Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness
Published by: NIS
Developed by: NIS
Release Date: October 30, 2007
Genre: Turn-Based Strategy RPGDisgaea: Afternoon of Darkness is a port of the original, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, on the PS2. This isn’t technically a port or a remake, since it has a completely new storyline and a new game mode, Etna Mode. This is much like Final Fantasy Tactics being remade into Tactics Advance with a new storyline but with the same basic mechanics.Story:
You play as the Demon Lord’s son, Laharl. After King Krichevskoy died, every demon has tried to steal the title of Overlord of the Netherworld. Laharl can’t fight back since he has been asleep for two years. Laharl and his Vassal, Etna, set out to reclaim the throne.The Emperor and the Senate: When In Rome
While you use the assembly to request more expensive items, and approval of new units, you must persuade the Senate to vote in your favor. You can bribe them with items that they want (Usually the “Must Want!!!†gets them pretty far). If the majority fails, then you can persuade by force by killing them. This isn’t really recommended when you first start out since the Senate has level 20-24 monsters. After you kill them, they will return loathing you even more so beware (they also level up much faster if you manage to kill them).Buying and Selling:
The more you buy from your shops, the better they will like you and they will give you discounts and better items.Equipment is Everything:
It doesn’t really matter what level you are. It’s the equipment that counts! As soon as possible, you should try to persuade the assembly to give you more expensive items since those new items will double your stats. Every item you purchase is unique, meaning that the Bulletproof Vest that you bought is different from the other Bulletproof Vests that you bought. Each item gives different stat increases or decreases and has a rarity index. The lower the number, the more rare it is. This game might as well boast 50,000 items, but really it is just 500 items with 100 different combinations…or something like that.Customization is Better Than Autosculpt™!
As soon as you get a few MP, you are allowed to create your own units with their own job classes. After awhile, you can transmigrate the unit to a new class, starting them over at level 1, with all or most of their abilities and stats intact. Creating the ultimate mage with all of the elements is possible with transmigration. You can create a warrior with high hit percentage and a fast speed to create the ultimate hard hitter. Transmigration allows you to upgrade a basic warrior to a higher tier one instead of having to create an all-new unit. Just to add, there are two different warrior units to start out with; both being excellent with swords, but one will specialize in spears and the other axes. I suggest having both since the Dragoon type is helpful for attacking 2 squares away. (Instead of one like everyone else).
If you kill enough of those Ghost units, you will be able to create the Ghost unit in the assembly for cheaper.State the Nature of Your Medical Emergency!
You are rewarded items for healing yourself at the hospital. The hospital still charges you, but it is rewarding to get some rather rare items for just a little bit of money.Combos:
When you attack, if you have allies adjacent to you, they have a chance of attacking as well. You can do this as long as there is someone next to you that can assist so you can pull off two separate combos with two people. For example, If I have Laharl next to Etna and Laharl attacks, Etna will attack, then Laharl. Then it is Etna’s turn so she will attack but Laharl will attack before she does making it a combo. So instead of just getting two attacks with two people, you end up with four. Try not to chain combos with people that have no base attack power like Mages.
Four people doing a combo = Lots of damage.Special Attacks:
Use them whenever you can since they get experience and level up as well. Laharl and Etna have special character specific attacks because they are main characters. All of the main characters have character specific attacks. Since it costs almost nothing to heal them, you might as well use up all of the SP that they are given.Geo Panels and Geo Symbols:
Now this is a nice feature, if a Geo Symbol is on top of a Geo Panel, you get that bonus of the Geo Symbol if you are standing on one of the corresponding Geo Panels. This can be beneficial and harmful depending on the Geo Symbol. If the Geo Symbol is EXP +50, then whenever you kill an enemy that is standing on the Geo Panel, you get +50 EXP. You’ll find yourself putting your tank units right on the Geo Panels that say +50 Defense +1 Attack. They will take all of the hits, possibly counter, and dish out an extra attack on their turn, not including the combos that you set up.
If you destroy a Geo Symbol while it is still on a Geo Panel, it will hit everyone that is standing on that corresponding Geo Panel.Throwing Enemies:
If you throw an enemy on top of another one, they will Level Up! adding their levels together...most of the time. Don't go over your head when throwing since higher levels are harder to kill. Higher levels also yield more EXP, mana, and spoils.Item World:
Item world is most similar to a skirmish type battle mode. The environments are never the same, and you progress through 10 levels at a time. The benefits of going to the item world is that you can upgrade your items to have better stats. The only way to do it though, is to kill the Residents that inhabit that item.Complexity At Its Finest:
This game might push away the casual gamer so if you don’t like spending hours and hours just to get the right mix of classes, then play Advance Wars or something.Etna Mode:
You can look up on how to get Etna Mode by going on IGN and looking up the cheats section. However, this isn't really a cheat that is all that helpful. The entire storyline is different because in Etna Mode, Etna kills Laharl when she tries to wake him up. You walk around as Etna and you don't play as Laharl at all, so the game is much harder without another powerhouse, and the enemies are harder as well. I would recommend playing Etna Mode when you have beaten the game as Laharl first.Presentation: 9.5. The endless possibility of making just about anything that you want makes this a great game.Graphics: 8.5. The cartoony feel is the style they used so I have to be a little more merciless with the graphics score. The camera angles are bad in some situations but then again, so is Tactics.Sound: 8.5. Music score isn’t bad. It has that comical feel to it, just like the rest of the game. The voice acting is pretty good so far.Gameplay: 9.5. This has a bunch of cool features, like the Assembly, Hospital, Shop relations, combos, and job class customization. Just like its original, it kept to the same mechanics. There is ad hoc multiplayer but how many people do you know have a PSP AND Disgaea?Lasting Appeal: 9.5. So much to do, so little time.Total: 45.5/50.
Average: 9.1.
Overall: 9.5.
Rating: 5 stars. Excellent.Closing Comments:
Despite the cartoony graphics, this game is not for the faint of heart. For the people that think Final Fantasy Tactics is the best Strategy RPG to hit the market, give this one a try. I guarantee that this does everything that Tactics has ever done, and more. This is in the top 3 of my favorite PSP games so far.Edit: Added Throwing Enemies, Item World and Etna Mode.