Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance | Legacy Of Igavania

Koji Igarashi returns for the second instalment of the Castlevania GBA Trilogy. Does it live up to the prestige of it's predecessors?
Legacy Of Igavania Playlist - • Castlevania: Symphony ...
Written and Directed by - Scheming Fox
Co Producer - Stevem
‪@Stevem‬
Special Thanks:
Clover Squirrel
/ cloversquirrel
Follow me on Twitter - / schemingfox
Bibliography:
Harmony Of Dissonance (2002)
Circle Of The Moon (2001)
Symphony Of The Night (1997)
Koji Igarashi Gamespot Interview (2002) www.gamespot.c...
Shadow and Legion Saint Footage • Castlevania Harmony of...
Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past (1992)
Dishonored 2 (2016) • Video
Titanfall 2 (2016)
References:
www.chapelofres...
www.chapelofres...

[@schemingfox]

It has been a while, however I finally finished this video! And with that I feel I must apologise once again for the lengthy wait. The time it has taken to make this video was a combination of technical difficulties and frustrations (I had to record this game about 4 different times and just work with the footage I had). As well as going through a whole host of challenges in my personal life which caused this channel to have to be put on the back burner. In that time away I am pleasantly surprised to discover that I have passed 100 Subscribers! Which I quite honestly was not expecting to happen for a long time. To everyone who has subscribed, viewed my content, commented and supported me you have my thanks :) I hope you enjoy this video and I hope to be uploading on a far more frequent basis from here on out.

[@arukado789]

Call me weird but I actually like HoD's soundtrack. There's a certain... harmony in its dissonance. Not many people seem to notice it though.

[@Stevem]

I've been listening to recomposed version of it and I think the compositions are fine, the issue is more with the sound fonts and GBA as a whole

[@schemingfox]

An interesting point for certain, however this line of thinking doesn't quite hold up when you consider that the Japanese title of the game was Concerto Of Midnight Sun (キャッスルヴァニア 白夜の協奏曲). So this was not intended, Igarashi himself has admitted the Soundtrack was overlooked in favour of focusing on Gameplay, Visual Presentation and Story.

[@juliusb7713]

@@schemingfox that's kind of a droll response, don't you think? Music has always been especially important in the Igavanias, as a matter of communicating and expressing the themes & character of the title at large, and even if harmony of dissonance is still a retroactive descriptor, that doesn't change that it is an effective description of the music and game at large, nor does it change that a similar sort of contradiction exists in the Japanese title "Concerto of the Midnight Sun", meaning even by your own point, the dissonance is relevant. What Iga was referring to in his interviews was the reason that the sound chip was used, nothing more; but that's fine: the sound chip doesn't sound dull or weak like the gba soundchip, and the textures provided by the soundchips non-emulative chipset (that is, there are few obvious parallels between them and existing instruments, such as piano) are dissonant and suit the compositions. These compositions emphasize progressive jazz basslines with driving, rich percussion and unconventional harmonic developments, with melodies rising and drifting and being consumed by others in the songs driving pace, much like the experience of the game itself; quickly paced, tonally garish and structurally confusing (this was a common complaint of the castles design, no?). It's all purposeful, it's all dissonant, and it's all beautifully cohesive: an unwillingness to understand and engage with things that toy with aesthetic ugliness or discomfort -- another fan favorite, super castlevania 4, has similar aspirations -- or don't present their true selves in an easily digestable package isnt, as far as I'm concerned, a valid way frame of reference to properly analyze the ost.

[@Stevem]

@@juliusb7713 lol that's a dull retort The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight, it does not mean the music is supposed to sound badly compressed. (also translated as white night) "but with Harmony of Dissonance, we had to sacrifice the music and focus more on the visual side of the game" nothing about chips, all about sacrificing music quality for better visuals. The comps aren't bad but I've heard much better versions outside of the GBA.

