History YMMV / CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDespair

* FanNickname:
** Hard mode is introduced to first-timers by more experienced players as "Ultra Hard Rape Mode" for good reason (and ''Normal'' Mode can get hair-pullingly difficult!)
** Yatsucard, Blendercard, Blendmatic, Blender, and so on for Alucard players using [[DualWielding dual]] Yasutsunas, due to this weapon's nature of slashing incredibly fast in front of the character, effectively creating a tornado of cutting death.
** The soundtrack is usually noted for having "HD Guitar-Spam Symdrome", thanks to almost all of the [=DLC=] songs done by one of the main composers for ''{{VideoGame/Gitadora}}'', Yasushi Asada.
** Due to the high amount of Soma players and how game-breaking Soma can get, the name "Castlevania: Soma and Friends" has been thrown around.

* ScrappyMechanic:
** Normally the camera is has three variable levels of zoom, depending on whether you want to focus on yourself or the stage around you. This works perfectly fine in the singleplayer or online modes. But if you play the local co-op on the [=PS3=] version? CameraScrew doesn't even begin to describe the absolute mess the game becomes on a dime from trying to make sure all the players stay on screen at the same time as it constantly zooms in and out; teleports and transferring across the stage force everyone to stand still or lose track of themselves as but specks on the screen. Combine that with anyone being able to shift the camera at any moment and a single {{Troll}} can turn everything into a nauseating mess. Since the HUD is already relatively small in terms of screen estate, a clever usage of splitscreen could've fixed ''a lot'' of the problem.

** When Chapter 9 was released, it gave an item known as the Fool's Tablet. It's essentially a variant of the Skull Ring, but instead of cursing you it poisons you instead, and it won't ever fade until you take it off. You'll be constantly taking damage, so you have to wonder why you'd ever use such a thing...and someone found a reason why. The Astral Brooch and Blood Cape both have the effect that they can regenerate your MP equal to damage taken, and since the Fool's Tablet can trigger poison damage (which does a flat 3 damage per second), you'd be getting 6 MP per second. Combine it with Charlotte and her Heal and she'd be practically back up to her glory! Alas, this was patched in the PS3 version so the Fool's Tablet would take away ALL of your HP and reduce it to 1 no matter what.

* MostAnnoyingSound:
** The Puppet Master's "YOU, TOO, SHALL BE MY PUPPET!". It can become very irritating due to Puppet Master's [[ThatOneBoss boss status]], and the quote is played every time you start that scenario. Noticeable in that he's the only boss with an intro like that.
** Maria's voice if whoever plays as her spams it, [[{{Troll}} which is mainly why people play as her to being with]].

* FridgeBrilliance: Soma can collect souls from all of the enemies he faces, including Dracula who is technically the same person as Soma. However, the only being that you cannot get a soul from is Menace. Why? It's an amalgation of many demons and souls! It cannot give Soma a soul because it doesn't have just *one* soul to give!

*** The update also decreased the damage output of the Yatsutsuna a great deal, making it a much less effective method of dealing damage, although to compensate, Muramasa received a massive damage increase. Amusingly enough, Chapter 11 adds both a Yasutsuna+1, which only has +2 attack over the normal version (compare +20 most other +1 gear gets, even Valmanway+1 gets +6) but hits just as fast as the original version used to, along with a Muramasa+1 which makes it the strongest katana in the game.
*** Combing the healer Charlotte with someone with an Astral Ring could originally lead to infinite spellcasting.

** The Valmanway (AKA the Crissaegrim) hits four times for each push of the attack button. Soma's Succubus soul recovers 1 HP every time he scores a hit (2 HP if you have nine of them). The HP you can recover with these two items piles up very fast, moreso if you have a second Valmanway. Combined with the Astral Ring, you get infinite magic attacks, and you can hover in place indefinitely with the Medusa Head soul, which breaks Legion entirely if you hover between its core and the spot where its tentacle laser appears. See why some people refer to this game as [[FanNickname Somavania?]]
*** Also note that if the 2 HP per hit seems hardly worth mentioning, everyone starts with 300 HP and can only increase it with equipment, with the best gear for that purpose being barely able to push it to 400 HP, with the overall enemy damage being scaled appropriately.

