XBLA - Castlevania: Harmony of Despair

[quote name='Rodimus']Woo Hoo, Finally maxed out Charlotte. I buckled down and got that blasted Hellfire spell. I stared out with Shanoa but now Charlotte is defiantly my main.
[/QUOTE]

So dude... When we played, why did you keep running out of Death's room? I think just about everybody knows you will get killed if you do that. And everyone kept asking you not to do it but you did anyway. Were you letting someone else play for you?

And I know the people in our party were noisy, but it doesn't hurt to listen and speak occasionally. Castlevania is a team game after all, and someone refusing to listen or provide feedback and coordinate isn't playing the game the right way.
 
[quote name='Rodimus']Hope you enjoyed all 5 of them hours.[/QUOTE]

I enjoyed them more than your dickheaded comment, indeed.
 
I'm going to max Jonathan's sub skills, get Simon's plate and get the rest of the achievements then I'll be done with the game till the DLC is out. I got 2 (almost 3) of his skills to 9 last night just doing survival 1v1 hard mode level 1 over and over again. If you want to max Jonathan that would be the ultimate grind that I can see, because it takes forever.

I hope they release the DLC sooner rather then later.
 
I'm going to end up picking up this game. I'm pretty sure I'll get the Lara Croft game next week. If I do, Castlevania will be the only Summer of Arcade game I don't buy. So, I might as well buy it and get the $15 rebate.
 
[quote name='eastx']So dude... When we played, why did you keep running out of Death's room? I think just about everybody knows you will get killed if you do that. And everyone kept asking you not to do it but you did anyway. Were you letting someone else play for you.[/QUOTE]

Yeah I remember this, I was attending to my crying 1 month old and thought leaving the boss room might help. I didn't have a headset & had the volume super low so I couldn't hear all the commotion. I figured being outside was better than inside the room, but I guess I was wrong. I probably just should've quite the game anyways, but I was booted so it doesn't matter.

With that said, this was a reminder of why I don't like to play multiplayer games with unknowns. It's all this elitist BS expecting you to know every little detail of the game within a week. I'm just not hardcore enough for that crowd.

[quote name='Strell']I enjoyed them more than your dickheaded comment, indeed.[/QUOTE]

I thought it was whimsical at best.
 
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[quote name='Rodimus']Yeah I remember this, I was attending to my crying 1 month old and thought leaving the boss room might help. I didn't have a headset & had the volume super low so I couldn't hear all the commotion. I figured being outside was better than inside the room, but I guess I was wrong. I probably just should've quite the game anyways, but I was booted so it doesn't matter.

With that said, this was a reminder of why I don't like to play multiplayer games with unknowns. It's all this elitist BS expecting you to know every little detail of the game within a week. I'm just not hardcore enough for that crowd.
[/QUOTE]

Now come on, I'm not being an elitist at all. First, I thought you said hi when you entered the room but refused to talk after that. Guess I got confused there.
But if you weren't using a mic, that is your fault, not ours. One fellow comes along and refuses to communicate - essentially playing on his own in a team game - that's not cool. You could send a text message to one of us and let us know - hey, my microphone is broken or sorry, I can't talk because my baby is a-sleepin' - and then we would understand and not get frustrated with you.
 
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Haha, complaining about elitism. That's a good one, babycakes, when you're busy throwing your worthless opinion into conversations between people you have no business being in.
 
Wow, lots of hate for me.

Didn't know not having a mic was such a taboo. I normally have one but circumstances that night where not in XBL communication favor.
 
[quote name='Strell']Haha, complaining about elitism. That's a good one, babycakes, when you're busy throwing your worthless opinion into conversations between people you have no business being in.[/QUOTE]

His comment was about the game's length. I doubt he was saying anything negative about you personally.
 
[quote name='Rodimus']Wow, lots of hate for me.

Didn't know not having a mic was such a taboo. I normally have one but circumstances that night where not in XBL communication favor.[/QUOTE]

Strell does seem a bit upset with you!

Well, we were confused that night, but I'm glad it was just a misunderstanding. No hard feelings.

BTW the current thinking is that high luck stats actually reduce your chances of getting rare drops from Boss Chests. A guy looked at the game's code and produced a formula that shows not taking damage and low times boost the chance of getting good boss drops, while luck boosts the chance of getting more common items. How unintuitive!
 
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[quote name='eastx']Well, we were confused that night, but I'm glad it was just a misunderstanding. No hard feelings.[/QUOTE]

No worries. I'll play with you guys again if you need a good Charlotte. I'll be better next time, promise.
 
