History VideoGame / BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight

* InfinityPlusOneSword: Rather than a singular ultimate weapon, the crafting system sees to it that there are Infinity +1 variants for all of the weapon classes, meaning that the player can create an excellent weapon regardless of their preferred playstyle. This is evened out from usual examples of the trope, as by the time the player has access to the needed materials to craft the weapons, they'll be in the final stretch of the story and as a result won't ''completely'' break the game, with the possible exception of the Rhava Velar. Special mentions to Blue Rose, the sword seen being wielded by Miriam in promotional art; Eternal Blue, a greatsword version of the Blue Rose wielded by Gebel during his boss fight; Andromeda, a whip imbued with the almost always useful Holy element; and the aforementioned Rhava Velar, the infamous Crissaegrim/Valmanway from ''Symphony of the Night'' in all but name.
* InterfaceSpoiler: After fighting the Abyssal Guardian, a quick look at his bestiary page makes it obvious that he will return as a DegradedBoss.

* TwoAndAHalfD: The game uses [=3D=] models, but is played from a [=2D=] platforming perspective where you can only move up, down, left, and right. The tower rooms play with this a bit more; despite moving in only four directions, the tower's architecture rotates and turns, which Miriam follows. The end of the shop corridor in Arantville curves to store the chest at the foot of the photography studio.

* UnlockableDifficultyLevels: Only Normal difficulty is available from the start, but you unlock Hard Mode after beating it.

* MoneyForNothing: Largely averted, in this game — money can always be useful (even if it's just used as a power-up for some shards). While it's possible to grind out every ingredient you need for alchemy/food prep, it's a slog which can easily be averted by spending the gold you've been finding. Additionally, useful healing items and bullets for your guns are only available in limited quantities and these need to be topped up. Finally, there are abilities that make use of your money to do damage or gain bonuses to doing damage. There's also the fact that over the course of normal gameplay, money is generally difficult to amass, as breakable objects only drop Gold if you have full MP, monsters don't drop Gold ''at all'' without the Augment Gold Shard, and money drops are relatively low value until said Augment Gold Shard is acquired. In fact, most of the items needed for efficient money farming don't become available until practically the end of the game, including Augment Gold and Accelerator[[note]]Gebel's Glasses are also highly recommended, but requires OneHundredPercentCompletion in Shards, meaning you've already beaten everything the game has to offer by the time you get it[[/note]], the latter of which is only found in Den of Behemoths, the penultimate area of the game.

** The Directed Shield directional shard does ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin — it summons a shield in the direction of Miriam's choosing. It can cause collision damage, but at such a low value that it's extremely impractical to use it for that. However, what it can do is neutralize ''any'' attack that it comes in contact with (even if the animation for the attack still goes off). Not only that, but it's one of the most affordable to level up — when Miriam first meets the enemy that drops it, she likely already has the materials to upgrade it to rank 7 from both random drops and blue chests, and she's not far from where she can get the materials to get it to rank 9. By that point, it becomes larger than she is, and proper use of it can block anything that comes at her. There's a reason that nearly every guide to fighting bosses without taking damage relies heavily on this shard.

** Classic Mode has one involving [[spoiler: Gremory]]: since Miriam walks to the left automatically after they're defeated to enter the door leading to the next area, if you manage to die at the same time as the boss, she'll stand up and start walking left but the game still thinks you died and you're sent to the previous checkpoint and from that point onwards, the same thing will happen whenever she dies. This will, however, lock the game's controls, forcing you to quit out of Classic Mode and restart the level from the beginning from your save file to end the effects of the glitch.

* GratuitousNinja: They turn up in the Oriental Sorcery Lab. Why are they in a castle in England, [[AnachronismStew in the 1790s?]] Why are they trying to kill Miriam? Who cares? [[RuleOfCool They're ninjas, and ninjas are cool;]] go beat them up, and [[StockNinjaWeaponry watch out for the Shuriken.]]
** Even before then, [[UndergroundMonkey enemies with the same basic model]] called "Assassin" showed up in the Sorcery Lab.

