/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.3629139]

Hi /vr/, how would a newfag go on about the Castlevania franchise? Should I start with the very first Castlevania game, then slowly but steadily play each one chronological?

Only Castlevania games I've played is Symphony of Night and Curse of Darkness, which I loved the fuck out of

[Anonymous No.3629150]

Release order for Castlevania is pretty good.

[Anonymous No.3629151]

>>3629139
Just skip Aria of Sorrow and you're good.

[Anonymous No.3629156]

>>3629139
Start with CV3, if you find that too hard or not fun skip to Super CV4. If that doesn't do it for you move on to Circle of the Moon and continue from there.

If CV3 did it for you go back to 1 and then play the classics and move on from there.

If SCV4 did it for you, play Bloodlines and Rondo.

[NESfag No.3629160]

>>3629139
If you like SotN and CoD (the later which is rather underrated if you ask me), then go play all 6 remaining SOTN style games in the series, the 3 GBA ones and the 3 DS ones. They're all great.
None of them are retro by this board's standard though.

[Anonymous No.3629468]

So when I got a 3DS I was really interested in the Castlevania games I could play on it, but the more I read and saw of the ones available, I ended up being content with Castlevania IV on VC.

Are any of the DS Castlevanias worth a shit? I guess other than those I could just play the first three.

[Anonymous No.3629471]

>>3629468
Dawn of Sorrow is good, Portrait of Ruin is better in some ways but weaker than others, Order of Ecclesia takes a different direction (animation cancelling is a major game mechanic and not a useful trick) and is my personal favorite.

The 3DS CVs are shit, shit, shit. Avoid at all costs.

[Anonymous No.3629472]

>>3629468
It depends if you like SotN or not. If so then they're not bad. I think Order of Ecclesia is a bit of a stinker, but most people like it.

Otherwise just stick to the classics.

[Anonymous No.3629489]

>>3629471
Wait... They made 3DS Castlevanias too?

>>3629472
I only ever played IV and a little bit of 64 as a kid. Don't have a PS1 (used to) or PSP and I dislike emulation. So maybe one day I'll play SotN. It's the only Metroidvania that really looks interesting, since it started the trend.

Order of Ecclesia intrigues me because the heroine is cool-looking and hot, but I don't quite like the art.

[Anonymous No.3629491]

>>3629139
The GBA ones are all great. You'll especially like Harmony of Dissonance if you enjoyed SoTN.

[Anonymous No.3629548]

>>3629489
SotN is actually in some ways the worst because it's so incredibly easy. But it's also the one with most of the most fun items.

Order of Ecclesia goes the other way and is weirdly grindy with really boring levels. That's just my opinion though and it has many fans.

>Wait... They made 3DS Castlevanias too?

This is the absolute one to avoid though. It's a strange and terrible game that has platforming sections with no enemies followed by combat arenas with no platforming. There are two combos you use through the whole game and a broken parry mechanic makes every boss fight have zero challenge.

There's only one spot in the entire game where you have to platform while there's an enemy on screen and it only takes a single hit with your whip.

[Anonymous No.3629557]

Start with 1 so all the others seem easy

[NESfag No.3629563]

>>3629548
OoE has more linear levels indeed, but there is a lot of reward to find if you come back to new with later abilities.
Also I really liked its gameplay system, and grinding for it, getting 100%, figuring out the different combinaisons, was WAAY more fun than in AoS and DoS imo.

It also has a very worthy Hard mode IIRC which is worth noting because some other SOTN style CVs lack that.

[Anonymous No.3629571]

>>3629563
Yeah Aria and Dawn weren't great. I like Dawn's extra mode where you play as the three characters and swap though.

OoE isn't bad, I just found it kind of underwhelming and sad that they seemed to save all the fun platforming for the bonus levels. Also though I was a little burnt out on the formula by the time we got to it.

My personal favorites are Circle and Portrait. PoR is the most fun but has some of the ugliest and least interesting levels. CotM is just solid all around and I like the card system and castle a lot. It also feels the best balanced to me.

[NESfag No.3629573]

Also I have to say that playing the GBA and DS ones is really comfy via emulators. Especially the DS ones, granted you have a widescreen and that you set it in portrait mode. Only annoying thing was having to switch from pad to mouse for the seals in DoS but it's no big deal either.

