For anyone here in response to the Dominus Collection launch, I've just released a full compilation video reviewing all 3 of the headliner titles. Please check it out! :) ruclips.net/video/2rIRKgPkveo/видео.html
As strange as this sounds Shanoa is a Nun. The Order of Ecclesia is a Religious Order from likely the Orthodox Church. You start off at a Monastery which means it's a Monastic Order. This becomes more apparent in Castlevania Judgment with her wearing a Nun's Habit.
A vampire-killing nun sounds pretty badass! But what about the fact that Barlowe explicitly stated that Ecclesia’s mission was to *revive* Dracula, not stop him? Still willing to hear you out though 🙂 I almost want to believe Shanoa is a nun because my mother always wanted to be a nun, which would therefore mean that she could relate better to Shanoa.
@@benaech9823 I might be remembering it wrong, but I think Ecclesia's mission really was supposed to be about destroying Dracula if/when he were to arise again. The part about reviving Dracula was more Barlowe's own twisted vision of "bringing hope to humanity"
One of the reasons I love OoE so much is because it took a "less is more" approach. Aria of Sorrow had so many weapons that most were unused or quickly outclassed by something new. Aria and Dawn of sorrow had so many souls that most go unused. In OoE, you have fewer glyphs, but you will want to use most of them at some point. Each glyph ends up feeling much more useful. Though, I do detest how broken the beam skeleton glyph is. It wouldn't be so bad if it were a rare drop - but you can absorb it from beam skeletons with ease. Admittedly, though, the weapon glyphs would be the bread and butter for most of the game. But since they are a stand-in for your normal weapon attacks in other games, I'm not too bothered by it. I also love how balanced equipment is! OoE is the only Castlevania game where it actually feels like stats impact your character - and the equipment tends to favor different stats depending what you choose. In most Castlevania games, you simply equip whatever armor provides the highest defense and whichever acceasories increase strength. In OoE, you can choose to wear armor that increases defense or dresses that increase intelligence. Accessories are worn depending on which stats you feel are most important, with objectively better accessories having large drawbacks. Everything in OoE felt more useful.
Thank you for spotlighting this fantastic game. I also remember loving the hell out of it as a teen, but I just *could not* for the life of me beat Eligor. That one boss stopped me dead in my tracks and I could never finish it.
Igavania bosses that have a "puzzle" always tripped me up my first time through because I just wasn't expecting puzzle bosses in a game full of... not that lol. Eligor and Keremet in particular come to mind.
Ah, it's finally here. Goth vibes✅ Gorgeous art and music direction✅ Unapologetic difficulty✅ Dracula✅ Sexyback goth witch girlfriend✅✅✅ This was the perfect game for my emo-phase, challenge-obsessed, reptilian teenage brain. I'm surprised that you didn't gush for an hour (or five) more for the amount of love that Igarashi crammed into making this game. The best part about this game is that supposedly Shanoa is fashioned from Igarashi's wife. The whole damn game is just Igarashi's masculine urge to show his affection to his wife. The fucking madlad.
That’s incredible no wonder she’s so beautiful. I took so much inspiration of her for my Oc 🥰💓❤️ imagine a castlevania game graphics like lords of shadows? For the next gen would be dope 😊❤❤❤
Honestly I never found Order to be that hard (Besides the crab and eligor) I personally found portrait to be harder But to be fair I did use Universitas + dominus agony and killed Drac in like 3 seconds
One thing that really brings Order of Ecclesia really high for me is its music. The DS used to be loathed and mocked for its poor sound system and Order of Ecclesia really was a massive slap to the face of those who claimed you couldn't do squat with the DS, sound-wise. If Konami ever released an orchestral version of those soundtracks, I'd probably buy them in a heartbeat.
Look up The Noble Demon’s RUclips channel. They have some of the best Castlevania remixes/orchestrations out there, including multiple tracks from OoE :)
@@ThrillingDuck Subscribed to the dude, this "Noble Demon"'s work is fantastic. A bit sad he's only using Spotify and Apple Music, tho. Soundcloud's better IMO.
While there are already a plethora of netflix castlevania reviews, reactions, analysis, etc out there, I wouldn't mind watching your take on it. It is a masterpiece after all and it should be talked about more. Plus, castlevania nocturne recently dropped and that one's fresh territory. And don't forget to add spooky noises, they tickle my reptile brain 😆
@@firebirdstark I don't think they are either. It does no justice to the franchise or the characters because the writing is very western. And also just garbage. Constant cussing, whining and arguing for no reason. The visual aesthetic also fails. They just went for grimdark, but left the beautiful goth-style associated with Castlevania behind. Not sure how any fan of the franchise could like it.
Konami really thought they pulled a big god move when they decided to change some of their best and most respected game directors like Iga and Kojima’s employment to a simple contractual job to make a certain amount of games and then laid them off after they fulfilled it
It was because of curse of darkness’ abysmal failure. Konami looked at their console titles as their core back then, when that failed they fired everybody.
this is the game I was looking for. because when I played bloodstained I wanted more games that were similar to it. and that's the moment I realized, Miriam is version 2 of shanoa.
