... did I kill the thread by making a dumb Dark Souls 3 post? : (
Not at all. I'm on 98% completion now (just missing one maiden!), but haven't found the time to give my concluding thoughts on the game. All in all, I've enjoyed Rondo of Blood a lot, plenty more than I expected. At its core it's nothing I haven't seen before, but the appeal is in those small touches that make it feel like a premium product.
The secrets, for instance, are surprisingly satisfying to find. I liked the environmental puzzle where you cut the supports from weights so they drop and open a path below, and another where you step onto a wooden raft and let it carry you downstream. Both of these were subtle enough that the first time I did each level I didn't notice anything; but when I looked, they were obvious. Very well designed.
Another secret I liked involves a set of scales. You attack a rock so it drops and weighs down one scale. Standing on the other one takes you up to an alternate boss fight. You don't get anything for it, it's just there, but it's cool nonetheless. Between the multiple routes, the maidens and so on, there are definitely hints of Metroid in there, so it's less surprising to me now the changes Konami made to the series with Symphony of the Night.
For all that's good about the game, I never could get into playing as Richter with the whip. It's just too stiff and unwieldy for my tastes. The start of the Clock Tower level, when you're crossing the collapsing bridge with the bats following you... ugh! Maria's belly slide, on the other hand, awesome. I did have to play as Richter to defeat Dracula and get the "real" ending though, and it took me about thirty tries compared with two or three with Maria. The Belmont family aren't the worst controlling videogame family out there but I have no plans to try the original Castlevania or Castlevania III any time soon solely for that reason. I'll take Maria or Alucard any day.