 |
Quick
Tips
|
|
The Castle Map
To attain the full 100% castle completion,
you need to fill in the castle map as seen above. While there's no reward
for simply filling in the map, it's always a good idea to cover as much ground
as possible--to find the strongest weapons and the more rare enemies whose
souls you may want to absorb. White lines represent unpassable boundaries
while faded white lines are openings that connect the rooms. Some seemingly
unpassable white walls can be destroyed to reveal secret rooms--this includes
walls and ceilings.
The "Boss Rush"
Mode
To
unlock this mode, an additional mission for Soma Cruz, you must finish the
game by defeating the Chaos essence's second form for the best ending. To
do this, you must defeat Graham Jones with the correct souls selected, to
allow a continuation of the story that brings you to the Chaotic Realm. After
the credits roll, your progress will be saved into the game's memory.
When the game resets, the title screen will have an additional option called
"Special," wherein the "Boss Rush" mode is the top billing.
Once you click on it, you must select your finished regular mission file in
order to begin. Simply put: This mode consists of successive battles against
the game's bosses--with what's normally a lesser enemy, the enigmatic Man-Eater,
thrown into the mix to add some length.
The order is as follows:
Creaking
Skull, Manticore, Great Armor, Man-Eater, Big Golem, Headhunter, Death, Legion,
Balore and Graham
In Harmony of Dissonance, you
started out on a set level in a room filled with hearts and sub-weapons. This
time around, since you've select your finished regular mission, you'll begin
with all of your stats intact plus the weapons, armor, souls and abilities
that you were able to attain. When "start" is pressed, you'll be
in a safety room wherein you can take the time to equip the weapons you'll
need; thereafter, there's no time to rest--there are no safety rooms after
boss fights. After you defeat a boss, though, it'll release a crystal that'll
restore your lost energy and magic power before you enter into the next room
for the next fight. When you've defeated the final boss, you'll find a nice
reward based on how long it took you to reach and defeat it, and it will
transfer over to your regular mission:
After you collect your new item, your score will
be tallied and you'll be returned to the main screen.
|
|
|
|
Why is he
here? Who knows?
|
Julius will
tear 'em apart
|
Despite what what was said about this
being an extra mission for only Soma, you can actually play through as another
character: Julius Belmont, who you can also unlock for the regular game; you'll
have to finish the regular game with him, too, by defeating Graham so that you
can get his own personal ending. Thus, it will save your progress and allow
you to select his finished save file to play through this mode. (For the information
on how to unlock him regularly, check the "codes" portion of this
page.) Julius, of course, has his own unique abilities, strong points and weaknesses,
so the mode will be a different experience for him. As it was for Soma, your
starting power will be decided by the saved stats of your regular mission file.
Playing as Julius is its own reward, however, since the collected item can't
be carried over to the inventory-less hero's main mission.
Sound
Mode
The Konami Sound Test returns once
again for your listening pleasure. To unlock this mode, simply defeat the
Chaos essence's second form for the game's best ending, under the same conditions
you used to unlock the "Boss Rush" mode. This may be redundant,
since both modes unlock at the same time. From here, you can without restriction
listen to all of the game's simply-named tunes .
Better
Endings
Symphony of the Night had different
endings depending on the conditions surrounding your battle with Richter Belmont,
and in contuing the trend there are three possible endings for Soma in Aria
of Sorrow depending on similar conditions. The first ending, considered
"bad," is received simply by making it to and defeating Graham Jones
in his Dracula-like state. The other two are decided by your battle with the
game's real ultimate evil, which you can reach by defeating Graham with the
following souls equipped: Flame Demon, Giant Bat and Succubus--these three
foes represent the answers to the riddles found in the three "ancient
books." The story will thus continue, spilling into the Chaotic Realm
where the final boss awaits. Here is the order of endings, including the aforementioned:
- Bad Ending:
Defeat Graham Jones under normal conditions.
- Good Ending:
Defeat Graham with the appropriate relics equipped. Now you must defeat the
Chaos essence's first form but lose to its second form.
- Best Ending:
Defeat Graham with the appropriate relics equipped. Now you just have to defeat
both forms of the Chaos essence.
Additionally, you will receive an extra
line of dialogue during the best ending's final scene if you were able to
defeat the Chaos essence after collecting all of the game's Tactical
Souls.
Bat
Attack
The
combination of the Flame Demon, Succubus and Giant Bat souls together equal
the true representation of the dark lord. It also affords you a Dracula-like
power while you're in bat form. With these three souls equipped, simply hit
L to transform into a bat and then push B to spit out three- and sometimes
five-directional fireballs. The use of flames causes your already-rapidly-draining
meter to empty quicker, but it'll let you cut through the storms of enemies
without having to force your way through. Contributor MarsDragon notes two
other powers you can harness as a bat:
-
Radar Attack:
"Put the Bat soul as your Bullet soul, and don't
worry about the Enchant soul--it doesn't matter. Ta-da! Now you can use
the expanding radar as a bat! I think you can shoot off the waves a bit
faster, but they do the same amount of damage (ie, none), but they're cool
to look at."
