XBLA - Castlevania: Harmony of Despair

Man, somehow I've never found any boots that increase speed. So when I play stage 8 or 9, everyone zooms past me... Should I grind Chapter 9 and hope for Sonic Boots?
 
I just wish they would add achievements for all the money spent. Other arcade games had achievements for DLC.

I would grind whatever stage sonic boots are on because they are faster then winged boots and add to stats.
 
[quote name='Monsta Mack']I just wish they would add achievements for all the money spent. Other arcade games had achievements for DLC.

I would grind whatever stage sonic boots are on because they are faster then winged boots and add to stats.[/QUOTE]

Chapter 9 = Sonic Boots..... good luck
 
[quote name='eastx']Man, somehow I've never found any boots that increase speed. So when I play stage 8 or 9, everyone zooms past me... Should I grind Chapter 9 and hope for Sonic Boots?[/QUOTE]

While Sonic boots are the new footwear to get, you may want to grind chapter 7 for winged boots instead. Or, considering 6-9 all have winged/spnic boots (9 has sonic boots only but winged boots on the others), stick to doing whichever level you like best or has the other drops you are interested in.
 
Sonic don't seem to be to hard to get Bomber, I have gotten two already. If you or Rod want games hit me up this weekend, should be around.
 
Damn, I just got Sonic Boots on my first try. Guess it's the game paying me back for how many times I had to beat Dracula to get a Valmanway.
 
I must've played Chapter 9 20 times last night, only thing I got worth anything was 1 Beelzebub soul for Some, everything else was crap.

Instead of playing Chapter 9 I'd really like to survival grind with Richter. So if anyone else needs a partner I'm your man. Speaking of Richter were do you get his "Tackle" Martial Art? I read Chapter 4 but I played it a few times with no luck. Also what does the move look like? I remember he had a sliding tackle move in SOTN.
 
Try green/blue also. I don't know if it is purple only, but I remember for John that green chests dropped some of the subs and martial arts as well.
 
Simon Belmont is out now for 160 Points ($2) and the Origins stage is 240 Points ($3). That's $5 total for 8-bit Castlevania goodness.

DLC characters: 240 points each (except for 8-bit characters)

  • Julius Belmont - Julius can swing from the same spots as Shanoa.
    banner.png
  • Yoko Belnades - Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
    banner.png
  • Richter Belmont - Dracula X: Rondo of Blood
    picture.php
  • Maria Renard - Dracula X: Rondo of Blood version
    banner.png
  • Simon Belmont - 160 Points
    banner.png

Downloadable Content

 
Last edited by a moderator:
There's an easy solution for that, Sean. Get a Marketplace card and grab a stage or 2. They make the game a lot more interesting and provide new items and abilities for characters, after all.
 
Problem is Ive barely unlocked things in the base game. My weapon is the best one you can buy in the store. I'm sure there's way better stuff than that. I play as Soma, btw.

Maybe I should play more stages on easy by myself...
 
Well, if you need some help getting Souls and some basic items, I would be happy to help you out. Just send a friend request.

The most important item for playing with other people is Winged Boots (everyone wears them and you'll want to keep up with others), which you can get as a rare drop from Dracula in Chapter 6. But it's wayyy easier to get them from DLC Chapter 8, so you might keep that in mind as an important stage to get.
 
Chapter 10 includes the entire original NES Castlevania game! Every 8-bit enemy and boss (20 enemies total) plus some new paths and such.

New food items and abilities:
  • R. Pork Chop (best food item in the game)
  • 3 new spells for Charlotte:
    • R.Fireball
    • R.Summon Skeleton
    • R.Death Scythe
  • 4 new subweapons for the whip users (2 of them in the shop):
    • R.Boomerang
    • R.Fire Bomb (Holy Water)
    • R.Dagger (Item Shop)
    • R.Axe (Item Shop)
  • 2 more weapon glyphs for Shanoa:
    • Dextro Custos
    • Sinestro Custos
  • Many, many souls for Soma (which are for the most part just upgraded versions of their originals)

In addition to the 2 new remixed songs that come with the stage, it also includes 9 8-bit music tracks that unlock when you beat the stage! Chapter 10 is easily the best value of any stage yet.