* ArtificialStupidity: Adrasteia, the 2nd most powerful Firearm weapon, automatically locks on to any enemies nearby. But, there are ''lots'' of problems with this. Sometimes, it may skip more pressing targets (such an enemy closing in on Miriam) and attack another that poses no threat whatsoever. Sometimes, the enemy it targets may be well out of range, meaning it can't even damage them. Sometimes, it may target an enemy and miss, even if that enemy is standing still (ironic, given that its name means "inescapable"). And finally, every shot zig-zags away from the barrel the moment it's fired, meaning it can even be hard to hit enemies it's pointing at in point-blank range. This can make the gun infuriating to use reliably, and even more infuriating when missed shots waste expensive ammunition.

* TeleportersVisualizationClause: Miriam gains a couple of such abilities, not counting the WarpWhistle type items or rooms. Early on she learns Reflector Ray that casts an aimable beam of light which can either be pointed to a destination or bounced off of mirrors, which quickly shoots her down the beam and to its target. ''Very'' late in the game she gains Dimension Shift that functions similarly, but can pass Miriam through solid objects rather than be reflected off of them. Both require Miriam to be able to see where she wants to aim her teleportation.

* BeefGate: [[OurBansheesAreLouder Cyhyraeths]] block several areas in the early game that hold access to valuable items, such as below the chariot in the Garden of Silence, and they inflict Curse status upon contact, hit incredibly hard (including a grab attack that does triple-digit damage, which can blow off well over half of a lifebar in one shot early on), have a fair amount of HP, and are resistant to most of what anyone would likely have when they first encounter them.

* BeefGate: [[OurBansheesAreLouder Cyhyraeths]] block several areas in the early game that hold access to valuable items, and they inflict Curse status upon contact, hit incredibly hard (including a grab attack that does triple-digit damage, which can blow off well over half of a lifebar in one shot early on), have a fair amount of HP, and are resistant to most of what anyone would likely have when they first encounter them.

** [[{{BFS}} Two-handed swords]] have a slow attack speed, but the overhead swing arc gives them a lot of coverage, and they hit hard.

** [[BladeOnAStick Polearms]] have a long, albeit narrow attack, and do piercing damage which is otherwise hard to come by. Their techniques include several defensive flourishes or attacks from even further away.

* CuttingTheKnot: You ''could'' scour the entire castle for [[spoiler:the one specific spot you must use the Invert ability to obtain the Aegis Plate in order to pass through the two spiked passages in the Entrance]], or you just [[spoiler:optimize for speed with the Tailwind Tome and Speed Belt, and use the {{knockback}} to push yourself along the passages and run during the invinciblity frames, and maybe some form of healing for a buffer, in case you take more than the 6 or so required hits of [[PercentBasedValues 15% of Max HP the spikes do]] which would sap 90% of your HP, or more]]. This is after an attempted mitigatation by the addition of the second Iron Maiden in an update, requiring the Craftwork shard to carry it along while walking through the spikes, making it slightly more precise to tank through.

* {{Knockback}}: Getting knocked up to a ledge by a Demon's flame pillar is the only way for Aurora to return the way she came in, if she enters the Forbidden Underground Waterway via the fountain and reaches the first save room inside.

* CuttingTheKnot: You ''could'' scour the entire castle for [[spoiler:the one specific spot you must use the Invert ability to obtain the Aegis Plate in order to pass through the two spiked passages in the Entrance]], or you just [[spoiler:optimize for speed with the Tailwind Tome and Speed Belt, and use the knockback to push yourself along the passages and run during the invinciblity frames, and maybe some form of healing for a buffer, in case you take more than the 6 or so required hits of [[PercentBasedValues 15% of Max HP the spikes do]] which would sap 90% of your HP, or more]]. This is after an attempted mitigatation by the addition of the second Iron Maiden in an update, requiring the Craftwork shard to carry it along while walking through the spikes, making it slightly more precise to tank through.

* CounterAttack: Katanas and one-handed swords have access to the Parry technique, which, when used successfully, blocks the enemy's attack, briefly freezes it in place, and follows up with a horizonal iai slash or a teleporting helm breaker, depending on the weapon type used. Zangetsu's version of Parry has no automatic followup, but the enemy is frozen in place for a longer period of time, allowing you to follow up with whatever action you want, which is further emphasized by the fact that a successful Parry also restores 50 MP.

** Of particular note is the Alchemic Bounty Shard, which grants a chance of creating extra items when crafting. Initially, it doesn't do much. When max level, it grants a chance of creating '''five''' of whatever item you are crafting. This includes the InfinityPlusOneSword weapons and Bit Weapons. The extra gear can then be either sold for gold or dismantled for more crafting materials.

