i recently found your videos and i love them!! im glad to have found a youtuber have continuous coverage of the Castlevania series!!! keep up your great work! 💜💜💜
Let us be honest...a remake/remaster of this game, created on the Unreal Engine with the total freedom that the GBA version has, and possibly make the camera able to spin around so you can get a good view of Dracula's Castle, would make all of us Castlevania fans rejoice. 🙂 I know there's a recolor, mentioned by you at 53:25 You're welcome :-), but I'm just saying that a full on remake/remaster of this game on the PS5 would be even more greater. (probably the Xbox One as well, but I do NOT have that console)
Can we just say that the little skits with our boi are hilariously cute? I just can't help it! I love ya, Lord Valentine!😁 As for HoD, I got to play the game, too, and it’s such an underrated game with lots of fun elements. Slay!!😁😁😁😁
Okay, just finished watching it: I like your take on it. I agree with most everything you said about it. Where I differ a bit is about the music. For me, the fact that Soshiro Hokkai's music was this dense and beautifully oppressive gothic baroque was so evocative of this being a sequel to an NES title and so nostalgic. It really ties it into the world of Simon's Quest. I never saw the "quality" as a detriment, as nowadays we have games like Undertale which are praised for the nostalgic quality of their 8-bit sounds. I think the soundtrack is often very unfairly judged. It offers some really incredible compositions like Successor of Fate, Aqueduct of Dragons, Chapel of Dissonance. I agree fully about the character designs, and the general story. I'm a MASSIVE fan of the disorienting nature of the two overlapping castles, and the fever-dream coloration of the game really adds to the nightmarish quality. I love the details of the initial area, the little sprite of the person hung outside of the castle walls as you first ascend. Some memorable moments I always look forward to are the Chapel of Dissonance, the initial opening area, and the giant tower with the elevators before the Minotaur where the higher you get, the more the autumnal colors give way to the sun rays beaming in through the openings of the windows. The effects were so concrete and enjoyable. Overall this is the FIRST game that comes to mind as soon as autumn hits purely based on color palette and general ambiance. I love how speedy Juste was to control by zipping around at lightning speeds, his sprite looks great with the back and forward dash. However, the rest of the sprites were indeed quite ass... Cool to see your analysis of the weapons as well. And don't fully sleep on the ice book + fist, it can net you an early Dracula's relic pretty much at the beginning of the game with a jump and a well timed special when usually you'd have to wait for the right skills. I really like your editing and the fact you're not parroting basic points of contempt and praise we've heard a thousand times and really come from a genuinely subjective perspective. Awesome job on this video. One last note. >_< In the new Castlevania Nocturne show it broke my heart to see them choose the bad ending as the canonical story of Juste. That devastated me.
I do think the game has one of the more underrated OSTs in the series, as many people say that it sounds off putting compared to the other two GBA games, but I'd say neigh to that! There are songs in the game that I think are way too good, like the name entry theme, skeleton den, luminous caverns started to grow on me, and Chapel of Dissonance. Also glad to hear you enjoyed the video, as it was one that I worked a lot on this past week. As for Nocturne, I'm so confused as to what ending they chose tbh. They either chose the worst ending with everyone but Juste dead or they chose the good ending but chose to kill them after that. Idk the explanation Juste gave was pretty vague.
Harmony of Dissonance was the second game in the series I played, after Castlevania 64. At the time I was really into Metroid and had played every game in that series, so I was wanting to play something that might provide a similar gameplay experience. I had heard that the newer Castlevania games were similar to Metroid in terms of game design, with the term "Metroidvania" even being tossed around, and figured I should give it a shot. I aquired the double pak that bundled the game with Aria of Sorrow, and there was no going back for me. Btw, my favorite track in the game's OST is "Offense and Defense." It's the one track that always comes to mind when I think of HoD and to me best represents the "mood" of the game
Great work! Amazing Castlevania reviews! And THANK YOU for your effort and love and THANK YOU for giving HoD the props it deserves in the most fair and non biased way possible. A lot of people tend to give this game hate for its color scheme, simplistic gameplay, weird music/soundfont and for being a SoTN clone (all Metroidvanias are, but I noticed they give this one extra negative comments), but you did it justice! Just subbed too!
Darn you, look what you done! Now I want play the game , again! I was a a little surprised you did not talk about the elements weapon weakness. This is my second favorite castlevania game. After Aria of Sorrow. I am not sorry! Anyways, have a good day. 😂❤
holy shit, I never realized how hard the drums and bass went in this games OST. I have no idea how I didn't hear it before but ill give this games OST another chance. I liked a few tracks when I first played the game a few years ago, but shrugged off the OST very quickly after beating it.
