Topic: My likes of the castlevanias

[Skycaptain Steampunk]

this is all the games i played that castlevania, and what i think they are to,

excelent- lords of shadows, mirror of fate, sure lords of shadows 2
very good- castlevania 1, 3, 4, cronicles x68000, haunted castle, but today this games not look good because they are old
bad- games for nintendo 64, for playstatoin 2, games for gameboy 1 they are very bad
very bad- castlevania 2 so boring and confuse, symphony of the night the worst
horrible- games for gameboy advance and nintendo ds, i don't play them never because symphony of the night i don't like it this are the same, they all copy of symphony of the night, but worst

it must be one people for the less, in the all forum, that think like me.

[Flame]

I would say Aria of Sorrow is as good as Symphony of the Night. I don't want to say better... but as far as atmosphere goes, I feel it has much thicker atmosphere than even Symphony had.

[Gaawa-chan]

Chances are exceedingly low that anyone will agree completely with any other person's opinion on every game in the series.  There are well over 20 Castlevania games.  I don't see that it matters much how many people do or don't agree with you.

But I'll bite. I don't like the LoS games for various reasons I won't bother to go over.  Don't wanna start a war.

I'm gonna warn you in advance that I've always been better at pointing out what I don't like than what I do like. Ridiculously large amount of text below, and it's not even brushing on my full thoughts on ANY of the games, so...

(click to show/hide)

Castlevania is a fantastic NES game that could benefit from a graphical overhaul and possibly the addition of different modes and a boss rush.  I don't think I'd change anything with regards to design; the whole game is pretty tight.

II: Simon's Quest was great for its time.  Unfortunately the creators made some bad design decisions that cause it to not hold up very well. The confusion over what to do could have been easily solved by having an NPC say something cryptic about kneeling/praying when you're trapped/have nowhere else to go; that would have been a good hint without hitting you over the head with the answer. Bosses should have been at the end of every mansion and immune to certain sub-weapons, enemy placement should have been more carefully thought out, adding health pick-ups and turning churches into warp points would allow for better level design, removing the EXP system and instead having stat upgrades like in Lament of Innocence.  Those changes alone would make Simon's Quest a far better game that would stand the test of time. Oh, and candlesticks.  Of the three NES games, this one has my favorite music.

III: Dracula's Curse is an excellent game even though I absolutely suck at it.  I have to rely on Alucard to get through some of the areas. ): A lot of the deaths in CV3 felt kind of cheap but I can't fault the game for my own inadequacy, so... it's very well-designed, like CV1 and most of what I said about that game applies here.  I kind of wish that the branching paths were set up in such a way that you could meet all three of the partners in the game in one go, and that you didn't have to give up one to let another join you.  Switching characters is a bit slow.  Other than that, great game.

Super Castlevania IV is very atmospheric.  I love the music here, but I think that egoraptor is right in his criticism that designers didn't think much about how to balance the sub-weapons with a whip that can go in 8 directions.  Indeed, the whip- the main weapon!- feels like a gamebreaker.  But the game overall is so slick that I have trouble holding anything against it, especially since it came out when the SNES was still young and accomplished so much despite that.

Bloodlines is a fantastic game.  I don't know what else to say about it other than to wonder why the hearts were turned into little shiny rectangles.  SCV4 and Bloodlines both had really interesting-looking stages and great music; aesthetically 4 was stronger but Bloodlines had superior gameplay balance.

The Adventure, Belmont's Revenge, and Legends all suffered because they were on the gameboy.  These games could have been great, but they are so. damn. slow.  It's like you're constantly wading through the poison marsh stuff from Simon's Quest.  I actually rather liked the overall (albeit threadbare) story from the adventure games, but to me Sonia reeks of Mary-Sueness.  I'm all for having a female Belmont, but blegh.  Still, her game had an interesting gimmick with the burning mode, which is more than the Adventure games could say for themselves.  Those games really could have used something to set them apart from the other CV games.

Dracula X is a pretty great game as well.  I don't much care for the original art style, but when it was remade in DXC I warmed up to it.  Not as dark as the other two games, Dracula X still had a pretty good story thanks to whether or not you're able to save Annette.  But I don't care much for Maria. >_> Also felt like Richter's flip thingie could have been more useful.  Music was pretty good, too. Other than that, great game; I just don't like it quite as much as the other two.

