Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia Review by The Successor

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astlevania: Order of Ecclesia is the best Castlevania game since 2003's Aria of Sorrow. Yes, that includes Dracula X Chronicles. It is because of the surprising amount of common sense present in this adventure.

Splendid as they may be, recent Castlevania games have been severely lacking in one area or another. Symphony of the Night scores perfect 10's in graphics, music, and atmospheric awareness, but someone forgot to include any semblance of difficulty, allowing players numerous ways of drastically overpowering foes. Harmony of Dissonance follows suit. Circle of the Moon excels at challenge but has such dreary character and demeanor to nearly every other aspect of it. Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness are gorgeous theaters resounding with brilliant soundtracks, housing intriguing bosses, and illustrating vigorous cut scenes. But, both fall so hard on their faces in terms of level design that it practically kills them. Though generally fun and more competently built than the Plastastion 2 games, Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin are failures in presentation, with bales of bad dialogue, terrible art, and an unwelcome tone that one would associate with Naruto instead of Castlevania.

Can't they ever get it right!? Can't they create a game that is satisfying in all respects? A game we can wholly savor bereft of any bad aftertaste or missing ingredient? A game we can proudly declare is a great game, without adding that unfortunate "but" afterwards?

There have been plenty of brilliant moments in the series as of late, and many of those games are great, but they all have holes that needed patching. They may go the extra mile in one feature, but neglect something somewhere else. Aria of Sorrow was the tightest, most well balanced, and carefully measured of the lot. . .

. . . Until Order of Ecclesia.

If Koji Igarashi and crew are going to continue delivering epics of this level of quality or higher, I have no choice but to support them.

The best thing about Ecclesia, again, is the common sense it has. It doesn't stupidly underestimate players. It tests them, but in the most gratifying way this series has seen in a long time.

Order of Ecclesia isn't crooked with its difficulty. The enemies are capable, deal good damage, and are appropriately placed within stages. They challenge reflexes, forcing players to stay alert and on their toes. Save points have not felt as much like a valued sanctuary since Circle of the Moon.

It is rare to find potions and other healing items lying around environments, and they cost a generous amount of money for the little health they restore. This makes them all the more precious. There aren't any attacks that grant unfair advantages. The game realizes players have formidable attacks at their disposal, and adjusts accordingly so they cannot whore them as they could the Spell Fusion magic system in Harmony of Dissonance, or Aria of Sorrow's Claimh Solais sword.

Using the most destructive techniques costs a good sum of hearts and perhaps even HP. Hearts play a vital role this time around. They are more crucial in Order of Ecclesia than any other Castlevania game. Running out of hearts is a frequent dilemma. Attacks that require hearts don't cost 1 or 5 to use, per the norm. 15, 20, or 30 hearts are needed to activate these skills and save points do not refill heart stock like they do magic and health. Players can't always rely on the most powerful attacks. Discretion is imperative. Cautious planning and good judgment are necessities when exploring the perilous areas and confronting their boss guardians.

Up to this point in the series' life, Order of Ecclesia has the most impressive boss roster of any Castlevania game. They are impeccably designed shrewd devils that hit really hard. The concepts of these denizens are original. Most bosses are completely fresh ideas, such as Blackmore – who appears as a dashing gentleman, but the shadow he casts is a bit more telling. He delights in stealing shadows of his prey. There is also Brachyura, a gargantuan crab creature that prowls a lighthouse.

The bosses don't play around. You must get their patterns down pat; discover what works and what doesn't. Players will most likely die several times while conducting experiments on how to exploit the weaknesses of a new boss. Rather than being frustrating, this is fun because it is so smart. You may die, but you will look forward to coming back for more as the battles are that enjoyable because none of them are cheap.

A good thing about Order of Ecclesia, unlike Circle of the Moon and the older games in the series, is the difficulty isn't a factor of players having to wrestle with controls, or because of mobility challenged protagonists. Our heroine, Shanoa, is as nimble, graceful, and flexible as they come, and the enemies rise to the challenge despite the many abilities she possesses.