If you haven't played Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow, they can definitely scratch that itch as well. Miriam is version 2 of Shanoa for sure lol, but she actually handles more similarly to Soma, surprisingly.
Hey man, solid OoE video. I've been replaying it recently and you bring up some great points. I really forgot just how unforgiving this game can be just on normal, good luck if you go for hard mode. I also saw Miriam as like a Dite Rite vervion of Shanoa. I mean how could you not? Same colors, same design details, hell they both have some craziness on their backs. The more I look into this game the less and less I seem to find. Not very many people seem to talk about it unless you are or were a Castlevania fan. Its nice to see Shanoa and her game get some honest recognition in the wild. Even more so because she isn't a Belmont or even really related to them in any way. Keep on Keeping man! On a slightly related note where on earth did you find those renders of the opening cinematic? Everything I've seen is wildly compressed.
Thanks a lot man! I think I just searched "Order of Ecclesia opening AI upscaled." If you dive into the video description, there's definitely a direct link to it as well :)
@ThrillingDuck ohhh very nice. You know I read the description, must have just passed right by the links. Then again, maybe I should just read more carefully. At any rate thanks for the tip. I thought it might have been up scaled, but I wasn't all that sure.
Never played any of them but I hear all three of these DS Castlevania's in the Dominus Collection are top tier. Ecclesia is highlighted first when you start the collection so I guess that means I'm playing this one first.
yaaay it's done~~ aww i would have liked to hear more said about the finer details of the game , like talking to the town ppl and finding the big secret in dracula's castle.....
The weapon/element weakness system is not something I take issue with, especially since the damage types have their own "leveling system". You can use any damage type on any enemy so long as it's not resistant, so I wouldn't say you are locked to melee set-ups.
You’re not locked into anything technically, but especially in the early game (and even towards the end) I did find that melee options offered the best DPS by a noticeable margin.
I'm not the biggest fan of the weapon mechanics in order of ecclesia, but Shanoa is an absolute damn boss, especially when she flies around with the (black)wings. Freaking legendary(wings). 😁 My only other issue with order of ecclesia was how much time I needed to spend farming. Sigh.
Beating this and symphony of the night was so god damn rewarding lol ecclesia was an amazing game to me. Indeed it was fairly hard, but had a very good story, progression, movement/attack system and all around playability/replayability.
Dudeee I have a similar experience with this game as you had with portrait of ruin…. Meaning Portrait of Ruin was my first Castlevania game and I loved the hell out of it and one day I lost the game, so when I asked for Castlevania DS I got this game and I didn’t enjoy it much as a kid, I don’t know if it was too hard or I didn’t like the vibe but for some reason this game just didn’t click with me, as I started to grow up I ended up liking this game more than the other two lol
I'm surprised you didn't even mention "skill leveling" system in this game. Although the improvements it grants are so unnecessary and take so long to earn, that it's often better off ignored.
That's probably why I wasn't really aware of them lol. I'm an enthusiast and a fan, but I'm not an expert on every single extraneous mechanic. This is actually why I generally shy away from traditional reviews - I inevitably end up getting a bunch of these kinds of "why didn't you talk about X" questions haha.
OoE is my favorite Castlevania game, DoS is an incredobly close second. The great thing about these two games is that they're incredibly different. Because of this, it's easier to jump from one game to the other without becoming bored. A lot of people consider OoE's relatively linear maps to be a major flaw. I couldn't disagree with them more. Even though I prefer exploring one massive, maze-like, castle - having more linear levels is a very welcome change of pace. It shakes up the formula and keeps the game interesting. Not to mention, enemies in OoE are more difficult to defeat, likely due to how linear the levels are. In other Metroidvanias, enemies aren't as tough, but they whittle away your health as you try to find the next save point. As for glyphs, I find that the lower DPS of magic glyphs is fine. For bosses, magic attacks typically aren't as good as weapons. But for the regular enemies, they're often better. They kill enemies almost as quickly, while allowing you to keep a much safer distance. I just wish Nitesco was either nerfed or harder to find/obtain. Last, I love how useful the shops are in this game. In past titles, the shops felt fairly insignificant. In OoE, I feel like you're more encouraged to purchase from the shops. I also like how streamlined the glyphs and equipment are. Instead of having a bunch of different random armors and articles of clothing with sliiiightly different stats - OoE has plate armor for high defense, dresses for less defense and intelligence, and a handful of special armors. I can't explain why, but the equipment just feels more prominent, more satisfying to obtain and to use. Lastly, collecting items is the most fun in OoE. Better drop rates and luck having more impact play a large role in this. But the segmented maps also make item hunting far less grueling. If I were to sum it up, DoS is an explosion of variety and experimentation whereas OoE is refined and focused. Both games amazing for similar and different reasons.
