As usual, it's been far too long. I find it amusing that, at the end of the last column, I hoped to get the next one up in less than a month. Of course, I failed miserably. Other than the usual schoolwork, my past week has been spent obsessed with Contra: Shattered Soldier. Seriously, this is the most well-designed game in the entire series - even Contra 3 pales in comparison. It's one of those titles which seems impossible when you first play it, but after practice, you find the game getting much easier. The bottom line: everyone NEEDS this game.
Anyway, the topic is Harmony of Dissonance again, now that the game's out in America and the excitement has died down a bit. I apologize for my brief comments, but I can't really say much without repeating what I've already stated.
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Hey Kurt! I am so sorry that I didn't have a chance to contribute to the last article with the DracX remake, I know how theraputic for all of us to sit here and say that Konami sucks... cause... well, they do. Actually, I am jumping back into the fray with the bestest game on the friggin GBA to date, that would be HoD. I am not going to go on and on and on about how this rates to SotN or CotM or even a box of puppies... I am going to slice this up and give a critical (albeit fan-boy) look. Harmony of Dissonance Box Art: It was as if someone at Konami got a clue and decided to put GOOD art on their boxes instead of random stuff of randomness... It looks pretty and everything inside is great as well. 5 out of 5 for the art alone Graphics: Wow. That is all that has to be said here. Some of you have managed to see this before it was released in the US (Shame on you! Not that I am not guilty of it either but STILL!). 5 out of 5 for this one as well Gameplay: Not bad here. They didn't tinker too much, however I was not a big fan of having to dash constantly (L and R) to make things go faster instead of having the dash boots in CotM. Needless to say that everything else was pretty smooth. 4 out of 5 just for the stoopid dash... Spell Fusion: THIS is what the rest of the games should be like if they are ever going to go with a spell caster. I loved it, though I could have gone with maybe another book or two (holy and dark) or even added a new subtype weapon, just to give a little variety. 4.5 out of 5 (the extra .5 is for the magically delicious part!) Bosses: A new crop of bosses that make things a little bit more interesting. I like what they did with the bat, made it very nice up to the last boss Drac. Biggest dissapointment for the bosses would have to be the Legion. It isn't that it wasn't a good boss, it just was a let down after having to fight the Uber Legion in SotN. 4.5 out of 5 for the bosses, take your check and move on boys! Cheapness: Yes, this is right, you can be uber cheap just like you can be with Alucard in SotN. Just keep in mind the Wind book + the Bible and you wull see what I mean. This is how I beat Maxim and Drac, and it was all thanks to GRADIUS! 3 out of 5, wasn't too cheap but it wasn't as if they didn't try to make you cry yourself to sleep either. Overall: Hmmm, this is the best GBA game I have played so far and this is much better than the other one that never HAD A BELMONT IN IT!!! I can understand that they are trying to branch it out into other places, but if you can't have a good tie into Drac (via the Bloodline heroes) or a friggin Belmont, DON'T TRY! Seriously... 9.5 out of 10 for overall Where will Juste rate in the overall character ratings? Not as high as Simon... not as high as Richter... nor Trevor... I say that he is part of that Second Tier Belmont, such as Sonya or Christopher. If they have another game with him in it, I think that might propel him up to the first tier, but it seems that his great grandmothers weaknesses (Sypha's inability to take a hit and give one as well) has skipped Simon and been cursed (or blessed) with Juste... He needs more story time, but I like him. Alright then, I am going to go take Simon and do the boss rush.... no wait, he sucks in the boss rush mode... ah how I miss the 8 bit days.... Matt - "Hmmm, I can attack you with this whip and do 97 points of damage or I can go UBER GRADIUS on you and do... wow... 97... points..."
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I'd have to honestly say that while some of the bosses were cool in design, some of them were pretty lame. "Here's a regular Castlevania enemy - except he's BIG!" Not exactly fear inspiring. And most of them simply weren't very difficult.
I really like Juste's design, but if it's like most other Castlevanias, with the protagonist being different each chapter, we probably won't see him again.
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Hi, kurt. Frankly, I love Harmony of Dissonance! Everything that was
wrong with Circle of the moon (Don't get me wrong, there wasn't much) was
fixed in this latest installment. By making the game more colorful, I
don't need flourescent lighting to see it and by introducing the spell
fusion system I don't have to fight endless enemies to find what I need.
