Castlevania 64/LoD appreciation thread

They really are great adventure games. The thing that kills them is the camera, but it's far from the worst of that generation. I see way too many comments just bashing everything they did but really they're probably the best translation of the series to 3D.

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Overall I think my favorite level is the Cornell-exclusive Tower of Ruins. It's arranged much like a classic Zelda dungeon with switches that open doors, and even has a map that can be viewed in some rooms.

Then there's a later part where you're platforming over narrow bridges and pillars, and you can fall off onto one of the various lower floors where you'll either die of fall damage, or be able to get back up via elevator and start over. It's frustrating but extremely fair, and it warms you up to the intense platforming levels that come after it.

>>2923431

I think dealing with the camera issues was part of what made this game fun. It's a flaw that you need to work around, and that's all part of the challenge. It wasn't that bad for the most part, you just have to know when to use R to center the view behind you, and when to trust the default auto camera placement and not touch the camera.

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Once you learn that tilting the control stick either left, right or backwards lets you dodge, it becomes much easier to fight enemies.

I only played the original, not LoD, but I also enjoyed it, not among my favorite Castlevania, but it's one of my favorite 3D action games of 5th gen, it's actually pretty good I think.
It has the perfect mix of creepy/gritty and bizarre, so to me that fits Castlevania very well, even though the game departs a lot from classic Castlevania formula, I must say in retrospective it's actually closer to the classicvanias than it is to SOTN and other metroidvanias.
The first level is more like a tutorial and can be a bit boring, but the second level, the castle gates, feels right like Castlevania on 3D, you go killing bats and bone pillars while climbing stairs and evading traps, then meet the boss which is a 2-headed bones serpent, then Dracula appears and greets you to his castle.

Then the third level, The Villa, introduces the exploration/survival horror-y levels of the game. I feel they were inspired a bit by Resident Evil with this level, you go around exploring an old mansion and it has some scary moments (with vampires instead of zombies).
Also, it introduces one of the best characters in the game, Renon.

>>2923681
I definitely noticed the survival horror feel to the villa as well. There's really a lot of different settings in the game that add to the "quest" feel.

>>2923501
You really shouldn't need to battle the camera, especially when the platform you are on is blocking the view of the platform you want to jump on due to the camera never wanting to cooperate with you.

While I like the game that is a terrible flaw, having the challenge not be from the platforming itself but actually seeing anything.

Why is this a meme on this board? Growing up everyone who I knew that bought this game instead of SotN was fucking pissed. Stop rewriting history.

>>2924124
What the hell are you talking about and why are you loading your post like that? What history is being rewritten?

>>2924134
The history of every castlevania fan being dissapointed with this hideous polygonal turd that looks awful and plays worse. Seriously one of the worst games of the early 3d era when you consider the name attatched to it.

>>2924140
The game got average reviews at the time. It wasn't released to ravenous hatred.

>>2924124

I had both PS1 and N64, and bought both games. While SOTN was great and all, I also liked CV64 on its own right. Neither of them were really faithful to the classicvanias anyway.

>Seriously one of the worst games of the early 3d era

Not even close to being one of the worst.

>when you consider the name attatched to it.

Yeah, this is the only reason these games get any hate, otherwise they'd be seen as some pretty decent action titles from Konami.

Also, you're the one trying to rewrite story, when these games came out they received positive and mixed reviews, not bad ones.

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>>2924124
Stop speaking for "everyone" fucking retard.

It's a good game that unfortunately nailed most of the flaws of action games of the era.

>>2923431
naw lament of innocence is the best

>>2924134
How is history being rewritten? Because anecdotally everyone thought it was bad, so it HAS to be bad and everyone has to have that opinion?

>>2924617
LoI is boring as fuck.

I feel like people who give this game a fair chance tend to enjoy it. I thought the atmosphere fit the game very well and that the camera issues were no more egregious than Super Mario 64. I come back to this game every now and again and it's quite possible I've sunk more time into this game than any of the other Castlevania games, aside from Harmony of Despair.

Wish Henry had had a full-fledged story. That gun was too good.

>>2924649
Every Castlevania game is boring though

like literally all of them except for the ultrahard ones like I or III or Bloodlines

Even the good ones like Circle of the Moon are still boring

>>2923431
Well, for all the good things about the two games, there were also a lot of big empty square rooms.

>>2923431
THIS THIS THIS.

Once you master the camera the game is very playable.

Fun article from Castlevania dungeon about the 64 games

http://www.castlevaniadungeon.net/features/n64good-1.html

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>>2923404
I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks these games are good.

>>2924842
Yeah, I believe this is the direction 3D Castlevania should have gone. Most enemies can die quickly so you aren't often dwelling in one place, there is plenty of platforming, and you get some interesting levels.

I don't think the direction of empty rooms/hallways in which you run through and continually kill enemies to gain power-ups or levels was the best path, it neglects its action platformer roots. It should be a straight forward and simple adventure, not for the player to get lost in menus.

>>2923404
>>2924842
Easily the best 3D castlevania game. Every 3D castlevania game since has been garbage.

>>2924686
>Bloodlines

I love Bloodlines, but only the American version is hard. And that's because of the password system which saves lives and continues

Japanese Bloodlines is easier than Rondo

>>2926091
So the jap is the same game but you've got infinite continues due to the password system?
Or did they pull a hardcorps and made the american release much harder?

>>2924842
The table and chairs in that room mysteriously disappear halfway through that cinema, never to be seen again.

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>>2923404
Cornell story is probably my favorite but Carrie's is a close second just for the "married to Kid Dracula" Bad Ending.

Going through a 30th anniversary Castlevania playthrough right now, and I'm already dreading the Nitro gauntlet.

>>2926091
I gotta admit, I never finished the US version on my console. I got as far as where death makes you refight every single boss in 1 run with no saves before taking him on. Couldn't do it.