The Coop   Members

"Downgrade" really only applies if you consider it a port, though. The fewer stages and such is indeed a step down in that light. But even so, the SNES graphics are very good (some would argue better than the PCE game in some respects), and the soundtrack contains much of the music from 'Rondo' (rather faithful sounding thanks to the work done with the SNES sound chip, as I'm sure you know). On its own however, it's a fun entry in the old NES Castlevania style gameplay-wise. It's a step back in terms of options from Super Castlevania IV (controllable whip, etc.), but it's a good game nonetheless (IMO of course). You know, I don't recall reading that Castlevania: Dracula X was going to be a full-on port of the PCE game. I may very well be wrong (and it wouldn't surprise me if I was, since I didn't read all of the game magazines out there at the time), but wasn't it fans/magazines that labeled C:DX as a Rondo port after they saw some screenshots and played it, and not Konami themselves? Edit: Added a thing or two. Edit2: Cleaned up my thoughts. They were a bit scattered.

I'll probably catch shit for this, but... I honestly don't know why people hate Castlevania: Dracula X so much. The only downside to the game for me is the lack of recovery time when you get hit. Normally, there are about two or three seconds where you're invincible after an enemy hits you. This trait is gone, and it can result in being bounced back and forth between enemies... to death. That really shouldn't have been there. Outside of that, it's a good game. Nice graphics, well reproduced tunes, and an overall fun play through. It's not as good as other 2D games in the series, but it's a good game nonetheless. And truth be told, I don't consider it to be a port. We all know that it borrows quite heavily from parts of 'Rondo'. The music, the rescue/story ideas, sprites... C:DX took a good chunk. However, the stages are either completely new, or they only take a basic trait from a stage in 'Rondo' (i.e. level 1 being a town on fire in both). And the bosses? Many of them are new. As such, I've always seen it as more of an alternate version of the story in 'Rondo'... like someone in Konami said "DO OVER!" and went to work. However, I can also see it as Konami being lazy in some ways, and simply building a new game around the same ideas used in a past entry (which they've done more than once).

Buy some canned air, get a pair of tweezers, and open up your tower. Use the canned air to blow dust out of your graphics card (which you'll need to take out before cleaning it), off of your mother board, out of your PSU... all the stuff in there that dust can settle on/in. Use the tweezers to gently take hold of any hair or dust clumps on things like your CPUs heat sink, behind the blades of your cooling fans, and other places you see them. Just keep a few things in mind... 1- Follow the directions on the canned air. If you don't, you could spray cold liquid into your PC. So follow how it says to hold the can and so forth. 2- Once you get the tower open, before you do anything with the tweezers, tap the them on the metal floor inside your tower. This will discharge any minor static build up. You don't want a static charge to accidentally fry something, so do this before you start plucking out any dust/cat hair clumps. 3- Turn off your PC before you do any internal cleaning.

I think it's more of a competition. Who can come up with the worst game music to make people sit through?

Don't forget that Castlevania Chronicles also has the original X68000 game as it was, right down to the choices of how the music sounds. So basically, it's a bit like the 'Rondo' PSP game, in that it had both the original game, and an upgraded remake. Also, Super Castlevania IV is a remake of Castlevania. So there's another redo.

The card being hot isn't much of a surprise, Atma. ATI cards have had a reputation for running quite hot for a long time now. They don't burst into flame (usually) or anything, but they get hot enough to hurt upon touching them. So don't panic, as it's normal.

Then why didn't you ask that instead of wording it like you did? HUH?! HUH?!?! My thoughts? Things might have moved forward a lot since I was last on the site, but from what I remember, there was still a sizable way to go a few months back. Perhaps you should hold off until the end of the project is in site (a couple months or so from being published), and then discuss releasing a track as a preview. The idea is fine, but dude... don't pull a Blizzard and tease folks long before it's done

I already played through the first game, and I'm up to Act II in the second. Sadly, my upload speed sucks major amounts of monkey balls, so on-line play isn't doable

From what I've seen in past projects, stuff that's accepted is kept private until the project is done and released. Considering there's a forum for all this that's meant solely for mixers which no one else can access, I can't imagine Fishy and them wanting the project's mixes being passed around for other things. If it's a song for the "extras" section, that might be different. But if it's the one you made for the main project song line up, then I'd wager the project leaders want it to be kept under wraps.

Wow... So I listened to the Title Theme and thought, "Well okay, so that was bad." But then I moved onto Sub-Basement, "OMG, what is this shit?" High Rise Building was at least minimalist enough to keep it from getting bad enough to harm my soul. Space station was seriously like 8 seconds worth of random beat-box type rhythm repeated over, and over , and over... Elevator was a rip-off of a crappy mainstream song with a few notes changed. Oh yeah and only the annoying part of that song that gets stuck in people's heads repeated over, and over, and over. By this point I was nearing a breakdown. Perhaps there was a reward at the end. Maybe the credits allowed for some solace to.... "Ah!!! No! Turn it off! Please, I give up! There are five lights, do whatever you will to her, but leave me alone!" In the end, there was only 1 tune short enough to be bearable, and it was (so appropriately) the Game Over music. And to top it off, there are only seven songs... meaning you'll hear them many, many times in Zero Tolerance's rather long FPS quest. Of those seven tunes, three are badly off tempo, two are borderline off tempo, and all of them only use two (sometimes three) notes at a time (so there's virtually no harmonies either). And now you know why I turn the music off on the Options screen

Unfortunately, the edited screen shots show exactly what the folks behind the petition are wanting... more earth tones, a less vibrant "rainbowy" color scheme, and cranked up contrast. At least some of them really are arguing that the game is using too many colors that differ from the past Diablo games, and that those colors are ruining the atmosphere/game. Those folks have indeed gotten all riled up over the more colorful surroundings and lighting (on top of wanting more sharply contrasted light/dark levels).

