JAVA | Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, The Divisive Follow up - SimplyAJ (Review)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 พ.ย. 2021
- The second of the GBA Castlevania games, and possibly the most divisive of the three, today we take a look at Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance!
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Songs Used:
1) Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - VK2K2 (Gameboy Advance)
2) Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - To the Heart of the Devil's Castle (Gameboy Advance)
3) Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Successor of Fate (Juste Belmont's Theme) (Gameboy Advance)
4) Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Merchant's Theme (Gameboy Advance)
5) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Crystal Teardrops (Playstation)
6) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Beginning (Techno-Goth) (Sega Saturn)
7) Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow - Pitch Black Intrusion (Nintendo DS)
8) Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin - Invitation of a Crazed Moon (Nintendo DS)
9) Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia - Jaws of a Scorched Earth (Nintendo DS)
10) Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin - Simon Belmont's Theme (Nintendo DS)
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Special Thanks:
SamWithoutAPlan - For helping me with shooting and general moral support! ► / samwithoutaplan
Damare - For arranging and composing the coffee house jazz version of Bede's Theme for me! ► / notdamage
#Castlevania #HarmonyofDissonance #Review #VideoGames - เกม
For what it's worth, I know how to pronounce "Apostates" now!
Congratulations
I find it really hard replay Circle of the Moon because of how stiff the movement feels. At least in Harmony, it feels better to explore the castle(s). The visuals also make it the most surreal/trippy game in the series.
I was kind of turned off by this game due to the visuals but that's an interesting way to look at it. Might revisit it after watching this
Room of illusion is cool
Exactly, it just feels so… wrong to control. For me, it honestly feels more stiff than the classic games.
Awesome video! And I know many people don’t say this, but I love the color and music quality. I think it’s because I grew up playing the sega game gear which had similarly bright sprites and fuzzy sounding music. This game has some strange psychedelic elements which is a really refreshing aspect to a game that’s typically only spooky. I know many people don’t often like this game compared to the lot, but I really love this game.
Ooh neat! Yeah I never had much of an opportunity to play many Game Gear games unfortunately, as much as I REALLY wanted one as a kid.
I’ve recently played this one, right after Circle of the Moon. Was very disappointed, especially after I heard Iga’s team worked on it.
It’s not just about the lack of interesting spells or difficulty, I generally didn’t have fun because for most of the game, the map is separated by these locked doors that force you to use portals instead.
In my eyes, this basically neuters one of the biggest advantages of metroidvanias - that being the interconnectivity. It also just makes the map more confusing, as you generally always have one path to go to - and it isn’t clear at all.
This, along with the two castles thing and the generally uninspired design made this a pretty bad experience for me.
It is still Castlevania, but it doesn’t appeal to me in terms of combat, flexibility, design, and audio quality of course lol
Basically what I’m saying is Circle of the Moon smokes this
Haha, I can definitely agree with everything you said. I honestly think I could have tolerated the bad music more, had they just.... made the castle better. Sadly, the castle design just isn't that FUN in this one, but I do enjoy a lot of the combat and other mechanics.
I really liked this video. You deserve way more subscribers and views.
I like that you are comparing Harmony of Dissonance so much with Circle of the Moon, because let me tell you - HoD used to be my favorite Advance-Castlevania just because for me it was closer to old school Castlevania than Aria of Sorrow. But oh boy, then I got the Advance Collection and played Circle of the Moon for the first time and felt that HoD had CHEATED me!
CotM is everything that I wanted HoD to be. A difficulty that is actually closer to Classicvanias, better platforming, more reliance on the whip and less on spells and I actually think there not being an item shop is a POSITIVE. Yes, that means that if you want restoratives you have to grind, but it also forces the player to be a better player in both the action-sense (beat enemies and bosses without relying to much on restoratives) but also knowing the castle-sense (like which enemies drop potions etc).
I think the most common issue I have with IGAvanias are that there is always one point in the game where you are just way too overpowered and you just massacre any room you go inside auto-mode. Circle of the Moon doesn't have that. It's difficult all the way through and I think it is my favorite Castlevania-Metroidvania now.
Thanks dude, I appreciate it. Hopefully, they'll come in time, but I enjoy making the videos regardless, and it means a lot when people do find'em and and enjoy'em haha. Yeah, I REALLY do like Circle of the Moon, a lot. I'd love to see another game that is a good mix of the classic and the IGAvania style that leans a bit more towards the classic.
Circle of the Moon is so good. The purist in me wants to hate it because it’s “non canon” but screw it. I’ll play it any day.
