The name of the next game's protagonist bugs me. Shanoa? It makes her sound like a singer.
Shanoa is a punk rocker? Probably not, despite the tattoos. But seriously, I can also think of singers named Julia, Maria, Charlotte, and Yoko. (That last one is debatable...)
M-m-m-myyyy Shanoa!
So the villagers in Order of Ecclesia are the direct descendants of the Belmont bloodline? Then why do they act for the most part like normal, scared citizens under Dracula's assault? Shouldn't they at least have some knowledge of what their ancestors did and try to fight back? It has only been around 50 years or so since Symphony of the Night, not long enough for the current Belmont descendants to forget their heritage.
I assume that the villagers are all from branch families of the Belmonts. They might all have ties to the main line, but it's not like they got fighting training. I guess that after Dracula was killed again, they decided to dedicate themselves to their ancestral duties since they can't exactly escape it all.
That doesn't make as much sense, as the Belmonts are destined to remain out of the fighting against Drac until 1999, as stated in Portrait of Ruin. In fact, this is precisely why Richter vanished off the face of the planet after the events of Symphony of the Night. It's possible that the events of Order of Ecclesia inspired the villagers to start training for when they do get back in the game, but I doubt that they would actively pursue their ancestral duties before its time, especially when the Vampire Killer whip's been passed off to a branch family (specifically, the Morrises) to take over their duties until the prophesied time.
Why does Albus only sacrifice himself for Shanoa when she uses Dominus Union during the Dracula fight? Any other time and Albus just lets her die. I get that it would lead to a game-over regardless because Albus wouldn't be around afterwards, but you'd think there'd at least be a different non-standard game over.
Canonically, she only uses it in the final battle. Presumably, after being repeatedly warned that using the full Dominus Union will kill her, Shanoa isn't stupid enough to try it out unnecessarily. By definition, it's a single-use weapon and the only thing certain to be able to kill Dracula, so she keeps in in her nonexistent back pocket until it's absolutely necessary. She only attempts the unison out of desperation when all her other glyphs fail to kill him in their battle, at which point Albus substitutes his own soul for hers to fuel it. The game only lets the player use it at will to show that the warnings aren't empty hype.
Why do boss-Albus and player-Albus have different names for the same attacks?
The answer to this takes very little thinking once you remember not who, but what you're fighting against: an evil-possessed Albus.
The battle against the giant enemy crab in the lighthouse in Order of Ecclesia makes me wonder: why would the builders put platforms and stone barriers in an elevator shaft with a working elevator?
Obviously as a backup in case the elevator stopped working. That or the masonry and everything just wore down — considering that they aren't actual stairs or anything, it isn't a stretch that the lighthouse was in fairly severe disrepair from having a GIANT EVIL CRAB in it. You could even hazard that said giant crab damaged things in just such a way on purpose, to make killing intruders easier, though that borders on WMG territory.
Were there other members of Order of Ecclesia besides Shanoa, Albus and Barlowe? I don't believe there were. That makes for a rather small group that's supposed to be fighting Dracula.
No matter what the goal is, three people does not make an Order. Is that what the question is asking?
Presumably, there were other members we don't see like support staff, researchers, lesser fighters, and the like. We only see the three most relevant members for the situation to save on detail and sprite work.
Why doesn't Shanoa cut her hair so that she doesn't have to lift it up every time to activate her glyph? Excluding Rule of Sexy.
Well, there was her nun-themed redesign in Judgment, complete with a habit and shorter hair (due to the complications presented by her long hair, but still). The fandom doesn't like to talk about Judgment, though, so...
How is it that Albus gets a fully automatic flintlock pistol?
Well, according to an article on That Other Wiki, pistols were first around in the 15 century, and his pistol has been enhanced with glyphs, allowing him to have infinite ammo.
So in Order of Ecclesia, Richter's not around for whatever reason and the Belmonts aren't supposed to use the Vampire Killer until Julius's battle with Dracula in 1999. That's all well and good, but where are Maria and Alucard? While one might possibly Hand Wave Alucard as having returned to his sleep sometime after Symphony, it's implied that Maria is able to convince him to stay (and it's confirmed in the Japan-only radio drama, though that might not be canon). Maria herself should still be active, since she was eighteen in 1797, when Symphony takes place, and Ecclesia is set in the early 1800s.
Considering that Dracula's Castle didn't actually rise until most of the way through the game, easy enough to say Maria was nowhere near it at the time. Indeed, if Shanoa fails, it could very well be Maria who heads out to see what's going on and deals with Dracula. Similarly, the Church is researching other methods of taking down Dracula. Even if Maria is still around, that doesn't mean you shouldn't bother working on other methods. Always good to have a contingency plan or eight, especially with Dracula.
Maria is most likely dead by the time of Order of Ecclesia's events. Alucard is traveling the world looking for a way to permanently destroy Dracula.
Most likely? There's no exact time period given for the game, it could be anywhere between 1797-1897, and most likely takes place around the early 1800's, as the first poster said. It's quite likely Maria is still alive.
Perhaps, but I don't think so. We know that the Wygol Villagers are all that is left of the Belmont Clan (not counting offshoots like the Morris family), so Richter is definitely dead. And if he is, I would say Maria is most likely too. And even if she wasn't, she would be like an old lady or something. But that's just what I think.
At the start of the game, we see elevated monster activity, indicating that the power of evil is rising, but Dracula himself makes no appearance. The only person telling us that his revival is close is Barlowe and we learn that he's far from a reliable source on the matter. Alucard and, assuming she's still alive, Maria didn't know that there was an effort to revive him so close to succeeding and assumed that they'd have more time to prepare. Once the castle rose, Shanoa single-handedly took care of it so quickly that news may not have reached their ears before it was all done.
on That Other Wiki, pistols were first around in the 15 century, and his pistol has been enhanced with glyphs, allowing him to have infinite ammo.