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Castlevania Portrait Of Ruin (DS) thread

Super Metroid is leaguesssss ahead of anything IGA has put out.
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To be fair Super Metroid is leaguesssss ahead of most things. :lol

But I don't really compare Metroid with the "Metroidvanias." I think they're vastly different enough, personally, but I don't really share similar opinions with a lot of people when it comes to... hell, most things. Sure, the recent Castlevanias have had similar layout aspects of Metroid but I sure as hell do not get a Metroid vibe from them. I think it's a little one-sided to slap the label "Metroidvania" on some of the recent Castlevania games just because they share a couple of similarities here and there. Okami and Zelda share tons of similarities for example but I still found both of those games to be vastly different from one another.
 
Magicpaint said:
Because the controls were stiff and shitty, that's why.

Old school Castlevania was only tough because of terribly limited controls.
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Thank you, agree 100%. Every handful of hair I pulled out of my head playing Casltevania I, III and IV would have been avoided if the controls had been better.
 
Magicpaint said:
Definitely. Super Metroid is leaguesssss ahead of anything IGA has put out.
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I'm a really weird Nintendo fan. My favorite single player NES game growing up was Metroid. My favorite system of all time is SNES. But I've never finished Super Metroid. It just kind of bores me after an hour or so. I've thoroughly enjoyed every Metroid-Vania, though. I think it has something to do with the RPG aspects. If I'm backtracking and collecting weapons all over the place, I better be able to see immidiate progress for my troubles.

My second favorite Metroid title is actually Fusion. I love the action in Metroid games. The backtracking bores the hell out of me, though. Fusion was pure action (and weird story) and I loved it. Every other Metroid, save the first, has lost my interest a few hours in.
 
ethelred said:
Hah, yeah... even though I'm one of the two people who had posted negatively, I agree. I still think people should get the game and play it for themselves.
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Posting negative about something is fine, as long as it is your opinion. But people who have been looking forward to this game should get it, simple as that.
 
Bebpo said:
Yeah, IGA's level design have been about the quality of a random level design machines that just makes intersecting hallways for quite a while.

The games have been good because of the action within the levels and the awesome boss fights, not the level design itself. PoR is just awesome because it ditches most of the rpg elements and gets back to being just a simply intense non-stop action game.
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I agree completely.

btw Magicpaint's post is 100% true, he totally nailed when it comes to iga and level designs.

PoR imo is the best IGAvania so far that I have played. still havent finish it tho so it could change.
 
I still think the portable titles have much better level design than the damn 3D ones. Man. I mean I've already seen more level variety in 30 minutes of Portrait of Ruin than in the entirety of Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness. :lol
 
I'm warning you. The last few paintings can be a chore. But the game redeems itself with it's final boss and
secret painting

My rating still stands. A solid 9/10. It's still not as good as SOTN. It's better than all the Castleroids after SOTN though.
 
I'd say (because I love doing this thing)

1. Super Castlevania IV
2. Symphony of the Night
3. Dawn of Sorrow

Of course I cannot rank Portrait yet, as I'm still not past the 1st boss. :lol
 
Since everyone is doing theirs well...

For the Castletroids:
PoR>DoS>AoS>SoTN>CoTM>HoD

Old-School:
RoB>SCIV>CVIII>CV:B>CV>CVII:SQ
 
charlequin said:
I was mostly talking about e2k4 (I think), I pretty much agree with you (though I haven't played PoR yet).



No thanks. :lol I 90% enjoyed God of War, but there's something about God of War that really doesn't line up with how I imagine a good 3D Castlevania. Though I guess I'm having trouble putting my finger on it -- hordes of enemies, deathtraps, big expansive boss encounters... ::shrug::
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That's kind of why I am able to see it as the 3D castlevania we never got. A lot of fun platforming (and some that is insanely unfair, but I suppose that is in line with Castlevania in general), awesome boss fights that feel just like 2d boss fights from shIGAtgavania (lawl i just made that one up lol lol), and the knifes Kratos used felt a lot like whips.

The mythos and ambiance of the game is entirely wrong, but I could see it with totally new art.

...god, I want that game so badly.

The hydra boss fight from GoW totally reminds me of the Hydra in SotN...just a bit more QTEish.
 
brandonh83 said:
I still think the portable titles have much better level design than the damn 3D ones. Man. I mean I've already seen more level variety in 30 minutes of Portrait of Ruin than in the entirety of Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness. :lol
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I think that for the next 3D castlevania, they should disable the Ctrl+V keys on the level designer's keyboard.
 
MoxManiac said:
Hey! simon's quest rocked!
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It's alright I suppose :P
I'd like to see its ideas built upon in a 3D castlevania, but I don't trust Iga when it comes to 3D.