Wow! What a great video! It’s obvious you put a lot of effort into it, greatly enjoyed watching it :)
Thanks! Yeah I try to keep'em as entertaining as possible without TOO much nonsense. I want my videos to be fun, but still grounded about the game itself. Glad you enjoyed it.
Theres no castlevania like my good old circle of the moon. I discovered your channel thanks to you talking about these games. Keep up the good work!
I really appreciate you watchin'em! Yeah, I'm in that same boat, HoD just wasn't as good as CoTM to me. I still enjoyed it for it being a Castlevania game, but, good music is just SO damn important to me when it comes to playing games. If the music is bad, then the atmosphere automatically feels "bad" too.
@@SimplyAJ thx for your reply! I agree with you. However I must say that the compositions themselves in this game are generally cool but they are ruined by the sound quality which is a shame since the music itself is not that bad! I guess you could imagine that you are listening a rendition of the 8bit era. Greetings from spain!
@@MCENTRAL8G For sure, for sure. I actually genuinely LIKE 8 Bit Chiptune NES tracks, but also, the GBA itself just had a really... weird soundchip? So even "good" songs from other games still sound "muffled' which isn't really the fault of games themselves, but the hardware they were on.
The music in this game is some of my favorite music in the series, to be honest, even in the way it is presented in the game. It's also my favorite of the GBA trilogy, just to have fun destroying enemies with the overpowered spells and having a run through the Boss Rush mode as Simon Belmont.
Nice video. One point though. The "inconsistency" of the castle design is 100% intentional, and it's one of the more unique aspects of it. The castle is created by Maxim's soul, which not only is split into two (hence the two castles), but is confused and broken... just like the castle's layout. Once you enter, you can't tell where you are in relation to anything else, it's like you are sucked in this... creature of chaos and lose your sense of space. This is why the top floor looks like the trees outside are just on the ground, being ABOVE the sky walkway which looks like it's high up there. This is why, in the same areas there are broken staircases in the background leading to nowhere. This is why so many things, especially in and around the skeleton cave are so distorted. Even the vibrant colors and weird one-off rooms fit into this design.
Personally, I love this. However, I wish the music was better to complement the atmosphere better.
I've honestly only played Circle of the Moon for GBA, but always wanted to play Dissonance and Aria. Spoiler, never did, but with the Advance collection I'm pretty jazzed to play both. Great review, AJ!
Thanks dude! You'll definitely have to let me know what you think of Dissonance and Aria after you play'em.
Hey, nice job on your analysis of the Castlevania games. You go over all the pertinent details of the games, with good capture footage and great audio quality. I appreciate it.
You can just tell when someone has passion and integrity for their passion projects. It always shows.
Thanks so much! Means a lot that someone noticed the video and audio quality, because I do strive to have everything look and sound as good as I possibly can, so I'm happy ya pointed it out haha.
While cartridge space IS an issue, what really hamstring's Harmony of Dissonance's audio is the lack of dedicated sound hardware in the GBA. All of the sound is done on the CPU, rather than on a discrete sound chip, so all of the sprite scaling and rotation, and colour masking going on detracts from the available processing power for higher bitrate music. You'll find this is the case with a lot of GBA games, the nicer they look, the worse they sound.
Yeah, make sense as to why they scaled so much of that back in Aria, so the sound could be more enjoyable.
Whether the game is good or not doesn't detract from one of the most awesome things about it...
Collectibles! I have a huge soft spot for 2D games that allow me to have a dedicated, customizable, hidden away area (other examples being Pokemon's Secret Bases and Terraria's houses), and this game does it well.
I wish it made a return in later entries.
Yeah I did mean to cover those in this video, and forgot until the VERY END of my editing haha. I do think the collectibles in this game were fun, even if it makes absolutely zero sense as to why a Belmont would decorate Dracula's castle haha.
@@SimplyAJ
The closest reason I I can think of is the Belmont saying: "Well, if I'm going to be here for (however many hours/days they're in the castle, *in universe*) I might as well make a safe space to relax in!"
And things just fall into place from there. There's no location that a lava lamp and a few posters can't fix!
Considering there are 4 ways (modes) to play the main campaign, a boss rush mode, and just... the variety of options you have with the spellbook fusions, it makes for a colorful castlevania that is enjoyable to come back and play, even if it is onoy once every 4 years.
Great retrospect on Castlevania games! I’m a die hard fan from the get go. 1986-1987? When you mentioned how weird and yet awesome this particular title is, I was in total agreement with you. However, the sound track I love! One of the most abstract ost for Castlevania. It is the most eclectic of all the games and I appreciate it very much. I did find it funny of how similar this game was to SotN. Even Justes sprite. One thing to mention. You never spoke about the animation improvement and sequences. Which in my opinion far exceeded CotM. Believe it or not, out of the three in this series, this is by far my favorite. And played many times. Keep chugging AJ.
