Castlevania Order of Ecclesia [video games]

Castlevania: Ecclesia is the latest in the Castlevania DS series.

The game tries it best to mix the settings of Simon’s Quest, the off-the-wall follow-up to the original NES game, with the mechanics and gameplay of Symphony of the Night, commonly believed to be the best Castlevania game (and arguably on of the top 25 video games ever made). What is interesting is that the last Castlevania game, Portrait of Ruin attempted the same thing, with mixed (I enjoyed it, others didn’t) reviews. This time, however, the result is an indisputably fantastic entry into the Castlevania series.

The storyline premise is that the original vampire slaying family of Eastern Europe, the Belmonts, have died off, leaving the world no defense against Dracula, who seems to move powerful than Popeye, Green Lantern and Jesus combined. In response, a secret world organization called Ecclesia has taken the mantle of protecting the world from Dracula’s umpteenth return. As the the Headmaster of the Ecclesia Barlowe (who is drawn EXACTLY like Christopher Plummer. Seriously, I actually researched if this was some sort of omage, but it’s not), is performing a final ritual, Dominus, which is supposed to permanently block Dracula’s return, a jealous mentee, Albus crashes the proceedings and runs off with the spells necessary to perform Dominus.

The player controls Shanoa, Albus’s surrogate sister, who has the power to control Glyphs, tiny markings which allow her to conjure weapons and magic. Shanoa, who has lost all her memories due to Albus’ actions (don’t ask, just accept it), is ordered by the Ecclesia to track down Albus and recover the Dominus Glyphs. But before we get all excited for a female protagonist, Shanoa could have been Steven and virtually none of the dialogue would have been changed (especially in an Anime influenced game where the dudes are pretty girlie).

Think that’s its a weird premise, well the storyline takes a very Anime twist down into the silly with very little payoff in the end. But if you expect Shakespeare from a DS game, you must love disappointment. The reason we play the Castlevania games is for the side-scrolling action.

What is amazing about the Castlevania DS games is their ability to reinvent the fighting system with each go ’round and still be able to devise a fun and workable system. When I first read about the Glyph system and about absorbing attacking power from enemies, I had nightmarish flashbacks to Final Fantasy VIII’s horrible (yet similar system). In this case, however, the over 100 Glyphs are easily organized (if you can get around the latin sounding names) and easy to manage. The variety of the Glyphs also allow’s the player to customize the fighting style.

And customization is key, as the game is very difficult. Dying while randomly exploring will become a common occurrence. Like the original Castlevania, where a careless step or failing to pay attention would result in disaster, Ecclesia keep the player on his toes.

One of the biggest complaints of the past Castlevania DS games were the boss battles. Ecclesia addresses that concern in the first few boss battles, with some of the most difficult boss battles ever in a Castlevanai title. If I had rented the game, would have made me consider walking away. Boss battles are very much figuring out patterns and implementing strategy. Brute strength will only lead to a quick death. And while this works for the first 7 or 8 boss battles, after finding a certain item, later boss battles (including the final one with SPOILER Dracula) become ridiculously easy, (eg you can beat Dracula in about 4 seconds). While an unfortunate side-effect, this is a major step forward from Portrait of Ruin.

Of the other few complaints, first would be the latin names for the Glyphs. Virtually pointless in the gameplay and they add an unnecessary difficulty to the equipment screen.

Also there is no explanation in the manual or in the game about raising the level of Glyphs or attacks. As Shanoa raises levels, certain Glyph types increase in power as well. However, it’s difficult, without serious trial and error, to figure out how the Glyphs increase in strength. What’s worse is that in the end, raising the Glyph power really doesn’t have an impact on the game. A simple explanation, could save the player needless (and lengthy) experimentation for something that really didn’t matter.

Completing the game unlocks Boss Mode (where you try to beat the clock and defeat the various bosses in the shortest amount of time), Albus Mode, where you play as Shanoa’s brother Albus and New Game Plus, where you can play on Hard Mode starting with all the Glyphs previously collected, except for the storyline advancement ones. While I didn’t think I would want to playthrough a second time, I’m about to beat the game for the third time, which say a great deal for the excellent gameplay.

Konami has created wonderful (and some less than wonderful) games in the Castlevania series, especially on the DS. While Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin excellent game, Ecclesia now stands as the best entry in this hopefully long series of games.