Topic: Sotn in comparison to the new games..

[CastleDan]

Hey I'm new here,

I just wanted all of your opinions on something.
I love all the new ds castlevanias but for some reason none of them seem to have surpassed sotn for me.

I'm trying to figure out why. I enjoy the graphics much more on sotn, is it a better graphics engine? Also the newer games the art style within the games looks very cartoony as opposed to the more gothic look of sotn.

I'm just confused as to why they can't top sotn. Isn't the ds about equal to N64 which is better graphically than a Ps1?

[crisis]

Many of us also feel the same way you do. Despite the desperate effort of the gameboy & DS titles, SotN still remains the king. I think it's because in 1997, there were a lot more talented programmers & artists working on Symphony, and it was a new concept for the series as a whole.

Nowadays, the current team struggles to recapture that magic, with lackluster to okay results. Personally, I don't think a handheld game will ever be as good as SotN.

However I still have hope that one day, given the right circumstances, IGA or his successor will deliver something incredible. It'll happen...

[CastleDan]

In Reply To #2

like dont get me wrong the new game looks sweet.

However when you compare Alucards animations to any of the new  characters, the pixelated sprite of his... Cloke changing, Animal morphin, spells with different inputs...

Idk The castle didnt have to many cartoony elements, and sometimes downright creepy, the underground portion in particular...

What happened to all that? Don't they have a much larger team working on the new games?...They should put them to good use.

Sighs quits complaining.. lol

[Algernon]

I've never actually played SotN and I love both DS games that everyone here hates. If you would just stop comparing the penis sizes of different games to each other and enjoy them for their merits, you'd probably be a happier person.

(I use "you" here in terms of speaking to a group)

But seriously, of all game fanbases I've been too, Castlevania fans seem to bitch the most. I don't see why- plenty of good games have been thrown our way after SotN, just not QUITE as good. That doesn't mean you can't enjoy them.

[A n t r a x x]

I agree with Crisis ( HIIIII, Crisis <(^.^)^ ): Konami had more talent back then. The sprites were far more careful and the animation fluid. The colors rich and detailed layer effects everywhere.

It seems the DS is not quite capable of the same effects, and not nearly as strong of color as a tv. The resolution of a DS screen is lower too. Then of course you have to consider how SotN can have a more complex soundtrack due to the cd medium.

Alucard's cooler than Soma and all the other new handeld characters combined (sans Natahn Graves and the OoE ones). He could morph into different animals and those played directly into the platforming and secret-unlocking in the game. He had several useful spells, and he could make himself discreetly taller.

[erimocard]

In Reply To #5

Aw c'mon. Don't call the wolf form or the spells useful. They are gimmicks. Not more. All you need to fight is a sword, the spells are only for teh lulz. The later CVs are way better when it comes to ability-systems.
Don't get me wrong here. Sotn is superior when it comes to atmosphere and level design. But there ARE things which are better in the DS titles.

[fallenangel86]

Personally, I don't think a handheld game will ever be as good as SotN.

the psp has the potential for similar/superior graphical/sound quality. if nintendo never makes as powerful a handheld, and konami keeps favoring them, then no, no new castlevania on a handheld will ever touch symphony in that particular department.

[Long John Silver]

In Reply To #6
once you get the wolf charge and super speed relics the wolf is the best way to travel fast since it speeds up to insane speeds and damages everything on its way. it also doesn't stop unlike bat charge. too bad it's so immobile though.

as for spells, lol. the spells are anything but useless.

the spirit summon helps a lot while you try to play underleveled/luck mode and your attacks deal shit damage.

hellfire's a decent way to bypass some difficult enemies early in the game and give you lots of invincibility.

soul steal is a great way to heal yourself. dark metamorphosis is also not a bad way to do so if you're around enemies that bleed. especially combined with muramasa.

until you farm for gold and get lots of potions, but that's a game breaker for all iga-metrovanias.

