Well first off, I agree with everything you said. Second, nothing happens when you complete it. I completed it 100% and nothing happened.

Bummer.
There should of been a reward of some sort, even if it was something small. Oh well!
Again amazing game, god I love it. it went beyond my expectations....But again with the final battle against Dracula...eh.
Castlevania III and ReBirth had the best Dracula Battles out of the Classic Series. But I'm probably just saying that because in those two Dracula had 3 forms. He was easily the toughest to take down in CIII.....I don't know how many bloody times I died, his 3rd form was incredibly difficult. Yet with Rondo of Blood, I beat Dracula on my second try.

And I can't speak for Bloodlines or Dracula X for the Snes(which I'll never play anyways) since I haven't played those yet. But I'm dieing for Bloodlines to hit the VC. But in the meantime I could always download Simon's Quest seeing as how that's the only other Castlevania game I haven't beaten. Looks to be the weakest Casltevania yet haha. But there's this charm about it, and that soundtrack....So good! But the day to night transitions and some of the stuff that requires a stragety guide to actually progress through the game because what you have to do is so utterly random and ridiculous is going to annoy me that's for sure.

And I doubt I'll get into Metroidvania any time soon seeing how I wasn't too thrilled after finishing SOTN a couple of years ago. I think my main beef with the game were the endless amount of overwhelming weapons, you didn't have a whip which broke the experience for me and didn't feel castlevania enough, i hated the RPG elements and the boss battles were just awful.

Doing my first-time playthrough of Pokemon Sapphire.

Here's my Christmasy December monthly gaming recap hehe.

• Kirby Super Star Ultra - 9/10
• WarioWare: Touched! - 8.5/10
• Mega Man - 7.5/10
• Double Dragon - 7.5/10
• Castlevania: Rondo of Blood 9/10

Castlevania takes the crown as being the greatest game I've played this month, beating out Kirby Super Star Ultra for the number one spot muhaha.
While the original Mega Man was my least favorite experience....Once I took off the super nostalgia shades I realised that it just wasn't as good as I remembered it to be. It layed down the building blocks, but did it in a ugly, uncolorful, bland, mechanical and unepic sort of way. Still fun and it's still a classic, but to me it's just not one of greats in the MM franchise.

And now I'm about to take on Chrono Trigger for the DS which is pretty unusual for me considering I'm not exactly a fan of RPG's. Growing up I used to watch my friends play Final Fantasy III and EarthBound on the SNES, and while I had a fun time watching them play them and still remember those special moments, the music and some of the battles, I myself just never wanted to play them since I couldn't control my character during combat and the fact that you were basically taking turns attacking each other by selecting an item from a giant list of magic potions and yadah yadah.

The 'only' RPG that I've ever managed to sit through and make it half way through the game and deciding to call the quits so to boredum was Final Fantasy VII. And I have to admit I was basically pushing myself to play it and TRYING to like it, but I just wasn't exactly having any fun with it. Parasite Eve was another I finished yet I actually had a good time with that one aside from the 3rd act. But I wouldn't exactly label that as an RPG. However I am insterested in playing Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario, Paper Mario TYD, Earthbound and Mario & Lugi. Bowser's Inside Story And maybe Final Fantasy X because of the goregous tropical fantasy atsmophere and awesome characters, ahhh if only it were a movie.

Anyways, I'm going in with a fresh open mind with this one, hopefully I don't get all ADD during the turn based combat hehe.

Ok, so I've plugged over an hour into Chrono Trigger and I'm really enjoying it. The characters are great, the graphics and art direction are beautiful, the music sounds brilliant, and I just feel absorbed into the whole world in journey and it's especially refreshing considering I haven't played an RPG in years, let alone a classic like this or a Sprite based one since the SNES days.

But there's just one problem which I feared. I love everything about this game so far, EXCEPT for the Turn based combat....I just can't get over it. At first it may not seem that bad but after a while it becomes extremely boring, repetitive, annoying and completely unengaging. It's the only beef I have with the game, because otherwise the rest of it seems wonderful. But I'm going to put in a couple of more hours tonight, but I have a feeling the turn based combat will get the best of me and I'll end up calling it quits.

Any great Action RPG's for the DS?

