XBLA - Castlevania: Harmony of Despair

I wish I knew what each of the symbols on your Stats page meant. It feels like they demand you play a Castlevania game that had an instruction booklet before playing this one, because they don't tell you any of what that stuff is.

I guess I'll play with you guys later if the stars align.
 
I found a Glyph for Shanoa in Chapter 2 but when I tried to equip it I didn't see it in my inventory. Did I just absorb the one I already had?

Any chance for a hidden character or maybe a future DLC character? I'd love the chance to use Richter or Albus from OoE
 
There will be DLC... when you look at the Leaderboards, you get a message saying..

"Replays may not be able to be viewed if Downloadable Content was used"
 
[quote name='Rodimus']I found a Glyph for Shanoa in Chapter 2 but when I tried to equip it I didn't see it in my inventory. Did I just absorb the one I already had?

Any chance for a hidden character or maybe a future DLC character? I'd love the chance to use Richter or Albus from OoE[/QUOTE]

When you absorb it, did you receive something(Grundo? I think)? On chapter 2 they are to give Ice attack and sometimes fire attack.

[quote name='eastx']Hey, I'm the OP now! Thanks, Thrustbucket and Shrike.

Updated the first post a bit; I'll do more with it over the weekend.[/QUOTE]

I don't know if I am only the one that think that, but I think it would be nice later to change summer of arcade in the title for XBLA.
 
^ No I didn't get anything. I had the fire spell already Igins or something. I got it from the boy/girl character flying around wearing a robe.
 
[quote name='Jimbo Slice']What's up CAG, me and Zewone played this game for a bit today but need some help on Stage 3. If any CAG is going to be around later tonight or tomorrow to play with us, that would be great. Just friend me.[/QUOTE]
All you need is two people for stage 3. Just have one guy sit at the switch for the hammer and another for the wheel that turns it and two hits kills the boss. =]
 
I need some help in this game. I keep helping people get to level 5 but then everyone ditches me. Is there a group that plays together in the morning through afternoons I can tag along with?
 
[quote name='Rodimus']^ No I didn't get anything. I had the fire spell already Igins or something. I got it from the boy/girl character flying around wearing a robe.[/QUOTE]

Here is what I found:
Chapter 2 flying woman for ice shard
Chapter 4 flying woman for lightning attack
Chapter 5-6 green skeleton for purple beam

There some weapon glyph that I don't have yet.
Boss from chapter 3 and 5 are suppose to give them from chest.

[quote name='GUNNM']I need some help in this game. I keep helping people get to level 5 but then everyone ditches me. Is there a group that plays together in the morning through afternoons I can tag along with?[/QUOTE]
Yeah, same thing happened to me. We got to chapter 5 with 6 people, 2 gave up after the first try. We succeed the third try. People give up too easily.
 
Yup and I help these guys get from chapter 1 to chapter 4 with no problem. Done this 3-4 times now and then they either quit or don't even try. Oh well I haven't gone unrewarded my bone throw is maxed out on soma. ugh
 
Guess I going to replay old chapters to find new weapons and try to make some progress for the achievement until there is more people for hard mode. I waste like 15k on super potion by mistake.
 
[quote name='Khalid']Seems kinda hard to solo, I only did chapter 1 solo, and did chapter 2 and 3 with two others guys. I wasn't able to beat chapter 4 with them.

I kinda wish you could equip your stuff in the main menu with the shop.[/QUOTE]

You may have already found this out, but in multi player you can select the main menu option during prep to equip items so you don't have to do it in a level.
 
[quote name='Kreutz']You may have already found this out, but in multi player you can select the main menu option during prep to equip items so you don't have to do it in a level.[/QUOTE]
Thanks, I did not know!

Man! I join a game for the Boned achievements, without my save and I did not know. I was so scared that I lost everything and it would overwrite my save. But it was alright.
 
Shanoa's Lightning Glyph is borderline broken. I don't know how many Glyphs Shanoa has, but I have 4 different ones. Fire, Ice, Lightning and Dark Energy. The Dark Energy and Fire ones are pretty bad; short range and a small hit box. Ice has a small hit box but a long range. Lightning has long range, homing, and does multiple hits per strike.

Oh, and Hard mode is insanely difficult. It took me and 3 others four tries to beat Chapter 1.

I'm still in the belief than Shanoa is the best character in the game.
 
GG's Rodimus and others who I played with (The King Bading was me) also I noticed Shanoa's lighting is... yeah broken. Saw some pretty nasty solo experiences with her just using that.
 
