I'm pretty sure this column should've been up about a month ago, but, as usual, things have been a little busy.

Anyway, Harmony of Dissonance/White Night Concerto/Concerto of the Midnight Sun has been out for over a month, and here are some of the initial responses.

Heya Kurt. A while back, I played through the HoD rom, and I have to say, while it was a pretty fun game like SotN and CotM, it really wasn't any better than SotN or CotM. Not because of the gameplay, but mainly other minor things about the game that have either been used before or are somewhat lacking. The main things I complain about here are the difficulty, length, and originality, for the sake of a different view of the game. My main complaint is its difficulty, mainly. It was somewhat difficult at first, but that was the emulator's fault. The damn thing kept forgetting my battery saves. But other than that, this was probably one of the easiest games I've ever played, a lot easier than SotN. The bosses were pretty cool-looking, but that was it. Intimidation is probably the only thing they have going for them, but that's only because they're big. The only way bosses have killed me is by being too fat to jump over. I was dumbfounded by their incredibly limited attacks. Take that big knight boss you fight in the graveyard area. He walks at you and swings his sword. "That's it?" I thought after kicking its ass. I had expected it to at least try to kick me around, because he's huge, compared to Juste. Don't get me wrong, some of the bosses pose a lot of challenge, if you don't use magic (Maxim). Most of the bosses patterns were incredibly pathetic. Aside from the bosses being pushovers, the game only took 5-6 hours to complete. Even with two castles, the game took only half the time to complete CotM. After reading about Iga saying the game was twice as big as SotN, and playing this game, I felt cheated. Okay, so I didn't have everything I needed to get the true ending. But I did go through most of the two castles. When I beat the game, I had about 190% of the castles explored, and I don't imagine it taking all that long to get the three relics I was missing. The point is, it's pretty short compared to the other Metroid-type Castlevanias. The characters and story really do seem to be recycled from SotN and CotM, although the art is good. Juste looks like Alucard with different clothes and a whip. He doesn't control exactly like Alucard, more in the range of Richter. I'd say he's a merging of Richter and Alucard. The second I saw Maxim, and heard that he wasn't the main character, I knew he'd be the one that you fight later on, as the clone of Richter/Hugh from the other games. He just has that look on his face that says "I'll be seeing you in a few months, you stupid fool." The fight-a-friend concept has been dried out since SotN. Where are the plot twists? Why isn't the former good guy actually an evil conspirator, instead of always being a possessed wussy? The concept was actually good when it was used with Richter. That actually had me confused for a while, after playing Dracula X on the SNES. Now the gameplay, I liked. It was faster than CotM or SotN, and it was just as tight. I didn't like the spell system too much, after the variety of DSS and all the different magic stuff in SotN, but it was still pretty good. It was easy to execute, and powerful. I just don't like changing a set of spells with each subweapon. I like to have a large bunch of spells that I can execute any time I want. Despite the set of spells switching with each subweapon, I liked the magic. I didn't mind not having a billion different weapons besides the whip; the whip alone was just fine. The merchants, to me, were a very welcome addition since CotM. Isn't it nice to be able to buy potions, instead of endlessly killing enemies, hoping they'll drop pork or something edible? Also, it was good to add more than one merchant. The music and graphics aren't really a huge issue to me. The music was pretty catchy. It's no SotN, but it's still a pretty good compostion. If you like old NES tunes, then there's no reason to complain about the music, I say. The graphics were bright and colorful, compared to CotM, which I imagine will make it much easier to see in darker areas of your house when it comes out here in the States. Overall, I'd give HoD an 8.5 out of 10. While it may not be too original or hard, it's a good game, better than about 99% of the crap other 3rd party companies put out for the GBA. Its problems thankfully don't cut down on the gameplay, although they do stick out to some people. Still, I can't help but wonder what it could have been, had they kept it on PS2... Well, that's enough ranting for one letter. I wonder how many hours I spent on this? Anyway, Kurt, love your site(s), keep up the excellent work! -Munchy

I think this sums it all up pretty well. If anything, a lot of the same problems you've mentioned are in Symphony too - the bosses look DAMN cool, but they're almost all really simple (except Garamoth.)

