The Belmont’s Day Off : A Thousand Words

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.


Fittingly enough, the percentage completion rating for
Portrait of Ruin is 1000%

My first write up involving the Dominus Collection was in fact, more of a to the point headline piece involving the launch trailer. Nothing wrong with a quickie mind you, as I sometimes just very unfortunately do not have the time to get much done in the way of the creative before my day job proper but after my sleep deprived ass finally gets some well earned shut eye. I did however, waste a perfectly good article name that I thought was far more deserving of a much greater piece of conceptual execution, hence why The Belmont’s Day Off moniker continues to get some mileage.


To be fair, so did their lineage..
the bastards have been around
for 1000 years, mind you

My first write-up ended up being more of a quick recap of the fall of the series itself, and in a weird twist of irony, spoke about the ways in which the other two titles, Dawn and Order, were more unlike Portrait of Ruin, the game of which was originally suppose to be my main focus of writing. The article ended up having some excellent fruit to bear, so I let it ride. A further irony involving the Dominus Collection was how slow of a burn it has been in enjoying the games, which comes as a shocking revelation when one considers just how long I’ve been awaiting the titles seeing the light of day once more. I nearly didn’t even pick the collection up on top of everything else, as it was not made available for the PS4 (I still don’t have a PS5), and I do already have a healthy little pile of Castlevania trophies on the system I was wishing to throw a few more onto.


Same vibes

To be honest, writing directly about Portrait of Ruin has me feeling antsy for some reason, and I can’t necessarily pin down why that is. I normally love sharing my thoughts about gaming and infusing some humor and philosophy in my approach at deconstructing any virtual reality set before me, so feeling a bit beside myself in crafting an article specifically about Portrait is definitely a head scratcher, to say the least. Perhaps the game is evoking some seriously nostalgic sensibilities within me, which has been something of a regularity in the past on ATE, so I’m led to believe it is not entirely just that element. I do know that PoR does what any good game should do to me when I task myself to write about it: and that’s wanting to play it more than wanting to write about it, and that does prompt me to wonder how many and or what kind of games fall into which category in that regard.


I can’t help but feel he’s involved somehow with that sentiment

I also feel like I’m kind of in a strange energy of a creative fervor, where I have a load of thoughts in my brain that I just want immediately out and onto the screen, but seemingly don’t have the patience to do so, not unlike how illegible my handwriting gets due to my writing speed not being able to match the pace at which my brain works. I am self-aware enough that my penchant for speed running often gets in the way of my ability to maintain orderliness, but this is starting to get out of hand. So in the spirit of just how massively discombobulated both myself and this write up are now currently being reflected upon as, and in turning my back on any proper etiquette I may have cultivated over the years as an editor proper, I am just going to word vomit onto this keyboard and hope for the best.


Really missing out an a Typing of the Dead high score opportunity
with that kind of approach in mind

At this point I’m half tempted to just continue writing a massive ramp up only to end up *not* talking about Portrait of Ruin, in some weird schadenfreude level of comradery with the reader. Laughing now at the one person who came here because they’re like the #1 PoR fan, totally fan-personing out over the idea of getting a fresh take on one of their favorite games of all time just to be devastated that what they’re met face to face with instead is some surly son of a bitch taking the piss about Dracula related affairs. This does bring up a great point about the idea of inherent value in writing and in sharing conceptual worth just on some basic, visceral level. Like, maybe if I had advertised a killer pumpkin pie recipe and then went on a 1000 word tangent about the absence of a dusty clan of vampire hunters gone M.I.A only some blood sucking, sweet toothed maniacs would be giddy with glee about, both as Dracula enthusiasts and baked good devotees, who know a good pumpkin pie recipe when they read one.

In a fun twist: it would still be Castlevania related, I contend.
(Thank you Curse of Darkness for being positively absurd).