I enjoy playing this game with friends. The solo is okay, but not great. It's making me want to finish SotN that I bought from the arcade three years ago. Come to think of it, I need to finish OoE on the DS as well.

I got the Bone Cold Justice achievement by getting hit with a bone and it bouncing back to kill the skeleton. Kinda funny since it happened accidentally after I was actually trying to do it and getting frustrated when my attacks were destroying the bones.

And the Grasshopper achievement is easy to get on the first stage. I did it by repeatedly jumping on the first boss, then my friend said a tall enough column of the skulls that shoot the fireballs should do the trick as well.
 
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I just did on HM 1-4 with 3 other people, did 5 with 2 other people. We almost had chapter 6 with 3 Shanoa. We kinda gave up in the end...
 
If anyone want's to play later add me on Live.

Really enjoying the multiplayer, but it's really hard to get a good group going. I keep running into small groups where no one is talking and it basically ruins the experience for me.
 
GGs last night Son of a Beep & Monsta. Once you get a good group of 5 or more people it's a blast.

Yeah, Shanoa's lightning is nasty. I played with someone last night who was using Charlette's poison bubble attack. That looked pretty strong too. Trying to use Jonathon but it's clear to see after using Shanoa that he's weaker.

Shanoa also gets weapon glyphs but from what I understand they only drop from bosses. Haven't gotten one yet, but I hear Death is a good boss to farm for them.
 
I'm #15 on the Chapter 1 Leaderboards atm. If I could get a Perfect Run, it'd be good for #2.

The only Glyphs I've seen are from the enemies mentioned above. I've never seen a Glyph from a boss that she could absorb.
 
She don't absorb them but boss can give weapon for her from their chest. Something like a rock hand weapon and a white blast. I kinda want the white blast to try to help me solo Chapter 6 in HM. I found some sweet armor during my HM play with people. But I still have the weapon from the beginning.
 
Remmeber that Shanoa's weapon claim to fame is that she has an insanely fast double attack by switch arms. Mixed with the "back dash cancel", I found her to be a pretty solid attacker, in my limited play of her.

Charlotte was pretty weak for me at first, but after leveling up her spells enough to get her wep to change, I've found it to be pretty strong! It's actually started to hit harder per-hit than her spells (Like 24 with a wep strike, VS 13's and 14's per hit with a multi hit spell), at the spread she gets from the 2 additional axes that stick out the side, make a freally good anti-multi enemy wall of protection (and great for taking down skeleton towers!)

Oh, and for enemies with Absorbable Glyps, Lighting from Stage 2 Witches, Ice from Stage 4 witches, and then the Nova Skels in Stage 6. Those are the main ones off the top of my head.
 
This game is really fun when playing multiplayer. It's one of the most unique games I've played this year. Once you start a game, online works perfectly. There can be some issues starting games, but I think that is because so many people are playing that lobbys get created and filled within 30 seconds, so a lot of games you try to join are already full.

Alucard seems too have fairly low damage output, but I guess he's the high def/safe character, so that's the trade off. *Edit* So I guess you can level up his spells you just have to find the same scroll multiple times, then the 8 bars under the spell are the spell level.

If you want to play stage 6 or hard mode you can have the problem of brand new players joining your game and limiting you to the first or second stage. As long as you don't mind switching characters and playing the early stages it's not a big problem. I remember Castle Crashers having the same problem.
 
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So here' a quick rundown.
I'm a huge Castlevania enthusiast (finished all of the GBA/DS Games).
Bought this game yesterday at around 5/6 in the afternoon.
Note that I have only played Single Player (Xbox Silver Account).
Game is absolutely stunning and engaging, presentation, soundtrack are fabulous and loot collecting is very addicting.
Before I knew, I have finished the game...at around 6 in the morning, that's how gripping it is.
Last form of the last boss is no joke if you're going alone (last incarnation), it wasn't in Rondo of Blood nor SOTN (flashback).
So yeah, as a single player game (and I assume multiplayer) game shines, don't let some of the reviews discourage you, it's a robust adventure game that has whole lot of replayability that made other Castlevania games so enjoyable to go through multiple times.
Recommended!
 
And a Belmont is born.

I wish the game had an option of searching for groups playing the same chapter as you. I'll finally get into a 6-player party only to find one guy still on Chapter 2.
 