Castlevania: Concerto of the Midnight Sun is a really good game. (Can someone shed a little light on why the Japanese just decided to adopt the Castlevania title rather than Akumajo Dracula? Castlevania's better anyway so I guess it doesn't matter). I like the spellbook system but don't really like the vampiric style of Juste. I like that trail feature Alucard had but it's just not human enough to give to a Belmont. And the platinum hair isn't fitting. But this is all really nitpicking. The game isn't anything brand new or innovative but it's just plain fun. As for this Gameboy Advance dillema, I don't mind Konami making Castlevanias for the gba but I don't want it to take precidence over the larger, more comfortable consoles. What I figure, is that Konami wants to go back to the 2D old-school style Castlevania and they're afraid that if they do that on the Gamecube, X-box, or PS2, they'll have a lot of people who aren't big Castlevania fans getting pissed off that they're not utilizing the power of the systems. And for obvious reasons they'd rather not do 3D. The Gameboy Advance is an escape where it's perfectly acceptable to make a sidescroller. Personally, I want to see a 2D Castlevania and a Megaman, etc. on the new generation consoles, but it gets hard to please the new blood in the video game consumer market with what looks like powered up snes games. The Saturn and PSX were fine to do 2D on but in all honesty, how much better can they be made to look. And although we'd rather not admit it, looks do matter in the video game industry. Tony T. Tiger

IGA wants to "unite the Castlevania series under one worldwide title" or something like that. Beforehand, he had said that Dracula wasn't the main enemy this time, hence the removal of "Dracula" from the title. We all knew that was a load of malarkey at the time, and our instincts proved right.

And 2D still has lots of room to grow, but it doesn't seem as it many developers want to go that route. Take a look at Guilty Gear X's GORGEOUS high resolution sprites, which blow away anything seen in a Capcom or SNK game. Now imagine THAT in a Castlevania title. Delicious.

Given that I've been an importer for years, I didn't find the prospect of the Japanese in the latest Castlevania to be particularly daunting. I downloaded the ROM, as I will still end up buying the domestic (I'm funny that way)... I look at it as saving me the annoyance of buying a game twice, something I've done many times in the past. Anyhow, I've played through the game to completion, and I share in your sentiments that it's a little too much more of the same, but it's rather hard to complain about it being "too much like Nocturne in the Moonlight." I primarily took issue with just how MUCH like Alucard Juste is. By the end of the game, he's more like Alucard than any Belmont (who does't happen to be Alucard's son) should be. The game seems to have been made with the concept of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." While this is true up to a point, stagnation has never been a good thing... look at the Mega Man series, in particular. Contributing to the game's extremely low difficulty, I found that the Spell Fusion system was fairly neat in concept, but nearly pointless in execution. For my part, I found the Ice Spellbook and the Cross, and that saw me through every boss or semi-tight spot until I got the Wind Spellbook. That saw me through even more... in fact, it made it utterly pointless to mess with anything else, other than the matter of curiosity over the visuals of other spells. The only other spell I used was the Lightning+Cross (ie. Richter's old Grand Cross item crash) for Death and the final boss. I was considerably more enamored of the DSS system, which required substantially more variety in its usage to succeed. All of this may sound like I'm down on the game. I'm not... indeed, more games should strive to be as solid and enjoyable as it is. But it's not a flawless game, by any means... and still falls behind Nocturne, Circle and Rondo as my favorites in the series. -Deuce

Even if the series does indeed grow stale, Mega Man still does have a legion of devoted fans, myself included. But still - it seems that with the GBA games, the designers have been content on simply trying to emulate Symphony rather than reinvent it. They're succeeded, to varying degrees, but again, something new and different would be nice.

Kurt! My Castlevania god! Thanks for the screenshot of Simon there, I haven't gotten that far on my ROM yet, but I hope to get there soon! Wow, is this ever what I expected AND more! This is really the first game that kind of ties in to SotN with it's castle designs and background and CotM as far as sprites and whatnot. Let me say that I have been geeking for a good tie in for Sypha and this is it right here. Granted this is ROM only so far, and I do not read Japanese... guess that is the Norseman in me, I have enough problems keeping up with Icelandic. However, this doesn't really answer the real need on the market, a new Castlevania for any of the three systems. I had a feeling that Konami was waiting for prices to fall a nit before putting somethign on the market that would be excessively rare (thanks to Atlus and Square for that trend... my poor wallet is crying out in pain!). You know how it goes, they wait for the price to drop, knowing that there are hardcore fans out there that if they do not have the system will pick one up JUST to play the game. Case in point, until they shelved the Dreamcast version, I was all set and prepared to play that Castlevania. Thankfully I had Skies of Arcadia to play... Now, if only I can get batteries that never have to be recharged AND never have to be refreshed... THERE is something that the companies can work on. Either that or banning formula changes for soda companies. I know this last part is NOT Castlevania related, but WOW, does Vanilla Coke SUCK! I was just kidding you before, but wow I went out to give it a try and I wish I never had that taste in my mouth again. However, I do not know what is worse... Vanilla and tamed Licorice (Vanilla Coke) or Prunes and Lemon (Pibb Xtra, because the Xtra stand for Xtra CRAP!). Sorry, just a tad bitter... Heck, I don't even think that a Square commerical could save Coke this time.... Anyway, glad to ahve this new Castlevania and hope that there will be more to come for the REAL systems. -Matt "No, no, no! Sypha can't be pimping for Vanilla Coke! Noooooooooo!"

