I like Harmony of Despair. Offline Coop was pretty decent feature and i and my friends did have fun playing those games. I have bought Wiiware one and 2.5D one for ps3 and it was ok. Other 3D games are abysmal at best. Apple Arcade version was so shitty that I have cancelled my Apple Arcade subscription.
I'll say one thing for the first n64 castlevania, the intro was oozing with atmosphere. If you immediately run ahead lightning strikes a nearby tree. It's scripted for when you're close though, so if you idle for a while the storm will go away, run ahead and no lightning strike, so the tree remains intact. I just think that's insane for a game in the 90s. Games today never do stuff like that
My favorite scripted missable moment: The first Skeleton boss fight. When he jumps into the ravine if you follow him to the edge and look down in first person, he'll stop and look back up at you before running away.
@@sjake8308 I enjoyed it, but do recall it being kind of clunky (I probably played it around 2007), though no worse than other games of the era, as you mentioned. I'm not sure why some PlayStation games like Tomb Raider often seem to get a free pass, when some of those are even rougher.
I've been watching for a long time, and I have to say, the quality of these videos has not dipped even a little in all these years. You are doing amazing!!!!
Have to totally disagree about Lords of Shadow. As a major Castlevania fan, starting with Simon's Quest in the 80's, I had a massive amount of fun with the LoS series, especially the first one. There's a magic in Castlevanias 1-4 and Rondo of Blood(PC Engine) that are impossible to beat, imo, but Lords offered their own magic that I thoroughly enjoy to this day.
True! Since a fan from the 80s as well hearing so many bad things for Lords of Shadow sounds silly to me. While I enjoy Game Sack videos sometimes, like this one, I can't believe my ears with some of his opinions.
Loved the PS3 Lords of Shadow games. The atmosphere is amazing, the music was stunning and gameplay fluid and responsive. A modern city built on the foundation of Dracula's Castle? I'd throw my life's savings for a trip there.
Game Sack is one of the review series where I enjoy the comedy skit bits. They're good, concise and don't dominate the whole review like with some other YT reviewers. The one where you used pre-recorded footage of yourselves from years ago was genius! Oh, and this one's LOL funny as well!
The thing about Joe is he's _genuine._ We know the skits are just some dumb fun, he knows it too, and we know he knows it. So there's no pretension, no "omfg ur so funny Joe, bro you're crazy 🤣" type stuff. It's just a quick goof at the end of every ep, a little something to roll your eyes and smile at. (not to undermine my whole point but yeah, that one where they integrated all that old footage of themselves WAS pretty genius tho haha...)
The first Castlevania for N64 almost sold me on the console, but my dad wisely reminded me of Tekken 3, Crash 2 and the Spyro trilogy...and alas on Christmas morning there was a PS1, and it was the best Christmas ever.
The pushing forward when attacking is likely to keep you close to an enemy as you push them back with your attacks. It's not a bad idea per say but it only lends itself to one playstyle, all out attack, and really hurts if you want to play differently.
Judgement actually added some backstory to Grant Danasty in his Story mode. We learned that Grant had feelings for Sypha, but she didn't return his affections because of his appearance and because her feelings were for Trevor. So Grant became a jealous loner, but during his story arc he was finally able to make peace with himself, Trevor, and Sypha's marriage to Trevor.
I'm pretty sure Grant doesn't actually feel feelings, especially for other human beans. He's Grant Da Nasty and he's a nasty man, who doesn't feel feelings, just like a real man. Feelings are for p*******, and he's Grant Danasty, he doesn't have time for feelings. Although if anyone has any recommendations for helping me feel feelings again, I'm open to trying them. I especially don't feel feelings during cutscenes, because they drag on so long, and if I wanted to watch a movie, I'd watch the original Robocop or The Thing (Carpenter) because those are the only 2 good movies that exist, and they don't recognize or waste time on feelings except: "here's what this bad guy feels when he gets shot in the dick" Also, Robocop eats baby food. That is relatable, much moreso than some human "feeling feelings" for some other human, blah blah mushy boring. Robocop shoots people in the dick, and that is also relatable, as that's something I would enjoy doing.
I'm I the only one who LOVES the Lord's of Shadow series? Especially love the music from all 3 of those games. Have a few playlist with songs from them. Grew up with the original series and beat them all except the multiplayer ones. Idk. I think lords of shadow was a interesting side universe.
Yes, they are really great games! The defense system works pretty well and it's challenging and rewarding, I would say it is more old school than other games in this regard. Gamesack here just sucks on them, not our problem. Also, these games are gorgeous to look at, specially on PC. So yes, all around great games for me!
@@keness4768 you're wrong on both counts. Lords of Shadow sold nearly 1.8 million units. It has a 94% approval rating. It has an average review score ranging from 8.5 to 7.5 out of 10. Mirror of Fate has an approval rating ranging from 72% to 93%. With an average review score of 7/10. Lords of Shadow 2 has an approval rating ranging from 58% (above average) to 94% (pretty damn high). With an average review score ranging from 58 to 70 (above average to pretty good). Lots of people like them. And they're not shite.
Apprently Curse of Darkness was my favorite Castlevania game, because it was my first 3D Castlevania game, and I still play it to this day because of the Abandoned Castle music in the first area.
I liked the N64 Castlevania games a lot for some reason. They have a special atmosphere and i like the aesthetics of the early 3D Games. Sure, the camera was a pain in the ass, and the gameplay was not pin point perfect either. But i liked the strorytelling, the music was good and the game had a very smooth engine for the time!
Agreed. They are flawed but enjoyable games for their time. I actually like that they are slower paced and less “action games” than the PS2 entires. They feel more exploratory and RPG like. The atmosphere is top notch, they are really creepy at times
@@johnnyslokes2712 Besides Mario almost everything had a rough transition from 2D to 3D. In 99 when these came out it they wanted to try and transition the series to the current hardware (N64). For an early 3D game it looks pretty good. Better than 16 but of course not but it’s got more complexity.
