Topic: What do you guys think of 3D Castlevanias?

[wcarnation]

Myself, I have not played a single one. I am sorta curious, though.

Particularly Legacy of Darkness on N64.

What do all you guys think about them? It might give me a better idea of where to start out.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

In Reply To #1

I love Legacy of Darkness.
I play it via Emulation with my Controller set up such that the right-analog is mapped to the N64 D-Pad, thus giving me the camera control I need.
I have the cart but it looks better on the TV via emulation.  Also there's a hi-res texture pack.

As for LoI and CoD, I want to like them... but I end up getting very bored very early in the games.  It's tedious for me to just fight enemies and move from room to room, even if the locales are beautiful.

[Omegasigma]

I personally liked the N64 titles more then the ps2 ones, the cept curse of darkness, its one i really like as well, mostly for its music score. and i'm currently blending LoD with Judgement i'll see how that goes, lol

[CapComMDb]

Texture packs are neat. I think they give a little extra life to the older games (its surprising how low-res they look today and how much more awesome they look with texture packs. This is something completely impossible with original hardware).

3D games are going to have some issues with camera. Was reading an interview with Eiji Aonuma about Ocarina of Time, and he said the lock-on system developed out of a need to get a good camera. It's usually pretty good in the PS2 titles (excepting a few rooms where foreground blocks your view or the camera zooms out too much), horrendous in Judgment b/c it moves around too much, but I didn't play much of the N64.

My biggest beef with the PS2 games is the poor level design. You get these huge castles and yeah, the walls look good, but... It's just a bunch of empty corridors. Where's the furniture? Where's stuff you can knock enemies into for extra damage or break open for hearts and money? Dracula must have had a blowout castle sale. DMC had all these detailed rooms, but it also had a fixed camera. I don't think Castlevania needs a fixed camera as it is inherently a scrolling game, but the levels I find to be really boring as they ultimately amount to just long, empty tunnels.

The other thing is going to have to be with fights, and this plagues nearly all 3D games I've played. It's easier to just avoid monsters by walking around them or by taking a couple points of damage to get through them than it is to spend the 10 seconds or so it would take to fight. You get nothing from lower-level enemies and it takes multiple hits to kill them (versus 2D games where weak enemies get sliced through in one hit). I think it's the lack of 'walking tank' mode, but also tedium of fighting in 3D that gives me problems. Locked doors is just a cheap way of keeping you stuck.

I honestly didn't think CoD was THAT bad, but I won't say it's a good game. LoI is in the same category, but usually rated higher simply because it was the first. The N64 games were notorious, but I don't think they were completely awful. The 2D games are still superior, so for your 3D vampire-killing action fix, you'll have to stick with DMC and God of War. It's really too bad that even though CV is a gold standard for 2D, they just can't get it right in 3D.

[Rugal]

I love LoI, and CoD. For me, CoD is better than SotN. 

[Profbeanburrito]

Castlevania 64 is in my top 5 cause its awesome.
I like LoI and CoD, they get a lot crap, but you should really play them and decide for yourself, they're really fun

[paletteswapmonster]

I like LoI and the N64 games, but I never play the N64 games anymore since I instead decide to watch these videos because I find doing that to be much more entertaining.

[Super Waffle]

I LOVED Castlevania 64 as a kid.

[RichterX]

I thought CoD and LoI were pretty awesome. CoD more so, I love fighting all the time. Soundtrack was amazing too.

[Profbeanburrito]

The only thing I didn't like about LoI and CoD is there isn't enough platforming. In 64, the vertical levels had the moving platforms, the revolving spike platforms, and all sorts of classic things, it's just not as fun without them.

[DoctaMario]

I love the 64 games. They're among my favorite CV games of all time. The platforming and level design are excellent and they really create a huge and beautiful world for you to play in. The atmosphere of these games is off the charts too.

The PS2 games look beautiful and are fun for a bit, but the lack of depth in the level design hurts them. Had they cut the levels in half and made twice as many levels, I think those games would have been better received, because there are a lot of great things about them. It's just that they get overwhelmingly boring after a short while.

[TheCruelAngel]

As is the general consensus here, I highly recommend the 3D Castlevanias for the 64 (even though LoD is practically the first game with extra gameplay).  I think they had a good idea going with the mix of combat and platforming, the only real draw back is the limited knowledge of 3D cameras back then, and it shows.

I've played LoI and own CoD, and I have to say that while platforming may be a bit "watered down" it wasn't bad.  I haven't gotten around to finishing it yet though...so I may change my opinion at a later date, but I like it so far.  The combat tries to play itself off like DMC or Ninja Gaiden, which is sad since it makes each attack feel weak individually (more than one hit to kill a flea man, what?) but is fun to chain combos together against harder monsters and bosses.  The soundtrack is beautiful...but it's Castlevania so that's something we expect, and some of the level designs and locales are also beautifully rendered and enchanting.

So...there's my two cents, really, just get and play them all and come up with your own conclusion.

[pixelvanian]

I am quite surprised by the positive attitude towards the N64 Castlevania titles here.  That opinion does not seem to be the norm in most places.

That said, I agree; those were by far my favorite 3D CastleVania games.  They were full of interesting platforming ideas and many unforgettable moments (the wheels of the clock tower stage being able to crush you, running around with explosives, vampires chasing after you and biting you, being chased by Ash in the garden, etc).
Speaking of Ash, the game had quite a few horror movie references, from Evil Dead to Carrie (besides the obvious, Carrie's ending cinematic was obviously inspired by the film's ending sequence).
Really, they had a lot of good ideas.

I've played the PS2 games, but they're honestly not my cup of tea.  Their soundtracks, on the other hand, are kickbitchin' good.

[darkwzrd4]

I think that the ps2 titles were better than the n64 titles.  LoI was the best.  It had better graphics than the N64 titles and like them it had some puzzles.  Plus, the different whip combos were kind of cool.  The only advantages CoD had over LoI are the fact you could level up and you had innocent devils.

Out of the four 3D games, LoI had the best music.

[shelverton.]

Lament of Innocence somehow feels a bit more polished than Curse of Darkness. On the other hand, the soundtrack in Curse of Darkness is in fact one of the best I've ever heard in a video game, I kid you not. Both games are a bit on the boring side, but exploring is a little more fun in CoD cause it's laid out more like a  3D castleroid, albeit a VERY flat one. It takes forever to walk from one end of a room to another. And there are way too many filler rooms in each level. They should've cut the game in half or something.

I have no opinions on the N64 games. I didn't like them. Didn't hate them either. They were just kinda.. there. The graphics are VERY depressing by todays standards though. 3D games from that era hasn't aged very well at all. I mean, 16-bit graphics are fine. Heck, some of it still look surprisingly clean and detailed! Everything 3D on the N64, Playstation and Saturn just look like utter garbage though. Except maybe Super Mario 64 which looked alright the last time I checked, in all its simplicity.