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Part of the RPG Maker Classics Archive: an initiative to upload classic RM games so they are not forgotten.

Developed by: Hardle
Date of Release: Summer 2007, 1.0 Complete in 2008

Castlevania - Sonata in Red is a turn-based RPG made in RPG Maker 2003 (Tsukuru version). It is a fangame based on the classic Castlevania series that breaks from the usual side-scroller aspects. It is a blend of jRPG and series staples, set with a dark atmosphere that is quite decent for a game of its vintage.

It is The Year 1666, and Dracula's Castle has risen once more. Allan Belmont steps forth to take down the Lord of Darkness once more, in the hopes of locating a lost friend, Helena, who disappeared around the time the Castle came back.

The game does have issues with crashing randomly, so saving at every chance is recommended. Despite this and some of the graphical pixellation, it's a pretty fun game that blends the feel of Castlevania with jRPG systems pretty well.

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  • Completed
  • Aremen
  • RPG Tsukuru 2003
  • Adventure RPG
  • 03/21/2016 02:58 AM
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Posts

Pages: 1
I actually gave this a go and while some of the graphical quality is pretty bad, the overall gameplay is pretty decent. Granted, I didn't go too far into it, but there's a good amount of exploration and while it doesn't really tell you much, if you interact with bookshelves and the like, you can learn how to do things (like whipping torches to get healing/cash). Also, I really liked the save room.
I finally beat it.
The game is fairly long with lots of rooms to explore and items to find. There's a Boss Rush mode later on that can reward you with good equipment and there's one secret dungeon you can explore after you find a hidden room in the game's final area.
The game pays tribute to several details found in the post Symphony of the Night Castlevania titles.

Overall the game is enjoyable although I couldn't help but focus on several frustrating little things that come off as design mistakes:

-The Trade System is poorly executed: You can trade materials for specific equipment at Alexander's Shop. However, gathering the materials is a grind and depends on getting lucky with the enemy troops encountered and the drop rates. Some of the later items for trade also require several copies of the same materials, and some of the Boss-dropped materials can't be found again. I traded two of those for an early item and found myself incapable of getting the top tier armor later on, which turned out to require those rare materials as well. And last but not least, most of the weaker trade items can be found later on in the dungeons, so using the Trade Shop is often pointless anyway.

-The Level Up system forces you to grind and doesn't account for enemy strength: Every enemy troop gives 1 Exp and you gain one level per area once a specific threshold has been reached. Whether the randomly-selected enemy troops you face are weak or strong, you still get 1 Exp per fight. As you progress further into the castle, you're likely to fully explore areas without beating the required amount of enemies to level up, and so you'll be forced to grind near a Save Room if you want to become stronger. The grinding becomes a little less tedious once you find decent Damage All abilities though.

-The Orb Spells seem generally less effective than Sub Weapons and Potions, especially in the later parts of the game, and they are likely to be useful against bosses only because enemy troops are random. Only the Master Orb, allowing you to use every Orb Spells, can fix this issue but it is made available too late in the game to be of any use.

There's also a game breaking glitch that will force you to reset the game: If you go down a flight of stairs by walking onto the uppermost tile of said stairs, you may get stuck in a wall tile at the bottom of the stairs.
Inside the castle, i cannot go by the "thundering stairs" FOR THE STATUES ASK TO PUT SOMETHING.
Thanks a lot
help please I dont know how to enter the ghost ship. I can access only the right part of the chasm, from the marble corridors but cannot junp to the other side.
Inside the castle, i cannot go by the "thundering stairs" FOR THE STATUES ASK TO PUT SOMETHING.
I have 8 orbs and passed the leftmost boss rush and got the holy mail.
Thanks a lot
Waxius
"Someday I'll finish my game... someday.."
3898
I just downloaded the game today... so I haven't got that far yet. But if I figure it out tonight, I'll report back tomorrow!
https://www.mediafire.com/file/m8lj2gm09hleor7/CVSIR_1.6(fixed).rar/file

This is the last version of this game that I know of. Hardle released it on the game's website at some point before the website got taken down. Might want to update the download with this version, as it's way less buggy.
Waxius
"Someday I'll finish my game... someday.."
3898
Awesome! I'll get this one too!
Hey I encountered some bugs.after duran defeat...i cant proceed ahead because i cant push the chair blocking the stairs pls fix this
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