I'm Of the opnion that Order Of Ecclesia IS the Best Castlevania game (even tho i preffer PoR) i for me think the weakness system encourage Variety on the weapon choise rather than the usual equiping the One that make the nunber going higher since some enemies have high resistance to some weapons and other elements you have to constantly think about what load out you're carrying when facing them i decided when got the Dominus collection that inwas going to do a low grinding run Of ooe and had a blast not Just going for broken strategies... But breaking the game IS also Fun, i like that the sidequest system IS better incorporated into the world rather than Just randon Chalenges from Wind and since i aways 100% thosse games i'm extremely thankful that i don't need tô grind every god danm enemie in the game with Luck atribute that doesnt work and some enemies Just give you the glyph rigth away and others need grind to drop
this was my cocomelon back then at 2010. my taught me to play this on the ds when I was 4-ish, (with cheats ofc), I may not be the age to say I loved Castlevania, but I absolutely adore everything about it, the entire gothic, dark, style stuck with me. Castlevania also made me love drawing, the three I love to play were Charlotte, Shanoa and soma ^^
Order of Ecclesia was Curse of Darkness 2 for me. Yes she didnt summon Mon's to fight with her, but she absorbed their essence then used their abilities in a similar way. I really want them to make a sequel, or create a fusion subseries.
While I haven't played it, this does feel like it came the closest to being a decent marriage between the classic action stage based Castlevanias & the "Search Action" (Metroidvania) titles, it may just be a tad bit short of the mark. Again, haven't played myself so I can't say for certain. But I DO feel like there is eventually going to be a Castlevania that does a perfect marriage of all the past title gameplay styles. Like I feel like it would feel rewarding if, as you play a "Belmont", they start off similar to Simon (Castlevania 1) but by the end they're doing crazy whip combat skills like Leon (Lament of Innocence), with the stage design and progression kind of reflecting that.
@@toonman5099 That would be dope af!! Castlevania seems to be kind of dead unfortunately, but maybe an indie could pick up that torch, even if it means no proper Belmont.
@@ThrillingDuck I mean there IS the Apple Store exclusive game, AND Konami SEEM to be picking back up steam so maybe there's hope? And considering he went off to make his own thing (Igarashi), currently I think everyone considered "Bloodstained" as the most recent "Castlevania." Granted I also have my own thoughts on how I'd go about a new title with the "marriage of every era" title. Like in my head, it would be used for Julius's son (who would be a reincarnation of Leon) with the obvious arc of "does the world still need a Belmont?" Plus considering Dracula has been given a "second chance" at life (plus im personally unsure if I wanna count the Morris clan games as canon to the main timeline therefore kind of negates the recent Grimoire based titles, not to mention it got a detail about Simon and the iconic whip wrong), I feel like it would be appropriate if he was given his old friend and HIS lover back (although I dont know what that would mean for the Whip's power since it's based on Leon's love's soul, COULD make it Julius maybe...). Plus I feel like a fun twist would be that the "New Dracula" is basically a reincarnated Walter. XD
@@joshakins4923 I haven’t played Ender Lillies. It’s probably a little easier than Hollow Knight simply because you can technically use consumable healing items to cheese through some tough spots, but money is tight, and you actually need to unlock the more potent healing items by doing specific side quests, so it’s a lot of effort to even utilize cheese strats.
Almost halfway thru game. Simple things I didn't know in video, playing blindly. Without the right weapons/spells this game is super brutal, like the most difficult game I've seen in years.
@@jjwhy321y3 Even the shop is a little bit cruel - you need to complete specific side quests to add specific items to it (like halfway decent potions), so you can’t even cheese through with restorative items unless you know what you’re doing lol.
@@ThrillingDuck Thanks I unfortunately rushed thru some dialogue/cutscenes. Didn't know about double equip weapons or the villagers return and sell items. Without the autosave my dumb *ss wouldn't last one hour! Anyway, loving the game. This might replace Aria of Sorrow as my favorite.
I love the entire franchise but OoE in many aspects is peak Castlevania, a nice blend of classic, "linear" and Metroidvania. Like you said, some areas are too linear, but sadly we all know that Konami didn't give this franchise enough budget and time to cook (most games in the GBA/DS era were being released in a yearly basis, some years had up to 3 games released!), which explains recycled enemies, assets, etc. Still, love the change of scenarios, going from a monastery to a forest to a swamp and so on, it feels like a believable world that needs to be protected by Dracula, a real adventure. I like its plot, it's one of the few in the entire franchise that makes me feel something for the characters, care about them, the combat feels amazing, hard (my main gripe with other "IGAvanias") but fair (my gripe with classicvanias, they feel artificially difficult). Sad that it was the last real mainline Castlevania, why Konami :/
I happen to agree, but I can't tell if you're accusing me of strategizing poorly, or accusing the devs of making Glyph doubling the dominant strategy in most cases lol.
