The year was 2006. Though the next generation of gaming was just around the corner, the PS2 was still dominating the gaming scene. The JRPG, though far from dead, was no longer the critical darling it once was, with games like GTA: San Andreas, Halo 2, and God of War proving that the JRPG was not the only genre that could tell cinematic stories. Still, Nippon Ichi Software, riding high on the success of their game Disgaea, were releasing several Strategy games that combined in depth combat with a story told humorously. Games like Makai Kingdom and Phantom Brave were giving the company a good reputation among gamers, showing that Disgaea 1 was no flash in the pan. Still, a sequel was inevitable, and three years after the original, Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories was released.
Image taken from Gamefaqs.com
Due to the fact that I am facing finals, I'm exhausted, and generally just don't feel well emotionally, this blog entry will skip summarizing the story of Disgaea 2 and get to the analysis immediately.
While Disgaea 1 offered a character driven story that, rather often, felt disjointed, Disgaea 2 offered the exact opposite: a streamlined story with occasional bouts of character development. This allows the story of Disgaea 2 to be easier to follow, while it keeps characters developed.
A part of what makes Disgaea so good is characters interacting with one another, and in this, Disgaea 2 delivers in spades. Characters joke with each other, rib on each other, support each other. Though not all characters develop equally, and truthfully not all characters interact with each other, one can still see the different ways the characters relate to each other. Adell, our main hero, for example, gets along well with Yukimaru, has a deep, loving relationship with his two younger siblings Taro and Hanako, has little respect for Etna, is civil with Tink, and has a love-hate relationship with Rozalin. Rozalin, our main heroine, gets along well with Yukimaru, shares a bond of friendship with Tink, is Taro's crush, and is hated by Etna for her enormous bosom. The list goes on and on. This level of interaction helps the crew feel more like a group of comrades, rather than just a bunch of strangers that claim to be friends.
Disgaea 2 also keeps its characters important to the story, in contrast to how Disgaea 1 just dumped Maderas and Hoggmeiser into your party and then promptly forgot about them in story. Though it is possible to recruit certain optional characters, you can't do so until near the end of the game, and the conditions required to get them are so astounding that it turns getting these characters into a bragging rights reward. Not only that, but the use of those characters is limited to certain maps!
That said, however, I feel that shaving down the number of story line characters you get from 9 in Disgaea 1 to a mere 7 allowed for more dynamic team building with generic recruits. I personally enjoy building up generic recruits over story characters, but that's just me. There are, in fact, people who prefer using unique story characters to generic ones.
As far as the characters themselves, however, I feel that Disgaea 2's ensemble is, in paper, superior to the first overall, but when I unite all the elements together, something feels missing. Adell, for example, is an oddity in RPG heroes because he foregoes the use of swords and instead fights with his fists, while Laharl was a sword user. Those who play RPG's know that at least 89% of all main RPG heroes use swords. And yet I feel that, while Adell is a good hero in his own right, Laharl is the far more memorable character. And it's not just Adell, I feel as though the whole cast just comes up short in comparison to the original! After all, Adell is a young man on a quest to free his world from the tyranny of an evil demon overlord armed with nothing but his fists! Rozalin is the pampered daughter of said evil orverlord, who uses her wiles to trick Adell into going head first unto deadly traps! Tink is Rozalin's man servant who was cursed into a frog form by a powerful demon out to destroy Rozalin's father! Hanako WANTS to stay a demon forever instead of becoming human like the rest of her family! Why is Disgaea 1's cast so damn memorable while Disgaea 2's isn't?
And then it hit me: it's all in the presentation. Though this is up to personal opinion which characters you prefer, it is undeniable that Adell and Laharl, for example, are presented very differently. Adell is, when all is said and done, an authentic RPG hero. This is not a positive, however. It means that Adell is no different, in practice, from Cloud, or Dart from Legend of Dragoon, or Feyt from Star Ocean 3. He's a hero on a Hero's Quest, from start to finish, who goes through all the moves: meets the hot girl who he doesn't like at first, goes through trials that force him to doubt himself, faces his past, starts developing feelings for the girl, meets the enemy he's been hunting down since the start of his journey, finishes him off, saves the world, and finally gets the girl. This is standard stuff, and we've seen it before in Final Fantasy 8, in Legend of Dragoon, Final Fantasy 9 (though it was Garnet who disliked Zidane, and that was due to his lecherous nature.), etc. Disgaea 1, on the other hand, starred what would otherwise had been a Saturday Morning Cartoon villain. He was hammy, he was loud, obnoxious, proud, and we loved every second he was on screen. Laharl was someone we could only like in context or when seeing him on screen. His journey is one of self discovery, not of heroics. In the end, Adell was cookie cutter while Laharl was more unorthodox, and that is what made Laharl more memorable.
The main theme of Disgaea 2 was Storge, Love between Family, and this is best evidenced by Adell's family. He's adopted, he knows he's adopted, but he loves his family just the same. Meanwhile, Rozalin has never met her real father, even though he sends her gifts daily and pampers her with her own castle. Adell lives in a cramped house with four other people. Rozalin lives in a mansion with servants. But Adell is the happy one, because he has people he loves. Rozalin, in time, learns that the real bonds of family come from love, not from blood or from gifts. Likewise, family also motivates two other major characters: Axel's quest for fame is driven by a desire to support his large family, particularly his sick mother and younger siblings. Yukimaru, on the other hand, is driven by a desire to find her older brother, Fubuki.