Juste is very cool but the only thing that bugs me is that he looks way
too vampiric. The platinum hair I'm willing to accept but the trail
effect isn't human enough. I like his costume though. Overall, both GBA
games rock and Harmony rocks more. Also, the 8-bitish music doesn't
bother me one bit. It's sort of nostalgic. Tony T. Tiger
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I remember when the ROM was first leaked out, people were spasming over how bright and cartoony the graphics were. Now that we've all played it on a GBA, toy can actually see the benefit.
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Kurt, Since I'm one of the folks that waited until the american release of HoD, I thought I'd respond to your column. To be honest, I was expecting to enjoy the game slightly less than CotM. I had heard that the spell system was less interesting and I knew based on some quicktimes I downloaded off IGN that the music sounded like old NES tunes. However - and this is strange even to me - I found myself liking the game about as much as SotN (which was hitherto my all time favorite Castlevania). It's hard for me to conjecture just why, but I think the main elements which pushed it above CotM were the level design and the graphics. HoD's levels seem to incorporate more "personalized" elements in them and be less generic, often with little non-essential details (statues, fountains, etc.) that don't get repeated over and over. It think it better captures the feeling that there's really something substantial for you to explore as opposed to just going through a maze. Oddly I actually kind of like some of the music. It sounds so much like an old NES game that it almost puts me into the mindset of actually *playing* a NES game, which is actually a good thing. Also, though I know that plot is never a priority in this kind of game, I am glad that they returned to the original Castlevania plotline instead of continuing with the CotM characters and story. The tie-in to Simon's Quest was also kind of neat (another reason why I found the NES-quality music appropriate). Though there are some logicistcal issues with Maxim getting a hold of Dracula's body parts; Simon supposedly destroyed them, did he not? But anyway. I still wish they would give Dracula some other role in the game other than just the last thing you always have to kill. He's starting to not be intimidating - he even makes a remark about finding some comfort in knowing that even though he's been defeated yet again, the Belmonts will be forever cursed with having to rise up and destroy him. Like Skeletor, Megatron, or Wiley Coyote, you never get to see just how "evil" he is because always gets stopped before he can do anything interesting, and you wish that just once he could come out on top. Maybe for the next installment they can let him to a little more . . . or maybe they could think of an even worse bad guy? Or is that just a pipe dream?
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RPGs usually have a way of characterizing the enemy as a ruthless bastard - just ask anyone who's ever played FF7. It's possible to do this in a game like Castlevania - maybe have him rough you up at certain points in the game, or at least have you fight weakened forms throughout. Then you can actually build up some hatred for the bastard.
One of the reasons I wasn't quite as keen on Harmony was that the dual-castle approach wasn't pulled off as well as it was in Symphony. I often got confused as to what items where in what castle, though at least it was pretty easy to switch back and forth. Maybe if there were more differences outside of enemy placement and palette swapping, it would've felt less annoying.
