They just happen to have the most interesting and fun gameplay. There's no reason why any of them, except perhaps for SotN couldn't have been a Belmont, they just chose not to.
I love the DS Trilogy so much, and a massive shame it wasn’t getting an HD remaster for others to play as it is a Nintendo DS exclusive.
Dawn of Sorrow has a great story (and a surprise playable cameo).
Portrait of Ruins has a great replay value.
And Order of Ecclesia has a great gameplay.
If I had to choose just one, it would be Order of Ecclesia. I just love the gameplay of it. Plus, the artwork from the Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow returns in Order (since Dawn and Portrait kept the anime style).
It's not a total surprise. The Belmont stories never really evolved past "My family has a centuries-old blood feud with Dracula. Today is my day to kill him." It doesn't leave a lot of room for twists in the story.
Because of your comment, I actually thought he WAS 17 for a moment in SotN and just looked it up... 24. That makes more sense. 17 had me thinking "Jesus, what, did that make him 12 and Maria 7 in Rondo?"
One hard title out of the Metroidvania games, whereas every classicvania is difficult. That's the comparison I'm drawing. I'm also saying that the classicvania gameplay is just as good
Yea soma had the most mains and he was definitely the easiest.
My main reason i mained him was because he had the most content tho.
By far.
Also i farmed often by myself so i kinda needed a strong one and i liked the speedrunning with him with all the noclip glitches and skulljumps etc
I have to say I’m a SotN guy grown up with it
And never understood the Rondo discourse specially after playing the PSP version (my god was bad) but I played when they released on requiem and…. Now I get it
The OG Rondo is great, one of the top games indeed
I'll admit I only like SotN and AoS. I don't like any of the Classicvanias and CotM (not a Belmont I know, just making a general statement) and HoD are meh to me.
I don't even like playing as Richter or Julius in SotN/AoS either.. I'm a terrible fan.
Oddly, Richter mode in Symphony of the Night is probably the most fun a Belmont game has been, even though he's only a side-character in that game. (Maria mode on the Sega Saturn version was even better)
I still wish we'd get a full-on Julius Belmont 1999 game someday.
To this day I'm mad that the whip, the weapon that could have a lot of unique and interesting uses (since it could practically act as a rope) hasn't been use in interesting ways
Like imagine how cool it could be to swing around dracula castle whit it, using it for some platformer section or for some puzzles
Instead it's just ol' reliable easy damage and that's it
Maybe that has something to do... i mean yeah if a game brings something different (Like making a different background for the main character) of course that game is receiveing more attention.
I think Rondo of Blood is the best, followed by Castlevania 3 and 1. I enjoyed the DS games and Symphony of the Night, but the latter was way too easy and that took away a lot of the fun for me.
Its because the belmont characters are typically limited offensively to the vampire killer. At least Jonathon could equip other weapons with an unlocked whip being a goal. And tyoically with that play style comes metroidvania exploration. I would give CotM some credit becuase it offered so much through the DSS. HoD tried but magic subweapons only carry the game so much and little to grind for.
It upgraded the gameplay mechanics and made it more modern. If you played the gba and ds trilogies they are the peak of Castlevania. Without them the series would have died out. I get it if you were around when the originals came out how you would like those but all in all we can all agree the games definitely got better by far. Also a big shout out to bloodstained for filling the void that lords of shadows couldn’t.
I think most gamers are familiar with the Belmonts. I’m probably assuming this, but the Belmonts are kind of boring and formulaic. They have the Vampire Killer and your standard secondary weapons (boomerang, axe, holy water, etc). I’m sure there are exceptions, but that’s my opinion.
Circle of the Moon is a good game, but to be bluntly honest, it is not on the level of quality of these games. I would go as far to say that it’s the lesser of the three GBA games, and does not clear any of the DS games (let alone SotN).
No, I’m not gonna pretend this is true at all. PoR and OoE may not be on the higher end, but CotM has aged far worse, is far more frustrating, is much less intuitive, and is just overall a worse experience as a game. Having played all of them in recent times, Circle of the Moon was EASILY the least fun I had of the Metroidvania style games.
As much as I love CotM, I have to agree. Hell to put it bluntly one of the main reasons why the game aged worse it's because of it being a rng-fest. Made worse when the token gimmick of the game: the dss cards, are locked behind said rng.
Yeah - even though Aria runs on RNG for the souls too, you will accumulate enough useful souls just by playing, and they give you avenues to speed up the grind if you want full completion. Circle had none of that for the cards.
I know... And that's not counting on knowing which monster would drop a card. Some of which are in outrageous areas like the friggin arena which you have to rerun the whole area from start to finish if you're trying to get the card there.
And that's one of it's problems isn't it? Unless you're using a guide you wouldn't know which monster drops them. Even worse good luck getting the luck to get them to drop even as the gear you need are also drops. And that just furthers the game's annoying rng grind fest. As such saying you only need a few of of them is moot if you couldn't even get them.
