[PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness - insanecrazy07

Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness
Published by: NIS
Developed by: NIS
Release Date: October 30, 2007
Genre: Turn-Based Strategy RPG

Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness is a port of the original, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, on the PS2. This isn’t technically a port or a remake, since it has a completely new storyline and a new game mode, Etna Mode. This is much like Final Fantasy Tactics being remade into Tactics Advance with a new storyline but with the same basic mechanics.

Story:
You play as the Demon Lord’s son, Laharl. After King Krichevskoy died, every demon has tried to steal the title of Overlord of the Netherworld. Laharl can’t fight back since he has been asleep for two years. Laharl and his Vassal, Etna, set out to reclaim the throne.

The Emperor and the Senate: When In Rome
While you use the assembly to request more expensive items, and approval of new units, you must persuade the Senate to vote in your favor. You can bribe them with items that they want (Usually the “Must Want!!!” gets them pretty far). If the majority fails, then you can persuade by force by killing them. This isn’t really recommended when you first start out since the Senate has level 20-24 monsters. After you kill them, they will return loathing you even more so beware (they also level up much faster if you manage to kill them).

Buying and Selling:
The more you buy from your shops, the better they will like you and they will give you discounts and better items.

Equipment is Everything:
It doesn’t really matter what level you are. It’s the equipment that counts! As soon as possible, you should try to persuade the assembly to give you more expensive items since those new items will double your stats. Every item you purchase is unique, meaning that the Bulletproof Vest that you bought is different from the other Bulletproof Vests that you bought. Each item gives different stat increases or decreases and has a rarity index. The lower the number, the more rare it is. This game might as well boast 50,000 items, but really it is just 500 items with 100 different combinations…or something like that.

Customization is Better Than Autosculptâ„¢!
As soon as you get a few MP, you are allowed to create your own units with their own job classes. After awhile, you can transmigrate the unit to a new class, starting them over at level 1, with all or most of their abilities and stats intact. Creating the ultimate mage with all of the elements is possible with transmigration. You can create a warrior with high hit percentage and a fast speed to create the ultimate hard hitter. Transmigration allows you to upgrade a basic warrior to a higher tier one instead of having to create an all-new unit. Just to add, there are two different warrior units to start out with; both being excellent with swords, but one will specialize in spears and the other axes. I suggest having both since the Dragoon type is helpful for attacking 2 squares away. (Instead of one like everyone else).


If you kill enough of those Ghost units, you will be able to create the Ghost unit in the assembly for cheaper.

State the Nature of Your Medical Emergency!
You are rewarded items for healing yourself at the hospital. The hospital still charges you, but it is rewarding to get some rather rare items for just a little bit of money.

Combos:
When you attack, if you have allies adjacent to you, they have a chance of attacking as well. You can do this as long as there is someone next to you that can assist so you can pull off two separate combos with two people. For example, If I have Laharl next to Etna and Laharl attacks, Etna will attack, then Laharl. Then it is Etna’s turn so she will attack but Laharl will attack before she does making it a combo. So instead of just getting two attacks with two people, you end up with four. Try not to chain combos with people that have no base attack power like Mages.


Four people doing a combo = Lots of damage.

Special Attacks:
Use them whenever you can since they get experience and level up as well. Laharl and Etna have special character specific attacks because they are main characters. All of the main characters have character specific attacks. Since it costs almost nothing to heal them, you might as well use up all of the SP that they are given.

Geo Panels and Geo Symbols:
Now this is a nice feature, if a Geo Symbol is on top of a Geo Panel, you get that bonus of the Geo Symbol if you are standing on one of the corresponding Geo Panels. This can be beneficial and harmful depending on the Geo Symbol. If the Geo Symbol is EXP +50, then whenever you kill an enemy that is standing on the Geo Panel, you get +50 EXP. You’ll find yourself putting your tank units right on the Geo Panels that say +50 Defense +1 Attack. They will take all of the hits, possibly counter, and dish out an extra attack on their turn, not including the combos that you set up.


If you destroy a Geo Symbol while it is still on a Geo Panel, it will hit everyone that is standing on that corresponding Geo Panel.

Throwing Enemies:
If you throw an enemy on top of another one, they will Level Up! adding their levels together...most of the time. Don't go over your head when throwing since higher levels are harder to kill. Higher levels also yield more EXP, mana, and spoils.

Item World:
Item world is most similar to a skirmish type battle mode. The environments are never the same, and you progress through 10 levels at a time. The benefits of going to the item world is that you can upgrade your items to have better stats. The only way to do it though, is to kill the Residents that inhabit that item.

Complexity At Its Finest:
This game might push away the casual gamer so if you don’t like spending hours and hours just to get the right mix of classes, then play Advance Wars or something.

Etna Mode:
You can look up on how to get Etna Mode by going on IGN and looking up the cheats section. However, this isn't really a cheat that is all that helpful. The entire storyline is different because in Etna Mode, Etna kills Laharl when she tries to wake him up. You walk around as Etna and you don't play as Laharl at all, so the game is much harder without another powerhouse, and the enemies are harder as well. I would recommend playing Etna Mode when you have beaten the game as Laharl first.

Presentation: 9.5. The endless possibility of making just about anything that you want makes this a great game.

Graphics: 8.5. The cartoony feel is the style they used so I have to be a little more merciless with the graphics score. The camera angles are bad in some situations but then again, so is Tactics.

Sound: 8.5. Music score isn’t bad. It has that comical feel to it, just like the rest of the game. The voice acting is pretty good so far.

Gameplay: 9.5. This has a bunch of cool features, like the Assembly, Hospital, Shop relations, combos, and job class customization. Just like its original, it kept to the same mechanics. There is ad hoc multiplayer but how many people do you know have a PSP AND Disgaea?