@@CherryfulValentinesounds good to hear! I can’t wait to see more content from you. Just came to your content about a month ago and LOVE IT!! Plus, the art for him is amazing!!😁😁
This is giving me vintage 2011 Enigma reviews vibes and its incredible.... If you don't know what it is don't bother looking for it.... yet. I believe it is lost media at this point because I have looked many times and can't find it myself. If you feel as though you should take upon this quest go for it and I'm happy that the world has someone like you, but I'm too tired for all that. Go about your noble business young baird as you are a better adventurer than I.
Im not letting you get away with shitting on Circle of the Moon...that game was fun as fuck and memorable and the card system was fantastic but poorly implemented
HoD just needed a lil fine tuning. Story is great, atmosphere stands out (psychedelic psychological horror, has similarities to Super 4 tonally), combat system is one of the best, and the music (yes) is great. All the Igavanias have one standout gameplay flaw and Harmony's is navigation. The Link to the Past light-dark world stuff is a great idea, and narrative it's in the game's favor but some of the landmarks (locked doors and teleporters vs light-dark portals) coulda been distinguished more. Progression can just be confusing and annoying. As far as the Igavania style ones it's one of my favorites. Combat is so satisfying. Positioning matters, and the dash is as useful in combat as it is for footwork. Its refreshing for a exploration-Vania to have such technical combat, and even when easy it's fun. The spellbook system feels like a 2D take on Lament's later orb system: Kirby 64 in the Vania universe. Bosses and enemies go down quick, which is it's own satisfying, but I agree the bosses and enemy crowds coulda been beefed up to make the Spellbook powers breathe more. The Soul System is my favorite of Igarashi's gimmicky combat systems but this (and I count Lament here too) is a close second... though the ID System in CoD is great too, depends on the day of the week for me. Had the Double Pack as a kid, adored Aria but didn't get as into HoD... partially cus I didn't understand it's systems back then (on top of the navigation). As an adult I've enjoyed the game quite a bit (especially how hard it simps for Simon since I grew up w/Super 4). Was nice to discover your channel... and finally see someone compliment the OST, it's truly underrated.
Enjoyable video but the review itself has a fair bit of that "this was one of my first games of it's kind and I will love it unconditionally for it" flavour. Especially when descibing Lydie who is more of a plot device than a character as a favorite.
Believe it or not, my first Castlevania game was the game after this one. Also, comparatively speaking when it comes to Lydie, the other characters I can compare her to are Annette, Rosa from 64, Simon's wife from Haunted Castle, and Mina from Dawn of Sorrow. The only character that has anymore character than Lydie here is Mina, as she was in 2 games and she wasn't even the damsel in the 1st game. So she would be better than Lydie, that being said, I still say Lydie is league's better than the other characters of her caliber. But to each their own of course.
My guess would be that since Lydie had thought it was all some complicated nightmare when, by the end of it, Juste didn't want her to worry about her almost turning into a vampire. Whilst Maxim simply wanted to tell her the truth, Juste thought it better to keep the situation underwraps since it didn't matter now that all of them were now safe and sound.
The main problem for this title is the atrocious OST. It would only be bad for a normal game but for a Castlevania game, it is atrocious. An audio abortion. Thankfully, there is a mod that replaces the game OST by some other Castlevania track and makes it a lot better. Edit: I own both the black and red OST boxes for Castlevania so I have this ost “uncompressed”. Doesn’t help make it better.
My favorite handheld Castlevania. I love your videos so this is a wonderful video to wake up to.
i recently found your videos and i love them!! im glad to have found a youtuber have continuous coverage of the Castlevania series!!! keep up your great work! 💜💜💜
Let us be honest...a remake/remaster of this game, created on the Unreal Engine with the total freedom that the GBA version has, and possibly make the camera able to spin around so you can get a good view of Dracula's Castle, would make all of us Castlevania fans rejoice. 🙂
I know there's a recolor, mentioned by you at 53:25 You're welcome :-), but I'm just saying that a full on remake/remaster of this game on the PS5 would be even more greater. (probably the Xbox One as well, but I do NOT have that console)
Wow I’ve never said before but this channel CRIMINALLY underrated!!!!
Love the channel love the work you do!!
Perfect game for Halloween. Maxim situation is creepy.
