"The Mysterious Man" Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin Hard LV1, Part 1
Hello, and welcome to the newest series in where I take on random things for random prizes. If you thought Axe Armor was sad, then be surprised as I take on Level 1 in Portrait of Ruin. These entries will take place in the form of journal entries, as to spice up the information wheel.
4-1-2022 (Part 1)
Today was a good day to start a playthrough of Level 1. By the time the first episode gets released, it will be the sixth year since Leo had started PoR Level 1. To state some information, this will be in all be used. I got 560 shop points out of the 2000 I needed. I currently have 2000 in reserves, so I can get about 250 more, which isn't enough. As for the portraits, the last four will be a pain because the warps are a big time sink.
Enemies
Zombies now spawn a Skeleton upon death. This increases the threat of them by a good sum, where slopes are the answer. Their speed is also increased. Poison is also an element of surprise.
Bats appear to be pretty fast. Other case are unknown.
Axe Armor's axes now arc upward or downward at no real will. It just decides when to arc when returning, like Old Axe Armor.
Forneus is possibly faster? Currently unknown.
Wight is faster than Walter White, to say the least. Faster than the regular zombie as well.
Useful Skills
Dart: We don't use this one here
Shurkien: Shop fodder. Won't use.
Axe: Pretty useful, but it will run itself dry soon enough. Subweapon mastery will be needed for its full usage.
Changes from Normal to Hard
In Hard Mode, you are restricted to a level cap that is chosen on file creation. These caps are 50, 25, and 1. Damage will scale to your level, and at Level 1, enemies do over 100 bonus damage. Bosses will do extreme damage, even fatal enough to OHKO the player. Some enemies and bosses will change their attack properties.
In addition to the above changes, the player deals 25% less damage in total. All enemy stats and weaknesses are unchanged.
Video Notes
Recorded using MelonDS with a custom overlay.
1536x864 for main gameplay, and 1536x576 for bosses.
Bosses are separated into their own episodes, releases two hours (or less) after the base episode.
Here is the list of banned stuff
Broken: Darts, Shuriken
Neglects Challenge: Heal, Ancient Armor, Healing Mail
All or Nothing: Berserker Armor, Heavy Armor, New Game+
Can't Even: Bonuses from beating the game.
Misc: High Speed
Grinds will try to be minimal, though Mastery will be needed for some quests (Done off-screen?)
Game is played on a fresh save (New Game Level 1)
And that does it for the base episode. The Dullahan episode is approaching, in the next hour, and after that, we'll take an escape from the city.