[Spoilers] Discussing Secrets in Ode to Castlevania

[Wesk Alber]

Changing the start of this post since preview text doesn't include spoiler boxes.
Changing the start of this post since preview text doesn't include spoiler boxes.
Changing the start of this post since preview text doesn't include spoiler boxes.
Changing the start of this post since preview text doesn't include spoiler boxes.
Changing the start of this post since preview text doesn't include spoiler boxes.
Changing the start of this post since preview text doesn't include spoiler boxes.

Really weird oversight but hey, what can you do. Back to the normal topic now.

Alright, so some of you may know already that there are nearly 40 secrets to discover and I wanted to see if people are onto ideas/have already unlocked many? This seems to be secrets made specifically for big fans of Castlevania Lore.

I did a few runs. Through that, I have unlocked five characters.

Doing my final run as Dracula, I have unlocked;
You don't need his services if you can walk on water (Ferryman)
Bring bad luck to the Count's belligerent bosses (Graham)
Kill fleamen? I killed only 220 though, so must count all variants (Fleaman)
Give the deceiver a taste of her own medicine (Succubus)
Hold the stones that birthed your lineage and prove dominance over all your monstrous minions (Megalo Dracula)

I do not even know how I got most of these, as they were by accident. Theories;
Walk on water, but the fact that I was walking on water seems to be a bug, since I was able to go through EVERY wall from pure speed. Actual trigger idk.
I didn't do any runs with a character with negative luck, so not sure for that.
I did do a run with a reflect build with Richter, and Soul Steal for Soma. There is no Succubus enemy in the castle I've found though so idk
Dracula I simply killed every boss but one in a single run. There's a boss panel next to the top left room I never figured out how to activate. Walking over did nothing. Bug?

As for theories for other secrets:
A secret so big it won't pass through the castle doors, potentially never enter the castle at all?
Reconnect the youngest hunter.... Unlocks Young Maria. Her pets could be her guardians? So familiars/the birds and the Gemini card?
Make it feel at home unlocks Death. Bring Red Death? If castlevania characters only, idk
Go low and kill 3mil of those jokers unlocks a Cave Troll. Kill a specific enemy in Drac's basement area 3mil of?
Burn bright until the end... Assuming only castlevania characters are to be used, Charlotte and use only her starter weapon/evo. If all non-other-DLC characters are included, Avatar?

Any ideas people?

[C-Vale]

For the 2nd one, my theory is that it might be beating all/most bosses with Dracula. It unlocked on my first full castle run with him, and it makes sense with the fact it not only calls them the Count's bosses, but also belligerent.

[Oiji]

So I just got up to Dracula's room, is there anything to do up here? I've made it this far. I haven't found a basement though.

[Doomvora]

Originally posted by Oiji:

So I just got up to Dracula's room, is there anything to do up here? I've made it this far. I haven't found a basement though.

Come back as Richter

[saintstoltz]

Yeah. I'm lost on a lot of these. Hope peeps figure them out soon.

[Captain Hydrodus]

Originally posted by saintstoltz:

Yeah. I'm lost on a lot of these. Hope peeps figure them out soon.

Homies must guide us lost brethren through the absolute mess of a castle Dracula has been expanded on for the better part of an eon

[ilikestamps51]

If you played the games some of these actually make total sense. For instance, I think the hint is something along the lines of "purifying them with holy magic". You actually use the same spell you would use in Portrait of Ruin to get the true ending. So with that in mind, just think to the games and you'd be surprised on how faithful some of these are.

[Captain Hydrodus]

Originally posted by ilikestamps51:

If you played the games some of these actually make total sense. For instance, I think the hint is something along the lines of "purifying them with holy magic". You actually use the same spell you would use in Portrait of Ruin to get the true ending. So with that in mind, just think to the games and you'd be surprised on how faithful some of these are.

I'm not surprised at how much love was put into these, makes me feel bad since I only played the first two on NES

[ilikestamps51]

Originally posted by Captain Hydrodus:

Originally posted by ilikestamps51:

If you played the games some of these actually make total sense. For instance, I think the hint is something along the lines of "purifying them with holy magic". You actually use the same spell you would use in Portrait of Ruin to get the true ending. So with that in mind, just think to the games and you'd be surprised on how faithful some of these are.