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~Well while we wait for official word on the Dracula X: Chi no Rondo
remake, (word is from a roomate of a friend of a friend is that
Microsoft wants in on the the deal,... then again 90% of what I've heard
from him turned out to be bunk,... then again that would explain why IGA
wants everyone to write in to show what system they want the game on) we
have Harmony of Dissonance. Harmony is easily the best GBA game out
there, and again one of the best action/adventure/rpgs ever made. EGM
made this one game of the month for a reason, and it isn't meerly
because it's better than Circle of the Moon. ~First of all, Circle of the Moon had a great premise. After several failed attempts at Castlevania goodness, the "replacement" team at Konami of Kobe figured if they were going to go out,... then they'd go out guns blazing! To me it seemed like they tried to emulate the most obvious points of Symphony of the Night, yet add their own flavor. In fact they succeeded on many fronts, but failed in just as many if not more. So while certain issues left over from SotN were addressed head-on, (like claustophobic rooms, the MIA classic Castlevania tunes, and the overabundance of useless items) other issues, and even more obvious ones were being ignored completely, (like the slowdown and an picture visablity, ridiculously hard enemies some of whom can take dozens of hits to beat, controls to vomit over, no Belmonts!!!). ~The DSS card system was no doubt very interesting and very often invaluable but at the same time you could only combine 2 cards at a time, making the various combination options seem less important. And some of the powers that came with the cards should have been earned and available easier, instead of being found and being brief MP using tricks like the speed boost and the familiars. Harmony's Spell Fusion is far more logical and useful and can be changed without going into a sub-menu. ~There are actually many faults I find with Circle of the Moon's actual existence, but mainly it interferes with the Belmont/Tepes storyline. The game itself actually seems to be a side-story on purpose, and it may not even actually have anything to do with the series at all. Sure Dracula Camilla and Death appear, but apparently all that fighting that Richter Maria and Alucard did colectively wasn't enough to give Drac his full 100 years of sleep as Trevor, Christopher and Simon had done before. Harmony of Dissonance doesn't give disinformation like that, it actually manages to build a story around the fact that it must be impossible for Dracula to have returned 50 years early. ~Well I could go on all week, so I think that I'll sum up my feelings by saying what many people have been saying thus far. Harmony of Dissonance fixes everything that was wrong with Circle of the Moon and is definately the best Castlevania game since Symphony of the Night. And although the music is not as "advanced" as CotM was, it definately grows on you with it's dark moody climate and thundering drum sounds reminding me of Simon's Quest's soundtrack a bit. The overall effects are reminicent of the more interesing tricks of NES, Gameboy and Genesis sounds. Now if I could only figure out where that book of Summon is,... And does anyone know why Maxim runs so damn fast?
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I was amazed when I opened the that EGM and found that Harmony had gotten Game of the Month over Mario Sunshine. One of the reasons I love that magazine is because they are such adamant Castlevania freaks.
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Hey Kurt, I got HoD last Thursday, and I've beaten it once, plus I got
most of the interesting items (jumping boots, all the cloaks, most of
the rings that change subweapon action). Also I started playing the game
with Maxim, which is a nice option, though I've heard you can't finish
the game with him (?). Anyway, I wanted to say I think HoD is FAR
superior to CotM, despite the less impressive music. First, the graphics in HoD simply SHINE. They're the best graphics I've seen on the GBA, and frankly screenshots do not do them justice. The quality of the artwork in the game is quite close to Symphony of the Night, and some levels (the cave areas for example) seem to be ripped straight out of that classic PS1 game. Enemies are a mix of familiar and new - some of these faces go back to Dracula X but some really HUGE new armors were quite surprising to me. IGA and company really push the GBA's processor to the max for graphics, surpassing most SNES-level graphics and getting much closer to PS1 quality, IMO. Musically the game is decent. Some of the music is enjoyable, like Juste's theme, the Marble Corridor, and the Chapel of Dissonace BGMs (I'm taking the names from the Sound Mode). Others (Clock Tower and Skeleton Cave BGMs for example) are somewhat annoying, but not that bad. I need to listen with some headphones to get any stereo effects, but I'll agree that the actual audio quality of the music (sample frequency type stuff) is lower than CotM. I suspect that some of the themes and BGMs would be much more enjoyable if the sampling quality were higher, but then that brings us to the GBA's system limitations. Just one processor :(. Overall, I found the gameplay experience of HoD much more like SotN than CotM was. This really had nothing to do with Juste's minor resemblance to Alucard in game (I just see the white hair - their outfits and animations are quite different). I admit that the illustrations of Alucard and Juste by Kojima are similar, but the sprites are a different matter. Something about CotM lacked the flexibility and smooth play control of SotN, but HoD captures that smoothless and responsiveness very well. Enemy sprites are quite detailed and most display a fair number of activities. The two dual-castle gameplay is really quite fascinating, reminding me somewhat of Soul Reaver in that you can make changes in one that will affect the other. They could have exploited this relationship even more than they did, but the implementation is still fascinating. I like how some sections are very similar between the castles, but others are quite different, reflecting