Review: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

You don't need to be a vaguely androgynous, whip-wielding dandy to kick vampire butt.

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Go figure, the one time I couldn't afford the new Castlevania for Halloween is the one time it would have been worth it :(

I'm only a few hours in but it's pretty great so far, easily better than Portrait of Ruin. However, I don't think the review stressed enough the huge difficulty spike between this and the other DS Castelvanias. It's pretty brutal (feels cheap sometimes).I don't really mind because If you're ever in a tight spot, there's an inexpensive item to take you to the "village hub" where you can heal and save. That way you can keep your experience and any glyphs you've found and then try tackling that tough spot again.

I don't know if there was anything like this in the other Castlevanias (I never really needed anything like that before) but if it wasn't for this I would be endlessly frustrated because I would be dying a lot. I mean, like, a WHOLE lot.

This is very good news, while I liked Curse of Darkness and Portrait of Ruin, this sounds even better.

I'm really liking this game so far (and probably continuing on), but using your enemies powers was done already. Both Aria and Dawn of Sorrow. Anyone remember these? You played Soma Cruz, the reincarnation of Dracula, and absorbed enemy souls to use in combat. Personally, even though this game is rocking, the fact that I was playing as DRACULA pushes Dawn of Sorrow slightly higher for me. Though this is now third on my list of Castlevania games (Symphony, Dawn of Sorrow, Eclessia), bumping Aria fo Sorrow to fourth.

I thought Sonia Belmont was the first female protagonist in a Castlevania game. She was in the third and final game for the original Gameboy. Still, Order is a great addition to the series!

Why are the good Castlevania games only out for the DS? Come on Konami! Hook me up Next Gen Style! (and not make it suck).

Spinwhiz:
Why are the good Castlevania games only out for the DS? Come on Konami! Hook me up Next Gen Style! (and not make it suck).

Haha...yeah, they can't seem to get that transition to 3D right.

Actually, I remember the PS2 Castlevania to be pretty fun but nothing spectacular. I heard all the other attempts at 3D were horrid.

This game is HARD but really pretty and really fun. It's a "good" hard, instead of a cheap hard.

That was more of an action RPG wasn't it? I know I played it...just can't remember anything but jumping around a graveyard.

I have to agree with the review, if you think you can just double jump over the monsters in this game you will get curb stomped by them. There is one boss battle near the begining of the game that almost made me suffer from a case of auto-cannibalistic frustration but I think my only real problem with this game was that the prices in the store for healing items and other things cost me a damn arm and a leg.

Edit: Though I have to admit that two monsters in the game again almost make me suffer a bout of ACF everytime I face them in the "large cave" area in the game's world.

dalek sec:
I have to agree with the review, if you think you can just double jump over the monsters in this game you will get curb stomped by them. There is one boss battle near the begining of the game that almost made me suffer from a case of auto-cannibalistic frustration but I think my only real problem with this game was that the prices in the store for healing items and other things cost me a damn arm and a leg.

So was that the Lighthouse boss? Because yeah, that guy is a bitch...but the way you finish him off is fantastic :)

The game is usually a "good hard" but sometimes feels cheap. Magical tickets are your friend though and are luckily very inexpensive.

The PS2 Castlevania was definitely more action-y than RPG-y. Not a bad game though.

it doesn't say much for the credibility of the writer when i can think of 3 female protagonists in Castlevania before this one. Sonia form legends, maria from symphony of the night (the Saturn version)and Carrie from the N64 games. plus we have the chick from portrait and Sypha being playable characters as well. my point basically being do some research before you hit the post button. other than that a good review showing how Castlevania keeps going strong while other long running series are dying off.

fangoram:
it doesn't say much for the credibility of the writer when i can think of 3 female protagonists in Castlevania before this one. Sonia form legends, maria from symphony of the night (the Saturn version)and Carrie from the N64 games. plus we have the chick from portrait and Sypha being playable characters as well. my point basically being do some research before you hit the post button. other than that a good review showing how Castlevania keeps going strong while other long running series are dying off.

Yep, there was Charlotte in PoR as well - but when I say "protagonist", I mean leading/central character in a canonical game - not just any playable female character but, you know, the real star of the show.

But what's the point of playing the semantics game when we can be playing Castlevania instead? Three cheers for Shanoa - she kicks more ass than any CV female before her.