Thanks so much! You're right though, the animations are definitely a step up from CoTM. I mean, over all, graphically speaking, Harmony is pretty damn impressive. I do think there are a few awkward looking animations, such as Juste's run cycle, but for most everything else, it's all very pleasant to look at.
It's actually so sad to me that they couldn't afford to have better music quality, cuz to me every track is good in one aspect or another. If they re-made this game with better quality, in both visuals and audio, it'd genuinely be a great game. Although that's just my opinion.
I think a lot of it was just the limitations of the time. Probably the reason why Aria was able to have good graphics AND audio, because they had the time to learn how to get it all working without one taking away from the other.
If somehow Aria was made first, then Harmony, maybe we would have had an Aria with bad music and a Harmony with good, but who knows haha.
@@SimplyAJ whoa, thanks for replying! Back to HoD, even with it's limitations, Harmony was a pretty good game. And I'm glad you made a video for each game on the gameboy advance, I feel like CotM wnd HoD aren't as talked about as other games despite being actually good, and you making videos on them makes me hope that they'll one day get the recognition they deserve.
Haha, that's the idea! Would love to see more people playing CoTM and HoD, since I do think they are games that any Castlevania fan should check out. Tech issues aside, I think they hold up rather well.
I need to give this one another try. I finished it once over a decade ago and thought it was a snooze-fest. Dash-dash-dash-dash-dash.. stop.. jump.. dash-dash-dash-dash-dash (in the other direction).. stop.. jump.. dash-dash-dash-da... yeah, you get it, haha. Also the dual castle thing was confusing as hell for me, and some of the relic placements were cryptic as hell, as in Castlevania II levels of cryptic. But, now that I have an idea of all that going back into it, maybe I'll be able to work my way through it easier and it will be more fun? Who knows.
It's a game that I typically revisit maybe once a year or every other year. It has its fun moments, but yeah, it's definitely the weakest of the GBA games for me. There are certainly ways to make it fun, but you kind of have to change your play style to do that haha.
the music was great though. Charmingly creepy for what was one of the most unsettling and unnerving castlevania gba games. With a Belmont taking on the fight half a century early.
I think the music was great in the sense that it was very fitting of the atmosphere, sure. I just don't think it was great in the "I'm gonna listen to this soundtrack while I work" sense. But I do think this game probably has the most unsettling version of the castle for sure, and the music is a big part of that.
Great job, man. Very well done.
Thanks man! Really appreciate it.
Being my first Castlevania I have a soft spot for this one.. I was having the time of my life spending some time with it only last night but now on the big screen.. I can understand the critique for the audio.. Still I never had a major issue with it.. I like it in a way being its retro sounding..
Yeah I mean, I still find the game FUN, it's just that music is a big part of these games for me, and always has been. I say the same thing about Super Castlevania IV. Everyone loves that game, but I'm like "yeah but the music isn't great..." haha
@@SimplyAJ That was the other game I played that night too hahaha Weird how they call it Castlevania 4 when it’s clearly a remake or reimagining of the original
Just beat this, and I vastly preferred cotm over this. It controls better minus the running and lack of dashing; the dss system is a better gimmic; cotm doesn't have as many pointless bosses (most of the bosses in this game just guard spell books, wtf); the character sprites looked better; and the backtracking was done better, you only had one thing stopping in cotm, in this you have the stupid crush blocks that REQUIRE changing the whip, then holding a button, THEN you have a giant wall to jump over, by the 5th one I was getting pisssed, if you wanted to keep me out of those areas, just use the wall; and then there was the ball puzzle in castle a, so many enemies and such tight time, and all you get is extra health and an item for the room. Although I did love the guard puzzles pushing one into gears, another down stairs, and hitting one with a hammer, those were so much fun.
also another thing that is annoying is after meeting death at the non teleporting gate, you have to run all the way to meet evil maxim, fight the shadow, run all the way back to the gate, go through the gate again, run past the harpies (who hit like a truck) and find good maxim, then equip the bracelet which has lower defence in order to go through a door
So glad I ripped this from the trilogy and added it to my flash cart instead of spending the $80 bucks on ebay
The Knight puzzles were definitely neat, but yeah, a lot of wasted potential with bosses, a handful of which were just "large version of normal monster" type bosses, or even just the same boss re-used a second time etc. Like, somehow they ran out of ideas, but had a lot of space to fill.
