Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance: Difference between revisions

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Gameplay is solid, if simple, but can be made almost pathetically easy <ref>Causes include [[Game Breaker]] magic attacks, Juste's high dodging ability, Juste's whip has a very generous hit range (covering above and behind him) that makes attacking/projectile deflection easy, and the ability to carry 99 potions (that restore a greater relative amount of your health than standard)</ref>, and some feel the plot is well-written despite recycling ideas from ''[[Circle of the Moon]]'' and ''[[Symphony of the Night]]''. The graphics however are a point major of contention. Many gamers feel that the bright colors and cartooney sprites fit poorly with the series' gothic aesthetic, but said sprites ''are'' well-animated and the visuals are quite impressive. It must also be pointed out that these colors resulted partly from overcompensation for criticism that ''Circle'''s graphics were hard to see (which was actually the fault of the poor lighting of the [[Game Boy Advance]]'s original model).

 

The music is also a point of contention. The soundtrack, mostly by Soshiro Hokkai and [[Michiru Yamane]], has the great depth and range characteristic of the Castlevania series, and true to the name of the game is very fond of rich and often aptly disturbing dissonance. However, the instrumentation suffered, likely due to space limitations, as the developers were trying to fit the game on the 64 Mbit cartridge rather than the more expensive 128 Mbit cartridge. The result is that the music uses (and sometimes inelegantly) some [[Chiptune]] waveforms. After [[Symphony of the Night]]'s epic soundtrack of win and [[Circle of the Moon]]'s orchestral (albeit slightly muffled) background music, this became another serious YMMV point.

 

* [[An Interior Designer Is You]]: You can find various pieces of furniture around the castle. You can also find a room Juste decides to decorate, even though it's not his castle.

* [[And Your Reward Is Interior Decorating]]: Using furniture as a gameplay reward.

** Also Peeping Big. At the start, you fight a lone peeping eye with much ease. Then suddenly a giant one appears!

* [[Blackout Basement]]: A small area of the Sky Walkway is pitch dark except for a small circle around Juste. Naturally, there is an item you can equip to deal with this.

* [[Boss in Mook Clothing]]: The Victory Armours act as this in the early game, often guarding items - if you can beat them, you'll be able to get certain decent items early. Not in the sequence breaking sense, but good armour and the like.

* [[Boss Rush]]: The first game in the series to have this. Also includes an ''extra'' bonus character.

* [[Dem Bones]]: The Cave of Skeletons is an entire area of the castle themed around this. It's easily the most original and interesting environment in the game. The game in general has an incredible number and variety of skeleton enemies.

* [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything]]: The [[Bait and Switch Boss]]. You are not supposed to hit that Living Armor, since it's a cutscene, thus you can't do anything. But if you get Cross subweapon and Wind spellbook... You can hit it, revealing that its name is Revenge Armor, though it doesn't go to bestiary.

* [[Dragon Ascendant]]: With Dracula awaiting revival, [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] becomes the main mover in the plot.

* [[Dual World Gameplay]]: You go between the two castles to solve puzzles and whatnot. It's kind of like the later [[Metroid Prime]] 2: Echoes. Except the second castle doesn't damage you constantly while you're there.

* [[Elemental Crafting]]: The Platinum Tip whip attachment damages enemies more than the Steel Tip does. Granted, it's [[Wild Mass Guessing|possible (although probably not intended)]] that this is because [[Fridge Brilliance|platinum is, in fact, much denser than steel and in an inertia-based weapon like a whip would presumably hit harder,]] disregarding for the moment how hideously expensive platinum is. A marginally more realistic (albeit even more anachronistic) equivalent would be a Depleted Uranium Tip.

* {{spoiler|[[Enemy Without]]}}: The eventual explanation for {{spoiler|why Maxim's been acting so strange.}}

* [[Fashion Dissonance]]: Nice high-tops there on your sprite, Juste. At least you got swashbuckly thigh boots in the promotional art.

* [[Fire, Ice, Lightning]]: And [[Blow You Away|Wind]] too!

* [[King Mook]]: Quite a few of the bosses qualify, even more so than is normal for this series.

** Giant Merman! Max Slimer! Peeping Big!

* [[Metroidvania]]

* [[Mighty Glacier]]: {{spoiler|Simon Belmont.}}

* [[Power of Friendship]]: If you remember to wear Juste's and Maxim's bracelets when going to the final battle, you can clear Maxim's mind of the darkness - which turns out to be Dracula himself! It also saves Maxim from the needless death after his defeat. ''[[Dawn of Sorrow]]'' uses the same concept to determine the ending, only that it is about the [[Power of Love]].

* [[Punny Name]]: The Clear Bone enemy, a skeleton that renders itself translucent and intangible, was named Sukeruton in the original version. It is pronounced the same way as "skeleton" but "sukeru" in Japanese also means "transparent".

* [[Real Men Wear Pink]]: Or rather, Real Belmonts Decorate Rooms.

* [[Rival Turned Evil]]: Maxim.

* [[Scenery Porn]]: It's obvious a lot of work went into the background graphics, among other things. The backgrounds are very detailed, and there are an impressively large number of distinct tilesets. Many background features and even complete tilesets are unique to a single room.

* [[Sequel Difficulty Drop]]: Compared to ''[[Circle of the Moon]]'', this game is several shades easier.

** Almost everyone who plays this game will recognize the Giant Bat from one of the many other ''Castlevania'' games it's appeared in. They're somewhat less likely to recognize the Cyclops, which hails from ''Castlevania III'' and whose attack pattern is barely changed from its appearance in said game.

*** Don't forget about the Skull Knight from Castlevania III! Pazuzu also looks very similar to <s> Adramalech</s> Leviathan.

** Many elements, such as having two castles, the cube layout in the centre, the castle entrance, fighting Death in a dark blue underground area, and more are all based on [[Symphony of the Night]].

** The Wizard Urn item's description states "Staring at this urn tends to induce sneezing". This urn looks like the genie's bottle from children's anime ''Hakushon Daimao'', that features a genie (who appeared in ''[[Tatsunoko vs. Capcom]]'') known for his powerful sneezes.

* [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]]: If you've played ''Symphony of the Night'', chances are you'll find Juste's movements eerily familiar. Right down to copying the way Alucard runs instead of doing the traditional [[Fan Nickname|Belmont Pimp Walk]].

** Except when he is [[Standard Status Effects|cursed]]. In that status, he does the Pimp Walk.

* [[Underground Monkey]]: Even more blatant than usual for this series, as many enemies have "level 1", "level 2", and sometimes "level 3" versions. Some of the bosses have Underground Monkey versions as well.

* [[Unique Enemy]]: Glass Skeletons, which get a different sprite, break out of tubes in the background, but are otherwise ordinary enemies and appear on just one screen in the entire game. They seem to be there to facilitate [[Level Grinding]].

[[Category:Action Adventure]]

[[Category:Game Boy Advance]]

[[Category:Video Game]]

[[Category:Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance]]