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MichaelFassbender
Member
Aria, most obviously. RPG and Nunchucks all the way, baby! Zap em all!
gato_busta
Member
Aria of Sorrow. It's one of my favorite GBA games and personally, my favorite Castlevania. Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance are fun, but its hard to go back to them after Aria and the DS games.
Gouty
Bloodborne is shit
Not surprised to see Harmony rightly taking its place in the back of the pack. My biggest problem with that game was the super shitty map with its confusing overlapping colors. It doesn't even properly show which doors are blocked or which paths are dead ends. The last time I played it I painstakingly tried every corridor I could looking for a way forward, only to have them all be dead ends. Obviously I'm missing something but since the map is of no use i don't feel like aimlessly wandering for hours until I find it. It remains the only Meteoidvania I've never completed.
Also the main character looks like some sort of goofy ass cross between a waiter and a McDonalds character.
Also the main character looks like some sort of goofy ass cross between a waiter and a McDonalds character.
D
Deleted member 57681
Unconfirmed Member
Aria is the best.
Though I'll never forget the GBA launch day, popping in Circle of the Moon, and being awestruck by the Kyrie eleison choral and the first track. Couldn't see shit though.
Though I'll never forget the GBA launch day, popping in Circle of the Moon, and being awestruck by the Kyrie eleison choral and the first track. Couldn't see shit though.
Circle of the Moon all day, every day. It's a nice fusion of the Symphony style with more old school Castlevania controls and challenge. It has one of the better GBA soundtracks too, and it's darkness isn't really an issue anymore with the SP and DS available.
The other two GBA games play like a poor man's Symphony of the Night, and I'd play any of the DS games or Symphony itself first. Harmony of Dissonance is definitely the low point of the "Metroidvania" games.
The other two GBA games play like a poor man's Symphony of the Night, and I'd play any of the DS games or Symphony itself first. Harmony of Dissonance is definitely the low point of the "Metroidvania" games.
Aria still has Kojima's artwork and it was out before two other titles with Kojima's artwork, DoS chara design was sudden and there were no sign that it would've actually switched to that.
You know you can select the different maps pressing L or R right? with that i don't know how could you get confused.
Also Juste Belmondo is the best Belmondo design wise (aside Gabriel, but i don't consider him canon).
You mean Alucard Belmont? And Gabriel IS canon.. in his timeline.
Gouty
Bloodborne is shit
That Micky Mouse butler looking mother fucker? Hell naw.
Circle is a great game, although it has its flaws as a launch title. You can play it straight up like an old-school Castlevania (with just a little bit of Metroid in getting to new areas and save rooms). Also, perhaps the best version of Drac ever (though I do like the PSP Dracula X remake's Dracula as well).
Harmony and Aria try to ape SotN but fail badly. If you enjoy grinding and farming over skill-based play, though, they'll probably be more your speed than Circle.
Harmony and Aria try to ape SotN but fail badly. If you enjoy grinding and farming over skill-based play, though, they'll probably be more your speed than Circle.
Not Spaceghost
Spaceghost
For GBAvanias, my personal favorite is Aria of Sorrow, but Circle of the Moon was also my first GBA game so I am extremely nostalgic towards that.
Well in the lords of shadow universe technically Alucard is created out of Trevor Belmont so he'd be Alucard Belmont haha.
Well in the lords of shadow universe technically Alucard is created out of Trevor Belmont so he'd be Alucard Belmont haha.
Magicpaint
Member
Aria of Sorrow is the best, but Harmony of Dissonance is underrated while Circle of the Moon is dated. Harmony of Dissonance has a beautiful castle; it felt grand like SoTN's.
Ugh, I miss Igavania. I used to think they were a shoe-in for a Nintendo handheld and the 3DS is pushing 3 years *sigh*
Ugh, I miss Igavania. I used to think they were a shoe-in for a Nintendo handheld and the 3DS is pushing 3 years *sigh*
When people praise Kojima's art for its originality it hurts my heart.
lol
But wait, there is more
Complete with Shocking - There is another Castle - twist. Ladies and gentlemen, Igarashi, winner of the Al Gore lifetime award for Recycling.
Buy Circle of The Moon, please.
Those were added in Dawn of Sorrow. Aria was all about the Claimh Solais or the Positron Rifle.
HisshouBuraiKen
Member
Let's not forget that Dawn had the best post-game. Julius mode actually had DIALOG! And a STORY! And ALUCARD! And if you hacked a little to get the enemy info to display in the bottom you see the final bosses are just named "Soma" and "DRACULA."
Those are the only two characters that match in all of CVs Ayame Kojima's art. Every other game has original art. Bring more examples dude.
Julius mode final boss is one of the coolest final bosses in any CV game. Probably the coolest. In terms of design? Not too sure.
To Far Away Times
Member
Circle of the Moon > Aria of Sorrow > Harmony of Dissonance
Circle has the better art, music, and challenge. And I loved the spell card system.
Circle has the better art, music, and challenge. And I loved the spell card system.
JinjoUnchained
Member
They're all really good, for different reasons, but Aria is the best. If you like Castlevania and have the time, I'd recommend playing all three in chronological order. Each game gives you a different experience and they flow well together.
