Final Thoughts on Beating the Game

[BelphegorATS]

Well, everyone, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon II has released a few days ago and what a truly spectacular game it was. Throughout the past few days, I've been devoting a lot of time to it and I have to say, I am thoroughly impressed with how the developers at Inti-Creates constructed such a fun and challenging experience. Although I will admit it has cause some frustration, particularly during the Final Episode as a result of some confusion on my part (not knowing that I could gain the other allies by doing the stages they were on, thus losing to the bosses very easily) I enjoyed the entire experience. With regards to what I just said in parentheses, I am taking back what I've said in another thread and apologizing for having made that comment out of frustration. Plus, I want to thank everyone in the community for offering their experiences with the game, especially those who have helped me get through it.

Although, my only constructive criticism that comes out of that comment in better shape is that fighting the bosses over and over again can get tedious. The same could be said of the stages too. So perhaps in each of the episodes, each of the stages and bosses could have been altered to an extent so the gameplay could be kept fresh. Or we could've gone through new stages and gone up against some new bosses. The final bosses of each episode demonstrate this point well.

Still, I thoroughly enjoyed playing Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon II and would certainly think of playing it again at some point in the future. But having already beaten the game entirely, I will be moving onto other things. I did not unlock Episode EX due to having acquired the Zanmatou from Episode Two, nor did I unlock that other episode listed below the Final Episode. But regardless, I consider the game complete and I consider my playthrough in it complete, so I don't believe there is anything else to do in it unless the developers add more content. It's been quite an exceptional experience playing this game and I think of it as one of my favorites alongside Ritual of the Night and the first Curse of the Moon.

But like Zangetsu and his allies after having defeated the final boss, I think it's time for a rest from Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon II. And then onto whatever else catches my interest.

My only question that arises from it, though: How will Zangetsu and everyone else return home? Maybe this might be addressed if the developers create a third game in the Curse of the Moon canon. Otherwise, it will remain a mystery in a storyline that has already concluded.

Anyway, I'm done rambling on about my personal experience with this game, so feel free to share your own personal experiences. What did you think of this game overall and how did it shape your perception of how it functioned as a whole? What were your favorite moments that stood out to you? How did you overcome the challenges it presented and the frustration you felt towards those challenges? Did you beat the game and if so, how do you feel after beating it? Does it make you want to return to it at some point in the future? Do you believe you've completed everything you wanted to it in? Do you believe this game is a stunning work more people should play? Are you looking forward to more games in the Bloodstained universe?

With all that said, I want to thank the developers for having given us a sequel to a great game. And I want to thank the community again for sharing their experiences and coming together to enjoy a game we all appreciate and love. As well as those among the community who helped me overcome that particular frustration I felt during the Final Episode and answered additional questions I had. You are all incredible, and I am glad to be a part of this community.

[Keiyo]

I'll put my two cents in.

The biggest one to comment on is definitely the game's difficulty. It's a big step up from the previous game, but in weird ways. The first CotM game was designed so that Zangetsu alone could manage every boss and stage with a bit of practice, without being strenuous. CotM2 seems to lean more heavily on using your party members to achieve that same level of management, which I actually like to a degree, but what that means is that losing a member is a huge blow; during bosses or particularly tedious sections, I would actually just hit retry if I lost someone since the effort involved to struggle past them was absolutely not worth it. Hachi is perhaps the most notable character due to his hover, high hp, and invincibility, and I feel like the devs designed almost every situation with Hachi in mind because of how strong he is. The game might still be soloable with Zangetsu, but good lord they make you work for it (at least until you get Ultimate Zangetsu, and then he wrecks everything).

The next bit to comment on is the game's story. I personally like how much happier/hopeful the story is in this sequel. I get that Bloodstained and Castlevania are edgy and gloomy by nature, but every ending in CotM1 felt like a bad ending because of it. To me, stories about finding hope even in total despair are some of the best, and I think CotM2 did it quite well considering it's just a fun little side game. It made me want to keep playing even when I was fed up with the difficulty, which is a bit of a rarity, since I usually push through hard games out of sheer stubbornness (a la Dark Souls) just so the computer doesn't beat me.

I felt like the music was perhaps the weakest aspect of CotM2. Defiler of Taboos from CotM1 was an absolute banger, but none of the songs in CotM2 seemed to come even close to that, so they all ended up being pretty forgettable to me.

That's all the big stuff for me. The expanded stage routes were neat, getting the entire cast for the final episode was absolutely awesome, and overall the game had the same level of technical polish that I liked from the first. I'm hoping Bloodstained continues on, even if it's just the 8-bit games, because I feel like the Castlevania hole in the gaming world won't be properly filled by anything else.

