Post by Iron Blue Arremer on Feb 12, 2011 11:53:17 GMT -5
Introduction
Maria Renard is one of the best-known characters in the Castlevania series not bearing the name Belmont or Tepes. Thusly, it was only a matter of time for Konami to introduce her into Castlevania HD.
Maria has made her first appearance in Rondo of Blood, already debuting as playable character. Maria also re-appeared as both NPC and playable character in Symphony of the Night (depending on the version), though this was an older, teenage version of hers. She also was playable in Portrait of Ruin's secret Richter mode as Richter's partner and in Judgment.
Her unique trait is that she is able to summon the 4 Chinese animal gods and have them help her. She also is able to command birds to attack and can sing, as well! What a nice girl.
Maria is pretty much exactly like in her last incarnation - Portrait of Ruin -, though a few minor changes have been made. Maria is actually a really good character to learn the game with due to her great natural defense and ability to control crowds.
She is available as character DLC for 240 Microsoft points.
Abilities
General Overview
Maria is smaller than all other characters (aside from the 8-Bit guys), thus she has a far easier time avoiding certain attacks - where other have to duck or slidekick, Maria can just stand underneath and let it pass.
She also is able to slidekick, jumpkick and backdash.
Doves
When using her physical attack, Maria throws out little birds in a slight sideway arc. The name suggests it being doves. The birds do very little damage and, unlike in Rondo of Blood or Portrait of Ruin, can't be spammed like crazy. You should only use them when completely running out of MP, otherwise avoid using the Doves.
Animal Friends, Songs and Martial Arts
Maria also comes with 4 spells and an RB skill. She starts out with 4 copies of each of them (except the RB skill obviously), and is not able to find any more copies or Hunter Skill abilities. She is able to get a unique martial art and a special item in DLC chapter 9, though.
All of the spells and her martial art cost 10 MP.
Qing Long
Ice damage.
Maria throws out the blue dragon, which slightly taller than herself. It goes in a straight line until hitting a wall/ceiling or after some distance. It goes through enemies, though. It's a very quick attack and can be spammed quite well. Since it pierces through enemies, you can use it to deal quite a bit of damage in rapid succession. The only downside to this spell is that it is easily cancelled out by physical obstacles, and sometimes you can't even cast it if you're just an inch to high so the dragon's head touches a ceiling. If you are able to use it, though, it's a really good spell. Usually the best for multi-part bosses or hallways.
Zhu Que
Fire damage.
Calling upon the vermilion phoenix, which manifests in two red birds. It's hard to describe the pattern, but they will fly upward in an arc until hitting directly above Maria, just about her size above her, then they dive down until reaching about the range of her head if she was standing still, just to fly slightly up again until disappearing. Whew. In any case, this does quite some damage, is able to hit multiple times and, most importantly, goes through walls and ceilings. So you can hit enemies that are out of range for everybody else. Sweet.
Zhu Que is Maria's best option covering space above her and probably one of the best attacks in the whole game covering that area. You will use it quite often.
Bai Hu
Lightning damage.
Calling upon the white tiger, Maria tosses out a small white cat that runs along the floor until it reaches a wall or the end of its range. It pierces through standard enemies though, and deals massive damage. It also outruns triangle jumping. So if you want to clear hallways, Bai Hu is your best bet. The kitties also are generally a really good way controlling ground. It's one of Maria's best abilities when progressing through stages and although not as quick as the dragon, it's not cancelled out as easily, making killing multiple enemies easy as pie. It's also just complete obliteration when used on bosses like Beelzebub or Legion, whom Maria just dominates. Use it to compliment Zhu Que's area.
Hymn
Holy damage.
Maria stands still, singing Bloody Tears. She will produce musical notes that slowly fly forward in a zig-zag line. The further they fly, the bigger the zig-zag starts to be. They notes will fly infinitely, unless they are stopped by an obstacle. Each of the hits does quite some juicy damage.
Hymn is a very strange spell. Although it has the biggest possible range out of her spells, its ability to clear hallways is very limited since it eventually will hit the ground or ceiling when bouncing up and down, not to mention its really slow. You also cannot move while using it so Maria is a sitting duck. However, you ARE able to backdash out of it. Remember to do something else first (jump or make a step) before using it again, otherwise you will not be able to backdash out of it and be an actual sitting duck until the whole animation is complete.
Hymn is pretty much only useful against some bosses (Astarte, Dracula's second form, Puppet Master), otherwise, all of her other attacks are usually better to use.
Qing Long
Maria's fourth personal skill will call upon the black turtle which lends its shell to the summoner. When pressing RB, Maria gets out a big blue turtle shell under which she hides. Unlike in her other iterations, though, she is not able to move while under it. It does cancel her momentum in the air though and makes her fall straight down. When she gets hit by something while under the turtle, it will half the damage she recieves. Coupled with the smaller hitbox of hers, this makes her a great defensive character. It also doesn't cost any MP, so use it as often as possible when you're about to get hit!
