Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

2005-06-10 11:59:11 pm

Ok, I can't find anything else about this, so I'll put it up. I'm not doing the run, but someone else can, I just think this is a cool idea. It isn’t finished by the way, someone else can, or me if I feel like it. It involves the "Magician" mode (the mode you get after beating the game with "Vampirekiller" or normal mode) and it starts out with all 20 DSS cards.
I came up with this after finding I could beat Cerberus in 1 hit at level 1. I leveled up on bosses only, skipping enemies, items and those secret potions.

Useful card combos are:
Diana + Griffin (wind wave attack, this is the ridiculously powerful attack used on bosses, uses magic like crazy)
Pluto + Unicorn (used to pass through all enemies b/c makes person unable to hit or be hit, uses magic fast at lower levels though)
Venus + Griffin (increase intelligence by 25%, useful on later bosses like zombie dragon to recharge mana)
Pluto + Griffin (makes you run twice as fast)

Boss strategies:
Cerberus: hit once with wind wave, remember to hit it with the wave, not the actual whip (2 level ups)
Necromancer: takes about 3 hits, (5 level ups), from this point on enemies and bosses kill you in one to two hits
Golem: use up all wind waves, wait to recharge one more to finish it off (4 level ups)
Adremelech: stand off to side, use up all wind waves and wait to recharge one more to beat it (4 levels up)
Zombie Dragons: start out at lower left corner, attacking the left dragon, avoiding falling rock, go to top left or right corners to recharge mana, attack right one last (2 level ups each)
Death: I don’t know, haven’t beat him. I’m level 20 when I reach him. His turtle form shouldn’t be too hard with a lot of mana. Camilla shouldn’t be too hard because she has a simple motion. Hugh will be annoying to defeat I’m guessing. Good luck with Dracula.
Well there it is, up for grabs.

Thread title:

Ok, I can't find anything else about this, so I'll put it up. I'm not doing the run, but someone else can, I just think this is a cool idea. It isn’t finished by the way, someone else can, or me if I feel like it. It involves the "Magician" mode (the mode you get after beating the game with "Vampirekiller" or normal mode) and it starts out with all 20 DSS cards.
I came up with this after finding I could beat Cerberus in 1 hit at level 1. I leveled up on bosses only, skipping enemies, items and those secret potions.

Useful card combos are:
Diana + Griffin (wind wave attack, this is the ridiculously powerful attack used on bosses, uses magic like crazy)
Pluto + Unicorn (used to pass through all enemies b/c makes person unable to hit or be hit, uses magic fast at lower levels though)
Venus + Griffin (increase intelligence by 25%, useful on later bosses like zombie dragon to recharge mana)
Pluto + Griffin (makes you run twice as fast)

Boss strategies:
Cerberus: hit once with wind wave, remember to hit it with the wave, not the actual whip (2 level ups)
Necromancer: takes about 3 hits, (5 level ups), from this point on enemies and bosses kill you in one to two hits
Golem: use up all wind waves, wait to recharge one more to finish it off (4 level ups)
Adremelech: stand off to side, use up all wind waves and wait to recharge one more to beat it (4 levels up)
Zombie Dragons: start out at lower left corner, attacking the left dragon, avoiding falling rock, go to top left or right corners to recharge mana, attack right one last (2 level ups each)
Death: I don’t know, haven’t beat him. I’m level 20 when I reach him. His turtle form shouldn’t be too hard with a lot of mana. Camilla shouldn’t be too hard because she has a simple motion. Hugh will be annoying to defeat I’m guessing. Good luck with Dracula.
Well there it is, up for grabs.

Bartz

2005-06-11 04:11:52 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

I was never able to beat Dracula.

Bueno

2005-06-11 09:49:52 am

I tried to speedrun this game with the magician too but i failed defeating hugh. Even with the fighter I failed, you can't hide anywhere on the scene and you can't cast spells cause he's too fast.

Ifrit

2005-06-12 03:37:24 pm

This actually sounds like a good idea. I might try it later but at the moment I have other stuff I am doing.

