Disgaea: Hour of Darkness

"Penguins and Demons and Angels, Oh my!"

Back in June of 2000, a little-known Japanese developer called Nippon Ichi tested the North American waters by releasing a "musical RPG" by the name of Rhapsody (via publisher Atlus). It was rather well received by critics, but sales weren't exactly hitting a high note (Get it?). It wasn't until August 2003 that another Nippon Ichi game would be released, again via Atlus. This time it was a strategy-RPG called "Disgaea". Initial trailers started off with the words "Strategy RPGs are about to get a serious kick in the ass", promising big things. Seeing as I was a big SRPG fan (ever since FF Tactics), I decided to pick up Disgaea hoping it would, indeed, "kick SRPG ass"…

...and it delivered; nay, it more than delivered. It single handedly raised the bar for all future SRPGs, and combined a killer sense of humor with hours upon hours of excellent gameplay. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me explain why Disgaea is one of the best games ever for RPG fans, and how much I love this game.

You have to go into this game knowing that the graphics utilize highly expressive sprite-based effects and characters, or you will be disappointed. Disgaea does not mean to be a graphical masterpiece, and it does not try to be. Instead, Nippon Ichi has all but perfected sprite based visuals. The character models are very well animated, showing a variety of expressions. These expressions are accentuated by large, manga-style portraits during story sequences and prove to be hilariously integrated into the cut scenes, giving players more than the typically dull "talking heads" conversations most RPGs of this style use. Environments during these cut scenes are hand painted, very well detailed, and pleasing to the eyes, despite a few areas looking rather similar. On the other hand, in-game environs can sometimes seem drab and low-quality, but again, Disgaea isn't aiming for anything more than gorgeous "2.5D" sprite graphics.

Continuing the unusually high translation values (as far as most Atlus games go) are the game's audio. Spoken dialogue accompanies most of the important scenes, and players can switch between the original Japanese voiceovers or the newly dubbed English voices. Most of you anime fans are probably cringing at that statement, reminded of awful and uninspired dubbing of years past. But continuing the recent upswing in dub quality, all of the voices match the character personalities perfectly, and are professionally done.

Background tunes and sound effects are above average, but most of the tracks tend to be repeated a bit too often. By the fifteenth time you hear the shop tune, it gets a little stale. Sound effects are also pretty standard for the genre, but they are very well done nonetheless.

Of course, if there's one piece of audio I'll never tire of, it's that of the Prinny Squad, Disgaea's ragtag band of demonic penguin assassins. That's right: demonic...penguin…assassins. Their random comments and constant shouting of "d00d" (yes, in that spelling too) are downright hilarious. Some may get tired of them, but I sure didn't, and any fan of random penguins shouldn't either.

Disgaea's storyline puts you in the role of a young demon prince named Laharl. After his royal vassal Etna rudely awakens Laharl from a two-year nap (Laharl swears it had only been a ten-day one.), he learns that his father and overlord of the Netherworld (read: hell), King Kirchevskoy, has kicked the bucket. Not only that, but legions of other demons wish to take Kirchevskoy‘s place. Thus, Laharl, Etna, and a couple of Prinnies set off to show those demons whose in charge. Through the course of Laharl's royal beat down, an angel, a campy, 50s-style superhero, a robot that's a dead ringer for that one in Lost in Space, and a gender-confused vampire will join the demon prince. Other wacky personas encountered include ghosts, seraphs, Power Rangers rejects, a mad scientist, and a zombie with a horse's weenie. (Those are all real, by the way; Disgaea takes no prisoners when it comes to humor.)

To compliment the insane storyline is some excellent, engaging strategy gameplay. Similar to its SRPG brethren FF Tactics and Front Mission, the core of the battle system involves deploying party members on an isometric grid and killing the opposition. If enemies ever get too tough, simply level up your characters by revisiting previously beaten maps (a cool feature of Disgaea that adds to the replay value). But just doing this would make Disgaea seem like yet another rip-off.

That's where the game's two new innovations come in: Geo Panels and the ability to throw both enemy and allied characters. Geo Panels are a semi-complicated feature. Basically, there are flashing colored areas on the map that correspond to randomly placed pyramids of the same color. Land on a region and whatever status effects the region enables are included. Destroy the pyramids and the matching panels explode, giving you bonus points and, occasionally, items. You can even set up chains of panel explosions to damage enemies and rack up even more points. Geo Panels can sometimes play into the strategy of a particular map, necessitating further tactical actions.

Throwing characters is as much a strategic feature as it is a fun one. Any human character can throw an enemy adjacent to them, or they can simply pick them up. This enables you to a.) unblock paths to go farther in a map, b.) get more movement out of characters by piling chains and tossing people, or c.) save a damaged character from being attacked and/or prevent an enemy from attacking.

The character creation element in Disgaea is particularly neat. Aside from the characters you start with and ones you automatically gain in your party, you can recruit new ones. You can create any monster or humanoid character you've defeated ranging from various types of fighters and mages, to ghosts, zombies, and dragons. Each character costs a certain amount of Mana, which can be earned through combat, to create. If there's one minor problem with his system, it's that most of the higher classes are just palette swaps of each other, but it's not that big of a deal.

Stopping here would have already merited Disgaea superb gameplay and enormous replay value, but it offers even more. Unlike most RPGs whose level cap is around 99, Disgaea blows that away with a cap of 9999. Insane? Definitely, though it proves the game is never really over anytime soon. Also innovative is the Dark Assembly. Think of it as having to pass a bill through Congress. Passing a law such as "Better weapons sold" or "Stronger enemies" adds that feature to the game. As with anything political, some members may not be favorable to you, but they might change their mind if you give them some of their favorite items. And if they don't pass the bill, you can always attempt to kill them! Heheheh…

Due in part to all these features, Disgaea is one of those games that is so enjoyable once you beat it, you just want to play it over and over. New Game + is available each time, as are all the replay-inciting features. With a charming old-school graphic style, great voiceovers (and the option for Japanese ones, to boot), engaging gameplay and one of the funniest stories in a modern RPG, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is well deserving of your time. If you can still find this gem, buy it, cherish it, and laugh your arse off. This is one for the ages.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/23/04, Updated 12/09/04