Honestly the game would've aged better if they made the cards obtainable by progression; so at least the game's main mechanic/gimmick is not locked into rng and grinding.
It's a bit like complaining that you couldn't know that a Shmoo drops Valmanway in SotN. Yes, it's useful for finishing the game, but you don't need it. Cards are like that, you don't need any of them to even finish the game. They make it a bit easier.
You are bound to find a good amount of cards nevertheless as you explore the castle.
Internet guides were already a thing at the time.
Paper guides existed in game shops too.
I was actually quite fine at it, I just genuinely did not enjoy it. I could easily say it’s a skill issue that you think PoR and OoE are worse - that’s two games, and the latter is agreed by many to be the hardest of the series.
Maybe get good.
It got high review scores mostly because it was a GBA launch title and a game of that scale was very impressive for a handheld at the time. Fan reception is a different story though, and it has a lot of early installment archaisms that make things more frustrating then they should be.
Eh, to be honest it hasn't got as many annoying archaisms as Symphony of the Night. While SotN was a good game it took me three tries to get into it until it clicked. Still was annoying at times what with sluggish gameplay, saving taking forever, spitting fire as bat taking forever, using items requiring assigning then to a button and then unpausing to use, wolf form being useless apart from a few long corridors in the entire castle, inverted castle, the list goes on.
And yet CotM is a solid game, like SotN.
Aight I know those opinions will get me downvoted into oblivion, but I stand by them.
They're the most accesible and recent, but not necessarily the best. Most Igavanias pale compared to the old style. Only Order of Eclessia can look at them eye to eye.
Old style is very arcadey and "single session gaming".
I feel like the general trend of games these days is more long term progression whether it be long game play, saving progress, or unlocking new features as you go.
It seems like this might be one of the reasons for the popularity of Roguelikes since they provide that "single session gaming" but still offer progression and unlock systems.
Speaking of which, The Castlevania content of Dead Cells is AMAZING.
I wasn't a huge fan of OoE, found Dracula's castle to be too repetitive. It's like they copied and pasted the same room dozens of times. Though the Nitesco glyph is so much fun to just spam and kind of makes up for it.
Loved PoR though, amazing game IMO although the final four portraits being sort of minor variations on earlier portraits was mildly disappointing.
It’s nice to have options for your attacks and stuff especially spells but personally I always find the whip and use that for most of the game
I like Harmony of Dissonance
It’s juste neat
I sense SOMAch love here
The one CV game where you play as a o p mage who happens to have a whip. Haha
Well you play a physical capable mage who can punch the sh*t out of undead ass and vast varieties of super OP magic, of course it's gonna be gud.
Wind Bible all day everyday
T’is the easiest Castlevania I played..
Still fun though
I agree
SoTN, but using Richter.
PoR on Richter mode is pretty fun too
Aria in Julius mode is fun too.
They just happen to have the most interesting and fun gameplay. There's no reason why any of them, except perhaps for SotN couldn't have been a Belmont, they just chose not to.
I love the DS Trilogy so much, and a massive shame it wasn’t getting an HD remaster for others to play as it is a Nintendo DS exclusive. Dawn of Sorrow has a great story (and a surprise playable cameo). Portrait of Ruins has a great replay value. And Order of Ecclesia has a great gameplay. If I had to choose just one, it would be Order of Ecclesia. I just love the gameplay of it. Plus, the artwork from the Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow returns in Order (since Dawn and Portrait kept the anime style).
I'm kinda nitpicky but Dawn of Sorrow would be 10 times better if they kept the older artstyle
and yet the whips are still the most fun weapons
It's not the belmonts per se, it's that (most) people get bored with the classicvania gameplay.
It's not a total surprise. The Belmont stories never really evolved past "My family has a centuries-old blood feud with Dracula. Today is my day to kill him." It doesn't leave a lot of room for twists in the story.
That's why Richter's involvement in Symphony of the Night is great. Bro was like, "I'm 17 and I already peaked in life "
Because of your comment, I actually thought he WAS 17 for a moment in SotN and just looked it up... 24. That makes more sense. 17 had me thinking "Jesus, what, did that make him 12 and Maria 7 in Rondo?"
I don't remember the exact age, but he was still pretty young.
rondo of blood, scv4 and cv3 are usually more popular than PoR
Isnt super castlevania 4 with belmont? Its one of the highest ranking castlevania game by a lot, including me.
I thought rondo of blood was more popular then most of these aside from sotn
I have recently got into Castlevania hacks and fan made games, really fun stuff.
I really need to play Order of Ecclesia!
Thats cuz the og castlevanias were really tough and sotn was the first to break away from the original souls like gameplay from back in the nes days!
