|
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin Official Strategy Guide | 
| Author: Bradygames
Publisher: BRADY GAMES
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy Used: $11.97
You Save: $5.02 (30%)
New (6) Used (14) Collectible (1) from $11.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 128496
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 160
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 10.6 x 8.3 x 0.4
ISBN: 0744008891
Dewey Decimal Number: 794
EAN: 9780744008890
ASIN: 0744008891
Publication Date: December 6, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Very slight cover wear, clean pgs
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
BradyGames’ Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin Official Strategy Guide includes the following: -
Features complete walkthrough of the entire game. -
Detailed area maps pinpointing critical locations. -
Extensive listing of all available items and equipment. -
Expert boss strategies to defeat even the toughest boss. -
In-depth bestiary. -
Game secrets revealed! Platform: Nintendo DS Genre: Action/Adventure This product is available for sale in North America only.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Very complete. October 5, 2008
I am impressed with the detailed instructions and screen prints. A must-have for those that get stuck in video games. Is is a completely detailed walkthrough of the entire game, a guarantee that you can finish the game.
Very Well Done Guide December 11, 2006
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Castlevania Portrait of Ruin is a pretty large game. While the overall game itself is pretty easy to figure out, it's pretty easy to miss all those easter eggs and complete all those quests without some help. Well, the help is here and it actually works out fairly well. For the most part you'll get the information you need.
The Guide begins with character introductions and then goes into the game basics section. Castlevania Portrait of Ruin is by no means a hard game to get a hold of, however, there are some pretty good tips here that beginners may not very well know. Experts and those who go on Speed Runs through Castlevania games probably won't need most of these tips however. Also, any Castlevania veteran who knows what to expect shouldn't need this section either. But if you're a beginner it's there just because. However, in this section the guide gives up the goods on a glitch in the game when completing Wind's quest. There's never been an easier way to get money, or more than one of a specific item.
The walkthrough, the meat of all strategy guides, is what really counts in this guide other than the quests sections. Each section begins with a pretty basic map that shows you where all the itmes are locaated with numbered black dots. Numbered red dots represent objectives that need to be completed, and you can read about these points in the walkthrough, and they're pretty basic. Best of all the guide gets to the point. Also, on each map here, BradyGAMES has illustrated the path you should take to get through most places. Just following this straight-forward path doesn't net you every item or even uncover all of the in-game map, however.
The maps are pretty much taken straight from the game, but they're good enough for you to navigate by. They also point out the location of portraits, save rooms and warp rooms.
In each section of the walkthrough they also have a list of enemies that populate an area. Here you'll find HP listings, weaknesses, experience and so forth. This lowers the amount of page flipping by a considerable amount. More than likely, however, you won't need to refer back to this portion of each section too much.
Boss strategies are surprisingly detailed. They give you some pretty helpful tips. I've always been an advocate for using your own strategies, but here these boss strategies not only help, but you get you through some boss fights with little or no damage at all. Considering how much of a challenge these boss fights can be, taking no damage sounds like a plan.
The walkthrough gets you through the game with ease. There's not much left for you to figure out on your own. You've got puzzle solutions, boss strategies, enemy listings... all at your disposal. The game itself isn't too hard to figure out as it is, but with this leg up you'll conquer what you need to conquer. If you're lost, the guide will help you out quite a bit. Stuck at a boss? The strategies here help. In other words, this is exactly what a guide should be. There are also no spoilers, or catching you up on what needs to be done. This guide doesn't waste time. The walkthrough is fast and simple. The only real problem with the walkthrough is that there a couple of blurry or pixaled screenshots, but this is hardly a problem. You can still visually learn from them.
After the walkthrough you'll get into all those secrets. Here the guide goes into the optional endings, New Game+, Hard Mode, Stella and Loretta Mode, Richter and Maria mode and other extras like Boss Rush Mode. There's no walkthrough for the different modes, but if Portrait of Ruin is like previous Castlevania games, you shouldn't need a full blown walkthrough for these extra character modes simply because the maps and such don't change. Therefore I can't really hold that against the guide.
After all the secrets we get into the other part of the guide that's really good. The Quests which Wind sends you on. While the quests are indeed called out in the walkthrough, this little section in the back reduces page flipping. Here you'll get all you need to complete a quest. More than likely you'll need help with some of these quests, given that Wind's explanations are rather vague at times. This guide will help you get through each and every quest. Also, like I said, they give you a neat little trick that lets you duplicate the rewards that Wind gives you (but remember, that is found in the game basics section, not the quests or secrets section).
After all the quests we get into the appencdices with weapon, armor, sub weapons etc. All this stuff is pretty standard for just about any guide. The descriptions are pretty helpful as well. Not only that but it tells you where to find them. So if you're missing a sub weapon and don't know where to find it and you don't want to flip all through the walkthrough, you can just as easily flip to the sub weapon appendix and it'll tell you where to find it. Again, the guide is very easy to use.
Finally there't he bestiary. Which basically tells you all the monster stats that were presented to you in the walkthrough. There's a little more detail here, and for the bosses they'll repeat strategies, but for the most part, it's just an extension of the enemy stats already listed in the walkthrough. You more than likely won't need to use this, but again, like the game basics, it's there for those who might potentially need it.
Is there really anything wrong with this guide? Well, there are not that many perfect guides out there, and this is no exception. There's nothing mentioned about co-op play at all. It's hard to judge whether or not this is a big problem. They do cover boss rush mode and the rewards granted for it, but it seems like a no brainer that a guide would cover EVERYTHING about the game. There's not even a mention of co-op mode. Still, for what it's worth, you get everything you need from this guide concerning the single player experience. If you're stuck, I guarantee this guide will help you out.
|
|
|
|
Web Hosting & Domain Registration | |
