|
I love Castlevania. Let me clarify - I love the 2-D Castlevanias. I tried the N64 ones as a kid and felt a combination of dread and frustration that turned me off of ever playing another 3D Vania again. Here's my own personal top 5 Castlevanias: 1) Portrait of Ruin I love being able to perform magic and summon familiars and stuff, but sometimes it's just fun to whip things. This game lets you do both. It's also got a really fun mix of levels including some pretty original environments for the series, like the pyramid. The team attacks are great, the story is fun, and there's a ton of bonus modes you can unlock. 2) Rondo of Blood I can't quite articulate why I like this one so much. I played it for the first time on the Wii virtual console, and it felt fresh and exciting even in the mid 2000s and after having played all of the GBA games. I really, really, really love the music in this one. Plus you've got branching paths and you need to rescue a few prisoners of Dracula, it's got a lot of replay value. 3) Aria of Sorrow Yeah, the anime portraits aren't great. But the rest of the game is, to me, a bigger and better version of Dawn of Sorrow. I replay this one a lot, it's fun to challenge yourself to try different soul combos. 4) Super Castlevania IV The first Castlevania I ever played, still incredibly fun. Having the ability to whip in all directions is still cool, and that spinning hallway still rules in 2020. I think this one has the most fun boss fights, too. 5) Order of Ecclesia Shanoa rules and I keep hoping for another game to showcase her and her abilities. This managed to feel fresh even after so many GBA and DS and 3DS vania games that followed a pretty similar formula. Discuss your favorite Castlevania games here, why Konami has let this franchise die, and what you think of Bloodstained (I liked but did not love it). Also what's the best Castlevania song? (it's Vampire Killer)
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2020 19:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 15:47 |
|
|
Castlevania 3: for being a bigger and better CV1. SotN: it's replay value is lacking since there's really no challenge once you know the castle layout, but it is so, so pretty, both visual and aurally. Circle of the Moon: I haven't played it in forever but tweenage me 100%'d it, so I must have enjoyed it. Super Castlevania IV is neat but I have less fondness for it than the NES two, though that may be because I grew up with the later. I still haven't played Rondo proper. The DS games felt kind of uninspired to me, PoR in particular I remember being rather linear and disjointed, not bad but nothing special, which makes the praise I've seen for it across the internet recently seem odd. It's on the to-replay list, but that's after the to-play list, so it's not gonna happen. I'm actually playing OoE for the first time currently. It's different but it works and it's been growing on me steadily as I've been playing it. I just wish you could quick-change equipment alongside the glyphs.
|
|
#
?
Jun 28, 2020 05:43
|
|
|
1) Symphony of the Night - just a total watershed game, my only real problem with it is that it's too easy. If someone created some sort of difficulty and item drop customizer for it I'd never stop playing it. 2) Castlevania 3 - epitome of Classicvania imo. 3) Order of Ecclesia - Love it for it's Souls-like challenge, amazing sprite-work and being less talky and having a vastly better art style than the Saturday Morning Anime of the other DS games. quote:Also what's the best Castlevania song? (it's Vampire Killer) Eh, not even the best song in CV1 (it's Wicked Child). Honestly the well of great Castlevania tunes is so vast compared to other game series it's hard to pick one but I always thought the library tune from SCIV is underappreciated. As is SCIV's music in general since it's so focused on being a showcase for the SNES sound chip it just has a whole different tone than the rest of the series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g11Or2ZvKWU
|
|
#
?