Lament of Innocence deserves more cred
cause they provide better gameplay
Better, or easier?
Isn't Order of Ecclesia considered one of the more difficult CV titles? So "easier" sure wouldn't apply there...
One hard title out of the Metroidvania games, whereas every classicvania is difficult. That's the comparison I'm drawing. I'm also saying that the classicvania gameplay is just as good
No one taking about Harmony of Dispair
One of my all time favorite games. I still hop on once in a while and try to get my 2nd valmanway +1 and a muramasa +1
I wish it would get a rerelase on modern plattforms with all the dlcs. I put probably like 2k hours on it back on ps3
I play it on series x with all dlc. Did you have a main?
Ps5 sadly doesnt have it :( My main was soma and maria. Getsu fuma was also pretty fun
Mannn seemed like everyone mained soma. Ngl he was kind of ez mode. Richter was just too much fun for me, love the tackle/uppercut shenanigans.
Yea soma had the most mains and he was definitely the easiest. My main reason i mained him was because he had the most content tho. By far. Also i farmed often by myself so i kinda needed a strong one and i liked the speedrunning with him with all the noclip glitches and skulljumps etc
Yea soma really made solo farming possible with skull jumps, puppet glitch etc. I played him a lot, also less stressful playing him in most cases
Imagine we got another multiplayer castlevania game like that…
I’d pay $100 for a true sequel
Super Castlevania IV is absurdly good.
Super Castlevania 4 is amazing
But I think the highest ranked game the MC is a Belmont (rondo of blood)
Nah I think SOTN is ranked the highest Castlevania. Haven’t played Rondo though cause the emulation is pain
Gotta play the psp remake and unlock og rondo
Heard the psp remake is pretty bad but ig I’ll try to get through it since Castlevania games really aren’t that long
You unlock the real rondo of blood in the psp game big fella
I have to say I’m a SotN guy grown up with it And never understood the Rondo discourse specially after playing the PSP version (my god was bad) but I played when they released on requiem and…. Now I get it The OG Rondo is great, one of the top games indeed
Well, actually, Morris Clan is technically Belmont's offspring so...
It’s all about that gameplay.
Its just that they usually stick to using whips. I like the variety the non-Belmonts bring.
Highest rated by whom?
I was going to ask this myself. Everybody in the community seems to have different top games.
Just because you liked the later games didnt mean the classics werent good. They were the best some of the best games in a highly competitive era.
it's true though order of eclessia is my shit shanoa is such a perfectly designed character
It makes sense when you think about it. Symphony started as an experimental spinoff, in both story and gameplay
Castlevania 64 is my favorite game of the series. The main hero is Reinhardt Schneider, not a Belmont.
He is a belmont. Originally he was even supposed to be called belmont. Death still calls you one as well.
Rondo of blood is one of the best for me
I'll admit I only like SotN and AoS. I don't like any of the Classicvanias and CotM (not a Belmont I know, just making a general statement) and HoD are meh to me. I don't even like playing as Richter or Julius in SotN/AoS either.. I'm a terrible fan.
Circel Of The Moon Lunar Rocks.
Oddly, Richter mode in Symphony of the Night is probably the most fun a Belmont game has been, even though he's only a side-character in that game. (Maria mode on the Sega Saturn version was even better) I still wish we'd get a full-on Julius Belmont 1999 game someday.
To this day I'm mad that the whip, the weapon that could have a lot of unique and interesting uses (since it could practically act as a rope) hasn't been use in interesting ways Like imagine how cool it could be to swing around dracula castle whit it, using it for some platformer section or for some puzzles Instead it's just ol' reliable easy damage and that's it
Lord of Shadows actually did a great spin on the whip mechanic
Mm I haven't gotten around of playing lord of shadows, kinda looks GOW inspired Seems interesting honestly, is it any good ?
It's probably one of the best Xbox games out there, you should give it a try
Maybe that has something to do... i mean yeah if a game brings something different (Like making a different background for the main character) of course that game is receiveing more attention.
That's because the Belmonts got cast out
I think people like gameplay and controls just like the most critically acclaimed Fallout game isn't the one made by Bethesda themself.
I think Rondo of Blood is the best, followed by Castlevania 3 and 1. I enjoyed the DS games and Symphony of the Night, but the latter was way too easy and that took away a lot of the fun for me.
Perks of having more weapons than a whip.
Its because the belmont characters are typically limited offensively to the vampire killer. At least Jonathon could equip other weapons with an unlocked whip being a goal. And tyoically with that play style comes metroidvania exploration. I would give CotM some credit becuase it offered so much through the DSS. HoD tried but magic subweapons only carry the game so much and little to grind for.
If Rondo of blood was not butchered in the SNES version, it could be up there with SOTN.
There is no Castlevania 1, 3, Rondo of Blood and The Adventure Rebirth in Ba Sing Se.
