Castlevania ~ Order of Ecclesia Anticipation Thread

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Fri May 16, 2008 5:54 pm

In a shocking twist, the thumbnails leaked some months ago were the real stuff, not fakes!

In other shocking news, the lead role is again a lovely lady (yay!), but not our beloved Chaarotto. ^_^

Anyway, it seems that they're aiming for something different once again. I'll be delighted to see traditionalists' hopes crumble (they'll probably stick to DoS for the entire DS lifetime, exactly like CotM had the more vocal supporters). But I'm pretty happy that the DS trilogy might be something more varied than the GBA one.

Oh, mandatory pics link:

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=140813

update:

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3167834

moozooh · Post by **moozooh** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:13 pm

Woo, a proper female character instead of a bishie! +1 to Order of Ecclesia.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:23 pm

I just realized that the games I'm most excited about are always the ones I comment on least in forums.

Cuz I already know they're gonna be awesome and it's a sure thing I'm gonna buy them on release.

This is another one of those cases.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Fri May 16, 2008 7:01 pm

Glad to hear the title is not something pretentious, either. Like "Impossibility of Chance" or "Death of Rebirth"

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Fri May 16, 2008 7:23 pm

Wow, that was quick: official site is up:

http://www.konami.jp/gs/game/dracula_ds3/

Good old Parish says the artwork is back in the hands of Kojima-san, but that doesn't look like her usual style. Might as well be someone else.

Still miles better than the anime style, though.

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Fri May 16, 2008 7:34 pm

This will definitely be a day 1 purchase for me, although I do wish they'd get around to filling in the Julius Belmont/1999 hole in the story at some point.

At some point, I need to go finish off the Nest of Evil in PoR (getting past that room with the 2 Frankenstein creatures was such a pain... I managed to do it once, but died in the next room and haven't been able to get past it since then.)

Necronom · Post by **Necronom** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:42 pm

Nice! Looks like the DS Vania I always wanted. Finally got rid of the "Yugioh artstyle"

Etrian · Post by **Etrian** » Fri May 16, 2008 11:14 pm

I will definitely be buying this, it looks really well done. I loved Dawn of Sorrow but I wasn't too keen on Portrait of Ruin.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Sat May 17, 2008 12:40 am

Yawn; I think the series is going through doldrums again. Hopefully we will finally get a GOOD console 'vania game this generation.

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Sat May 17, 2008 12:45 am

It might (and probably will) be a good game, but all the Symphony clones this can't even bring me to half mast.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Sat May 17, 2008 1:08 am

I'm anticipating:

- Liberal use of recycled sprites (we'd be truly free if this country was that liberal.)

- Liberal use of recycled environments (Those trees and that church background are straight from previous games.)

- Ceilings on the sky so that they can rotate the levels every way possible (SotN had sky ceilings so it's quite plausible.)

- Vampire Killer remix #5465465465465 and Bloody Tears remix #324235345345435

- Overall lazy game despite having 2 years to develop it.

Strider77 · Post by **Strider77** » Sat May 17, 2008 9:16 am

Yawn; I think the series is going through doldrums again. Hopefully we will finally get a GOOD console 'vania game this generation.

God I hope so, I think they need to step back to go/get forward this time, esp. if it's 3D.

They need to make it a linear action game like the older ones where you move forward like God Of War level design wise. Just really good set pieces and interesting levels to go through along with bosses. not the repedative redundant levels in the 3D metriod-vanias.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Sat May 17, 2008 10:36 am

UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:I'm anticipating:

- Liberal use of recycled sprites (we'd be truly free if this country was that liberal.)

- Liberal use of recycled environments (Those trees and that church background are straight from previous games.)

- Ceilings on the sky so that they can rotate the levels every way possible (SotN had sky ceilings so it's quite plausible.)

- Vampire Killer remix #5465465465465 and Bloody Tears remix #324235345345435

- Overall lazy game despite having 2 years to develop it.

"If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it."

- SNK developers' manual, page 23

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Sat May 17, 2008 11:45 am

At least the screenshots don't show unfinished placeholder graphics and the main character looks interesting. However, after the half-assed, bug-ridden excuse for a game that was PoR, Konami lost me as an instant buyer.

I'll wait for UFO's seal of approval before I go purchasing it.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sat May 17, 2008 12:02 pm

We haven't got a female lead since 1998, and we haven't got a good female lead since ever.

I prefer this kind of innovation to a bunch of new sprites - although I do recognize that recycling that chapel background is a little scary. A medusa head is always a medusa head, so it deserves to be the same. Backgrounds are a different story.

