Post by Bytor on May 17, 2011 22:12:14 GMT -5
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (魔界戦記ディスガイア Makai Senki Disugaia) is the first game in the Disgaea series. The game was developed for the PlayStation2 by Nippon Ichi Software. The game was produced by Nippon Ichi Software in Japan, by Atlus USA, Inc. in North America, by Koei Limited in Europe and by AUS THQ in Asia and the Pacific and the music wwas composed by Tenpei Sato. The game was also published (by the same companies in the same areas) and ported to the PlayStation portable. Subsequent ports to the Nintendo DS followed shortly after with Square Enix taking over in Europe and AUS Ubisoft taking over production in Australia. The game was first released in Japan on January 30, 2003, in North America on August 27, 2003 and in Europe on May 28, 2004 (the PSP releases occurred on November 30, 2006, October 30, 2007 and on December 14, 2007.
The story focuses on Laharl who awakens after a two year nap to find that his father, the ruler of The Netherworld has died. He decides, with his vassal Etna to go to the castle and take over the rule of the land. The game then continues his and his various allies (Flonne, an angel trainee, Captain Gordon, a Earth serial super hero and his partner Jennifer and her robot Thursday) struggles to gain the throne for Laharl and his constant fights against wannabe rulers.
The game mechanics follow the traditional set up of a tactical RPG with battle taking place on a grid system laid out upon the various areas. The game differs a bit in the sheer amount of leveling up possible as well as what is essentially two other games which have little to do with the main story line. The Item World allows you to basically enter a dungeon area where by defeating various enemies you can upon completion add different attributes to both weapons and items. This not only allows for some extremely high leveling capabilities but also allows weapons to be customized in many, many ways. The other aspect is the Assembly where you can bribe or fight officials for various perks and recruit more characters for use in battle.
The game garnered critical acclaim upon it's release but commercial appeal seemed to elude the game at first. But it didn't take long before gamers took to the game and although it has remained a niche game it certainly has it's die hard fan base. Few games have the leveling and customization abilities of this game and for these capabilities coupled with a great story line and great characters the game has garnered many die hard fans who insure the game's popularity and continued success.
