Csstlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

[JadussD]

Besides being a really good game, the aesthetics of this game are very unique and odd. First of all, the graphics are deliberately drab and understated, with an emphasis on mood. Second of all, the music is, well, dissonant and often atonal, and many of the leads wouldn't sound out of place on an old Slayer or Morbid Angel album, and sometimes a bit like the extreme atonal end of the jazz spectrum, albeit with timbres that are only a step above chip music (actually, I think it uses the GBA's sound channels instead of PCM a lot of the time) It's as if the designers of this game were trying to create a game which has a dysfunctional, almost painful atmosphere that eventually draws you in. This seems like an odd choice for a medum designed to entertain and sell copies, but maybe they thought (correctly) that they had room to experiment with different aesthetics after the success of the previous Castlevania games (think The Beatles deciding to give up teenage love songs and such later on in their career to experiment a lot)...it would be interesting if there became a movement of "underground" games that try to use harsh aesthetics and ideas that won't appeal to as many people, just like the metal, industrial, noise, and dark ambient undergrounds in music with video games. "Art games" if you will.

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<CENTER>http://members.aol.com/jadussvii/Alcahest-Sociopathic_Engineering.oggThis music wants you dead.</a></center></P>

[Disch]

It was the only GBA CV I just couldn't get into. I loved both Circle of the Moon and Aria of Sorrow to pieces... but HoD just didn't grab me like the other two.

The art style was more 'cartoony' than the others... which totally took away from the experience for me. Even the old NES Castlevanias had a really cryptic feeling... it was always part of the appeal. And especially after SotN and CotM.... you come to expect the same feeling. But HoD turned the tables around... it was like "wtf". Not that it was bad... but it just totally wasn't what I was expecting/hoping to see.

I should probably pick it up again... I could probably dig it if I gave it another shot. I mean it's a good game for sure. But I'd still have to say AoS and CotM top it, easy.

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[blackize]

Since my GBA's broken, I'll either purchase a new NES GBA or the GameCube GBA Player so I can enjoy titles like this one. I loved Circle of the Moon, although I was unable to defeat Dracula at the end. But still, it was like Symphony of the Night on a handheld console. SOTN is still the best Castlevania game, in my opinion at least.

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[Narvick]

I love all Castlevanias, so I'm with you on this one ;P

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[Disch]

> SOTN is still the best Castlevania game, in my opinion at least.

Yah. SotN was gorgeous... but then again it had the advantage of being on a superior platform.

In all honesty... I really think Aria of Sorrow would have been better than SotN were it done for the PSX. So many things were improved upon from SotN... but the inferior graphics/sound/medium really, really held it back.

But as it stands... SotN does take the cake.

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[The 9th Sage]

> "Art games" if you will.

Actually, they did use the GB's sound channels quite a bit I think, and although the audio sounds a bit lo-fi I still think it's cool, and I love that the graphics seem suitably dark for a castlevania game, although I never could find the damn Monster Summoning book. >_<


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[cipher]

Aria of Sorrow pwnd kthx. It's my new favourties Castlevania, overtaking CV4.

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[blackize]

> Yah. SotN was gorgeous... but then again it had the
> advantage of being on a superior platform.

Plus it has so many hidden extras that keep you coming back for more, even years after the game was originally released. I doubt I'll ever collect every item in the game, but it's fun to try anyway.

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[SirDaShadow]

> Actually, they did use the GB's sound channels quite a bit I
> think, and although the audio sounds a bit lo-fi I still
In other words this one's audio sucks :) We all know part of CV's charm is the music...I agree that this may be the leeser of the GBA offerings, but I still got 100% in that one like the other two <img src=smilies/cwm11.gif>

Now ask me if I've been playing CV:LOI for ps2...I misplaced the disc and I don't give a damn....

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[blackize]

> Now ask me if I've been playing CV:LOI for ps2...I misplaced
> the disc and I don't give a damn....

I bought that game and was like, "what the fuck?" And I haven't played it for more than 15 minutes. It just doesn't feel like a Castlevania game.

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[Ugly Joe]

> I bought that game and was like, "what the fuck?" And I
> haven't played it for more than 15 minutes. It just doesn't
> feel like a Castlevania game.

