Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Disappointed

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Too bad really, since I thought CotM was a step in the right direction
for the series, with its amped-up challenge level.

With HoD, I'm five hours in, with about 50% completion in both
castles, and I have yet to be challenged in any way. Rigth now, all
I've been doing is incessant wandering, followed by backtracking to
areas the seem incompletely explored (little notches in the rectangles
on the map screen). I guess I'm getting sick of waiting for a more
thrilling experience here.

Does Aria of Sorrow have the same problem, or do the enemies actually
put up a fight?

Terrence Briggs, who didn't think SotN was the most difficult game in
the world, either
Peace to you...

 

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mrman1mrman1@lycos.com (Terrence Briggs) banged on the keyboard long
enough to hammer out news:b13f41a5.0404232315.3616dd86
@posting.google.com:

> Too bad really, since I thought CotM was a step in the right direction
> for the series, with its amped-up challenge level.
>
> With HoD, I'm five hours in, with about 50% completion in both
> castles, and I have yet to be challenged in any way. Rigth now, all
> I've been doing is incessant wandering, followed by backtracking to
> areas the seem incompletely explored (little notches in the rectangles
> on the map screen). I guess I'm getting sick of waiting for a more
> thrilling experience here.
>
> Does Aria of Sorrow have the same problem, or do the enemies actually
> put up a fight?
>
> Terrence Briggs, who didn't think SotN was the most difficult game in
> the world, either
> Peace to you...
>

Yeah, HoD was definetly a step down from CotM. There's about 6 hidden
rooms in both castles combined, the bosses are all too easy (Especially
with the WIND Fist attack) and the backtracking only gets worse.

It won't get any better, sorry dude. I beat Dracula on my first try with
no potions or anything.

 

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On Sat, 24 Apr 2004, Terrence Briggs wrote:

> Too bad really, since I thought CotM was a step in the right direction
> for the series, with its amped-up challenge level.
>
> With HoD, I'm five hours in, with about 50% completion in both
> castles, and I have yet to be challenged in any way. Rigth now, all
> I've been doing is incessant wandering, followed by backtracking to
> areas the seem incompletely explored (little notches in the rectangles
> on the map screen). I guess I'm getting sick of waiting for a more
> thrilling experience here.
>
> Does Aria of Sorrow have the same problem, or do the enemies actually
> put up a fight?

AoS has the same problem(s). At least the music isn't quite as
horrible as it is in HoD.

But what else can you expect when you hand Castlevania to IGA?

--
Best,
Imad Hussain
magius@purdue.edu

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.video.nintendo.gameboy.advance,rec.games.video.nintendo (More info?)

In article <b13f41a5.0404232315.3616dd86@posting.google.com>,
mrman1mrman1@lycos.com (Terrence Briggs) wrote:

> Too bad really, since I thought CotM was a step in the right direction
> for the series, with its amped-up challenge level.
>
> With HoD, I'm five hours in, with about 50% completion in both
> castles, and I have yet to be challenged in any way. Rigth now, all
> I've been doing is incessant wandering, followed by backtracking to
> areas the seem incompletely explored (little notches in the rectangles
> on the map screen). I guess I'm getting sick of waiting for a more
> thrilling experience here.
>
> Does Aria of Sorrow have the same problem, or do the enemies actually
> put up a fight?
>
> Terrence Briggs, who didn't think SotN was the most difficult game in
> the world, either
> Peace to you...

Aria of Sorrow is a bit harder, I'd say, though not nearly so much as
Circle of the Moon. It also has a hard mode with a more reasonable
difficulty level, but you can't access that until you beat the game.

It's much more fun though. There's a lot less backtracking than in
Harmony of Dissonance, and the magic (soul) system is very well done.
Despite being a bit on the easy side it's my favorite of the Gameboy
Castlevania games.

--
Jason Finney

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.video.nintendo.gameboy.advance,rec.games.video.nintendo (More info?)

On Tue, 27 Apr 2004, sp1974 wrote:

> The two Gameboy Castlevania games were a major letdown and I'm afraid
> that it's time to accept that this franchise is creatively dead.

There are three GBA Castlevania games (and three GB Castlevania
games). I'm assuming you're speaking of the latest two GBA
Castlevanias, Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow.

<SNIP>
> Konami seemed to adapt some Castlevania - Metroid - RPG hybrid with
> their game on the PSX (Circle of the Moon?)

Circle of the Moon was the first GBA game. It merged the gameplay of
Symphony of the Night (the PSX game) and that of the older
Castlevanias -- jumping mattered, your primary weapon was a whip, and
there was *some* difficulty. CotM also featured remixes of classic
Castlevania tunes. Unfortunately, the game's visuals were quite dark,
which lead to many bashing the game in general. Note that CotM was
made by a different team than SotN/HoD/AoS; it feels much more like a
real Castlevania game (though it has has one area that has far too
many slow "puzzles" and maintains the exploration nature of the
Metroid-vanias).

If you missed out on Circle of the Moon, I'd recommend picking it up
and giving it a go.

--
Best,
Imad Hussain
magius@purdue.edu

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.video.nintendo.gameboy.advance,rec.games.video.nintendo (More info?)

> There are three GBA Castlevania games (and three GB Castlevania
> games). I'm assuming you're speaking of the latest two GBA
> Castlevanias, Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow.

You're right, I completely forgot about the first GBA Castlevania
game! I didn't buy that one because I didn't have a GBA when it was
released and by the time I did get a GBA it was widely known that the
dark game was nearly impossible to see on the original GBA's sh*tty
screen. Along with that I have forgotten the names of the GBA and PSX
titles!


> Circle of the Moon was the first GBA game. It merged the gameplay of
> Symphony of the Night (the PSX game) and that of the older
> Castlevanias -- jumping mattered, your primary weapon was a whip, and
> there was *some* difficulty. CotM also featured remixes of classic
> Castlevania tunes.

I guess CotM isn't available any longer but maybe I'll look for it the
next time I go to a store with used games. It sounds like CotM may
have at least attempted to capture the spirit of the Castlevania
franchise.

Thanks!

 

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sp1974@comcast.net (sp1974) writes:
> You're right, I completely forgot about the first GBA Castlevania
> game! I didn't buy that one because I didn't have a GBA when it was
> released and by the time I did get a GBA it was widely known that the
> dark game was nearly impossible to see on the original GBA's sh*tty
> screen.

There was some point to the griping, but (as is usually the case) it
was a bit overdone. CotM is perfectly playable on an original GBA, you
just can't play it in the shadows. 🙂 Of course on a GBA SP there's no
problem at all.

And CotM is a _great_ game, certainly the best of the three GBA CVs!

[(1) As it's more difficult, it lasts longer, and seems a bit richer
(I liked the next two GBA CVs too, but the fun was over pretty quickly);
(2) I really like the `dual card' magic system -- it's a bit more
complicated than the systems used in the later CVs, but again seems
richer.
(3) Darker screens are spookier and more mysterious. :-]

-Miles
--
Fast, small, soon; pick any 2.