* InternetBackdraft: The moment information about it was released to the public, Creator/{{Sony}} fans scurried to the internet and started complaining that it's going to be an UsefulNotes/{{Xbox 360}} exclusive. A year later, [[http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100276075659063&oid=33404976120&comments it isn't]].

** Charlotte's Binding Book may come off as weird, as it requires her to copy spells off of her foes, which is something she and Jonathan don't share with the other DSVania protagonists...until you remember that in PoR, a good portion of her spells were dropped by enemies and were essentially the same attacks they used. Charlotte absorbing the spell from them is just her cutting out the middle man!

* FridgeBrilliance: Soma can collect souls from all of the enemies he faces, including Dracula who is technically the same person as Soma. However, the only being that you cannot get a soul from is Menace. Why? It's an amalgation of many demons and souls! It cannot give Soma a soul because it doesn't have just *one* soul to give!
** Charlotte's Binding Book may come off as weird, as it requires her to copy spells off of her foes, which is something she and Jonathan don't share with the other DSVania protagonists...until you remember that in PoR, a good portion of her spells were dropped by enemies and were essentially the same attacks they used. Charlotte absorbing the spell from them is just her cutting out the middle man!

* GrowingTheBeard: Arguably. Many that hated the game or thought it was SoOkayItsAverage when it came out have been drawn to it thanks to all of the DLC and the update which fixed several issues about the game.

** Normally the camera is has three variable levels of zoom, depending on whether you want to focus on yourself or the stage around you. This works perfectly fine in the singleplayer or online modes. But if you play the local co-op on the PS3 version? CameraScrew doesn't even begin to describe the absolute mess the game becomes on a dime from trying to make sure all the players stay on screen at the same time as it constantly zooms in and out; teleports and transferring across the stage force everyone to stand still or lose track of themselves as but specks on the screen. Combine that with anyone being able to shift the camera at any moment and a single {{Troll}} can turn everything into a nauseating mess. Since the HUD is already relatively small in terms of screen estate, a clever usage of splitscreen could've fixed ''a lot'' of the problem.

** The number of hits each one of the Puppet Master's puppets takes goes up to a ridiculous degree on Hard with several players, and with some character setups, it's literally impossible to destroy them before he manages to place one in an iron maiden, and on Hard, it's an instant kill. And in the group it's three or four hits to kill a puppet, ''per character''. That's anywhere from 18 to 24 hits needed to prevent instant death, and you'll find that some people eschew tactics in favor of spamming the boss with expensive and sometimes not very effective attacks... Ugh.
** Ryukotsuki and his goddamn screen filling knives and fireballs.

** Normally the camera is has three variable levels of zoom, depending on whether you want to focus on yourself or the stage around you. This works perfectly fine in the singleplayer or online modes. But if you play the local co-op on the PS3 version? CameraScrew doesn't even begin to describe the absolute mess the game becomes on a dime from trying to make sure all the players stay on screen at the same time as it constantly zooms in and out. Combine that with anyone being able to shift the camera at any moment and a single {{Troll}} can turn everything into a nauseating mess. Since the HUD is already relatively small in terms of screen estate, a clever usage of splitscreen could've fixed ''a lot'' of the problem.

* InternetBackdraft: The moment information about it was released to the public, Creator/{{Sony}} fans scurried to the internet and started complaining that it's going to be an {{Xbox 360}} exclusive. A year later, [[http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100276075659063&oid=33404976120&comments it isn't]].

** The soundtrack is usually noted for having "HD Guitar-Spam Symdrome", thanks to almost all of the [=DLC=] songs done by one of the main composers for {{VideoGame/Gitadora}}, Yasushi Asada.

** The soundtrack is usually noted for having "HD Guitar-Spam Symdrome", thanks to almost all of the [=DLC=] songs done by [[VideoGame/Gitadora Yasushi Asada]].

