Castlevania Order of Ecclesia (DS)

[Dogg Thang]

I finished this on the bus this morning (well, I still haven't beaten the

->Open Spoiler<-

Training Hall or Large Cavern

) and I'd agree with your take on it, albeit with a little less enthusiasm.

It has been quite some time since a game made such a poor first impression with me and then completely turned me around as it went on.

Once the game gets going, it just seems to settle on a perfect line of difficulty - nothing, unlike most modern CV games, is too easy and yet nothing is frustratingly hard. I saw the Game Over screen quite a few times and, yet, with a bit of thought and careful choice of equipment and glyphs, pretty much everything becomes doable and even easy. Many bosses later in the game totally kicked my ass in seconds and then, when I figured out a system, the time I actually beat them, I did it with no need for potions or health restores. It was all in the learning.

They got that aspect pretty spot-on and it made the game really rewarding.

I do wish there was more effort put into the actual level design and they made use of some of the real platforming potential (as they do in the

->Open Spoiler<-

Training Hall

). I think that would have added so much more and would have made a better first impression on those early levels, which I found seriously dull.

And, most of all, I wish they would stop being so goddam cheap on the reuse. For me, it really negatively affects the overall package because there is no unifying style in the enemies. Shanoa, with her crisp lines and clean colour, looks like she comes from a different game to most of the SotN sprites. Then others (the floaty goat-buddhas for example) are much more cartoony. It looks like it was thrown together from random bits which, for enemies, I guess it was. I really wish they'd start from scratch, decide what style they are using, and stick to it.

But, yeah, a decent game.

[abigsmurf]

Just started and I'm fairly impressed. Pretty backgrounds what looks to be interesting gameplay and a good structure that's a mix of metroidvania and classic castlevania.

One thing: anyone notice that this game will turn off the power light when loading? Not move it from green to red, but actually turn it off. Could be my ancient DS Phat giving up the ghost but I've not noticed it in any other game.

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah it does that on my Lite too. I thought it was doing a wifi search or something but I honestly don't know.

[ShadowDancer]

Did it on mine too (brand new ds) not sure why either.

[abigsmurf]

finished it now.

Agree that the platforming is dissapointing, too many of the stages are just straight lines and exploring the castle is a bit underwhelming as it's pretty much all accessible straight away. Like Dogg said, there isn't enough themeing with the enemies either. Some stages look cool, the stormy sea, but there are are too many cliff levels.

The secret areas are underwhelming too. Far too short with poor rewards.

Overall though it's fun. Perfect difficulty curve aside from the crab boss (took me about 5 attempts but I could see people being stuck on it a long time) and dracula (those damn bats). The glyph system is really well done.

[Strider]

Surprised at the lack of interest in this game. It's a great return to form is arguably the best handheld version (in my humble opinion of course) and effortlessly treads the line between the newer Castlevania's and the originals. It also looks fantastic with beautiful looking locations, great enemies and some genuinely well designed and thought out bosses. I'm still longing for a co-op mode, but this is great stuff and it has a genuinely dark and interestingly mature plot as well.

[SuperBeatBoy]

There isn't any lack of interest on my part, i would be talking about this. But my yesasia order went missing, so i'm waiting for them to recieve it in stock so they can ship me another one.

I want to play this sooooo bad.

[Shoju]

I'm also waiting on my order of this from Amazon (free delivery).

[Dogg Thang]

You had me until you got to the 'mature plot'. But, yes, it's a good game. I guess they have been so samey and a little phoned in (even though enjoyable) for five or six handheld iterations that CV games probably moved from 'must have' to 'I'll pick that up at some stage perhaps'.

[SuperBeatBoy]

Anything is more mature than the anime stylings of the previous two.

[Kaladron]

Got hit by insomnia at 5am today, so decided to put a couple of hours into this. I was stuck on the crab boss at the top of the lighthouse, wondering why my hits wouldn't hurt him, for ages. Took me a while to realise that you can't kill him in the usual way.

Silly me.

[Strider]

Anything is more mature than the anime stylings of the previous two.

I think it's pretty mature compared to the vast amount of breezy plots that appear in most Castlevania games and DS titles in general. Regaqrdless, it's easily the best handheld castlevania so far (obviously discounting the PSP game).

[SuperBeatBoy]

It certainly looks it from what i've seen.

[JamesS]

It was good while it lasted, but I'm finding less reason to go back to it than with, say, Dawn of Sorrow. Getting all the glyphs is fairly easy, and there's nothing like the DoS weapon creation system to give you a reason to play through again.

Even when the game opened up towards the end it was still pretty linear, too. Each new ability really only felt like it got you past the next obstacle, rather than opening up a load of new bits of the map that you'd been unable to reach before. I'm not sure the fusion of old and new style Castlevania really worked that well. It seems like you just get weaker versions of each style stuck together.

[rmoxon]

Just got this, as I think was mentioned earlier in the thread the level design at the start of the game isnt exactly great, as its mainly you just walking along in a stright line for a few of the levels, but being a castlevania fan i'm still enjjoying it alot.

Also its nice to have a chalenging castlevania game, somthing which there hasnt really been since the nes days to be honest.