Topic: Do we owe an apology to this game?

[Zuljaras]

I never got why Harmony of Dissonance got so much hate. I mean I know why people disliked it but those issues were never a problem to me.

As for CotM vs HoD:

1. I liked the exploration in HoD better. I am probably one of the few people that actually liked the dual Castle thing. Unlike Symphony of the Night the second Castle in HoD was different aesthetically. This was huge for me.

2. The game on the easy side but that was probably due to the limited patterns that most bosses had AND the 99 limit to potions On the other hand CotM did not have a shop and that was one of the reasons it was harder. Also the jumping sometimes was hard as you wanted to jump further but you forgot to build momentum.

I love them both just like EVERY other Castlevania.

[X]

I personally don't hate HoD. I know it could have been better if Konami wasn't such a stick in the mud about launch time and budget constraints. I've played all the IGAvanias and each game has something that I like about them, but also have their quirks that can hold them back from being the greatest thing since SotN. CotM is also not without its flaws and even though it's rather simplistic (not as much filling like the other IGAvanias), the game still does manage to deliver the CV goodness in a way that's satisfying to me. I do like both, for different reasons.

[Succubus]

I wouldn't say CotM is so hard as to only be accessible to hardcore gamers and diehard Castlevania fans. I wouldn't say it's especially hard in general. It just puts up more of a challenge than ridiculously easy games like SotN, HoD, and AoS. Konami probably did make some conscious decision to tone down the difficulty with SotN in order to increase its accessibility, given the reputation the older Castlevania games had, but they went too far, and continued to go too far with later clones of SotN. There are plenty of extremely popular, mainstream games that are more challenging than SotN, so considering how great SotN is in all other areas, I don't think a slight increase in challenge, at the very least, would've hurt its accessibility any, nor would it have hurt HoD's.

[whipsmemory]

I wouldn't say CotM is so hard as to only be accessible to hardcore gamers and diehard Castlevania fans. I wouldn't say it's especially hard in general. It just puts up more of a challenge than ridiculously easy games like SotN, HoD, and AoS. Konami probably did make some conscious decision to tone down the difficulty with SotN in order to increase its accessibility, given the reputation the older Castlevania games had, but they went too far, and continued to go too far with later clones of SotN. There are plenty of extremely popular, mainstream games that are more challenging than SotN, so considering how great SotN is in all other areas, I don't think a slight increase in challenge, at the very least, would've hurt its accessibility any, nor would it have hurt HoD's.

U'd be surprised about what people find to be hard games ^^"
I agree a bit more challenge never hurt anyone, but whats done is done isnt it? At least they tried with Order of Ecclesia :'D

HoD has always felt like a bit of an acid trip to me.  I have to be in a particular mood to enjoy HoD, whereas with CotM it is much easier to sink into.  I don't think it's just from an audio/visual standpoint either, but in terms of tone as well.

yeah, its got a very unique mood of its own, its very eerie. I like that a lot

[piscesdreams]

Further proof that I need to try LSD.

Who needs psychedelics when we have HoD?

[Gaawa-chan]

I've actually always preferred HoD to CotM (though that godawful sound chip was such a shame).  But there's not a single metroidvania in the CV series I don't like (yes, even Simon's Quest, loved it as a kid), so...

[Super Waffle]

That is my contribution to this thread.

[X]

A gender swap eh? I can see it. The outfits are kind similar in design, and the colour scheme certainly doesn't help to suggest otherwise.