This is the most perfectly safe Castlevania i've played, it doesn't do anything particularly good nor does it really do anything particularly bad. It's just ok. Juste is a great controlling protag and I think the main reason is because of the back AND the front dash, first protag to get it. And I don't know why more don't have it, its so good. Otherwise yeah this one wasn't too bad to play but it's also not really anything noteworthy that it's causing me to be redundant. You get the idea.
love forward dash, i wish more games had it
El primer Castlevania que pude terminar sólo. No recuerdo mucho de la historia porque lo jugué cuando tenía 13 años. Pero, recuerdo que los poderes eran geniales y fue aquí cuando descubrí que me gustaba el género de metroidvanias. Así que algo hice bien.
Like the previous game, Harmony of Dissonance is a solid game that's one little issue cripples the overall experience.
I hated the castle design in this game, more than any other Castlevania I've played yet. I think there are memorable elements to the level design. I'll outright defend the way the castle looks (and the color pallet in general). Navigating around the castle isn't even that bad in theory, with how nice the movement feels in this game (it's a very good thing I played CotM first, it would have been very hard to go back).
This game just doesn't respect the player's time in terms of navigation. Even with a map, I was constantly lost, hitting a dead end, and mashing my head against every wall I could trying to find the one rock I didn't turn over in order to progress. I don't think that, even with double the amount of warps around the map, the lack of signposting and flow would have been acceptable. It cheapens every unique location that the game has because either:
1) You've ran through it twenty times trying to find a different colored keycard in order to progress.
2) The thought of having to hike across the map to check it out will give you indigestion.
It's still a sizable improvement over CotM, and while it's probably on the "too easy" side of the spectrum, that's still preferable compared to the inexcusable difficulty spikes of the previous game. Harmony of Dissonance's issues seem unique to itself, and what it refines would be welcome going forward. It's just not a game I'd like to return to anytime soon.
I hated the castle design in this game, more than any other Castlevania I've played yet. I think there are memorable elements to the level design. I'll outright defend the way the castle looks (and the color pallet in general). Navigating around the castle isn't even that bad in theory, with how nice the movement feels in this game (it's a very good thing I played CotM first, it would have been very hard to go back).
This game just doesn't respect the player's time in terms of navigation. Even with a map, I was constantly lost, hitting a dead end, and mashing my head against every wall I could trying to find the one rock I didn't turn over in order to progress. I don't think that, even with double the amount of warps around the map, the lack of signposting and flow would have been acceptable. It cheapens every unique location that the game has because either:
1) You've ran through it twenty times trying to find a different colored keycard in order to progress.
2) The thought of having to hike across the map to check it out will give you indigestion.
It's still a sizable improvement over CotM, and while it's probably on the "too easy" side of the spectrum, that's still preferable compared to the inexcusable difficulty spikes of the previous game. Harmony of Dissonance's issues seem unique to itself, and what it refines would be welcome going forward. It's just not a game I'd like to return to anytime soon.
Rounding off my adventure through the Japanese versions of the GBA Casltevania games by playing this also on my Japanese Wii U's Virtual Console, with its very cool Japanese title "Concerto of Midnight Sun". I've always like this game better than CotM, and while I still do after this playthrough, I don't think it's by quite as large a margin as it used to be. It took me around 7 or 8 hours and I got the best ending.
Where Circle of the Moon was handled by another team, Harmony of Dissonance put Igarashi back in the driver's seat (where he would stay until the last Metroid-y Castlevania game was released), and it really shows. Where CotM kinda plays like a refutation to Symphony of the Night's design in many ways, HoD feels more like a refinement by necessity. They obviously couldn't put something of SotN's scale and visual quality on the GBA, so they took the elements from that game that were most key to the experience and made an experience that, while still feeling like a more simplified version of the experience, feels far closer than SotN than the NES Castlevanias.
The narrative is similar to CotM, but the presentation and dialogue feels closer to SotN. It's once again a story about two friends who come to take down Dracula and save someone they care about but who Dracula manipulates to drive apart, but there's a bit more dialogue in this. Not THAT much more, but Juste and Maxim have a more interesting (albeit slightly) dynamic than Nathan and Hugh, and Death makes for a much better supporting villain in this than Camilla did in CotM. It's really nothing special either way, but I felt it worth mentioning here. I could definitely understand if some people feel that after this point the series becomes a bit long in tooth in terms of how much story it puts into the games, but I like how games after this (especially Soma Cruz's games) take the lore in weird places rather than treading over the same ground over and over.
The biggest reason I like this game over CotM is the controls. No double-tapping to run, the whip goes off a bit faster, and they added dashing back into the game. And not just back-dashing, but forward-dashing as well, with L to dash left and R to dash right. It makes going through the castle way faster, and allows you to maneuver much easier in boss fights. That said, I do have a couple of tiny complaints compared to CotM. First, Nathan (in CotM) has a little bit more play control over his jumps than Juste does, as Juste really commits to a jump once he makes it and you often can't change direction mid-air. The second would be that you ALWAYS get knocked back from a hit in HoD, where in CotM if the damage is minimal enough, it doesn't break your stride.
Presentation-wise, this feels far more like SotN than CotM. HoD's music isn't as good as CotM, as it opts for more original tracks than remixes of old tracks, but that's really the only place where it falters. CotM almost looks like a GBC game on a GBA at times, and that is far from the case with HoD. The game runs way better, Juste has a lot more frames of animation (his movement is SO Alucard it's almost comical) as do all the enemies. Sprites are also much more detailed and the enemy variety is also higher. There are also a lot more bosses in this game, some even entirely optional (in a SotN-kind of way), and although a fair few are very easy, the game itself is far from a cake walk if you don't take time to utilize your front and back-dashes correctly.
The only real criticism I have on this game design-wise is the castle. The gimmick of this game is that the castle has a front-half and a back-half (not unlike SotN's two castles, but these ones are just different versions of the same areas, not upside down). The overall castle designs are much better than CotM's corridors upon corridors, and areas feel different to traverse in a way that's interesting to go through. It's a good thing they're interesting to go through as well, because this castle has no warp system the way the other Metroid-y Castlevanias do. There are a couple one-way warp points between a spot in Castle A and a spot in Castle B as well as several spots to change between the same point in both castles, but no castle-wide warp system exists. This can make back-tracking for collectibles a real pain in the ass, even if the addition of the frontwards dash does make traversal a little bit faster. The game also has one or two really poor bits of signposting, especially one where it is not at all obvious that a certain item is in fact a key, but only if you equip it.
Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. There are certainly better Casltevania games to occupy your time with, but this one is a fine entry. It's not really innovating anything particularly interesting, and it shows its early place in the series pretty easily with its rougher bits of design. That said, it still plays really well and has some great boss fights and visual design, so if you're in the mood for some Metroid-y Castlevania, this is one that isn't too hard to enjoy.
Where Circle of the Moon was handled by another team, Harmony of Dissonance put Igarashi back in the driver's seat (where he would stay until the last Metroid-y Castlevania game was released), and it really shows. Where CotM kinda plays like a refutation to Symphony of the Night's design in many ways, HoD feels more like a refinement by necessity. They obviously couldn't put something of SotN's scale and visual quality on the GBA, so they took the elements from that game that were most key to the experience and made an experience that, while still feeling like a more simplified version of the experience, feels far closer than SotN than the NES Castlevanias.
