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Symphony of the night Part II

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 23 / 26
Date: September 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I haven't been this hooked on a side-scroller since Castlevania-Symphony of the Night for playstation; and that is quite an accomplishment for any game to achieve.

(Note: I've been playing my Japanese imported copy of the game for about a week now, so this review is based on me actually playing the game instead of assuming how great it's "going to be when it comes out.")

The game is very similar to SOTN; much more so than Circle of the Moon. The castles (two of them) you explore are huge, and like the original, there are a vast assortment of items to seek out and equip. The spell system has been slightly changed so that you combine your subweapons with various spellbooks you find. This is much easier than the complicated magic system used in Circle of the Moon.

The graphics have been improved. The animations are more fluid, and the colors are brighter this time so that no additional lighting will be necessary. However, in putting so much of the Gameboy Advance's resources in the graphics, the sound has taken a considerable hit. The music sounds like the 8 bit Gameboy color. A bit disappointing, but it doesn't detract too much from the overall experience. Perhaps the worst aspect of Harmony of Dissonance is all the backtracking that is required for you to complete the game. Save points and warps are much more sparse, so you'll end up spending most of your time hauling yourself all the way across the castle many times.

That said, this game is pure joy to play. You acquire new items, which allow you to explore previously out of reach areas- this feverishly addictive quality keeps you coming back for more and more until you beat Dracula.

Overall, this is the best game that you can currently buy for the gameboy advance (until Zelda is released!). The gameplay is fantastic and unparalleled by anything else offered by any other game company. You need this game!

If you liked Circle of The Moon

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 16 / 17
Date: September 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Konami has been bringing us Castlevania games for over a decade now. From the first adventure on the NES, which introduced us to the Belmont legacy to the classic Symphony of the Night on the PSX and amazing Circle of the Moon on the GBA, Castlevania has always been one of the best series around and every game showcased something new and grand - upped the ante if you will. Harmony of Dissonance isn't bad in any way. It simply isn't as good as the classics before it.

Don't get me wrong, Harmony of Dissonance is not a bad game, but it's not without it's flaws. Major flaws. After hours of playing this game, these flaws will become obvious to you as well.

Harmony of Dissonance plays much like Circle of the Moon. You run around a huge maze-like castle, beating enemies with your whip and special items like the holy or the axe. When you beat a boss, typically, you can go onto the next level, you gain some new ability that allows you to progress into the castle, be it a double jump, wall jump, etc.

Harmony of Dissonance takes a good deal from SoTN or CoTM and puts a twist on it. There are different weapons you can get, there is now a code book instead of DSS cards, there is an alternate dungeon. All of this is well and good, but there simply isn't enough new about this game to warrant a purchase Unless you're a die-hard Castlevania fan.

The music flat out [stinks]. Anyone telling you anything else is either lying or tone-deaf. And it's not just that the music is low, NES quality, it's that the compositions are dull, some of them are downright annoying. Gives double meaning to the subtitle Harmony of Dissonance.

The graphics are upgraded from CoTM, and all in all it's an improvement. The characters and enemies are now easy to see and there are some neat graphical and rotation effects with the bosses. Some nice stuff.

But graphics and sound aren't what makes a game. Even though I hate the sound and love the graphics, I won't let that alter my score. I'm grading this game on gameplay. The gameplay is where it's all at. And this is where Harmony of Dissonance is lacking. The castle design in Circle of the Moon is far superior. In Harmony of Dissonance you'll find yourself wandering aroung for hours, partly due to poor maps, sometimes having to walk across half the castle to get to where you want to go. And when walking across the castle takes five minutes each time or more, it gets to be annoying.

Okay, so that part's not that bad. The thing that really degrades the game for me is that it's way too easy. In past Castlevania games, you got to a boss, and he was a challenge blocking your way. You had to memorize complex patterns to show him who's boss. In Harmony of Dissonance, most bosses are insanely easy, follow the simplest of patterns, and take off only a smidgen of health when they hit you. [lame]. I don't like frustrating, but I don't like feeling cheated, either. And well, it's a Castlevania game- IT SHOULDN'T BE EASY!!

All in all, this isn't a bad game. If it was the first Castlevania game, it would be brilliant, but most of the game simply seems to be what the game designers loved about previous Castlevania games. One of the problems with the game is that it's a rehash, and it plays way too similar to old Castlevania games. And it's too easy. Way too easy for a Castlevania game. Next thing you know, we're gonna see an easy Contra game...

First Review

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: October 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is my first review, but since reviews always help me out I wanted to return the favor. First off if this is your first castlevania game for gameboy, dont by it, get the other castlevania title, circle of the moon, than go from there. If you liked COTM and are thinking of buying this, I suggest it.

The graphics are better to start off with, and the normal walking monsters throughout the map are also more of a challange. On the downside, the bosses are much easier and the sound is much worse. You also only have 3 save files, but there is a new quicksave which comes in really handle if you have to stop playing in a hurry.

