[feels]

The time has finally come to release the first demo for my Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow mod; Eternity of Sorrow.
This mod is a test for myself to see how far I can go with the modding tools currently available, while also giving the game a decent story, brutal difficulty, and creating fun unique mechanics.

This mod is sort of a "sequel" to Dawn of Sorrow but not quite the way people may assume at first.

(Remember you will need to first obtain a ROM of Dawn of Sorrow on your own first)

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHE8wv8Dic4

Demo release:
https://github.com/f33lz/Eternity-of-Sorrow-Demo-V1

Many thanks to LagoLunatic for creating the mod tools and answering questions I have

LagoLunatic: https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=66836

DSvania Editor: https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=23678.380

[feels]

Here is the complete map for the first demo. Don't look at it if you care about exploration spoilers

https://imgur.com/4p4i7s3

[Aceearly1993]

Hi I want to report a glitch on the real DS which the game will freeze after the "obtaining Mina's Talisman scenario" when Arikado is about to walk in screen. There seems to be no way to avoid it without skipping the whole dialogue by pressing START button.

As for the brutal difficulty I thought it's way too much if you lock Soma at level 1 without altering the damage parameter of minor enemies. The two Valkyries beat Soma in two or three hits right after spawning from start point which is somewhat frustrating and requires extra luck to make them out of the way. The Malachi's claw beats Soma instantly and I can't seem to find reasonable strategy to avoid it without wasting extra potions.

[Giga571]

About the difficulty - it's a tiny bit disheartening to know that no matter what, Soma will never grow in power. Earlier portions of the game will never become easier to get through on subsequent attempts, unless something happens to change the geography like the Gergoth boss battle. I'm only up to the bit where you first see a Student Witch, using the guaranteed souls code because fuck grinding for them, and I have no desire to backtrack whatsoever, even though the hallway just above the Condemned Tower warp point is the best place to get healing items. I think the game would be better off in terms of a sense of progression if each boss gave you enough experience to level up at least once. That way, backtracking would become less of a pain, you would have more health to work with over time, and you can still carefully construct the difficulty however you please as you have been so far.

I'd also like to echo Aceearly in saying that the Valkyries are a bit strong for that early in the game. I get that you're designing this for insanedifficulty.com and not a casual gamer, but do keep the rest of us in mind, please.

[feels]

Hi I want to report a glitch on the real DS which the game will freeze after the "obtaining Mina's Talisman scenario" when Arikado is about to walk in screen. There seems to be no way to avoid it without skipping the whole dialogue by pressing START button.

As for the brutal difficulty I thought it's way too much if you lock Soma at level 1 without altering the damage parameter of minor enemies. The two Valkyries beat Soma in two or three hits right after spawning from start point which is somewhat frustrating and requires extra luck to make them out of the way. The Malachi's claw beats Soma instantly and I can't seem to find reasonable strategy to avoid it without wasting extra potions.

Thanks for the bug report! I'll look into it and fix it. I haven't quite tested all the rooms on actual ds hardware yet.
December 24, 2018, 02:06:14 pm - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)

About the difficulty - it's a tiny bit disheartening to know that no matter what, Soma will never grow in power. Earlier portions of the game will never become easier to get through on subsequent attempts, unless something happens to change the geography like the Gergoth boss battle. I'm only up to the bit where you first see a Student Witch, using the guaranteed souls code because fuck grinding for them, and I have no desire to backtrack whatsoever, even though the hallway just above the Condemned Tower warp point is the best place to get healing items. I think the game would be better off in terms of a sense of progression if each boss gave you enough experience to level up at least once. That way, backtracking would become less of a pain, you would have more health to work with over time, and you can still carefully construct the difficulty however you please as you have been so far.

I'd also like to echo Aceearly in saying that the Valkyries are a bit strong for that early in the game. I get that you're designing this for insanedifficulty.com and not a casual gamer, but do keep the rest of us in mind, please.

Thanks for the input! I actually was considering making bosses give you exp. I'm also probably going to make potions drop A LOT form most enemies. The first room however, might not change at all. Since you only have to do that room once I think it is a perfect intro for what this mod is all about gameplay wise. It's more about not getting hit than tanking damage like the base game. Also I will reposition that Malachi. Almost every enemy is in for a rebalance so don't worry too much about that.

[ikusatatsu_ushiromiya]

I'm glad to that finally someone make the map MOD for CV of NDS!
I made some map MOD of AOS before. Now I want to play otherone's map MOD.
So I really looking forward your hack!

PS:I am sorry but MAXLV1 is a bad idea for this hack,
which brought a bad experience.

[feels]

I'm glad to that finally someone make the map MOD for CV of NDS!
I made some map MOD of AOS before. Now I want to play otherone's map MOD.
So I really looking forward your hack!

PS:I am sorry but MAXLV1 is a bad idea for this hack,
which brought a bad experience.

I’m glad more modders seeing my mod! I actually started playing one of your mods recently(ikusatatsu‘s castle). I haven’t had time to get too far into yet but I enjoy it so far. Thanks for the feedback on my mod. I am still in the process of balancing everything. The issue isn’t really the max level. It’s more that most enemies have not yet had stat changes to suit the player’s level. I am considering making bosses give some exp but that could make certain areas of the game too easy.

[ikusatatsu_ushiromiya]

I think MAXLV1 is really bad setting for AOS and DOS.
Not for the difficult but for the gameplay.
It makes game more boring when you explore maps.
LV up is an interesting thing in the course of exploration.

[feels]

I think MAXLV1 is really bad setting for AOS and DOS.
Not for the difficult but for the gameplay.
It makes game more boring when you explore maps.
LV up is an interesting thing in the course of exploration.

It’s just a matter of design choice. I usually prefer games that focus more on player skill than stats. I prefer games where the player actually has to improve their skill rather than grind for the character’s level. Just a design preference. I may release an easy mode version that keeps the leveling system but it would be VERY easy.

[ikusatatsu_ushiromiya]

On the other hand, magic seal system is a awful system in DOS.
You'd better remove it by this patch:http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3408/

[feels]

On the other hand, magic seal system is a awful system in DOS.
You'd better remove it by this patch:http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3408/

I’ll let the players choose to remove it. Personally I don’t mind it but I fully understand why some people hate it

[blacksniper]

This has certainly got me intrigued. I always loved the level 1 restriction modes of the later CV games and that being made the standard for a run sounds great. It always bothered me you had to unlock hard mode instead of just letting players learn the game while playing on hard. With all the hacks of NES CV games it always stuns me how there seems to be no love for the IGAvanias.

Can't wait for the full release!