Topic: Buying a DS just to play Order Of Ecclesia?

[Pfil]

It's worth to buy anything in the world for anything Castlevania, let alone a console for any Castlevania game!
Order of Ecclesia is great, but yes, it is hard.
I recommend you play every portable Castlevania available for NDS; every one of the 6 games for GBA and NDS.
Also, get a PSP when you can, so you can play Dracula X Chronicles, Symphony of the Night and Rondo of Blood.
You won't regret it.

[Shiroi Koumori]

^ I agree with this.

It was hard finding CoTM and HoD several years after their release but it was worth it. hehehe.
My most protected handheld games are my CV ones.

[son_the_vampire]

Here's what ya gotta do:
Get your hands on Circle of the Moon. Beat that a few times, then  play Aria of Sorrow. Once you have that down you have advanced to Ds titles. Personally i would start with Dawn of Sorrow since Aria should still be pretty fresh. Then take up arms with Jonathan and Charlotte in PoR and finish up strong with OOE (easily the hardest of the DS titles). This all should be done with a Ds lite; a lot less bulk than 3DS unless u want to get MoF eventually. Hope this helps

[VladCT]

I wouldn't recommend playing CotM first to him, I'd say CotM's even harder than OoE.

[ventapael]

Thanks for bringing up Dracula X Chronicles, that one slipped by me.  It looks amazing!  I think I might need to get a hold of a PSP now as well.  I think I'm just going to pick up Portrait Of War since I can get it for free at Play N Trade right now if I get a DS Lite there.

[Pfil]

Portrait of War? 
Yes, Circle of the Moon is harder than Order of Ecclesia in my opinion.
Also, there is other game, Harmony of Dissonance, for GBA.

[ventapael]

ooops,  Portrait Of Ruin I mean.     .  My bad.

[PFG9000]

I'll second the guy who said you should get a DSlite.  If you like Symphony of the Night, there's a very good chance you'll like all three DS titles, and all three Gameboy Advance titles as well.  A DSlite can play all six, plus Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission if you're still itching for more of that style of game afterward. 

But I'd hate to see you get a DS that can't play GBA games, only to find yourself looking for a copy of Aria of Sorrow later on.  It is one of the most highly regarded Symphony of the Night clones, after all.

[Successor The Cruel]

If you like Symphony of the Night, chances are you're gonna like Order of Ecclesia too. It's a little bit harder, but you can always take your time to level up in any gven area until you feel comfortable to move on.

I think Order of Ecclesia is considerably more difficult and intelligent from a technical game design perspective than Symphony of the Night. One will never defeat the likes of Brachyura, Gravedorcus, Albus, Goliath, Blackmore, or any of the bosses without a sound strategy that involves more than just attacking the enemy. I don't even think you'll get through an area like that. You can go through the entirety of Symphony of the Night without much attention to battle strategy.

Seeing as how I believe Order of Ecclesia to be not only one of the best metroidvania titles, but one of the best Castlevania titles period, I certainly think it's worth it for someone who likes games like it to buy a DS to play that game in particular. However, for whatever it's worth, I recommend Aria of Sorrow above Order of Ecclesia. I think AoS is the most all around solid metroidvania game.

And yet, my personal favorite is Harmony of Dissonance, but that one... my appreciation for it is different than it is for the other two, and on a somewhat different level. I'm not sure if HoD would be as instantly captivating as the other games would be, but it is the most fascinatingly nuanced and enthralling, but due to things that are somewhat abstract. I'm not sure if features like that would connect with you.

[son_the_vampire]

u guys! CotM isnt harder than OOE. Harder to navigate yes. But if you are playing on Vampire Killer mode its pretty simple to kill most of the enemies when Nathan sometimes dishes out 1k damage from the very beginning! Poor old Shanoa on the other hand can only fight until her power depletes. Personally i prefer to play Metroivanias with no item use. Not one potion or food item or antidote. If im gonna die, imma die swinging. When it comes to that aspect of it, I have died way more playing OOE. The enemies seem smarter in that game (is that even possible?) Ive gotten Nathan to level 85 in VK mode running the arena for years, still losing at times. The hardest thing about CotM is Theif mode imo. I've gotten Shanoa to level 55 (nothing fancy) through regular playthrough. NEVER beat Albus mode 1 time yet but i do pop the game back in to try and finish it as its currently one of the only games i haven't finished. I will not take anything away from the difficulty of either title, but simply share my experience. But if i start using that heart fountain in town in OOE then it would probably get too easy for me and i would lose interest fast

[Pfil]

I think Order of Ecclesia is considerably more difficult and intelligent from a technical game design perspective than Symphony of the Night. One will never defeat the likes of Brachyura, Gravedorcus, Albus, Goliath, Blackmore, or any of the bosses without a sound strategy that involves more than just attacking the enemy. I don't even think you'll get through an area like that. You can go through the entirety of Symphony of the Night without much attention to battle strategy.

Seeing as how I believe Order of Ecclesia to be not only one of the best metroidvania titles, but one of the best Castlevania titles period, I certainly think it's worth it for someone who likes games like it to buy a DS to play that game in particular. However, for whatever it's worth, I recommend Aria of Sorrow above Order of Ecclesia. I think AoS is the most all around solid metroidvania game.

