Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Score: 95% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Atlus Developer: Nippon Ichi Software Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Miscellaneous
Graphics & Sound: Take one part Precious Moments, add in some anime and just a touch of one of those over-the-top 'Devil Worshiping' 80s metal bands (you know, big hair and odd costumes), and you've got a good idea of the visuals found in Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. At first glance, Disgaea's low-res, 2D sprites don't exactly scream 'next gen'. In fact, I'd be willing to bet these visuals could be done on the PSX and not lose much of their luster. However, what's here is still excellent, and manages to carry with it enough style and substance to make you forget you're not looking at the pinnacle of graphical prowess. As with most Tactical RPGs, the character designs are the real stars of the show, especially given the game's theme. Even though the game takes place in hell, the characters have more of a 'Disney-scary' element to them, which is fun to see. Battlefields are a mix of good and bad. Mission-based levels are laid out really well, whereas the randomly generated levels found in the Item World can make it difficult to see who you're attacking or where troops are. It's not perfect, but it works. The haunting orchestral melodies and feature song 'The Invasion from Within' (from punk band Tsunami Bomb) really help set the game's mood. Voice acting is also very well done and includes both the redone English-language tracks and the original Japanese tracks (for all you purists out there).
Gameplay: Disgaea: Hour of Darkness' insides are just as quirky as its packaging. You take the role of Laharl, a young demon prince who has just awoken from a two-year nap to discover that his father is dead and the Netherworld is in chaos. This initially sets him out on a quest to regain his place as king of the Netherworld, but along the way he'll have to deal with obstacles such as a labor dispute, an empty-headed angel, a backstabbing servant and other unique challenges. For anyone expecting the typical melodramatic fair which has become commonplace in today's RPGs, you'll find that Disgaea is the farthest thing from it. This is easily one of Atlus' most humorous and well-done text-conversions to date. The number of in-jokes in the game runs the range from crass, sickout humor to wry political satire. For the most part, the game plays almost like your standard tactical RPG. You start off with a small army - a demon prince (Laharl), his vassal (Etna) and an army of three demon penguins (yes, demon penguins) called Prinnies. The board layout is standard, but the gameplay is actually rather unique. You begin a battle with none of your characters on the field, only a blue portal. You click on the portal to see your army and summon members into battle. At any time during the battle (unless under special circumstances) you can bring a soldier back into the portal and deploy new ones. Some battles have limited the number of characters allowed on the field at one time, adding to the game's strategic element. Army creation is very well done and is very deep. When you want to make a new soldier, you have to go to the Dark Assembly, which serves as the Senate for the Netherworld. You can then petition to make a new soldier out of the available classes. You can choose to make humanoid classes (fighter, cleric, mage, etc) or Monster classes (ghoul, ghost, demon, dragon, etc). Once you select the type of soldier you want to make, you have to spend Mana (which you get from defeating enemies) to create their 'Competency Level', which determines any bonuses or stats of the class. These range from 'Good-for-nothing' to 'Expert'. The thing is, if you want to make the really competent soldiers, you have to get permission from the Dark Assembly. Depending on who is requesting the soldier (anyone in your army can), the new soldier will become their apprentice, which helps determine stats, abilities and other things. As things progress, you can eventually learn to combine classes, similar to the class progression in Final Fantasy: Tactics. This leads to a mind-boggling 150 classes/combos for use in the game. The Dark Assembly keeper even suggests that it could be possible to build an uber-class that possesses every ability of ever class. Politics is a big part of raising your army, gaining money, weapons. In addition to providing you with troops, the Dark Assembly also deals with giving you extra money, building new classes, getting better weapons. For example, say you want to unlock the Medium-grade weapons for purchase. First of all, you have to have a character petition the Dark Assembly for the right to do that. Once you ask, they vote. Each petition has a set 'Pass' number, which determines how many 'Yes' or 'No' votes you need. Each character in your army also has an influence rating, which changes based on actions and deeds (as well as rank). Kicking ass in battle (which basically translates to their Level) gets this number up as does taking promotion exams (which determine your character's rank). As if this wasn't enough, you can also bribe senators to vote for you, or you can use force and challenge them to a fight. Both have downsides. If you bribe someone and they don't like it, you won't get the votes and you'll be out money. If you challenge someone with force, you could not only die, but if you defeat them they'll come back in the next vote and really not like you. Weapons progression is also very deep. Your character gains skill levels based on what weapons their stats better suit them for. However, you can have a swordsman use guns, but he'll gain skill levels slower than if he was using a sword. All weapons also have stats (duh!), but they can be progressed in a very interesting way. In the castle, there's a portal called 'Item World' that allows you to enter an unequipped weapon. This opens up a multi-tiered battle (like the Dark World in Onimusha). As you progress through levels, you can find 'Coaches', who will submit to you once you defeat them. This will then grant special stats/powers to the weapon. Once under your control, you can then transport them between weapons (provided you haven't reached the weapon's 'Population Limit'). Depending on how well you do in the Item World, the weapon will also increase in level, making it more powerful.
