The inverted castle was the spike. I couldn't go 3 rooms without getting oneshot. And that was after exploring almost all of the regular castle!
Agree with the inverted castle not being designed well, too. Hope you have fun flying slowly as a bat everywhere!

Symphony of the Night (PS1/ PSP, 1997):
Ohh boy, this one. I was on board from the start. Exploring was fun, and combat was not too hard. The first Metroidvania I liked!
But halfway through came a GIANT difficulty spike that simply soured my experience, sadly turning it into a flawed masterpiece.

I don't mind difficult games. But I hate it when games promise you one thing, only to replace it with something else entirely halfway through. There was no need for this. The game was doing everything right. Suddenly, all gone. Now I know why every Metroidvania wants to be like Dark Souls... /3

Eventually, I got so frustrated I grinded for the sword that just instakills everything, which did make the game somewhat fun again. But that was more of a band-aid fix than anything.
Such a shame, if only the difficulty had remained consistent, I'd be singing praises like there's no tomorrow. /2

I can't emphasize how sad the jump in difficulty made me. It seemed like none of my progress had mattered, as I kept getting one-shot by the smallest of enemies. Exploration turned into a chore, because each time I got further than before, I died and had to restart. /1

Symphony of the Night (PS1/ PSP, 1997):
Ohh boy, this one. I was on board from the start. Exploring was fun, and combat was not too hard. The first Metroidvania I liked!
But halfway through came a GIANT difficulty spike that simply soured my experience, sadly turning it into a flawed masterpiece.

"She would find you specifically very annoying and just stare at you with scorn."
All I'll ever need, babe~

Oh my god I HATE it when people do that. If I'm already familiar with a game, it is NOT obscure enough. Just because YOU played it when you were 5 doesn't mean nobody else did!!!

Playing on the original PSP right now and I love it <3 It's so big and comfy

i like emma

New game when, Sega???

Nintendo tried to make Switch cartridges taste disgusting. Sony made theirs taste delicious!

Yeah, and Kramer gets rich with bitcoin.

Step 2: Flick the bean

Who's Christian and when did he buy Doom

But where's the one where they hold hands and cuddle and have a wonderful time just being with each other?