Guardian Knuckle
Holy and strike damage.
Maria's only martial art, also called Dark Ego by some sources. It can be found in Chapter 5, 7, 8 and 9 coming from green, purple and gold chests (in Chapter 5) of both difficulties, and also from blue chests when in solo.
Upon doing the input (Forward, Half-circle Forward, Y), Maria summons a ninja version of herself that furiously punches in front, being able to hit 3 or 4 times. It deals alright damage, but it's more importantly used for giving Maria some invincibility frames. This means you'll be able to avoid getting hit when timing this attack right.
Philosopher's Stone
Costs 50 MP.
This item was introduced in the DLC Chapter 9, where it drops from the boss chest on both difficulties. The P. Stone allows Maria (and Yoko for that matter) to use a slightly weaker version of Charlotte's Heal. The item will however use up the item slot. Unlike any other item, though, it's repeatedly usable.
The Philosopher's Stone grows stronger with every copy you have and with more INT as well. The maximum is about 46 with maximum INT, 9 copies and even food bonus, so obviously Charlotte's version is better.
Considering it takes up your item slot, this item might or might not be useful to you. I personally haven't found many uses, although it's nice to patch yourself or a teammate up after certain trap or enemy sections.
Recommended Setups
Considering Maria's reliance on her spells but her having the worst MP regeneration among all spellcasters, you will want to try boosting her MP regeneration as well as possible. Granted, you could go for higher INT, but MP will turn out to be a problem. Not to mention it would only change the cape to Blue Cape and the accessories to the Artemisian/Apollonian Rings or Sunstone/Moonstone in case of no DLC.
MP Regeneration setup:
Head: Holy Veil
Chest: Robe Decollete (Death's Robe in case of no DLC)
Legs: Sonic Boots (Winged Boots in case of no DLC) or Artemis Shoes
Back: Bishamon Raiment (Paludamentum in case of no DLC)
Accessory 1: Chaos Ring
Accessory 2: Chaos Ring
Item: Super Potion, Mana Prism, Philosopher's Stone, etc.
If you plan on playing Maria as your main character, consider buying the DLC chapters 7 and 11, as they will benefit her MP regeneration greatly with their drops.
Progressing Maria
Maria levels up her abilities through usage like most of the characters. Unfortunately, Maria is comparably weak until reaching her maximum levels, so you might wanna try maxing her out before going to the "real" game. Aside from survival, you can level Qing Long and Zhu Que greatly on Legion, Bai Hu is even more easily leveled on Beelzebub. Hymn will be easy to max out when going for Astarte.
Maria Renard is one of the best-known characters in the Castlevania series not bearing the name Belmont or Tepes. Thusly, it was only a matter of time for Konami to introduce her into Castlevania HD.
Maria has made her first appearance in Rondo of Blood, already debuting as playable character. Maria also re-appeared as both NPC and playable character in Symphony of the Night (depending on the version), though this was an older, teenage version of hers. She also was playable in Portrait of Ruin's secret Richter mode as Richter's partner and in Judgment.
Her unique trait is that she is able to summon the 4 Chinese animal gods and have them help her. She also is able to command birds to attack and can sing, as well! What a nice girl.
Maria is pretty much exactly like in her last incarnation - Portrait of Ruin -, though a few minor changes have been made. Maria is actually a really good character to learn the game with due to her great natural defense and ability to control crowds.
She is available as character DLC for 240 Microsoft points.
Abilities
General Overview
Maria is smaller than all other characters (aside from the 8-Bit guys), thus she has a far easier time avoiding certain attacks - where other have to duck or slidekick, Maria can just stand underneath and let it pass.
She also is able to slidekick, jumpkick and backdash.
Doves
When using her physical attack, Maria throws out little birds in a slight sideway arc. The name suggests it being doves. The birds do very little damage and, unlike in Rondo of Blood or Portrait of Ruin, can't be spammed like crazy. You should only use them when completely running out of MP, otherwise avoid using the Doves.
Animal Friends, Songs and Martial Arts
Maria also comes with 4 spells and an RB skill. She starts out with 4 copies of each of them (except the RB skill obviously), and is not able to find any more copies or Hunter Skill abilities. She is able to get a unique martial art and a special item in DLC chapter 9, though.
All of the spells and her martial art cost 10 MP.
Qing Long
Ice damage.
Maria throws out the blue dragon, which slightly taller than herself. It goes in a straight line until hitting a wall/ceiling or after some distance. It goes through enemies, though. It's a very quick attack and can be spammed quite well. Since it pierces through enemies, you can use it to deal quite a bit of damage in rapid succession. The only downside to this spell is that it is easily cancelled out by physical obstacles, and sometimes you can't even cast it if you're just an inch to high so the dragon's head touches a ceiling. If you are able to use it, though, it's a really good spell. Usually the best for multi-part bosses or hallways.
Zhu Que
Fire damage.
