What is, objectively, the best Castlevania?

File: 1.22 MB, 1280x1024, dracula_01_1280.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 07:38:36 2015 No.2540785 [DELETED]

What is, objectively, the best Castlevania?

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 07:46:28 2015 No.2540790 File: 475 KB, 878x1692, image.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 07:51:50 2015 No.2540798 >>2540785 Why don't you give us your subjective opinion OP ?

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 08:05:10 2015 No.2540815 >>2540798 the word "subjective" was redundant. "objective opinion" would be an oxymoron

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 08:20:21 2015 No.2540835 >>2540815 I said it exactly to make things clear to OP.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 08:26:53 2015 No.2540845 Objectively it would have to be the first, because without it we would have no Castlevania. Subjectively, it's a toss up between IV, Rondo of Blood, Bloodlines and Chronicles for me. Can't for the life of me settle on one amongst them.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 08:47:30 2015 No.2540871 File: 9 KB, 320x256, castlevania_05.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] The Amiga port. Because Amiga, fuck yeah! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utFlAX9RJQM

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 09:10:33 2015 No.2540891 >>2540871 >fucked up vampire killer no thanks

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 09:12:36 2015 No.2540893 >>2540871 isn't that one of the worst ports of all time?

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 09:13:34 2015 No.2540894 >>2540871 Fuck that music sucks.

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 09:18:16 2015 No.2540898
File: 90 KB, 1440x900, 2015-07-15-184410_1440x900_scrot.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

i like chronicles for its controls , people say the controls are top notch on Rondo of Blood well i am playing it on PSSP through the DXC remake's title screen but i find that the controls are not much tighter or more responsive compared to the rest of the series while Chronicle's are .

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 09:27:04 2015 No.2540908 >>2540898 That was a pretty bad port on a pretty bad handheld. Play it on the Wii VC with a classic controller pro if you don't have a PC Engine CD.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 09:30:45 2015 No.2540916 >>2540908 the only fault I can tell with the psp version is some music skipping in rondo of blood

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 09:31:25 2015 No.2540917 >>2540916 It has English voice acting and it's on the PSP.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 09:35:07 2015 No.2540926 File: 556 KB, 1440x900, 2015-07-15-185317_1440x900_scrot.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>2540917 forgive me i am not a "purist" like you who'd trash a port for not having the authentic wapaneese voice acting.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 09:39:14 2015 No.2540930 >>2540785 Well it's absolutely not that one, which isn't even retro so why are you posting it here at all?

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 09:45:24 2015 No.2540940 >>2540790 Bloodlines ain't that good. Sorry you Sega fanboys only got that game.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 09:50:31 2015 No.2540947 File: 95 KB, 1600x1200, 1375284871816.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>2540926 >that left side portrait

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 09:59:49 2015 No.2540953 >>2540940 The worst thing about bloodlines was the boss rush at the end. Did you think it was worse than Super Castlevania IV?

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 10:21:45 2015 No.2540971 >>2540940 >>2540953 Ohh boy it's the eternal debate with no conclusion of Bloodlines fans and SCVIV fans bashing at each other.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 10:25:48 2015 No.2540973 >>2540871 >>2540894 Now compare that to the X68000 version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfbfTM6SoPI

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 10:26:48 2015 No.2540974 >>2540871 >>2540894 Now compare it to the X68000 version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfbfTM6SoPI

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 10:45:14 2015 No.2540996 >>2540974 For a MIDI soundtrack it's pretty good. I'll always love the Chronicles arranged soundtrack though. It sounds like Dracula's having a rave and it's up to Simon to crash it.

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 10:48:27 2015 No.2541000
File: 113 KB, 545x483, Castlevania - Dracula X - Rondo of Blood (PC Engine) 2.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

Opinions are nice, but for a fun change of pace, let's try some facts.

Here's a fact for all of you - Rondo of Blood is the greatest Castlevania game of all time.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 10:52:40 2015 No.2541008 >>2540971 I wasn't trolling, the only thing I dislike about bloodlines was the final boss rush.

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 10:54:00 2015 No.2541013

>>2540930
Sir, if I may, it appears that OP is attracted to this animated female from the game and wishes to make her his "waifu".

While his admiration is noble, you are correct in your observation. The image is indeed not retro. However, the subject of this thread is.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 11:07:28 2015 No.2541035 >>2541013 If he posted a non-retro game then the thread isn't retro. If he asked what's objectively the best retro castlevania then it would fit, but he didn't. There are more modern CVs than retro ones at this point.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 11:58:40 2015 No.2541091 It's Rondo of Blood.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 12:13:27 2015 No.2541106 >>2540790 That feel when I own only 2 castlevania games: Vampire's kiss and Simon's Quest.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 12:45:56 2015 No.2541151 >>2540917 >has English voice acting And you can change it, the game is dual audio.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 12:49:04 2015 No.2541158 >>2540790 Bloodlines, SCV 4 go down one CV, Chronicles, Dracula X go up

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 12:50:01 2015 No.2541161 >>2540947 ayy lmao

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 12:51:40 2015 No.2541167 >>2541158 All charts like that are idiotic since what people like is subjective. Even though a lot of people hate it, CV2 remains one of my favorites in the whole series.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 13:11:08 2015 No.2541184 >>2540790 I am in thorough disagreement. >>2540785 >objectively best Stop using these words if you don't know how how they work.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 13:12:26 2015 No.2541187 >>2541000 >>2541091 nah

