Castlevania

[hivedragon]

Which are the best/worst games in this franchise?

[Jothki]

Order of Ecclesia is an excellent game. I wouldn't recommend playing it first, though, if only because it's more difficult than most recent games in the series. The challenge is suprisingly fair, but it's still a challenge.

[Triscuitable]

I'd say good 'ol Super Castlevania IV. Fantastic game, challenging, well designed, and a memorable soundtrack to boot.

[Sholos]

Best: Symphony of the Night
Worst: Any of the 3D ones, but especially Lords of Shadow.

[TheSummoner]

Call me crazy, but I've got a soft spot for the older "So hard you want to pull your hair out difficult" ones.

So kinda a tossup between Super Castlevania VI and Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse for me.

[KillianHawkeye]

Best: Symphony of the Night
Worst: Castlevania 64



I haven't played any of the ones from the last few years, though.

[Starwulf]

I've always been a huge fan of Castlevania II for the NES. I've never really enjoyed any of them as much as that one, though admittedly I haven't played any of them past the One of the gameboy advance games(or was it DS? I don't remember).

[Cespenar]

I've always been a huge fan of Castlevania II for the NES. I've never really enjoyed any of them as much as that one, though admittedly I haven't played any of them past the One of the gameboy advance games(or was it DS? I don't remember).

Funny. I liked 1 and 3 but couldn't stand the second game. :smallbiggrin:

[KillianHawkeye]

Funny. I liked 1 and 3 but couldn't stand the second game. :smallbiggrin:

Castlevania II was my first exposure to the Belmont clan, so I loved it. I think of Castlevania more as an action rpg series rather than straight action, which is why I'm glad that the SotN style became so popular.

[Tengu_temp]

I played Aria of Sorrow, Symphony of the Night, Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia. I'd say all of them are pretty excellent, with OoE or SotN being probably the best ones.

[Starsign]

I'd say the best would be a tie between OoE, SotN, and AoS. Really hard to decide between them.

As for the worst, Haunted Castle is unholy. Not just the worst Castlevania game, but also a complete failure in arcade design. Absurd difficulty on the main version that takes half your health off by anything, additional credits only raise health, only 1 life a credit, FOUR CREDITS ONLY PER GAME. That's right, you can't quarter eat your way through the game. Haunted Castle doesn't want your quarters, it wants (and fails) to be less idiotic than Ralph Wiggum.

...On that note, has anyone once had the idea that the plot of AoS could almost be something like an absurd fanfic when it's observed on paper? :smalltongue: On execution it was thankfully done much better.

[Deth Muncher]

It's not entirely safe for work, but Egoraptor posted a video entitled "Sequilitis" that deals with Castlevania I and II, which is worth a watch.

Anyway, my favorite, just like all the other fanbois, is Symphony of the Night. It was the first game I ever played like it, and it had this amazing soundtrack (I'm a huge music nerd, I love it when composers make good soundtracks that really engage you), and it was just so INTENSE! I think the first time I played it was...3rd grade? So yeah. Nuts. Wonderful.

Lords of Shadow WOULD get my vote as worst Castlevania, but strangely, it seems more Castlevania-y than SotN - you're playing a Belmont with a whip. Unless you've beaten the game, you're not doing that in SotN. No, I think I need to jump in the Castlevania 64 boat on that one - I remember playing that ALSO around 3rd or 4th grade and even then knowing how jawful it was.

(For those wondering, jawful is the opposite of jawsome.)

[Cieyrin]

Castlevania Judgement was pretty inane and unplayable, as I recall. Plot was really dumb and I don't think Castlevania plays well being purely a fighting game...

I've only played 3 of the other Castlevanias: Symphony of the Night, Circle of the Moon and Lament of Innocence, which were all pretty good, though SotN I borrowed and didn't really get to play as much as the other two, so I can't really determine a winner for best one.

[BiblioRook]

Worst: Any of the 3D ones, but especially Lords of Shadow.

Clearly you are misinformed, Castlevania doesn't exist outside of 2D. I don't know what you are talking about.


Symphony of the Night is of course the game that sets the standard all other Castlevanias get compared too, but on a personal level I've been always very fond of the Sorrow games. If for no other reason, I love options and the soul system gives you power options out the wazoo!

Out of the ones I've really played though I would say my least favorite would be Circle of the Moon. It was the first game for the GBA trio and it still thought of itself as lower gen I guess which included a lot of nitpicky things that made the game less enjoyable.

[The Succubus]

Clearly you are misinformed, Castlevania doesn't exist outside of 2D. I don't know what you are talking about.

I played a 3D Castlevania once. Once being the keyword here.

For myself, I love the DS Castlevanias - Order of Ecclesia, Portrait of Ruin and Aria of Sorrow. Aria is probably my favourite, although the plot is a little loco. :smallwink:

Order of Ecclesia.....I have never had my butt handed to me so severely by any game since Desert Strike. There is once section where you're being chased by a giant crab through a lighthouse and every jump and move needs pixel perfect timing and positioning. Unbelievably hard and yet unbelievably satisfying when the lil b*****d goes down hard. :smallfurious::smallamused:

[Calintares]

We ought to differentiate between Classicvania and Metroidvania since the styles are so completely different.

Favorite Metroidvania: SoTN
Favorite Classicvania: Dracula's Curse, with an honorable mention to Rondo of Blood.

Worst Metroidvania: Harmony of Dissonance
Worst Classicvania: Haunted Castle

[Volug]

Favorite: Castlevania LoD
Worst: Castlevania 64
It's funny because they are the same game.

[Anderlith]

Symphony of the Night is the best hands down. The worst is the early 3D ones.

[Tengu_temp]

Order of Ecclesia.....I have never had my butt handed to me so severely by any game since Desert Strike. There is once section where you're being chased by a giant crab through a lighthouse and every jump and move needs pixel perfect timing and positioning. Unbelievably hard and yet unbelievably satisfying when the lil b*****d goes down hard. :smallfurious::smallamused:

SHHWOOAARRR!

Hilarious sound effects aside, I didn't have that much difficulty with OoE myself. The only really hard parts for me were the giant skeleton boss, the crab you mentioned, and the two optional dungeons. The other bosses and areas were much easier than, say, half of the bosses in Portrait of Ruin. The fact that you can easily make buckets of money and use it for almost infinite amounts of healing items drains a lot of OoE's difficulty. Not that it's a bad thing - if anything, that game would be much more frustrating if healing was very limited.

On an unrelated note, I find it very amusing that Order of Ecclesia's plot bears some striking similarities to G Gundam.

[Triscuitable]

Here's the lowdown on the 3D 'Vanias. Castlevania 64 was not BAD, it's just as confusing in terms as II, but it's garnered enough infamy on the internet to be universally hated. AVGN riffing on it did NOT help it's rep either. It's a good game, just not great, and nowhere near as bad as some make it out to be.

[Nepenthe]

Most Castlevania fans hate Harmony of Dissonance, but it was easily my favorite. The gameplay has a certain flow that none of the other entries have attained.

I didn't care for Circle of the Moon. The original NES Castlevania is probably at the bottom of my list though. There were some pretty terrible design decisions in that game; like how jumping over the first step of a flight of stairs results in instant death.