Review: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)

By Stephen Munn | December 16, 2008

What is it?

The latest round of Castlevania titles for handheld and home console have recently begun to arrive. The newest handheld episode is called Order of Ecclesia, and it’s on DS. Ecclesia takes place in the mysterious portion of the Castlevania timeline that takes place after the Dracula X/Symphony of the Night storyline. You see, at some point between Symphony of the Night and Bloodlines, Richter Belmont, who was believed to be the last Belmont in his line (presumably because Maria decides to take up with Alucard instead of him), vanishes.

In this void, others must take up the responsibility of keeping Lord Dracula more dead than undead until the year 1999 when Julius Belmont will appear from nowhere and put the old bastard six feet under for good. The most notable of these organizations in Ecclesia’s time is the eponymous Order, which consists of a handful of humans with a great deal of magical ability that revolves around magical seals called glyphs. Glyphs function a lot like souls did in the Sorrow games that crossed the generational boundary between GBA and DS, but they also completely replace weaponry in the game.

How does it play?

There’s nothing particularly out of the ordinary with the base mechanics of Order of Ecclesia. This is the same game at its heart that it has been for more than a decade now, so it’s the outer elements that define an episode in this franchise. The controls are wonderfully precise, the characters and weapons carry a weight that’s believable in their speed and motion… these are things we expect from these games now, and I’ve never been disappointed.

The glyph system is interesting. Every weapon in the game is a glyph, and has to be either taken from an enemy or object or given to you by another character. Shanoa raises her arms, holding up her hair to expose the huge tattoo on her back and slowly draws the glyph into her. It can then be equipped to one of three positions, just like the souls in Aria and Dawn of Sorrow, granting everything from magnetic abilities that let you sling yourself through midair off certain metal objects to summoning things like spiders and owls. More often, these glyphs are an oversized sword or an axe that you can use as a weapon. These consume various amounts of MP, which quickly replenishes as soon as you get off the attack button. Combo weapon “glyph unions” are stronger derivatives of these, like a flaming sword or a huge electrical lance, but these consume so many hearts, which are a challenge to refill quickly enough for the effects to be practical early in the game.

What’s really cool is that some glyphs aren’t actually dropped by enemies, but rather need to be taken. An enemy will try to cast an attack spell of some kind and if you’re ready for it, you can draw it in and it’s yours. The challenge here is timing, because you’re completely defenseless when drawing in a glyph, and it takes some time to do, though if you do it right the enemy is immobilized while you’re tearing the magic out of the air. The effect as the glyph is pulled from the air is as though pulling a blanket from the floor with two fingers in the center, stretching out to reach you. It’s a very cool effect that I never got tired of seeing.

There are glyphs that can only be stolen from bosses you’ll only see once, so fanatics like me will either have to be really careful or reset the game when the boss dies. Fortunately, by the time you reach these bosses you’re likely to be powerful enough where killing them twice isn’t too much of a hassle. Further, if more than one enemy can drop a glyph (which seems to be very rare but I found at least one instance) you don’t have to grab it from both, you’ll see it right away in the bestiary for both monsters after grabbing it from one.

What is a hassle is “catching them all.” In an effort to nab every item available, I flipped through the bestiary, looking for enemies that carried items that hadn’t been identified yet. Some of these enemies had to be killed dozens of times before dropping their item or items. I had a few that took hundreds and hundreds of single-hit kills, and at least one enemy that took about as many kills but took about twenty hits per kill. Shanoa is decidedly weak compared to most Castlevania heroes, and it isn’t until very near the end of the game that you can crush most monsters properly where it’s not too much trouble killing something over and over. Further, as has been the case in all the recent games, there is always at least one room in the game where you can poke your head in, kill a specific enemy, then step back out and in to trigger a respawn. Defeated enemies are given a full spec sheet in the bestiary, so you can see their weaknesses. Unfortunately it’s often the case that a weapon that an enemy is resistant to still does the most damage, despite the distinctive “ping” sound you get when striking.

Some of the glyphs can be leveled up by grabbing multiple instances. This is difficult though, because there was only one enemy I encountered in the game that dropped its glyph frequently enough where I could grab enough of them while waiting for its other drop to materialize. The only reason it dropped it enough is the enemy was designed with a 100% drop of that glyph. Certain combinations of glyphs are so incredibly powerful that one can kill the final boss in the game in less than ten seconds, so it pays to pick up everything.