[@juliusb7713]

@@Stevem let me guess, you struggle with anything more than surface, literal description, huh? Nothing you said actually meaningfully contradicts what I said. That "midnight sun" is a natural phenomenon says nothing about the fact that the two are still inherent & symbolically contradictory concepts, and that that contradiction reverberates throughout the game, with everything in the games form and structure emphasizing a frictive duality, between castle A & B, the bright & dissonant aesthetic (graphically and musically) between the forms of Maxim, between the fast & simultaneously frenetic pace of the game and the intentionally labyrinthine navigation between & throughout the castles. The quote, which I'm already aware of, described the material conditions that led to this soundtrack from the perspective of the designer, it says nothing about the composers efforts within that frame, or how that might've influenced the development of the rest of the games tone. Furthermore, let's suppose it was all an accidental sacrifice; that still doesn't mean what was produced doesn't resonant with the themes and experience of the rest of the product. Should we disregard that simply because the possibility exists that it wasn't a conscious choice? Of course not: that doesn't make any sense. The product is inherently partially distinct from the producer. Your dismissals are, at this point, nothing more than an aesthetic preference; what I take issue with is both your reticence to accept that and your unwillingness to explore the material at its deeper levels.

[@nickkelley9139]

My favorite part is you calling the Sound Test mode 'a true challenge'.

[@schemingfox]

I was more proud of that line than I care to admit :L

[@KentaKurodani]

I feel you most certainly were too hard on the soundtrack. While it's not as overstated as Yamane's contributions, Soshiro Hokkai's soundtrack did a very good job of conveying the intended atmosphere of the castle. This was a Castlevania without a lord, where your friend is having an identity crisis and your other friend is missing, nowhere to be found. There are two castles, one mysteriously adrift in some kind of alternate dimension, and a general sense of mystery around the whole thing.

[@schemingfox]

While the soundtrack has a few gems here and there (Successor Of Fate and Chapel Of Dissonance for example), the GBA hardware is the primary thing holding it back. Many songs appear in both Castle A and B which makes it difficult to judge how much of the soundtrack was intended for one specific version of any given area.

[@KentaKurodani]

@@schemingfox I just feel like you blame the composer for what was likely the fault of the game director, as someone who is myself studying to write music for games. The amount of unique tracks is almost never up to the composer, because they get paid by the amount of music they make (usually per minute), so Hokkai could have wanted to do more and was not given the chance

[@schemingfox]

I meant no disrespect to Hokkai himself and I do not give mention to him directly in the video. I've mentioned a few times here in the comments that Igarashi admits to taking liberties with the soundtrack to prioritise other elements of the game such as presentation, gameplay and narrative. Igarashi later acknowledges the poor reception of HOD's soundtrack and refers to this game as reason for him to bring the acclaimed composer Michiru Yamane back in for future titles thereafter.

[@franciscor390]

You guys do understand that the reason the soundtrack sucked was not so much because of the composition, it had to do much more than the unwillingness to alocade enough memory in the GBA cart to feature decent sound, alongside with the devs to do actual sound mixing using CPU cycles. Much because Iga preferred to show of with some flashy scenes with big enemies and scaling effects. Really bad decision if you ask me as Castlevania is basically 50%gameplay 50%soundtrack. But that's just my opinion.

[@sjajsjsja4523]

I grew to really enjoy this game's music. It's certainly something different, but it's pretty catchy and intense in a way I thought fit the game well.

[@WANTUZ2002]

Very psychodelic sound and motives actually grew on me since they match the actual acid and saturated colour of the game and each track really represents the room you are in. Like there are certainly disgusting tracks like Clock Tower, some are opposite - like Sky Chapel or Castle Entrance. Yeah, SOTN and AOS have those really epic and moody tracks, but they are not horrory or washed out like HOD OST building a much darker atmosphere overall.

[@willy24able]

Did anyone forget the fact by pressing down in the Teleporter Rooms, you can teleport to another room in the same castle?

[@louiscalaunan5857]

Your comment is a godsent. Just finished playing HoD with 100% map completion and this comment helped BIG TIME!!!