@@markwebster4996 I would even argue that Mario should have never gone 3D but instead built off what they did in SMW or made a metroidvania style Mario game (I feel platformers should just be metroidvania by nature). Either would have been better than creating the moon fetcher games that we got instead. Mario 64 felt like a slap in the face for me, opposite of a Mario game
@@johnnyslokes2712 If you prefer 2D that’s fine but we’ve gotten a bunch of great 3D Mario games including SM64. They are really different things. It’s just not realistic for series to never transition. They’ve still made both styles
I agree! It's especially nice to play the PC version, since the game can actually run smoothly then. And I think the environmental design in the game is absolutely beautiful
CastleVania: Curse of Darkness, the God Hand of the franchise. Lots of combat mechanics buried in a maze of long corridors. I bought that game for $7 not knowing what it was and despite its very slow beginning, sticking with it long enough and you start to see how much fun this game gets once you unlock all the primary functions. This is the only game that has ever made me want to go back and try its hard mode after not playing for a year or so, and that’s such a rare thing that you can tell this was a game of higher quality. I absolutely adore Curse of Darkness.
I thought it was pretty good overall, though the steal mechanic really hurt my enjoyment of the game. The game also felt like rooms and corridors, regardless of the location. It's probably the best of the actual 3D Castlevania games, though I don't think any of them were particularly great.
Harmony of Despair is almost entirely reliant on multiplayer. I felt exactly like you did, until I got sucked into the online multiplayer, and realized that you need leveled-up teammates to really enjoy the game. And its pretty damn sweet, once you get good teammates and a good feel of how the game works.
And grinding out the skills for the characters that level based on them. Plus it was fun learning the skips in some levels, like abusing Soma's skull throw.
I enjoyed it a decent amount, though it does eventually devolve into repeatedly rushing a level over and over again chasing sub 1% item drops. The DLC levels were also pretty crap.
18:18 After all these years, finally someone tell me how i can get the sharpest image possible for the Adventure Rebirth. Thanks Joe, you're the Best! 👏👏👏👏👏
Lol Exactly get good. You cant just jump into ogres faces over and over again and not expect to be grabbed and thrown everytime. As Joe demonstrated in his gameplay footage. The combat is way better if you put some effort into it and look into the moves.
@@erbicus The whip/blood slap multi hit move is a bit overpowered though, working on pretty much every encounter. Still enjoyed using it though, as the games really aren’t ever challenging.
I quite liked the Lords of Shadow games, especially the second. I wish MercurySteam could get a second chance with the series after they did such a great job with Metroid Dread
Halfway through the second lords of shadow right now. Loved the first one, but the second one just feels off. The setting gets too samey. Does it get better?
They're not even the best 8-bit clonevania games. And that's more an exaltation of Holy Diver, 8 Eyes and Master of Darkness than a slight of the Bloodstained games which are great.
I loved Lords of Shadow. The voice acting, art and environments were beautiful especially on the “ultimate” version on Steam for 1080/60 goodness. I remember crossing the chain bridge in the snow to the huge castle. What a sight! When Carmilla says “Join me”, I would’ve said heck yeah! The DLC wasn’t bad either. Insane amount of content altogether. I hope Konami releases the trilogy as a 4K remaster soon.
I suppose it's the 'beauty' of individual opinions. I usually agree with so much of Joe's opinions. But the whole LOS series is fantastic. Ive never been so emotionally invested to a castlevania series (castlevania 4 before this series). I totally get the arguement that it could have been rebranded/rebadged as a different title altogether. But for me, as a Castlevania game, the whole story and production (music, graphics, gameplay etc) is fantastic! And Ive played pretty much all of the Castlevania games, bar a couple. Opinions eh?....gotta love 'em.
I have to disagree. I thought the Mercury Steam developed games were kind of trash to me. At this point, if I want to play a "3D" Castlevania, I'll go play Darksiders 1, 2 and 3.
Good idea,Joe could do a special about Castlevania clones sometime in the future. Besides Bloodstained we had Master of Darkness and Rusty (for PC9801 and DOS),underrated games.
I never finished Symphony of the Night back when it was relatively new. The clocktower stage was difficult for me, so I never beat it and i returned it to the rental store. Years later, I played Curse of Darkness, got hooked to it and beat it several times, even Crazy Mode. Then I decided to return to Symphony. I noticed that there are a lot of long empty corridors in that game as well, and the fact that Chairs are a shared theme made me conclude that Curse of Darkness was trying to make a 3D Symphony, but had to make a lot of compromises for it to be playable... and long wide corridors to give Hector enough room to fight was one of them.
@@thepickles8833 So I'm not the only one who noticed that SotN was full of long corridors, then! Great game, but I think I enjoyed Dawn of Sorrow's map design more... wouldn't hurt to go replay it to make sure, though. :)
Castlevania 64 is actually one of my favorite games of all time lol. Yes the camera sucks, but you learn to work around it toward the middle of the game. ALSO, I would like to point out that you guys talked about castlevania 64 in a previous episode and Dave said “the music is AMAZING”, which is entirely true.
I have to disagree with you on Lords of the Shadow. I love that game, although sequel was kinda meh in my opinion, especially those slow shadow-rat sneaking levels .I played it on Xbox 360 and later in 4k 60 fps on PC and that was great experience. It's not perfect by any means, but for a Castlevania fan, must play. Mirror of Fate, I haven't tried yet sadly. Great video, thank you.
I'll be honest I'm not that fussed about the games, I always preferred the mastersystem game that was similar. The Netflix series was great though. However I need to play symphony of the night, I own it just never played it.
