An epic challenge you shouldn't miss for anything.
I remember back then I had posted a rather negative review on Giant Bomb claiming that this game is only for masochists, and had given it 3 stars out of 5. I just couldn't accept why a game had to be so punishing for the player. Why you can't save your progress between checkpoints and you have to play the entire level all over again if you lose? And what's the idea of controlling a character so cumbersome like Richter? Naive questions, but just imagine how painful this game might look to somebody who is new to this kind of thing...
I soon quit, but this game had already enchanted me; I just couldn't swallow that this beautifully looking game is so much impenetrable. I started to explore other Castlevania games to understand a little better the series. After the revelation of Symphony of the Night I became die hard fan and the rest is history.
Now five years wiser, with some experience in Castlevania games, I came back to re-evaluate Dracula X Chronicles, a game that still up to this date I consider as extremely hard.
What I think now is that this game is not for masochists, it's for gamers. Also it needs to be mentioned that once you unlock Maria Renard as playable character, the game becomes more reasonable. It isn't easy, but at least now you have some hope.
I wish this amazing game was friendlier towards the player and actually closer to the modern standards of gaming, but I'm not so sure if that would be the best idea after all. And to be honest it's not reasonable to expect to beat every game that we play, or be good in every game we take into our hands. That's perfectly okay with me, and I think it's part of the fun to find a hard game, test my skills and progressively improve them.
Besides the discussion about difficulty, Dracula X Chronicles excels in all areas: graphics, sound, controls, and extras. I have played quite a few PSP games and I can't think of any other game that has so much appeal, that has this majestic music score, and is so generous with the player, giving you as unlockables two truly great games: Symphony of the Night and the original Rondo of Blood, an extremely rare to find game that so far had never been released outside Japan.
Symphony of the Night is the ultimate masterpiece in my opinion, I think there is not much need to elaborate here, you can find a ton of information about this game in many gaming sites. As for the original Rondo of Blood, to be honest I haven't much played it, but it surely looks equally appealing. If you have played the remake, you know what to expect, the architecture of the levels are mostly identical, and the enemy patterns too, although there are some differences that might trick you a bit. Overall, it's slightly harder than the remake.
Dracula X Chronicles is worth of your time and money and I consider it as a package of high value from Konami that every serious gamer should have in their collection.
Also this game requires internet connection. For google, Game FAQs walkthroughs and You Tube video guides...If you want to achieve the true ending that is.