Title: Disgaea Dimension 2: A Brighter Darkness
Genre: SRPG
Publisher: NIS America
Developer: NIS
System: PS3
Release Date: 10-08-2013 (NA)
Disgaea is pretty much Nippon Ichi Software’s flagship title, and for the series’ 10th anniversary, they made a direct sequel to the original game. Said sequel is Disgaea Dimension 2, shortly following the end of the original game’s story.
For those who didn’t already know, Disgaea is a strategy RPG by NIS for the PS2. At the time of release, it was an original and refreshing take on the genre that was known for political war stories and long battles. It has spawned 3 sequels that use the same system and take place in the same universe but featuring different stories and characters. For most fans, the first game is the most memorable in terms of story and characters. Thus, what better 10th anniversary fanservice is there but to make a sequel to the original game that pretty much shaped NIS’ image as a developer?
Laharl, as the new Overlord, is having trouble getting the rest of the Netherworld to actually accept him as their new ruler and acknowledge his position. In particularly, there is a group of demons who still strongly support Laharl’s dad, the previous Overlord, and fail to see our protagonist as a suitable replacement. Furthermore, Yuie flowers from Celestia are spreading all over the Netherworld, and some demons are interpreting this as an invasion attempt of the Netherworld. Laharl, Etna, and Flonne are off to spread the former’s popularity as the Overlord, which means they have to go solve the Netherworld’s problem in order to gain acceptance.
The plot development has unplanned, tacked-on sequel written all over it, introducing new relatives to existing characters who were never hinted at in the original story. Laharl managed to get a never previously mentioned little sister who is an angel from Celestia (there are plot reasons for this), and another character also ended up having a new relative popping out of thin air (with a less believable plot reason). Honestly, while I do like little girl characters and Desco was one of my favorites in Disgaea 4, Sicily here feels a little forced. Going along with the little sister boom in the otaku industry may be a tempting path, but a different take on it like Desco would have been much more fitting for a Disgaea title.
While having the spotlight on the main trio again is wonderful nostalgia fuel, DD2′s gags lack the impact of the original. It didn’t break the fourth wall where I expected it to, and Laharl’s heavily-advertised genderbending chapter failed to garner the overblown reactions it should have. Having interactions between the main trio is definitely awesome, but a lot of the time is spent on having Laharl warm up to his little sister, and she feels too much like a forced addition to the original group and is not a particularly memorable take on her archetype. The story isn’t as well-paced as a main Disgaea game, and the amount of story content also feels to be more thinly-spread. Magical girl Flonne was awesome though, and the story started off strong with Laharl trying to put up statues of himself around the Netherworld.
The gameplay is improved to be more player-friendly. It is easier to get started on the grinding, things like throwing diagonally is now a regular gameplay element rather than being a hidden move that required pressing buttons at a certain timing to do, and the master-apprentice system comes back even better to make learning new skills easier. Skill acquisition is gained automatically through weapon mastery again, and there’s a new option called the cheat shop which allows the player to adjust the levels of EXP, Mana, money, and weapon mastery experience gained from battle. You can decrease the gain in one and increase the gain in another, such as sacrificing money gain for more EXP. The cheat shop also enables a myriad of other options, such as enemy strength levels, turning on or off ally support attacks, and even things for pure fun such as earning no EXP or being unable to cancel your selections in battle. More cheat shop options are unlocked as your progress.
The generic characters that you can create are pretty similar with previous games, give and take some classes. There is now a male angel and a male (trap-like) healer, and most of the series standards are back. There are also the cameo fights of characters from other NIS games that we all love. The problem is the scarcity of new unique units during the main story, since there aren’t that many new characters who join your party, and even less who are not re-colors or edits of generics.
Like the other recent Disgaea games, you can combine a humanoid and a monster into a single, more powerful unit. Previously, this system was called Magichange, where the monster becomes the humanoid’s weapon for a limited amount of turns and if they get defeated, both units become out of commission. Disgaea D2 introduces, in its stead, mounting. The humanoid mounts the monster to become more powerful and gain a mounted skill, but also loses access to its non-magic skills in the process. They can keep this up for an unlimited amount of terms, and if the combined unit is defeated, only the monster becomes out of commission while the humanoid still remains in battle. While I’ve personally never been a fan of combining two units into one, this seems to be a major attraction for those who did heavily rely on Magichange.
Overall, while the gameplay is nice and familiar for Disgaea fans, it doesn’t improve upon the previous game a whole lot. The graphics are in the same HD-style 2D sprites as Disgaea 4, and the story is pretty subjective depending on just how much nostalgia you have for the original Disgaea trio. I have to admit that while Laharl, Etna, and Flonne are a very good trio, what made the original Disgaea great was the overall synergy of the cast (that means including the other characters that are missing during DD2′s main story) and over-the-top scenarios that seem to be absent here. It’s a decent entry for the series, but not really a must-have, especially for those whose favorite Disgaea is not the first and/or are not hungry for a long time sink into stat-grinding.