I've just beaten this game for the first time today and GOD DAMN have i been missing out I personally think it is the better of the DS line up because i felt like the glyphs were overall better and much more demanded than the souls in the sorrow games and i also think the overall level design is MILES UPON MILES better than whatever the fuck was happening in portrait of ruin (seriously the maps in that game were so tedious and empty) I also give extra points for not being as brain dead as the other games but that's not really a big deal because my favorite game is still Symphony of the night, the most brain dead walk in the park I've ever experienced......... Still the best game though 😂
We REALLY need a DS Collection on modern consoles like the Advance Collection. Also the Switch is nearing the end of its life and somehow doesn’t have Symphony on it yet, like what the actual fuck?
@@iamLI3 it's not braindead during the first playthrough but once you start discovering the amount of overpowered shit that Alucard can do the game challenge is COMPLETELY wiped out of existence
I am extremely partial to Soma’s games, but I think I prefer Ecclesia to Aria by a very small margin, simply because I enjoy the DS entries more than the GBA ones. I do like Dawn more though.
Yeah.....if I were to go by the definition of an igavania however and not limit it to only Castlevania games, I'd do 1. SOTN, 2. Bloodstained ROTN and then put Aria at 3rd.
Man stop banging on about the weakness system. I've played a few times through and I only ever had to worry about weaknesses for the bosses. Just get good, it's a harder game but that's one of the greater things about it.
@@kjtj397 That isn't really elaborating lol, though I agree that the original show is better than Nocturne. I was referring to the adaptation in general, not strictly Nocturne.
Not sure how to write it down, but pronouncing it the way you would of you were reading it in Spanish is how I do it. Sounds way better. How you wrote it there sounds better too though. You say "shia" at the end and I'm not sure why. You dont really pronounce "si" like that. Sin. Sign. Sip. Sit. A completely different topic, and honestly, it's no big deal, but now I'm just wondering why people pronounce things differently. How some people will say naruto differently, people in the states and europe and the different aluminum is pronounced, ect. On topic of the game tho, like I said, I remember it being a really good fun game. Not many ppl I know have played it. So cool to see ppl talking bout it.
@@shadowsintox9 I pronounced the “sia” the way it’s pronounced in “euthanasia” because it’s at the end of the word. It’s not about the “si” it’s about the “sia.” Just for context lol.
My default pronunciation for the name is also the Spanish way. 😂 As a native English speaker, if I see a non English word that I don't recognize (especially its language of origin), I default to Spanish vowel and consonant sounds because English does f*ck all to tell people how to pronounce words with its spelling
@@shadowsintox9 dude even the English narrator at the beginning of the game pronounces it as "eh-klee-zee-a", that's not at all how you would pronounce it in Spanish (and the game's title is in English, so why read it in Spanish?)
For anyone here in response to the Dominus Collection launch, I've just released a full compilation video reviewing all 3 of the headliner titles. Please check it out! :)
ruclips.net/video/2rIRKgPkveo/видео.html
As strange as this sounds Shanoa is a Nun. The Order of Ecclesia is a Religious Order from likely the Orthodox Church. You start off at a Monastery which means it's a Monastic Order. This becomes more apparent in Castlevania Judgment with her wearing a Nun's Habit.
Oh that’s super neat lol!
A vampire-killing nun sounds pretty badass! But what about the fact that Barlowe explicitly stated that Ecclesia’s mission was to *revive* Dracula, not stop him?
Still willing to hear you out though 🙂 I almost want to believe Shanoa is a nun because my mother always wanted to be a nun, which would therefore mean that she could relate better to Shanoa.
@@benaech9823 I might be remembering it wrong, but I think Ecclesia's mission really was supposed to be about destroying Dracula if/when he were to arise again. The part about reviving Dracula was more Barlowe's own twisted vision of "bringing hope to humanity"
One of the reasons I love OoE so much is because it took a "less is more" approach.
Aria of Sorrow had so many weapons that most were unused or quickly outclassed by something new. Aria and Dawn of sorrow had so many souls that most go unused. In OoE, you have fewer glyphs, but you will want to use most of them at some point. Each glyph ends up feeling much more useful. Though, I do detest how broken the beam skeleton glyph is. It wouldn't be so bad if it were a rare drop - but you can absorb it from beam skeletons with ease. Admittedly, though, the weapon glyphs would be the bread and butter for most of the game. But since they are a stand-in for your normal weapon attacks in other games, I'm not too bothered by it.
I also love how balanced equipment is! OoE is the only Castlevania game where it actually feels like stats impact your character - and the equipment tends to favor different stats depending what you choose.
In most Castlevania games, you simply equip whatever armor provides the highest defense and whichever acceasories increase strength. In OoE, you can choose to wear armor that increases defense or dresses that increase intelligence. Accessories are worn depending on which stats you feel are most important, with objectively better accessories having large drawbacks.
Everything in OoE felt more useful.
Thank you for spotlighting this fantastic game. I also remember loving the hell out of it as a teen, but I just *could not* for the life of me beat Eligor. That one boss stopped me dead in my tracks and I could never finish it.
Igavania bosses that have a "puzzle" always tripped me up my first time through because I just wasn't expecting puzzle bosses in a game full of... not that lol. Eligor and Keremet in particular come to mind.
Ah, it's finally here.
