Category: Past Blasts

Past Blast: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

by Sally Mettson, posted in Past Blasts

1997 was an important year for video games, Final Fantasy VII was released that year, and we all know the impact that particular game made. As did Quake 2, GoldenEye and Megaman Legends. There are similarities in the games that were just listed, as they were all in 3D. This was the trend back in 1997, hardware was becoming capable enough to add that much lusted after extra dimension. Then came along Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – a 2D platforming title. In this 3D era, would this game really make an impact?

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, Symphony of the Night is a game where you play as the son of Dracula, Alucard, trying to stop his father from being brought back to life. It starts you off by throwing you into a HUGE castle, and doesn’t really give you any more instructions beyond that. A type of gameplay known nowadays as “Metroidvania”, akin to how the original wave of Metroid games play. There’s really not much to the story apart from some terribly voiced dialogue and some text at the start. Though, out of the small amounts of dialogue there is, one of the most well-remembered pieces is: “What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets.”

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This particular Castlevania title was also the start of a new era of Castlevania games that no longer followed the level-by-level approach, with the older games now being referred to as ‘Classicvania’. This game wasn’t a one-off type of Castlevania game – there isn’t enough memorable moments in the newer titles that make them as brilliant as Symphony of the Night either. So what exactly WAS the impact of SOTN?

Well, it spawned a cult following for starters. It wasn’t expected to sell as well in all territories, despite receiving a high amount of critical acclaim. Originally it was released on the PlayStation 1 and the Sega Saturn (Japan only), and didn’t have much hope for an American release, thus it had a much lower budget over there, which is really reflected back in the US advert. Nowadays it has been re-released on the PSN, Xbox Live Arcade, and came bundled with the PSP title “Dracula X Chronicles”, in which you need to do a convoluted task in order to unlock it – but it is there and it’s worth it. It also won multiple awards, including 4th best game ever made on EGM, and 16th on IGN’s list. Which isn’t bad for a black sheep game of its time.

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The Metroidvania games are amazing titles, all of them offer their own little bit of uniqueness, but as of late, there’s not really been any releases of this type. The last Castlevania game released was the monstrosity known as Lords of Shadows 2, which is 3D… No. Just no. Bring back the Metroidvanias, please. There’s a whole Facebook group dedicated to the continuing development of these types of games, well, 2D Castlevanias in general. It’s called Operation Akumajo, so if you’re like-minded, check them out. For now we have Koji Igarashi’s Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night to look forward to in 2018, and we all know that’s the closest we’re going to get for quite some time.

And if you haven’t checked out the Netflix show, that’s worth a go too…

Past Blast: Final Fantasy VII

by Sally Mettson, posted in Past Blasts

‘Past Blast’ is a new feature we’ll be running that looks back at games from the past in a brisk, and hopefully, entertaining manner. First up, well, it’s a small game called Final Fantasy VII…

What is there to write that hasn’t been written before about Final Fantasy VII? For over a decade it has been lavished with praise, provoked lengthy debates amongst gamers, and brought millions to tears. It is the most successful entry of the series dealing with the nature of identity, responsibility and loss. The story indulges the emotions while the gameplay rewards your perseverance.

There aren’t many games that do it like this anymore.

VII is a story that was always about balance. Nature versus artificial. Understanding versus the unknown. Love versus lost. Each side a real element we deal with in our day-to-day existence. And these battles echo through the game itself. Whether it’s the beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds fighting against the harsh, real-time, polygonal characters. Or the amazing crafted score battling with the technological limitation of the MIDI format. Or simply the battle element, trying to defeat your opponent for the greater good.

And yet the villains and heroes of the piece are not necessarily so one-sided. In this game, good and evil are simply not exclusive qualities to any character. Just like us, each character is flawed. Each person has made mistakes. Each individual believes they are doing what is right, and what needs to be done.

And it is these traits that makes playing back Final Fantasy VII in 2017 an immensely satisfying experience. Sometimes, a good game doesn’t need to have photo-realistic graphics. Sometimes a good game doesn’t need a full symphonic orchestra. The fact that this game is encapsulated in that PlayStation 1 era adds a certain charm and nostalgia that only intensifies as the game progresses.

And when you find yourself saving your game at one in the morning, thirty odd hours clocked up in a few days, then you realise something: for me to invest this much time in a game made in 1997, yes, it really has to have something special about it.

An indescribable quality perhaps. Just perhaps.

“Possibly the greatest game ever made…” said Gamefan many years ago. Looking back today, they may want to scratch that first word off.

Now, let’s see where that remake takes us.