  1. Vampire Killer
  2. Stalker
  3. Wicked Child
  4. Walking on the Edge
  5. Heart of Fire
  6. Out of Time
  7. Nothing to Lose
  8. Poison Mind
  9. Black Night

I haven't messed with Simon much, but he doesn't have any martial arts. However, if you roll from down to Forward + attack, he throws a fireball.
His subweapons are:
  • Axe
  • Bible
  • Cross
  • Holy Water
  • Javelin (does not count toward his strength stat)
  • Knife
  • R.Boomerang (does not count toward his strength stat)
  • R.Fire Bomb (does not count toward his strength stat)
  • R.Dagger (does not count toward his strength stat)
  • R.Axe (does not count toward his strength stat)

ch10.jpg


shimon.jpg


Chapter10_Map.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
So, I've had this game since it came out in the summer but have barely played it because I found the co op between people who are just running things over and over to be really boring and felt very disconnected from the whole thing. I have a surplus of MS points though and wouldn't mind putting some time into maybe getting my money out of the purchase. Would it be possible to start mostly from scratch at this point and maybe find a group of folks to play with somewhat regularly that talk and make it actually seem like a multiplayer game instead of a single player game that you run through concurrently with 5 other people?

And if you only had 1600 points to spend, what would you recommend purchasing? I only have the initial game content. No new characters/maps yet.
 
[quote name='eastx']I haven't messed with Simon much, but he doesn't have any martial arts.[/QUOTE]

He can do his whip fireball projectile buy doing a QCF + Attack.
 
So if I'm reading that right I only need to max
# Axe
# Bible
# Cross
# Holy Water
# Knife

for max whip damage?
Thats a relief, grinding wise.
BTW thanks for adding me, but my hours are all over the place so not sure when we'll meet.
 
^ If you need a partner to grind with later send me an invite. I'll most likely be playing something else, but I want to set aside a little time to grind Simon's weapons.
 
[quote name='seanr1221']Maybe I should be playing on normal more before jumping into hard? When should that transition be made?[/QUOTE]

You should beat stages 1-6 on Normal at least once. Hard is literally wayyy harder, but it's also where most of the best items are found.

If you're playing as Soma and looking for enemy Souls, it's much faster and easier to play stages on Normal instead of Hard. Spells, Glyphs, and subweapons can also be found on Normal, so you can work on those with other characters too.

Once you've unlocked all stages on Hard (by beating them once), you'll probably play Hard more than Normal since finding good items is really important.

[quote name='WTPolaris']
And if you only had 1600 points to spend, what would you recommend purchasing? I only have the initial game content. No new characters/maps yet.[/QUOTE]

The new Chapters are the most important thing. I personally do not enjoy Chapter 7 (the boss is extremely lame), but Chapters 8, 9, and 10 are all a lot of fun. As I said earlier, Chapter 10 comes with the most stuff and is cheapest, so definitely make sure you get it above all else. Chapter 11 will probably come with a similar amount of new content, for the same $3 price.

Character-wise, do you actually want more characters? The base 5 characters will keep you busy for a long time. But there are 3 new whip-wielders: Julius, Richter, and Simon. Then the two magic users, Yoko and Maria. Yoko & Maria will offer more variety than the whip users, so that's something to think about. Next week's new character, Getsu Fuma, will also be dramatically different.

So let's see, for 1600 points:

  • Chapter 8 - 320 points
  • Chapter 9 - 320 points
  • Chapter 10 - 240 points
  • Chapter 11 - 240 points
Total: 1120 points

This leaves you with 480 points. That's enough to get any 2 characters, or Chapter 7 (320 points) and 1 8-bit character (160 points). If you pick an 8-bit character, Getsu Fuma will be the most unique compared to the base characters.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
DLC characters:


Downloadable Content

 
Fuma seems to be the easiest to survivial grind to the max. So far all the sub weapons he has is 3, and you just gota max those 3 for his max damage and what not.

From what I've seen/read Chapter 11 has Fuma's armor drops, chaos ring off hard boss chest and a +1 Yatsuna. Also The Undead Simon Belmont drops Simon's Plate.
 
Should I buy this for the full price, or wait and see if they will have it on sale sometime this year? I have a friend that plays this a lot, so I could play this with him.
 
The game itself is likely to go on sale for 800 Points within the next 2 or 3 months. Might hold out for that if you can wait...
 
Yeah, they have voting going on the dashboard for 1 of 4 games to go on sale and last time I checked Harmony of Despair had a big lead on the other games so it's likely to go on sale soon.

EDIT: Just checked today and it looks like Pac-Man took a giant lead so scrap what I said about that deal.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
anyone up for survival mode... or anyone have tips how to level up faster in survival mode... does it matter how fast or how much damage you do to other players after the boss dies?
 