[quote name='KingBroly']Wait wait wait, so Luck decreases your chances of getting good items?[/QUOTE]

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/997663-castlevania-harmony-of-despair/55980461

If this person is telling the truth - and from my own testing as well as my friends he does seem to be, then yes, a high luck is bad for boss drops. It's still great for enemy drops and Soma's souls, but apparently nothing else.
 
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No problem on my end Rod, I thought it was funny as hell to be honest. Seeing how some where saying that the run was ruined when they just sat outside the boss room waiting for me and another guy to kill it for them.

I will always take a Charlotte in my group.
 
[quote name='Trakan']His comment was about the game's length. I doubt he was saying anything negative about you personally.[/QUOTE]

Then he can say that himself instead of hiding behind his Sailor Moon avatar with vague condescending diatribes against one's decision on what digital games to download and enjoy.

The demo for this game is trash and really putting a giant dent in the idea of investing in it. I don't know why Alucard moves at half the speed he did in SoTN, but that's a real turn off.
 
[quote name='Strell']
The demo for this game is trash and really putting a giant dent in the idea of investing in it. I don't know why Alucard moves at half the speed he did in SoTN, but that's a real turn off.[/QUOTE]

Come on now, do you think the game is going to show you all of a character's abilities in the first level? Each character grows exponentially as you play more of the game. Alucard gets new spells from enemy drops and chests. Each of these spells can be leveled up by collecting more of that spell. Alucard isn't quite as powerful and versatile as he was in SOTN, but remember, this isn't just his game. You're supposed to play as the other characters, too. Still, Alucard does get some of the game's best equipment, and it's debatable whether he or Soma is the most powerful overall character. Oops, but I see you were talking about walking speed. That can be increased with Mercury and Winged Boots.

You should really put your qualms aside and jump in. There is so much to this game (other than a story), any Castlevania fan who also enjoys multiplayer will have fun. It's a total blast with friends.
 
[quote name='eastx']Come on now, do you think the game is going to show you all of a character's abilities in the first level? [/QUOTE]

No. I didn't say this either. I'm pointing out the demo is adding to a miserable pile of secrets disappointments I've already amassed in relation to this game, and strangers with candy on the internets isn't exactly the most persuasive argument out there.
 
Yeah, I initially read that wrong, but I liked my response so I didn't delete it. :D

I'm sure you have some internet friends. :p
Or are you just saying that multiplayer Castlevania doesn't interest you? If not, then yeah, it wouldn't be a good buy.
 
It interests me, but nerfing the guy I wanted out of the gate in a crippling way for something I'd describe as "his normal set of moves" makes the demo trash. I'm guessing no one played the demo, which is fair and good, since if someone already has the intention to play this, they'll jump in head first. That's fine. But the demo is horrible because Alucard - the big badass dhampeel - could move faster with a damn Rascal. That's a bad way to introduce me.

This is coupled with the very real threat of gamers disowning a game as a flavor of a day/week/month in terms of online multiplayer. I don't buy this argument that "a hardcore group of people will keep this alive." I don't see a lot of people playing Settlers of Catan online. To be fair, I don't know how many SoC board game players own 360s and then further pay for XBL. But Catan players are generally "into it," and might be classified as fanatical, and yet the game is dead online unless you set up games elsewhere with people on your friends list proper directly.

I barely played MW2 with CAGs - not for lack of trying - so you'll have to excuse my lack of faith in Castlevania fans.
 
[quote name='Strell']It interests me, but nerfing the guy I wanted out of the gate in a crippling way for something I'd describe as "his normal set of moves" makes the demo trash. I'm guessing no one played the demo, which is fair and good, since if someone already has the intention to play this, they'll jump in head first. That's fine. But the demo is horrible because Alucard - the big badass dhampeel - could move faster with a damn Rascal. That's a bad way to introduce me.

This is coupled with the very real threat of gamers disowning a game as a flavor of a day/week/month in terms of online multiplayer. I don't buy this argument that "a hardcore group of people will keep this alive." I don't see a lot of people playing Settlers of Catan online. To be fair, I don't know how many SoC board game players own 360s and then further pay for XBL. But Catan players are generally "into it," and might be classified as fanatical, and yet the game is dead online unless you set up games elsewhere with people on your friends list proper directly.

I barely played MW2 with CAGs - not for lack of trying - so you'll have to excuse my lack of faith in Castlevania fans.[/QUOTE]

I still find a game of Catan when I'm looking to play. It's never hopping, but I tend to find a game when I play.
 