[Anonymous No.3629578]

>>3629557
68k, HC, 3 and XX shit on the first game as far as challenge is concerned.

[NESfag No.3629583]

>>3629571
I can't pick favourites personally. I think they all have pros and cons. Dawn has the blandest musics, and grinding 9 times the same soul to have the full effect just isn't fun, but the fighting is fun with plenty of different weapons, and there is a lot of sequence breaking potential by using the 'teleporting' special attack of the knife.

One thing PoR was a total failure for me was that shitty sub-weapon mastery system for Jonathan. I swear it's the only thing I haven't 100%'d in all of the SOTN style CVs.

[Anonymous No.3629589]

>>3629583
Dawn's gimmicky stylus shit definitely put it below the other DS ones.

[Anonymous No.3629651]

>>3629151
Aria of Sorrow is the good one of the GBA games though, the fuck are you on about?

[Anonymous No.3629660]

>>3629139
Play the first NES game and then go from there in any order that you like.

[Anonymous No.3629662]

>>3629651
>he didn't enjoy Circle
What a pleb.

[Anonymous No.3629689]

>>3629139
Just do them in release order for the most part.
Skip 68k, 2, and haunted castle. Skip 64. Do Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness at your discretion. Do all of the metroidvanias.

Don't try to marathon the metroidvanias. It'll start to wear down on you.

[Anonymous No.3629693]

>>3629689
>Skip 68k
But thats the best Classicvania..

[Anonymous No.3629701]

>>3629689

>Skip 64.

[Anonymous No.3629707]

My advice is totally dependent on what you want.

I would start with the NES ones since they're going to be the most "archaic" and usually that means harder to get into. I think release is good for the two types, the classic and the metroidvania style.

>Haunted Castle Arcade
>Castlevania
>Castlevania 3 (very difficult, may want to skip or look up strategies/guides)
>Castlevania 4
>Castlevania Chronicles

>Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest
>Symphony of the Night
>The various GBA ones, but >notretro

>le 3D Castlevania meme
>64
>Lament of Innocence, Curse of Darkness.. I actually like Lords of Shadow 1 quite a bit even though that's heresy. Avoid Lords of Shadow 2 like the plague though

Missed a bunch like the Gameboy ones. Basically Try 1, Try 2. If you like either of them, look into the others of their sub-genre.

[Anonymous No.3629708]

I just found out you can rescue and play with cats in Order of Ecclesia. I think that decides it for me.

[Anonymous No.3629710]

>>3629693
Hmm;
1) That's debatable regardless of my feelings anyways
2) It's beginner unfriendly, more so than any other title in the series.


>>3629701
64 sucks bro.

[Anonymous No.3629713]

>>3629151
Blatantly incorrect

[Anonymous No.3629714]

>>3629710
>64 sucks bro.

Nah, it's good.

The camera is the only complaint about it I have, and it's only really a problem outside of some platforming parts with fixed camera.

[Anonymous No.3629721]

>>3629714
The bad:
The camera, the story, the platforming, the combat itself, the characters, fuccboi anime Dracula who looks more anime than actual anime dracula, that ugly ass 3D, those monster choices, the horrible horrible horrible menu system, crystals instead of hearts.

The music is good and is the only good thing about the game.

This is of course as we weigh the game against it's peers. If we were to rate it alone, let's say if it didn't have castlevania on the title, then I would be inclined to be less harsh on it. But it can't be rated by itself because Castlevania is in the friggin title.

[Anonymous No.3629736]

>>3629721

>the story

I thought it was pretty cool. I mean, story isn't really important on CV games, basically you go and kill drac, but 64 had some cool stuff, especially playing with Carrie.
What about the story is bad according to you?

>the platforming

The platforming is decent, but there's a few instances where the camera makes it hard. But otherwise the controls work.

>the combat

Nothing wrong with it. You press buttons, you whip (or shoot magic if using Carrie). There is also a dodge mechanic (tilt the stick either left, right or down along with the jump button). Sub-weapons work almost like in the classic games too. It's not super deep, but it isn't bad either.

>fuccboi anime Dracula

What about pic related?

