CastleVania: Dawn of Sorrow
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Sequence Breaking Guide
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By: Invariel
Version 2.01f
1.0 Table of Contents
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1.0 Table of Contents (Redundant, no?)
2.0 Disclaimer
3.0 What Is This?
3.5 What Is This Not?
4.0 Things You Should Already Know
5.0 Things You Should Already Have
6.0 The Succubus Warp Glitch
7.0 Game Specific Sequence Breaks
8.0 Sequence Break Walkthrough
8.1 Addendum, and Further Disclaimer
8.2 Recommended Equipment Sets
8.5 The Walkthrough
9.0 Credits
2.0 Disclaimer
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If you are reading this, you should know that it will contain spoilers. It
will also contain strategies for how to get through certain encounters while
"underequipped" and may ruin your enjoyment of the game in certain areas. I
write this in the hopes that a certain clique of gamers will enjoy a shortened
(yet much more difficult) version of the game, and know that while not everyone
agrees with sequence breaking, thinking of the abused glitches as Things That
Should Have Been Fixed Before Release, it's there, and people will do and enjoy
it.
Furthermore, all trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are
owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders, however this guide
is my own intellectual property, and thus Copyright 2006 Adam Michaud.
3.0 What Is This?
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This is a sequence breaking guide. It is not intended to get you through
the entire game with 100% completion. In fact, it is just the opposite. This
guide is of the same general disposition as the various 12% runs for Metroid:
Zero Mission or the 1% runs for Metroid Fusion. I aim for an extremely low
completion percentage while skipping game-critical sequences and breaking the
flow of the game. I wrote this guide -as I played through the game-, so I know
that the encounters described within are accurate, and while I have done my best
to describe how to get past specific encounters, I do not expect my gameplay
experience to be exactly the same as yours.
Also, this guide describes a glitch technique, commonly known as the
Succubus Glitch. I forewarn you to save your game before attempting to use this
glitch on any wall in the game, as it can have some unforseen circumstances,
such as causing you to lose your progress that play period. As I have run
through the entire game while writing this guide, I know that the glitch
functions in a non-threatening manner for all of the circumstances described.
However, once again, I urge you to save your game before attempting to
glitch through any other walls in the game, as the consequences may be dire.
3.5 What Is This Not?
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This is not a complete walkthrough. This is not even a walk. This is a
dead run through a bare minimum of content, requiring you to have already beaten
the game at least once before, skips a lot of the story, ignores very important
events, and abuses (to heck) a glitch that many people wish had been fixed
before the game was released.
This is also not a guide for Super Metroid, just in case anyone out there
is confused.
4.0 Things You Should Already Know
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You should have already beaten the game. If you have not done so, please
please PLEASE, hit the Back button on your browser, and go read a proper
FAQ/Walkthrough, because CastleVania: Dawn of Sorrow is one of those games where
you should have experienced its fullness before trying to break it.
5.0 Things You Should Already Have
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o 100% of the souls recovered in a previous game, earning you a very valuable
Chaos Ring.
o A Valmanway, Claimh Solais or other awesome Weapon of Choice.
o A Succubus soul (mandatory).
o A Cutall (my preferred dagger) or a Cinquedia.
o Knowledge of the "Succubus Warp Glitch", explained below.
6.0 The Succubus Warp Glitch
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Knowing how to do the Succubus Warp Glitch is pretty much required in order
to be able to sequence break this game, since that is the main technique you
will be using for getting through this game as quickly as possible, with as
little content as possible. In order to activate this glitch, find a room - any
room will do, but if you want to get some quick practice in, find a Save Room -
and activate Succubus with Up + Attack (Y). Now, while Soma is sliding forward,
hit the Special Attack (A) button to use the Cutall or Cinquedia teleport slash.
Once you return to your original position, hit Attack (Y) three times, then hit
Special Attack (A) once. Your new in-game location should be different from
your initial location, and Soma will be facing in the same direction you were
initially. This is the Succubus Warp Glitch, and you can now amaze your friends
with it. If done in a room with a wall that connects to another room, you will
warp through the wall and into the next room. If done in a room with a wall
that does NOT connect to another room, one of the following will occur:
o Random sliding up the minimap, earning you any combination of the following:
- Additional percentage
- Soma mode souls
- Julius mode souls
- Soma mode weapons
- Julius mode weapons
- Graphical errors (screen shift)
- Switching to Julius mode, where your level is displayed in the upper-right
corner and you cannot go to the menu
- Game freezing/not responding to input
- Generally interesting things that require a game restart to be able to
continue playing
If any of the above occur (except for the game restart one and the Julius
mode glitch), you can usually Suspend the game and return to it to see if you
end up in walkable terrain, whereupon you can save and reap the benefits of a
glitched game. (Yay, Valmanway and Black Panther!)
o Reappearance in a room near where you were
- This is especially prominent in the long shaft that leads to The Lost
Village branch not beside Yoko and Hammer's shops, as long as you warp
left above the White Dragon. You will appear in the corridor containing
the four Axe Armors and the one Great Axe Armor, however if you try to
walk to the right without having already broken open the wall, you will
find yourself in the situation above, sliding across the minimap. I seem
to remember being able to Suspend out of this one, though, but I'd have to
try it again to be sure.
