Disgaea Hour of Darkness

[tanisthalon]

Just wanted to know how good a Strategy RPG Disgaea was. I am after something to play over christmas whilst off work. I have Half Life 2 coming as a pressie but a few ghosters and that will be out of the way.
I noticed Disgaea the other day in the local second hand shop then later read that La Pucelle and another sequel were been released in February 2005. Lights started flahing above my head!

** The other game/sequel is Phantom Brave I think

[Kilu]

I haven't played them at all. Local game magazine, which opinions I usually can agree with, rates them pretty high. Atleast Locke Cole has played them, so maybe he will chime in with some input :)

[tanisthalon]

I thought 'What the hell, just go and buy it!' and I did. Wrapped it up as a pressie to me from me :). Hope I enjoy it as it sounds very appealing! If anyone does know anything about the others (La Pucelle, Phantom Brave) or has some tips for Disgaea, please leave a quote.

[Karvic]

:tophat: Having done most everything there is to do in that game, I impart to you some advice. Item World is your friend. Embrace it, and realize its love. Also, transmigrating isnt really useful till later.

[theblackwind]

I love all the Nippon Ichi games. Disgaea is the best, but the rest are still FANTASTIC games. I found La Pucelle at target for 19, so it's decently priced too.

[Marona]

disgaea is the game i recommend first to my friends

[Locke Cole]

I just noticed this topic, so I thought I'd pop my head in and blab.. :) I must say, these 3 games are probably the best of all my PS2 games. I spent the most time enjoying these games then any of my others. Why? Well, its simple really. All 3 games are made for those who love to power level.

Now, lets define power leveling. Are you one of those people who always work your characters up to level 99 and get all the best stuff? I am, and this game was like a big slap in the face for me. You can level EVERYTHING in these games. Characters, spells and abilities, items, weapons, armour, everything. And we're not talking a wussy level 99, no sir. We're talking level 19,998! Now that's what I'm talking about :dance:

No, leveling is not all these games offer. I will admit, I think I liked Disgaea best, however Phantom Brave comes in a very close second. All 3 were great games, but I liked the story, and characters of Disgaea the best. I thought voice acting in games was a big drag, but this game does it well. The characters are entertaining, and the story has some serious turns and pulls. Not only can you create a huge team of characters, but there are a pile of classes to choose from. There are lots of unique twists to the game too, like the item world, (You go inside of an item and work your way level by level to power it up), combo attacks, the whole pupil stat system, the various board effects and chain combos, this game actually keeps up to its box, and gives you 100++ hours of enjoyment.

I haven't even touched on the goodness of these games, but I've never been one to talk about anything for too long. I certainly don't want to spoil. Each of the 3 games is very similar, but each has elements that make them unique and fun to play all over again. Even the music gets an A+, as they fit perfectly with the atmosphere of the games.

I highly recommend you give these games a shot if you enjoy RPGs at all :love: Heck, even if you don't.

[Marona]

dont forget laharl locke...heh :p

[tanisthalon]

My order for Phantom Brave is due any day now :).

[Seys]

Well, i find this game pretty meaningless in the end ...

Level up, go to item world, beat the senators, earns more exp, become more powerful, go earn some tricky exp ... then kill the ultimate boss ... ah, what's the point in getting lvl 9999 ? ...

Anyway, this game isn't tactical enough and is a bit too easy imo Laharl + 1 Majin = total annihilation. Why bother Lvluping other classes ?

Also the " climb on my head so i can launch you 99999999 squares away " system just spoils any tactical option in this game, you can virtually do " ANYTHING " ...

Too bad, it has a nice ring to it.

[Three Storms]

Disgaea is excellent, and is my favorite t-rpg to date.


I never did figure out how to level up characters to insane numbers though....

[Mysterious Otter]

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is a very fun strat RPG. I have about 320 hours in on it and I'm still finding challenges to tackle. My main character is level 1004! But he needs to get up to around level 2400 before he can even hope to win against a couple of "bonus" bosses. There are something like 8 endings, all silly, that you can get. The story and dialog haven't done much for me but...I'm an older gamer, so the "humor" not only didn't appeal to me, it was kind of annoying after awhile. Having said all that, I think this game is great! If you like building characters that are real powerhouses, this is the game for you. If you don't like leveling up and character building, you might want to just rent Disgaea and see what you think.

[killamomo]

its really addictive

[TheDragonKnight]

marona reccomends Disgaea but not Phantom brave, hmmm am i the only one who thinks thats odd?