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Topic: Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness
Azymyth
Not gay; just weird
posted 11-28-2007 03:14:58 AM
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness is the PSP port of the original PS2 game. The game play remains the same, adding nothing from Disgaea 2 sadly, but that's okay. There are three new features that I have uncovered though.

First, is the music player, a NPC that allows you to purchase the various tracks as you hear them so you can listen to them at your leisure.

Second is the collector, which chronicles your acquisition of items in all rarities. This doesn't really serve a function beyond keeping track of what you have obtained for you completionists out there.

Third is the unlockable "Etna Mode". The game will tell you how to unlock it after you've beaten the game once and read all the diary entries. Or, at the title screen with the cursor on the New Game option, you can input Triangle, Square, Circle, Triangle, Square, Circle, X and do it.

Etna Mode tells the story as if Etna had accidentally killed Laharl at the beginning of the regular game. With the Prince dead, Etna fears Maderas will go back on his deal dresses up one of her Prinnies up to try and pass him off as Laharl so it seems like he is still alive and gaining power.

Etna Mode is much shorter than the regular game with only 4 chapters. In a way though it is harder. Enemy levels can take significant jumps between stages. For instance, there's one series of stages where the enemies go from 12 to 14 to 16 to 24. Also, all enemies have randomized resists, regardless of the area; no more uniformly weak to fire in 'ice' stages, etc.

Having just been working beating the story mode, I'm not sure if there are multiple endings for the Etna Mode but you do have the option of starting a new game from previous data with either the original story or Etna Mode. It does appear that all the regular special areas unlocked through the Dark Council are still available. I'm going to take the Etna Mode another run through to see for myself.

Overall, I rate this version of Disgaea 9/10. It loses a point because it would have been nice if some of the features of Disgaea 2 were brought over (like Priests being able to gain experience from healing), but otherwise it's still awesome.

I suffer from CRS: Can't Remember Shit.

Sig pic done by the very talented SJen!

Falaanla Marr
I AM HOT CHIX
posted 11-28-2007 03:28:41 AM
Mr. Parcelan
posted 11-28-2007 04:01:52 AM
FORGET IT
Falaanla Marr
I AM HOT CHIX
posted 11-28-2007 04:09:29 AM
The game doesn't have Invasion from Within during the one stage with Etna. That pissed me off
Mortious
Gluttonous Overlard
posted 11-28-2007 08:09:41 AM
quote:
Falaanla Marr said:
My Disgaea: AoD Review

Sup.


Get me a job there or I will assassinate you in your sleep.

Mr. Gainsborough
posted 11-28-2007 11:33:12 AM
quote:
The logic train ran off the tracks when Mortious said:
Get me a job there or I will assassinate you in your sleep.

You're a pretty terrible reviewer, to be quite honest.

Anything you don't cream over you label as utter crap.

Naimah
In a Fire
posted 11-28-2007 12:07:53 PM
quote:
And I was all like 'Oh yeah?' and Falaanla Marr was all like:
My Disgaea: AoD Review

Sup.


During the first three paragraphs I found several typographical errors. I'm terrible at english and it bothered me. Edit your work.

Falaanla Marr
I AM HOT CHIX
posted 11-28-2007 01:03:21 PM
quote:
The logic train ran off the tracks when Naimah said:
During the first three paragraphs I found several typographical errors. I'm terrible at english and it bothered me. Edit your work.

Thanks for pointing that out. Eat a dick.

Our site is a little buggy after a recent transition, get off your high horse. You don't hide your jealousy very well.

Falaanla Marr fucked around with this message on 11-28-2007 at 01:17 PM.

Alidane
Urinary Tract Infection
posted 11-28-2007 01:32:27 PM
quote:
Falaanla Marr posted

Thanks for pointing that out. Eat a dick.

Our site is a little buggy after a recent transition, get off your high horse. You don't hide your jealousy very well.


You've never taken criticism well, have you?

