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So Castlevania DS games - where should I start?

Kadin

Kadin

Member
I know I've played one in the past but that was a LONG time ago. I always regret never giving it a chance and want to get another one. Also take into account rarity because if it's hard to find, I'll probably have to pass. eBay/Amazon/Gamestop are the typical places I can buy from unless you can still find any of them new (which I doubt).
 
I don't know how helpful this is, but my understanding is that you will probably want to actually start with the GBA games. (I'm sure a more knowledgeable GAFer will be able to provide more info on this, though.) Sorry I don't have more info to offer, the last CV I played was Belmont's Revenge on the original GB.
 
They're independent, so just pick up any you find. I'd go Order of Ecclesia=>Dawn of Sorrow>Portrait of Ruin, but they're all at least decent. Portrait of Ruin is a bit been-there-done-that at first, but it ramps up in the second half.
 
maxcriden said:
I don't know how helpful this is, but my understanding is that you will probably want to actually start with the GBA games. (I'm sure a more knowledgeable GAFer will be able to provide more info on this, though.) Sorry I don't have more info to offer, the last CV I played was Belmont's Revenge on the original GB.
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Dawn of sorrow is a sequel to GBA game Aria of sorrow, but other than that the DS games are completely independent from the GBA games. And I never played the GBA game anyway, it's completely fine to just jump on in to DoS.

Oh igavanias, I miss you so.
 
They´re all good games.

Personally, I loved Dawn Of Sorrow, but got absolutely CONSUMED by Portrait Of Ruin. It just plays really smoothly, the portraits world themes just really resonated with me, especially the one where you´re in an old european town and running through bakeries and all that.

I somehow couldn´t quite get into Ecclesia. The more NES-style levels just didn´t click with me, but Shanoa has a fantastic design and the music is perfect. (I can´t really comment on story because I simply don´t care, I play those games for the presentation and game mechanics.)

This being said, I´d absolutely recommend all three, they also all feel rather different from each other.

Also, if you never played Symphony Of The Night - play that one as well. It´s the only Castlevania I played more than twice, and feels and sounds darker than any of the DS entries. The "second half" (to avoid spoilers) still remains one of my personal most mindblowing moments in videogame history.
 
Aria of Sorrow (GBA) - This is considered one of the best IGAvanias and a great place to start.
Dawn of Sorrow (DS) - Not as good as Aria, but still a solid entry.
Order of Ecclessia (DS) - Changes up the formula for the better. Creates a new and challenging entry.
 
You could play any of the games in any order and you would probably get a pretty good experience, although I think Portrait of Ruin is the weakest of the three. If you want something that is a bit different from the traditional Metroidvania, get Order of Ecclesia. If you want the very definition of a Metroidvania get Dawn of Sorrow or Portrait of Ruin.
 
Dawn of Sorrow is my favorite Castlevania game, better than Symphony in my opinion. So that one. Portrait of Ruin is kinda whatever, though, and I didn't play Order of Ecclesia.
 
Order of Ecclesia is by far the best one, mostly due to how challenging it is, forcing you to be strategic and use your runes (weapons) correctly instead of just stupidly rushing the game with whatever weapon is the more overpowered.

Second best is Dawn of Sorrow. If you play this one you should play Aria of Sorrow on GBA first, it's a direct prequel and is just as solid as the DS games. You can skip the other two GBA games (Order of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance), they're pretty bad.

Portrait of Ruin is easily the worst of the three. It's still a decent game, just kinda broken, it has a neat concept where you have two characters but they failed to make it interesting. You should still play it, if not for the great soundtrack.
 
I recently completed Symphony of the Night, and loved it so much that I ordered all 3 DS Castlevanias yesterday. I can't wait.

I remember playing Order of the Ecclesia a bit when it released and finding it way too hard, but I guess I should be alright having seen the "real" ending of SotN without any major problem... right?
 
Start Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow, then onto Order of Ecclesia. If you're interested in playing Portrait of Ruins, then play it after Dawn of Sorrow.
 
Assuming you've already played Circle of the Moon (best game other than symphony) and Harmony of Dissonance (gets a bad rap, but is actually pretty good) or absolutely have no way of playing GBA games, I'd say start with Order of Ecclesia, then Portrait, then Dawn of Sorrow, which I liked least.

