Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Sony Playstation 2
Developer/Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software/ATLUS
Rating: T for Teen
U.S. Release Date: August 23, 2003
Ah, Disgaea. One of the best games that no one, save for the most hardcore of gamers, has ever heard of, much less played (including yours truly, until recently). Game critics abound have praised Disgaea on several different accounts: plot, story, battle tactics and general awesomeness. Why haven’t most gamers picked up this game? Probably because no one knows about ATLUS over here except people that have chanced by their releases in the past, so they don’t know what they’re missing. While it is true that ATLUS has its crack moments (see: ARCANA HEART), the one thing they can do and do well is the RPG. Disgaea is no exception.
PLOT & GAMEPLAY
The plot of Disgaea seems very straightforward and simple: The King of the Netherworld has died. Following is a chaotic mess where demons from all over Hell are now fighting to become the Overlord. Only one problem. Everyone’s forgotten about the Prince (Laharl), who is currently sleeping. Two years after the King’s death, his vassal, Etna, finally manages to wake him up. Once he finds out about what happens, he’s obviously quite upset and is now determined to beat off everyone that’s attempting to take what rightfully his and claim the title for himself.
There is also a cherub assassin named Flonne who comes in later that is incredibly moe.
Hey. It’s ATLUS. There has to be SOME form of crack in there somewhere.
For those of you that play strategy RPGs along the lines of Fire Emblem, you’ll find that basic idea here. You have a grid-type battle map and you’re able to dispatch your troops accordingly. Beat the enemies, clear the stage. There is jumping and the getting of monies and items. Happy.
One thing (among several others) that sets Disgaea apart from a lot of other games, though, is the insane level of customization that’s available. Save for the main characters, you’re completely responsible for creating and maintaining your troops. You get to decide what you want to work with; the game won’t do it for you. But it gets even better.
Character creation is dependent on how much Mana you have (you get mana for defeating enemies on the field). Once you’ve acquired some, you then visit the Netherworld Council, or the Dark Assembly/Congress, to create them (fortunately, when you first start, you don’t have to get approval for the low-tier characters you’re only able to make). Once they’re created, the character that proposed the creation becomes the new character’s mentor. What that means is that they have a high chance for a Team Attack (which comes in very handy at times) and as long as they stick together, the mentor can use the magic that the mentee has and can eventually learn it themselves. This creates the ability to customize characters to your specifications. It’s really a lot of leeway as far as combat approach.
Beyond general things, though, there is also another feature known as the Item World. It’s quite the little mindtrip. You see, in Disgaea, there is a world inside every item that you can visit. The vastness and difficulty of the world depends on the item itself (an item can be Common, Rare or Legend-rank, increasing in difficulty in that order). By defeating levels in that particular item, you raise its stats. There is also the chance that you can come across a Specialist of that particular Item World. Specialists are beings that are neither friend or foe (they attack everyone, lol). If you manage to beat them, they’ll boost your item’s stat even more depending on what they are (Sentries increase ATT, Hypnotists add Sleep to the weapon, etc.). Even MOAR customization. You can also get more items and EXP in that item world. Some items can actually only be received there.
Touching back on the actual battle aspect, there are also things called Geo Panels that will appear on the map. These little babies make things a lot more interesting, as they will add random effects to the battlefield (i.e. Enemy Boost x3, ATT +20%, etc.). These are a double-edged sword, as you can use them to your advantage, but so can your enemies.
Another thing enemies can also do is use a Team Attack. Team Attack happens between characters that are well-bonded and serve to increase normal damage (you can’t get Team Attacks off using supers or magic, unfortunately. Because that would break the game.). They can be very nice, but they can also send a lot of low-level characters on your side packing very quickly.
CHARACTERS
There are a LOT of playable classes in Disgaea. Mages, fighters, brawlers and clerics, just to name a few. Not only that, but as you level your characters, you unlock even more classes to play. See what I mean about customization?
Oh, and if you’re wondering if there’s any actual feasible way to unlock every class in the game before the end, stop wondering. The level cap for the game is 9999. There are also multiple endings, some of which you can’t even think about getting until your level is in the high thousands. Trust me. You’ll get them.
Oh, and you can also make monsters in the game to fight for you.
No, I’m not kidding.
HANG-UPS
Really, there aren’t that many hang-ups I have with the game. The learning curve seems a little steep at first, but working on the Practice Map Nippon Ichi so gracefully provides alleviates most of the confusion. All the characters are extremely balanced and you really can’t complain about them anyway, since epic level of customization is epic. It also helps that the game has a LOT of humor (it even has it’s own episode endings and previews. Come –on-.)
FINAL THOUGHTS
Disgaea is really one of the hidden jewels of the gaming world. The characters, plot and gameplay and replay value make it a cut above a lot of other games I’ve played, even outside the stratRPG genre. Fortunately, it got some love back in 2006 in the form of a port of the PSP version to the DS (which actually features more content than this original release). For those of you that just want to give it a try, though, it’s now a Greatest Hit on the PS2, so it’s only $20. It’s definitely worth the investment.
