Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

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BanjoPickles
Posts: 449
Joined: June 18th, 2015, 3:05 pm

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Postby BanjoPickles » December 26th, 2024, 11:25 am

Something about this game just isn’t grabbing me:

I just did my first play through of Dawn of Sorrow in twenty years, and it has aged beautifully! It’s fun, looks great, is very rewarding, and the music is superb! As much as I love Symphony of the Night, I’d have to give the edge to DoS!

I loved it so much that I decided to jump right into a OoE, a game I’d never played before.

It feels like a collection of ideas that were left on the cutting room floor of better games in the series. Nothing about it really stands out. Am I missing something?

GStratos
Posts: 87
Joined: May 19th, 2024, 2:46 am

Re: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Postby GStratos » December 29th, 2024, 9:04 am

This doesn't seem like a review, did you mean to post this in "Now Playing" instead?

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ActRaiser
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Re: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Postby ActRaiser » December 29th, 2024, 6:50 pm

I'm nearly 16 hours in. I can't imagine having to do this on the original hardware. I had to grind to make progress and use the rewind feature for bosses.

I'm now finally at Drac's castle and making progress.

The familiar options are cool and you have the opportunity to change into a bat like creature and a kitty cat with claws. It grows on you the more you play it. It’s almost like an RPG with characters you find that then give out quests. It’s not intuitive in the least but eventually gets better. I had to grind for money and experience. Eventually, you'll find glyphs that make that process easier as well. Stick with it and it will get better. Feel free to use game faqs and other tools. I certainly needed them.

BanjoPickles
Posts: 449
Joined: June 18th, 2015, 3:05 pm

Re: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Postby BanjoPickles » January 1st, 2025, 5:43 pm

Okay, so now that I’m just about finished with the game, here is a more comprehensive review:

I think that this was where the formula had somewhat exhausted itself. There were some cool ideas, and I like how Iga actually created a lot of new enemy types, but it doesn’t have the same sense of reward/wonder that made many of the previous entries so endearing.

Actraiser, I completely agree with you, when it comes to the bosses. Many of them I would have been unable to beat without the ability to rewind! They’re brutal, and hit sponges! I also hate how most of the boss fights don’t give some new ability to access a new area! It makes the victory seem a bit hollow!

I also hate how so many things poison you! It’s ridiculous! I also hate having to constantly switch my glyphs around because one enemy is impervious to what I have equipped.

All in all, it got better…..but I’d still rank this as a C.

newmodelarmy
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Joined: January 16th, 2017, 8:10 pm

Re: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Postby newmodelarmy » January 1st, 2025, 7:06 pm

This game doesn't seem like any fun!!!

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ActRaiser
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Joined: April 8th, 2015, 12:38 pm

Re: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Postby ActRaiser » January 1st, 2025, 10:06 pm

Newmodelarmy, the first few hours are hard, like old-school hard. And then things slowly begin to click as you figure it out. I still haven't beaten it yet but am getting closer.

Once you get to Drac's castle there are some really impressive and amazing visual background scenes involving dark, stormy clouds rolling in. I rarely played the 3DS and only picked one up at the tail end of its life. I wasn't aware of some of the special tricks one could do with it visually.

BanjoPickles, I agree it's like they ran out of time to polish it. The new glyphs you find unlock other areas but it's a bit of a hit and a miss on that front.

strat
Posts: 238
Joined: May 14th, 2015, 1:12 am

Re: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Postby strat » January 2nd, 2025, 1:19 am

One thing I'm not a fan of with Ecclesia, spoiler: it blatantly tells you how to bypass the bad ending, whereas the other Iga-Vanias made you figure it out.

Also, it would've been cool to have a second playable character (although the story would have a different tone, which is the best Iga-Vania story imo). Shame that partner mechanic from Portrait of Ruin was thrown out.

Yeah, the game feels limited at first but gets better the more you accomplish.

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ActRaiser
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Re: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Postby ActRaiser » January 15th, 2025, 4:38 pm

BanjoPickles wrote:Okay, so now that I’m just about finished with the game, here is a more comprehensive review:


Were you able to beat Dracula?

I made it to him only to be smacked down quite hard. I'll give it another go this weekend. A C grade certainly sounds right.


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