Disgaea - Hour of Darkness
I've been playing quite a bit of Disgaea inbetween mining runs on EVE. Very nice game. I haven't really gotten far enough to give a full review, but I can say some things about it.
#1 -> Ignore Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. FFTA has one advantage: it's portable. Its xp systems are so abusable, and its combat so lacking in a need for tactics that it just isn't fun. Also, its interface does not deal with hundreds of items very well.
#2 -> Be prepared for a LONG game. I'm 20 hours in, and it doesn't look like I've gotten very far into it.
#3 -> It has an excellent sense of humor. Some enemies have an attack called "Stomp-O-Rama." The greatsword item has this tag line "Well, it's not really THAT great." There are exploding penguins called Prinnies, and they say "dood!" all the time.
#4 -> The combat system is flexible and leaves a lot of room for different tactics. Attacks can move either the attacker or the target (positioning is very important). Characters can lift and throw each other. Characters next to each other can learn skills from one another, and may also do assist attacks to help out. There is a system of bonus squares to stand on, and ways to change them.
#5 -> The item system is interesting. You can adventure inside items to increase their level and power. You also encounter "specialists" inside the item. After defeating specialists in combat, they can be moved to other items (with a cute little "pop" sound).
I hope the attack animations don't get too long. In Final Fantasy VII, I got very bored waiting through the same animations over and over once they exceeded about 10 seconds. First time I cast a spell the summoned Odin, I thought, "Wow that looks cool!" Then I thought, "Oh no. I have to sit through that every time I cast that spell." I never cast it again.
I'm late playing this, because until recently, the Region 1 version was rather hard to find. It's been reprinted now, so it is much easier to get. But when it was still rare, I saw 3 of them in a store for $20. I knew I wanted the game, but I didn't really have $20, and I wasn't aware of how rare the game was. I found out, went back next week, and they were gone.
Well, I guess that's enough about Disgaea for now. If you like tactical RPG games, this is definitely a good one.
#1 -> Ignore Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. FFTA has one advantage: it's portable. Its xp systems are so abusable, and its combat so lacking in a need for tactics that it just isn't fun. Also, its interface does not deal with hundreds of items very well.
#2 -> Be prepared for a LONG game. I'm 20 hours in, and it doesn't look like I've gotten very far into it.
#3 -> It has an excellent sense of humor. Some enemies have an attack called "Stomp-O-Rama." The greatsword item has this tag line "Well, it's not really THAT great." There are exploding penguins called Prinnies, and they say "dood!" all the time.
#4 -> The combat system is flexible and leaves a lot of room for different tactics. Attacks can move either the attacker or the target (positioning is very important). Characters can lift and throw each other. Characters next to each other can learn skills from one another, and may also do assist attacks to help out. There is a system of bonus squares to stand on, and ways to change them.
#5 -> The item system is interesting. You can adventure inside items to increase their level and power. You also encounter "specialists" inside the item. After defeating specialists in combat, they can be moved to other items (with a cute little "pop" sound).
I hope the attack animations don't get too long. In Final Fantasy VII, I got very bored waiting through the same animations over and over once they exceeded about 10 seconds. First time I cast a spell the summoned Odin, I thought, "Wow that looks cool!" Then I thought, "Oh no. I have to sit through that every time I cast that spell." I never cast it again.
I'm late playing this, because until recently, the Region 1 version was rather hard to find. It's been reprinted now, so it is much easier to get. But when it was still rare, I saw 3 of them in a store for $20. I knew I wanted the game, but I didn't really have $20, and I wasn't aware of how rare the game was. I found out, went back next week, and they were gone.
Well, I guess that's enough about Disgaea for now. If you like tactical RPG games, this is definitely a good one.
posted by Almo at 11:42 AM
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