Calling upon the vermilion phoenix, which manifests in two red birds. It's hard to describe the pattern, but they will fly upward in an arc until hitting directly above Maria, just about her size above her, then they dive down until reaching about the range of her head if she was standing still, just to fly slightly up again until disappearing. Whew. In any case, this does quite some damage, is able to hit multiple times and, most importantly, goes through walls and ceilings. So you can hit enemies that are out of range for everybody else. Sweet.
Zhu Que is Maria's best option covering space above her and probably one of the best attacks in the whole game covering that area. You will use it quite often.
Bai Hu
Lightning damage.
Calling upon the white tiger, Maria tosses out a small white cat that runs along the floor until it reaches a wall or the end of its range. It pierces through standard enemies though, and deals massive damage. It also outruns triangle jumping. So if you want to clear hallways, Bai Hu is your best bet. The kitties also are generally a really good way controlling ground. It's one of Maria's best abilities when progressing through stages and although not as quick as the dragon, it's not cancelled out as easily, making killing multiple enemies easy as pie. It's also just complete obliteration when used on bosses like Beelzebub or Legion, whom Maria just dominates. Use it to compliment Zhu Que's area.
Hymn
Holy damage.
Maria stands still, singing Bloody Tears. She will produce musical notes that slowly fly forward in a zig-zag line. The further they fly, the bigger the zig-zag starts to be. They notes will fly infinitely, unless they are stopped by an obstacle. Each of the hits does quite some juicy damage.
Hymn is a very strange spell. Although it has the biggest possible range out of her spells, its ability to clear hallways is very limited since it eventually will hit the ground or ceiling when bouncing up and down, not to mention its really slow. You also cannot move while using it so Maria is a sitting duck. However, you ARE able to backdash out of it. Remember to do something else first (jump or make a step) before using it again, otherwise you will not be able to backdash out of it and be an actual sitting duck until the whole animation is complete.
Hymn is pretty much only useful against some bosses (Astarte, Dracula's second form, Puppet Master), otherwise, all of her other attacks are usually better to use.
Qing Long
Maria's fourth personal skill will call upon the black turtle which lends its shell to the summoner. When pressing RB, Maria gets out a big blue turtle shell under which she hides. Unlike in her other iterations, though, she is not able to move while under it. It does cancel her momentum in the air though and makes her fall straight down. When she gets hit by something while under the turtle, it will half the damage she recieves. Coupled with the smaller hitbox of hers, this makes her a great defensive character. It also doesn't cost any MP, so use it as often as possible when you're about to get hit!
Guardian Knuckle
Holy and strike damage.
Maria's only martial art, also called Dark Ego by some sources. It can be found in Chapter 5, 7, 8 and 9 coming from green, purple and gold chests (in Chapter 5) of both difficulties, and also from blue chests when in solo.
Upon doing the input (Forward, Half-circle Forward, Y), Maria summons a ninja version of herself that furiously punches in front, being able to hit 3 or 4 times. It deals alright damage, but it's more importantly used for giving Maria some invincibility frames. This means you'll be able to avoid getting hit when timing this attack right.
Philosopher's Stone
Costs 50 MP.
This item was introduced in the DLC Chapter 9, where it drops from the boss chest on both difficulties. The P. Stone allows Maria (and Yoko for that matter) to use a slightly weaker version of Charlotte's Heal. The item will however use up the item slot. Unlike any other item, though, it's repeatedly usable.
The Philosopher's Stone grows stronger with every copy you have and with more INT as well. The maximum is about 46 with maximum INT, 9 copies and even food bonus, so obviously Charlotte's version is better.
Considering it takes up your item slot, this item might or might not be useful to you. I personally haven't found many uses, although it's nice to patch yourself or a teammate up after certain trap or enemy sections.
Recommended Setups
Considering Maria's reliance on her spells but her having the worst MP regeneration among all spellcasters, you will want to try boosting her MP regeneration as well as possible. Granted, you could go for higher INT, but MP will turn out to be a problem. Not to mention it would only change the cape to Blue Cape and the accessories to the Artemisian/Apollonian Rings or Sunstone/Moonstone in case of no DLC.
MP Regeneration setup:
Head: Holy Veil
Chest: Robe Decollete (Death's Robe in case of no DLC)
Legs: Sonic Boots (Winged Boots in case of no DLC) or Artemis Shoes
Back: Bishamon Raiment (Paludamentum in case of no DLC)
Accessory 1: Chaos Ring
Accessory 2: Chaos Ring
Item: Super Potion, Mana Prism, Philosopher's Stone, etc.
If you plan on playing Maria as your main character, consider buying the DLC chapters 7 and 11, as they will benefit her MP regeneration greatly with their drops.
Progressing Maria
Maria levels up her abilities through usage like most of the characters. Unfortunately, Maria is comparably weak until reaching her maximum levels, so you might wanna try maxing her out before going to the "real" game. Aside from survival, you can level Qing Long and Zhu Que greatly on Legion, Bai Hu is even more easily leveled on Beelzebub. Hymn will be easy to max out when going for Astarte.
