I started Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance on the GBA the other day for something a bit different to the other games I was playing (and getting frustrated with.) So far it seems really easy compared to a few of the other GBA/DS titles, but I am still liking it. Juste Belmont (pictured) is a character with some really nice intricate character design even though there is not much character development yet or even personality, but I'm not far through the game yet.
It seems a very short game, I'm already 68.2% through after 2 hours and 20 minutes of gameplay. Despite the shortness, it has loads of atmosphere and remains addictive. I love sinking time into exploring the castle and finding items, relics, spells, collectibles (furniture for some sort of sidequest lol.) Lots of Castlevania staples in there, but its all good stuff.
The game seems very easy compared to other titles, I've only died a handful of times so far, with none of the bosses giving me any problems. I kind of wish I would get rewarded for killing bosses with relics/abilities straight after defeating them, they dont always seem to give rewards immediately, which left me kind of dissapointed. It feels satisfying defeating bosses, replenishing HP/MP and getting an interesting new ability at the same time.
A few things aside, I really like the game, I would recommend it from what I've played so far. I'll probably talk some more about it as I progress through.
I got into playing it also because I had just made a music video for youtube, its embed below. Nothing spectacular, but I love the song and some of the images in there.
Here's some pretty cool Juste images and cosplays also, that hair is almost Sephiroth like at times! :P
From 
4 comments:
Ah, I had heard this one was a little iffy compared to the other GBA ones, so I gave it a miss. I thought Circle of the Moon was really fun, and just about as good as launch titles get (actually, playing it a couple of years back brought back fond memories of playing it on your newly bought GBA when we were supposed to be playing tennis... XD). And Aria of Sorrow was wonderful, and not that much below Symphony of the Night in my mind. ^_^; So I kinda worried that this might pale in comparison. Maybe I'll give it a whirl though. I guess at worst it's more Metroidvania, and that's never a bad thing~!
As for Odin Sphere, I suck at action games. Like...a lot. XD So if it's hard, I'd probably get slaughtered. But potential frustration or no, if it's even half as pretty in motion as it is in still images, I'd still like to give it a try someday. Vanillaware have that new one coming out for the Wii too, don't they? Muramasa, I think? I'm kinda behind on games news these days. I still haven't played so much of the PS2 generation.
And I'm doing good, thanks! Actually, I'm stupidly happy these days, for no real reason. ^_^ And I'm starting university this Autumn. Finally. XD I guess I should be embarrassed that it took me this long, but I made such a mess of high school in pretty much every way possible that I'm kinda glad just to have made it at all~!
Sorry, I'll stop e-stalking you and spamming your blog with awfully long comments now. ;P I know I'd be kinda embarrassed and awkward if some random person from high school popped up and started speaking to me after all these years, so... ^_^
~ Ed
Yeah, I wouldn't say that Harmony of Dissonance is as good as some of the other GBA Castlevanias, but I'm still liking it. Basically working through it for completionist sake, plus I'm quite a fanboy when it comes to Castlevania games hehehe... I usually play them and end up liking something from them ^_^
Yeah, that brings back memories of school lol! Good times! :D
I really liked Aria of Sorrow, definitely, and I'm looking to obtain Symphony of the Night, probably in the PSP version, The Dracula X Chronicles because it comes with Rondo of Blood as well and is a fair bit cheaper than the original PS1 now, which is pretty rare. Oh, theres the Xbox Live and PSN downloadable versions of SotN, but I don't like giving M$ more money than I need to, and don't have a PS3 at the moment lol...
Yeah, I suck at action rpgs too a lot of the time, especially if they are really fast paced, but I'd definitely recommend Odin Sphere, its really pretty! Muramasa yeah, it looks good as well-I've got my eye on that one and I'm glad we are getting over here...theres too much crap on the Wii nowadays, you arent really missing much on that console at least... Mine is gathering dust-It doesn't see much use which is a shame...
Ah cool, congratulations! Thats good that you are starting uni, its quite fun at times! I definitely preferred it to school. :P
You don't have to stop spamming, I love getting and reading comments and its really good to talk to ya again...I feel bad that I've not kept in touch more.
