Avis sur le produitDisgaea: Hour of Darkness (Sony PlayStation 2, 2003)

Disgeae: Hour of Darkness

Disgeae has all the qualities of a good game. Plenty of comedy and good action to keep you interested. The storyline is funny but does have its serious moments when advancing the storyline. I liked the fact that you didn't have to go around looking for the stages. You warp to where you have to go. With multiple endings this game has plenty of replay value and never gets boring with 37 classes and six ranks in each one. Nine storyline characters with their own unique abilities also adds to the fun. The Geo Effects sets this game out from the rest. The different colored panels may have a variety of effects to add a level of strategy and with the ability to throw the Geo Symbols you can change what colors do what. You can even throw your characters and the enemies to speed up moving characters around. The fight controls feel a little sloppy compared to Disgeae 2. The Dark Assembly is harder to use than in Disgeae 2 and the Promotion Exams are annoying and hard.Lire l'avis complet...

10/10

Game is great! Diving into the item world is basically endless fun. One of the best strategy rpgs. Story is funny and full charming characters. Definitely worth the buy.

Achat vérifié :  Oui | État : neuf | Vendu par : broncojoe38

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness

Ahh... Another great strategy RPG, however, Disgaea is in a class by itself.
The battle system is simple, easy, and fun. The story is one of my biggest draws to the game. It is hillarious, interesting, and keeps the player entertained with funny and sarcastic dialogue. Depending on certain actions one takes in the game, one will get one of multiple endings to the story. If one ending isn't enough, one can play through the story using the leveled up characters to get another ending. The sprites are simple, yet detailed beautifully. You start with a basic set of characters, but you earn more through the story mode or can create new characters, ranging from mages and fighters to samurai and dragons. Disgaea's story mode is fairly challenging to beat; however, there are multiple side levels to unlock and hidden characters from other ATLUS games to defeat and use. There are innovative options. For example, the Dark Assembly is used to power up characters, unlock more levels, unlock more powerful items, or even make the enemies stronger. Another feature is the ability to pick up and throw allies (to get to certain spots) or bad guys. Maps will utilize Geo Panals that make certian spots on the map give out different effects (for example, Attack UP, Defence DOWN, EXP UP, or even Enemy Boost!) Lastly, a item world is used to level up the weapons, armor, and accessories bought or picked up to become stronger than their previous versions.

What I love about this particular RPG is that over-leveling is encouraged. If you can get your characters to Lv 9999, more power to you. The only disappointing aspect of the game lies in its rarity. Finding a copy (new or used) will be quite a monetary investment. However, after playing my friends' copies of Disgaea, I knew I wanted a hard copy of my own.

The story and system are very interesting; however, with the price of this rare game, I would suggest trying the game out first (from a VERY trusting friend) before buying it. If you do not know anyone who owns the game, rent or try the sequel, Disgaea 2, to get a feel for Disgaea 1's story and battle system. Aside from the price, I give Disgaea: Hour of Darkness a 5/5.Lire l'avis complet...

One of the most underrated strategy RPGs to come to USA

This game is unique. Any other word would fail to capture what is really great about this game. Lets dive into gameplay.

Plot Summary: You are Laharl, prince of the neitherworld, and after a short nap (2 years), you wake up to realize your father, the King of the Neitherworld, has died, and the entire Neitherworld is now fighting for the crown that is rightfully yours. Fight demons, space travellers, and angels in order to reclaim your crown!

On the surface, this appears to be a standard strategy RPG. You have a board where characters move, you have enemies to attack, special moves to master, and new allies to either create or recruit. However, digging deeper, there is a lot of room to improve and upgrade your characters during this game. You have the ability to upgrade weapons/items by literally going inside the weapon and fighting through the floors therein. Also, your characters have to address the a kind of Senate in order to get extra funds or upgrades at the shops, complete with bribing and all. Also, the amount of characters available to create allows for tons of creativity when building a party, and when a character learns all he can in one area, he can change classes and continue to learn and grow.

The story itself is almost cartoonish, and will make you laugh more than once. Unlike most RPGs, there is no random encounters unless you want them, and the story only continues when you want, and at obvious times, so you won't be held down by a 5 hour quest with no save points. With a wide array of personalities to uncover during the course of the game, you should have a good deal of fun playing.

Graphics are probably less than your used to, but still good for what they do. Most of the characters are Sprites rather than 3D models, but the animations for some of the attacks will have you cheering to whoop the butt out of the bad guy.

The music of the game is good, and usually supports the mood of the game, but I don't think you'll be picking up the soundtrack any time soon.

