[ Print Article! ]

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness Review
November 07, 2003 Marcus Yam

Summary: Rare is it that we see the release of a strategy RPG translated and released on this side of the Pacific. But when they do come over, they again become rarities. Ogre Battle for the SNES is still a hot item on Ebay, and so was Final Fantasy Tactics on the PSone until its reissue. Disgaea: Hour of Darkness for the PlayStation 2 could be the next impossible-to-find console strategy game. Read our full review to learn why it's worth your while to track down a copy today!


Almost lost in translationPage:: ( 1 / 5 )
Rare is it that we see the release of a strategy RPG translated and released on this side of the Pacific. Rarer still is it when there are two of these engrossing games hitting the shelves at the same time. Of course I’m talking about Square Enix’s Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the Game Boy Advance, and this game, Atlus’s Disgaea: Hour of Darkness for the PlayStation 2. Developed by Nippon Ichi, creators of such quirky games as Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness manages to be both familiar and iconoclastic.

[image]

<% print_image("01"); %><% print_image("02"); %><% print_image("03"); %>

Same, but different

Familiar is the basic game system. You move players around spaces on a field presented from an isometric perspective and attack enemies in a turn-based combat system. Like the PlayStation’s original Final Fantasy Tactics, Disgaea’s fields are presented in 3D, with 2D sprites representing players and enemies. Characters are moved into position and various actions can be taken. This is where most of the similarities end. Certainly many of the actions are carryovers from earlier games in the genre, but the other options Disgaea opens up, both during combat and out of combat, are surprising in both their originality and what they add to the gameplay.

[image]

<% print_image("04"); %><% print_image("05"); %><% print_image("06"); %>

Like most games in the genre, you tend to gang-up on enemies by surrounding them with the up to 10 characters you can bring into a battle. But in Disgaea’s case, there’s a reason to pay a bit more attention to your characters’ position: combos. Combos are one of the more interesting additions to the typical strategy RPG formula that this game brings to the table. Essentially, the position of your characters in relation to each other and the enemy can trigger a combo. The chance is random, but you can control the likelihood by placing characters with an affinity for each other in adjacent panels. The game tells you the chance of a combo attack before you attack, so you’re not shooting in the dark. The game’s tutorial, which should be mentioned as much nicer than Final Fantasy Tactics’ exceptionally long lecture on the game’s minutiae, explains this and other bits, while still letting you figure out a lot of it on your own later.

SIDEBAR: While not a gigantic publisher, Atlus is very good at spotting well-made niche games to please the old-school gamers in North America. If it weren’t for them, we’d never have Tactics Ogre.


More gameplay, more combatPage:: ( 2 / 5 )
There are other curveballs the game will throw at you as well. The addition of the ability to throw other characters and enemies around adds an exceptional amount of strategy to getting around the map quickly. And getting around quickly can be very important if the enemy controls the various geopanels on the map, areas with special effects like increased attack power. Fortunately you can destroy the effect of geopanels, or simply throw enemies off them. You can repeat battles as often as you wish, which may be very often in some instances.

[image]

<% print_image("07"); %><% print_image("08"); %><% print_image("09"); %>

Perhaps the biggest differences come out of combat. You can visit a demonic senate to get their approval for things, such as new items in the item store, new characters and classes, etc. Of course they’re not going to do this for nothing, actions in the senate take mana, which you’ll earn by killing enemies. Trying to get the votes you need may also include intimidation and bribes. If this sounds strange, it’s not half as weird as Item World. In Item World you take your characters on a trip inside your items. Defeating enemies that live in your items makes the item stronger. Later on you can add to your items as well. If hiring people to live in your items sounds weird, wait till you see the story unfold.