[quote name='pRINCESS-iSABELA']So here' a quick rundown.
I'm a huge Castlevania enthusiast (finished all of the GBA/DS Games).
Bought this game yesterday at around 5/6 in the afternoon.
Note that I have only played Single Player (Xbox Silver Account).
Game is absolutely stunning and engaging, presentation, soundtrack are fabulous and loot collecting is very addicting.
Before I knew, I have finished the game...at around 6 in the morning, that's how gripping it is.
Last form of the last boss is no joke if you're going alone (last incarnation), it wasn't in Rondo of Blood nor SOTN (flashback).
So yeah, as a single player game (and I assume multiplayer) game shines, don't let some of the reviews discourage you, it's a robust adventure game that has whole lot of replayability that made other Castlevania games so enjoyable to go through multiple times.
Recommended![/QUOTE]

That's really good to hear - I enjoyed the demo and was wondering how it held up in single player.

The 1up review was really positive on the single player side, as well.
 
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New reviews:

1up.com

GiantBomb

Joystiq

and several more, all added to the OP.

I am having a lot of fun with this game. We beat Dracula last night, but it definitely would have been impossible for my party if we didn't have Shanoa along.
 
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A lot of these reviews are just people complaining that they don't have any friends to ply this game with.

I cannot relate.
 
[quote name='Rodimus']
I wish the game had an option of searching for groups playing the same chapter as you. I'll finally get into a 6-player party only to find one guy still on Chapter 2.[/QUOTE]

Yeap I am getting rather sick of having to boost people from Chapter 2 all the way to Chapter 6, not to say It's not fun to play through them again (because it is fun to play through them) but I've been stuck on Chapter 6 dying to Dracula's third form over and over and need others on that level to beat it.

If you guys download the Chapter 6 normal replay of Alucard I can safely say he has the potential to be the best character in the game (he was doing 50 damage per hit, really really fast with some weapon?).

Charlotte is probably the weakest character the game and also the hardest to play with - you can only level up her spells ONCE per level *AND* you have to rely on your team mates not killing the enemy to absorb spells - which means you have to run through the single player experience a bit to level her up. Thats a total bummer. Her healing spell however is requested quite a bit.

Jonathan is probably the second weakest from experience, but once you level up his subweapons (which just require hits, not kills) his damage output on the whip goes up a bit. His martial arts are OK, It's kinda funny seeing him get a tiger knee and tiger uppercut. Don't forget the cross sub-weapon - massive damage. Though looking at the leaderboards theres not many beastily Jonathans out there.

Soma's soul boosting is indeed pretty random. I'm guessing putting on a lot of Luck will help you get more souls (or atleast I would assume) but if he gets Dracula's soul or the first bosses soul out of random luck you should have a powerful Soma on your hands.
 
Some character info:

Everybody gets to work from the same pool of def gear. Def gear is gained from kills / chests or from the store. Some stuff is female / male only, some stuff has slightly different properties for some characters.
Also note that if your health is full and you pick up an instant healing item (Tasty Meat, etc.), your health stat will permanently increase.

Alucard:
Can equip two weapons simultaneously or 2h weapons. Cannot equip guns.
Can use QCF+Attack to use special abilities from certain weapons.
Gains scrolls from kills / chests. Each scroll pickup increases spell strength.
Overall, the most basic character (so far).

Soma:
Can equip two weapons simultaneously or 2h weapons. Can equip guns.
Can use QCF+Attack to use special abilities from certain weapons.
Gains souls from kills. Can get souls from other player kills. Each soul pickup increases soul strength.
Is the only character (so far) who can change his RB assignment.

Jonathon:
Cannot equip any weapon other than the whip.
Gains new sub weapons and martial arts from kills / chests. Sub Weapon strength and overall offensive power (whip, martial arts) increases with sub weapon use.
Martial arts do not need to be "equipped", you can use them the second you get them (if you know the motions).

Charlotte:
Cannot equip any weapon other than the book.
Gains new spells by absorbing them with RB. Increase their power and overall offensive power (Book) by successive absorbs.
Only gets money and def gear from drops / kills, good for farming gold.
Is the only character (so far) who cannot dive kick.
Has the fastest (unassisted) magic regen.

Shanoa:
Gains ALL off gear (weapons and magic) by absorbing glyphs (hold UP when they appear). Increase their power and overall offensive power by successive absorbs.
Can use QCF+attack or alternate button presses to use special abilities / combos with certain glyphs.
Only gets money and def gear from drops / kills, good for farming gold.
Is the only character (so far) who can use magnets to get around (RB).