Oh, I didn't realise I could just use my Google account to comment. ^_^ Guess I shoulda read more closely. I never really use blog sites, so I just assumed anonymous was the way to go. ^^;
Yeah, I remember you being kinda keen on Castlevania back in the day. Along with Golden Sun, Pokemon, and Baldur's Gate at various points...? ^_^; Anyway, it's never quite been one of the series I've gone nuts over, but I do like them a lot, and they're really high quality 2-D action games, which there's not enough of nowadays. ^^; Plus the RPG elements and Metroid-esque focus on exploration they've mixed in since Symphony is kinda neat. ^_^ And you can always count on the music to be pretty special.
I remember I had DracX a long while back through...er...less than legitimate channels. ^_^; Not so hot on the 3-D character models as opposed to sprites, but Rondo of Blood was a fantastic game, and it was a nice remake~! I never played far enough to unlock Symphony, though, as I'd already finished the original PCEngine Rondo, so I can't comment on whether it was a good port or not. But it *is* a really good deal! A full remake of what's commonly regarded as the best action Castlevania plus the original game and what's often touted as the best in the series as unlockables. And all for a smaller price than the madness that the PSX Symphony racks up these days. ;P Some of the other companies that've ported their games to the PSP could learn a little, methinks~ ^_^
Oh, Muramasa was given a PAL release date? Neat~ I'm glad things have changed since the SNES and PSX days, and it seems like we get most things the US does nowadays. Just a lot later. ;P But yeah, I'm not hugely interested in a Wii right now. I want a 360 lots, though. Lost Odyssey! Tales of Vesperia! Heck even Mass Effect and Fallout 3, despite my not being very keen on Western RPGs that don't feature the words 'Baldur's' and 'Gate' in their titles. ^_~ I shouldn't be adding more games to my list, though. I already have an absolutely unholy backlog to get through, and I don't even play that often anymore. ^^;
As for Uni, I don't know... I think I'd actually enjoy school now. Like...a lot. XD So yes, now that I've been handed a second chance at education, I'm going to make sure and have *fun*. Lots of it. :3
Oh, and don't feel bad for not staying in touch. I'm the one who went crazy and made a point of severing all contact with most everyone for three years. ;P Besides, I was...uh...a bit of a jerk in high school, in my own way? To be honest, *I* wouldn't have stayed in touch with me, soooo... ^_~;
Anyway, anyway, anyway... It's about 1:30AM. And this is already a wall o' text. I'll shut up! ^_^
Yeah, I really liked those games back in the day. I'm still into Pokemon actually heheh...thats still one of the franchises I put a load of time into. There's a lot hidden in those games. I tried to start again on Baldur's Gate 2 recently actually, as well..but Vista didnt want me to it seemed..there are solutions, but it involves patching, which I did and some other stuff and I couldnt really be bothered with the hassle T_T
I love the exploration, rpg elements, atmosphere and the music in the Castlevania games. I dunno, theres something I really like about simple, well drawn sprites and backgrounds as well. They can be pretty cool games at times. I'm also tempted to try Order of Ecclesia soon as well, from what I've heard they tried to change some of the formulaic stuff that had been reused over and over. New enemies and different areas for example.
Mass Effect is a really good western rpg, I played that through a while back and really enjoyed it for the most part.
Lost Odyssey, I liked that too. I put over 100 hrs into it hehe, for some reason I decided to grind to lv80+ and go for all the optional bosses and subquests before beating it.
I've been wanting to try Fallout 3, still not tried it at all. My brothers seem to really like it, they've played it. And I've heard loads of good stuff about it.
Yeah, its definitely good that a lot of rpgs are getting released in PAL regions, it definitely wasnt the case a few years back. It still annoys me though when NTSC gamers see games and we don't..I was really looking forward to Eternal Poison, or Poison Pink-a PS2 tactical rpg. It may still come out here, I hope... =p
You weren't a jerk in high school, you were really nice and a great friend! =D
Post a Comment