Beautiful but Painfully Deadly
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is the third and final Castlevania game for the DS that have the strengths of the first two DS Castlevania games with very awesome and challenging gameplay.
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is the third and final Castlevania game for the DS that have the strengths of the first two DS Castlevania games with very awesome and challenging gameplay.
STORY
The story of Order of Ecclesia (OoE) takes place in an unknown land and unknown time. The Ecclesia is one of many organizations that rise in absence of the Belmont Clan to stop the dark forces from bringing despair to the land. Ecclesia is a successful organization that discovered a way to stop Dracula.
Shanoa, the main protagonist of the game (first female protagonist in Castlevania canon... sorry Sonia Belmont), is a member of Ecclesia. She is tasked to perform a ritual to absorb a powerful Glyph (Ecclesia's signature magic) and destroy Dracula's vessel. The ritual is interrupted midway by Albus, also a member of Ecclesia, causing Shanoa to lose all her memory and emotions. Because of this, she have to retrain and then find and apprehend Albus, the one who stole Ecclesia's powerful Glyphs that is meant for her to use.
The story is much better than the previous two DS Castlevania games. Shanoa may be a blank slate but she's still a strong main character.
Shanoa, the main protagonist of the game (first female protagonist in Castlevania canon... sorry Sonia Belmont), is a member of Ecclesia. She is tasked to perform a ritual to absorb a powerful Glyph (Ecclesia's signature magic) and destroy Dracula's vessel. The ritual is interrupted midway by Albus, also a member of Ecclesia, causing Shanoa to lose all her memory and emotions. Because of this, she have to retrain and then find and apprehend Albus, the one who stole Ecclesia's powerful Glyphs that is meant for her to use.
The story is much better than the previous two DS Castlevania games. Shanoa may be a blank slate but she's still a strong main character.
GAMEPLAY
OoE is a metroidvania game like SotN, but unlike most of the previous titles where you will just explore the castle, you are going to explore many different locales like forests, graveyards, sea, prison etc. It's like Simon's Quest on NES. You're base of operations is Wygol Village. The village is your hub where you can buy items and equipment. The NPCs that you rescue as you explore the land in OoE gives you quests.
Shanoa is not a copy of Alucard, Soma and Jonathan that almost have the same moves and can equip the same type of weapons and equipment. Yes, she also can equip armor and accessories but she doesn't use any "normal" weapons in the game, instead she uses Glyphs where she casts any spells and weapons from the tattoos on her arms and back. This is the game's awesome Glyph System, it gives Shanoa a unique skills. This system is like the combination of DoS's Tactical Soul and PoR's spell/sub weapon acquisition method from monsters. Shanoa's left and right arm can use the weapon/spell Glyphs, while her back can cast buffs or any skill that let's you reach harder to reach areas.
Shanoa's MP depletes as she uses a Glyph but she have a quick MP restoration rate, like her MP gauge gets full in a second. Some Glyphs level up if Shanoa absorbs (press/hold [UP] when a Glyph appears) a number of the same Glyph.
Shanoa can also use a Glyph Union technique, where she uses both left and right Glyphs at the same time to perform a powerful attack. For example, equip Rapier Glyph on both arms, press/hold [UP] plus [X] or [Y] button and she will fire a quick rapier projectile. You can also combine two different Glyphs to perform a special Glyph Union like for example, equip Lumen and a weapon Glyph, press/hold [UP] plus [X] or [Y] and Shanoa will do a wide light/holy elemental circular slash. Glyph Union costs an amount of [Heart Points] to perform, depending on how strong or special the Glyph Union is.
OoE also have a weapon and elemental spell proficiency system. For example if you use a sword type glyph often, Shanoa's sword proficiency increases (attack increases when using swords).
You're a veteran Castlevania player you say? So this game is easy for you? Well you're in for a rude awakening... you'll die a lot in OoE. This is a hard and punishing game that even metoidvania veterans like have trouble beating the bosses, even some of those common enemies. You'll have to memorize the attack patterns of the bosses and use a right combination of Glyphs to defeat them. You'll also need to exploit the weaknesses of all enemies in this game.
Adding to the challenging difficulty, OoE surprisingly have a lot of new monsters/enemies and a few of them, especially the classic common enemies, are recycled (skeletons, medusa heads, ectoplasms, peeping eyes, etc.).
Shanoa is not a copy of Alucard, Soma and Jonathan that almost have the same moves and can equip the same type of weapons and equipment. Yes, she also can equip armor and accessories but she doesn't use any "normal" weapons in the game, instead she uses Glyphs where she casts any spells and weapons from the tattoos on her arms and back. This is the game's awesome Glyph System, it gives Shanoa a unique skills. This system is like the combination of DoS's Tactical Soul and PoR's spell/sub weapon acquisition method from monsters. Shanoa's left and right arm can use the weapon/spell Glyphs, while her back can cast buffs or any skill that let's you reach harder to reach areas.
Shanoa's MP depletes as she uses a Glyph but she have a quick MP restoration rate, like her MP gauge gets full in a second. Some Glyphs level up if Shanoa absorbs (press/hold [UP] when a Glyph appears) a number of the same Glyph.