Thanks to thetrufenix at http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/997663-castlevania-harmony-of-despair/55887432
 
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Yeah I plan on getting it soon...wish I could find someone on here that would sell me an extra code for it lol. Oh well, glad to hear that most people find it to be good, even though the reviews are not exactly favorable. Sounds great, can't wait to get in on it. :D
 
I know it's been said but after playing a ton of Co-Op I can safely say Shanoa is by far the strongest character. Not only is her lightning attack broken but I got 2 Lapiste (both dropped from Death) and can physically murder anything. Lapiste is her giant rock fist attack and equipping one on each hand equals death to enemies. Also the magnets in boss fights really help with evading and attacking. She's so overpowered I feel kinda cheap using her.

With that said I decided to go to the other side of the spectrum and try Charlotte. Her leveling methods forces her into a single player experience. Not really a bad thing since sometimes I feel like playing by myself anyways. Defiantly the least used character online which is what draws me to her. Her initial physical attack is weak sauce but once you level some magic attacks it changes and gets a wider radius. Any idea how many upgrades her basic attack goes through?

Dracula isn't all that difficult but I'd often get teamed up with 1 or 2 guys who try to go all gung-ho and end up dieing. Still I've beaten him twice, once in Multiplayer and the other by myself. It was a lot easier by myself. I don't understand why people don't realize to just jump behind him in his first form. Once you see one guy do it you think they'd wise up, but nope, they still want to face him head on.

Thanks for the hidden items eastx. I saw people getting the secret item in Chapter 6 thinking WTF are they doing, and WTF if that flying across the screen. Now it makes sense.

Anyways I'm having a blast. It isn't for everyone but if you got obsessed with farming and geting 210% in SOTN then this is a game for you.
 
I actually Nauctis (?) with Shanoa is more powerful, but it definitely has a shorter range.

I've gotten to Chapter 5 on hard. Chapter 2 on Hard seems impossible solo unless you're Alucard because you can't take down the boss's puppet attack. Chapter 4's boss is a bit of a dick, too.

Could you explain that Chapter 6 item drop a bit better? I found a secret room last night while playing co-op that's right above the room before the staircase. Also, at the foot of the staircase is a hidden wall with a food item.
 
[quote name='KingBroly']I actually Nauctis (?) with Shanoa is more powerful, but it definitely has a shorter range.[/QUOTE]

Were did you get this?

[quote name='KingBroly']Could you explain that Chapter 6 item drop a bit better? I found a secret room last night while playing co-op that's right above the room before the staircase. Also, at the foot of the staircase is a hidden wall with a food item.[/QUOTE]

It's outside on the ledge right above the breakable wall with food. There's towers in the background and it looks like you could keep walking to the right but you're blocked by an invisible wall.
 
I tried solo chapter 6, best I could do was to get to his second form. There is at least 3 wall you can break for food.
 
Hum, even when somebody that can't do that chapter leave, I can't select that chapter...


[quote name='Trakan']Crissaegrim is back.[/QUOTE]

Wow, I want this if I play with Alucard
 
Konami really dropped the ball with this game. The online is fun, but finding a match is nearly impossible most of the time and when I do no one is using a mic or working together. I am now pretty upset that I wasted $15 on a game that I can barely play due to the lack of players.
 
[quote name='Rodimus']Were did you get this?

It's outside on the ledge right above the breakable wall with food. There's towers in the background and it looks like you could keep walking to the right but you're blocked by an invisible wall.[/QUOTE]

I got it from a Green Skeleton. It's all they give. I found where the stage 6 secret is, but I don't think I got. He went right past me. Do I have to attack him or something?
 
The community is there, I just think the game has connection issues. There are some players who just like to blaze through and kill everything they see. But the game shines when you are in a group who act like a team.

I'd like to get a group together for a few achievements:
Boned (Defeat a boss with 5 players in skeleton form)
Poetic Justice (Defeat an ally who has been seduced by the enemy)
Grim Synergy (Defeat a boss using a Dual Crush)

They'll be pretty easy and quick if everyone works at it. I'll need 5 other players for Boned which can be done in the first level. Everyone just die on some spikes except for one who will rush through the level and finish off the boss. The other two can be done with one other person, however Poetic Justice needs 1 male character since the succubus can't seduce women. Anyone intrested?
 
I need those two as well.

Poetic Justice (Defeat an ally who has been seduced by the enemy)
Grim Synergy (Defeat a boss using a Dual Crush)

So we can trade them if you want.
 
Poetic Justice might be the toughest achievement to get in the game (I got it, though). I know people will say beating Hard Mode is, but Dracula is pretty easy (except for the triangle attack, which I can't figure out how to dodge effectively).
 
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