A look back at: Disgaea: Hour of Darkness

Yippee for yet another Nippon Ichi strategy RPG with just loads of stuff that trying to understand everything would take an entire month. Who doesn't love Laharl, Etna, and Flonne? Who came here expected Hell and fire to be filled with demonic invasions and stuff, and got light-hearted comedy in the in-betweens and the morality chains that get thrown about? Crazy things abound during and around the plot of Disgaea.

Between the stupidly fantastic racism of the angel race, as well as Flonne being sent to the demon realm just to act as a catalyst, along with King Krichevskoy's son Laharl, all sent by the Seraph Lamington, one of the greatest chessmasters in an RPG. He even determines one of his own angels to be an outright traitor. An angel who even gets the human race involved somehow, messing with the heads of the general and even the lackeys he sent to explore the Netherworld. Hilarity ensues with Laharl's misfortunes, Flonne missing the point entirely with the evildoers, Mid-Boss in general, or Gordon in general. Or those crazy stupid interludes Etna always has.

Lighthearted it may be, tearjerking it is at other times, especially with Chapter 8 which heavily involves a...maternal issue. And the stuff involving Kurtis too. And the endings, if you don't get the good ending that is. Unlike the other Nippon Ichi games I at least tried to do some post-game content this time around as well, after tinkering with loads of things such as the Dark Assembly, mana, levels, weapon skills, all sorts of things. Marjoly from Rhapsody being here was interesting, as was Priere from La Pucelle, but there's no real explanation behind their cameos really, or even moreso how did Priere become an alternate overlord in the first place.

And then the actual gameplay. Think of La Pucelle, but we're also gonna throw in the ability to lift and throw characters (so it beats Phantom Brave there). The color paths aren't really there, but instead the color squares are there and also geo panels which have differing effects. Nothing about miracles, but gimmicks such as damage, invincibility, or no entry or lifting. Makes plenty of battlefields unique, and Nippon Ichi actually took full advantage in some cases in making some of the maps real nasty with the geo panels. There's likely to be loads of grinding, and they also made good on ensuring that the player will be able to grind at will with certain levels. Disgaea sure is crazy fun.