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>>737104627
It used to be my least favorite out of the three DSVanias but after replaying it a few months ago I found it to be better than dawn. Fuck Blackmore though. Also Shanoa a cute!

>>737104627
>I found it to be better than dawn
I started replaying it because I replayed aria on a whim and said why not
dawn is kinda just a piece of shit in retrospect

>>737104884
What I did not from dawn was the bosses, the sealing magic shit that you have to do every time you defeat a boss, and the touch screen controls. I they removed the stylus gimmick and changed some bosses it would've been a better game. Though it has been a year since I played last DoS so maybe I just need to play the game again to appreciate it more.

OoE is the best for me. I loved using magic over weapons.

>>737105490
this. i've been using dual ignis for most of the game, then vol luminatio/umbra
not quite as fun as the magic in portrait, but still really fun

It is bad. Portrait of Ruin mogs it

>>737104627
The elites don't want you to know this, but if you play this game on hard mode it is one of the best Castlevanias. Genuinely it's basically a different game.

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>>737104627
Wait, what?
I never heard about being bad, if anything, people usually say that's the best one of the DS trilogy.

>>737106984
can I get a link to the bizarro /v/ you seem to be browsing?

stop calling perfectly fine video games bad...

>>737104627
The hell are you talking about, this game and PoR are fellated HARD here.

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I love my wife Shanoa

>>737104627
I think the reason some people don't like it is because the first half of the game is basically smaller separate levels selected from a map screen, and reaching the castle proper has some prerequisites.

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>>737107769
Shanoa the best

>I genuinely couldn't believe how awful my terminal shit taste was when I got around to playing it
no one else could have predicted it either, Oh Pee
t. just gave it another try after 8 years and it's still boring ass

>>737104627
>It might even be the best rpg vania
It very much is.

>>737106734
Correct opinion. Any argument for OoE ultimately boils down to "S-Shanoa my wife!", there are no excuses for the lousy level design and awful linearity, the bad controls, and the easy cheesy bosses.

i unironically think shanoa is the best visual design for a female character in any video game

i dont want to dump on bloodstained so much but miriams design perfectly displays why Shanoas is perfection. It shows a confidence in the artist to not overdesign, over complicate. Her hair is used to display movement perfectly

>>737110004
The linearity's good, Symphony-tard.

>>737110004
It's not piss-easy like every other igavania

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>>737110004
>there are no excu-
https://youtu.be/aO8Q7-zhw8s?t=587
ACK!

>>737104627
Good soundtrack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHeuS-36a14

>>737104627
Who the fuck this is order of ecclesia is bad?
Everyone loved it when it came out. Everyone wants to fuck Shanoa

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>>737110173
Perfection

>>737110004
>lousy level design
It offers the best, most well design challenge since Castlevania III.
>awful linearity
Linearity isn't bad by itself so you'll have to actually explain how and why Ecclesia's linearity which offers actual thought out challenge over giant empty rooms you can just Sprint through is not just different but outright bad.
>the bad controls
Likewise. Explain why the Glyph system's bad, or the fact boss fights for once are actually challenging and require careful positioning.

>>737106984
>I never heard about being bad, if anything, people usually say that's the best one of the DS trilogy.
what the fuck is this revisionism? are you from some outlandish forum?

>>737110757
I was 2 years old when it came out I love it now tho

PoR > DoS > OoE is pretty much universally agreed upon.

>>737106984
Contrarians often plague Castlevania threads but you can tell specifically whether that's the case or not based on if they've actually played OoE or complain about "muh linearity" because they heard about it online.

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>>737110683
*Amazing* soundtrack.
https://youtu.be/8qnDrFECVW4
https://youtu.be/1eC4FY_Z7rM
https://youtu.be/Po4cVGc64Us
https://youtu.be/OKuRzSRbqgg
https://youtu.be/NsHnrMNSsNQ
https://youtu.be/Ek_k_C_d7OA
https://youtu.be/4c-pccTwBfE
https://youtu.be/l2kcrtFrw_c
https://youtu.be/peGqqGnUAAI
https://youtu.be/fa9oS9mGFdo
https://youtu.be/0DU_dusaZC8
https://youtu.be/DeeBhOk8VNE
https://youtu.be/BwVqt8-jNGc
https://youtu.be/2uJhva1jvWw
https://youtu.be/--ZG2V04QEg
https://youtu.be/UImoQhzaOJk
https://youtu.be/dTF1lvGr0pA
https://youtu.be/HK5rmnMRdvs
https://youtu.be/dmiNzJwHkG4
https://youtu.be/FrB-labF3G4

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I hated the generic anime artstyle of the first two DS games so I was very happy with Masaki Hirooka's use for OoE.