I agree with the castle blocks too. Like, I'm all for being walled off from certain areas, that's fine, and is sort of a staple for these games, but the way it was done here was just weirdly... Lazy? Felt like there were a lot of doors you'd enter, see a tall wall or a stone or something and come to a dead end immediately and being unable to proceed so you just turn around and leave. And oddly enough, you get the "solutions" to these issues all around the same time. Maxim's Bracelet, the jump boots and the crushing stone are all pretty close to eachother game wise, yet those three "problems" are encountered for constantly for 80% of the game. Then the big pay off reward for them is.... a "shortcut" back to where you already were? That was the most disappointing thing about it haha.
Loved this review. Your theory on the game title made me laugh.
Aha, I mean it makes sense! Thanks so much though, glad ya enjoyed it!
I don't understand how they couldn't fit normal GBA quality music onto thd cartridge, when there is a GBA cartridge called Castlevania Double Pack that both Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow on it.
Great review!
Glad you enjoyed it!
So far this is the only game on the Advanced Collection that i beat and i think it will be my favorite out of the 3. It had the same save room as SOTN, i really liked the dash, and i like how the whip had an area effect. Hitting enemies or projectiles slightly above you or behind you when swinging the whip is something i miss in Circle of the Moon and Aria of Sorrow. However, Aria of Sorrow does make it up for it with a variety of weapons w different animations giving it a completely different feel. With that being said i do agree that Dissonance makes you run around way too much. I did enjoy having 2 castles to explore but maps in all 3 games could have used a little more depth. It was annoying to fill up the map when there was an item you couldn't reach or a door you couldn't go through yet because i kept finding myself going back and forth until i finally remembered what was where. Minor issues but still annoying at times. Looking back at Dissonance i also didn't experiment with the magic as much as i would have liked. I pretty much stuck with the holy water\chaos ring the whole game and only used the holy water with the wind book(holy rain) when fighting Maxim and Dracula. Discovering some cool spells toward the end of the game was a little bit of a bummer, especially the holy book\ice book combo.
Honestly, my favorite thing about HoD IS the fact that you use a whip still. Like, Aria is really, really good, but it could have been made better with some good whips (and not that... Whip Sword weapon you get early on in the library). Whips and Castlevania are just classic.
@@SimplyAJ I just beat Aria a few hours ago and your right, there were no whips! I didn't watch your video on that one yet so before i say anything im gonna go take a look.
@@Stranzua Ahaha, WELL there isn't one just yet, BUT, I'm actually in the process of writing the script for it as we speak, so my next video is indeed going to be on Aria of Sorrow. Hopefully should be out in a couple weeks, all things considered.
@@SimplyAJ Its cool. Do it only if you want to do it and if so no rush. I know it's a lot of work.
@@Stranzua Ahaha, I mean I was in the process of doing it already, so no worries there. Was always a part of the plan.
Just finished this one the other day, first time playing as only CotM was my childhood game. Overall I found that I had a love/hate relationship with it. The slow jumping and whiping, the atrocious music, pushed me away, but curiously, I still enjoyed the atmospher and vibe of the game. The difficulty is non-existant and I never used the magic spells (hell, I don't even know what's the button for it), but I still liked it in the end. Now onto Aria, which for the minutes I played is just SO much better.
Yeah, I definitely don't hate it by any means, cause I do play it almost annually, but yeah it's just the least favorite of the three for me, for sure. It's definitely a pretty game (mostly), but yeah the difficulty is definitely almost nonexistent. At times the game just feels very... empty, lonely, even.
Good stuff, i enjoy revisiting this series! 🖤❤️
Damn shame they did the sound dirty like that because the tracks really sound like they belong in a horror game but then they also have enough energy to fit the action part of Castlevania.
Yeah, I'd love to hear the tracks done proper, without being so compressed.
The movement is just amazing in HoD. As soon as I finished it and started Aria I missed the F out of it. Aria is a better game overall, by a mile, and you end up with some pretty sweet movement souls, but having so much movement from the get go was something I loved in HoD.
I've said this on other reviews, Harmony of Dissonance was a great game in 2002. Many magazines actually gave it high marks and I believe Electronic Gaming rated it 10 out of 10. I played the hell out of it - got the game the day it came out.
Once Aria of Sorrow came out the following year in 2003, people looked less favorably at HOD and because Aria and the DS games were near perfect, you could see HOD's numerous flaws more clearly. Aria holds up even today and Circle has its fans (I don't care for the game but I can respect people who do like the game) while HOD is seen as inferior and average at best.
great stuff man
Thanks so much!