Jun 28, 2020 16:41
|
|
|
FuriousGeorge posted:1) Symphony of the Night - just a total watershed game, my only real problem with it is that it's too easy. If someone created some sort of difficulty and item drop customizer for it I'd never stop playing it. Good news! SOTN Randomizer https://sotn.io/ Difficulty hack: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2896/ I haven't personally tried the difficulty hack but lots of people seem to like it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 28, 2020 23:42
|
|
|
For me some of my top ones are 1) Harmony of Dissonance- The music is painful sometimes, but I dig the game anyway. 2) Curse of Darkness- Pretty much the best 3D Castlevania, in my opinion. 3) Aria/Dawn of Sorrow- Just good games all around. The best Castlevania song is pretty much Curse's entire OST. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7Fbb-DSSoI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJJcrm4QiQs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUspcQOauWw Or maybe Bloody Tears https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjazC45Qkww
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2020 00:27
|
|
|
For as torturous as CV64 was to actually play, I think it was conceptually sound and everything they tried felt like a valid way to do classic, pre-IGA CV in 3D, and it's the sort of game that really ought to be remastered or just hacked into something enjoyable. The other 3D games are... fine. IGA's 3D games struggle to capture what makes his 2D games fun, and I kinda think his style of game can't simply be recreated in 3D, at least not on the budgets he was given. The Lords of Shadow games don't even register with me anymore, they're such uninteresting grab bags of all the popular western 3D action games and I have no desire to revisit them. A Fancy Hat posted:3) Aria of Sorrow Yeah, the anime portraits aren't great. But the rest of the game is, to me, a bigger and better version of Dawn of Sorrow. I replay this one a lot, it's fun to challenge yourself to try different soul combos. I think you may have flipped the names here.
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2020 05:11
|
|
|
Does special mention go to Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon? 'Cause it's the best retro-Castlevania in recent years. Anyways, top spot for Classicvanias goes to Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania III and Bloodlines in second and third. As far as Metroidvanias go, it's Portrait of Ruin for me. I loved the Jonathan/Charlotte dynamic and they were both fun to play as (even though I mained Jonathan for most of the game) and the presentation was great. Double points for being a direct sequel to Bloodlines.
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2020 22:33
|
|
|
I've been on a Castlevania kick lately myself. Picked up the Castlevania collection on switch and got through CV3 (Japanese version with the superior soundtrack!). Now I have a save state in CV1 at the hallway before Death, which I slam my head against for 20 minute increments before I have to walk away. I also started Order of Ecclesia for the first time. So far I like it but some things are odd. If I kill an enemy and a glyph briefly appears, but vanishes before I can suck it up...is that meant to just be an indicator that that particular enemy has a glyph I can grind for? If an enemy has no loot listed next to their name can I assume they never drop anything?
|
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2020 03:18
|
|
|
WHY BONER NOW posted:I also started Order of Ecclesia for the first time. So far I like it but some things are odd. If I kill an enemy and a glyph briefly appears, but vanishes before I can suck it up...is that meant to just be an indicator that that particular enemy has a glyph I can grind for? If an enemy has no loot listed next to their name can I assume they never drop anything? Yes and yes. Coincidentally I beat OoE the other day, though my opinions on it haven't really changed from my earlier post - it's a solid game doing some different things with the post-SotN mold and I enjoyed it. The maps are vestigial to the point that it's not really a metroidvania but I don't think this harms it any. In all of the post-SotN games I've felt the armor and accessory system was kinda tacked on that goes double here, the game would be a little tighter if the glyphs were the only drop / equipment, but it's a pretty minor quibble.
|
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2020 03:54
|
|
|
A Fancy Hat posted:
I never played this or knew it existed until now somehow, I was playing all the other ones around when they came out and liked the GBA and DS ones, other people said it is linear and such which something I didn't like in OoE. quote:2) Rondo of Blood I can't quite articulate why I like this one so much. I played it for the first time on the Wii virtual console, and it felt fresh and exciting even in the mid 2000s and after having played all of the GBA games. I really, really, really love the music in this one. Plus you've got branching paths and you need to rescue a few prisoners of Dracula, it's got a lot of replay value. I played it on PSP first which has the origonal and a 3d remake. It is just really well put together, maybe it had an extended development time or something but it seems like everything has been tested carefully so it's challenging but not too challenging, the stages and enemies vary and there are branching paths and secrets in them (but again not too many or too hard that they are annoying). The sprites are really nice too and some are still used in basically every 2D game after it. It's like the final action platformer in the series before SOTN where they use everything they learned from the past games and make the most polished and balanced game in the series, and then release it on a system no one had and only in japan.
|
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2020 05:46
|
|
|
I wish Order of Ecclesia's final castle was bigger. It was such a treat to go from smaller, themed disconnected stages to a real multi-boss castle but it needed more meat on its bones
|
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2020 06:56
|
|
|
The http://tasvideos.org/ is great because I don't want to play thirst version on the NES again. gently caress you frankenstein and your flying monkeys! Medusa? Don't get me started. Screw you too dragon neck! Ack!
