I've been going through some weird stuff lately, so I kinda needed some extra time. I'm probably still gonna take some extra time, but I want to play something fun. Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is something I remember being quite fun. A tactical RPG with a humorous plot, tons of extras, and more secret endings than Chrono Trigger? Sign me up! Due to that "weird stuff," I don't know if there will be an update every day, but I'll try to do something. I'm also gonna go a bit slower than usual.
As we start up a new game, a deep voiced narrator introduces us to the backstory. King Krichevskoy, the ruler of the Netherworld, has died. This created a chaotic time in Hell. A woman, Etna, tries her best to wake a boy up, and we see flashes of light and sounds of explosions as she gives it another go. Suddenly, Prince Laharl wakes up! He questions Etna before asking why she woke him up. Etna responds that King Krichevskoy died...two years ago. Laharl is shocked that he's been asleep for so long but says nothing of his father's demise. He then makes a promise to remind all of the pretenders who he is, and our game begins as Etna joins him!
We walk through the castle and talk to vassals of various loyalty. We gain glimmers of mechanics to come, but our goal is the Dimension Gateway behind the cleric. To warm up, Etna takes the two to a beautiful field of flowers. The subsequent few segments introduces the battle mechanics. It's like Final Fantasy Tactics, but rather than every character's turn being based on their speed, the whole team goes as one. I'm kinda not into that, but it has its strategic value and has its fair share of intended downsides to make it interesting. Laharl ends us being used as a guinea pig and gets killed before the battle, which ends up in comedy.
The second battle introduces us to the Prinnies, dood, who are Etna's hired help. They don't really work well and quickly go gallivanting off to do their own thing before Etna sets them straight.
Battle three teaches us about the ability to throw characters. Etna reminds us not the throw Prinnies as they act like grenades if you do.
The fourth and final battle teaches us about Geo Squares. Geo Crystals can alter the characteristics of colored squares on the field, but we can destroy them if we want to. We also gain some advanced rewards if you do so.
After this fight, we return to the Palace to gain access to the rest of the mechanics. Character Creation and the item world are the big things for now. I grind up the last tutorial fight to make a few friends of mine, who you may recall from my Final Fantasy I playthrough. We're not important to the story, but we're here and in Hell... Male Red mages aren't a thing in Disgaea, so I'll be an Ice Skull for a while. Tryton is a warrior, and Drew is a Monk. No clue what the C-Men leader, Xander, will be. I also begin to wonder how I'll afford everyone's equipment!
As we approach the Dimension Gate again, the attendant tells us she loaded up Vyer's Castle in the gate. She doesn't know what's there, as it's new, but I assume it'll be fun.
But we'll do this tomorrow! No need to rush becoming the Overlord, eh?
The humor is this game's main drawing point, as well as the ability to get to level 9999 and get your stats to 99999! I won't be doing that, obviously, but the option is there. I'm planning on getting through a chapter an update, although I've split chapter one into two nights, so go me! As I said, I'm dealing with "weird stuff." So weird I don't know if I'm actually dealing with it or it's all in my head. Either way, it's distracting me, so who knows how often I'll be playing? Disgaea's short, monster of the week style story and chapter system may be perfect for this, now that I think about it. I remember this game fondly from fifteen years ago, and I even had to freshen up the disk in 2008/9, so let's hope it 1.) remains really good, and 2.) doesn't crash! Let's see what ending I'll get!
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