| Harmony of Bullshit |
[Oct. 13th, 2009|06:20 am] |
Okay, so.
During my GBA emulation days, I played a few titles, including all the Castlevania titles. The only one I really liked was Aria of Sorrow, which I REALLY liked. I've cleared it multiple times, and I'm of the mind that it's the best CV since Symphony of the Night. It almost recaptures that magic.
Now, this means I didn't like Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance. And I REALLY did not like them. Our subject for today is Harmony, but most of what I say about it applies to Circle as well.
I was in Gamestop yesterday, looking for Club House Games, when I came across a used version of Harmony of Dissonance. I decided, what the hell? Maybe I'd never given it a fair shake, you know? Maybe playing it as it was intended to be played would give me some idea of why this game is so loved and adored.
... all it did was remind me of why I hated it so much.
Harmony is bullshit. It's garbage.
It's full of confusing dead end corridors, blocked passgaes you need various tools for, pointless switchbacks, and overpowered enemies. Add to this INCREDIBLY sparse save points, and you already have a recepie for disaster.
But then you get Harmony's unique elements, as every Metrodvania (ever tell ya how much I hate that word?) must have unique and sometimes counter-intuative systems.
This game brought in subweapons, as those familliar with CV might recognise, but it also brought in Magic Books. Using a book changes your subweapon into a magic attack, depending on the book... and the subweapon. I found this needlessely confusing in every playthrough I attempted, considering that subweapons are in candles throughout the castle, but it's easy to forget which ones. And why do I get the sinking feeling that unique combinations might be required to solve puzzles at some point?
Oh, all THIS would be enough on its own, but Harmony has one more trick up its sleeve: There are two castles. Yes, two castles. You can switch between them via the gates, and there are different things in each one, different enemies and different bosses. Often stronger ones. So, navigation is not merely confusing, it's nearly impossible.
Oh, and save points and gates are often not even vaguely next to one another. Makes me long for Dawn of Sorrow's "Teleporters = Save Points" because of the easily accessed save point in Lost Villiage, right below the teleporter..
I was going to comment on this game in the past, but I didn't want anyone to think I was whining about the difficulty. This game, honestly, isn't actually HARD.
It's just grotesquely unfair.
I was inspired by the LJ of someone I haven't had much reason to read, but when Gel showed me something he said about Demon's Souls, I was finally inscenced to post, inspired by him putting into words things I haven't been able to express myself.
See, all those games everyone thinks are so hard? The Konami MSX titles? Shin Megami Tensei? Mega Man Zero? La-Mulana? Most of these are only hard BECAUSE THEY ARE FUCKING UNFAIR. Through some combination of withholding information, putting in powerful enemies, starving you for weapons, not allowing you to save often, and inserting death traps, a lot of games are regarded as being hard, when all they are doing is punishing you for imperfection, ie, being frustrating, not hard.
Aria of Sorrow is quite hard in places, because the save points are a bit far apart, but also because many of the bosses are quite tricky. You need to balance your powers against what they can do and find a way to win. Yes, it's fairly linear, but is that really a bad thing? I don't MIND knowing how far I am into the game by the story/map progression, nor do I mind not needing to backtrack through every room, to find the one item I somehow missed in order to proceed. Even Symphony had this problem...
So while I might continue to pick away at Harmony, I feel pretty much vindicated in hating it now: It's not hard, it's just unfair.
Some people like that. I, however, do not.
Have a nice day, and enjoy your maids.
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