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A Huge Battleship · May 6, 2013

I have zero prior experience with the Castlevania games. They're much like the (2D) Metroids in that I've always admired them from a distance but never actually gotten my hands dirty with them. Fortunately, that's now come to an end with Harmony of Despair.

I downloaded it from PSN without any real expectations. 40 hours and a vast majority of the available DLC later and it's turned out to be easily one of the most enjoyable things I've played for a good while. I suspect that not having touched any of the other Castlevanias has actually given me a greater appreciation for it, since I gather much of the content is 'inspired' by the other entries.

There's no sole element that makes the game such a success for me. It's a combination of the simple yet often challenging 2D gameplay, the fantastic level design, the gothic aesthetics and, of course, all that lovely loot.

There's something amazing about starting a stage and seeing... this.

The OST is superb. I know the tracks are predominantly just remixes from the other games, but as someone who's hearing them for the first time, they're a joy to listen to. Some prime cuts:

Lost Portrait
Gaze Up at the Darkness
Dracula's Castle
Ebony Wings

I've been almost exclusively using Shanoa and Charlotte, though I'm having much more success with the latter (Heal is a godsend for solo runs). Just finished clearing the DLC stages on Hard, which was my main remaining goal. I'll likely experiment with some of the other characters and go hunting for a few more rare items.

Once I'm done with Harmony of Despair, I plan on trying out some of the other entries. What's worth checking out? Bear in mind that handhelds and me don't get on.

JCV · May 6, 2013

Play Symphony of the Night. It's the best metroid-vania out there. And dat soundtrack!

Toki767 · May 6, 2013

I liked the game. Just hated my luck with the drops. Also Soma was too overpowered.

zewone · May 6, 2013

All of the content is taken straight from the DS and PS1 games. And it plays nothing like them.

With that said, I love this game and put a couple hundred hours into it. I hope we see a sequel.

Pappasman · May 6, 2013

Symphony of the Night is the most popular game in the series, play that next. It's amazing.

Maedhros · May 6, 2013

For the right price, this game is pretty ok, even though it's pretty lazy.

deddonpachi · May 6, 2013

in that castlevania hype i'm in right now i might grab this one next month.. are there still players on ps3?

Jotamide · May 6, 2013

I always wanted to play this but didn't want to pay the ridiculous price for all those reused assets. :S

spyhunterzero · May 6, 2013

It's a nice little game. Got it since it came out on the 360 and then again for the PS3. I will agree with Toki767 in saying that Soma was made too overpowered.

deddonpachi said:
in that castlevania hype i'm in right now i might grab this one next month.. are there still players on ps3?

I still play it like crazy. Also the community on PS3 is alot better than the 360. I switched back and the 360 community is really REALLY small.

viewtiful_dru · May 6, 2013

I'm STILL salty that Charlotte was nerfed and Soma was relatively untouched.

RangerBAD · May 6, 2013

zewone said:
All of the content is taken straight from the DS and PS1 games. And it plays nothing like them.

With that said, I love this game and put a couple hundred hours into it. I hope we see a sequel.

I'm doubting that Iga will be promoted from his official Konami janitorial position.

jaxword · May 6, 2013

Who's that standing behind everyone in the upper right? Silver haired lady?

spyhunterzero · May 6, 2013

jaxword said:
Who's that standing behind everyone in the upper right? Silver haired lady?

It's Yoko Belnades

Chance Hale · May 6, 2013

jaxword said:
Who's that standing behind everyone in the upper right? Silver haired lady?

Yoko from Aria/Dawn of Sorrow.

Edit: Beat! Will have to play with some gaffers sometime, recently got the PS3 version but as such I'm at base equipment and everything for all of their characters.

spyhunterzero · May 6, 2013

viewtiful_dru said:
I'm STILL salty that Charlotte was nerfed and Soma was relatively untouched.

Charlotte's nerf was justified. I feel that Soma should've gotten his shitty Valmanway instead of SoTN Valmanway since that seems to be most of his OPness.