I love their interaction in the happy ending, it's cute
Can we just say that the little skits with our boi are hilariously cute? I just can't help it! I love ya, Lord Valentine!😁
As for HoD, I got to play the game, too, and it’s such an underrated game with lots of fun elements. Slay!!😁😁😁😁
Okay, just finished watching it: I like your take on it. I agree with most everything you said about it. Where I differ a bit is about the music. For me, the fact that Soshiro Hokkai's music was this dense and beautifully oppressive gothic baroque was so evocative of this being a sequel to an NES title and so nostalgic. It really ties it into the world of Simon's Quest. I never saw the "quality" as a detriment, as nowadays we have games like Undertale which are praised for the nostalgic quality of their 8-bit sounds. I think the soundtrack is often very unfairly judged. It offers some really incredible compositions like Successor of Fate, Aqueduct of Dragons, Chapel of Dissonance.
I agree fully about the character designs, and the general story.
I'm a MASSIVE fan of the disorienting nature of the two overlapping castles, and the fever-dream coloration of the game really adds to the nightmarish quality. I love the details of the initial area, the little sprite of the person hung outside of the castle walls as you first ascend. Some memorable moments I always look forward to are the Chapel of Dissonance, the initial opening area, and the giant tower with the elevators before the Minotaur where the higher you get, the more the autumnal colors give way to the sun rays beaming in through the openings of the windows. The effects were so concrete and enjoyable. Overall this is the FIRST game that comes to mind as soon as autumn hits purely based on color palette and general ambiance.
I love how speedy Juste was to control by zipping around at lightning speeds, his sprite looks great with the back and forward dash. However, the rest of the sprites were indeed quite ass... Cool to see your analysis of the weapons as well. And don't fully sleep on the ice book + fist, it can net you an early Dracula's relic pretty much at the beginning of the game with a jump and a well timed special when usually you'd have to wait for the right skills.
I really like your editing and the fact you're not parroting basic points of contempt and praise we've heard a thousand times and really come from a genuinely subjective perspective. Awesome job on this video.
One last note. >_< In the new Castlevania Nocturne show it broke my heart to see them choose the bad ending as the canonical story of Juste. That devastated me.
I do think the game has one of the more underrated OSTs in the series, as many people say that it sounds off putting compared to the other two GBA games, but I'd say neigh to that! There are songs in the game that I think are way too good, like the name entry theme, skeleton den, luminous caverns started to grow on me, and Chapel of Dissonance.
Also glad to hear you enjoyed the video, as it was one that I worked a lot on this past week.
As for Nocturne, I'm so confused as to what ending they chose tbh. They either chose the worst ending with everyone but Juste dead or they chose the good ending but chose to kill them after that. Idk the explanation Juste gave was pretty vague.
The OST is bad for that game. That why people have made mods to replace it. So underwhelming.
Harmony of Dissonance was the second game in the series I played, after Castlevania 64. At the time I was really into Metroid and had played every game in that series, so I was wanting to play something that might provide a similar gameplay experience. I had heard that the newer Castlevania games were similar to Metroid in terms of game design, with the term "Metroidvania" even being tossed around, and figured I should give it a shot. I aquired the double pak that bundled the game with Aria of Sorrow, and there was no going back for me.
Btw, my favorite track in the game's OST is "Offense and Defense." It's the one track that always comes to mind when I think of HoD and to me best represents the "mood" of the game
Ah, nothing like a new video from our beautiful Cherryful to make our day.(go play rondo, thats an order)
Great work! Amazing Castlevania reviews! And THANK YOU for your effort and love and THANK YOU for giving HoD the props it deserves in the most fair and non biased way possible. A lot of people tend to give this game hate for its color scheme, simplistic gameplay, weird music/soundfont and for being a SoTN clone (all Metroidvanias are, but I noticed they give this one extra negative comments), but you did it justice!
Just subbed too!
Darn you, look what you done! Now I want play the game , again! I was a a little surprised you did not talk about the elements weapon weakness. This is my second favorite castlevania game. After Aria of Sorrow. I am not sorry! Anyways, have a good day. 😂❤
I have a habit of doing that! Hehehehehe >:D
You are way underrated. Meaning you should have way more subscribers.
Totally agree! Our boi is so much fun!!😁😁
Good to light shine on such a great game also love the skits.
SAME! They always are SO entertaining and make me laugh EVERY time.😂
holy shit, I never realized how hard the drums and bass went in this games OST. I have no idea how I didn't hear it before but ill give this games OST another chance. I liked a few tracks when I first played the game a few years ago, but shrugged off the OST very quickly after beating it.