|
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2020 13:05
|
|
|
Flannelette posted:I never played this or knew it existed until now somehow, I was playing all the other ones around when they came out and liked the GBA and DS ones, other people said it is linear and such which something I didn't like in OoE. It's not linear the way OOE is - basically, the game takes place inside the castle (which is smaller than usual but not OOE small) but there are also a bunch of discrete stages you travel to via paintings, Mario 64 style.
|
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2020 16:43
|
|
|
PaletteSwappedNinja posted:It's not linear the way OOE is - basically, the game takes place inside the castle (which is smaller than usual but not OOE small) but there are also a bunch of discrete stages you travel to via paintings, Mario 64 style. Not the best experience of course, but the castlevania collections are $5 each on PSN this week. It's a treat watching my wife play SOTN for the first time. I think she's hooked and will try the GBA/DS ones next.
|
|
#
?
Jul 2, 2020 20:09
|
|
|
my favorite's probably the original game because i'm an rear end who likes his games simple but i also really love rondo just for the way you can move around and just because it's pc engine and pc engine rules. the one i owned as a kid was circle of the moon though, it was a simple game but perfect for the gba one good thing about circle of the moon is that they didnt go overboard with dialogue and story, you were just some dude and you had to kill dracula, that's all i need. seems like the later gba entries went more in the rpg direction and i don't think that's what i want, especially on a handheld
|
|
#
?
Jul 2, 2020 22:06
|
|
|
Probably not something I'd want with modern day Konami but I'd love some sort of remake of the GBA games. They all suffered from the poor decisions of the hardware (screen with no lighting, no sound hardware) and could use some love.
|
|
#
?
Jul 3, 2020 05:49
|
|
|
ghostinmyshell posted:Not the best experience of course, but the castlevania collections are $5 each on PSN this week. It's a treat watching my wife play SOTN for the first time. I think she's hooked and will try the GBA/DS ones next. I think that SOTN and aria of sorrow or the DS sequel are 2 good ones to play from the metroidvainia ones. Aria was the first castlevania I played so I'm probably biased but they have different enough game mechanics to not seem too samey. But all of the ones after SOTN are sort of just "more SOTN" even when they mix them up a bit like in OoE so if you play them close to each other it will get boring probably.
|
|
#
?
Jul 3, 2020 06:11
|
|
|
If anyone is coming into this thread does not know, there are at least two Castlevania games that should be avoided beyond maybe a YouTube but certainly do not exert any effort to actually PLAY the poo poo. Neither game is called Castlevania, so this will be easy. 1) Haunted Castle (Arcade) - The game immediately opens with some  where Drac picks up your bride? Difficulty is loving banana and there is absolutely nothing redeeming to the slog aside from a pre-Simon’s Quest Bloody Tears and even then, just YouTube that poo poo. Limited continues regardless of credit volume, like Contra.2) Vampire Killer (MSX2) - The only “good” thing this game did was show the possibility of what would be realized in Simon’s Quest, scaled back to branched paths in Dracula’s Curse before inevitably returning to the formula with greater refinement in Symphony of the Night. If you wanna talk divergence in control/playability, here’s a Konami analogy: Castlevania:TMNT (NES version)::Vampire Killer:TMNT (DOS/Amiga port of same game) Both games suck.
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2020 09:40
|
|
|
Circle of the Moon was amazing at the time. I got a GBA for my birthday with that game and played it CONSTANTLY. We went on a big family road trip that summer and I remember playing through all the alternate modes and never once getting bored. It hasn't aged as well as some games imho, but it was mindblowing for me as a kid (especially one who hadn't played Symphony). Also the Castlevania Collection on the Switch is pretty solid. 1-4, plus the 2 Gameboy games (which are nowhere near as bad as I'd heard), plus Bloodlines, and Kid Dracula. They even added the ability to play the Japanese versions of most of the games - which actually does make a big difference in 3 between difficulty and music. I'm hoping for a 2nd collection with games like Rondo and Symphony on it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2020 15:45
|
|
|
Wise Fwom Yo Gwave posted:If anyone is coming into this thread does not know, there are at least two Castlevania games that should be avoided beyond maybe a YouTube but certainly do not exert any effort to actually PLAY the poo poo. Neither game is called Castlevania, so this will be easy. It’s dumb pointless trivia, but in Japan both of those games are called the same name as the mainstream Castlevania games, they just got non-“Castlevania”names in their respective localizations for some reason. In fact, there are no fewer than five different games with exactly the exact same name as the original Castlevania in Japan: the Famicom version, the MSX2 version, the arcade version, the Super Famicom version (localized as Super Castlevania IV) and the X68000 version, which never got ported. I’m probably in the minority but I really like that last one in particular. I like the limited move set and less “agile” for lack of a better word play style of the original NES games and the X68000 version is a refinement of those with a great soundtrack and visuals.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2020 00:08
|
|
|
i am playing Circle of the Moon right now. it's pretty solid. My first castlevania was Symphony of the Night and that ruled. I had just kinda missed them before that. i'm hoping to work my way through some of the older ones. got a whole bunch in my backlog...
