Topic: The Castlevania Discussion Thread

@mookysam: Yeah that's what I keep hearing is that OoE is alot harder. I will get around to it at some point.

On another note I have been reading so much stuff on Castlevania that I have discovered a timeline of sorts of some of the non LoS Castlevania (Since that was a series reboot). I might be missing some since I am still working on it but here's what I found out in order of time line.

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (PS2)
Castlevania III (NES)
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (PS2)
Castlevania: The Adventure (GB, Remake on Wii)
Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (GB)
Castlevania (NES)
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Castlevania : Harmony of Dissoence (GBA)
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (TG-16, Wii VC, PSP)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS, Xbox 360, PSN)
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA)
Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (N64)
Castlevania (N64)
Castlevania: Bloodlines (Genesis/Megadrive)
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS)
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS)

So I believe that is the chronicalogic order of the series. Now some game I left out the reason being

Super Castlevania IV - Because it's just a retelling of Castlevania (NES) so you could in theory play that in place of the NES one.

Castlevania Legends - According to Igarashi this game is not part of the series more of a one shot story. Not sure why it is considered that but I think it's cause it's the black sheep of the series.

Castlevania: Order of Shadows — Again another one shot story just made for mobile platforms which has nothing to do with Igarashi timeline.

So there you have it at least by my understanding.

@WaveGhoul It's kinda surprising not to see you get mauled for putting SotN behind any other Castlevania title, but I definitely agree. It wasn't bad by any means, but it's very obvious that it was their first attempt at the new system, and was very rough and unbalanced in some parts.

@Tasuki @Stu13 I probably would've put Portrait of Ruin as my favourite as well, but my major gripes with it that almost ruined (haha) the game for me, was how useless Charlotte was. Her spells were often very weak, and certain elements had close to no representation later on, which only pushed her back even further. Johnathan can annihilate anything with his versatile weaponry and subs, plus he can reach pretty much any place alone after a certain point (effectively rendering Charlotte obsolete for anything except Hard Mode LV1 runs against the final boss). I dunno, it felt kinda unfair to me, especially since I like playing witches and mages in action games.
But that's mostly my issue, and looking past that, Portrait of Ruin definitely is an amazing game!

Played a bit more of Rondo of Blood and I will say the difficulty spikes at stage 4 yikes. I played as Maria this time but I don't know I didn't find the game too much easier with her but maybe that's just me.

I found Portrait of Ruins and Order of Ecclesia to not be that great. Both (especially the latter) felt like they were trying to put classic Castlevania back in an environment without realizing that pre and post Symphony of the Night are way different video games. When you try to make super segmented areas and crueler difficulty it is a gigantic reminder of how better the older games are as action games. Basically they're kinda the reverse of Castlevania 2, which tried to add RPG elements and took away from quality level design. Weirdly I feel like games have come out since then that have done what these lesser (imo) Castlevania games have tried to do but did it way better. Especially Dark Souls and La Mulana. Dark Souls is the closest I've seen to what I want in a 3D Castlevania (just make it more old school horror and less depressing fantasy apocalypse), and La Mulana is Castlevania 2 done right (while somehow not contradicting how bs it is).

This is a rant I've had for a while now.

The only Castlevanias I haven't played that I want to are the (good) ones that came out between IV and the GBA games. I hope I get to them someday, but I'm worried there won't be new Castlevanias worth playing afterwards regardless of how long I wait (I guess there's that one downloadable game from a while ago?).

I'm oddly surprised this thread existed. I thought nobody cared about Castlevania because of Konami "incident".

What? Castlevania's been around for a while... It has a lot of fans... So when sh*t happens with Konami, then all fans are just supposed to abandon it? And not care about Castlevania ever again? I'm really having trouble seeing your logic here.
Anyway, anyone played Castlevania Legends? As much as I like Belmont's Revenge, I feel like this one is more polished.
And also... I heard about Symphony of the Night being unlockable in the PSP remake of Rondo of Blood... Anyone remember if it's unlocked from the beginning?

@WaveGhoul: I have yet to try Rebirth. I might pick it up once I finish Rondo. As far as Castlevania III goes, I can't even begin to count how many times that game made me rage when I was a kid lol.

@WaveGhoul: Lol 5 or 6 stages is perfect for me. There are so many games that I have started but have yet to finish because of how long they are and my attention span so short games are perfect for me.

I thought Lament of Innocence was a great game, and was pretty much what I wanted from a 3D Castlevania. It played well, looked really great, the Magic System made sense while not being overly complex, boss fights were awesome, and I thought the storyline was good, especially by Castlevania standards.

Now, I think Lords of Shadows is the best out of the 3D Castlevania games. I know its popular to slam Lords of Shadow and pretend that its not a real Castlevania game, but I think it managed to be a very good game. For one thing, I liked the idea of the Lords of Shadows themselves, and the importance to the storyline.

I know many people dismiss Lords of Shadows as a God of War clone, but I think its gameplay is one of the best examples of the Genre. It manages to find a sweet balance between being difficult enough to present a challenge but not too hard to make you want to slam your controller on the ground(looking at you Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry). Gabriel strikes that nice balance where he never seems overpowered, but never feels helpless against swarms of enimies. As for the weapons, I love having a whip like weapon back in Castlevania, and the sub weapons and how they mix with the sub weapons makes it fun.

