Metroidvania game lovers...

[gothamhunter]

Do you prefer the Metroid route, where it's more about exploring with fewer power-ups and no levels, or more like Castlevania (SOTN version) with levels/xp and many different weapon varieties?

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Until I started playing emulators, Castlevania 2 was the only one I had ever played as a kid. When I first started playing the other ones, I was like WTF is this crap?!

 

[Born2bwire]

Until I started playing emulators, Castlevania 2 was the only one I had ever played as a kid. When I first started playing the other ones, I was like WTF is this crap?!

I'm so sorry.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I'm so sorry.

I was 5; the flaws weren't readily apparent at the time.

 

[Anonemous]

I'm so sorry.

I feel so bad for that guy.

 

[Fenixgoon]

i haven't played castlevania, but i do enjoy metroid. i also thought darksiders2 did a nice job of balancing itemization/leveling and metroid-ness.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

I generally prefer the CV implementations, simply because they end up with more content - 100 possible weapons is more then 6.

Certainly has it's downsides though - SotN was a great game, but had more game-breaker weapons then I care to count.

 

[akahoovy]

I loved SotN simply because the variety of weapons offered so many ways to approach combat, which to me was extraordinary for a side-scroller. I like both types of games though. With fewer elements to control or assets to make for Metroid, the boss encounters and exploration seem to be stronger.

 

[Geosurface]

I voted Castlevania, although I have great love for both series.

When I was 6 years old, if memory serves, my brother and I would walk a great ways to this bowling alley that had the original Castlevania in it's arcade. We'd play it (I'd mostly watch, being so young)

When we got our NES the year after, it was one of the first titles I wanted.

I was never very good at it, didn't ever get that far into it back then... but I loved it, loved the music.

We also played Metroid at that time, and it was fantastic.

I loved Castlevania 2 (though it was a bit odd) and 3. The next time I touched the series was Castlevania 64, which I liked more than most.

But there's no denying that the Castlevania series has had a rougher transition to 3D than Metroid. Metroid Prime series was fantastic.

Most people I guess don't pay that much attention to the 3D Castlevanias, and they prefer the current 2D stuff.

Personally, I don't care for them. I tried Symphony of the Night, and it seemed kind of cool... thing is though, I hate all that RPG shit they infuse into it, and it's only gotten worse on the more recent ones I've tried, for Nintendo DS and such. Too anime'd up also. I don't care for that excessively anime art style, the shemale main characters... a billion stats and menus to fiddle with. I liked the simplicity of the original entries in the series.

Metroid 1 was fantastic. Great music in that too.

If I was comparing Metroid Prime to Castlevanias these days, I'd give it to Metroid easy.

But original game in each series, I give the slight edge to Castlevania.

 

[Sulaco]

Do you prefer the Metroid route, where it's more about exploring with fewer power-ups and no levels, or more like Castlevania (SOTN version) with levels/xp and many different weapon varieties?

SotN IS "Metroidvania" style. It basically ushered that era in.

When people refer to "Metroidvania", they're talking about the trend of the latest Castlevania games to have essentially one LARGE map or level (castle, 9 times out of 10), and have the player retread it, find different routes, rooms, etc.
As opposed to the earlier Castlevanias, which had smaller, but very distinct levels that progressed linearly.

If you're asking if I/we prfer one large area vs. distinct levels, I'm going old school, and saying I'm tired of the "stuck one large area, keep retreading" approach.

 

[Arkadrel]

I played TONS of Megaman games, and their more akin to Castlevania style I guess.
Lots of powerups ect for mega man

But that was half the fun. Then again there where alot of hidden treasures to find on maps too.

 

[Anarchist420]

SotN IS "Metroidvania" style. It basically ushered that era in.

When people refer to "Metroidvania", they're talking about the trend of the latest Castlevania games to have essentially one LARGE map or level (castle, 9 times out of 10), and have the player retread it, find different routes, rooms, etc.
As opposed to the earlier Castlevanias, which had smaller, but very distinct levels that progressed linearly.

If you're asking if I/we prfer one large area vs. distinct levels, I'm going old school, and saying I'm tired of the "stuck one large area, keep retreading" approach.

This. Except that I prefer metroid games to classic castlevania games. However, I vastly prefer metroid-style cv games to metroid games. It's a shame that IGA's canon may never be completed and that order of ecclesia may be the last metroid vania game. We also may never see another traditionalist metroid game unfortunately.

 

[thespyder]

I actually have both (several) metroid games and Castlevania games for my DS. In fact, that is all I ever play on my DS anymore. I just recycle through the catalog.

My personal favorite is the Metroid games and most specifically Zero Mission. But even Classic metroid which is an unlockable, is very enjoyable.

My preference is finding stuff to power you up rather than leveling up. And "For me", most of the Castlevania games, although there are lots of different weapons, boils down to the whip sword. At least Metroid doesn't make any allusions to that point.

but really both are 'Almost' equal in my book. With a side note that they should continue to make both side scrollers and more Metroid games outside of the Prime series. Great stuff.