>ugly ass 3D

use a CRT

>monster choices

You mean monsters that already appeared on previous games, like the giant bull that loses his skin and flesh from Rondo of Blood? Or regular enemies like skeletons and knights that are also on every other Castlevania?
CV64 actually had some of the best enemies, it had actual fucking vampires.

>horrible menu system

You press start, and you use the item you need (which is rarely, unless you suck and need to refill HP). What's horrible about it?

>crystals instead of hearts

I'll give you that. Seems to be something taken from Bloodlines.

>This is of course as we weigh the game against it's peers.

It's 2D peers or 3D peers?

Yeah, against 2D vanias, it's not as good, CV works better on 2D, period.
But against the 3D ones, ehh.... I liked the PS2 games, but I feel CV64 is truer to the classic series, the PS2 games are IGA-ized. The PS360 games feel like something completely different, didn't felt like castlevania at all to me.

[Anonymous No.3629749]

>>3629736
>i feel cv64 is truer to the classic
I'd be inclined to agree if the platforming didn't exist of hanging on ledges, jumping against your camera, and all the reasons already listed. It feels like a poor adaption of castlevania in 3D.

>use a CRT
I was using a CRT when I first played it.

>What about the story is bad according to you?
Most delivery of the lines, "as long as we has hope" and what have you. Some nigga pretending like he's shaft when he looks like he does. The entirety of everything wrong with the love interest.

>nothing wrong with it
Your characters body obscures what you're even doing. What's more the strategic element in the first games is completely eliminated but it doesn't even do what it's aiming for.

Zelda works in 3D because they realized that the combat would need to be updated to fit a 3D world. 64 takes basic attacks and makes the entire game about them with far more dense enemy placements.

>what about pic related
And of course Legacy of Darkness Dracula is an exception. When 64 first launched, this was not the case.

>you mean monsters
Oh i'm sorry I missed the motorcycles that were in every other Castlevania. Not to be offensive mind,

>Seems to be something taken from Bloodlines.
That's not exactly a plus. not that I dislike bloodlines

>The PS2 games are IGA-ized
Sure, but they realize they're on a new console with a new layout and play to those strengths. The fucked up part of LoI is the story but it has some neat one liners that, while unintentionally cheesy, fit.
"I'll kill you and the night" Also, the whip controls inventively, with you being able to do shit like yank enemies in, because you're using a whip.

Curse of Darkness is a real offender of iganization but it's not even attempting to try to fill the shoes of other titles. It's an iga metroidvania. And I won't make an opinion on how I feel about those because people love them for their own reasons.

>Carrie
Out of room!

[Anonymous No.3629761]

>>3629749
>hanging on ledges

Alright, yeah, this is unlike Castlevania, but it's not necessarily bad.

>I was using a CRT when I first played it.

Then you must remember it's a 5th gen game. The game is often praised for its "atmosphere", and besides music and sound effects, graphics are also another reason. They're of course low poly with low res textures, but somehow the devs made it work. I actually got shocked the first time I played it and saw the ray burning down the tree, I actually enjoyed exploring the mansion with all its different rooms, with variety of ceiling decorations and other little details. It's a well polished game in terms of graphics, I think.

>Most delivery of the lines, "as long as we has hope" and what have you.

I don't remember this particular line but eh, typos and engrish are kinda common on /vr/ games.

>Some nigga pretending like he's shaft when he looks like he does.

Who? CV64 has some really cool characters, that may be among my favorite in the series (for non-protagonist characters I mean). For example Renon.

>love interest

You mean Rosa? Her scene with the roses was memorable and really cool/spooky.
But again, there's not really a lot of deep, well written stuff on older titles either. Richter and Anette is a well-written couple? They're as generic as it gets, at least Rosa has a mystery around her.

>Your characters body obscures what you're even doing.

Never had this issue personally.

>What's more the strategic element in the first games is completely eliminated but it doesn't even do what it's aiming for.

Depends, in some parts you need to be strategic, the sewer part comes to mind, these fucking merman. But yeah most enemies feel more like a mini-boss encounter, rather than a simple obstacle like in the classic 2D games, that's true, but that's also true for the other 3D games.

(cont

[Anonymous No.3629770]

>>3629749
>When 64 first launched, this was not the case.

