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When I saw that someone had worked on a music modification for the game, I was all about it. The music is very easily the weakest part of an otherwise magnificent game – not so much in composition, but in presentation. The previous game had really great music, but not-so-great graphics, while this game had amazing graphics, but weak-sounding music. I was expecting this patch to bring the soundtrack up to the standard set by Circle of the Moon and continued in Aria of Sorrow and beyond.

It doesn't.

The main problem with this hack is that changes to the existing music sound very basic, like sorrow – the hack author – only did the bare minimum and changed the sample set / "SoundFont" to allow for higher-quality samples. For some songs, this is fine. For most songs, it is not. The soundtrack sound even more like MIDIs than before, and not very good ones. There were a lot of questionable choices made for the songs that got revamped, and it's very disappointing to hear such tracks as "Offense and Defense" sound so flaccid and lifeless when compared to the 2A03-style synth-waves of the original. That, however, is only part of the problem.

The other major problem that I see with this hack? Certain tracks have been completely replaced by music from other games. One glaring omission, right from the start, is "File Select" from the Famicom Disk System Akumajou Dracula. It's gone, and other select tracks are gone, as well. Some of the new music sounds pretty good, yes, but as a semi-purist, I would much prefer to hear the original tracks instead of ones imported from other games.

Lastly, there are some noteworthy bugs with this hack. Two of the ones listed are very minor, but one of them outright crashes the game. Specifically, checking the map "too much" is what it does. In a game where exploration is the point, that's kind of unacceptable. Speedrunners would hardly notice, but those casually playing to 100% would definitely be hit by this bug.

So, my overall assessment of the ROM hack is "It's not for me, but it's otherwise probably okay". I do not recommend this one.

Just like the others shared, I was incredibly excited when I saw that there was a music hack for this game. For the most part, I was excited to hear much more pleasant tunes, but I also noticed there were quite a few new glitches that came with this hack. For example, the game doesn't register the money correctly, so when I pick up money, it will not register the proper amount, or any amount at all. The songs are also reused from other games instead of remixed/better versions of the original songs in the game. I would recommend holding off until an update for the hack is released.

I saw someone had made a music hack for this game and got excited. Finally, people would start to appreciate this fantastic game more if it just had it's soundtrack on the same sample set as games like Aria of Sorrow to accompany it's compositions.

Imagine my disappointment to find out nearly all the original tracks got replaced. A really lazy effort of a music patch. Right off the bat the amazing menu theme (originally from the Famicom version of CV1) has been replaced so you could already see where this was going.

Aside from the fact that they didn't do what everyone wanted (the original OST with better samples) the actual sample set used sounds so weak. The tracks all end up sounding like stock general MIDI you find on Windows PCs. Even the synth waves sound worse than HoD's chiptune itself (as seen on Offense and Defense, one of the only tracks preserved). I am aware the ROM doesn't have much more space for good samples but the Aria ones were right there. All sounds lifeless.

I hope one day someone makes a hack that is truly the music overhaul we expect, no track replacements, no poor soundfont. Just good ol HoD in AoS style.

Not recommended (ps: bugs galore too, terrible for a playthrough)

While it does change up the music in a positive way, as intended, it introduces many bugs. Sometimes music won't play when leaving a save room. Item names and Enemy names are often full of junk characters making the text unreadable. These issues aren't that big a deal really.

Until you get to a certain cutscene about half way through the game and the broken text boxes just lock up the game, which makes the game incompletable. It's a shame but this is an unfinished hack and shouldn't be labeled as "complete".

Not really worth your time since you can't complete the game with this hack.

I've always thought of Harmony of Dissonance as some sort of black sheep of the metroidvania genre, especially when it came to the soundtrack department. The patch gives the game a new coat of "paint" audio-wise. The game music is much easier to digest now. The author took some liberties, replacing some of the game's soundtrack with ones from other games, but trust me when I say they are of very good quality. I especially loved the "Catacombs" theme from circle of the Moon and "Minera Prison Island" from Order of Ecclesia. Definitely reccomend this one. :D

I believe this hack to be really well made. I find the soundtrack to now be fairly pleasant instead of how it was originally ear-piercing. I enjoy this hack quite a bit, though, there is a noticeable bug that, well, bugged me quite a bit. I'm not sure if this extends to other items, but when I pick up money, the text that would say "$5" or any other price is changed to say gibberish. I'm not sure what causes this, but it takes me out of the game a bit, and feels a bit janky. While I adore this hack to a high degree, this bug has really annoyed me, which is a pain, since everything else is amazing. Please fix this if possible, it would be greatly appreciated!

I generally do consider this hack to actually improve the sound quality quite a bit. However, personally I'm not a fan of just taking music from other Castlevania games and putting it in here. It takes away from the games' locations' identities. Circle of the Moon's main theme is what I associate with the castle featured in Circle of the Moon. It feels jarring to have it in here.

It's a nice and noble attempt to fix the soundtrack of this game, but i don't think MIDI instruments makes it better. It would be cool if the soundtrack was still the original one, but using only samples instead of samples + chiptune. Seems possible with your patch, can maybe even use the samples from Aria of Sorrow if patching that bundle which contains AoS and HoD together. Keep doing the great work. o/