Goth vibes✅
Gorgeous art and music direction✅
Unapologetic difficulty✅
Dracula✅
Sexyback goth witch girlfriend✅✅✅
This was the perfect game for my emo-phase, challenge-obsessed, reptilian teenage brain. I'm surprised that you didn't gush for an hour (or five) more for the amount of love that Igarashi crammed into making this game.
The best part about this game is that supposedly Shanoa is fashioned from Igarashi's wife. The whole damn game is just Igarashi's masculine urge to show his affection to his wife. The fucking madlad.
oh wow i had no idea about that , no wonder she's so hot but in a grounded way o: .....
That’s incredible no wonder she’s so beautiful. I took so much inspiration of her for my Oc 🥰💓❤️ imagine a castlevania game graphics like lords of shadows? For the next gen would be dope 😊❤❤❤
Honestly I never found Order to be that hard (Besides the crab and eligor) I personally found portrait to be harder
But to be fair I did use Universitas + dominus agony and killed Drac in like 3 seconds
Sunk 2 hours into it right away.
Sorry Bloodstained, Albuj and Shanoa are mommy and daddy !
How is this game so gooood ?!
The most important part is...
Shanoa already wears "Virgin Killer Sweater" far before it's going viral.
One thing that really brings Order of Ecclesia really high for me is its music. The DS used to be loathed and mocked for its poor sound system and Order of Ecclesia really was a massive slap to the face of those who claimed you couldn't do squat with the DS, sound-wise. If Konami ever released an orchestral version of those soundtracks, I'd probably buy them in a heartbeat.
Look up The Noble Demon’s RUclips channel. They have some of the best Castlevania remixes/orchestrations out there, including multiple tracks from OoE :)
@@ThrillingDuck Subscribed to the dude, this "Noble Demon"'s work is fantastic. A bit sad he's only using Spotify and Apple Music, tho. Soundcloud's better IMO.
Rejoice everyone! It's back!!
While there are already a plethora of netflix castlevania reviews, reactions, analysis, etc out there, I wouldn't mind watching your take on it. It is a masterpiece after all and it should be talked about more. Plus, castlevania nocturne recently dropped and that one's fresh territory. And don't forget to add spooky noises, they tickle my reptile brain 😆
Nocturne deserves to be forgotten. The first 4 seasons are worth talking about though
@@firebirdstark I don't think they are either. It does no justice to the franchise or the characters because the writing is very western. And also just garbage. Constant cussing, whining and arguing for no reason. The visual aesthetic also fails. They just went for grimdark, but left the beautiful goth-style associated with Castlevania behind. Not sure how any fan of the franchise could like it.
Too bad the metroidvania Castlevanias ended here, until Bloodstained came around & Drew 25.
Konami really thought they pulled a big god move when they decided to change some of their best and most respected game directors like Iga and Kojima’s employment to a simple contractual job to make a certain amount of games and then laid them off after they fulfilled it
It was because of curse of darkness’ abysmal failure. Konami looked at their console titles as their core back then, when that failed they fired everybody.
Hollow knight is extremely good. I have a feeling that once Silk Song finally comes out, it's going to be a cultural event for Metroidvanias.
this is the game I was looking for. because when I played bloodstained I wanted more games that were similar to it. and that's the moment I realized, Miriam is version 2 of shanoa.
If you haven't played Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow, they can definitely scratch that itch as well. Miriam is version 2 of Shanoa for sure lol, but she actually handles more similarly to Soma, surprisingly.
Hey man, solid OoE video. I've been replaying it recently and you bring up some great points. I really forgot just how unforgiving this game can be just on normal, good luck if you go for hard mode. I also saw Miriam as like a Dite Rite vervion of Shanoa. I mean how could you not? Same colors, same design details, hell they both have some craziness on their backs.
The more I look into this game the less and less I seem to find. Not very many people seem to talk about it unless you are or were a Castlevania fan. Its nice to see Shanoa and her game get some honest recognition in the wild. Even more so because she isn't a Belmont or even really related to them in any way. Keep on Keeping man!
On a slightly related note where on earth did you find those renders of the opening cinematic? Everything I've seen is wildly compressed.
Thanks a lot man! I think I just searched "Order of Ecclesia opening AI upscaled." If you dive into the video description, there's definitely a direct link to it as well :)
@ThrillingDuck ohhh very nice. You know I read the description, must have just passed right by the links. Then again, maybe I should just read more carefully. At any rate thanks for the tip. I thought it might have been up scaled, but I wasn't all that sure.
This game will always be one of my favourite video games of all time... I am the morning sun, come to vanquish this horrible night.
:D
So excited to reunite with this game now that’s finally expanded to modern hardware along with the other DS cv games.
Now if only Konami would re-release all the DS entries, but I won't hold my breath.
Throw in Symphony as a bonus game the same way Dracula X was thrown in with the Advance Collection and we’ll really be cooking…
Hey, guess what...
They saw this comment
So glad people are giving this entry it's flowers!
