Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia - A spoiler-free review.

[Silh]

A breath of new life for the Castlevania series.

I haven't been playing Castlevania very long, but it doesn't take a hardcore fan to notice that the series has been stuck in a rut following the widely acclaimed Symphony of the Night. Sure there's Aria of Sorrow, but does Soma Cruz need to be so superfabulous lol. Also, Konami thought it was okay to give it a shitty sequel. Order of Ecclesia might not be terribly new, but I finally found it at my local Fry's a month or so ago. It was the last copy too, so at that point my mind was more than made up.

Story

Order of Ecclesia takes place sometime after SotN. By this time, the Belmont clan has disappeared off the face of the earth. With no one left to make a stand against Dracula, several organizations step up to the plate by doing research to prevent Dracula's return. Among them is the titular Order of Ecclesia, who proves to be the most capable of the task when its founder Barlowe creates a powerful set of glyphs called Dominus.

Dominus is said to be so powerful that not only will it defeat Dracula, but that it will also possess and corrupt anyone who tries using it. With this in mind, Barlowe carefully chooses Shanoa to become the vessel for Dominus. As the plan steps into its final stages, a jealous Albus, the chief researcher of Ecclesia, interrupts the ritual to steal Dominus and defects from the group. As a result of the interruption, Shanoa's memories and emotions are lost and she is ordered to go after Albus.

Thoughts

First off, I am very glad the generic anime art style used in preceding titles Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin was shed. While it still isn't Ayami Kojima's art, it's definitely a step towards the mood the series is trying to capture.

The difficulty shouldn't go without mention; you will die a lot even on regular enemy encounters if you aren't being careful, and I can guarantee you'll be trying to use healing items as little as possible. If you're tenacious enough though then it isn't a problem (gotta keep on truckin'). I was a bit let down by Dracula though. The fight was long-anticipated, but all I did during it was spam Glyph Unions. Essentially that's all it took. What happened to the Dracula from the Rondo of Blood remake that made me study his pattern?

Overall, the game is about as good as SotN. I think I would've said "on par with SotN" instead if it wasn't for Shanoa though. Since Sonia Belmont was retconned out of the official timeline, this game is notable for featuring the first canonical female protagonist in the series due to popular demand by ronery people, but as you've probably already surmised I don't say this with a whole lot of merit. When she isn't kicking ass (again, you're the one getting your ass kicked around most of the time), Shanoa is being a dull character so conveniently attributed by her stolen emotions. In the world of game developing, "strong, independent female protagonist" somehow actually means "cold, emotionless excuse of a person." This is addressed throughout the game to a sort of grating extent, too; Shanoa will occasionally say something about feeling like she "should cry but can't" as the plot progresses, and some of the villagers you rescue (one in particular who might as well be a lesbian) will regularly comment on how Shanoa should smile though she is "unable to."

Sans the dying, Ecclesia can be completed in full in about ten hours. It's been bumped down to 20 bucks recently, so if you're lucky enough to come across it, just keep in mind that it's definitely worth a playthrough.

[Shadow Soldier]

YES! Actually, I prefer this Castlevania over the other 2 on the DS. It's damn good. I love the glyphs.

[Ventux]

Cool. Did you come up with a name for your "review blog"?

[Silh]

ehh

[Square Ninja]

i need to find this game

for some reason it's never on the shelves at the gamestops to which i go