LazyKenny

Edit history:

LazyKenny: 2005-06-14 09:19:13 am

2005-06-14 09:18:24 am

If you're doing it on Magician mode, skip the underground warehouse since you won't need cleansing if you're fast enough with Pluto-Unicorn. I've done it (in fact, I didn't kill Death in my magician run)

KennyMan666

2005-06-14 01:28:47 pm

Precursor

For those bosses that doesn't fall to Wind Wave (I've COMPLETELY FOROTTEN what magic this is, I'll have to check it), In a segmented run, luck with Pluto + Black Dog could be somewhat manipulated. Just make every segment start with a boss fight and restart if you don't get a huge bone in the first ten throws or something.

Bueno

2005-06-14 06:15:30 pm

Too bad that bones don't work on bosses... I allready tried it

dingussjr

Edit history:

dingussjr: 2005-06-14 06:27:39 pm

2005-06-14 06:22:21 pm

i was saying boo-urns.

Quote:

Too bad that bones don't work on bosses... I allready tried it

bones work on bosses. i had a semi-speed run all the way up to hugh (at 26:25, level 23) where i beat every boss with a large bone or three (and the occasional whipping, i'm sure, for bosses like camilla...i can't remember - i haven't played the file in six months, probably).

maybe i'll finish that file sometime.

edit: i just looked at my file again. turns out it wasn't a speed run - it was a low level run, as in i only fought bosses for experience and skipped any unnecessary bosses (the dragons and death).

Bueno

2005-06-14 09:05:21 pm

I tried the bone trick on the ram and i'm sure it didn't work, that's strange. Anyway speedruns based on luck are not good speedruns, skill is better.

soteos

2005-06-15 01:50:51 am

Oh duh, of course you can skip Death (might have realized it if I remembered what I got for beating him). Hell, you can practically walk through the water from one save point to the next without running out of mana. I guess I'll try out the skeleton bone trick for some later bosses, but it really isn't necessary for everything up to the zombie dragons. If it works on Hugh- shweet. Guess I'll work on it some more.

dingussjr

2005-06-15 04:28:02 am

i was saying boo-urns.

Quote:

Oh duh, of course you can skip Death (might have realized it if I remembered what I got for beating him). Hell, you can practically walk through the water from one save point to the next without running out of mana.

yep. i actually figured that one out myself by accident...i didn't know where to go, but when i destroyed the statues after adramelech i remembered where one statue was. having never quite beaten the game at that point in time (i got all the way to dracula when i rented it), i forgot all about death and figured i was going the right way. i love accidental sequence breaks.

Quote:

I guess I'll try out the skeleton bone trick for some later bosses, but it really isn't necessary for everything up to the zombie dragons.

it's not necessary, just very fast, especially if you get the big bone even within the first ten tries.

Quote:

If it works on Hugh- shweet. Guess I'll work on it some more.

it "works" on hugh...unfortunately, it takes several hits. i never could kill hugh with just the bones...seems to me hitting him with three big bones still didn't kill him. and the timing can be tough since hugh likes to run around like a pansy. he is fairly tough on a "no-level-up" magician run, but he's probably not too hard on a speed run, depending on your level and your familiarity with hugh. (beating hugh on fighter mode is a breeze...i had a pretty cool method of beating him easily. unfortunately, since it involves whipping him, it would take too long on magician mode, and the low defense would make it even harder. the method is simple...as i recall you just run from him, turning around every so often to whip him. i'm sure there was a little more to it than that, but i barely remember this game any more. i planned to come back and record some runs, but other games got in the way.)

[quote]Oh duh, of course you can skip Death (might have realized it if I remembered what I got for beating him). Hell, you can practically walk through the water from one save point to the next without running out of mana. 
[/quote]
yep.  i actually figured that one out myself by accident...i didn't know where to go, but when i destroyed the statues after adramelech i remembered where one statue was.  having never quite beaten the game at that point in time (i got all the way to dracula when i rented it), i forgot all about death and figured i was going the right way.  i love accidental sequence breaks.

[quote]
I guess I'll try out the skeleton bone trick for some later bosses, but it really isn't necessary for everything up to the zombie dragons. [/quote]
it's not necessary, just very fast, especially if you get the big bone even within the first ten tries.