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 13:13:46 2015 No.2541192 >>2540790 The only bad tier ones are all the metroidvanias that came after SoTN. Completely stagnated the series and killed it off.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 13:13:56 2015 No.2541193 >>2540917 >It has English voice acting Big deal. >and it's on the PSP. Plays and looks fine to me. The PSP was/is a good system.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 13:16:08 2015 No.2541201 >>2540785 the one where you lick my balls, you retard. there is no "objectivly" best one

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 13:21:02 2015 No.2541209 >>2540785 Whichever one you like the most.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 13:22:21 2015 No.2541213 >>2541193 >Plays and looks fine to me. The PSP was/is a good system. Yeah, the PSP has a great library of games, and being decent for emulation is just a cherry on top.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 13:29:56 2015 No.2541224 >>2541213 PSP is the reason I haven't bothered plugging my Nomad in in years.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 13:30:36 2015 No.2541228 >>2541192 Metroidvania, pretty much all similar. Sidescroller castlevania, pretty much all similar. The series stagnated after the second game, if you don't like a genre just say so.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 13:49:27 2015 No.2541264 >>2540917 >>2540926 >>2541151 >>2541193 The original PCE version of Rondo found on DXC for PSP doesn't have english audio, only japanese. The remake of Rondo and SOTN have english audio (with dual audio, you can change to japanese)

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 13:50:58 2015 No.2541268 >>2541228 That's funny because every platforming CV introduced something different to set it apart from the rest, while the SoTN clones just copy and pasted the same sprites and castle arrangements over 10 years.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 13:53:11 2015 No.2541273 >>2541268 How hilariously reductive.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 13:58:55 2015 No.2541284 >>2541268 I like both equally :) I agree igavania is mostly about combat, exploring and not platforming though

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 14:10:16 2015 No.2541301 >>2540974 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-CCoxJUTvQ

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 14:16:08 2015 No.2541314 >>2540785 After the dust settled, what went wrong? Find a flaw. Protip: you can't.

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 14:21:57 2015 No.2541325

>>2541314
In Order of Ecclesia? The level design is HORRIBLE there's barely any real platforming outside of the bonus areas and everything being broken up into a bunch of tiny levels really ruined the sense of continuity that the other games have. Grinding for glyphs also gets boring as fuck.

It's not a bad game, but deffinitely not one of the better metroidvanias.

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 14:23:00 2015 No.2541326

Castlevania III is objectively the best
The original is great as well, those two are followed by CVIV and Rondo of Blood, then symphony of the night
Honestly though I can't think of a truly bad Castlevania game, at worst re metroidvanias are just derivative

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 14:27:28 2015 No.2541335 >>2541326 gotta say, I'm inclined to agree with all this.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 14:30:33 2015 No.2541336 The classicvania and igavania games are literally different genres. Which ones you think are better is largely dependent on which genre you prefer more.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 14:41:33 2015 No.2541349 >>2540926 hey I have the game but how do I play the 2D version? These shitty 3D sucks, do I have to freaking beat the game to play the better version?

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 14:44:43 2015 No.2541351 >>2541349 Yes and no. You do unlock the original version by beating the new one, but also there are tons of completed saves up on Gamefaqs and the like. Just download a finished save file and go from there, it's what I did. I too hate the 3D graphics.

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 14:45:10 2015 No.2541353

>>2541349

The remake is actually pretty good, and has a better final boss fight than the original game.
Anyway, to play the original version you have to find the game hidden in one of the levels, it's hidden on a wall as if it was a hidden piece of meat or 1up. Same way to unlock SOTN. You can probably check the location on some FAQ/guide.

Also my fav is IV, but there isn't really any retro Castlevania I dislike. I also like Simon's Quest and CV64. They are all worth playing.

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 14:49:56 2015 No.2541357

>>2541325
>The level design is HORRIBLE

Not only this, but also terrible enemy placement and the fact enemies are damage sponges now. There are several areas you'll enter a screen and right off the bat there is some monster right in your face. It's inevitable you'll take damage unless you know he'll be there, which is some pretty cheap shit. And a lot of times enemies home in on you and you'll get like 3 of them glued to your character and can't shake them off.

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 14:51:10 2015 No.2541360

>>2541351
>>2541353
I've gone easy way and downloaded a save file from GameFAQs. thanks for the help. I might play the 3D version later on.
Also I disliked Castlevania 2 a bit and absolutely hated N64 Castlevania games.
I think Aria of Sorrow and Symphony of the Night are the best Castlevania games.
The artwork in these two games are amazing.
Sadly they changed Aria of Sorrow's artwork in its sequel which has great gameplay and story and level design but absolutely horrible artwork for characters.
speaking of which I might just go watch a TAS Belmont run of Aria of Sorrow

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 14:52:44 2015 No.2541363 Akumajou Densetsu.

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 15:09:17 2015 No.2541376
File: 141 KB, 640x906, Castlevania-box.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>2540893
Maybe. But it's an Amiga game, so I'll play it instead of other ports. Because Amiga is machine of the future! Never give up!
o/~ Altered Beast music playing here o/~

>>2540894
I think the music is OK. But the controls are a little rough. But the guy in the video finished it, so it can be done. Maybe I have to practice more...