Going back to exploiting the Achilles' heel, it's one of the foremost dynamics of this game, and not just with bosses, but regular enemies, too. There are 7 different attributes which attacks may incorporate: slash, strike, fire, ice, light, lightning, and darkness. Yeah, sounds like nothing new, right? All of the exploration Castlevania games have something like this, but it is new because Order of Ecclesia is way more conscious of it. Taking advantage of the right attribute against an enemy is often the difference maker between life and death. If you use a wrong attribute, you will be whittling your opponent's HP down at a slow pace. It's certainly not the most novel idea, but it's incorporated awfully well. It goes hand in hand with Order of Ecclesia's main innovation.

Shanoa is an agent of a clandestine organization known as Ecclesia. When Richter Belmont succumbed to evil, the Belmont Clan vanished, having lost faith in themselves. In their absence, people sought alternatives to combat Count Dracula. The institution with the greatest success is Ecclesia, due to glyphs they developed and use in battle. Glyphs are symbols from which magical abilities are extracted. Shanoa is able to put glyph symbols on her body, similar to tattoos. She uses her glyphs to grant her a plethora of abilities and weapons.

The glyph system is somewhat similar to the Sorrow games' Tactical Soul System, though very different. A key similarity is that they are usually obtained from enemies. Kill an enemy and it may drop a particular glyph. Some glyphs are rarer than others, and unlike souls, not all enemies have them. Obtaining glyphs often boils down to getting lucky or time consuming grinding. There's no skill involved, it's just a matter of how patient the player is.
We should be past the point where things are based on us exiting and entering rooms and doing un-fun grinding. Curse of Darkness' steal feature showed us that it doesn't have to be this way. Something similar is done here, too. Not all glyphs are dropped when enemies perish. Certain foes cast a spell as an attack. When the glyph symbol appears before the spell, pressing up on the control pad will cause Shanoa to suck the symbol onto her body, thereby obtaining the glyph. This is a neat feature. Other glyphs, like certain souls, are found in particular spots within areas.

Glyphs are almost everything for Shanoa's offense. There aren't any weapons to buy or find lying around in the traditional sense. Instead, glyphs take the place of where we would usually equip a sword, spear, ect.

There are two types of Glyphs. Blue Glyphs can be equipped on both of Shanoa's arms, one glyph for each arm. Players can mix and match how they please. Glyphs can be either physical or magic attacks. If you want, you can put two sword glyphs on Shanoa and not have a magic offense at all. Or, you can mix an axe glyph with an ice spell glyph. Thus, one arm would use an axe, while the other can be used to cast a spell. It is possible to get into a rhythm, alternating between arms at just the right time to swiftly unleash attacks.

An inventive development is that whenever Shanoa uses a glyph, whether for a physical weapon or spell, it depletes magic points. Attack too many times, and Shanoa won't be able to use her glyphs due to a drained magic meter. MP restores automatically rather quickly, but running out will throw players off.

Red glyphs bestow Shanoa various talents, and are not direct attacks. These include statistic boosters, familiars, flight, and even transformations into creatures.

A handy addition is that sets of glyphs can be switched promptly. 3 glyphs can be equipped in 1 set – 2 blue glyphs and 1 red and 3 sets can be assigned. Sets are switch-able by pressing "A" and either shoulder button. This is very useful, because in the event of an attribute disadvantage, players can switch to other glyphs right away.One of the best things about the glyph system, and the main difference between it and the TSS are the combos.

Using two glyphs in tandem creates a Glyph Union. Mixing glyphs will sometimes garner different affects. Not all glyphs are compatible, and in these instances, Shanoa will do a short ranged punch attack. Other combinations will have a more elaborate affect.

For example, an ice elemental spell with a sword will cause Shanoa to slash in a wide arc with an ice enchanted blade, doing considerably more damage than either lone glyph. 2 elemental spells together may create a more powerful fusion spell. Many of these attacks are very deadly, and the game knows full well their potential. As touched on before, glyph unions eat up so many resources (hearts) that it is wise to save them for when they are really needed.

