DS - Castlevania Portrait of Ruin

[AndrewTS 0]

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin Revealed

Next whip adventure to take place in World War II?

by Dan Dormer, 04/21/2006

 

 

If you've been patiently waiting a new Castlevania for your Nintendo DS like the rest of us, it's time to celebrate: you only have to wait till November; Konami has just announced Castlevaina: Portrait of Ruin for the dual-screened handheld.

Under the watchful eye of Koji Igarashi, Portrait of Ruin features two playable characters; Jonathan Morris, a vampire hunter, and Charlotte Orlean, a young female with the ability to use magic. Two vampiric sisters have hatched a plan to ressurect Dracula's Castle, and the two must ensure the evil plan doesn't make it to fruition. Oh, and the game's set during World War II. Bizarre.

 

Thankfully, the game retains the classic 2D perspective, and gamers can switch freely between Jonathan and Charlotte during their quest.

 

There's some screens in J. Parish's 1up blog.

 

http://toastyfrog.1up.com/

 

Apparently it ties in Bloodlines, and either that's the same John or maybe his son...?

[BUTT 0]

I would assume it's Morris' son, since this one takes place during WWII, and the first was during WWI, so unless he's really old..........

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

Didn't Dawn of Sorrow just come out on the DS?

[AndrewTS 0]

I would assume it's Morris' son, since this one takes place during WWII, and the first was during WWI, so unless he's really old..........

 

Allegedly John Morris was born in 1895, which would make him at least 44/45 at the beginning of WW2.

 

However, Julius was 55 in Aria/56 in Dawn, and was still pretty damn powerful. So while it's possible, John isn't drawn to really look that age.

 

They also look quite different, but a total redesign of a character's look isn't unheard of in CV (see: Alucard, Trevor, Dracula himself, etc).

 

"Didn't Dawn of Sorrow just come out on the DS?"

 

Late 2005. Konami has rather steadily been releasing one every year. I say bring 'em on.

[AndrewTS 0]

Got scans from Nintendo Power from the Inverted DUngeon forums:

 

http://www.inverteddungeon.com/ralphy/villa/img/por0.jpg

http://www.inverteddungeon.com/ralphy/villa/img/por1.jpg

http://www.inverteddungeon.com/ralphy/villa/img/por2.jpg

http://www.inverteddungeon.com/ralphy/villa/img/por3.jpg

 

Okay...major tidbits...

 

The sisters are called Loretta & Stella

The sisters are the daughters of Brauner, a vampire who wants to resurrect Drac and apparently will be the main baddie in this one.

It *is* John's son.

There will be an animated intro.

Charlotte is related to the Fernandez clan (yes, it makes no sense).

Most of the Circle of the Moon folks (ie KCEK) are on board.

It is definitely Castletroid style.

Michiru Yamane will do the soundtrack

The Vampire Killer won't be wielded by default...John will need to do "something special" for that.

Brauner is a painter, and apparently many of the outside locations will be actually taking place in those paintings.

The game is bigger/longer than Dawn of Sorrow.

Souls are gone, but enemies drop items that can be used to create/enhance skills.

No pointless gimmicky touch screen features that just serve to break the flow of the gameplay (Magic seals).

Wi-fi play in the form of *either* versus or coop play.

 

Oh, Iga needs a shave and a haircut, badly.

[AndrewTS 0]

Nice long movie of gameplay footage:

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/4703

 

Looks great.

[AndrewTS 0]

Just got the game, and 1up.com has a review up (8/10 rating).

 

So far I really like it, although it's nowhere near as good as Dawn. The portrait areas are almost totally linear, and it seems to aim was to make the game more of a classic side scroller, though it feels still like one of the Symphony children.

 

The big swag bag is really cool, as you get a stylus, a game casing, a music cd with music from nearly all of the games, an art book, and a Portrait poster.