@@Byrdstar6423-un3me How could anyone resist giving flowers to Shanoa? ;)
Never played any of them but I hear all three of these DS Castlevania's in the Dominus Collection are top tier. Ecclesia is highlighted first when you start the collection so I guess that means I'm playing this one first.
@@Triforce9426 You can really play them in any order, but just be wary that Ecclesia is by far the hardest one!
You can play them in any order, although I personally prefer the original release order.
yaaay it's done~~
aww i would have liked to hear more said about the finer details of the game , like talking to the town ppl and finding the big secret in dracula's castle.....
This is my FAVOURITE Castlevania.... There, I said it...😉🇹🇹
It’s easy to see why it would be someone’s favorite, regardless of my personal preferences. There’s a lot to love about Ecclesia :)
@@ThrillingDuck And Portrait is my second favorite... Just finished Harmony and I'm halfway through Aria right now😏🇹🇹
Just beat it on Xbox Series X. Found it overly difficult but still fun.
Also, 🇹🇹.
@busupshot83 Respect brother🙏👍🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹
The weapon/element weakness system is not something I take issue with, especially since the damage types have their own "leveling system". You can use any damage type on any enemy so long as it's not resistant, so I wouldn't say you are locked to melee set-ups.
You’re not locked into anything technically, but especially in the early game (and even towards the end) I did find that melee options offered the best DPS by a noticeable margin.
It's literally a skill issue
I am here from the Castlevania Dominus Collection reveal!
We need a remake of this game in Unreal Engine 5 graphics. Would love to see Shanoa in 3D of UE5.
@@espada9000 Tbh I wouldn’t complain if Bloodstained had been sprite-based, but I’d never say no to a remake of OoE in any form lol.
Nice videos 😊😊
I'm not the biggest fan of the weapon mechanics in order of ecclesia, but Shanoa is an absolute damn boss, especially when she flies around with the (black)wings.
Freaking legendary(wings). 😁
My only other issue with order of ecclesia was how much time I needed to spend farming. Sigh.
Amazing review and amazing game ❤
@@akhandtripathipyz9888 Thank you!
Albus is such an underrated side character, AND the best bro Shanoa ever had. R.I.P the goat
Beating this and symphony of the night was so god damn rewarding lol ecclesia was an amazing game to me. Indeed it was fairly hard, but had a very good story, progression, movement/attack system and all around playability/replayability.
Is this game still here ?
@@Ch1co..2 Not sure what you mean. It isn't currently available through conventional means no (thanks Konami), but it's very easy to emulate.
@@ThrillingDuck is the game still available to buy ? And play ?
@@Ch1co..2 Yeah, see my last response. Short answer, not to buy, but definitely to play lol.
OoE have the best Dracula design and unique boss fight he freaking work in this game
With gylph damage effectivity, i just depended on the sound it made on the certain enemy
There is only two physical damage types. It shows them on your status menu to the bottom right of the screen. 4:11
Releasing today! We're so back!
@@MichaelH-w6e Not sure what you mean lol - is something Castlevania happening?
EDIT: OH OKAY SHADOW DROP
The intro made me laugh.
Dudeee I have a similar experience with this game as you had with portrait of ruin…. Meaning Portrait of Ruin was my first Castlevania game and I loved the hell out of it and one day I lost the game, so when I asked for Castlevania DS I got this game and I didn’t enjoy it much as a kid, I don’t know if it was too hard or I didn’t like the vibe but for some reason this game just didn’t click with me, as I started to grow up I ended up liking this game more than the other two lol
We arw SO BACK !!!!!!
I'm surprised you didn't even mention "skill leveling" system in this game. Although the improvements it grants are so unnecessary and take so long to earn, that it's often better off ignored.
That's probably why I wasn't really aware of them lol. I'm an enthusiast and a fan, but I'm not an expert on every single extraneous mechanic. This is actually why I generally shy away from traditional reviews - I inevitably end up getting a bunch of these kinds of "why didn't you talk about X" questions haha.
OoE is my favorite Castlevania game, DoS is an incredobly close second. The great thing about these two games is that they're incredibly different. Because of this, it's easier to jump from one game to the other without becoming bored.
A lot of people consider OoE's relatively linear maps to be a major flaw. I couldn't disagree with them more. Even though I prefer exploring one massive, maze-like, castle - having more linear levels is a very welcome change of pace. It shakes up the formula and keeps the game interesting.
Not to mention, enemies in OoE are more difficult to defeat, likely due to how linear the levels are. In other Metroidvanias, enemies aren't as tough, but they whittle away your health as you try to find the next save point.
As for glyphs, I find that the lower DPS of magic glyphs is fine. For bosses, magic attacks typically aren't as good as weapons. But for the regular enemies, they're often better. They kill enemies almost as quickly, while allowing you to keep a much safer distance. I just wish Nitesco was either nerfed or harder to find/obtain.
Last, I love how useful the shops are in this game. In past titles, the shops felt fairly insignificant. In OoE, I feel like you're more encouraged to purchase from the shops.