Order of Ecclesia deserves applause for how it regulates difficulty. Players can't bulldoze through everything, nor is the game unfair. This is perhaps the most strategically based Castlevania game, due to the planning battles and exploration require. No matter where you turn, the difficulty and enemy and player capabilities are well-adjusted. Both the glyph and attribute systems are fun, carefully planned, and equalized.

A feature never before seen in Castlevania prior to Order of Ecclesia is the world map. Areas on the map are not connected in the way that games in Castlevania's adventure format typically are. In OoE, areas must be traversed before new areas are unveiled on the map. For example, Ruvas Forest must be past before Kalidus Channel will emerge on the world map. Once an area appears, players may go back to the map, and select whatever place they wish to go.

Each area has its own separate mini-map that appears on the top screen of the DS. Therefore, unlike Harmony of Dissonance and Symphony of the Night, the entire game is comprised of many separate maps, instead of being a giant single map. This is more akin to Portrait of Ruin, in how each portrait has its own self contained map.

The world map itself is not a bad idea, but not a whole lot is done with it. The same effect could be achieved with simple teleporters and making believable transitions between stages, like having forests recede to a bay while approaching the reef area. The map doesn't cause any problems, but unless they're going to do something that the other games couldn't without it, it's not something that needs to return.

Order of Ecclesia can stand to learn a thing or 2 (or 3) from Harmony of Dissonance, specifically in free exploration and non-linearity. Some times, areas will last 4 or 6 minutes, and then on to the next. With these sorts of places, the focus is on action. It's hard to fault OoE for this, because it often pours on the combat something fierce, which is enough to occupy. But, there is still a desire to investigate, to break away from the normal path, to indulge curiosities of the environments, and it doesn't completely satisfy as well as past games. There is a general "point A to point B" feeling through much of the adventure, especially the beginning. It's working on coming to a compromise between exploration and action, but it isn't seamless. The marriage between the two characteristics could be much smoother.

One of the biggest problems is that areas are rehashed. This was an immense disappointment when everything was going so well.
Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo is still employing time saving/budget induced short cuts they've been using since working on Castlevania. Rehashed backgrounds, sprites from 15 year-old games being used regularly instead of newer, better ones, and recycled music for multiple areas. None of these are good, and they need to stop. It's like Konami knows they're feeding their guests moldy food, and they expect them (us) to like it.

Upon fulfilling certain requirements, the second half of Order of Ecclesia will open, which is more like a traditional adventure in the vein of Symphony of the Night. It's at this point that some may expect the game to nosedive in quality. Thankfully, it doesn't. The areas are still engaging and the bosses are just as good, if not better. There are no repeated maps, and plenty of new enemies to see.

Within areas are innocents that have been abducted from their village, Wygol. They are sometimes hidden, other times out in the open. If rescued, they will return to the lonesome village, where players can get to know them better through conversation and running errands, not unlike Wind's relationship with Jonathan and Charlotte in Portrait of Ruin.

The quests add a measure of difficulty to the game. Rather than having the shop stocked with certain goods from the start, we must complete odd jobs for villagers before they appear for sale. For instance, in order to buy dresses, defensive garments that also raise magic ability, quests must be completed for the villager Monica, a young seamstress. She supplies Jacob's shop with dresses, but currently has no thread to sew. In order for her to stock the shop with her goods, we'll need to find her threads of different sorts. The same modus operandi applies to other villagers, which allows healing items, accessories, plate armor, and more to appear in Jacob's store.

There are good and bad sides to this.
It is nice that there is a real deviation from the game's primary quest. If players want to do something else for a while, there are things to do. Conversely, most of the villagers' requests boil down to tedious fetch quests sending Shanoa all over the map looking for items, or killing certain enemies.