And the box even has Konami logo on it. It's the real Castlevania!

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 15:28:13 2015 No.2541417 >>2540785 Not that non-/vr/ garbage.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 15:30:04 2015 No.2541421 >>2541376 The PC Mega Man ports made by Hi-Tech also had Capcom's logo on them, but Konami didn't work on them. I assume Amiga cv is the same way. There's also a pretty awful port for the C=64

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 15:32:43 2015 No.2541428 >>2541357 You're meant to exploit enemy weakpoints, mate. Just whatevering your way through it wont do you any favors. I've done a Lv1 run in that game, and I can tell you that ignis melts everything without a care. >>2541417 AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTISM!

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 15:43:02 2015 No.2541437

>>2541428
>I've done a Lv1 run in that game, and I can tell you that ignis melts everything without a care.

I hope that wasn't supposed to be a positive comment about the game. It's not awful, it's nowhere near the utter piece of trash that say Mirror of Fate was, but it's also really not that great.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 15:58:35 2015 No.2541462 >>2541437 Mirror of Fate was pretty good tbh I played it on PS3 though, maybe on DS it was worse.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 16:16:15 2015 No.2541480 >>2540790 What is the problem with dracula X? >>2541462 I played the DS demo of mirror of fate, and its pretty good. The graphics were good and the controls worked nicely.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 16:21:02 2015 No.2541491 File: 174 KB, 866x680, cotm-05.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>2540785

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 16:23:06 2015 No.2541496
File: 18 KB, 256x224, Dracula X final.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>2541480
>What is the problem with dracula X?

People who never actually played through it and parrot misleading internet information, such as "it's a watered down Rondo of Blood".

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 16:25:10 2015 No.2541503

>>2541462
Are you insane? That is one of the worst games ever made. In the whole thing there is one single instance where you have to do even the most rudimentary platforming when there's an enemy on screen.

In the clocktower near the end you're being chased by a big gear and there's a fleaman in your way which you either have to whip or jump over. THAT'S IT! The entire rest of the game is either piss easy platforming with glowing nodes to show you where to whip and jump to and no enemies anywhere, or it's closed off little arenas where you just do XXXX or YYYY until everything dies.

Even the counter mechanic is totally broken because all you have to do is mash block when an enemy is going to do something and it will give you a perfect parry every single time.

It's absolute garbage.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 16:50:41 2015 No.2541564 >>2541491 My nigga.

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 16:51:32 2015 No.2541567

>>2541503
>That is one of the worst games ever made
Your exaggeration is amusing. It's a game riddled with faults and unfulfilled potential, and I agree that saying it's pretty good is probably going too far, but it's hyperbolic to call it "one of the worst games ever made." It's not even close to being the worst Castlevania game, let alone one of the worst games ever.

I don't really care for it, but this persistent butt-hurt over it is hilarious. It's merely mediocre. Did it rape your mother or something? Did it turn you down for the prom? Maybe you just haven't played many games, but I assure you: it really isn't that bad.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 16:59:12 2015 No.2541586 >>2541503 I see your problem, you thought it was going to be a classic platformer. It was never meant to be. It's a SotN-lite exploration game.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 17:02:57 2015 No.2541597 I want to replay OoE. Anyway, my favourite is Rondo of Blood, no contest.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 17:47:41 2015 No.2541710 >>2540790 Probably the Japanese version of 3.

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 19:06:49 2015 No.2541887

>>2541462
>Mirror of Fate
>Good
Why would you lie like that.
>>2541586
I went in expecting an SotN-style game and it was still fucking horrible at it. The game's areas are all dark and dull as fuck, and don't worry you'll be seeing them repeatedly with all that backtracking. The stage design itself is godawful because it constantly segregates areas into platforming sections and combat sections, the two are rarely ever mixed. And half the time the music in those areas is some uninteresting ambient shit or generic orchestral tracks that do nothing for the game. Hell, the bosses are damage sponges too that make things even worse with QTE bullshit because western developers have no idea how to make a boss fight fun.

On that note, combat doesn't even feel remotely satisfying either since your whip covers half the screen while doing next to no damage. It has little to no weight to it and the accompanying sound effects are weak as fuck.

Don't even get me started on that fucking retarded plot twist that can be seen from a mile away. It's a fucking terrible Castlevania game and fails to capture what made the classic and Metroid-style games fun in the first place.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 19:13:59 2015 No.2541904 >>2540785 Personally, I really love the Castlevania in your pic. It's my 3rd favourite. #1 is Super Castlevania IV, #2 is Castlevania Bloodlines

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 19:20:14 2015 No.2541920 >>2540996 The first time I heard Simons Theme on the arranged version I almost shit myself. It's really damn good.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 19:40:55 2015 No.2541957 I have only played 5 Castlevania games, and i would rate them like this. 1. Akumajo Densetsu 2. Rondo of Blood 3. Castlevania 4. Castlevania 4 9001. Simon's Quest

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 19:57:20 2015 No.2541995 >>2541957 >9001. Simon's Quest Uh-huh, whatever you say Memester.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 20:00:35 2015 No.2542001 >>2541995 The game is pretty awful.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 20:16:33 2015 No.2542019 Metroid

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 23:49:07 2015 No.2542393

>>2540785
Rondo

I played Order but I didnt like it

After the first boss and tracking some guy down, I realized the level design is straight shit, it was literally just walking straight

Also I hated the idea of standing in one spot for a random drop with the possibility of getting hit just to get a weapon than can disappear if I killed all the enemies first

perhaps I'll give it another go but no other castlevania in that style came close to SOTN

Rondo is the best castlevania btw

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 23:52:55 2015 No.2542403 i will always love SOTN above all the others.