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2020 08:57
|
|
|
OG Castlevania has some of the best music on the NES and every time I scroll through this subforum and see the title of this thread I get a song stuck in my head.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2020 15:44
|
|
|
Circle of the Moon was my first Castlevania. I have fond of memories of it....and trying to find good enough lighting to play it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2020 16:33
|
|
|
Circle of the Moon is incredible in emulation or other method of having a backlight. Harmony of Dissonance, conversely, looks significantly worse this way
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2020 03:43
|
|
|
Barudak posted:Circle of the Moon is incredible in emulation or other method of having a backlight. Harmony of Dissonance, conversely, looks significantly worse this way Mercifully the outline can be patched out. Not that I think it looks particularly good even with that (Juste looks like Santa Claus, tell me I'm wrong) but its at least look-at-able. I had to have played CotM on an original GBA and I don't remember it being particularly difficult to see, but that may just be because everything was difficult to see. Or because I barely remember ~18 years ago.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2020 04:05
|
|
|
Some Goon posted:I had to have played CotM on an original GBA and I don't remember it being particularly difficult to see, but that may just be because everything was difficult to see. Or because I barely remember ~18 years ago. It's not really CotM's fault either. Being a launch game, it was developed with dev kits that used television displays where it looks great. They had no idea how bad the gamma was on the original GBA to compensate for it like later titles. I assume they got some sample hardware at some point, but well poo poo, what are you going to do then? Edit: I recently went back to play some HoD. I don't really have a problem with the character outlines and the gamma is too bright for modern displays (as with many GBA games). I think the biggest issue with it is that the background art is pretty trippy, and thus, busy. I actually really like the two castle mechanic, but AoS is by far much more polished. ExcessBLarg! fucked around with this message at 16:19 on Jul 8, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2020 16:13
|
|
|
I enjoyed COTM as a kid but definitely remember it being almost unplayable in a lot of situations. Too much sun shining on the screen? Playing at night without a light on? A cloud passed in front of the sun? Sorry, looks like you're outta luck. It also hurt that the characters were downright tiny. Although it did make for some impressive giant bosses like that Zombie Dragon and Drac's final form. I played it on the Wii U's virtual console years later and was kind of blown away by the detail in different characters and, as already said, the backgrounds.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2020 17:39
|
|
|
you know i didnt even really notice the gba's dark screen at the time, because it just wasn't part of my expectations for a handheld, the original gameboy wasnt backlit either. i guess the game gear was? but i didnt know anybody who owned one of those, i just accepted it the way it was later the gba sp came out but i still prefer the original's housing, i always thought the gba sp looked kinda ugly and 2000's
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2020 18:35
|
|
|
yeah i am using emulation and CotM looks amazing. overall just a drat solid game.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2020 18:51
|
|
|
Shibawanko posted:you know i didnt even really notice the gba's dark screen at the time, because it just wasn't part of my expectations for a handheld, the original gameboy wasnt backlit either. i guess the game gear was? Surprisingly I never owned a GBC. I bought a Pocket shortly before the GBC came out and with the GBA on the horizon--I forget exactly when we learned of it and that it would be backwards compatible--I didn't feel the need to purchase one. Either way, the screen was better in some ways but did not have a contrast option. However since colors on the GBC were fairly simple--a couple of shades for each hue--you could still generally discern the screen contents in most lighting situations. It's when the GBA came out with a massive color palette that games were designed with much more intricate artwork, much of which was lost because lighting was so bad you couldn't actually see it. The best you could do was play in direct sun angled in such a way that the sun itself didn't glare on the screen. In that context, Boktai was actually pretty genius. The lack of backlight on the OG GBA was called out immediately. Penny Arcade ran this comic two days after launch. There were external light accessories available almost immediately, but none of them were great. White LEDs were still brand new to the market they were all of the yellow+blue variant, so if you had an LED light greens and reds didn't show well on the screen. Incadescent lights existed but ate battery. I remember I bought a CCFL-based light from Lik Sang and it was like having a mini flourescent tube that also ate battery. I think the Afterburner front-light screen mod originally started as a joke (Portable Monopoly?) but quickly turned into a proto-Kickstarter style project. I think it actually came out sometime in 2002 as I bought and installed one about the time I was playing Metroid Fusion. Despite my installation kind of sucking, having perpetual dust bubbles under the screen film, it was immensely better than no light. When Nintendo announced the GBA SP with its own front-light I had to purchase that day one. It was that bad.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2020 19:37