Symphony of the Night made some... interesting changes to the series.  I definitely felt that it hearkened back to Simon's Quest to an extent.  I enjoy this game a lot, though it's stupidly easy.  It's got a very pleasing presentation and a strong story (for Castlevania, anyway, lol).  I'm a big fan of action RPGs, exploration games, and I'm something of a completionist so the metroidvanias are right up my alley.  SotN was cool in that there were so many different ways to play the game that you could really carve your own experience out of it.  I think that its greatest failings are the lack of difficulty coupled with the frankly lame platforming- if it can even be called platforming.  I get that no one wants to back-track through hallways of doom, but come on... a possible solution to balancing out the difficulty would have been to remove the leveling system.  As much as I enjoy rpgs, I think that this holds the metroidvanias back horribly.  Lament of Innocence had it right when it only had stat upgrades; that allows for better level design and more rewarding exploration.  You don't need leveling on top of that. Oh, I'm also not crazy about the inverted castle.  Boring and rather lazy to boot.  Doesn't help that whenever your want to see the Librarian, you have to do quite a bit of back-tracking. Only other problem with the game is that the Maria-Alucard thing at the end felt incredibly forced to me.

Circle of the Moon.  Ah, I liked this game.  I think that there could have been more areas with different visuals/tracks, though, because I felt that some places were kind of dragged out.  Story was decent.  The DSS system was pretty cool; CotM was not so stupidly easy as SotN, and you had to really work at it to break the game, imo, though I have mixed feelings about grinding for cards.  There were platforming segments here that were definitely to be lauded when compared to SotN.  I also really loved the OST but I wish there had been more new tracks.  That said, the re-used songs were awesome; I thought combining two older songs was a wonderful idea and one that would be repeated in the series to great effect.  I think, however, that they really should have made a greater effort to tie the story into the rest of the series.  Who the fuck is Nathan Graves, anyway?  He came out of nowhere and this was never properly reconciled, unlike the Morris clan.

Harmony of Dissonance.  I just finished this game a short while ago.  Here's my review:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/554981-castlevania-harmony-of-dissonance/65782318

Aria of Sorrow seemed to take a leaf from SotN's book in terms of difficulty; they didn't even try to make it even remotely hard! I liked the story more than I probably should, though I get kind of tired of Japan constantly shoe-horning itself into video games where it really doesn't belong.  Aria really should have taken place in Europe.  Oh, and Soma has silly clothes. >_> Soul system is a ton of fun but also makes the game more than a little grindy, more so than CotM with the cards.  At this point the grinding actually started to get on my nerves a little; why make the souls random drops?  Why not have Soma physically suck them out himself, sort of like Shanoa would later with some enemy glyphs?  Then you make getting souls a matter of skill rather than luck.  That would have been awesome! Music is very good, but I actually prefer HoD's composition and CotM's overall OST.

Dawn of Sorrow is even worse with the grinding by like... ten times!  What were they thinking?!  And the magic seals were tacked on and unnecessary. Art is inexcusably bad, villains are TERRIBLE, and it's like most of the characters took stupid pills or something.  What is this I don't even... okay, all that said I actually enjoy DoS quite a bit, and that's in no small part due to Julius Mode which is pure win and would have been the greatest extra mode in the series if Hammer had also been playable. Alas.  As bad as the art is I'd say Soma's overall design actually improved in this game (sad).  I also really like the OST.  The bad ending was awesome, the good ending was... well, it was all right.  This is another game where I thought the level design was pretty boring overall.  Dunno why.  Difficulty was much improved compared to AoS but it wasn't until that fire demon thing that I felt like the game was taking me even remotely seriously.  Bah.  It's weird because I actually like this game but I can't think of much that's very nice to say about it. That's okay, though. XD

Portrait of Ruin. I don't think the art in this game was as bad as the art in DoS.  And the fact that I think that makes me very sad, because PoR's art is terrible, and it's a game where your primary enemy is an artist! Oh, wow! XD Level design didn't bug me until I got to the four paintings to unlock Brauner's studio and was like, "... are you ****ING SERIOUS?!"  You've got a game where you can literally make ANY kind of stage you want because of the painting system and you recycle the old areas?!  There's NO excuse for that.  That's appallingly lazy.  Only really good thing I have to say about PoR's level design is that it was more interesting than DoS (imo) and there were parts where you could choose to do certain places in certain orders, something I appreciate. Story could have been soooo much better.  Primary problem with it is the not very likeable protagonists, and the lack of focus on the villains.  Brauner and the vampirized sisters could have made for incredibly cool antagonists with more development.  Again, alas.  I actually quite like the partner system in this game, and Jonathan's wonky sub-weapons were fun and made him a more interesting whip-wielder in the series to play as.  The game could have used more balance between the two characters, though.  Sisters Mode was a pretty neat idea.  Richiter mode was completely unnecessary; in a Bloodlines sequel, why wasn't there a mode to play as John and Eric?! Bah.  Oh, the side-quests.  You shouldn't be allowed to sell unique items.  Why do games do that? >_> Music is my favorite of the 3 DS games.