@@aweigh1010 lol "Western crap" as if the entire series isn't about European horror and monster tropes. Especially when Japan only knows how to pachinko and gacha the series now. Mirror of Fate was pretty bad though
Lords of Shadow deserved a little more attention here. Sure you could argue its not a classic castlevania and that it may have missed the mark. It was a GoW knock off Frankenstein with elements of uncharted and shadow of the colossus alike. But it was an interesting attempt to reboot the series. And with such star power behind it, kojima, Patrick Stewart, Robert Carlyle and don't forget Mercury Steam who now will be know as the devs who created the fantastic Metroid dread. The game did start to blossom once you got inside the castle to be fair. A worthy stab at the series, even if it lost its way.
@@DC-co3gf I played the first LoS and Mirror of Fate to completion. And laughed my ass off at the end of LoS where you beat Satan and then suddenly Gabriel in a cutscene is like "I AM DRACUUUUUULLLEEEE"
Ask, it’s crazy how much Virtua Fighter 1 and its conetemporaries like Toshinden used the 3D camera to liberally whip around. You were frequently fighting with a characters back to the camera. I kind of miss that.
@@JazGalaxy Toshinden was fun but awful to see and weird to play, and the action still was on a 2D plane, movements towards and away from the camera were clunky, similar, as you said, to VF. From the images in Joe's video and other videos it seems to me that the whole movement in Judgement was free
I've been looking forward to you covering Rebirth since you started looking at all the Castlevania games! I absolutely love Rebirth and even bought the OST on vinyl because it's so good... hopefully we get a proper physical release some day
Curse of Darkness was a really pleasant surprise and I'm glad I got it back when it was still cheap. So many of these Castlevania games have gotten crazy expensive now!
Aww man 35mins sack episode. Soon as I get back I'll be watching. Joe you're a legend for this decade of content you've given us all. I gonna patreon you some cash fella 😂 After ten years I feel like you deserve to be paid for it lol nice work buddy appreciate it
also he won a Goldman prize for its excellent work at recycling sprites and other elements of the franchise, and it was a hard-fought competition with FIFA and CoD participating that year
that is IF people on Xbox were able to buy it back then cause it's digital-only unless it's on GamePass or whatever, those people has missed it/will miss it then again, it feels kinda dirty playing Castlevania on Xbox, or even any Japanese-made games on those consoles lol
@@T4silly since Rondo of Blood u mean. But the thing is that every game brought something new, new enemies, new design for certain enemies (golems, armors, devils, Death). In Harmony of Despair it was pure recycling, No exclusive design that i could recall for that game
Harmony of Despair is awesome if you can get a 6 player game going. Finding cool weapons and learning some strange but powerful playstyles for the different characters is great. I also like Curse of Darkness when it came out and Lords of Shadow was fun (but not groundbreaking).
Curse Of Darkness was definitely the high point for me. I played the crap out of that game. But to really complete that game, and beat the boss rush mode was sickeningly hard.
I can proudly say I have most castlevania games, apart the 64 and Wii ones... this includes all ds, 3ds, ps1, ps2, ps3, ps4 collections, and NES and Super Nintendo.
The reason for the weird character designs in Judgement is because they were all designed by Takeshi Obata, so they all look like something from Death Note. Death Note was big at the time so I guess Konami figured it'd help sell the game.
Yeah. And as a result, you got Light Yagami as Simon Belmont and Misa Amane as Maria Renard. Isn't that awkward to see Death Note-like characters in a Castlevania game?
Konami recently re-released the Gba Castlevanias on a collection... hopefully they're going to make more of these... a Ds collection with Rebirth as a bonus would be great. Also maybe a 3d collection featuring the 2 n64 games and the two ps2 games.
It’s funny how 2 other franchises picked up the Castlevania mantle but in 3D: Devil May Cry and Dark Souls - two very different games that nonetheless borrow heavily from Castlevania.
I also really like it. But the hate it gets is because it’s not good. It’s just really not. Consider that Symphony Of The Night was coming out at roughly the exact same time. It just doesn’t hold a candle. Pun intended.
Legacy of Darkness was good. It’s too bad they released Castlevania 64 before it was finished. Legacy of Darkness is a decent game when compared to other 3D games from the PSX, N64 and Saturn era.
......really Joe, you prefer Emo Death Note edgelord bike shorts wearing Simon Belmont in Judgement over Mirror of Fates fitting barbarian take?! yesh I know preference is subjective, but the interesting redesigns were the only elements everyone universally liked in Mirror of Fate
So many of the old greats struggled to transition into 3D. Nintendo did damn good with their games sure, but we left a lot of great series behind around that time.
That was a fair take on the N64 games, I get not everyone likes them but I like that Joe was still fair with his coverage and did exaggerate like a lot of people do.
A lot more harsh on Lords of Shadow though. I personally loved the games though Lords of Shadow 2 suffered from trying force a "metroidvania" style onto it and the redesign of one enemy was bad.
I played Castlevania on N64 only recently for the first time. It’s definitely clunky, but I enjoyed it way more than I was expecting. The atmosphere and music/sound design is top notch I thought. And the rendition of the bloodlines tune on the opening screen is excellent.
One thing I never see people say about the Castlevania series is this: it was always very clear to me that the original idea was “medieval heavy metal looking dude fights classic movie monsters.” Like especially Castlevania one through three, if memory serves all of them use a fake film reel as part of their animation. I think trademark and copyright issues always made Konami afraid to say that too explicitly, and I think over time they grew beyond those roots, but I do think that’s the original conception.
It's so cool that Castlevania has stuck around in the video game zeitgeist throughout all these decades. Just a great game setting and concept that is timeless enough to keep it fun after years and years. I think this was the 2nd video game I ever saw/played (after Super Mario Bros.), and I loved it so much. About 30 years ago that was, and I hope the series keeps at it for at least another 30. About time for a new Castlevania to come out!
