Castlevania

Originally Posted by Andross

Symphony of the Night, now.

I would, but I don't have a PS1.

Originally Posted by Florina Belmont

SotN is one of my favorite games in the universe so yeah, i would recommend that one to a first timer. But really if you wanna get to the very core of the series, go with Super Castlevania 4.

Hm. Super Castlevania 4 it is.

Originally Posted by Jeff

If you're talking bottom of the list for the Metroidvanias, then that means it's a list of 7 games.

And when all 7 games are pretty damn good (yes, Portrait of Ruin as well), that's not exactly a bad thing. I would argue that Harmony is a tad bit better than Circle of the Moon, actually.

What games would you count as Metroidvanias? The handheld ones?

Originally Posted by Wolfen

I would, but I don't have a PS1.
Hm. Super Castlevania 4 it is.

What games would you count as Metroidvanias? The handheld ones?

Do you have a PS2? You can play PS1 games just fine on those as long as you have a PS1 memory card, and you can find them on Amazon for cheap. PSN also has SotN available for downloading, so if you a PS3 that's also available. And finally there was a PSP remake of Rondo of Blood that has an unlockable SotN.

The Metroidvanias are:
SotN
Circle of the Moon
Harmony of Dissonance
Aria of Sorrow
Dawn of Sorrow
Portrait of Ruin
Order of Ecclesia

OoE is my favorite one listed, with SotN close behind.

Originally Posted by Dread

I smell a fanboy.

I like both kinds of Castlevanias, mainly because I love 2d action platformers and Metroidvania-style games.

Not really, I like OoE and kind of like SotN but that is about it. Fighting dozens of enemies in flat, narrow corridors and grinding for souls and other bull**** isn't my idea of fun.

edeet, great minds think alike i guess

What really makes me mad is all the hate I see whenever most people address Lords of Shadow. They all call it a God of War ripoff. And you know what? **** that! If it was meant to be like God of War, it's doing a damn good job at trying to do so. All those *****es that can't have something good without trying to give it cons can just suck it.

BTW, after reading a lot of the posts here, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only Castlevania fan, as I thought I was the only fan here.

EDIT: BAM! Shanoa from OoE avatar is up and running! Her look in Judgment was just plain horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE. Everything about that game, besides the art, was HORRIBLE.

Originally Posted by Blaine

EDIT: BAM! Shanoa from OoE avatar is up and running! Her look in Judgment was just plain horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE. Everything about that game, besides the art, was HORRIBLE.

I agree for the most part (Death Note's art style feels out of place within a Castlevania game, and most of the designs were too different from what the characters were established as), but the music was awesome. I like to pretend that Judgment was just an awesome soundtrack and not a game sometimes, as the remixes were really good but the game was disappointing.

Judgment's art design wasnt right. I just, no...it doesnt work. Plus the game played like hell. Alucard's design was meh but that didnt bother me half as much as his voice! OMG. ARGH! I dont like the idea of my favorite character sounding like a pansy!

Im probably the only one in the history of history that didnt like Shanoa much in either game. :/

Originally Posted by Florina Belmont

Judgment's art design wasnt right. I just, no...it doesnt work. Plus the game played like hell. Alucard's design was meh but that didnt bother me half as much as his voice! OMG. ARGH! I dont like the idea of my favorite character sounding like a pansy!

Im probably the only one in the history of history that didnt like Shanoa much in either game. :/

But Shanoa is awesome. Albus is also awesome, but I have a tendency to like characters with revolvers as their main weapons.

Back on Judgment, I actually like the idea of a Castlevania fighting game, but they really screwed the game up. Sigh, maybe we'll get a Konami vs. Capcom game someday and there will be lots of Castlevania characters in it. Until then, I'll listen to the Judgment remixes (seriously, check them out if you haven't already).

