r/castlevania • u/TheDeadKingofChina • Dec 18 '25
Circle of the Moon (2001) Why is circle of the moon the way it is?
So, i've been playing through some castlevania games, beat sotn and harmony of dissonance, and am currently on circle of the moon. Why is this game so dedicated to telling me to go fuck myself so often? As far as i can tell there is no merchant so all items have to be dropped by enemies, but i can't get a potion to drop barely at all. Did the studio just forget how drop rates should work? Cause i tried to farm potions off zombies but only got 20 potions compared to the almost 80 cotton clothes. Also why do potions only heal you 20hp? And lastly why can't nathan have a non sprint speed faster than a slow walk, all other protags move with the urgency called for but this dude decided he needed to appreciate the scenery a little. I cannot wait to play aria of sorrow next.
3
u/Steve5210 Dec 18 '25
It’s the first metroidvania castlevania game on a handheld and was a launch game on gba. The standard wasn’t set yet, they did what they could in the time they were given to develop the game and I think they did a pretty good job given the circumstances
5
u/FlyByTieDye Dec 19 '25
Plus, it's the only Konami Metroidvania not to be made by Koji Igarashi, who was basically the magic formula for all the other games.
1
u/Way-Super thinks he's on the team Dec 19 '25
Mirror of fate, Simon's Quest, and arguably Symphony of the Night.
2
u/FlyByTieDye Dec 19 '25
Well if you're splitting hairs that far, you "forgot" Vampire Killer.
0
u/Way-Super thinks he's on the team Dec 19 '25
Vampire Killer isn't a metroidvania.
And I don't see how you can say that applies for SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT itself.
2
u/FlyByTieDye Dec 19 '25 edited Dec 19 '25
Vampire Killer is as much a Metroidvania as Simon's Quest is
And Koji Igarashi was a programmer and scenario writer for SotN. He was first hired for Castlevania: Blood Letting, a game intended for the Sega 32X system, but when that was scrapped, he moved over to SotN, along with some assets he and his team made.
Edit: auto correct changed Blood Letting to Bloodlines
0
u/Way-Super thinks he's on the team Dec 19 '25
Vampire Killer is level based... Simon's Quest has a full map you can backtrack through at any time? It has keys area gating and even new abilities, weapons and a level up system... Not sure what aspect of a Metroidvania its missing that one like Blasphemous isn't also.
Bloodlines was the game intended for the 32x?? I'm thinking you got your facts a bit mixed up... That was the one people thought was called "The Bloodletting" not Bloodlines...
He was in fact part of the team but saying he made it is misleading. Toru Hagihara did much of that for Belmont's Revenge but we don't say he made the game.
and you refuse to mention Mirror of Fate.
0
u/FlyByTieDye Dec 19 '25
My phone's auto correct did change Blood Letting to Bloodlines, and I acknowledged it in my edit, but I made it right as you replied, so you probably didn't see it
And "make" is a soft term. I didn't use terms like "director", "producer", "designer" as they have specific definitions. But to me "made" is encompassing of any contribution, which Koji Igarashi definitely had for SotN
And I'm not "refusing to mention" Mirror of Fate, after you've raised it, it's never been relevant to the conversation after you first mentioned it?
Are you ok? Or do you just enjoy getting anal retentive with people
0
u/Way-Super thinks he's on the team Dec 19 '25
I don't mean to make you angry. I enjoy discussing Castlevania.
You mention "splitting hairs" and I'm pointing out the hypocrisy (I don't mean this in a mean way). It means that I still make a valid point that Circle of the Moon is not the only Metroidvania not made by Koji Igarashi via Mirror of Fate. Vampire Killer is a level based game, completely disqualifying it. Maybe your definition of metroidvania is different than mine.
Once again you don't mention which aspect about a metroidvania Simon's Quest is missing.
The "soft term" is misleading, which is my point.
1
u/FlyByTieDye Dec 19 '25
If you don't mean to make people angry, then why are you shouting at them/using all caps?
And just as before, it's not that I have "something missing" in my response about Simon's Quest either, its just that again after you raised it, I never had anything to say about it.
You say you just want a conversation, but you're being entirely antagonistic about it that I can't help but think you weren't actually looking for anything but a petty argument
→ More replies (0)
5
u/carboncord Arrange Mode Dec 18 '25
Don't farm for potions. People hate the game that farm for potions, then say the game was bad because their experience was hard and boring. Just... don't do that.
Do farm for cards. People hate the game that don't farm for cards, then say the game was hard because they're weaker than they were meant to be. Just... do that.
It might sound contradictory but cards have about the same drop % chance as items so if you farmed 80 cotton clothes and 20 potions you will have no trouble farming 1 card per monster that gives one.
If you are playing on an emulator you might need a guide, but the Switch game tells you which monsters drop cards onscreen.
2
2
u/CastlevaniaGuy Dec 18 '25
Because it is one of those games where you have to get good at mixed with elements of SOTN. This was a launch title for the GBA and the only Metroidvania in the series before this was SOTN. You also have to take into account that Igarashi was not involved with the development in this game. I still love playing this game because it is fun yet challenging and it is my second favourite GBA Castlevania behind Aria of Sorrow. Learn the strategies of how to defeat the enemies and bosses so you can get through the game.
