While the name was trademarked by Konami not long ago, here is your confirmation -- Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia has been rated by the ESRB, and will be coming to the Nintendo DS.
While we have no further information, we have to assume it will involve hunting vampires (or some form of Count Dracula), and that there will probably be a castle of some sort. Also, you might be able to unlock an upside down version of the castle once the game is complete. You will also fight animated skeletons. Wikipedia tells us that "ecclesia" refers to a gathering of citizens or "gathering of those summoned," from the Greek "ekklesia." Draw your own conclusions from that.
Here's my take, and it's probably not going to be a popular one -- I'm getting tired of these Castlevania games on Nintendo's handhelds. We've already seen two on the Nintendo DS, and before that three on the Game Boy Advance. That's five Castlevania games, all of which were solid but could have been one long game and no one would have noticed.
I'm definitely looking for something new, and history has me hesitant to think that Order of Ecclesia is going to break out of the "explore the castle, get a new power to reach a new area" mold. I'm hoping that when Konami official announces the title my socks are knocked off, but I won't be surprised if they stay on.
[Via NeoGAF]
Contest:
1:16 PM on 04.14.2008
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Yes! Bring it Konami!
Still, I hope they do something new to break the same things. I know they can do it.
On the other hand, I am sort of tired of all these games showing up on the DS. Here's what I want: a 2D platformer (with the same general premise as the others) on the home consoles that takes full advantage of current-gen graphics. We could make a really damn pretty Castlevania at this point. Maybe have co-op between Alucard and some Belmont or other. The thing is basically that I'm not tired of Castlevania, I'm just tired of looking at handheld platformers.
I know some people may be tired of them, but I'm not. I actually look forward to them. And the change things up just enough with the mechanics to keep things interesting.
As long as they freshen it up a bit each time, I'm in.
"If it isn't broken, don't fix it"
That was a fun new concept, kind of like when they added the HQ in Pokemon that you could decorate.
It's funny that Igarashi admitted that they're still using a large portion of assets from Symphony of the Night in the handheld games. Guess that demonstrates that they're doing the same thing over and over. I hope this is something new!
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More Castlevania = Very Win
We kill vampires, zombies, skeletons, incubus, creatures and stuff... its what we do. And they can all be found in a giant gothic castle.
<ecstatic>
-JD
In case you don't know what I'm talking about, the last 4 paintings where the first 4, only reserved, I find that to be insanely lazy game design.
Call me a sucker, but I would pay full retail for an HD-redo of SoTN in a heartbeat.
I want a no-frills, Castlevania 1 or 3 style platformer with ridiculous difficulty. If Konami can get that accomplished with Contra, why not Castlevania? Hell, I'd even settle for a Castlevania 2 type game.
As much as I love those handheld Castlevanias, NONE of them have made me say "WOW!" at the gameplay and NONE of them have come close to matching the awesome factor of Symphony of the Night.
Damn it, Konami! Pu some resources behind a next gen game and make it so damn feature packed that no one can say it's bad. I'm STILL coming across new items and weapons to play with in SotN on like my tenth playthrough. You can even keep it 2-D, just make it freakin' huge!
can we return to Aria of Sorrow days? Hell even Circle of the moon style would be pretty awesome.
oh and lets leave out the online bit. at least the online multiplayer. But that's me.
Hopefully it's back to just one playable character at a time, the whole support-character thing in PoR made it a lot easier.
I know you didn't have to use the second character as a support character, and I generally didn't, but those 2-person Uber attacks annihilated EVERY boss.
So I understand how you feel, but for me, the Castlevania series is like Mario Kart. Until they screw it up, I'll buy every single one. Neither franchise is known for innovation, but both deliver a solid AAA experience EVERY TIME (I even liked Simon's Quest ...).
So, count me among the drooling fanboys who will buy this game on release day despite its utter sameness to the previous two titles.
@Kyousuke
I disliked the reversed levels in PoR, but I'm guessing it wasn't so much laziness as an attempt to revisit the SoTN magic. Fully 50% recycling there yet everyone considers it the best in the series... not really a way to motivate the devs to make every level original :|
I bought Portrait of Ruin and was bored with it within the first 2 hours. If I hadn't already played the 4 portable Castlevania's before it I'm sure I would've thought it was awesome.
If they attempt to do another 3D game I can't be responsible for my actions.
Yeuuuuuuuuuh. Now I need an SD...
(*why do they have to be anime stylized?) This is something that's bugged me for awhile, bring back Ayami, or have Jo Chen show hew graceful. Not this cut & paste design. I felt bitter when I saw the art for Dawn, and settled on "I don't need this".
But this title redeems my curiosity, this may finally be about "The War of 99'". I just hope they decide to bring in someone with more artistic talent. For story, CV is novel, even more since its early days. Just hope they dont drop the ball here.
*Also why isn't there a CV for consoles? That's another lingering question.
If anything, I'd love the chance to do a pseudo-3D, where all the characters and action still happen in 2D, but the castle map has depth as well as length and width. Because as far as I can tell, Dracula lives in a huge-ass castle that is only one room deep.