I'm not surprised at how much love was put into these, makes me feel bad since I only played the first two on NES

It is insane how many references there are. Most of them are for the games post Rondo of Blood which is all the metroidvania ones

[Captain Hydrodus]

Originally posted by ilikestamps51:

Originally posted by Captain Hydrodus:

I'm not surprised at how much love was put into these, makes me feel bad since I only played the first two on NES

It is insane how many references there are. Most of them are for the games post Rondo of Blood which is all the metroidvania ones

RIP guess it's good the anniversary collections are currently on sale

[Wesk Alber]

Originally posted by ilikestamps51:

If you played the games some of these actually make total sense. For instance, I think the hint is something along the lines of "purifying them with holy magic". You actually use the same spell you would use in Portrait of Ruin to get the true ending. So with that in mind, just think to the games and you'd be surprised on how faithful some of these are.

That's the thing, I've played only a handful myself. I've seen playthroughs of most of the classic ones - basically how I know Maria's unlock just from reading the hint, not even needing to check character selection - and SotN, but I've played maybe three of the Igavanias? Soma's games and one other, maybe it was portrait but I never beat it.

Like I said, I can easily tell these are for big fans but my knowledge is limited. I have info here and there, but not encyclopedic.

Like, I'd think Soma was what unlocked Graham, but where did the luck come into play? I killed every boss pre-Richter on my Soma run. I probably had high luck on him by the time I finished. Was there something about Soma being unlucky I forgot and that's it?

Purify with Holy Magic I did also think was probably one of the spell books, given my Charlotte theory with her fire spell.

[ilikestamps51]

Originally posted by Wesk Alber:

Originally posted by ilikestamps51:

If you played the games some of these actually make total sense. For instance, I think the hint is something along the lines of "purifying them with holy magic". You actually use the same spell you would use in Portrait of Ruin to get the true ending. So with that in mind, just think to the games and you'd be surprised on how faithful some of these are.

That's the thing, I've played only a handful myself. I've seen playthroughs of most of the classic ones - basically how I know Maria's unlock just from reading the hint, not even needing to check character selection - and SotN, but I've played maybe three of the Igavanias? Soma's games and one other, maybe it was portrait but I never beat it.

Like I said, I can easily tell these are for big fans but my knowledge is limited. I have info here and there, but not encyclopedic.

Like, I'd think Soma was what unlocked Graham, but where did the luck come into play? I killed every boss pre-Richter on my Soma run. I probably had high luck on him by the time I finished. Was there something about Soma being unlucky I forgot and that's it?

Purify with Holy Magic I did also think was probably one of the spell books, given my Charlotte theory with her fire spell.

You're close with Charlotte. Look up the true ending for Portrait of Ruin and the answer is there

[Devin]

I did find a succubus enemy in the bottom right corner of the map.

[Wesk Alber]

Originally posted by ilikestamps51:

You're close with Charlotte. Look up the true ending for Portrait of Ruin and the answer is there

"Google it" isn't as helpful as you think it is, especially for a lot of these.

What I'm getting out of the True end for Charlotte is "Sanctuary" which means bring Silent Old Sanctuary... which on a single weapon build is near obligatory, +100% Might and -40% cooldown is big. Except her weapon alone is awful so I went with Explosions for the first card to actually get past the first 10m.

However, I just completed a run where I took no other weapons and didn't unlock Dario. So either you can't take any passives either, or just don't evolve the weapon, or there's other more to it than just "bring Sanctuary and no other weapons" like I am assuming from your hint.

Could be any number of variables I got wrong, or I got the wrong thing from the true end.

Originally posted by Devin:

I did find a succubus enemy in the bottom right corner of the map.

Now this is useful. I checked the Beastiary but couldn't find it. Could use a search feature there too. By the time I got to bottom right of the map I was walking through walls with 0 visibility.

[CyanDoomdragon]

Originally posted by Wesk Alber:

Originally posted by ilikestamps51:

You're close with Charlotte. Look up the true ending for Portrait of Ruin and the answer is there

"Google it" isn't as helpful as you think it is, especially for a lot of these.

What I'm getting out of the True end for Charlotte is "Sanctuary" which means bring Silent Old Sanctuary... which on a single weapon build is near obligatory, +100% Might and -40% cooldown is big. Except her weapon alone is awful so I went with Explosions for the first card to actually get past the first 10m.

However, I just completed a run where I took no other weapons and didn't unlock Dario. So either you can't take any passives either, or just don't evolve the weapon, or there's other more to it than just "bring Sanctuary and no other weapons" like I am assuming from your hint.

Could be any number of variables I got wrong, or I got the wrong thing from the true end.

You're overthinking it, one of the many hidden/secret weapons in the DLC is the Sanctuary spell itself, so you need to get that weapon on Charlotte.

[Wesk Alber]

Originally posted by CyanDoomdragon:

You're overthinking it, one of the many hidden/secret weapons in the DLC is the Sanctuary spell itself, so you need to get that weapon on Charlotte.

Which only proves my point. Burning bright with a spell that looks like water/aura