[quote]If it works on Hugh- shweet. Guess I'll work on it some more.[/quote]
it "works" on hugh...unfortunately, it takes several hits.  i never could kill hugh with just the bones...seems to me hitting him with three big bones still didn't kill him.  and the timing can be tough since hugh likes to run around like a pansy.  he is fairly tough on a "no-level-up" magician run, but he's probably not too hard on a speed run, depending on your level and your familiarity with hugh.  (beating hugh on fighter mode is a breeze...i had a pretty cool method of beating him easily.  unfortunately, since it involves whipping him, it would take too long on magician mode, and the low defense would make it even harder.  the method is simple...as i recall you just run from him, turning around every so often to whip him.  i'm sure there was a little more to it than that, but i barely remember this game any more.  i planned to come back and record some runs, but other games got in the way.)

soteos

2005-06-15 05:09:00 am

Ok, here is the speedrun route up to Hugh. Go to cerberus, necromancer, golem and adremelech (the ram guy). SKIP the zombie dragons and death, and proceed to Camilla. In the water section the mana doesn’t come close to running out if you know what you’re doing. Here’s a way to beat Camilla, for those who don’t know:
Use the invisible spell and wait until she does the skull beam thing or the wing flapping thing. When she does, she stops making those eyeball globs that home in on you. Stand behind her and use the skeleton. The bone trick definitely works, and I beat her in about 2 hits.
Next is Hugh. I don’t like Hugh. Wind wave is crap now, so I must go with the skeleton. I’ve managed to hit him 3 times with the big bone (et tu dingus?). After two hits he changed into his second form, so I’m guessing it’s 4 hits to beat him. He’s not real hard to hit either, just wait for him to attack, jump back and throw a bone. He mostly swings his sword and throws fire bottles at close range.

By the way, for the early bosses (maybe with exception to golem), the wind wave is as fast or faster than throwing bones repeatedly. And much safer.

Ok, here is the speedrun route up to Hugh. Go to cerberus, necromancer, golem and adremelech (the ram guy). SKIP the zombie dragons and death, and proceed to Camilla. In the water section the mana doesn’t come close to running out if you know what you’re doing. Here’s a way to beat Camilla, for those who don’t know: 
Use the invisible spell and wait until she does the skull beam thing or the wing flapping thing. When she does, she stops making those eyeball globs that home in on you. Stand behind her and use the skeleton. The bone trick definitely works, and I beat her in about 2 hits.
Next is Hugh. I don’t like Hugh. Wind wave is crap now, so I must go with the skeleton. I’ve managed to hit him 3 times with the big bone (et tu dingus?). After two hits he changed into his second form, so I’m guessing it’s 4 hits to beat him. He’s not real hard to hit either, just wait for him to attack, jump back and throw a bone. He mostly swings his sword and throws fire bottles at close range.

By the way, for the early bosses (maybe with exception to golem), the wind wave is as fast or faster than throwing bones repeatedly. And much safer.

dingussjr

Edit history:

dingussjr: 2005-06-15 05:27:28 am

2005-06-15 05:15:40 am

i was saying boo-urns.

Quote:

After two hits he changed into his second form, so I’m guessing it’s 4 hits to beat him. He’s not real hard to hit either, just wait for him to attack, jump back and throw a bone. He mostly swings his sword and throws fire bottles at close range.

four hits is probably right. i was rather tired of...erm...bone-ing bosses by this point, so maybe i gave up too soon. i had a bit of a problem hitting him. perhaps i'll check out this run again.

Quote:

By the way, for the early bosses (maybe with exception to golem), the wind wave is as fast or faster than throwing bones repeatedly. And much safer.

hmm...i'll have to check out the wind wave. i never really used many dss spells on my file, other than the usuals: pluto + unicorn (for invincibility), pluto + griffin (for running twice as fast), and pluto + black dog (for the uber skeleton). keep in mind that since i never killed any enemies, i also didn't have any equipment. i never grabbed any hp ups or mp ups either. these may be somewhat responsible for the difficulties i encountered with hugh.

edit: i tried wind wave on cerberus. brilliant. the only flaw i see is the huge mp usage. i don't think it will matter, though, just as long as you have enough mp to double-speed run between saves to recharge mp. for speed, you know? the question remains, though. how useful is the wind wave compared to the big bone on later bosses? i'll look into it later or someone else can.

