Topic: What do you think now of the DS games?

[The Puritan]

So I just spent the last four months playing the the Dominus Collection. And after about 15 years since I last played the DS outings, I feel like:

-Dawn of Sorrow isn't as good as I remember
-Portrait of Ruin is actually better than I remember
-Order of Ecclesia is exactly as good as (and a little harder than) I remember

POR is especially interesting to me because I recall hating significant parts of it back in '06 i.e. the anime art style, ho-hum level design, and a general sense of overstuffing. Yet I thoroughly enjoyed it this time and I'm not sure why.

Did anyone else have a similar experience? Do you still regard the DS games exactly as you did all those years ago or have your views changed?

[theplottwist]

Time last played aside, I have a similar experience, almost exactly the same. Order of Ecclesia was always my favorite and that didn't change in all the times I played it over the years, but I noticed PoR is actually much better than I had thought the more I played it.

Dawn of Sorrow is like... I like the aesthetic alot (the muted colors, the greyish/brown palette, I do feel a sense of isolation and mood in that game against PoR's and OoE's colorful presentation, which I think is a nice, different experience to have) but I find the gameplay the inferior of the three.

[zangetsu468]

Dominus Collection I've purchased but not yet played. I'm not surprised by any of these comments and I expected and always reiterated that OOE was ahead of its time.

In Fairness to DoS, it was one of the earlier games on the DS and its gameplay felt more 'stiff' than Aria's(and POR & OOE); think of it as a shot of Yamazaki 12yo as opposed to drinking a highball... One questions whether the oldness of the gameplay perhaps shows its armour chinks more so on an upscaled screen/ port, being as aged as it now is.

I still believe OOE is the last true Castlevania and the best blend of old and new imho.

[crisis]

My thoughts:

Dawn of Sorrow; I really appreciate it. Soma’s animation sprite is very detailed, down to seeing his cold breath in the winter sections. That attention to detail I appreciate very much. His animations are on par with Alucard in SotN. There are many unique things in the game not found in other Castlevanias which I appreciate it. However Julius’ sprite is just trash. Like c’mon, wtf were they thinking. The 3D parallax backgrounds especially at the end of the game were very well rendered. The Abyss final area was very creepy, but I wish it was larger. I personally believe we should’ve got a 3rd entry, titled “Eternity of Sorrow,” which sees Soma succumbing to his fate, allowing the centuries-old struggle to continue involving Julius’ descendants. The game featuring Mathias’ portrait in the Julius mode reinforces this idea, and unfortunately Konami didn’t capitalize on it.

Portrait of Ruin, I enjoy very much, but there’s an underlying feeling of laziness behind it. Many reused enemies & assets, tiny castle, too much anime cliches. The art style was terrible, generic slop. But the most egregious sin was not including John & Eric as playable characters, instead we get a bastardized version of Richiter & Maria. wtf?

Order of Ecclesia, still playing through it for the 2nd time. Competent game, although I wish the controls were a bit tighter.

[VladOfWallachia]

I played them all when they launched, but the only one I like going back to is PoR, definitely my favorite of the DS lineup.