The narrative is similar to CotM, but the presentation and dialogue feels closer to SotN. It's once again a story about two friends who come to take down Dracula and save someone they care about but who Dracula manipulates to drive apart, but there's a bit more dialogue in this. Not THAT much more, but Juste and Maxim have a more interesting (albeit slightly) dynamic than Nathan and Hugh, and Death makes for a much better supporting villain in this than Camilla did in CotM. It's really nothing special either way, but I felt it worth mentioning here. I could definitely understand if some people feel that after this point the series becomes a bit long in tooth in terms of how much story it puts into the games, but I like how games after this (especially Soma Cruz's games) take the lore in weird places rather than treading over the same ground over and over.
The biggest reason I like this game over CotM is the controls. No double-tapping to run, the whip goes off a bit faster, and they added dashing back into the game. And not just back-dashing, but forward-dashing as well, with L to dash left and R to dash right. It makes going through the castle way faster, and allows you to maneuver much easier in boss fights. That said, I do have a couple of tiny complaints compared to CotM. First, Nathan (in CotM) has a little bit more play control over his jumps than Juste does, as Juste really commits to a jump once he makes it and you often can't change direction mid-air. The second would be that you ALWAYS get knocked back from a hit in HoD, where in CotM if the damage is minimal enough, it doesn't break your stride.
Presentation-wise, this feels far more like SotN than CotM. HoD's music isn't as good as CotM, as it opts for more original tracks than remixes of old tracks, but that's really the only place where it falters. CotM almost looks like a GBC game on a GBA at times, and that is far from the case with HoD. The game runs way better, Juste has a lot more frames of animation (his movement is SO Alucard it's almost comical) as do all the enemies. Sprites are also much more detailed and the enemy variety is also higher. There are also a lot more bosses in this game, some even entirely optional (in a SotN-kind of way), and although a fair few are very easy, the game itself is far from a cake walk if you don't take time to utilize your front and back-dashes correctly.
The only real criticism I have on this game design-wise is the castle. The gimmick of this game is that the castle has a front-half and a back-half (not unlike SotN's two castles, but these ones are just different versions of the same areas, not upside down). The overall castle designs are much better than CotM's corridors upon corridors, and areas feel different to traverse in a way that's interesting to go through. It's a good thing they're interesting to go through as well, because this castle has no warp system the way the other Metroid-y Castlevanias do. There are a couple one-way warp points between a spot in Castle A and a spot in Castle B as well as several spots to change between the same point in both castles, but no castle-wide warp system exists. This can make back-tracking for collectibles a real pain in the ass, even if the addition of the frontwards dash does make traversal a little bit faster. The game also has one or two really poor bits of signposting, especially one where it is not at all obvious that a certain item is in fact a key, but only if you equip it.
Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. There are certainly better Casltevania games to occupy your time with, but this one is a fine entry. It's not really innovating anything particularly interesting, and it shows its early place in the series pretty easily with its rougher bits of design. That said, it still plays really well and has some great boss fights and visual design, so if you're in the mood for some Metroid-y Castlevania, this is one that isn't too hard to enjoy.
Ele tem momentos, mas é um jogo bem mediano da franquia e nos jogos metroidvania, ainda mais pensando no jogo que estava por vir.
Jogo bastante enjoyable com dificuldade meio meh, comparado a Aria of Sorrow. Nunca precisei de fazer mais de 3 tentativas contra os bosses e os inimigos são faceis imo.
OST é bastante bitzada então nao é das melhores MAS tem bangers. Não fiz o ending secreto porque tava com preguiça.
Final Thoughts: Jogo fixe mas não é o melhor para começar esta franquia.
OST é bastante bitzada então nao é das melhores MAS tem bangers. Não fiz o ending secreto porque tava com preguiça.
Final Thoughts: Jogo fixe mas não é o melhor para começar esta franquia.
I was really getting into the groove of this and was this close to saying I might enjoy it more than Aria, then I proceeded to be stuck for 2 hours, being denied at every previous dead end with another dead end AFTER whatever item i got passed THAT dead end. Oh come on.
Pretty impressed with the game overall, not as good as aria of sorrow but a clear improvement over circle of the moon. The Dash is a godsend could be implemented in all "Igavania" games feels so good to combat and dash to wherever i want. The colors i thought would be a turn off, were not as distracting as expected (except at the end fight wth).
Pretty enjoyable game, the dash really is what elevates the game
Pretty enjoyable game, the dash really is what elevates the game
Moving on from the fiasco that was Circle of the Moon, the Advance Collection now treats us to Harmony of Dissonance. Will this be an improvement, or a further step down for the series? Let's find out.
Like with Circle of the Moon before it, the main cast is small. The story centers on a trio of childhood friends: the playable Juste Belmont, a descendant of Simon Belmont and inheritor of the Vampire Killer; Maxim Kischine, a trusted fellow vampire hunter who trained alongside Juste; and Lydie Erlanger, a young lady who's very dear to both. Lydie has disappeared, and Maxim was the last person to see her -- he, however, has no recollection of what transpired, recalling only the existence of a mysterious castle lost within the mists.
These clearly established, strong bonds between the characters, plus the mystery setup regarding Maxim's amnesia and a castle in which Dracula is nowhere to be found set the game off to a much better start than its predecessor. There are, in fact, twists hidden in the way the castle is laid out in itself, which I won't spoil for the purposes of this review because they do result in something of an "a-ha!" moment in the midgame, by which time Juste will have had multiple run-ins with Maxim and with the denizens of the castle, and it's clear that no one knows what's going on, but this is definitely an unusual situation even as far as the forces of evil are concerned.
As far as the metroidvania gameplay goes, the castle is... complicated. It's definitely a huge improvement from Circle of the Moon: Harmony of Dissonance does away with the silly obstacle courses that defined its predecessor, with branching areas that develop unpredictably and mesh into one another, and the result is much more surprising, and thus more satisfying zones to explore. Those zones also offer a multitude of treasures to find, making the exploration of every nook and cranny a rewarding one.
On the other hand, it's not like the player has a choice: they have to explore every single square of the castle map, as rooms that might seem optional or empty can actually be essential to advancing. Likewise, equipment plays an important part in Juste's adventure, and there are many key items masquerading as normal items. This is not new for the series, with Symphony of the Night's Holy Glasses allowing access to the second half of the game, but HoD employs this idea much more often. As such, it's important to inspect the inventory descriptions for all items that are picked up and make notes of rooms that seem suspicious.
It's not that these design decisions were bad -- they force engaging with the castle on a deeper level, which is a positive -- but it's easy to see someone coming out frustrated from the game due to being stuck for a long time because of a detail they didn't notice. This is compounded by the biggest point of contention, which is another castle feature that has the player traverse every area in the game at least twice. The result is that there is a lot of repetition to Harmony of Dissonance -- even more so to a player who doesn't quite know where to go.
