First time reviewing a game, and it's Castlevania Order of Ecclesia, starring my daughter, Shanoa.
She is Shanoa, my Musume. She looks kinda deadpan here. She works for this organisation called 'Ecclesia'. My daughter is working already!
Don't mess with my musume, she got 1337 stats.
And 1337 equiptments
And 1337 Weapons
Mai Musume love exploring. She somehow ended up outside Dracula's door. Hey! She leveled up!
hahas. Above pictures are taken a few seconds after i decided to make this post.
Soo..
Order of Ecclesia (OoE) is a Castlevania Game, like duh. But what's different is that, this time, it does not star a Belmont. Or anyone related. Oh! And first time in CV history, a girl is the main character of a canon game. I'm proud to say that my musume is the first girl to be the lead.
So, as I said before, my don;t mess with my musume, as she has some weapons no one had seen before. She uses these things call 'Glyphs'.
So, ripped off from CV wikia,
"Shanoa is able to absorb the powers found in glyphs found throughout the castle and within enemies. These glyphs give her magical weapons and abilities and consume her magic meter, which automatically replenishes itself. She can equip a glyph in her right hand, her left hand, and on her back, marking a return to the two-handed weapon style only seen in Symphony of the Night. Each usage of glyph absorbs magic meaning simple attacks use magic. However, equipping certain glyph combinations in each hand will give the ability to activate a "Glyph Union", which will execute a powerful special attack that consumes hearts instead of magic. Glyphs can be found in certain locations on the map, or can be dropped by enemies; at which point, Shanoa can absorb the glyphs simply by holding the up button. Additionally, there are Glyphs that affect the environment; Shanoa will have to absorb these in order to proceed. Besides from attacking, there are also glyphs that will boost skills, increase speed, transform Shanoa into an enemy creature, and so forth."
Ya, my musume is powerful.
So, the story goes like this.
===SPOILER WARNING==="Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia takes place after Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, sometime in the early 1800s. As the Belmont Clan had vanished by that time, several organizations are created in order to research countermeasures against Dracula and his army's eventual return. Between these organizations, the most promising was the Order of Ecclesia who created a triad of magical glyphs named "Dominus". Shanoa is a young lady chosen by the order's leader, Barlowe, as the human vessel for Dominus, but just before the ritual is performed, the glyphs are stolen by Shanoa's best (and only) friend and fellow Ecclesia member Albus, disrupting the ritual and apparently costing Shanoa her emotions and memories. Upon awakening, Barlowe tells her of his version of the events and orders her to retrieve Albus and Dominus.
In her pursuit, Shanoa arrives in the deserted Wygol Village and finds out that Albus kidnapped its inhabitants and keeps each one of them imprisoned in a different location. As Shanoa rescues them throughout the game, she learns that Albus captured them to perform some kind of twisted experiment in them which involved draining samples of their blood. Each villager rescued provides Shanoa with tasks that once completed, provide new rewards. Although completing the tasks is not required to complete the game, its final areas are only unlocked when all villagers are rescued.
On two occasions, Shanoa manages to track down Albus, who willingly lets her retrieve one of the Dominus glyphs. But when she finds him possessed by the power of the third and final glyph, she is forced to battle him; it transpires his objective in gifting her with the glyphs was to learn her absorption technique. If there are villagers left to rescue at that part of the game, Shanoa retrieves the final piece of Dominus after killing Albus and immediately returns to Ecclesia to perform the ritual. The game ends with her untimely death and Barlowe's master plan completed.
However, if all villagers are rescued before Shanoa's final confrontation with Albus, his conscience fuses with hers when she absorbs the final glyph and she learns that Albus's true intentions were to find a way to defeat Dracula without Shanoa using Dominus, as he knew that it would cost her life if she used it. He also reveals that the reason he experimented on the villagers was because they were the last descendants of the Belmont Clan, and he (erroneously) believed their blood would have the power to help him control Dominus without it consuming him. As for her lost emotions and memories, he revealed that Barlowe used them as a sacrifice to gain control of Dominus, a fact he hid from her. He also revealed that Dominus is made from Dracula's own essence.
Confronting her master after learning the truth, Shanoa hears from him that his true objective all this time was to bring Dracula back to life using her as a sacrifice. After Barlowe is defeated, he ends up offering his own life to fulfill his ambition. With no memories left, no emotions left, and with the death of those who were most precious to hers, Shanoa sets for Dracula's castle to put him back into his slumber, and complete the task she has spent her whole life preparing herself for. Shanoa infiltrates Dracula's castle, defeats many of his underlings, and finally confronts him. She successfully defeats him using Dominus, but seemingly at the cost of her own life. However, Albus's spirit appears and reveals to Shanoa that while using Dominus demands a life in return, it need not be hers. He gives up his own in Shanoa's place after restoring her emotions and memories back, but not before he asks her to smile for him one last time. Albus's soul disappears, Castlevania crumbles into ruins and Shanoa escapes. It is also said that all records of Ecclesia vanished soon afterward."
===SPOILER ENDS NAO==Yaa... so my daughter's been having a hard life. So I'll cherish her alot since I've adopted her ^^
Hahas
Points now,
Graphics ★★★★ 8.5
-I'll admit that my Shanoa looks a little weird to those who played the other 2D Castlevanias. But overall, the graphics are nice. Not as dark and gloomy as Circle of the Moon. I like the death animation of many of the monsters.
Enemies ★★★★ 8
-Well, I liked the enemies alot. Doesn't seem to reuse much. The bosses are especially fun to beat. Eligor is especially fun.
Weapons (In this case, all the Glyphs) and Relics ★★★ 7
- The weapons are nice. But most of the weapon glyph have the same speed, so their difference is just their attribute, strength and design. Lacks challenge, but i guess the difficulty of the game overall somehow makes up for it.What i am not happy about is the lack of a super jump glyph/relic. The spells are cool, especially Nitesco. They got this new thing called the Glyph Union, which is basically combines the 2 Hand Glyph you are equipping and turn them into something more badass. Love the Nitesco + Weapon Union.
Maps ★★★★ 8
-Maps are fine, the Magnes point in some of the maps are really fun to play with. But they can also be a pain in the ass sometime. Also, the Training Hall is very fun. A map full of platforms that requires one to be an expert in controlling Shanoa to pass ^^.
Overall ★★★★✭ 9.0
Really fun game. Should buy / download it.