I know SotN is better but this one has become my favorite. The music is just drumming and wailing constantly while you're dashing through the whole castle *dash* *dash* *dash*. There's also the limp whip. And I think people forget this came after CotM which was so dark it was notoriously hard to see, and was difficult. That's why Juste has that aura. And.. I love the music! But I know it's a common complaint of this game. The music can sound "off" but it's exactly what fits the mood of the game. Also I remember this one the story had some relation to Simon's Quest. Also SotN had the "What is a man?" but in HoD we got, "Halt! The color of your soul. You must be a Belmont!" Also, when you discover theres two castles you realize youve already been in both without even realizing it! I remember I thought it was cool. I could go on and on. This game is a special one! Cool video! 👍🏻
There is a very nice recolor patch that was recently released, it makes the game look a lot better
I knew there was a recolor for Aria, but haven't seen the recolor for this. I'd be curious how much I'd like it though, since I'm red/green colorblind, so I typically prefer things be as saturated and vibrant as possible so I can tell what colors they are haha.
It is made by the same people, it gives the game a much darker and grittier look. I am playing through it right now and I enjoy it very much. I like your channel, keep it up, your castlevania videos are great. will you review the 3D games at any point, or Rondo and SNES Dracula X? and are you familiar with the Saturn port of Symphony? There are some patches out there that clean it up quite a bit, removing the slowdown, etc.
@@edwardtheconfessor1546 Aha thanks so much, glad you're enjoying these videos! I DO plan on reviewing every Castlevania, at some point. I try to do them in batches though, because I don't want to get pigeonholed as JUST a Castlevania dude (even though, it's easily one of my favorite series of all time). So yeah, I'll be covering the 3D games (both PS2 and N64), Rondo + Dracula X etc. As for Symphony on the Saturn, yeah I'm familiar. I've got some ideas for doing a video covering all the SoTN stuff, including the Game.Com version etc, but that'll be a ways out due to how much info there is to cover haha.
I'm sorry but I'm a whole 3-seconds in and I can't stop laughing at your anime hair lmao
Harmony of Dissonance is definitely one of the most polarizing titles in the series, with me being in the "Love It" camp. I mean, they effectively put SOTN on the GBA, the absolute madlads! That being said it's not perfect and while, yes, the sound fidelity suffered quite a bit, the composition is SO FREAKING GOOD. The best example being the clock tower theme, one of the most melancholic themes in an already melancholic series.
Also, the variety of enemies and bosses are as interesting as the are eclectic. For example, during the latter half of the midgame, you actually fight the giant armor that chased you at the start of the game. However, this game has the weakest Death fight in the series. On the other hand, the Peeping Big was a thing, and that alone might verywell make up for that.
The only thing I really wasn't a fan of was the spell system and this was mostly due to the fact that their are five elemental spellbooks and six sub weapons, adding up to 30 possible combinations, but only five of those combinations are good. combinations are: FireXAxe, IceXCross, LightningXSacred Fist, WindXDagger and SummonXHoly Water. All other spell fusions are completely superfluous.
On the whole, while it pales in comparison to Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance is still a good game and I feel that it's pluses still outweigh it's minuses...even if there are still a ton of minuses.
Yeah, I mean ultimately it comes down to the fact that, it's a Castlevania game, so I do still enjoy it, I just find it to ultimately be the weakest of the three GBA games.
That being said you should check out @JupiterClimb 's Harmony of Dissonance Spell Tier List video. He breaks down every spell/subweapon in the game and explains his thoughts on what's good and what's not (which is actually vastly different than what you listed here haha). Definitely worth a watch though!
@@SimplyAJ I'll be sure to give it a watch. Also, apostates is pronounced "uh-pahs-tayts".
There's actually only 1 good spell, Cross+Wind.
I realize this game is not without its flaws, and your critiques are really pretty spot on, but I will say I think even with the lower quality, the music stands on its own as some of the strongest compositional work in the franchises history, a true studio remaster would probably show people who can't get past the 8 bit sound how many bangers are in this game. This is honestly in my top three favorite Castlevania games. In no particular order, Curse of Darkness, Harmony of Dissonance, and Lords of Shadow. Super Castlevania 4 and Bloodlines would get my honorable mentions. Thanks for doing videos on a supreme franchise that just never got it's due from Konami properly. It's a crying shame that they've turned Castlevania into slot machines and have otherwise just let the IP rot.
For video games I would say that the second is often the best or second best (ratchet and clank 2, spyro 2, mega man 2). These games took what was good and made it better
Yeah Spyro 2 and Mega Man 2 are fantastic examples. I'd say Sonic 2 fits this scenario as well.
