Castlevanias

With the release of the recent Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow: Feast Of Subtitles, I've been thinking more about the Castlevania series. It's another one of those that I've not really played much of (like Mega Man). The 'vanias I've played so far are Super Castlevania IV, which I regard as an absolute classic, and Portrait Of Ruin, which I now like quite a lot (I said in a thread recently that I wasn't fond but I've picked it back up since and it's exactly what I needed to play).

Where do you stand with Castlevanias? Are you a fan? Or the opposite?

I'm a fan of LoSMoF: its exploration, solid combat and general prettiness have sold it to me in spite of the dour atmosphere.

Now I suppose I should go back and try to ferret out some of the earlier games. Any available on VC, do you know?

Always meant to play em, but I've only played a bit of the original Lords of Shadows. I randomly stopped playing that one day and I don't know why, I was really enjoying it and the combat was great.

Honestly the closest I've been to one is the demo

ive only play bits of them, but what i have played SOTN is the best

Balladeer wrote:

I'm a fan of LoSMoF: its exploration, solid combat and general prettiness have sold it to me in spite of the dour atmosphere.

Now I suppose I should go back and try to ferret out some of the earlier games. Any available on VC, do you know?

I'm pretty sure all of them are available.

******

I've never really got into the series before despite liking the genre, all that will change when I pick up the 3ds game next month.

I've got a few on older consoles, and find I like those best. The NES original is one of the better games on the console, as is The New Generation on the Mega Drive. Rondo of Blood is great through Virtual Console, and...that's it. I've got the first one on the N64 and it is mince. I had one for a while on PS2, which again was mince.

I've been meaning to get others through Virtual Console for a long time. III and Super IV look pretty good.

It's one of my favourite series, I could talk about it for ages!

The original NES trilogy is a mixed bag. Castlevania is an absolute classic, and the difficulty isn't so intense at to dissuade you from wanting to play further. You feel yourself improving after every defeat because of how meticulous the level design is. I'd say it's a must play. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest is pretty dreadful. It's too convoluted, it loses the tightness that made the first so damn good, and it's overall a bit of a mess and a grindfest. I've never beaten it because of how much time the game expects you to put into tedious actions. I've never finished Castlevania III either, even though it's a return to form. It's just too damn hard. When you died in the first game, you felt it was your own fault. You picked yourself up, and progressed having learned from your mistakes. In III, it's often down to frustrating level design. The ability to play as different characters was a neat gimmick though I suppose, and at least it's a deviation from the awfulness present in II.

I've only played a few others in the series. Symphony of the Night is a total gem, and is also a must play in my eyes. If you like 2D Metroid games, you'll love this. I guess it's where the term Metroidvania stems from. It's atmospheric, has awesome music, and it's genuinely fun exploring Dracula's castle and finding hidden secrets to improve your character. I played a little bit of Aria of Sorrow, which from what I've heard is meant to be one of the best games in the series. Portrait of Ruin is my personal favourite Castlevania game because I feel it takes the Metroidvania style from SOTN and refines it to a real fun and well designed experience. I've heard people say it's meant to be an average Castlevania game, but that might be because reviewers are tired of the Metroidvania style and I came into after only having played SOTN.

I still need to play Super Castlevania IV and the Aria/Dawn of Sorrow games, as well as try out a 3D Castlevania, as awful as they're meant to be.

I've never given much time to Castlevania. Naturally, I own all the DS outings; but I've only played two of them, and for no more than an hour combined. Hmm.

Looking forward to trying the 3DS outing at some point, though. I haven't given these games much attention up to now because they're not the most handheld-friendly games as far as saving is concerned. Same problem with Metroid (which I'm much more familiar with). Though the DS/3DS' auto-pause feature alleviates this somewhat.