So the castle in this entry is controversial. However, in my review of Circle of the Moon, I claimed that a bad castle isn't as much of a problem if the game plays well, and if anything, Harmony of Dissonance is proof of that statement. Clearly, someone looked at Nathan and Alucard side-by-side and realized the next lil' guy had to be more like former: Juste plays amazingly smoothly right from the get-go, with a directional dash move performed via the trigger buttons that allows him to traverse rooms like a speedrunning lunatic. Later additions to his moveset reinforce this agility, making it much less painful to travel long distances.
This also greatly helps his combat capabilities: by dashing, he can quickly move in and out of combat, which in turn rewards players that play aggressively. Juste's abilities are even further reinforced once the player finds their first spellbook: there are five in total, and each of them transforms the subweapon ability in unique ways. This means that, despite being a whip user for the whole game, his moveset has a few more tricks that help him deal with faraway or aerial enemies.
When one considers Juste's full moveset, he is rather overpowered. And he feels as such, too. CotM had that Game Boy Color feel to its graphics and animations, and it, too, impacted the player's perception of the game. Juste is not only better animated, he retains that shadowy trail that's a page taken straight from SotN, making it clear that this he is not just a guy. It's almost... too much. Before I noticed the "Belmont" attached to his name, I was under the impression Juste was a vampire like Alucard, not a vampire hunter. But I suppose that Dissonance (ha!) is a small price to pay to have a character that feels good to control.
Symphony of the Night it is not, but Harmony of Dissonance presents a fun take on the Castlevania formula. It's true that the game might demand patience from its player, but for those willing to stick with it, there's plenty of fun to be had in Juste Belmont's unexpected battle against evil.
Like with Circle of the Moon before it, the main cast is small. The story centers on a trio of childhood friends: the playable Juste Belmont, a descendant of Simon Belmont and inheritor of the Vampire Killer; Maxim Kischine, a trusted fellow vampire hunter who trained alongside Juste; and Lydie Erlanger, a young lady who's very dear to both. Lydie has disappeared, and Maxim was the last person to see her -- he, however, has no recollection of what transpired, recalling only the existence of a mysterious castle lost within the mists.
These clearly established, strong bonds between the characters, plus the mystery setup regarding Maxim's amnesia and a castle in which Dracula is nowhere to be found set the game off to a much better start than its predecessor. There are, in fact, twists hidden in the way the castle is laid out in itself, which I won't spoil for the purposes of this review because they do result in something of an "a-ha!" moment in the midgame, by which time Juste will have had multiple run-ins with Maxim and with the denizens of the castle, and it's clear that no one knows what's going on, but this is definitely an unusual situation even as far as the forces of evil are concerned.
As far as the metroidvania gameplay goes, the castle is... complicated. It's definitely a huge improvement from Circle of the Moon: Harmony of Dissonance does away with the silly obstacle courses that defined its predecessor, with branching areas that develop unpredictably and mesh into one another, and the result is much more surprising, and thus more satisfying zones to explore. Those zones also offer a multitude of treasures to find, making the exploration of every nook and cranny a rewarding one.
On the other hand, it's not like the player has a choice: they have to explore every single square of the castle map, as rooms that might seem optional or empty can actually be essential to advancing. Likewise, equipment plays an important part in Juste's adventure, and there are many key items masquerading as normal items. This is not new for the series, with Symphony of the Night's Holy Glasses allowing access to the second half of the game, but HoD employs this idea much more often. As such, it's important to inspect the inventory descriptions for all items that are picked up and make notes of rooms that seem suspicious.
It's not that these design decisions were bad -- they force engaging with the castle on a deeper level, which is a positive -- but it's easy to see someone coming out frustrated from the game due to being stuck for a long time because of a detail they didn't notice. This is compounded by the biggest point of contention, which is another castle feature that has the player traverse every area in the game at least twice. The result is that there is a lot of repetition to Harmony of Dissonance -- even more so to a player who doesn't quite know where to go.
So the castle in this entry is controversial. However, in my review of Circle of the Moon, I claimed that a bad castle isn't as much of a problem if the game plays well, and if anything, Harmony of Dissonance is proof of that statement. Clearly, someone looked at Nathan and Alucard side-by-side and realized the next lil' guy had to be more like former: Juste plays amazingly smoothly right from the get-go, with a directional dash move performed via the trigger buttons that allows him to traverse rooms like a speedrunning lunatic. Later additions to his moveset reinforce this agility, making it much less painful to travel long distances.
This also greatly helps his combat capabilities: by dashing, he can quickly move in and out of combat, which in turn rewards players that play aggressively. Juste's abilities are even further reinforced once the player finds their first spellbook: there are five in total, and each of them transforms the subweapon ability in unique ways. This means that, despite being a whip user for the whole game, his moveset has a few more tricks that help him deal with faraway or aerial enemies.
When one considers Juste's full moveset, he is rather overpowered. And he feels as such, too. CotM had that Game Boy Color feel to its graphics and animations, and it, too, impacted the player's perception of the game. Juste is not only better animated, he retains that shadowy trail that's a page taken straight from SotN, making it clear that this he is not just a guy. It's almost... too much. Before I noticed the "Belmont" attached to his name, I was under the impression Juste was a vampire like Alucard, not a vampire hunter. But I suppose that Dissonance (ha!) is a small price to pay to have a character that feels good to control.
Symphony of the Night it is not, but Harmony of Dissonance presents a fun take on the Castlevania formula. It's true that the game might demand patience from its player, but for those willing to stick with it, there's plenty of fun to be had in Juste Belmont's unexpected battle against evil.
Truly one of the castlevania's of all-time (non-insultingly)
harmony of goat
Barring the original Castlevania games for psychos (ilu super castlevania iv), most people's exposure to modern Igavania/Metroidvania games was Symphony of the Night. I didn't own a PS1, so I had SotN at home, and that's Harmony of Dissonance.
It feels like SotN scaled down to work on a handheld, and frankly that's kind of amazing to me. Is it as good or memorable as that game? To most people, no. Hell, most people find this or Portrait of Ruin to be the least memorable Igavania game, but Portrait of Ruin has an ugly-ass art style that immediately makes me like HoD more.
The movement in this game feels slick as hell with a nice dash that really makes zooming around feel good. The sub-weapon system was rudimentary but focused. The exploration and dual-castle system is repeated again here but being on a handheld makes it pretty spiffy. And despite the music having that 8-bit compression crunch to it, the soundtrack still rips ass.
This is on the Castlevania collection on all your favorite game platforms. It's not the most memorable or interesting Castlevania game, but it's competent and feels nice to play. It has a special place in my heart.
It feels like SotN scaled down to work on a handheld, and frankly that's kind of amazing to me. Is it as good or memorable as that game? To most people, no. Hell, most people find this or Portrait of Ruin to be the least memorable Igavania game, but Portrait of Ruin has an ugly-ass art style that immediately makes me like HoD more.
The movement in this game feels slick as hell with a nice dash that really makes zooming around feel good. The sub-weapon system was rudimentary but focused. The exploration and dual-castle system is repeated again here but being on a handheld makes it pretty spiffy. And despite the music having that 8-bit compression crunch to it, the soundtrack still rips ass.
