"Konami has officially announced Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia for Nintendo DS, the latest 2D platformer series. In the game you play as a new female vampire hunter named Shinoa, there will be a number of new tactics and attacks such as Glyph attacks. The game will have 20 stages, as well as versus battle over WiFi."

http://www.the-magicbox.com/0805/game080515d.shtml

Like most of you, I should be tired and beaten down by these Metroivania clones..... but then I find myself dipping into the likes of Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow, and Portrait of Ruin every now and again and finding myself having a lot of fun when I do so.  So yeah, I'm not tired of them, and I'll be inviting this new adventure with open arms.

So, is that render of Shinoa a Kojima piece?  And who's hoping for another collaborative musical team-up with Yamane and Koshiro?  Gallery of Labyrinth, to me, was incredible.

I'll probably play it. I was far more impressed by Dawn of Sorrow than I was by the bland Portrait of Ruin.

I haven't been impressed with the lot of handheld scores on the whole when it comes to Castlevania... a few good songs here and there and a usually a few intolerable remixes thrown in. Yamane seems to do better on consoles even though CoD and LoI are far from flawless. At least on a handheld Yamane doesn't have to write for cutscenes because that is so not a strength of hers.

Well the DS games were actualy the first time I ever played a Castlevania game and I really liked them! Then came the xbox arcade release of Symphony of the Night and I couldnt resist becoming a fan of the series.

I really liked the music as each track goes so well with the theme for the part of castle/level and I really liked the duo gameplay found in Portrait of Doom.Well after all I said no big surprise that I really want to buy this on the day it comes out and check out its music and level design!

It is my personal opinion that Igarashi and Yamane should take a break from CV and let someone other than the former KCET develop CastleVania. The last non KCET game we got was Circle of the Moon (KCEK same people who made CV64 ironically) and that happens to be my favorite handheld one so far (followed closely by Portrait)
Castleoid is awesome but its getting tired and I think that even if a new team came in and still kept the Castleoid theme that it would be better anyways because its someone elses interpretation that could set it apart from the others, that and they need to stop reusing the same sprite assets from game to game. I tire of Dracula X/Symphony sprites.

On a side note who wants Julius Belmont's tale of how he defeated Dracula in 1999 in game form?

Considering the fact that I though Portrait of Ruin was the best game and soundtrack in the series since Symphony of the Night, I definitely do not tire of the Metroivania games yet.

Some original enemies would be nice though, and could they try making a game WITHOUT a goddamn  Clock Tower filled with f*cking Medusa Heads!?

For some reason, I think they're saving the 1999 story for the "last" Castlevania. Like in 3 years or something IGA will announce he's retiring from Castlevania with a bang and they'll market the game as the last confrontation with Dracula.

Then 1 year later we'll get an other Castlevania entry following Soma or his descendant in 20XX, but without Dracula. I'm just saying.

I'm also hoping Saint Germain (from Curse of Darkness) will make a return. He's a time traveler and I can recall IGA saying he was going to show up again. I'd also like more cohesiveness between future titles, or something that would tie more of the previous games together. It seems the creative team(s) always start in a new direction, but it never gets anywhere in the grand scheme of things.

Hmm. I haven't played much Castlevania lately, actually. Loved Harmony, liked Aria, despised Dawn. I figured I was just burnt out on them, but in retrospect, it's probably just because Dawn was so terrible. I probably shouldn't hold it against Portrait. I'll give it a shot after I'm done with No More Heroes, Shantae, et al.

I'm not sure what to think about Ecclesia.  I loved Dawn but hated Portrait (so boring), so I'm hesitant to say that I'm looking forward to it.  I wish Nintendo would just make a full blown remake of Metroid II instead (there are two fantastic looking fan projects in the works, so that alone should be proof of demand), but since that's not going to happen, I guess I'll just have to settle for yet another Metroivania retread.

Someone mentioned that Igrashi and Yamane should take a break from CV for a while, and I completely agree.  WayForward did a pretty nice job with Contra 4, so why not give someone else a shot with CV, and by CV I mean real CV like Dracula X, not Metroivania.

Add me to the list of people who liked Dawn but didn't like Portrait.  Portrait of Ruin was where I realized that the formula was just terribly overplayed - and the double character nonsense detracted from the experience for me rather than added to it.  I should buckle down and try to finish that game...

I also think Portrait was a step down from Dawn in every possible ways; art, music, gameplay, length, level design... the only thing I liked was the story (what little there was); I felt it put a new twist on the Dracula formula, which sorta proove they don't need post-1999 settings to step away from him.

The biggest problem I had with Portrait was the level design. Dracula's Castle has been done to death but at least each individual section had life and structure. The portraits were all dull, to the point where I didn't care about exploring them.

