Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
October 17, 2003
Good, solid strategy RPG’s seem to be few and far between in these manic days of ultra-fast FPS’s and rugged sport sims, but once in awhile, a real gem appears out of nowhere. Such is the case with the new strategy RPG from Atlus, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. This game does a ton of things right, and goes far deeper than even the hardest of the hardcore fans could possibly imagine. So what, you ask, in particular does the game do so magnificently? Well, well, where do I even start…
First and foremost, the game immediately strikes a chord with its rather unique, anime-like presentation. The game has a very distinct Japanese feel to it, and yes, it really does present itself as though it were an anime (there’s even an option to use the Japanese voices with English subtitles, w00t). The story unfolds through a series of 쥰isodesomplete with a preview of the coming episode whenever you happen to finish the one that you’re on. In the game, you play the role Laharl, heir to throne of the underworld. After his father’s untimely demise, which Laharl slept through, the underworld is thrown into a state of political unrest. Demons are at war with one another to take over as the new ruler. This chaos goes on for two years before Laharl finally wakes up with the help of his loyal vassal Etna. This is where the game begins, with Laharl just waking up and Etna at his side. Needless to say, Laharl is a little peeved that the other demons are fighting for the throne that is, by birthright, his.
The quest for the throne becomes more involved than you could imagine with all sorts of kooky characters popping in every step of the way. Expect plenty of weirdness; along the way you’ll run into plenty of things that are quite inexplicable including a threat from a nefarious cooking ninja’t ask. This inherent craziness, coupled with a memorable cast of characters, is definitely the game’s strongest asset. You’ll want to keep playing if for no other reason than to see what happens next.
Of course, that’s not too say that the game short-changes the player in the gameplay department. On the contrary, the gameplay here goes far deeper than you’d expect from a typical strategy RPG, then again, this game is anything but typical. Laharl’s castle acts as your home-base for the most part. Here you can heal characters at the hospital, buy weapons and armor from the shop, and create new characters, amongst other things. When you feel you’re ready for combat, just head to the portal and select where you’d like to go. The combat system should feel familiar if you’ve played other strategy RPG’s, but there are a few things to note. For one, if you position your characters together near an enemy, they’ll automatically team up for combo attacks dealing more damage than usual. The more characters you have in combo formation, the greater the attack. These attacks are essential for beating some of the tougher foes you’ll encounter; but be warned, the enemies will not hesitate to use their own combos. This makes character placement a key factor on the battlefield.
Another interesting element to the battle system is the addition of 짥o symbols.Certain areas on the battlefield may be colored differently; these colors denote a special ability. That is, anyone standing on the colored block will be granted that ability. By placing your cursor over the block you can find out what the ability is. Somewhere on the map, there will be a pyramid-shaped block of the same color, and perhaps one of another color, these are the geo symbols. By destroying a green geo symbol sitting in a red block, you change all red spaces on the map to green ones, damaging any foes, or friends for that matter, standing on a red space. This also abolishes the ability granted by red and replaces it with that of the green geo symbol. Utilizing geo symbols effectively will drive up your bonus gauge which will earn you more loot after a fight.
If you find yourself having some troubles on the battlefield, you may wish to head back to the castle and increase your ranks. For this, you can appeal to the Assembly. The Assembly is like the demon’s governing body. By appealing to the Assembly, you can do many things including creating new characters, lowering the price of items in the shops, and making better items available from said shops. Creating new characters is a vital part of the game. At no point can you deploy more than ten characters on the battlefield, but you can create as many as you like. There are several classes to choose, each with a male and female version. Plus, any monster you defeat can be created as well. In order to create characters you must pay using mana, which you gain by winning battles. The more you defeat a certain monster, the cheaper it becomes to create it. Likewise, as you use more characters and classes, new ones will be unlocked, so it’s always a good plan to check every now and then to see which new classes are available.
Disgaea really does have a lot to offer, especially to hardcore fans of the genre. The status quo for leveling up characters in most games is to limit you to level 99, however, Disgaea allows the truly devoted the opportunity to turn their characters into planet-smashing demi-gods by leveling them all the way up to a ludicrous level 10,000. Yes, level 10,000; when Laharl swings his sword at that level, the very fabric of the space/time continuum is shredded into tiny particles of dust, barely visible to the naked eye (not that I’d know). And just in case bringing a character up to level 10,000 isn’t enough to keep you busy to the end of your days, the game also allows you to level up items by going inside them and defeating the creatures that dwell there.
Needless to say, Disgaea packs in plenty of game time for your dollar. If you’ve had even the slightest craving for a good, wholesome strategy RPG, then I highly recommend this title. Plus, the game features music from Tsunami Bomb, and they rock, so how can you go wrong? The wealth of menus and options may seem overwhelming at first, but ease yourself into the game slowly and you should be able to avoid any major brain trauma. Now, go, claim your rightful place as Ruler of the Netherworld!
CVG Report CardDisgaea: Hour of Darkness
Rating: A-
Platform: PlayStation 2
E-Mail This Article 
Print This Article