/v/ - Video Games

>doesn't matter
But it does matter, seeing as the series was rolling in its grave by the time that hack Igarashi was finished raping it.

>>317363
Or instead of being a faggot you could realize that they're two different subseries that share mechanics.

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I'm going to replay curse of darkness in october.
I don't like the art style of the new castlevania game, it doesn't feel very gothic or barroque-ish or castlevania-ish, it feels comic book-ish, reminds me of Mike Mignola Hellboy.
I'm not talking about colors, I'm talking shape and texture, it is very cartoonish and stylized.

>>317385
Before reading your post I saw those thumbnails (first four) and thought they were from some generic indie game.

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For some reason I never got into the Castlevania series despite liking the premise. The controls are always too clunky that they completely put me off playing... I did like Aria of Sorrow though, which is probably the only Castlevania game I finished.
What other games would you recommend (whether from the Castlevania franchise or not) that are similar to that game?

>>317403
As >>317364 says, Castlevania can be divided into two subseries. They are commonly called "classicvania" and "metroidvania" (or "IGAvania"). Classicvanias are more arcadey (and hard) "get to the end of the stage" games, and the "clunkiness" you speak of is part of the game design/challenge. Metroidvanias have exploration and RPG elements, and Aria of Sorrow is one of them.
The only metroidvania Castlevanias I played were Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow, and I would recommend Symphony of the Night; it's simply a classic. Playing AoS right after playing SotN felt like a downgrade in almost every aspect to me.
As for non-Castlevania metroidvania games, there are basically a million indie games like that. And as the name suggests, Metroid is also kind of like that but with less RPG elements.

>>317403
Dawn of Sorrow (remember the Dawn of Dignity hack unless you really like generic anime bishies) and Order of Ecclesia have similar mechanics. Ecclesia borrows a bit more from Classicvania in that instead of having one big world you select stages from a menu and each stage is mostly linear with a few instances of backtracking after getting upgrades.

>>317403
For Castlevania here is a list of must play games in the series
>Symphony of the Night
>Aria of Sorrow
>Portrait of Ruin
>Order of Ecclesia
>Circle of the Moon
>Castlevania Chronicles
>Harmony of Dissonance
>Bloodlines
>Dracula's Curse
>Rondo of Blood
>Dracula X Chronicles

For other games on the same genre
>Hollow Knight
>Super Metroid
>Valdis Story
>Aquaria
>Lone Survivor
>Shantae Risky's Revenge
>Shantae and the Pirate's Curse
>Toki Tori 2+
>Vessel
>Bloodstained Ritual of the Night
>Bloodstained Curse of the Moon
>Ori
>Blasphemous 1/2
>Salt & Sanctuary
>Grime
>Souldiers

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To me Rondo of Blood is the best Castlevania game and one of the best games in general. It's been a while since I last played it, but when I did I had a ton of fun every time. Not a fan of the Igavania style to be honest.

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>>317364
>it's two different things bro
>it's like apples and oranges, they're both great bro
No it's one thing that was raped to death by the other.  Imagine if the apples supplanted the oranges and there were no more oranges.  Now imagine if the apples were actually smelly piles of dogshit.  At least we can say that the oranges finally got one last shot in at the dogshit after decades of dogshit though, just before the series disappeared entirely.

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>>317491
Wow, such a le eric contrarian opinion. You sure showed me.

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>Love Castlevania
>Love Gal Gun
>There's a fukken Gal Gun Castlevania tribute game with SotN movement, but linear like classic Castlevania
Life is good sometimes.

>>317493
What the fuck is a "le eric contrarian opinion"?
>>317527
Isn't gal gun some smut game? Why did they make a castlevania tribute?
>>317406
<Ecclesia borrows a bit more from Classicvania in that instead of having one big world you select stages from a menu and each stage is mostly linear with a few instances of backtracking after getting upgrades.
To the detriment of the game and the pacing, I'd say. Most of these stages are a complete bore and feel more like they're there to pad out the game than they are to add anything. Wish they cut the numbers in half and expanded the others to be a lot bigger and complex.

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>>317528
>Isn't gal gun some smut game?
Yeah, it's a eroge rail shooter where you suck school girls' panties. Pretty good.
>Why did they make a castlevania tribute?
For teh lulz.

>>317405
>They are commonly called "classicvania" and "metroidvania" (or "IGAvania")
Thank you for explaining this. Time to start exploring some of the other igavanias then.
>I would recommend Symphony of the Night; it's simply a classic
I did play SotN for a while but sadly dropped it halfway through, because Alucard was just way too slow that every enemy in the game ran circles around him. I don't know why I couldn't just keep playing as Richter from the prologue.

>>317406
>Dawn of Sorrow (remember the Dawn of Dignity hack
I started playing that and it feels good so far, thanks!

>>317414
Saved, thank you.
>For other games on the same genre
>Shantae Risky's Revenge
>Shantae and the Pirate's Curse
<no Shantae (2002)
Shiggy diggy

>>317423
>To me Rondo of Blood is the best Castlevania game
I know of RoB and its absolutely killer soundtrack, maybe I should try it. Which version would you recommend? I heard good things about the PSP version.

>>317531
>For the lulz
Fair enough. Might just give it a try and see if it's any good indeed.
>317532
>I heard good things about the PSP version.
Not that guy but it's a serviceable version. It's remixed and not 100% faithful to the original and a smidge easier but not a butchered version either. I don't like the 3d look that much but the remixed OST is pretty good.
But you also get the original PC engine game bundled in and SOTN both with a slightly revised script that's less shit overall but also more stiff. It was good value back when it released.
They both have slight accuracy issues but it doesn't really impact the enjoyment.

>>317527
>Negative reviews are people complaining it's not a Metroidvania.

We should start killing people with sledgehammers.

>>317537
Post?

>>317403
I like Super Castlevania IV

>>317528
>Isn't gal gun some smut game? Why did they make a castlevania tribute?
Because Japs don't have a backwards mentality where you can only enjoy moe or manime. They can enjoy both.
>>317531
>eroge
Anon... it's a CERO D console game...
>>317532
>I don't know why I couldn't just keep playing as Richter from the prologue.
You can play as Richter after beating the game as Alucard, but it's more of an bonus mode than anything, without any story or progression elements, and you can just take the shortest path to the final boss in 5 minutes.

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>>317532
>I don't know why I couldn't just keep playing as Richter from the prologue.
But you can.

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>>317537

>>317527
>Kurona
picked up

>>317532
Play the PC Engine version.

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>>317527
At this point faux pixelshit like that with an HD HUD and those lighting effects and widescreen ratio almost give me a vomiting reaction (at least there weren't obvious mixels...). It's no different from looking at a tranny who doesn't "pass" at all.

>>317629
I think HD hud on lowrez game is fine. To me, the same rules should apply to both 3D & 2D games: Each "layer" (game, UI) should be internally consistent, and that's it.
>lighting effects
Gradients/blur on translucent UI/dialog boxes are one thing, but yeah some of those are applied entirely to the playfield itself, HD & truecolor on lowrez dithered gameplay does cross the pixelshit barrier for me.