And yeah, the story and characters were crap... but I expect that from the series.

Would it REALLY hurt to give us a new classic-style CV that takes some decent cues from CV3 and CV4? This is seriously getting old at this point.

Agreed Super CastleVania 4 thats what we need

As a Castlevania fan, I would say my favorites are Symphony, Rondo, III, IV, in that order. I figure a good game is a good game, even if the formula is tried and true. That being said, I did play the post-Symphony games and found them lacking that magic that Symphony has (or Rondo for that matter). Well, one thing I would love to see is a Castlevania game that can be played on the tele, and not confined to a little itty-bitty screen!

cheers,

-avatar!

I'd like a remake of II with puzzles that make sense.

I'll be happy with either type as long as they put a bit of effort in, rather than giving us a Castlevania by numbers, which they've been doing since the series hit the GBA. I've been enjoying them but, when the series moved to DS, being 'good for a handheld' hasn't really been a usable excuse.

I don't feel the love. And I thought Portrait was the blandest of the bunch, the first handheld CV I didn't bother completing.

That said, they'll slap the name 'Castlevania' on the cover and I'll buy it anyway.

Strange. I loved Portrait -- the dual character gameplay was different enough to make it less "this again", loved the music (a LOT really), even loved how the bonus characters also had the dual game play (and one used the touchscreen) and really the main let down was the repeated 4 levels in the lats 3rd of the game.

That said, I do hope the new one is something new.

-Joshua

Lots of dumb shit being said in this thread. Let me add some more.

I don't think so, I think it's more likely you were burnt out if you liked Aria but despised Dawn. Dawn is basically the same game, just prettier.

All the handheld Metrovanias are excellent games if you like that sort of 2D-exploration platforming. The ones you don't like are probably played during the time when you're more fed up with the style and want something new.

That said, I'm a little amused by the people that claim that they're tired of the concept, but then heap scorn on Portrait of Ruin. To be honest, that game is the only one of the Metrovanias since Symphony that has tried to introduce something new, namely the two-character gameplay and the increased focus on outdoors environments. I heard Ecclesia will to a large extent be spent outdoors, which is something I'd very much welcome if it turns out to be true, it could really freshen things up (on the other hand, many of the outdoors locales in Portrait were pretty linear and boring, so who knows... ).

One thing, though - Yamane has to go. She's a decent composer, but change and innovation was the lifeblood of this series' music back in it's glory days, it stagnated when she started churning out the same 30%-good-stuff-the-rest-bland-crap score over and over.

And I do agree that we need a new real Castlevania. Dracula X Chronicles was the best release in the series since Circle of the Moon in 2001...

Not that I care if Yamane stays or goes, but I've been thinking about this lately, and you know who'd be perfect for a CV soundtrack?

Hideyuki Fukasawa, the Chaos Legion guy.

EDIT: Decided to expand on Dawn a bit. For me, Dawn seems to take everything that was interesting about Aria and make it crappier. The levels vary from mundane to irritating, the soundtrack was mostly lousy (excepting the Condemned Tower and maybe the Dark Chapel), the villains were awful (and of course, the one villain I anticipated being a good fight was killed in a cutscene by the stupidest one), the balance was screwy, and the seal-drawing horseshit more than once nearly led to me throwing my DS against a wall and definitely led to my quitting the game for months at a time. Also, Soma himself is just kind of lame. So yeah, no love lost between me and Dawn.

Hm, maybe. Personally, I likes me some atmosphere in my CV music (I have a soft spot for the likes of CV4, CV64, LoI, etc), so Fukasawa's style (at least the Chaos Legion stuff) strikes me as a little bit too bombastic. But on the other hand, all the stuff I've heard from him is great, if he somehow got a shot at CV, I'd look forward to hearing the results.

I'm not going to argue Aria vs Dawn with you, it all boils down to personal taste. I thought Dawn was just like Aria, but improved in a lot of ways (the artwork sucked balls, though). Just have to comment on this, though:

Grrr....! The soundtrack was just fine, especially when compared to to Aria's, which is one of the worst in the series. A lot of people are fooled by that great first stage track in Aria, which somehow makes them forget that the rest of the score is bland as hell (with a few exceptions).

you know who would be fun for shits and giggles

Yuki Kajiura

I would love to see what she could whip up (har har not intended). We would see some really cool vocal cuts thats for sure.

The one thing that really pisses me off about recent CastleVania music is that all the reprising music like Vampire Killer or Theme of Simon or anything older they use the same exact rearrangements from past CVs that actually rearranged the song. Yes I know theres only so many ways a person can hear Bloody Tears but c'mon, Yamane is getting lazy. What I wouldn't give for some KKC stuff. Oh well.

