Gaming Best Castlevania on the DS?

[knoxvillz]

I say just play them all, they will all give you a different experience. My fav on the DS has to DoS, i loved the castle layout, the soul system and the different variety of weapons, plus the Julius Mode was great. PoR was nice as it was fun playing as a belmont, but the tag aspect of it put many people off and it was a pain to level up the sub weapons, the portraits were nice but a lot of the rooms looked the same and the maps were quite small but i thought Richter mode was fun. OoE is alright to me, i like the level designs but i hate how short the maps are, the glyph system is good but the lack of weapons kinds of puts me off. I liked the difficulty of the game, it was nice to have a challenge as the other two were a bit on the easy side for me.

 

[Toni Plutonij]

I enjoyed Down of Sorrow the best, because I played it right after I finished Aria of Sorrow on GBA....So it felt like one big game, and it was really fun..

But I like all Castlevanias, it's a great game, and every one of them has it's pros and cons!

 

[SoulAnger]

Order of Ecclesia protagonist, she gives me boners, don't ask

+1, the box art was absolutely the best, but not quite with the others though.

I hope jap's are horny about her too.

/me searches shanoa at favorite h-site
After 3 hrs... Oh yeah i was searching for shanoa.

(H are the ultimate time wasters)

 

[Searinox]

Depends on what you want from a Castlevania game.

DoS: shortest, best gameplay, characters from AoS if you liked them, but highly repetitive story even items are the same

PoR: map-wise longer than DoS but still takes around 8h to finish, has some of the feel of older castlevania series stories, no soul system but awesome co-op and a similar system

OoE: somewhere between DoS and PoR in terms of map size, but lasts LONGER than any of them, best story so far, YES Shanoa is hot, poorest ability system, grahpics very similar to PoR, first castlevania in a while to feature more than just the damn castle

My recommendation for starting the series is DoS if you like gameplay.

OoE is made for the story, and for length. A game for those who want to see something new in Castlevania.

PoR doesn't strike with anything other than the co-op mode. Its story is somewhat classic. You can say it's in-between the two with everything: male AND female characters, play length, ability system better than OoE but worse than DoS...

 

[Apex]

I've not beat OoE yet, but as of now I'd have to go with PoR, I liked playing as Richter again, he's got some fun moves and so does the little girl, and the final boss is one hell of a challenge if you're under leveled. I didn't like harvesting 9 souls, so I guess these last two helped with the item hunting, but it also got rid of a lot of cool abilities. Don't get me wrong, I've loved all three.

 

[Killermech]

Easily Dawn of Sorrow, then Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia are fairly similiar in placement.
Portrait of Ruin was big and there was tons of stuff to do. Order of Ecclesia is easily the shortest one of them in terms of 'collecting' and extras.
Order of Ecclesia was a big meh to me overall, not a bad Castlevania game. But everything good about the series felt like it was taken down a notch.
Portrait of Ruin was a bit meh as well, just not as much.

 

[Mei-o]

Order of Ecclesia protagonist, she gives me boners, don't ask
+1, the box art was absolutely the best, but not quite with the others though.

I hope jap's are horny about her too.

/me searches shanoa at favorite h-site
After 3 hrs... Oh yeah i was searching for shanoa.

(H are the ultimate time wasters)

I failed at trying to find one this morning but considering that this game is a really new one...

QUOTE(Searinox @ Oct 28 2008, 08:02 PM)

YES Shanoa is hot

OF COURSE



Anyone notice that the bosses are a bit too easy? I'm just at the sand shark part so I wouldn't really know.

 

[Destructobot]

Anyone notice that the bosses are a bit too easy? I'm just at the sand shark part so I wouldn't really know.

I wouldn't say they're too easy, but they definitely aren't as hard as most people make them out to be. Death and Dracula in particular seemed much easier to me in this one than in the other DS Castlevanias.

 

[imz]

it would be better if you made this topic a poll

 

[Joey R.]

Wow, I was *just* thinking about this.

IMO, DoS =/> PoR >>>(...)>>> OoE, with "(...)" translated as "add as many > as you want".

Dawn of Sorrow: IMO, the best in terms of gameplay. The Soul System is awesome, giving a ton to collect and in terms of customisation. It is rather short, and feels kinda dated when compared to the other two, but still, the best in the lot, IMO. And the extra modes are the best. Come on, a mini-SotN is made of pure win

Portrait of Ruin: If I had to choose between PoR and DoS, DoS would win by the SLIMMEST margin. I love PoR. It has the best features (amount of items, dual-character system, magic and weapons, etc.), but it suffers from a repetitive map configuration. The use of the same map layout for the second part of the game is the main flaw of this game. The extra modes are "meh", at best, to be honest.

