Current Events > Wow, Aria of Sorrow was really good guys!

(+) Yeah! (+)

I guess I should say so far, I'm at the Chaos Realm, although I feel I've experienced most of the game by this point.

Def one of my top 3 Castlevania's. I just replayed Portrait of Ruin and got to Brauner when I realized I was kind of bored of it.

I started Circle of the Moon and Aria. I snoozed on all the GBA Castlevania's because I just assumed it was a sub par system. I was wrong!

This one is on par with SotN and Dawn of Sorrow. Circle of the Moon isn't bad, but this one kind of took over my attention from it. If I had one complaint it's that the bosses at the start were kind of bland.

Is Harmony of Dissonance any good? I just realized there is yet ANOTHER Castlevania I haven't played after I'm done with Circle of the Moon.

I think HoD is the worst on the system. But you might still enjoy it. It just had less personality and awful audio.

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how do i into a conceptual interesting game? what prevents it?

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EnglishBullDoug posted...

I just assumed it was a sub par system

*triggered*

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HoD is probably the weakest Metroidvania. But yeah, AoS is definitely near the top.

HOD is underrated. People bash on it because it's the easiest of the Metroidvanias. The music was in 8 bit but I actually enjoyed several of the songs and they would of sounded better if it was using the right sound tech. They stated they sacrificed the music so they can increase the graphics. There is actually an area in the game that blew me away when I played it on a GBA back in the day. Also It still had Ayami Kojima's artstyle which I prefer over DOS's and POR's anime look.

It's still worth a playthrough TC if you like Castlevania since it is considered canon to the main series.

Maninstagnate posted...

HOD is underrated. People bash on it because it's the easiest of the Metroidvanias. The music was in 8 bit but I actually enjoyed several of the songs and they would of sounded better if it was using the right sound tech. They stated they sacrificed the music so they can increase the graphics. There is actually an area in the game that blew me away when I played it on a GBA back in the day. Also It still had Ayami Kojima's artstyle which I prefer over DOS's and POR's anime look.

It's still worth a playthrough TC if you like Castlevania since it is considered canon to the main series.

Out of the GBA games, it's the one that looks the most like SotN, in terms of sprites and tile sets and whatnot. It's not bad, I just think there are so many better games in the series that you could play instead. Like, IMO all the DS games are stronger, AoS is stronger, Bloodstained is stronger, Circle of the Moon is debatable. SotN is obviously stronger. I also think it's probably the one or two games in the series that aged the worst.

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I liked Harmony of Dissonance a lot. I also played it before Symphony of the Night. It's possible those two things are related.

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Yeah, HoD isn't *bad*, it's just not particularly noteworthy compared to the rest of the series. One issue I have with it is the damn aura following Juste around, it's pretty annoying. Alucard also had that, but it was way more subtle. I didn't find the music particularly good either.
It is the only Metroidvania to star a Belmont though, so that's pretty cool.

The best part of HoD is Juste having a forward dash. Really makes speedrunning the game fun

I also liked the spell system which you could combine with sub weapons, but I feel like the game doesn't explain it very well and some combinations are really busted. Although, I guess balance has never really been Metroidvania's strongest aspect...

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Azardea posted...

It is the only Metroidvania to star a Belmont though, so that's pretty cool.

It was a while since I played it now, but isn't the main character of Portrait of Ruin technically a Belmont, too? And I guess if you want to be real nitpicky, Simon's Quest is some sort of proto-Metroidvania

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scar the 1 posted...

It was a while since I played it now, but isn't the main character of Portrait of Ruin technically a Belmont, too?

Well, it's kinda a plot point that he isn't. The whole "only a Belmont can use the Vampire Killer without it killing them" thing, which is why Jonathan's father died.
Fair point on Simon's Quest though I suppose, lol.

Portrait of Ruin is a pseudo-follow-up to Bloodlines, isnt it? The Morris family first gets the whip in Bloodlines, then PoR is that characters son or grandson or whatever.

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Azardea posted...

Well, it's kinda a plot point that he isn't. The whole "only a Belmont can use the Vampire Killer without it killing them" thing, which is why Jonathan's father died.
Fair point on Simon's Quest though I suppose, lol.

Ohh, I misremembered it then. I thought he was like a diluted bloodline type of deal.

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AlisLandale posted...

Portrait of Ruin is a pseudo-follow-up to Bloodlines, isnt it? The Morris family first gets the whip in Bloodlines, then PoR is that characters son or grandson or whatever.

Yep.

scar the 1 posted...

Ohh, I misremembered it then. I thought he was like a diluted bloodline type of deal.

Seems like that is indeed the case, but you need full on Belmont blood to not get fucked over.

Azardea posted...

Seems like that is indeed the case, but you need full on Belmont blood to not get fucked over.

not even a half blood?
well this raised some questions >_>

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I love the sprite art in the GBA/DS Castlevania games.

The enemies all have so much personality. Some of the best animations I've seen in 2D games if I'm being honest.

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I like harmony of dissonance a lot more than circle of the moon. It certainly plays better. Better looking environments for sure

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