Also, for anyone still playing this feel free to add me on any system.

jaxword · May 6, 2013

Ah, ok. Yoko looks way better not so anime-ized.

@MUWANdo · May 6, 2013

Fantastic game and a great evolution of the direction they were headed with Ecclesia, if only it wasn't so DLC-heavy.

Smellycat · May 6, 2013

IGA's last CV game, and I still haven't played it.

MisterLuffy · May 6, 2013

I really want to play this game. This should be more fun to play with my brothers.

Kokonoe · May 6, 2013

Best game on XBLA.

Kokonoe said:
As someone who obtained every item in the game, bought all the dlc, and maxed out every character, I have to say I wholeheartedly agree, the game is super fun, especially multiplayer.

It does start out slow, and it is indeed intended to be played with others, but once you get off it's real fun. Only issues with it were Omega God Tier Soma getting a bazillion different moves with each update but a lot of the other characters that needed stuff were kinda ignored. That, and if they're gonna make Soma broken like that, they need to give Alucard his Shield Rod. Either way, game is fun.

I want this game on PC darnit.

-

spyhunterzero said:
Charlotte's nerf was justified. I feel that Soma should've gotten his shitty Valmanway instead of SoTN Valmanway since that seems to be most of his OPness.

Also, for anyone still playing this feel free to add me on any system.

Not really, it wasn't broken, it was just useful. Soma has more broken things than the Valmanway.

beanman25 · May 6, 2013

oh man, love this game. Got 2 Val +1s along with pretty much every other good item, but it's still crazy fun.

Would play with some if you guys are up for it. Not tonight, but this week sometime!

BobRichards91 is my gamertag.

Chance Hale · May 6, 2013

jaxword said:
Ah, ok. Yoko looks way better not so anime-ized.

Yeah, Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin's art style are a real bummer. It's not even that it's ....anime esqe but such generic anime. Portrait of Ruin is the worse offender I think.

spyhunterzero · May 6, 2013

Kokonoe said:
Best game on XBLA.

-

Not really, it wasn't broken, it was just useful. Soma has more broken things than the Valmanway.

Everything else takes skill to use weapon wise so don't mind it much. Souls probably should've gotten some nerfs but Vals and Vals+1 are a real problem IMO. Charlotte's heal+ Astral Ring being abused to make her absurdly strong was a biggie to me. Hell she was even stronger than Soma with that combo.

Aeriscloud · May 6, 2013

My only problem with CVHD is how much attention they paid to Soma, and how little attention they paid to Alucard, but I still enjoy it.

A Huge Battleship · May 6, 2013

I haven't actually tried this online yet, mainly because my internet is shit. Though I wasn't expecting there to be (m)any players around anyway.

Speaking of nerfs, I wish they'd fix Maria on PS3. From what I've gathered, she's largely the same as her pre-patch Xbox version, i.e. terrible.

JCV said:
Play Symphony of the Night. It's the best metroid-vania out there. And dat soundtrack!

Pappasman said:
Symphony of the Night is the most popular game in the series, play that next. It's amazing.

I was eyeing up Symphony of the Night on the PSN store earlier. Will probably make it the next one I check out, thanks.

spyhunterzero · May 6, 2013

I thought Maria was nerfed in the PS3 version.

A Huge Battleship · May 6, 2013

She is, that's what I meant!

Aeriscloud · May 6, 2013

I think Symphony of the Night is on sale on Xbox Live at the moment.

spyhunterzero · May 6, 2013

I do wish they had patched the 360 version to have offline Co-Op though

Mobius 1 · May 6, 2013

JCV said:
Play Symphony of the Night. It's the best metroid-vania out there. And dat soundtrack!

... and after that, every other Castlevania game is shit in comparison.

Start with the DS entries, then savor SOTN last for the grand finale.

Sgblues · May 6, 2013

Despite being a Castlevania fan, I haven't played this personally but have watched some videos of it, looks good and yeah from what I've seen, Soma is OP.

Yeah I should get around to playing this, also had wished for a full length storied sequel(course that would never happen ever...)

