Gaming Best Castlevania on the DS?

[GeekyGuy]

...If [you're] not up to the challenge, you're not worthy [of] playing this on-going-classic game franchise.

I enjoy the challenge of Ecclesia. I enjoyed the challenge of Contra 4. I enjoyed the challenge of Ninja Gaiden Black, and I generally enjoy challenging games. But the above statement...well....

Bah, forget it. There's no polite way to word it.

 

[deatharch]

Dawn of Sorrow is the best. I'm a little bit disappointed with OoE because of the lack of Glyph choices.

What souls could you really use in DoS? I just used weapons and rarely used any soul. SOuls are pretty much useless when you have weapons. OoE forces you to use enemy weaknesses.
DoS doesn't have a very enjoyable story. Oh crap I have to save the princess and resist becoming Dracula...again.

 

[InuYasha]

There all about even in my book.......

 

[Beware]

The best thing about Castlevania is that it's one of the only classic franchises that have only continued to get better. I suggest playing through all three DS ones and the GBA ones. Just be prepared: The GBA and DS ones are very different from the original ones. Lots of RPG elements and such. Still a wonderful play though.

 

[dreary79]

Dawn of Sorrow: IMO, the best in terms of gameplay. The Soul System is awesome, giving a ton to collect and in terms of customisation. It is rather short, and feels kinda dated when compared to the other two, but still, the best in the lot, IMO. And the extra modes are the best. Come on, a mini-SotN is made of pure win

Portrait of Ruin: If I had to choose between PoR and DoS, DoS would win by the SLIMMEST margin. I love PoR. It has the best features (amount of items, dual-character system, magic and weapons, etc.), but it suffers from a repetitive map configuration. The use of the same map layout for the second part of the game is the main flaw of this game. The extra modes are "meh", at best, to be honest.

Order of Ecclesia: I don't understand why everyone loves this game so much. I couldn't advance in the story a lot, just because I couldn't bare the terrible gameplay. Yes, I think it's terrible. They Glyph System is awful -- it has you CONSTANTLY switching sets to do SOME damage on the enemies. The game is hard all by itself, we don't need an added nuisance like that one, thank you. Besides, is there any logic behind the Glyph System? Are you using the same "mystic force" that powers the Glyphs to swing a sword and to cast an elemental spell? Wow. Like Rayder said, I find the game to be too hard and frustrating to be of any fun.

I pretty much agree with your whole post.

-DoS is amazing. For those that haven't played it make sure you get the best ending. The game is really short if you get the worst. Also be sure and play the game through the second time to get your SotN fix.
-PoR is also a great game. The thing that disappointed me was how they introduced a cool idea playing the game with two characters, but didn't use it to the extent that they could have.
-OoE is crap. The game is disjointed and doesn't belong in the metroidvania category. How could they make Dracula's castle a tiny little joke along with of a bunch of crappy little mario bros levels?

 

[pikirika]

1. Ecclesia
2. Portrait of ruin
3. Dawn of sorrow

 

[T-hug]

I'd have to go Dawn of Sorrow > Order of Ecclesia > Portrait of Ruin.

I was slightly dissapointed with OoE, mainly because of the exploration factor. I'd like to see another Vania using OoE sprites etc. but in one big ass castle, like SotN, CotM, HoD, AoS & DoS.
Some of the new features are good but level design is boring and slightly lazy (not design/texture, but layout) imo.

 

[Priss]

I recommend playing them in order...

I have not played OOE yet since I'm at the end of PoR.

DoS so far was the best. I have spent just over 20hr of game play on it.
-The soul system is great way to enhance your playing experience while you
don't need to bother with it if your not interested as some people say "the drop rate
kills you" but then again they I doubt they had the Luck gear I had to make it much
better of a farming experience.
-The weapon system is also better in DoS vs PoR.
-The only down side to the DS Castlevania is that you get everything near the end
and don't make much use of it. Unlike the Megamen series

-Symphony of the Night is still the best Castlevania to date. (PS1)

PoR... well as I said... I'm at the end just a little under 7hr of game play.
This one rather disappointed me. I hope OOE is better.

So... DoW hands down vs PoR.. I would actually recommend to skip over PoR
I especially hate the dialogue between the 2 main chars...

 

[Canonbeat234]

Castlevania OoE is hard and you WILL die a lot.

However, that game kicks so much ass!

I couldn't enjoy PoR because it froze at a particular of the game, I couldn't talk to Wind so I had to use cheats to advance further.

Castlevania DoS was all right, I actually like how you use the soul synthesis in order to upgrade your weapons. Besides that, that's really it.

 

[Shabadage]

-The soul system is great way to enhance your playing experience while you
don't need to bother with it if your not interested as some people say "the drop rate
kills you" but then again they I doubt they had the Luck gear I had to make it much
better of a farming experience.

Castlevania isn't Harvest Moon. Farming should have nothing to do with vampires unless you're growing garlic.

 

[gk.7]

In fact all three castlevanias are great games. Each one has it´s own (dis)advantages. I completed all three games and couldnt say which one i liked the most...

