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Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (Wii U VC) Review Mini

by Zachary Miller - October 22, 2014, 6:38 pm EDT
Total comments: 8

7

It's the portable Symphony of the Night you always (?) wanted.

Harmony of Dissonance, the second of the three GBA Castlevania games, was hailed as Koji Igarashi’s return to the series. Clearly not impressed with Circle of the Moon, Igarashi brought the whole concept back to Symphony of the Night—to the point where many enemies and bosses from that game make cameos, and the game’s second half takes place in an inverted castle. Many background effects from Symphony return, and the equipment system seems lifted wholesale as well.

The problem is that, in an effort to atone for the dark color scheme of Circle, Igarashi has turned the colors up to 11 in this game—everything is bright and garish, and hero Juste Belmont is surrounded by a thick blue outline and a blue “mouse trail” wherever he goes. Plenty of enemies are multi-segmented, but the sprite rotation does not look good. This aesthetic is off-putting, and the character sprites—larger than they were in Circle—are awkward and pixelated, even with screen-smoothing turned on. Compared to Circle of the Moon and Aria of Sorrow (the next game in the series), Harmony of Dissonance stands out like a sore thumb. It’s an ugly game.

The music is either charmingly retro or decidedly unsophisticated. If there’s a way to say the music sounds pixelated, that’s what it sounds like. The smooth harmonies of Circle of the Moon, seemingly composed on actual instruments, have been replaced by synthesizers with an 8-bit filter. Again, by comparison to Circle and Aria, there’s just no contest.

Happily, the castle is enormous, and there’s plenty of equipment and items to find. Juste uses a combination of traditional Castlevania subweapons (now including a “punch”) plus element-based spell books to mix up the combat. There are some interesting combinations here, but unfortunately you have to go into the menu every time you want to turn on, turn off, or change spellbooks. Most of the time, I left them off for this reason. You’ve also got the usual HP/MP/Heart upgrades strewn about.

While you have plenty of combat options, the game is never difficult. This is one of the easiest Castlevania games in recent memory—Symphony of the Night was more punishing (but not by much). The most enjoyable part of this game is the exploration, as you’re constantly finding new equipment and upgrades. This is not a bad game; it’s just completely outdone by its adjacent entries. You’ll get some enjoyment out of it, but it’s also okay to skip Harmony of Dissonance.

Summary

Pros
  • Back and forward dashes are handy maneuvers
  • Exploration is fun and always rewarding
  • Streamlined, effective magic system
Cons
  • "Has a great personality"
  • Not very challenging for even moderately-skilled players
  • Soundtrack addled by anachronistic instruments

Talkback

Yeah, IGA's team on this game only knew how to program for the sound channels on the GBC end of things, so they just went with that to make room on the cart for multi-segmented enemies and the WAV file of the arranged version of Successor of Fate that plays during the credits. :I


This game has a lot of good ideas, like mapping the shoulder buttons to dashes, which feels like a response to the folks who found the back-dash cancel in SOTN was faster than walking about. Juste's magic and all the dashing about he can do make him feel really powerful, to the point that quite a few of the game's elements feel superfluous... and that's even moreso than other Metroidvanias, which all suffer from that in some way or shape.

one thing Zach glosses over in this review that I feel needs to be expanded upon is the 'second' castle. I shall spoiler tag it as to not get panties bunched up. The second castle in Harmony of Dissonance is not an upside down one, but an identical one that's just palette swapped and has a few room layout changes. Also, they don't tell you this, but there's a point where you warp to castle 2  and spend a good portion of the early game there before getting warped back to castle 1. it is a cluster fuck and a mess trying to keep both of these castles, their breakable walls, and what pathways are and aren't blocked off in the either of them straight in your mind. They even have a LTTP style light world/Dark World mechanic working in a spot or two, but without the ability to easily jump from one castle to the other besides the warp rooms, which are yet another graphic ripped right from Symphony of the Night. Oh, also, they don't bother having different music tracks for the segments of castle that mirror each other in Castle A and Castle B, which I feel further adds to the confusion.


I do feel this game gets a bad rap because it is better than about 90% of the GBA library. it's the same as Mega Man 5 on NES in that regard... that being said, Harmony of Dissonance has some SERIOUS problems that hamper it.

That being said, a fun fact is that as far as I know, this is the first Castlevania Game to appear on a nintendo console to use the Konami Code, which is all sorts of weird to think about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZceeNSE2o6E It unlocks a mode tied to this song. <3

AdrockOctober 23, 2014

Harmony of Dissonance is easily the worst GBA Castlevania, but I still remember generally liking it. Many of my major problems with the game are rooted in how the second castle is handled which ClexYoshi explained so no need to elaborate further. Harmony of Dissonance is the only GBA Castlevania game I traded but I wasn't able to track down again. I kind of want to play it again.