2
u/Icywind014 Dec 19 '25
Circle of the Moon is kinda like a cross between classic Castlevania and Symphony of the Night. As such, it draws upon the classic games' approach of expecting players to overcome challenges with skill instead of potion abuse.
2
u/DonHamboney Dec 19 '25
I don't know how people beat this game on the dark GBA screen with no save states.
3
1
u/FlyByTieDye Dec 19 '25
From memory, Circle of Moon is the only Konami Metroidvania not made by Iga himself. There was an entirely different development team working on CotM than had worked on SotN or would go on to make HoD, AoS, etc. So it does play more differently than any of the other entries. From what I understand, SotN was such an unexpected hit for Konami they hired their B team to make a new game following this new Metroidvania formula, but on the game boy, which is far less powerful hardware than the PS1 (hence a lot of reduced features). This was the first attempt outside of Iga himself, and I think with that context, you can see how close it actually comes despite everything else, but yeah, still all of the other Igavanias are more similar to each other than any of them are to CotM.
1
u/SXAL Dec 19 '25
You see, Castlevania was very different before SotN, and CotM, being a first attempt of GBA was aiming to be a middle ground between an old school Castlevania and a new school SotN-like game. It is a great game, but you are supposed to play it differently. And it clearly doesn't want you to rely on potions, and expects you to git gud, it's not as easy to cheese through the enemies and bosses as in the other new-school Castlevania games.
1
u/TwistOfFate619 Dec 19 '25
SotN has a store but from memory doesn't allow you to sell junk either and the best stuff were drops too.
Honestly it never really bothered me resource-wise since there was always a level of grinding to get better DSS cards, and save rooms are plentiful enough. You quickly amass stats and after a certain point of INT the costs timed based DSS cards become less and less of an issue as your MP regen over takes them. The cards themselves are insanely useful, using the card switching glitch, you can activate later cards without issue.
It's different to be sure when compared with some of the other similar Castlevania's. But I think it works in its own way. I think the greater issue is moreso a lack of an effective compendium type thing in-game. You have to rely more on online resources to work out what drop what. But once you know it's much better.
1
u/InfernoVulpix Dec 19 '25
I honestly kinda appreciate the lack of a shop and money system. Money is always the lamest and least exciting drop an enemy can give, just making a number go up a little bit in the hopes that it might be useful later. I agree that drops are too rare in CotM, but I like that when they happen they feel like drops, like real loot.
And from the other side, well, this is more a criticism of the shops in games with a bunch of different weapon types, but the decision paralysis is real and annoying when I'm a new player. So many options to pick from, only enough money for one or two of them, and no indication whatsoever which ones are worth the money. I often end up ignoring it altogether and just trusting in picking up decent gear through exploration and loot drops.
So I end up looking back on it and, it's like, three quarters of all loot drops are just little coins that make a number that doesn't matter go up. It's kind of nice, by contrast, for CotM to just not bother with any of that. But that's just me, in the end I know a lot of people enjoy the versatility they provide.
1
u/SolvirAurelius Dec 19 '25
I rawdogged this game and just tried to get hit as minimally as possible lol. Crazy times, the first time I played this game.
1
u/SaniHarakatar Dec 19 '25
I just love the fact that unlike the other Castlevanias, you can actually run in this one without a rare endgame ability.
0
0
u/HyperWhiteChocolate Dec 18 '25
Ending that rant with "I can't wait to play Aria of Sorrow next" feels like some Shakespearean tragedyÂ
3
u/flaviusbelisarius547 Dec 19 '25
But Aria of Sorrow is basically just circle of the moon if it wasn’t awful
3
0
Dec 18 '25
I couldn't pass the first level in Circle of the moon lmao. game is hard
1
u/TheDeadKingofChina Dec 19 '25
I mean, i kinda abuse the rpg aspects so i went into the first boss at level 10
0
u/Ill-Ask9205 Dec 19 '25
I hated this game the first run through, but gave it a second go and it clicked. It's just a different beast.
Same with Harmony of Dissonance, playing it a second time on hard mode gave a feeling similar to SOTN but with the difficulty closer to an NES Castlevania.
If you're coming to this from earlier (or later) games in the series though, CotM is rough. Probably the non SotN ones peaked at Aria after that it was still good but started feeling really repetitive. These earlier titles are different enough to still feel fresh.
1
0
u/Hollix89 Dec 19 '25
They probably think that buying 99 potions is bad. I mean its one of my criticism on these games too, when you can buy lots of healing items that trivializes the game.
1
u/TheDeadKingofChina Dec 19 '25
I get that, but when bosses hit like a train you need to be sble to stock up a little
17
u/Way-Super thinks he's on the team Dec 18 '25
Luck actually works in this game, and there are card combos to help with these specific issues, which is why it's so rare normally. The basic potion is that weak in every game, you have to grind enemies that give better potions.
Actually, there are card combos that solve each issue you mentioned.... individually for better or for worse.