I've heard that remark so many times about every console Castlevania since SotN. What does a Castlevania game feel like?

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[blackize]

> What does a Castlevania game feel like?

A good Castlevania game should feel like an action-adventure-RPG game. That's what SotN night was and that's what made it so great, and there are tons of hidden items and secrets in the game which have kept me playing it on a regular basis after all these years. The N64 games and LoI don't hold up to the tried-and-true 2D side-scrollers of yesteryear. LoI isn't a terrible game by any means, but for me it's just not a Castlevania game, I prefer the 2D games over the 3D games.

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[Ugly Joe]

> A good Castlevania game should feel like an
> action-adventure-RPG game.

Ah, LoI wasn't meant to have RPG elements. It was meant as an attempt to bring the action of 2D Castlevanias into 3D. Think Castlevania III, not SotN. I liked LoI because I knew what it was trying to be and I think it did a fine job of it. I haven't played it since it came out, so I can't pull too many examples. I thought the whip system was great. The more you play, the more moves your whip can do. Granted, I just found a combo that worked really well and kept repeating it, but I've gone into rooms crammed full of zombies and just had fun with it. The secondary weapons was well done since you could alter their affects with...i forget...orbs or something. Exploring was okay, too. There easily could have been more hidden/hard to find stuff, but it took me awhile to get 100% of the map. Boss fights were only sometimes challenging, but always entertaining. Hard fights were fun due to challenge, easy ones were fun due to getting to jump around and throw stuff at a slow-moving target. There's also replay value since you can play as one of the bosses and also in an uber-hard mode. Music was also great as usual.

So, I suppose if you wanted SotN in 3D it was a dissapointment. Personally, I don't want SotN in 3D. I want SotN with a bigger castle and I want it in 2D.

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[The 9th Sage]

> Plus it has so many hidden extras that keep you coming back
> for more, even years after the game was originally released.
> I doubt I'll ever collect every item in the game, but it's
> fun to try anyway.

I ALMOST got 200%...I think I was missing like one secret room somewhere or something.


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[Reaper man]

> I ALMOST got 200%...I think I was missing like one secret
> room somewhere or something.

the maximum that you can get is 200.6% without glitching

with glitching, you can get to close to 400% <img src=smilies/cwm11.gif>

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[Wolvie]

I liked Harmony of Dissonance

It took me back to the good old nes Castlevania
even the somewhat bad graphics took me back. My only problem with this game is the spell system, it just never caught my attention, never used it unless it was needed, and that isn't very often

[Reaper man]

I liked Harmony of Dissonance

It took me back to the good old nes Castlevania
even the somewhat bad graphics took me back. My only problem with this game is the spell system, it just never caught my attention, never used it unless it was needed, and that isn't very often

good fucking christ dude, this is a 5 year old thread. Please don't necrobump threads.

I guess I'll move this to gaming talk.... enh.

[Wolvie]

good fucking christ dude, this is a 5 year old thread. Please don't necrobump threads.

I guess I'll move this to gaming talk.... enh.

lolwut? ask me if I give a fuck dude.

[The 9th Sage]

lolwut? ask me if I give a fuck dude.
Wow. At any rate, to put it nicely, yes, please stop necroposting for no reason...at least not of the two year old thread variety.

[Reaper man]

lolwut? ask me if I give a fuck dude.

yeah, don't give a fuck and keep necroposting threads and see what happens. :)

[Wolvie]

yeah, don't give a fuck and keep necroposting threads and see what happens. :)

Oh noes! the newb admin is gonna ban me, whatever will I do. anything on here I can find else where, it doesn't really matter to me. I only signed up because I was looking for something. and I didn't find that. so, oh well. and again. ask me if I care.

(USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)

[The 9th Sage]

Oh noes! the newb admin is gonna ban me, whatever will I do. anything on here I can find else where, it doesn't really matter to me. I only signed up because I was looking for something. and I didn't find that. so, oh well. and again. ask me if I care.

I have a much longer fuse than he does, and even I can't really abide this any longer. Have a nice life.

[Burzy]

SOTN> ALL

[Lillymon]

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