Falaanla Marr
I AM HOT CHIX
posted 11-28-2007 01:42:41 PM
quote:
Alidane had this to say about Punky Brewster:
You've never taken criticism well, have you?

I was reacting to the asshole-ish presentation of the criticism, not the fact that it was criticism. I'm not going to be nice to someone who is an asshole to me.

Falaanla Marr fucked around with this message on 11-28-2007 at 01:57 PM.

Mr. Parcelan
posted 11-28-2007 03:26:44 PM
quote:
Mr. Gainsborough enlisted the help of an infinite number of monkeys to write:
You're a pretty terrible reviewer, to be quite honest.

Anything you don't cream over you label as utter crap. quote if you're down


Azymyth
Not gay; just weird
posted 11-28-2007 05:23:44 PM
I hereby charge Parcelan to defeat the Item God in Baal's Toothbrush in order for him to become the next Overlord. To aid him in his quest he has his humble Vassel Fal, the annoying Angel Mortious, and the Prinnies Gains, Naimah, and Alidane.

Azymyth fucked around with this message on 11-28-2007 at 05:28 PM.

I suffer from CRS: Can't Remember Shit.

Sig pic done by the very talented SJen!

Mr. Gainsborough
posted 11-28-2007 05:46:23 PM
quote:
Azymyth had this to say about (_|_):
I hereby charge Parcelan to defeat the Item God in Baal's Toothbrush in order for him to become the next Overlord. To aid him in his quest he has his humble Vassel Fal, the annoying Angel Mortious, and the Prinnies Gains, Naimah, and Alidane.

quote:
Azymyth
Not gay; just weird
Talonus
Loner
posted 11-28-2007 05:59:40 PM
quote:
The logic train ran off the tracks when Falaanla Marr said:
Thanks for pointing that out. Eat a dick.

Our site is a little buggy after a recent transition, get off your high horse. You don't hide your jealousy very well.


I'm going to be honest here. Your review was pretty meh. You spent more time (three paragraphs) blathering about one specific game mechanic than anything else, even though that game mechanic is far from the most important thing in the game. You didn't touch on some aspects at all, like music, and barely touched on others, like graphics. You barely touched on the differences between the PS2 and PSP versions of the game, which probably should have been the most important thing in the review. I could go on, but I won't.

One thing though that I feel is really necessary, the first paragraph of your review really struck me the wrong way. If I was an average person I'd stop reading right there. Fefore the review even starts you're pretty much admitting that you're a fanboy that will treat the game with kid's gloves. I would have been fine with "this is a port, so you may want to check out our (not my) previous review of the game too" and then gone on to review the PSP port. Unfortunately, your first paragraph pretty much tells the reader you aren't looking at the game from an objective standpoint. What point is there in reading a review that isn't objective?

Mortious
Gluttonous Overlard
posted 11-28-2007 06:39:47 PM
quote:
Mr. Gainsborough said:
Anything you don't cream over you label as utter crap.

Haha.

Ever thought that's because they are?

Delphi Aegis
Delphi. That's right. The oracle. Ask me anything. Anything about your underwear.
posted 11-28-2007 07:39:41 PM
quote:
Mortious obviously shouldn't have said:
Haha.

Ever thought that's because they are?


Aside from X2 and X3, your glowing endorsements of games hasn't led me to a shitty one yet.

To be fair, however, I tried to play X2 and X3 with keyboard/mouse.

Mortious
Gluttonous Overlard
posted 11-28-2007 07:45:09 PM
X2 and X3 are ok, but I believe games that deep should be like books, in such ways as transporting you to another reality for the time you play it.

Unfortunately, the voice acting and character animations in those games were so bad that it was like being violently shook back into realising I was just playing a terrible game.

