Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness

"Dood! We been ported to the PSP!"

When I hear the name Disgaea, I get all happy and warm inside. Disgaea is one of the first games that made me laugh out loud because of it's hilarious dialogue. It has also made me fell in love with one of the main characters, Flonne. Her character is cute and unique in many ways where you are actually touched by her. However, that doesn't mean the other characters aren't unique, all of them are memorable and this game is too.

Disgaea isn't actual the first game in its universe. Yes, I said universe. There are many games out there by the same company that even though have different main characters, they are all from one universe. La Pucelle was actually the first game and Disgaea came second. However, it was decided to release Disgaea first because well, if you ever played the two, Disgaea is much better in all aspects. Only after Disgaea did so well in the U.S. did they decide to bring over La Pucelle. What is the connection? The main girl in La Pucelle becomes something else at the end. In Disgaea she makes an appearance. This happens throughout all the other games as well, for example Phantom Brave has the the main characters from Disgaea appear while Makai Kingdom has both Disgaea and Phantom Brave characters make appearances. This is mostly done due to the fan base and the popularity of the characters.

Now on to the game review. The story revolves around a young overlord name Laharl who is awaken by a servant named Etna. He learns that his father has died in the most hilarious way and now he is out to become the king. However there are many other overlords out there that want the same title. You set off with Etna and the funny penguins called Prinnies to do this feat. Of course you will have an army at your disposable. Throughout your mission you meet many colorful and memorable characters, like an Earth Defender Gordon, the confused adorable Angel Flonne and many more. What will the outcome be for Laharl? Buy this game and find out!

(Did you know: In the anime for Disgaea, Flonne was actually the one that wakes Laharl and not Etna)

Now the game quickly gets you into the action, the tutorial is wonderful and really fun to do. It teaches you all the basics of the game and after you go through it, it would seem you been playing the game for weeks. If you are played this for the PS2 then you are fine as you start. To those that never did play the PS2 version, you have a square, let's call it your base. When you click that base you are able to call out the characters you have in it. There are 10 characters maximum cap that you can have out. Most of the time during the story line you will need the main characters out, other times you don't. It is very important to have a balance of characters. Movement is done by squares as well, let's call them panels. Some characters can move within a large range while some cannot. It is like a chessboard if you would compare it to anything.

Once you get close to an enemy, you are able to attack or use any special skills that the character has. By having a teammate next to you they will do a team attack. if you have a character that has a teammate to the right, left and back of him/her sometimes it will be a 4 man team attack. This is shown by a cool 4 split screen of the character's faces and usually it's a long devastating attack. By doing this also, all the characters that interacted with the enemy will earn experience. You are also able to life an enemy or a teammate. Sometimes if you need to get away to heal, life an enemy up and toss the crap out of him then run away like a chicken. You can stack lift teammates to build a large tall tower. This is a great easy way to get across a map. Just like movement however, the amount of panels you can throw an enemy or teammate changes depending on the character used.

While you are not fighting or throwing people around, you can visit the Assembly to pass propositions. This is where you can try to get stronger weapons, cheaper prices and many many more. This is usually done by a group of monsters that will either agree or disagree with the bill you are trying to pass. If the majority of the group says no, you actually can force them by fighting all the ones that gave you the thumbs down. However this can be a difficult task depending on the bill you wanted pass. The better the bill, the stronger enemies there will be. Do not attempt to go with force unless you really know you can take out a huge army of level 9000+. You can also give gifts to persuade the outcome of the choices to each creature. Each one has a favorite item and by giving them that can change their decisions. Watch out though because sometimes giving them something they don't like will actually changed their minds to the opposition.

Looking for a more challenge? Go to the item world! Take an item and you can actually visit it's world where there are many rare items to obtain. It is also a very good place to level up your characters. Each item has a rarity and depending on it, it will contain a certain amount of floors you can visit. Each item also has occupants that make the item stronger. You can usually save them when they are in a map. They have a golden health bar to tell them apart.

Best part of this game is the ability to create classes. You have a huge array from thieves to mages to Holy Knights and even the Majins. You can also get creatures you fight throughout the game. Most of the time you can accomplish this by throwing an enemy into your base, but sometimes if they enemy is too strong it will destroy your base and all the characters in it. Each class has upgrades to them as well. They are stronger in stats and when you reach the max version of these classes they can prove to be extremely useful.

Each character can also be "reborn". What this does is it resets your character back to level one but their starts are stronger than before. You can repeat this as many times as you want, but each time you will have to level them up again. I for one, didn't do this at all during the PS2 version and I got through fine. Attempt this only if you want to get all the rare items in the item world and if you want to defeat the secret boss of the game. I would go more into this detail but it's pretty confusing and there are guides on it already, also I don't want to bore you with all this reading if I didn't do so already.

The graphics for this game on the PSP to me is perfect. All the animation, background color and facial expressions are there. It's almost like playing the PS2 version. The special attacks still have their lightings and the 3D zoom ins and out are there as well. The character's artwork is very good as well. One of the things that I love about Disgaea is the character design. It is very consistent and even though there are humans and demons combined it fits very well together. Even the none main characters have color and personality to them and that to me is a huge plus.

Just like the graphics, all the music and sound are in. There are a lot of memorable music in this game and I am glad I was able to get a few of those tracks so I can listen to them on the go. All the music in the game fits each scenario very well and after playing for awhile you will find yourself humming to the tunes. One particular song I like is by Tsunami Bomb while fighting the secret boss. The sound affects sound great too. Whether its just a simple slash to a over exaggerated attack. Did I mention the great voice acting in this game as well? Both Japanese and English are done greatly and both sides have put heart into the dialogue. The actors voices match the character as well. Each giving them a real life personality feel to them and it makes you eventually attached to them.

(Did you know: Tsunami Bomb actually disbanded before Disgaea 2 was released.)

So what is new on the PSP version? There is an Etna mode where the story expands a bit and you get to use Etna herself rather than Laharl. This adds a huge replay value that the game originally didn't have, but this game already had a huge replay value for the multiple endings and the New game +. What is new game +? It saves all your character progress and items and money but you start at the beginning of the game again. I would of preferred a Flonne Mode but Etna is good enough for now. Another new thing added are the appearances of the main characters from Disgaea 2, Axel and Rozalin. Along of course with the many others in the original Disgaea for the PS2. Only bad part is that you can't use Axel or Rozalin, but it's great to just see them make an appearance.

So in closing, buy or rent? Definite buy. If you like comedic RPG/Strategy type games, this is for you. The hours of game play and replay value with the different endings and many things to do, this game will keep you playing for hours, days, weeks, months and even years. I just can't wait when Disgaea 2 makes it to the PSP.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/15/08

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