The most Confusing part of the game

[MarkedMarkyMark]

Finished the game already, playing on hard now and then, but I just wanted to point out, the Photo quest, first off, I don't know when I got the Silver, and I just randomly sat on it cause Miriam needs some rest now and then of course, but never had a clue where i got it from, yeah, not the point.

I had explored the whole possible map after this, I had already found OD mind you, and here comes the slight hiccup and what caused me to get stuck.

OD first dialogue doesn't talk about the train at all, you have to GO BACK and THEN he'll talk about it, and if you have the photo he'll give you the ID and if you haven't, well, now you know where to go when you have a photo.

What's the issue here you might be asking ?

How many people rented a book that they felt happy with and didn't re-enter the room, therefore missed the dialogue about the train, or like me, wandered about with that photo without knowing what to do, just because the second dialogue only triggers on getting into the room and talking to legally distinct Alucard again? I assume plenty honestly.

And really, it's just as easy as make him talk about it before you exit the room.

I had to actually, by process of elimination, get a hunch and go back to him after A LOT of wandering thinking I missed something else.

This is honestly the biggest hiccup in the game, it's not a big deal, but it stuck out to me as a hiccup on the game design on this particular quest.

[Mystic Myotis]

Uh, it's in the golden chest immediately after killing the twin dragons. It's really, really obvious.

Edit: So it seems like the problem is that after Dominique makes the photo for people, she won't give the bark that hints that you should go chat with OD. At this point in the game, you've probably already met OD and picked the book(s) you want from him, so any player that didn't get the hint to talk to OD from Dominique will not know to go back and talk to OD after getting the photo. I think this could easily be rectified by either tweaking Dominique's dialogue after the photo is made or replacing the message that appears at the train station with a hint about OD after you've gotten the photo.

[Syzzle]

Like he said, the Silver is pretty obvious after the boss, about OD, Dominique tells about Vampires being able to pass through the gates, and who is a vampire? Yea. But I think the hints only happens after you visit the Train station for the first time and see that you can't go through, which is understandable, you don't need hints if you haven't explored everything you can yet.

[Lusoka]

For me, it kind of happened like this. I looked to the left, I see the area for the photograph. I grab the item she mentions at the tower. We do the event, I wander around aimlessly, since I didn't need anything from the shopkeep, so the hint isn't displayed at all. Eventually ask what to do on discussion since there wasn't a reason to go to O.D. for me.

They could have put the hint on the photograph part instead of it being separate.

[MarkedMarkyMark]

Originally posted by Lusoka:

For me, it kind of happened like this. I looked to the left, I see the area for the photograph. I grab the item she mentions at the tower. We do the event, I wander around aimlessly, since I didn't need anything from the shopkeep, so the hint isn't displayed at all. Eventually ask what to do on discussion since there wasn't a reason to go to O.D. for me.

They could have put the hint on the photograph part instead of it being separate.

This is exactly what happened to me, minus the checking the discussion since im too stubborn for my own good, it's even more common to not get the dominique line since there's not that much going on on the store, the Shard Sell system is broken (Can only stock 9 shards, why would i sell it only to downgrade my grade 9 shards?) so i only EVER checked the store for sidequests, which by that point i did all i could, so, potions would be the only reason, and, i barely ever needed potions, i'd just cook food instead.

The shop is only useful in late game, maybe putting dominique's line to Johanes would also fix it, like ''Dominique told me about this thing and some weird shenanigans about vampires and trains, weird hu?'' since you visit him way more often.

[Syzzle]

I mean, when you learn that she tells you hints, you should check her periodicaly to see if there are hints, even more if you're stuck. The hints are there with her, if you don't speak to her there is nothing to be done, unless you want a Neon Sign blinking where you need to go.

[Lusoka]

I already mentioned an easy solution to it, most hints were unwanted since they were found by just exploring the areas you could get to, this is the only one that wants you to specifically talk to an npc when it wasn't really required from anything else in the game. Hell, even when it does offer hints, they're pretty worthless, telling you to go to said location, but won't mention anything about the things that might get you stuck, like if you don't think about bloodsteal or miss the text when getting the aqua spell, quite worthless information.

[Syzzle]

Why all those threads complaining about how cryptic-hard-obscure-deepwebworth the progression of the game is always boils down to user fault by not reading, paying attention while exploring (I mean, you explore with your eyes closed? Who explores without paying attention to the map?) or interacting with NPCs?
I can understand if they have never played a single Castlevania game before, but if they did...

[Lusoka]

It's already been stated, if you want to ignore what has been written go for it. Also, none of those game's had those issues, which, even if you did try to bring them up, were secret locations that didn't need to be access to continue forward progression.

The point of those comments was the hint system is 90% of the time pointless, but you say, keep reading them anyway for the one time they serve a purpose. Please stop aiding in bad game design.

[Syzzle]

Wow, how dare this game not hold my hand and show me the way?! Game bad.

[Lusoka]

I was actually expecting something much worse, but a guess insult lite is fine. Thanks for not having a purpose.

[Lusoka]

Double up though, since I just thought about the irony of it. You throw an insult for handholding, while telling the people who complained about it to use the handholding mechanic in the game. Good job.

[Kyutaru]

An element where Castlevania doesn't hold your hand and asks you to explore with not immediately obvious clues? Gosh... like the rest of the game I guess. Which way is the teleporter again? The game not only distinguishes the silver bromide but it's only natural to return to the library regularly because you don't get only one book. OD will lend you more books after a while. But again, these are things the game doesn't tell you. One might even call them "secrets". Like the fact that there's a breakable wall in this roof that leads to a new zone.

[Lusoka]

Um, it's not like the rest of the game "I guess." Most of the game is pretty straight forward. Saying you can get more books doesn't mean you won't do that before hand and not actually get the ID to pass it. Going the extreme route and saying people can't find anything in the game because of one poor game setup is just dumb. It's an easy fix, but because you went at the right time and needed more support from the books, it's the best design in the world and couldn't be improved apon.

Since you'll probably attempt it, those other two things were my mistake that I figured out later by just remembering those locations, going back and rereading what they did. The only real big issue was this part, but everything is just so confusing apparently, at least in your words that you need to force down other people's throats to justify your actions.

[Kyutaru]

Who needs help? It's part of the game to check back with all NPCs you encounter. Literally, all of them. The hair guy? He wants hair styles and rewards you for bringing it to him. The vampire? He carries more and new books periodically. The quest givers have their obvious benefits, even the gardener has a purpose. Exactly like the rest of the game you will have secret knowledge that has to be discovered. There's a hidden boss that requires you to do something completely non-combat or exploration related. It's utterly idiotic for anyone to do this thing unless they are bored or expecting something to happen because it's a video game (secrets exist). People run around attacking every wall they see on the off chance that this one will be breakable. There are special awards granted for beating a boss without taking damage, something the game never indicates to you until you've tried it. Heck even the order you're supposed to clear the castle isn't ever explicitly stated and it's left for you to figure it out on your own through trial and error, identical to this OD issue.

Welcome to Castlevania. You must be new.

[Lusoka]

Bringing irrelevant information that is side content and not forward progression, most games didn't require you to finish an area and run back and hope an npc would remove a barrier in the way, not at least in any of the other metroidvania games I played, which was all of them, but whatever, that's not important in this logic.

If you don't have any point, just don't talk.