I saw Ian on Saturday, he had Aria of Sorrow on his DS.
It opened with a topdown scene of Soma walking some stairs. Then some cool shit happened, I was at the castle. The castle looked ridiculously dark and gothic. Darker and more gothic than anything in it's sequel which I beat the hell out of. Then the character portraits showed up, and looked GREAT. Despite being on the GBA, those handrawn character potraits are way more impressive to look at than the anime style in the DS versions.
As I hinted at when I mentioned the castle, the aesthetic of the whole game seems to have changed. Sure, it's still gothic, and a little gruesome, but it's all so...bright. And the soundtrack so much more upbeat. It didn't suit. Although, come to think of it, Circle of the Moon had an awesome upbeat soundtrack that rocked the hell out of my GBA speakers. You can't beat COTM for castlevania soundtracks. It just makes all the other games sound boring.
I got sidetracked there.
Let me gather my thoughts a moment.
Yes. I liked the spookiness from Symphony, Harmony and Aria way too much. I don't have any valid criticisms of the anime style, I just can't stand it personally. Everytime I have to see the characters speak I want to throw my DS to the ground and cry.
Let's compare.
Soma on the cover to Aria of Sorrow.
Soma (and others) from Dawn of Sorrow:
EW!
Then again, while searching for the second image, I found this:
MUCH better than the box art I got. That's the US nintendo seal of quality right? You guys got that cover? I hate you.
I also hate the new look for Julius in the second game.
How can they be so similar, yet have one be so much shittier than the other?
I found it hard to find any of the in-game portraits, which would have been much better side by side comparisons.
I can't be the only person in the world who played Castlevania games for the melodramatic angsty looking artwork? The whole thing likes like a desperate attempt to appeal to more people. Specifically, anime fans. I feel sorta ripped off.
I haven't played POR yet. It looks to be a huge improvement over DOS. The cover art doesn't even make me break down into tears. The castle looks to be a lot darker, but somehow more colourful at the same time. How'd they do that? The characters don't look to have shockingly bad hairstyles like the characters in DOS. In AOS that didn't matter, Ayami Kojima's drawing style hid how bad they were.
I always liked how dark castlevania was. Still is. But the anime style in DOS made the whole thing feel too childlike to me. I don't understand how.
Zone of the Enders, GBA, anime style, loved it. There are a ton of really great anime movies out there, the style can work.
But why didn't it for Castlevania? I guess Castlevania was just something that was never meant to be 'anime'.
So tell me, how's the 'dual characters' thing working out? Is the voice acting as great as it was in Symphony?