Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness

"An addicting game that will deprive kids of sleep"

When I saw other websites review and screen shots for this game, as a big fan of tactics RPG, I bought this game. It is a port of the PS2 version, Afternoon of Darkness, which I have never played before, with some extra content. Upon playing it, I found myself deprived of food and sleep. Why? Well read on.

Story: 9/10

So the story is a bit strange at first and childish: A prince Laharl finds himself in his castle after waking up from a two year slumber. Then he learns about his father's death and all the other demons fighting for the demon lord title. That is how he starts his journey, to take that title which is rightfully his. But as you continue to play, the story actually starts to make sense and there are many twists which deepens the character developments. Also depending on how you play the game, you can get a different ending. This game is also one of the funniest games I have ever played with its non-stop humor before every battle.

Gameplay: 10/10

This is where this game owns. You start off in a castle and that is where you stay to rest up and buy equipments. When you're done, you go through a portal to your quest. Like all TRPG game, there are two teams, yours and the opponent and your job is to kill the opponent. It might sound easy but there is a lot of strategy involved. First of all, you can move a certain number of spaces depending on your stats and equipments. Then you attack normally or with skills. Sounds like all other TRPG but here is what makes Disgaea different. You can throw anyone, another character or even the opponent's character. This way, you can basically travel to any spot on the map if you have enough characters to throw. Another thing different is that you can chain your attack by attacking the same opponent in a row. This leads to more points and damage but you have to be careful or else you might waste your character turn by over killing an opponent. Unlike Final Fantasy Tactic, there is no way to see the chance you have of hitting the target or your damage which makes it more realistic.

Other than the battle, you can level up your character to a max level of 9999 and transmuting them back down to 1 to make them even stronger. Also, you can level up a specific skill and weapon mastery. Also, another huge part of this game is creating your own characters. There are many classes, which consist of human and monsters, to make. With transmuting, you can make one character learn all the skill in the game by constantly changing his class.

Like most game, getting the best weapon is a long task but worth it in the end. You can buy most weapons in the store, but the really strong ones are attainable by stealing it from other creatures. From there, you can customize each weapon or armor by entering it. An item can have up to 100 floors and you have to go through all of them to maximize your weapon power. So if you're really crazy about having all the best items in the game, it's going to take a while.

Control: 7/10

If you are familiar with other TRPG, then you will get the control in no time, since it is almost the same thing. You use the analog stick or the arrows to move the cursor to pick your location and press X to confirm it. You can rotate the map by pressing L and R and zooming in and out. But unlike other TRPG, have to press Triangle to actually execute your move. It's really not that hard to learn the keys and it would take an hour at most to learn how all the keys work.

Sounds and Music: 6/10

There is a ton of music in this game. As you play more, you encounter more songs which then become unlocked so you can buy it. Upon buying it, you can listen to it or set it so it will play over and over while you improve your equipments. I didn't pay much attention to the music at the beginning, but when you start to grind and level like mad; picking a good music in the game makes it much faster. Like most games, there are one or two songs that you just can't stop listening too. Other than that, don't expect much on the music but more on the game play. Also the voice of the actors is pretty good and I have no problem with it at all.

Graphic: 7/10

The thing that bugs me about this game is how they portray the story. It is all pictures with no short movie scene. It would show the picture of the two characters talking with the dialog underneath. But in the battle, the graphics are the same as any other TRPG with its fancy looking skill attacks.

Loading Time: 9/10

There is almost no loading time in this game at all even on the older PSP. The battles load almost instantly. The only annoying loading time, for me, is saving the game. It is a tiny lag but it just takes too long for me since I like playing this game so much. It ends up making me save only once every couple of hours, which can make we regret doing so when my battery dies. Also, if you want to play the game a lot faster, you can turn off all the battle animation and the cut scenes which helps greatly if you impatient.

Replay Value: 10/10

Wow, this game is all about replay value. You can go though the whole game in less than 20 hours but the game really starts after you finish it. I beat the game with my main character around level 100 but you can level up to 9999. There are tons of optional bosses and strong equipments you can get. Each boss is super strong and you need some godly weapon and level to compete with them. You will need to go inside the best weapons and go through 100 floors to increase its attack power and do the same for your armor. If that is not challenging enough for you, you can increase all the opponents' level dramatically to suit your playing style. If optional bosses sound like a bore, you can play the game over again with all your characters the same level with all your items. This way, you can fly by to the ending because there are many alternate endings you can get by fulfilling a different task. One thing new to the PSP and not in the PS2 version is the Etna Mode. You can unlock this mode and it lets you play as Etna instead of Laharl. The monsters are stronger and more stories are told.

Overall: 9/10

If you are still having second doubt about this game after reading my review, then there is something wrong with you. Go out and buy this game since it was wonderfully made and ported over for the PSP. This is the best TRPG I have played on the PSP so far. If you're planning to buy Jean D' Arc or Final Fantasy Tactics, buy this game first.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/08

Game Release: Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (US, 10/30/07)