Topic: Castlevania harmony of despair coming this week !

[KaZudra]

Not on Chapter 4 on Single-Player.  Fuckin' painting switches will murder your half hour.
What's the point of the time limit, again?  Is it 'cuz PSN can't keep a connection going any longer?
Seems like plain evil, to me.  Time Limits?  What is this, Super Mario Bros. 1?

there is a certain point where you can Skull jump off of enemies and skip half of the stage.
youtube has all those exploits, I personally learned them from the xbox

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

What is this 'Skull Jump' hullabaloo you speak of?

[JR]

Using your downward jump kick to bounce off of the heads of your enemies. Good way to get some out-of-the-way chests and bypass a lot of monsters (especially for the Slogra/Gaibon gauntlet if you take the castle wall shortcut on Chapter 9).

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Oh ok!
I just call that the downkick or the stomp or the bounce.
I've used it a few times already.
I'm still not digging the timer in this game, though.

[Munchy]

I'm still not digging the timer in this game, though.

What, you mean you don't enjoy all of your 6P party dying except you, leaving a boss with a stupid amount of health? I thought that was the core of Castlevania.

[Sonic_Reaper]

Some stages can be beaten under a minute.  The timer is irrelevant, and a source of needless whining.  Even the longest stages should never take more than 7 minutes to beat, and that includes exploring every nook and cranny.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I don't think I agree.
At least, not until you've got better weaponry and spells or whatever.

I'm only just now at that point in game in which skeletons take one hit to kill.  Since there are no levels in the game (or am I just missing something?), I have to grind, at the easier stages (or grind and fail at the harder ones) in order to either earn the gold or find the weaponry to improve my offensive/defensive power.  I've failed two stages due to lack of time but one time it was because I did not realize that even though the game is paused, the timer still ran (which is bullshit for a local game and you know it).

Sorry, but I play during commercial breaks when I watch TV and just did not see that.

The 2nd time, however, it was with Stage 4 and its painting maze.  I'm sure later on I'll memorize the map but this time playing it, I found it very frustrating.  And my only spell is a shitty Summon Spirit with Alucard.  At least my equipment is the best I can buy so far, but it doesn't help me when I couldn't even reach the upper sections of the stage in time (or at all).

[Rugal]

You guys grind in this game to complete later Chapters? WEAK! Me and my team of friends are stuck on ol' Dracula right now. We record our play so I'll have a funny video to post up here later. I'm playing as Julius while my two other friends are playing as Richter and Shanoa.

Also, A PAINTING OF THE SOUL!!

[PFG9000]

Using your downward jump kick to bounce off of the heads of your enemies. Good way to get some out-of-the-way chests and bypass a lot of monsters (especially for the Slogra/Gaibon gauntlet if you take the castle wall shortcut on Chapter 9).

I don't think that's what Kamui was referring to.  Once Soma gets the Yorick soul, he can toss a skull and jump-kick off of it repeatedly for a much higher jump.  Getting 9 Yorick souls makes the skull much bigger.  Other players can use the skull after Soma tosses it, too, and this can be used to skip large parts of levels, most notably in Chapters 1, 3, and 4.

[Rugal]

How to play Castlevania Harmony of Despair

Here it is. This was our first time fighting Dracula, so we thought the beam was going to go forward instead of down toward the floor.. 

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I don't think that's what Kamui was referring to.  Once Soma gets the Yorick soul, he can toss a skull and jump-kick off of it repeatedly for a much higher jump.  Getting 9 Yorick souls makes the skull much bigger.  Other players can use the skull after Soma tosses it, too, and this can be used to skip large parts of levels, most notably in Chapters 1, 3, and 4.

Ohhh.
That's very nice, but I'm playing Solo and not as Soma but as Alucard, sooooooooooo....

@Rugal:
I am playing locally and completely by myself.  So yeah I'm grinding for better weaponry.  I don't have anyone fighting by my side.

[crisis]

Here it is. This was our first time fighting Dracula, so we thought the beam was going to go forward instead of down toward the floor.. 

LOL 

[Rodriguezjr]

So far after playing the game after a few days, I really enjoy the online aspect of the game and helping out others. I had a few games where me and random people almost beaten the main game on Hard mode.

[Sonic_Reaper]

I don't think I agree.
At least, not until you've got better weaponry and spells or whatever.

I'm only just now at that point in game in which skeletons take one hit to kill.  Since there are no levels in the game (or am I just missing something?), I have to grind, at the easier stages (or grind and fail at the harder ones) in order to either earn the gold or find the weaponry to improve my offensive/defensive power.  I've failed two stages due to lack of time but one time it was because I did not realize that even though the game is paused, the timer still ran (which is bullshit for a local game and you know it).

Sorry, but I play during commercial breaks when I watch TV and just did not see that.

The 2nd time, however, it was with Stage 4 and its painting maze.  I'm sure later on I'll memorize the map but this time playing it, I found it very frustrating.  And my only spell is a shitty Summon Spirit with Alucard.  At least my equipment is the best I can buy so far, but it doesn't help me when I couldn't even reach the upper sections of the stage in time (or at all).

Sounds like you're being too precious with the game.  When I first began, I didn't play much single player.  I powered up my character through multiplayer.  This gives you the ability to make it much farther than you can on your own, and witness enemy and boss patterns for yourself with the safety net of having a team.  If I was playing solo, I would play on the hardest chapter available, and power up slowly, even if it meant dying.  That's the whole point of keeping items and skills after you die, so you can get farther next time.

The game was just released for PS3.  The community is growing with you, take advantage of that and play online.  This game is amazing when you tackle it together with a group of people for the first time, especially before everyone knows all the secrets and has all the equipment and abilities.  Discovering the game with a team was the best aspect of it for me.

One tip for Chapter 4 that will make it amazingly easy.  When you reach the part of the map past the room with those two dog-gorgon like things and the Chupacabra in the middle, you'll come to a ledge with a brown chest on top.  Normally, you can't reach it, but if you jump kick off the Imp (or even the Fire Demon in the proceeding hall), voila!  You've just reached the most important switch in the entire level (just past the Gurkha Master ahead).  This lever activates the elevator.  After which point, fall back down the ledge and continue up past the Rifle-ricocheting monsters, and the hall with ghosts, bats and Gurkha, and just beyond the Dullahan, you've reached the boss room (DO NOT jump in the painting just before the boss room.  This takes you back all the way to the beginning).

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Yeah I got to the switch.  Problem is, I had already explored the rest of the stage two times over so by the time I made it to the boss I had only like a minute left.
That and some idiot thought it would be a good idea to give rotten item drops to Frankenstein so just before the boss I was stricken with RustyFoodTin Malaria and had only enough life for one hit's worth of damage.

Painting of the Soul indeed.