[@adriann9919]

I found that out 5 hours into the game... the game took me 8 hours to 200% to put it into perspective

[@willy24able]

Ugh! Even with that knowledge, teleporting to one location to another is still as janky as Symphony of the Night & Circle of the Moon. You teleport to set locations meaning you can't choose by choice. And if you accidentally skip one location you're trying to get to, you have to do the entire looping all over again. THAT WAS AN OUTDATED JANK! Thank god that Aria of Sorrow fixes that issue by giving us the ability to choose which location we want to go by choice which is one of the major reasons why Aria of Sorrow was the best GBA Castlevania game ever. Since then, that improvement has been carried over to DS Castlevanias & it's spiritual successor Bloodstained Ritual of the Night(Except the Switch version which was a fucking disaster much to the dismay of the Nintendo fan community). Anyone agreed with me that Aria of Sorrow is not only the best GBA Castlevania game ever, but also being equal to Symphony of the Night?

[@tigerfestivals5137]

There's a Hint Card that tells you this.

[@NESFlint]

I keep coming back to this video just for the first 12 seconds.

[@schemingfox]

Haha, glad you enjoyed it :D

[@egmusic1925]

The actual compositions in HOD are actually really well made, but undermined by the soundfont

[@zachtwilightwindwaker596]

That's how Juste is pronounced? I thought it was Jus-tay. 1:27 He's not part of the Morris bloodline. His last name is Baldwin. I remember getting the worst ending and saying "THIS ENDING SUCKS!". I think I do recall Simon being a bit slow in this game. My sister says it's because he's old. Makes sense since he would be 79 in 1748. He's like Joseph Joestar in part 4.

[@jeffersonia]

The A B castled made this game super annoying to explore. None of the fighting was too crazy but navigating between the castles was annoying without a guide.

[@schemingfox]

The two castle's is such a missed opportunity, their is so much potential with a mirrored worlds setting. Link To The Past is a great example of this idea done right, designing interesting puzzles and exploration by moving between the light and dark worlds. It's always clear to the player which world you're in and offers enough information in game to work out where you should be going. Harmony is just not clear enough about hinting to the player where they need to be and neither castle has a large enough visual theme to be able to easily tell which one you're in at any given time. What's worse is that anytime you want to switch between Castle's means long treks to teleport rooms as opposed to just having an item available. Looking at the whole structure of the game, you get the impression that the developers just copy/pasted an extra castle just to stretch the game time out without really thinking about it :/

[@MrRaivokasMagma]

I certain fodness to this game. Visuals are surreal, soundtrack has few gems in it, I liked playing Juste (wouldn't mind another whip wielder as protagonist). When I played it, I too felt that there were so many bosses.

[@Stevem]

That game had big ideas with some genuinely amazing set pieces. I'm guessing Iga agreed about too many bosses as the next game Aria had a tight eleven(two only unlocked in the true ending)

[@MrRaivokasMagma]

Also, I quickly listened through the soundtrack. There were couple of tracks that sounded the same... I remember being confused in certain areas because of that.

[@Stevem]

That Dissonance can be a bit samey

[@schemingfox]

This was my first portable Castlevania, I have quite a soft spot for it as well. The sheer number of bosses reflects a lot on these GBA titles trying to capture Symphony Of The Nights magic. Here it doesn't quite work unfortunately.

[@LemonnNote]

The clock tower theme is fire...

[@star_parodius]

Some exceptional videos on the Igavanias. Yours is an underrated channel!

[@schemingfox]

Thank you so much :D

[@edgelord8337]

This is actually my favorite gba castlevania. Call me crazy but I actually love the music too.

[@THEMETALISBETTER]

The soundtrack is compositionally sound in this game. Juste's theme is a masterpiece. The lower sound quality doesn't diminish the structure of the music.

[@jayplays9976]

I actually enjoyed this games music and still listen to this day. Jorge D Fuentes' remasters are damn good and capture the feel of each track

[@tokyobassist]

Yamane absolutely co-composed on this with Hokkai. Not sure where this information that she didn't comes from. The only one she didn't compose for was COTM of the GBA trilogy.