I played this game and loved the dashing all the way through and then also the fist of fury sub weapon at the beginning I kept the whole game and it's BUSTED😊
People don't give this game credit for how well it pulls everything together. If you look at each thing through the lens of the story it makes sense why the castle is laid out the way it is, why the graphics are the way they are, why the music is the way it is (excusing the low resources dedicated to it).
People just write it off as "bad game because internet man told me", but if you actually play it through to the end it's a very enjoyable and complete experience and nothing really feels out of place once you finish the game; and I'd argue there's not the major issue of obvious gameplay/balance (or rng grind) flaws that many of the iga games suffer from.
Even though they made the visuals "more detailed," the game still felt like a cheaper version. The audio is agreed upon as being inferior to CotM, but I believe the visuals are inferior as well. Playing the Advance Collection or a backlighted handheld, all arguments of it being too dark are moot.
I think I've played through this game two or three times max. CotM has hundred+ hours of gameplay with all the additional game modes. HoD feels boring TBH by comparison.
I am playing CotM still today and not HoD on Advance Collection (and thanks to it being on PC, one can do their own research and make even more improvements on the game).
Thanks for another great Castlevania review and the details you covered!
Yeah, I see what you mean. Something can have "better graphics" but still not be as visually appealing, depending on preferences and art styles. I've always really enjoyed how CoTM looked, especially the SCALE of the castle, something we still haven't seen repeated to this day. Every room feels huge, and I think that really helped it stand out.
Got to admit that Dissonance is my favourite of the three GBAvanias mostly *because* of how weirdly cheesy it is - colourful sprites, wonky sound quality and copy/pasted backgrounds included. To me it feels a bit like what NES games might have been like in the 1980s if they had the processing power of more modern consoles. That said, never been a fan of Juste and Maxim's sprites mainly because of how big and blobby their feet look and how they hang like limp ragdolls when jumping. Repeated staircases in the background of one room are something you don't have to look at for the entirety of a playthrough, unlike the main character's smurf feet...
The blobby feet is an excellent point. It's extremely noticeable in the way Juste runs. But also yeah, Maxim's sprite is just... bad. Like, I try not to dunk on art, but it doesn't even look like it's from the same game haha.
12:10 I think it's pronounced "shrine of apostates"
Ah! Yeah, THAT sounds right.
HoD was literally the first Castlevania I ever played and will forever have a place in my mind. I go back to the game every couple years, and I always enjoy my time with it. I have always admitted Aria was a better game; but I've never really gone back to it after I beat it circa 2006. Unlike HoD, which I've gone back to 4 times, counting my latest replay in the Advanced Collection
I really enjoyed harmony of dissonance except for the too easy bosses. It was also very hard to move around. Lots of backtracking and few shortcuts in the map.
They may had to cut down the music in terms of sound quality, but the tracks by themselves are still quality and unique most of the time.
The biggest credit I can give these songs is that they fit the theme and atmosphere of the game. I don't necessarily LIKE the composition of them, but they do accomplish what they were meant to accomplish. Similar to say, not liking generic clown music in circus theme areas in games, but I can't deny that it fits haha.
Incredible video, I've come to adore your Castlevania reviews. That said, Yeah this game is trash compared to every other igavania, there's no sugar coating it. The dash feels so wrong (This man should not be faster than sonic) and the constant castle switching was the most confusing thing ever in this series. Maxim had a Belmont sprite, but shitty and juste was an Alucard sprite, but shitty. The music is composed good, but compressed shitty. Death was there, in a palette that was bright and shitty. There's a theme here and it has to do with the waste that comes out of our castle B. This definitely is the B game of the otherwise A level Castlevania games. Here's my advance tier list,
Circle of the Moon: SSS ++
Aria of Sorrow: S
Harmony of Dissonance: Play the intro track
Thanks so much, glad to hear you've been enjoying them!
With as much flack as the music and sound quality gets in this game (even from me), I really do think one of the most overlooked things is how utterly inconsistent the background art is. Like, that huge room with the one image copy and pasted over and over and over again as a background is so absolutely jarring to me, that it pulls me out of the game haha. Meanwhile Circle and Aria have some pretty solid backgrounds. (Circle has some issues with alignment here and there, but nothing quite like that copy and paste nonsense)
“Just another video about”… as if there are any other reviews of this game haha… (I really appreciate any HoD content, and the video is fantastic)
Also you can diss any area BESIDES the room of illusion
Haha, that's fair enough! Here's to hoping that, eventually, people are just chompin' at the bit to make reviews about this game.