Axel, there's someone we need to talk about. Axel is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most successful character to come out of this game. The reason I can say this is because Axel has managed to get: a cameo appearance in Disgaea D2, becomes playable in the after story of Disgaea 3, AND becomes a major character in Disgaea 4! EVERY other character in the game, even the main heroes, is relegated to merely being DLC.
As I looked back on Disgaea 2, an idea hit me: while Disgaea 1 is a spoof of a typical SRPG (with heavy political themes, conspiracies and etc) Disgaea 2 is more a spoof of old school RPG's. Consider: an Idiot Hero with Red Hair and Battle Lust goes out into the world to save it from an Evil Force. He's joined by a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits, including his future Love Interest. Where have I played that game before? Oh yeah, when I played Lufia 2, or Grandia, Shining Force, etc. When you get down to it, Disgaea 2 is just an old school RPG story told with more jokes.
Disgaea 2 kept the momentum started by the first game going, and as far as gameplay was concerned, improved on it as well. While in the original game monster units were more a gimmick and unlocking them was a pain in the rear (I have to kill 30 units of the same monster class just so I could afford to make them!), this was fixed in Disgaea 2, where you only needed to kill an enemy monster once in order to unlock it in character creation. Much easier, far less time consuming, overall an improvement.
Furthermore, the addition of Monster Weapons that could increase their INT stat meant that, unlike the first game, magic using monsters were not inherently weaker than strength using monsters. Suddenly, classes like the Spirit were not just usable, they were useful. We'll see why in a short minute.
Another major improvement was in the Thief class. In the first game, they were a joke: by far the worst class in the entire game. In this game, they are far stronger (though still weak) and come with all the advantages the original Thief had (can steal items better than anyone in the game, plus can steal stats). In my opinion, this is the game were the Thief is at her strongest, but we'll be talking more about that once we discuss Disgaea 3.
Perhaps the biggest improvement Disgaea 2 brought into the franchise is the addition of passive skills, which later games will call Evilities. These passive abilities proved to be game changers, and in many cases, good use of these passives could mean the difference between victory or defeat. An example: Adell's passive allows him to deal more damage to enemies with a higher level than him. Rozalin's passive increases the stats of all male units around her by 20%. The Dragon is immune to all Fire damage. The Spirit class heals 10% of it's SP (it's the MP of Disgaea) every turn. These passives added new layers of strategy to the game, and not one Passive was inherently better than the other. Consider these two character classes: We've already mentioned the Spirit, but the Mage, on the other hand, deals less damage with her spells, but uses 50% less SP. So which one's better? The one who heals its SP bit by bit or the one who saves her SP? We also have to look at what they can equip. Mages can equip staves, and every time they level their staff mastery, the range of their magic increases. Spirits can only equip monster weapons, so their magic range stays the same. So again, which one is better? The answer: Neither, because it depends on the situation. Against bosses, pick the Mage, but when going through long map runs, the Spirit is the better choice.
Disgaea 2 proved to be ambitious. The gameplay was leagues better than the first, characters were more balanced, and even the graphics looked better. However, story wise, it was a bit weaker. Still, the game proved that Disgaea was an ambitious franchise that wished to give the player far, far more than what the average strategy game was offering. Could the next game keep the ball rolling? Well...join me next time when we look at Disgaea 3!
Sorry this entry took so long, I was dealing with final exams.
That said, however, I feel that shaving down the number of story line characters you get from 9 in Disgaea 1 to a mere 7 allowed for more dynamic team building with generic recruits. I personally enjoy building up generic recruits over story characters, but that's just me. There are, in fact, people who prefer using unique story characters to generic ones.
As far as the characters themselves, however, I feel that Disgaea 2's ensemble is, in paper, superior to the first overall, but when I unite all the elements together, something feels missing. Adell, for example, is an oddity in RPG heroes because he foregoes the use of swords and instead fights with his fists, while Laharl was a sword user. Those who play RPG's know that at least 89% of all main RPG heroes use swords. And yet I feel that, while Adell is a good hero in his own right, Laharl is the far more memorable character. And it's not just Adell, I feel as though the whole cast just comes up short in comparison to the original! After all, Adell is a young man on a quest to free his world from the tyranny of an evil demon overlord armed with nothing but his fists! Rozalin is the pampered daughter of said evil orverlord, who uses her wiles to trick Adell into going head first unto deadly traps! Tink is Rozalin's man servant who was cursed into a frog form by a powerful demon out to destroy Rozalin's father! Hanako WANTS to stay a demon forever instead of becoming human like the rest of her family! Why is Disgaea 1's cast so damn memorable while Disgaea 2's isn't?
