Insane Difficulty: Castlevania - Symphony of the Night - HardType v4.6 - Insane Difficulty

Allerius, on 27 May 2016 - 04:46 PM, said:

uhm, basically you ask to nerf everything... the problem is everybody know SOTN is not famous for a good balance, you can exploit the game with 80% of stuff you find in the castle.
The whole damage formula should be balanced, and possibly the AI of enemies in general.
I agree about putting some goddam invincible frame to bosses at least, anyway

Allerius, on 27 May 2016 - 05:01 PM, said:

Hex editing.

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No. As I know.

This is probably a dumb question, but I assume this mod does not work with Gemini's translation? Since that one was done to the Japanese version?

Also, I notice there were text changes--is that to the script or to menu/item stuff?

I was literally just complaining about how ridiculously easy this game was (especially the 2nd half), so I'd really like to give this a shot, but I just kind of want an idea of the (for lack of a better term) quality of life I should be expecting regarding some previous patches' improvements.

Hello guys, I have advice to maximize difficulty :

Start a "Luck Mode" with that mod, get Cheat Engine, find adress of "Luck" stat value, change it from 99 to something lower, to get rid of overpowered "Critical Hits". I've set "Luck" to 12, like in standard game, and I'm not touching Lapis Lazuli too.

hehe after some thinking I've set it to 0, it is still increasing every lvl up

Nice, SotN is one of my favorite games but I always thought you become too strong too fast in it, what with the crammed in leveling up system and whatnot.
Definitely will take a look at this in the future.

Completed and enjoyed. I don't understand the "re-balanced mp cost of shield rod spells" point, given that the shield rod is 2-handed now. Is there any other way to cast these spells?

the only complaints I have for this mod is that the normal castle is still too easy, making the jump in difficulty from normal to the reverse castle too sudden IMO. Also I feel that defensive equipment is useless in the reverse castle, given how strong enemies are, does it matter that you die in 4 hits as opposed to 5? better to dodge attacks away and use the most offensive accesories.

well an extra hit changes something, still that's not the point: i saw my bro play this mod, but no matter how much you tweak enemies/equip parameters, SOTN is too much easy as a game... unless you change AI and other stuff, the game will always be too much easy.

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I think the game is very easy, because we have Save Ponts every couple rooms, that restores full Health. May be it is possible to try to make such a mod, in which HP is not restores in the save points, and call this mod Survival Mod. Even without changed stats of enemies it would be not so easy to survive in this mod. This can make SOTN in ten times more interesting.

Razi, on 24 July 2016 - 12:31 PM, said:

As far Soul Steal will exist, you'll never have problems of HP, except really FEW exceptions. if absorbed HP globes would just heal 1 HP and absorbtion circlets would be banished from the face of the universe, then it would be a bit more reasonable.

Tenkarider, on 24 July 2016 - 03:39 PM, said:

It is too much. Then it will be too complicated Hardcore mod. And how are you going to restore health? Without Save Points and Soul Steal. With the help of an elixir, which costs eight thousand?

Razi, on 25 July 2016 - 07:28 PM, said:

With consumables, which you find in an overwhelming quantity, expecially throwing weapons
Besides Alucard is a Dhampire, not a warrior tank: you're supposed to dodge enemy attacks, not to survive from them... if an avg player can survive just rushing through the castle then it's not that hard, after all.
on a side note there wouldn't be need of remove Soul Steal if the HP globes would give u just 1 HP

PS. i never said the save points were that much determinating to the difficulty of the game, according to what i saw from my bro, save points never made a real difference in his gameplay... Mystic Pendant and Soul Steal yes, expecially during boss fights

We just have different tastes. You prefer more challenging game. I prefer to make the game closer to the original. That is why, I prefer Hardtype version 1.0. Where items was not altered.

Razi, on 27 July 2016 - 01:53 AM, said:

Well... it's an hardtype mod!

Hello, I've come here to say I just finished the game with your hard type v3.1, and gotta say..I'm impressed. The game is far harder and fun to play now, bosses have good hp to compensate the stun animations of some of them (doppleganger 10, 40, karasuman, etc). Also good job on the club weapons, they are far more balanced now, and you can't cancel the dash with a shield while using them too I noticed, very good balance since they are so fast(most of them).
However in my opinion this mode can improve in some aspects..For one ; Without the duplicator, leveling up past lvl 70 is impossible now, so either balancing the enemies exp points is a thing or you could bring the duplicator back in a future patch, and make it possible to obtain only after beating all bosses, or completing the bestiary for example, as a reward! I think it'd make the duplicator become far more valuable! And make it only a thing in that save file. Oh yea, about the bestiary, enemy list needs an update dude, it still has the regular version's stats into it, would be cool to take a look at the new stats from the enemy list. Another thing, the katana class weapons, they are waaayy too weak when compared to the original game..I mean, they even have the same moveset as the regular sword class..Imo you should bring their animations back, yea,the two hit one, and lower the damage a bit, like lower it 25%, will be just fine. And balance a weapon called marsil, make it deal less than a firebrand, since it hits 3 times in one swing ; I'm using it atm, and steam rolling all bosses nonetheless the new damage and hp balance ( Still a challenge even with marsil, although muuuuch easier).
But again, this version made my day, made the game become what I always wanted it to be, thank you very much!

