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Lttp: Castlevania series

M

Mr_Moogle

Member
I just recently purchased a Nintendo DS and I plan to track down a copy of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, one of the top rated games. However, I have never actually played a Castlevania game before.

I was wondering where to start. I know that SOTN is generally considered the best in the series and I will have that very soon. Which of the GBA or Snes games are worth the time? Do I really need to keep up with the storyline, or does each game have a stand-alone plot line?

Should I skip the 3D castlvania's altogether? I hear they are pretty shit in comparison.
 
there isnt really a complicated story or plot running through the series, more like a series of things that are common to many games.

first of all, often the hero is a member of the Belmont family, although in the more recent games they are starting to move in another direction. throughout the centuries they have been "vampire hunters" and whenever ole Drac manages to start making waves again they show up. traditional family weapon is the whip. Alucard, Dracula's son is also the hero the some of the games, most notably SOTN.

several enemies are very common in the series, such as fish men, flying medusa heads, fire breathing bone pillars, etc. the special weapons you can use: cross/boomerang, dagger, axe, holy water have been a constant through most of the games.

the last few games in the series I bought were SOTN, Aria of Sorrow, Lament of Innocence, and one other recent one on GBA. The GBA ones play very similar to SOTN
 
Get the Aria of Sorrow/Harmony of Dissonance double pack. Aria leads right into Dawn of Sorrow. Harmony is pretty weak for the series.

You should also get Symphony of the Night for Playstation, as it's such an amazing game, but it takes place centuries before DoS.

Still, the stories are not so tightly connected that order is too important, it's just that DoS has a few spoilers for AoS as it takes place one year later and features the same characters.
 
1) Get classic nes Castlevania for GBA
2) if you want a snes game, get Super Castlevania IV
3) Get CotM and AoS for GBA
4) for DS, get DoS

Do I really need to keep up with the storyline, or does each game have a stand-alone plot line?
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Basicly every castlevania has their own storyline, but Dawn of Sorrow for DS is a sequel of Aria of Sorrow. So it helps to have both games.
 
brandonh83 said:
Castlevania II and III are actually some of my favorites but my god they are hard as balls.
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Castlevania III is hard, CVII, not so much. Remember the last boss in that :lol
 
I actually remember warping to the final boss in CVII when I was younger in a tornado? Jesus, I might be tripping, but I swear to god I remember doing that.
 
brandonh83 said:
I actually remember warping to the final boss in CVII when I was younger in a tornado? Jesus, I might be tripping, but I swear to god I remember doing that.
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CVII is a fun game though. I liked the stuff with towns, cemetaries and lakes. Still today the only castlevania with towns.
 
Yep, I wish they would do another one like it where you actually explore somewhere else besides Dracula's castle. Like some countrysides and shit.

Warp to Draculas Castle
sent in by Hologramomega

Here is a cool glitch that I found, for one of the all time greatest NES games, Castlevania 2. Go to the left of Deborah Cliff with the red crystal and kneel. Make sure that there is one of the flying heads coming towards you. If you have the timing right, the enemy will hit you just as the tornado is coming to take you away, and the tornado will leave you stuck in the wall. To get to Draculas Castle though, you have to jump out as fast as possible and the game graphics will mess up, and you will be in a messed up version of the first room of Draculas Castle. When you get to Dracs lair, the graphics return to normal. If you are unlucky, you will get stuck in the wall and have to reset, this happens to me all the time. Just practice and you will be able to get to Draculas Castle without clearing the last 2 mansions.
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Aha!
 
yeah I thought Simon's Quest was a great game. Considering how simple and straightforward the original game was, the sequel was relatively crammed with innovation. It was however as others have pointed out pretty easy. I dont know anyone who ever beat the decidedly more difficult original game, I was only able to do so years later with the help of flash saves on an emulator.

I think it would be a nice touch if they made another game that really spanned the whole of transylvania like that, rather than just starting you at the gates of the castle.

CVIII was a tough game, but it was more forgiving than the original.
 
One of my bigger gaming vows is to beat Castlevania III. I conquered a vow last year, and that was to beat the Reaper in Castlevania I. Funny, most of my "gaming vows" are Castlevania related. :lol
 
1) Get classic nes Castlevania for GBA
2) if you want a snes game, get Super Castlevania IV
3) Get CotM and AoS for GBA
4) for DS, get DoS
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How about CV Chronicles on PSX, then Chi no Rondo PC Engine (hard to find, but better than any other regular CV), then to Symphony of the Night on PSX, and finally play Aria of Sorrow and the DS game.
 
DoS is the first one I've played since CoM on GBA and let me tell you, it apparently picks up right where the third GBA one leaves off, but you won't care when you realize how utterly awesome the gamplay is. GotY.
 
One of the reasons the CV series is one of my favorites is because there is an extreme few titles in the series that I don't like. This started around the time they began to develop 3D entries.
 
You just got a DS, so pick up Dawn of Sorrow. It's the perfect launch game and will have you in love with the handheld from day one.