[@manwithaporpoiseYTsucksD]

This game truly is a work of art. The vibrant colors are used and unique ways and never seem to gaudy or out of place for Castlevania. In certain areas you will notice changes in brightness in screen color to compliment Sun's rays coming in through windows. The artwork is some of the best in the series as every little alcove, nook, and attic is unique, detailed, and many leave you wondering. Even the overall art is odd and amazing as sprites are over and undersized but somehow done so well. The map is also one of the best in the series being complex and esoteric. I think there are balance issues, but that's because you have two castles in one playing off of each other which can be explored the way you want after getting MKs Braclet. While it does have its problems such as being to easy and it's sub par music, it's still one of my favorite. A very unappreciated and overlooked game in the series. An oddity to be sure, but an enjoyable one.

[@DoTheAstralPlane]

Harmony of Dissonance is one of my favorites in the series with maybe my favorite soundtrack in the series. I think a lot of the music criticism comes from the literal dissonance in the music, and the 8-bit sounding pallet, both of which I love. It's the most challenging soundtrack of the series and one of the more musically challenging soundtracks out there. Juste is one of my favorite protagonists in the series, his elegance and flamboyance is fun and badass. It brings back some of the favorite elements of the series and has great gameplay balance imo. I also love the visual departure from the rest of the series. The vibrancy and wackiness of some of the visuals really stimulated me. I can understand why this game is divisive because it's such a large departure from some other games in the series, but I'm surprised there aren't more die-hard fans of this one like me. I wish we got another colorful, musically unique and challenging Castlevania game.

[@Stevem]

it you listen to some recreations of Harmony's soundtrack the issue isn't that it's super challenging, it's more so that the sound-font wasn't very good which Iga admits. Outside the gba screen the music isnt horrible but within the game it feels pretty mishmashed and thin which isn't exclusive to this game , gba music tended to have this issue EDIT In Japanese the name is Castlevania: Byakuya no Concerto (Concerto of Midnight Sun) so i think some western players think the musical choice is intentional from that name, but it was not.

[@DarkMirria1]

I like use the fist weapon + wind book, shooting what looks like hadoukens at everything.

[@fururu7316]

It's so strong

[@DarkMirria1]

@@fururu7316 Yep!

[@Comkill117]

Only beat this for the first time yesterday, but even as the “awkward middle child” I hate way more fun with it than Circle of the Moon. The movement and high speed was really fun, and I thought the look of the game was actually pretty cool. The soundtrack kinda blew though, especially the Clock Tower theme, which made me wish I was deaf every time I entered it. Overall a fun game. You said it best, if this one’s the weakest, then this is a damn good era of the series.

[@whywyatt376]

11:25 thought you were talking about the music for a moment there

[@NESFlint]

I just played Harmony of Dissonance after playing Aria of Sorrow and I couldn't help comparing it to its indirect sequel as I played through it as I begrudgingly played through the confusing castle, with its unusual map design that bewildered me completely, looking up the answers was almost harder since it's hard to say where I was in the game. I do like the idea of Juste being a 'weird' Belmont, cus he finds an empty room and decorates it. I would find it hilarious if in some future Igavanias set after HoD players can find Juste's room as he left it. I didn't play Circle of the Moon and I don't think I will after all I've heard about it.

[@schemingfox]

HoD is certainly a messy game, it wouldn't be the first game I'd go to as a recommendation that's for sure. The small details like Juste decorating the furniture room are so charming, I think it would be funny if a future game made reference to it for sure.

[@Lockn3s5]

Wow. throwing some deep shade on one of the best soundtracks in the franchise. The only reason I'm even on this video is cause I was listening and enjoying HoD's soundtrack.

[@mersunarytigre]

Needs more views Good review !

[@thenippleextractor]

Man's given igadvania lore more thought than anyone in the last 20 years combined, konami included

[@BLAZINGKNIGHT50]

Great video buddy, far more focused and well paced than the other two I feel. Considering I haven't played circle of moon harmony of dissonance is the weakest metroidvania in my opinion, though I still think it was a good game. I'm really looking forward to next episode as Aria of sorrow made me a fan of the metroidvania castlevania games and I still think it's one of the best!