I like Order of Ecclesia's opening. It has a lot of action, but it's not some cheesy anime/cgi opening. It's portraits of the characters and background moving around, but still staying flat. It goes along well with the idea of vampires being dead but still moving. Really cool and unique.

Wow, a lot of PoR hate...
It was a good game, but admittedly I was kinda tired of it by the end.

Also, I'm so happy about OoE's art style. I thought the older art style generally looked ugly (yeah, crucify me if you must), and the anime style was just plain gah, so OoE's seems to be a nice compromise. It has a gothic vibe without making the characters atrocious.

(But I swear, I almost blew a gasket when I saw Charlotte in PoR do a cliche anime angry face.)

But Shanoa is awesome. Albus is also awesome, but I have a tendency to like characters with revolvers as their main weapons.

She came off as a Mary Sue. Plus the fact they made it so she "lost" her emotions makes it even worse. Shes not interesting. Albus is alright. I got no beef with him, really.

PoR isnt that great but i actually enjoyed it more than Dawn of Sorrow. I mean...that game just... Eh...

Personally, I never found Castlevania stories to be exactly interesting, and tend to not give a **** about the characters in it.

Originally Posted by Wolfen

I would, but I don't have a PS1.

You got a PSP? You can download it for that for 10 bucks.

Originally Posted by Hazzle

Fighting dozens of enemies in flat, narrow corridors and grinding for souls and other bull**** isn't my idea of fun.

And that's basically what you do in the action titles throughout the game, except you don't level up or manage any sort of RPG elements.

Tonch: Or I could download it for free through questionable means, but I have already downloaded about 2 and a half GB of stuff in the last two weeks. Gotta save my bandwidth.

I played Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow, and I loved them both.

I also played the first half of Harmony of Dissonance , but I lost the game.

My Castlevania list (ones marked as "own" are all my brother's-- he has all the Castlevania games, I just play them):

--Castlevania (used to own as a kid on NES)
--Circle of the Moon (own)
--Aria of Sorrow (own)
--Dawn of Sorrow (own)
--Portrait of Ruin (own)
--Castlevania: The Adventure (own)

I feel like I'm forgetting something, though.

Originally Posted by Big One

And that's basically what you do in the action titles throughout the game, except you don't level up or manage any sort of RPG elements.

The jumping also sucks, rendering any platforming awful.

What games should I play first? Is there any order that is recommended, keeping both timeline and difficulty level in mind?

Well, for one, you should keep the "classic" Castlevanias and the "Metroidvania" Castlevanias separate. Give them both their rightful chances.

For the "classic" games, start with Super Castlevania IV for the SNES. It re-tells the story of the original Castlevania and does so with improved controls and a more manageable difficulty level for newcomers.

If you're more open-minded about the level of challenge and are interested in the series' evolution, you could play the original NES Castlevania, and even if you can't beat it, you can then move on to Castlevania III, which follows a similar level-based formula but is a longer, more balanced, and better game overall. I'm not sure where to fit CVII, since it's very controversial, but I can say that if you like CVIII you should then find a way to play Rondo of Blood.

For the "Metroidvania" games, you could really start with any of them. I'd recommend Symphony of the Night (PS1) or Aria of Sorrow (GBA). They give you the best gist of exploration-based action/platforming when it comes to Drac's castle, and provide the basic model of what you'd expect, gameplay-wise, from all the other Metroidvanias.

Originally Posted by Tonchiki

I thought the older Castlevania art style generally looked ugly (yeah, crucify me if you must)

Will do.

(But I swear, I almost blew a gasket when I saw Charlotte in PoR do a cliche anime angry face.)

You and me both.

Kojima is going to work on the new Castlevania and since he's a Twlight fan, Castlevania is gonna be like ****in Twilight, oh noes!

Originally Posted by Snow_Storm

Kojima is going to work on the new Castlevania and since he's a Twlight fan, Castlevania is gonna be like ****in Twilight, oh noes!

oh noez they gonna make count dracula teh sparkly