i hack my way through with the crissaegrim the second i can

[Jowy]

it requires at least a little effort that way.

castlevania talk! i've heard the newish 3D one is actually decent? I tried out the first PS2 one and didn't really care for it. anyone play Order of Ecclesia either even though its like four years old? that looked real good.

[Tigmafuzz]

I had a hard time getting back into Castlevania after SotN, but Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow were pretty good, and Order of Ecclesia actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Also Lament of Innocence was good too, but it was a bit... off. I just don't feel like Castlevania needs to be 3D for some reason. But it was still good, even if it destroyed the canon a bit by actual spoilers, don't read if you hope to be enthralled by the awkward story line while you playreplacing the previously established backstory of Dracula and replacing it with some dude named Mathias that was actually a friend of Leon Belmont and used Leon to kill Walter (a random powerful vampire with his own castle in the forest) and steal his soul with some weird Philosopher's Stone knock-off. So Mathias becomes Dracula and apparently he isn't the original vampire But aside from that it's great. And the soundtrack is awesome. I never played the other 3D one on PS2 though.

Aria and Dawn of Sorrow (I don't remember which one comes first) are about this kid named Soma Cruz (not Belmont? ) who suddenly ends up outside Dracula's Castle (iirc he's on the moon or something) and has nowhere to go but inside. He learns he has the power to steal monsters' abilities, so he does that. The story's a bit strange compared to previous entries, but there's a great game underneath, even if it's a bit clunky.

Order of Ecclesia I actually just started like a month ago. I haven't been playing it much, but I'm pretty sure I'm almost at the end. It's a similar mechanic to AoS and DoS in that you get to absorb monster abilities and stuff, except you have to actually work to get them. After you kill a monster you have to stand there and hold a button until the power is absorbed, which gets annoying when there are other enemies around and you have to get rid of them first, since any interruption causes you to stop absorbing it and have to start all over. Plus, if you accidentally hit the ability (it's floating in a glyph) with your weapon, it disappears. But aside from that minor annoyance it's a great game. I would highly recommend it.

Also, SotN is the most fun game ever. Especially with all the little glitches and things you can do to mess up the game I have 262.7% explored on one save file. :freak:

[Jowy]

i beat aria and dawn of sorrow! didn't have the balls of steel to grind souls for 100% completion but man I HATED having to seal the bosses away with the stylus after that. worked best if you just kinda kept in your mouth and pulled it out when you needed it to poke away death. Portrait of Ruin was really fun too! I used Charlotte more because spamming magic was a riot. Killing Richter as Jonathan was a hell of a fight too. I found uh...Harmony of Dissonance on GBA in my old duffel bag and haven't played it since then. It's just sitting on my night stand.

[Tigmafuzz]

Harmony of Dissonance was pretty cool, if it's the one I'm thinking of. I remember playing two or three different Castlevanias on GBA. I think the other was Circle of the Moon? Either way, the GBA ones were all good.

Also, I misspoke. It's not 262.7% completion...

[VeloZer0]

Using the Crissaegrim is like hard mode compared to the Alucard Shield+Shield Rod.

I think I have beaten all the 2D metroidvania titles with the exception of Portrait of Ruin. (I gave up when fighting Death. That fight is very long and tedious.) Though I enjoyed them all immensely SotN and OoE were the only ones that ever warranted me playing again.

[Wolf Kanno]

Symphony of the Night remains my favorite though I still love the original and the Soma Cruz entries.

I've been meaning to pick up Lament of Innocence and I have played the recent Lords of Shadow entry which is a reboot, it is pretty good (narrated by Patrick Stewart so it's got that going for it) and is mostly a God of War clone with less blood and T&A. The ending is a bit... strange... but I can honestly say I may check out the sequels planned for it, especially since the handheld one is actually going to be more in-lined with the Metroidvania games. It is still not as good as the 2D entries but it's better than most of the 3D entries I've dabbled with.

[Jowy]

So the general consensus is that Order of Ecclesia is totally sweet. Might have to pick it up then!

[Del Murder]

Order of Ecclesia is pretty fun and has a unique equipment system that is a nice change of pace. SotN is still the best, though.

[Jowy]

I always forget where the Holy Symbol is and try and tough it out around water for as long as I can.

[Araciel]

Duplicator+monster vials

[Jowy]

this thread came up on a google search about spamming the crissaegrim and i'm really embarrassed