I like Harmony of Despair. Offline Coop was pretty decent feature and i and my friends did have fun playing those games. I have bought Wiiware one and 2.5D one for ps3 and it was ok. Other 3D games are abysmal at best. Apple Arcade version was so shitty that I have cancelled my Apple Arcade subscription.
I'll say one thing for the first n64 castlevania, the intro was oozing with atmosphere. If you immediately run ahead lightning strikes a nearby tree. It's scripted for when you're close though, so if you idle for a while the storm will go away, run ahead and no lightning strike, so the tree remains intact. I just think that's insane for a game in the 90s. Games today never do stuff like that
My favorite scripted missable moment: The first Skeleton boss fight. When he jumps into the ravine if you follow him to the edge and look down in first person, he'll stop and look back up at you before running away.
@@sjake8308 I enjoyed it, but do recall it being kind of clunky (I probably played it around 2007), though no worse than other games of the era, as you mentioned. I'm not sure why some PlayStation games like Tomb Raider often seem to get a free pass, when some of those are even rougher.
I've been watching for a long time, and I have to say, the quality of these videos has not dipped even a little in all these years. You are doing amazing!!!!
Have to totally disagree about Lords of Shadow. As a major Castlevania fan, starting with Simon's Quest in the 80's, I had a massive amount of fun with the LoS series, especially the first one. There's a magic in Castlevanias 1-4 and Rondo of Blood(PC Engine) that are impossible to beat, imo, but Lords offered their own magic that I thoroughly enjoy to this day.
True! Since a fan from the 80s as well hearing so many bad things for Lords of Shadow sounds silly to me. While I enjoy Game Sack videos sometimes, like this one, I can't believe my ears with some of his opinions.
Game Sack is one of the review series where I enjoy the comedy skit bits. They're good, concise and don't dominate the whole review like with some other YT reviewers. The one where you used pre-recorded footage of yourselves from years ago was genius! Oh, and this one's LOL funny as well!
The thing about Joe is he's _genuine._ We know the skits are just some dumb fun, he knows it too, and we know he knows it. So there's no pretension, no "omfg ur so funny Joe, bro you're crazy 🤣" type stuff. It's just a quick goof at the end of every ep, a little something to roll your eyes and smile at. (not to undermine my whole point but yeah, that one where they integrated all that old footage of themselves WAS pretty genius tho haha...)
The first Castlevania for N64 almost sold me on the console, but my dad wisely reminded me of Tekken 3, Crash 2 and the Spyro trilogy...and alas on Christmas morning there was a PS1, and it was the best Christmas ever.
Loved the PS3 Lords of Shadow games. The atmosphere is amazing, the music was stunning and gameplay fluid and responsive. A modern city built on the foundation of Dracula's Castle? I'd throw my life's savings for a trip there.
The pushing forward when attacking is likely to keep you close to an enemy as you push them back with your attacks. It's not a bad idea per say but it only lends itself to one playstyle, all out attack, and really hurts if you want to play differently.
Judgement actually added some backstory to Grant Danasty in his Story mode. We learned that Grant had feelings for Sypha, but she didn't return his affections because of his appearance and because her feelings were for Trevor. So Grant became a jealous loner, but during his story arc he was finally able to make peace with himself, Trevor, and Sypha's marriage to Trevor.
I'm pretty sure Grant doesn't actually feel feelings, especially for other human beans. He's Grant Da Nasty and he's a nasty man, who doesn't feel feelings, just like a real man. Feelings are for p*******, and he's Grant Danasty, he doesn't have time for feelings. Although if anyone has any recommendations for helping me feel feelings again, I'm open to trying them. I especially don't feel feelings during cutscenes, because they drag on so long, and if I wanted to watch a movie, I'd watch the original Robocop or The Thing (Carpenter) because those are the only 2 good movies that exist, and they don't recognize or waste time on feelings except: "here's what this bad guy feels when he gets shot in the dick" Also, Robocop eats baby food. That is relatable, much moreso than some human "feeling feelings" for some other human, blah blah mushy boring. Robocop shoots people in the dick, and that is also relatable, as that's something I would enjoy doing.
Apprently Curse of Darkness was my favorite Castlevania game, because it was my first 3D Castlevania game, and I still play it to this day because of the Abandoned Castle music in the first area.
18:18 After all these years, finally someone tell me how i can get the sharpest image possible for the Adventure Rebirth. Thanks Joe, you're the Best! 👏👏👏👏👏
I'm I the only one who LOVES the Lord's of Shadow series? Especially love the music from all 3 of those games. Have a few playlist with songs from them. Grew up with the original series and beat them all except the multiplayer ones. Idk. I think lords of shadow was a interesting side universe.
Yes, they are really great games! The defense system works pretty well and it's challenging and rewarding, I would say it is more old school than other games in this regard. Gamesack here just sucks on them, not our problem. Also, these games are gorgeous to look at, specially on PC. So yes, all around great games for me!
@@keness4768 you're wrong on both counts. Lords of Shadow sold nearly 1.8 million units. It has a 94% approval rating. It has an average review score ranging from 8.5 to 7.5 out of 10. Mirror of Fate has an approval rating ranging from 72% to 93%. With an average review score of 7/10. Lords of Shadow 2 has an approval rating ranging from 58% (above average) to 94% (pretty damn high). With an average review score ranging from 58 to 70 (above average to pretty good). Lots of people like them. And they're not shite.
Harmony of Despair is almost entirely reliant on multiplayer. I felt exactly like you did, until I got sucked into the online multiplayer, and realized that you need leveled-up teammates to really enjoy the game. And its pretty damn sweet, once you get good teammates and a good feel of how the game works.
And grinding out the skills for the characters that level based on them. Plus it was fun learning the skips in some levels, like abusing Soma's skull throw.
I enjoyed it a decent amount, though it does eventually devolve into repeatedly rushing a level over and over again chasing sub 1% item drops. The DLC levels were also pretty crap.
CastleVania: Curse of Darkness, the God Hand of the franchise. Lots of combat mechanics buried in a maze of long corridors. I bought that game for $7 not knowing what it was and despite its very slow beginning, sticking with it long enough and you start to see how much fun this game gets once you unlock all the primary functions. This is the only game that has ever made me want to go back and try its hard mode after not playing for a year or so, and that’s such a rare thing that you can tell this was a game of higher quality. I absolutely adore Curse of Darkness.
I thought it was pretty good overall, though the steal mechanic really hurt my enjoyment of the game. The game also felt like rooms and corridors, regardless of the location. It's probably the best of the actual 3D Castlevania games, though I don't think any of them were particularly great.
I liked the N64 Castlevania games a lot for some reason. They have a special atmosphere and i like the aesthetics of the early 3D Games. Sure, the camera was a pain in the ass, and the gameplay was not pin point perfect either. But i liked the strorytelling, the music was good and the game had a very smooth engine for the time!