either Maxim's soul or Dracula's soul. The number of things Juste can do seems more on par with Alucard than Nathan's less impressive repertoire. I like the Spell Fusion system, but find it inferior and spartan compared to the very well-designed, extremely-versatile DSS. I find myself sticking to one or two subweapons and one or two books, as the effects are not nearly as varied as those from the DSS. The subweapons themselves are quite nice. I like the Sacred Fist, and I'm happy to see the stopwatch gone (hardly ever used it myself). Having items that change the ways the subweapons work is a brilliant idea. I *crushed* Dracula with the slow-moving, altered Axe. Having more item variety than CotM (though not nearly as much as SotN, too bad) is wonderful, and many of the items do interesting things. The touch of having the cloaks change Juste's afterimage color is very nice, and actually have the option of doing SOMETHING to your attack (even if you can't switch from the Vampire Killer) is excellent. Being able to play as Maxim is nice. His triple jump, long range, and assorted ninja spells and abilities make the experience quite different than playing the game with Juste. Simon Belmont in the Boss Rush is an amusing surprise, though it makes you realize how much easier the game is with characters who can move like Juste and Maxim do. All the extras add a good bit to the playability. Also, the similarity to SotN may give the game extra replay value - I still play SotN to this day, from time to time, and this may become a pocket version of that fallback standard. One negative regarding the level design - while save points are well placed (almost always one near a boss, for example), the teleporters are almost always out of the way, meaning lots of extra movement before you get to where you want to be. My overall impression: The game is almost as much a joy to play as SotN. Not only is it quite nice eye candy, but it plays very well and is quite reminsicent of one of the best games ever made. Oh, and I don't need a spotlight to play it, like I did with CotM. Beating the game with most everything (still haven't spotted the Rare Ghost) and seeing all the endings took me about 9 hours, and it was quite easy. Then again, half the fun of SotN is in the level design, in the way areas unlock and in the STYLE of both the main character and enemies. I do have one question: why are there so few other vampires in the Castlevania/Dracula series other than Vlad? I may be missing some from earlier games, but the only vampire I can think of that isn't Dracula in the last few games is Olrox, who was quite cool. Here you are, playing a Belmont in most of the games, killing LOTS of non-vampires with a whip called Vampire Killer. It sure doesn't do too much of that, does it? ;) -- Matt
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I find it weird also that the only other CV games where you actually face vampires are the Castlevania 64 titles.
I found the locations of the transporters irritating as well. They could've used one or two more to make travelling around the castle easier, but it's no big deal.
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Hey Kurt... Yes, I got HoD. After a prolonged delivery thanks to the "geniuses" at UPS, I got my copy on 9/26... and beat it 199.8% after three days... I am playing around with the Boss Rush mode right now. It was quite fun... and kind of easy.
My final game standing: CotM took three times as long to complete. I'm not complaining... it's just odd. It is very easy to level up; there are at least 3 places packed with enemies that can allow you to go up 5 levels in 10 minutes (estimate). I didn't fully utilize the spell fusion system. The combinations that I have used the most were:
Cross+Wind Book (Cross Barrier) The subweapons were not that great. I pretty much stuck with the cross -- it was one that I could count on. They changed the Bible weapon attack back to the way it was in Rondo. You had to use Bible+Wind Book to get the Symphony version. Also, what is up with the Sacred Fist weapon? You lunge forward a bit while delivering a flurry of punches, then hop back??? It left me vulnerable too often, and it didn't offer up much damage in return. I would only use it in conjunction with the Wind book, because the other fusions, well, didn't work out (I kind of liked the Fire Book fusion, though). Armor and accessories were okay... you can find a lot of good stuff lying around, and it is easier to get stuff from drops than CotM...They need a better system by which the merchant appears at certain rooms... not that I used him too much. I did buy a few accessories, armor, and potions, though. You can get plenty of Elixirs amd Hi Mana Prisms throughout the castle (including drops) so you should be ready for Drac when the time comes. The whip addons were disappointing.... they could have done something different, like give the whip a new look (the red stone could have produced a flame whip as opposed to a whip with just a fire elemental attack). The ability to play as Maxim in a new file or play as Simon Belmont in the Boss Rush are very nice bonuses in my book. So was the 'Decorate the Bare Room' sidequest. I found that one quite refreshing. The graphics were much better -- at least I could see things (unlike CotM, which was way too dark). The actual sound quality was definitely reminiscent of the original GB, but at least the soundtrack was original. Too many remixed tunes in CotM, IMHO. Some of the HoD tunes were quite catchy. They may not be best hits, but at least it is not another overdone remix of "Vampire Killer". The final word: HoD is short, yet satisfying. There is plenty of action and exploring for CV fans. In fact, there is something for everybody. You just have to keep your eyes peeled for it. A must-buy for all... besides, some of you may actually LIKE that godawful Sacred Fist!!! Jason K. Henry
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What's with the "decorate your room" quests as of recent? It's in Harmony of Dissonance, there's something almost exactly the same in Legaia 2, and it's almost the whole point of Animal Crossing. Next we'll see in fishing mini-game in the next Castlevania.