[@schemingfox]

Thank you so much mate :D I think there were a few things I could have elaborated on and I feel I missed a few facts here and there however I'm happy with how it has come out. Many people online share that sentiment with you, it's a very messy game :L Aria Of Sorrow is a very nostalgic game for me, I aim to try my best to give it as fair an overview as my other video's.... and maybe not take as long :L

[@SephRaz]

I hope the Aria of Sorrow video comes soon. You make great videos!

[@schemingfox]

Thank you so much! I have been making sure to edit every day this week, so I'm hoping to have Aria Of Sorrow up very soon :D

[@FredMaverik]

Circle of the Moon is NOT a sequel to Bloodlines though... not even close. It is the 1830, while Bloodlines is in 1917, 20 years after the Bram Stoker's novel (1992 Dracula movie if you want a good adaptation). Hugh and his father are not from the Morris lineage... His father is named Morris Baldwin and he's called Hugh Baldwin. They are different vampire hunters and they use the Hunter Whip, which is the weapon you as Nathan Graves uses. It is in fact before or after Order of Ecclesia (that game is not specified when it is set, only it is in the 1800s) and definetely before Legacy of Darkness if you want to include that.

[@schemingfox]

As said in the video, it's implied. And since the game is considered Non-Canon it's all left in the air. Considering many of the people involved in COTM would go on to make Portrait Of Ruin the Canon Sequel to Bloodlines, it felt like the right observation at the time of recording this video. If I am wrong though, fair enough. My bad I guess, we all make mistakes -shrug-.

[@FredMaverik]

They are similar, but it's not implied when the game is set in 1830 and Bloodlines in the 1917. Just a small correction though, the video was cool. I'm a huge castlevania fan, and after the netflix series i have been watching videos and reviews, hope i get some time to revisit them soon because really, all castlevania games are amazing. I didn't know about the teams that worked on it though, that does clear up some things.

[@SeepBar]

I'm from Italy! Great video, thanks! :)

[@fancifulgamer28]

This was actually the first of the Metroid-vania style games that I had finished before checking out all the others. And for all its gripes and just being a wannabe portable SotN, I still kinda love it for what it both tried and barely succeeded at doing. I sunk a lot of hours into this one mainly because I didn't know where I was supposed to go to find a specific key item to get to the good endings, but I got the most enjoyment out of just exploring the castle and slaying every mythical monster that present itself. And for as bit-crushed, screechy and repetitive as the music was, it grew on me and I would love to see a HOD remake just to see how they would fully realize the soundtrack.

[@Wolf_HK]

Such a great video! The only bad thing is I have to wait for 4 more titles from now...

[@Stevem]

4 more titles?

[@Wolf_HK]

AoS, DoS, PoR, OoE

[@Stevem]

Oh Fox told me he's also covering the ps2 games and the digital download harmony of despair

[@Wolf_HK]

I see. How about those 3ds game and Lord of Shadow? Haven't play these games tho

[@Stevem]

I'm not sure about them I know Fox has played most of them, including the 3DS which he thought was really bad. Never say never but no time soon all the other games take priority

[@MakotoTsuguri]

I enjoyed Harmony of Dissonance. Endured that soundtrack throughout, which I believed is one of its big weakpoints. Something both Circle of the Moon and Aria of Sorrow didn't suffer. Whatever was being used for the GBA's musical composition in that game, held a lot of that music back. I certainly have my favorites of that soundtrack though, which only solidifies the potential it had.

[@thaddeusrussell8919]

I also loved the soundtrack but I feel compelled to mention that the soundtracks reception contributed to the effort they put into Aria's soundtrack

[@fancifulgamer28]

Circle of the Moon isn't actually canon to the main Castlevania timeline, most die-hard fans probably know this to begin with, as it was established by the Konami team from the beginning that CotM takes place in a separate timeline from the Belmonts and Morris's, much like how Castlevania 64 is as well. If Circle of the Moon were canon, that would have ment Order of Ecclesia wouldn't have happened, and Nathan Graves would have to have been either a Belmont or a very close relative of the family, despite the fact it was the Baldwins who were known to have wielded it before Nathan did.

