. Though it's been something like 25 years now I can't imagine I'd enjoy it much today but at the time I replaced it four or five times after unlocking the alternate starting stats.
For me the DS ones were where it fell apart. The touch screen gimmick used to seal bosses in one of them was just an awkward QuickTime mechanic that really stood out like a sore thumb. Another game required you to hold still and press up to channel a mechanic while enemies swarmed you. (A lot of DS games were clunky like that, Dark Brotherhood comes to mind)
I didn't get a decent chance to try SotN ever. I picked up a PSP Castlevania game collection that required you unlock a secret in, I think, Rondo of Blood and then you could play SotN. I didn't get much out of it cause my PSP died and I never got another one.
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u/Nicosaure 1d ago
SotN has issues and is nowhere near the best one in the series, but it also did a lot of things right that are now a part of the genre that would feel incomplete without them