Nippon Ichi's Project: D "Disgaea D2"

[Klyde Chroma]

ohhhhhh boy.... My collectors edition just came in the mail and I'm still not through with Kingdom Hearts. I am loving Kingdom Hearts ATM (currently at hollow bastion) but Disgaea is my FAVORITE franchise.

This is reeeeealllly gonna require some discipline folks...

And no. There is no playing both at once. If I pop Disgaea in I will never see Kingdom Hearts again. The real tragedy would be that I would enjoy Disgaea far less with KH weighing on my mind.

The only way out is through...

[TiamatNM]

I love how painless it is to set the enemy strength now.  You don't even need approval.  Cheat shop for life

[AuraChannelerChris]

ohhhhhh boy.... My collectors edition just came in the mail and I'm still not through with Kingdom Hearts. I am loving Kingdom Hearts ATM (currently at hollow bastion) but Disgaea is my FAVORITE franchise.

This is reeeeealllly gonna require some discipline folks...

And no. There is no playing both at once. If I pop Disgaea in I will never see Kingdom Hearts again. The real tragedy would be that I would enjoy Disgaea far less with KH weighing on my mind.

The only way out is through...

By any chance, are you looking to get the next Pokémon game in three days? That'd be much worse.

This is why I don't stick with two different video game companies.

[Klyde Chroma]

ohhhhhh boy.... My collectors edition just came in the mail and I'm still not through with Kingdom Hearts. I am loving Kingdom Hearts ATM (currently at hollow bastion) but Disgaea is my FAVORITE franchise.

This is reeeeealllly gonna require some discipline folks...

And no. There is no playing both at once. If I pop Disgaea in I will never see Kingdom Hearts again. The real tragedy would be that I would enjoy Disgaea far less with KH weighing on my mind.

The only way out is through...

By any chance, are you looking to get the next Pokémon game in three days? That'd be much worse.

This is why I don't stick with two different video game companies.

Nah, earlier this year I finally discovered that no matter how great a game is I simply can't enjoy handheld consoles. Not with amount of home-console-crappola I've accumulated over the years. One must prioritize I suppose..

[Klyde Chroma]

Sorry to double post, but I can't contain myself.

After beating Kingdom Hearts 1.5 last night I got to crack open my D2 LE and get to it!

First impressions are super-positive. The dub is spectacular, the game mechanics feel much more coherent and cohesive than in recent Disgaea installments and character creation completely rocks in this title. I am particularly fond of the ability to now select alternate color schemes for characters.

I really can't imagine a Disgaea fan wanting more. I may only have a few hours with it thus far but this game screams quality from the door IMO.

[Cyril]

I haven't beaten the game yet, but I don't really think it does justice to the original Disgaea.  I feel like Laharl has regressed as a character, which is fine when he's just a cameo because it's for fun, but he's the protagonist again and it's like most of his Disgaea 1 development is out the window.  He's more of a full of tsundere now.  I suppose his affection and willingness to listen to Flonne's ideas is supposed to represent his development compared to Disgaea 1, but still.  I'm a bit disappointed.

It also seems more pure humor.  Disgaea 1, like most of the early NIS games, balanced humor and serious, sad moments really well.  The whole Red Moon Chapter and the Bad Ending are not things I'll forget. D2 is basically all comedy, all the time.  

On the other hand, the gameplay system is far and away the best.  My one complaint is that Clerics don't really get a ton of experience through healing anymore (much like Disgaea 1) so you're back to forcing them to physical attack or group attack to level up.

[Klyde Chroma]

On the other hand, the gameplay system is far and away the best.  My one complaint is that Clerics don't really get a ton of experience through healing anymore (much like Disgaea 1) so you're back to forcing them to physical attack or group attack to level up.

So ummm... game mechanics aside... how do you feel about the new "male" clerics? I don't mind the fem' vibe they got going on but those voices... I named one "Klyde" because I felt physically they sort of resembled me but every time I hear "him" speak I find it disturbing.

[Cyril]

I like it better than the old male Clerics. If you read their description in the data area it makes fun of the fact that they're so feminine.

Than again, I'm extremely partial to the original female cleric color and design and will probably be using it throughout the game.  I can't imagine using anything else as a healer in Disgaea.

[ZeronHitaro]

Just finished this, this evening. Overall I think I enjoyed it but there's that nagging feeling of...'lack' the game left behind. After thinking about it for a while I found the words to register my complaint.

Disgaea D2 is too much "DLC" and less "Full Game" in regards to the plot.

Really if you take out the horridly written padding (and chop out Sicily because honestly she adds nothing to the story*) you're really left with about 2-3 hours of plot/gameplay tops. Literally making D2 an over-stuffed DLC to the original Disgaea.

*End Game Tangent-

Code:

By comparison the Etna/Xenolith plot had far better potential but was criminally underused and developed far too late/quickly.

The game would've been much better if Sicily were deleted and her time used to focus on E/X's past, what Etna's powers are exactly,
why she has them, if Laharl's father were aware of them, ect.

Said filler just makes it worse because the story pacing becomes as follows.

Hero: Oh, I need to save the world...but I gotta go to the bathroom first. Let me get out of my chair.
*Fight a ton of monsters*
Hero: Alright, now I can open the door.
*Fight a ton of monsters*
Hero: Now I can take two steps into the hallway.
*Fight a ton of monsters*
Ect, ect, ect.

Too much loafing around just to get through the menial fillers. :-\ I know NISA's kinda infamous for that but this one really did nothing to pad down the sting.

I think I might've even been forgiving for that if Disgaea D2 doesn't make the biggest mistake in NISA history with the franchise.

