OPINION: Castlevania Harmony of DIssonance has the worst soundtrack in the series

I quite like the compositions and find them a breath of fresh air. You don't hear that kind of stuff very often in the realm of video games, and I think we're better off for having it. This seems to be a case where actual musicians are more inclined to like it compared to more casual listeners.

As an actual musician I have to disagree.
 
I actually kinda like the ost, it feels very experimental and progressive. The actual sound quality does it little favors, but I can see what they're going for. Actually makes me want to play the game again, I haven't done so since its release.
 
I originally read this as Harmony of Despair and was going to come defend it's honor.

But the worst GBA game, yeah, probably the worst.
 
Jeremy Parish is the last person I'd go to for Castlevania opinions. Pretty sure he trashes Order of Ecclesia for being "too hard".
It checks out since he did say in this podcast that the only way he could beat CotM was with a Gameshark. Whined how Dracula was too hard (he is hard but only when compared to Igavanias, but it's not DRACULA X SNES or NES hard).

I was seating in my car remembering how I beat CotM legitimately back in 2001 when I was 15 so... what the hell, Jeremy?
 
Well, Harmony of Dissonance takes place in the time period of Baroque art and music and the they tried to emulate that. They definitely got the art down, but trying to capture the Dissonance technique from Baroque music with a messy 8-bit sound font just isn't happening:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieZqkB3v7tI

Dissonance is the purposeful lack of harmony. It's used to give the impression of instability, anguish, and a need for resolution to stability. In the song I posted, you can hear the two musical patterns exist apart from each other, and the overlapping and battle of the two creates the emotional weight of the piece. If you go back to Hod's soundtrack you can understand what they were going for much better.

'Harmony of Dissonance' is a play on this notion, as the seemingly two different castles aren't meant to be separate like in SotN, but two entities that overlap each other. I guess it also loosely references cognitive dissonance with Maxim's limited character development.
 
It checks out since he did say in this podcast that the only way he could beat CotM was with a Gameshark. Whined how Dracula was too hard (he is hard but only when compared to Igavanias, but it's not DRACULA X SNES or NES hard).

I was seating in my car remembering how I beat CotM legitimately back in 2001 when I was 15 so... what the hell, Jeremy?

I was 7 when i beat that game if a child can do it he can.
 
I mean, it's in the title.

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When I realized this it was kinda awesome.

But because GBA is backwards combatible with Game Boy it has the original GB sound chip. That's why there's so many GBA soundtracks with chiptune stuff. For some reason HoD was all about that.

I actually really like the game and the soundtrack has its moments too. I kinda see why most of the people don't like it but I think it's decent.
 
When I realized this it was kinda awesome.

But because GBA is backwards combatible with Game Boy it has the original GB sound chip. That's why there's so many GBA soundtracks with chiptune stuff. For some reason HoD was all about that.

I actually really like the game and the soundtrack has its moments too. I kinda see why most of the people don't like it but I think it's decent.

Music was done entirely in software on the GBA, the game wasn't optimized enough so they had to resort to the GB chip for the music. Also why so many games either use 8 bit sound effects or 8 bit instruments mixed in with the music.
 
I like it, it's a very atmospheric soundtrack. For example, Successor of Fate and Chapel in the Air are very good tracks. I'm always disappointed when I read that so many people apperently don't like it.
 
Music was done entirely in software on the GBA, the game wasn't optimized enough so they had to resort to the GB chip for the music. Also why so many games either use 8 bit sound effects or 8 bit instruments mixed in with the music.

Yeah I hadn't realised it was about half and half, first time I've heard it with headphones, quite enjoying it now.
 
Hilariously, the credits music is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_33KeSXmB4

They saved the best for last, quite literally. Kinda weird, since Yamane isn't exactly a stranger to chiptune stuff, she did some nice shit on the Genesis after all

I can't find a source on this so correct me if I'm wrong, but IIRC Yamane only did a few tracks on HoD, the songs I seem to recall are that credits song + Vampire Killer 2K. edit: Actually, no, might not include Successor of Fate anyway. Hmm.
 
I played through it last month. It's great! I turned the sound down as far as it would go - farther, even - and had a blast. A quiet blast.
 
I one hundred percented the game as it was one of my first Castlevanias. It's the worst Igavania, but I don't think it's a terrible game. Listening to that arranged soundtrack, it still doesn't help that much. A lot of the music was catchy in a kind of bad way.
 
Easily my most disliked Igavania soundtrack, not helped by the GBA sound hardware. Fart noises everywhere.
Ugh, the Mirror of Fate soundtrack wants me to punch my couch.

I feel like I wasted money buying backlight-modded GBAs to revisit lots of GBA titles. The sound hardware is atrocious, enough to make one not want to turn on the system and play.

It checks out since he did say in this podcast that the only way he could beat CotM was with a Gameshark. Whined how Dracula was too hard (he is hard but only when compared to Igavanias, but it's not DRACULA X SNES or NES hard).

I was seating in my car remembering how I beat CotM legitimately back in 2001 when I was 15 so... what the hell, Jeremy?

Same, I was 16 or so. It's not a hard game at all. What the heck is wrong with him?
 
I believe there was a rom hack that fixed a lot of the issues with the music? It's definitely rough though. There are rom hacks for a lot of the issues in that game.
 