This game is unique in the franchise in that it has an overworld map that is very similar to that in Legend of Mana or Final Fantasy Tactics. The areas, which you’ll unlock by passing through other areas, vary in size from a few rooms to much larger. Most of the areas are somewhat on the small side. I like the variety and the organic feel that this brings, but I couldn’t help but think sometimes that the area I was in was too small. The final area dwarfs all the others and has an assortment of varying regions within it, which is more what we’re used to. There are also hidden optional areas in the game.

How does it look and sound?

Castlevania has always been ahead of the curve in both these areas, and Ecclesia does not disappoint. The animations on the characters, in particular, are stunning. Shanoa has very long hair and a cloaklike outfit, so there is lots and lots of movement there. When she’s outside, the wind moves her hair and clothing around. One part of the game involving a spotlight is particularly cool because the same detail went into the character’s shadow on the wall behind her. None of the often-recycled enemies from Symphony of the Night remain now, and many original new enemies have been created. The detail in these strange and sometimes surprising enemies is really great, and there isn’t any palette-swapping laziness in effect to speak of. The bosses are very detailed as well, which makes for some jaw-dropping moments. I’ll save some spoilers, but suffice it to say that the final boss in the game will surprise you with his agility.

However, the same quality of variety cannot be said for some of the environments. There’s a lot of variety in the different areas of the game, but many of the areas contain what are just slightly modified, palette-swapped versions of rooms in other earlier areas, and you’ll recognize them instantly. That said, it’s impossible to ignore the scenic and beautiful locations here, whether it’s mountains, swamps, forests or interiors. There’s so much to see and so much variety in the level design that it’s easy to forgive some reused rooms.

Shanoa's played Simon's Quest, and isn't afraid to paraphrase.

The music is very high quality stuff, with some nicely synthesized instruments, but some of it seems a little out of place. One area has music that begins with a very loungey sound before dropping into a tone a little more suitable. Some of the tunes are decidedly bland, but I absolutely love the title track, which is heard in some of the trailers. All in all, one would expect composer Michiru Yamane to have run out of ideas, but there was absolutely no recycling of old tunes here, unless you count the optional “record” items, which let you select one of the tracks from the original Castlevania to play in-game. Make your own decision on whether that’s for the best, but I like to hear new music, particularly when it’s this good.

How’s the replay value?

Winners don't do drugs, kids.

Part of the game has you returning the villagers to a town on the map one at a time. These characters are all dinstinctively and effectively voice acted, which was a nice surprise. Each fulfills a useful role in town such as shopkeeper or whatever, but part of the appeal of these characters are the optional quests tied to them. A boy plays hide-and-seek in town. One creepy little girl has a cat that needs your constant attention. A reporter in the town wants you to take pictures of monsters you’ll see around. The blacksmith asks for certain metals to make better armor and such to sell to you in the store. A woman complains about specific kinds of monsters and asks you to kill certain quantities of them for her. Of these, the photography is my favorite, but once you’ve taken pictures of three monsters, it’s done. I like that there are a variety of fetch quests here, but I’d prefer more things to do for each townsperson.

Finding all the glyphs and beating all the item drops out of all the monsters is an incredible task. If you thought getting all the souls and items in Aria of Sorrow was hard, try this one on for size. If you played Circle of the Moon, you’ll remember the incredibly challenging Battle Arena are of the castle. This was a large staged section with very hard enemies in it that were unique to that location. They had to be killed until they dropped their unique item, which was more of a challenge than I was up to. Very much the same thing is present in this game, so good luck getting everything.

Completing the game unlocks a handful of new modes, such as one where you play as one of the NPCs in the game (a standard for the series now) and a Boss Rush and Sound Mode, as well as a harder difficulty level… something that’s hard for me to even wrap my head around.

Is it worth it?

Absolutely, yes. Castlevania is a certain kind of experience, and most people already know if it’s their thing. If you liked the other Castlevanias, you’ll like this one. It’s one of the more original experiences in the product line as well, with many fresh faces and twists, which is always a good thing. The glyph system is derivative, but clever and useful, replacing not only the soul system as in Sorrow, but the very existence of weaponry in the game.

When I started playing Order of Ecclesia, I was really confused about the game. I’m still not clear what the problem was, but the experience kind of fell flat for me at first. After a few hours of gameplay things started to come together as I started to get a solid handle on the way the glyphs can be used. Until you’ve leveled up quite a bit, the game is much harder than other recent Castlevania games, so if you’re up to the challenge, I suggest diving right in.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia gets four point five out of five Aeropausonauts. Here’s to the next episode. As always, it will be a long two years.