Topic: Good semi-article on HoD and its quirks

[beingthehero]

A few years ago, occasional dungeonite Diplo did a very in-depth analysis on Select Button on Harmony of Dissonance. It's pretty damn good:

http://forums.selectbutton.net/viewtopic.php?t=32040

You may disagree as to how good the game was, but he does a good job in observing a lot of the cool visual quirks and art style that Harmony of Dissonance had, including the contradictions, what works, and what doesn't work. It's quite an engaging read, so, you know, you should read it.

[Nagumo]

Will the mystery of the unnecessary platforms ever be solved?

Great article but some bits went a bit over my head. Are there more of them?

HoD is still one of my favourites, mostly because of the atmosphere, but I think I like SotN better since it has every good quality of HoD and more. Aria and Ecclesia are probably better, too. Still a gem in its own right, though.

[uzo]

My guess would be they were alternate routes in and out of the room, that were later changed.

[beingthehero]

Here's the one on Aria of Sorrow:

http://forums.selectbutton.net/viewtopic.php?t=30152

And Circle of the Moon:

http://forums.selectbutton.net/viewtopic.php?t=38420

Again, both very good reads.

[Nagumo]

Spartan is a pretty good way to describe CotM, but the music helps to set the mood. The game has a tunes that are catchy and atmospheric at the same time like Sinking Old Sanctuary (before you get sick of hearing it), Aquarius, and stage 4's theme from SCIV especially. In ways it can be more interesting than the KCET games because it sometimes goes against normal conventions. That makes me think they should definitely change around teams more when developing new entries.

[DoctaMario]

Awesome article. Diplo and I had some legendary fights on this board back in the day, but I always enjoyed reading his writings on various CV games. He picks up on things most folks wouldn't notice.

I think HoD is the best of the Castleroid games other than SoTN. I didn't like it at first, but once i started seeing it as its on thing rather than "SotN Jr" I really got into it. I love the music. I understand why people shit on it, but I think the compositions themselves are fantastic. It's actually one of my favorite OSTs in the series.

As you can see from Diplo's article, there are a lot of little touches in the game (like having to kill the monster to have its blood fill up the room so you can progress and things like that) that make the game a real labor of love.

I also really liked the A&B castles. Castle A seemed like what a CV castle should be but Castle B was a twisted, nightmarish version of it, much like Silent Hill's shadow or evil world. That's why I think this game is the best example of asset reuse in terms of level design.

The game has some rough edges to be sure, but I think that's one of the charming things about it. They shaved a lot of those edged off of Aria and I think it's to Aria's detriment in some ways. Still, HoD is a really great example of the Castleroid formula working well imo.

[X]

After reading the CotM article I have the need to play it again    I never seem to get board of it.

[Chernabogue]

That was very interesting and funny!

[Anglachel]

Nice. Definitely things in there I had noticed, but never given thought to.

Reading that and the CotM article really makes me wish that they could be polished up with some better graphics, music, then ported over to consoles.

[X]

Reading that and the CotM article really makes me wish that they could be polished up with some better graphics, music, then ported over to consoles.

Well you can play them on a console but it would require you breaking out the ol' gamecube with the GBA adapter piece. But yeah I get what you mean.

[Anglachel]

Well you can play them on a console but it would require you breaking out the ol' gamecube with the GBA adapter piece. But yeah I get what you mean.

My friend has that, but unfortunately the disc is lacking.  And they're too expensive or hard to come

HD remastered versions of Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, Aria of Sorrow, etc., etc. would be awesome, only I don't think they'd release it for PS3, Xbox, or PC.

[X]

My friend has that, but unfortunately the disc is lacking.  And they're too expensive or hard to come

Yeah that seriously bites. I don't even understand why you would need the disc to run a GBA cart anyways. The setup should not need to be that unnecessary.

HD remastered versions of Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, Aria of Sorrow, etc., etc. would be awesome, only I don't think they'd release it for PS3, Xbox, or PC.

A compilation like this "might" see the light of day on a handheld. But knowing konami right now it's not gonna happen 

[DoctaMario]

Harmony is one Castleroid game I'd really love to see get a remaster. Much like Simon's Quest, it's underappreciated and I think that a remake with better graphics and more orchestral music would really benefit it. As it is now, it's a bit of a diamond in the rough that you really have to almost WANT to appreciate.

[Anglachel]

Harmony of Dissonance remaster - things I would want to see.

1. A proper Dracula battle. The relic monster was cheese, and it's not even intimidating.

2. Re orchestrated music. Great compositions, but poor quality instruments.

3. Make the game more challenging. I like Harmony a lot, but the difficulty is too damn poor. I shouldn't have to go to hard mode right away to get a decent challenge. This would probably include changing boss attack patterns.

3. Updated sprites.  Maybe throw in a few more bosses? Slogra, Medusa, Behemoth?