* TwentyBearAsses: Fully exploring the game's crafting and upgrade system requires a ''lot'' of demon parts, which the demons are surprisingly stingy in dropping on death.

* RandomDrop: As one might expect in an RPG, but special note goes to the Aqua Stream, a key item that lets Miriam swim, which is randomly dropped by common jellyfish enemies.

* JokeItem: Quite a few items are meant to be silly or useless (or both), but the pinnacle is probably Summon Chair. It, er... summons a chair. You can sit in the chair. That's it. (Well, actually, it speeds up your MP recovery while sitting in it.) If you upgrade it, [[MagikarpPower you can eventually make fancier chairs that restore your MP within a few seconds]], but it's still a rather niche utility.

** Miriam is repeatedly warned that absorbing Shards en masse is dangerous and potentially fatal, since her body may not be able to handle such a massive influx of demonic power all at once. You can pretty much streamroll everything in the castle and cram Shards into Miriam's body as much as you please and she won't be any worse for wear. [[spoiler: The source of this information is unreliable.]]

* EnergyWeapon: Laser-like abilities are used by several enemies, and Miriam can likewise use them after absorbing the required shards. The most literal example is the required, non-offensive ability Reflecting Ray, which creates a beam of light that will even shine off of reflective surfaces and provide a pathway for Miriam to instantly travel across. The Tiz Razïn and Void Ray Directional Shards also count, starting out as a thin constant beam of energy and finishing as a massive WaveMotionGun style sustainable blast of light and darkness respectively at Rank 9.

** Bloodless is completely optional [[spoiler:even if heading to the good ending]], as the area under the blood fountain can be accessed with Reflector Ray, itself required to reach Bloodless.

* CuttingTheKnot: You ''could'' scour the entire castle for [[spoiler:the one specific spot you must use the Invert ability to obtain the Aegis Plate in order to pass through the spiked passages in the Entrance]], or you could instead simply [[spoiler:get a whole bunch of healing items and tank your way through]]. This was mitigated with the addition of an Iron Maiden in an update, requiring the Craftwork shard to pass and making it much more difficult to tank through.

* NoticeThis: The Carabosse familiar, at some Grade, will start pointing out breakable walls. Literally. She will fly near the breakable wall and point at it, and say a line, such as "Over here!" or "This looks suspicious..."

** Mariam can only hold of each type of healing item / Poison / Waystones / Food.

* TwoAndAHalfD: The game uses [=3D=] models, but is played from a [=2D=] platforming perspective where you can only move up, down, left, and right. The tower rooms play with this a bit more; despite moving in only four directions, the tower's architecture rotates and turns, which Miriam follows. (A room in Arantville plays with it in a similar, but heavily downplayed fashion.)

** The Bloodbringer familiar. A floating sword that flies around attacking enemies sounds cool, but its attack animations have such lengthy windup times that most of the time you'll either have already killed the enemy or it will have moved in a way that causes Bloodbringer to miss. You're probably better off just swinging around Bloodbringer as an actual sword.

** The EasterEgg involving the Caraboose familiar is a direct nod to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J_Vs6hmPLE a similar event]] in ''Nocturne in the Moonlight'' (the original Japanese version of ''[=SotN=]'') accessible if Alucard sits in a chair while accompanied by a Level 8 or higher Faerie. [[note]]Though the song ("Nocturne") was left out of the overseas [=PS1=] release, the Saturn version of ''[=SotN=]'' (also titled ''Nocturne in the Moonlight'') as well as the tweaked ports featured in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaTheDraculaXChronicles The Dracula X Chronicles]]'' and ''[[CompilationRerelease Requiem]]'' retained it (and even [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRAbUE1wSg4 translated the song into English]] for the latter two), albeit under varying circumstances. (The Saturn release requires players to first obtain the Song Lyrics Card item before the Fairy — a different but similar familiar — can sing. The ports found in ''DXC'' and ''Requiem'' allow both the Faerie and Fairy to sing "Nocturne" once they've reached Level 12.)[[/note]]

* BodyToJewel: The magi-crystal curse slowly turns its host's skin into stained glass-esque crystal. However, its progress can be delayed by surrounding the affected regions with magic runes, which stops the crystallization effect. Both Miriam and Gebel are affected by it, to varying degrees, [[spoiler:and the end of the game reveals that Dominique has inflicted it upon herself to gain power]].