And yet, my personal favorite is Harmony of Dissonance, but that one... my appreciation for it is different than it is for the other two, and on a somewhat different level. I'm not sure if HoD would be as instantly captivating as the other games would be, but it is the most fascinatingly nuanced and enthralling, but due to things that are somewhat abstract. I'm not sure if features like that would connect with you.

I get exactly what you say about everything.
My favourite game ever is Portrait of Ruin, but if I had to be objective, I'd say Order of Eclessia is the best MetroidVania, I guess, and best Castlevania even, though I like PoR better.
Aria of Sorrow is perfect in my opinion. An argument can be made of it to be the best MetroidVania.
About difficulty I think OoE is the 2nd hardest MetroidVania title, because Circle of the Moon proved to be really, really hard to me. There's some areas I couldn't complete. And you can't level your way through the game in CotM.
And about Harmony of Dissonance, there's a strong sense of atmosphere and (precisely) fascination about that game that only few people seem to get, including the soundtrack. I hated it at first because it didn't sound like CV to my ears, but I tried to understand it for what it is, and in the end I really liked it.
Everything gets together perfectly in HoD for what it tries to be.

NEVER beat Albus mode

Neither did I. I could never beat the final boss.

[Ratty]

I get exactly what you say about everything.
My favourite game ever is Portrait of Ruin, but if I had to be objective, I'd say Order of Eclessia is the best MetroidVania, I guess, and best Castlevania even, though I like PoR better.
Aria of Sorrow is perfect in my opinion. An argument can be made of it to be the best MetroidVania.
About difficulty I think OoE is the 2nd hardest MetroidVania title, because Circle of the Moon proved to be really, really hard to me. There's some areas I couldn't complete. And you can't level your way through the game in CotM.
And about Harmony of Dissonance, there's a strong sense of atmosphere and (precisely) fascination about that game that only few people seem to get, including the soundtrack. I hated it at first because it didn't sound like CV to my ears, but I tried to understand it for what it is, and in the end I really liked it.
Everything gets together perfectly in HoD for what it tries to be.
Neither did I. I could never beat the final boss.

That Zombie Dragon boss in CotM kicked my butt so much. Such a great game. Almost all of the bosses in it were tough but still a lot of fun. And the castle itself is tougher than most Metroidvanias. Never did play any of the unlockable alternate modes, maybe I will sometime. AoS isn't as hard but it just nails the atmosphere, art and characters. As I've said before I didn't enjoy HoD and don't understand what others see in it, but I'm glad they enjoy it just the same.

u guys! CotM isnt harder than OOE. Harder to navigate yes. But if you are playing on Vampire Killer mode its pretty simple to kill most of the enemies when Nathan sometimes dishes out 1k damage from the very beginning! Poor old Shanoa on the other hand can only fight until her power depletes. Personally i prefer to play Metroivanias with no item use. Not one potion or food item or antidote. If im gonna die, imma die swinging. When it comes to that aspect of it, I have died way more playing OOE.

Yeah but that's more of a personal challenge you've set for yourself/that comes with alternate modes in replays and won't affect the difficulty for most new or casual players.

[Successor The Cruel]

About difficulty I think OoE is the 2nd hardest MetroidVania title, because Circle of the Moon proved to be really, really hard to me.

Hmm. I'm not sure if Circle of the Moon is more challenging to me, but I know it is not as satisfyingly challenging to me as Order of Ecclesia. I don't feel its challenge is as much a result of smart and clever design as OoE's is. That's not to say I think CotM is totally broken, but I think there are more loose ends with that one, like seriously low item drops. And when you do get item drops, most of the time they don't even help much. It's like, "Congratulations. Here's a potion. It's super rare and it will only restore 5 HP." I know that's an exaggeration, but I think you may get the point : p

EDIT:
And just to clarify something...

My favourite game ever is Portrait of Ruin, but if I had to be objective, I'd say Order of Eclessia is the best MetroidVania, I guess, and best Castlevania even, though I like PoR better.

... I don't personally think Aria of Sorrow and Order of Ecclesia are better than Harmony of Dissonance. I think they're better at certain things and may be easier to readily appreciate for most people, though.

[Ratty]

EDIT:
And just to clarify something...

... I don't personally think Aria of Sorrow and Order of Ecclesia are better than Harmony of Dissonance. I think they're better at certain things and may be easier to readily appreciate for most people, though.

I guess that's where we get to the "Opinions are like assholes" ("Everybody has one and they all stink.") part of the discussion. Just because I don't like HoD doesn't mean I don't understand it. Though for full disclosure I did find the twin castle system and castle layout needlessly convoluted. I haven't played OoE yet but I think the story, gameplay, art, music and level design on AoS and CotM are far better than those in HoD. I know what it's like to be a big fan of a game in the series that gets ragged on though, in my case it's "Legacy of Darkness" which I think gets put down a lot by people who've never played it, and I respect your opinion. As the old Latin axiom went De gustibus non est disputandum. "There is no disputing about tastes."

[Pfil]

"Congratulations. Here's a potion. It's super rare and it will only restore 5 HP."

That's exactly the kind of thing that made CotM so hard for me. I had to play for hours to get all the drops, and I just could get most of them, but not everything, not to mention I was never able to complete the map because there were some areas I could never beat, and leveling up is not an option in CotM. It's the only Castlevania title I wasn't able to get EVERYTHING, with the exception of Albus mode final boss in OoE and The Forgotten One in LoI.