Wii: Goldeneye
PS3: Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
PSN: Blue Toad Murder Files Ep 1-6
DSi: Cave Story
Steam: Mass Effect

Ys Book 1 & 2 - just got the Silver Harmonica and the second book.

I beat VVVVVV last night and it is indeed my game of last year.

What in the heck is VVVVVV?
And does anybody else feel my oh so radical pain when it comes to turn based combat in RPG's? Especially when the RPG itself is amazing when it comes to the story, the characters, music, presentation, graphics, dialogue and the fact that it totaly sucks you in? It's just Chrono Trigger's 'not so fun' Turn based combat is knocking down the experience fo rme.
I wish I could control my characters while in combat, or even something simular to 2D Zelda.

Chrono Trigger with Real time combat would of been killer! Tonight, I'm going to give it another 2 hours, but it may be the last time if the turn based combat starts to get to me, which it actually already is!

Just wait until you get the combination Magics. That'll change your tune.

Also, Educate yourself.

Well what can I say, my tune has officially been changed.
The turn based combat by yourself is a bit of a snore, but when you have Lucca and Frog by your side it makes it much more enjoyable, but that's a no brainer since it's not so much of a 'I hit you, you hit me back' type fight since things actually begin to get pretty tactical and more intense when you have other characters to worry about and 'knowing' when you can attack and thsi and that. I'd still prefer real time combat, but it's still enjoyable nonetheless. Anyways, I'm such a RPG noob baby. lol But this experience so far as been pretty addicting and compelling. As for how far I've gotten, I basically killed Yakra and saved the Princess, and now I've been thrown in Jail by the Judge! But I had to stop playing since i was getting the gooey eyes after the 2 hour mark.

By the way, how long exactly does it take on average to finish the game? I've probably put around 4 hours or so into based on a the couple of days I've been playing it, and I'm definitly seeing this one to the end.

From what I'm told 15-30 hours is average, but it took me 40 hours to do near everything on my first runthrough, but that included the tedious bonus dungeons they added to the DS version. If you grind enough, you can face the final boss about a third of the way in, I think.

Do you have to do those Bonus Dugeon stages?
Because I just wan't to experience the game how it was back on the SNES and skip the Bonus DS stuff.

Oh yeah, it's optional. I like the end of it, though. Made all that work worth it to me.

@Waveboy: I LOVE turn-based combat, myself. I've never enjoyed Action RPGs by and large. There may be one or two exceptions, but for the most part, I much prefer turn-based combat. It gives me time to plan, let's me think up strategies, and if the design of the game is well done and creative, I'll need that. Chrono Trigger, though, I also love, but it never felt turn-based to me. It's very fast-paced, and especially with 3 characters to handle, you're ALWAYS giving a command. It's a very busy system, but not one that feels too busy, so it works very well, and I found it feeling really action-oriented. Especially when the game will take into effect the position of the team members and if other enemies are in the line of sight, certain baddies can't be attacked by some teammates. It all comes out to a very well done system, that I've always thought blends action and turn-based combat very well.

I'm playing Pokémon : HeartGold. I got the Storm Badge to Cianwood City!!

Played some more of Ys and beat the third boss. He was a tricky one he was. Actually that's an understatement. He was a freakin' terrible ******** who gave me loads of trouble. He has no pattern, or at least not an obvious one, yet you specifically have to hit him in the face. That sucks. At least he's done and over with now. Time to move on.

Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels. Got to world six today
The All Stars version is definitely superior. It makes it a much more fun and enjoyable game to play.

I got to Chapter 22 in Uncharted 2... I keep getting blown away.
After that, I guess I'll tackle Sonic 4, considering how short it is.

So it takes around 30 hours I'm hearing in general for the first(and it will be my only) playthrough. So that would take me around 15 days to finish it since I game around 2 Hours a day. But I guess I'm going to bump it up to 3 hours a day now. I've already almost put 5 hours into it and I'm loving ever second of it, it's incredibly addicting and the combat is growing on me.

Anyways, I've got too many games to play especially for the DS. I guess I feel like I'm trying to cram it up all in there before the 3DS hits this march hehe. Yet I never rush an experience whatsoever, I savour every second of it. I should of spaced out my DS gaming alot more in the past year or so, because the Wii and the Virtual Console have been taking up most of my gaming time.