Been playing this quite a lot on the PS5 and the short summary is that this was the collection I've been asking for, with any fears of messy implementation quashed, and with extras I didn't know I wanted. It's out on digital right now, with physicals via Limited Run available from the end of the week. Here's the official trailer:
So what you get is:
- Dawn of Sorrow (DS)
- Portrait of Ruin (DS)
- Order of Ecclesia (DS)
- Haunted Castle (Arcade)
- Haunted Castle Revisited (NEW!)
First up, the ports. Between the dual screens and the touch requirements, moving DS games to console has every opportunity to go wrong, but I was pleasantly surprised from the off as to how this has been handled. The default display option here is to have the play screen alongside the two alternative displays (map + stats) stacked vertically to the side. I posted this in another thread already, but here for visual ref:
This absolutely works for me. I remember being excited the first time I played Dawn of Sorrow and being able to have the map up the whole time while I played, and this goes even further. Visually, these games also look great blown up to size.
In terms of touch controls, thankfully the dependency reduces with each game, but even in early ol' Dawn of Sorrow, there's thankfully not too much that's time-sensitive. The one big worry - drawing of sigils to close out boss fights - is able to be done via button presses instead, whereas the more relaxed clearing of blocks and the like is easily enough done via your console's touch method of choice or with the right analogue stick. I can definitely see there being a case for the Switch ports being the nearest neighbour to the originals here, as let's face it, the PS5 touch panel is pony.
As well as top-level options like different language ROMs, art galleries, music players and the like, there's the usual range of modern conveniences dropped in to the games too, with monster compendiums, rewind features and so on. Everyone knows that Dracula's weak to crosses and garlic and so on, but there's a bonus here of being able to utilise his biggest weakness: save states.
Trophy sets for those who care are pretty straightforward - each of the DS games makes up 1/3 of the list, and getting the true ending and taking on... one of the additional modes... will see you finish the list. So far I've re-done Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin, and am a good chunk into Ecclesia. I've left myself Haunted Castle Revisited as a final, sumptuous dessert to get to once I'm done with Ecclesia. I've seen a good number of clips and it looks like a brand new classic-Vania, with the heft from Haunted Castle remaining but with M2 going to town on new layouts and presentation - essentially this is CV Rebirth 2, and I can't wait to try it.
Some other things I'm remembering: Portrait of Ruin's first bonus mode is EXCELLENT. Ecclesia has some good parts but the level design is not one of them - so many flat and/or copied layouts!
So what you get is:
- Dawn of Sorrow (DS)
- Portrait of Ruin (DS)
- Order of Ecclesia (DS)
- Haunted Castle (Arcade)
- Haunted Castle Revisited (NEW!)
First up, the ports. Between the dual screens and the touch requirements, moving DS games to console has every opportunity to go wrong, but I was pleasantly surprised from the off as to how this has been handled. The default display option here is to have the play screen alongside the two alternative displays (map + stats) stacked vertically to the side. I posted this in another thread already, but here for visual ref:
This absolutely works for me. I remember being excited the first time I played Dawn of Sorrow and being able to have the map up the whole time while I played, and this goes even further. Visually, these games also look great blown up to size.
In terms of touch controls, thankfully the dependency reduces with each game, but even in early ol' Dawn of Sorrow, there's thankfully not too much that's time-sensitive. The one big worry - drawing of sigils to close out boss fights - is able to be done via button presses instead, whereas the more relaxed clearing of blocks and the like is easily enough done via your console's touch method of choice or with the right analogue stick. I can definitely see there being a case for the Switch ports being the nearest neighbour to the originals here, as let's face it, the PS5 touch panel is pony.
As well as top-level options like different language ROMs, art galleries, music players and the like, there's the usual range of modern conveniences dropped in to the games too, with monster compendiums, rewind features and so on. Everyone knows that Dracula's weak to crosses and garlic and so on, but there's a bonus here of being able to utilise his biggest weakness: save states.
Trophy sets for those who care are pretty straightforward - each of the DS games makes up 1/3 of the list, and getting the true ending and taking on... one of the additional modes... will see you finish the list. So far I've re-done Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin, and am a good chunk into Ecclesia. I've left myself Haunted Castle Revisited as a final, sumptuous dessert to get to once I'm done with Ecclesia. I've seen a good number of clips and it looks like a brand new classic-Vania, with the heft from Haunted Castle remaining but with M2 going to town on new layouts and presentation - essentially this is CV Rebirth 2, and I can't wait to try it.
Some other things I'm remembering: Portrait of Ruin's first bonus mode is EXCELLENT. Ecclesia has some good parts but the level design is not one of them - so many flat and/or copied layouts!
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