Order of Ecclesia.  I just finished replaying this game this weekend. Story is so, soooo much better than the other two DS games and indeed the game has one of the better stories in the series.  Art is also a breath of fresh air.  Of all the metroidvanias OoE reminds me the most of Simon's Quest and what Simon's Quest would be like if it had been made today instead of in the 80's.  Fitting then that Shanoa made that reference to SQ before entering the castle.  Side-quests returned, and were better than PoR's because they revolved around the various NPCs, leading to character interaction between them and Shanoa.  Game had pretty good design overall but I feel that it is too rigid somehow, and after playing the other metroidvanias Shanoa feels incredibly weak, though it's more that the difficulty has been ramped up decently.  I thought the equipment variety was rather lacking in comparison to other games.  Also, nnngh grinding is NOT FUN.  Why didn't they learn from the Sorrow games not to do that?! Don't do that!  BAH!  You know what was awesome about this game, though?  The boss medals.  I hope they show up in the series again sometime.  Albus Mode was great, but it would be better if I wasn't freaking left-handed.  Urgh. Great game, though.

Lament of Innocence. Oh, I like this game very much. They made some very interesting choices with LoI.  I LOVED the orb+sub-weapon system; it made nabbing those orbs that much more satisfying, and it's better than HoD's book system in that I don't think any of the orb combos are outright game-breakers.  Not that LoI is difficult... some of the whip combos are insanely powerful.  Speaking of the whip, there was something about it in LoI that made beating the crap out of enemies immensely satisfying; maybe it's the sound effects. I also like the squeaky shoes.  They are win.  They should be retroactively put into every single game ever because they are so awesome.  Er... anyway.  Platforming is virtually non-existent in this game and the camera pisses me off.  The result is that level design is rather boring and I get irritated when I want a close look at something.  Some of the bosses are just pathetic, especially if you have a good whip combo learned and you're good at perfect guarding.  I didn't care much for the real-time window because I despise running around like a headless chicken scrolling through multiple menu thingies trying to change my whip while something is shooting lasers at me. D:< Story is... all right.  Really could have used more info on Matthias and Death and the magic stone thingies and Sara and the Vampire Killer, and what happened to Leon after the game and... sigh.  Joachim Mode is awesome and is probably my favorite extra Mode. Pumpkin is superfluous but I appreciate the humor of his inclusion.  Game looks pretty good and the OST is excellent.  LoI has a lot of problems but I think it's underrated.

Curse of Darkness.  Why, why did they exacerbate every. single. problem that LoI had save the real-time menus?  I don't understand... Innocent Devil system was fun but if you were serious about it, it was very grindy.  Leveling on top of the stretched out, platforming-devoid areas when you can't get a Wolf's Foot relic and the ID system resulted in boring boringness as you chain cartwheels throughout the entire game feeling like the prince of derp.  Story was decent, standard Castlevania fare, really.  Trevor was a huge missed opportunity, though. I liked Julia.  Weapon synthesis was fun but AGAIN it was grindy! WHYYYYYY?! All the whining aside, I like CoD as well.  I whine and moan about grinding a lot but that's less because it drives me up the wall and more because it is an undeniable fact that these games would be better without all the grinding.  Anyway, making the IDs was fun and the weapons, once made, were cool to play around with, especially the wonky special weapons like the guitar.  It's weird to me that even though this game is much longer and has a lot more stuff in it that the accessories weren't as good as the ones in LoI.  Oh, well.  I did like the steal system though some steal requirements were ridiculous; why couldn't Soma get his souls like that, anyway?  Game has my favorite song in the series, too.  Garibaldi Temple. <3 

I have played Harmony of Despair but I don't own it and I haven't played it a lot so I'm not gonna comment on it.

I have not played:
Vampire Killer (no plans to play this)
Haunted Castle (no plans to play this, and I've heard it's horrid, anyway)
Rondo of Blood (SNES, I plan to try and play this in the future)
CV 64 (heard LoD is better, so...)
Legacy of Darkness (plan to play this in the future)
Chronicles (plan to play this in the future)
The Adventure ReBirth (plan to play this in the future but my Wii is broken, so sad)
Order of Shadows (might watch someone else play this on Youtube or something)
Judgment (don't like fighters and my Wii is broken and it doesn't look very good anyway)
Kid Dracula games (I plan to try and play these in the future)
Puzzle: Encore of the Night (eh)
Akumajō Dracula: The Medal (eh)
CV: The Arcade (herp)
Pachislot games (derp)

[Shiroi Koumori]

I love both the Sorrow games and SOTN. The tactical soul system (sorrow games), spell combos (sotn), weapon and food collections... both games appeal to the collector in me. Plus, I like my protagonists have a lot of weapons at their disposal. I don't mind the backtracking, since I am so busy getting everything.
I played those games so many times, in different versions. I think I played AoS the most though (in Japanese, English, cellphone, several times each hehehe).