I actually never played LoD yet, only CV64. The old Dracula appears at the beginning of the game, after you beat the 2nd level and is the faux final boss of the game.
Anyway "anime fuccboi" designs have been a thing since Rondo.

>Oh i'm sorry I missed the motorcycles

Those were the BEST thing in the game, and the best thing in CV period. Well, not really, but they are damn badass

[Anonymous No.3629778]

>>3629770
>the best thing in CV period
Listen I'm inclined to disagree based on how out of place that is alone. I'm sure a twin headed frankenstein monster wielding flaming chainsaws would be equally metal but it don't belong in this series.

>>3629761
>Richter and Anette is a well-written couple?
No. neither was Maria. It didn't work the first time they did it, it still doesn't work. It has never worked. Soma and Mina, Trevor and Julia, it doesn't work in Castlevania. Get rid of this shit, nobody likes this. projection over

>The game is often praised for its "atmosphere", and besides music and sound effects, graphics are also another reason
Don't mistake this for calling you false, but I don't remember this game being praised for atmosphere. Graphics sure. I remember reading about it in nintendo power and buying it. But atmosphere? I remember r-type getting praised for that but, not this.

>never had this issue
I mean your attacks themselves. Not that you can't see what you're doing. Your body literally takes up too much of the screen so you can't see the finer details of your own motion.

>for the other 3D games
They're more action than anything else. They give you interesting ways to attack and the strategy is instead based on resource management (LoI) or customization (CoD). They realize it's a 3D adaptation and so approach it that way.

>really cool characters
...you're kidding. This is only slightly less offensive than the crap they pull in Aria of Sorrow.

>have been around since Rondo
A whopping 1 game in the series before SotN fucked everything up and spawned generations of metroidvanias with the only exception being Adventure Rebirth; a side project by an outside company who did the other rebirth games.

Now, I'm not trying to convince you to not like the game. I'm telling you why I and most people I know would not recommend 64 to other people. It's out of place.

And damn it I'm out of room again; tl;dr Carrie shouldn't even exist.

[Anonymous No.3629792]

>>3629770
>motorcycles
Doesn't Portrait of Ruin have motorcycles too? I will say that that gives a heavy inclination to buy.

[Anonymous No.3629795]

How do I use magic and shit in Symphony of the Night? That blue bar keeps refilling and I dunno how to use it.

[Anonymous No.3629803]

>>3629778
>Now, I'm not trying to convince you to not like the game.

I know, I'm not trying to convince you to like it either.
I just think it's not to be skipped, and I'm saying why I like it.

[Anonymous No.3629805]

>>3629795

You can buy magic techniques on the library. They're mostly useless since some weapons in the game are so OP, but they've got some nice visuals. They're mostly performed by doing U motion inputs like a hadouken, etc. Which is kind of a pain in the ass with the PS controller.

[Anonymous No.3629813]

>>3629805
Fuck it.
I'm just past the librarian in the clock tower trying to jump over falling shit and I keep falling. Got frustrated.

[NESfag No.3630547]

>>3629805
>They're mostly useless

You kidding, Dark Metamorphosis, Hellfire, Tetra Spirit and Soul Steal are all super usefull.

>>3629795
You don't have to put the magic books. You just need to make the input correctly and it will appear in the list as "known". Buying the books just tells you what the input is.
It may take a little while to get the inputs correctly but you'll get used to it.

Keep in mind that higher magics require more MP so you won't be able to cast them just yet.

[NESfag No.3630562]

[NESfag No.3630564]

[NESfag No.3630568]

[Anonymous No.3630614]

>>3630547

I never needed them, only learned about them after I was super OP in the game and used them just to look at the pretty visuals.

[Anonymous No.3630702]

>keep dying in stage 9-1 of Castlevania IV
>make it a little further every other try, like usual, but this one's tricky
>I know I'll beat it, but it's frustrating
>for the hell of it, check my old dusty copy of Jeff Rovin's HOW TO WIN AT SUPER NINTENDO GAMES
>only covers to stage 8
>only skill will get you through the rest of the game
Well, I guess I'm fucked.