Greetings from China... There is a rarity you missed! Castlevania: The Arcade, released in Japan (Asia) as Akumajō Dracula. I played at a local mall a lot about a decade ago.
I'm currently playing through Castlevania (64) for the first time, and was wondering about how to get the true ending. Then you uploaded this video and straight up told me. Thank you Joe! 😉
Do you have a favorite 3D Castlevania game or do you hate them all?
I like Harmony of Despair. Offline Coop was pretty decent feature and i and my friends did have fun playing those games. I have bought Wiiware one and 2.5D one for ps3 and it was ok. Other 3D games are abysmal at best.
Apple Arcade version was so shitty that I have cancelled my Apple Arcade subscription.
Curse of darkness is very underrated and a dare I say? A hidden gem?
Curse of darkness brings so many good memories, I really love that soundtrack
Let's hope Konami makes a Castlevania 3D collection
Who's your favorite hero of the franchise?
What cut scenes were cut from Legacy of Darkness?
I'll say one thing for the first n64 castlevania, the intro was oozing with atmosphere. If you immediately run ahead lightning strikes a nearby tree. It's scripted for when you're close though, so if you idle for a while the storm will go away, run ahead and no lightning strike, so the tree remains intact. I just think that's insane for a game in the 90s. Games today never do stuff like that
My favorite scripted missable moment: The first Skeleton boss fight. When he jumps into the ravine if you follow him to the edge and look down in first person, he'll stop and look back up at you before running away.
@@orinanime Hah, I just assumed that he disappeared into the ground, the way other games would have done.
I thought N64 Castlevania was perfectly fine back when it was released, but like most early 3D action games it has aged extremely poorly.
@@sjake8308 meh I think it's aged fine. Not great. But not the awfulness that some people think. CVLoD has definitely aged better.
@@sjake8308 I enjoyed it, but do recall it being kind of clunky (I probably played it around 2007), though no worse than other games of the era, as you mentioned. I'm not sure why some PlayStation games like Tomb Raider often seem to get a free pass, when some of those are even rougher.
I've been watching for a long time, and I have to say, the quality of these videos has not dipped even a little in all these years. You are doing amazing!!!!
Have to totally disagree about Lords of Shadow. As a major Castlevania fan, starting with Simon's Quest in the 80's, I had a massive amount of fun with the LoS series, especially the first one. There's a magic in Castlevanias 1-4 and Rondo of Blood(PC Engine) that are impossible to beat, imo, but Lords offered their own magic that I thoroughly enjoy to this day.
The first Lords of Shadow is very good. I enjoyed it a lot, gave me Castlevania IV vibes with its atmosphere and the music is great.
Agreed. I love Lords of Shadow 1.
Yes to all of the above!!
True! Since a fan from the 80s as well hearing so many bad things for Lords of Shadow sounds silly to me. While I enjoy Game Sack videos sometimes, like this one, I can't believe my ears with some of his opinions.
I also loved Lords of Shadow- the 1st one. & I didn't feel any God of War vibe with it as well.
Loved the PS3 Lords of Shadow games. The atmosphere is amazing, the music was stunning and gameplay fluid and responsive. A modern city built on the foundation of Dracula's Castle? I'd throw my life's savings for a trip there.
I loved the first Lords of Shadows and both 64 games. Hated the second PS3 LoS because they made it more like a Metal Gear game without the fun.
Game Sack is one of the review series where I enjoy the comedy skit bits. They're good, concise and don't dominate the whole review like with some other YT reviewers. The one where you used pre-recorded footage of yourselves from years ago was genius! Oh, and this one's LOL funny as well!
Indeed. Considering some of the absolute trash people who get millions of views, its a real shame GS doesn't get more.
@@wullahblack6452 I'd prefer they stay that way
I’ll take this note for my future video as well
The thing about Joe is he's _genuine._ We know the skits are just some dumb fun, he knows it too, and we know he knows it. So there's no pretension, no "omfg ur so funny Joe, bro you're crazy 🤣" type stuff. It's just a quick goof at the end of every ep, a little something to roll your eyes and smile at.
(not to undermine my whole point but yeah, that one where they integrated all that old footage of themselves WAS pretty genius tho haha...)
The first Castlevania for N64 almost sold me on the console, but my dad wisely reminded me of Tekken 3, Crash 2 and the Spyro trilogy...and alas on Christmas morning there was a PS1, and it was the best Christmas ever.
My friend had it. It was shit :)
Alas means a great sadness or concern. I think what you mean to say is "thus" or maybe "I digress"?
The pushing forward when attacking is likely to keep you close to an enemy as you push them back with your attacks. It's not a bad idea per say but it only lends itself to one playstyle, all out attack, and really hurts if you want to play differently.
Judgement actually added some backstory to Grant Danasty in his Story mode. We learned that Grant had feelings for Sypha, but she didn't return his affections because of his appearance and because her feelings were for Trevor. So Grant became a jealous loner, but during his story arc he was finally able to make peace with himself, Trevor, and Sypha's marriage to Trevor.
I'm pretty sure Grant doesn't actually feel feelings, especially for other human beans.
He's Grant Da Nasty and he's a nasty man, who doesn't feel feelings, just like a real man.
Feelings are for p*******, and he's Grant Danasty, he doesn't have time for feelings.
Although if anyone has any recommendations for helping me feel feelings again, I'm open to trying them.
I especially don't feel feelings during cutscenes, because they drag on so long, and if I wanted to watch a movie, I'd watch the original Robocop or The Thing (Carpenter) because those are the only 2 good movies that exist, and they don't recognize or waste time on feelings except: "here's what this bad guy feels when he gets shot in the dick"
Also, Robocop eats baby food. That is relatable, much moreso than some human "feeling feelings" for some other human, blah blah mushy boring.
Robocop shoots people in the dick, and that is also relatable, as that's something I would enjoy doing.