[@BinaryDood]

this is my favorite Castlevania

[@darkrexkigntstone8773]

Same

[@Stevem]

WE HERE NOW

[@Stevem]

ARIA IS GONNA BE MASSIVE BOIS

[@schemingfox]

I ONLY WENT AND BLOODY DID IT!

[@Stevem]

UGHHhhhhhhh

[@Stevem]

SO that darksouls am i rite

[@schemingfox]

Steve plz

[@angelrgrimaldo1374]

They give you hints in the bad ending to what you need for the good ending

[@alwaysangry2232]

wondering if the gba could handle those ideas for the 2 castles

[@TheT3rr0rMask]

HOD has its issues but also plenty to enjoy. It's basically 2D Lament of Innocence combat-wise: Whip only, but combining subweapons w/magic items (Spellbooks in this case) and its endlessly addictive. Cool to test out combos, sound design is satisfying, and the dashing adds a lot of speed & offense. I always liked it graphically. Has a unique look and stands out. Also gotta remember this was made w/OG GBA in mind, so of course seeing it on a brighter and larger screen will have some downsides (like playing old games on an LCD vs CRT- has unintended results). I'll even defend the soundtrack. Idc how muffled it is, the compositions are great and its one of the more darkly atmospheric of the series. It's never annoyed me, and I've played the game since youth. Audio quality took a huge hit but it's never been a huge detractor for me. It's theme of psychedelic-gotchic-horror and it's guilt-free love of the Simon Belmont era are the biggest treats for me. No other Vania has gone for such a psychological theme, and the imagery is appropriately wild. Tons of Simon references make me happy since he's my #1. The main issue is the traversal. It's the weakest map of Iga's run, and it's it's easy to get lost. Feels like you his endless roadblocks the moment you make progress, and once you realize you need to head to certain doors in certain castles it feels like you accidently stumbled across that progress. It's the main reason I don't go back to it often. It's definitely better than COTM's poor balancing and RNG, but surely doesn't hold a candle to Aria.

[@johnathonturner2279]

Harmony of Dissonance>>>>>>>>>>>>>CIrcle of the Moon.

[@thenotoriousmichaeljackson8938]

Still better than Circle of Moon tho💀

[@schemingfox]

Correct :P

[@mets2128]

Hugh’s last name is Baldwin not Morris

[@schemingfox]

Whoops my bad, I accidentally merged Hugh Baldwin and his father Morris Baldwin's names together. I dunno how I never noticed that during editing ^^;

[@RenegadeC]

I remember when I first bought this game, I hated the music other than Justes Theme. I'm replaying it now years later and my opinion on the music is that it grows on you - reminds me of VRC6 Castlevania 3.

[@schemingfox]

I remember at the time I enjoyed the soundtrack a lot more than when I replayed it for this video. I would say there are some good songs here and there. I'm actually quite disappointed that not a single song from HOD will be remade for Smash Bros, as I feel a re composition without the sound font they used for the game you could have truly excellent music.

[@SuperZez]

I played this game with a friend yesterday and pretty much the only fun we had was with roasting it. We laughed about Juste’s obsession with interior decorating, the unbelievably clumsy air combat, and the sheer number of enemies whose attack patterns mean you can just run/dash straight forward and not hit them, but it wasn’t enough to distract me from just how tedious this game is to navigate and just how far you can get through the game before it gives you a single warp point.

[@thenotoriousmichaeljackson8938]

Good ass video, you got a new subscriber

[@canadez71]

Whats the FPS shown in this video??

[@thenippleextractor]

Harmony's sound suffered due to GBA not having a dedicated sound processor having to compete for the CPU with graphics which were favoured as stated by Igarashi in an interview with gamespot. I still prefer the catchy chiptune we got to the forgettable ambience of CotM despite the NES level sound quality. Also I hate to be pedantic but there actually was two tracks composed by Yamane in the boss rush.

