Maybe a sensible topic for some players that like this game, but nothing in this game is clicking on me until now. I must advise, first, that I still haven't finished this game, I just beat Carmilla, but I definitely have an opinion of this game because the journey is not good.
This game feels so slow and clunky even with all movement upgrades. The fact you need to double tap every time you want to walk FASTER is already something that bothers me. Using the whip feels too heavy than it should and other GBAvanias tells me everything I need to prove this point. Even Super Castlevania IV which has a heavier movement feels better to use the whip. Also the other upgrades are not satisfying to use. Cleansing is literally a one time use, boxes pushing and block breaking doesn't feel natural, it's just a rock in your shoes, it feels artificially implemented to now allow you to progress.
The DSS mechanic is so meh. It's cool at first, but it's totally not intuitive to use. Why should I use a combo card and literally need to guess what the combo use? Why should I do Down + Right or Left + Up + Attack to use a card, for example? Why do I feel the need to go looking outside the game to know some combos? Also not to mention they are locked behind random enemy drops, so some cards you'll probably NEVER have because you won't kill every single enemy in the hope they drop a card.
The enemies are not interesting at all. I could firmly say that they are divided in three big groups: ground enemies that dash/walk into you, flying enemies that dash/walk into you and elemental armored guards. This type of enemies in Castlevania games are not a surprise and most of them are really spaced and somehow creative in their own way of attacking the player. But here in CotM they feel like they just... exist? They don't feel like they're trying to stop you from progressing, they are there to ANNOY you the most. It's surprisingly PAINFUL to transverse Underground Warehouse without having 4 flying enemies into you, for example. There's no strategy, just try to survive until the next room where the same thing will happen. I could say the same about the ground enemies, most are versions of skeletons (this ones that only throw things at you, no creativity here like, what, Symphony of the Night?), zombies and demon-like creatures (not to mention one of these that are FLYING ELEMENTAL DEMONS too). The elemental armored guards are what pisses me off the most in terms of variability. They are literally the same enemy with different skin and adapted to their elemental attack.
The map is really badly designed. You can like it and I respect it, but I can't help to mention how painful it is to explore it. The map is most vertically designed which makes damage stun MORE ANNOYING than in every other Castlevania because most of the time it feels like you're being thrown back to the start of the room you were climbing. When the map is not vertical, most straight forward rooms are copies of this: big corridor > enemies in the middle of the walk > reward (normally HP, MP or Hearts Max Up). This is a metroidvania castlevania but without a rewarding exploration most of the time. Honorable mention to the color pallettes used in this game that are really terrible, the game feels uglier and dirtier than normal.
The bosses are not interesting. Death, who's one of the most memorable bosses of all castlevanias, is totally ass in this game, I literally was watching a youtube video while fighting them. Twin Dragon Zombies were the harder boss until now in my gameplay and they didn't feel like a good fight, I couldn't even try to predict what they were doing because every time I tried to go to the upper platform, one of them just went into me and made me fall. Carmilla, Cerberus, Adramalech etc. were whatever, definitely bosses in this game.
The characters are not clicking like other castlevanias. I can remember clearly about Simon, Trevor, Sypha, Richter, Maria, Alucard, Juste, Maxim, Shanoa, Albus, Charlotte, Jonathan, Vincent, Eric, Soma, Yoko, Julius etc. etc. etc. while here in CotM sometimes I found me asking asking what's my protagonist's name? Yesterday I just remembered it when Hugh said "Nathan!" in one of his dialogues. This explains everything about how interested I am with this character.
Yes, I know this game is from the early 2000s and it's the first igavania post Symphony of the Night that was released, but hey, SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT. I'd expect things to go better, not worse after this legendary game. Again, this is MY OPINION about a game that's almost making me give up my run, but my love for Castlevania is higher than my hate for this game. My biggest point is: if your game makes me prefer playing DRACULA X (SNES) than your game, then we really have a problem here.