Ah...I forgot to rank the atrocious 3D ones and the horrible SNES Dracula X...but eh... they're best forgotten I guess.
 
Vrolokus said:
Thank you, agree 100%. Every handful of hair I pulled out of my head playing Casltevania I, III and IV would have been avoided if the controls had been better.
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There is absolutely nothing wrong with IV's controls. If you found yourself pulling hair playing that game, you have to be one of the worst players of 16-bit sidescrollers to ever live. It's a wonder you didn't quit videogames before the 32-bit generation, since you would of had to be dying a million times every time you popped in a game.

That in mind, you probably grew up with Playstation or later consoles.
 
I liked the levels. They fitted pretty well with the music and in somes cases were better then Rondo's stages!
 
Virgin Wii said:
There is absolutely nothing wrong with IV's controls. If you found yourself pulling hair playing that game, you have to be one of the worst players of 16-bit sidescrollers to ever live. It's a wonder you didn't quit videogames before the 32-bit generation, since you would of had to be dying a million times every time you popped in a game.

That in mind, you probably grew up with Playstation or later consoles.
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You do realize we're talking about videogames, correct? Videogames. No reason to literally bash or call out someone over it. You may be the lord and savior Jesus Christ when it comes to videogames, but not everyone possess your mad skills-z.
 
Pedobear said:
I liked the levels. They fitted pretty well with the music and in somes cases were better then Rondo's stages!
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I liked most of the backgrounds..especially the firey bits in the early stage, but the whole level design took a massive step-back for some reason. I suppose I'm hating so much on the game because they made some stupid ass decisions. Christ, they could have left RoB the way it was and we wouldn't still be crying for an English version right now if they had sorted out their crap.
 
brandonh83 said:
You do realize we're talking about videogames, correct? Videogames. No reason to literally bash or call out someone over it. You may be the lord and savior Jesus Christ when it comes to videogames, but not everyone possess your mad skills-z.
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You do realize we're on an internet message board, right? An internet message board.

You may have no life and your only friends are on the web, but not everyone takes forum trash talk as harshly as you.
 
I've never played any of the 3D Castlevanias. How many were there, two on PS2 and one on the N64? Are they worth picking up just for novelty's sake?
 
Virgin Wii said:
You do realize we're on an internet message board, right? An internet message board.

You may have no life and your only friends are on the web, but not everyone takes forum trash talk as harshly as you.
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WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME
 
Sorry guys, please help:
How to jump on the friend's shoulder to make another jump at mid air?
I just gotthis new ability, after beating the first portrait boss.
It's one of the relics.:)
 
Guileless said:
I've never played any of the 3D Castlevanias. How many were there, two on PS2 and one on the N64? Are they worth picking up just for novelty's sake?
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4 total. Lament of Innocence(PS2), Curse of Darkness(PS2/XBOX), Castlevania(N64), and Legacy of Darkness(N64) ! I will vouch for the PS2/XBOX ones. They are 'alright' in my book! The N64 ones, at the time, weren't bad at all.


Valtox said:
Sorry guys, please help:
How to jump on the friend's shoulder to make another jump at mid air?
I just gotthis new ability, after beating the first portrait boss.
It's one of the relics.:)
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Just jump and time it so you tap jump again off their shoulders.
 
"allright' and "not bad at all for the time" means you're damning by faint praise right? Actually those are the most positive things I've ever seen about the 3d games. You can get the PS2 games for less than $20 so I'll check them out in the post-holiday dead zone.

Via google I found an old review for Castlevania on the N64 from Gaming Age written by Greg Sewart. It got a.....6.8.
 
So far this game's excellent. I've only cleared the first painting, but the dual-character mechanic works better than I expected it to and the story seems less overtly bad than in DoS.
 
Virgin Wii said:
You do realize we're on an internet message board, right? An internet message board.

You may have no life and your only friends are on the web, but not everyone takes forum trash talk as harshly as you.
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I'm sure he isn't contemplating suicide over it, but you should look into waiting for a real reason, or better yet, a mature one, before taking something like this too seriously.
 
Teasel said:
uh if somebody cares i'm trying to get every enemy drop,so far it's going pretty good (gambler glasses rules)
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I can't wait to dig into this game later. I finally have some free time though. We should share friend codes or something later.
 
Javaman said:
Did anyone elses "new" copy come wrapped with the cartridge upside down in the holder? I'm thinking EB sold me a rewrap. At least there weren't any saves on it. :oP
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Same thing here. The wrap looked like they did it in store, I had a couple of scratches in the case, and the cart was upside down. I don't know why they'd do that though.

Side note, the guy who rang me up asked me to open the pre-order bonus so he could see what was in it. So at least that hadn't been opened.
 
I bought 2 copies of POR right when the store got it, and when I opened one when I got home, the game was upside-down in the holder. When I opened the other one, it was correctly right-side up in the holder.