[@alexanderstilianov]

The only positive things I can say about Harmony of Dissonance are the sense of mystery it gave me, the main theme and how cool most of the backgrounds look. That being said, I found the level design to be very boring to navigate and the parallel castles confusing. I say this as someone who's played A Link To The Past and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.

[@Multienderguy37]

How is a game set in world war I a prequel to a game set in the 1830s?

[@userx2488]

I think the biggest issue is not the music per se, but the limits of the GBA's terrible audio quality.

[@dimenfer]

when I play HoD it feels better than the AoS, but when I play Aos, it feels better than the HoD.

[@ennuiarduous6446]

What a great review Oo.

[@megamob5834]

My ONLY issue with this game is that it’s a bit too easy. AoS>HoD>CotM

[@markmessi9020]

You almost sound like you...prefer harmony of dissonance over the superior circle of the moon. Huh go figure...

[@gaiusjuliuscaesar7765]

Where is the Aria of Sorrow video? Did you dump the Legacy of Igavania series or will it come back?

[@schemingfox]

I'm working on it, sorry for making you guys wait so long >

[@bandicootsauce4569]

I started playing this game for the first time recently, and I had to stop playing within an hour because the soundtrack was honestly hurting my ears and giving me a headache.

[@wonderthigh]

i never knew there was a quicksave feature in this game?? I've beaten this game a lotta times and never even knew there was quicksave

[@schemingfox]

Yeah, it's pretty cool :D

[@st.anselmsfire3547]

While I really enjoy Harmony of Dissonance, I must admit I've gotten totally lost in the Advance Collection, which has resulted in Juste being so hilariously overpowered at this point that every time I stumble onto a boss now in the double castle I utter crush them.

[@vicboss2480]

wait what? i didn't know Cotm hinted bloodlines as the previous game

[@schemingfox]

It's mostly implied, and due to the non-canon nature of the game it's unlikely we'll ever know where the game fits into the timeline. However when doing my research I found that COTM has a lot of thematic elements with Bloodlines. Furthermore 'Portrait Of Ruin' the Canon follow up to Bloodlines had the involvement of many COTM's Staff, they must have been big fans of Bloodlines. Thank you for watching the video, I hope you enjoyed it :)

[@randomduck8679]

@@schemingfox COTM takes place in 1830, long before WW1

[@supasnakekiller]

no way is this the weakest igavania. not when circle of the moon exists.

[@Stevem]

100% agree , but seems circle has quite a cult following I used to like it when I was young but going back to it was a sobering experience

[@supasnakekiller]

it really does. ive played through all igavanias recently so after finishing sotn i was excited to play it, as ive heard nothing but praise for it both from random youtubers and a reviewer im subed to. but i soon started to get pissed off. the grind was horrible, the platforming was akward and the exploration boring and unsatisfying. it left a really bad taste in my mouth. i played hod right after that and it was like a breath of fresh air. sure the music was worse but i got sick of cotm ost because of all the damn grinding. and everything else was just better: the controls were great, the castle locations were memorable and exploring was actualy fun. i wont call cotm a bad game but its pretty damn close.

[@Stevem]

I felt exactly the same, it controls like an old school castlevania but with the level design and enemy placement of a new school game. These things don't mesh well especially when it comes to the bosses ( bullet hell big sponges)or platforming. The castle itself lacks a hud world that helps connect different areas of the castle together so exploration can be counter intuitive especially when you get to the acid pit level where your two choices is grind until acid no longer does big damage or do two whole secret levels with an annoying double dragon that removes the acid and then destroys any difficulty in that area. If it makes you feel any better Circle was made by the 3d castlevania team opposed to IGAs group

[@supasnakekiller]

regarding the controls, it seems to me like nathans walking speed is slower than the strut of the belmonds. because of this while his jump is high but it doesnt cover much distance. this in turn makes platforming clunky and tidious since in order to make any jump you have to sprint by double tapping the directional buttons. when you have to do this constantly and then later in the game on small platforms as well it gets really old real fast. also it seems to like nathans knockback is even worse than in the classic vanias. i dont think the acid area is easy after the two dragons since those ice knights are still there and their attacks not only freeze you but also do a shitload of damage. im aware that cotm was made by a different team, ive watched all of your vidoes on this channel. after everyone else ive watched sucked its dick hard it was really refreshing to hear someone give cotm the critisism it deserves.