+1

 

[Forte Dante]

Order of Ecclesia > Dawn of Sorrow > Portrait of Ruin

Ecclesia brought a little challenge to the Metroidvanias. Hard enough already? Pfft, all the Metroidvanias have been easy as cake EXCEPT for Circle of the Moon and Order of Ecclesia. Switching weapons adds slightly more strategy and makes every weapon useful unlike in the others where you would only use the best one you had until you got a better one, despite the fact that there was more. The splitting up of levels allows more variety, and the levels weren't all THAT more linear than the hueg Castles, it just appears so because of their lack of connectedness. On the other hand, all the reuse of levels really annoyed the hell outta me, but Iga's been doing that for a while now.

 

[Shabadage]

IMHO, order of ecclessia is the best castlevania game ever made after symphony of the night.

Even an executive director of 1UP considers it to be a cross between symphony of the night and castlevania 2: simons quest.

And, to repeat what a member already said...

SHANOA IS HOT!

Shane says a LOT of dumb things. I personally don't see the SQ in it at all. I'll explain that in a moment.

I liked PoR better than DoS. The two character thing just wasn't used in enough interesting ways (Not a huge flaw). OoE is quite fun, though I can't help but feel that the game should have been split into 3 or 4 major locations instead of the 15 or so smaller ones. People have been throwing around the Simon's Quest references, but I really fail to see that in the game (except in the "OMG You're not in the CASTLE" way). You don't "discover" new locations in OoE, you come to the end of a level and that's it. That doesn't feel like SQ to me at all.

Maybe with the next CV DS (You know it's gonna happen considering Nintendo just lengthened the lifespan of the DS for at least another 2 years). It'd be nice to have multiple towns and the like (AND SONIA DAMMIT!)

 

[Ishidori]

Order of Ecclesia > Portrait of Ruin > Dawn of Sorrow.

I loved Aria of Sorrow i can play it over and over, the plot, souls system and of course Kojima desing (not very manly at all, but well...). In DoS both characters design and plot seem more suitable for some wannabe anime "if you touch my girl , i'll take you out"

in boss battles (except a few one) only stand in front of the enemy and attack and attack, just kill him before you die. Besides is a very enjoyable game

I like PoR for that belmont feeling (Ricther, the vampire killer). Far, no the best Castlevania but have some challenge, specially Wind's mission.

Order of Ecclesia is just great (for me the best metroidvania ever) refreshing. Glyph system put on the game a tactical component, at first is a little bit restrained but as you advance in the game glyph become more diverse. Maybe the plot is a little bit out of the original line, but who care. Have a good perfomance.Great music and artwork.

Anyway why just one? Play all of them.

P.S: My apologizes for my english.

 

[Waddle Dee]

Personally, I think if you are using a flash cart ROM version, DOS is the best.

If you own the actual game, get PoR.


Even with anti-freeze patch, PoR still freezes in ROM form.

I don't like Ecclsia as much as the other two, because it's bosses are INSANELY tough (worse than the original Ninja Gaiden) and the one frickin' huge castle was gone. I like DOS because it has that castle, but POR has everyting going for it except the painting thing, which never felt classic enough.

Please excuse the typos, my keyboard is all screwed up.

 

[VmprHntrD]

Portrait I wouldn't wish on anyone, it was just bad, and the canned forced 'team' challenges in various places were just awful and forced...avoid it.

The other two are outstanding and I'd say they're equals except in one real respect...how hard do you like your games? If you don't like getting pounded on badly by not just bosses but everything, stick with Dawn as it's good but notably easier, but if you like something very tricky go with Order as it's equally fantastic as it is challenging.

 

[Ishidori]

Hmm i see tough game = no good.
So, Laura for GBC is the best game in the world

Put the flowers in the bunch with the same color. How fun!

Ecclesia is Hard, but not to drive you into fustration. Just learn every boss patern and... Voilá. No one ever played Castlevania (NES) or Dracula's Curse (NES)

 

[Shabadage]

Hmm i see tough game = no good.
So, Laura for GBC is the best game in the world

Put the flowers in the bunch with the same color. How fun!

Ecclesia is Hard, but not to drive you into fustration. Just learn every boss patern and... Voilá. No one ever played Castlevania (NES) or Dracula's Curse (NES)

What are you on about? I owned and played both of those games! Could never figure out Simon's Quest though, well until I got older anyway.

 

[VmprHntrD]

Ah the rogue Castlevania. I always loved that game. Yes it had some really dumb cryptic crap in a few places that basically required the 'classified information' section of Nintendo Power ultimately or a friend, but overall it was special and opened the door to the hybridization of that and Metroid into the current 2D Castlevania breed.

 

[Shabadage]

Ah the rogue Castlevania. I always loved that game. Yes it had some really dumb cryptic crap in a few places that basically required the 'classified information' section of Nintendo Power ultimately or a friend, but overall it was special and opened the door to the hybridization of that and Metroid into the current 2D Castlevania breed.

Agreed. Having to crouch down at the lake took me forever to figure out because the NPC's were so unhelpful.