So, it just a factory placement thing.
 
Mine came with relatively loose shrink wrap, upside down in the box, and the manual seemed slightly folded.

No saves and works fine so I don't care.
 
I just got it, been having some fun messing around.

I just tried the boss of the first painting twice already, and he schooled me. Apparantly i am somewhat retarded at this game.

How do you guys feel the difficulty is compared to DoS and AoS/HoD and COTM?

It already seems a bit tougher than DoS. i dont remember dying on any of the first like 5 bosses in DoS.

or, mabye i just suck.
 
Ra\/en said:
I just got it, been having some fun messing around.

I just tried the boss of the first painting twice already, and he schooled me. Apparantly i am somewhat retarded at this game.

How do you guys feel the difficulty is compared to DoS and AoS/HoD and COTM?

It already seems a bit tougher than DoS. i dont remember dying on any of the first like 5 bosses in DoS.

or, mabye i just suck.
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The bosses early on are definitely a lot harder. You have to learn their patterns instead of hacking through them. The actual levels seem even easier since there's a save point every 5 feet early on.
 
****ING BULLSHIT

i get my gamestop.com preorder, and it's just an empty padded envelope that's clearly never been sealed. i call gamestop.com, and they can't send me another copy of the preorder bonus, so they're just giving me a refund. can't get the book and the cd now -- none of the local stores have any extras, and they're going for $50 without the game on ebay. i don't even want the game anymore.
 
What's funny is that I got the pre-order bonus (which is pretty badass btw) and I didn't even pre-order the game.

Went to gamestop yesterday, said "you got any copies of PoR" -- guy was like yup.

Then I said could I get the bonus with it. He's like, if you didn't pre-order, no you can't.

Then I was like "I'll pre-order Lost Planet if you give me the Portrait of Ruin Bonus."

And then you know -- he's like..."alright then."

THose guys are whores for pre-orders. My god.

*got a sweet new multiplayer map code for lost planet to boot*

EDIT 1: To all you guys saying Rondo of BLood as one of your favorites, you better be talkign about the PC JPN version or you deserve to be bitch slapped.

EDIT 2: I've never played Castlevania Bloodlines (genesis) -- is it good?
 
Just picked up mine today at EB. I wasn't expecting to get the preorder since we always get shafted up in Canada, but surprise surprise! Stylus, artbook, CD. F*cking sweeeet. No time to play now though, still working on Gyakuten Saiban 2. (Case 4 owns you!)
 
thefro said:
The bosses early on are definitely a lot harder. You have to learn their patterns instead of hacking through them. The actual levels seem even easier since there's a save point every 5 feet early on.
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yeah i noticed that about the save points. I'm used to 1 save point at the beginning, and 1 before the boss. The first painting must have had like 3 warp points, and 4 save points..

crazy!


oh, yeah i played the boss again, definate pattern. Ill just work around this and he shoudl be no problem.
 
Gigglepoo said:
I'm a really weird Nintendo fan. My favorite single player NES game growing up was Metroid. My favorite system of all time is SNES. But I've never finished Super Metroid. It just kind of bores me after an hour or so. I've thoroughly enjoyed every Metroid-Vania, though. I think it has something to do with the RPG aspects. If I'm backtracking and collecting weapons all over the place, I better be able to see immidiate progress for my troubles.
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Indeed you are. :P
I was reading you're absolutely kick ass opinion about Super Mario Karts in the other thread yesterday but here with Super Metroid you fail!
Super Mario Karts + Super Metroid = some of the best games of all time. (at least in my head)
 
Not that fun :(

I had more fun with DoS. Too many of the same enemies and bosstypes. Tag team is neat but doesn't add too much.
The sublevels have a new look, but the gameplay is identical.
I'm 4 hours in. Maybe I'm just CV'd out. Co-op probably won't extend the game much for me, I'm not a big fan of boss rush.
 
Word on Super Metroid. Perfectly paced with shortcuts/alternate pathways to boot. All "Metroidvanias" should have shortcuts and/or well-positioned warp points to cut the dead time wandering between places to a minimum.

My ranking so far:

Old-school:
Rondo of Blood>CV3: Dracula's Curse>>>Bloodlines>SCV4>Castlevania Chronicles/X68000>Castlevania 1>Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest

Metroidvania:
Dawn of Sorrow=>Symphony of the Night>Aria of Sorrow>Harmony of Dissonance>Circle of the Moon

I'm on the same page as IGA with the Rondo of Blood and Dracula's Curse lovin'.
 
Circuit City's website has no listing whatsoever for the game, which is weird. I'd like to buy it from 'em since I have a $25 gift card they gave me when they screwed up my last online pickup order. Has anyone seen/purchased the game at a CC store?
 
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