There is also a very extensive Succubus Glitch map available at
http://www.angelfire.com/stars5/tkcpics2/dos_glitch.html
7.0 Game Specific Breaks
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You can break through any golden door (573, 666, 777), though you have to
break back in order to not freeze. You can also break through any boss door, as
long as you do not start level to the door. You can still beat the boss inside
without having the appropriate Seal (see above), but you must know how to draw
the Seal in order to defeat the boss.
8.0 Sequence Break Walkthrough
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8.1 Addendum and Further Disclaimer
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This section has been quite reworked since version 1.12, thanks to
information from LoganSaj. It includes a brand new, optimized route, and is
written with the intention of getting you to Menace at level 2. It IS possible
to defeat Menace at level 2, and really isn't all that hard. If you want a bit
less of a challenge, feel free to kill things along the way.
8.2 Recommended Equipment Sets
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If you are trying to rush through this game and be level 2, I recommend you
having the following set of equipment and souls:
Weapon: Cinquedia Bullet Soul: Succubus
Armor: Dracula's Tunic Guardian Soul: Iron Golem
Accessory: Chaos Ring Enchant Soul: The Creature
I also recommend possessing the following soul:
+----------------+
| "" |
| LV .1/1 NULL |
| 5/USE +
+----------------+
Since it is the Alucard Soul: Form of Bat, which does the same as Bat
Company, without having an 'over time' requirement. If you have this soul, you
can skip more of the game than with just Succubus, and it will help you achieve
a much lower percentage score than without it.
If you are trying to just kill things, then I recommend the following:
Weapon: Death's Scythe Bullet Soul: Great Axe Armor
Armor: Dracula's Tunic Guardian Soul: Death
Accessory: Chaos Ring Enchant Soul: Lilith / Stolas
Against Menace, I have found the following combination of weapons and souls
to be particularly effective:
Weapon: Dainslef Bullet Soul: Erinys / Great Axe Armor
Armor: Death's Robe Guardian Soul: Death
Accessory: Chaos Ring Enchant Soul: Stolas
Using Stolas gives a Lv*2 bonus to Int, and -Lv bonus to Str, but this
setup recommends never swinging your weapon at all. Dainslef and Death's Robe
give the highest +Int bonus, and Erinys (Holy) hits twice, meaning that you will
be able to do a significant amount of damage to Menace with every hit.
8.5 The Walkthrough
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Defeat the first three enemies in any which way you decide, because the
game won't let you progress until you do. Congratulations, you are now level 2,
and if you're trying to beat the game at the lowest level possible, you won't be
killing anything for about twenty more minutes.
[If you possess the Alucard Mode soul "Form of Bat" that lets you
turn into a bat for 5 MP, please follow this path. If you do not, please skip
the next paragraph.]
Head due right to the encounter between Yoko and Julius. He jumps over the
moat, and LoganSaj recommended that I do the same, so I equip the Alucard Mode
soul that costs 5 MP (which is Alucard's Form of Bat), and fly over the moat,
over the drawbridge, and into the castle. Then, continue to the right, avoiding
pretty much everything you can, until you find yourself in the Garden of
Madness. And now we wait for the slowpokes to catch up.
Instead of going straight ahead to where Yoko is, head down, toward Flying
Armor, and activate the Succubus Warp Glitch to get into the boss room. Wait
for him to finish his boss animation, and run to the left, Succubus'ing through
the door and out again. That's one boss bypassed. A few more to go.
Succubus to the left, which will warp you up and onto the otherwise out of
reach platform, and then head left, down and right, so that you are above
Hammer's shop. Follow that path down and to the right, Succubus'ing through the
wall behind the skeleton, and then continuing to the right, Succubus'ing through
the next wall, so that you don't have to go down and around, picking up one or
two extra rooms along the way, and lower the water beneath the drawbridge.
If you have NOT met Julius and Yoko, you will encounter their conversation
here, though you will be participating from the bottom of the moat, and will
not be able to see Julius hop over the castle wall. When control returns to
you, the screen may turn black. Press 'Start' and you will reappear up beside
the Wargs, on your way to walking Yoko home.