He became a jealous loner ? That's so anime protagonist of him, how original.
I'm I the only one who LOVES the Lord's of Shadow series? Especially love the music from all 3 of those games. Have a few playlist with songs from them. Grew up with the original series and beat them all except the multiplayer ones. Idk. I think lords of shadow was a interesting side universe.
Yes, they are really great games! The defense system works pretty well and it's challenging and rewarding, I would say it is more old school than other games in this regard. Gamesack here just sucks on them, not our problem. Also, these games are gorgeous to look at, specially on PC. So yes, all around great games for me!
Lords of Shadow is great.
Mirror of Fate is amazing.
LoS2 is pretty good.
I love the trilogy.
You are in fact the only one. They’re shite.
@@keness4768 you're wrong on both counts.
Lords of Shadow sold nearly 1.8 million units.
It has a 94% approval rating.
It has an average review score ranging from 8.5 to 7.5 out of 10.
Mirror of Fate has an approval rating ranging from 72% to 93%.
With an average review score of 7/10.
Lords of Shadow 2 has an approval rating ranging from 58% (above average) to 94% (pretty damn high).
With an average review score ranging from 58 to 70 (above average to pretty good).
Lots of people like them.
And they're not shite.
Not the only one! I love Lords of Shadow 1. Fantastic game imo.
In the world full of sh*t and bullsh*t there is Gamesack. Thank you for your videos.
You forgot about the world of sh** pickles and bull f***.
Apprently Curse of Darkness was my favorite Castlevania game, because it was my first 3D Castlevania game, and I still play it to this day because of the Abandoned Castle music in the first area.
I thought Curse of Darkness hit the perfect balance and would have loved to have seen more of that
Easily Curse of Darkness was the most underrated Castlevania game ever made.
It was boring. Endless hallways. Lame level design.
@@gaylordfocker7990
If you are judging it by it’s level design instead of it’s gameplay, then you’re grading it the same way IGN graded God Hand.
@@thepickles8833 It's boring. Period.
@@thepickles8833 Level Desing is part of the gameplay
I liked the N64 Castlevania games a lot for some reason. They have a special atmosphere and i like the aesthetics of the early 3D Games. Sure, the camera was a pain in the ass, and the gameplay was not pin point perfect either. But i liked the strorytelling, the music was good and the game had a very smooth engine for the time!
Agreed. They are flawed but enjoyable games for their time. I actually like that they are slower paced and less “action games” than the PS2 entires. They feel more exploratory and RPG like. The atmosphere is top notch, they are really creepy at times
Compare it to any 2D Castlevania and you'll realize how bad it is and how bad it looks in comparison, how did they go backwards without realizing it?
@@johnnyslokes2712 Besides Mario almost everything had a rough transition from 2D to 3D. In 99 when these came out it they wanted to try and transition the series to the current hardware (N64). For an early 3D game it looks pretty good. Better than 16 but of course not but it’s got more complexity.
@@markwebster4996 I would even argue that Mario should have never gone 3D but instead built off what they did in SMW or made a metroidvania style Mario game (I feel platformers should just be metroidvania by nature). Either would have been better than creating the moon fetcher games that we got instead. Mario 64 felt like a slap in the face for me, opposite of a Mario game
@@johnnyslokes2712 If you prefer 2D that’s fine but we’ve gotten a bunch of great 3D Mario games including SM64. They are really different things. It’s just not realistic for series to never transition. They’ve still made both styles
I really enjoyed lords of shadow 1. Fun combat . Patrick Stewart. And what an ending
I agree! It's especially nice to play the PC version, since the game can actually run smoothly then. And I think the environmental design in the game is absolutely beautiful
Agree. I Love game sack but this video is a bit disconnected and fanboy.
Both games are actually pretty good. The first game I consider a damn good game.
Yeah, it's easily the best 3d castlevania. It's a fun game for sure
CastleVania: Curse of Darkness,
the God Hand of the franchise.
Lots of combat mechanics buried in a maze of long corridors. I bought that game for $7 not knowing what it was and despite its very slow beginning, sticking with it long enough and you start to see how much fun this game gets once you unlock all the primary functions. This is the only game that has ever made me want to go back and try its hard mode after not playing for a year or so, and that’s such a rare thing that you can tell this was a game of higher quality. I absolutely adore Curse of Darkness.
I also liked that game's version of Issac. A complete fucking maniac.
You've definitely sold me the idea of this game I am gonna get the original PS2 9r whatever version I can and see how I go 👍
My god.....can it really be you?!? I haven't see this can of pickles since the glory days of The Best Friends.
Curse of darkness is the only 3D cv I actually enjoyed. But I’m in the old fart club.
I thought it was pretty good overall, though the steal mechanic really hurt my enjoyment of the game. The game also felt like rooms and corridors, regardless of the location. It's probably the best of the actual 3D Castlevania games, though I don't think any of them were particularly great.
Harmony of Despair is almost entirely reliant on multiplayer. I felt exactly like you did, until I got sucked into the online multiplayer, and realized that you need leveled-up teammates to really enjoy the game. And its pretty damn sweet, once you get good teammates and a good feel of how the game works.
And grinding out the skills for the characters that level based on them. Plus it was fun learning the skips in some levels, like abusing Soma's skull throw.
That makes the game unplayable.
I enjoyed it a decent amount, though it does eventually devolve into repeatedly rushing a level over and over again chasing sub 1% item drops. The DLC levels were also pretty crap.
18:18 After all these years, finally someone tell me how i can get the sharpest image possible for the Adventure Rebirth. Thanks Joe, you're the Best! 👏👏👏👏👏
Agreed. I wish I knew this back when I was playing it on the Wii.
Emulation. That's how im playing this and gradius rebirth
@@123doomdoom yOu KnOw YoU cAn JuSt eMuLaTe iT!!!1!