Okay but that ball chase room, I mean that repeated background is rough haha.
@@SimplyAJ can’t disagree with you there
I'm going to be completely honest and say I can finally admit I just don't really like this game that much compared to the rest of the series. Its not that its bad, but Casltevania and superb sound quality go hand in hand and I can't believe how they just ignored that so IGA can try his hardest to one up circle of the moon (which I LOVE btw) just because he wasn't involved in it.
For sure! Nothing wrong with admitting you don't care for something, even if you love the other games in the series. This is a definitely a game that I go back and play a lot less than the rest, but there's still SOMETHING to it that calls me back, every now and then haha
I absolutely love this game ❤
I didn't realize this game had audio issues. I used to call Juste Jus-tay instead of Joost.
I hate Dark Souls. It's too damn hard.
I prefer this game over Circle of the Moon. I do remember being really bummed out when I got the worst ending. THAT ENDING SUCKED! F**K!
I ended up growing to love the soundtrack by listening to it separated from the game - I think hearing it while you're playing it makes it far worse than it actually is. I can't explain it, maybe because I expect so much from CV soundtracks.
Yeah that's fair. Even though I'm not a big fan of the soundtrack, I also think that it's... also sorta fitting too? It's kind of hard to imagine other, better songs in some of these areas. Could be that I've just become so accustomed to hearing these songs over the years that they're just ingrained in my memory now. So, I guess take that for what it's worth haha.
Juste is a French name, so it should be Zhüst?
I can't stand Monotony of Dis Damn Door is Locked, Too. The dayglo colors are annoying and the music is best enjoyed on mute, but it's the contempt for the player's time that broke me. There aren't enough warp points and there are way too many bottlenecks that prevent you from making progress. It's just so, so, soooo tiresome.
I started HoD about a week ago and finished it today. In the first day or two, I saw a comment on the web about how this game does not respect player's time at all. BOY, was that true. Enjoyed the game a lot, but my god the backtracking and bottlenecking and zigzagging and locked doors and single chambers tucked deep into spirals away from teleports, that you have two visit twice to fill the map...this might be the most ridiculous case of fake-length I've ever seen in a metroidvania.
Was made much much better from emulating (fast forward, enemies do 1hp at endgame), I can't imagine 100%ing on original hardware even as a kid with all day to game. Wow!
CotM > HoD > AoS in my opinion. I love all the Igavanias, but the Sorrows are the weakest points of their respective trilogies for me.
I want the Kojimq triology lord of shadows.
Still the best Castlevania start with forward Dash not that stupid backwards step
I think COTM is overrated (even if I too adore it) and HOD is bashed on despite trying some new things and also trying to do some old things to see what works. In a vaccum, sure it had issues. But it was neccessary for the later games.
-the shop system was a welcome addition and was even better in aria.
-A belmont protagonist was also a welcome addition.
-Castle was unique and had a very interesting atmosphere, Even better with color mods.
-Juste's style with spell fusions and whip attachments was very interesting.
-There's some charming things to do here and it feels more fleshed out than COTM.
My only huge issue is the floatiness of his jumps honestly. Mid music quality is ok. You're playing a game. If the music sounds decent half the time (which it does) who cares if it's a lower quality. Because you also get a visually stunning game.
If Juste was just a bit quicker and his floatiness problems weren't so nauseating I'd put harmony of dissonance even higher than I have it on my top ten list. It's a great game. The lack of teleportation is annoying but I really enjoy the unique take on a Belmont adventure and a Castlevania adventure.
personally, i like this game way more than circle of the moon, similar to dawn of sorrow, circle of the moon has the same grinding problem, i hate the card system and how you get them, you should either get them as static rewards from bosses, or start the game with all of them, the way the final game is with all cards being rare drops that you would never find unless you google them is just awful design. on the other hand i have almost nothing negative to say about harmony, sure the audio sucks, but i actually kinda like it, it gives this game its unique identity, some of these tracks actually feel kinda nostalic for me. and the graphics only suck so bad if you compare them directly to aria, on their own they look decent enough for a game boy game. and i dont see many issue with the gameplay as well, its just a fun game, nothing negative to say about it, i have more to complain about dawn or order of ecclesia than about this game, its just good.
The music is amazing. Full stop.
I think the GBA and DS Castlevania games are all pretty much good and idk how people can have such strong opinions between them.
I mean, I think they're all pretty good as well, but that doesn't change having opinions between them haha. I just feel some games do things better than others. They all have their ups and downs, I just think it's fun talking and discussing those points, which is kind of like, the entire point of making these videos. It's fun to talk about.
