Topic: The subject of atmosphere

[Alutwon]

I noticed recently a change between the GBA games and the DS games. It seems like the atmosphere in the GBA games is much darker and gothic in comparison to the DS ones, has anyone else noticed this? Even OoE just doesn't come off as serious as the  first 3. 

[Battler Ushiromiya]

In Reply To #1

Maybe CotM, but HoD was just so bright in it's pallette it was hard to take seriously. Aria seemed to be in the middile, where DoS was probably on the same level in terms of atmosphere (Aria's still the better game, IMO. DoS sucked.)

Basically, from lightest to darkest:

Harmony of Dissonance
Portrait of Ruin
Dawn of Sorrow
Aria of Sorrow
Order of Ecclesia
Circle of the Moon

The reason I put Ecclesia over Aria in this is purely because of Aria's script. The dialogue was pretty downright cheesy in Aria in several spots, especially when Soma first meets Graham and Yoko, whereas Ecclesia tried it's damnedest to stay as serious as possible.

[Alutwon]

In Reply To #2

Indeed, I see HoD colors in a different way. I do agree that the colors were used to make the game brighter but it also gives off an unintentional feeling of dissonance in the same way the music does imo. But again i've only ever played them on a back lit screen so CotM and Aria look very similar. yea dialogue has never been one of cvania's strong points so I excuse that all together. OoE felt too disjointed as everyone says, there is no sense of immersion. Its basically "O I'm in the woods and now I'm in a jail"

[True Sorrow]

Wait, you mean there's people who haven't noticed that? Seriously?!

:|

Yeah, the GBA games have a much darker feel, although Ecclesia is closer to them than Dawn and Ruin. But even so, Circle seems to have a brighter feel than the GBA games and Ecclesia, which probably has a lot to do with the upbeat music and bloopy synths (ugh). Out of these, I'd probably say Harmony's the darkest, mainly because of the music, but also because of the way the B castle is built, both in terms of weird backgrounds and the way Maxim acts. The whole thing just feels so dark and mysterious.

Also Dawn's the brightest in terms of atmosphere, again, because of the music. It's amazingly upbeat

[Alutwon]

In Reply To #4

Circle upbeat? Really? I'm sorry but Proof of Blood, A Fate to Despair, and Trick Manor beg to differ.

[True Sorrow]

In Reply To #4

Circle upbeat? Really? I'm sorry but Proof of Blood, A Fate to Despair, and Trick Manor beg to differ.

Aquarius, Clockwork (aforementioned bloopy sounds), Vampire Killer felt much lighter than usual somehow, same with Dance of Illusions and Sinking Old Sanctuary, and Awake. Big Battle also went for the bloopy sounds. Overall, it felt very up-beat to me, especially with all the bloopy sounds O__o The three songs you mentioned were exceptions, really.

[Ahasverus]

I really think that the atmosphere of thge GBA games is beautiful, gothic, and scary; the Ds games are too too poppy and the castle isn

[Alutwon]

Hmm I see. Well the only songs that really felt "bloopy" to me were VK, Dance of Illusions, and Clockwork. But idk the way the songs are portrayed in CotM doesn't seem to sway what the original games first portrayed.

[Munchy]

Agree with first post. Personally, CV4 had by far the best atmosphere. I wish newer games would try to have that kind of atmosphere (though Ecclesia stepped it up in this category a bit).

[Alutwon]

In Reply To #7 & #9

Too true

[Ahasverus]

I don't like the atmosphere of SCVIV because it's a very dirt and destroyed castle, for me , the ebst castle ever, even if the game is a piece of crap, is the ONe from HOD.

[Alutwon]

In Reply To #11

not too true

[gravekeeper]

I would actually say, imo, that Harmony of Dissonance has the darkest atmosphere among the handheld titles. As mentioned earlier, its music is much darker and gothic and the whole game just.. has that mysterious and wicked feel about it

Aria didn't feel too dark because of the somewhat cheezy dialogues, Circle had too up-beat songs, Dawn was just cheezy all together and Portrait was... yeah... Order of Ecclesia has a very nice atmosphere that reminds me a lot of Castlevania IV. I love the mysterious atmosphere in the village. Although, coming in to Dracula's castle was like entering a disco partey XD because of the up-beat, pop-ish soundtrack. Otherwise though I think it's a great soundtrack!

[A n t r a x x]

Dos and PoR were attempting to aim for younger audiences: that might be why.

[Alutwon]

Well Dawn actually had some really dark parts like the final boss for example, but yea the majority of portrait (there were some really awesome parts) didn't even really feel like Castlevania. Also I recently took a trek through lament again and it had a really good feel to it.