[image]
<% print_image("10"); %><% print_image("11"); %><% print_image("12"); %>

A rude awakening

Laharl is a demon prince who’s overslept, paying homage to the one of the oldest RPG clichés of an oversleeping protagonist. The difference is that Laharl has overslept for a few years. Fortunately his loyal servant Etna has been there to use various implements of destruction to finally wake him up. Unfortunately, Laharl’s father died while he was asleep and his power has been usurped by others in the netherworld. Rather than mourn the loss of his father, Laharl is anxious to get out regain his birthright by beating down those who stole it. This only hints at the wackiness you’ll see in this game’s story. The game makes it clear early on that it doesn’t take itself seriously. There are a lot of slapstick gags and general silliness presented in the game. But unlike other games that have tried to be both serious and funny, Disgaea rarely gets bogged down in a heavy or serious mood.


SIDEBAR: Last time I heard from Tom, he was really enjoying Disgaea… I think.


PresentationPage:: ( 3 / 5 )
The story unfolds through a series of lushly illustrated character art pieces, with voice-overs supplied in either English or Japanese. Both tracks are high-quality. Though an argument could be made for some voices being miscast in the English dub, it’s still very well done. These can be entirely skipped if you just want to hit things, but you’ll be missing out on some genuinely funny moments and the aforementioned excellent artwork.





[image]

<% print_image("13"); %><% print_image("14"); %><% print_image("15"); %>

Visuals

The quality of the art continues into the actual game scenes. The character sprites look great from any angle or zoom level, though sometimes you might wish they had more frames of animation. Perhaps more importantly, it’s easy to tell one class from another by just scanning over the screen, so you know where everyone is even in fairly complex scenes. Perhaps the only real failing of Disgaea’s graphics is that the scenes are occasionally a bit too complex. It can be hard to get a good camera angle in some spots and the sprite-based characters mean you can’t put the camera wherever you wish. The fantastically over-the-top special attacks and highly varied fields make up for some of this.

[image]

<% print_image("16"); %><% print_image("17"); %><% print_image("18"); %>

Music and sound

Music is one area where Disgaea didn’t really impress me. The music can’t be characterized as bad, some of it is actually quite good, but hearing the music loop over and over can get tiring quickly. The sound effects are good, however. Things pop, smack and go boom in a convincing manner. Unfortunately, the choice of language doesn’t affect battle voices. The main characters are in English, everyone else is Japanese. This doesn’t really amount to much difference as most voices in the battles are generic and repeated battle cries.


SIDEBAR: Nippon Ichi means Japan’s number one.


Final VerdictPage:: ( 4 / 5 )


Disgaea is not without flaw. The first few hours of the game are mostly an exercise in powerleveling so you can clear the end of the first chapter. You may be repeating the battles more often than you want to. Fortunately the game picks up quite a bit from there, but it can be quite a turn-off early in the game.

[image]
<% print_image("19"); %><% print_image("20"); %><% print_image("21"); %>

Where Disgaea really fails is in being an outstanding example of a genre many gamers simply do not care for. This is a game for people who take great joy in leveling their characters to the point where the peons the game throws at you are hardly capable of touching you, let alone killing you. The impressive thing is that the game manages to be engaging to that type of player without becoming a game where you have to keep track of every tiny stat on all of your characters. Throw in multiple endings and you could be playing this game for a long time to come. Still, the casual player may find this game tiring, but for the people it’s aimed at, Disgaea is a rare event.

[image]
<% print_image("22"); %><% print_image("23"); %><% print_image("24"); %>



SIDEBAR: Disgaea developer Nippon Ichi has already announced that it is working another strategy RPG, currently titled Phantom Brave.

We can’t wait to play it!


Screenshots and moviesPage:: ( 5 / 5 )

[image] [image] [image] [image]
<% print_image("25"); %><% print_image("26"); %>
<% print_image("27"); %><% print_image("28"); %>
<% print_image("29"); %><% print_image("30"); %>
<% print_image("31"); %><% print_image("32"); %>

Movies

© Copyright 2003 FS Media, Inc.
[ Print Article! | Close Window ]