Anonymous Wed Jul 15 23:57:00 2015 No.2542408

>>2542393
>Also I hated the idea of standing in one spot for a random drop with the possibility of getting hit just to get a weapon than can disappear if I killed all the enemies first
that's actually intended
if you see an enemy summoning a glyph circle thing you can steal their ability by holding up

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 15 23:58:26 2015 No.2542410 >>2542408 that's what I mean, I dislike it you cant move while getting it

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 00:00:07 2015 No.2542414 >>2542410 well I never had trouble with it, we must agree to disagree

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 00:03:20 2015 No.2542420 File: 259 KB, 1920x1080, ROB.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>2542414 I concur, like I said, I will give it another go but I want to 100% rondo first I know it's stretched, I dislike black bars

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 00:09:28 2015 No.2542427 >>2542420 Disgusting

Anonymous Thu Jul 16 00:11:35 2015 No.2542431

The classic castlevanias are leagues better than the metroid knock offs. They metroid knock offs are not bad games however but they are inferior both mechanically and aesthetically.

In classic castlevania the levels felt more natural, they felt like real places and the monsters seemed to fit with their location. A sunken pirate ship was filled with ghosts and undead for instance. There was a sense of actual location.

In the metroidvanias you run down a corridor that looks no different than any room in this particular zone fighting out of place monsters.

Mechanically the classic castlevanias are beautifully designed. Every enemy position, every jump, the timings on animations, are all carefully crafted. Your health is low and lives are scarce for more excitement. The metroid knock offs have almost no real platforming, stick random enemies in a room, and call it level design. The pacing is hurt by constant backtracking and tedious repetition of the same enemy in essentially identical formations.

It's far too easy to just get a weapon/ability with high damage or safe range and be able to cheese enemies. Or you just have such high defense/potions and the save points are so close to together that being hit barely matters except on bosses.

The metroid knock offs giant toyboxes. For you to experiment with 100 different attack souls, 50 passive souls, 6 different families of weapons, and all sorts of equipment options. The levels might not be well designed but they are a lot larger. The enemies might not be fined tune but there's 200 different ones to see! It's a quantity over quality design philosophy. There is so much stuff to see or toy with that you don't care too much that it's all poorly done.

The classic castlevania are real platformers, some of the best ones ever.

Anonymous Thu Jul 16 00:19:45 2015 No.2542441

>>2542431
>The metroid knock offs have almost no real platforming, stick random enemies in a room, and call it level design. The pacing is hurt by constant backtracking and tedious repetition of the same enemy in essentially identical formations.
I agree, but i would say that's mostly a problem with the genre rather than only those Castlevania games. Most metroidvanias feel very lazy in challenge, action and bosses, you never feel any danger, it's just about wandering empty places collecting items. The exploration compensates it in some ways, but if you want a good action game it's just better to play straightforward action-platformers which are often much better designed.

Anonymous Thu Jul 16 00:23:27 2015 No.2542449

>>2542441

The challenge on the nds games was alright. You could unlock a hard mode which made enemies faster and a level cap that gave you artificially pitiful damage and defense.
Ecclesia made the mistake of designing the boss fights to be overly long or scripted, though. The length on the boss fights in portrait of ruin and dawn of sorrow was just right.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 00:26:41 2015 No.2542457 >>2542441 >>2542449 Also the boss rush modes were a lot fun. You're not allowed to use items and the challenge is trying to beat your best time. I disagree on being a bad action game, the combat was the best part of these games.

Anonymous Thu Jul 16 00:37:08 2015 No.2542475

>>2542449
The challenge mode in Ecclesia had even worst design problems.

To start with it set the level cap to something very low. It's actually easier to SKIP a lot of enemies than fight them and with no XP reward there's downside.

It also turned the bosses into fucking health sponges.

A 'challenging' game that is badly designed is crap, while a well designed game that doesn't have much challenge can be one of the best games ever (see Super Mario World). If all it took to make a game good was challenge we would just play a romhack that set your hp to 1 to make ANY action game good.

>>2542441
The metroid series is not challenging but is actually well designed. The enemy formations are well thought out and there's actual platforming/stage hazards. It also doesn't have the aesthetic problems I lined out (and that specifically is why Metroid is a masterpiece series while the castlevania knock offs are only decent)

Anonymous Thu Jul 16 00:40:35 2015 No.2542485
File: 22 KB, 480x360, hqdefault.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>2542475
>It also turned the bosses into fucking health sponges.
This is too true, I had to eventually buckle down and use items in the shadow boss in my hard mode lvl 25 cap run. Most of the boss fights go try to be epic and go for too long. Like they were trying to imitate the way jrpgs were designed. Still had a lot of fun though.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 00:42:50 2015 No.2542491 >>2542475 >A 'challenging' game that is badly designed is crap, I don't think it's badly designed though, you focus too much on level layouts and platforming.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 00:46:37 2015 No.2542496 I think Symphony of the Night is greatly overrated but then again so is Rondo of Blood.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 00:51:25 2015 No.2542505 >>2542475 >The metroid series is not challenging but is actually well designed They have more interesting areas to explore, but the combat and enemies are just as boring IMO, i have only played SM though.

