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Episode 157: Metroidvania finale (Patreon)

Published:
2018-06-18 11:45:22
Edited:
2018-06-25 01:44:47
Imported:
2021-08

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Content

And here we are: The final entry in our tour through the history of the metroidvania genre. The metroidvania episode series was meant to be about two episodes, max, and I think this is our fifth. But I guess that's what happens when I bring about people who have a lot of opinions about these games… and the semantics of the word holding everything together. Sorry, pedants, there are something like 1.3 million search results for "metroidvania" on Google now. It's a real word whether you like it or not.

But who cares about words when the games being described are so good? This episode, we hit the actual metroidvania games (the non-linear Castlevanias of the early ’00s) before venturing into the indie games that have ensured the philosophical design underpinnings of this play style will never go away. 

Now, on to greener pastures…

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Comments

Frank Grimes

I think an overlooked metroidvania is Adventure Island 4...probably because it was never released stateside. I only played it translated via emulation

matt wyble

I've never heard of the GP2X before this episode. Now I'm super intrigued. Hoping this doesn't lead me down the same rabbit hole that the WonderSwan episode did!

retronauts
>>13179059

It's not overlooked so much as reaaaally painful to get ahold of. It was the last official Famicom release, so it's super expensive now.

retronauts
>>13185339

Probably not. I'm not sure the GP32X had much in the way of official software support. it was mostly home of freeware/open source stuff like emulators (and Cave Story).

Anonymous

Tomba was the jam! I really like that darn game. Our lil bud Swery worked uncredited on Tomba 2. Anyway, this is the episode dreams were made of

Diamond Feit

I'm hearing a lot of correct Castlevania opinions in this episode so far!

Anonymous

Just recently finished my playthrough of the 2D Metroid games and have to admit that I did not totally disliked Metroid Fusion. The story was fun in the beginning but unfortunately wasn't able to keep up until the end. Very linear game though. In terms of Metroidvania I liked 'Zero' the most.

Anonymous

I feel like it's been so long since a Retronauts East episode. This was an absolute delight. You guys are the only ones I've found who agree with me on Circle of the Moon. People around me generally praise while slamming Harmony of Dissonance. Although, I'm the weirdo for thinking Harmony of Dissonance is my favorite GBA Castlevania game. Aria of Sorrow is almost as good, but I just like the castle in Harmony more. But the music in Circle of the Moon is top notch so I gotta give it that at least. A little disappointed you guys didn't bring up the PS2 Castlevania. I know people don't like Lament of Innocence or Curse of Darkness, but they're actually pretty competent 3D conversions of the Symphony of the Night formula. I'm especially fond of Lament of Innocence for its castle design, and really fun 3D whip combat that felt like a half step between Devil May Cry and classic Castlevania.

Anonymous

Rogue Legacy isn't really that hard, and I say that as someone who isn't that good at video games. The castle always has the same general layout; all of the areas will be in the same spots, just the rooms will be different.

Anonymous
>>13200841

Well god knows what's going on with me. I still really enjoyed it though

Anonymous
>>13200841

I think it leans into the roguelike just hard enough to be frustrating if you aren't into that kind of game.

Eric Plunk

A game that Jeremy turned me onto at the time of its release was Aliens Infestation on the DS. I remember being told I was the only person that preordered it at my local Gamestop. Sadly I never put much time into it and recently sold it.

Anonymous

OH DAMN! Our company's PixelJunk got name dropped yo!

Christopher McDougall

After the upteenth time of hearing about how Order of Ecclesia wasn't that great or is too hard, I am posting to plea with you guys to give the game another shot. I've beaten every GBA/DS Castlevania except Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia (Mirror of Fate doesn't count), so recently I decided to purchase them to play and beat. I greatly enjoyed both, but Order of Ecclesia really impressed me. Many a review and podcast would talk about its strange level structure, but I enjoyed the hub town. Most people who complain about it not being "Castlevania", never really played the game. As Shane said, the second half of the game is totally Symphony of the Night. And as for difficulty, I wouldn't consider myself an expert gamer, but once you figure out what glyphs an enemy is weak against, they aren't too much trouble. The only really difficult boss required using a trick of the environment to beat him. Once I figured out that the elevator needed to be dropped on him. I'm glad that Chris Sims liked the game. Benj and Jeremy should really give it another shot though.

Christopher McDougall
>>13200841

Don't worry Benj. I've sunk tons of hours into Rogue Legacy and I have only beaten the first boss. It's fun as hell though. Maybe I'll come back to it one day and try and beat the others.

Christopher McDougall

Also, I really want to play Yoku's Island Express. I had never even heard of the game until Jeremy mentioned it in this episode. Sounds right up my alley!

Anonymous
>>13226156

...Didn't Jeremy say he liked it too? Benj may be beyond saving, though, after that Lords of Shadow comment :-) I personally love Ecclesia, and would definitely place it in my top 3, with Aria and Portrait. As diverse as the environments in the castle itself can be, it's great when the series finds ways to avoid being stuck there all game, like the PoR paintings or Ecclesia's early-game globetrotting.

Christopher McDougall
>>13226156

I know Jeremy's stated in multiple podcasts that he just can't quite get into Order. I know he's super busy, but it's a game definitely worth giving another shot. Portrait is lots of fun. I mostly played as Charlotte. Once you find the right books she seemed way more useful to me. Being able to choose when to switch or use both of them was a great mechanic.

Anonymous
>>13226156

I just started re-playing Order of Ecclesia again for the first time in probably 9 years. My original save game says 50% progress -- I know I hit a frustrating patch and quit. It's the only game in that series I haven't finished. All the others I have played at least twice.The game is gorgeous, but I don't really like the disjointed locales, and it is definitely tricky compared to the previous Castlevanias, requiring new techniques and new ways o flooking at the game to really succeed. But I am giving it another chance. All that being said, I think Ecclesia is still ten times better than any 2D metroidvania released since then. It's polished and well-made. I can see now I was spoiled in 2008 from that then-recent run of Castlevanias that started with Cricle of the Moon.

Frank Grimes
>>13226156

I'm actually surprised with the OoE dislike. I always saw the general consensus as DoS > OoE < PoR. From speaking to people I know, and reading online forums like GameFAQs. OoE spun the SotN formula into something a little different, whereas PoR felt kinda lazy overall, especially for a game released during a Castlevania anniversary year (still got my goodies from that release :D). The main gripe I remember always hearing was how OoE was harder than either DoS or PoR...and I can kinda see it, but OoE wasn't all that difficult, even after NG+/those specific difficulty settings.

Christopher McDougall
>>13226156

Benj: Glad you're coming back to it after the podcast episode. It'll start to feel more familiar once you get to Dracula's castle. One of the things I learned playing it is that it's totally worth it to equip the same weapon on both hands since most of the time you'll enable the super aka "crash" for that weapon. There's other crashes using different weapons for each hand, but I didn't know about them till I read a FAQ. It was just easier for me to equip the same weapon in each hand. Doing so also allows quicker strikes using alternate button presses. Alex: Exactly. I went into the game expecting it to be incredibly difficult, but once you start accumulating glyphs the difficulty sinks quite a bit.

Anonymous

What do you guys think of Ori and the Blind Forest? I personally loved it and can't wait for the next one.

Anonymous

Who is the new guy on the Retronauts East podcast? Chris something? Anyways I like that dude. Good addition to the podcast.