Disgaea Series

I can't believe nobody ever did a review about any game in this series. So I'll review all 3 main series games starting with 1.

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (PS2)

Story: The story takes place in the Netherworld, where demons live and humans are usually killed on sight. Right is wrong and evil is the law of the land. The ruler of the Netherworld is the Overlord. Or at least, it was. The game starts two years after the previous Overlord died and revolves around his son, Prince Laharl. The opening scene is one of the female leads, Etna, trying to wake him up from his slumber. Scattered around the room are various weapons and tools; a drill, a sword, a few guns. Apparently she's been trying very hard. D) Just as she's about to give up, Laharl wakes up, only to find out his dad died. Cause apparently he had been asleep for two years. When asked how his dad died, he choked on his favorite snack.(The most evil person in the land, died from choking on a snack?) From there the game takes off with Laharl trying to become the new Overlord. With his not-so-trustworthy vassel Etna and a love freak angel trainee named Flonne, Laharl learns how to rule and that the Overlord doesn't have to be an all-bad monster. Juvenile pranks and jokes galore with great action and a few sad moments, the story is top-notch. 9/10

Gameplay: True SRPG gameplay reminiscent of FF:Tactics. You have multiple characters with specific attributes and abilities. Customize thier weapons and armor, gain exp. to reach insane levels(max of 9999) and even level up your items. The basics are easy but only the truly dedicated will manage to unlock everything with its brutal level grinding parts and its limitless power. At anytime a character can 'reincarnate' to return to level 1 keeping thier special skills and a small portion of thier stats, max level isn't the end of leveling up! Outragous attacks and damages(a powerful special can reach in the millions of damage without hitting max potential) this is a fun game to play during your spare time. But be warned, it takes forever to reach high levels and powers. This game may be fun and easy, but its true potential is only for those willing to spend hours upon hours to level grind. 6/10

Sound: The game uses various music that sound like a cross between classical concert and pop music. The voices are done really well and make the characters seem alive. To put it simple, the sound is perfect. 10/10

Graphics: Handdrawn 2D sprites against 3D backgrounds and levels, the game has a unique look to it. The attacks look outragous and sparkle with explosions and lights, even for just swinging a sword! The games unique look will definately draw some in and push others away. 8/10

Replayability: Technically, you'll never stop playing. After beating the main story, your given the option to continue or restart with all your current levels and equipment. You can run through the story dozens of times to see all the secret unlockable endings. Beat a certain enemy when your this level, have this character deal the final blow to the boss, kill your teammates then beat the boss, thiers tons of endings that'll make people keep going back through the story. And then there's the after-story with it's own challenges. This game has endless replay potential. 10/10

Final Score: 43/50

 

Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories (PS2)

Story: This time around, your not trying to become the Overlord but to overthrow him to save your people. It starts off with the main hero Adell, waiting by a large pot. His mother is next to it and is preparing the summoning spell. In the pot is his father, brother and sister; all being used as sacrifices. When they try to complain the mother hits them and hurries up with the spell.(Gee, a nice mom huh? ) You see, thier world was peaceful and beautiful. Then one day the legendary Overlord Zenon came and enslaved them. Everybody slowly turned into demons except for Adell, strangely. This led everyone to believe Adell is the one who will defeat the evil Overlord. Hence why they're trying to summon him so that Adell can fight him. The spell activates and out comes a beautiful women, not the Overlord. They find out this woman is Rozalin, the Overlords precious daughter. Bound by the summoning, she's forced to stick with Adell. Adell though is a kind and spirited guy that promises he will return her to her father, even though he's trying to beat the Overlord. The same juvenile comedy and top notch story as the first game, with all the perverted jokes and sad tear-jerkers you'd expect. Though it isn't as good as the first game. It's still a great storyline that anybody that gets the jokes will enjoy. 8/10