Lasting Appeal: 9.5. So much to do, so little time.

Total: 45.5/50.
Average: 9.1.
Overall: 9.5.
Rating: 5 stars. Excellent.

Closing Comments:
Despite the cartoony graphics, this game is not for the faint of heart. For the people that think Final Fantasy Tactics is the best Strategy RPG to hit the market, give this one a try. I guarantee that this does everything that Tactics has ever done, and more. This is in the top 3 of my favorite PSP games so far.

Edit: Added Throwing Enemies, Item World and Etna Mode.

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

I played this one, not a bad review. I thought it was Mana and not Mp that allows you to make new units...
And this game is way better than FFTA

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

Mana, MP, same difference.

anyway, I haven't gotten past the first boss yet, but I'm rank 3 and level 8 for most of my main units.

I named most of them after FF characters, Yang, Rosa, Cecil, Rikku (yeah I got a rogue now).

I don't understand how the new classes come up, but I'm not really complaining.

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

New classes are unlocked as you level up different units. Unfortunately, you're going to have to get both a Male and Female Warrior (sword, axe, spear user) and Brawler (fist user) to unlock both the Ronin (samurai) and Genin (ninja) classes, though I'm not sure which one's you have to keep. Otherwise, raising your skill with certain weapons, such as the bow and gun, will unlock the Archer and Scout, respectively. New magic classes are unlocked only if you level up all three of the casters, meaning that you'll have to have Green, Blue and Red Skulls or Mages in order to unlock the Star Skull. And make sure to reincarnate your characters into their higher classes; that way, you can keep some skills and build up their stats.

I love the story in Disgaea 1, but the gameplay is refined to utter brilliance for Disgaea 2: Hour of Darkness. I really want a PS3 so I can play the next title, but I don't feel like getting a new system, let alone the most expensive one, for one, perhaps two, games.

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

i have a rogue, and scout so far that are new classes.

i have a tier 3 monk unlocked but i dont actually have one yet since the reincarnation requires me to be rank 3 and i don't have that just yet.

i take it main characters don't change classes...

i don't see the point of the monster classes... they suck.

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

You won't really be unlocking new stuff until you have the equipment and sheer power enough to do a bit of powerleveling - once you've gotten to about chapter four or five, it doesn't take long to take a little puny level 1 up to 10 to make some new characters.

Main classes do not, unfortunately, change class - but, as a bonus, they are the only ones to have 100% growths in every category. Most everything else doesn't even have one growth that high, and the first two characters you'll see that have a 110% or higher growth is the Ronin and Genin.

Monster classes DO suck. They're overly expensive and don't have the skills or strength necessary to make the viable choices for party members. In Disgaea 2, however, they're quite the force to be reckoned with, especially Prinnies. Characters are also a lot more balanced in the sequel, and weapons such as the fist and the spear get other bonuses, with fists being reworked to add speed and derive damage from speed, making them actually useful.

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

Nice review insane!

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

I like throwing the prinnies. lol
doooooood!

Too bad it wastes one of my 10 members so I only have 9 left.

I just got to chapter 3 and I got some spear in the corner of the room.
and now I have to go into the item world.

edit:
I'm way past that now and I got a ronin and a ninja just now.
Just got back some pendant and beat mid-boss again.

man this game is addicting.

I find myself reincarnating them too much.
what is a good rule of thumb to transmigrate?

(on one of the maps, it made the entire map with Invincibility, so I threw most of the monsters at each other so it was close to level 80 something and I sat there with two of my guys throwing the geo symbol around. I turned off invincibility when I attacked, and then threw it back on when she attacked.
Level 80 mob with only a few hundred HP. Still took me a good 40 minutes but my Ronin went from level 6 to level 25 and I got a ton of HL for it.

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

Awesome review.
I loved this game on PS2 but unfortunately do not own a PSP.

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

do you know if its possible to create the red/pinkish prinnies? if possible how?

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

i don't think it is possible.
im only on chapter 7 and ive been busy with soul calibur IV, so i won't be playing this for awhile.
im real deep into the customization so far.

onto my 4th reincarnation of everyone except the main characters.

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

Nice review insanecrazy07, wish i had a PSP so i could try it out.

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

the phat psps aren't too expensive. i think they dropped it to $139.99 instead of $169.99

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

Thanks to your review I DL'ed a copy of this game to try it out and I can not put it down! It's sitting in my lap running right now also. : If you have a PSP and like the FFTactics style, GET THIS! (Way better than FFT also.)

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

There is one level that you are supposed to purposely lose.

It's the one where you are fighting a bunch of level 60+ fire demons (all split from the same big demon lord)

Just purposely lose and continue on.

I would recommend playing Etna mode after you have played through the game once, (or play it alongside the main story, chapter by chapter and see how the story changes).

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

Yeah I read about that. I plan to after I finish. Already have just under 8 hours logged in two days. : Not bad considering yesterday was my busy day at school.

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

this game has a dragoon class? wtf?
also including the 2 block attack range for the dragoon
is this like a spin off of the ff series?
and theres disgaea on the ds too right
wonder if the gameplays the same?

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

I call it the dragoon class because they just call it female warrior or male warrior.

Some of the class-specific things are decided by what type of weapon they're using, which is the spear, which is very dragoon-like.

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

Spin off of FF, not at all.
Same style of battle, sorta.
Way better? Hell yes!


And yes there is a DS one that plays EXACTLY the same.
The PSP/DS versions are just ports of the PS2 version so they all play exactly the same.

 

Re: [PSP] Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness – insanecrazy07

You so much got me to go and get this rom!

*inserted in DS play list*
kudos to reviewing!