The magic system has been changed from cards to spellbooks, your spellbooks go off of which subweapon you use. I'm not sure if I like the change, but its livable.

The RPG system is the same and the game is still fun to play. Considering I'm deployed in Afgainstain right now, I have all the time in the world to play games, so I'm happy to have this one. It's worth the money.

Not quite enough for 5 Stars...But still..

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: October 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I just finished playing Castlevania:Harmoney of Dissonance. I have bought two other great GBA games along with Castlevania, and without any hesitation I picked Castlevania to play it right away. I can honestly tell you that I'm satisfied with overall production value, however...

I read it in the magazine/reviews, saying that music was way out of line, outdated like good old NES time.. I wouldn't say it's THAT outdated, and also it was good enough, more than enough to create and convey the classic atmosphere of Castlevania series. What I really liked about this series was the graphic. Personally, I'm not really into graphic when it comes to gaming, however, graphic plays a significant role in Castlevania series and I'm more than satisfied with the graphic, which they managed to produce. The movement of Juste, the protagonist of the game, is simply unbelievable, par with the one from the Symphony of the Night for PlayStation.

Ok, I'll get to the point. I really welcome the idea of expanding the whole map so players can spend more time, which i find myself being thrilled like in PS version, like they did for Symphony of the Night for PS. However, the way they expanded, or more accurately doubled the size of the map, wasn't that inspiring like in PS version. In PS version, they included this 'inverted' castle, where every single area looks and is brand new, with all new enemies...whereas in this version, it was just simply doubled instead of being 'new'... So though you were going back and forth to get from Castle A to Castle B, it felt like you were just running around the same castle with little bit of change here and there, which you could tell it was done poorly with no solid effort. I was more frustrated then found pleasure out of this poor, poor effort of simplying doubling the original castle, compare to awesome PS version (I might be complaining about this simply because i have played PS version, for those who haven't played PS version, i'm not sure about how you will take it as..)

I didn't think the bosses were that easy, or may be it's just me who were having hard time with them. My point is that if you are there to fight with the bosses with no potion or any kind, I don't think there are lot of people out there who can say that they can manage to beat every single boss easily with confidence. It looks like the boss fights turned out to be easy one because of there's unlimited, literal unlimited supply of potions from merchants- Okay, may be you can control yourself from using no potion at all, but the VERY ESSENCE OF CASTLEVANIA SERIES HAS BEEN THIS 'THRILL' YOU GET FROM FIGHTING EVERY SINGLE BOSS WITH LIMITED HEALTH, PERIOD. The very serious flaw of PlayStation version, the flaw that the game became way to easy toward the end, has been fixed in the Circle of the Moon, the previoius GBA version by having consistent difficulty, yet that 'similiar' problem, I wouldn't say it's similiar but overall-wise, the game was on easy side when you compare it with previous Castlevania games. Of course, this game has this RPG element to it and character has to become stronger to face stronger enemies, but the game was still on the easy side.
I believe they could've done something by drastically raising the difficulty as the game progresses.
Now, why would I give this game 5 Stars with all the critical flaws I just mentioned above? Well, I don't know, but it seems like it's hard to find a 'worthy' game, worthy enough to finish it all the way, devoting my time out of busy schedule these days. So I figure that it offered enough elements and fun factor to finish it all the way in couple days. It's a great game. Well, it's a Castlevania game and i might have this favoritism for the series, however, I'm satisfied with this very series for GameBoyAdvance from objective perspective as well.

Enjoy it!

PS: Don't forget to get the 'real' ending

Better than COTM and almosr equal to SOTN

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: September 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Like many sequals it's hard to live up to a powerful legacy, but Konami has found a winning formula for their Castlevania series. Symphony of the Night (SOTN) was an awsome PS1 game, mixing incredible RPG elements with classic Castlevania style. Plus the difficulty was at a medium to where any one could play it. Than came Circle of the Moon (COTM) which had the same style (and did a good job at that) but was flawd at that it was way to difficult. More often than not you would find yourself killed by a sekeleton or a slime. Now we have Harmony of Dissonance and it is just as great, but it is way to easy. How, I beat it in less than 2 days. Virtually unacceptable.

The story of HOD is that Juste Belmont finds his friend MAxim injured after being gone for training for many years. Juste is the Grandson of Simon BElmont star of Castlevnaia 1, 2, and 4. Juste also finds out that his and Maxims lady friend Lydie has been captured. So they venture into Draculas Castel to rescue her.

The style is the same as SOTN or COTM so for those who played the 2 will get the hang of it quickly. However the new change is that you now have spell books that modify the sub weapons and thus virtualy eliminates hearts and focu on MP. I wll say that the best combo (and your invincible while doing this) is the Knife and Wind book.

Overall this is a fun game, will include some additional hours plus you also have the Boss Rush Mode, SOund test, and play as Maxim to keep you busy after you win. SO this is a must buy, but like I said, a little easy.

Fun but falls flat on its face.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Sure the graphics are much more colorful than the last GBA Castlevania but the graphics and enemies look downright like cartoons in most parts.