Though the quests should be more entertaining, they're bearable because the villagers are enjoyable personalities that add a touch of charisma to the game. The villagers are quirky and fun to talk to, despite the craving to tell them, "Do it yourself!"
A good example is Daniela, a senile old woman who is ignorant some days, and wise on others. She tells very interesting stories of her past each time one of her tasks is completed. You can tell there is something special about the forgetful Daniela that she's not fully saying. Eugen, the quiet blacksmith doesn't need to ask prying questions to understand Shanoa, or where she's coming from. He is hushed but thoughtful, and a rock that can be depended on.
Something everyone can be happy with is that the villagers' quests are optional. They're there for those who like doing them and reaping their rewards, but the game isn't forcing anyone.

Speaking of characters, Ecclesia does well with them, and at adding new concepts to Castlevania's story. Our lead, known only as Shanoa, is an emotionless tool devoted to serving the secret society, Ecclesia. Her partner, Albus, is a bright young man who covets Dominus, the ultimate glyph and Ecclesia's only way of destroying Count Dracula.

Shanoa is ordained for this glyph by the head master of Ecclesia, Barlowe, but it was originally promised to Albus, despite him not having the capability to use it. Albus doesn't settle for this, and views Barlowe as a treacherous liar. Albus betrays Ecclesia, taking Dominus for himself, and setting off to find a way to apply it.

Shanoa's mission is to hunt her former compatriot down and retrieve Dominus, even if that means killing Albus.

The game leaves us scratching our heads at times, in a good way.
Shanoa is peculiar because she does whatever she's told with little question. Albus seems misguided and lusting power, and almost all of his actions are unexpected and curious. Though he's filled with anger, and often makes bizarre decisions, he's usually in control of situations. The exciting part is seeing exactly what he is up to.

The hunt for Albus will take players across remarkable places and creatures.
The graphics of Order of Ecclesia are generally the same as Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin in style and aptitude, which is disappointing in a sense. It's not because what is presented is bad, but the DS games are nearly interchangeable in looks, similar to NES Mega Man games (or NES Castlevania games, to be honest). Consistency and visual identity are great, but even games like Symphony of the Night, Harmony of Dissonance, and Aria of Sorrow have distinctive traits that keep them from getting too homogenous. There is no indisputable advancement or divergence between any of the DS games.

Nevertheless, OoE succeeds over its DS peers by offering the most meaningful aura of creativity and care. The visuals are at times better than Symphony of the Night's, but not consistently. What puts OoE at that level isn't the horsepower of the DS, but the inspired artistic direction.

Being that Shanoa traverses areas that are not part of Castlevania, there are many natural landscapes and other edifices to investigate. Of note are a few mansions that emit the climate of a classic haunted house, or eerie attic, such as something you'd see in Scooby Doo. They're purposefully facetious, and in good taste. The presentation isn't just from the areas – of which one is wittily named Mystery Manor; credit must go to the excellent enemies found within.

There's great coherency between enemy and area relations. Many new creatures have personality, such as the Grave Diggers found roaming the cemeteries of a mist filled forest and the Curse Divas, horrid banshees ceaselessly looking for their lost loves. Plenty of enemies utter nice quotes and often go out with great death animations.

The areas are fun to traverse not just because of the graphics, but the considered level design, too. A neat feature this time is metal objects that Shanoa can use as a catalyst with the Magnes glyph. Magnes is a magnetic field that draws Shanoa to these objects. Players can pull back with the D-pad and launch her in any direction, like using a slingshot, with Shanoa as the proverbial stone in the sling. Great use is made of this feature, as well as spikes and various traps that do considerable damage. Good platforming, well placed enemies, and plenty of breakable walls and hidden treasure chests housing secrets make these areas engaging.

There are a couple places of refuge – Ecclesia Headquarters, where Master Barlowe awaits news of the mission, and the aforementioned Wygol Village. Wygol is a beautiful sanctuary that is a base to stock up, converse, and relax. You're going to appreciate that with how inhospitable the world outside can be. While peaceful, Wygol has a touch of melancholy, with its heavy cloud overcast, making it a gloomy yet cozy nook on the map. As more villagers are rescued, the village will fill with activity and seem homier. The track that plays in the village adds much to the atmosphere.