This is on the Castlevania collection on all your favorite game platforms. It's not the most memorable or interesting Castlevania game, but it's competent and feels nice to play. It has a special place in my heart.
Básicamente es Symphony of the Night en GBA, con lo bueno y lo malo que eso conlleva.
"Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance" é como uma sinfonia com o maestro tendo um dia particularmente ruim - a trilha sonora parece mais um concerto para trincar os ouvidos do que algo que deveria agradar nossos tímpanos. Se a desarmonia tivesse uma trilha sonora, seria esta.
A música é tão dissonante que faria Beethoven revirar no túmulo, ou, no caso, nos corredores do castelo. Cada nota parece ter saído de sintonia, como se o compositor estivesse tocando um teclado invisível enquanto usava luvas de boxe.
E sobre o título "Harmony of Dissonance", é como se estivessem fazendo um trocadilho autocrítico. A desarmonia dessa dissonância sonora é tão evidente que deveriam ter chamado de "Discórdia dos Meus Ouvidos" ou "Ruído Resonante".
A experiência auditiva é tão desafiadora que até Drácula, o senhor do castelo, deve ter pedido para abaixarem o volume. Talvez o protagonista, Juste Belmont, precisasse de um chicote sônico para tentar trazer algum equilíbrio a esse caos melódico.
Em resumo, "Harmony of Dissonance" é como assistir a um concerto onde a orquestra decidiu tocar cada instrumento no seu próprio ritmo. A desarmonia é tão palpável que faz você desejar que Drácula usasse protetores auriculares em vez de tentar conquistar o mundo.
A música é tão dissonante que faria Beethoven revirar no túmulo, ou, no caso, nos corredores do castelo. Cada nota parece ter saído de sintonia, como se o compositor estivesse tocando um teclado invisível enquanto usava luvas de boxe.
E sobre o título "Harmony of Dissonance", é como se estivessem fazendo um trocadilho autocrítico. A desarmonia dessa dissonância sonora é tão evidente que deveriam ter chamado de "Discórdia dos Meus Ouvidos" ou "Ruído Resonante".
A experiência auditiva é tão desafiadora que até Drácula, o senhor do castelo, deve ter pedido para abaixarem o volume. Talvez o protagonista, Juste Belmont, precisasse de um chicote sônico para tentar trazer algum equilíbrio a esse caos melódico.
Em resumo, "Harmony of Dissonance" é como assistir a um concerto onde a orquestra decidiu tocar cada instrumento no seu próprio ritmo. A desarmonia é tão palpável que faz você desejar que Drácula usasse protetores auriculares em vez de tentar conquistar o mundo.
Gameplay muito divertida e refinada, mas sua exploração sofre com o sistema de Castle A e Castle B
Castelo confuso e com pessima progressao
What a strange mess of a game. For every good side it has it's counterbalanced by something dumb. The disgusting amount of backtracking alone is enough to make the game plain not fun, and even then on top of it you also have to deal with piss easy bosses, needlessly vertical level design, and lack of any reasonable way to track collected items. Not to mention, furniture collection is yet another blatant form of padding out the playtime.
Circle of the Moon right before this one had major problems, but even it didn't try to be nearly as annoying.
Circle of the Moon right before this one had major problems, but even it didn't try to be nearly as annoying.
Música bizarra, castelo confuso e cores psicodélicas. O dash do Juste é legal de usar.
Como um jogo consegue ser tão bom e tão ruim ao mesmo tempo?
Os pontos bons: Dar dash é uma delícia, sistema de magias muito divertido, juste é gostoso, tu tem um quartinho fds.
Os ruins: A exploração é uma MERDA. os caras meteram dois castelos na metade do jogo. "nossa, igual o symphony, que legal" NÃO CARA. É confuso. você tem que fazer coisa em um castelo pra liberar algo no outro, e só descobre isso depois de fuxicar 3 vezes o castelo inteiro. Eu precisei de um detonado pra descobrir onde tinha que ir. isso é de longe o pior defeito do jogo. tem outras coisas chatas como a facilidade. na boa, tu fica imortal dps q pega a cruz, bolt e wind book e estoca high potion. boss final? entrei nele e spamei crucifixo. ta morrendo? usa tuas 100 high potion e big mana prism e continua spamando magia.
Fora isso, da pra se divertir.
Os pontos bons: Dar dash é uma delícia, sistema de magias muito divertido, juste é gostoso, tu tem um quartinho fds.
Os ruins: A exploração é uma MERDA. os caras meteram dois castelos na metade do jogo. "nossa, igual o symphony, que legal" NÃO CARA. É confuso. você tem que fazer coisa em um castelo pra liberar algo no outro, e só descobre isso depois de fuxicar 3 vezes o castelo inteiro. Eu precisei de um detonado pra descobrir onde tinha que ir. isso é de longe o pior defeito do jogo. tem outras coisas chatas como a facilidade. na boa, tu fica imortal dps q pega a cruz, bolt e wind book e estoca high potion. boss final? entrei nele e spamei crucifixo. ta morrendo? usa tuas 100 high potion e big mana prism e continua spamando magia.
Fora isso, da pra se divertir.
Canje por Metakenshin
The three GBA games make clear strides in improving upon the last one. If you actually want to enjoy this I would suggest playing it before Aria of Sorrow and just completely skipping Circle of the Moon. This is basically if SOTN was on the GBA and for the time, SOTN on the GBA was cool. Really cool. But now that it's just another Castlevania game, that you can either emulate or play legally on your Switch, it's basically SOTN, but worse. You can probably play SOTN on your Switch if you try hard enough.
I do enjoy this game, my biggest gripe is not knowing what to do next. You can spend hours traversing the entire castle to find the one spot you need to be at. And this happens more than a few times. I never even knew you could teleport till I found a hint somewhere, so it was basically the end of the game when I finally did start teleporting.
This is relatively easy, probably moreso than Aria of Sorrow and I like that I'm not constantly killing enemies trying to get their abilities, as much as I found that aspect of Aria very cool, I like the simplicity of less FOMO. The bosses are just moving blocks that sometimes attack. There's a lot of them too. You'll need very little strategy for most of them and if you utilize your magic and special attacks, as well as maybe do a bit of grinding, you'll barely take a scratch.
By the time you reach the end of the game it's pretty hard not to be overpowered and by now if you don't know the best magic combos (or combo I should say, ahem, wind/cross) there might be something wrong with you.
Overall a solid game with a blah story, huge docking of points for constantly getting lost and having WAY too many dead ends that you can't pass till much much, much, later.
Oh yeah, just because they needed to place more random items to collect, there's a room that you can furnish. Weird side quest.
I do enjoy this game, my biggest gripe is not knowing what to do next. You can spend hours traversing the entire castle to find the one spot you need to be at. And this happens more than a few times. I never even knew you could teleport till I found a hint somewhere, so it was basically the end of the game when I finally did start teleporting.