As for playtimes - I think I got about 198% in five hours of play. I tend to go through games pretty quickly. As for Circle of the Moon - I know my map completion wasn't more than 90% but I think it took me about nine hour to beat Drac. That, of course, didn't count all the times I died.
I think that's one reason I kinda like Circle better - it was longer, more difficult and had more hidden things going on. Still, Harmony was given a lot more care in certain areas, so I guess it balances out.
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While I like both games a lot, I guess it's inevitable to have to compare
them. Actual gameplay is much richer in Harmony, which almost goes without saying. Having two dash buttons is absolutely brilliant, and the way the early parts of the game, and even the castle's architecture are configured, it only enhances this feature. In Symphony, Alucard had a backwards dash, but I never found it particularly useful. Alucard could move fast enough on his own that it was hardly necessary. On top of that Alucard had many more options for an aerial attack style. Juste, on the other hand, moves like a slug and is a real lamer in the air, especially early on. These might sound like drawbacks (and I've read reviews where these are complained about) but I feel like these were done on purpose--almost to force you to have fun. Once you figure out how to use L and R correctly, the game becomes a blast! Not only that, but the a lot of the enemies can take enough hits, and enough of them have close-range counter-attacks, to make dashing even more practical. Aside from the slide element, Juste just handles more like you would expect him to than Nathan does. While it did take me a while playing Harmony to stop dashing into monsters, it was simple enough to figure out aiming and timing of whip from the get-go. Not so with Circle's comparatively stiff execution. Between DSS and Spell Fusion I don't think I have a preference. With DSS you could certainly do some cool stuff, but frankly most of it wasn't all that helpful in actual practice, especially since you could only have one combination equipped at a time. SF is much simpler, but it takes down the enemies just fine. I think it's too easy to use it though. Maybe if magic attacks used hearts AND magic points it would have been a little more fair. I never had any problems with Circle's graphics, apart from maybe that many areas of the castle were too generic. Harmony's graphics are almost too good to be faulted though. There is some repetition, and I didn't care as much for the character sprites, but overall they did an amazing job. The music quality in Circle clearly has the advantage over Harmony, but unlike some have said, I don't find the Harmony tunes to be bad by themselves. The fan-made MP3s here at the dungeon are great! I think the more eerie, atmospheric quality of Harmony's tunes fit better with Juste's character and the storyline anyway. He's not the muscle-bound vampire hunter come to heroically slay Dracula and his minions, he's swift and stylish, and locked in a mysterious castle of uncertain origins. I would have liked more different tracks though. So the verdict: It seemed like IGA set out to improve over Circle of the Moon in almost every conceivable way, and in that venture, I believe he was successful. Circle is a terrific game--especially for essentially being a GBA launch title, but Harmony just rocks! Christopher Lundgren
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I know a lot of people found Juste's jumping to be a bit awkward, though I never really had a problem with it. He does feel a bit floaty, especially after whipping, but otherwise, he controlled very well.
I really hope Harmony sells well - I got the impression it was delayed so it could be better advertised and get on the shelves closer to Christmas time. I know sales were a bit below expected in Japan, but it still did fairly well.
Anyway, I'd like to state that the columns will be going on hiatus for awhile. I've just been too busy to take care of most of this webpage stuff and by the time I get all of the responses organized, it's usually a month after the fact anyway. Hell, right now I SHOULD be finishing a paper for a class this week, but I'm annoyed by working on it. So, like the rest of the site, this section will go into cryogenic freeze until the semester is over. Once again, I apologize.
Kurt, dreadfully concerned with the evils of roleplaying.