Anonymous Thu Jul 16 00:54:01 2015 No.2542508

>>2542491
Moving through levels and fighting monsters is what you do 98% of the game. It's pretty much the only fucking thing that matters.

Backtracking, boring stage design are serious distractors. It tries to make up for it with some exploring but an occasional fork in the world doesn't make up for it.

Combat's strength is in it's toybox nature giving you constant new abilities to play with. The actual formation of enemies and the fighting itself is pretty tame.

Compare the intensity of fighting the axe armors+medusa heads in the corridor before death in castlevania 1 to all the times where you just kill an enemy with your new sword/spell before it plays its attack animation (in a corridor where you fight 3 of them in a row).

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 01:00:10 2015 No.2542517 >>2542508 Yeah agree with everything you said but >Backtracking that's the one thing they fixed with order of ecclesia and portrait of ruin. There's very little backtracking and unlocking of pointless abilities, like the mist form from sotn.

Anonymous Thu Jul 16 01:00:36 2015 No.2542518

>>2542441
>It's all true
Anon, I...

>La Mulana, everything
On hard mode main game or normal hell temple it does have tight enough platforming to compare favorably I think, but main game normal mode its platforming doesn't compare. I can tank everything in the normal levels and feel annoyed when the bosses are actually a challenge (Not that many are)

It brings good puzzles to even the normal game though. (I curse myself for spoiling most of them though)

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 01:00:43 2015 No.2542519 File: 104 KB, 600x600, latest.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>2540785 Yo

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 01:06:34 2015 No.2542525 >>2542519 Hahahahaha. No.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 01:07:09 2015 No.2542528 >>2542517 Well, no backtracking except for rescuing the villagers near the end of OoE and breaking the seals in PoR.

Anonymous Thu Jul 16 01:11:54 2015 No.2542536

>>2542528
There's a lot of secret sections that require backtracking. Before you say it, yes they optional but the whole POINT of having secrets is for them to be discovered. Without them there is no reason to have big maze and you might as well go back to making more linear levels.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 01:18:32 2015 No.2542542 >>2542536 But that's exploring. Backtracking would be more like making you return all the way to the opposite side of the castle because you remember there being a grate you can only traverse with the mist form in SotN.

Anonymous Thu Jul 16 01:30:30 2015 No.2542552

>>2542485
You can't really use hard mode to judge the balance of the main game because the hard modes in all of the Metroidvania games were pretty stupid but fun bonuses. Hell, the bosses on hard mode level 1 cap without NG+ items are absolutely retarded. Some take over 7 damn minutes to kill. On normal mode most of the bosses don't really have all that much health, though. There are a couple of exceptions like Eligor and the crab boss but they do pretty decent jobs at forcing you to be consistent with your dodging instead of blindly stumbling your way through the fights like you would in the other games.

Anonymous Thu Jul 16 02:01:09 2015 No.2542585

>>2542542
There are far superior examples of exploring.
Think of a a Link to the Past. All of the secrets that you need to return to are in the overworld which you will be traveling through naturally.

After you clear the first portrait in portrait of ruin you never have any reason to return to it except to open up 1 or 2 secrets later. After you get a new power up you walk all the way back there and open up a single room.

While the secrets in a Zelda game are all in places you will return to anyway while traveling between dungeons.

This is the difference between mediocre and excellent exploring.

The castlevania games do have many examples of this type of good exploring occassionally however.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 02:11:08 2015 No.2542591 >>2541000 >>2541091 Agreed, it's a perfect distillation of everything that worked in the previous games at that time rolled into one.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 02:13:12 2015 No.2542594 >>2542585 Fair enough.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 02:14:19 2015 No.2542596 >>2542591 Minus the level design, because fighting elite enemies in areas that lack any verticality is fun.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 02:39:34 2015 No.2542652 >>2542596 that was really only a problem in the last stage with the giant green armors being overused.

Anonymous Thu Jul 16 02:48:14 2015 No.2542665

>>2542652
Boring elite enemies all over the place, from the skeleton next to the bell to the cluster of weapons and pointless painting on the ship level. When it comes to the lack of verticality a lot of areas suffered from it, the biggest offender being the forest level which is just a snoozefest all around. Then there's just the really stupid challenges like the area with the falling steel balls and fleamen.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 02:53:39 2015 No.2542673 >>2541301 why do i like that bloody tears so much, fuck i think its my favite one

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 03:20:42 2015 No.2542719 >>2542665 >elite enemies heh that's a weird manner of speaking

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 03:29:54 2015 No.2542735 Since there is no NG+ in SOTN, how do people get 1k hp? I beat the game with around 600

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 05:02:03 2015 No.2542818 X6800 vs Chronicles go

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 05:09:57 2015 No.2542825 >>2542818 ps1 game has both versions they casualized the remake a slightly bit, imo the changes were for the best

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 05:10:59 2015 No.2542826 >>2542825 "casualizing" is a bad word, I mean they made it a little easier

Anonymous Thu Jul 16 05:15:07 2015 No.2542828

>>2540971
>tfw never really into castlevania as a kid
>genesis was for fags
>recently got a CDX
>play Bloodlines

I think its fun. I think its actually really good, maybe not the best of the best, but I like the fact that its a classicvania with 2 different characters. I think the multi-directional whipping feels good and its fun to play as Eric Lecarde as a change of pace and I like the artstyle (although I usually prefer SNES to Genesis graphics and sound-wise). I do think Bloodlines tries a bit harder to have cool things (Setpieces I guess) that CV4 doesn't really do like the water level, even though its just a DPS race, its still unique and different.