I don't think console prices are much of an issue - Konami and Square were still bringing out the big name titles like MGS2 and FFX before the price of the PS2 dropped, but maybe they are indeed testing the waters for Castlevania's continued popularity. From what I understand, the series is much more popular here in America than it is in Japan. I have to wonder why that is...

personally, I like the GBA games. I invested more time than is probably healthy getting CotM up to 100 percent, all cards, all modes. I enjoyed the game. it was fun. I also built my own lighting system with a set of white LEDs attached to a thing I hang from my neck. worked nicely for visibility. but not the point. WNC is also enjoyable, I think. it's sort of rehashing, but all the little flaws one noticed while playing CotM feel fixed, at least to me. it's a good game. But the meat of my letter is addressing the "real games" which, frankly, I would love. the characters are interesting and, if developed, many would be at least as involving as Snake (MGS is an immersive game, you gotta admit) SotN came fairly close to the desired goal, but fell a bit short in scope. Konami CAN produce good story heavy games with good voice actors. They have. It isn't impossible. Alucard's old as dirt. he's interacted with the Belmont clan on multiple occasions. an epic story of his life could be made into a deep, involving game. with plenty of dialogue done by QUALITY voice actors, a little bit of that kind of work at E3 would, I'm sure, be enough to sell a 2d (possibly 2.5d) platformer even on the Next Gen consoles. I'm not holding my breath for that, however, but since I've had the idea for such a story line swimming in my head, and an official version isn't going to happen, more than likely it will end up in some sort of fanfic form eventually. Still, I think I'd honestly prefer if the idea were picked up by the developers and they put some effort into making a Castlevania game that was more than "walk, collect stuff, throw stuff, kill interchangeable boss character, then death, then Dracula." also, thank you muchly for maintaining your page. I probably would have mailed pipe bombs to konami by now if not for the quality fanbase you provide and remind me that other people get pissed off about stupid stuff and say "I could do better" and then sometimes, do. hell, it happens with star wars fanfics all the time. karpad

A Castlevania with an ACTUAL storyline, not just the bare threads of one, would do wonders.

Anyone else hoping the series adopts a Silent Hill-style atmosphere and actually tries you scare you?

I've allowed myself several days with the new title (HOD) on the GBA, and as a hardcore CV fan, I have my praises and complaints. First off, I think the backgrounds are awesome. Not because they gave them greater visibility but because they have so much detail and style to them. I could basically say they are better than the PS1's SOTN. Moving on, I hate the way Juste looks and animates. The acid trails make no sense and are overdone and he is just a Alucard clone with Nathan's capabilities. The control is fine and I have found no problem in that catagory. The advance/retreat shoulder buttons are a good addition, but I think that a human should have some restraints on his abilities to move like a vampire. (bring back the backflip) What I do think I MUST mention, is how impressed i was with the sound in this game. I know we've all read how ordinary the score is in HOD. And it really isnt anything special. But the sound effects rock. Everything from the whip sounds to the doors creeking open are clear and atmospheric. I give that up as a strong point in this GBA title. All in all the game is too easy, and too much of a COTM/SOTN hybrid. Personally I'd like to see castlevania step away from the Metroid realm a bit and bring back the old staircases and main character ablities. The new magic system doesnt bother me, but I feel the series getting less original and more cliched. cough! alwaysinit

At first, the brightness of the backgrounds was a bit offputting - especially given the relatively dark palette of both Symphony and CotM - but they seem to stretch back to the bright colors of Dracula X, and looks all the more gorgeous because of it. Of course, it's also much clearer to see on the actual system.

And I LOVE the dashing buttons. I really hope it's an addition that they keep in future installments, because the game just feels much better, and quickens up exploration too.

Not much to say here Kurt, I don't have/haven't played White Night Concerto. Actually, you don't have to bother putting this in the column, but it was just a suggestion for a future topic. How about a "Create-your-own-Castlevania" topic?? I know, unoriginal, perhaps boring, but I've got a great idea... People could make up a title, story, and any new Perks (ie magic system, character changes, etc.) that they liked. Just an idea. Scooby, who wants to make a game to kill vampires in.

Fair enough. I used to have a "Castlevania Game" submission section, but I took it down after receiving the 376th version of "Castlevania 2000!!!"

So - after Harmony of Dissonance, it's clear that maybe Castlevania needs to evolve again if it's going to really keep its fans. The question is: what does it evolve to? If you were in total command of the next Castlevania game, how would you do it? Return the series to 3D? Make the game more like the original Dracula X or Castlevania 3? Keep the Metroid-esque style and simply improve from there? Please don't send in huge design documents with characters and their backgrounds or whatever - just whatever aspects you feel the new Castlevania game needs.

-Kurt