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Castlevania or Chrono Trigger?
Chen
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I finished my midterms and was wondering what I should get to kill some free time. I've read reviews of both games but I still can't make up my mind, which is where you guys come in and help me decide. First up:
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
I love portable Castlevania and the previous three instalments did not disappoint. The difficulty has apparently been ramped even further in this instalment which gets my thumbs up. The only thing that's keeping me from being sold is that I've read that there are apparently no weapons in the game. Instead they've been replaced by Glyphs which cost MP. What happens when you're out of MP? The melee weapons don't have many unique features too from what I've heard, just basic sword, spear, axe types. This saddens me because I love to find and use unique weapons like the Crissaegrim and the Claimh Solais. Is there enough reward variety to keep me interested in beating quests or is it a done deal when it's beaten?
Chrono Trigger
I must confess I've never beaten it. In my defense I never owned an SNES. If I remember correctly I was last in an alternate universe in a dark mechanic place, full of pipes, catching a rat or some kind of possum? Anyway, I liked what I've played, especially the combat system. The story is epic from what I've heard. My only concern are the characters. Character development is a big deal for me in big scale RPGs, keeping me motivated to get further into the game. Unfortunately, none of the characters besides Crono stand out to me. Marle and the whole princess deal is tiring and cliche. Luca is cool but kind of useless in battle from what I've played. Frog despite the fan base is, well, an anthromorphic frog. I'm probably wrong on these impressions, but it doesn't hurt to ask and get an honest opinion from people who have played it from start to finish.
tl;dr see topic title
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
I love portable Castlevania and the previous three instalments did not disappoint. The difficulty has apparently been ramped even further in this instalment which gets my thumbs up. The only thing that's keeping me from being sold is that I've read that there are apparently no weapons in the game. Instead they've been replaced by Glyphs which cost MP. What happens when you're out of MP? The melee weapons don't have many unique features too from what I've heard, just basic sword, spear, axe types. This saddens me because I love to find and use unique weapons like the Crissaegrim and the Claimh Solais. Is there enough reward variety to keep me interested in beating quests or is it a done deal when it's beaten?
Chrono Trigger
I must confess I've never beaten it. In my defense I never owned an SNES. If I remember correctly I was last in an alternate universe in a dark mechanic place, full of pipes, catching a rat or some kind of possum? Anyway, I liked what I've played, especially the combat system. The story is epic from what I've heard. My only concern are the characters. Character development is a big deal for me in big scale RPGs, keeping me motivated to get further into the game. Unfortunately, none of the characters besides Crono stand out to me. Marle and the whole princess deal is tiring and cliche. Luca is cool but kind of useless in battle from what I've played. Frog despite the fan base is, well, an anthromorphic frog. I'm probably wrong on these impressions, but it doesn't hurt to ask and get an honest opinion from people who have played it from start to finish.
tl;dr see topic title
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I'd like to add that Shanoa (Ecclesia's sexy beast of a heroine) handles like a VERY FAST Soma Cruz. There are no slow weapons without compromising strength, and when properly equipped, performs satisfying combos. By far my favorite character to play.
I too purchased Chrono Trigger to finish it. It is a joy to play all over again. I'd get Ecclesia first before it becomes rare.
Shanoa looks delicious.
Ever play World of Warcraft? It's like a rogue's energy meter.
Also there is plenty of variety in the game, all the standard weapons plus cool spells with different attack patterns and different transform abilities.
It's a tough call I'd say. Ecclesia is likely to stop being sold sooner while Square-Enix games stay on shelves, from what I've seen.
I haven't played C:OoE, but I love damn near every Castlevania game I've played (even CV64), so I'm sure it would be a good purchase. All the SotN-based CVs have been pretty awesome, so I'd say you'll get your money's worth. As an SNES lover, I have to say CT, but if you get the other game I doubt you'll be disappointed.
There are different glyph types for certain weapons as well as different spell type glyphs. However, the number of different attacks is magnified because you can use a combination of two different glyphs at the same time, which allows for different strategies; additionally each of the glyphs you have you can combine together for a Glyph Union. Since you can combine almost any two glyphs, it really broadens the kinds of attacks you can have, which provides plenty of strategical options.
The game is fast and tough as nails. The world of the game is also much more expansive than the castles of previous metroidvanias --- there's more "vania" in this game, you could say; although the "Castle" part itself is reasonably substantial on its own.
It's a beautiful game with beautiful music and it's fast-paced and action packed and streamlined for action (more so than previous metroidvanias). It's much tougher than the recent NDS metroidvanias though -- but if you think about the bosses and think about a logical strategy (like using Light magic on Shadow enemies for example) then you should do well.
RE: Chrono Trigger
Definitely one of the best 16 bit RPGs ever, and truly stands the test of time. I'm not much of an RPG buff myself, but I can tell you that it has a wonderful story involving Time Travel and the effects of meddling with the Time Line, which is really cool. There are a broad variety of characters and enemies spanning the entire timeline of the planet, and it's all done really well. I personally think that the characters are fantastic, and the Frog that you speak of himself has a very interesting back story, which in fact explains why he is a frog, for example.