[@Stevem]

I have no idea if he's slower or the areas are just wayyyyy to big for him with no way to speed him up unless you like card hunting or glitching. That sounds about right his jump is so stiff and I swear this game tried to take a lot more of its design from Metriod which had much better control for platforming. Honestly I started playing Harmony straight after and I was mesmerised by how much better everything felt from the dash to the whip even the jumping. Ahhh see I started using Neptune after the Dragon area which absorbs ice damage so you are more or less invincible, however I was lucky enough to get a neptune card by luck rather than grind.

[@Rihcterwilker]

Awesome video. HoD could have been the perfect Castlevania, IF it had good samples for the music. The sounds are good, but the fact that they have been made in this "8-bit" style do make it look like they were an afterthought, and it sure is a mistake. For me, music in Castlevania is 50% of the experience.

[@schemingfox]

Thank you, I'm glad you liked it :D The soundtrack in HOD really is a big drawback, it was said in interviews with Igarashi that the music was overlooked in favour of visuals, gameplay and story. It's a shame as some of the songs namely "Successor Of Fate" and "Chapel Of Dissonance" are relatively decent melodies held back by a poor sound font. It looks like none of Harmony Of Dissonance's soundtrack will be making into Super Smash Bros either, meaning it's unlikely we'll ever hear any of this soundtrack recomposed, the most we have is the Arranged version of "Chapel Of Innocence" from the Soundtrack CD.

[@Stevem]

I feel that the music is os important to set the scene and maybe a bit of a hot take but the limitations of the GBA speakers also effected the compositions of Aria of Sorrow in a way where they never could hit the same heights as Lament of Innocence or Symphony

[@megakazuya123]

Ill be honest, I played (and loved) both games... CotM was a superior game to HoD, to me.

[@JOEmega64]

He’s way too hard on COTM. HoD is great, but what both IGA GBA titles lack is the “classic” feel. I love how COTM mechanically feels like CV 1-3, but with the large, exploration-focused setting of SOTN. Honestly, it’s clear that IGA has no real respect for any of the classic entries, (direct references/homages aside), and only really considers his own creations as having merit. I love most CV games, including IGA’s, but he’s always had a wack attitude about the ones he didn’t make.

[@juliusb7713]

Soundtrack is phenomenal all the way through actually

[@soarel325]

I like Harmony, but it’s not really on my list of favorites for one simple reason - I hate the magic system in this game. The game can’t decide which resource it wants to use for secondary attacks, a mana bar or a heart meter, and it tries to merge the spell and subweapon systems. Trying to have both spells and subweapons, each with their own resource, feels pointless and contradictory. The game should have either had only the subweapons, or only the spells.

[@schemingfox]

I like the option to use both Magic and Sub Weapons, I do agree that the implementation of the system was rather clumsy :L

[@andu7883]

Finished (completed) Harmony of Dissonance last night. Circle of the Moon is by far the worst GBAvania, with Aria of Sorrow being the best. DSS is awful compared to other ability/power systems in the series. Harmony of Dissonance's subweapon+spellbook abilities are very diverse and fun to play with but I had more expectations for the summon book. The Soulset from AoS takes the cake for probably the best ability system I've ever used in a game.

[@Stevem]

I'd say Aria's system is the most effective of the three giving you the most room to experiement

[@zeroframe5415]

"weakest of the franchise" lol

[@thaddeusrussell8919]

You get a pass on trashing the soundtrack because you made the furniture collection joke

[@ohlord3650]

All of the CV metroidvanias are classics including this one but my God the music in this game was terrible and unnerving.

[@sly4293]

Most annonying castlevania on gba.