Ferret
Poing! Poing!
posted 11-28-2007 07:46:06 PM
Game reviewers are just people who don't try hard enough to get into the game industry, or get kicked out of it.
Mortious
Gluttonous Overlard
posted 11-28-2007 08:35:26 PM
Pretty much.
Densetsu
NOT DRYSART
posted 11-28-2007 08:56:34 PM
Hey Fal. I am available for hire as a personal spell checker.
I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl, we ate lobster, drank piña coladas. At sunset, we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get that day over, and over?
Falaanla Marr
I AM HOT CHIX
posted 11-28-2007 09:10:22 PM
quote:
Talonus's account was hax0red to write:
stuff

See, this is constructive criticism.

As for why I didn't touch on music, or go to into detail about the graphics -- I personally did not place much value on them with the game. Some reviews, I spend a lot of time on the music and graphics, and that is because I feel they're vital to the game experience. However, in Disgaea, the graphics aren'[t really that important, nor is the music (save for them not having Invasion from Within, damnit!). As for the differences in the PS2 and PSP versions -- I didn't really try to review the game from a port perspective as much as I did from a perspective of someone that may not have played the game before. Would someone that knows Disgaea well need to read a review? No, they'd just want to know what the differences are, if any problems were introduced with the port, things like that. I didn't feel the need to spend a lot of time on them, though.

As for the first paragraph? I've looked back and thought the same thing, actually. Sometimes, I do realize after the fact that some of my choices aren't the best. This is one of those times.

Contrary to popular belief, I do not think I am God's Gift to Gaming Reviews or anything like that. I'm just one person, offering an opinion from my perspective. I'll readily admit that my opinions are biased in one way or another -- you would be very hard pressed to find a reviewer who isn't biased in some way, shape or form. That's why sites like MetaCritic and GameStats are so great -- they take multiple opinions and come to a conclusion based on that. And really, I'd highly advise people to go and check those sites out, as opposed to picking a single review site and going off of that. But in the end, to me, a review is my opinion of a game. It isn't always going to be 100% objective, but is simply an opinion. I think that you need to have the heavily biased opinions (which my reviews are at times) along with the very objective ones. I don't think there's a right or wrong way to review something.

And Ferret: I don't really have much of a desire to jump into the programming or developemnt side of the game industry, but would enjoy the PR side of things. I enjoy that aspect more, and that's why I do game reviews while I'm in school.

Azymyth
Not gay; just weird
posted 11-28-2007 09:51:00 PM
Jesus. The final boss of Etna Mode is only level 50 but on a new game plus the enemies start at level 75. I hope this is only a one-time level boost. D:
I suffer from CRS: Can't Remember Shit.

Sig pic done by the very talented SJen!

Mr. Gainsborough
posted 11-28-2007 10:23:22 PM
quote:
Mortious had this to say about Punky Brewster:
Haha.

Ever thought that's because they are?


If you're a blind elitist, then yes. That makes you capable of reviewing properly about 1% of games that exist.

I mean, the games that you do review that have practically no flaws you're fine with because any retard can spout off good things about a fantastic game. It takes skill to average out a game's flaws and tell people whether or not it's at least playable, rentable or whatnot which is what most people are looking to reviews for.

Not everyone only buys 10s. A lot of people rent 6s and 7s. I mean, would I be looking to a review for something like Rock Band, Halo, Mass Effect or any other AAA title out there? No way. I know enough about it that it's pretty much gonna be amazing. I'm gonna look to reviews before I try out games like Jericho, Timeshift, or The Simpsons Games. Which I'm sure, because you have such retardedly high standards, would rate all of them at 1. None of these are unplayable which the 1 represents. Hardly anything nowadays is.

Are any of them worth a rental? Jericho, nah probably not. It's playable, but honestly pretty bad. Timeshift? Sure, it's worth a rental. Maybe buying after that if you like the mechanic. Simpsons? Buy if you're a diehard, rent definitely even if you're not. Reviewers just can't be black and white. There's too much grey in the industry to be like that.

Mr. Gainsborough fucked around with this message on 11-28-2007 at 10:26 PM.

