CastlevaniaRL

[Vanguard]

--Can anyone use any armor and weapon? I saw mentions in the guide about what classes like but I never saw anything to indicate penalties or hard restrictions.

Vampire Killers can only use the whip and armor they start with.  The whip can be made better, and I don't know about the armor.  You aren't allowed to equip anything else.  I know that Vanquisher Wizards are denied the use of some types of armor as well.  I don't know about the rest, but I think the Knight can use anything.

--I don't understand what is good about thinks like daggers and hand rings.

Yeah, I don't recommend using anything with less than a reach of 2, and you should really go for 3.

--What is Soul Power exactly and how exactly does it effect spells (strength, duration?)

It's just like attack power, but for special abilities.  It'll make your spells do more damage, and it should make recover heal more, and so forth.

--What is Invocation? Every time I get a level of it I can't tell a difference in anything.

iirc, it controls the speed at which you use special abilities, and a lower value is better.  It works just like the combat and movement speed attributes do.

Finally, I was hoping to play through the game until the end before giving feedback but I don't think that's going to happen. I've been playing Dark Renegade and getting past a certain point is really, really hard. I go from fighting medusa heads to having troubles clearing the area with the salem witches to not lasting 5 steps into the next area. That might not be such a big deal, but the time it takes all morning to rescue a few of those people. Am I missing an easier way to do that?

The salem witches and the ruler swords in that area are nasty.  So are the undead panthers in the area after that.  It's worth expending a few hearts to soften them up from a distance before you close in.  Beyond that, I don't think there's much to do but build up as much power as you can (healing items, hearts, experience levels, equipment) and play carefully.

Have you ever gotten the Alucard Spear from a rescue?  It's pretty amazing.

[Ken Oh]

--What is Soul Power exactly and how exactly does it effect spells (strength, duration?)

It's just like attack power, but for special abilities.  It'll make your spells do more damage, and it should make recover heal more, and so forth.

This is what I'm talking about. Without damage value transparency, there's little-to-no feedback.

--What is Invocation? Every time I get a level of it I can't tell a difference in anything.

iirc, it controls the speed at which you use special abilities, and a lower value is better.  It works just like the combat and movement speed attributes do.

I'd totally rather have terms like Combat Speed and Casting Speed if that's what they do. I read in the manual "reduces the cost of your mystic skill moves" and I thought it mean it reduces the heart cost of the magic spells. (btw, it's looking like higher is better)

Have you ever gotten the Alucard Spear from a rescue?  It's pretty amazing.

I have. It was amazing. That was on that one save that I lost. I've gotten an Estoc which is pretty nice too.

It's looking like I'm getting a real crash from saving sometimes, and it outputs to the console. I'll try to get it again and post the dump here.

So, I decided to save scum when I got to the area after the salem witches. I just spend a half hour trying to get my lvl 13 Renegade through one room with no success. Sometimes I would do nothing but drink healing potions right in the doorway while I got knocked around and I would still lose more hitpoints than I would gain. If I can't cheat my way through the game, I don't see any reason to try to do it legitimately.

EDIT: Let me temper the post to say that I really do like the game. I just hope to provide some useful feedback.