hours, and that the player grew "practically unstoppable" over the course of the game. RPGamer echoed this assessment, deriding the fact that the game "never [offered] much of a challenge", but noted that the "simplistic fun" of the gameplay rectified this. The game's graphics and audio were widely praised by reviewers. RPGFan extolled the game's environments as "gorgeous and well layered," and noted while the game did not achieve the level of graphical quality set by Symphony of the Night, it "made a damn good attempt at it." GameSpy called the graphics "crisp, clear and colorful," with "good animation on easily viewable sprites." GameSpy additionally noted that the game's audio, a particularly lambasted feature of Harmony of Dissonance, was "fitting and well-composed." Prior to the game's release, IGN commented that the music was "pretty darn good." GameSpot, although labeling the music as "mostly forgettable," noted that it was far better than the audio of Harmony of Dissonance, and celebrated the individual audio used for enemies. In terms of storyline and characters, RPGamer welcomed the characters' depth, and the emphasis placed into the personalities and development of supporting characters, asserting that previous Castlevania games ignored the development of the supporting characters in exchange for concentrating on the protagonist. IGN called the game's ending "incredibly unfulfilling and disappointing," but lauded the change from the conventional plot of a Castlevania game, in which a member of the Belmont clan defeats Dracula with the aid of a host of supporting characters. GameSpy criticized the presence of a "weak female who needs protection" and an "effeminate-looking man who does all the slaying" as stereotypical Castlevania elements, but noted that the "powerful and compelling scenario" the game had was the best in the series since Symphony of the Night. Sequel and re-release Owing to the success of Aria of Sorrow, the production of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, a rare sequel in the Castlevania series, was announced on January 6, 2005. In an interview, Koji Igarashi noted that he felt that the Tactical Soul system used in Aria of Sorrow, as well as the storyline with Soma Cruz, were a waste to use in only one game, and contributed to his desire to make a sequel. As such, the Tactical Soul system was reintroduced in the sequel Dawn of Sorrow, as well as several new developments, such as an anime character design, as Ayami Kojima was not