But I guess this is all very much on point for me with Portrait of Ruin, as it is with much of the Dominus Collection. The Belmonts are very much nearly not there, just haunting the hollowed grounds that set the wheels of current events in motion, which is kind of where I’ve been with writing about the collection thus far. Perpetually at a distance, being a relevant player behind the scenes, while simultaneously doing my civic duty to support the awesomeness that is ensuing, one day at a time. I will leave you with at least one final thought related to the main qualitative value of Portrait of Ruin: historically reflective.

Next time on Active Time Event: Portrait of Ruin
(With the follow up having 1000% more analysis)
~Pashford

The Belmont’s Day Off

(EDIT: Article no longer glitched: now with 100% more article appearing.)

Anyone who’s followed my writing for any length of time has probably picked up on the idea that I like Castlevania. As in like…like like.


Most of the time…

To that point, I’m actually quite surprised at the lack of more robust writing pieces involving the infamous Castle and the Belmont Clan that serves as the Wallachian health and safety regulators to condemn it time and time again. One day, I will correct that injustice, as the series stands as one of the more deserving of prestige in the gaming realm. Today is not that day, however, but it is not all woe and misery, as a new collection was both announced and stealth launched on the very same day.


A veritable Belmont’s day off

That’s right! The infamous non-connected trilogy that headlined the DS era, and arguably the strongest stretch of quality Castlevania titles ever released, has *finally* seen a refresher port, and made it off of the original system they launched on. The three games, Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia, have been stuck in old hardware hell, as they have never once been re-released on another system, making it more than a solid decade since their domineering relevancy was able to rock gamers faces.


Emphasis on faces

(A fourth title, an early arcade title in the vein of Castlevania 1 called Haunted Castle has also been included as a bonus as well.)

Konami has finally bundled all of them together in one collection, following in the footsteps of the Castlevania Anniversary Collection and the Advance Collection, updated the lot, and are all now available to play on The Switch, Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles. Annoyingly, they are unavailable to download on the Xbox One or PS4, so if you don’t have Sony or Microsoft’s latest offerings, I would suggest looking elsewhere. Trailer below:

~Pashford

Reflecting on Reflection

My writing output as of late has been one of a satisfying nature. I’m usually of the mind to better source old adages and or provide anecdote involving idioms of relevant worth in context, but as of this moment, my historical frame of reference fails me entirely. However, I feel as if my return to creative form reminds me of the notion that one may begin, but that does not mean one has truly started yet.


Always have an inside horse

With all of that said, while the creative faucet is certainly turned on, that does not mean it is always flowing full blast. To that point, since my writing is so heavily contingent on the games I play or the ideas I may have of those experiences there after, I am always on the hunt for worthy contenders of conceptual consequence, as not all games are created equally on the battlefield of intellectual endeavor. A further addendum to such an acknowledgment involves the generated excitement I may have when I’m able to get a little more mileage out of already played titles, as I may take another look back at what has been, in possibly new and interesting ways.


Probably for the best I keep putting off my replay of Desert Bus

I will now take a moment to reflect upon my reflecting, as I look back at the past week or so of gaming engagement, and see what distance and time has done in the name of my own attentive efforts. I’ll start off by apologizing for immediately lying to you, as I am reaching back as far as late July instead of just the past week, as I took a lengthy hiatus between my Pokémon “museum and paradox” article pairings, and returned with a non-technical review of a game named Wallachia: Reign Of Dracula. Which, as I felt the need to emphatically remind the reading audience of, was not in fact, a Castlevania game.


And if you can’t fashion your own pikes for mass impalement, store bought is fine

All in good humor of course, as I ended up enjoying the title quite a lot, inspite of Wallachia having very little to do in terms of gameplay feel with it’s apparent inspirations. Overall, a weird myriad of glitches, lack of QoL features, and a shallow variety of gameplay hurt the title, but not to the point of being irredeemable. I also find it very bizarre after the fact, and still randomly think about how you can’t quit to the title screen from the pause menu in Wallachia, you kind of just have to lie down and…slowly die to do so.


No worries guys, this is the fastest way home, I swear.

