Topic: Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

[Giz]

Has excellent level design, music, graphics and story (although like most metroidvania's, is troubled a little by story execution).

Discuss.

[crisis]

This has been discussed sooo many times before, though. It has its flaws, and while it isn't excellent, it's still a fun game.

[adam]

I actually think it has one of the more darker "moods" of the series. Which is definitely a good thing. For some reason it seems like being on the brink of insanity, which is sort of the feeling I get from Simon's Quest. (Literally insane people walking around) That also, is an amazing thing.

[Profbeanburrito]

Well that and Circle of the Moon are my least favorite out of the entire series, not to say they're awful, I just don't think they're even close to the best

[uzo]

It had good level design, stable but unpolished gameplay execution, so-so music, good background art, horrible player sprites, and a decent story.

[Giz]

The 'stable but unpolished gameplay execution' is something the game shares with SOTN I'm afraid; the soundtrack itself is absolutely astounding. It isn't really the sort of thing you can listen too on its own and love it every second, but in-game it is absolutely astounding in how well it both crafts the mood of the game with its dissonant yet almost progressively complex songs.

I must admit that the player sprites are for the most part horrible; well, Juste's is good however for the most part his animations are rather lackluster. Maxim is awful all around. Lydie is pretty standard.

[cecil-kain]

A solid title and fun to play --even if it shadowed SotN a bit much.  The Spell Fusion was a great addition to the classic subs --and Maxim mode is still one of the best alt modes out there.

I should revisit this game, actually...

[Giz]

Honestly, it really doesn't borrow that much from SOTN. The central castle elevator final boss room, the exp. system, the selling of jewels, super jump and... really, not much else. Probably a few more minor things, but thats about it. The style and gameplay mechanics I feel are some of the most unique the series has ever seen. Playing HoD feels almost nothing like playing any of the other Metroidvanias.

[cecil-kain]

Honestly, it really doesn't borrow that much from SOTN. The central castle elevator final boss room, the exp. system, the selling of jewels, super jump and... really, not much else. Probably a few more minor things, but thats about it.

The big one is the mirror Castle motif --the only difference here is this game's mirror Castle isn't upsidedown --it's just one big recolored copypasta job.  Still...I prefer this 2-castle setup to SotN's --can't quite say why...  maybe because you explore them together instead of seperately?

[Giz]

The 'THERE'S ANOTHER CASTLE?' surprise I guess coutns, although its execution is so different that I'd hardly consider it otherwise. I honestly love the dual castle system.

Though personally I think it could've been kind of cool if things went kind of differently, and at the normal end of HoD, the scene played out completely differently and resulted in the two incomplete castles forming together into a much different complete castle with some new enemies and areas. That also could've been a way to deal with the issue of 'hi the game caps off at level 47 or so, what the hell' - its end feels almost premature in that regard.

Although the amount of work that it would've taken to do that probably would've been a bit too much, and the GBA likely wouldn't be able to take it. /:

[Bizarro Belmont]

I thought it was decent but obviously experimenting around a bit much with huge bosses and SotN-emulating elements. I kinda dug the double castle to an extent.

the music was eh, though.

[uzo]

The 'stable but unpolished gameplay execution' is something the game shares with SOTN I'm afraid;

SotN has the most refined gameplay of the entire series. So much detail is placed into it, it is amazing. I still find details today that I've not known about despite having played it many times over.

HoD on the other hand has one of the most unrefined and lacking of detail for the entire series. The walking speed doesn't even calibrate at ALL when you walk up a slope. That is one of the most basic elements of platform gameplay.

I have to say, with the most respect I can muster, that you have no remote idea of the differences between HoD and SotN. Its as if you've never played SotN. The rest of the points you may be able to get away with having bizzare tastes in things, but that point is just flat out, absolutely false.

[Giz]

Rather, I was more referring to how easily exploited SOTN is gameplay-wise and how, to me anyway, not everytihng feels quite 'together' if that makes any sense, in comparison to later titles. I was also referring to primarily the completely unrefined the menu, systems are. In that regard it feels less refined then later titles like AoS.  I was thinking something different then what I was typing, basically. Although it has been some time since I've played SOTN.

Although yes I do admit you are correct for HoD; it is unrefined and in some regards clunky. Although for me that 'clunkiness', just the way everything moves is also kind of attractive, making the gameplay more about timing and skill (as far as manuevering Juste in an impressive manner goes) then many of the later titles.

[cecil-kain]

Oh crap! I'd forgotten how slow Juste is! Dashing all over...

First thing I'd fix...

[Giz]

His walking speed really isn't much slower then many of the other protagonists from Castlevania, though. Soma, Shanoa, Jonathan, they all ran at a leisurely pace. By properly utilizing dashing and sliding though, Juste could pretty much become a speed demon.