I love lords of shadow!!! So great. Good story and good combat. Get Good
Lol Exactly get good. You cant just jump into ogres faces over and over again and not expect to be grabbed and thrown everytime. As Joe demonstrated in his gameplay footage.
The combat is way better if you put some effort into it and look into the moves.
@@erbicus The whip/blood slap multi hit move is a bit overpowered though, working on pretty much every encounter.
Still enjoyed using it though, as the games really aren’t ever challenging.
Get good indeed! I've got platinum, including all extra trophies for the two DLCs.
They're not that great. Komami farmed them out to a Western developer remember.
I love Lords Of Shadow 2 and I have played but not finished Mirror Of Fate yet.
I will play Lords Of Shadow 1.
I quite liked the Lords of Shadow games, especially the second. I wish MercurySteam could get a second chance with the series after they did such a great job with Metroid Dread
Ooof big thumbs down
@@_Tizoc_ Oof it’s an opinion. They like it and that’s ok.
Halfway through the second lords of shadow right now. Loved the first one, but the second one just feels off. The setting gets too samey. Does it get better?
Just so everyone is clear, PS3 Harmony of Despair also has online multi, with active users sometimes!
As a fan of the series, I can't wait to see this one!
Happy belated New year everyone!
Happy new year
New GameSack.....best way to start a new day
The "8-bit" Bloodstained games are the best Classicvania games, change my mind.
They're not even the best 8-bit clonevania games.
And that's more an exaltation of Holy Diver, 8 Eyes and Master of Darkness than a slight of the Bloodstained games which are great.
Dante's Inferno and Castlevania LOS were 2 of the best games from that era. I really enjoyed them.
Emulation saved that awesome Wiiware Castlevania game - ty dolphin devs :)
I loved Lords of Shadow. The voice acting, art and environments were beautiful especially on the “ultimate” version on Steam for 1080/60 goodness. I remember crossing the chain bridge in the snow to the huge castle. What a sight! When Carmilla says “Join me”, I would’ve said heck yeah! The DLC wasn’t bad either. Insane amount of content altogether. I hope Konami releases the trilogy as a 4K remaster soon.
Yup. LoS is a fantastic game, and actually also a really good Castlevania game.
I suppose it's the 'beauty' of individual opinions. I usually agree with so much of Joe's opinions.
But the whole LOS series is fantastic. Ive never been so emotionally invested to a castlevania series (castlevania 4 before this series).
I totally get the arguement that it could have been rebranded/rebadged as a different title altogether. But for me, as a Castlevania game, the whole story and production (music, graphics, gameplay etc) is fantastic! And Ive played pretty much all of the Castlevania games, bar a couple.
Opinions eh?....gotta love 'em.
I have to disagree. I thought the Mercury Steam developed games were kind of trash to me. At this point, if I want to play a "3D" Castlevania, I'll go play Darksiders 1, 2 and 3.
@@MrRedFoxorMrelzorrorojo Well, opinions. I happen to think the Darksiders games are boring as hell and have a terrible art style.
Ahhh, finally Joe, the video I've been waiting for and a perfect conclusion to your Castlevania series videos.
Thanks a lot for your amazing work.
Surprised to not see Bloodstained included. I know its not a Castlevania game by name but all things considered it might as well be.
Good idea,Joe could do a special about Castlevania clones sometime in the future.
Besides Bloodstained we had Master of Darkness and Rusty (for PC9801 and DOS),underrated games.
Curse of darkness, the game where u need to spend 80% of the gameplay walking through gigantic empty halls.
Same happened in LOI.The N64 had atrocious gameplay but levels looked too big and with more variety compared to the PS2 games.
I never finished Symphony of the Night back when it was relatively new. The clocktower stage was difficult for me, so I never beat it and i returned it to the rental store.
Years later, I played Curse of Darkness, got hooked to it and beat it several times, even Crazy Mode. Then I decided to return to Symphony. I noticed that there are a lot of long empty corridors in that game as well, and the fact that Chairs are a shared theme made me conclude that Curse of Darkness was trying to make a 3D Symphony, but had to make a lot of compromises for it to be playable... and long wide corridors to give Hector enough room to fight was one of them.
@@thepickles8833 So I'm not the only one who noticed that SotN was full of long corridors, then! Great game, but I think I enjoyed Dawn of Sorrow's map design more... wouldn't hurt to go replay it to make sure, though. :)
Not played it since release but I loved the first Lords of Shadow game. Enjoyed it much more than any God Of War I've played
Castlevania 64 is actually one of my favorite games of all time lol. Yes the camera sucks, but you learn to work around it toward the middle of the game.
ALSO, I would like to point out that you guys talked about castlevania 64 in a previous episode and Dave said “the music is AMAZING”, which is entirely true.
27:00 the 3D effect on the 3DS is really great in this game and I'd say it's one of the better looking ones on the system
Harmony of Despair is a ton of fun in multiplayer, my friends and I spent hours upon hours playing that game. Good times!
Here I am at home suffering with covid and yet watching game sack makes me feel better
Get well soon, bro! :)
@@kuva7275 thank you
I have to disagree with you on Lords of the Shadow. I love that game, although sequel was kinda meh in my opinion, especially those slow shadow-rat sneaking levels .I played it on Xbox 360 and later in 4k 60 fps on PC and that was great experience. It's not perfect by any means, but for a Castlevania fan, must play. Mirror of Fate, I haven't tried yet sadly. Great video, thank you.
Thank goodness for Game Sack being here to properly acknowledge Castlevania's history for the 35th anniversary
You might want to check out Slopes Games Room. His channel did an excellent deep dive into the history of Castlevania 👍🏻
There can't be enough castlevania content. The Netflix series made me re discover them all over again.