[quote name='Strell']
This is coupled with the very real threat of gamers disowning a game as a flavor of a day/week/month in terms of online multiplayer. I don't buy this argument that "a hardcore group of people will keep this alive." I don't see a lot of people playing Settlers of Catan online. To be fair, I don't know how many SoC board game players own 360s and then further pay for XBL. But Catan players are generally "into it," and might be classified as fanatical, and yet the game is dead online unless you set up games elsewhere with people on your friends list proper directly.[/QUOTE]

Obviously XBLA games have a smaller potential audience and thus less chance for an active community. But there are some factors that differentiate it from Cataan or many other XBLA games:

  • Both Castlevania XBLA games sold really well due to Castlevania's popularity. The Symphony of the Night Achievement Guide/FAQ I wrote has had over 100K hits, for instance. My HoD FAQ is at 16K hits so far. And right now at GameFAQs HoD is one of the top-ten most requested/viewed games.
  • HoD is cooperative rather than competitive. New players look to experienced players for help, and experienced players get a certain amount of pleasure and/or progress from helping new players.
  • Many of the best item drops, etc. take multiple hours in order to find. You could want a particular item and spend 14-20 hours of grinding trying to get it. And you'd usually do this while playing with others to make it more fun. Thus people who play this do so for extended periods of time.
  • There are five characters (with 2-5 more coming as DLC), and maxing them all out will take many, many hours. Not everyone will try to max every character, but enough people will to keep online lively.

Comparing HoD's experience to a board game, beyond the Achievements, board games don't have a carrot at the end of a stick to keep people playing. I could play Scrabble for 10 hours and feel like I got my money's worth out of it. Any playing after that would be just for fun, but it'd never be pressing to get back into it. Whereas with Castlevania, you're looking at like 40+ hours that you can be making progress. It's a whole different experience. Not that board games or other competitive multiplayer games aren't worthwhile, but unless they have a good progression system (like Call of Duty, Gears 2, Halo Reach, etc.), many people will just play them for a while and then move on.
 
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Not to mention you're comparing a game that's a week old to a game that's years old. Chances are you won't be playing Castlevania years down the line like you would a competitive game like that. People on CAG are always looking for coop partners.

I don't get the speed complaint either. I haven't played Symphony of the Night in a while but the speed doesn't look that different in comparison while looking at youtube videos. If it's really that big of a deal, there are items in the game that make your character move faster. You'll have to work to get them though.
 
lol I didn't even realize this game had a ending (well just a credits roll). I beat Chapter 6 on Normal and didn't mash the buttons to skip past my score this time, and was pleasantly surprised with a ending a gamer pic unlocked.

Got about five of Jonathan sub weapon's maxed. Plenty more to go. BTW theres a glitch rolling around but don't know if it works against enemies, but someone was able to hit me for 300+ damage with his Jonathan using one of his subweapons.
 
[quote name='Strell']It interests me, but nerfing the guy I wanted out of the gate in a crippling way for something I'd describe as "his normal set of moves" makes the demo trash. I'm guessing no one played the demo, which is fair and good, since if someone already has the intention to play this, they'll jump in head first. That's fine. But the demo is horrible because Alucard - the big badass dhampeel - could move faster with a damn Rascal. That's a bad way to introduce me.

[/QUOTE]

The demo isn't very good for this game.

The speed works for the game, and really if the characters moved faster you would roll the levels even faster with Soma's and Alucards best weapons.

The game has some issues, Alucard spells all suck for the most part, so you would probably hate that fact as well. He's sorta a junky character until you get the Fist, Yatsuna, or Valmanway. I think the game would be overall much better if they nerfed the best weapons and spells and made all the other spells and weapons better.

The are a lot of odd choices, like Artemis shoes which you can buy being one of the best if not the best footware for the girls and why Alucards spells are absolutely terrible.

But, it is what it is... I don't see them making any changes besides bug fixes.

One other issue is that people who pick up the game now will play with mostly overpowered Charlottes, Alucards, and Somas. So those characters will just destroy the bosses and it will be hard to really play the game as intended. Castle crashers had this same issue.
 
[quote name='wakawakawa']One other issue is that people who pick up the game now will play with mostly overpowered Charlottes, Alucards, and Somas. So those characters will just destroy the bosses and it will be hard to really play the game as intended. Castle crashers had this same issue.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I found this to be a problem when trying to level a new character. That's why if you don't have any immediate friends to play with it'll take forever to find a suitable team. But it can't stressed enough how fun it is when you do.

Alucard's spells are laughable when compared to Charlotte & Shanoa. Unfortunately you have to level them in order to make his overall stats go up.
 
