Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories

"A great strategy-rpg game but far from being my favorite"

This game is an awesome strategy-rpg game. I haven't played the first one but I like this one a lot. Strategy-rpgs have always been one of my favorite types of games.

Story: 8/10

This game has an excellent story. Every one in the world has been turned into a demon by a curse initiated by Overlord Zenon, except for the main character Adell. In the beginning, Adell's mom attempts to summon Overlord Zenon so Adell can defeat him and the curse will be lifted. But instead, there was a flaw in the summoning and they summoned the Overlord Zenon's daughter, Rozalin, instead. Adell promised to take Rozalin back to her father but Adell still vowed to defeat Zenon. The story has some good humor as well as some exciting plot twists later on.

Graphics: 5/10

You are probably wondering why I gave the graphics such a low rating. I'll tell you why in just a second. This game has great 2-d graphics and all. But there are still a couple of annoying graphic flaws. For example: In the item world, I couldn't even find my own unit because it was behind a wall. There are way too many colors on some maps that it is hard to check your own unit's or the enemy's movement or attack range and it will give you headache if you look at it too long. Sometimes, I couldn't even place the cursor on one of the units because of the design of the maps. Another annoying part is that the numbers on the menu are so small and blurred. You cannot figure it out even when you put your face next to the TV.

Controls: 9/10

The controls are very easy to master and they are very good. There is nothing more to say.

Game play: 8/10

Okay, the game play is very good. It is a strategy-rpg game very similar to the gameplay in Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre. There are so many different units but you can only deploy 10 of them in a battle. This is how the battle system goes like: You select a unit, you move it somewhere in it's movement range, and then you select a command for the unit. You can have your unit use an item, defend, or attack if the enemy is in your unit's range. After you selected your command, you select execute and your unit will execute the command you gave it whether it is attack, defend, or use an item. After you kill an enemy, the unit who killed it gains experience. Once the unit accumulates enough experience, it levels up. Once you defeat all the enemies, you win. Yeah, that is basically the battle system in Disgaea. There is a lot of other stuff to do. You have to buy good equipment for your units. Also, every item in the game has a level. There is no two identical items even though the name or the stats are the same. Every item has its own, individual level. To level up your items, you have to go to the Item World. The Item World is a dungeon consisting of many floors. Each floor has several enemies and every floor you complete, your item gains a level. You cannot save until you get to the tenth floor of the item world or unless you use a special escape item. Every ten floors, you can escape the item world, save your game, and resume it. This can get extremely frustrating when you get very far in the item world and then your team gets destroyed. You have to start all over again. It takes over an hour to finish ten floors. You probably will want to smash your PS2 if that happens. It takes a long time to level up your items and there are over hundreds of different types of items in the game. Anyways, enough of that item world stuff. One of my favorite parts of this game is the Dark Assembly. You can add units to your team at the Dark Assembly. Every time you kill an enemy, you not only get experience, you get mana which is essential to create units with good potential. At first, you will not get that much mana so you can only create units with low potential. There are many different classes in Disgaea and you can only deploy up to 10 units in battle. Not all the classes will be available at the beginning of the game. Some classes can only be unlocked after you fulfill a certain requirement. There is a lot more to the Dark Assembly. For example, you can suggest bills like "more expensive stuff" or even "stronger enemies". All of them have their benefits like if you suggest "increase the price of items" all of the items in the shops will be more expensive but they will also be better. Some bills will only be available after you fulfill a certain requirement. Once you suggest a bill, you have to get it approved by the assembly meaning the senators in the assembly have to take a vote on it. You can bribe the senators with items they like to get them to vote yes on your suggestion.

Sound: 8/10

This game has great music. It also has great voice acting and sound effects. I think I'll give this an 8.

Replay value and length: 10/10

Okay, this game has a lot of replay value. There are over a 100 different classes and there is so much to do. Also, there are so many items in the game and it takes hours to level them up. This game will last you for quite some time unless you want to just zoom through the game.

Final rating: 8/10

If you love strategy-rpg games, do not hesitate to get this game. There are still some better ones out there but still this game is worth buying.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/16/06