Aria of Sorrow: Any%, Glitchless, No-Manip
This was done on the Steam version of the game with a PS4 controller.
Game: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Category: Any% Glitchless No-Manip
Time: 37:18
Check out the full run here.
Speed running is one of the main forms of challenge run I do, but it’s taken me a while to figure out a good format for a write-up. I think I’d like these to be supplementary to the run itself, so I’ll break it down by each segment. Not so much a tutorial, but more so my notes/thoughts for each segment (split).
The goal for this category is classic any%, beat the game as fast as you can, but in this case without using any glitches or RNG manipulations. There is a separate category for just Glitchless, and that involves manipulating the RNG on enemy soul drops. This is a great introductory category for the game as it is essentially using what the game gives you and executing the best you can.
Start -> Creaking Skull
Not much to say here. I still haven’t practiced the spear throws on Creaking Skull enough to get a consistently good fight, but I make it work.
Creaking Skull -> Manticore
I take quite a bit of damage on the way to Manticore in this run. Ideally I’d like to only take necessary damage from boosting through enemies and have enough health post Manticore fight to skip the orb. I suppose I could pop a potion here but even grabbing the orb I still end up using one on the way to Great Armor. Health management is tough in these early segments because of damage boosting. The whole run is like that honestly. Didn’t help that I got combo’d by Manticore.
Manticore -> Great Armor
This is a tough segment and one I tend to lose runs on. Optimal strategies involve more damage boosting to by the time you get to Great Armor, a potion will most likely get popped. This run was no different. I popped a safety potion before the fight because I almost always take a hit. Great Armor is an exercise in hit-box awareness. Because he likes to dance back and forth randomly, it’s easy to get caught over committing to an attack only for him to graze you with a big step forward. This is why I typically don’t pop potions before Manticore because I always get tagged in this fight. In early runs when first starting out, a safe strategy is to only attack while ducking under his sword swings. It’s slow but safe once you learn your hit-box.
Great Armor -> Death
This segment starts to ramp up the difficulty. Immediately coming out of Study you need to hit the double jump up the ledge that wraps around to the warp. This no-falling-armor jump, and the other one early on, took me a considerable amount of practice to get consistent in runs. I use a visual cue for each jump based on Soma’s position against the background. This second jump coming out of Study has a slight margin for error I’ve found, but not much. I like to kill the two Tiny Devil’s so they’re out of the way.
The sequence break up to Garden that skips the need for Undine is fairly consistent once you learn the setup under the corner of the platform. The trick is a stationary double jump under the edge and Soma should “snap” to the platform. Riding up the platforms at the start of Garden I do a little movement trick to get the Imps to one side, they can be annoying.
I reference JupiterClimb’s world record run for my route through Clock Tower, although I adjusted some of the movement through to be more consistent for my skill level. I highly recommend save state practicing this sequence leading to the Death fight. Optimally done, each room has precise timing to route around enemy positions. Messing up can be quite punishing. I had some good RNG for Death this run. In the second phase he got stuck doing his scythe around-the-world attack multiple times in a row, so I could wail on him. Got a nice gold split out of it.
Death -> Flame Demon
Health management gets top billing in this segment, followed by missed back dashes (skill issue). Leaving Clock Tower and heading through Underground Reservoir it’s important to take as little damage as possible to save it for boosting through the long hallways before Cemetery. I lost time here due to an eighth try Flame Demon (drop rate 7.142%).
Flame Demon -> Balore
I opt to grab the Pudding and equip the Mystletain before heading into Arena. The line I take through that first big room with the gargoyles and beam skeletons is made much more consistent with the Mystletain equipped. It one shots the gargoyles. You can damage boost your way through that room and with good movement it’s a bit faster I think, but after losing multiple runs there I found going the Mystletain route was safer. If I was going for world record pace then then it would be YOLO time. I switch back to Rahab’s for Balore of course. Also pro tip, his laser can still hurt you after you kill him. I have definitely died to it on accident.
Balore -> Succubus
The hardest part of this segment is the room with the string of Lubicants before the Succubus farm. It took a while to find a consistent strategy to manipulate them off screen and I think it gets the job done. Only the first three need it, the last two aren’t hard to run past. This run I had a fifth try Succubus drop (5.55% drop rate) which was a huge time save compared to previous. Fighting Succubus efficiently is an art form in itself with how precise your positioning needs to be to not have her back away.
Succubus -> Graham
Hitting the Save before picking up the Kaladbolg is necessary for the quit out. This Graham fight wasn’t too bad although the first phase was a little rough. I got tagged by some fire balls but still managed to stay on pace by the end of it. The key here is not whiffing the Balore punches to save time. I saw Jupiter pop the Mana Prism during phase one to get another Balore punch. I did that as well and I’m assuming it’s because we want to end this phase ASAP considering how slow it is.
Graham -> Julius
Not much to say on the lead up to Julius except you’d be surprised how difficult it is to menu fast while buying stuff from Hammer. The Julius fight is tough and even more tough to do fast. I have lost a lot of runs here and it honestly just takes a lot of practice to learn his movements and timing your attacks. Knowing how many hits it takes until it triggers a stun helps, and you can see me commit to what look like risky attacks only because I think it will stun. This fight will teach you your hit box quite well. I got tagged more times than I should have from being greedy.
Julius -> Chaos
Another pro tip, keep a close eye on your health when plowing through Chaotic Realm with Panther. Towards the end with the Shadow Knights it can get out of hand real quick if you aren’t paying attention. Fortunately my movement was fairly solid here.
My Chaos fight still has much room for improvement. Getting fast attack cancels with Ascalon is hard! Also not whiffing the Balore punches and bad menu-ing. I took quite a bit of damage and got combo’d by the orbs a few times. Probably could have gotten high 36:XX had that not happened and me not getting bogged down in the menu! Still satisfying to get a huge 1:30 minute PB though and I will absolutely come back to get a 36.
I highly recommend checking out this run if you want to get into Aria speed runs. It can be tough execution-wise, but not unreasonable. It’s a fun clean run through the game using what it gives you without and manipulations or glitches.
Extra Resources