Harmony of Dissonance always felt the weakest of the 3. The art direction was too flashy and the music reminded me more of the original gameboy. The movement was also odd, the character felt agile and stiff. Not a horrible game but just weaker than the other 3.
But I'm glad it exists because it helped create Aria of Sorrow which is amazing.
You should do another video but with a lisp.....
I was planning to play this game and just watched IGN review on this game and its crap. They dont remember some stuff and did not do any research. Come on. Channels like yours deserve the subscribers and views. I can tell much effort was put into this review. All the research and editing. Liked and subscribed!
Edit: highly wouldnt recommend IGN’s review for games in future. I watched several bad ones and decided to give it a chance. But again it sucked! Without the brand “IGN”, they are nothing.
Thank you for the high praise! And yeah, IGN can be uhh.... questionable to say the least haha. I think the big difference in IGN reviews verse like "personal" reviews is that, sometimes people are "assigned" a topic/game that they HAVE to cover, so the review is made from the standpoint of it being a job, and not out of passion for the topic, etc. That's obviously not ALWAYS the case, but I can see how it could result in less than stellar scores, etc.
The castle IS chaos. So the levels reflect this.
I mean, yeah, thematically/storywise that's true. They were definitely trying to represent Maxim's shattered conscious as well, but the issue is that it still just looks and feels... bad haha.
In other games, when you traverse through the Castle, you might notice the Moon is in different spots, or different phases, or even that each area is a different time of day. That's all fine and is a great representation of "chaos." But at the same time, it feels like the areas themselves belong in a castle and are themed as such, where as in this game in specific, each area is just kind of there. Yeah it's chaotic, but it's also TOO chaotic haha.
@@SimplyAJ yeah, they could of done a better job of emphasizing the chaos with better theme implementation
Yeah good video and all, but my boy really didn't know how to pronounce apostates? 😂😂😂
To be fair, NOW I know!
Love Juste's ellegance, one of my favorite Belmonts.
He’s so cool looking. They did him right in Nocturne as well.
The fucking cup is empty 😂😅
Aha, nope! I actually always have a drink in it so my throat doesn't die because recording these usually takes me 2+ hours of straight talking. It's just not filled to the brim.
J U I C E D
Welp, HoD is pretty much the weakest link in the trilogy IMO. Thr bosses are uninspired like seriously, Giant Merman, Giant Bat, everything Giant 😣
Plus the Castle felt too much of a horizontal platformer, which I think the reason why they put a dash function.
It kinda felt more like a megaman x game, in a metroidvania genre
But that is just my opinion. Thank God for the hackers of Dawn of Sorrow making a better unofficial sequel out of it 😅
Aha, yeah, the room layout definitely left a lot to the imagination for sure. Tons of barren hallways.
Circle of the moon and harmony are the best games in the series. I think the main problem is nostalgia glasses in the community regarding these outstanding games.
I absolutely adore Circle of the Moon. I do like a lot of things ABOUT Harmony, but it often feels like it tripped at the finish line.
@@SimplyAJ There the only truly fun castlevania games, while every other game is a chore to play. Somehow that is overlooked due to some fetish involving the horror genre and mass hysteria. Which is truly fleshed out when scores of people defend the lack of a vertical whip. No thank you. Games are meant to be fun. Which brings me to Zelda. Can’t stand any game in the series, except breath of the wild. The worst offenders being the N64 games. It feels like I’m mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, cleaning out the garage and waiting in line at the DMV all in one. You know what’s a really great game? Paper Mario on the N64. Just truly fantastic.
@@thomassmith4467 AOW is easily the best of the games... pretty fair in difficulty and easily the best looking of the three
My biggest gripes with harmony over circle of the moon was the more tedious castle layout and insulting (in my opinion) lack of difficulty compared to circle of the moon. Nothing in the game posed any threat to Juste at all. He's so overpowered its not even funny.
@@thomassmith4467Wow, this is the stupidest opinion I’ve ever heard. Only thing you said that was true is that paper Mario on n64 is great.
This one is okay, but definitely an all around Downgrade from Circle of the Moon; both graphically and in terms of gameplay. It just feels rushed and half assed, and the vivid color palette seems out of place in a Castlevania game.
Harmony>>>cicle, overall a better game
Because Indiana Jones 2 IS the worst of the original trilogy
I love HoD. It's my favorite in the gba trilogy. Also U prono7ce it [zh-ooh-st]
If I can type on mobile, I meant I prounce, not U prono7nce
Aha, all good! And yeah, well at the very least, my pronunciation of his name wasn't as bad as when I said "apostates." Dunno what I was thinking with that one hahaha