This is relatively easy, probably moreso than Aria of Sorrow and I like that I'm not constantly killing enemies trying to get their abilities, as much as I found that aspect of Aria very cool, I like the simplicity of less FOMO. The bosses are just moving blocks that sometimes attack. There's a lot of them too. You'll need very little strategy for most of them and if you utilize your magic and special attacks, as well as maybe do a bit of grinding, you'll barely take a scratch.
By the time you reach the end of the game it's pretty hard not to be overpowered and by now if you don't know the best magic combos (or combo I should say, ahem, wind/cross) there might be something wrong with you.
Overall a solid game with a blah story, huge docking of points for constantly getting lost and having WAY too many dead ends that you can't pass till much much, much, later.
Oh yeah, just because they needed to place more random items to collect, there's a room that you can furnish. Weird side quest.
f#$% medusa heads bro
I actually had a lot of fun with this Castlevania at first. I found the movement very fluid and the battles very fun for the most part. The magic system is a cool idea, although I mostly stuck to a single sub-weapon (just love the cross) and therefore didn't try too many magic combos. Difficulty level was pretty decent for a long time, but then dropped off sharply at some point. This was mainly because I was so lost at times that I ran through the castle several times and slaughtered hordes of undead like a madman. That's also my biggest criticism of the game - I found the level design and the structure of these 2 castles super confusing and there were many places where I simply had no idea where I was supposed to go. Unfortunately, you can't put any markers on the map and I can't remember which locked door or other blockade was where - so I run through everything a thousand times and completely lose track. Well, the music wasn't really that great either, which made me quite disappointed. I still enjoyed playing it though, especially because you could slide through the levels so quickly and the slaughtering was fun :D
PS: I just remembered how incredibly stupid the plot is :D The writers were like "Hey, remember how nonsensical and borderline stupid the story of Castlevania: 2 Simon's Quest is? Let's just do it again, only much much dumber than back then!" The dialog is crap too^^
PS: I just remembered how incredibly stupid the plot is :D The writers were like "Hey, remember how nonsensical and borderline stupid the story of Castlevania: 2 Simon's Quest is? Let's just do it again, only much much dumber than back then!" The dialog is crap too^^
This review contains spoilers
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance wasn’t any better received than Circle of the Moon was. The second entry in a series of Castlevania games on Nintendo’s horizontal handheld system was released only a mere year after Konami decided to showcase it with a title that would stamp the Metroidvania direction that Symphony of the Night established for the series in permanent ink. While this is technically the case, upon playing Circle of the Moon, could the game really be defined as either a sequel or a spiritual successor to one of the franchise's most celebrated and influential titles? Argue about its subjective quality all you want, but what I’m prodding at is that Circle of the Moon did not want to walk in Symphony’s shadow. It’s readily apparent by the grittier visuals, the return of the whip and secondary items, and the brutally uncompromising difficulty that Circle of the Moon sought to pave its own path while the trail was admittedly on the same Metroidvania ground that Symphony had cemented. Because Circle of the Moon was radically different from the game that was advertised, it did not sit well with the new audience that Symphony garnered. Personally, I thought the deviations from the Symphony were refreshing, but I understand why someone who was introduced to the series with a game that featured multiple weapons, grandiose graphics, and a more manageable difficulty curve would be turned off by Circle of the Moon’s repressive minimalism. Because the response from Circle of the Moon was generally lackluster, the next entry on the GBA served as an opportunity to rectify the failed experimentation and craft something more likened to Symphony of the Night. Despite their best efforts to appease Symphony of the Night enthusiasts, the oxymoronically-titled Harmony of Dissonance still didn’t satisfy them, and here is why.
We’ve reverted back to one previous century for Harmony of Dissonance when the Belmonts were still relevant, for yet another member of the iconic vampire killing clan is introduced as our protagonist: Juste Belmont. Juste’s childhood friend Lydie has been kidnapped and taken to a strange castle that has been erected on the grassy hills of whatever European village this is seemingly overnight. Upon exploring the foyer of this estate, good ol’ series staple Death confirms that the castle is indeed another one of Dracula’s new constructions (no shit). Juste splits the task of rescuing Lydie with his other lifelong best friend Maxim, who is suffering from amnesia and can’t remember what his objective was beforehand. Even though Juste has no canonical relation to Nathan Graves, apparently what binds them together as the protagonists of GBA Castlevania games is performing the grunt work of traversing through Dracula’s castle with a friend to save someone dear to them from Dracula’s clutches. Boy, I sure do hope Maxim isn’t seduced by the darkness of Dracula as easily as Hugh was (fingers crossed).
The predominant complaint that most people seem to have regarding Harmony of Dissonance is with its presentation. It proves to me that Circle of the Moon was artistically restrained as opposed to mechanically and that the GBA was capable of rendering striking visuals. Still, considering Harmony of Dissonance’s aim was to make a mobile Symphony of the Night, their futile efforts to transport its glorious, refined pixel art to a 2.9-inch screen was interesting, to say the least. Harmony of Dissonance displays the most striking visuals ever seen across any Castlevania title. Its graphics don’t simply pop out with buoyant flair: they scream at the player with the subtlety of a wild howler monkey. The word “lurid” doesn’t even quite cut it. In their attempt to emulate the splendor of Symphony on a mechanically inferior piece of hardware, Konami has managed to craft what playing Symphony on acid would be like. Not a single piece of the background or foreground isn’t psychedelic, exhibiting that fleshy GBA color palette seen in Metroid Fusion only amped up to eleven on the intensity scale. Some of the backgrounds across the castle are simply kaleidoscopic views made to simulate the apex of drug-addled freakouts. Still, the player will have to make a concerted effort to peek over at the backdrops because I don’t know how one can keep their eyes off of Juste’s cloak which is so crimson red that it’s practically bleeding. There’s bombast, and then there is a complete overload of visual flair to the point of being stomach-churning, which is how many of the detractors describe how the game’s visuals upset them. It doesn’t help that the sound design is irritatingly shrill as well, really honing in on the hallucinatory feeling. Personally, Harmony of Dissonance’s presentation is its strongest aspect. The mix of the dazzling and the macabre reminds me of Giallo, an Italian subgenre of horror films whose refusal to color in the lines is its defining idiosyncrasy. As for the piercing sound design, I don’t think that was intentional, so there’s one legitimate demerit I’m going to have to mark off Harmony of Dissonance for.
Another criticism of Harmony of Dissonance I have that doesn’t seem to be as widely discussed is its protagonist. Besides his stupid, awkward name that is hard to pronounce, Juste Belmont is an imposter. How can Konami peacefully sleep at night after such brazen lies trying to convince all of us that this man isn’t a vampire? His pale, bedsheet-white skin complexion makes Alucard look Sudanese by comparison, and Alucard has never been one to shy away from revealing his vampiric form. Alucard is so white that Aryans would worship him as their Messiah. I feel that if I stabbed Juste, a translucent green goo would spill from his insides instead of the warm, organic red blood that signifies a mortal, earthly creature. On top of looking like an undead creature of the night, Juste also moves like one as well. Whenever Juste jumps as par for the course in a platformer game, his brief ascent is strangely languid, as if he’s manipulating the gravity used to bounce himself upward like oh, I don’t know, a vampire would. See the playground scene from Let the Right One In where the vampire girl hops off the equipment for reference. Juste’s less grounded movement is also annoyingly imprecise, making the player correct for the unnatural physics of a character that is supposed to be human. He does perfect the dash maneuver that Alucard introduced in Symphony to expertise, darting around every room of the castle like he’s a poncy Sonic the Hedgehog. Still, I must impress that Juste beats Alucard, who is a fucking vampire, with his proficiency in executing this supernatural move. Sorry to say Simon, but someone has spiked your gene pool with the blood of your enemies. I don’t like Juste’s jerkoff name, I don’t like his jerkoff face, and I don’t like the jerkoff way he carries himself on the field.
