So, I gotz this one a night ago, so I figured I'd rant aboot it.



First off, it's pronounced "ee-klee-shee-ah" in the game. That had me confused for a while, so I thought I'd get it out of the way, if you were wondering.

Next: Good news to all of you who are sick of seeing pretty pretty boys in their Casltevania games. The main artist for this one has a very Victorian style of art, and it shows in both the character portraits and the backgrounds. Not a bishi in sight! People look like PEOPLE now! The clothes are still a bit outlandish, but in a way that befits the art style. Nothing that a noble of the early English times wouldn't wear.

And, double bonus: Tired of playing as those bishi boys? Good news, everyone! You play a lady this time around! AND....! She isn't some bimbo that likes to flaunt her stuff. She may have odd sleeves, what seems to be a leather breast plate, an almost-risque dress or something, and a very exposed back. Sure, shen she fluffs her hair up and the markings on her back glow, maybe SOMEone has a fetish for that...

But, at least here, it isn't just a fan-service thing. The marks on her back (or rather... Glyphs) are used to absorb NEW glyphs, which are then used as weapons and spells. It's kind of like how in Circle of the Moon, your weapons were judged by what two cards you had combined, while your armour and accessories were steady. It's a bit more complicated in Ecclesia than Circle's system, but it's still very neat, and you can make some very fun combo's.

And, like the weapons in Circle, using these weapons in Ecclesia uses up MP. But, the rule in this game for MP is "Easy come, easy go." MP is burned up REAL quick, especially at first, but on the other hand, it recharges bloody quick. Just stop attacking for a second or two and you're good for another go! What ISN'T rechargable, though, is hearts. These are used for special attacks, some of which are VERY powerful, but you can use them once or twice before you're out of hearts.

Ah! Another good thing for those of you who prefer older Castlevania's: DIFFICULTY. It's back, baby!
Well, maybe not to what it once was in IV or Bloodlines, but compared to Portrait or Symphony? It's leagues ahead of them. The second boss had me stuck for a whole night, before I got him with fresh patience in the morning. The stages, too, can get you pretty close to death. Better keep them potions stocked, but they're pretty expensive. However, the back-dash that was mostly a novelty all this time finally has a use. After attacking, you have to wait until her arms are back down and stopped moving before you can walk away, BUT, a backdash can be done any time. So that big slow hammer glyph? Swing then backdash away from that approaching Skeleton Knight.

Ooh; also, this game is a tad better with the re-used sprites this time around. Well, compared to Portrait at least..... Heck, the new enemies are almost so well done that the reused ones, seldom though they are, seem blocky and with a poor amount of frames compared to the newer enemies.

To any of you who have heard that this game borrows heavily from Simon's Quest.... Don't read too much into that. About the only thing that brings memories of Simon's Quest is that you can wander between the area's and villages. (with 100% less Crystal hunting and HORRIBLE NIGHT FOR CURSES.) Actual Castles to 'vania in? None that I've gotten to you, though some of the area's are kinda big.

Oh! Oh! How could I have gone this far without mentioning the story?!
....Right, 'cuz it's still kinda forgetable.
But hey! It's quite a bit better than 'lol Dracula's back send Belmont/special person!" It isn't a story that'll get your pulse pounding with twists and betrayal, but the events still sit better than many... If not all other Castlevania plots.



In conclusion: If you liked Portrait of Ruin and pre-Symphony Castlevania's, you'll like Ecclesia. However, if you're a purist to Symphony and the 'Sorrow ones, maybe Ecclesia will be a bit too different or too hard.
Then again, if you ARE a Metroidvania-only sort, I may yet laugh at you.

I'm enjoying Ecclesia, despite the apparent lack of a story. (as of about halfway through... I could be wrong) The difficulty curve is a welcome bonus to "Hardcore Gamers" like myself, although it was a slap in the face at first. The boss fights are what really add to the difficulty; most of them have close to 1000+ HP, and you deal a piddly 20 with each swing. You get an immense sense of accomplishment after every "epic" battle. (have fun in the lighthouse, Swifto)

I had played the older Castlevanias years ago, but I didn't care much for them. Symphony of the Night, with their Metroid-ripping gameplay really got me hooked. They've stuck with that formula for quite a while now, with the only innovation being the way you fight. The Soul Dominance aspect of Aria of Sorrow (as well as the dramatic reveal SPOILED in the second game) got me to fall in love with the series again. Unfortunately, the games between Symphony and Ecclesia were too easy, and quickly devolved into "gotta catch 'em all" moments. I furiously played Portrait just to get 100% in all of the categories, only to feed the completion-ist within me.

The Glyph system in this one is an interesting change, but as of now I'm bombarded with too many choices. You can equip a different weapon in each hand, but I just dual-wield glyphs because they work well together. (and their dual crush is much more effective) I suppose I need to experiment more with glyph combinations, but I'm still focused on exploration and completion.

The world map aspect is just a modification to entering portraits in Portrait. The twenty areas that the game boasts about are really short. Personally, I enjoyed exploring the big castle and seeing the many different arenas within. Now, I'm just chasing this bastard just because the game tells me to.

