Disgaea 2

Granted, Disgaea 2 won't do much for fans of the Fighting, FPS, or Action genres, but for those who love anime and strategy will have a bundle of fun.

The battle system is on the outside the same as Disgaea's, but there are some interesting and important improvements. Here are a few:

One, there is a lift+attack move (lifting a character and then attacking, like in Makai Kingdoms.)

Two: A character who was assigned to attack, but was unable to because the target they were going to attack was eliminated by another character before they could attack no longer loses their move. Instead, they get to move again instead.

Three: guns operate in a significantly different way than bows (a problem with Disgaea 1) giving them a great utility.

Four: Speed down, Def down, and other effects occur more often as a result of weapon usage, and are easier to see.

Five: Treasure chests are now a part of battle!

Six: The item bag (I'm pretty sure) is larger.

Seven: Additional battle items are available, one of them being cellular phones. (You'll have to find out what they do..)

Eight: Team attacks have become more ridiculous. (This is a good thing!)

Nine: Battle maps are much improved, and more interesting.

The game now has a really spiffy intro, (hi-res!) and maintains the same irreverent humor of the previous games. The quality, however, is on par with (actually, better than) Disgaea: Hour of Darkness.

Voice acting manages to not be annoying (in many cases its very good!) And it is refreshing to play a good guy again. Laharl is obviously in the game (he is seen in the character collage art) and there are numerous references from La Pucelle Tactics, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Phantom Brave and Makai Kingdoms.

The manual lacks clarity in some places, and a lot of the graphics are still very pixely. Overall, though, its hard to beat this game for fun.

But be warned, it takes a LONG time to play.

I am going to write this review mostly for those familiar with the original Disgaea. As such I will not get to much into the aspect of gameplay and the system of the game aside from things that have changed or are important to note. Having said that, let's begin.

The game begins in the land of Veldime, an alternate world from that of the first game, where an evil Overlord named Zenon has hidden from well, everyone. When he came into Veldime however, he placed a curse on the land that changed all humans into demons. The effects weren't all immediate as some still have several human qualities but if the curse is not reversed soon, there will be no turning back. Thus the hero Adell (oddly enough the only person unaffected by Zenon's curse) sets out to defeat the Overlord. In the opening there is an attempt to summon Zenon to Adell so he can fight him, but it goes awry and Zenon's daughter accidentally gets summoned instead. Bound to Adell by the summoning pact she has no choice but to accompany him to the castle where he intends to kill her father (albeit not without scheming a bit herself). In a nutshell, the story is good. Nothing amazing but with ample opportunity for the humor most have come to love about the original.

The only really new additions to the battles are the ability to do Stack Attacks and, if you are quick enough, throw diagnally. The basis of stack attacks are that after building the tower of aliies using the lift command, the person on the bottom of the tower still has the ability to attack. In doing so they begin passing the enemy up the tower with everyone taking a shot at him and then spiking him back to the ground. Essentially, a team attack of up to 10 characters. There have been updates to the Dark Assembly with 6 factions of Senators being introduced. And it can be easier to pass some bills if you are lucky since quite often some senators will show up to vote drunk (random vote basically) or even asleep (no vote at all). Perhaps the most entertaining addition though is felonies. You can recieve a felony for things such as power leveling, having to much hp/sp/mana, or even killing your own allies. The benifit of felonies is that on top of any stat boosts you may get, it is easier to pass proposals at the Dark Assembly, and for every felony on a character they gain 1% extra exp. This works all the way up to 300 felonies (300% exp bonus).

The game has made all the necessary additions to make the gameplay top that of the original, however in my opinion there feels like something is missing. The characters seem a bit more "by the book" and not as wonderfully absurd as the original. That and the voice acting isn't quite as good as the that of the first Disgaea (plus Etna has a new voice actress...). Despite all of that however, the game plays much better and even looks a bit smoother to boot. All in all it is a great game and a worthy sequel to an amazing game. While some may like the changes in the characters and others may not, there is no denying that the core of the game is much better than the original and will keep you addicted for just as long, if not longer.

Disgaea 2 is a fun, cartoony combination of RPG and tactical game. You are Adell, a young fighter, who pairs up with Rozalin in order to defeat the evil Zenon.

You build up a party of characters, including fighters, healers, and pretty much any monster type you defeat in battle. As you wander through the lands, you often find monsters to conquer. During these battles, you end up on a grid. Each character can move a certain distance per turn, to get around and behind your enemy.

In some ways the game is like a typical RPG. There is an evil main boss to conquer. There are various smaller enemies along the way. There are power-ups to collect and weapons to buy.

The graphics are not meant to be realistic or cutting edge. They are casual, cute, and fun.

Disgaea really shines in its humor. It's not meant for the really little - its characters joke about looking up girls' skirts and there are swears such as "kick their ass". Still, the game is generally very family friendly and has a ton of fun in it. Most of the villagers have been turned into demons and have quite wild personality changes. The main character - Adell - is still human. When you go around talking to the other people, one muses why Adell is still human. "Is it because he's the main character"? Rozalin, Zenon's daughter, is a very spoiled, stuck-up teen girl and her dialogue is quite funny.

Many flaws of other games have been taken care of here. When you go into shops, they have new items each time, giving you a selection to choose from that you will find interesting. You can customize new characters, creating a party that is just perfect for your gaming style.

The voices are cutesy in the traditional anime style, and the sounds fit in well with the world. The plot is fairly involved and really draws you along. Again, this isn't a dark, serious story of angst and power. It's a fun, light-hearted romp through a fun fantasy world, where you can play for a few hours, save, and pick up the story the next time you have free time.

Well recommended.