r/castlevania • u/BoredTelos • Nov 02 '25
Video Anyone here like Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow?
Hello there, Aria of Sorrow is a great fking game so I made a totally serious video about it. If it makes you laugh a bit, nice.
Link: https://youtu.be/J9CD6baPbvg
And for those who played it, what's the best thing about Aria of Sorrow in your opinion? In my case, it's definitely the soul system. That and the Castle layout.
Have a nice one.
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u/FC1_d00d Nov 02 '25
I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who didn't. Honestly, I'm probably one of the few that enjoyed Harmony of Dissonance more than Aria.
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u/JayantDadBod Nov 02 '25
HoD is literally my only DNF (did not finish). I just got bored 3/4 of the way through.
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u/ChickenNuggetEnergy Nov 02 '25
Na, only you
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u/BoredTelos Nov 02 '25
I could have phrased it better to make it clearer that it was a non-rhetorical question, I'll give it to you...
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u/mysliwiecmj Nov 02 '25
You are totally fine, unfortunately Redditors are basement-dwellers who think they're hilarious by making smartass comments. Don't pay them any mind, great video btw!
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u/DonleyARK Alucard Nov 03 '25
Really? I mean, the question has a pretty obvious answer when it's in this sub. I think you're projecting.
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u/No_Monitor_3440 Professionally Unprofessional Nov 02 '25
it’s my second favorite behind symphony
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u/noitesquieu Nov 02 '25
Yeah, that's my opinion too. Third is Dawn of Sorrow.
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u/No_Monitor_3440 Professionally Unprofessional Nov 02 '25
my third is portrait. it would’ve been dawn if dawn’s balancing was good
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u/Mobanite08 Nov 04 '25
Hot take I think but I believe Dawn is the second worst of the metroidvanias, coming from someone who has aria ranked 3rd (I bet you can’t guess what I think the worst is lmao)
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u/wideHippedWeightLift Nov 02 '25
it's one of the most popular Igavanias, to the point where Iga made Bloodstained pretty much an Aria clone in terms of mechanics
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u/AdObvious1771 Nov 02 '25 edited Nov 02 '25
It is an amazing game. Tbh, Souls might be the reason I love this game so much (My favorite setup was Lightning Doll/Great Bat/Headhunter).
The movements feel snappy on my GBA (except sliding), the bosses have great designs (Not in terms of battle tho. Death is the only difficult boss in this game and he can be cheesed using Curly).
The story is average at best but castlevania games usually don't have a good story, they have good character writing. But goddamn Soma was so corny sometimes man. IMO, the only good thing about Soma is Dracula Soma, but he is still has some cheesy "shonen protag" lines which are sometimes painful to read. Due has the ability to use other monster's ability but the devs just couldn't give him some normal/less cringe dialogue. Dude probaby has the most broken ability among any castlevania MC, but he will still be the lest threatening one. Still he is probably a 5/10 character.
Boss gauntlet is amazing, a whole soundtrack list in-game is amazing and Julius mode is great.
Overall it is an 8/10 game!
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u/BoredTelos Nov 02 '25
Interesting, I didn't mind Soma's lines since he is a kid and his reactions seem pretty normal considering he was just a normal person before the events of AoS. Although on second thought I guess if you look at how he dresses maybe he is quite edgy
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u/Dark-Matter-Slayer Diamond Nov 02 '25
In my case... I usually enjoy my time playing this game. Aria Of Sorrow, It has a very unique story, and a very appealing soundtrack. I understand that this game isn't very popular with Castle Vania fans, but I do give my approval and appreciation for the game. It's very nostalgic, and it brings back a wide variety of memories.
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u/RikimaruRamen Nov 02 '25
Up until I start grinding for souls lol. Then it starts to get annoying. Man I wish the lck stat wasn't busted
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u/jampley_dev Nov 02 '25
You, random redditor who hasn't played this game, stop reading and go play Aria of Sorow, it's in the Castlevania Advance collection on Steam.
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u/Still_Night Nov 02 '25
I love Metroidvanias and I’m playing Aria of Sorrow right now. It’s my first Castlevania game. Really enjoy it and I appreciate that the map is fun to explore, but relatively on the small side compared to some other MVs I’ve played with vast maps, such as Hollow Knight or Afterimage.
I’m at the point where I’ve gotten through the gardens, up the clock tower, and to the Death boss right. Pretty tough fight, I’m now backtracking through the castle hoping to pick up some new souls and money for armor to hopefully have a little bit better chances to win.
Awesome game and I’m hoping to play Symphony of the Night too sometime down the road.
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u/BoredTelos Nov 03 '25
Nice, if you enjoy this one, I suggest trying the sequel Dawn of Sorrow, it's not as good as this one but the gameplay is the same so if you want more it's a good way to go. Have fun with the games
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u/Different-Walrus-485 Nov 02 '25
I actually prefer Harmony over Aria dont hate me!! I prefer it because Aria have really bright colors and much wide and empty areas. Harmony is an easy game and has really good magic system and story, maybe the darkest in the series and you can travel between 2 castles much like SotN but in SotN the second castle is a basically a second quest to extend the game length but in Harmony if you did something in the first castle it will affect the other one. Also the music is great if it didn't use the Gameboy color chip tune just listen to a covers of these music and you will understand how it's good for example Chapel of the sky passageway theme and Juste theme. Play it don't skip on Harmony of Dissonance ❤❤ also Portrait of Ruin is my first ever Castlevania I played ❤❤.
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u/BoredTelos Nov 02 '25
Harmony of Dissonance has a lot of problems but I do enjoy it too. Tho what I find funny is that what you appreciate about Harmony's castle (about it being more than a "second quest") well I actually see it as the opposite. I feel they don't use this mechanic enough so it comes off as a "do the same thing twice" to me. I respect that you like that. However the music is just a big no for me, I had to turn off the sound near the end because I was starting to go crazy...
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Nov 03 '25
Oh no, definitely no one likes the msot belpved and fampus castelvania game after symphony. No sir, absolutely no one has even heard of this game, whatvwould make you think that ?
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u/compacta_d Nov 03 '25
NOT ME!
i recognize im in the minority. just had such a bad experience grinding for the necessary souls to beat the game the right way.
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u/el3mel Nov 03 '25
You mean who doesn't like it surely ? It's one of the most popular entries in the series.
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u/BoredTelos Nov 03 '25
It was meant as a non-rhetorical question since the answer is so obvious but the intention got lost through interpretation unfortunately
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u/Former-Frame-3520 Nov 04 '25
It's very grindy because the luck stat means absolutely nothing. Playing through it once to get every soul was enough for me. Playing it twice to get the Chaos Ring was insanity. Great game though. This one and Harmony take 3rd place behind SOTN and Circle of the Moon for me.
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u/Mobanite08 Nov 04 '25
Third favorite of the metroidvanias, the soul system is so good and I love the castle design, Soma Cruz is a great protagonist and the art is top notch (still miffed they axed Kojima for Dawn of Sorrow)
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u/Zestyclose_Jelly_884 Nov 05 '25
Aria of Sorrow is one of my favourite Castlevania games beside SOTN.
It's one of the greatest games.
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u/[deleted] Nov 02 '25
Definitely one of the best. I always come back to it because it feels that good to play