I was curious what the developer of Wallachia (Migami Games) was up to, and according to the platform formerly known as Twitter, they have a trailer for a new game coming out called Chronicles of the Wolf. The trailer looks decidedly way more Castlevaniaey, and one which you can view here:

We invite you to try a little demo of our upcoming game Chronicles of the Wolf on steam! Please try it and wishlist! Thank you so much! 🐺♥️

Download here:https://t.co/G1BxaYWL5h

We really appreciate it!#steamnextfest #Steam #SteamDeck #metroidvania #indiegame #RETROGAMING pic.twitter.com/wzxTGv79s3

— Migami Games (@Migami_Games) October 13, 2023

I also put forth the notion of whether or not in the wake of the whole Wallachia affair, in which the game doesn’t involve any actual vampiring to speak of, whether or not the vampire genre as a whole hasn’t at this point just fallen into the same stylistic trappings of either needing to be camp or parody in order to survive. Think in the vein of the B-movie paradox, where the more idealized a B-movie in quality becomes the worse it gets which makes it better?


I’m smiling just considering the absurdity

I happened upon Alisa next, and was quite happy with the luck in doing so, as I remember thinking just the day prior I should perhaps mosey on back to Raccoon City for some good old fashioned ADA, WAIT!-ing, which was the style back in the day. Alisa was a died in the wool Resident Evil clone full stop, and I loved every minute of it. Unlike Wallachia, which I did end up loving enough to get all trophies for just recently, I have yet to pick up the full copy of Alisa after my psuedo-preview of sorts, but that is solely a financial issue, and not one of resistance to the game itself, despite some fairly fucking horrific faux pas in voice acting.


Alisa’s VA work being a truly strong reminder that god is dead

The games tongue and cheek awareness is nothing short of divinity, truth be told. Looks like the developer, Casper Croes, is still releasing updates to the title via Steam, and generally has an energetic online presence in discussing the development process. Perhaps when I finally get my hands on the full game, I’ll write a follow up. If nothing else, I’m positively psyched we have arrived at the moment where 90’s era titles fall comfortably into the camp of nostalgia, and continue to do their due diligence in reminding the new generation of what games were like way back in the 20th century.


Seen here: The average age of one of my readers, likely sharing
an old story about an ancient piece of tech called the N64

Next up I stumbled upon the star-studded crossover known as Multiversus, in all of it’s unfortunate fixation on a financially fueled foundation. While I will defend the title in being of the more attractive outings during Sony’s “Free to play Festival”, the title at it’s core is a bog standard GaaS experience, and the grind wall that comes with it. I won’t go on too much more about the game, as my post from yesterday (which dlightly of inspired this one, actually), kind of broke down the nitty gritty of how you can have a fun game, but if you’re forcing your players to endlessly grind to unlock or purchase even the most basic of elements of said game, you’re going to make the player base feel like they’re choking down on what has been served to them.


Not unlike the gagging that goes on between Scooby and Shaggy
when they share a deep throat together

Shaggy is a playable character in Multiversus, by the way.

Overall, it seems as if the game has received a mostly positive response, which I tended to lean towards as well, so I feel as if everyone is kind of on the same page; not totally in love with the story beats, but has kept reading along anyways. Player First Games is still doing regular news updates over on their site as well as with new content for the game, and with it’s free to play nature, it would be very easy to pass your own judgements with no money down…just don’t expect much of an easy, bump free ride thereafter.

It’s going to be a real grind.


They really screwed the pooch on the financial aspects of Multiversus

This will now be the second time I’ve had to apologize for lying to you. Not for the attempts at implicit softcore Scooby Doo porn mind you, but in reference to my own machinations involving leaving the audience desiring more and the delightfully impactful contrast that an abrupt ending brings with it.

To be continued.

~Pashford

Draculas to Aliens

In my last post, I gave a run down on my thoughts involving a small indie title that was definitely not Castlevania, but most certainly still a fun romp when all was said and done. Wallachia: Reign of Dracula ended up being a solid old school run and gun…err, bow and go kind of side-scrolling action, more akin to a Contra or a Shinobi at the end of the day in stead of a Classic-vania kind of feel, but the inspiration is obvious.


An effort was made…we have not always been able to say the same so proudly.