[quote] After two hits he changed into his second form, so I’m guessing it’s 4 hits to beat him. He’s not real hard to hit either, just wait for him to attack, jump back and throw a bone. He mostly swings his sword and throws fire bottles at close range.[/quote]
four hits is probably right.  i was rather tired of...erm...bone-ing bosses by this point, so maybe i gave up too soon.  i had a bit of a problem hitting him.  perhaps i'll check out this run again.

[quote]By the way, for the early bosses (maybe with exception to golem), the wind wave is as fast or faster than throwing bones repeatedly. And much safer.[/quote]
hmm...i'll have to check out the wind wave.  i never really used many dss spells on my file, other than the usuals: pluto + unicorn (for invincibility), pluto + griffin (for running twice as fast), and pluto + black dog (for the uber skeleton).  keep in mind that since i never killed any enemies, i also didn't have any equipment.  i never grabbed any hp ups or mp ups either.  these may be somewhat responsible for the difficulties i encountered with hugh.

edit: i tried wind wave on cerberus.  brilliant.  the only flaw i see is the huge mp usage.  i don't think it will matter, though, just as long as you have enough mp to double-speed run between saves to recharge mp.  for speed, you know?  the question remains, though.  how useful is the wind wave compared to the big bone on later bosses?  i'll look into it later or someone else can.

soteos

2005-06-15 07:13:27 am

F yeah! Almost there to making this a possible speed run! I found some more cool strategies. By the way, part of the reason I’m giving this info is because I can’t send in the run myself, so somebody else record it.

Hugh: easy. Get RIGHT in Hugh’s face. At this range all he should do is his sword attack. So move back a little, forward, bone throw, back, forward, bone throw, etc. If done right he won’t even move from his spot. Took about a minute.

Dracula: in this you’ll switch between skeleton and immortal mode (good thing they’re one card away). When he appears, throw like 2 bones then quickly turn immortal so the bats don’t hit. (when he does the blue bats you can go behind him and make one more hit with the skeleton). Takes about 3 big bone hits. Since this guy gives the final exp. points, the lowest level possible turns out to be 32.

Final Dracula (form 1): be immortal most of the time, takes very little mana now. Stand on one of the platforms (makes his laser attack easier to exploit). He has 3 attacks. The best one is the laser one where you can basically keep throwing bones at him without fear of getting hit. When he summons rocks to fall down, stay immortal until they end and can maybe get in 2 bones. For his poison blob attack, use a card combo like Jupiter + Unicorn to make a shield (they don’t disappear on their own so need to destroy them).

Final Dracula (form 2): don’t know yet. At least it’s the last boss.

F yeah! Almost there to making this a possible speed run! I found some more cool strategies. By the way, part of the reason I’m giving this info is because I can’t send in the run myself, so somebody else record it.

Hugh: easy. Get RIGHT in Hugh’s face. At this range all he should do is his sword attack. So move back a little, forward, bone throw, back, forward, bone throw, etc. If done right he won’t even move from his spot. Took about a minute.

Dracula: in this you’ll switch between skeleton and immortal mode (good thing they’re one card away). When he appears, throw like 2 bones then quickly turn immortal so the bats don’t hit. (when he does the blue bats you can go behind him and make one more hit with the skeleton). Takes about 3 big bone hits. Since this guy gives the final exp. points, the lowest level possible turns out to be 32.

Final Dracula (form 1): be immortal most of the time, takes very little mana now. Stand on one of the platforms (makes his laser attack easier to exploit). He has 3 attacks. The best one is the laser one where you can basically keep throwing bones at him without fear of getting hit. When he summons rocks to fall down, stay immortal until they end and can maybe get in 2 bones. For his poison blob attack, use a card combo like Jupiter + Unicorn to make a shield (they don’t disappear on their own so need to destroy them).

Final Dracula (form 2): don’t know yet. At least it’s the last boss.

soteos

2005-06-15 11:59:55 pm

I beat dracula's 2nd form with thunderbird summoning (uranus + thunderbird), only problem is that it took like 5 minutes to do so. Skeleton might be possible, but its hard to dodge bats and get close to the eye to hit it. So there, the run is possible. Have fun.