[Anonymous No.3630767]

Who thought this was a good idea

[Anonymous No.3631192]

Help, convince me not to go out and buy Order of Ecclesia, considering I'm still playing Castlevania IV and might try II next (inb4 don't do it), and I have a tendency to drop things suddenly and will probably not give a shit about Castlevania or vampires in a couple of weeks.

Or convince me. I mean look at her, SHE'S SO HOT.

[Anonymous No.3631212]

>>3630767

Ayami Kojima

I honestly like her art. Sometimes she does the boys a little too faggy for my tastes, but her Maria is pretty alright.

[NESfag No.3631219]

>>3631192
Emulate it instead.

[Anonymous No.3631230]

>>3631192
Level design and actual gameplay is super boring compared to CVIV. Only the bonus levels have interesting platforming, the rest of the game is basically a grinding based action RPG.

Just fap to something and then go back to CVIV.

[Anonymous No.3631235]

>>3631192
Keep playing IV. Metroidvanias are for fags.

[Anonymous No.3631258]

>>3631219
Eww.

>>3631230
>>3631235
My resolve is strengthened. Thank you.

[Anonymous No.3631516]

>>3631212
Yeah, I like her art too, her adult Maria in SOTN is pretty swell. But honestly changing her dress is a crime. I know it's supposed to be related to development problem but still.

Also why are they keep changing her eye color

[NESfag No.3632326]

>>3631258
>Eww.

I honestly I tried playing all 6 portable Igavanias on the actual consoles (got several GBAs, a DS and flashcarts here) but I thought it was a chore on actual hardware. I don't think they make good portable games.

Playing the DS ones emulated, I use my 24" widescreen in portrait mode and a PS2 pad, and it's super comfy, and the games look gorgious that way too. Emulation of those games is perfect too.

[Anonymous No.3632432]

>>3632326
Eh, I just don't like using my computer for anything other than writing, Photoshop, and porn (sometimes all three at once). I don't really like the troubleshooting and setup of emulation and don't want to bog down my computer and generally don't like sitting in front of my computer for yet another activity.

Last thing I emulated was Silent Hill 2 on my laptop, which went fine after I got it working, but I still rather felt like I'd rather play it on a PS2.

[Anonymous No.3633707]

CVIV fag. Decided to also pick up CV64 for nostalgia and yuks. It is not an abomination, but man is it clunky and honestly hard.

Also Carrie a qt.

[Anonymous No.3633750]

Makes me sad that castlevania is kill.

[Anonymous No.3633754]

>>3629662
Circle is ass juice

[Anonymous No.3634151]

>SOTN was supposed to be a spinoff

Is this true?

[NESfag No.3634251]

>>3634151
Why does it matter. Resident Evil was supposed to be a FPS. Then it was supposed to have robots and cybords. Who the fuck cares, most games completely change during development from the base idea.

[Anonymous No.3634271]

>>3634151
>>3634251

According to IGA, it's a spinoff because it's "Akumajou dracula X" the "X" marking it's not part of the main series or something. Because of that, he felt free to change the formula of the classic games.

This doesn't make much sense because Rondo of Blood was also called Dracula X, but it's a classicvania, same with SNES Dracula X (or XX in Japan). Also, IGA jumped into SOTN's development in the mid of the development, if I'm not mistaken, the game was being handled by the team from Rondo, I think.

But in one episode of Game Center CX there's an interview with IGA and he says that he considers SOTN to be a spinoff. Whether or not you want to take his word or not is up to you.

[Anonymous No.3634282]

>>3630547
>super useful
More like super broken. Soul steal literally breaks the game's difficulty even harder than it is.

>>3633750
I'm happy as fuck Castlevania is kill. Konami can stop ruining the series with their shitty western developed reboots.

Only we could take a game stepped deep into 80's and 90's horror and taken straight from novels mythology and cult classics and RUIN it with generic western interpretation of medieval fantasy.

Not that the series was any good lore wise when it went from classic to metroidvania forever but damn it at least it kept a little of the aesthetics. And that alone let me stomach the fact that Dracula is sealed in a moon by some shrine maidens from Japan .

[Anonymous No.3634793]

>>3634271
Well Iga's a moron, the X was because Rondo was the tenth Castlevania game.

[Anonymous No.3634803]

I like how Symphony of the Night's "non-linear" which really just means "backtracking constantly"