As for the overall world of the game and the enemies that you face, I think it manages to capture the Castlevania feel better then even some of the other games in the series. From the opening level where you fight the Lycans in a rainy village, to the poison swamps, to the Castle town and Castle itself, I though it managed to capture that Castlevania spirit. And that is nothing about the ambiance of the game. An issue I always felt the N64 and PS2 games had was while they looked nice, it often felt like Konami did not devote much of a budget to the game, and the team behind it felt more comfortable making 2D games.

Overall, I thought Lords of Shadow is the best 3D Castlevania game in the series, and in my personal list, the top third of fourth game in the series.

It does have its issues, namely a lackluster end game area, a final boss who feels both out of place and is randomly put in the game, and DLC packs that were overpriced for the content.

So, I do enjoy the 3D Castlevania games. I liked Curse of Darkness and even the N64 ones. About the only one I disliked was Lords of Shadow 2.

@Caryslan Haha, I kinda agree with you! Haven't played Lament of Innocence yet (but I wanna, since it looks cool!), but I did like Lords of Shadow, as well.
The atmosphere and designs were really well-chosen, and the entire ordeal of Gabriel is very dramatic, but not overly so. The combat was a bit simplistic to me, but for a Castlevania game, that's alright, since exceedingly complex combat wouldn't fit entirely. If there was anything I could criticize, it would probably be the streamlining of content, with exploration feeling unrewarding half of the time, but overall, a Castlevania reboot could've gone much, MUCH worse than this game. It's decidedly different, and despite a lack of originality, does its things surprisingly well, and I applauded that bold decision, since MercurySteam did a great job!

But with all that said and done, my personal favourite 3D Castlevania was definitely Castlevania: Judgement. It's not a great game, it's quite the disappointing Castlevania game, and it's not even a competent fighter, but goddamn, did I enjoy myself playing this game! I just loved the cool design reimaginings (especially Grant and Cornell), the soundtrack, and especially the over-the-top finisher moves! Judgement was the one Castlevania game that got me into the whole lore of the franchise and made me read up on how the individual games refrenced one another on several occasions. Also, Aeon is by far the most awesome guy I've ever played in a Castlevania game, even with his flat personality!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who really enjoyed Rebirth. It packs some nice colorful sprites and a kicking soundtrack. Now if only they had used the remix of Battle of the Holy...

That being said, Super Castlevania IV trumps all for me, being the definitive Castlevania.

Castlevania is my favorite video game series. I have to say, I love pretty much every single one released, and I've beaten them all except a couple of the 3D ones; I own them, I just haven't gotten around to them yet. Mirror of Fate is my least favorite, and Order of Ecclesia is my favorite.

The only Castlevania I've played is the Castlevania Adventure...

I think I downloaded it on my 3DS last year to have something to play for Halloween. It was cheap (difficulty wise), but thanks to save states, I was able to beat it. Would like to try out some of the good entries one of these days.

Oh yeah. I like that game, but it is not a good representation of the series, at all.

@RR529: You should look into some of the DS games to play on your 3DS particularly Dawn of Sorrow.

Great thread! I'm a big Castlevania fan although I haven't played all their games like Symphony or Bloodlines. My first Castlevania game was Castlevania 2 for the Nes and I loved it! I really didn't care getting lost because I found the game and the music to be amazing. Playing it years later on the VC I found there are a lot of Tips hidden through out the game, which make things a bit easier although some are really impossible to find unless you throw Holy Water at every corner lol.

Thanks to the Virtual Console I was able to play I and III and I really liked them too, I grew up with the Nes so I love a good challenge. But my favorite has to be Super Castlevania IV. Is not nostalgia as I didn't play too much of this game as a kid, but I love the gameplay, controls, music and the amazing atmosphere this game transmits. Is a very special feeling playing this game although the game is a bit easy on the first levels and some bosses needed a bit more complexity to have a more strategic battle.

Rondo of Blood is also a great game, highly recommended, but I feel the atmosphere that SCIV had was lost with the anime stlye. Still great game!

I'm also one of the few people that love the N64 games, I don't care what anyone says, once you get used to the camera I found them to be great games with great atmosphere. Maybe I like them because of the adventure elements that remind me a bit of Castlevania 2. I tried Lord of Shadows a bit, but for me I enjoyed more the N64, they just felt more Castlevania to me.

The others I played are Harmony of Dissonance (good game but probably my least favorite), Aria of Sorrow (great!), Dawn of Sorrow and Order of Eclessia (both amazing!), Mirror of Fate (good but seriously missing Castlevania music) and Rebirth (another great game).

I hope one day I can finally play Symphony of the Night, meanwhile I just bought Portrait of Ruin but still haven't touched it

@soma: I have been tempted myself to get Castlevania II Simon's Quest on the VC, for one thing I have never played it. Honestly the only one on the NES I played was the third one. Also I am curious to see if Simon's Quest is as bad as everyone says it is.

@Tasuki: Simon's Quest is great. Shun the non-believers! I've probably played through that one more than any other CV game (with the original being a close second).

I'd also definitely recommend the Simon's Redaction hack-version of the game, which basically removes all the flaws of the game (fast day-night transitions, completely re-done NPC dialogue, etc). It takes a great game and makes it excellent. You can find a cart of it from many of the usual suspect homebrew/hack/reproduction sites.

@the_shpydar: Lol great minds think alike . I am actually thinking that route the only thing that is stopping me is the fact I don't own a NES

I'm in the "Haven't played all" bandwagon. But Aria of Shadow was my favorite. Lords of Shadow was my second favorite. Love Metroid first, so it felt natural for a fantasy and med-evil setting game with RPG elements. Truly marvelous. I'm skeptical about the new Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, but I'll judge it when it comes. For now, I keep my thoughts positive.