It's a beautiful game with some of the best music ever in gaming. It has 13 or 14 different endings depending on what you do. Tons of replay value, and they've added a variety of new features to extend replay value further.
In my opinion, what you should do is ask yourself whether you're in the mood for an RPG or for an Action game, and then decide. But ultimately the only true choice is to get both at some point.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
That's a lot of endings. I don't really replay RPGSs anymore though, since they're so time consuming. Most of the times I try to obtain everything it has to offer. My worry is whether the reward system is outdated or not. In most RPGs, especially those in the 90s, items gets progressively better in the next big town with the occasional treasure chests in dungeons that are impossible to miss. There will be a few unreachable areas until you find the proper way to access it, but that's about it. A case of been there, done that. Thankfully, the whole time travel thing is pretty unique.
I'm leaning towards Castlevania right now, especially after reading these comments. This will probably sound weird, but Chrono Trigger seems intimidating.
It isn't hard at all. Not that Castlevania would be a mistake.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
As far as DS Castlevania games, I prefered Portrait of Ruin.
It's really not very complicated. You basically can set a glyph each to three attack buttons (Y, X, and R). And then the glyph union is performed by pressing Up+Y or Up+X to do a combined glyph attack. So you readily have a multitude of attacks available on-hand to use at any time. Plus, you can arrange up to 3 sets of glyphs, and switch between them easily, giving you an even further variety of attacks and strategies that you can use on the fly.
You'll need to ask someone else here about all the extra stuff in CT, I've only just recently finished the main quest.
It's really not intimidating, but I don't think you can go wrong with either.
I must reiterate though that Order of Ecclesia is significantly more difficult than Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin. For some thats a great thing and for others it's frustrating; by I promise that any time it seems impossible, the solution to defeating some boss/area can be accomplished with the proper strategizing and using glyphs that might be useful for the area/boss/what have you.
I honestly don't think you can go wrong with either game.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
I did like it better than portrait of ruin though, I thought that was a piece of shit.
Chrono Trigger has a special place in my heart. Loads of cool equipment, a quick adventure (I generally play it once a year, and have since about 1999, last playthrough was around 18 hours or so, all side quests included), and the characters are immensely charming, if not particularly "deep". I can't speak for the new translation, since I haven't played it on the DS, but from what I've heard, it's much improved. I don't think I can recommend it enough, and evidently, the DS version is the best version of it ever. Oh, and like Duffel said, the game is essentially completely linear. Don't worry about making choices, because you really can't.
I didn't find that to be the case--the difficulty came from the bosses, for me. There were a half-dozen bosses that took me many tries to beat.
I kinda felt that way too. It wasn't difficult in a good way. It was difficult in a "we want this game to last about 25% longer than it should" way.
That's true if you suck at the game. :P
I had the notion that the game is hard in terms of the boss fights, first one excluded.
I didn't find the levels too particularly hard either; mostly the bosses being tough. But like I said, pattern and weakness.
Whatever the case, if you feel like you have to grind, it's probably more a case of just finding a better strategy. I guess. Dunno.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Edit: That shadow boss was annoying. I'd use Sapiens Fio, then throw two fire pillars underneath him whenever I got a chance. It took him out quickly enough without using any glyph unions.
Also, the guy in the Giant's Dwelling, the Shadow Master or whatever he's called, and the big centaur/knight boss. Felt super awesome once I figured out tricks to take each of them down.
Yeah I pretty much agree with all of this, including all the stuff in the spoiler.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
True that. Leveling up make so little difference in your attack/defensive power than grinding is pretty much a waste of time.
I love the game but it's stupid-easy.
On OoE, eh, I guess I still need to play more into it.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
You're right. I guess I should have chose my words better. What I meant is that ever since they started the Metroidvania style games with Symphony of the night, defeating enemies hasn't really required much in the way of reflexes or skill, the exceptions being Circle of the Moon and more recently, Order of Ecclesia.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
2x gold ring + gold increasing glyph = $1000 from every candle 8-)
You just have to be willing to grind for the gold ring(s).
I can two-life it, though!
Wow. How funny is it that I had this EXACT same dilemma a couple months back. It was between those two games and I had such a hard time deciding. I ended up going Chrono Trigger. I havent looked back. You wont be disappointed by either, no siree, but Id go with Chrono Trigger. You havent much played it from what you say (I didnt either, this was my first time ever playing it, so it was a gamble to me when I knew Id have loved Castlevania) but you need to. Its so amazing.
If difficulty doesn't deter you, go with Castlevania.
There are a few really unique glyphs, mainly spells rather than weapons, but there is one weapon that's unlike anything else as well. It should be pointed out that spells are weapons are to all intents and purposes identical in the game, given how fast MP regenrates.
Didn't know there was such a glyph. Who drops it? I got to a point where I had to fight some:
Couldn't beat him after 20+ times and I quit.
You find that glyph in the course of the game. Nothing drops it.
Personally, though, I liked the fact OOE didn't let you beat every boss simply by spamming healing, which was often the best strategy in previous metroidvanias.
I never had to grind, either (except to get a few rare glyphs, but that's another matter). Just switch strategies.