The only Belmont signifier that Juste possesses that proves his kinship is using the family standard weapon of the whip along with the collective of secondary weapons that use ammunition we’ve been familiar with since the days of Simon on the NES. Even though Juste’s physicality is meant to ape Alucard, at least he retains the classic Castlevania in a Metroidvania environment like Circle of the Moon started to do. Harmony of Dissonance also repeats the use of deadly, screen-encompassing spells transferred over to the GBA from Rondo of Blood, which is always a neat way to quickly annihilate all enemies. While I appreciate how the essentials of Castlevania’s gameplay are preserved nicely, what innovations does Harmony of Dissonance contribute to the Castlevania formula to discern itself among the pack? Harmony of Dissonance seems to emphasize clothing and items as integral mechanics. Circle of the Moon didn’t skip using collectible wear coinciding with RPG attributes, but Harmony of Dissonance adds another layer of interactivity to them besides their offensive and defensive perks. All of the major collectibles needed to progress through the game in Harmony of Dissonance are intertwined with the items of clothing that Juste picks up around the corridors of Dracula’s castle. Alternate flails for the whip are also strewn about in the same obscured settings, and a few are necessary to use to bypass obstacles around the estate. Implementing the progression items into the slew of varied clothing is bound to confuse most veterans of the series, for it's unclear when they unlock what is needed to progress. Usually, an important item is obtained after defeating a boss, signifying a stepping stone in progress with a substantial accomplishment. The player can determine which item they should use by reading its description in the menu, but how are they to know which one has a special attribute among the mishmash of clothing items, which are also scrambled in the menu with no organization to speak of? Also, it’s incredibly inconvenient changing from a clothing item with better stats back to the less-than-deal one to use once in a blue moon to unlock a passageway.
What is ten times more messy and disorganized in Harmony of Dissonance is the game’s interpretation of Symphony’s second half. Once Juste finds himself on the opposite side of Dracula’s castle, Death’s second wave of exposition involves explaining to Juste that Maxim has unfortunately fallen to the entrancing gaze of Dracula. Apparently, the evil aura exuding from the force of all six of Dracula’s body parts has caused a schism in Maxim’s body and mind, and the anti-Maxim created from the rupturing is the one who captured Lydie in the first place. Another grand effect of Maxim toying with Dracula’s remains is that it has caused a mirrored version of the castle to materialize in another dimension, which is where Lydie is being held captive and Dracula’s assorted parts are still radiating pure malevolence. Already, the premise of how the game’s second half came to be is a head-scratcher, but wait until it’s time to enter the opposing realm and interact with it. Instead of teleporting Juste around the castle, the warp gates that are marked with a yellow square on the map will transport Juste to Maxim’s fabricated castle, which is referred to as “Castle B.” No, the castle is not twisted on its head (which would be especially nauseating in this game), but an uncanny version of the same castle with slightly tougher enemies. Actually, there really isn’t all that much difference in the design except for the most minute rearrangements that usually lead to pertinent points of progress. What “Castle B” mostly achieves is confusing the hell out of the player. Upon warping to “Castle B” for the first time, the western half of the castle is blocked off now because the shift has torn the entire castle asunder like Germany after WWII. Juste is confined to one fraction of the castle for quite a while, and there doesn’t seem to be a clear exit because this is also when all pathways to progress become hazy and circuitous. Basically, an impediment found in one dimension can possibly be dealt with in the other, which involves several back-and-forth treks to and from the warp gate. The slog of unclear progression in the fake castle is enough to give someone a headache.
I suppose the befuddling frustration I experienced upon entering Maxim’s “alternate” realm of existence was the only thing keeping me from breezing through Harmony of Dissonance. Fans of the classic Castlevania titles complained that Symphony of the Night was too easy, but only compared to the blisteringly painful difficulty curves found in the traditional 2D platformers that gave players an exhilarating rush of accomplishment. Harmony of Dissonance, on the other hand, is easy by the general standards across all video games. One could give it to a small child as an introductory peek into the series, and I doubt they’d have much trouble with it until the dimensional flip-flopping takes place. Potions of varying regenerative amounts will drop from enemies fairly often, and the roast found in the cracked corners of the walls has been shifted into turkey and turkey legs to itemize the healing properties of food in varying quantities. Overall enemy damage is tepid enough, but all of the game’s bosses are laughably pitiful when they keep insisting on repeating the same languid tactics that I already evaded seconds in advance. A healing orb drops after defeating each boss similar to the classic titles but unlike those grueling tests of skill, the damage these pathetic bosses dished out barely amounted to a scratch, the plethora of healing items withstanding. I’ve made positive claims for all previous Castlevania games that were deemed easy before, but Harmony of Dissonance’s borderline effortlessness is enough to make me resign from my defendant post.
The primary objective in “Castle B” is finishing what Maxim started by reobtaining all six pieces of Dracula scattered across the "Twilight Zone" of his castle. Doing so will unfasten a mechanical door situated below the floor leading to the underground chamber at the center of the gothic architecture where an unconscious Lydie is stashed. Because I played Symphony and know that this game is doing its damndest to ape it, I knew there would be additional requirements to fight Dracula that the game wasn’t going to inform me of. Upon performing extraneous research, the caveats to facing Dracula once again were to wear both rings representing the two friends of Juste upon entering the boss arena and arriving here from the alternate castle. Juste will first subdue his corrupted male friend before the dark lord erupts from Maxim into the shape of something so hideous and malformed that it would make David Cronenberg say, “What the fuck?” In the optimal ending, Juste escapes the crumbling manor with Maxim and Lydie. Lydie is fine, but it’s implied that the evil form of Maxim bit her on the neck, which would mean that this happy ending carries complications. However, even a Maxim possessed by Dracula was never a vampire, so all that might occur is him getting slapped with a sexual assault charge at most. Considering that I barely broke a sweat fighting Maxim and Dracula back to back and I don’t care for these characters, I don’t think it was worth the additional effort beforehand to ensure the best outcome.