Agreed. They are flawed but enjoyable games for their time. I actually like that they are slower paced and less “action games” than the PS2 entires. They feel more exploratory and RPG like. The atmosphere is top notch, they are really creepy at times
@@johnnyslokes2712 Besides Mario almost everything had a rough transition from 2D to 3D. In 99 when these came out it they wanted to try and transition the series to the current hardware (N64). For an early 3D game it looks pretty good. Better than 16 but of course not but it’s got more complexity.
@@markwebster4996 I would even argue that Mario should have never gone 3D but instead built off what they did in SMW or made a metroidvania style Mario game (I feel platformers should just be metroidvania by nature). Either would have been better than creating the moon fetcher games that we got instead. Mario 64 felt like a slap in the face for me, opposite of a Mario game
@@johnnyslokes2712 If you prefer 2D that’s fine but we’ve gotten a bunch of great 3D Mario games including SM64. They are really different things. It’s just not realistic for series to never transition. They’ve still made both styles
I quite liked the Lords of Shadow games, especially the second. I wish MercurySteam could get a second chance with the series after they did such a great job with Metroid Dread
Halfway through the second lords of shadow right now. Loved the first one, but the second one just feels off. The setting gets too samey. Does it get better?
I agree! It's especially nice to play the PC version, since the game can actually run smoothly then. And I think the environmental design in the game is absolutely beautiful
That was a fair take on the N64 games, I get not everyone likes them but I like that Joe was still fair with his coverage and did exaggerate like a lot of people do.
A lot more harsh on Lords of Shadow though. I personally loved the games though Lords of Shadow 2 suffered from trying force a "metroidvania" style onto it and the redesign of one enemy was bad.
also he won a Goldman prize for its excellent work at recycling sprites and other elements of the franchise, and it was a hard-fought competition with FIFA and CoD participating that year
that is IF people on Xbox were able to buy it back then cause it's digital-only unless it's on GamePass or whatever, those people has missed it/will miss it then again, it feels kinda dirty playing Castlevania on Xbox, or even any Japanese-made games on those consoles lol
@@T4silly since Rondo of Blood u mean. But the thing is that every game brought something new, new enemies, new design for certain enemies (golems, armors, devils, Death). In Harmony of Despair it was pure recycling, No exclusive design that i could recall for that game
Aww man 35mins sack episode. Soon as I get back I'll be watching. Joe you're a legend for this decade of content you've given us all. I gonna patreon you some cash fella 😂 After ten years I feel like you deserve to be paid for it lol nice work buddy appreciate it
Good idea,Joe could do a special about Castlevania clones sometime in the future. Besides Bloodstained we had Master of Darkness and Rusty (for PC9801 and DOS),underrated games.
Castlevania 64 is actually one of my favorite games of all time lol. Yes the camera sucks, but you learn to work around it toward the middle of the game. ALSO, I would like to point out that you guys talked about castlevania 64 in a previous episode and Dave said “the music is AMAZING”, which is entirely true.
Lol Exactly get good. You cant just jump into ogres faces over and over again and not expect to be grabbed and thrown everytime. As Joe demonstrated in his gameplay footage. The combat is way better if you put some effort into it and look into the moves.
@@erbicus The whip/blood slap multi hit move is a bit overpowered though, working on pretty much every encounter. Still enjoyed using it though, as the games really aren’t ever challenging.
I loved lord of shadows. based on the fact that they give us the reason why the Belmonts or descendants of the belmonts are cursed and destined to fight Dracula. Also you come to understand Dracula some more and why he’s so mad. He was trying and told he could save his wife to only find out he was being lied to and betrayed by the brotherhood. I also liked in two how there was redemption in Dracula and was able to fix the relationship or at least take a step in rebuilding his relationship with his son alucard (trevor belomont).
Harmony of Despair is awesome if you can get a 6 player game going. Finding cool weapons and learning some strange but powerful playstyles for the different characters is great. I also like Curse of Darkness when it came out and Lords of Shadow was fun (but not groundbreaking).
Ask, it’s crazy how much Virtua Fighter 1 and its conetemporaries like Toshinden used the 3D camera to liberally whip around. You were frequently fighting with a characters back to the camera. I kind of miss that.
@@JazGalaxy Toshinden was fun but awful to see and weird to play, and the action still was on a 2D plane, movements towards and away from the camera were clunky, similar, as you said, to VF. From the images in Joe's video and other videos it seems to me that the whole movement in Judgement was free
I've been looking forward to you covering Rebirth since you started looking at all the Castlevania games! I absolutely love Rebirth and even bought the OST on vinyl because it's so good... hopefully we get a proper physical release some day
They're not even the best 8-bit clonevania games. And that's more an exaltation of Holy Diver, 8 Eyes and Master of Darkness than a slight of the Bloodstained games which are great.
I loved Lords of Shadow. The voice acting, art and environments were beautiful especially on the “ultimate” version on Steam for 1080/60 goodness. I remember crossing the chain bridge in the snow to the huge castle. What a sight! When Carmilla says “Join me”, I would’ve said heck yeah! The DLC wasn’t bad either. Insane amount of content altogether. I hope Konami releases the trilogy as a 4K remaster soon.
I suppose it's the 'beauty' of individual opinions. I usually agree with so much of Joe's opinions. But the whole LOS series is fantastic. Ive never been so emotionally invested to a castlevania series (castlevania 4 before this series). I totally get the arguement that it could have been rebranded/rebadged as a different title altogether. But for me, as a Castlevania game, the whole story and production (music, graphics, gameplay etc) is fantastic! And Ive played pretty much all of the Castlevania games, bar a couple. Opinions eh?....gotta love 'em.
I have to disagree. I thought the Mercury Steam developed games were kind of trash to me. At this point, if I want to play a "3D" Castlevania, I'll go play Darksiders 1, 2 and 3.
Curse of Darkness was a really pleasant surprise and I'm glad I got it back when it was still cheap. So many of these Castlevania games have gotten crazy expensive now!
I can proudly say I have most castlevania games, apart the 64 and Wii ones... this includes all ds, 3ds, ps1, ps2, ps3, ps4 collections, and NES and Super Nintendo.
I have to disagree with you on Lords of the Shadow. I love that game, although sequel was kinda meh in my opinion, especially those slow shadow-rat sneaking levels .I played it on Xbox 360 and later in 4k 60 fps on PC and that was great experience. It's not perfect by any means, but for a Castlevania fan, must play. Mirror of Fate, I haven't tried yet sadly. Great video, thank you.
