Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PlayStation Portable, 2007)

Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness is one of those once in a console lifespan type of games, the kind that set the bar far too high for the remainder of the generation - and even for itself - leaving a new console war to (hopefully) reignite the ingenuity and innovation of developers and lead to the next great genre revolution.

For those who haven't had the chance to experience it already, Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness tells the heartwarming tale of the spoiled brat Laharl, prince of the netherworld, who wakes up from a nap two years too late to inherit the title of overlord from his deceased dad. As a result, he decides to take his birthright by force. Wait, that doesn't sound very heartwarming, does it? You'd be surprised. Joining him for the ride are his untrustworthy vassal Etna; an angel trainee-turned-unlikely assassin that's obsessed with the power of love; a defender of justice from outer space and his multipurpose superrobot; and a gaggle of exploding penguins called prinnies. As you can probably tell, Disgaea doesn't make much of an effort to take itself seriously, but its incredibly absurd humor is precisely what makes it so endearing.

Once you've finished up with the main story campaign, which should take you roughly 30 to 40 hours, there's certainly no shortage of things to do. You'll be able to restart the story from the beginning and carry over your levels, troops, and equipment to try to get a different ending, and there are a ton of powerful optional bosses to fight and extra areas to explore. There's also the item world--literally the world inside each of your items--where you battle through progressively difficult, randomly generated floors to make your gear more powerful. An entirely new feature is Etna Mode, a separate campaign with its own hilarious story and dialogue told entirely from Etna's point of view that shows what might have happened if she had actually managed to kill Laharl in the opening scene instead of wake him up.

this was a great sleeper hit on the ps2 and now it's portable for the psp!! if your a strategy rpg fan and missed this title on the ps2 you need to check it out on the psp. aside from the great story, bonus stages and multiple endings on the ps2 version the psp version has an added bonus mode as well. so even if you already owned the ps2 version (like myself) the new psp version has an all new story mode to enjoy. bottom line you need to check this game out for those new or old vets to the world of disgaea. LAHARL FOR LIFE!!

The game is amazing. It is definitely a classic turn-based RPG driven by leveling and item hoarding, which may turn action crazed gamers off, but it does everything in the game so well that its hard to complain about the game at all. Even if you are gamer tired of RPG's with weak story lines, this game is still for you. The content of the storyline isn't anything to write home about, but it is by far and away the funniest game I have ever played. The laughs never stop in the storyline.
You can run through the game rather quickly with just your main characters and finish without much ado, or you can take your time to create and train more characters to diversify your army. The second route, while much lengthier, is in my opinion much, much more fun.

Playing it now. Its a RPG strategy game similar to Final Fantasy Tactics. Going through item world for each item will take forever so lots of game time :)

this game is really fun to play and i find my seldf going back to it between soul calibur and dissidia. very fun game and different from other tactical games.

Story 10/10:

The story begins two years after the netherworld's previous overlord died choking on a dark pretzel. His son, prince Laharl, is awoken from a two year sleep by his vassal Etna using a flail, a machine gun and a drill. Laharl gets pissed off when he hears that other demon are trying to make a grab for the throne, so he decides to beat some sense into them. As you can probably guess, the story is filled with comedy and makes references to many japanese anime. The characters have tons of personallity, from the robot Thursday, the love freak angel Flonne, the manipulative Etna and the short tempered Laharl, just to name a few. The voice acting is excellent and makes it even more appealing.

Music: 8.5/10

The music is pretty good. Although not something to write home about, it suits every part perfectly keeping the game fresh and interesting.

Graphics: 9/10

While not exactly in the same level as Crisis Core, the graphics are very good. You can clearly see the character's feeligs in an anime fashion, adding to this game's natural charisma. The stages and battle animation doesn't dissapoint either, possesing variety and style. One moment you are in a volcanic region and the next you're invading a spaceship.

Gameplay: 10/10

The game's forte, it's specialty. The battles follow the classic turn based RPG mechanics, but with a few twists. One of them is the geo cube system, they appear in every map and affect the colored squares they are placed in, whether to help or hinder you. So all red squares could make anyone in them gain one 50 ATK, while blue one make anyone invincible and green one double the power of any enemy in them. You can throw geo cubes around and if, for example, you destroyed a red geo cube in a purple square, all purple squares would turn red. This allows you to turn a bad situation into an advantage.

Another interesting aspect is the throw mechanic. Your character can lift any other player or enemy and throw them a few squares away. Since a character can lift someone who is already lifting another character, you can make a tower of characters and use successive trows to get around much faster. While odd at first, it make some missions a lot easier.

Another unique aspect of Disgaea is The Dark Assembly. You can call it into session by using mana collected from killing enemies. It allows to create your characters, transmigrate (more on that later) and pass bills. To pass a bill you need the support of most of the senators, which can be obtaibed with bribes. If they still don't aprrove it, you can pass it by force (this is the netherworld, remember?).

Transmigration really makes this game shine, it allows your character to go back to level one and change his class while mantining most of his stats. Since levels go as far as 9999, you can make characters more powerful than in any RPG.

The item world also makes things interesting. It allows you to go into a dungeon inside an item to upgrade it.

The only thing that can turn people away from the game is the insane learning curve. Altough full of extras and really fun gameplay, you are constantly being pitted against the most impossible odds. Being an experienced Advance Wars and Fire Emblem player, I can tell you this is no exaggeration.

Overall: 9.38/10

Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness is a fun challenging and different game. Any player who can survive until the end will be pleased to have played it.

Review by Bruno Ayllón.

I bought this for my grown son. He loved Disgaea on the home system but wanted it for his PSP for on the go play. It is a great game.

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I had a hard time with this game, I didn't really understand the game play structure, I guess if I had of spent more time with it I might have gotten into it, but it takes a lot of pationts and time, I only recommend this game if you have the time, to really dig in and play it. I give it a 5 out of 10.