I got through the GBA collection, having only ever owned and played Circle of the Moon back when it came out. Honestly, it just being titled Castlevania in Europe was on the money, it’s like a greatest hits collection with very little that’s all that distinct or lost from the new cast.
Of the other two remaining, Harmony of Dissonance is by far the most striking one. Better command of atmosphere and place, more visually interesting and better music. Aria of Sorrow felt like a step back, and although writing hasn’t ever been a strong suit in these expansive exploration RPG followups, the 2000s anime direction and characters of it all has me very apprehensive of its sequel.
Which of the last two DS outtings has the better reputation?
They both have their shortcomings. Portrait took the time to lay all the groundwork needed for complicated 2-character control, like hot swapping, gear sets, calling in an assist to stay in one place on screen, or following and attacking with you, but does very little with it. The large majority of the game can be beaten playing as Jonathan with the best weapon you’ve found. By the same token, Ecclesia’s 2-weapon system at first seems to offer a lot of customization options, but weapon resistance is strict, and there’s only like 4 combinations in the game where two different weapons result in a unique combo attack, so you’re typically just equipping the same weapon twice for each gear set.
Ecclesia’s “empty hallways” are usually a common complaint, but that’s because the areas are designed around being endurance gauntlets between savepoints, like early JRPG dungeons. Portrait has more exploration built into its map layouts.
i’m starting to think that Aria of Sorrow does have some lasting visual interest: its cleaner and flatter textures give rise to a slick graphic design-like quality at times, such as the red windows of the Castle Corridor, the light streams of the Study or the marble walls of the Dance Hall. even some of the sconce flames bear the interesting impression of being stamped into the background.
it’s on my mind because of some artwork i recently came across
Unbelievable that Yuzo Koshiro was on Portrait of Ruin, was baffled to see his name in the credits. Buddy system aside, that whole thing feels like slop from top to bottom, utterly boring aesthetics and atrocious writing. I barely remember anything from Dawn of Sorrow either beyond the humorous and almost immediately dropped implementation of the stylus.
I could readily see myself replaying Order of Ecclesia and Harmony of Dissonance, however. They’re not without shortcomings but at least they feel like visions well iterated upon. Especially fond of how much presence the castle has by the end of the former, after going through more directed environments.
I’ve played maybe two hours of the first one. My impression was it was very GBA core. At first glance it kinda looked more like an arcadey progression but there are mechanic locks around that tell you you’ll somehow come back when you get new stuff. Got to a boss where it felt like you could get stuck in a bad loop if you lost a sister and they were the one you needed to fight the boss.