- Blue Crow Attack:
"Put the Blue Crow as your Bullet soul and the
Red Crow as your Enchant soul. It's kind of funny, but it has about the same
amount of usefulness as the Radar Attack. Basically, it allows Simon to throw
out the swooping blue crows while in bat form."
|
The
Codes
|
|
Play As Julius
Belmont: In Castlevania:
Symphony of the Night, you could play as Richter Belmont after clearing
a mission with Alucard. As yet another nod to the PlayStation classic, the
team's second masterpiece, the crew put in an extra that allows you to unlock
and play as Julius Belmont, who was thought to only be a supporting character.
To play as Julius, clear a normal mission with Soma for either the "acceptable"
or "best" ending and wait through the credits so that it saves your
progress. Now start a new mission and enter "Julius" as your name.
Simply skip past the usual intro, and the game will begin with you in control
of Belmont descendant, who plays very similarly to Juste Belmont from Harmony
of Dissonance and the aforementioned Richter.
Unlike
Soma, Julius can travel just about anywhere he wants to go from game's start
without restriction because he already has the special abilities to do so.
However, he has some restrictions in other areas of play: (1) He can't
access an inventory screen, which means that he can't collect weapons or armor,
find Hammer, amass any currency, or absorb enemy souls. Equippable items simply
won't be there, and coins will be replaced by single hearts. (2) He can't
level-up or increase his stats; as such, he's really no match for enemies
found deeper into the castle. To cure this, he'll have to become more powerful
by defeating the bosses and collecting the crystals they leave behind; by
doing so, his whip power and defense will increase. (3) He can't complete
100% of the castle since he can't access the sealed door in the Floating Garden.
(4) There are no story elements to his mission. (5) He can only receive his
own ending for defeating Graham, since he won't be allowed to battle the Chaos
boss.
Julius
is your typical whip-and-jump Castlevania hero. He's
both much faster and moderately stronger than a regular Soma, but he does
take more damage for hits due to no stat-potential. He has all of the special
moves that Soma could use, and he comes with his own mystic sub-weapons--the
axe, holy water, the boomerang and a cross--that he can switch between at
any time; these sub-weapons consume magic points from his meter, which can
only be replenished by collecting hearts. Because of the lack of restriction,
he can make it to the castle keep and battle Graham at any time, but he'll
only be able to do minimal damage until he beats other bosses and collects
the crystals they leave behind. To help you become stronger, you have the
following advanced moves:
| Brandish the Whip:
After pushing the B button to whip, hold the button down to let it hang.
Just swirl the directional pad around and around for increased movement. |
|
| Double Jump:
This is Julius' primary accessibility move. After pulling of a regular
jump by pushing A, simply push A again while in the air to pull off a
second jump. |
|
| The Sweeping Kick:
Push down plus A to make Julius execute a sliding kick. It's weaker than
a whip slash, but it allows you to speed along. |
|
| The Super Jump:
This move is the best means
for getting Julius around the castle. Once you're in the air, push the
L button to make him soar upward; this can be done again and again while
in the air. Also, it acts as an uppercut at its peak to damage foes. |
|
| To Jump Kick:
Once you double jump, you can pull this off. Push A plus down, down-left
or down-right to go flying in that direction. You can bounce off of enemies
using this move and pull it off again and again. |
|
| To Circle Dash:
Push the L button while grounded to pull off his special dash, a Smash
Bros.-like move that lets him glide around enemies to quickly attack
from the other side. |
|
| Mystic Weapons:
To use a sub-weapon, push up plus B. You can switch between the four available
weapons by pushing the R button. Each use of a weapon will drain your
magic meter accordingly. |
|
You can manipulate the aural conditions
of Julius' mission via your completion rate in Soma's mission. If you
should clear the mission with a 100% completion rate but defeat Graham without
equipping the three storyline-advancing souls (the "acceptable"
ending), the normal Castle Corridor music will play as you trek through the
halls; earn the best ending and the regular tune will be replaced by Heart
of Fire, which is a Haunted Castle tune and now Julius Belmont's
adopted theme.
Hard Mode: In
the earlier games, which relied on stage-by-stage action, you could play through
a second time, wherein the challenge would be increased by more enemy resistance
and decreased means of defense. Since most people believe Aria of Sorrow
to be more difficult than Harmony but still under par, they included
a Hard Mode for you to try. To do this, first complete the regular mode with
Soma for the game's best ending. Then, when you start a new mission, it will
give you the option of playing in this, the Hard Mode.
Handicapped Challenges:
If you still think that
Harmony is below par challenge-wise, you might want to try these codes:
-
Soulless
Soma: When you start a new mission after completing the normal mode
with Soma for the best ending, enter "NOSOUL" as your name. Now
you won't be able to absorb the souls of enemies, and you'll be forced to
fight only with your equippable weapons. Note: You can still collect the
candelabra-held souls, like the Flying Armor, which are necessary.
- Item Impasse:
When you start a new mission after completing the normal mode with
Soma for the best ending, enter "NOUSE" as your name. Now you won't
be able to collect replenishing items such as potions and food.