Plot really doesn't matter than much in Castlevania games, and playing Aria of Sorrow or another Castlevania before DoS will probably burn you out on the gameplay style for awhile.

So it's best to just go straight to DoS and enjoy the awesome DS goodness!
 
In the original CV I could never beat Igor...i think thats him. I gotta make an effort to hook up my NES and beat that game.
 
For Castlevania III, I find it easiest to get the thief and then just climb on the walls everywhere you can to avoid enemies. Playing through with Alucard or the sorceror would definitely make the game more difficult.
 
dark10x said:
How about CV Chronicles on PSX, then Chi no Rondo PC Engine (hard to find, but better than any other regular CV), then to Symphony of the Night on PSX, and finally play Aria of Sorrow and the DS game.
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eh I agree, but I gave him those options since he already had gba, snes and DS. Rondo of Blood is fantastic.
 
I just beat Aria of Sorrow for the first time yesterday. I really enjoyed it; now I'm going to trade for Dawn of Sorrow. AoS was really short - only took about 6 hours to beat it with ~94%.

Symphony of the Night was awesome. The gameplay, areas, weapons, etc. were solid, as usual, but the music is what really sets it apart from the other CV titles. Yamane did an amazing job with it.

I tried starting Harmony of Dissonance before playing AoS, and the music was so atrocious that I just couldn't bring myself to play it. Before that, I played through about 60% of Circle of the Moon. That was pretty good...
 
I actually bought Curse of Darkness today, got in the car, glared at it for a while, and took it back. Why? Well, I'm getting a 360 tomorrow night, and I had heard little to no good things about the game. So I exchanged it for a 360 game. I'll get it when the price goes down a bit. I thought the demo was *okay* but I haven't been a fan of the 3D outings as I've said. Still, I would like to play more of it, but I guess I'll have to wait.
 
Castlevania X: Rondo of Blood for the PC Engine CD is the best Castlevania game ever. Only downside is that its so expensive now that besides emulation, you probably won't get to play the game. The SNES version is a hackeneyed form of it but its still pretty decent. I'd give it a 9/10

Symphony of the Night I didn't care much for at all. Metroidvania games in general are simply "ok" because the only fun in the game is in exploration. Its pretty hard to find on PlayStation but the Saturn version is more expensive and it sucks. I'd give it a 7/10

Circle of the Moon is pretty terrible. I finished it about halfway and gave up because I was so bored. I got it on Kmart Clearance for $4.98 so I gave it a chance but not too much of one because of the lack of money invested. A 4/10 at most.

Harmony of Dissonance is probably the worst 2D Castlevania game ever made. I could see the game being made because Konami was shocked to see COTM do so well. Then they rushed HOD out the door. Its extremely rare but its a poor game. I stuck with it because I paid $40 for the game and I wanted to get my money's worth. 3/10 is pretty generous.

Aria of Sorrow is much better than HOD or COTM but not as good as SOTN or Castlevania X. I had a little bit of fun with it but it was a forgettable game. I'd give it a 6/10.

Dawn of Sorrow is the best Metroidvania ever. I'm sure you've read the threads. I'd give it an 8/10.

I guess Dawn of Sorrow 2 comes out next year. I'll probably nab it.
 
I never own the series though but this is tempting to me. Also this will be my first castlevania games.


Is Castlevania:Aria of Sorrow/Harmony of Dissonance double pack (GBA) coming out in Jan. 2006? <------ I want to make sure i heard this correctly.


I missed the boat last time but not this time.
 
Curse of Darkness (the latest 3D title) is Symphony of the Night in 3D. I like it. Lament of Innocence is okay at best. Not shit, but nearly the same class as Symphony of the Night, Aria and Dawn of Sorrow.

The N64 castlevanias are the ones to avoid mainly, though the second N64 Castlevania was not bad.

Basically, it's ana amazing game and series. I love Dawn of Sorrow so much that I clocked up 35 hours playing through normal, then hard, the collecting all the souls and getting my experience level to 93.

*What* a game. I have an Xbox 360, a PSP and god knows how many great games here and this has absorbed me for a whole two weeks thus far.

For me, Symphony of the Night, Dawn of Sorrow are the only two I would hurt family for.
 
I'd recommend playing Castlevania I, III, IV, Rondo, SOTN, CoM, AoS, and DoS.

While Castlevania II is alright, it's gameplay is probably the worst of the NES trilogy and the nonsense translation doesn't help. I would only recommend it if you want to see an old school side scrolling action RPG.
 
Castlevania I is the classic, but Castlevania III is the really awesome one on NES, but I couldn't get past that level with the falling bricks. It's just too hard to get from the last 'checkpoint' all the way to the boss with enough health to not get raped. I got the last form a couple times and gave up :(

Super Castlevania IV is one of the best SNES games. Period.

That said, I got a DS and Dawn of Sorrow for Christmas and I've absolutely loving it. I think it's just as good as SotN so far. I'm at about 65% complete after about four and half hours, but I'm looking forward to Julius mode as much as I'm enjoying the main game. Castlevania is one of those rare series where it's been whored out but almost all of the 2D games are still very well down and high quality.
 
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