Too bad, it wasn't Dracula after all...and the poor guy is even surprised that he lost. I suppose that's also why he was waiting for someone to help him destroy Dracula, because clearly if that was his best, he wasn't going to be able to take on the big man upstairs.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes, son of Vlad Tepes III (a.k.a. Vlad the Impaler), the father of course known more commonly as "Dracula" and the son sometime since adopting the moniker of "Alucard"...oh those rebellious scamps, always setting out to defy their fathers.
Unfortunately, Grant decides that three's a crowd and graciously bows out. He actually says the same exact thing if you tak him down the other route and decide you want Syfa to tag along.
On that note, I'd like to point out after the nice boss fight, healing, score tallying, discussion, and map screen interlude...we're STILL in Stage 5...although unlike most other stage continuations, you'll be allowed to start back from the room after you defeated Alucard. Think like Stage 2, except you keep going further in instead of coming back out.
Alucard's means of attack is rather unique in that he will open his cape and send out some fireballs, much like how he fought you, which is in fact a mimicry of how his father fights in the very first Castlevania game, although he will only start with one fireball and must pick up the same items that Trevor uses to upgrade his whip before he can fire the full complement of three.
The fireballs themselves are actually the weakest attack in the game, but they're also far more ranged and cover a wide area in relatively quick order. Also, given the way enemies don't receive any sort of invulnerability time between attacks, hitting them with multiple fireballs at the same time will cause them to incur all the damage simultaneously.
This means that one hit at a time is worth half one of Grant or Syfa's or Trevor's leather whip attacks, two simultaneous hits are equal to one hit with any of those, and three is equal in power to Trevor's mighty chain whip (of either length)...although this boon is rather dubious at best if you consider that that Alucard has to be particularly close to his enemy if he wants to enjoy it.
Alucard's other special talent is one that I did not actually discover except by accident one time while I was playing this game, but if you press the jump button while holding down on the control pad, he will transform into a bat and take flight! Needless to say, I was very unhappy with little Adrian for holding out on me like that, so we weren't on the best of speaking terms for a little while.
The ability costs a heart for roughly a second of flight, but that really is a rather low cost for the boon of otherwise unrestricted aerial travel. He naturally cannot attack in this form, and unfortunately changes back when he incurs any damage, but you can usually change back into the bat form while you fall. Of course, since Alucard isn't Grant and has none of his incredible jumping prowess, he cannot alter his mid-air trajectory when he turns back into his normal form and always remains stationary when performing the transformation...so he will drop like a rock straight down when he is changed back either by choice or by force (whether by damage or expending all of your hearts).
The real drawback here is that Alucard is completely unable to use any subweapons other than the stopwatch, which every character is actually allowed to use and is the one subweapon that will never vanish between character transitions. Then again, as an expensive subweapon at five hearts per use (the only subweapon in this game that uses more than one, in fact), you might as well just fly away for those five seconds (usually fewer than five if you take flight to get around something anyway) and save yourself the trouble...but it's something, and you might as well keep the option open, I guess.
Anyway, this video is incredibly short (much shorter than this description, in fact), and I apologize for that, but there are only two screens before another branch in the potential paths you can take through the game after only a single block consisting of two rooms.
Mummy-infested rooms...mummies that while they aren't as strong as the ones that are used for boss fights, they do seem to be unlimited in supply as long as you stand in the vicinity of where they spawn...which is incidentally quite irritating, as that location is between the two points of entry, which means you have to punch a hole in the reinforcements and run as though your life depended on it (as clearly it does) to escape. Alucard provides a lovely alternative of just running away.
Taking the low road at the interchange leads to a Stage 6, played in a continuity during which I elected to keep Grant around and reject Alucard's fine offer of friendship. Oh well, he's got eternity to get over it, I suppose.
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Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
In the original description for this video (YouTube doesn't like 5000+ characters), I said that Grant would take one of the three different Stage 6 branches...but since he's had the most exposure so far, I figure it's only fair if Syfa and Alucard get some serious focus.
Grant is probably my favorite partner overall, though. Syfa's subweapons pack a huge punch, but Trevor is more consistent in combat anyway. Alucard's transformation costs hearts, but climbing is free and more entertaining.
YuuGiJoou 2 years ago
Grant's gone? But he was so cool, scaling walls and all that.
I was wondering what those enemies were. They're mummies? They look like clay people shooting gobs of clay stuff at you.
Overhazard 2 years ago