"What is a man?"

[Smz]

"A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk. Have at you!"

(Just posting this here from the other forum for no real reason.)



Originally I was going to make this be an Order of Ecclesia topic, but thought it would be better to make it a general Castlevania topic. I'm going to list most of the games in the series, then probably post on some of the games I've played from this series. Usually known in Japan as "Akumajou Dracula" (Demon Castle Dracula), "Dracula Legend," or "Akumajou Densetsu" (Demon Castle Legend).

-Game List-

More info about the series here.

[Smz]

-Order of Ecclesia-

Starting off with this game first, since I'm currently playing it.

-The Plot
Order of Ecclesia takes place after Symphony of the Night, sometime in the mid 1800s. As the Belmont Clan had vanished by that time, several organizations are created in order to research countermeasures against Dracula and his eventual return. Between these organizations, the most promising was the Order of Ecclesia who created a triad of magical glyphs based on Dracula's power, named "Dominus". Shanoa is a member chosen by the order's leader, Barlowe, as the human vessel for Dominus. Before the ritual is performed, the glyphs are stolen by Shanoa's colleague Albus. She decides to retrieve them, unaware of his true intentions.

Now to say how the game has been in my own opinion.

-Graphics and Controls
The art style for this game isn't done by Ayami Kojima this time, but by another person. (I can't find the name now, it was around before the game came out.) I like how the art is for this game. The graphics for this game have been redone, so most of the older enemies have a new look.

The controls for this game are pretty good, not really much to say on that. It's doesn't use the stylus this time, but does for one thing on another mode.

-Gameplay
It's basically like the others on the rpg and exploring. However, instead of being stuck in one are for the whole game, there's various levels that you go to this time. (Though some are reused a bit.) You do not have weapons this time, but you do have armor and accessories. You use various glyphs that you gain while you explore to use as weapons, or for support. All glyphs use up MP, but the MP gauge charges back up pretty fast. There is also a "glyph union" attack that combines two glyphs for a stronger attack that uses hearts. In two areas of the game, there is a place where you can gain hearts back, which I think is a good addition.

The difficulty for this game has been bumped up a bit compared to most of the previous games. So it's possible that you will die a few times along the way. There is also some online stuff for this game, but I haven't looked into it just yet. Looks like it's has a Versus Mode, and a way to trade items to other people. In addition, this game and Castlevania Judgement will be able to connect to each other to unlock addtional content for both games.

-Music
As usual, Michiru Yamane does the music for this game. I say that the music for this game is pretty good. I like it as much as the music from SoTN and Rondo of Blood/Dracula X Chronicles.

-Replay
There is a decent amount of replay that you can do on this game, but I won't post it for now.