 

[cl-scott]

I think in the end, being a Zelda fan, I'm more for the variety of weapons/tools. However, the problem with the both of them, IMO anyway, is that very few games do a good job of keeping you on the right general path.

The thing I hate about Metroid is that you can spend large amounts of time just wandering around looking for something that will trigger the next part of the game. I have just enough programming experience to really appreciate the amount of planning it takes to create a game like Metroid where you're constantly moving back and forth through areas, and needing to keep enemies balanced, not to mention set things up so that you can't access particular areas until you have this or that upgrade. In one of the Metroid Prime games, there was an area where it's a big geothermal plant, and waaay up in the ceiling there's a beam weapon upgrade... But you can't get to it until you have the magnetic ball upgrade, the little bombs for the ball mode (the name of which both escape me now).

I want a game that at least keeps me pointed in the right direction, not wandering around aimlessly until I happen to stumble across something important. If you have that, I don't care if it's Metroid or Castlevania style. In the end, a good game is a good game, and whichever way they go, the developers will have really thought it out and executed it well.

 

[thespyder]

I think in the end, being a Zelda fan, I'm more for the variety of weapons/tools. However, the problem with the both of them, IMO anyway, is that very few games do a good job of keeping you on the right general path.

The thing I hate about Metroid is that you can spend large amounts of time just wandering around looking for something that will trigger the next part of the game. I have just enough programming experience to really appreciate the amount of planning it takes to create a game like Metroid where you're constantly moving back and forth through areas, and needing to keep enemies balanced, not to mention set things up so that you can't access particular areas until you have this or that upgrade. In one of the Metroid Prime games, there was an area where it's a big geothermal plant, and waaay up in the ceiling there's a beam weapon upgrade... But you can't get to it until you have the magnetic ball upgrade, the little bombs for the ball mode (the name of which both escape me now).

I want a game that at least keeps me pointed in the right direction, not wandering around aimlessly until I happen to stumble across something important. If you have that, I don't care if it's Metroid or Castlevania style. In the end, a good game is a good game, and whichever way they go, the developers will have really thought it out and executed it well.

conversely, this is precisely why I love the Metroid games (and to some degree the Castlevania games). I love all of the back and forth 'Trying to find the next exit'. That, to me, makes me feel so much more like it is a real world rather than 'Level 1', 'Level 2', 'Level 3'. ad-nausium. Linear progression isn't what I play these games for.

 

[Fallen Kell]

SotN IS "Metroidvania" style. It basically ushered that era in.

When people refer to "Metroidvania", they're talking about the trend of the latest Castlevania games to have essentially one LARGE map or level (castle, 9 times out of 10), and have the player retread it, find different routes, rooms, etc.
As opposed to the earlier Castlevanias, which had smaller, but very distinct levels that progressed linearly.

I have to disagree with you here. If you actually go back and play the Metroid games, you will find that the early ones do not have much of a "retread the same room 3, 4, 5 times to find a different route" (which opened up because you found the key/item which allows you to open it). Yes, there were a couple rooms that did this, but they were typically just a hallway with a branch point. You might need to come back there 1-2 times to go the other way(s) once you have the key/item.

But I do agree with you on the newer Castlevania games requiring this. I have not been a fan of this approach, as well as not been a fan of the leveling systems added, or the artwork design (I agree with another poster that it is too Anime... bring back the more western classical designs of vampires, werewolves, etc.). It has really put me off on the newer games. It use to simply be a man, his whip, a handful of secondary weapons/items, and an occasional piece of meat (hidden in hundreds of year old crumbling walls... ummm tasty).

 

[Chops McGandhi]

My opinion is probably invalid since I have never actually played any of castlevanians but I imagine I would still prefer metroid with it's get a new item: unlock new areas because it always created this sense of mystery for me. As I would explore there were always these impossible jumps, or blocked off areas, etc and once I would find a special item, it would create a kind of eureka moment in which I though about all the areas that I now suddenly had access to.
That's why I think had I played cv, I would still like metroid better but that's just a guess.

What does everybody think of that shadow complex game that epic made for Xbox arcade a few years ago. I only played the demo but it appeared to a metroid/cv style game. So what are the opinions on that game?

 

[cl-scott]

conversely, this is precisely why I love the Metroid games (and to some degree the Castlevania games). I love all of the back and forth 'Trying to find the next exit'. That, to me, makes me feel so much more like it is a real world rather than 'Level 1', 'Level 2', 'Level 3'. ad-nausium. Linear progression isn't what I play these games for.

Some of that is fine, and I actually liked the way Metroid Prime handled it... If you took too long to find this or that, it'd kind of beat you over the head with a clue.

But I guess I tend to play games for the story. Things that get in the way of the smooth telling of that story tend to annoy me. If that means that things are a little less realistic, so be it.