I'm sure this is a common complaint but I really wish they would bundle all the dlc for this game. I want to get some time and fun out of it but I have a lot of trouble paying around $15 for dlc when a game only costs $15 to begin with.

Any plans for something like that?
 
got back into this game in the last week or so, and from what i've read got extremely lucky with Dracula drops on 6 hard.

21 Dracula Kills and I've gotten

Dracula Soul x 2
Winged Boots x 1
Dracula's Tunic x 2
Valmanway x 1

Last night back to back runs I got Dracula's Tunic - Valmanway.

Chapter 10 is awesome, love the Vampire killer remix ( i set it to the music for every stage )

Bought chapter 8 and I plan on getting chapter 9 as well to hopefully get some sonic boots.
 
[quote name='dkreegz515']just curious what was your luck at...[/QUOTE]

mine was low. 9 if i remember correctly. But one of my co-op partners was higher (mid 30's i believe although i'm not positive) and tried to have him deal the killing blow to dracula on most runs.
 
[quote name='WTPolaris']I'm sure this is a common complaint but I really wish they would bundle all the dlc for this game. I want to get some time and fun out of it but I have a lot of trouble paying around $15 for dlc when a game only costs $15 to begin with.

Any plans for something like that?[/QUOTE]

Konami has released 2 retail discs w/ 3 XBLA games so it wouldn't be out of the question for this to be one eventually.

That being said, no, there have been no official plans.
 
[quote name='mang9432']got back into this game in the last week or so, and from what i've read got extremely lucky with Dracula drops on 6 hard.

21 Dracula Kills and I've gotten

Dracula Soul x 2
Winged Boots x 1
Dracula's Tunic x 2
Valmanway x 1

Last night back to back runs I got Dracula's Tunic - Valmanway.

Chapter 10 is awesome, love the Vampire killer remix ( i set it to the music for every stage )

Bought chapter 8 and I plan on getting chapter 9 as well to hopefully get some sonic boots.[/QUOTE]


Haha, awesome. I still need Dracula's Tunic, that one has evaded me for way too long. :)
 
Big sale next week! Wish the characters were also on sale since I own all the stages, but this should be good for the cheaper among us.

Castlevania Harmony of Despair May 3 – 9 600 50% metacritic quick look
Extra Stage: Lord of Flies May 3 – 9 160 50%
Extra Stage: The Legend of Fuma May 3 – 9 120 50%
Extra Stage: The One Who Is Many May 3 – 9 160 50%
Extra Stage: Origins May 3 – 9 120 50%
Extra Stage: Beauty, Desire, Situation Dire May 3 – 9 200 50%
Castlevania Symphony of the Night May 3 – 9 400 50% metacritic
 
[quote name='eastx']Big sale next week! Wish the characters were also on sale since I own all the stages, but this should be good for the cheaper among us.[/QUOTE]

same here, oh well. will still give me an excuse to play more since i haven't really touched ch 11 yet.

great sale though. no excuse not to get the game and all levels at this price
 
This finally gives me an opportunity to start the game. I actually haven't played a Castlevania game since the original on NES (I have SotN in my XBLA backlog) but this looks like a lot of fun.

I remember seeing people talk about co-op pretty much being mandatory to enjoy the game. I'll probably try it on my own but if anyone else wants to try going through it in stages send me a request.
 
[quote name='gubmccargen']This finally gives me an opportunity to start the game. I actually haven't played a Castlevania game since the original on NES (I have SotN in my XBLA backlog) but this looks like a lot of fun.

I remember seeing people talk about co-op pretty much being mandatory to enjoy the game. I'll probably try it on my own but if anyone else wants to try going through it in stages send me a request.[/QUOTE]

I'm actually considering getting HoD after all, so I'll def. shoot you an invite if I do. Likewise goes for anyone else just getting into this game. I don't want to be left behind as a lowly new character ;)

Edit: So if I were to buy up HoD and all the stages this week, it'd only be 1360 MSP or $17. Not bad... :whistle2:k
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I guess I'll get this now.... I was complaining about the price before so half off I'll get it.

Sucks that you have to buy extra char tho, is it a big difference with the other people?
 
[quote name='Denbo32']urg, they even made the music dlc.... they milk everything....[/QUOTE]

All the extra stages come with a new tune or two that unlock after you beat them. Stages 10 and 11 have a bunch of unlockable music though.

As for the extra music, you don't have to buy it. This fancy 360 console has a custom soundtrack feature. But the 2nd pack is really good.
 
I don't even know how I'm supposed to beat the Chapter 7 Boss. Takes forever and seems like I'm doing no damage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top