Dude, that Netflix series is sick! I really enjoyed it
I'll be honest I'm not that fussed about the games, I always preferred the mastersystem game that was similar. The Netflix series was great though. However I need to play symphony of the night, I own it just never played it.
That awkward moment when Netflix and Smash Bros. are the only worthwhile Castlevania content in past decade... it sucks man
@@aweigh1010 weeaboo
@@aweigh1010 lol "Western crap" as if the entire series isn't about European horror and monster tropes. Especially when Japan only knows how to pachinko and gacha the series now. Mirror of Fate was pretty bad though
I really enjoyed the first LoS. The puzzles and the boss battles were so much fun
Lords of Shadow deserved a little more attention here. Sure you could argue its not a classic castlevania and that it may have missed the mark. It was a GoW knock off Frankenstein with elements of uncharted and shadow of the colossus alike. But it was an interesting attempt to reboot the series. And with such star power behind it, kojima, Patrick Stewart, Robert Carlyle and don't forget Mercury Steam who now will be know as the devs who created the fantastic Metroid dread. The game did start to blossom once you got inside the castle to be fair. A worthy stab at the series, even if it lost its way.
Agree 100%. Lords of Shadow 1 is pretty freakin' awesome.
Mercury Steam is great but I just didn't enjoy the game. And if anything Kojima being involved was probably a detriment.
@@wullahblack6452 did you play the game all the way through?
@@DC-co3gf I played the first LoS and Mirror of Fate to completion. And laughed my ass off at the end of LoS where you beat Satan and then suddenly Gabriel in a cutscene is like "I AM DRACUUUUUULLLEEEE"
@@wullahblack6452 yeah I’m only defending the first LoS. It was so over the top at the end.
Joe, fighting games like Castlevania Judgement, when you're not tied to a 2D plane but free to roam in 3D, are usually referred to as "arena fighters"
Yeah, and they're awful.
@@audiovisual51 Usually yes, agreed. Power Stone and Destrega weren't so bad though
Ask, it’s crazy how much Virtua Fighter 1 and its conetemporaries like Toshinden used the 3D camera to liberally whip around. You were frequently fighting with a characters back to the camera.
I kind of miss that.
@@JazGalaxy Toshinden was fun but awful to see and weird to play, and the action still was on a 2D plane, movements towards and away from the camera were clunky, similar, as you said, to VF. From the images in Joe's video and other videos it seems to me that the whole movement in Judgement was free
Thanks Joe, you make my life better.
MY Sunday morning Game Sack fix has arrived, thanks Joe!
Devil May Cry: Lament of Innocence looks really cool! I think I might finally pick that one up.
Yeah, it did feel a bit like a poor man's Devil May Cry. Lament of Innocence is a decent game in it's own right, though it's no classic.
With a trashy camera and gameplay tho
I always liked the Mercury Steam Castlevania games.
EDIT: The 2nd one (for the DS) was very good imho...
I've been looking forward to you covering Rebirth since you started looking at all the Castlevania games! I absolutely love Rebirth and even bought the OST on vinyl because it's so good... hopefully we get a proper physical release some day
Yes!
Rebirth. Of Rebirth.
Same with Contra Rebirth. Incredible games!
I"ve got a feeling we'll see it again in the inevitable 3rd CV collection with Rondo and SOTN
@@koopakape : That would be good...! 👍
A wild DGR appears! I hope this means you'll play Rebirth on your channel at some point? Or a twitch stream perhaps?
Curse of Darkness was a really pleasant surprise and I'm glad I got it back when it was still cheap. So many of these Castlevania games have gotten crazy expensive now!
Aww I loved the Lords of Shadows games.. and I've been a fan of the series since the NES days.
Now I can start 2022. I've been sitting in a chair for 8 days just waiting for Game Sack to drop. Episode 333: The Rebirth.
I have a soft spot for Castlevania 64. Had it growing up and beat it many times
Aww man 35mins sack episode. Soon as I get back I'll be watching.
Joe you're a legend for this decade of content you've given us all. I gonna patreon you some cash fella 😂
After ten years I feel like you deserve to be paid for it lol nice work buddy appreciate it
Harmony of Despair is one of my personal favorites.
The last Castlevania Igarashi got to work on.
And it's back-compat on Xbox.
also he won a Goldman prize for its excellent work at recycling sprites and other elements of the franchise, and it was a hard-fought competition with FIFA and CoD participating that year
that is IF people on Xbox were able to buy it back then cause it's digital-only
unless it's on GamePass or whatever, those people has missed it/will miss it
then again, it feels kinda dirty playing Castlevania on Xbox, or even any Japanese-made games on those consoles lol
@@DaedalosC9 Castlevania has been re-using sprites in many games since Symphony of the Night.
@@T4silly since Rondo of Blood u mean.
But the thing is that every game brought something new, new enemies, new design for certain enemies (golems, armors, devils, Death). In Harmony of Despair it was pure recycling, No exclusive design that i could recall for that game
@@OriginalMasters thanks! you saved my life!, my bloodline will remember this and each generation will tell stories about it
In a sense, Mirror of Fate crawled so that Metroid Dread can slide.
Little correction: Lords of Shadow came out in 2010, not in 2013.
This is the BEST Christmas gift. Thanks game sack!
Harmony of Despair is awesome if you can get a 6 player game going. Finding cool weapons and learning some strange but powerful playstyles for the different characters is great. I also like Curse of Darkness when it came out and Lords of Shadow was fun (but not groundbreaking).
Yes, more Gamesack! Thanks Joe 👍🏻❤️
I REALLY feel the chain sound in Rebirth is a metal Slinky.
Curse Of Darkness was definitely the high point for me. I played the crap out of that game. But to really complete that game, and beat the boss rush mode was sickeningly hard.
Sad to see this series end! You did a great job 💪👍 this was always a series I enjoyed.
