Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

[LoneSage]

As I reported back in January, we can indeed see this game is not a hoax. Finally, new screens emerge...

As much as I dislike Metroidvanias past Harmony, I'll be the first to admit it look gorgeous -- the colors are really rich, eh?

here's to hoping Iga and crew got their shit together now and actually put some effort into the game beyond the boss sprites.

Also, nice homage:

 

[Jedah Doma]

Nice, it's about time. I could care less about the whole Metroidvania thing. Compare these games to the last 3D incarnation and there's no comparison.

 

[dark penguin]

I was one of the ones who thought this would turn out to be a real game. And, my suspicions are confirmed..looks very nice.
I'll definitely buy it. The metroidvanias are, on the whole, pretty good. I'll admit...Portrait of Ruin felt kind of forced, and after finishing it I had no desire to replay it, but Dawn of Sorrow was excellent. Same with the GBA games.

Castlevania and handhelds seem to be a good combination.

BTW...is that the Final Sword from Aria of Sorrow making a reappearance(with a slight makeover)? I loved the Aria version of that weapon.

 

[LoneSage]

Portrait of Ruin felt kind of forced, and after finishing it I had no desire to replay it, but Dawn of Sorrow was excellent. Same with the GBA games.

To me, Dawn was when it became apparent the formula got stale. The backgrounds/level design were a huge problem, quite possibly the worst in the series. Aside from the boss sprites, Dawn felt slapped together and developed for just a quick buck -- I didn't feel any heart go into it.

But even I can admit this game looks beautiful. I'm just hoping they put that polish to good use and give us something new, otherwise I'm still on my personal (and futile) boycott of not purchasing any Metroidvanias...

 

[ray_7]

Wow might have to pick up a DS again...

 

[Ajax]

Man... I don't know... I bought all of the new style Castlevanias (I hate the term Metroidvania ) the day they came out.

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm sick of them. It's all been done, I'm afraid. I don't really see what this one can do that the others already haven't.

Looks nice though.

 

[Tango]

I might have terribly low standards in games..... or it might just be nice to see a system supporting new 2D games.... but I have really enjoyed all the castelvanias (some more then others, some were harder to stomach in places then others) and I am real excited about this one.

Formulaic? Of course. But at least its a good formula. Good music, awesome 2D sprites and tons of weapon/soul collection makes for a good long game if you have the patience to get everything. There are alot of really small things in these games that I love and have to commend Konami for putting in there. Small things that take so much extra time in a production pipeline and are really unnecessary in terms of the finished game but they add alot of appeal to it in my opinion.

My biggest gripe about the series is not even the sometimes awful 3D BGs in some of the later incarnations but the really badly drawn anime style character/cut scenes. I love some anime so its not the style in general, more just the style of the particular artist who is doing this stuff is garbage.

 

[LoneSage]

My biggest gripe about the series is not even the sometimes awful 3D BGs in some of the later incarnations but the really badly drawn anime style character/cut scenes. I love some anime so its not the style in general, more just the style of the particular artist who is doing this stuff is garbage.

That never bothered me as much as other people because the in-game graphical style has stayed consistent since SotN. The only time we see them is during dialogue anyways, and hey, who cares right, the gameplay itself is still pretty much the same.

 

[dark penguin]

To me, Dawn was when it became apparent the formula got stale. The backgrounds/level design were a huge problem, quite possibly the worst in the series. Aside from the boss sprites, Dawn felt slapped together and developed for just a quick buck -- I didn't feel any heart go into it.

But even I can admit this game looks beautiful. I'm just hoping they put that polish to good use and give us something new, otherwise I'm still on my personal (and futile) boycott of not purchasing any Metroidvanias...

I can respect that assessment of Dawn of Sorrow. I personally liked it, but I agree, the formula had become pretty "cookie cutter" by that point. Whatever the case, I'd going to buy the new...the CV games tend to have a limited print run because they sell pretty poorly by EBGames type standards. I don't really care about the rarity aspect vs the value of the game, but I know I'm going to want it at some point and if I don't buy it at launch I'll have a hard time finding it for non-inflated prices later.

 

[Tehcno]

Hell yeah I've been itching for a new Castlevania game for a while now.

