First, here’s some history for you readers. A few years ago, I was hooked on something so incredibly addictive that I thought my life was ruined – her name was Disgaea. Yeah, yeah, it’s a game, but god what a game. I probably went around my house shutting the doors, cutting phone lines and stocking myself up with cheese biscuits to feed this addiction, something I hadn’t experienced since Civilization II. And while the game wasn’t a commercial success, it wasn’t without its followers. The thing that blew gamers away was that its concept was so unique, so out-there and just so damn enjoyable that it deserved to be placed in everyone’s PS2. The sequel treads a similar path, and while you won’t be shooing people away and acting devilishly evil, you most certainly will be absorbed by the experience.
As was the case with the original, Cursed Memories boast a lengthy and humorous storyline and a healthy range of likeable cast members, allowing gamers to enjoy the experience within minutes. The world of Veldime is in a little bit of a pickle - see, everyone has unfortunately been transformed in to demons and are slowly losing their memories and common sense. For some reason though, a young man named Adell is the only human to have escaped the curse from Overlord Zenon, a powerful demon who’s known as the God of all Overlords. Now it’s Adell’s goal to save his family and friends and defeat Overlord Zenon to free the world from this terrible curse. After his mother’s failed attempt of summoning Overlord Zenon to him, Adell is instead stuck with a beautiful, yet highly tongue-and-cheek, lady who claims she is the only daughter of Overlord Zenon and is now ritually bound to Adell. The unlikely pair are stuck with each other, until Adell succeeds in finding the dangerous Overlord and lifting the curse.
Because normal pirates weren't bad enough.
While it isn’t as loveable as the original, Disgaea 2’s story line and silly in-between events provide enough of an attraction for gamers to enjoy the ride. The humour is top-notch, and the story is extremely well-written and progresses just as well, although it can be a little too predictable at times. There are plenty of new and exciting characters, and a few familiar faces found in Disgaea that drop in for a few laughs. The deep storyline is well backed by the inclusion of excellent voice acting, humorous one-liners and its cutesy anime presentation. Story and characters are such an important factor in games of this nature, and Disgaea 2 doesn’t fail to impress.
Besides having a loveable and involving story and characters, Disgaea 2 provides gamers with a highly addictive and deep gameplay experience. What is actually a simplistic experience as far as strategy RPGs go on the battlefield – where you can move characters one-by one, use magic attacks, special abilities etc. – Disgaea manages to capture the perfect balance, by providing gamers with aeons of playtime due to its depth, multiple features that can be explored, and the rather accessible gameplay structure, to ensure that almost anyone can enjoy the game.
That’s not to say that Disgaea 2 is easy though; it's quite the opposite. The game begins with a nice progression in difficulty to ease gamers into the fundamentals of Disgaea’s system, and then, within a couple of hours, you’ll be tasked with defeating a few dozen enemies and their far superior skill sets. And there’s generally a lot of trial-and-error to be found, as the game doesn’t do a good enough job at explaining some of the harder sequences in the game. You see, there’s the ability to create new characters, reincarnate your existing characters into other classes, to learn new abilities, be convicted of a felony (which is, oddly, great for your character) and to purpose certain treaties before a court-room full of demons. The game does a decent job at explaining the simple factors of those areas of the game, but generally fails to provide the smaller details of each of them, such as what reincarnating characters actually provides, as well as some other areas such as the benefits of owning rare items and expanding their strength.
The battles themselves are fairly straightforward, and even provide plenty of depth for gamers to sink their teeth into. Battles are played from an isometric perspective, and the basic properties of existing strategy RPGs remain intact. You’ll be able to direct your units to different squares on the map, much like a typical game of chess. In addition, you’ll be able to execute various abilities such as basic attacks, and long-range abilities such as magic, guns and bows. Even in the early parts of the game, you’re constantly tasked with strategically placing and utilising all of your characters and each of their abilities to the fullest. To add a distinct Disgaea spin to it all, you’ll be able to use various items during battles including mobile phones, which allows you to call for pizza deliveries, or even assistance from the various characters you’ve met along the way, including a group of Power Ranger wannabes.
Despite what appears to be simple, Disgaea 2 boasts one heck of an in-depth experience.
Why most of the game consists of plenty of S-RPG fundamentals, Disgaea includes a number of gameplay twists that force you to opt different tactics for each battle. While the basics of understanding what classes will suit different situations remain, there are often other factors such as GeoPanels, which add a bit more difficulty. GeoPanels are coloured panels that provide additional bonuses for the characters sitting on them (attack bonuses, extra turn, less damage taken, etc.). In addition, there's the unique ability to pick up and throw your team mates around the map. Generally, throwing team mates is used when wanting to access areas without a path or higher ground, though you can stack up a group of your party members to perform chain attacks on single enemies. These ‘pick-up’ chain attacks are ideal for enemy boss characters that boast phenomenal amounts of health.
There are unfortunately a couple of problems that mar the final product though. Anyone who has played any of Nippon Ichi Software’s other titles will feel right at home with Disgaea 2’s style, which isn’t particularly a bad, but certainly feels a tad dated in areas. There are several recycled visuals in place, special effects aren’t that exciting anymore, and the level designs are generally quite bland. Levels are terribly small and restrictive, and lack a lot of attention to detail. And then there are the game’s cumbersome camera angles that usually get in your way as you try and direct your characters. There are no silhouettes for when a character is behind a structure, which tends to get in the way of trying to move characters around and even understanding where in fact some of your enemies are hiding. Thankfully, these tiny annoyances aren’t enough to derail the enjoyment to be found within Disgaea 2, since the game’s loveable charm and engrossing story holds onto you tightly until the very end.
Strategy RPG fans are generally deprived of decent games in the genre, and it’s equally hard to find good games that actually make their way to PAL shores. Final Fantasy Tactics is a godsend, Fire Emblem is a runaway success and Disgaea is quite easily one of the best, yet highly overlooked, series of them all. S-RPG fans: this is a game you’ll want to own.
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I highly recommend this game, it's an excellent sequel to Disgaea, I liked it better than FFXII!
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