Oh I know about the fanbase split. I had some friends at the time who were absolutely livid about the gameplay shift. Purists wanted the series to say as it was in I, III, Super IV, Bloodlines and Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo. Anything else was heresy to them. And while the classic platformer CVs were all great games, the Castleroid games are equally enjoyable to me. Like you, I'm happy with both gameplay styles. However, all that scuttlebutt revealed what I consider a nasty issue with being such a purist... it's just too damn constricting I guess that depends on whether or not you like the new look. From what I've gathered, you aren't very fond of it... at all. And God knows you're not alone in that dislike. There are plenty of folks who want the more "realistic" CG takes on characters and such that was so prevalent in the two previous games. I personally liked the new visual take in WC3, so what's been shown thus far of Diablo III doesn't bother me. On that subject, I've taken some time to look through the screenshots hosted on Blizzard's site, and I personally don't think the characters are as exaggerated as WC3. The Deckard Cain model on the Blizzard site, and the model close ups in various screenshots, look more toned down and realistic in terms of proportions and whatnot than what was in WC3 or WoW. I personally don't see all the "cartoony" stuff so many are complaining about. Frankly, the models don't look much different than what's seen in games like Soul Calibur, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance or God of War. Maybe it's the CG to polygons transition that's irking people?

And 'Symphony of the Night' wasn't Castlevania to a lot of folks. A huge castle, exploratory and RPG elements... it was radically different in look and feel from what came before it. However, most of the complaints ended once people actually played the game and saw everything in action for themselves. Changes in what came with previous iterations don't necessarily mean things are fubar, and that the atmosphere/mood and settings are ruined. As such, perhaps the Diablo fanatics should wait for the finished product, instead of petitioning and throwing a tizzy fit so early in the game's production. Edit: Clarification.

I'm here to defend Ballz. While the title track is downright odd, if you grab the soundtrack here, you'll see the rest of the music, while not OMFGAWESUM!, isn't horrid. However, I challenge you to go here, and indulge yourself in the soundtrack to Zero Tolerance.

This is just me, but the ages attributed to the 'chans' looks odd in spots. OCR4 would be the youngest (left), OCR3 would be the next youngest (mid-left), OCR2 would be next in age (mid-right, since she looks like she's a little older than the one to her right), and OCR1 would be the oldest (right). It's not intended as nit picky garbage, it's just something I noticed. ... Heh. Have OCR1 be about 65, OCR2 in her early 40s, OCR3 in her late teens, and OCR4 at about 9 years old

It could be a problem with your ISP. I had a similar issue happen with FireFox last year, where I could log on, but I couldn't go anywhere. It was fixed a couple hours later, and the cause was a cable line that had been accidentally damaged elsewhere. Try calling up your ISP, and see if anything's up. That, or try checking any FireFox plug-ins you have to see if a setting got changed (like with No Script).

And there are plenty of dark and brown/gray games that the folks complaining about the color can go and play instead of Diablo III. It works both ways my Spirited Away-sigged compadre

I'm really surprised at how many people are bringing up this rainbow. Haven't they considered the concept of setting a mood by gradually shifting from happier, more peaceful surroundings, to darker, more sinister ones? It makes for a more interesting scenario than simply jumping right into gloom and doom. Plus, it's been twenty years since the events of Diablo II came to an end. I don't think everything would stay exactly as it was right after all the destruction. Forests grow back, nature creeps in where things were abandoned, and cities are rebuilt. Anyway, it's amazing how fast people are jumping on the "ALL ABORD TEH FALEBOAT!"-train over what little info is out there. People are damn near ready to cut Blizzard employee throats already.

Batteries can be replaced.

See page 4, Evilhead.

Berserk beat Sinistar by roughly two years though. There's no "character" perse, but it has a number digitized speech sentences like "Chicken. Fight like a robot" and so forth as you fight the robots, which is presumably coming from the robots.

Not quite. I bought some stock for this internet from Al Gore last month, giving me a 53% controlling share in it. That's right baby, I'm pulling an EA!

Actually, this thread is for everyone, Damned, not just the "pro" CTDS folks. Everyone's perfectly free to come in and express their love or disdain for the game, their feelings about its simply being a port or a full on remake, and whether or not they'll be picking it up. That's the beauty of threads around here. Much like the review section, you're allowed to hop in and express your short or long-winded thoughts... regardless of where they reside, or of how many/few agree with them.