Juste is my favorite Belmont💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾
Good to see another review. You gonna cover the other gba games and the DS ones?
Oh definitely, since they do take a lot of time, there will a few smaller uploads in between reviews.
@@CherryfulValentinesounds good to hear! I can’t wait to see more content from you. Just came to your content about a month ago and LOVE IT!! Plus, the art for him is amazing!!😁😁
This was a fun castlevania out of the gba trilogy.
I know majority of people hate the ost but I like them is it like you have a Symphony in 8-bit
I didn’t expect to see my boy Juiced pop up in Nocturne
This is giving me vintage 2011 Enigma reviews vibes and its incredible.... If you don't know what it is don't bother looking for it.... yet. I believe it is lost media at this point because I have looked many times and can't find it myself. If you feel as though you should take upon this quest go for it and I'm happy that the world has someone like you, but I'm too tired for all that. Go about your noble business young baird as you are a better adventurer than I.
Im not letting you get away with shitting on Circle of the Moon...that game was fun as fuck and memorable and the card system was fantastic but poorly implemented
Ligtning and holybook Gradius shields best in the game
48:50 in Castlevania fighter skull knight he can find the three in one heart boss fight and I hope you try castlevania fighter
HoD just needed a lil fine tuning. Story is great, atmosphere stands out (psychedelic psychological horror, has similarities to Super 4 tonally), combat system is one of the best, and the music (yes) is great.
All the Igavanias have one standout gameplay flaw and Harmony's is navigation. The Link to the Past light-dark world stuff is a great idea, and narrative it's in the game's favor but some of the landmarks (locked doors and teleporters vs light-dark portals) coulda been distinguished more. Progression can just be confusing and annoying.
As far as the Igavania style ones it's one of my favorites. Combat is so satisfying. Positioning matters, and the dash is as useful in combat as it is for footwork. Its refreshing for a exploration-Vania to have such technical combat, and even when easy it's fun. The spellbook system feels like a 2D take on Lament's later orb system: Kirby 64 in the Vania universe. Bosses and enemies go down quick, which is it's own satisfying, but I agree the bosses and enemy crowds coulda been beefed up to make the Spellbook powers breathe more. The Soul System is my favorite of Igarashi's gimmicky combat systems but this (and I count Lament here too) is a close second... though the ID System in CoD is great too, depends on the day of the week for me.
Had the Double Pack as a kid, adored Aria but didn't get as into HoD... partially cus I didn't understand it's systems back then (on top of the navigation). As an adult I've enjoyed the game quite a bit (especially how hard it simps for Simon since I grew up w/Super 4). Was nice to discover your channel... and finally see someone compliment the OST, it's truly underrated.
45:07 are you sure this isnt a Yoshi Island boss? I'm pretty sure this is a Yoshis Island boss.
Enjoyable video but the review itself has a fair bit of that "this was one of my first games of it's kind and I will love it unconditionally for it" flavour. Especially when descibing Lydie who is more of a plot device than a character as a favorite.
Believe it or not, my first Castlevania game was the game after this one. Also, comparatively speaking when it comes to Lydie, the other characters I can compare her to are Annette, Rosa from 64, Simon's wife from Haunted Castle, and Mina from Dawn of Sorrow.
The only character that has anymore character than Lydie here is Mina, as she was in 2 games and she wasn't even the damsel in the 1st game. So she would be better than Lydie, that being said, I still say Lydie is league's better than the other characters of her caliber. But to each their own of course.
i only like my videos cherryful flavored
Why why not have Juste tell Lydie
that it was either a vampire or an incubus that bit her rather engaging in gaslighting?
My guess would be that since Lydie had thought it was all some complicated nightmare when, by the end of it, Juste didn't want her to worry about her almost turning into a vampire. Whilst Maxim simply wanted to tell her the truth, Juste thought it better to keep the situation underwraps since it didn't matter now that all of them were now safe and sound.
The main problem for this title is the atrocious OST. It would only be bad for a normal game but for a Castlevania game, it is atrocious. An audio abortion. Thankfully, there is a mod that replaces the game OST by some other Castlevania track and makes it a lot better.
Edit: I own both the black and red OST boxes for Castlevania so I have this ost “uncompressed”. Doesn’t help make it better.
Shit opinion
One thing I don't like this game is juste design just alucard if he a Belmont