Post by Marik on Jun 9, 2008 22:12:05 GMT -5
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is a great game. Memorable characters, great storyline and fun gameplay made this a popular game when it came out in 2003. It ended up being rare and was hard to find until they reproduced it on their official store in 2006. It was one of my first games on the PS2 with Metal Gear 3 and Final Fantasy X, as well as LaPucelle Tactics, another Nippon Ichi game. After beating LaPucelle, I was craving more more and broke into Disgaea right away. I loved the campaign, it flowed nicely and once I beat the story, I was glad to end it there. There are some who dumped thosands of hours into this game getting to the ridiculous level 9999, leveling up items in the Item World and demolishing the Dark Senate to approve anything they wanted. They are hardcore Disgaea gamers. But not me, the story sufficed more than enough, I dumped my 40-50 hours and was done. Oh, I ended up loving Flonne, the dippy angel trainee who was sent to kill the Overlord of the Netherworld. Then, I was thrilled to hear of a sequel.
Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories came out in 2006. It took place at a completely different Netherworld. If you know the Makai series(Disgaeas, Phantom Brave, Makai Kingdom, LaPucelle and Rhapsody), you learn that all these games take place with one another, but only in different universes. You also see characters in these games appear in other games. Well other than running into Etna and the gameplay, you wouldn't know that the game was a Disgaea game. But other than the other (boring) characters, the story has harder. Having to grind to beat a stage only to grind for hours more for the next stage wasn't fluid, in fact it didn't feel it was worth it when I finally beat the damn game. Of course the rest of Disgaea 1's characters are in it, but only once you beat it and grind a lot more to gain levels and beat them in battle. Truthfully, this was forgettable for me.
For those who missed the PS2 Disgaea, the original was remade on PSP in Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness(get it, Afternoon is a few Hours). This had the same great game, but an totally extra single player mode starring Etna in a demented retelling of the original story. Now this new mode wouls be the only real good reason that anyone would repick this up and yep, I got it opening day. Now this is ridiculous. The game is notoriously difficult. Even worse than the last half of Disgaea 2. I never bothered beating it.
Now 2 more Disgaea games are coming out. Nippon Ichi is pulling a Ninja Gaiden and remaking the same game AGAIN, but on a Nintendo system, the DS. Also Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice on the PS3. This one takes place in a school. They also added some lame gameplay elements. In the debut trailer for the North American version stated that its the hardest Disgaea yet. Why? With that statement, I decided to totally Disregard Disgaea 3. And the entire Makai series completely. I recently got rid of all the Makai games as well. I might pick up the DS version of Disgaea if I feel like it, and I'll get the DS remake of Rhapsody since the game was very short, about 10 hours, and they're adding content for this remake.
So its one thing having a sleeper hit, but Disgaea is an example of making a niche to a series and butchering it. It's sad really.
Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories came out in 2006. It took place at a completely different Netherworld. If you know the Makai series(Disgaeas, Phantom Brave, Makai Kingdom, LaPucelle and Rhapsody), you learn that all these games take place with one another, but only in different universes. You also see characters in these games appear in other games. Well other than running into Etna and the gameplay, you wouldn't know that the game was a Disgaea game. But other than the other (boring) characters, the story has harder. Having to grind to beat a stage only to grind for hours more for the next stage wasn't fluid, in fact it didn't feel it was worth it when I finally beat the damn game. Of course the rest of Disgaea 1's characters are in it, but only once you beat it and grind a lot more to gain levels and beat them in battle. Truthfully, this was forgettable for me.
For those who missed the PS2 Disgaea, the original was remade on PSP in Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness(get it, Afternoon is a few Hours). This had the same great game, but an totally extra single player mode starring Etna in a demented retelling of the original story. Now this new mode wouls be the only real good reason that anyone would repick this up and yep, I got it opening day. Now this is ridiculous. The game is notoriously difficult. Even worse than the last half of Disgaea 2. I never bothered beating it.
Now 2 more Disgaea games are coming out. Nippon Ichi is pulling a Ninja Gaiden and remaking the same game AGAIN, but on a Nintendo system, the DS. Also Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice on the PS3. This one takes place in a school. They also added some lame gameplay elements. In the debut trailer for the North American version stated that its the hardest Disgaea yet. Why? With that statement, I decided to totally Disregard Disgaea 3. And the entire Makai series completely. I recently got rid of all the Makai games as well. I might pick up the DS version of Disgaea if I feel like it, and I'll get the DS remake of Rhapsody since the game was very short, about 10 hours, and they're adding content for this remake.
So its one thing having a sleeper hit, but Disgaea is an example of making a niche to a series and butchering it. It's sad really.