It would be a crime to go over OoE's aesthetic presentation and not mention the music.What is offered in the aural department is the best there has been since Curse of Darkness. It is well beyond the last 2 DS games and Dracula X Chronicles. Michiru Yamane is back and doesn't disappoint.
"Chapel Hidden in Smoke," the theme of the first area of the mission, is sparkling. Its lead motif is lovely, curious, and a bit mysterious. The mystique builds as strings pour into the track, taking a more ominous turn. It is somewhat reminiscent of the Curse of Darkness tune "Garibaldi Courtyard," in its sad, beautiful, and calm lure.

Soon after, we're treated to "Emerald Mist," a beguiling tune representing Ruvas Forest, complimenting its swift action. Prevailing swank horns sway around the piece, stalwartly backed by a piano and grooving bass. It is as though the combatants are dancing to its rhythm, and Ruvas Forest is the stage. There's a bit of twinkle to the finale. It shows the game doesn't have to take itself too seriously at all times. Though Order of Ecclesia is dark and gothic, it is at the same time colorful and fun, and the soundtrack often highlights that.
Very powerful stuff, here.

The power keeps on with "A Clashing of Waves," where there is a more resolute and less glitzy approach to match the cold and restless currents of Kalidus Channel. No nonsense bass, piano, and horns give the feeling that we're really on a mission that absolutely must be completed.
A track that provides a nice contrast is "Wandering the Crystal Blue," which is for another oceanic area. It has a more calm 'deep sea mystery' air that gives the feeling that the ocean in this part, Somnus Reef, isn't as agitated, but perhaps housing more profound secrets. It's another beautiful track.

The area themes continually impress. Other highlights include "Edge of the Sky," a chilly, grand, and dire track that plays as Shanoa explores a cloudy mountain range. "Hard Won Nobility" plays for the aforementioned haunted mansions. It is deliberately gaudy and pleasingly colorful. It honestly fits the creaks and cracks of the places it accompanies, and has the impression of some unknown ghoulish party carrying on in the ghosts' stomping ground, where no living soul dares tread.

One of the most touching musical pieces from any Castlevania is "Cantus Motetten," the theme for Albus. It adds so much to the character and is perfectly appropriate. It is sorrowful, ominous, evil, uncertain, resolute, peaceful, angry, and proud all at once. It's amazing.

It's not just the music that is far beyond the last two DS games' efforts, but the entire presentation. Order of Ecclesia isn't cheekily stupid like Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin. It doesn't try too hard to appeal to some demographic. To use a phrase – it keeps it real.
The annoying goofiness is gone, as everything generally has more serious and agreeable behavior. There are no characters like Dawn of Sorrow's Dario, and it doesn't have the mood of magical misfits fighting evil with the powers of good, like Portrait of Ruin. When OoE is funny or lighthearted, it doesn't feel plastic or forced. The arrival of new artist, Masaki, is like a blessing after DoS and PoR's art. His work is phenomenal. It is always a pleasure seeing the marvelous profile pictures appear for dialogue scenes. The exact opposite could be said in regards to Dawn and Portrait.

So, there we have it!
All across the board, there isn't much to complain about with Order of Ecclesia. It is a game that is immensely satisfying technically, structurally, visually, and aurally. Its successes are great and its failures few. Order of Ecclesia is a sign that Castlevania's application of the Metroid formula is not tired or used up, and has plenty of places it can yet go. The problem was not the formula's fault, but rather games not living up to their potential. Order of Ecclesia does.

It doesn't leave us wishing. . .
Wishing the level design was better, wishing the enemies were tougher, wishing the areas weren't so boring looking, wishing the game isn't like a cookie cutter lame anime, and wishing it didn't get worse during its second half.

This means that Order of Ecclesia satisfies, but does more than that - it impresses. Due to not having as much flair as some others, it may not stir up the imaginative sense of whimsy like Symphony of the Night or Harmony of Dissonance, but it's hard to deny that Order of Ecclesia is the most soundly built exploration-emphasized Castlevania game, and as such, one of the very best the Castlevania franchise has to offer.