There’s even an unlockable costume when you beat the game of Miriam from Bloodstained, a thankful collaboration and blessing from the big man IGA (credited as one of the essential progenitors of the Metroidvania genre) himself. I did get to thinking about the queerness of the affair, however, as I insistently pointed out that this game was not in fact a Castlevania title in the slightest, even though the name may allude to such happenings. Though, as we see first hand with thanks in the credits and even crossover references, Castlevania was indeed, at it’s root, this games inspirations.


And probably Xena for Elcin’s design..if Lucy Lawless was roiding like her life depended on it and shitting arrows on a regular basis.

My self-reflection on the write up did leave me with a sense of doubt on my own behalf, however, in just how accurate of an assessment I gave. How could a game so obviously drenched in reverence for Castlevania really feel nothing like the series it was paying homage to? For starters, much like this game isn’t one of the ‘Vania games, Wallachia also doesn’t feature any vampires whatsoever. Dracula is there, yes, and they even pay tribute to the Coppola Dracula film with the armor Oldman wears in the film, but he never actually does any vampiring of any sort to speak of. He does turn into a dragon as a saving throw against you, but I wouldn’t really list that under the purely vampiric behavior category, per se.


Though definitely a Dracula “Shit just got real” go to if I may say,

Wallachia also takes itself a lot more seriously than any of the ‘Vania games tend to, or at least, in reference to the ‘Vania series constant usage of old school monster movie cameos vs general atmosphere, the series has always kind of been happily camp about it’s own machinations, and we are all better for it. As I mentioned briefly at the end of my last write up, vampire media is almost seemingly made to be kind of cheesetastic or corny on some level (I might just be hungry thinking about it), doing it too seriously does end up making the premise feel like a forced marriage of ideas.


Or just a good old fashion awkward romance slathered in delusion

Obviously, the gameplay more than anything else will always be the grand divining force that puts everything into perspective, and in that regard Wallachia just doesn’t have the flow Castlevania does, though it is important to note it is also not trying to be Castlevania in a sense, so perhaps the comparison is moot. Within the realms of fitting more of the mold of an arcade archetype than a precision platformer, the focus of speed over accuracy is definitely one of the biggest characteristics that solidify the game in it’s quest to give respects to what has inspired it, but most certainly pushed it into another direction entirely.


If I squint really hard I can see the last boss fight from Wallachia

Which is kind of where I realized that diving into the topic…as I was doing it, was totally off base, as we are essentially comparing apples to oranges here when we really should have been comparing Draculas to aliens instead. Erroneously at first, we started with Castlevania as inspiration via a tough as nails action platformer, and we get to an arcade bow and go experience with Wallachia, it is almost like justifying the same set of expectations for the Evil Dead movies against Night of the Living Dead, or in this case, Interview with a Vampire to Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

There are differences.


For example: Tom Cruise

The zeitgeist changes, and with it, the aims and focuses shift with the perspective of both the storyteller and the audience in question, though more to the point, my focuses were not fixated upon the correct properties in question. With that acknowledgement articulated, I did continue to course correct the comparative process on my hands with Contra and Shinobi in mind, as the games are very much more in the vein of what Wallachia is trying to go for. Though, there is something to be said about the game leaning towards modernity with regards to merciful difficulty, and not only being more mindful of it’s level design and enemy placement, but general resource gathering and quality of life decisions that if it were without, would have likely had gamers burning it at the stake for being so antiquated.


Seen here: gamers when a retro title releases without QoL features these days

Truth be told, as fascinating as I would find it to go back and play aforementioned titles to really split hairs about where one goes right and the other goes wrong, I’m rather enjoying the replayability vs difficulty factor involved with Wallachia, so I’ll give it points for finding a way to strike that balance. While I have been guilty of pushing Wallachia through a comparative ringer this entire time, I do think the game stands on it’s own inspite of it’s flaws, and helps to remind gamers in general that we don’t always need a classic reinvented or some crazy infinitely updated triple A experience that keeps you playing forever to justify it’s existence.

Sometimes, games can just be fun. That should be enough.
~Pashford