Overall, I'm having a good time with the game, but I'm waiting for it to actually go somewhere in terms of plot. I'm sure that this one will have multiple endings, based upon you meeting specific requirements. I wonder if it will be subtle, almost Easter egg-like like in Symphony, or the blunt "use this spell in this fight" bullshit like in Portrait. Since the success of the upside down castle back then, it seems Konami has made it a staple to include a new path after the "final" boss. That's fine, but I believe that the new path should be forged out of exploration and experimentation; not just because the game tells me to do it.

Oh well, time to go on more errands for the villagers. You'd think they'd be more grateful for me saving their lives...

The second boss I spoke of was the one in the lighthouse.

stupid fucker.... It took me a while before I realized I could hurt more than his face, so I didn't have to depend on Torpor to piddle away at him from afar.

Ah. I thought you were referring to the giant skeleton in the prison.

Since Brachyura has 1800 HP, I wonder if there is some incentive to defeating him without resorting to

Spoiler:
	the elevator.

However, I didn't have the patience.

_________________
A man chooses. A slave obeys.


Enjoy your victory while you can. Don't complain to me when it all falls apart.

I don't think so,

Spoiler:
	as he kinda forces you upwards all the time. Or wait... Didn't you have to do something to activate the elevator? If I could just torpor his ass to hell from there.... hm.....

_________________

Regarding that fight:

Spoiler:
	You don't have to activate anything, just make it to the top and crush him with the elevator. However, you can still whittle down his monsterous HP level using Torpor and/or Ascia. There's a pocket to his left where he cannot hit you, and as far as I know he doesn't do his bubble attack at the top of the tower.

Hopefully this game has a New Game + feature. I'd like to kill it outright using some of the badass glyphs from the late game.

By the way, I retract what I said about the plot. I've found it.

This game is awesome.

_________________
A man chooses. A slave obeys.


Enjoy your victory while you can. Don't complain to me when it all falls apart.

Yay!

I mean, even if Ecclesia didn't have much plot, I had to respect that what plot there was wasn't the usual "KILL DRACULA" sort.

(don't tell me if this is/isn't the case)

Let me clarify: Those last two statements stand apart from each other. I'm more excited now that I've found a place worth exploring.

They show Dracula in the intro. It is a Castlevania game, after all..


(laughs) Unfortunately, just as this happened, the battery began to die. I'll get back to it in a few hours.

Jut got to

Spoiler:
	Albus

Fucker of a piss, that's a hard boss. =D

_________________

wait:

WAIT.

You guys like the "sorrow" games?



I like SotN, but Aria/Dawn of Sorrow looked like they gave the art to a weaboo and the story to a dumbass.

Also it was way too fucking easy.

SotN I loved.

DIE, MONSTER! YOU DON'T BELONG IN THIS WORLD!

I think the guy who did Aria's art was the same guy who did SotN. I also thought Aria's story was pretty good.

There's no excuse for Dawn of Sorrow, though.

It was the same guy?

If that's the case, then his art got insanely shittier between the two, which I find very odd.

I mean, it's Castlevania, if you're not going to make the character sketches Victorian Gothic, you are just doing it wrong, come on.

Further research reveals it's a woman, not a dude.

You have to give her a little credit, though; the game took place in like 2012 or something instead of the 1700/1800s.

(There's still no excuse for Dawn of Sorrow, which she didn't do the art for)

The only thing I know about this game is that I watched my friend fight a giant (enemy) crab.

You know, after thinking on it for a while, I think Aria is ok, but my memory of it is tainted by Dawn : (

Giant Crabs? *buys this game*

Yeah, the artwork for Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin upset me.
What makes it worse is that we had this:

Spoiler:

But ended up with:

Spoiler:

_________________
Buy me a pony.

I enjoyed the music out of Portrait and Dawn most, anyways.

At least Konami knows better than to fuck THAT up.




And hey, Ecclesia is a whole different game over Portrait and 'Sorrow. As I said, it really has more in common with Circle than.... Any others.

Well Circle is my favourite so I'm looking forward to Ecclesia.

Edit - 7777th post.

Late to the fray I know, but indulge me.

As Gil can attest, I'm a huge Castlevania fan, needless to say, I already got and beaten this game. As it stands, this one might be my favorite one second only to DoS and AoS.

Sure, the story is not as good as AoS, but it's not as awful as other Castlevania games, I also disliked the short and recycled levels at first, but then, this is finally a challenging Castlevania game after CotM, that, and all the Bosses of this game are sheer awesome.

And before you throw stones at me, yeah, I hated DoS Art style, but Gameplay wise, it's my favorite so far.

Also, the extra mode is fun, specially played at hard difficulty.

I didn't like DoS for the rather.... boring weapon usage. There's no oomph to it like there was in Circle, Aria, Ecclesia and bits of Portrait. However, much of the music in DoS was cool.
I still regard Portrait the superior in the ways of music, though. Plus, for outright pure fun, Richter and Maria on hard mode is totally awesome fun.

Circle still stands above as my favourite Metroidvania though. The DSS system and awesome relics (WHY don't more CV games have the double-tap running?) make it sooo fun.

I actually don't like Symphony a huge amount.... Sure, it's cool, but SO FUCKING EASY..... Whenever I play it, I have to stay about ten levels lower than the normal just to derive some kind of challenge from it.



None of them can top my love of Super Castlevania IV, though. <3333