The replayability of this game is immediately clear once you put it in. If so desired, your characters can level to ridiculous amounts (4 digits), and you continuously level new characters and items up to your hearts desire. Also, with numerous endings, you can find yourself coming back to this game years down the road.

At the time of writing this, Disgaea 2 is set to come out soon (Oct/Nov), and if you want a head start and haven't played Disgaea: Hour of Darkness yet, I recommend that you pick this up immediately and figure out what you've been missin'!

Baron Von MatricesLire l'avis complet...

Prinny tested, Dood approved!

Every once and awhile, a game comes around that revitalizes the gaming pool and reinvents what was once original and fresh. For console strategy RPGs (or S-RPGs), the first that comes to my mind, especially as the game that brought the genre to the forefront of gaming minds during the last generation was %%Final Fantasy Tactics%% for the PS1. Without a doubt, it was a genre defining game. For the PS2, that game was, and still is, NIS and Atlus' %%Disgaea%%. There is a reason other than short print run as to why this game goes regularly for $70-$80 for complete copies on eBay.

Within the first 30 minutes of game time, you'll be thinking at least one thing: dang this game is demented, through and through! The game opens in the Netherworld (essentially Hell, ruled by demons) with Etna, vassal to the recently deceased Overlord, King Krischivskoy, attempting to wake his son, the prince Laharl, from his 2 years' deep sleep. What's weird about that? Well, she is using just about every weapon known to man with little to no initial success. After the fighting tutorial, Laharl, Etna and a group of fanny-pack equipped, exploding when thrown penguins named Prinnies are off to rob neighboring demons and squash out any opposition to Laharl. Not how RPGs normally start the day and it couldn't feel better.

Over 2/3 of the story text is voiced (why it wasn't all voiced is beyond me - though I imagine it was budget-related), which is the only way I am forgiving the slide-show and in-game story-telling. I played through with the English voice actors (you can switch between the English and Japanese voice actors) and they more than adequately hold their own against their Japanese counterparts. The work put into the voice acting, and therefore the story-telling, really shows how much Atlus U.S.A. put into this game.

Though, with game play that I can only explain as obscenely deep, Atlus U.S.A. didn't need to put as much into this game as they did to make it a classic...nor does the addition of a crappy song by defunct pop-punk band, Tsunami Bomb, hurt it. %%Disgaea%% takes the standard concepts in S-RPGs, being grid-based, turn-based, weapons and magic battles and mixes in some not so new though well-executed ideas (such as the Formation Attack System: a tag-team, simulatious attack that can quadruple the damage), some fresh ideas (such as the Dark Assembly: a congress that, for example, gives out tests to improve your rank and allows you to try and pass beneficiary proposals) and some genre-altering elements (such as the Item World, which allows you to enter any item in the game to level it up, gain experience and effectively extends the playing time of the game to nearly infinite) to create a well-oiled, just familiar enough battle system.

%%Disgaea%% is an amazing game for fans of console S-RPGs, and if you enjoy anime and/or Japanese humor, then hot damn you are in luck! If you have a distaste for either of those, then don't let the hype bandwagon pull you in. Chances are very high you won't like this game, as there is nothing here to change your opinion of either. I know there are some of you out there that buy into hype even if it is something you don't normally like. This is a niche title, it pulls no punches in that regard, so save yourself the hassle and cost. For those who fall into the niche, if you haven't taken the ride, get on it now. You'll tell everyone at $70 that you underpaid.Lire l'avis complet...

Loved every bit of it.

I used to see previews of this game at work all the time and it looked great, so one day a customer sold a copy back in almost brand new condition stating he couldn't really get into it. I happened to know the guy from college, and I didn't see him as an RPG fanatic anyways. So I bought it from him for about $13.00 which was more than what he would've gotten for it used. I played it for many many hours of enjoyment until one day several of my games were stolen including it... I was furious about it and had a lot of trouble finding a copy around the city since it had become so rare (only ONE store out of about 22 had it) and a few years later "someone" I knew from around the time it was stolen had "bought" me another one (because he didn't know I had found a 2nd copy years ago). So know to my delight I get to let friends borrow my extra copy to try it out ^_^ and they all seem to enjoy it.

The storyline has some cool dark humor and its very much like playing through an anime you would watch about some hero/demon-overlord becoming stronger and making new friends/allies to layeth the smack down on thy foes. Oh and this game has a level cap of 9,999 so LOL if you REALLY want to see everything in the game you gotta do a lot of grinding, but there are some tricks to make it a little quicker without having to cheat. Also there are several alternate endings.

I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I have.

- Michael

P.S. Laharl (level 4,153, playtime 130+ hours)Lire l'avis complet...