I never finished Symphony of the Night back when it was relatively new. The clocktower stage was difficult for me, so I never beat it and i returned it to the rental store. Years later, I played Curse of Darkness, got hooked to it and beat it several times, even Crazy Mode. Then I decided to return to Symphony. I noticed that there are a lot of long empty corridors in that game as well, and the fact that Chairs are a shared theme made me conclude that Curse of Darkness was trying to make a 3D Symphony, but had to make a lot of compromises for it to be playable... and long wide corridors to give Hector enough room to fight was one of them.
@@thepickles8833 So I'm not the only one who noticed that SotN was full of long corridors, then! Great game, but I think I enjoyed Dawn of Sorrow's map design more... wouldn't hurt to go replay it to make sure, though. :)
It's so cool that Castlevania has stuck around in the video game zeitgeist throughout all these decades. Just a great game setting and concept that is timeless enough to keep it fun after years and years. I think this was the 2nd video game I ever saw/played (after Super Mario Bros.), and I loved it so much. About 30 years ago that was, and I hope the series keeps at it for at least another 30. About time for a new Castlevania to come out!
I'll be honest I'm not that fussed about the games, I always preferred the mastersystem game that was similar. The Netflix series was great though. However I need to play symphony of the night, I own it just never played it.
@@aweigh1010 lol "Western crap" as if the entire series isn't about European horror and monster tropes. Especially when Japan only knows how to pachinko and gacha the series now. Mirror of Fate was pretty bad though
Curse Of Darkness was definitely the high point for me. I played the crap out of that game. But to really complete that game, and beat the boss rush mode was sickeningly hard.
I played Castlevania on N64 only recently for the first time. It’s definitely clunky, but I enjoyed it way more than I was expecting. The atmosphere and music/sound design is top notch I thought. And the rendition of the bloodlines tune on the opening screen is excellent.
It’s funny how 2 other franchises picked up the Castlevania mantle but in 3D: Devil May Cry and Dark Souls - two very different games that nonetheless borrow heavily from Castlevania.
Been in a massive Castlevania mood as of recent. It's starting to die down, but this is a great way to end it off before it does for me. Great job Joe.
Recently started getting into the series by getting the 3 collections that are out now. Not sure why it took me so long to get into them since I love gothic settings. I think I'll be sticking to the 2D games.
Being born in the early 90s, my first experience with Castlevania was the first N64 title. Since I didn’t know any better, I thought it was great, despite the tough controls. Still have a soft spot for it now, as well as legacy of darkness which I got later on.
Konami recently re-released the Gba Castlevanias on a collection... hopefully they're going to make more of these... a Ds collection with Rebirth as a bonus would be great. Also maybe a 3d collection featuring the 2 n64 games and the two ps2 games.
I'm currently playing through Castlevania (64) for the first time, and was wondering about how to get the true ending. Then you uploaded this video and straight up told me. Thank you Joe! 😉
Lords of Shadow deserved a little more attention here. Sure you could argue its not a classic castlevania and that it may have missed the mark. It was a GoW knock off Frankenstein with elements of uncharted and shadow of the colossus alike. But it was an interesting attempt to reboot the series. And with such star power behind it, kojima, Patrick Stewart, Robert Carlyle and don't forget Mercury Steam who now will be know as the devs who created the fantastic Metroid dread. The game did start to blossom once you got inside the castle to be fair. A worthy stab at the series, even if it lost its way.
@@DC-co3gf I played the first LoS and Mirror of Fate to completion. And laughed my ass off at the end of LoS where you beat Satan and then suddenly Gabriel in a cutscene is like "I AM DRACUUUUUULLLEEEE"
Greetings from China... There is a rarity you missed! Castlevania: The Arcade, released in Japan (Asia) as Akumajō Dracula. I played at a local mall a lot about a decade ago.
Well, as a longtime fan of the series since the early days of the NES first outing, I am one of the few who actually *love* the Lords of Shadow game. Many folks complained that it didn't feel like a Castlevania game, but I don' t agree with that. I think Castlevania was much more related to its atmosphere, its eerie monsters and whatnot - and LOS definetely has it all. It may look superficial and derivative at first, but once you start going deeper into the story and develop Gabriel's attacks, things get really exciting. Nowadays, LOS and SOTN are the ones I always go back to and play again and again.
@@carlosaugustodinizgarcia3526 I swear, they had a more or less good reputation till that AVGN video where he played up one part of the game that's not even bad
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, Super Castlevania IV, and Akumajō Dracula X: Chi no Rondo (Rondo of Blood) remain my favorites within the franchise, however I still enjoy Castlevania: Lament of Innocence for what it is. I wanted to love Judgment but yeah the camera bugged me.
......really Joe, you prefer Emo Death Note edgelord bike shorts wearing Simon Belmont in Judgement over Mirror of Fates fitting barbarian take?! yesh I know preference is subjective, but the interesting redesigns were the only elements everyone universally liked in Mirror of Fate
One thing I never see people say about the Castlevania series is this: it was always very clear to me that the original idea was “medieval heavy metal looking dude fights classic movie monsters.” Like especially Castlevania one through three, if memory serves all of them use a fake film reel as part of their animation. I think trademark and copyright issues always made Konami afraid to say that too explicitly, and I think over time they grew beyond those roots, but I do think that’s the original conception.
Just wanted to say I appreciate how you discuss the experience of playing each game on the original hardware. I actually didn't know about the 480p on PS2 using GSM which was a nice tidbit, as well as the 4:3 mode being sharper on Wii. Funnily enough there are some world record-holders for shmups like Mushihimesama Futari that absolutely swear by the 360 controller's dpad if you can believe that. Excellent video as always.
3D Castlevania really isn't as bad as people say. I'd call the 2 n64 games and the 2 ps2 games to be quite underrated. I'm gonna have to get those ps2 games for my collection one of these days as i've never played them, but this video definitely made me want to.
You're absolutely correct. I own all the N64 and PS2 titles, and none of them are bad. The N64 titles are a bit clunky, but they're better than old reviews suggest them to be. The PS2 titles are hands down the best 3D Castlevania games to date, definitely worth playing. Lament of Innocence in particular gets extra cool points for literally being the origin story to the ENTIRE franchise including the birth of Dracula, the Belmonts, the Vampire Killer, everything.
If Konami wasn't mostly a Pachinko and workout gym (here in Japan, yes) company nowadays, they would put more thought into their legacy collections. Can you imagine if Castlevania Adventure Rebirth had been included on the Castlevania Anniversary Collection?