>>737104627
When I played this game for the first time like 5 years ago, I started thinking the stamina system was shit and Shanoa moved weirdly but it quickly became my favorite Castlevania by the time I reached Misty Forest Road. God, I love the enemy design from this game.

OoE - discord users and redditor mods
DoS - anime goyslop consumers
PoR - normal, well adjusted heterosexual men

>>737110173
>Her hair is used to display movement perfectly
Here are the deep thoughts of an OoE enjoyer. No mention of the barebones story, shit maps, huge roster of three (3) characters

I'm not sure what it's supposed to be. It's linear, great, but it doesn't have the level design or platforming or the classics, so it's just a weird beat em up with two moves that don't interact with enemies before reducing their health. The bosses are really good but that's about it. Story is also kinda cool for a castlevania. But I just remember going through screen after screen just whacking enemies but without the navigation element of the other Igavanias. Oh and the art/tone was a very welcome return to form

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Male Belmont with whip or I don't play. It's fine if he's an unlockable.

>>737104627
It's the only Metroidvania-style game in the series that's remotely challenging.

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>>737112184
>No mention of the barebones story
Brother in Christ, what the hell are you on about. Ecclesia has easily one of the best storylines franchise-wide? It's lowkey jarring how thematically developed Shanoa is compared to Soma who's basically a shonen MC and Charlotte/Jonathan, two one note personalities playing off one another. Soma's arc begins and ends with him resisting evil and rescuing his osananajimi, Jonathan and Charlotte are two cartoon characters. At least Jonathan has this storyline where he eventually realizes his family's calling, Charlotte's just empty.
Yet Shanoa's story just works perfectly for a video game protagonist. Her memories, emotions, and to an extent, her autonomy is stripped and put into your hands. She goes on in hope of finding answers only to be met with Barlowe's betrayal and Albus as a reminder of the humanity she's been stripped of.

The involvement of the Order as a lore element fitting the setting, the existence of the village, Albus' attempts at protecting his little sister, Shanoa dropping the Simon's Quest quote then crying at the end of the game hit surprisingly harder than most other stories even if objectively it's just as simple a tale. It's incredibly well told and delivered, and the artstyle not being 2000s anime like the other two DS titles sure helped in transmitting gravitas.
>huge roster of three (3) characters
High quality over high quantity, brainlet. There's a reason people can still quote Barlowe 20 years later, or why Albus is so beloved. And you forgot about the villagers, each with their own standout bits of characterization. Remember Mina? Me neither.

>>737106734
This. PoR is more dynamic, you don't have to be opening the damn menu each second.

>>737113174
Explain how you have the open the menu each second in OoE. You did make use of the Glyph Sleeve, didn't you?

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>>737113257
I always picked the wrong glyphs all the time :(

>>737106984
Bullshit. OoE and CotM are the 2 most polarizing metroidvanias by a country mile. You either love them or you hate them, nothing in between. OoE's level design is criticized constantly and there are some very good reasons for that.

>>737113420
Oh :(

>>737104627
who the absolute fuck told you Shanoa's incredible game was bad?

>>737113174
Skill issue. Any lance and hammer combo shreds most areas.

>>737106984
there is some kind of anti-OoE faction on 4chan, never seen it anywhere else on the internet. Probably because a certain kind of hostile autistic console warrior around 30 years old will always end up on 4chan

>>737113042
When you examine Aria of Sorrow's story, with how Soma is thrown into a mystery that he learns he's at the center of it all, a critical examination risks becomes somewhat reductive.
Most dialogues turn into lore dumps and retroactive story telling because of starting at the castle gates. Mina does have meaningful information to share about her work as a shrine maiden, but you have to make the effort to talk to her at various points in the game to learn them and about significant events that happened in 1999.
Soma's immediate story is just "I want to get the fuck out of here" and that's about it. His motivations are more fleshed out in Dawn of Sorrow since he then makes the decision to challenge an enemy force that attacked him and threatened his beloved, whilst running the risk of repeating an ancient tragedy.

>>737113787
There's also the faction of IGA haters in general.

AoS > SotN > PoR > DoS = OoE > HoD > CotM

>>737112184
but portait is more anime than dawn...

Shanoa is literally so hot that after Drac got revived he was “like got dam bitch who are you?” Instead of literally genociding humanity instantly which he was literally born to do. That’s a canonical fact. Irrefutable.

>>737104627
It definitely takes some getting used to but it is great. Hated it on my first playthrough but on my second it became one of my favorites

>>737112036
It seems like a bad idea to make a Castlevania game where basic attacks cost a resource, but you have more than enough of it that it usually isn't a problem. They probably felt like there has to be some MP count but didn't want it to be empty all the time.