Code:

So after decades of stuffing Mid-Boss into virtually every NISA title, and making a Disgaea sequel where living up
to the 'legacy of his father' is a character-plot point...there's no Mid Boss anywhere in the game? At all?
Not even a Post-Game battle against him having somehow magically-hand-wavey been reincarnated in his
original body/strength in order for Laharl to have a battle to prove he actually [b]has[/b] surpassed his old man?

Laaaaaaaaaaaame. ~_~

Still a decent enough game though. Got me through almost all the way to Sims 3 Into the Future; and that'll last me until Paradox&Fate game.

[Cyril]

Yeah...I think I might pretend this game doesn't exist. There are a few ways they could have easily fixed it, too.
It's really strange, coming off Disgaea 4 too.  Disgaea 4 was clearly a step forward in most every direction, while DD2 is a step back in every direction except the battle system, which, as a SRPG, is arguably the most important part, but in the end most everything just feels pointless.  It doesn't even feel like fanservice.

[Klyde Chroma]

I am not nearly far enough in to judge the story yet (chapter 4) though I have found it bland thus far beyond the entertainment value of the recycled "Laharl, Etna Flonne" dynamic.

But like Cyril said, the battle system is spot on. The gameplay, amongst the other mechanical improvements, have been plenty enough for me to overlook any lack in regard to the plot.

I am particularly fond of some the simple yet pointless crap they tacked on in the dark assembly. Changing the MC at base along with the characters that follow, color palettes et cetera..... I also really like the "promotion" option for characters, which is a feature I had been hoping to see for quite awhile.

I am personally enjoying this a wee bit more than 4 simply because I felt 4 got too complex for its own good in some respects. I also feel the difficulty has been ramped up a bit with D2 which I really appreciate. I muscled my way through the plot in both 3 and 4 without ever really needing to tax my brain strategically.

I have to reserve my final judgement until I experience a bit more of the title though (obviously). I feel safe in concluding already however, your mileage and satisfaction from the game clearly comes down to what you play disgaea for. I'm in it for a grindy game with lots of character creation and strategy dominant battles. D2 is scratching the "itch" nicely :)

[ZeronHitaro]

Honestly I'm not even sure D2 satisfied me on that front either. Usually with Disgaea-type titles I'll wind up having done a reincarnation or two, leveled at least one omni-stat item, grinded the heck out of Hospital, ect.

D2? None of that. Due to the promotion system I pretty much ended the game with the same party of 8 I used from square one (sans a Chapter 7+ swap out of Sicily; trying to make her use a gun was a horrid idea). No Item Level grind, no reincarnation swaps, and the Hospital actually remained largely ungrinded. The 'strongest' Omni-stat item I ended with was a Sophia's Mirror. :-\

Maybe it's because I actually used 3 MCs this go (Laharl, Flonne, Fuka-DLC) which are typically over-powered in Disgaea games, but honestly the make-your-own units often felt just as strong, if not stronger.

Heck if anything, in hindsight, I think the Monsters actually now break the difficulty of the game. There were far too many maps where I just had a Mage hop on a Ghost and, as I call it, Orbitally Nuke everything in sight using Dimension Eater X with a Fight Mistress/Moth cleaning up everything else (despite her low SP count). Those skills are easily 2-3 times more powerful than anything anyone else can throw out and definitely turn tables in an instant.

[TiamatNM]

I like this game waaaaaay better than 4.  I hated basically the entire cast in 4 cause they all had one joke each that they hammered into the ground like their life depended on it.  The story isn't very good but I didn't think it was horrible either, though it did feel more like an omake/extra story than a real sequel.  Very short at only 10 chapters.  The gameplay is easily the best in the series though imo, they really polished things out. 

ALSO PETTA EYE LASERS

[ZeronHitaro]

Something amusing for people to mull over. When I was playing through the section of story you get plot-progression in using Lady Laharl I had a thought.

Do you think the main Disgaea/D2 continuity would've been better if you gender swapped every character from the get go?

I mean think about it for a second. LL is actually 'less' whiney and tsundere in female form. Maybe it was just the translation but the character felt just the right mix of negative traits without taking it to the 12th extreme like Laharl usually does. Etna I think might be a bit more amusing in male form simply for the outfit and translating all the 'flat' jokes to fit for that as well. And Flonne...well...not sure honestly. I think she'd pretty much be the same both ways without gender really factoring in. Although if anything 'he' might be more of a cliche since superhero/ninja stuff is more male-oriented to begin with.

[Klyde Chroma]

Something amusing for people to mull over. When I was playing through the section of story you get plot-progression in using Lady Laharl I had a thought.

Do you think the main Disgaea/D2 continuity would've been better if you gender swapped every character from the get go?

I mean think about it for a second. LL is actually 'less' whiney and tsundere in female form. Maybe it was just the translation but the character felt just the right mix of negative traits without taking it to the 12th extreme like Laharl usually does. Etna I think might be a bit more amusing in male form simply for the outfit and translating all the 'flat' jokes to fit for that as well. And Flonne...well...not sure honestly. I think she'd pretty much be the same both ways without gender really factoring in. Although if anything 'he' might be more of a cliche since superhero/ninja stuff is more male-oriented to begin with.

I think they could have worked the gender-bender angle more to have made things more interesting for sure.... however something about fem-Laharl totally bothers me. I would have been pissed if I had to play as her the whole game.

On an unrelated note, NISA finally decided to send me my guide book that was supposed to come with the CE. Not bad... only 2 weeks late... I must say, it sure does have some pretty pictures :)