Man I genuinely love both PS2/Xbox era castlevanias. Lament of Innocence felt like a well put 3d conceptualization of the traditional castlevania formula, being stage based and having the whip with subweapons as the main combat. Then Curse of Darkness expanded on that with what I would argue was a 3d form of the metroidvania. Open explorable world interconnected with many paths, extensive selections of weapons to use, from spears, axes, swords, maces etc and even the innocent devil/ familiar system. I thought it was especially unique how the weapon style you were using would influence the evolution of your familiar. Some argued the level design was a bit drab, I enjoyed all of it thoroughly, especially the interdimensional abstract levels near the end. The unlocking hidden playable characters in both games added a lot of replay value for me as well, with the vampire Joaquim and his floating swoards in the first game, and getting a 3d version of Richter in the second. Not to mention the soundtrack of both games absolutely SLAPPED. These games DESERVE a remake/remaster
This episode definitely was a little bit of "Old man angry at modernization of old franchises". As a fan of Castlevania since the first as well, I love Lords of Shadow 1/2.
That's fine but I disagree with your assessment! They were pretty generic. I played them at the time. A mish mash of other popular games, but not as good. They are ok but nowhere near Castlevania standard imo of course!
So many of the old greats struggled to transition into 3D. Nintendo did damn good with their games sure, but we left a lot of great series behind around that time.
GSM guys fixed most many FMV problems using field flipping. But this is only in newer 0.40 version only available on Open PS2 loader. GSM is not standalone homebrew anymore now you can only get GSM as feature within OPL. Many things have been fixed but people don't know because they keep using the old stand alone version. Which version are you using Joe ?
I updated all that maybe a few months ago, OPL included. I don't recall the version off hand but I'll have to grab the latest regardless. I did notice some field flipping options (it was described slightly differently). I think that's how I was even able to get the game to run in the first place in 480p.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 86 | คู่เอก "คมเพชร vs ชาติพยัคฆ์"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/m3q_dRYDuU8/mqdefault.jpg)
![ปฏิเสธไม่ไหว (Crush on you) - LIPTA feat. No One Else [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/NBw1jF342vw/mqdefault.jpg)
Do you have a favorite 3D Castlevania game or do you hate them all?
I like Harmony of Despair. Offline Coop was pretty decent feature and i and my friends did have fun playing those games. I have bought Wiiware one and 2.5D one for ps3 and it was ok. Other 3D games are abysmal at best.
Apple Arcade version was so shitty that I have cancelled my Apple Arcade subscription.
Curse of darkness is very underrated and a dare I say? A hidden gem?
Curse of darkness brings so many good memories, I really love that soundtrack
Let's hope Konami makes a Castlevania 3D collection
Who's your favorite hero of the franchise?
What cut scenes were cut from Legacy of Darkness?
I'll say one thing for the first n64 castlevania, the intro was oozing with atmosphere. If you immediately run ahead lightning strikes a nearby tree. It's scripted for when you're close though, so if you idle for a while the storm will go away, run ahead and no lightning strike, so the tree remains intact. I just think that's insane for a game in the 90s. Games today never do stuff like that
My favorite scripted missable moment: The first Skeleton boss fight. When he jumps into the ravine if you follow him to the edge and look down in first person, he'll stop and look back up at you before running away.
@@orinanime Hah, I just assumed that he disappeared into the ground, the way other games would have done.
I thought N64 Castlevania was perfectly fine back when it was released, but like most early 3D action games it has aged extremely poorly.
@@sjake8308 meh I think it's aged fine. Not great. But not the awfulness that some people think. CVLoD has definitely aged better.
@@sjake8308 I enjoyed it, but do recall it being kind of clunky (I probably played it around 2007), though no worse than other games of the era, as you mentioned. I'm not sure why some PlayStation games like Tomb Raider often seem to get a free pass, when some of those are even rougher.
I've been watching for a long time, and I have to say, the quality of these videos has not dipped even a little in all these years. You are doing amazing!!!!
Have to totally disagree about Lords of Shadow. As a major Castlevania fan, starting with Simon's Quest in the 80's, I had a massive amount of fun with the LoS series, especially the first one. There's a magic in Castlevanias 1-4 and Rondo of Blood(PC Engine) that are impossible to beat, imo, but Lords offered their own magic that I thoroughly enjoy to this day.
The first Lords of Shadow is very good. I enjoyed it a lot, gave me Castlevania IV vibes with its atmosphere and the music is great.
Agreed. I love Lords of Shadow 1.
Yes to all of the above!!
True! Since a fan from the 80s as well hearing so many bad things for Lords of Shadow sounds silly to me. While I enjoy Game Sack videos sometimes, like this one, I can't believe my ears with some of his opinions.
I also loved Lords of Shadow- the 1st one. & I didn't feel any God of War vibe with it as well.
Game Sack is one of the review series where I enjoy the comedy skit bits. They're good, concise and don't dominate the whole review like with some other YT reviewers. The one where you used pre-recorded footage of yourselves from years ago was genius! Oh, and this one's LOL funny as well!
Indeed. Considering some of the absolute trash people who get millions of views, its a real shame GS doesn't get more.
@@wullahblack6452 I'd prefer they stay that way
I’ll take this note for my future video as well
The thing about Joe is he's _genuine._ We know the skits are just some dumb fun, he knows it too, and we know he knows it. So there's no pretension, no "omfg ur so funny Joe, bro you're crazy 🤣" type stuff. It's just a quick goof at the end of every ep, a little something to roll your eyes and smile at.
(not to undermine my whole point but yeah, that one where they integrated all that old footage of themselves WAS pretty genius tho haha...)
The first Castlevania for N64 almost sold me on the console, but my dad wisely reminded me of Tekken 3, Crash 2 and the Spyro trilogy...and alas on Christmas morning there was a PS1, and it was the best Christmas ever.
My friend had it. It was shit :)
Alas means a great sadness or concern. I think what you mean to say is "thus" or maybe "I digress"?
Loved the PS3 Lords of Shadow games. The atmosphere is amazing, the music was stunning and gameplay fluid and responsive. A modern city built on the foundation of Dracula's Castle? I'd throw my life's savings for a trip there.
The pushing forward when attacking is likely to keep you close to an enemy as you push them back with your attacks. It's not a bad idea per say but it only lends itself to one playstyle, all out attack, and really hurts if you want to play differently.
I loved the first Lords of Shadows and both 64 games. Hated the second PS3 LoS because they made it more like a Metal Gear game without the fun.
Judgement actually added some backstory to Grant Danasty in his Story mode. We learned that Grant had feelings for Sypha, but she didn't return his affections because of his appearance and because her feelings were for Trevor. So Grant became a jealous loner, but during his story arc he was finally able to make peace with himself, Trevor, and Sypha's marriage to Trevor.
I'm pretty sure Grant doesn't actually feel feelings, especially for other human beans.
He's Grant Da Nasty and he's a nasty man, who doesn't feel feelings, just like a real man.
Feelings are for p*******, and he's Grant Danasty, he doesn't have time for feelings.
Although if anyone has any recommendations for helping me feel feelings again, I'm open to trying them.
