Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories

"If the story were better, this might just be the perfect video game."

Every once in a while a game comes and goes and you wonder to yourself "Why the hell didn't I get that when I had the chance?" It was that way for the first Disgaea; years after it had come out I tried to find it, but had no luck. Fortunately a friend of mine had the game and allowed me to borrow it for a few months while I beat it. It was a superb game, with likeable characters, a funny storyline, and excellent gameplay. Though, I didn't think it was perfect; there were parts of the game that were frustrating, and the game heavily relied on powerleveling. You weren't really encouraged to have a balanced team, either. However, I still loved it, and recently got my hands on Disgaea 2. However, once I started playing this game, I was unable to stop. They took the excellent but flawed gameplay from the first game and perfected it, resulting in quite possibly the best battle system in any RPG of all time. Unfortunately, the characters and story don't hold up as well, but other than that it is superior to the first game in every way.

The game starts out in Holt Village, where you are introduced to Adell, the hero. His family (except for him) has been turned into monsters by Overlord Zenon, but they've decided to just try to summon him so he can be defeated by Adell to restore his family to their original state. However, they accidentally summon Zenon's spoiled daughter Rozalin, and the entire game is about trying to return Rozalin to her father and Adell's determination to defeat him. To me, that's actually a good basis for a storyline, but the problem is the characters. Adell is your typical RPG hero, and though there are hints that he's a parody of one, he just doesn't come off that likable. The reason Laharl from the first Disgaea was so popular is because he was so outrageous; everything he did had a completely ludicrous reason, and his insane personality made him stand out from other RPG heroes. Adell, unfortunately, just comes off as boring. He's not really that funny, and he's only marginally better than the other characters you can get in battle. Rozalin starts out rather unlikeable, but she still managed to grow on me as the game progressed. There's a slew of other characters, but generally they aren't as funny or interesting as the cast of the original game. However, I still liked the story, as it's still quite different from your typical RPG storyline. As Adell plainly puts it late in the game, "I don't care about saving the world. I just want to protect my family!"

If you're one of those graphics snobs that needs a game to look good for you to play it, just stop reading right now. Like the first game, Disgaea 2 is not impressive in the graphics department at all. Every level in the game is on a field that might as well be from a Playstation 1 game. All the characters are 2D sprites with several different poses, and although there are some cool-looking attack animations, it's still nothing that you haven't seen already. However, for what they are, the graphics still work well. This isn't a game that needs flashy cutscenes or close-up moments. It suits the game just fine, and besides, graphics aren't the point of the game anyway.

The game also sports an excellent soundtrack. Several memorable themes from the first game return, as well as several all-new tracks with vocals (though, if you aren't a fan of Japanese singing, you may not find them as interesting as I did). Very few, if any, tracks are annoying, and they all fit the battle's style well. The game also has English voice acting, but that's more of a mixed bag. I think the main characters sound fine, but it's clear that they got new voice actors for the returning characters, and unfortunately, they just don't have the same spunk.

Now to get on to why I love this game so much: the battle system. I won't bore you with the details, but I WILL give a few reasons why it's superior to most games, as well as accessible to hardcore gamers and casuals alike. If you've played Final Fantasy Tactics, it's a bit similar to that. Basically, you've got several different grid-based fields to do battle on. You can pick 10 of your characters to use to fight, and you can move them however you like. Then it's your opponent's turn, and you repeat. But what makes it so awesome is just how many different options you have. Not only do you have access to dozens of different human characters with different specifications of classes and abilities, but you can use ANY MONSTER IN THE GAME. That doesn't apply to bosses, of course, but having the freedom to have any monster at your disposal is similar miraculous. There are also many more monsters than humans, and the result is a ton of different possible teams for you to try out. As for the actual battle, you've got your basic attack, which can be countered by the enemy and then counter-countered, and that can repeat infinitely depending on how many counters your character is actually capable of. Each class or monster also has a wide variety of special attacks that are not only useful, but fun to watch (especially for the monsters). Another feature is that you can pick up your teammates and throw them. This is quite useful, since if an enemy is out of reach, you can just throw somebody to him. You can also toss people from person to person, and even make a tall tower of people you've picked up! There are many more details to the battles, but I'll just leave those to you to find out when you've played.

While it took me 60 hours to beat the first Disgaea, it only took me 40 to beat the second. However, that doesn't mean that it's a shorter game. Both games have 13 chapters, and the storyline averages out to be the same length. The truth is, Disgaea 2 is much easier thanks to the improved battle system. The subtle changes are too many to list here, but leveling up is much easier, and you have a lot more freedom over what you can do, and the general pace of the game is sped up some as well. There's still a ridiculous amount for the completionist to do as well; a Dark World houses overpowered enemies parallel to the basic game; there are hidden classes that require you to get to level 250 to unlock; there are several different endings that encourage multiple playthroughs, and your character level can go up to 9999! You will NOT get bored playing this.

I completely loved this game, and this game was meant for hardcore gamers. Casuals can probably pick it up and enjoy it, though I really have no proof of that. Still, it has possibly the best battle system in any RPG and is really addictive. Nothing wrong with that, zam.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/07