Shanoa can also use a Glyph Union technique, where she uses both left and right Glyphs at the same time to perform a powerful attack. For example, equip Rapier Glyph on both arms, press/hold [UP] plus [X] or [Y] button and she will fire a quick rapier projectile. You can also combine two different Glyphs to perform a special Glyph Union like for example, equip Lumen and a weapon Glyph, press/hold [UP] plus [X] or [Y] and Shanoa will do a wide light/holy elemental circular slash. Glyph Union costs an amount of [Heart Points] to perform, depending on how strong or special the Glyph Union is.
OoE also have a weapon and elemental spell proficiency system. For example if you use a sword type glyph often, Shanoa's sword proficiency increases (attack increases when using swords).
You're a veteran Castlevania player you say? So this game is easy for you? Well you're in for a rude awakening... you'll die a lot in OoE. This is a hard and punishing game that even metoidvania veterans like have trouble beating the bosses, even some of those common enemies. You'll have to memorize the attack patterns of the bosses and use a right combination of Glyphs to defeat them. You'll also need to exploit the weaknesses of all enemies in this game.
Adding to the challenging difficulty, OoE surprisingly have a lot of new monsters/enemies and a few of them, especially the classic common enemies, are recycled (skeletons, medusa heads, ectoplasms, peeping eyes, etc.).
GRAPHICS
This is the best looking DS Caslevania game to date, the devs go all out to this last Castlevania title for the DS. The environment looks haunting yet beautiful with colorful and detailed backgrounds. The castle interior looks amazing and some areas uses 3D backgrounds (Kalidus Channel). Most areas are unique but some have the same theme but with different color, lighting and map layout.
Shanoa have very good sprite animation, it's one of the smoothest sprite animation I've ever seen. The graphical effects of the Glyphs, weapons and other projectiles looks great.
There are lots of effects and some huge attack effects that almost covers the screen. The game's frame rate might slow down if there a lots of things happening on the screen.
The anime style artworks from the previous two DS Castlevania games thankfully got ditched in favor of a more realistic character designs. Nope, still no Ayami Kojima artwork in this game but Masaki Hirooka drew the character designs/artwork for this game. Once I saw his designs for Shanoa and Albus, I already became his fan. And like PoR, the dialogue features different expressions of the main characters.
Shanoa have very good sprite animation, it's one of the smoothest sprite animation I've ever seen. The graphical effects of the Glyphs, weapons and other projectiles looks great.
There are lots of effects and some huge attack effects that almost covers the screen. The game's frame rate might slow down if there a lots of things happening on the screen.
The anime style artworks from the previous two DS Castlevania games thankfully got ditched in favor of a more realistic character designs. Nope, still no Ayami Kojima artwork in this game but Masaki Hirooka drew the character designs/artwork for this game. Once I saw his designs for Shanoa and Albus, I already became his fan. And like PoR, the dialogue features different expressions of the main characters.
MUSIC/AUDIO
The soundtrack of OoE is amazing. It's one of my favorite Castlevania soundtracks ever, running second behind SotN's soundtrack. The soundtrack have a mix of haunting and invigorating music tracks.
The game have English and Japanese voice acting. The prologue is fully voiced, but that's it, still no voices during dialogues. The voice actors performs really good in this game.
Sound effects are good and the sound when you hit enemies with your weapons sounds different per weapon or spell type. The sound effects of this game reminds me a bit of SotN's sound effects.
The game have English and Japanese voice acting. The prologue is fully voiced, but that's it, still no voices during dialogues. The voice actors performs really good in this game.
Sound effects are good and the sound when you hit enemies with your weapons sounds different per weapon or spell type. The sound effects of this game reminds me a bit of SotN's sound effects.
REPLAY VALUE
The game have multiple endings. Completing the game unlocks Albus Mode where you play as Albus and Hard Mode if you want some more challenge. The level cap of the game is level 255, yes it's that high, by that time you're already overpowered. If you want to take on just bosses, Boss Rush Mode is for you.
Other modes requires Nintendo's (discontinued) WiFi Connection or local wireless connection. These modes include Market Mode (buy and sell items from other players), Race Mode (race to the end of the map against another player while earning points and power-ups along the way), Practice Mode is the same as Race Mode but you play solo.
Go to Sound Mode if you want to listen to OoE's amazing soundtrack and hear the voice clips of the characters (Japanese/English).
Other modes requires Nintendo's (discontinued) WiFi Connection or local wireless connection. These modes include Market Mode (buy and sell items from other players), Race Mode (race to the end of the map against another player while earning points and power-ups along the way), Practice Mode is the same as Race Mode but you play solo.
Go to Sound Mode if you want to listen to OoE's amazing soundtrack and hear the voice clips of the characters (Japanese/English).
CLOSING REMARKS
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is the last DS Castlevania game and this is my third favorite game in the series. The new character artwork, good story, impressive music, cool Glyph System, punishing/challenging gameplay and mostly new enemies makes this game great. This is probably the biggest 2D Castlevania game yet if you combine all areas of the land and the Dracula's huge castle. I definitely recommend that you play this game if you still haven't played it yet.
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