I especially don't feel feelings during cutscenes, because they drag on so long, and if I wanted to watch a movie, I'd watch the original Robocop or The Thing (Carpenter) because those are the only 2 good movies that exist, and they don't recognize or waste time on feelings except: "here's what this bad guy feels when he gets shot in the dick"
Also, Robocop eats baby food. That is relatable, much moreso than some human "feeling feelings" for some other human, blah blah mushy boring.
Robocop shoots people in the dick, and that is also relatable, as that's something I would enjoy doing.
He became a jealous loner ? That's so anime protagonist of him, how original.
Apprently Curse of Darkness was my favorite Castlevania game, because it was my first 3D Castlevania game, and I still play it to this day because of the Abandoned Castle music in the first area.
18:18 After all these years, finally someone tell me how i can get the sharpest image possible for the Adventure Rebirth. Thanks Joe, you're the Best! 👏👏👏👏👏
Agreed. I wish I knew this back when I was playing it on the Wii.
Emulation. That's how im playing this and gradius rebirth
@@123doomdoom yOu KnOw YoU cAn JuSt eMuLaTe iT!!!1!
I'm I the only one who LOVES the Lord's of Shadow series? Especially love the music from all 3 of those games. Have a few playlist with songs from them. Grew up with the original series and beat them all except the multiplayer ones. Idk. I think lords of shadow was a interesting side universe.
Yes, they are really great games! The defense system works pretty well and it's challenging and rewarding, I would say it is more old school than other games in this regard. Gamesack here just sucks on them, not our problem. Also, these games are gorgeous to look at, specially on PC. So yes, all around great games for me!
Lords of Shadow is great.
Mirror of Fate is amazing.
LoS2 is pretty good.
I love the trilogy.
You are in fact the only one. They’re shite.
@@keness4768 you're wrong on both counts.
Lords of Shadow sold nearly 1.8 million units.
It has a 94% approval rating.
It has an average review score ranging from 8.5 to 7.5 out of 10.
Mirror of Fate has an approval rating ranging from 72% to 93%.
With an average review score of 7/10.
Lords of Shadow 2 has an approval rating ranging from 58% (above average) to 94% (pretty damn high).
With an average review score ranging from 58 to 70 (above average to pretty good).
Lots of people like them.
And they're not shite.
Not the only one! I love Lords of Shadow 1. Fantastic game imo.
Harmony of Despair is almost entirely reliant on multiplayer. I felt exactly like you did, until I got sucked into the online multiplayer, and realized that you need leveled-up teammates to really enjoy the game. And its pretty damn sweet, once you get good teammates and a good feel of how the game works.
And grinding out the skills for the characters that level based on them. Plus it was fun learning the skips in some levels, like abusing Soma's skull throw.
That makes the game unplayable.
I enjoyed it a decent amount, though it does eventually devolve into repeatedly rushing a level over and over again chasing sub 1% item drops. The DLC levels were also pretty crap.
As a fan of the series, I can't wait to see this one!
Happy belated New year everyone!
Happy new year
CastleVania: Curse of Darkness,
the God Hand of the franchise.
Lots of combat mechanics buried in a maze of long corridors. I bought that game for $7 not knowing what it was and despite its very slow beginning, sticking with it long enough and you start to see how much fun this game gets once you unlock all the primary functions. This is the only game that has ever made me want to go back and try its hard mode after not playing for a year or so, and that’s such a rare thing that you can tell this was a game of higher quality. I absolutely adore Curse of Darkness.
I also liked that game's version of Issac. A complete fucking maniac.
You've definitely sold me the idea of this game I am gonna get the original PS2 9r whatever version I can and see how I go 👍
My god.....can it really be you?!? I haven't see this can of pickles since the glory days of The Best Friends.
Curse of darkness is the only 3D cv I actually enjoyed. But I’m in the old fart club.
I thought it was pretty good overall, though the steal mechanic really hurt my enjoyment of the game. The game also felt like rooms and corridors, regardless of the location. It's probably the best of the actual 3D Castlevania games, though I don't think any of them were particularly great.
I liked the N64 Castlevania games a lot for some reason. They have a special atmosphere and i like the aesthetics of the early 3D Games. Sure, the camera was a pain in the ass, and the gameplay was not pin point perfect either. But i liked the strorytelling, the music was good and the game had a very smooth engine for the time!
Agreed. They are flawed but enjoyable games for their time. I actually like that they are slower paced and less “action games” than the PS2 entires. They feel more exploratory and RPG like. The atmosphere is top notch, they are really creepy at times
Compare it to any 2D Castlevania and you'll realize how bad it is and how bad it looks in comparison, how did they go backwards without realizing it?
@@johnnyslokes2712 Besides Mario almost everything had a rough transition from 2D to 3D. In 99 when these came out it they wanted to try and transition the series to the current hardware (N64). For an early 3D game it looks pretty good. Better than 16 but of course not but it’s got more complexity.
@@markwebster4996 I would even argue that Mario should have never gone 3D but instead built off what they did in SMW or made a metroidvania style Mario game (I feel platformers should just be metroidvania by nature). Either would have been better than creating the moon fetcher games that we got instead. Mario 64 felt like a slap in the face for me, opposite of a Mario game
@@johnnyslokes2712 If you prefer 2D that’s fine but we’ve gotten a bunch of great 3D Mario games including SM64. They are really different things. It’s just not realistic for series to never transition. They’ve still made both styles
Here I am at home suffering with covid and yet watching game sack makes me feel better
Get well soon, bro! :)
@@kuva7275 thank you
I thought Curse of Darkness hit the perfect balance and would have loved to have seen more of that
Easily Curse of Darkness was the most underrated Castlevania game ever made.
It was boring. Endless hallways. Lame level design.
@@gaylordfocker7990
If you are judging it by it’s level design instead of it’s gameplay, then you’re grading it the same way IGN graded God Hand.
@@thepickles8833 It's boring. Period.
@@thepickles8833 Level Desing is part of the gameplay
Ahhh, finally Joe, the video I've been waiting for and a perfect conclusion to your Castlevania series videos.
Thanks a lot for your amazing work.
I quite liked the Lords of Shadow games, especially the second. I wish MercurySteam could get a second chance with the series after they did such a great job with Metroid Dread
Ooof big thumbs down
@@_Tizoc_ Oof it’s an opinion. They like it and that’s ok.
Halfway through the second lords of shadow right now. Loved the first one, but the second one just feels off. The setting gets too samey. Does it get better?
27:00 the 3D effect on the 3DS is really great in this game and I'd say it's one of the better looking ones on the system
Castlevania Judgment's art style is by the same dude who gave us "Death Note".