Plus whats the deal with your main characters blue shadow?
I think that was a bit of a overkill.
And the magic system has been severely, and badly, toned down from the Castlevania: Circle of the Moon.

And the two identical castle system really lacks imagination and makes the game very very tedius near its end.
Exploring every area of the game TWICE does make the game longer but it definitely doesnt make it funner...

The best Castlevania game yet!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I don't know why, but people are underestimating Harmony of Dissonance. I'ts up there with the best of 'em, and this is why:

Story: 810 At the beginning, its a little slow. You are Juste Belmont, and your friend Liddy is missing. You and your friend Maxim enter Castlevania in search of their missing buddy. Maxim is suffering from amnesia, and cant remember where he last saw Liddy, so you have to search the castle and finnally deck it out with Drac himself.

Graphics: 10/10 What an improvement! Circle of the Moon's graphics were so dark, you would have to be outside to see the screen. The graphics are much brighter, and the animation is improved, too.

Music: 7/10 Allright, I have to admit it. The music isnt as good as it could be, but the graphics and overall gameplay more than make up for it. Plus, theres an extra Music selection mode after you defeat dracula.

Characters: 10/10 The characters are very original. The main character is Juste Belmont, son, or perhaps grandson, or Simon. He also has inhereted magic abilities from another ancestor, which is probably why he is able to do magic weapon combos. He bears a slight resemblence to Alucard (from Sotn), but thats a good thing(Alucard rox).

Gameplay: 10/10 The best part of the game is actually playing it! Theres always something new coming at you from around the corner, and its impossible to stop playing one you start. Get ready for an adventure!

Overall Score: 45/50 A perfect game for a Castlevania fan, or any fan of video games!

Castlevania: HOD is better than Castlevania: COM

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 9
Date: August 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Things that could have been improved with Circle of the Moon:
Graphics, some play control, the speed, and of course, the darkness in the graphics.
Harmony of Dissonance improves in all these areas. However, the music is nowhere near as good as Circle of the Moon. Think of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night with downgraded music and you have Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. It's must own for all Castlvania fans. The Bosses and levels are huge like SotN.

Flashier than Circle of the Moon

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: September 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I played the heck out of Circle of the Moon. For some reason I had to 100% it. Anyway, this game is the sequel. I am 30% through it and it is taking a while to get used to the differences. First you'll notice that this game is much more colorful than the dark color scheme used in Circle. It kind of puts you off at first. Your charachter Juste, seems to move a bit slower and jumps a bit lower. Also, when you start, you can't spin your whip. But you eventually can equip a gem that will enable this.

In this game, you play one of the Belmonts, but look like a vampire. You even have trails when you walk. Your attacks are a bit more effective however. Although you can't change directions mid-jump anymore to whip 2 enemies at once, your whip can hit enemies who are directly behind you and directly over your head. I hated jumping up to hit a bat only to hit my head and get tagged for damage. That's been fixed now. You can wait for floating enemies to get right overhead and take them out. Makes killing bats and medusa heads much easier.

Another attack that Juste has is the dash. With the press of the L or R buttons he can dash forward and back a la the "double-tap" of the control stick in Neo Geo fighting games. I love this feature. He is just 200% more agile during fights than Nathan was in Circle. One new feature I thought was welcome was the ability to equip your whip with different gems for different desired effects such as adding a red gem to add fire damage to your whip. Also for you whip lovers out there, holding the attack button lets your whip dangle so you can whip it up, around and down just like in Super Castlevania IV.

As for the magic, more bad news, no more DSS cards. Also, no hidden walls. I LOVED finding and playing around with the cards and I LOVED searching for hidden passages in the walls. Both activities are gone and frankly, hurt the replay value in my eyes. Now you get spell books. You have to turn on a spell book, which in turn makes your secondary weapon extremly more powerful.

If you come right off of playing Circle of the Moon like I did, you are going to notice the differences. But when you start getting into it, you really start to notice that it is a really great game. It is much "shinier" than Circle of the Moon, but you learn to appreciate the style of the game quickly. Although the music in the game sounds like it's straight out of Strider for the NES (bad), I gave it 5 stars because it still beats the pants off of most any other GBA game out right now and you can really get into it almost as much as Circle of the Moon.

I don't have a clue where to go next!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

first of all, This game is not as easy as some might think. I just found the porthole to castle B, and spent 2 hours wondering around the castle and not getting anywhere! you almost definately need a guide to play this game. Still, this game has a classic Castlevania feel to it, almost like I'm playing castlevania 4 again, with the return of a belmont in the staring role, the dangling whip tactic, and the simple music, and the castlevania MUST: a clock tower. The music isn't so bad. you can even hear a familiar Bach motif in the "entrance" area. I also like the clock tower theme. Kind of has a frantic feel to it.
Also, if you make it to the end credits, the "entrance" theme is played remixed to Circle of the Moon Quality. It almost sounds like an actual orchestra playing it. a very nice reward for beating the game

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