10:08. This clock tower song stuck in my head. This OST is fantastic!
I can proudly say I have most castlevania games, apart the 64 and Wii ones... this includes all ds, 3ds, ps1, ps2, ps3, ps4 collections, and NES and Super Nintendo.
That's exactly what I needed! I started playing Curse of darkness yesterday and I'm having more fun than I thought.
Great episode Joe, even after nearly 11 years the quality of Game Sack never dips. Really appreciate all the great content you’ve given us.
To be clear the PS3 version of Harmony of Despair also has online play as well as local co-op. The 360 version lacked local co-op.
Its absolutely criminal that we dont have a modern re-release of the three ReBirth games in a compilation.
Castlevania Judgment's art style is by the same dude who gave us "Death Note".
The reason for the weird character designs in Judgement is because they were all designed by Takeshi Obata, so they all look like something from Death Note. Death Note was big at the time so I guess Konami figured it'd help sell the game.
Yeah. And as a result, you got Light Yagami as Simon Belmont and Misa Amane as Maria Renard. Isn't that awkward to see Death Note-like characters in a Castlevania game?
Great episode Joe, long live Game Sack. 👍
Rondo of Blood and Symphony will always be the best, with Dawn and Aria being close seconds. Richter is my fav.
The best 3D Castlevania is called Bloodborne 👀😋😊
I really enjoyed the PS2, and PS3 Castlevania 3-D games, but nothing beats games like Symphony of the Night.
Konami recently re-released the Gba Castlevanias on a collection... hopefully they're going to make more of these... a Ds collection with Rebirth as a bonus would be great. Also maybe a 3d collection featuring the 2 n64 games and the two ps2 games.
I'd be up for them, in physical form, and in HD.
The 2D Castlevania for the Wii can be easily emulated today, so no need to wait for them to possibly launch this
It’s funny how 2 other franchises picked up the Castlevania mantle but in 3D: Devil May Cry and Dark Souls - two very different games that nonetheless borrow heavily from Castlevania.
Bloodborne is the best 3D Castlevania and that's a hill I'll die on.
Master of Darkness is waaaay more Castlevania than most of others in the whole episode.
Well it was specifically designed as a ripoff of the original castlevania
@@nohomers100 I prefer Kenseiden.
Ah yes.. Another peaceful night going to sleep watching game sack.. peak civilian in peak civilization here.
Castlevania 64 is the game that introduced me to the series and I'll always love it. I don't understand the hate it gets.
I agree that the jumping sucked. Died so many times by missing platforms. Solid overall.
I also really like it.
But the hate it gets is because it’s not good. It’s just really not. Consider that Symphony Of The Night was coming out at roughly the exact same time. It just doesn’t hold a candle. Pun intended.
Castlevania 64 was a big part of my childhood at the time i loved it
Great tip on better resolution in Castlevania Rebirth! Loved this and all of your CV videos
Legacy of Darkness was good.
It’s too bad they released Castlevania 64 before it was finished.
Legacy of Darkness is a decent game when compared to other 3D games from the PSX, N64 and Saturn era.
......really Joe, you prefer Emo Death Note edgelord bike shorts wearing Simon Belmont in Judgement over Mirror of Fates fitting barbarian take?! yesh I know preference is subjective, but the interesting redesigns were the only elements everyone universally liked in Mirror of Fate
So many of the old greats struggled to transition into 3D. Nintendo did damn good with their games sure, but we left a lot of great series behind around that time.
I love the N64 Castlevania games do I always get nervous when someone covers them. Let's see how this goes...
That was a fair take on the N64 games, I get not everyone likes them but I like that Joe was still fair with his coverage and did exaggerate like a lot of people do.
A lot more harsh on Lords of Shadow though. I personally loved the games though Lords of Shadow 2 suffered from trying force a "metroidvania" style onto it and the redesign of one enemy was bad.
I played Castlevania on N64 only recently for the first time. It’s definitely clunky, but I enjoyed it way more than I was expecting. The atmosphere and music/sound design is top notch I thought. And the rendition of the bloodlines tune on the opening screen is excellent.
One thing I never see people say about the Castlevania series is this: it was always very clear to me that the original idea was “medieval heavy metal looking dude fights classic movie monsters.” Like especially Castlevania one through three, if memory serves all of them use a fake film reel as part of their animation. I think trademark and copyright issues always made Konami afraid to say that too explicitly, and I think over time they grew beyond those roots, but I do think that’s the original conception.
Curse of Darkness was my first 3D Castlevania and I enjoyed every minute of it.
I need more game sack in my life, Keep up the great work Joe
I loved Castlevania 64. The graphics were the usual N64 muddy, but the game really captured the vibe of the series and the music was excellent.
I don't care what ANYBODY says. Lament of Innocence is a great game and a credit to the franchise.
Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man
opinions exist
Yes, Was waiting for this one!
The bit at the end was great!
It's so cool that Castlevania has stuck around in the video game zeitgeist throughout all these decades. Just a great game setting and concept that is timeless enough to keep it fun after years and years. I think this was the 2nd video game I ever saw/played (after Super Mario Bros.), and I loved it so much. About 30 years ago that was, and I hope the series keeps at it for at least another 30. About time for a new Castlevania to come out!
One of your best videos yet. You truly have a talent for this RUclips thing.
I learned the best way to torture him is to create a video game with a bunch of quick time events and blocking.
Before watching this video: "Why haven't I played any of these games?"
After: "Oh yea, that's why"
Greetings from China... There is a rarity you missed! Castlevania: The Arcade, released in Japan (Asia) as Akumajō Dracula. I played at a local mall a lot about a decade ago.
I'm currently playing through Castlevania (64) for the first time, and was wondering about how to get the true ending. Then you uploaded this video and straight up told me. Thank you Joe! 😉
Castlevania Lords of Shadow is such an underrated gem.