TheRedSnifit · May 6, 2013

It's pretty epic.

jaxword · May 6, 2013

Norante said:
... and after that, every other Castlevania game is shit in comparison.

Start with the DS entries, then savor SOTN last for the grand finale.

Aria of sorrow is pretty good.

kevinski · May 6, 2013

Great game, although I do think it had the potential to be even better. The game just feels kinda janky at times, and the DLC levels are WAY too difficult compared to the original six levels included with the game. There's virtually no difficulty curve. It's more or less a straight-up spike after you finish Chapter 6. Awesome soundtrack, though. Easily one of my favorites in the series.

spyhunterzero · May 6, 2013

As for other titles, I'd suggest the hand held ones as most of HD is basically the DS games with SoTN, Castlevania, and Getsu Fuma Den added in but i guess you really don't want to go there.

kevinski said:
Great game, although I do think it had the potential to be even better. The game just feels kinda janky at times, and the DLC levels are WAY too difficult compared to the original six levels included with the game. There's virtually no difficulty curve. It's more or less a straight-up spike after you finish Chapter 6. Awesome soundtrack, though. Easily one of my favorites in the series.

I think that has to do with those levels giving out the best weapons and armor. Hell You only need to play the DLC Chapters as most give you items that you would get in the others but at a higher rate.

Lightning Lord · May 6, 2013

Norante said:
... and after that, every other Castlevania game is shit in comparison.

Start with the DS entries, then savor SOTN last for the grand finale.

Funny you should say that, Portrait of Ruin is one of my most favorites. Love that game.

Beth Cyra · May 6, 2013

It was a fun experince, but Soma's existence ruined the game for me.

The character has the most amount of options of any character and actually breaks the game in several levels just because he is so over powered.

Got to the point where I really couldn't stand looking at it any more.

viewtiful_dru · May 6, 2013

spyhunterzero said:
Everything else takes skill to use weapon wise so don't mind it much. Souls probably should've gotten some nerfs but Vals and Vals+1 are a real problem IMO. Charlotte's heal+ Astral Ring being abused to make her absurdly strong was a biggie to me. Hell she was even stronger than Soma with that combo.

I very much disagree with that. Even with those speed boots (forget the name) Soma had a large speed advantage over her. Especially in those maps that he could abuse that skull soul and skip half the map.

I wonder if anyone still plays on 360. Wouldn't mind booting it up.

Or should I just get the PS3 version? I have a lot invested in 360 (pretty much all the DLC and a decent char or two)

Lee Chaolan · May 6, 2013

I LOVE THIS GAME.

I've been better lately, but for a few months, I played this game every day for at least an hour or two. lol.

Damn Valmanway +1's being so hard to get. I have so many Claim Solais +1's, dammit!

A Huge Battleship said:
I have zero prior experience with the Castlevania games. They're much like the (2D) Metroids in that I've always admired them from a distance but never actually gotten my hands dirty with them. Fortunately, that's now come to an end with Harmony of Despair.

OP, I was the same way! I had never played ANY Castlevanias before Harmony of Despair. It got me so addicted, that I played through Rondo of Blood (Yay, Richter!) Then through Symphony of the Night.

Hope you're enjoying the game!

Also, thanks for Seraphis for summoning me here <3

Oh, and Richter's theme is badass.

cj_iwakura · May 6, 2013

I just realized that means Castlevania HD.

Oh, Konami.

I liked the game well enough, but it's really tough to play alone.

SirIgbyCeaser · May 6, 2013

I thought all the GBA games were solid if not great.

According to the wiki I just read, the 360 version doesn't have local co-op.. how messed up is that?

Lee Chaolan · May 6, 2013

cj_iwakura said:
I just realized that means Castlevania HD.

Oh, Konami.

I liked the game well enough, but it's really tough to play alone.

It's harder to find good competent random parties anymore, unless you're playing with friends.

The stages difficulty does scale depending on number of players too, so going Solo isn't a bad option, but yeah, the game totally shines in full glory 6 player co-op!