What Circle of the Moon expertly avoided in translating Symphony’s Metroidvania design to a handheld system was distancing itself as a prospective “Symphony on the go”. I think it’s obvious that a system that primarily plays 2D games would serve as a perfect hub for the Metroidvania genre, but Symphony made such a colossal impact that it set such a high standard that the GBA couldn’t compete with. Harmony of Dissonance is the result of acceding to everyone who did not appreciate Circle of the Moon’s maverick decisions by coming as close to Symphony of the Night as feasibly possible, and apparently, only I had the foresight to know this wouldn’t work. It actually amends every problem across Circle of the Moon, but it’s when it tries to differentiate itself from Symphony while also tracing Symphony’s template where the game falls flat. Symphony’s graphics were exuberant, so Harmony’s attempt resulted in an acid-laced attack on the senses. Symphony’s difficulty was more manageable than any classic Castlevania title, so Harmony dumbed itself down even further to the point of being braindead. Symphony’s reversed castle section fundamentally worked to pad the game, so Harmony’s version of this without outright copying it amounted to a roundabout disaster. Any game that dips back into an idea from Simon’s Quest is desperate to discern itself from the pack, which is really what the developers should’ve focused on again instead of the fool’s errand that fueled Harmony’s development. Besides the eye-popping visuals, there isn’t much to recommend regarding Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance.
------
Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com
We’ve reverted back to one previous century for Harmony of Dissonance when the Belmonts were still relevant, for yet another member of the iconic vampire killing clan is introduced as our protagonist: Juste Belmont. Juste’s childhood friend Lydie has been kidnapped and taken to a strange castle that has been erected on the grassy hills of whatever European village this is seemingly overnight. Upon exploring the foyer of this estate, good ol’ series staple Death confirms that the castle is indeed another one of Dracula’s new constructions (no shit). Juste splits the task of rescuing Lydie with his other lifelong best friend Maxim, who is suffering from amnesia and can’t remember what his objective was beforehand. Even though Juste has no canonical relation to Nathan Graves, apparently what binds them together as the protagonists of GBA Castlevania games is performing the grunt work of traversing through Dracula’s castle with a friend to save someone dear to them from Dracula’s clutches. Boy, I sure do hope Maxim isn’t seduced by the darkness of Dracula as easily as Hugh was (fingers crossed).
The predominant complaint that most people seem to have regarding Harmony of Dissonance is with its presentation. It proves to me that Circle of the Moon was artistically restrained as opposed to mechanically and that the GBA was capable of rendering striking visuals. Still, considering Harmony of Dissonance’s aim was to make a mobile Symphony of the Night, their futile efforts to transport its glorious, refined pixel art to a 2.9-inch screen was interesting, to say the least. Harmony of Dissonance displays the most striking visuals ever seen across any Castlevania title. Its graphics don’t simply pop out with buoyant flair: they scream at the player with the subtlety of a wild howler monkey. The word “lurid” doesn’t even quite cut it. In their attempt to emulate the splendor of Symphony on a mechanically inferior piece of hardware, Konami has managed to craft what playing Symphony on acid would be like. Not a single piece of the background or foreground isn’t psychedelic, exhibiting that fleshy GBA color palette seen in Metroid Fusion only amped up to eleven on the intensity scale. Some of the backgrounds across the castle are simply kaleidoscopic views made to simulate the apex of drug-addled freakouts. Still, the player will have to make a concerted effort to peek over at the backdrops because I don’t know how one can keep their eyes off of Juste’s cloak which is so crimson red that it’s practically bleeding. There’s bombast, and then there is a complete overload of visual flair to the point of being stomach-churning, which is how many of the detractors describe how the game’s visuals upset them. It doesn’t help that the sound design is irritatingly shrill as well, really honing in on the hallucinatory feeling. Personally, Harmony of Dissonance’s presentation is its strongest aspect. The mix of the dazzling and the macabre reminds me of Giallo, an Italian subgenre of horror films whose refusal to color in the lines is its defining idiosyncrasy. As for the piercing sound design, I don’t think that was intentional, so there’s one legitimate demerit I’m going to have to mark off Harmony of Dissonance for.
Another criticism of Harmony of Dissonance I have that doesn’t seem to be as widely discussed is its protagonist. Besides his stupid, awkward name that is hard to pronounce, Juste Belmont is an imposter. How can Konami peacefully sleep at night after such brazen lies trying to convince all of us that this man isn’t a vampire? His pale, bedsheet-white skin complexion makes Alucard look Sudanese by comparison, and Alucard has never been one to shy away from revealing his vampiric form. Alucard is so white that Aryans would worship him as their Messiah. I feel that if I stabbed Juste, a translucent green goo would spill from his insides instead of the warm, organic red blood that signifies a mortal, earthly creature. On top of looking like an undead creature of the night, Juste also moves like one as well. Whenever Juste jumps as par for the course in a platformer game, his brief ascent is strangely languid, as if he’s manipulating the gravity used to bounce himself upward like oh, I don’t know, a vampire would. See the playground scene from Let the Right One In where the vampire girl hops off the equipment for reference. Juste’s less grounded movement is also annoyingly imprecise, making the player correct for the unnatural physics of a character that is supposed to be human. He does perfect the dash maneuver that Alucard introduced in Symphony to expertise, darting around every room of the castle like he’s a poncy Sonic the Hedgehog. Still, I must impress that Juste beats Alucard, who is a fucking vampire, with his proficiency in executing this supernatural move. Sorry to say Simon, but someone has spiked your gene pool with the blood of your enemies. I don’t like Juste’s jerkoff name, I don’t like his jerkoff face, and I don’t like the jerkoff way he carries himself on the field.
The only Belmont signifier that Juste possesses that proves his kinship is using the family standard weapon of the whip along with the collective of secondary weapons that use ammunition we’ve been familiar with since the days of Simon on the NES. Even though Juste’s physicality is meant to ape Alucard, at least he retains the classic Castlevania in a Metroidvania environment like Circle of the Moon started to do. Harmony of Dissonance also repeats the use of deadly, screen-encompassing spells transferred over to the GBA from Rondo of Blood, which is always a neat way to quickly annihilate all enemies. While I appreciate how the essentials of Castlevania’s gameplay are preserved nicely, what innovations does Harmony of Dissonance contribute to the Castlevania formula to discern itself among the pack? Harmony of Dissonance seems to emphasize clothing and items as integral mechanics. Circle of the Moon didn’t skip using collectible wear coinciding with RPG attributes, but Harmony of Dissonance adds another layer of interactivity to them besides their offensive and defensive perks. All of the major collectibles needed to progress through the game in Harmony of Dissonance are intertwined with the items of clothing that Juste picks up around the corridors of Dracula’s castle. Alternate flails for the whip are also strewn about in the same obscured settings, and a few are necessary to use to bypass obstacles around the estate. Implementing the progression items into the slew of varied clothing is bound to confuse most veterans of the series, for it's unclear when they unlock what is needed to progress. Usually, an important item is obtained after defeating a boss, signifying a stepping stone in progress with a substantial accomplishment. The player can determine which item they should use by reading its description in the menu, but how are they to know which one has a special attribute among the mishmash of clothing items, which are also scrambled in the menu with no organization to speak of? Also, it’s incredibly inconvenient changing from a clothing item with better stats back to the less-than-deal one to use once in a blue moon to unlock a passageway.