I really enjoyed lords of shadow 1. Fun combat . Patrick Stewart. And what an ending
I agree! It's especially nice to play the PC version, since the game can actually run smoothly then. And I think the environmental design in the game is absolutely beautiful
Agree. I Love game sack but this video is a bit disconnected and fanboy.
Both games are actually pretty good. The first game I consider a damn good game.
Yeah, it's easily the best 3d castlevania. It's a fun game for sure
Harmony of Despair is a ton of fun in multiplayer, my friends and I spent hours upon hours playing that game. Good times!
I love the N64 Castlevania games do I always get nervous when someone covers them. Let's see how this goes...
That was a fair take on the N64 games, I get not everyone likes them but I like that Joe was still fair with his coverage and did exaggerate like a lot of people do.
A lot more harsh on Lords of Shadow though. I personally loved the games though Lords of Shadow 2 suffered from trying force a "metroidvania" style onto it and the redesign of one enemy was bad.
Emulation saved that awesome Wiiware Castlevania game - ty dolphin devs :)
Harmony of Despair is one of my personal favorites.
The last Castlevania Igarashi got to work on.
And it's back-compat on Xbox.
also he won a Goldman prize for its excellent work at recycling sprites and other elements of the franchise, and it was a hard-fought competition with FIFA and CoD participating that year
that is IF people on Xbox were able to buy it back then cause it's digital-only
unless it's on GamePass or whatever, those people has missed it/will miss it
then again, it feels kinda dirty playing Castlevania on Xbox, or even any Japanese-made games on those consoles lol
@@DaedalosC9 Castlevania has been re-using sprites in many games since Symphony of the Night.
@@T4silly since Rondo of Blood u mean.
But the thing is that every game brought something new, new enemies, new design for certain enemies (golems, armors, devils, Death). In Harmony of Despair it was pure recycling, No exclusive design that i could recall for that game
@@OriginalMasters thanks! you saved my life!, my bloodline will remember this and each generation will tell stories about it
Just so everyone is clear, PS3 Harmony of Despair also has online multi, with active users sometimes!
Not played it since release but I loved the first Lords of Shadow game. Enjoyed it much more than any God Of War I've played
Dante's Inferno and Castlevania LOS were 2 of the best games from that era. I really enjoyed them.
Aww man 35mins sack episode. Soon as I get back I'll be watching.
Joe you're a legend for this decade of content you've given us all. I gonna patreon you some cash fella 😂
After ten years I feel like you deserve to be paid for it lol nice work buddy appreciate it
Surprised to not see Bloodstained included. I know its not a Castlevania game by name but all things considered it might as well be.
Good idea,Joe could do a special about Castlevania clones sometime in the future.
Besides Bloodstained we had Master of Darkness and Rusty (for PC9801 and DOS),underrated games.
Castlevania 64 is actually one of my favorite games of all time lol. Yes the camera sucks, but you learn to work around it toward the middle of the game.
ALSO, I would like to point out that you guys talked about castlevania 64 in a previous episode and Dave said “the music is AMAZING”, which is entirely true.
Devil May Cry: Lament of Innocence looks really cool! I think I might finally pick that one up.
Yeah, it did feel a bit like a poor man's Devil May Cry. Lament of Innocence is a decent game in it's own right, though it's no classic.
With a trashy camera and gameplay tho
In the world full of sh*t and bullsh*t there is Gamesack. Thank you for your videos.
You forgot about the world of sh** pickles and bull f***.
I love lords of shadow!!! So great. Good story and good combat. Get Good
Lol Exactly get good. You cant just jump into ogres faces over and over again and not expect to be grabbed and thrown everytime. As Joe demonstrated in his gameplay footage.
The combat is way better if you put some effort into it and look into the moves.
@@erbicus The whip/blood slap multi hit move is a bit overpowered though, working on pretty much every encounter.
Still enjoyed using it though, as the games really aren’t ever challenging.
Get good indeed! I've got platinum, including all extra trophies for the two DLCs.
They're not that great. Komami farmed them out to a Western developer remember.
I love Lords Of Shadow 2 and I have played but not finished Mirror Of Fate yet.
I will play Lords Of Shadow 1.
New GameSack.....best way to start a new day
I loved lord of shadows. based on the fact that they give us the reason why the Belmonts or descendants of the belmonts are cursed and destined to fight Dracula. Also you come to understand Dracula some more and why he’s so mad. He was trying and told he could save his wife to only find out he was being lied to and betrayed by the brotherhood. I also liked in two how there was redemption in Dracula and was able to fix the relationship or at least take a step in rebuilding his relationship with his son alucard (trevor belomont).
Harmony of Despair is awesome if you can get a 6 player game going. Finding cool weapons and learning some strange but powerful playstyles for the different characters is great. I also like Curse of Darkness when it came out and Lords of Shadow was fun (but not groundbreaking).
Joe, fighting games like Castlevania Judgement, when you're not tied to a 2D plane but free to roam in 3D, are usually referred to as "arena fighters"
Yeah, and they're awful.
@@audiovisual51 Usually yes, agreed. Power Stone and Destrega weren't so bad though
Ask, it’s crazy how much Virtua Fighter 1 and its conetemporaries like Toshinden used the 3D camera to liberally whip around. You were frequently fighting with a characters back to the camera.
I kind of miss that.
@@JazGalaxy Toshinden was fun but awful to see and weird to play, and the action still was on a 2D plane, movements towards and away from the camera were clunky, similar, as you said, to VF. From the images in Joe's video and other videos it seems to me that the whole movement in Judgement was free
I've been looking forward to you covering Rebirth since you started looking at all the Castlevania games! I absolutely love Rebirth and even bought the OST on vinyl because it's so good... hopefully we get a proper physical release some day
Yes!
Rebirth. Of Rebirth.
Same with Contra Rebirth. Incredible games!
I"ve got a feeling we'll see it again in the inevitable 3rd CV collection with Rondo and SOTN
@@koopakape : That would be good...! 👍
A wild DGR appears! I hope this means you'll play Rebirth on your channel at some point? Or a twitch stream perhaps?
I really enjoyed the first LoS. The puzzles and the boss battles were so much fun
The "8-bit" Bloodstained games are the best Classicvania games, change my mind.
They're not even the best 8-bit clonevania games.
And that's more an exaltation of Holy Diver, 8 Eyes and Master of Darkness than a slight of the Bloodstained games which are great.
I loved Lords of Shadow. The voice acting, art and environments were beautiful especially on the “ultimate” version on Steam for 1080/60 goodness. I remember crossing the chain bridge in the snow to the huge castle. What a sight! When Carmilla says “Join me”, I would’ve said heck yeah! The DLC wasn’t bad either. Insane amount of content altogether. I hope Konami releases the trilogy as a 4K remaster soon.
Yup. LoS is a fantastic game, and actually also a really good Castlevania game.