And then it hit me: it's all in the presentation. Though this is up to personal opinion which characters you prefer, it is undeniable that Adell and Laharl, for example, are presented very differently. Adell is, when all is said and done, an authentic RPG hero. This is not a positive, however. It means that Adell is no different, in practice, from Cloud, or Dart from Legend of Dragoon, or Feyt from Star Ocean 3. He's a hero on a Hero's Quest, from start to finish, who goes through all the moves: meets the hot girl who he doesn't like at first, goes through trials that force him to doubt himself, faces his past, starts developing feelings for the girl, meets the enemy he's been hunting down since the start of his journey, finishes him off, saves the world, and finally gets the girl. This is standard stuff, and we've seen it before in Final Fantasy 8, in Legend of Dragoon, Final Fantasy 9 (though it was Garnet who disliked Zidane, and that was due to his lecherous nature.), etc. Disgaea 1, on the other hand, starred what would otherwise had been a Saturday Morning Cartoon villain. He was hammy, he was loud, obnoxious, proud, and we loved every second he was on screen. Laharl was someone we could only like in context or when seeing him on screen. His journey is one of self discovery, not of heroics. In the end, Adell was cookie cutter while Laharl was more unorthodox, and that is what made Laharl more memorable.
The main theme of Disgaea 2 was Storge, Love between Family, and this is best evidenced by Adell's family. He's adopted, he knows he's adopted, but he loves his family just the same. Meanwhile, Rozalin has never met her real father, even though he sends her gifts daily and pampers her with her own castle. Adell lives in a cramped house with four other people. Rozalin lives in a mansion with servants. But Adell is the happy one, because he has people he loves. Rozalin, in time, learns that the real bonds of family come from love, not from blood or from gifts. Likewise, family also motivates two other major characters: Axel's quest for fame is driven by a desire to support his large family, particularly his sick mother and younger siblings. Yukimaru, on the other hand, is driven by a desire to find her older brother, Fubuki.
Axel, there's someone we need to talk about. Axel is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most successful character to come out of this game. The reason I can say this is because Axel has managed to get: a cameo appearance in Disgaea D2, becomes playable in the after story of Disgaea 3, AND becomes a major character in Disgaea 4! EVERY other character in the game, even the main heroes, is relegated to merely being DLC.
As I looked back on Disgaea 2, an idea hit me: while Disgaea 1 is a spoof of a typical SRPG (with heavy political themes, conspiracies and etc) Disgaea 2 is more a spoof of old school RPG's. Consider: an Idiot Hero with Red Hair and Battle Lust goes out into the world to save it from an Evil Force. He's joined by a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits, including his future Love Interest. Where have I played that game before? Oh yeah, when I played Lufia 2, or Grandia, Shining Force, etc. When you get down to it, Disgaea 2 is just an old school RPG story told with more jokes.
Disgaea 2 kept the momentum started by the first game going, and as far as gameplay was concerned, improved on it as well. While in the original game monster units were more a gimmick and unlocking them was a pain in the rear (I have to kill 30 units of the same monster class just so I could afford to make them!), this was fixed in Disgaea 2, where you only needed to kill an enemy monster once in order to unlock it in character creation. Much easier, far less time consuming, overall an improvement.
Furthermore, the addition of Monster Weapons that could increase their INT stat meant that, unlike the first game, magic using monsters were not inherently weaker than strength using monsters. Suddenly, classes like the Spirit were not just usable, they were useful. We'll see why in a short minute.
Another major improvement was in the Thief class. In the first game, they were a joke: by far the worst class in the entire game. In this game, they are far stronger (though still weak) and come with all the advantages the original Thief had (can steal items better than anyone in the game, plus can steal stats). In my opinion, this is the game were the Thief is at her strongest, but we'll be talking more about that once we discuss Disgaea 3.
Perhaps the biggest improvement Disgaea 2 brought into the franchise is the addition of passive skills, which later games will call Evilities. These passive abilities proved to be game changers, and in many cases, good use of these passives could mean the difference between victory or defeat. An example: Adell's passive allows him to deal more damage to enemies with a higher level than him. Rozalin's passive increases the stats of all male units around her by 20%. The Dragon is immune to all Fire damage. The Spirit class heals 10% of it's SP (it's the MP of Disgaea) every turn. These passives added new layers of strategy to the game, and not one Passive was inherently better than the other. Consider these two character classes: We've already mentioned the Spirit, but the Mage, on the other hand, deals less damage with her spells, but uses 50% less SP. So which one's better? The one who heals its SP bit by bit or the one who saves her SP? We also have to look at what they can equip. Mages can equip staves, and every time they level their staff mastery, the range of their magic increases. Spirits can only equip monster weapons, so their magic range stays the same. So again, which one is better? The answer: Neither, because it depends on the situation. Against bosses, pick the Mage, but when going through long map runs, the Spirit is the better choice.
Disgaea 2 proved to be ambitious. The gameplay was leagues better than the first, characters were more balanced, and even the graphics looked better. However, story wise, it was a bit weaker. Still, the game proved that Disgaea was an ambitious franchise that wished to give the player far, far more than what the average strategy game was offering. Could the next game keep the ball rolling? Well...join me next time when we look at Disgaea 3!
Sorry this entry took so long, I was dealing with final exams.
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