[BelphegorATS]

Originally posted by Keiyo:

I'm hoping Bloodstained continues on, even if it's just the 8-bit games, because I feel like the Castlevania hole in the gaming world won't be properly filled by anything else.

Likewise, I believe Bloodstained is the best spiritual successor to Castlevania in my opinion. As it stands, though, and please keep in mind that I am going off of my own awareness, Bloodstained is the only series I know that can fill the void left behind by Castlevania's absence in the gaming industry. As of right now, currently, though it's possible there are others I am unaware of which fit the role or come as close to it as possible. Games like Hollow Knight could probably be potential candidates, though I have not really played those kinds of games and thus don't know myself if they could.

It is such a shame that Castlevania has left the gaming industry in this way. Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls was really the last game in the series that felt like it could have revived it. On the mobile gaming platform, possibly, as it was a mobile game. But while it was playable in both Canada and Japan, its global release was suddenly canceled and now it won't be supported anymore. It might even be terminated completely if access to the game is taken down with it. I'd link the video made by Jim Sterling on this particular game, but his video contains content that isn't appropriate to be put into the discussion thread. But I will provide the title of the video as follows so you can find it on YouTube:

"Konami Shuts Down New Castlevania Game Before It Could Even Launch Properly."

But whereas Konami is no longer interested in or concerned with Castlevania, the developers at Inti-Creates, ArtPlay, and 505 Games can work wonders with Bloodstained. Curse of the Moon's storyline was a thrilling experience which might have concluded with the sequel, and Ritual of the Night was so incredible that it breathed new life into the Castlevania void. After the first Curse of the Moon was released as a side project, so technically that game breathed new life via offering a great introduction to Bloodstained. I have a strong feeling there is still so much that can be done with Bloodstained and I am looking forward to whatever else the developers have in store. As far as major content goes, of course, for I am looking forward to Ritual of the Night's upcoming side content later this year. Not so much Curse of the Moon II's upcoming Boss Rush mode, I've had my fill of all the bosses from having fought them so many times in all three episodes, especially in the Final Episode when I fought them all while looking for the upgrade items.

Speaking of which, the recent Boss Revenge mode for Ritual of the Night has gotten some talk going over in the discussion threads for that game. Particularly about Bloodless since she was, and still is, very popular. Those of us who discussed her have been talking about her getting a mode of her own in which she becomes a playable character, if not the third playable character who has been teased, but a playable character who might be released either before or after the third playable character. If the developers do go that route with her. I myself proposed the idea that Bloodless could even get her own game in the series and at least one other person said so too if I recall correctly (it has been a while since we spoke about Bloodless, so maybe I might be misremembering if someone else had the same idea). I don't think that's likely since her own mode is more likely, and I am fine with that, though it could happen if the developers decide to do it.

[Crimsonbok]

Hopefully, we won't have to start a petition to get them home

[Arek the Dragon]

Do you plan (or already did) to complete final episode as solo Zangetsu now that you unlocked his ultimate form? The final fight is quite different and albeit longer, I like that version more.

[Icy Wind]

Originally posted by Keiyo:

The game might still be soloable with Zangetsu, but good lord they make you work for it

Not really a might be. The game's final mode is Single Mode which has you go through eight levels with just a single character of your choice. It's soloable with every character.

[BelphegorATS]

Originally posted by Arek the Dragon:

Do you plan (or already did) to complete final episode as solo Zangetsu now that you unlocked his ultimate form? The final fight is quite different and albeit longer, I like that version more.

No, I do not intend to since I believe I have already done everything I wanted in this game. Or at the very least, not at this time. I might do that at some point in the future just for fun, but for right now I consider myself finished with the game now that I have beaten it.

With regards to Episode EX, I don't think I'll do that either since I have seen it on YouTube. From the footage I've seen, it's pretty much the same as Episode Two, just with Miriam, Alfred, and Gebel instead of Robert and Hachi. Plus, the Zanmatou is made available right at the start of the episode since they give it to Zangetsu. And the cutscene at the end of the episode is just a slight variation of the end cutscene in Episode Two. There's not much difference that distinguishes this episode from Episode Two in my opinion, so I personally don't feel it warrants a playthrough.

I have already uninstalled the game and can install it again later whenever I want to play it again. But for right now, my current thought process is this: first, I am thinking about uninstalling Ritual of the Night for now until the developers put out an announcement regarding the release of new side content; and second, I want to defeat the final boss of Code Vein before uninstalling it. The reason for this is so that I can focus on other games I've got, as I have purchased other games just prior to Curse of the Moon II and have a number of other games from before.