** The soundtrack is usually noted for having "HD Guitar-Spam Symdrome", thanks to almost all of the [=DLC=] songs done by one of the main composers of ''VideoGame/Gitadora'', Yasushi Asada.

** The soundtrack is usually noted for having "HD Guitar-Spam Symdrome", thanks to almost all of the [=DLC=] songs dome by one of the main composers of ''VideoGame/Gitadora'', Yasushi Asada.

** Charlotte has a heal spell. Prior to the Dec 20 update, with high spell levels and good intelligence bonuses, it could recover significantly more HP than it costed in MP, and was very quick to activate as well. The Astral Ring, when equipped, causes you to use HP instead of MP to use magic. This was eventually patched out so that the amount of healing gotten has been greatly reduced and the spell takes 50 MP now, meaning it's hard to break even with it. It also doesn't have any invincibility frames anymore when cast, meaning you can't use it to bypass stage hazards.

** A multiplayer shortcut in Chapter 2 with the 2 gates and be easily used alone by backdashing the same time you trigger the switch.
** Medusa Head and the retro variant will reset your aerial speed, so rapidly tapping RB/R1 will level out your fall, making some jumps easier to make.

** Maria's voice if whoever plays as her spams it, which is mainly why people play as her to being with.

** Maria's singing if whoever plays as her spams it.

* MostAnnoyingSound: The Puppet Master's "YOU, TOO, SHALL BE MY PUPPET!". It can become very irritating due to Puppet Master's [[ThatOneBoss boss status]], and the quote is played every time you start that scenario. Noticeable in that he's the only boss with an intro like that.

** The soundtrack is usually noted for having "HD Guitar-Spam Symdrome"

** Miser Rings increase your attack by 1 for every million gold you have, with a maximum effect of 10. Not your strength, your attack. Even the Vorpal Blade is dangerous with two of these, much less two Valmanway +1s. and if you're good with backdash canceling? You can say goodbye to the difficulty.

** Predictably, the reaction to those who abused the previously mentioned healing trick with Charlotte once it was no longer possible. According to them, though, it enabled Charlotte to be just as effective as Soma or Alucard in the right hands, so its removal just centers the game even further around those two.

** And on the other end? Don't expect to see much Maria or Yoko unless you're playing Chapter 9.

** Everyone will use speed enhancing boots unless they need that extra Luck.

** The acceleration glitch. Mainly, if a character drops a certain distance, they will have to wait a few frames to land safely and get up. However, if you do this to the edge of a moving platform, you'll accelerate and possibly go through walls and floors.

** The elevators in Chapters 1 and 5 can be used without assistance.
** A multiplayer shortcut in Chapter 2 with the 2 gates and be easily used alone.

** Same with Alucard's Mist Form, but it also slightly moves, allowing Alucard to better pull off the "drop kick-ledge" trick.
** Chapter 10 is filled with these. When you get to the elevator, you'll most likely see a Soma player on the elevator, throwing a puppet off the wall, then teleporting into the opposite wall and flying into what is supposed to be Stage 6 of the original ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaI''. If you're lucky, however, you'll see a ''really good'' Soma player do the same thing...'''but at the start of the level'''.

** If a ledge is just a few pixels too high, a drop kick might get you on the ledge due to awkward hitboxes.

* PolishedPort: The [=PS3=] version comes with offline multiplayer and a fixed drop table so rare drops actually drop more than once in a blue moon.

** Predictably, the reaction to those who abused the previously mentioned healing trick with Charlotte once it was no longer possible. According to them, though, it enabled Charlotte to be just as effective as Soma or Alucard in the right hands, so its removal just centers the game even further around those two.
* TheyJustDidntCare: Simon appears as a 8-bit sprite, while the portrait is shown in [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChronicles Ayami Kojima style]]

* FirstInstallmentWins: Averted initially. Every playable character came from ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood Rondo of Blood]]'' or later.]] Played straight later with Simon Belmont, who appears in his original 8-bit glory.

* PolishedPort: The PS3 version comes with offline multiplayer and a fixed drop table so rare drops actually drop more than once in a blue moon.