>>737116162
Portrait was a really goofy game but having a lot of gags wasn't anything new to Castlevania and I think it works on its favor considering the protagonists. I think Dawn anime artstyle kinda detracts from Aria though.

>>737116162
Portrait art is shockingly bad. Dawn art at least looked like a 90s anime. Portrait looks like someone picking up a How to Draw book for the first time.

>>737104884
>>737105347
That's not even why Dawn is bad, it's bad because of the soul leveling and crafting bullshit. Want to get better souls from stronger enemies? Fuck you, grind the same enemies over and over. Want to get better weapons by exploring? Fuck you, grind more enemies. Dawn's additions to the soul system are so ass-backwards it's insane.

>>737118253
Don't forget luck being broken so just trying to casually farm souls will get your level so high the challenge of the game just fucking shatters

>>737117169
The way I see it the stamina/mana system was an attempt of balancing Shanoa's agility with her DPS. Shanoa can use all her glyphs really fast with her natural animation cancel including magical attacks. The way magic works in IGAvanias always shifted a lot so it's hard to compare how spells and equivalents work in every game but Charlotte had the limitation of having to charge and stay grounded but her spells were really powerful while Soma souls varied a lot when it comes to animations, some being instantaneous and others being slower but his MP didn't recharge that fast. The way Shanoa works is that she can spam her spells in basically every encounter without drawbacks but you had to be mindful of your recharging period. She also got Hearts and Glyph Unions alternatively but these are very limited, you usually only recharge hearts at the village unless you feel like resetting rooms. I think it was a good system, hard to get into if you played other CV games before but it makes sense as you play the game.

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>>737117413
I've made this comparison before but Dracula and Brauner look like one of those fucking Bitmoji Facebook avatars. I can never unsee this.

>>737106984
Everyone bitched about Dracula's castle proper since the game came out. They also posted screenshots of the small maps from the first half of the game, as if a linear level in what is obviously meant to be a throwback to classic Castlevania games is a bad thing.

>>737118823
If a classicvania had OoE's level design, it would be one of the shittiest classicvanias ever made.

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>>737119751
Do you genuinely believe this map would be disappointing to see in like Rondo of Blood?

>>737110571
Kino video, thanks for posting.

>>737105347
That was fixed in the collection release.

>>737104627
PoR > CoTM/OoE > AoS > SotN > HoD > DoS

>>737120306
LOL post the actual room layouts. Copy+pasted slop all around.

>>737125194
Reasonable, but there's no way HoD isn't at the very bottom.

>>737127647
I put DoS at the bottom since I feel the backtracking and enemies are really bad and teleports are too spread out
HoD isn't great but it's not that terrible

>>737112184
i thought i'd recheck on this thread
at no point did i discuss OoE as a game, just Shanoa's character design

you are arguing with a phantom
you are a fucking retard

>>737104627
How did you play it? The pc re-release or on original hardware?

>>737129279
dominus collection. I know dawn has some changes compared to the DS version, but I though portrait and OoE were pretty much the same.

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CON of OoE?
Being released after DoS, which is THE superior Castlevania game

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>I am the morning sun, come to vanquish this horrible night!
>*Game's theme starts playing*
>https://youtu.be/pyXRV7wkeyo?si=XW4sHukdFsMOKALI

Holy fuaark. Name a more iconic and hype moment in all of Castlevania.

>>737113540
>OoE and CotM are the 2 most polarizing metroidvanias by a country mile
which is fucking insane because HoD is fucking awful yet a lot of people like it.

>>737106501
>dual ignis
That is just pure fun seeing how it melts so many foes.

>>737104627
Based, though I still prefer Portrait of Ruin

Miriam is just a temu Shanoa and I am tired of pretending otherwise.

>>737104627
the worst Igavania is still a good game

>>737131137
JONATHAN CHARLOTTE JONATHAN CHARLOTTE JONATHAN CHARLOTTE JONATHAN CHARLOTTE JONATHAN CHARLOTTE JONATHAN CHARLOTTE JONATHAN CHARLOTTE JONATHAN CHARLOTTE JONATHAN CHARLOTTE

>>737131179
i don't know zoomer speak so i'm not sure what "temu" means here, but if you just mean clone, well yeah, fucking obviously. When did anyone ever pretend otherwise? she's made by the same guy who clearly liked the idea and wanted to use it again.

>>737131137
personally i still don't like the segmented maps PoR and OoE both have. linear sublevels just don't mesh well with the gameplay.

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>>737130630
One of the very few moments industry-wide where a localization improved the original script.
https://web.archive.org/web/20240717214701/https://legendsoflocalization.com/shanoa-and-the-castlevania-ii-reference/