I don't think I have a Castlevania game that I really really hate.

In response to Gaawa-chan,
Here is a link for Order of Shadows, if you want to download the game to your phone.
http://java.mob.org/game/castlevania_order_of_shadows.html

[Gaawa-chan]

In response to Gaawa-chan,
Here is a link for Order of Shadows, if you want to download the game to your phone.
http://java.mob.org/game/castlevania_order_of_shadows.html

I appreciate the link, truly, but there's just one problem; I don't have a phone! XD

[Lelygax]

You can emulate Java Cellphone games (thats how I've played Order of Shadows), I've liked your review (read even the GameFAQs one, since its about HoDiss)

You should fix that:

Portrait of Ruin. I don't think the art in this game was as bad as the art in PoR.

You compared PoR with... PoR? Wtf? lol
I think that you are going to compare PoR with DoS at that moment.

[Gaawa-chan]

You can emulate Java Cellphone games (thats how I've played Order of Shadows), I've liked your review (read even the GameFAQs one, since its about HoDiss)

Hmm... I'll keep that in mind for this weekend...

You should fix that:
You compared PoR with... PoR? Wtf? lol
I think that you are going to compare PoR with DoS at that moment.

Oh, geez. D: Thanks. XD

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I'm moving this to "Classic Castlevania Threads".
This is an opinion post that is basically "These are my favorite games and why".

People will inevitably reply with their own lists, but this has been done before.
So yeah, I'm moving it.

[Pfil]

In category, as the original list:

* My all-time favourites: Portrait of Ruin, Order of Eclessia, Symphony of the Night, Curse of Darkness, Rondo of Blood, Aria of Sorrow, Legacy of Darkness, Castlevania II, Dracula's Shadow.
* I love: Lament of Innocence, Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, Bloodlines, Chronicles X68000, The Adventure Rebirth, Quest.
* I like: Dawn of Sorrow, Nocturne in the Moonlight, Vampire Killer, CV 1, CV 3, SCV 4, Dracula X (SNES), The Adventure, Belmont's Revenge, Legends, Reverie (DLC), Haunted Castle, Dracula Kid NES, Dracula Kid GB, Serio's Fighter, Vampire, Super Vampire Killer 4, Haunted Castle 2 and 3, Ieyasu and many other fan games I don't remember right now.
* I don't like them that much, but I still enjoy some things about them while playing (hey, at least it's Castlevania): Harmony of Despair, Judgment, Resurrection (DLC), Order of Shadows, Mirror of Fate, Lords of Shadow, Aria of Sorrow mobile, Dawn of Sorrow mobile, Quest Horror.
* I didn't play but I'd love to: Pachislot 1, 2 and 3, The Arcade, The Medal, Encore of the Night, Resurrection (Dreamcast).

[Skycaptain Steampunk]

why they critic the list i writed and they like order of shadows but dont like games of mercurysteam, i dont understand this.

[Gaawa-chan]

why they critic the list i writed and they like order of shadows but dont like games of mercurysteam, i dont understand this.

I don't think I've seen anyone here say that they LIKE Order of Shadows; if they did, they were pulling your leg.  You know, joking?

[Skycaptain Steampunk]

they are joking what they sayed they dont like cox games?

[Lelygax]

They are joking because they dont like Order of Shadows,

[Skycaptain Steampunk]

But they are true what dont like lords of shadows, that wasnt jokes so, they hate it and hate cox and mercurysteam and now they people hate marquez, they laugh to him and insuld him in other topic.........spain games, i wish poeples was joking.

[Gaawa-chan]

But they are true what dont like lords of shadows, that wasnt jokes so, they hate it and hate cox and mercurysteam and now they people hate marquez, they laugh to him and insuld him in other topic.........spain games

Okay, let's try this again.

You dislike the SotN-like games, right?  Those games were made by Japanese people in Japan.  Does this mean that you hate all of Japan, or all of Japan's games?

...

Disliking something from a country does not mean you hate that country. There are plenty of games and other things that have come from the USA and Japan that I don't like but that isn't some sort of smear against the countries themselves, and the same goes for stuff made in Spain.

Some people don't like a game two two made by people from your home country. So what?  Some people don't like the attitudes of some of the people from Mercurysteam.  So what?  What other people think of Lords of Shadow should not be something you take so personally; it's not like you were in any way involved in the creation of Lords of Shadow.  You don't know David Cox.  You don't know José Luis Márquez.  You don't have a personal stake in anything that is said about them, any more than I have a personal stake in anything that is said about any American in the game industry.  I think Sarah Palin is a moron and a disgrace; did I just insult the entire USA?  No!

This has been explained to you multiple times and I know you understand it; you're just ignoring it because you don't want to admit that the people who disagree with you might have valid reasons for doing so.