Shades oh Shinig Force

I love this game. It is fun, easy to learn and get into, the story is quirky and light, the graphics are cartoon-like and very pleasant.
The fighting is on a grid, as in Tactics Ogre or Shining Force or Final Fantasy Tactics. The game is mostly this kind of fighting, the story is almost an add-on, so if you don't enjoy grid fighting this is probably not for you. Most of what you can do doesn't even unlock until you finish the story line.
There are more items, item adjustments, characters and character adjustments than I could possibly fully explore in years of playing.
Both items and characters can be developed in almost infinite ways, and there is a huge potential to level up to crazy levels of power, so if you like to make super-heroes and kick serious ** this may be just your thing. I don't think that's my thing, but I've spent well over a hundred very enjoyable hours just exploring and growing and getting to know my characters. I stopped around chapter 4 (out of, I think, 13 chapters) of the story, and I'll finish it some time, but there's so much else to do . . . this game will last me a very long time.Lire l'avis complet...

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. Great game Dood!

Okay let's sum this up before I get deep into it. This is a great game for those that like turn based strategy RPG games. The 2D characters with a 3D battle ground is something that brings me and other gamer back to the good old days. The story line is pretty good but the jokes can really sell this game.

Pros about this game:
1) The combat is easy to pick up but if you wanna use your units to the best of their abilities then you have to think a little out of the box.
2) Items are not always the same. Yeah this a small thing but I like how one Common Sword can have different numbers than another Common Sword which can let you get a little more powerful weapons sooner if you shop more.
3) You can change things about the game by having people vote on the matter. A nice touch.
4) Good Story/Jokes. If you are a gamer that cares about the story of a game this one should be a nice one for you. If not then you should still get a kick out of the jokes.

Cons:
1) Although its a nice touch the voting part of the game can be a pain at times. You can waste time/items/and mana trying to get new items for your shop or increasing your movement.
2) The game does not explain some of the parts of it and the booklet drops the ball on that too leaving you to play around with things a little more than you should have too.
3) Weapons that can do things like poison don't really tell you. It is one of those marks on weapons that you have to find out what it means yourself.

This game is a good game but sadly it is kinda rare now. If you can get a copy for a fair price get it while you can.

I got this game after playing "Makai Kingdom" which is a side game of the Disgaea games but was great so I thought I would try the main game and well, I was happy I did.

Thanks for reading, sorry it was a little long. Happy gaming!

P.S. It was really hard not to say "Dood" though this review. Man Prinnies are great.Lire l'avis complet...

Submersive RPG

I've recently re-purchased this game. On my original copy I played through the main story line and believed the "diving" into your weapons to be an unnecessary hassle, though the final stage proved to difficult to beat without said upgrading of your equipment.
The game itself has quirky anime humor which I now miss and the in-depth aspects of the game are now that which I seek to enjoy through my re-purchase of the game.

That said no this game isn't perfect and as noted even a die hard RPG fan like myself had little appreciation for it on my first play through.
The graphics and animations are entertaining and fun to watch. The voice acting is good enough not to waste time complaining about (do you really want to judge how a demon penguin should be talking?)
The music is excellent and the game has plenty of replay value. With currently 3 games in the series and several spin-offs there's plenty of reason to explore and enjoy the game.Lire l'avis complet...

Disgaea: Tactics RPG

This is a great game for a tactics vet. The game starts off being full of action and humor. Great addition to anyone's library if they enjoyed games such as Final Fantasy Tactics or Future Tactics.>
Here are the details.

Gameplay 8/10: It is a little confusing at first, but after you get the hang of it you understand why.

Elements 10/10: This is your standard turn based tactics game. It is extremely difficult sometimes and average at other times. There is never an easy point in this game. I really like the fact that you can go into your items and beat monsters within the items to power them up.

Controls 9/10: With any tactics game the controls take a minute to get use to since the direction you are moving the courser is dependent on the way the map is being viewed.

Difficulty 9/10: This game starts off at average difficulty. And head towards hard. At times it seems impossible, but with a little ....... a lot of training then anything is possible.

Story 10/10: The story line to this game is just great. The whole story is filled with humor. Where could you go wrong with a cocky prince, an evil vassal, an air head chic, and lots of demons. Plus there are a few alternate endings.

Audio 7/10: The music is just right for the them of this game. It gets annoying sometimes though.

Graphics 7/10: The graphics aren't the best for a playstation 2 game, but it adds humor to the game.

Value 9/10: All in all I would say this game is worth the buy. It's fun, funny, and just an over all great tactics game with challenges on every map.

Fun Factor 9/10: This game is a lot of fun. I had to spend hours of training, but after that it became well worth the effort.

Overall Rating 8.6/10Lire l'avis complet...