Akumajo Dracula: Harmony of Dispair

[GaijinPunch]

August 4th on XBLA:
Source

Discuss

EDIT: 6-player co-op. And yes, it has Alucard.

[Skykid]

6 Player co-op? Wow.

It looks like the screen scales out SMB Wii style (and a long way by the looks of things.)

A shame it's not a whole new regular Vania rather than a Metroidvania, but the multiplayer shakes things up a bit.

[Ed Oscuro]

Well, that's one way to deal with the lo-res original graphics. I remember reading rumors that the game was originally to be a PS2 release, so perhaps this makes sense in a way. Looks strange though. Will be interesting to hear what the music sounds like now. Overall, can't say I'm too excited, it looks like a bastard child to be honest.

[ZOM]

it looks like a bastard child to be honest.

pretty much. The fact that the game seems to be co-op time-attack only doesn't help either. I'm also not too fond about the screen-zooming thingy, but I need to play it first before judgement.

Also, I predict lots of different colored Alucards running around.

[alastair jack]

Looks hilariously bad.

[BulletMagnet]

They're certainly getting their money's worth out of those TG-16 sprites, since they're also recycling them for that Castlevania puzzle game...

[ryu]

Castlevania games have been recycling their own graphics for so many years now it isn't even funny anymore.

[Damocles]

I saw the trailer a few weeks ago, and immediately lost all interest. I suppose the concept is good, but it just screams crap.

[evil_ash_xero]

The recycled graphics must stop. But they won't.

[JoshF]

God it's worse than a Gamemaker project.

[GaijinPunch]

Wow.. people bitching about recycled graphics, yet nobody lambastes KOF or Metal Slug.

[Skykid]

Wow.. people bitching about recycled graphics, yet nobody lambastes KOF or Metal Slug.

KOF deserved it for a while, but the new iterations have put paid to that (instead KOFXII can be lambasted for being clearly released unfinished and being bit shit.)

Metal Slug ran out of steam after... Metal Slug 1, so who cares anyway.

[linko9]

I've honestly never minded the recycled sprites (and sometimes backgrounds), as each 2d game always has quite a bit of new spritework in it, and generally all new backgrounds. The sprites never look out of place either. However, from what I've seen of this game (admittedly very little), it doesn't look there are any new sprites to be found. It may still be fun, but this is the first CV game where I think the "reused graphics" complaint is one that I'd share.

[CptRansom]

APPARENTLY I MADE A DUPLICATE THREAD MY BAD
I'M NOT REALLY INTO ONLINE MULTIPLAYER AT ALL, SO I'M ON THE FENCE
I HEAR SOLO PLAY IS CHALLENGING
NOW THAT THE GAME IS OUT WHAT ARE YOUR OPINIONS
DID ANYONE HERE ACTUALLY BUY IT

[xris]

I'm liking this so far, but I am a big Castlevania fan. Played the first three levels in co-op with a friend last night. There's a big list of pros and cons. Levels are good, short,but the time limit is a neat addition, put's a little pressure on what you are doing. The charactures seem to have the traits native from their game, my friend played as Soma and absorbed souls as item drops. I was playing Shanoa and had to suck in spells to get them. Alot of fun in co-op.
Not many enemies, I killed alot of axe knights.. You don't level up, you gain stats through items. Enemies don't really respawn. You can't pause!
Co-op was a blast. The single player seems to be difficult, and would be damn immposible at points. I would not want to play the third level by myself. But, in co-op it was one of the best down to the absolute wire victories I have had in awhile. It's a little short at six levels, but there seems to be more on the way (hopefully). I've played all of the 2D 'Vanias, so this is well worth it to me.
I,ve done a couple levels in single player, it was difficult, but in a Order of Ecclesia way. (good luck with level three by yourself) You can only hold three of ONE item at a time until you get to a 'save' spot. And only there can you also change your gear.
The games like a greatest hits mash up, with a huge emphasis on multiplayer.

[Elixir]

Bought it last night. Here's what's wrong with it:

- One person leaving your lobby causes the entire room to drop.
- "Forming a team" can cause people to drop, causing others to drop as well.
-- After forming a team, if people have dropped, no others can join.
- You can't pause in Singleplayer.
- Searching for via quick match causes the occasional freezing.
- Searching via Unlimited is really time consuming as it has to find games, display them, and then you have to choose one to join. Unsurprisingly, by that time, "unable to join game".
- There is no level balancing. I had someone do 80 damage per hit when I first played--Chapter 1.