I also like how streamlined the glyphs and equipment are. Instead of having a bunch of different random armors and articles of clothing with sliiiightly different stats - OoE has plate armor for high defense, dresses for less defense and intelligence, and a handful of special armors. I can't explain why, but the equipment just feels more prominent, more satisfying to obtain and to use.
Lastly, collecting items is the most fun in OoE. Better drop rates and luck having more impact play a large role in this. But the segmented maps also make item hunting far less grueling.
If I were to sum it up, DoS is an explosion of variety and experimentation whereas OoE is refined and focused. Both games amazing for similar and different reasons.
I'm Of the opnion that Order Of Ecclesia IS the Best Castlevania game (even tho i preffer PoR) i for me think the weakness system encourage Variety on the weapon choise rather than the usual equiping the One that make the nunber going higher since some enemies have high resistance to some weapons and other elements you have to constantly think about what load out you're carrying when facing them i decided when got the Dominus collection that inwas going to do a low grinding run Of ooe and had a blast not Just going for broken strategies... But breaking the game IS also Fun, i like that the sidequest system IS better incorporated into the world rather than Just randon Chalenges from Wind and since i aways 100% thosse games i'm extremely thankful that i don't need tô grind every god danm enemie in the game with Luck atribute that doesnt work and some enemies Just give you the glyph rigth away and others need grind to drop
this was my cocomelon back then at 2010. my taught me to play this on the ds when I was 4-ish, (with cheats ofc), I may not be the age to say I loved Castlevania, but I absolutely adore everything about it, the entire gothic, dark, style stuck with me. Castlevania also made me love drawing, the three I love to play were Charlotte, Shanoa and soma ^^
The DS trilogy protagonists are great!
Order of Ecclesia was Curse of Darkness 2 for me. Yes she didnt summon Mon's to fight with her, but she absorbed their essence then used their abilities in a similar way.
I really want them to make a sequel, or create a fusion subseries.
@@SLVYER1 I’d love to see a proper sequel to either of those titles! Bloodstained is a really excellent unofficial followup at the very least.
it was great
there is nothing to discuss about
While I haven't played it, this does feel like it came the closest to being a decent marriage between the classic action stage based Castlevanias & the "Search Action" (Metroidvania) titles, it may just be a tad bit short of the mark. Again, haven't played myself so I can't say for certain. But I DO feel like there is eventually going to be a Castlevania that does a perfect marriage of all the past title gameplay styles. Like I feel like it would feel rewarding if, as you play a "Belmont", they start off similar to Simon (Castlevania 1) but by the end they're doing crazy whip combat skills like Leon (Lament of Innocence), with the stage design and progression kind of reflecting that.
@@toonman5099 That would be dope af!! Castlevania seems to be kind of dead unfortunately, but maybe an indie could pick up that torch, even if it means no proper Belmont.
@@ThrillingDuck I mean there IS the Apple Store exclusive game, AND Konami SEEM to be picking back up steam so maybe there's hope?
And considering he went off to make his own thing (Igarashi), currently I think everyone considered "Bloodstained" as the most recent "Castlevania."
Granted I also have my own thoughts on how I'd go about a new title with the "marriage of every era" title. Like in my head, it would be used for Julius's son (who would be a reincarnation of Leon) with the obvious arc of "does the world still need a Belmont?" Plus considering Dracula has been given a "second chance" at life (plus im personally unsure if I wanna count the Morris clan games as canon to the main timeline therefore kind of negates the recent Grimoire based titles, not to mention it got a detail about Simon and the iconic whip wrong), I feel like it would be appropriate if he was given his old friend and HIS lover back (although I dont know what that would mean for the Whip's power since it's based on Leon's love's soul, COULD make it Julius maybe...).
Plus I feel like a fun twist would be that the "New Dracula" is basically a reincarnated Walter. XD
bro pls make more re videos. the jill and chris ones are probably the best viedeos about re. u should make one about leon or something.
They'll happen bro, don't worry :)
Jw how does this difficulty compare to games like hollow Knight or ender lilies?
@@joshakins4923 I haven’t played Ender Lillies. It’s probably a little easier than Hollow Knight simply because you can technically use consumable healing items to cheese through some tough spots, but money is tight, and you actually need to unlock the more potent healing items by doing specific side quests, so it’s a lot of effort to even utilize cheese strats.
WTF I thought I stumbled onto Maximilian Pegasus's RUclips channel.
Mommy
Almost halfway thru game. Simple things I didn't know in video, playing blindly. Without the right weapons/spells this game is super brutal, like the most difficult game I've seen in years.
@@jjwhy321y3 Even the shop is a little bit cruel - you need to complete specific side quests to add specific items to it (like halfway decent potions), so you can’t even cheese through with restorative items unless you know what you’re doing lol.
@@ThrillingDuck Thanks I unfortunately rushed thru some dialogue/cutscenes. Didn't know about double equip weapons or the villagers return and sell items. Without the autosave my dumb *ss wouldn't last one hour! Anyway, loving the game. This might replace Aria of Sorrow as my favorite.