[quote name='Strell']I'd like to thank wakawakawaka for the actual good reply. Thank you.[/QUOTE]

because he told you what you wanted to hear?

and the movement speed thing is wrong... they aren't very different.
 
[quote name='zewone']I think I'm going to set the record of hard Dracula kills without a Valmanway. I'm at ~250 kills at the moment.[/QUOTE]
I gave up after 20. god bless ya
 
[quote name='Strell']I'd like to thank wakawakawaka for the actual good reply. Thank you.[/QUOTE]

You're not going to get many more replies if you act like that. Crap, no more ordered lists for you. :p

Just because Trakan and I weren't critical doesn't mean our opinions aren't valid. There's nothing that makes a very positive opinion untrustworthy unless the person refuses to acknowledge shortcomings (which we haven't done). You'll notice most of the people in this thread are really happy about the game and enjoy working on their characters. We're not all crazy; it's because the game is fun for us.

Me, I don't have a problem playing with overpowered people because I play with friends (a ton of which I made through random matchups early on). Nor does a character being extremely powerful bother me when I'm just grinding for better boss drops. Everyone plays a level for fun enough times, but when you're specifically looking for rare drops, play style necessarily changes.
 
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[quote name='Rodimus']
Alucard's spells are laughable when compared to Charlotte & Shanoa. Unfortunately you have to level them in order to make his overall stats go up.[/QUOTE]

They should be. His weapons and the damage he does is way better than both of them. Two Yamo + Berserker Mail > anything Shanoa or Charlotte can do.

As for his spells, you guys just don't know how to use it. Mist is a big savior, especially making the Puppet Master a big joke. Puppet goes in, mist, you stay alive 100% of the time. Soul Steal gets you through all Medusa areas without any damage. Hellfire max does 3x40... not too shabby for a character that is supposed to be used a tank.

As for overpowered characters... To each their own. If you don't like it, drop the game. If you don't care or like it, stay. This is the joy of how easy it is to drop and play in games. There are still plenty of people playing from Normal 1.
 
[quote name='Strell']Correct - I wanted to hear more than Castlevania fan masturbation.[/QUOTE]

You said yourself a few pages back that you're a Castlevania fan and that you're interested in it because "it's Castlevania."

Well, you're hearing the thoughts and opinions of other Castlevania fans. We told you it's good. If you're not having it, I really don't know why you're even coming back to this thread.
 
I feel like torturing myself and want to try my hand at Johnathon. Any preferred methods for leveling Johnathons Sub-Weapons?

BTW, I saw your faqs on Gamefaqs eastx. Good stuff. It's much nicer than the other guys.
 
I did it. I broke the record for most fucked individual in this game.

334 Dracula kills an no Valmanway still.

I can't wait to see what my final tally is, so I can shoot myself in the face.
 
[quote name='Rodimus']I feel like torturing myself and want to try my hand at Johnathon. Any preferred methods for leveling Johnathons Sub-Weapons?

BTW, I saw your faqs on Gamefaqs eastx. Good stuff. It's much nicer than the other guys.[/QUOTE]

He's not as good as Soma/Alucard, but he becomes a beast when he's maxed out. The fastest way would probably be to boost in Survival.
 
[quote name='zewone']I did it. I broke the record for most fucked individual in this game.

334 Dracula kills an no Valmanway still.

I can't wait to see what my final tally is, so I can shoot myself in the face.[/QUOTE]
that sucks man I'm at the point where I do him 5-6 times a day and just give up
 
[quote name='zewone']I did it. I broke the record for most fucked individual in this game.

334 Dracula kills an no Valmanway still.

I can't wait to see what my final tally is, so I can shoot myself in the face.[/QUOTE]

How high is your luck? You should get it down to 5 or so and then try for good items.
 
[quote name='Rodimus']I feel like torturing myself and want to try my hand at Johnathon. Any preferred methods for leveling Johnathons Sub-Weapons?

BTW, I saw your faqs on Gamefaqs eastx. Good stuff. It's much nicer than the other guys.[/QUOTE]

Yeah... you know you could just ask me.

Set the skill you want to level up as your down + subweapon button, back dash and spam that weapon.

Make sure your using the ring that uses your hp instead of mana points and one master ring.

Go to survival mode and find another Jonathan or Shanoa. Make sure you set the max players to 2 and play hard level 1.

I got about 5+ maxed so far, and almost everything at 8. Jonathan is a beast when maxed but I would still give the edge to Alucard/Soma.
 
Thanks for the Johnathon advice. I did the survival thing last night and worked out pretty good.

LostRoad - I remember having this problem with you last week. Our connections just aren't compatible. Not sure how to fix it.
 
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