It's Yamane:

http://www.squareenixmusic.com/musicnew … m=&ucat=2&

Eh, I figured as much. Would've been a surprise if it turned out that she wasn't involved.

I guess I can stomach another Yamane score if it turns out to be one of her better ones (meaning not like Aria of Sorrow or Curse of Darkness or most of LoI), and hopefully there will be some other composer(s) contributing. I'm still disappointed by this news though, it seems like nothing short of the occasional remake can break IGA & Yamane's hold on this series anymore. Between this and the development of the Silent Hill series the last few years, it really feels like my favourite Konami series' are stagnating badly. All we get is a tired more-of-the-same-but-increasingly-generic-every-year.

BTW, when/where has a next-gen CV been "hinted" at? I haven't heard anything about that (but I guess it's inevitable).

He mentioned in an interview recently that he takes full blame for the 3D Castlevania games not working out, and that he's intent on taking another shot at it.

In that same interview, he also mentioned that the reason there's a (finally!) female protagonist in OoE is because fans demanded it. Well, fans have also been demanding fresher gameplay for years, so let's hope he also listened to the fans in that regard.

I loved the bonus characters, but I didn't think the dual character gameplay was fleshed out enough. Co-op would've been great as well.

Official page and trailer up:

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

I just hope this Glyph system doesn't rely too much on the stylus.  Somehow, those gameplay parts where she's hanging/floating along the pegs seemed like a stylus-based functionality.

I expect the same thing to happen with OoE that happened with DoS and PoR - I will reluctantly buy the game, play it nonstop for three days and then sell it, wondering what the hell just happened. I get so obsessive with portable CV games, but as soon as I unlock everything (yeah, I got Axe Armor in PoR), I freak out and sell it. So... I guess, bring it on?

The art direction has changed significantly.  It's drawn with a more "serious" style than Portrait of Ruin.

I agree that I don't really like the stylus functionality in DoS, because you had to use it in a boss fight. The stylus functionality for PoR was not nearly as intrusive.

I must have an unrefined palette. I've looked forward to and thoroughly enjoyed every portable Castlevania release since Circle of the Moon, and I'm just as enthused for this one. And call me a philistine, but I've never really felt that the way the portraits were drawn significantly changed the art direction, let alone defined it.

Although, I will concede that we could use a composer changeup. Recently I heard something that felt like good ol' Castlevania IV to me--atmospheric and foreboding--that I really wish would return. It was a disappointing that a musical cue that said "Castlevania" to me also skipped more than a decade of music and took me all the way back to 1991.

Still, it's one of my most anticipated titles. My interest in gaming continues to dwindle as time goes on, but I'm always able to throw myself fully into a new Castlevania--in a way, I'm thankful for that.

If Koshiro's work on Portrait of Ruin was any indication, I think he should take the helms in future works. His stuff had that classic Castlevania feel to it.

I wasn't really impressed with any of PoR's audio. My vote goes for giving Yamane a desk job answering phones and overhauling the sound design completely.

Yeah, I have to agree. The only track that really stood out to me was Koshiro's "The Gears Go Awry."

Oh, great. I hope he gets it right this time. The PS2 3D Castlevanias he produced were tedious as hell, the gameplay was like watching paint dry. LoI was somewhat salvaged by the fact that it had a decent soundtrack in places and some atmosphere, while CoD was salvaged by... nothing, really. It really sucked balls. Only my long-time fan loyalty carried me through 15 hours of that atrocity.

I remember an interview with IGA back in 2003 when LoI was announced, he contemptuously said "forget those" in regard to the N64 Castlevanias. Its ironic that, despite all their obvious faults, the N64 games were superior and much more innovative than anything he's accomplished so far in the 3D realm.

Regarding the OoE trailer: the game looks really good, I will most probably end up swallowing this one as well. The music, however, is exactly what I feared and expected (I could almost hear it in my mind before). The same washed-out-shallow-quasi-fantasy-score stuff Yamane almost always puts out. The music and the character/monster design really reminded me of how far the CV series has moved from it's original horror-inspired roots. Now it's more like a generic fantasy-type of story that just happens to be set in our world.

love the artwork and music, but lets hope those arent the best tracks on the soundtrack yet. im not a big fan of female leads, especially in a castlevania game. maybe theres more to unlock.......

oh, and please dont forget to include a much higher difficulty level.

anyway, day one.

Don't worry, I'm sure they'll let you play as the Man with the gun.

Hell, I'm glad to see a female lead, especially one that can wield a weapon. I still haven't forgiven IGO for retconning Sonia.