267 replies to this topic

[Koh]

https://youtu.be/NJb0GGFquBk?t=88

 

Order of Ecclesia is the best Castlevania for this reason alone.  Falcon kick!

[Nicholas Steel]

I didn't know this before, but pressing Down+A at a Castle A to B warp (Or vice versa) in harmony of Dissonance will instead make it warp you to another warp room within the current castle! That could probably cut down back tracking immensely.

Edited by Nicholas Steel, 29 August 2015 - 10:16 AM.

[Fiyaball]

I didn't know this before, but pressing Down+A at a Castle A to B warp in harmony of Dissonance will instead make it warp you to another warp room within the current castle! That could probably cut down back tracking immensely.

Wait, WHAT? Why didn't the game tell me this? Or, was this in the manual?

[Nicholas Steel]

Wait, WHAT? Why didn't the game tell me this? Or, was this in the manual?

It's mentioned as a cheat on various websites.

[The Satellite]

... wow. If that's true, I think that would eliminate my biggest issue with the game. Still wouldn't be enough for it to be as good as Aria or Dawn of Sorrow, but maybe better than Circle of the Moon. Maybe.

[Koh]

I present as evidence to the court, the first ever upload of gameplay footage from the unlicensed Chinese title E Mo Cheng DX (also known as Castlevania DX), by Sintax, by yours truly~

 

[The Satellite]

Still better than Lords of Shadow.

[Koh]

Lol, it probably is honestly.  It's got the metroidvania formula and everything, so x3.  If it had a bit more polish (the physics can be weird sometimes, and the enemies only really go back and forth) and more content, I'd say this would've been a perfect edition to the GBC library officially.

Edited by Koh, 29 August 2015 - 10:52 PM.

[Lejes]

I didn't know this before, but pressing Down+A at a Castle A to B warp (Or vice versa) in harmony of Dissonance will instead make it warp you to another warp room within the current castle! That could probably cut down back tracking immensely.

 

It's mentioned by one of the hint cards you can find lying around in the castle. It still doesn't entirely fix the backtracking issue, because too many of the warps are found behind locked doors you don't get the keys to unlock until very late in the game. The real way to reduce backtracking in this game is to abuse the quicksave feature. Quicksaving, then resetting the game takes you back to the last save point you used with all your progress intact. Very useful for warping around.

 

... wow. If that's true, I think that would eliminate my biggest issue with the game. Still wouldn't be enough for it to be as good as Aria or Dawn of Sorrow, but maybe better than Circle of the Moon. Maybe.

 

I think I still like Circle of the Moon more, mostly because the monsters are meaner. Juste has a pretty similar skillset to Nathan Graves (whip + some magic attacks), but the enemies tend fall over immediately or have very lengthy stun animations. I still like Harmony of Dissonance regardless. It was trying very hard to be like Symphony of the Night with how extremely open and non-linear its castle is.

Edited by Lejes, 29 August 2015 - 10:55 PM.

[The Satellite]

Speaking of Harmony of Dissonance, am I the only one who thinks this song sounds like it could belong in a Phoenix Wright game?

[Air Luigi]

Yeah, I think it could fit easily as a court/objection theme with some adjustments xd

Edited by Air Luigi, 30 August 2015 - 07:41 AM.

[Koh]

Since I'm the only one on the face of the planet recording Castlevania DX, I decided I'll go through the whole thing.  Here's part 2.

https://youtu.be/hADO2pDL6Lc

[Koh]

https://www.youtube....peJ1ytBrEa-uY75

The whole thing is finished now.  11 bosses and a final boss.  One of the bosses is bullshit (last one I fight before the final boss), but is cheesed with the Cross subweapon.  If you don't use it, you're in for a painful battle, since there's a buzzsaw always in the way, and if you get hit by his shots, your controls are reversed.  When your controls are reversed, you can't jump properly, just straight up and down.  I'd say he's actually harder that way than the final boss, lol.  The final boss is easy enough to do without taking damage if you stand in the precise spot, but I didn't care to at that point, since I had plenty of restoratives x3.

[The Satellite]

Portrait of Ruin down now. Honestly I really liked it. I'm not fond of the art style, which looks weird on some characters; heck, I would even take Dawn of Sorrow's art style over this. And the sprites they did reuse from previous games just don't really mesh well with the game's graphical style, especially next to new sprites. The portraits were fun; in fact, this whole game reminded me of Super Mario 64, except completely different in style of course. It was an interesting style and I think it worked. The partner system, while useless or annoying in a few areas, was fun, and added another layer of immersion to the game for me. I honestly didn't mind the quest system (especially since it isn't required) and weapon mastery systems, again, it makes the game pretty layered.

 

Where the game is lacking, well, not in very many areas. I didn't really feel that there were many misplaced enemies, though I did see that a time or two. Music, when not a remix of an old classic tune, was kind of lackluster, and the main castle theme just sounded like dance music; not that other castle themes wouldn't make good dance music, such as Circle of the Moon's and even Symphony of the Night's. Also, padding... The alternate paintings were just a pain to me, and honestly weren't different enough to warrant them taking up such a random late-game addition. 

 

On the whole, it's a good game. Better than Circle and Harmony of Dissonance, but not as good as Dawn of Sorrow and certainly nowhere near Aria and Symphony's greatness.

 

That leaves Order of Ecclesia as the last Metroidvania title, and Castlevania 2 and Rondo of Blood the only other main series games left besides; I don't have much interest in the Game Boy games or Adventure ReBirth. 

[Air Luigi]

The first time I played it, I liked it. Portrait of ruin got worse and worse with multiple replays. It's specially evident to notice how poor are the maps if you play the extra modes. The rpg elements in the main modes hidden a bit the lackluster maps. The Nest of Evil is a fun challenge... but Dawn of Sorrow bosses were a bad joke xd They weren't trying much in this game.

 

Ecclesia is awesome, I hope you enjoy the challenge. It has a nice atmosphere and clever placement of enemies. also, the progression is quite unique.

Edited by Air Luigi, 31 August 2015 - 05:37 PM.