Order of Ecclesia: I don't understand why everyone loves this game so much. I couldn't advance in the story a lot, just because I couldn't bare the terrible gameplay. Yes, I think it's terrible. They Glyph System is awful -- it has you CONSTANTLY switching sets to do SOME damage on the enemies. The game is hard all by itself, we don't need an added nuisance like that one, thank you. Besides, is there any logic behind the Glyph System? Are you using the same "mystic force" that powers the Glyphs to swing a sword and to cast an elemental spell? Wow. Like Rayder said, I find the game to be too hard and frustrating to be of any fun.

 

[JDandy]

Never played DoS (couldn't stomach what they did with the portraits).

PoR was super fun, the co-op system was great. Painting hopping was kind of a cop-out though it reminded me of mario64, so all is good in the end.
Trevor mode was good fun too.

OoE is awesome, especially in hard mode. Wifi shop mode is a cool addition too. Race mode is not so fun.
OoE has the BEST castle in all three ds castlevanias as far as I'm concerned. Albus mode sucks though, and once you get your hands on two death rings and the Nitesco+Melio Secare Glyph union (which means you deal 1000+damage per 15 hearts) the challenge disappears.

All in all though... play both XD

 

[Ferrariman]

Umm... I don't like OoE that much, because it's not a castle

I have to say PoR, because I played it way more than DoS.

 

[Frederica Bernkastel]

Umm... I don't like OoE that much, because it's not a castle

I have to say PoR, because I played it way more than DoS.

There is one at the end. OoE is my favourite cause:
1. Dawn of Sorrow was boring, set in some HQ, and too "innotive" (ice blocks). Also you need to have completed the first one to understand it at all.
2. Portrait of Ruin is good, has a good storyline but FEATURES RELIGION (always a bad thing) and was too easy with a AI controlled partner. I had to play as Charlotte for most of it to have a challenge (no AI character)
3. Order of Ecclesia has the best story, the most locations and most spells. Also getting all the villagers to trust you and like you (quests and stuff) takes ages. And a plus story-mode as Albus makes it better, I like rapid-fire weapons.

 

[Zendrik]

Of the three DS games, I prefer PoR. The dual characters were refreshing and being able to lvl up the sub-weapons kept me in the game far past beating the game. In fact, it is the only Castlevania game, other than CotM, that I actually attempted to 100% complete. There was just so much to do in PoR. But I haven't played EoO yet for I fear I will be sucked into in for days and I have a busy semester of school. But I may add to this topic after I have played EoO and give an updated opinion.

P.S. Outside of the DS, I think the BEST Castlevania game is Circle of the Moon on GBA.

 

[MegamanSPX]

Well for me its Dawn of Sorrow, its the sole reason I got a DS in the first place. I really grinded my copy almost to dust. Maxed out lvl with complete souls and item drops of each monster. My only complaint was the enemy list should be a bit longer. PoR has like 150 or so compared to DoS with only 120.

 

[War]

So far, Ecclesia is really good. It's harder than other 'Vanias I've played though.

 

[Raestloz]

DoS: a good one, still alone, still utilizes equipments (physical), 2 hands style, and looks like older Castlevanias

PoR: a pretty good one, although I'm kinda sick with anime drawing style at the moment played it
OoE: I've played only to the part where Albus stole your glyphs, no physical weapon, I don't actually like that style, and the portraits are not an improvement, SotN FTW!

But, wait, you're asking for a DS CV, go for DoS at the moment

 

[GeekyGuy]

I can't imagine going wrong with any of the three on DS, and I'd be hard-pressed to pick a favorite. DoS had so much variety with weapons and souls, and collecting and powering up souls was a lot like loot lust. Though most of the abilities weren't necessary to complete the game, it sure was fun as hell finding everything you possibly could.

PoR was really cool because you could switch out characters on the fly, and it added a neat dynamic. But overall, it wasn't a drastic departure from DoS. I appreciated the 3D elements they threw in there, though.

I opened up a good bit of the overworld in Ecclesia before putting it down to play Web of Shadows, and I must say, it's shaping up to be my favorite of the bunch. The mechanics are tighter, more relevant, and I appreciate the departure from one free-roaming castle (though I love that too) to a more mission-based approach. And rather than throw a ton of items and abilities at you, it's so far, giving me more stuff that's actually useful for whatever mission I'm currently running through. Plus, I like the way they made the glyphs require a sort of cooldown for usage. The magnet mechanic, too, is pretty friggin' cool, and it's used well during boss battles. Lastly, the art style and music are a nice change from the other two. DoS was total camp, and I loved the game for it. But it's nice they're not staying stagnant. Still want to see at least the main character become polygonal. Don't care what anyone else says.

 

[Seven]

Dawn of Sorrow, and once you're finished with that, go for Order of Ecclesia. Both are pretty challenging in their own ways.

 

[Dark]

I like DOS it was the best Castlevania on the NDS for me. I though POR was really boring and OoE was to hard.