Circle of the Moon was an early GBA title and it doesn't have the best graphics. The sprites are pretty small and there isn't as much detail as in many GBA games. It was also made by a different team then the other Metroidvanias, but that's not a bad thing. The card system is pretty complex, but it's a fun twist on the secondary weapon system. It allows for a lot of customization and strategy. Besides that, the castle is really fun to explore and the difficulty can be punishing. Great story and characters.
Harmony of Dissonance is like a GBA Symphony of the Night. Seriously. The save screens, the way your character controls, the story. It's all very similar to SOTN. So it's a little derivative, but besides that, the campaign is long and challenging. It's also really immersive and has a great gloomy atmosphere.
Aria of Sorrow is the most significant and original title in the series since Symphony of the Night. It's beautiful and polished with a great soundtrack. The soul stealing mechanic is awesome and offers a lot of variety. It's like the best of both worlds between COM and HOD, but also different in it's own way. The DS sequel is awesome too.
Circle of the Moon was an early GBA title and it doesn't have the best graphics. The sprites are pretty small and there isn't as much detail as in many GBA games. It was also made by a different team then the other Metroidvanias, but that's not a bad thing. The card system is pretty complex, but it's a fun twist on the secondary weapon system. It allows for a lot of customization and strategy. Besides that, the castle is really fun to explore and the difficulty can be punishing. Great story and characters.
Harmony of Dissonance is like a GBA Symphony of the Night. Seriously. The save screens, the way your character controls, the story. It's all very similar to SOTN. So it's a little derivative, but besides that, the campaign is long and challenging. It's also really immersive and has a great gloomy atmosphere.
Aria of Sorrow is the most significant and original title in the series since Symphony of the Night. It's beautiful and polished with a great soundtrack. The soul stealing mechanic is awesome and offers a lot of variety. It's like the best of both worlds between COM and HOD, but also different in it's own way. The DS sequel is awesome too.
Touch fuzZy. get BizZay
Member
Aria of Sorrow hands down
DashReindeer
Lead Community Manager, Outpost Games
Aria of Sorrow without question. Also the best Metroidvania title in general (yes, even besting SotN).
Late game spoilers:
Late game spoilers:
This is the only game I have ever played that really made me feel like I was Dracula by the end. You grow so powerful, in such interesting ways, and there are such great mobility skills that it's a joy to just traverse the castle once you're at the end. I'm hoping Lords of Shadow 2 can pull of the sheer thrill of being the Dark Lord himself, but that remains to be seen.
Necromanti
Member
Please tell me you're joking.
I might have liked it if you didn't have to mindlessly and endlessly grind for them (even worse if you don't have information on what to grind), and if the final boss was beatable without them.
ProtomanNeo
Member
Aria of Sorrow without a doubt.
It also happens to be the best Metrovania. Tragically it was
handicapped by the GBA's hardware. An HD release would
be the bees knees.
It also happens to be the best Metrovania. Tragically it was
handicapped by the GBA's hardware. An HD release would
be the bees knees.
Nope. Gabriel Belmont is dracula and Trevor is his son, so guess who Alucard is. Also, LoS actually has a decent story.
Last two look similar, I'll give you that, but first two look nothing like the last two. If anything, they look like Caucasian women drawn in her art style. Plus, there are much more female characters in the CV universe drawn by Kojima that don't look like the ones you posted.
It's not about exactly similar it's that she follow the same archetypes. Good hearted woman? Blonde with angel face (see: Yoko Belnades). Rude warrior? Brown haired frowned man (Richter, Trevor, Julius) Simon looks ridiculous and while her Alucard design was awesome she recycled it with Julius who had no reason to dress like him and have white hair (he's 16 ffs) AND Joachim And probably Soma (also white haired because why not), the red haired bad guy with a smirk was used twice (CoD and LoI).
She has a beautiful style, really really beautiful, but varied it is not. I think her best work is the DXC.
direct_quote
Member
As much as I loved the card system the drop rate of some of those cards made for an awful time grinding it out. I think they should have hid some of them as secrets to be found...
Pretty much my answer.
I liked CotM more, though that came about since I played the hell out of that game and damn near mastered it.
Aria like many others have mentioned is a great game and the Soul system was pretty great.
Harmony is just sort of an odd duck. The sub-weapon system was step down from the DDS from CotM, and the two castles feels like a weird retread of SotN.
It's not a bad game, but it still falls behind CotM and Aria.
soundpross
Neo Member
WHHHAAA i did not expect HoD hate if you love to speed run or fast pace games you'll like this one
I played through the game earlier this month and I ended up getting almost all of the cards, only missing a couple that can only be found on obscure enemies (effectively making them secrets to be found, as per your request). The actual drop rate of the cards isn't a problem. Plus, you get instant access to all of the cards when you play the game in Magician mode, which opens up after beating the game only once.
Necromanti
Member
She has a few pieces--some of them not related to Castlevania--that are a bit more varied, but it seems she has a style that works for her.
This Castlevania piece deviates a bit from that, though. It was made for the Castlevania OST box set.
cartman414
Member
Eh. Overrated. Aria was better.
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Those are probably my favorite pics from her. She captured the escence of the series perfecly, down to the "dubious holiness" of the belmonts. I can't express how much that picture capture the series for me, it's even appliable to the LoS series.