[darkwzrd4]

SotN was revolutionary. That is why I think it was so good.  I mean it was a new direction and I think Konami wanted to out do itself with it.  Now that the games are going in that direction, I think that Konami doesn't want to work as hard for all the games like that.  Besides, the current Cv team doesn't seem to be as skilled.  The fact that the ds and its cartriges (or what ever those the medium the games come on are called) don't have the same quality as the consoles and console game discs.  The only way in my mind for a 2-D sidescrolling game to achieve the same level as SotN, if not surpass it is for such a game to be on a console or PSP.  The PSP is more likely though considering that the consoles only seem to get the 3-D games now.

[CastleDan]

In Reply To #9

Like I said, I do love the new games, I just notice a big difference.

I guess maybe its lazyness, my best example I can give is their were more UNIQUE and cool looking rooms.. Now it feels like a ton of hallways and little boxes repeated every so often within each area.

I am looking forward to the new game cause it does look a tad bit better creatively than the last few games.

[MDI]

CD quality music and the fact that SoTN had it while the DS games didn't definitely makes the DS games look bad.

[jimmay17]

This is actually one of my favorite subjects, and a host of factors are involved, far too many to elaborate on here (indeed, if one had the time and the wherewithal, a thirty page analysis paper could be written on the subject).

Aside from the reasons already posited--the shortcomings of DS hardware in comparison to the Playstation, the apparent lack of artistic vision at Konami currently in regards to the franchise, and the wonderful effects of rosy nostalgic  hindsight--one other facet I've been turning over lately in my head is the seeming dynamic of DS development itself.

With the DS, and, to a similar effect, the Wii, there seems to be a mentality amongst software development on the part of third party companies that "good enough" is more than enough. The DS and the Wii, of course, are practically printing money for Nintendo and everyone involved. The absolute wealth of disposable party, mini-game, and casual gamer oriented games on both systems, and their near-inexplicable phenomenal success, is evidence of a software market where insubstantial obligation is placed on the developer to actually make a good game.

In a market where "Catz," "Dogz," "Horsez", "Aquarium," and "Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games" are nearly tentpole marquee attractions for the DS, what incentive is there to really invest the necessary time and effort to actually write and produce a really good game? I'm not saying that the Castlevania efforts on the system have been of the same caliber as the "Petz" riffraff mind you, and I graciously acknowledge that there have been some pretty well done third party games on the DS, but overall, the necessity isn't there to devote the hard work needed to push the system to its limits as should be done, and that, I feel reflects in the unimpressive entries we've seen on the platform in the Castlevania franchise.     

[A n t r a x x]

In Reply To #12

I think you have a point there.

[Omegasigma]

well konami has been cutting back on development, sotn was mostly likely got funds from sony to dev it, since sony had a knack back then to pay a little more so they'd get something special compared to the n64, altho some games were ported to n64 later on with higher resolution graphics,

level design in the new games, lets face it, its lazy in most cases, cept DOS in my opinion was fiarly decent, but the grade size and overall artistic feel on the modern games seems more lackluster, still i have to think about konamis budgets now since even iga has seemed toe xpress they've been limiting his visions to dollar signs, i'm sure sure if the budget was right we'd see a game better then sotn

and technicly the n64 did  have better graphics only cause they were sharper, texture tho, 64kb if tecture memory was crap, sorry nintendo if you even gave it 100kb it'd be better, dreamcast had promise, but ps2 to me a dreamcast with some addons, killed it, cept in japan where the console still gets game releases

[outofthegamer]

The discrepancy between SotN and hand-held CVs can be summed up quite simply: SotN was a console game, the others were not. The target audience for console games is older than the target audience of the GBA/DS games. So atmosphere and level design are more important that variety of abilities or gimmicks. Where as, the emphesis is the other way around for hand-held games.

Unfortunately, SotN was the first and last of it's kind, unless Iga surprises us with a miracle for the xbox360/PS3 CV game....SotN 2!!! wouldn't it be glorious!!??!