TWITCHDOCTOR · Post by **TWITCHDOCTOR** » Sat May 17, 2008 8:26 pm

As a long time Castlevania fan...I'm game for it!!!
Although, I prefer my Castlevania's to be linear in nature, and less "Simons Quest"/ Castle-Troid (Metriod).

I'll still buy this new one, especially since I'm a VERY new happy owner of a DS. PLus, I already have added Dawn of Sorrow, and Portiat of Ruin to my collection last week.
Gotta keep it going, y'know!?

shoe-sama · Post by **shoe-sama** » Sat May 17, 2008 9:02 pm

wut

wharz whip

needs more retrovania action

double jump and controlled jumps are lame

bakaichi · Post by **bakaichi** » Sat May 17, 2008 9:06 pm

Wow a female lead that makes for a totally new game. I might get this someday, I like both the DS and Castlevania very much, but I don't usually buy new games. Hell I'd rather build on my PCE collection.

shoe-sama · Post by **shoe-sama** » Sat May 17, 2008 9:13 pm

wow glyph system what

WORST PART OF DSS + SOUL
SPEND 218371237 HOURS COLLECTING THEM ALL

except it turns into your weapon so basically you have to collect this shit to attack

UM

YUCK

btw is generic avocado or whatever his name is gonna be in this game?

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Sat May 17, 2008 10:09 pm

UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:- Vampire Killer remix #5465465465465 and Bloody Tears remix #324235345345435

YAY!!

MathU · Post by **MathU** » Sun May 18, 2008 3:14 am

I will definitely be waiting on many opinions and reviews this time. I got burned badly with that beta release Portrait of Ruin and am not looking to have that happen again.

JoshF · Post by **JoshF** » Sun May 18, 2008 3:21 am

btw is generic avocado or whatever his name is gonna be in this game?

Yes, as a ridable animal helper.

KONAMI IS BRINGING IT BACK!

UnscathedFlyingObject · Sun May 18, 2008 3:52 am

Turrican wrote:I prefer this kind of innovation to a bunch of new sprites - although I do recognize that recycling that chapel background is a little scary. A medusa head is always a medusa head, so it deserves to be the same. Backgrounds are a different story.

A chapel is a chapel too. So why is that a little scary and a medusa head used 20 times not?

They can redesign the medusa heads (and all those 10+ years old sprites) to make things a lot more refreshing. Examples:

- Axe armor from RoB / Axe armor from PoR
- Balore from Aria / Balore from Dawn
- Frankenstein from RoB / The Creature from Symphony
- Minotaur from RoB / Minotaur from Harmony

A medusa head is a medusa head is just a lame excuse to recycle the same 10+ year old sprites. The same enemies can be reimagined hundreds of time in interesting ways if they give a crap.

Right now, Iga isn't even ashamed of reusing the same stuff over and over. Every of the screenshots so far have something (or a lot of) taken from previous games. Well, at least they're being honest, and we know what to expect. It was BS how they tried to deceive us by making the first level in PoR mostly new stuff, and after an hour, bringing out all the old stuff.

I'll still try it, of course. I'm just lowering my expectations.

Post by **nZero** » Sun May 18, 2008 4:12 am

hey let's make a game where they run all over the countryside before even getting to the stupid castle like Castlevanias 2-4 except with items and backtracking and stuff because nobody would hate that especially if the level designs were crap and the placement of completely recycled enemies was in completely inappropriate places and the locations of items makes no sense at all and seems like they wanted to cram shapeshifting ability x or weapon y into the game but ran out of places to put it because slapping stuff together sure beats planning and design any day of the week let me tell you especially when the name alone sells about a million copies so hey why do work but maybe that's just me

I don't think I'm going to church tomorrow let's just skip and get some dim sum hell yeah

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Sun May 18, 2008 9:15 am

nZero wrote:hey let's make a game where they run all over the countryside before even getting to the stupid castle like Castlevanias 2-4

Agreed.

Also, lol who remembers when I quoted that stuff from IRC about the guy who leaked the screens getting fired? High fives all around!

Finally (know I wrote this elsewhere), Eeguh seems to have changed his mind on female leads since LoI's release. Too bad this whoever it is isn't the first female lead - counting storyline games only as a measure of gameplay firsts is ridiculous. I bet a Konami USA marketing person is responsible for it, though, not Iga.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun May 18, 2008 10:05 am

UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:A chapel is a chapel too. So why is that a little scary and a medusa head used 20 times not?

Because, as both the original "Akumajo" and the western "Castlevania" names imply, these games are centered about a location. A satanic castle, usually. Therefore I see background reusing as a worse offender than enemy reusing.

UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:They can redesign the medusa heads (and all those 10+ years old sprites) to make things a lot more refreshing. Examples:

- Axe armor from RoB / Axe armor from PoR
- Balore from Aria / Balore from Dawn
- Frankenstein from RoB / The Creature from Symphony
- Minotaur from RoB / Minotaur from Harmony

A medusa head is a medusa head is just a lame excuse to recycle the same 10+ year old sprites. The same enemies can be reimagined hundreds of time in interesting ways if they give a crap.

Sure they can, but it's missing the point. You seem to think that what made SCIV special were the new medusa head sprites, which were awful. It's not that I dislike sprite variety and renovation, and in fact I'm perfectly fine with the new slice of sprites any game has came up with, including POR. I just happen to think that if they save some money by redoing all the graphics every time, they can be more creative in other fields. Look how many people here were happy with a total rehash like DoS was (same hero, same soul system, worst plotline in ages), you'll see what I mean.

Well, at least they're being honest, and we know what to expect. It was BS how they tried to deceive us by making the first level in PoR mostly new stuff, and after an hour, bringing out all the old stuff.

I don't remember the game being advertised with the first stage especially.

Skykid · Post by **Skykid** » Sun May 18, 2008 10:34 am

Awesome, really looking forward to this.

JoshF · Post by **JoshF** » Sun May 18, 2008 11:20 am

I love it when developers/publishers pinch pennies with their cash cows. Castlevania might as well be Pokemon.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Sun May 18, 2008 2:05 pm

Turrican wrote:
UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:A chapel is a chapel too. So why is that a little scary and a medusa head used 20 times not?
Because, as both the original "Akumajo" and the western "Castlevania" names imply, these games are centered about a location. A satanic castle, usually. Therefore I see background reusing as a worse offender than enemy reusing.

The games are as much about the monsters as the environments, hence the word akuma before jou.

Turrican wrote:
UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:They can redesign the medusa heads (and all those 10+ years old sprites) to make things a lot more refreshing. Examples:

- Axe armor from RoB / Axe armor from PoR
- Balore from Aria / Balore from Dawn
- Frankenstein from RoB / The Creature from Symphony
- Minotaur from RoB / Minotaur from Harmony

A medusa head is a medusa head is just a lame excuse to recycle the same 10+ year old sprites. The same enemies can be reimagined hundreds of time in interesting ways if they give a crap.
Sure they can, but it's missing the point. You seem to think that what made SCIV special were the new medusa head sprites, which were awful. It's not that I dislike sprite variety and renovation, and in fact I'm perfectly fine with the new slice of sprites any game has came up with, including POR. I just happen to think that if they save some money by redoing all the graphics every time, they can be more creative in other fields. Look how many people here were happy with a total rehash like DoS was (same hero, same soul system, worst plotline in ages), you'll see what I mean.

You seem to think that a couple new wallpapers is what makes the games special. I think it's the full package. There's no reason why they can't have quality and originality. CIV had the full package and all the sprites were an improvement from previous outings.

UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:
Turrican wrote: Well, at least they're being honest, and we know what to expect. It was BS how they tried to deceive us by making the first level in PoR mostly new stuff, and after an hour, bringing out all the old stuff.
I don't remember the game being advertised with the first stage especially.

Yes, it was.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun May 18, 2008 3:35 pm

UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:The games are as much about the monsters as the environments, hence the word akuma before jou.

The akuma is a mere adjective to jou. Don't be silly.

I won't comment on the rest - I didn't quite get the wallpaper part, I imagine you're referring to backgrounds - but we've had the exact same discussion the other time. And we both kept our stances. I don't think a bis would change the outcome.

The proof of the pudding is the eating, so let's postpone that after our Ubawareta Kokuin hands-on.

P.S.

There's no reason why the can't have quality and originality.

Sure there is.

BulletMagnet from an unrelated thread wrote:It reminds me of a "what if" scenario that's popped up on here once or twice before - the dream of a company giving a modern-day shmup a huge budget, long development cycle, high-res graphics, super-refined gameplay system, huge marketing blitz, the works - the fabled Best Shmup Ever. Could someone produce it if they wanted to? Sure - plenty of companies have the resources to do it and the ability to recruit the expertise on the programming front. Why don't they? Because they simply wouldn't be able to turn a profit on it (or, for that matter, rate above a 6.5 out of 10 from most reviewers) in today's gaming market. Nothing else matters - end of story.

Castlevania is no work of art - the amount of new stuff and recycled stuff comes from the games' profitability in the current situation. If they don't do a newly-drawn-from scratch one, they have plenty of reasons. Nothing else matters - end of story.