They all deserve to be played though.
 
Grief.exe said:
Aria of Sorrow (GBA) - This is considered one of the best IGAvanias and a great place to start.
Dawn of Sorrow (DS) - Not as good as Aria, but still a solid entry.
Order of Ecclessia (DS) - Changes up the formula for the better. Creates a new and challenging entry.
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Basically this. PoR is the one to skip in my humble opinion.
 
Anywhere is fine, playing one before another doesn't make others harder to "go back" to.
And Dawn of Sorrow is a sequel to Aria of Sorrow, but they all can be played independently.
Didn't like Ecclesia (way too challenging) at all but I loved the other two.
 
I'd play them in order, starting at the GBA Aria of Sorrow even.

Yes, OoE is the better one but they're all great ones
 
antibolo said:
Order of Ecclesia is by far the best one, mostly due to how challenging it is, forcing you to be strategic and use your runes (weapons) correctly instead of just stupidly rushing the game with whatever weapon is the more overpowered.

Second best is Dawn of Sorrow. If you play this one you should play Aria of Sorrow on GBA first, it's a direct prequel and is just as solid as the DS games. You can skip the other two GBA games (Order of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance), they're pretty bad.

Portrait of Ruin is easily the worst of the three. It's still a decent game, just kinda broken, it has a neat concept where you have two characters but they failed to make it interesting. You should still play it, if not for the great soundtrack.
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I don't think anyone should skip any games in the series, but this is on-point. So, play them in order.

The previous 2 explain why The Stolen Seal/Order Of Ecclesia is the way it is and how it's 1 of the best video games ever made.
 
Aside from being damn easy, I liked Portrait of Ruin quite a bit. Honestly, I probably enjoyed playing it more than DoS, which I found a bit unremarkable in comparison to its predecessors. PoR tries out a bunch of neat ideas and never really goes all the way with any of them, but it's still a good time.

Basically play all of them they're all really fun. And they should all run you about 20 bucks each.
 
The relevance of playing them "in order" is debatable since they are chronologically backwards anyway (AoS/DoS are 21st century, PoR is 20th century, OeE is 19th century).
 
They're all fun, overall I liked Order of Ecclesia best but the size of the castle and the fact that it was just the one big thing rather than compartmentalized areas was something I missed.

Edit: It's worth noting that even though Order of Ecclesia and to a lesser extent, Portrait of Ruin are compartmentalized they still feature the large areas that are expected from a "Metroidvania".
 
Quite a variety of opinions but I kind of expected as much. Glad to see the majority seem to feel they're all worth playing. Oh and yeah I have played SotN which I still own for Playstation.
 
Play all of them. In chronological release order is fine, and play the GBA titles if you haven't already.

I like Portrait of Ruin the most, but the other two are good as well. I'd leave OoE for last for a challenge personally.
 
While I know that this thread is dedicated to the post-PS1 Castlevania games, you should go & try out Castlevania III & Super Castlevania IV, once you've completed the GBA & DS Castlevania games.
 
Have played DOS and OOE (loved both), but have yet to try POR. Is it worth trying to track down a copy, or am I not missing out on much?
 
Shoujax said:
Have played DOS and OOE (loved both), but have yet to try POR. Is it worth trying to track down a copy, or am I not missing out on much?
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It's really good. Not as good as those, but still a lot of fun and I like the two character element even if it was a little limited. Soundtrack is great stuff as you'd expect for Castlevania.
 
If you're playing on a vanilla or Lite, get the NES Classics Castlevania GBA cart. It's far and away the best Castlevania playable on a DS.
 
Play them in release order. They're all great, but that way you'll play them starting from the worst and finish with the best.

Yossy said:
If you're playing on a vanilla or Lite, get the NES Classics Castlevania GBA cart. It's far and away the best Castlevania playable on a DS.
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:lol
 
Replaying dawn of sorrow right now while on a work trip. Beat symphony of the night like an hour before I had to go to the airport.
 
release order

Portrait of ruin is the only one of questionable quality and even it has some cool shit in it
 
61868_front.jpg
 
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