I completely agree, the 8-directional whip is definitely my favorite classic Castlevania control scheme, and it might even rival some of the weapons from the Metroidvania titles. I always wished one of them would include an 8-way whip as a hidden weapon or something. Instead, they just included Richter mode in every other game..
Rondo of Blood has the best replayability factor, but i personally think Super Castlevania IV – with its darker tone, atmospheric music and early horror cinema art style – conveys the sense of an epic adventure leading up to Dracula in a way I haven't found in any other Castlevania titles I have played.
If somehow Super Castlevania 4 whip gameplay + Rondo of Blood "style" + Castlevania: Symphony of the Night levels and map designs + the GBA games' features combined into one game it would be very legendary game. But then if it also had "catching enemies with a whip and thus throwing them to the walls, ceiling, and bashing them to the ground and walls repeatedly and all. But the gameplay I have in mind is doing these manually in whatever way you want by using analog stick or mouse lol so they are not part of an automatic combo" gameplay + throw enemies to other enemies to inflict damage via your whip + use enemies as shield with your whip + your character is very acrobatic to make the gameplay fast and stylish + "your character can temporarily turns into a monster in a way even monsters try to run away from you" + no more finding cooked meat in walls, you just eat monsters in "monster mode" "bosses having a personality like they flex when they start the boss fight, half way there to their death they start to complain and near they dying they start to cry lol" + extreme gore detail and visible change in enemy bodies as they take damage realistically + every enemy have their own weakness so they have their own ways to be defeated like Witcher 3 + damage make enemies bleed and realistically splash their blood and their insides around walls and objects = I would just faint from "extreme epicness!!!"
I could see there being a debate on the music and thematic elements between the 2 games. I think for me what really sealed it was when I realized the one thing that everyone almost universally praises 4 for is actually the biggest thing that breaks it; the 8-way whip. It just completely destroys any and all challenge from the game to the point where items are essentially useless since you can pretty much deal with all the enemies with the whip. Any sort of strategies regarding how you approach a situation are just not needed in 4 since the whip does everything for you.
Not really sure how Rondo and Symphony are in anyway comparable as games. Completely different style of games.
I guess if Castlevania is not "good whip game series" for you you wouldn't have any reason to like the 4th except some cool level designs that adds flavor to the platforming gameplay, but if you just care to kill to kill then IDK any newer one would be a good game for you. However just killing is meaningless to me.
Not preferring one entry in a series with like 50 titles somehow meaning I only care to kill is a gigantic leap to make. It's just not as fun to me, I'm sorry if it somehow wounded your "I'm a gamer" sensibilities by saying as much.
It's not a matter of understanding, you vomit out these gigantic walls of text that basically always have the same underlying tone: games are bad now, developers are lazy/unskilled/greedy, and they should make games the way you see them or they're bad. It's tiring after awhile and sometimes I just don't have the energy. Apologies if I don't feel like essaying at you after being essayed at. lolol