I suppose it's the 'beauty' of individual opinions. I usually agree with so much of Joe's opinions.
But the whole LOS series is fantastic. Ive never been so emotionally invested to a castlevania series (castlevania 4 before this series).
I totally get the arguement that it could have been rebranded/rebadged as a different title altogether. But for me, as a Castlevania game, the whole story and production (music, graphics, gameplay etc) is fantastic! And Ive played pretty much all of the Castlevania games, bar a couple.
Opinions eh?....gotta love 'em.
I have to disagree. I thought the Mercury Steam developed games were kind of trash to me. At this point, if I want to play a "3D" Castlevania, I'll go play Darksiders 1, 2 and 3.
@@MrRedFoxorMrelzorrorojo Well, opinions. I happen to think the Darksiders games are boring as hell and have a terrible art style.
Curse of Darkness was a really pleasant surprise and I'm glad I got it back when it was still cheap. So many of these Castlevania games have gotten crazy expensive now!
Sad to see this series end! You did a great job 💪👍 this was always a series I enjoyed.
I always liked the Mercury Steam Castlevania games.
EDIT: The 2nd one (for the DS) was very good imho...
I can proudly say I have most castlevania games, apart the 64 and Wii ones... this includes all ds, 3ds, ps1, ps2, ps3, ps4 collections, and NES and Super Nintendo.
I have to disagree with you on Lords of the Shadow. I love that game, although sequel was kinda meh in my opinion, especially those slow shadow-rat sneaking levels .I played it on Xbox 360 and later in 4k 60 fps on PC and that was great experience. It's not perfect by any means, but for a Castlevania fan, must play. Mirror of Fate, I haven't tried yet sadly. Great video, thank you.
Curse of darkness, the game where u need to spend 80% of the gameplay walking through gigantic empty halls.
Same happened in LOI.The N64 had atrocious gameplay but levels looked too big and with more variety compared to the PS2 games.
I never finished Symphony of the Night back when it was relatively new. The clocktower stage was difficult for me, so I never beat it and i returned it to the rental store.
Years later, I played Curse of Darkness, got hooked to it and beat it several times, even Crazy Mode. Then I decided to return to Symphony. I noticed that there are a lot of long empty corridors in that game as well, and the fact that Chairs are a shared theme made me conclude that Curse of Darkness was trying to make a 3D Symphony, but had to make a lot of compromises for it to be playable... and long wide corridors to give Hector enough room to fight was one of them.
@@thepickles8833 So I'm not the only one who noticed that SotN was full of long corridors, then! Great game, but I think I enjoyed Dawn of Sorrow's map design more... wouldn't hurt to go replay it to make sure, though. :)
They're called innocent devil therefore stands ( lD) in curse of darkness.
I have a soft spot for Castlevania 64. Had it growing up and beat it many times
Thank goodness for Game Sack being here to properly acknowledge Castlevania's history for the 35th anniversary
You might want to check out Slopes Games Room. His channel did an excellent deep dive into the history of Castlevania 👍🏻
That's exactly what I needed! I started playing Curse of darkness yesterday and I'm having more fun than I thought.
Great episode Joe, even after nearly 11 years the quality of Game Sack never dips. Really appreciate all the great content you’ve given us.
To be clear the PS3 version of Harmony of Despair also has online play as well as local co-op. The 360 version lacked local co-op.
It's so cool that Castlevania has stuck around in the video game zeitgeist throughout all these decades. Just a great game setting and concept that is timeless enough to keep it fun after years and years. I think this was the 2nd video game I ever saw/played (after Super Mario Bros.), and I loved it so much. About 30 years ago that was, and I hope the series keeps at it for at least another 30. About time for a new Castlevania to come out!
There can't be enough castlevania content. The Netflix series made me re discover them all over again.
Dude, that Netflix series is sick! I really enjoyed it
I'll be honest I'm not that fussed about the games, I always preferred the mastersystem game that was similar. The Netflix series was great though. However I need to play symphony of the night, I own it just never played it.
That awkward moment when Netflix and Smash Bros. are the only worthwhile Castlevania content in past decade... it sucks man
@@aweigh1010 weeaboo
@@aweigh1010 lol "Western crap" as if the entire series isn't about European horror and monster tropes. Especially when Japan only knows how to pachinko and gacha the series now. Mirror of Fate was pretty bad though
In a sense, Mirror of Fate crawled so that Metroid Dread can slide.
Curse Of Darkness was definitely the high point for me. I played the crap out of that game. But to really complete that game, and beat the boss rush mode was sickeningly hard.
MY Sunday morning Game Sack fix has arrived, thanks Joe!
Thanks Joe, you make my life better.
I played Castlevania on N64 only recently for the first time. It’s definitely clunky, but I enjoyed it way more than I was expecting. The atmosphere and music/sound design is top notch I thought. And the rendition of the bloodlines tune on the opening screen is excellent.
It’s funny how 2 other franchises picked up the Castlevania mantle but in 3D: Devil May Cry and Dark Souls - two very different games that nonetheless borrow heavily from Castlevania.
Bloodborne is the best 3D Castlevania and that's a hill I'll die on.
I loved Castlevania 64. The graphics were the usual N64 muddy, but the game really captured the vibe of the series and the music was excellent.
Been in a massive Castlevania mood as of recent. It's starting to die down, but this is a great way to end it off before it does for me. Great job Joe.
This is the BEST Christmas gift. Thanks game sack!
Great tip on better resolution in Castlevania Rebirth! Loved this and all of your CV videos
I really enjoyed the PS2, and PS3 Castlevania 3-D games, but nothing beats games like Symphony of the Night.
Little correction: Lords of Shadow came out in 2010, not in 2013.
One of your best videos yet. You truly have a talent for this TH-cam thing.
Yes, more Gamesack! Thanks Joe 👍🏻❤️
EPISODE OF THE DEMIBEAST! Congrats Joe and thanks for making such well-produced and informative entertainment!
Now I can start 2022. I've been sitting in a chair for 8 days just waiting for Game Sack to drop. Episode 333: The Rebirth.
Recently started getting into the series by getting the 3 collections that are out now. Not sure why it took me so long to get into them since I love gothic settings. I think I'll be sticking to the 2D games.
The only good Konami game to go 3D was Metal Gear. Every other series they made is best 2D.
Being born in the early 90s, my first experience with Castlevania was the first N64 title. Since I didn’t know any better, I thought it was great, despite the tough controls. Still have a soft spot for it now, as well as legacy of darkness which I got later on.
Aww I loved the Lords of Shadows games.. and I've been a fan of the series since the NES days.
Konami recently re-released the Gba Castlevanias on a collection... hopefully they're going to make more of these... a Ds collection with Rebirth as a bonus would be great. Also maybe a 3d collection featuring the 2 n64 games and the two ps2 games.
