Gaming Castlevania POR

[eyemessiah]

I'm just wondering. I have tried to play 3 different Castlevania games (one on the PS, and two on the DS), based on how positive people are about them on forums e.t.c. but I have never really "got" any of them.

So I am just wondering, what is it you like about Castlevania so much?

(seriously, I'm just curious, I'm not trying to wind up any Vania fans!)

thanks

 

[Danieluz]

Im also curious about this =X

 

[BoneMonkey]

i like the RPG elements castlevania is classic it up there with mario

i noticed that the ppl who dont like the games in the seris cuase of the difficulty and TONS of backtracking

 

[SpaceJump]

I plays like the 2D-Metroid games with added RPG-elements.

 

[Moneo]

Well... what's there not to like about a 2d platformer with free exploration and RPG elements?

Plus, the games are extremely well executed. The difficulty is just right, the graphics and animations are top-notch, there's a lot of variety in the enemies and their attacks... and some of the boss fights are just awesome (think Granfalloon, heh).

Also, I can't help mentioning that Symphony of the Night has one of the best game sountracks ever.

 

[spokenrope]

To go along with what everybody else has said, there's a style to the recent Castlevania games that's just awesome. Everything is very polished and fits the theme of the game, but there's plenty of offbeat quirks that keep things really interesting.

Take the enemies, for example. There's one enemy in POR that's a Romeo/lover looking guy. If you attack him with the male character, he fights you back. But if you are instead using the female character, he doesn't attack. He just bows down and offers you a rose while you bash his brains in.

Or the invisible man is another really cool guy. All you see is a coat get flung to the floor on the other side of the screen. Then you attack the guy until he's dead and then he gets silhouetted in blood. Very cool.

 

[TeraS]

i loved the GBA Castlevania series but i dont seem to be fond of the ones on the DS. Ive noticed that many oeople are calling this game and others such as mario an RPG. IT NOT A RPG but a platformer game. RPG games are like Final Fantasy 3, contact etc

 

[animalsex]

No one called it an RPG here..I guess you are talking to all of the people that aren't reading this thread though, makes sense.

 

[Elrinth]

I like castlevania because
1. it's a damn good sidescroller
2. I loved the first, second and third. therefore I continue with the series
3. Every Castlevania has had atleast one damn good song, and it's still coming great music.. I love the music.
4. The unique and cool monsters/bosses

other elements have come into the series which I really love.
1. Level-up system
2. Equipment for your playable character.

 

[balpen]

well it just a good rpg

 

[DownwardSpyral]

Aside from the Genesis Sonic's and any Metroid title, Castlevania has the best soundtrack I've heard in a recent game. I'm a huge 2d scroller fan, so I loved Metroid. In recent releases, Castlevania has fallen under flak that it played too much like Metroid, but that actually interested me more and I ended up buying both DS titles for the franchise. Games are a matter of taste. Good game doesn't mean you'll like it. RPG elements and a ton of replay value draw a lot of people to the Castlevania titles.

 

[spokenrope]

well it just a good rpg

Correct. It's just a solid straightforward RPG. Probably my favorite RPG.

 

[VmprHntrD]

Actually I wish I could tell you because so far I'm not happy with it and find in many many ways it very inferior to the previous game Dawn of Sorrow across the board.

Story is weaker, gameplay is somewhat canned with the swap out/team up things, overall non-boss stuff is overly simple and the bosses are either too easy or aggravating as you need damn good timing with their basic repetitive movements. Cap that off with re-using nearly most the graphics from previous GBA outings for various creatures, and going with a lot of mini castles vs one fat one just kinda sucked the fun out of it.

Bought it along with Star Trek and Asphalt Urban 2 a couple days later and with those and having FF3 from Christmas, then bagging Hotel Dusk when it came out there's been no motivation to pick it up again. ST and HD are done, FF3 is like 2/3 there, and AU2 is just arcadey do whenever. This DS Castlevania is the first in this style to truly disappoint me. I've just pushed it only as far as up to where you need to fight one of these sister girls (won't say more not to ruin stuff) and just quit there.

 

[Takrin]

i have no clue either, i just play it and for some reason enjoy it, prob my conditioning from early childhood when i went over to a girls house to hang and she was playing Castlevania and got me hooked. hmm i was like 6 or so, its like mickyd and king, it taste like crap but early childhood brainwashing makes us beleive it tastes good.

 

[Azimuth]

i kinda like the castlevania franchise but the thing i hate most is the constant feeling of not knowing what the hell is going on. I just end up wandering the castle till i reach a boss and by the end iv finished the game with a feeling of emptyness.

 

[eyemessiah]

Wow, a lot of opinions, thanks!!

I think basically the problem for me is that I haven't played a platformer since I abandoned consoles (after Megadrive, DS is my first system) and afaik there has never been a good platformer on the PC (so I haven't been playing them for about a decade. as PC has been my main gaming system) so I suppose I'm not really well equipped to tell a good platformer from a bad one.

I don't know if I'll be able to get back into platformers (JUMPING PUZZLES, ARG!!!!!!) but I'll keep POR about for a bit to see if it clicks.

thanks again,

 

[VmprHntrD]

You know I can agree with that Deadcell. I really truly miss the stage based Castlevania games because even if they were simple action there were a TON of stages (think the SNES one,) the challenge was hard, and you always had that straight forward objective worth meeting.

That thing you speak of is the one huge flaw with the new Castlevania format, wandering around if you don't end up walking the right way and triggering some event to sorta move things along with a very barely strung story to keep it going.

 

[GBA_Temper]

I have never played castlevania but it must be that good...

 

[CatScam]

I know everyone has different tastes, so I don’t like to bash anyone’s favorites.
But other then online I can’t find anyone who even slightly likes this game. What
I have found is no matter how goofy or bad the game is, if there is some kind of RPG
element to it there is the RPG fan base. Because of this I now have to try every game
myself, it seems that if the game is from a Anime cartoon or has the slightest RPG
element there is someone who is going to say good things about the game no matter
how bad others may think it is. And I love platform games, but good music or graphics
don’t make the game any funner.

 

[Covarr]

While it's true that good graphics scarcely make a game "funner" aside from the occasional shock of seeing something just absolutely breathtakingly good when you first start playing, music has a huge impact on the fun factor of a game. Like, I could never bring myself to play any Castlevania, Megaman, or classic Sonic game without the sound on, because the music is fun to listen to, which therefore makes the game more fun to play.

I personally like the DS and GBA castlevania games because they have good music, because the controls are fine tuned so that any mistake I make is my own fault and not due to the controls, and because they don't make the common developer mistake of requiring dumb luck instead of skill.