Topic: How do you like how Castlevania games are going right now?

[RoGE]

I personally think they are doing a good job, though, I never played Dawn of Sorrow, I have played Portrait of Ruin and liked it, along with the other handheld Castlevania games. Taking sprites and stuff from other Castlevania games is something i don't really mind, I just love Castlevania games for their story and gameplay.

I am looking forward to this new DS title. BTW I have posted here before, but that was a while ago, I think my account got deleted for inactivity or something like that, I don't even remember the name.

[fallenangel86]

take it you never played anything prior to the gba games. i generally don't mind the newer style too much, but portrait to me felt like "when is this going to end?" of course, i saved the sisters so....

[crisis]

I think CV is fine although it could use more polish in several areas. Portrait just felt like a step backwards. Hopefully Ecclesia will get everything right this time.

[MidnightSun]

I know I'm the minority here, but I don't really enjoy Castlevania nearly as much outside of the castletroids.

I mean yeah, the orignal Castlevania games aren't bad, but I guess I'm just not a fan of them.. and yes, I played them back in the 80's when they first came out.

I had barley any interest in the series until the Castletroids, which I absolutely love.  In fact Dawn of Sorrow is one of my favorite games of all time.

So to answer the orignal question I think the 2D series is going great.  PoR was a bit of a let down, but I think the series is just as strong as ever.  Even CoD wasn't that bad, so maybe they can build off of that and come out with a truly great 3D Castlevania game.

[RoGE]

In Reply To #2

I have played most of the older Castlevania before I got PoR. I don't think PoR is that bad ,maybe its because I have never played DoS,it may not be as good as DoS (from what I heard), but its still a pretty decent Castlevania game.

I prefer the term Metroidvania, Castletroid just sounds funny to me. lol

Bloodlines was the first Castlevania I have played, then I started playing many others as well. SOTN still remains my favorite though.

[MidnightSun]

I prefer the term Metroidvania, Castletroid just sounds funny to me. lol

I prefer Metroidvania as well, but this is a Castlevania site, and most Castlevania fans seem to call them Castletroids, so I just go with that around here.

Metroidvaina would be the correct term however since Metroid is the game that created the formula.

[Long John Silver]

but isn't the map the only thing lifted from metroid? i mean, the free roaming, inventory, equippable weapons/items, leveling up, money system were all done in cv2 and that's what sotn followed.

i prefer to call it metrovania. because it's not metroid.

also on topic, the quality of the games is slowly declining. sure, they sugarcoat the games with pretty colors and stuff, but the sprite work is slowly degenerating after taking a brief jump in aos, the storylines are getting worse with each title, not to mention the protagonists too.

not mentioning ooe at all, because it's not out yet so until it is i'll treat it as it doesn't exist. once it's out and i play it through, then i'll probably change my mind.

until then though pork is the last game, and its quality took a big drop from dos, aos, even hod.

[warfreak]

I think Castlevania fans use both Metroidvania and Castleroid. It doesn't matter to me either way, it's just a coined word, isn't it?

I like how the games are going now. If they make a new 3D game, they should make it better without the boring level designs. Order of Ecclesia looks interesting and promising enough, so yes, despite the flaws, I like how the games are moving on so far. Hopefully they make it better and not worse with the next few games.

[James Belmont]

I like both styles. Super Castlevania IV is what got me into the series to begin with. I got the previous ones once I beat that one, and then I've gotten each new one so far.

I liked PoR, yeah, but it's no AoS. Hopefully OoE is on par with AoS, or does better.

[Omegasigma]

i'd say the series is going ok, i wouldn't mind a "journey back in time" to a the days of cv3, cv4 and rondo but just add a hell of alot more stages and sprites etc, maybe a few new attacks for monsters, and i think thats all we'd need for a kick ass old school vania

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

In Reply To #10

You're asking for another DraculaX Chronicles, then.
GREAT game.

Didn't that come out after Portrait?  I'd call that a great remake title, since it's different enough.

It has its own 3D Models for the classic enemies and for Richter and Maria.  It's got great music, awesome challenge level, and many unlockables...

...we need more games like that, methinks.

[DoctaMario]

The games aren't in bad shape, but not in great shape. DXC was a breath of fresh air and made me remember how much I love the classic games. I don't think we really need to return to that formula, but we definitely need some kind of change. I'm starting to get kinda tired of the Castleroid thing.

That said, I enjoyed PoR quite a lot. It was a fun action game with some explorative elements. Not the best Castlevania game ever, but a lot of fun nonetheless.

[Ciel]

 I don't like the way the games are going in terms of tone. I am continuously disappointed by the immense potential PoR squandered. Most of the reason I love CV is that it's such a beautiful, dramatic world - even without actual drama, it's the places that are dramatic. The entire feeling of it. The graphics make up a big part of that, but things like the story, character art, and music are just as crucial. The DS games have really dropped the ball on the latter three aspects and the tone of the games has suffered greatly. Dawn was passable and even quite beautiful at times, but it lacked the sublimity of its predecessors. By Portrait I felt the dignified spirit of CV was entirely gone. I know it had a lot of issues with level design, progression, and game mechanics, but I'm more concerned with the aesthetic spirit of the series remaining intact. Ecclesia looks to be somewhere in between Aria and Dawn in that regard. Hopefully the series will see a full return to the elaborate splendor seen in Symphony and Aria or even the surreal nightmare that was Harmony.


(PS: Oh, hey Jorge. I just now realized you post here.  I know you from your MIDI transcriptions of CV music on VGMusic.com. You have quite the ear to be able to transcribe some of those complex tracks. They were a big help when I was analyzing certain compositions, so thanks a lot man.)

[fallenangel86]

hmm... i think you guys desperately need to check out cosmo police galivan on the nes. rom translation, so you'll need to patch a japanese rom and play it through an emulator.

if you don't feel like it, basically it did what symphony of the night did(as well as an nes game could) at around the time of, or just before castlevania 2, with a sci-fi feel.

oh yeah, and about the ds games. someone should lose a giant cut of their pay, at the very least, for the whole killer clown thing. that takes a lot from the cv atmosphere.

[Saroor]

Gameplay is fine I think, though it seems to be more and more reiteration with minor twists thrown in. I like the addition of other modes and difficulty settings. I liked Richter mode in PoR better than the main game. I think there is a definite effort to evolve the series, however.