Here's me raving about a classic game series that I fell in love with recently.
So I have the Castlevania Collection on the Switch. I finished all of its games already long ago. I always liked Castlevania games but that was about it. I wouldn't say that they were close to my heart or something.
However, a couple of weeks ago I replayed the NES classic Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse once again, and this time it was the japanese version. I never knew that it was so much more accessible than the western versions but this time my run through the game went so much smoother, and I enjoyed every second of it. Took the Sypha route. Got through the damn pirate ship much easier this time. I decided to not spare on ammo and spammed magic all the time, so it was pretty much how the game is intended to be played. I always used to save all my hearts but by limiting myself that way (for no reason at all) the games are much, much more difficult. Anyway, it was a blast, I loved it so much. And the music in this game is soooo good! It's a really great game.
And because of this revisit I was in the mood for more Castlevania action. I started another run of the second game in the series, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. Many call this the black sheep in the series, and while I can definitely see its flaws, I still like this game quite a lot. So, after having finished that one as well, I became obsessed with Castlevania like never before.
So next up was Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles on the PSP. This is a collection of two games: Rondo of Blood as a fully localized western release, which is the first time for this game, and Symphony of the Night. Rondo of Blood changes some parts of the formula for the better. This is a fantastic game, but brutally difficult! A really cool moment is when you realise that the first level takes place in Aljiba, one of the towns from Castlevania II: Simon's Quest! I loved that, that was a super amazing throwback for me. So in this sense all the games from the main series are connected to each other, and this is a such a great feature for me.
I was very excited for Symphony of the Night, the one great masterpiece that shook the series up side down and pushed it into another genre. Honestly, I thought that it was available right from the start in Dracula X Chronicles but I was wrong, you have to unlock it first. I had to look up how to do it. Anyways. SotN is awesome! It feels so badass to walk into the castle accompanied by this amazing soundtrack and then you start killing the monsters and explore the giant interior, get sucked up in the deep atmosphere while becoming stronger and stronger. I highly recommend this.
And then I replayed both games on the N64 from start to finish within a couple of days. They are not canon, and definitely different from every other game so far. Still pretty good but not on the same level. This lead me to another non-canon game, and that is Circle of the Moon on the Game Boy Advance. This was a launch title for the system. It was a little rough around the edges, but has a lot of great moments and also a heavy atmosphere. However, I admit that I took a break in the middle after I kept dying from Ice Giants in the sewers and I got frustrated. I played Castlevania Legends on the original Game Boy instead. This is also non-canon and the first game to have a female protagonist with Sonya Belmont.
And thus I replayed the other two Game Boy Castlevanias. Castlevania Adventure is unfair in many places, and not much fun to play. Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge is more accessible and the best game of the bunch. All three, however, have kickass soundtracks considering the hardware! With that out of the way I went back to Circle of the Moon and loved it. Right after the credits rolled I couldn't help myself and turned to the second game on the GBA, Harmony of Dissonance. This one is even better than Circle of the Moon for me! It took me only two or three sittings to consume this entirely. The last game on the GBA is Aria of Sorrow, followed by the direct sequel which is Dawn of Sorrow. Both of these games include the mechanic that allows you to absorb the souls of the enemies and use their powers, which is wonderful and so much fun. But I wish the souls would drop more frequently, even with all bonuses and exploits equipped. Farming them can be tedious at times.
Well, here I am playing the next game, and that is Portrait of Run. For the first time I can play as two charcaters simultaneously. This is amazing, I enjoy it very much! But, there is still another DS game left which I do not own yet, and that is Order of Ecclesia. Buying it nowadays is difficult and expensive. I just couldn't help myself. I had to buy it. I am not proud of myself for shelling out so much money on one single game, but then again you can find some sellers offering it new and sealed for more than 500€ (!), others used for more than 200€. Some only have the cart but not the packaging. All in all, it seems pretty rare, so having spent 120€ seems fair, right? It isn't, I know. Still, I want it so bad. It's going to arrive on thursday.
All that's left are the two PS2 games Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness. I am on the fence on these because the seem to be pretty mediocre and expensive at the same time, so eh. I hope I'll have the chance to play them someday and I'll keep an eye on them. Thanks for reading. Have a nice day, everybody.
Last edited by GoOnKid - on 25 April 2021
