Topic: Harmony of Despair (The next Castlevania game?)

[uzo]

it'd be nice to see sprites and backgrounds we aren't so familiar with anyways.

All the new area backgrounds in the Saturn port were reused pieces of other areas though...

[thernz]

And shoddy horribly shaded grey pipes.

[Abnormal Freak]

Yeah, so playing this game alone blows. I can imagine it being fairly fun with people, though—but I refuse to pay for Xbox Live Gold membership and play with people I don't know.

Controls are total crap, though. Way slow. None of the games this game is based on had such crap controls.

[X]

My brother wasn't too thrilled with this game. He downloaded it to try it out but was dissapointed in the end. He said it played more like a side-scrolling version of Gauntlet rather then being a CV game. What's more he wasted 12 bucks that could've been put to better useage then on this title. I trust my brother's judgement since he and I think almost exactly alike and since I'm not thrilled about the things I've seen and heard about the game I can see where he's coming from. I think we'd be better off downloading Hard Corps: Uprising. At least that game not only looks like it can deliver but also looks good on the videos IMO.

-X

[uzo]

Who's up for saying "you were right UZO!"? I know I am.

[Ahasverus]

[X]

LOL!!!

-X

[thernz]

Picture, bro.

Recycling?
If this game had all new sprites, it would still suck.

[Sonic_Reaper]

So this game was fun at first but it's turned into a chore.  Dracula is next to near impossible on hard mode without a proper set up, as literally two hits will kill, some attacks, just one (and these are of course the near impossible to dodge ones).  The solution seems to be farming Valmanway for Alucard or Soma, then using that to kill him easily on the next run, but you have to kill him in the first place to get it, and even then, you're not guaranteed to get one from his treasure drop.

It was fun at first because there was a sense of progression, of going through the levels and getting stronger.  But at this point, it has turned into a grind, trying to collect items/weapons, and it has become clear that the top tier characters are Alucard and Soma.  What's worse, if you want to train as a single player, some treasure chests (specifically, thes ones that you DO want) are simply unattainable without a secondary characters.

The online matching system isn't very good either.  I've had the game drop all players on many occassions, had it freeze multiple times when trying to enter a room, and in most cases it just downright takes forever to find a good group to game with.  No offence to most people, but most players are simply dead weight.  It's fun to pick up and play here and there, but without a sense of progression, it's just one giant grind fest, with no real purpose (since most gamers just farm Dracula anyway--whats the point of farming better weapons when you've already beaten the game?).

I must say I was enamored with the idea at first, but I've become somewhat disillusioned.  The first time a group of 6 tackled Gergoth, it was beautiful, and really fun.  But the novelty has worn off, really fast.

[Dremn]

LOL

[uzo]

Recycling?
If this game had all new sprites, it would still suck.

Hahaha. Well said.

Love the image.

[Nox_A15]

So this game was fun at first but it's turned into a chore.  Dracula is next to near impossible on hard mode without a proper set up, as literally two hits will kill, some attacks, just one (and these are of course the near impossible to dodge ones).  The solution seems to be farming Valmanway for Alucard or Soma, then using that to kill him easily on the next run, but you have to kill him in the first place to get it, and even then, you're not guaranteed to get one from his treasure drop.

It was fun at first because there was a sense of progression, of going through the levels and getting stronger.  But at this point, it has turned into a grind, trying to collect items/weapons, and it has become clear that the top tier characters are Alucard and Soma.  What's worse, if you want to train as a single player, some treasure chests (specifically, thes ones that you DO want) are simply unattainable without a secondary characters.

The online matching system isn't very good either.  I've had the game drop all players on many occassions, had it freeze multiple times when trying to enter a room, and in most cases it just downright takes forever to find a good group to game with.  No offence to most people, but most players are simply dead weight.  It's fun to pick up and play here and there, but without a sense of progression, it's just one giant grind fest, with no real purpose (since most gamers just farm Dracula anyway--whats the point of farming better weapons when you've already beaten the game?).

I must say I was enamored with the idea at first, but I've become somewhat disillusioned.  The first time a group of 6 tackled Gergoth, it was beautiful, and really fun.  But the novelty has worn off, really fast.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Still I hope I'll have a chance to play it on PSN in the near future.

[shelverton.]

Hm. I've finally decided to skip this game altogether. I have the microsoft points, but I am spending them on Limbo instead. It looks really good, though I've heard it's short... Anyway, I'll just watch youtube videos of Harmony of Despair instead, no need to sit through the game really.

[eTom]

My biggest wish? I'd love to play the castles from Symphony of the Night on Harmony of Despair. Hell, I'd even pay another 1200 points for that!

They'd have to change/tweak the drops and whatnot... as well as import a bunch of enemies, but still. It'd be sweet to roam those halls as Soma or Shanoa.

[X]

The castle from SotN was a work of art! Everything about it was fresh and original. It's a shame IGA can't make the effort to pull it off again.

-X