This track's pretty good https://youtu.be/qtAG611Z73c

It checks out since he did say in this podcast that the only way he could beat CotM was with a Gameshark. Whined how Dracula was too hard (he is hard but only when compared to Igavanias, but it's not DRACULA X SNES or NES hard).

I was seating in my car remembering how I beat CotM legitimately back in 2001 when I was 15 so... what the hell, Jeremy?

Oh wow.
Love cotm and went straight back to it after HoD, lost count of how many times I've played through it.
 
Never played the game, but the opinion pretty much is the consensus. The game's music was criticized even when it was released.

I went through that OST, and it isn't all dire. I think the Chapel tune is really good in particular.

It obviously isn't as consistent as other Castlevania games, but the game itself seems far from bad.
 
I quite like the compositions and find them a breath of fresh air. You don't hear that kind of stuff very often in the realm of video games, and I think we're better off for having it. This seems to be a case where actual musicians are more inclined to like it compared to more casual listeners.

Maybe, but the horrific instrumentation kills it for me. With the exception of "Successor of Fate", I just can't bring myself to like most of it; it just doesn't mesh with the gameplay. That being said, I'd still take it the over Resident Evil Director's Cut OST, or the butchery that took place in the 32-bit versions of Snatcher.
 
It's not the worst in the SERIES, but it is the worst of the Metroidvanias yes.

It does have a few nice tracks though.
 
This message is hidden because Alex_Mexico is on your ignore list.

how COULD YOU ?

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I was fine with it. There are a few songs that are incredibly short but it has a few great tracks. The dissonant chords made from 8-bit waveforms, high pitched leads and frequent use of drum samples definitely gives an interesting sound and does well for its atmosphere. It's actually my favourite out of the 3 GBA Castlevania's.

Successor Of Fate is one of the best songs in the series.
 
There are some very good ideas in it, but it's not very well executed (it doesn't do much with the few themes it establishes, it sounds disjointed rather than purposely dissonant at times, even dissonant non-functional harmony needs some sort of "direction") and the instrumentation doesn't do it any good.
 
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Sucessor of Fate is the only track that's generally considered great from that OST.

Re: Lords of Shadows' OST, I don't particularly care for it, but it definitely ain't a bad soundtrack at all.
 
I don't know about the soundtrack, but I put it in my gba to play it for the first time, come to find out I had already finished the game and forgot all about it. Guess it wasn't very memorable. I remember the other two gba games.
 
You need to replay Circle of the moon.

I know this wasn't directed to me, but I replay that game quite frequently. Great difficulty and amazing music.

The only game I skip in a Metroidvania run is Harmony. Tried several times but I just can't deal with it.

But, there is a defense Force for everything here right...
 
Jeremy Parish and company from the latest Retronauts episode where they talk about the six portable Igavanias triggered me. They shat all over Circle of the Moon saying it was "easily the worst one" and in comparison talked about how superior was Harmony. It was what pushed me to make this thread.

Big fan of Parish but that's a pretty 0/10 opinion right there, Circle of the Moon is fucking awesome and possibly my favorite GBA Castlevania.
 
I know this wasn't directed to me, but I replay that game quite frequently. Great difficulty and amazing music.

The only game I skip in a Metroidvania run is Harmony. Tried several times but I just can't deal with it.

But, there is a defense Force for everything here right...

You are in for a ride then... CotM is several times worse than Harmony of Dissonance.
Everyone that think CotM is somehow better really need to replay it to appreciate what a piece of crap it really is, nostalgia is a bitch.
 
I quite like the compositions and find them a breath of fresh air. You don't hear that kind of stuff very often in the realm of video games, and I think we're better off for having it..
I actually kinda like the ost, it feels very experimental and progressive. The actual sound quality does it little favors, but I can see what they're going for. Actually makes me want to play the game again, I haven't done so since its release.
Your opinion is bad and you should feel bad.
This, this, this.

OP you're ranting: "It's shit because it's shit." Thank you for your opinion.

I liked HoD best of the GBA Castlevanias because of the soundtrack. It's this eerie and memorable atmosphere it's able to evoke. Actually carrying it's theme through it's music. I don't even remember a single track from Circle of the Moon or Aria of Sorrow, even though I enjoyed playing them.

Weighing musical styles against each other is kind of dumb tbh. I'm all for experimentation, variation and thought out ideas and I'm more than glad that they went with it. There are a few songs I adore that are mostly dissonant. I want more game to have more daring soundtracks like HoD did.
Purcell - Hear my Prayer, oh Lord | https://youtu.be/oKijWFSkIdE
Pärt - Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten | https://youtu.be/sp2oxWdRMuk
 
The OST is discordant and brash. Exactly what I would expect from a "Harmony of Dissonance". It's probably the least pleasing to the ears, but I don't know if I would call it the worst. Order of Ecclesia's soundtrack was really hit-and-miss and probably worse as far as I'm concerned - even though it sounds much better to listen to on its own. Lords of Shadow rounding out as the least memorable and Lament of Innocence being the best of the bunch.
 
Opinion? That's a fact to me.

It would piss me off how people would always say that "you're not hearing the composition" and that the songs are really good beside the technical limitations, but no. I like chiptunes as much as the next guy here. The soundtrack is shit. And the whole game is sub-par in all senses.
 
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