RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

When Disgaea: Hour of Darkness was released in late 2003, it quickly became a sleeper hit, its offbeat humor and complex tactical RPG gameplay combining to make it a highly appealing entry in an underrepresented genre. Although none of NIS’s games have done quite as well in North America, Disgaea is still going strong, with a sequel and now a nearly picture-perfect port of the original game to the PSP, with a few minor additions. Although Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness purports to offer an entire post-lunchtime of darkness, what it gains over the original is honestly not that impressive, making this version more of an extended brunch.

Laharl, crown prince of the Netherworld, wakes up from a years-long nap to find that his father, the late, great king Krichevskoy has died. Furthermore, the power vacuum left by his absence means that demons from all over the Netherworld are rising up to steal Laharl’s birthright. What’s a young demon to do, then, but to slaughter them all and restore his throne? The eclectic cast of characters is well developed and mostly likeable, and although the story does become a bit predictable near the end of the game, it still maintains enough momentum to make things interesting. Overall, the story is an entertaining parody of everything from science fiction to anime to RPGs in general, and although it does take a while for the story to really get going, the end result is very solid. The biggest issue with the story is that, unlike the combat system and various mechanics, it doesn’t stand up very well to repeated play-throughs, meaning the game might drag a bit for those already familiar with the story.

For those familiar with Disgaea, one of the game’s major draws will be the inclusion of Etna mode, an entirely self-contained “What if?” story, that asks what would’ve happened if Etna had accidentally killed Laharl instead of waking him from his slumber. This side story is unlocked either by using a cheat code at the game’s title screen, or by reading Etna’s secret diary during each and every chapter. The story does include a lot of the same sort of off-beat humor that the original was known for, and offers some interesting insights into some of the characters. It is also, unfortunately, very short, being less than half the total length of the main story, and re-uses a lot of the same maps and strategies seen in the main game. In the end, while Etna mode is a nice bonus and provides some interesting insight, it’s not really worth the price of admission for people who’ve already played Disgaea: Hour of Darkness.

Disgaea‘s combat system takes a very typical TRPG setup in which characters move on a grid in order to maneuver around and defeat their foes and tacks on a huge number of subsystems. For example, GeoPanels, which add a certain effect to a certain color of panel, and which can be changed or destroyed depending on how the player moves the corresponding GeoSymbol around the map. There are subsystems that affect everything from how often a character can counterattack, to what level their weapon is, to what base statistics their generic characters will have. A lot of this tweaking is done through the Dark Congress, where the player can get promotions, create characters, and introduce legislation like “More Expensive Stuff,” to increase the power of items in stores, or “Weaker Enemies,” to make the game as a whole easier. Of course, being a demonic Congress, there has to be a vote first, meaning that Laharl’s level of influence, plus maybe a few well-placed “gifts,” can determine whether or not a bill passes. The level of complexity presented by these subsystems is more than enough to intimidate the beginning player, and Disgaea‘s tutorials are anything but in-depth. Still, players who take the time to figure out exactly how these systems work and how they interrelate will find a remarkable level of control over character growth and setup, as well as access to some highly unusual tactical situations.

And that, ultimately, is the strength of Disgaea‘s combat system; the sheer level of strangeness to wrap your head around. Some maps present players with GeoPanels, for example, that give enemies massive, overpowering boosts, and a corresponding GeoSymbol clear on the other side of the map. While the player can certainly level grind their way up to the point where their characters can take these foes toe to toe, the game allows for far more elegant solutions; for example, lifting characters one after another in a tower formation, and then throwing one after another until a character is in reach of the GeoSymbol. In this sense, many of the game’s stages feel more like puzzles than battles, where players need to find the fastest and most efficient way to even the playing field before powerful monsters can close in. Overall, the combat system is a surprisingly fast-paced, complex affair, and although it may be somewhat obtuse and intimidating to new players, the rewards are more than worth it.

The game interface is solid enough to help players keep track of a huge number of units and items, a darn good thing as players will accumulate a large number of both during the course of the game. The camera control in battle can provide some minor frustration – the player can view the battlefield from only one elevation, meaning that characters and enemies alike get lost in densely-populated or heavily forested maps. Overall, it’s not a crushing blow, but it can be frustrating to think you’ve cleared out a certain portion of the battlefield, only to have a foe sneak up and take out a vulnerable character.

The musical style of the Disgaea soundtrack lends itself very well to the setting, sounding like a cross between some spooky organ music and an upbeat holiday theme. Not all of the music fits perfectly, of course, even with the removal of the Tsunami Bomb track featured in the original, but most of it is at least fun to listen to and keeps the tone of the story going. Both sound effects and music are very high-quality, with little or no difference from the original game when listened to over headphones. Some of the voices sound a bit off when heard through the PSP’s speakers, which can be a little grating at times, but the overall damage is minimal.

Thankfully, the switch to widescreen was kind to Disgaea, as it remains almost exactly the same as it was on the PS2. The overall visual style is still as bright and colorful as ever, with no appreciable slowdown or lag in command input or move execution. Even load times in general are kept to a minimum, with the whole game moving very smoothly and efficiently.

The final amount of time a player will spend on Disgaea is highly flexible. The game’s main campaign can take anywhere between thirty and eighty hours to complete, depending on how much time a player spends leveling their weapons and characters, and how often they exploit the various Dark Congress bills that allow players to tailor the game’s difficulty. The huge amount of post-game content could tack another hundred or so hours on that, simply by leveling to fight the various optional bosses. In the end, Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness is not terribly difficult, and although it does require the player to level fairly often, it also offers a variety of ways to make the game easier, either by improving weapons or by passing bills that reduce the overall power of monsters. The real difficulty lies in figuring out the game’s various systems, in order to get things where you want them.

The single biggest problem with Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness is that we’ve seen almost everything that it has to offer before. While the addition of Etna mode and a handful of new optional bosses is a nice touch, the new content doesn’t become available until the very end of the game, short of a cheat code. The rest of the game is a nearly pixel-perfect port of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, down to the spell effects, voice acting, and translation. This won’t be such a problem for players who missed out on the original Disgaea, as the game is an undoubtedly solid piece of game design, but for veterans of the series, replaying the exact same game in order to get to the new content could quickly become an uninspired slog through all-too familiar territory.