Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness came out for PSP today (Holloween lol).  It's a port of the same game that was released on PS2, with very minor tweaks to the interface and such and a few new campaign maps somewhere near the end or something (I'm not really sure).  There's not a lot of new content. 

We've talked about Disgaea quite a bit on this board, so I don't think I really need to detail the game's features to any great extent.  If you haven't heard of it by now, it's a fairly well-regarded Japanese strategy RPG that shifts the focus from narrative to a more flexible, sandbox environment.  It's of the style of Japanese games with "tactics" in the title.  There are a lot of bizarre options for character customization/grinding and just tons of stuff to do.  It's also a "comedy" game, but it's never funny.  That's better than something lame which takes itself seriously though!  Anyway, it's pretty good and a lot of people tend to like it.

I didn't like this game on PS2.  It felt too slow or boring or something, and I hated that your characters only received experience for killing an enemy (this compromises the ability of support characters such as healers to grow).  In my opinion, this was a game-breaking flaw.  I traded it in to EBGames for like $10 a few years later and didn't feel ripped off (I should have used Ebay >_<) .  This problem was changed in the sequel, which still did not award experience points for every action but did award them for defensive abilities (such as healing).  This has *not* been fixed in this update of the original game, but it doesn't seem to bother me as much anymore.  Not sure why.  Anyway, if you get this game, be sure to master the character combo system or figure out how to teach healing magic to a warrior class, because you'll be screwed out of healing otherwise.

The graphics look really good in this game.  Most PSP games look strangely "muddy" or something, but this title looks extremely sharp.  It seems like they may have spiced up the visuals a bit, but that may just be that what looked low-tech on the PS2 looks really good scaled down on the PSP.  The sprites look especially good, and don't have that stretched-out, choppy quality that they did on PS2.  But again, this is probably exclusively a function of the smaller pixel size on PSP vs. television.  There are basically no load times whatsoever, which is important in a game like this where some encounters are only a few seconds long (such as promotion exams).  This is really one of the best ports I've ever seen.  The game of course runs in widescreen and isn't stretched out or blurry like the FFT port.

Anyway, I really like this game and recommend it!  If you didn't like Disgaea the first time through, you might want to give it a spin on PSP, because it's definitely more fun when you're taking a crap.

Images:


The numbers can get really big in this game


The special attacks are full of silly Dragon Ball-esque flash, which is pretty cool


Disgaea: Afternoon of Lolidemons

I'm going to sound like a weeaboo faggot when I say this but it's somewhat relevant: I'm happy because my Disgaea figurines came in and they are SUPER CUTE :3

Anyway, now that I've said that, on to serious discussion:

When I heard that NIS was porting Disgaea to the PSP, I was a little apprehensive.  I wasn't entirely sure if it would be worth it when the game is already out on the PS2, albeit decently hard to find, and I didn't know how much they were going to tweak it.

It's kind of disappointing to find out that they didn't fix the EXP problem with healers and support characters, but I guess I put up with it when I played through Disgaea the first time, so I could probably live with it now.  I'd like to see some more about the interface tweaks and added content to judge whether or not it's worth buying essentially the same game.  I guess what I'm saying is that I just need to get more information before I really honestly judge it.

I also don't own a PSP, though I'm starting to consider trying to get one, as there are used copies of Gurumin, Every Extend Extra, LocoRoco, and a few other games I'd like to get sitting in my store right now, and I figure now is probably the best time to secure a PSP, what with the new model coming out and people trading in perfectly good PSPs to get the new ones.

Only you maladroithim, take two 2-hour long craps a day.

@ Iaman: Yeah man, I enthusiastically endorse PSP.  I play mine all the time, especially since putting custom firmware on it.  It displays GBA games at a much larger size than the DS does (though they are blurry and you have to steal the​ ), which I really love -- I primarily played GBA games on my DS anyway.  It's probably my most-played platform (I own all five hardwares currently out and have a decent PC so it actually matters).

About Disgaea portable: I really can't recommend this if you have played the PS2 version a lot, unless it's your favorite game ever and you want it on the go.  It really is the same thing, and from what I recall the bonus content is just a few missions or something small like that.  Some of the interface tweaks are pretty helpful, but they're really minor.  For example, new items have a little "NEW!" graphic by them, which I don't recall being in Disgaea 2.

So, if you've had your fill with the PS2 version, this probably isn't very compelling.  However, if you never gave it a fair shot, like me, or if you've never played it before, this is definitely the  best way to experience it.

Kentona: I know; it's giving me hemmorhoids

I also own a desk.  And a couch.

I also own a desk.  And a couch.

Yeah, but Kyrsten gets mad whenever I take a crap on the couch 

I hardly play GBA on my PSP, Mala. Recommend me some good games.

I might actually give this game a shot since I've seen some good reviews on it. I've never played Disgaea before, so I guess this is my chance!
But damn, I still have to finish Jeanne D'arc and Final Fantasy Tactics.

Well I have Metroid Zero Mission and Zelda. Those are the only two I'm playing right now though. I played Mario and Luigi, all the Castlevania's, Advance Wars, and Golden Sun. I might try Lufia later but I didn't find it that good when I played it. Then again, I never passed the 1st dungeon.

But I'm going to go try Disgaea now. I've been interested in the series for awhile.

Isn't that the girl from Rhapsody in front of the throne?

If I had a psp I would contemplate picking this up. I got Disgaea 2 yesterday at a pawn shop for $15. NIS is so gay

Isn't that the girl from Rhapsody in front of the throne?

Yup, that's Marjoly, the villain from Rhapsody.  I seem to remember her being a secret character in the original Disgaea (which was the only reason I ever wanted to play it, but I also knew I'd never get that far).  If she's still a secret character in this game, then they sure didn't keep it a secret very well.

Also seeing as how NIS games are making their way to the PSP, I would like to mention that NIS kept saying that they'd never release the other Marls Kingdom games because the graphics were too outdated to compare to current (at the time) PS2 games.   So uh...yeah, why couldn't they put it on the PSP then?

Also seeing as how NIS games are making their way to the PSP, I would like to mention that NIS kept saying that they'd never release the other Marls Kingdom games because the graphics were too outdated to compare to current (at the time) PS2 games.   So uh...yeah, why couldn't they put it on the PSP then?

That's complete BS, because I have seen screenshots of Disgaea 3 for PS3 using some of the same fucking lo-res sprites as 1 & 2.  It looks awful, because the geometry of the arenas, the textures, and the interface are all in 1080, but the sprites are stretched out and blurry.  They should have made Disgaea 3 PSP exclusive instead ​  It's pretty obvious that NIS doesn't give a damn about how outdated their graphics are -- which is fine by me, but it's ridiculous for them say that old-looking graphics are any reason for them to avoid localization of something.

That's complete BS, because I have seen screenshots of Disgaea 3 for PS3 using some of the same fucking lo-res sprites as 1 & 2.  It looks awful, because the geometry of the arenas, the textures, and the interface are all in 1080, but the sprites are stretched out and blurry.  They should have made Disgaea 3 PSP exclusive instead ​  It's pretty obvious that NIS doesn't give a damn about how outdated their graphics are -- which is fine by me, but it's ridiculous for them say that old-looking graphics are any reason for them to avoid localization of something.

Exactly.  This is why there is absolutely no reason for them to not bring them over, considering they were at the top of their wishlist probably more than twice by now and NIS would just delete it, so it's not that they won't sell.

 Ugh, I've pretty much given up on it by now.