 

[Pocketgamer]

Sweet!

 

[Diavle18]

Sick and tired of metroidvanias.

The Rondo remake on the psp was awesome, would love some more of that.

 

[Pocketgamer]

Sick and tired of metroidvanias.

The Rondo remake on the psp was awesome, would love some more of that.

classic is always good, how about instead an option to finish castlevania ala tales of destiny style with two or more characters passing the levels more of a multi player side scrolling action, would like to see that.

 

[Tango]

The Rondo remake on the psp was awesome, would love some more of that.

one of the many reason I need to buy myself a PSP. So far out of the loop though, dont even know where to begin with that

 

[Dr Shroom]

I'm curious about the time period.
And I will buy it. DoS was absolute greatness, PoR felt kinda rushed.
I hope they'll keep the multi-character system out this time.

 

[LoneSage]

Anyone know if Iga ever gave a response over sales of Drac X Chronicles? I dunno, something like 'The people have spoken, clearly we must go back to the old style of Castlevania to move forward!'?

Also, supposedly the story in this game is that the Belmont clan has been missing, and so a woman (the main character, Shanoa) from the order of Ecclesia must go and take on Drac.

 

[Force]

I can't wait. However, the screen shots make it look like a metroidvania, but magic box mentions the game will have "20 stages". So is the game going to return to level based play?

Matt

 

[Electric Cake]

an new old style castlevania would be cool.
a new part of rondo of blood or something.

 

[Deuce]

I can't wait. However, the screen shots make it look like a metroidvania, but magic box mentions the game will have "20 stages". So is the game going to return to level based play?

When it comes to Magic Box, if something might be a translation issue, it most likely is. Most likely, it refers to the number of areas.

For my part, I'll pick it up... apart from the sheer blandness that was Harmony of Dissonance, the Metrovania games have been a welcome shift from the overall tedium of the old-style CV games. Loved me some Rondo, but that was about it.

 

[scgon]

will pick this up for sure, I've really liked all the recent Castlevania's, I probably go too easy on them cause I want to blindly support 2D on the DS, but still, very fun games!

 

[drombat]

I like Shanoa's attitude.

 

[pixeljunkie]

looks great. can't wait. These never get old. I'm sick of the "metroidvania" bitching. Talk about "been done"...the old school way of level structure is not as good as you might remember. Go back and play some old ones for awhile. These kick ass.

I even like the PS2 games.

 

[LoneSage]

It's the cover story of the new Nintendo Power

Source | Go Nintendo




Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia details (Nintendo Power claims more details that they cannot discuss yet)
- takes place in mid 1800s
- “No real weapons in this game” all fighting is through Glyphs (as discussed earlier)
- Glyphs dropped by enemies, found in specific locations as well
- MP refills quickly when not attacking
- combos possible
- Glyph Union special attacks
- Character: Barlowe - teaches you tips, helps you early on in the game
- Character: Albus - controls Dominus (Glyph most suited to destroy Dracula)
- Character: Shanoa (main character) - loses her memory and power at game’s start, sets out to find Dominus
- More than 20 locations
- Save statues, teleportation rooms
- receive side-quests from saved villagers
- Michiru Yamane - sound design
- No returning characters except for Dracula
- Gameplay elements from previous games: Leveling-up, dodging (L/R buttons), select button to switch between map and stats, hard difficulty setting, multiple endings, Wi-Fi support
- Wi-Fi: New item interface: own a shop, vs. competition - considers items used and damaged received to determine winner
- More features that Nintendo Power cannot talk about

 

[Verythrax]

- No returning characters except for Dracula
- Wi-Fi: New item interface: own a shop, vs. competition - considers items used and damaged received to determine winner

Good thing that at least something is fresh new.

Too bad there's no real co-op main game... yet. Let's hope it's one of the features that them "can't talk about".

 

[Soniku]

The new art style is great and everything, but when are we going to get decently-sized character sprites? These tiny-ass sprites are starting to get on my nerves a bit...

Granted, I'll still end up buying this one because I'm a consumer whore...

I just restarted PoR yesterday (I never beat it), and it's pretty fun, despite the annoyingly small sprites, so I guess I'll be able to look past them, even if they piss me off...