I'd be up for them, in physical form, and in HD.
I'm currently playing through Castlevania (64) for the first time, and was wondering about how to get the true ending. Then you uploaded this video and straight up told me. Thank you Joe! 😉
Lords of Shadow deserved a little more attention here. Sure you could argue its not a classic castlevania and that it may have missed the mark. It was a GoW knock off Frankenstein with elements of uncharted and shadow of the colossus alike. But it was an interesting attempt to reboot the series. And with such star power behind it, kojima, Patrick Stewart, Robert Carlyle and don't forget Mercury Steam who now will be know as the devs who created the fantastic Metroid dread. The game did start to blossom once you got inside the castle to be fair. A worthy stab at the series, even if it lost its way.
Agree 100%. Lords of Shadow 1 is pretty freakin' awesome.
Mercury Steam is great but I just didn't enjoy the game. And if anything Kojima being involved was probably a detriment.
@@wullahblack6452 did you play the game all the way through?
@@DC-co3gf I played the first LoS and Mirror of Fate to completion. And laughed my ass off at the end of LoS where you beat Satan and then suddenly Gabriel in a cutscene is like "I AM DRACUUUUUULLLEEEE"
@@wullahblack6452 yeah I’m only defending the first LoS. It was so over the top at the end.
Greetings from China... There is a rarity you missed! Castlevania: The Arcade, released in Japan (Asia) as Akumajō Dracula. I played at a local mall a lot about a decade ago.
Well, as a longtime fan of the series since the early days of the NES first outing, I am one of the few who actually *love* the Lords of Shadow game. Many folks complained that it didn't feel like a Castlevania game, but I don' t agree with that. I think Castlevania was much more related to its atmosphere, its eerie monsters and whatnot - and LOS definetely has it all. It may look superficial and derivative at first, but once you start going deeper into the story and develop Gabriel's attacks, things get really exciting. Nowadays, LOS and SOTN are the ones I always go back to and play again and again.
I really like the N64 Castlevania games. I'm glad Joe game them a fair chance
The games got a bad reputation over the years,they are flawed but not that bad.
@@carlosaugustodinizgarcia3526 I swear, they had a more or less good reputation till that AVGN video where he played up one part of the game that's not even bad
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, Super Castlevania IV, and Akumajō Dracula X: Chi no Rondo (Rondo of Blood) remain my favorites within the franchise, however I still enjoy Castlevania: Lament of Innocence for what it is. I wanted to love Judgment but yeah the camera bugged me.
......really Joe, you prefer Emo Death Note edgelord bike shorts wearing Simon Belmont in Judgement over Mirror of Fates fitting barbarian take?! yesh I know preference is subjective, but the interesting redesigns were the only elements everyone universally liked in Mirror of Fate
Great episode Joe, long live Game Sack. 👍
Rondo of Blood and Symphony will always be the best, with Dawn and Aria being close seconds. Richter is my fav.
One thing I never see people say about the Castlevania series is this: it was always very clear to me that the original idea was “medieval heavy metal looking dude fights classic movie monsters.” Like especially Castlevania one through three, if memory serves all of them use a fake film reel as part of their animation. I think trademark and copyright issues always made Konami afraid to say that too explicitly, and I think over time they grew beyond those roots, but I do think that’s the original conception.
The 2D Castlevania for the Wii can be easily emulated today, so no need to wait for them to possibly launch this
Just wanted to say I appreciate how you discuss the experience of playing each game on the original hardware. I actually didn't know about the 480p on PS2 using GSM which was a nice tidbit, as well as the 4:3 mode being sharper on Wii. Funnily enough there are some world record-holders for shmups like Mushihimesama Futari that absolutely swear by the 360 controller's dpad if you can believe that. Excellent video as always.
Happy NEW YEAR 🎉
Awesome, a Game Sack video uploaded before bed. I liked the 3D Castlevania games.
3D Castlevania really isn't as bad as people say. I'd call the 2 n64 games and the 2 ps2 games to be quite underrated. I'm gonna have to get those ps2 games for my collection one of these days as i've never played them, but this video definitely made me want to.
You're absolutely correct. I own all the N64 and PS2 titles, and none of them are bad. The N64 titles are a bit clunky, but they're better than old reviews suggest them to be. The PS2 titles are hands down the best 3D Castlevania games to date, definitely worth playing. Lament of Innocence in particular gets extra cool points for literally being the origin story to the ENTIRE franchise including the birth of Dracula, the Belmonts, the Vampire Killer, everything.
My favorite games of all time thank you for the extra love in the intro and the awesome games bro!!
If Konami wasn't mostly a Pachinko and workout gym (here in Japan, yes) company nowadays, they would put more thought into their legacy collections. Can you imagine if Castlevania Adventure Rebirth had been included on the Castlevania Anniversary Collection?
Man I genuinely love both PS2/Xbox era castlevanias. Lament of Innocence felt like a well put 3d conceptualization of the traditional castlevania formula, being stage based and having the whip with subweapons as the main combat. Then Curse of Darkness expanded on that with what I would argue was a 3d form of the metroidvania. Open explorable world interconnected with many paths, extensive selections of weapons to use, from spears, axes, swords, maces etc and even the innocent devil/ familiar system. I thought it was especially unique how the weapon style you were using would influence the evolution of your familiar. Some argued the level design was a bit drab, I enjoyed all of it thoroughly, especially the interdimensional abstract levels near the end. The unlocking hidden playable characters in both games added a lot of replay value for me as well, with the vampire Joaquim and his floating swoards in the first game, and getting a 3d version of Richter in the second.
Not to mention the soundtrack of both games absolutely SLAPPED. These games DESERVE a remake/remaster
This episode definitely was a little bit of "Old man angry at modernization of old franchises". As a fan of Castlevania since the first as well, I love Lords of Shadow 1/2.
That's fine but I disagree with your assessment! They were pretty generic. I played them at the time. A mish mash of other popular games, but not as good. They are ok but nowhere near Castlevania standard imo of course!
@@DuckAlertBeats I prolly put them above 1-3 and just under Super and Rondo.
10:08. This clock tower song stuck in my head. This OST is fantastic!
So many of the old greats struggled to transition into 3D. Nintendo did damn good with their games sure, but we left a lot of great series behind around that time.
GSM guys fixed most many FMV problems using field flipping. But this is only in newer 0.40 version only available on Open PS2 loader. GSM is not standalone homebrew anymore now you can only get GSM as feature within OPL. Many things have been fixed but people don't know because they keep using the old stand alone version. Which version are you using Joe ?
I updated all that maybe a few months ago, OPL included. I don't recall the version off hand but I'll have to grab the latest regardless. I did notice some field flipping options (it was described slightly differently). I think that's how I was even able to get the game to run in the first place in 480p.