Mr. Parcelan
posted 11-28-2007 11:13:38 PM
How was Timeshift? It looked pretty cool, but seemed like it just might Prince of Persia without the interesting part.
Mr. Parcelan
posted 11-28-2007 11:29:04 PM
To be honest, Gains' reviews aren't too hot, either. It's usually along the lines of: "not all that great, tbh, but if you can rent it for free/steal games like I can, it's worth picking up."

In short, you are both failures.

Mr. Gainsborough
posted 11-28-2007 11:35:02 PM
quote:
The logic train ran off the tracks when Mr. Parcelan said:
To be honest, Gains' reviews aren't too hot, either. It's usually along the lines of: "not all that great, tbh, but if you can rent it for free/steal games like I can, it's worth picking up."

In short, you are both failures.


I don't think I should be a professional reviewer either. I know I'm far too lenient on games in general and my sense of value is so skewed it's ridiculous. I do know when a game is playable or not though. I just don't really understand how to tell people at what point they should buy it.

Delphi Aegis
Delphi. That's right. The oracle. Ask me anything. Anything about your underwear.
posted 11-28-2007 11:41:32 PM
quote:
From the book of Mr. Gainsborough, chapter 3, verse 16:
I don't think I should be a professional reviewer either. I know I'm far too lenient on games in general and my sense of value is so skewed it's ridiculous. I do know when a game is playable or not though. I just don't really understand how to tell people at what point they should buy it.

When it makes you money for saying "Go and buy this game it's awesome"

Just like all the other reviewers.

Mr. Gainsborough
posted 11-28-2007 11:43:13 PM
quote:
Everyone wondered WTF when Delphi Aegis wrote:
When it makes you money for saying "Go and buy this game it's awesome"

Just like all the other reviewers.


Way to prove you're a fucking retard just like usual.

Falaanla Marr
I AM HOT CHIX
posted 11-28-2007 11:45:08 PM
quote:
ACES! Another post by Delphi Aegis:
When it makes you money for saying "Go and buy this game it's awesome"

Just like all the other reviewers.


Eat an entire bag of dicks you idiot.

Yes, all of us just say to go buy games they are awesome, and laugh with our money all the way to the bank because we duped a stupid piece of shit like you.

You got it, man. Why don't you just get back to hitting on girls by letting them win games of Starcraft. At least you're good at that

Falaanla Marr fucked around with this message on 11-28-2007 at 11:46 PM.

Mr. Parcelan
posted 11-28-2007 11:46:28 PM
Hahahahaha

YES I SURE AM HAVING FUN WITH MY INTERNET VIDEO GAME REVIEW MONEY

BILLSWORTH, FILL THE MONEY BIN, THESE DOPES HAVE JUST GIVEN ME A NEW FOOT TO SWIM IN

Mr. Gainsborough
posted 11-28-2007 11:47:55 PM
i would review games for free if they would give me the games to play
Delphi Aegis
Delphi. That's right. The oracle. Ask me anything. Anything about your underwear.
posted 11-29-2007 12:35:51 AM
quote:
Falaanla Marr had this to say about the Spice Girls:
Eat an entire bag of dicks you idiot.

Yes, all of us just say to go buy games they are awesome, and laugh with our money all the way to the bank because we duped a stupid piece of shit like you.

You got it, man. Why don't you just get back to hitting on girls by letting them win games of Starcraft. At least you're good at that


man, it's almost too easy

way2miss funny tag tho

Willias
Pancake
posted 11-29-2007 01:25:43 AM
quote:
How.... Delphi Aegis.... uughhhhhh:
man, it's almost too easy

way2miss funny tag tho


but it wasn't funny

Delphi Aegis
Delphi. That's right. The oracle. Ask me anything. Anything about your underwear.
posted 11-29-2007 01:28:04 AM
quote:
This one time, at Willias camp:
but it wasn't funny

have I EVER been funny?

nem-x
posted 11-29-2007 02:06:58 AM
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