Miram = Diet Shanoa. Couldn't agree more! But I love both games.
Oh no question. Bloodstained was just about everything I wanted it to be!
I love the entire franchise but OoE in many aspects is peak Castlevania, a nice blend of classic, "linear" and Metroidvania. Like you said, some areas are too linear, but sadly we all know that Konami didn't give this franchise enough budget and time to cook (most games in the GBA/DS era were being released in a yearly basis, some years had up to 3 games released!), which explains recycled enemies, assets, etc.
Still, love the change of scenarios, going from a monastery to a forest to a swamp and so on, it feels like a believable world that needs to be protected by Dracula, a real adventure. I like its plot, it's one of the few in the entire franchise that makes me feel something for the characters, care about them, the combat feels amazing, hard (my main gripe with other "IGAvanias") but fair (my gripe with classicvanias, they feel artificially difficult). Sad that it was the last real mainline Castlevania, why Konami :/
You know what would make it more useful to not have to constantly change out glyphs? Not using 2 of the same on each set all the time.
I happen to agree, but I can't tell if you're accusing me of strategizing poorly, or accusing the devs of making Glyph doubling the dominant strategy in most cases lol.
Slash/stab/smash
@@Ke5oop Lol thank you. Out of curiosity is that on the wiki or like buried in some semi-obscure NPC dialogue or what?
Absolutely cover the fucking anime
I've just beaten this game for the first time today and GOD DAMN have i been missing out
I personally think it is the better of the DS line up because i felt like the glyphs were overall better and much more demanded than the souls in the sorrow games and i also think the overall level design is MILES UPON MILES better than whatever the fuck was happening in portrait of ruin (seriously the maps in that game were so tedious and empty)
I also give extra points for not being as brain dead as the other games but that's not really a big deal because my favorite game is still Symphony of the night, the most brain dead walk in the park I've ever experienced......... Still the best game though 😂
We REALLY need a DS Collection on modern consoles like the Advance Collection. Also the Switch is nearing the end of its life and somehow doesn’t have Symphony on it yet, like what the actual fuck?
LOL really? the most braindead walk in the park? i've only played a bit of sotn
@@ThrillingDuck a port of Dawn of Sorrow that removes the touch pad bullshit would be easy money, but ya can't rely on good ol' konami
@@iamLI3 it's not braindead during the first playthrough but once you start discovering the amount of overpowered shit that Alucard can do the game challenge is COMPLETELY wiped out of existence
@@Voidaram nice :D , sounds like another case for games having hard mode options
It was a fun game. Still not as good as aria of sorrow.
I am extremely partial to Soma’s games, but I think I prefer Ecclesia to Aria by a very small margin, simply because I enjoy the DS entries more than the GBA ones. I do like Dawn more though.
@@ThrillingDuck you know what sucks about dawn of sorrow? Its a pain when you emulate it because of the drawing symbols to finish bosses.
@@chokey4754 Lol true but there’s actually a patch for that :D
Yeah.....if I were to go by the definition of an igavania however and not limit it to only Castlevania games, I'd do 1. SOTN, 2. Bloodstained ROTN and then put Aria at 3rd.
@@micaholson1052 i really liked valdis story, underrated.
Man stop banging on about the weakness system. I've played a few times through and I only ever had to worry about weaknesses for the bosses. Just get good, it's a harder game but that's one of the greater things about it.
14:31 bruh it’s a turd
Please elaborate
@@ThrillingDuck the new nocturnal show is a turd
@@kjtj397 That isn't really elaborating lol, though I agree that the original show is better than Nocturne. I was referring to the adaptation in general, not strictly Nocturne.
First.
The way you pronounce Ecclesia sounds horrible. This game is really good tho.
I beat it but barely remember it.
I assume you prefer “Eh-Klee-Zee-Uh”
Not sure how to write it down, but pronouncing it the way you would of you were reading it in Spanish is how I do it. Sounds way better.
How you wrote it there sounds better too though. You say "shia" at the end and I'm not sure why.
You dont really pronounce "si" like that.
Sin. Sign. Sip. Sit.
A completely different topic, and honestly, it's no big deal, but now I'm just wondering why people pronounce things differently.
How some people will say naruto differently, people in the states and europe and the different aluminum is pronounced, ect.
On topic of the game tho, like I said, I remember it being a really good fun game. Not many ppl I know have played it. So cool to see ppl talking bout it.
@@shadowsintox9 I pronounced the “sia” the way it’s pronounced in “euthanasia” because it’s at the end of the word. It’s not about the “si” it’s about the “sia.” Just for context lol.
My default pronunciation for the name is also the Spanish way. 😂
As a native English speaker, if I see a non English word that I don't recognize (especially its language of origin), I default to Spanish vowel and consonant sounds because English does f*ck all to tell people how to pronounce words with its spelling
@@shadowsintox9 dude even the English narrator at the beginning of the game pronounces it as "eh-klee-zee-a", that's not at all how you would pronounce it in Spanish (and the game's title is in English, so why read it in Spanish?)