But of the two, though, I might just keep Ritual of the Night installed so that it's ready for the side content. If and when the developers are finished putting out side content for this game, I probably will uninstall it after. Perhaps sometime during the first quarter of 2021 if they are finished at the end of 2020 and have started moving onto another project if they haven't started already. Though like with both Curse of the Moon games, I can install it again at a later time if I want to return to it.

[BelphegorATS]

Originally posted by Crimsonbok:

Hopefully, we won't have to start a petition to get them home

That depends. If the community desires a third Curse of the Moon, the developers might make it. Unless the developers have already made plans for a third Curse of the Moon sometime before or during Curse of the Moon II's development, which I think is unlikely. I personally believe Curse of the Moon's storyline has concluded with the second game, but I do think the true ending could be considered a cliffhanger of sorts for a possible third game. The only idea I can think of for the third game, if it's made or--as unlikely as it is--in development already, is that more demons start invading the moon to conquer it now that Sariel and his army were defeated, so Zangetsu and his allies would need to defend the moon by driving them away. And then make an attempt to return home so they can quell the demons for good. Unless the demons originate from elsewhere, which is quite unlikely in my opinion. But again, I think Curse of the Moon's storyline is finished. Which could allow the developers to make more projects for Bloodstained (see what I said above about Bloodless for an example).

[izumixpanda]

Originally posted by BelphegorATS:

Originally posted by Crimsonbok:

Hopefully, we won't have to start a petition to get them home

That depends. If the community desires a third Curse of the Moon, the developers might make it. Unless the developers have already made plans for a third Curse of the Moon sometime before or during Curse of the Moon II's development, which I think is unlikely. I personally believe Curse of the Moon's storyline has concluded with the second game, but I do think the true ending could be considered a cliffhanger of sorts for a possible third game. The only idea I can think of for the third game, if it's made or--as unlikely as it is--in development already, is that more demons start invading the moon to conquer it now that Sariel and his army were defeated, so Zangetsu and his allies would need to defend the moon by driving them away. And then make an attempt to return home so they can quell the demons for good. Unless the demons originate from elsewhere, which is quite unlikely in my opinion. But again, I think Curse of the Moon's storyline is finished. Which could allow the developers to make more projects for Bloodstained (see what I said above about Bloodless for an example).

The developers already commented that they'll make a third game if this game's sales support it. As far as the story goes, leave it to IGA to just pull something out of his rear end as always lol. It could be as simple as Demon X using team Zangetsu's trip to the moon to as an opportunity to take over earth leaving it for the returning heroes to retake.

[BelphegorATS]

Originally posted by izumixpanda:

Originally posted by BelphegorATS:

That depends. If the community desires a third Curse of the Moon, the developers might make it. Unless the developers have already made plans for a third Curse of the Moon sometime before or during Curse of the Moon II's development, which I think is unlikely. I personally believe Curse of the Moon's storyline has concluded with the second game, but I do think the true ending could be considered a cliffhanger of sorts for a possible third game. The only idea I can think of for the third game, if it's made or--as unlikely as it is--in development already, is that more demons start invading the moon to conquer it now that Sariel and his army were defeated, so Zangetsu and his allies would need to defend the moon by driving them away. And then make an attempt to return home so they can quell the demons for good. Unless the demons originate from elsewhere, which is quite unlikely in my opinion. But again, I think Curse of the Moon's storyline is finished. Which could allow the developers to make more projects for Bloodstained (see what I said above about Bloodless for an example).

The developers already commented that they'll make a third game if this game's sales support it. As far as the story goes, leave it to IGA to just pull something out of his rear end as always lol. It could be as simple as Demon X using team Zangetsu's trip to the moon to as an opportunity to take over earth leaving it for the returning heroes to retake.

Oh, now that is an idea I should've recognized when I was making this post before. Yeah, it might happen, alright, depending on how well Curse of the Moon II sold. Although I don't know what the sales prices are, I'm sure the funds acquired from purchases might be enough to warrant a third game considering how much interest there is in this series as a whole.

That said, I still believe the Curse of the Moon storyline has concluded in the second game, so a third game has to find a way to continue where it left off in Curse of the Moon II. Which is why I'd prefer seeing another game in the Ritual of the Night storyline. A kind of direct sequel that takes place after the first one, but with a new story instead of continuing the one from the first game as I feel that story too has concluded. Or another game featuring one of the other characters as the star protagonist, like Robert or Hachi. Or Bloodless, like I've been suggesting since she could do with either her own mode or, in my opinion, her own game.