Symphony of the Night is still my favorite metvania, but Order of Ecclesia is almost objectively the best.
It's another entry solidly on one end of the Metroid-to-Castlevania spectrum: less focused on platforming and a fine-tuned linear weapon/ability upgrades, much more on throwing lots of ideas at the wall and letting the player find out what sticks. But this time, Igarashi & Co get pretty close to having the best of both worlds; namely, the Glyph weapons present some compelling strategic choices, and the overall difficulty is steep enough that you need to make the most of those choices.
There are other nice features. The quest system is more compelling than the previous game (Portrait of Ruin) and yields better rewards; for example, running errands for the Chef earns you better healing item options than the standard Potions you can buy at game start. The character art by Masaki Hirooka is a stunning shift from the generic anime art we saw in Portrait of Ruin or Dawn of Sorrow, much more like Ayami Kojima's gorgeous designs dating back to Symphony, but bringing their own unique energy. And of course the Michiru Yamane OST absolutely rules.
Perhaps most surprising is that Order of Ecclesia's story is interesting from beginning to end. Whereas previous Castlevania plots dragged out or got cliché, Shanoa and Albus' tale has some genuinely interesting twists and big emotional moments throughout the whole runtime. Bonus: it's more self-contained and less reliant on wider Castlevania lore than almost any other in the series. Great place to jump in if you're new to the series or genre.
To put it plainly, Order of Ecclesia is exceptional - well worth going out of your way to get a DS (or an emulator) just to play it.
My ranking of the GBA/DS Castlevanias:
1. Order of Ecclesia
2. Aria of Sorrow
3. Portrait of Ruin
4. Dawn of Sorrow
5. Circle of the Moon
6. Harmony of Dissonance
It's another entry solidly on one end of the Metroid-to-Castlevania spectrum: less focused on platforming and a fine-tuned linear weapon/ability upgrades, much more on throwing lots of ideas at the wall and letting the player find out what sticks. But this time, Igarashi & Co get pretty close to having the best of both worlds; namely, the Glyph weapons present some compelling strategic choices, and the overall difficulty is steep enough that you need to make the most of those choices.
There are other nice features. The quest system is more compelling than the previous game (Portrait of Ruin) and yields better rewards; for example, running errands for the Chef earns you better healing item options than the standard Potions you can buy at game start. The character art by Masaki Hirooka is a stunning shift from the generic anime art we saw in Portrait of Ruin or Dawn of Sorrow, much more like Ayami Kojima's gorgeous designs dating back to Symphony, but bringing their own unique energy. And of course the Michiru Yamane OST absolutely rules.
Perhaps most surprising is that Order of Ecclesia's story is interesting from beginning to end. Whereas previous Castlevania plots dragged out or got cliché, Shanoa and Albus' tale has some genuinely interesting twists and big emotional moments throughout the whole runtime. Bonus: it's more self-contained and less reliant on wider Castlevania lore than almost any other in the series. Great place to jump in if you're new to the series or genre.
To put it plainly, Order of Ecclesia is exceptional - well worth going out of your way to get a DS (or an emulator) just to play it.
My ranking of the GBA/DS Castlevanias:
1. Order of Ecclesia
2. Aria of Sorrow
3. Portrait of Ruin
4. Dawn of Sorrow
5. Circle of the Moon
6. Harmony of Dissonance