Aria of Sorrow... 🌒🧛

[WesternYokai]

The best thing of Circle of the Moon are the Nathan and Hugh portraits

 

[bigstinkie]

it has my favourite version of sinking sanctuary the bass roars like a monster

 

[andubandu]

What do you all think of the ending of the game (the true ending, not the bad ending that is)

definitely one of my favorite endings in all gaming (partly influenced by nostalgia). i believe it to be soma's test of identity and later redemption. a theme i hold dear to me in media.
the liminal space of the forbidden realm, in which chaos resides, provides soma with the proper environment in which he confronts his jungian shadow.

"does that mean they all know that i'm dracula?"; "no, not at all! rveryone believes you'll get through this."
-acceptance of the self (and the shadow) by the community (hammer, yoko, mina, arikado) which is an crucial step towards healing.

"i feel like the castle is still calling out to me. maybe the castle is where i truly belong?"
-the seductive allure of evil and how temptation disguises itself as destiny or as a calling, a pull towards the forbidden.

"the evil in this spirit comes from those who seek chaos and destruction. so we need to cut off the source of the chaos influencing the spirit. this castle is a product of dracula's magic. it's a spiritual world. my point is this, a stream of chaos exists within this castle as well. there is a place where only you, dracula, can go. that's where the chaos is!" -alucard being a true mystic with this one right here

now acceptance as most have heard a million times is the first step towards healing.
chaos here is the parasitic essence which resides inside the "castle". castle being the product of somacula's magic - the castle being soma's inner sanctum where only somacula can go... that's where the chaos is!
with dracula no longer being an external force (which i think, plotwise, was great writing to integrate and merge the antagonist into the protagonist for the more intricate lesson to be provided later) he has to dive deep into his own heart... that's where the chaos is!

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 5:44 PM

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 5:45 PM

hell yeah i leveled up with this post

 

[Michael Frank]

Ah...Aria of Sorrow, that Clock tower theme will live rent free on my brain until i die.

 

[_-_AceDragon_-_]

yes circle of the moon is a good game in its own right and it really is harder than the rest.
one thing that stood out from Harmony of Dissonance was the weird (but cool) outline around Juste and this banger:

you probably are possessing this knowledge already but the outline around juste and the generally brighter colour palette for harmony of dissonance was due to fans saying that circle of the moon was a difficult game to view unless you were under strong lighting

yes i know the reasoning behind it. circle of the moon was really lacking in terms of brightness and contrast and would have really sucked to play without frontlight or backlight (the first frontlit gba was the SP AGS-001 in 2003, CotM was released in 2001). game was really bland visually to be honest... plotwise also. but the gameplay was alright.
harmony of disonance had its charm with the bright visuals but felt too happy for a castlevania, it's beautiful tho.
View attachment 64671

I'm sure you're all aware of this but just in case, there's a few colour/sprite hacks:

Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance: Recolor (Hack) GBA ROM - RGT Repository

Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance: Recolor (Hack) GBA ROM Download. Languages: English. For the GameBoy Advance.

retrogametalk.com

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (Aesthetic Animation) GBA ROM - RGT Repository

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (Aesthetic Animation) GBA ROM Download. Languages: English. For the GameBoy Advance.

retrogametalk.com

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Definitive Edition (Hack) GBA ROM - RGT Repository

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Definitive Edition (Hack) GBA ROM Download. Languages: English. For the GameBoy Advance.

retrogametalk.com