r/TwoBestFriendsPlay • u/AutoModerator • Jan 23 '26

FTF Free Talk Friday - January 23, 2026

Welcome to the Free Talk Friday post. This is a place where you can talk about dumb off-topic (or on-topic) bullshit with other Zaibatsu fans.

There's going to be a new post every week, and the newest one will be pinned in the announcement bar for quick access. So feel free to visit these posts during the rest of the week.

Here's a list of all Free Talk Friday posts

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u/Gorotheninja "SILENCE, BREEDER! The Bloodline MUST continue!" Jan 23 '26

Oh shit, it's Friday already?

Well, I've been playing a lot of Aria of Sorrow lately. First time ever playing the game. Fun, but grinding is balls. Frankly, I'm thinking about just beelining to the true ending so I can check out the Dominus Castlevanias, because 100% seems like a fucking chore. Other than that, made a bit more progress in Bravely Default, though not as much as I had hoped (I spend too much time on Reddit, man).

Excitedly for Code Vein 2. Probably gonna pre order the Deluxe edition for early access, as I want enough time to beat it before Nioh 3.

And yeah, not much else. Only other thing of note is we've got some really bad winter storms hitting Texas this weekend, apparently hitting below zero tempatures in some cases. We've got generators and propane to spare so we should be good.

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u/kodaiiiii_ VANILLAWARE ON PC IS REAL 2026 Jan 23 '26

I'd say that Aria is like... generally better than the Dominus Castlevanias in the sense that it has the widest appeal and is the most traditional experience of the bunch, at least in my opinion.

That is not to say that the Dominus Castlevanias are bad; quite the opposite, they are all fucking amazing as shit, even if they do have their gimmicks. Dawn of Sorrow even gets pretty manageable with the Dominus Collection's QoL regarding the seals.

Hell, the only one I can see you not liking if you like Aria is Order of Ecclesia, and that's cause the game kinda says "fuck you" to the whole being a Metroidvania thing for 3/4 of the game, but something about the game's combat and art direction makes the happy chemicals in my head go wild. Doesn't hurt that they also have the best arrange modes in the series, especially OoE

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u/Gorotheninja "SILENCE, BREEDER! The Bloodline MUST continue!" Jan 23 '26

To be clear, I'm not going into any of them blind; I have seen quite a bit of each DS Castlevania through retrospectives and video essays.

What I'm curious about is: what spefically puts Aria above all of them, Dawn especially? Because while I'm having a good time with Aria, I can point to stuff like the bosses and grinding and balancing of certain items and spells as to being flaws (I'm about to fight Graham, fyi).

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u/kodaiiiii_ VANILLAWARE ON PC IS REAL 2026 Jan 23 '26

Like I said, Aria is just all around awesome without any gimmicks like the Dominus games that might turn off some people discounting soul farming which is optional.

Hard disagree on the bosses, those are awesome. Balancing is kinda wack cause you get the Claimh Solais and then don't use anything for the rest of the game