Replaying it on the Dominus collection, my opinion slightly shifted. I still enjoy the game, but now I sense there is still a lot of laziness & cut corners hidden throughout the game that I didn’t notice before. The map & different locations seem cool at first glance but they leave a lot to be desired, there’s only minor exploration in what’s supposed to be mansions & large caves
Game design and thematically, my understanding is this:
OOE Part one:
- Bite sized levels(this includes Mansions) more linearly driven, more reminiscent of older CV games mixed with new elements (eg traversing spiked areas, by using Magnus)
- Showcase of varied pixel graphic and 2.5d aesthetic elements; Scrolling screens and transparency e.g. Ruvas Forest, 2.5d elements (Kalidus Channel)
- Reintroduction of verticality to 'levels' (eg Lighthouse Boss level)
OOE Part two:
- Backtracking and multiple ways of traversing areas (similar to CVII, but quicker access to areas)
- Dracula's Castle; more reminiscent of what CVII should have been, mixed with SOTN elements
Other/ Misc (sprinkled throughout parts one & two):
- Central Hub(s): Wygol Village, Ecclesia
- Challenge areas
The enemies themselves, most of them look cool but they’re missing an important detail: death animations. It’s one of the many details that immersed me into SotN, every enemy has their own unique death. In OoE, you kill a lizardman and he just falls over. Same with some of the walking armors, once defeated they just hunch over on their knees & fade in color. While replaying I was wondering, why didn’t the programmers make them explode or disintegrate like in the other games?
I'd have to replay it to really pick this apart, however, upon a quick examination of a youtube playthrough, within the first level/mansion, there are at least 5-6 enemies with unique death animations:
- Horse headed 'ghosts' lose their aura and crumble into bones
- Harpies let out a shriek and get sucked into the 'vortex'
- Skeletons drop into bones
- Axe armors fall apart, once disassembled, melting into the ground.
Therefore, I simply don't believe this statement is true.
There are some areas where the music repeats itself, even in the castle itself, from the entry hall to the library it’s the same song playing on loop. What the fuck?
While some tracks are repetitive, the tracks themselves at the time sounded great on DS hardware, particularly with headphones. Perhaps I'd feel differently playing it on Dominus, but I don't recall this being an issue, personally.
Then there’s Ecclesia itself. Apparently there’s only 3 members in the entire organization? Why have a headquarters with literally nobody else to be found inside. And Barlowe’s motivation is just way too predictable, they gave his betrayal no backstory other than “surprise surprise I’m actually a Dracula disciple & this whole thing has been a ruse all along” blah blah… come on guys, Disney villains from the 90’s had more going on for them than this.
While it's never expressly stated, there are implications to the narrative, specifically with Ecclesia itself:
- As you've mentioned, there's an entire structure and at least a training ground and library(Barlowe's quarters) dedicated to the arcane, research on Glyphs, etc. Therefore there lies an implication that at one stage, an organisation existed or was at least populated by more than 3 people,
- Secondly, Alucard, at one stage, had Dracula's remains inside a vessel(I believe this was covered in the JPN only SOTN talkee) which were later inherited by Ecclesia. Therefore, the implication is that given Alucard's lifespan, knowledge, etc, he would not have knowingly passed his father's remains to an organisation who was outrightly intending to resurrect Dracula,
- Thirdly, again while not outrightly stated, the narrative of OOE implies that Dracula's influence over Barlowe was growing over time, climaxing at the point where this w1gga self-sacrificed his olda$$ body (which possibly repulsed the Count, which in my headcanon explains him making an indrect flirtatious pass at Shanoa... I digress)
Jafar of the CVerse, perhaps.. Yet it made for a challenging fight on the hardest settings with both Shanoa & Albus.
Shanoa has no personality either. Maybe it would’ve been better if she sacrificed herself using Dracula’s power giving us a tragic but satisfying ending, cementing the fact that only a true Belmont can withstand Dracula’s might. But Albus’ ghost saves the day, how convenient.
I'm not going to comment on Japanese translations of the text dump, however, the English version does provide an explanation through various in-game quotations which explain why this has occurred:
Shanoa: I lost my emotions. An absent heart cannot stir.
Shanoa: ...Now I've lost everything... my past, my emotions, my brother, and my
purpose... I'm empty. ...there's nothing left for me.
Shanoa: Albus didn't seal my emotions at all. It was you. You used them as a
sacrifice to [Dominus]!
Albus: ...I doubt you could understand, without your memories or emotions.
Let's just say I knew what mattered to me, and what had to be done.
Albus: Accepting Dominus is likely to interfere with one's memories and
emotions.
Shanoa(character description)
Shanoa can place glyphs on her back which summon Familiars. These creatures
will fight enemies, and like Shanoa, will become stronger as they level up.
Shanoa is one of Ecclesia's female warriors. She joined the clan at a young
age, and was groomed in her training to destroy Count Dracula. An accident
during the Dominus ceremony wiped away her memories and emotions. Shanoa
possesses a unique ability, allowing her to channel power through glyphs that
are marked on her body.
I still feel it’s a better put-together experience than Portrait, but… I don’t know. There’s still not enough meat on the bones.
Blood Skeleton puns(Nintended) love you 'back'(or lack thereof... Because y'know... Skeledaddies)
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