I like them all though, I think 1, Chronicles, Bloodlines, are all solid titles, and objectively the best. CV3 is far too difficult, CV4 is good but its not really different enough I feel.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 05:34:22 2015 No.2542838 >>2542825 >>2542826 Except there's also a hard mode included that's more difficult than the original game.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 06:43:24 2015 No.2542898 I think X68000 and CV3 are the best. Most of the Classicvanias are good, though.

Anonymous Thu Jul 16 12:22:01 2015 No.2543297

>>2541567
I will grant that sounds like hyperbole, but it's really not. Mirror of Fate is absolutely horrible in every facet. Especially for a Castlevania game. One of the hallmarks of the series is the blending of platforming and action. Having to do a series of precise jumps over death pits while dealing with a constant flow of Medusa Heads coming at you for example. But MoF is almost completely devoid of any of that. No exaggeration there is literally one moment in the entire game where you have to do any sort of platforming when there is an enemy even on screen. That alone would be enough to make it the worst Castlevania ever, but even the individual parts are badly done. Point by point...

Combat is extremely simple and unrewarding. The two combos are XXXX for enemies in front of you and YYYY when there are enemies in the air or around you. There's a perfect block mechanic, but it's broken and simple mashing of the block button will activate it perfectly every time. That alone makes every boss in the game laughably easy.

As for exploration and platforming, exploring is virtually pointless since every deviation from the path is tiny the only things to find are bits of flavor text about enemies or health and heart bonuses. Both of which are largely useless because the game is so easy.

You never have to think about where you're supposed to go, the path forward is always lit up with glowing ledges or whip swinging points. There are almost no death pits when platforming, and the few times there are save points are scattered very liberally so even if you do fail you spawn only a jump or two away.

There isn't a single thing in the game that's even moderately competently handled.

Anonymous Thu Jul 16 12:26:31 2015 No.2543308

>>2542828
The Famicom version of CV3 (the original) has an easy mode in Grant, he throws daggers as a default attack. All the recruits are more useful in general, too. Better music, too. The US version is one of those games that was made harder because of the rental market.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 12:35:26 2015 No.2543331 >>2543308 Dracula's curse is difficult ? I must be good and didn't realize it then.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 14:28:50 2015 No.2543538 >>2543297 >Having to do a series of precise jumps over death pits while dealing with a constant flow of Medusa Heads coming at you for example. But MoF is almost completely devoid of any of that. As is every single metroidvania.

Anonymous Thu Jul 16 15:35:40 2015 No.2543686

>>2543297
>I will grant that sounds like hyperbole, but it's really not.
No, it is. If you think it is, you haven't played many games. There's far worse out there. Even in Castlevania. Is it a good game? I don't think so. Is it a bad one? I'd say so.

One of the worst ever? Absolutely not.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 15:58:09 2015 No.2543731 >>2542525 why not?

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 16:30:59 2015 No.2543793 >>2540785 >objectively >the best These two don't go together, although my personal favourites are Bloodlines, SCV4 and SotN.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 16:32:06 2015 No.2543797 >>2541428 >sticking to a board's rules is autism >>>/v/

Anonymous Thu Jul 16 20:38:43 2015 No.2544192

>>2543538
Most of the metroidvanias don't even have death pits man, at best they have some spike traps that knock off a fraction of your health. Even if they do it's only in 1 zone.

Of course that's assuming that you havn't gotten enough defence so that the damage is trivial. Or that you don't just equip a weapon/spell with a large hitbox to trivilize the medua heads.

Even if you do make it to the one zone in the game with spikes, intionally do not equip the right weapon, use bad equipment. Even if you do all of them...It's still not as well designed as the classic games. You get much easier jump so the medusa heads and platforming are completly dumbed down. With the double jumps its almost impossible to fudge a jump and the enemy formations are a lot less tightly refined (might as well be randomly generated).

Get out, lying bastard.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 16 20:42:31 2015 No.2544205 >>2541496 Yeah, this. I blame the magazines of the time.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 17 01:23:39 2015 No.2544759 >>2541284 CV platforming has always been garbage, though.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 17 01:42:10 2015 No.2544798 >>2540894 sounds like a slow 80s version of wicked child with a djent drummer

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 17 03:00:31 2015 No.2544887 >>2544759 no

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 17 03:16:54 2015 No.2544903 I've played every Classicvania besides Vampire Killer, Haunted castle and the GB ones. Are they worth playing? Also are there similar games? I fucking love this series

Anonymous Fri Jul 17 03:21:48 2015 No.2544909

>>2544903
If you played haunted castle PLAY THE JAPANESE VERSION.

The american version quadrupled the damage enemies do, changed the sprites, and somehow made the controls worst.

It's a good game, like all arcade games it becomes more fun if you limit your credits.

GB ones are trashy. They don't offer anything new other than a climbing mechanic that isn't used right. Suffer from poor level design and lack of color makes them the least intersting environments in the series.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 17 03:25:32 2015 No.2544914 >>2544903 >Vampire Killer, Haunted castle Meh. >the GB ones Belmont's Revenge is great. The other ones, not so much.