I'm not too thrilled about how I had to buy 1000 and 500 points, because I only had 70 points in my account and was stuck at 1170. Wouldn't have happened if the game were 800 points, which is a more realistic price for a cookie cutter XBLA release like this.

The lobby process is really painful. You have to create a game, wait for people to join, "form a team" for some reason, then hope like hell nobody drops. If people drop, others will leave. Then you have to select a character/chapter, and hit Ready. You can't go until the rest of the players are also Ready. If all goes well, the game throws up that obnoxious loading screen, but after that, it's actually quite fun.

[CptRansom]

Sooooo don't play it online? Check.

[Elixir]

Sooooo don't play it online? Check.

There's no reason to buy this if you're only going to play Singleplayer.

[ZOM]

Yeah, that would be my first question - is the game in any way enjoyable in singleplayer mode or is it really just a short time-attack?

[Elixir]

Yeah, that would be my first question - is the game in any way enjoyable in singleplayer mode or is it really just a short time-attack?

Like I said, no.

[xris]

This is something you would only want to play with real life friends.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

A more descriptive title for this game would be Mugenvania: We Didn't Even Try.

[DJ Incompetent]

Things Elixir said.
This has some nasty rough edges, but overall some great fun if you're the right type of player.

1. Buy if you have people on your friends list who would be into this. This is really good time for online co-op, not good for playing randoms.
2. Buy for a really difficult single player as these are basically 20min stages that are as hard as the NES days. These stages are awesomely difficult alone. And if you can do it, there's a balls hard mode after that.

If you are outside those two conditions, there's not much here for you.

[Ed Oscuro]

overall some great fun if you're the right type of player.

I'm not going to say anything unfair about being a yes bitch for the Castlevania franchise. But aren't there any other games out there with this kind of gameplay? There isn't a shortage of good Castlevania-like games being made even today (most are fan projects but enough are good).

Sorry to hear about the Microsoft point troubles Elixir, that's pretty raw. Who knows who is responsible for that one - Konami or Microsoft.

[PepsimanVsJoe]

I think it's not even been a week and I've already put over 30 hours into this game.
Fucking love it.

[CecilMcW00t]

Been playing for hours. At first I was kind of confused but once I figured out what was going on with the stages it became phenomenal! Don't mind playing with randoms either, it's a great way to level up souls quickly with Soma. Although, right now I am grinding single player with Charlotte and buffing up her spell book.

[xris]

I'm glad there are a couple other people enjoying this. I've been mostly playing with one other person, and have found it to be allot of fun. it seems to be a nice balance with two players. I don't think there would be enough enemies to fight if I was playing with more people.
Anybody have any luck figuring out what some of the secrets are yet? IE, what's the spot light in the 5th level used for?
I've mostly been playing with Shanoa, trying to get her spells leveled up. Really need to find out if there is any other kind of weapon glyphs for her. The rapier weapon is my least favorite in Castlevania. I'll probably start playing with Soma next, hopefully he has alot more souls to use compared to Shanoa's glyph system. I only have a handful of spells to use with her right now. Does anybody know if hard mode has additional items/spells that normal doesn't?
edit for spelling, I'm stoopid sometimes..

[Elixir]

So far I've only found the Bell (1) and Konami Man (6). I know there's more, but apparently all but a single secret has been found, yet nobody knows what it is.

Probably something do to with that piano underneath the puppet.

[Lordstar]

ive been using Shanoa and Soma Cruz. Its quite fun with friends

[StarCreator]

- One person leaving your lobby causes the entire room to drop.
- "Forming a team" can cause people to drop, causing others to drop as well.

I can't say I've run into either of these issues. We've had people drop in the lobby and everyone else just gets shifted upward, and people drop mid-game, and their characters just disappear. I've only played with IRL friends though, I have absolutely no intention of joining random games.

-- After forming a team, if people have dropped, no others can join.

Now THIS is annoying - seems it was a lazy way to get around people joining in that haven't unlocked all the chapters yet. Would it have killed them to add an option for the lobby leader to back out to the Team Preparation phase?

- You can't pause in Singleplayer.

Not seeing any reason to play this in single player ever unless I feel like grinding. Which I never feel like.

- There is no level balancing. I had someone do 80 damage per hit when I first played--Chapter 1.

So don't play with people who have clearly played the game more than you have?

I was on the fence about it, but I'm glad I caved... this is really, really fun when you have full parties of your friends in it with you.