Topic: Order of Ecclesia

[beingthehero]

I've been replaying this game for the past day. What does everybody think of it now?

I'd say this game has the most refined combat of the latter-day 2D Castlevania games. Every encounter feels 'important', not something you can just blindly hack your way through. The game has some of the best looking and detailed enemies. I remember one Igarashi interview where he said the team had some programming tool to give enemies and backgrounds much more detail, and it shows.

I found it interesting how more somber the music is compared to PoR's more upbeat, arcade-y style. OoE definitely has the best boss themes among the series, and one of the best Dracula fights. I know CotM's producer was on OoE's team, which makes me wonder how much input he had in regards to some of the levels and boss fights. I know the "training area" seemed like something from CotM, and it was refreshingly difficult. Too bad it was just a bonus area rather than incorporated as part of the game.

Also, Masaki should have been the series' main artist after this title. I liked some of LoS' artwork, but I think OoE had the best of the two.

Ecclesia's hard mode is excellent as well, in how the levels have new enemies and traps rather than just have the enemies give stupid amounts of damage.

The only thing I don't like is the flatness of some of the outdoor areas, like the forest. They make more 'sense' in hard mode, where you have to use precise jumping to get through the streams of winged skeletons amongst other obstacles, but in normal mode they're just too flat.

[thernz]

Ko-G worked on the menu and some background work iirc. I think it kinda shows, especially in the Clock Tower parts. I'm not sure what role is assigned level design though.

I liked the enemy placement too, but the level design just relies too much on it at times, like on Ruvas Forest like you said. There weren't really many layouts that grabbed me by the balls. Order of Ecclesia just seems to dance along extremes in regards to layouts. I like that it knew it had an action emphasis and didn't try to detract with that, becoming muddled like Portrait of Ruin. It could have been pushed that even more though, especially since the outside levels were all detached from one another.

[uzo]

I would have loved to take on OoE with a whip character, even as an extra. That and the sometimes flat areas, really are my only gripe.

It's definitely one of the best, and I place it as a second to SotN.

[crisis]

OoE had some of the best bosses of the DS trilogy. I wish the smaller areas incorporated "instant death" hazards, such as spikes & bottomless pits (but the noobs woulda complained even more). A whip glyph would've definately been cool. I love how we still don't know what exact year the game takes place in. The art style is perfect & the general tone is superb. I wonder why there wasn't any Morris character though??

I also love the entrance to Dracula's Castle; first time I seen the organic-like design I was like "here we go, this is what i've been waiting for!"



I have the Konamistyle limited edition, the preview posters, phonecards, etc. I have this game & all its assets on lock. I like digging between my couch coushins to find a Shanoa phonecard that I've misplaced. I wonder why Konami didn't deem it successful enough to give IGA the greenlight to start another trilogy for the 3DS.

[Charlotte-nyo:3]

I wonder why Konami didn't deem it successful enough to give IGA the greenlight to start another trilogy for the 3DS.

It isn't really set in stone that there won't be one, though, is it?

[Opium]

I didn't play OoE until this year, but I've played through it 4 times on different modes.
I thought OoE was a great game, with probably the best story idea in the series.  The story alone would make a great movie, and when I say 'alone' I mean without tying it to CV. I'm not someone who really cares about story, but I know a good one when I see it.
As far as gameplay goes, many of the areas were either too small or lazy in design, or both.  The glyph system was great, but it all got dumped on the player in random chunks, so it was easy to feel overwhelmed by it at times.  It would have been better if they had been more strategic about when you got certain glyphs, the easiest way being requiring the player to acquire and use a glyph in order to advance through the next part of the game. They only did that with those silly cerberus glyphs.  Instead, experimenting with the glyphs is basically optional, and learning about their elemental properties and attributes is never required, and use of glyph unions is only required once IIRC.  The use of the magnetized blades with magnes was awesome, but again not required so the player could play the game over and over without even knowing about it.
Those little gripes aside, I think it's probably my fav CV game for the DS.

[GuyStarwind]

Call me weird I guess but I didn't really like OoE. Don't get me wrong I played it and beat it but I just thought it would be more. I thought it would be more like Simon's Quest. For instance instead of one town it would have a few towns or, instead of just being able to touch an area on the bottom screen you would have to travel there. So, I guess a lot of backtracking. I also felt it was too much like the Sorrow games but with a girl. I enjoyed Albus mode more than the main mode. The bosses were fun and the difficulty was just right though. I wish that one of the Glyphs was a whip though.

It was alright but I thought it could be better.

[crisis]

Does anyone have any OoE phonecards they wanna sell me?

[darkwzrd4]

Yes.  There really should have been a whip glyph.  Actually, there should have been three (a leather whip, a chain whip, and a longer chain whip) just like the classic games that had three forms of the whip.  I wonder what attribute such glyphs would fall under.

[Opium]

I'm glad there wasn't a whip glyph.  I really think they were trying to use some fresh ideas, and a whip is about as stale as you can get.  If there had been a whip glyph, then there would have been a ton of people who just used nothing but that as soon they got it, ignoring everything else.  Kind of like how some people just use jonathan and ignore charlotte.  I think they are just trying to keep the series evolving because the moment a title is released that feels too stale, people begin declaring the franchise dead.  That may not be true with the more devoted fans, but I think it is painfully true for the larger portion of gamers.

[CastleToastM]

I think OoE is a wonderful change of pace.

The glyph unions almost seem too powerful. Even in lvl 1 hard mode, I can defeat bosses within moments with the right setup.

That laser glyph + a blade glyph makes a massive holy sword thing that can take down Dracula without any difficulty.

If you boost your element attributes enough, you can deal even more ridiculous amount of damage. It's insane.

[GuyStarwind]

I'm glad there wasn't a whip glyph.  I really think they were trying to use some fresh ideas, and a whip is about as stale as you can get.  If there had been a whip glyph, then there would have been a ton of people who just used nothing but that as soon they got it, ignoring everything else.  Kind of like how some people just use jonathan and ignore charlotte.  I think they are just trying to keep the series evolving because the moment a title is released that feels too stale, people begin declaring the franchise dead.  That may not be true with the more devoted fans, but I think it is painfully true for the larger portion of gamers.

Whips never get old. However, you're right. If they made a whip glyph I would only use that one. You're also right I only used Jonathan with the Vampire Killer. I also use Belmonts in HoDe and Judgment most of the time.

So, I see your point but I just like using whips.

[CastleToastM]

Whips never get old. However, you're right. If they made a whip glyph I would only use that one. You're also right I only used Jonathan with the Vampire Killer. I also use Belmonts in HoDe and Judgment most of the time.

So, I see your point but I just like using whips.

What if was severely underpowered like the whip sword in AoS?

[X]

Yes.  There really should have been a whip glyph.  Actually, there should have been three (a leather whip, a chain whip, and a longer chain whip) just like the classic games that had three forms of the whip.  I wonder what attribute such glyphs would fall under.

I'd totally hit that! I really wish they implemented a whip glyph, after all they're using every other weapon type so when not?

If there had been a whip glyph, then there would have been a ton of people who just used nothing but that as soon they got it, ignoring everything else.

Damn straight!

[KaZudra]

Love the game, but 1 fatal flaw, Bosses aren't legitimately hard.
Just because their health and damage are jacked up doesn't make it hard, it just preys on your boredom to spend almost 10 mins on a stupid crab boss, this is common with all the bosses.

Bosses should have been a real challenge instead of 10-20 mins of pattern dodging occasionally doing damage.

The only boss that made me think was the wall traveler, that was cool.

then again, this game would be better off without the level-up system and only rely on weapon upgrades and such.