If you Succubus'ed through the switch to lower the water, the water level
will not have dropped, and you will have to walk all the way back around, and
will not be able to enter the castle, as the water will draw you up, and you
cannot activate Succubus unless you are standing on firm ground. Also, you can
try to Succubus the drawbridge, jumping in mid-air, but you can't get the height
required to get over the bridge and into the castle. So, either way you try
this, ...
You're under the castle and in the Wizardry Lab. Head down, left, down,
right, up and right to the room with the breakable blocks. The reason we didn't
Succubus through the wall on the lower-right of the shaft just after the Save
Room is because it ejects us up and into the room due right of the Save Room,
and isn't where we need to be.
Now, Succubus past the tall wall at the end of the room with the hovering
platform and all of the Armor Knights and you've not only skipped fighting
Balore, you're in to the Garden of Madness.
Head up to the encounter with Celia Fortner where she kills Mina (Bad
Ending). You're going to have to be rather quick for this one to work, because
if you miss, you'll see the Bad Ending, and the game will save, putting you
right back beside Flying Armor.
Start to Succubus the Boss Door and then hit Special Attack. Attack three
times, pause, hit Special Attack again, PAUSE THE GAME and equip Mina's
Talisman. As long as you aren't running on automatic every time you try to
Succubus a door or wall, you'll be able to try this as many times as you want,
without worrying about seeing the Bad Ending. Anyhow, we get to watch Celia
kill Mina, and this cutscene can't be skipped.
Look! Dmitri was inside of you all along! Re-equip your Chaos Ring, and
head off to the right. Continuing right, you end up in the Dark Chapel, and
the game's difficulty continues at its normal pace. Proceed up and around to
the blocked wall where the Tombstone is. Use the Special Attack to press the
switch, and then walk right through the wall as it is lowering, being careful
not to get too hurt by the Tombstone on the other side. Welcome to the
Condemned Tower, where you might start taking some actual damage. Head straight
right doing whatever you can to avoid the Malacodas, and watch Julius open the
way to the Mine of Judgement.
Choosing to save here means an extra couple of percentage points, but also
gives a little bit of peace of mind, since it's a long and frustrating road
ahead of you. However, if you're comfortable just rushing through here, and
avoiding a host of Tanjellies, Slogras and Gaibons, you can drop straight on
down and rush toward Death. Save if you want, and then start downward.
Remember earlier where I pointed out that you can jump in mid-air if you
Succubus onto empty space? If you do not possess the Form of Bat, this is where
learning that and applying it become very very important. If the need arises,
you can usually just Succubus to the next room, but that generally entails
fighting a Slogra or a Gaibon, which could result in you returning to a Save
Room that you may not have decided to hit.
Make your way down whatever way you choose, looking at your map to make
sure that you take all of the proper side exits and do not end up wandering
toward the Warp Room, which would add an additional 0.2% to your score, but may
give you a bit of breathing space.
When you make it to the bottom of the mine shaft, you have the option of
heading right, into a Save Room, or left, toward Death's room. If you are going
to save, now is NOT the time. If you're low on health, sit in the room beside
Death, and let The Creature heal you up. Or drink a Potion. Or equip Ghoul and
eat some poisoned food. You shouldn't get hit anyways. Succubus into Death's
room, and run to the far left, jumping if he decides to try to attack you from
behind, and quickly Succubus out of there. Congratulations, you've made it to
the Abyss, and are now into the hardest part of this run, whether you're trying
to be level 2 or not.
And now, into The Abyss. Save, if you want. I did. Succubus through the
flame pillar, then through the wall, and head down. Face left and activate Iron
Golem, and prepare for a slow and agonizing walk through the entire room. When
you pass the final pillar of flame, find a good time to deactivate it, and jump
into the next room as quickly as you can.
The Alastors present an interesting problem. They're huge, they have a LOT
of hit points, and they're not likely to just let you walk past. So, what can
you do? Wait for them to attack, slide and then rush through the shadows. Only
the swords actually do damage, so getting past is pretty simple.
When it comes time to taking the Hippogryph soul (you're, what, half an
hour into this game, and already picking up the Hippogryph?), do so, since you
have no double jump to reach those just out of reach platforms.
Head back up, into the room with the Mudman and the Heart Eater, and wait
for the Heart Eater to be above you. Start your Glitch and pass through the
wall right before it attacks where you used to be, then continue to the left and
head down into the Ice section of the Abyss.
Either Iron Golem or Form of Bat your way past the Stolas and her Valkyrie
and head down. Succubus through the wall on the left, and then either activate
Form of Bat or Iron Golem to get past the Final Guard.