Anonymous Fri Jul 17 03:46:31 2015 No.2544934

>>2544914
Assuming you actually play Haunted Castle (and not the basterdized Western port) what didn't you like about it? It's definitely better than Belmont revenge. There's more advanced things in the level design, much butter graphics (tiny screen with no color=ek), and it's a lot better paced. The rope climbing was so fucking slow and most of the time there was no enemies while you climbed.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 17 04:12:08 2015 No.2544957 Objectively, Super Castlevania IV is the best game.

Anonymous Fri Jul 17 04:17:44 2015 No.2544962

>>2544934
>There's more advanced things in the level design
Maybe. I'm not sure about that, though.
>much butter graphics
I think Haunted Castle is a bit of a mess, visually. Belmont's Revenge necessarily has simplistic visuals because of the system, but what's there looks good. HC has far more aesthetic variety though.
>a lot better paced
I don't think so.
>The rope climbing was so fucking slow and most of the time there was no enemies while you climbed.
That's pretty false. The ropes had enemies around often. I replayed the game recently. It's not that slow, either.

I just think Haunted Castle is kind of boring.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 17 04:19:12 2015 No.2544963 >>2544957 If it weren't for all the parts where you can cheese enemy encounters by using diagonal whips to hit the enemy from angles they cannot counter attack from I'd say it's in the same tier as Rondo of blood.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 17 04:34:20 2015 No.2544976 >>2544909 I can't find a working Japanese rom. The one on emuparadise doesn't work

Anonymous Fri Jul 17 04:53:34 2015 No.2544993

>>2544976
I used to get stuff from Romnation since they package basically every version of the rom ever. It might also be your emulator.

You can also try searching for the japanese name Akumojo Dracula.

If you can't find it don't even bother with the western version. The controls are broken and the massive boost enemies have to damage forces you to play the game at a stupid slow rate since a random bat touching your leg suddenly removes 80% of your health.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 17 20:46:38 2015 No.2546428 >>2540785 First of all, stop using that stupid fucking word. Secondly it's Order of Ecclesia for metroidvania, Rondo for classic.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 17 20:53:41 2015 No.2546443 >>2544976 you need the world rom (parent) as well as the japanese rom (clone) in the same folder or else mame wont recognize it as working

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 17 21:44:54 2015 No.2546521 >>2544993 >>2546443 I managed to play it in the end (version E or something?). I didn't like it that much honestly, those fucking hitboxes are shit, but I don't consider the game that bad overall. The music is good though.

Anonymous Fri Jul 17 22:00:27 2015 No.2546545

>>2546521
Did you mean you just played it 'to the end right now?' Like you quarter fed your whole way through the game. Cuz if it is your a retard and you literally ruined the entire game for yourself in an irreversible way.

E is the Europian version and like I told you 2 times the western version was butchered.

Anonymous Fri Jul 17 22:15:42 2015 No.2546573

>>2546545
No i meant that I was finally able to set it up and play. English is not my first languange and I don't know if that's the best way to say it.

Anyway no, I didn't 'quarter-fed', but I did use a save state at the beginning of every stage, because dying 3 times kicks you back at the beginning of the game everytime, regardless of the credits you used.

I assure you this version wasn't nearly as hard as the american one, because the damage was pretty fair to me. (1 hp from bats, 2 hps from skeletons at the beginning)

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 17 22:16:26 2015 No.2546575 They're all shit.

Anonymous Fri Jul 17 22:41:59 2015 No.2546621

>>2546573
You shouldn't do save stating either. Your way is a million times better than quarter feeding though. Arcade games are meant to be very hard, you can still have fun even if you never win.

It's not a bad game but it's very dull since it doesn't add anything new. Castlevania 3 added more characters. Super, Chronicles, and blood lines let you attack in more direction. Rondo added the backflip.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 17 22:47:50 2015 No.2546627 >>2546621 wtf is this shit telling how people should enjoy themselves. since when did you become the authority on having fun?

Anonymous Fri Jul 17 22:52:40 2015 No.2546635

>>2546621
I know, I only use them if there are absolutely no checkpoints in the game, and even then I feel kind of cheap using them, but replaying the entire thing is tiring.

I never used save states for all the other Classicvanias because they allow you to repeat how many times you want the stage you are currently in.

>>2546627
He's got a point though, if you abuse save states/credits then playing this sort of game is meaningless

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 17 23:00:09 2015 No.2546648 >>2546635 it's still meaningless unless you 2all and even then it's still meaningless to the rest of the world, no one cares about your nerdy videogame achievements,

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 17 23:01:10 2015 No.2546649 >>2546648 >1all buh, fixed.

Anonymous Fri Jul 17 23:05:07 2015 No.2546653

>>2546648
What does the rest of the world have to do with this?

I'm saying the challenge the game should provide (which is a good chunk of the experience of these type of games) is not there anymore, it's meaningless because of that.
If you savescum, you shouldn't be playing these games period

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 18 00:09:54 2015 No.2546749 >>2546653 >If you don't play how I want you to play you shouldn't play

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 18 00:20:02 2015 No.2546760 >>2541192 So true! Fuck portrait of ruin so hard.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 18 00:22:02 2015 No.2546762 >>2541228 no one remembers the ps2vanias :(

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 18 03:45:04 2015 No.2547051 >>2546762 Because they kind of sucked.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 18 05:17:10 2015 No.2547125 >>2540971 >Not being a poor fag and enjoying both.