Gameplay: Pretty much the same as before with a couple bew additions: Evilities and the Dark Court. Evilities are character specific abilities. For example, Dragons are immune to fire, Hell Hounds are immune to wind, Mothmen have a 50% chance to dodge attacks from adjacent enemies. The Dark Court is used to give felonies. The charges are hilarious like for having too low speed or for killing to much. (one charge is even for being to godly. ) Simply go into the summons the same way you'd go level up an item and present a character to the court. It doesn't matter who either. The summons could be for Adell but you could send in a random extra and recieve the same benefits. Yes benefits, because in the demon world, being a criminal is a good thing. Overall though the combat and leveling remains unchanged from the first game. Which is sad cause they could've improveed or added a lot more. 9/10

Sound: The characters once more sound exactly as you'd expect. Adell is a go-getter that always keeps his promises. Rozalin is a spoiled rich girl that looks down on others. They all sound perfect and the music us a little more upbeat this time around. 10/10

Graphics: Once more its handdrawn 2D sprites in a 3D world. Overall the effects transition smoother but still retain thier dramatic flair. 9/10

Replability: Just like before only now thiers even more secret endings, more characters to level up, and more things to do after beating the main story. Definately be replaying this until doomsday. 10/10

Final Score: 46/50

 

Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice (PS3)

Story: Disgaea 3 takes place at Netherworld school Evil Acadamy. Its a school for demons. Those that go to class are do work are the bad delinquents while those that do whatever they want are honor students. The main character, Mao, for example is the number 1 freshmen honor student because he has never gone to school, sits in his room and plays video games or watches animes all day, and he's never even washed his hands. Mao wants to defeat his father, the Overlord, because his father acidentally broke his Slaystation 3 game system with over 4 million hours of play time.(damn he's an accomplished gamer) He's a self-proclaimed genius, boasting a 1.8 million EQ,(Evil Quotient, meant to be a demon's IQ) and he generelly thinks he's better then everybody. He's been researching stories on who beats Overlords(his research being games, animes and comic books) and his research shows that it's the Hero that always defeats the Overlord. Thus the greatest honor student sets out to commit one of the greatest acts of delinquency ever; become a hero. Along the way he'll meet up with Almaz, a human that wants to be a hero, Rasberyl, the greatest delinquent at Evil Acadamy, Chef Champloo, the Home Ec. teacher, and Saphire, the princess of the world Almaz comes from. Mao will have to learn what a hero truly is in his quest and face many difficulties like the class leader elections(all out war) or the PTA(Perfectly Trained Assassins) in order to finally achieve his goal and become defeat his dad the greatest Overlord that ever lived. 9/10

Gameplay: Disgaea 3 has the most indepth gameplay of all. With new abilities and skills as well as new map effects such as the Absolute panel or the Enemy Turbo panel, it's need for strategy is significantly higher. The game isn't as 'open' as the other two and players new to SRPG's are not advised. But otherwise it keeps the same ideals as the other two; level characters up to insane levels, customize your equipment and specials and take advantage of stages to win. The game also introduces the 'Classroom' mechanic. This lets you arrange your characters for better combo potential or to share powers and abilities. There's also 'clubs' to take advantage of arrangements such as offering better exp. gain for being positioned in a certain way, or to give a special ability when a character is surrounded by specific others. The strategy is deeper then ever before and will push the brain to its limits at times, but if you can handle it then you'll be rewarded with a very fun experience. 9/10

Sound: Perfect. Everything sounds exactly how you'd want or expect. The music always fits the mood. And if your willing to work for it, you can unlock the ability to change the ingame music. But you gotta have patience and a lot of ingame cash. But that's just an extra for the truely dedicated fans. 10/10

Graphics: Much of the same. There's a slight increase from 2 to 3 but its hardly noticable. Don't get me wrong the graphics are great. Its just they could've been so much better if more work was put into taking advantage of the PS3's graphics processor. Great, but should've been better. 6/10

Replayability: 3 has the best replay value of all. It has more secrets to find, more things to level, and more things to collect. Plus it has downloadable content through the PSN(costs money) giving even more to do. One downloadable feature is an online ranking survival challenge which has you going through endless stages to last as long as you can. Those that reach a certain point even get a couple special gifts like new items or characters. There's enough to keep even the hardcore fans stuck playing for years on end. 10/10

Final Score: 44/50