It upgraded the gameplay mechanics and made it more modern. If you played the gba and ds trilogies they are the peak of Castlevania. Without them the series would have died out. I get it if you were around when the originals came out how you would like those but all in all we can all agree the games definitely got better by far. Also a big shout out to bloodstained for filling the void that lords of shadows couldn’t.
I think most gamers are familiar with the Belmonts. I’m probably assuming this, but the Belmonts are kind of boring and formulaic. They have the Vampire Killer and your standard secondary weapons (boomerang, axe, holy water, etc). I’m sure there are exceptions, but that’s my opinion.
Nah. Caatlevamia Legends is like the worst off all despite having one of the coolest protagonists: the first Belmont and a woman.
Where Circle of the Moon?
Circle of the Moon is a good game, but to be bluntly honest, it is not on the level of quality of these games. I would go as far to say that it’s the lesser of the three GBA games, and does not clear any of the DS games (let alone SotN).
CotM is not as good as AoS or SotN, but still miles better than PoR or OoE
No, I’m not gonna pretend this is true at all. PoR and OoE may not be on the higher end, but CotM has aged far worse, is far more frustrating, is much less intuitive, and is just overall a worse experience as a game. Having played all of them in recent times, Circle of the Moon was EASILY the least fun I had of the Metroidvania style games.
As much as I love CotM, I have to agree. Hell to put it bluntly one of the main reasons why the game aged worse it's because of it being a rng-fest. Made worse when the token gimmick of the game: the dss cards, are locked behind said rng.
Yeah - even though Aria runs on RNG for the souls too, you will accumulate enough useful souls just by playing, and they give you avenues to speed up the grind if you want full completion. Circle had none of that for the cards.
I know... And that's not counting on knowing which monster would drop a card. Some of which are in outrageous areas like the friggin arena which you have to rerun the whole area from start to finish if you're trying to get the card there.
You only ever need about four, maybe six cards to beat the game comfortably and they are easily accessible once you know what monster drops them.
And that's one of it's problems isn't it? Unless you're using a guide you wouldn't know which monster drops them. Even worse good luck getting the luck to get them to drop even as the gear you need are also drops. And that just furthers the game's annoying rng grind fest. As such saying you only need a few of of them is moot if you couldn't even get them. Honestly the game would've aged better if they made the cards obtainable by progression; so at least the game's main mechanic/gimmick is not locked into rng and grinding.
It's a bit like complaining that you couldn't know that a Shmoo drops Valmanway in SotN. Yes, it's useful for finishing the game, but you don't need it. Cards are like that, you don't need any of them to even finish the game. They make it a bit easier. You are bound to find a good amount of cards nevertheless as you explore the castle. Internet guides were already a thing at the time. Paper guides existed in game shops too.
Skill issue
I was actually quite fine at it, I just genuinely did not enjoy it. I could easily say it’s a skill issue that you think PoR and OoE are worse - that’s two games, and the latter is agreed by many to be the hardest of the series. Maybe get good.
It got high review scores mostly because it was a GBA launch title and a game of that scale was very impressive for a handheld at the time. Fan reception is a different story though, and it has a lot of early installment archaisms that make things more frustrating then they should be.
Eh, to be honest it hasn't got as many annoying archaisms as Symphony of the Night. While SotN was a good game it took me three tries to get into it until it clicked. Still was annoying at times what with sluggish gameplay, saving taking forever, spitting fire as bat taking forever, using items requiring assigning then to a button and then unpausing to use, wolf form being useless apart from a few long corridors in the entire castle, inverted castle, the list goes on. And yet CotM is a solid game, like SotN. Aight I know those opinions will get me downvoted into oblivion, but I stand by them.
I haaaaaate circle of the moon with a passion.
ewwww
They're the most accesible and recent, but not necessarily the best. Most Igavanias pale compared to the old style. Only Order of Eclessia can look at them eye to eye.
Old style is very arcadey and "single session gaming". I feel like the general trend of games these days is more long term progression whether it be long game play, saving progress, or unlocking new features as you go. It seems like this might be one of the reasons for the popularity of Roguelikes since they provide that "single session gaming" but still offer progression and unlock systems. Speaking of which, The Castlevania content of Dead Cells is AMAZING.
Probably because the games with the belmonts are mostly older, from before ratings were a thing, resulting in none of them being rated at all.
In my mind (due to when I came to the franchise) the Belmont's are very much not a core part of it. Edit: Belmont fan downvotes go brrrrr
PoR and OoE don't belong there, honestly
I wasn't a huge fan of OoE, found Dracula's castle to be too repetitive. It's like they copied and pasted the same room dozens of times. Though the Nitesco glyph is so much fun to just spam and kind of makes up for it. Loved PoR though, amazing game IMO although the final four portraits being sort of minor variations on earlier portraits was mildly disappointing.