>>	Noko Sat Jul 18 05:45:48 2015 No.2547140 Imo scv4 and dX.

Anonymous Sat Jul 18 10:14:42 2015 No.2547330

haven't played castlevania in quite some time. last one i played was some of the DS and GBA ones, like portrait of ruin and aria of sorrow (inb4 notretro).

almost done playing through castlevania on the NES. although the controls are sluggish compared to more recent side scrollers, the game is fun, rewarding and fucking challenging. i just got done beating the grim reaper legit (not using the fucking holy water III spammed at him as soon as he spawns) and goddamn they could have at least made the previous bosses more challenging to prepare me for that fight, because the grim reaper was incredibly more difficult than the previous fucking bosses.

that said, what should i play next? is vampire killer worth checking out? any specific versions of certain games i should play? is it even worth playing castlevania II or should i just skip it and play a romhack that removes all the cryptic bullshit and actually replaces villager dialogue with useful tips?

Anonymous Sat Jul 18 11:48:17 2015 No.2547435

>>2547330
>controls are sluggish
I think the controls in the original Castlevania are basically perfect. Sometimes the stairs can be frustrating, but the game has a satisfying feel to it that's very impressive for a first in a series.

And yeah, Death is a douche.

>what should i play next?
Castlevania III. It's arguably the best Castlevania game.

Anonymous Sat Jul 18 12:06:49 2015 No.2547464

OK, my list (it's short):

1. NES CV2 (Simon's Quest)
2. Genesis CV Bloodlines
3. NES CV1

I tried later games and they didn't much hold my interest. I'd rather more Simon's Quest style adventure games. I also liked Zelda 2 and Faxanadu, and other stuff like that.

Anonymous Sat Jul 18 12:18:18 2015 No.2547476

>>2547435
The jumping is really the only issue for me. The fact that if you just tap the jump button without a direction, you can't modify the direction in the air. You have to be holding the move button before hand. It just makes boss-fights harder than they need to be.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 18 12:29:49 2015 No.2547486 >>2547476 I prefer the jumping mechanics that way. It means the player has to be thoughtful and avoid panicking. Every movement must be deliberate.

Anonymous Sat Jul 18 13:52:30 2015 No.2547593

>>2543538
I will grant, the metroidvanias don't have many actual instant death pits you have to jump though, but they are riddled with enemies coming at you while you're doing the platforming, and that's the heart of what I was talking about.

Take the clocktower in any Castlevania game. It's hallmark is a large sprawling tower full of annoying jumps (usually on moving gears and shit) that if you miss one usually sends you several screens down at least. All the while you're doing that there are bunches of enemies around harassing you like mesusa heads or the flying javelin skeletons.

That to me represents the heart of Castlevania's gameplay. It's that mix of platforming while having to deal with enemies. And that's exactly what Mirror of Fate throws completely out the window.

Imagine going through the clocktower level in a Castlevania game and never once having an enemy even on screen while you're jumping from gear to gear. Imagine one where, even if you do happen to fail one of those incredibly easy jumps now that you have all the time in the world to plan it perfectly, you still re-spawn only a couple of jumps away. Does that sound like Castlevania to you?

>>2543686
I've played every single Castlevania released and I think Mirror of Fate is leaps and bounds the worst of any of them. Including the much shat on Simon's Quest, which I've actually always liked and the Gameboy games which are legit pretty shitty. But at least they have a bit of challenge to them and actually feel like entries in the series.

Now if you like Mirror of Fate for some reason... if you played through it and actually enjoyed yourself then more power to you. Personally I didn't find anything fun about walking through empty halls and then mashing the same 2 comobs for the whole game. But I'm also old and picky and maybe it appeals more to another kind of gamer. But I still think it's shit.

Anonymous Sat Jul 18 14:00:13 2015 No.2547606

Elder God Tier:
Super Castlevania IV

High Tier:
Bloodlines
Dracula's Curse

Mid Tier:
Rondo of Blood
Adventure ReBirth
Sharp X68K Castlevania
Belmont's Revenge
NES Castlevania
Dracula X

Low Tier:
Legends
Simon's Quest

Shit Tier:
The Adventure

Beyond Shit Tier:
N64 Castlevania

Metroidvanias aren't Castlevania, so they will be left in the garbage bin where they belong.

Advanced search
Text to find
Subject [?]Search by post subject. Leave empty for any.
Username [?]Search for user name. Leave empty for any user name.
Tripcode [?]Search for tripcode. Leave empty for any.
Email [?]Search by email. Leave empty for any.
Filename [?]Search by image filename. Leave empty for any.
From Date [?]Enter what date to start searching from. Format is YYYY-MM-DD
To Date [?]Enter what date to start searching until. Format is YYYY-MM-DD
Image hash
Search in	All Posts OPs Only
Deleted posts	Show all posts Show only deleted posts Only show non-deleted posts
Internal posts	Show all posts Show only internal posts Show only archived posts
Order	New posts first Old posts first
Capcode	All Posts Only by Users Only by Mods Only by Admins Only by Developers
Results	Posts Threads
Action	[ Simple ]

/vr/ - Retro Games