LandonRay, on 19 November 2014 - 10:08 AM, said:

Landon, hi, please check my last comment,and dude, I'll make a lot of videos on your mod, my channel has 170 subs, but, I"ll make it either way, to promote your content , thanks for the mod!

So does this hack work on real hardware? Am really hoping it does...would be rather sloppy if it didn't...

I've noticed you re-inserted some weapons and altered them instead of removing them. That makes me interested in this hack again.
I hope you re-insert more stuff, and change their functionality. I will test the hack later today and post my finding in regards to weapon functionality and game mechanics.


*update*

I played through almost the first half of the game using the luck cheat, and doing a no HP MAX UP challenge. It took me at least 8 hours. I died at least 50 times if not more. Most bosses that are along the normal casual route could kill me in 2 hits. I cursed a lot, but it made me see the game like I haven't seen it in a long time, as well as shown me that I'm not as good at it as I thought I was. I recorded the whole thing and I plan to do so until the end. I'll update my findings when I'm done.

I linked to your hack on my website because I'm so impressed with it. I hope that's okay, and if not I'll remove it:
https://sites.google...ght-ps1-psp-360


*update2*
Finished the game. Sort of. Couldn't be arsed to beat dracula since he's an asshole.
Here's my opinion:

1) Weapons
- The osafune katana is OP as fuck. It does high damage, it's special costs no mp, you are completely invincible during the move, and can chain it into the same move back to back for infinite invincibility.
It was very useful during the last part of my run and it sped up the process, so I'm kind of glad it was in there. I do suggest nerfing the damage some.
- The moon rod special is perhaps too strong, but I also think it eats too much MP. It's a fun move to cancel with transformations, and having high MP cost demotivates players from using it.
- The Rapier that you get from the lightning skeletons in the library is too strong. At least on luck mode. It carried me through at least half of the game, because it's special hits multiple times in a short time, and has a pretty good chance of doing critical hits, which increases damage by 10x on some occasions.
- What you did with the crisseagrim was nice, and I felt it was kind of a "fuck you" to people who normally abuse it. Had a good chuckle about it. However at the end of the game, at level 47, with 2 STR+10 rings, it was too weak compared to the osafune katana and some other high end weapons.

2) 2 handed weapons
I really dislike how so many weapons are 2 handed. This because some weapon combinations have interesting special moves that can affect eachother if you execute them simultaneously. It is an advanced technique and that's why I feel all weapons should be made 1 handed. Even the greatswords, mostly because it makes the combat a little bit more interesting because you can combine specials. I suggest nerfing their damage instead.

3) Compensating for unfair boss attacks
I ran into some bosses that have attacks that can hit you 2 times in a row without you being able to escape, because the low defense values throw you back hard. This results in receiving damage twice so to be fair, I think these attacks should be nerfed a bit to compensate:
- Colloseum boss where the weretiger balls into you, which launches you into the wall, and then he comes at you again from above before you can recover. The weretiger's punch punch projectile combo also is a 1hKO
- The frankenstein with the hammer, roll into you, blows you back in the corner, and then rolls into you again. Meaning double damage, and in my case a 1HKO


Other attacks that are 1hKO on luck mode + no HP MAX UP run
- the mummy in the reverse castle has a throw attack that was a 1hKO for me because it hits 3 times (at least)
- Death has the attack where 2 blue skulls come at you really fast. I wasn't able to find a way to prevent myself from getting hit and being able to counterattack. If it does hit when MP runs out from misting all the time, then it meant a 1hKO
- Richter's air dash special comes out super fast without any indication, and if it hits It's a 1hKO
- The blue summoning demon boss in the library has a ground attack where he shoots a projectile forward. It was a 1hKO for me
- The big bat boss in the reverse castle, (to the left of where you enter the reverse castle) has a spinning drill attack that is a 1hKO

4) Missing some weapons
I really missed some weapons like the blue knuckle which has a cool fireball and punch flurry special. These are really fun to use because they can be combined with other weapon specials. Please, please put them back in.


5) Questions on modding the game.
I'm very interested in what you are able to edit, especially regarding special moves, for weapons, and spells. Are you able to edit if they are cancellable or not? I'm interested in making a mod that makes the gameplay more technical, for example I'd like to be able to cancel alucard's teleport special by transforming, and shorten the time it takes to transform. Or add different combinations of weapon specials to weapons that don't have them.

Could you explain how you achieved these changes and what you think would be possible in this regard?
Would you be willing to teach me?

Kind regards

I'm surprised that Soul Steal didn't got the nerf bat.

Sorry guys, i feel like it's an obvious thing, but can't find anywhere the instructions for install the patch.
Can you help me?
Thank's a lot

http://www.romhackin.../utilities/356/

Run the patch through this on the rom and you're done