MagicCow64October 23, 2014

Thanks for this assessment, I really enjoyed CotM when it came out, but recall being disappointed in the next game, but wasn't sure if i had actually played Harmony of Dissonance or Aria of Sorrow. Nonetheless this sounds like a skip.

castlevaniafanOctober 26, 2014


Got to stick up for one of my favorite Castlevania's here. While I completely agree that Aria is easily the best of the GBA trilogy, and IMHO of all the Castleroids, I never understood why Circle gets so much more love than Harmony. Let me hit you with some knowledge:


First off, you DO NOT have to go into a menu to switch between spell books; try holding up, then tapping L or R to cycle through your available books. You also DO NOT have to go into a menu to switch between your spell book or weapon; try holding down while tapping L and R together. I always found these shortcuts extremely convenient, elegant, and a boon to the overall flow of the game.


Second, you say the game is overly easy? Try a naked run (i.e. don't equip any boots, armor, etc.), where even early enemies will OHKO you. Combine the spell book system shortcuts with a naked run and you will realize the beauty of Harmony: you don't HAVE to go into any menus at all (well, except to equip a select few items to progress, of course). Coupled with dedicated forward and back dash buttons, Iga created an extremely fast, nimble and exhilarating gameplay experience which can only be found in this entry.


Finally, I don't understand how you can call Harmony an "ugly" game when compared to Circle. I'll take the overly bright colors found in Harmony over the horribly bland and muted tones of Circle any day. Remember that Circle and Harmony were released on the original GBA, which did not have back-lighting. The blue "mouse trail", larger sprites and brighter colors in Harmony were implemented to make up for the hardware's deficiencies that made Circle unplayable, except under ideal lighting conditions. Also, I must disagree on the multi-segmented enemies, as they look amazing, and add some welcomed flavor and awe to the game.


In the end, I do agree that the castle in Harmony can be confusing at first, and that the music is definitely nowhere near as good as the tunes in Aria or Circle. However, its the GAMEPLAY that really matters boys and girls, in which regard Harmony shines, and should not be missed.

Did not know about those controller shortcuts--thanks.

As I've continued to press through the game, my disdain for it has increased. The level design is extremely poor--it's impossible to know whether you're in Castle A or Castle B without consulting the map, and your progress is blocked at every turn not by things that require a new move (like a double jump or slide), but by arbitrary locked doors. Where are the keys? I'm consulting FAQs over here. When you get Maxim's ring, you shouldn't have to equip it to get through the locked door. That shit should just unlock because it's in your inventory.

Things like that, and all the locked doors (or doors you need to open with a switch) really piss me off.

castlevaniafanOctober 29, 2014


Yeah, the castle layout can be confusing at first, but Dracula's castle is supposed to be a labyrinth after all. Here's some tips that I hope will make the game more fun for you. First, keep checking your map until you get the hang of the castle layout, and then keep checking it even after you do. Explore each and every room to find everything, you never know what that one tiny room might contain. Most of all, use the dash buttons for movement instead of the dpad, as it makes exploring the castle significantly faster, and a lot more fun.


I don't know what to say about your disdain with having to equip items to continue, as that is a mechanic Iga used throughout the series, although I suppose it is a bit more prevalent here. For example, Aria of Sorrow requires you equip certain souls to get past the waterfall, and also requires a certain set of souls to access the Chaotic Realm. In Dawn of Sorrow you had to equip Mina's Talisman to unlock the last few areas. That's just a couple examples I can think of off the top of my head. I can see how having to stop to go into a menu to equip these items can disrupt the games flow, but look on the bright side; now that you know about the controller shortcuts you don't have to go into the menus to change your spell books anymore :)


As for the locked doors, here are some spoilers if you want to be a dirty cheater: the rainbow doors are opened with the Lure Key, which can be located in Castle Entrance B. The skull doors are opened with the Skull Key, which can be found in the Luminous Cavern A. You'll also need to equip the Crushing Stone to be able to destroy the stone walls.


Good luck in your quest to slay Dracula, and I hope you start enjoying yourself more soon.

castlevaniafanOctober 29, 2014

Whoops, forgot to add spoiler tags to that last post! This forum really needs an edit button...

There is an edit feature on the rest of the forums, but it was disabled in this particular section due to abuse.

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Genre Action
Developer Konami
Players1

Worldwide Releases

na: Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Release Oct 16, 2014
PublisherKonami
RatingTeen
jpn: Castlevania: Byakuya no Concerto
Release Jan 21, 2015
PublisherKonami
Rating12+
eu: Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Release Feb 19, 2015
PublisherKonami
Rating12+
aus: Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Release Feb 19, 2015
PublisherKonami
RatingParental Guidance
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