Is Castlevania better in 2D or 3D?

[Maijo]

Re: Is Castlevania better in 2D or 3D?

What the hell does SotN stand for?

[Goufunaki]

Re: Is Castlevania better in 2D or 3D?

Symphony of The Night.

[Goemon]

Re: Is Castlevania better in 2D or 3D?

I love SotN. Every Summer, I have this tradition where I start a new game and play it for two straight weeks. It's one of those games that you have so much fun with, only to be left sad when it's all over.

As far as the 3D Castlevanias are concerned, I consider them spinoffs too, like Highwind says. They're good fun, but I don't see them as a true Castlevania experience....just a new idea for a familiar franchise. And I love the music of Michiru Yamane. The Curse of Darkness soundtrack is just beautiful and awesome. It impressed me so much that I went ahead and bought the soundtrack on EBay Of course, all Castlevania music is great.

CoM is pretty terrible. After playing Kojima decided that he needed to return to the series to make it right. HoD was his answer

Circle of the Moon was ****ing HARD! And the dark colors didn't make it any better. No wonder Igarashi came back to make it right. Thank heavens he did.

I always thought Castlevania would be excellent for co-op gameplay. Even if the 2nd player were able to control the familiar in SotN, it would be unbelievably fun for two people.

That would be awesome. Better yet, maybe Castlevania: Online. But I don't know how that would pan out though.

[Valkysas]

Re: Is Castlevania better in 2D or 3D?

I personally think HoD is complete and utter garbage. there isnt a single aspect of the game that I can tolerate. graphics, sound, design, story... it's all trash to me.

[Magus]

Re: Is Castlevania better in 2D or 3D?

The level design irritated me most. Scratch that, the sound quality actually made me nauseous. AND THE BIG UGLY BRIGHT SPRITES. GUH.

ARGH.

[Goemon]

Re: Is Castlevania better in 2D or 3D?

The sound was the worst part of HoD. I think it's because the developers put so much into the graphics that the music had to suffer.

HoD was all right, I suppose. Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow, and the upcoming Portraits of Ruin are just a whole lot better.

[Gustaff 13]

Re: Is Castlevania better in 2D or 3D?

The backgrounds are stunning but the sprite artists were blind, double-hand amputees that drew with their stumps.

[Naruto]

Re: Is Castlevania better in 2D or 3D?

I much prefer the 2D games even though I thought LOI was pretty good. I haven't played COD. I like the Metroidvanias better than the old ones but, I like the old ones too. CV4 on SNES is one of my favorite games ever.

I also think HOD is trash. COM was pretty awesome back at GBA launch but, it pales in comparison to AOS and DS.

[Loki]

Re: Is Castlevania better in 2D or 3D?

Igarashi. not Kojima.

That's what I ment. But I went to Wikipedia for the spelling and it said Kojima. And I was like "GUESS I WAS WRONG!"

Blasted Wikipedia. Why do I defend you if you're going to hurt me like this.

[Valkysas]

Re: Is Castlevania better in 2D or 3D?

well, the artist for the series is Ayami Kojima (up until DoS, anyways).

[Goemon]

Re: Is Castlevania better in 2D or 3D?

Her art style is fantastic. The peculiar thing about her main character designs is that they are modeled so closely after Alucard--the white hair, the distinctive facial features--so hypnotic.

Oh man, I was so laughing my ass off when I saw this.

In all seriousness though.....Maxim was pretty cool. Juste is too pasty to be a member of the Belmont clan.

[Magik]

Re: Is Castlevania better in 2D or 3D?

Castlevania: SotN and Lament of Innocence are probably my two favorites... so for me there isn't a clear distinction in quality between the 2d and 3d, though in general I'd say I prefer the classic 2D to the cinematic 3D.

[BeeZee]

Re: Is Castlevania better in 2D or 3D?

I prefer the series in 2D.

I agree with Loki in saying that the pre-SotN games weren't necesarily more original, as just about EVERY game at the time in any series used the level by level format they used. I will go out on a limb and say that the pre-SotN games have considerably better level design, and generally better combat.

SotN added a lot of things to the series, including the explorative and collective aspects that are its trademark now. In making the shift to the Metroid-based levels, however, it made one major misstep: while the levels have since been generally interconnected and full of things to discover, they've also been pretty bland as far as their actual design goes. There are almost no set pieces anymore, and almost zero environment interaction. There's nothing even CLOSE to the caliber of the water level in Bloodlines, where you have to outrun the rising water, or the fourth level in Castlevania IV, with the 3D backgrounds and the flying blocks. The most interesting the levels have been since SotN is, ironically, a scene in HoD involving outrunning a tide of demon's blood, or a scene in the same game where you have to outrun a giant ball. These scenes weren't particularly amazing, but they were something besides the large, empty rooms that make up most of the rest of the series. Additionally, while the series still retains incredible controls and creative enemy designs, the ability to level up and the easy availability of potions and healing items makes combat easier, and thusly less exciting, than it was in the early days.

None of this is to say that they're bad (except possibly HoD), because they're honestly still some of my favorite games, but I wish the series would attempt in some fashion to do the explorative thing while still recalling what made the originals so compelling.

The 3D games have very little of the explorative element of the newer 2D Castlevanias. The level design is possibly even less interesting, and there's very little in the way of discoverables or collectables. The combat in CoD is fun, but still not as refined as it was in the original series. CoD was fun, but nothing remotely special, in my opinion. Despite what everyone else is saying, Castlevania 64 has what I consider the most diverse and original level design of the 3D Castlevanias, and is my favorite, despite the shoddy controls.

[facts]

Re: Is Castlevania better in 2D or 3D?

2D

That is all.

[DK]

Re: Is Castlevania better in 2D or 3D?

The N64 castlevania's took a lot of liberties, a lot of them paid off.

C'mon that vendor that turned into a monster if you bought too much from him? That was awesome.

BUT THEN AGAIN I LIKED CIRCLE OF THE MOON HAR HAR HAR.


I dunno, I'm kinda getting sick of Castlevania. DS was fun but it was like...stale, to agree with whoever said that.

I think the same artist is still doing the games, too. She's just doing it differently.

I hate the new art, it doesn't even look like gothic scary stuff anymore.

"BUY CASTLEVANIA: PORTRAIT OF RUIN AND FIGHT THE MOST DIABIOLICAL EVIL IN THE WORLD!" *picture of little girl going "HAAAA!!!" with magics*

=(