At long last, the final part of the Nerd's Castlevania Retrospective is here.  For part iv, the Nerd talks about Castlevania Bloodlines and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.  It's great to see him finally talk about SOTN which is arguably the best Castlevania game.  As a Castlevania fan, it's great to see him talk about these games when they first game out.  My introduction into the series was Dawn of Sorrow, which is probably my favorite Castlevania game.  Enough of me blabbing, here is the video.  Hope you enjoy it.  :)
 
  

"  Very good conclusion to this little "mini-series." It was actually very heartfelt and invested in. Although, James mentioned that the rest of the Castlevanias would all have to take place in a castle, which is not true at all in Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia. It was interesting to see his take on why the linear Castlevanias are better than the Metroidvanias, though--he held up the "Super Castlevania IV > Symphony of the Night" argument quite well. I'm definitely on the other side of that coin, and I think the sheer expansion of SotN was just so much more evocative and mind blowing than Castlevania IV ever was, but his argument is certainly valid. "

" @MrKart said:

"  Very good conclusion to this little "mini-series." It was actually very heartfelt and invested in. Although, James mentioned that the rest of the Castlevanias would all have to take place in a castle, which is not true at all in Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia. It was interesting to see his take on why the linear Castlevanias are better than the Metroidvanias, though--he held up the "Super Castlevania IV > Symphony of the Night" argument quite well. I'm definitely on the other side of that coin, and I think the sheer expansion of SotN was just so much more evocative and mind blowing than Castlevania IV ever was, but his argument is certainly valid. "

Yeah.  I agree with everything you just said here except I personally like Dawn of Sorrow more then SOTN but then again, I played DoS before SOTN. "

Rondo of Blood (very underrated game)

I also found Super Castlevania IV to be one of my favorite Castlevanias. As to whether the linear or the Metroid-like gameplay is better, I can see that being debatable as they  feel like different games. I only hope that the "Lords of Shadow" next-gen Castlevania will turn out a great game.

"I only hope that the "Lords of Shadow" next-gen Castlevania will turn out a great game. "

" @MrKart said:

Rondo of Blood (very underrated game)

wat "