Difficulty: Tactical RPGs have never been known for being easy, and nowhere is it more true then with Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. To put it bluntly, this isn't a game you can just pick up and play without reading the instructions. Not that the game is overly complicated, it's just a very mental game. Much like chess, you'll have to plan out strategies and counter strategies two or three moves in advance. Most of this insane difficulty level can be traced to the game's experience system. Tactical RPGs usually grant EXP to a character when they perform a non-movement action. Cast a spell, attack, use an item -- you gain EXP for all of it. Disgaea instead chooses to shun this idea and only grant EXP for killing enemies. This leads to an imbalance between classes since your combat-oriented classes are more prone to gain levels faster than non-Combat classes -- at least early on in the game. This also sets up an awkward flow in the game's battle dynamic since you not only have to plan the best way to defeat enemies, but also how to get EXP for non-combat class troops. Disgaea is also a very unforgiving game in terms of saving and restarts. Death is literally around every corner in the game. Not only will you have to restart the game if you die in a battle, but also if you're unsuccessful in either the Item World or even the promotion exam. Dying in battle I could handle. Hell, I'm even willing to accept the Item World death. But having to reload after taking a promotion exam was just plain wrong. If you want to kill my character for failing, fine -- but making the entire party suffer makes about as much sense as Gary Coleman running for Governor of California and expecting to win.
Game Mechanics: All orders are given via a turn-based menu. After moving your character, you can choose to attack, use special attacks or items. After giving orders, you select 'Execute' on the menu and all the attacks are used. This is where things get interesting. If certain characters are standing next to each other, or in a certain formation, they have a chance of executing a two-four-person combo attack. Combos only count against the person whose turn it is -- so if you set up things just right, you could give some characters multiple attacks. Controlling your troops is very easy to do, thanks to an easy to understand menu system, but it's not perfect. The analog stick is a little slippery at times, which can lead to some problems if you're not thinking about what's happening on the field, making it advisable to use the D-pad instead. Another interesting option you are given is the Lift/Throw command. When standing next to an enemy (or ally), you can choose to Lift that character and then throw him. You can use this to throw enemies into each other, overcome obstacles on the field (rivers, valleys, etc.) or get hurt characters out of harm's way. Depending on whom you're throwing where, certain side effects will take place -- with varying effects. For example, throwing one of the demon penguins causes him to explode for lots of damage. Or, if you throw an enemy at another enemy, they will combine and make a stronger enemy. Some battlefields are also affected by elemental field conditions, which are blue/red/green transparencies on the field. Each field has a crystal on them that have some kind of effect on the color square they're sitting on. Example, one crystal may be on a green area and give plus-50 percent EXP. What this means is that whenever you're on a green area and kill a monster, you gain 50 percent more EXP. There are also crystals that only help enemies or reduce your stats. You can also use the Lift/Throw option to pick the crystal up and move it to a different color area. On top of this, you can also destroy the crystal, which does damage to everything standing on that color square and changes the area color. There are even ways to set up a 'Color Chain' that destroys the panels in sequence, which ends up netting you lots of bonus points -- adding a puzzle element to the game. Even with its problems, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is an excellent game. Combining a level of depth rarely seen in games, along with a fun story and quirky cast, Disgaea is definitely worth it.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
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