What is ten times more messy and disorganized in Harmony of Dissonance is the game’s interpretation of Symphony’s second half. Once Juste finds himself on the opposite side of Dracula’s castle, Death’s second wave of exposition involves explaining to Juste that Maxim has unfortunately fallen to the entrancing gaze of Dracula. Apparently, the evil aura exuding from the force of all six of Dracula’s body parts has caused a schism in Maxim’s body and mind, and the anti-Maxim created from the rupturing is the one who captured Lydie in the first place. Another grand effect of Maxim toying with Dracula’s remains is that it has caused a mirrored version of the castle to materialize in another dimension, which is where Lydie is being held captive and Dracula’s assorted parts are still radiating pure malevolence. Already, the premise of how the game’s second half came to be is a head-scratcher, but wait until it’s time to enter the opposing realm and interact with it. Instead of teleporting Juste around the castle, the warp gates that are marked with a yellow square on the map will transport Juste to Maxim’s fabricated castle, which is referred to as “Castle B.” No, the castle is not twisted on its head (which would be especially nauseating in this game), but an uncanny version of the same castle with slightly tougher enemies. Actually, there really isn’t all that much difference in the design except for the most minute rearrangements that usually lead to pertinent points of progress. What “Castle B” mostly achieves is confusing the hell out of the player. Upon warping to “Castle B” for the first time, the western half of the castle is blocked off now because the shift has torn the entire castle asunder like Germany after WWII. Juste is confined to one fraction of the castle for quite a while, and there doesn’t seem to be a clear exit because this is also when all pathways to progress become hazy and circuitous. Basically, an impediment found in one dimension can possibly be dealt with in the other, which involves several back-and-forth treks to and from the warp gate. The slog of unclear progression in the fake castle is enough to give someone a headache.
I suppose the befuddling frustration I experienced upon entering Maxim’s “alternate” realm of existence was the only thing keeping me from breezing through Harmony of Dissonance. Fans of the classic Castlevania titles complained that Symphony of the Night was too easy, but only compared to the blisteringly painful difficulty curves found in the traditional 2D platformers that gave players an exhilarating rush of accomplishment. Harmony of Dissonance, on the other hand, is easy by the general standards across all video games. One could give it to a small child as an introductory peek into the series, and I doubt they’d have much trouble with it until the dimensional flip-flopping takes place. Potions of varying regenerative amounts will drop from enemies fairly often, and the roast found in the cracked corners of the walls has been shifted into turkey and turkey legs to itemize the healing properties of food in varying quantities. Overall enemy damage is tepid enough, but all of the game’s bosses are laughably pitiful when they keep insisting on repeating the same languid tactics that I already evaded seconds in advance. A healing orb drops after defeating each boss similar to the classic titles but unlike those grueling tests of skill, the damage these pathetic bosses dished out barely amounted to a scratch, the plethora of healing items withstanding. I’ve made positive claims for all previous Castlevania games that were deemed easy before, but Harmony of Dissonance’s borderline effortlessness is enough to make me resign from my defendant post.
The primary objective in “Castle B” is finishing what Maxim started by reobtaining all six pieces of Dracula scattered across the "Twilight Zone" of his castle. Doing so will unfasten a mechanical door situated below the floor leading to the underground chamber at the center of the gothic architecture where an unconscious Lydie is stashed. Because I played Symphony and know that this game is doing its damndest to ape it, I knew there would be additional requirements to fight Dracula that the game wasn’t going to inform me of. Upon performing extraneous research, the caveats to facing Dracula once again were to wear both rings representing the two friends of Juste upon entering the boss arena and arriving here from the alternate castle. Juste will first subdue his corrupted male friend before the dark lord erupts from Maxim into the shape of something so hideous and malformed that it would make David Cronenberg say, “What the fuck?” In the optimal ending, Juste escapes the crumbling manor with Maxim and Lydie. Lydie is fine, but it’s implied that the evil form of Maxim bit her on the neck, which would mean that this happy ending carries complications. However, even a Maxim possessed by Dracula was never a vampire, so all that might occur is him getting slapped with a sexual assault charge at most. Considering that I barely broke a sweat fighting Maxim and Dracula back to back and I don’t care for these characters, I don’t think it was worth the additional effort beforehand to ensure the best outcome.
What Circle of the Moon expertly avoided in translating Symphony’s Metroidvania design to a handheld system was distancing itself as a prospective “Symphony on the go”. I think it’s obvious that a system that primarily plays 2D games would serve as a perfect hub for the Metroidvania genre, but Symphony made such a colossal impact that it set such a high standard that the GBA couldn’t compete with. Harmony of Dissonance is the result of acceding to everyone who did not appreciate Circle of the Moon’s maverick decisions by coming as close to Symphony of the Night as feasibly possible, and apparently, only I had the foresight to know this wouldn’t work. It actually amends every problem across Circle of the Moon, but it’s when it tries to differentiate itself from Symphony while also tracing Symphony’s template where the game falls flat. Symphony’s graphics were exuberant, so Harmony’s attempt resulted in an acid-laced attack on the senses. Symphony’s difficulty was more manageable than any classic Castlevania title, so Harmony dumbed itself down even further to the point of being braindead. Symphony’s reversed castle section fundamentally worked to pad the game, so Harmony’s version of this without outright copying it amounted to a roundabout disaster. Any game that dips back into an idea from Simon’s Quest is desperate to discern itself from the pack, which is really what the developers should’ve focused on again instead of the fool’s errand that fueled Harmony’s development. Besides the eye-popping visuals, there isn’t much to recommend regarding Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance.
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Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com
Its castlevania I guess.
Mid
A good game! Kind of the runt of the Igavania litter only because it's less memorable than the others. This is the first of his to properly emulate Symphony of the Night, proving the level of detail and complexity was possible on handheld. But we will always remember it as the one with the annoying blue trail on the player character. Seriously, really annoying to look at forever.
Quase um Castlevania Symphony of the Night portatil, porém com limitações. Um Metroid-Vania bem competente.
Yet another banger in the Castlevania series.
This is pretty much SotN again. It literally is just more. As easy if not easier than SotN.
As usual the music is all bops. The game looks surprisingly well on GBA. I was actually surprised by some of the backgrounds. Had no idea the GBA could do that.
Story yet again is fine. Don't play any of these for the story. Getting the true end is as cryptic as SotN. Yet again, kind of annoying.
Exploration and traversal is fun. It is literally the same as SotaN. No complaints here. After beating the game you unlock boss rush. It takes your character's stats and weapon from the last save. A surprisingly fun bonus mode.
Like every flaw I mentioned in the SotN review is here. It's just more of the same. Good game. Not a 5 star, but a solid 4.5. Turns out SotN but on a handheld translates well.
This is pretty much SotN again. It literally is just more. As easy if not easier than SotN.
As usual the music is all bops. The game looks surprisingly well on GBA. I was actually surprised by some of the backgrounds. Had no idea the GBA could do that.
Story yet again is fine. Don't play any of these for the story. Getting the true end is as cryptic as SotN. Yet again, kind of annoying.
Exploration and traversal is fun. It is literally the same as SotaN. No complaints here. After beating the game you unlock boss rush. It takes your character's stats and weapon from the last save. A surprisingly fun bonus mode.
Like every flaw I mentioned in the SotN review is here. It's just more of the same. Good game. Not a 5 star, but a solid 4.5. Turns out SotN but on a handheld translates well.