Now that we've cleared what we can at the Long Library; I used the warp point at the Outer Wall to head back to the Entrance and then make way to the previously locked door at the Alchemy Lab.
I love it in games when you finally have the power to get past those broken bridges which annoyed you in the past.
Oh what do you want?
I can sense the fear Alucard is going through when uttering those lines.
I was slow when capturing the rest of her dialogue; she basically says that the castle is different from the one she creamed in Rondo of Blood.
Alucard explains why the level designs are varied in each game although nothing says "many incarnations" than having a second castle which is upside-down. Oh, shit! You weren't supposed to know that.
In the versions where she's playable, Maria is the hard mode of the game. Dracula probably didn't want her to trust her memories so he made it a damn sight harder for her to traverse.
And the new area is..............
The Royal Chapel! This makes me wonder, if Dracula hates religion so much then why does he place a fucking chapel in his castle?
BRB, using the save point! Don't worry, I won't over-milk it like I did with the Terminator quote in the first two parts.
An item that is only used for cash. Too bad the Master Librarian has outlived his purpose in the game; asides for completing the bestiary of course.
Bone towers have been a staple since the original games. This time though, they spurt flamethrowers instead of fireballs; making them harder to deal with if you don't have the Holy Water.
Some of these ledges appear to be only accessible through flight or double jump, just like in the Long Library. The items had better be worth the wait!
The main appeal of the mine on top of this Bone Pillar comes if you're going downhill through this area. I'll complete this part then I'll come back.
We destroy the Bone Pillar again, and then we watch it do its magic.
Yes, it will destroy everything in its path whilst you get Exp out of the deal. Just try not to touch it yourself; you won't get killed in one shot but you will suffer hefty damage.
I feel like such a whore right now.
We don't even have to reward it. Take notes Master Librarian!
I'm guessing the naval soldiers were pissed when they found out that this was a down grade from my current weapon. Come on, it's the freaking English Navy! Could the weapon makers show some more respect to their soldiers.
We might as well rename this place "Bat Heaven" right now.
Possessed swords always amuse me for some reason.
Shit just got real huh?
That's why you don't fuck with someone with Soul Steal.
These platforms can take us to a detour in the earlier floor, or it can be used to avoid the Puppet Sword if you don't have the time to fight it.
I hate getting to that item up there; it has to follow the Outer Wall's approach of having you perform tricky jumps to get to the treasure.
Just remember that shit like this can happen.
The triangle button and some good timing always come in handy in the situations.
Why do I even bother?
The area at the northeast will let us resume the area.
Whereas this area below will take us to a new area.
Which we can't even begin yet. The Knight Shield could be nice for the upcoming boss though. I also happen to have a soft spot for this jazzy piece of music which appears here,
Wandering Ghosts.
OverClocked Remix takes this a step further though.
Heading back to the top path, we can find ourselves a confession room for Alucard to go to. It isn't much but it shows how very little details were unturned when making this game.
Darn! I was hoping for an embarrassing cutscene where the vicar, it might not be a vicar but it shows how much I know about the church system, sounds more like goblin than a human.
I'm guessing the guy felt sorry for the guy so he gave him some Grape Juice for his troubles. I'm not sure how much it heals you, but I do know that it's fucking delicious.
I'm not sure whether to say if that was a BLAM or not.
Climbing this place is going to be easier said than done with all these enemies constantly abusing the fact how I knock back every time I get hurt.
I believe you can use this part to trigger a glitch with the Sword Familiar, something we get later on, to go beyond this wall and make the map completion go off the charts. Websites like GameFAQS or Youtube videos can explain this better than I can.
Since the Boomerang is a one-time use item; I can't abuse it as well as someone like Link can.
Die sculpture! You don't belong in this world!
Winged Guards may be invisible but once you see their sword you can make short work of them. Why could I imagine them looking like Link if they were visible?
If I was cultured I would make a "who the bell tolls" joke.
I would complain about yet another broken bridge but I'm too busy consuming my laughter about a particular cutscene that plays here later in the game.
I think we hit the jackpot here. It's also nice to see some armor that does something for a change. The Life Max Up was also nice because of all the knock back that I was suffering.
These bats can catch you off guard if you think of simply walking through the place.
Bone Halberds can be hard if think of simply standing up and aiming your saber at them. It's best if you duck and slash at their legs, just like most of these enemies in these parts of the game.
This room is simply just a smaller version of the one we traversed a minute earlier.
I would've seen the relevance of this room if it contained an item which wasn't a crummy Zircon.
This next room will lead to the Level 16 boss. I'm still at Level 15 meaning I would want to quickly cream a few Puppet Swords before facing up to it.
After battling a few of them I was just a few Exp off Level 16. That was then just a simple case of killing some of the simpler to deal with enemies which gave us less Exp but would do the job of getting us to the level.
This tries to show us that we're up against a boss soon by having the moss change to yellow as some form of warning sign.
This Hippogriff is so big and menacing that has to play the theme which plays for
stronger bosses, like how The Dreadful Fight plays for particular bosses in Final Fantasy 4.
The Hippogriff will be in the air for most of the fight; meaning stuff like the Holy Water will only really be useful when breathing fire or laying eggs.
Like with Gaibon earlier in the game, the way of dealing with the Hippogriff's flamethrower is through ducking or using our shield. I personally prefer ducking so I can aim my saber at him.
While it's in midair, you should use this time to input the button combo for Soul Steal. That will mean extra health when it lays its eggs. The eggs will hatch little Hippochicks, not a real term, and dart through the screen. Thankfully they don't do too much damage.
You have to be like Harry Potter and bow to the Hippogriff in order to not have your arse handed to it. In my first run of this game, I sucked at fighting this boss meaning the jokes of pretty boy Alucard getting hit by a Hippogriff write themselves.
That wasn't so hard, was it?
Flirt.
If I said that to a woman in that tone of voice I would never hear the end of it.
The text says Richter even though she says Lickter. I don't want to know if licking is in her mind right now.
Gratuitous Castlevania 3 reference is gratuitous.
It gives us something to do I suppose. And I was too slow to capture the part when Alucard agrees to help her whilst trying to be a gentleman in the process.
I can see "true love" spurting right here. I'm glad the voice acting is enthusiastic and allows this "love story" to be taken seriously.