|
|
|
ExcessBLarg! posted:None of the OG Game Boy, Pocket, or Color had backlights. The OG Game Boy and Pocket though only had four color shades and a contrast knob that let you dial in pretty well the best look for the lighting situation, so it was actually pretty forgiving. The OG Game Boy's screen had a bunch of other problems like ghosting but all LCDs of the time did too. The Pocket meanwhile actually had a really good screen for what it was and was entirely playable in most lighting situations except "none". yeah i went straight from the original gameboy brick version to the gba and didnt own any of the versions in between, i guess the simpler colors made it a bit easier to see but i was pretty used to dealing with lovely lighting situations i remember i had this certain technique: highways back then were lined with rows of orange sodium lights that were pretty bright, so when i was in the back seat of the car id play while we were driving under the lights, then briefly pause when we were in a bit between lights, almost immediately unpause and play again, and so on. it was pretty dumb but i was bored
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2020 20:21
|
|
|
If you guys do end up playing Circle of the Moon again make sure to download the "Code Mode" hack that removed grinding for the various cards. https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4725/
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2020 20:28
|
|
|
I believe you can quite easily dupe any missing cards without a hack by tricking the game. You just have to activate any card combo then quickly move the cursor to a card you dont have.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2020 22:09
|
|
|
I have a vivid memory of summer camp in 2001 attempting and miserably failing trying to watch a bunkmate play Fire Pro Wrestling on his new GBA
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2020 04:36
|
|
|
ghostinmyshell posted:Not the best experience of course, but the castlevania collections are $5 each on PSN this week. It's a treat watching my wife play SOTN for the first time. I think she's hooked and will try the GBA/DS ones next. Thanks for the heads up on this, the Contra and Konami arcade anniversary collections are on sale too and they're a steal for 5 each Why did they add rumble to this game with no option to turn it off though. What the gently caress lol
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2020 13:29
|
|
|
Did anyone ever beat Simon's Quest without relying on detailed walkthroughs? I rented it as a kid and hated it, but non-linear games were just completely beyond the scope of what I could handle at the time. I played it in the Anniversary Collection and followed a detailed guide, which made it actually kind of fun. There's a lot of good music, for starters. I like the general setting and idea of gathering Drac's remains to finally finish him off. But man, there's no way I'd be able to figure it out even as an adult unless I knew exactly where to find half the stuff you're supposed to grab.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2020 16:46
|
|
|
For all it's impenetrableness I feel it's the fake floors and stupidly right jumps that really do the game it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2020 19:18
|
|
|
A Fancy Hat posted:Did anyone ever beat Simon's Quest without relying on detailed walkthroughs? I rented it as a kid and hated it, but non-linear games were just completely beyond the scope of what I could handle at the time. I like that game a lot, the only things you really need a guide for since the game is famously bad at explaining them is how to use the blue and red crystals and get the ferryman to take you to one of the mansions
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2020 19:35
|
|
|
i don't think simon's quest is very good, just because of the floors and the kind of boring stage design
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2020 21:58
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 15:47 |
|
|
A Fancy Hat posted:Did anyone ever beat Simon's Quest without relying on detailed walkthroughs? I rented it as a kid and hated it, but non-linear games were just completely beyond the scope of what I could handle at the time. I'm positive that the dividing line between liking and hating Simon's Quest is "did/did not have a Nintendo Power subscription." I can't imagine attempting to complete that thing without all the pointers they published before the game even hit store shelves.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2020 20:42
|
|