SirIgbyCeaser said:
I thought all the GBA games were solid if not great.

Aria of Sorrow is probably the best GBA title. Soma is too cool.

Seraphis Cain · May 6, 2013

SirIgbyCeaser said:
I thought all the GBA games were solid if not great.

According to the wiki I just read, the 360 version doesn't have local co-op.. how messed up is that?

You're not missing anything. The local co-op is very nearly unplayable.

Lee Chaolan · May 6, 2013

A Huge Battleship said:
I haven't actually tried this online yet, mainly because my internet is shit. Though I wasn't expecting there to be (m)any players around anyway.

Speaking of nerfs, I wish they'd fix Maria on PS3. From what I've gathered, she's largely the same as her pre-patch Xbox version, i.e. terrible.

I was eyeing up Symphony of the Night on the PSN store earlier. Will probably make it the next one I check out, thanks.

If you have a PSP/Vita you should really get Dracula X Chronicles. The first part which is called Rondo of Blood is a direct prequel of Sympthony of the Night, which leads right into Symphony. Rondo is a great mix of Old school Castlevania with hidden areas that were common place in SOTN!

I played it first on the Wii VC as Rondo of Blood, but DXC is even better.

Seraphis Cain said:
You're not missing anything. The local co-op is very nearly unplayable.

It's terrible how it stretches the screen, but it's very valuable in grinding, as you get 4 Boss drops instead of 1.

CrazyTank940 · May 6, 2013

I just bought Harmony not too long ago on PSN myself, I just have crap luck with Alucard since I'm a few chapters in and I still only have Summon Spirit :\

I primarily play Julius though, dat leveled up cross man.

Seraphis Cain said:
You're not missing anything. The local co-op is very nearly unplayable.

I dunno, I've had some fun with my friends in local co-op.

Lee Chaolan · May 6, 2013

Deadpool940 said:
I just bought Harmony not too long ago on PSN myself, I just have crap luck with Alucard since I'm a few chapters in and I still only have Summon Spirit :\

I primarily play Julius though, dat leveled up cross man.

Hey if you'd ever like to play, (and this goes for anyone else that see this.) my PSN is on my profile.

Richter is my main guy, then I go back and forth between the rest.

As for Alucard, Summon Spirit is pretty good when 9 souls are collected. I just increased his luck to the max it allows, and did Astarte's stage, etc.

CrazyTank940 · May 6, 2013

TheBatman said:
Hey if you'd ever like to play, (and this goes for anyone else that see this.) my PSN is on my profile.

Richter is my main guy, then I go back and forth between the rest.

As for Alucard, Summon Spirit is pretty good when 9 souls are collected. I just increased his luck to the max it allows, and did Astarte's stage, etc.

How do you increase the amount of souls he can use? Also, honestly I wouldn't mind playing a game session right now even (unless you're busy now, then in that case I can probably play tomorrow after classes)

Lee Chaolan · May 6, 2013

Deadpool940 said:
How do you increase the amount of souls he can use? Also, honestly I wouldn't mind playing a game session right now even (unless you're busy now, then in that case I can probably play tomorrow after classes)

Well, he can have 4 abilities equiped at any time.

Summon Spirit is actually pretty good when you collect 9 of them. As I mentioned, get your luck into the high 30's or 40's with Alucard, then play Chapter 7 and fighting the Red Ectoplasms, they'll randomly drop them due to your high luck stat.

Then Dark Inferno and Soul Steal are great. Alternate Harmony will shed more light on which stages are best for these, been a while since I collected, so don't remember much.

Also, sure I'll hop on PSN, just add my PSN name.

amishpriest99 · May 6, 2013

I've got HoD too, though I've been a terrible person and haven't played it much lately

. I'll try to make some time for it this week. In any case, my PSN is Amishpriest.

DRock · May 6, 2013

Do people still play this on 360? I still have a lot of grinding to do.

I thought this game was great, but a few things really soured it for me.

DLC price
Axe Armor for characters you didn't buy (fucking worst)
no local coop patch for 360 version

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