Next is a Malachi who gets very frustrated that he can't hit you if you
stay on the ledge, and he's followed by a pair of White Dragons, followed by
another Malachi. The best way I've found to avoid this encounter is to equip
Iron Golem, walk all the way to the wall where the lower White Dragon is
attached, wait for it to strike, deactivate Iron Golem and Succubus quickly.
Continuing right, there's a Malacoda. Don't bother fighting it, just
Succubus through the wall and continue right. Instead of heading straight in
and fighting Abaddon, use the Save Point (been a while, hasn't it) to save your
valuable progress, and then head up and in.
You can't Succubus through his door, because you're on the same level as
it... So, what do you do? You use the platform just below, Succubus to the
edge, then warp right on through the wall and into the encounter. If Abaddon is
nice, and conducts the wasps properly, you can get past him and warp right on
out of his room, bypassing yet another dangerous boss fight. Don't head back
in, however, because he's still waiting there to conduct you into the next life.
Chances are, you're wounded, so heal up in whichever way you please, then
continue to the right. You might find yourself wanting to kill anything and
everything here, because those Malacodas are frustrating alone, and there are
three in this room alone, but since the goal is to do this at level 2, you have
to find a lull in their pattern of trying to kill you while the Black Panther
rushes around. My recommendation is that you find a point where the three are
stabbing at you at the same time, get just out of the way and Hippogryph up as
high as you can, so that you can reposition yourself to get up into the next
room.
After those three is another Stolas. Use Iron Golem or Form of Bat to get
past it, and walk all the way around the room, since there's no ledge to
Succubus from, then head into the room with the Iron Golem. Again, use your own
Iron Golem soul, or fly over it and head up.
There's a Giant Slug in the next room. If you have enough hit points, and
want to skip another 0.1% of the castle, jump up to the right and Succubus
through the thin wall. Otherwise, walk around the long way, and move on. Get
past the spikes using a combination of Jump + Hippogryph, Succubus over to the
right, over the empty pit you just jumped out of, and you're at the Warp that's
right below the final Save Point of the game.
I leave it to you to defeat Menace and beat the game, but I know it can be
done (even at level 2). It will take a lot of patience, skill and MP, but it
can be done. Best of luck.
Note: As of the rewriting of this walkthrough, after completing the game,
I am level 2, with 14.6% of the castle explored, and 63 XP to level 3, which
means that not a single enemy more than was necessary died during my run. I hit
four rooms more than I needed to (because of falling or saving), but I think I
accomplished what I've set out to do. My non-Form of Bat percentage was 21.9%,
which was also rather quick, and I completed that at level 17.
My set of equipment for beating Menace was as follows:
Form 1:
Weapon: Dainslef Bullet Soul: Erinys
Armor: Death's Robe Guardian Soul: Death
Accessory: Chaos Ring Enchant Soul: Stolas
Form 2 [Leg]:
Weapon: Dainslef Bullet Soul: Erinys
Armor: Death's Robe Guardian Soul: Death
Accessory: Chaos Ring Enchant Soul: Stolas
Form 2 [Head]:
Weapon: Dainslef Bullet Soul: Great Axe Armor
Armor: Death's Robe Guardian Soul: Death
Accessory: Chaos Ring Enchant Soul: Stolas
9.0 Credits
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Concept: Adam "Invariel" Michaud
Contact: moc.liamg@leiravni (backwards)
MSN: moc.liamtoh@margana (backwards)
ICQ: 67311952
AIM: Invariel
Start Date: Saturday, January 8, 2006
Finish Date: Saturday, January 8, 2006
First Edit: Thursday, January 12, 2006
Second Edit: Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Third Edit: Thursday, January 19, 2006
Fourth Edit: Monday, April 17, 2006
Special Thanks To:
Wolfman, for recommending this awesome game.
Konami, for many years of great (and some less than great) CV games.
Craig Stewart, for his excellent Succubus Glitch website, found at
http://www.angelfire.com/stars5/tkcpics2/dos_glitch.html with which this guide
would not have been possible.
LegoLover64, who messaged me out of the blue, asking for help with the game,
causing me to actually play it again.
LoganSaj, who through AIM suggested that I use the Form of Bat from Alucard's
soul list to skip the entire Laboratory, saving 7.6 percent and skimming five
minutes from the run's total time.
I have finally released this under a general copyleft (meaning you can
host it wherever you'd like and use it in derivative works as long as you
credit the source). I do ask that you please contact me before hosting this
so that I know where I can expect to see it, and where I may hear from people
who have read it. I like to think that I just ran through this game so that
I could take credit for my work.
Thanks,
Invariel.
Copyleft 2006-2008 Adam Michaud
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