the game needs more optimization

I laughed really hard when people called themselves hardcore players haha...... this is why i liked Symphony of the Night, the game was out and i didnt have to worry about a patch dedicated to masochists who want to beat the game naked and with a lvl 1 weapon......the game was a master piece compared to this where they can change things to cater to "hardcore" players.

Also why are people saying the game was too easy?......are you incapable of NOT using said shard or weapon?.......you made the choice to get a op weapon YOU made the choice to get the strong shards........and then you turn around and cry the games too easy?...got i miss SOTN days.....it had that op weapon and i would melt the hardest difficulty ending where you flipped the castle....and i STILL had like 200 hours played. Devs stop catering to idiots and make the game you want to make stop changing the things you implemented.

My take on the nerfs BUT please keep in mind that I always overlevel before progressing so my character is OP general and steamrolls bosses whatever weapon or skill I use:

Riga Stroaema - Only used it when farming items with enemies a bit far from room entrance. Still destroys tank enemies in 2nd tick damage. Still love it as farming method - but there are better farming skills out there.

Craftwork - Spammable attack and does great damage together with Rhava Bural even with nerf to both. Nerf is unnoticeable. Been using it 80% most of the time until I got the Accelerator shard (mobility skill). After Accelerator shard I never touched this outside boss fights.

Change Bunny - Never used it. Once you get a Rhava weapon, its hard to replace it with slower ones unless you want more fun and/or SotN like gameplay (except with Crissaegrim).

Flame Cannon - Never used it. Too many far better skills out there (i.e., Teps Oceus).

Straight Arrow - Never used it. Too many other better skills out there (i.e., Teps Oceus). If you want range, there are better guns out there + Diamond bullets + Infinite ammo = farming bosses lol.

Chase Arrow - Same with reason above. Want homing? The strongest gun out there chases enemies. Combine with Diamond bullets + Infinite ammo = great farming weapon on some enemies (i.e., red Ghosts for 2x Alkahest).

Heretical Grinder - Why? There's Teps Oceus out there lol.

Circle Ripper - Uhmm, Teps Oceus?

Shooting Dagger - Same reason with Straight Arrow / Chase Arrow above.

Riga Dohin - Don't see the reason to use it.

Welcome Company - Good starting skill. Welcome Company + Rhava Bural + Craftwork = damage numbers. Agreed that it is OP at early levels. Been using it until I got Teps Oceus. Nerf is unnoticeable on endgame.

Directed Shield - Never felt the needed to use it.

Flying Edge - A fun weapon. Used it once and never touched it again.

Rhava Bural - OP to the point I wasn't using anything else aside from this weapon. Would be nice to get this at the very late part of the game to encourage players to use other weapons.

Rhava Velar - Rhava Bural on steroids. Will save your controller's life. Must have.

Overall, nerfs didn't affect me as overlevelled player. Still a very unbalanced game. Many weapons and shards needed buffs, shards should expend higher MP on higher grade/ranks (and should costs lower MPs on lower grade/ranks), traps needed some nerf to its scaled damage.

In general, the game is challenging on players who don't overlevel which is good I think (except on some bosses with very high HP where you need to overlevel - then that makes the game too easy). I think it would be more fun if bosses HPs and damage scale with current player's DPS and level.

@Restoria: i consider SotN to be one of, if not the weakest Igavania in the lineup because of its horrendous balancing issues and somewhat poor pacing, as well as many of the game's designs to be obtuse and somewhat annoying, such as the combination of knockback and lack of invulnerability frames, which is actually something that made the game *harder*

Single-player games shouldn't be balanced. Let broken weapons be broken, let weaker weapons be for challenge runs. You can grind to LV 99 with an auto-clicker anyway.

Fix important things like poor optimization or the horrendous Miriam voice bug.

This is only pipe dream wish, With all the armors in the game. Make it so that each armor has its model on the character. I would love to see the Coronation Dress, Scarlet Dress, or Polonaise dress on her. As well as the Armors.

@Alex Foxx: I do agree that those things have priority, but saying that balance shouldn't exist just because it's a single-player game, ESPECIALLY in a game with RPG elements is just wrong, and if you continue to state otherwise, know that i will show no mercy in destroying that simple mindset with an essay of several paragraphs and proper evidence

When will this game gets 50% off?

Why would you bother nerfing other stuff when Summon Hellhound exists?

@D MAS: Says the person ripping on the game that defined the current genre. That is like saying Super Mario 64 is the weakest of the 3D Mario Games. No one denied whether it was balanced or not, but whether it should is OPINION. Leave yours and shove off. Damn crybaby millennials. SOTN is probably older than you are.

"damn crybaby millennials"
- guy who is absolutely furious that someone criticized a video game

Not really. I don't think any game is beyond critique. Throwing out opinions as facts I mind. Also to take in consideration the game is two decades old and without it we would not have bloodstained or any of the other games that followed.