Topic: Gametrailers' Castlevania Retrospective

[uzo]

It is. Some people cling to the fond memory of it though. Can't fault them for nostalgia. It had the mood and feeling right, it just needed any shred of playability to back it up. Missed potential, nothing more.

[thernz]

I think its that potential that's really appealing.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

This is getting off-topic, but I thought the consensus was LoD was awful(ya know, because it was)?

You're thinking of Castlevania64.  Although I like that game a lot, I will concede that it is riddled with problems.  LoD is way more polished, though.

[SomaCruz90]

A polished turd perhaps.

Seriously though, you guys should go make a "LoD: Crap or underrated gem!?" thread and be done with it.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I think your opinion is a bit coarse on this subject.

Nah your idea has been thought of and done before, years back.  There's no need to make another, because it will, inevitably, degrade itself to a flamefest.  People's divisive opinions are unlikely to be changed, and open debate on this has been done to hell and back.

UZO and I just counterpoint each other as a running gag, by now, so just disregard us.

[RichterB]

Castlevania 64 and Legacy of Darkness are not perfect; however, on the whole, they are better (and have more replay value) than the action-hallway overloaded LoI and CoD on PS2 (overall, those have greater flaws than the N64 games). I find it sad that few media outlets seem to even remember the N64 outings (they almost always mention the PS2 games as the main 3D attempts). I rate the N64 era rather highly still--upper middle maybe. They got so much right in terms of atmosphere, characters, and game design (and the Beta versions show evidence of even more positives, such as swinging across gaps, that could have been given time and resources). Anyway, in the latter retrospective, SotN is just unbelievably overrated at this point. It's a good game, but it doesn't crush everything else in Castlevania. I think it's partially because of the time frame and console that it came out on that people have cherished it so much. I think Rondo of Blood has the same overhyped nature because of its one-time rarity. Anyway, both of these retrospectives have their nice points. Gametrailers' presentation is especially slick. I'm glad to see that it looks like Dracula XX (SNES) will not be overlooked in Part II of Gametrailers retrospective.

[thernz]

Well, it doesn't surprise me that SoTN is so overrated. It has all these unique quirks and touches that never reappeared and all those little secrets, from the bookcase to the weapon special moves to the shield rod moves. I guess you can say it has some really outstanding lasting value compared to every other game.

[Sumac]

As for me I don't cling to the nostalgia, when it goes to CV64 / LOD. I played both of them 7 years after they were released. And they even weren't my first 3D action / platformer games.
I am honestly think about them as a good games (but with some problems).
As a matter of fact for me those games were much more interesting than SOTN. They were hard, charming. And most importantly they gameplay was interesting from start to finish, unlike SOTN's. There are enough creativity and interesting tidbits, that made me forgot about some of the bad things, like sometimes clumsy controls and annoying (yet easily tamed) camera.

I think people tend to bash them for two reasons - there are 3D (so some hRadcore 2D fans are agitated because of this). And they were realesed two years after SOTN, so they were automaticaly compared to the one of the technicaly best titles in the series. Combinatrion of those things lead to the point where good things about those titles are forgotten and bad points exagerated to the point where some people think that there is nothing good about those games.
It's like those two games have bad reputation. But in reality this reputation is a combination of several factors, and doesn't have much to do with the real shortcomings of those games.

It could be compared to the CV2 reputation. Like after AVGN video some people began to bash this game even if they had never played it.

[uzo]

ITT the 5 people who actually liked the N64 games.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

There are more than five, stop trolling us.

[GuyStarwind]

Make that 6 people.

[LoneChild]

Seven, with me. Something about the atmosphere on those N64 games makes me replay them again and again, and thats funny, even more than other titles that are higher on the list for me, like the NES Castlevanias.

[X]

8 with me too, as I find myself playing the N64 titles from time to time. 

-X

[shelverton.]

if Legacy of Darkness or CV64 comes to 3DS in a remake (much like Ocarina of Time will), I'm gonna give it another chance. Though I'm not seeing that happening, like, ever.

Btw, according to the not-so-reliable VGChartz, it seems Castlevania 64 outsold the likes of OoE and DXC - combined! That's kinda impressive. The game must, in fact, be one of the better-selling Castlevanias ever.

[Abnormal Freak]

There are more than five, stop trolling us.

This.

Some people cling to the fond memory of it though. Can't fault them for nostalgia.

Nostalgia? Of an eleven-year-old game? lol, what? Maybe if I were like...5 when the game came out, one could call it nostalgia, but I was 13, and as far as video games are concerned, my tastes have remained just the same as they were then, because by that point I was already a seasoned gamer, well-established in what I like and what's out there.

Anyway, this is like the tenth thread where uzo trolls the N64 games and its fans. Man, is it old.