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Great game -- but do not expect another Hour of Darkness.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: September 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

That might be a little misleading -- the battle mechanics are almost exactly the same as those in the first game (heck, as in most of Nippon Ichi's games, though this series, I think, is the best of the lot). That part of the game absolutely delivers:

- Great classes.
- Good monsters, and a more consistent class sytem for them.
- Excellent assortment of items.
- Good variety of levels.

However, as far as the story -- an area in which Hour of Darkness was solid -- this game falls on its face. The writing is iffy, the plot itself is contrived, the characters (while certainly amusing) are predictable, and it just leaves so much to be desired. If you're looking for a storyline you can get involved in, go back to the first game.

If you're in it for the gameplay, though, don't miss this one! With some class tweaks and a few added features, Cursed Memories is a worthy addition for those who simply want the monotonous level-up madness that some of us thrive on.

Great 2D art mixed with fun environments, HILARIOUS quips and item descriptions, engaging fights and hundreds of hours (literally) of entertainment.

No Laharl makes me upset....

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 71
Date: August 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

It seems Lahrl from Disgaia 1 is not the main character in this game. As that stands, it makes me upset because I liked that character and how funny he was. The storyline is ok for this game, but as a said previously, i preferred it's predecessor, Disgaia.

Great fun, casual RPG with humor

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 23 / 28
Date: September 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Disgaea 2 is a fun, cartoony combination of RPG and tactical game. You are Adell, a young fighter, who pairs up with Rozalin in order to defeat the evil Zenon.

You build up a party of characters, including fighters, healers, and pretty much any monster type you defeat in battle. As you wander through the lands, you often find monsters to conquer. During these battles, you end up on a grid. Each character can move a certain distance per turn, to get around and behind your enemy.

In some ways the game is like a typical RPG. There is an evil main boss to conquer. There are various smaller enemies along the way. There are power-ups to collect and weapons to buy.

The graphics are not meant to be realistic or cutting edge. They are casual, cute, and fun.

Disgaea really shines in its humor. It's not meant for the really little - its characters joke about looking up girls' skirts and there are swears such as "kick their ass". Still, the game is generally very family friendly and has a ton of fun in it. Most of the villagers have been turned into demons and have quite wild personality changes. The main character - Adell - is still human. When you go around talking to the other people, one muses why Adell is still human. "Is it because he's the main character"? Rozalin, Zenon's daughter, is a very spoiled, stuck-up teen girl and her dialogue is quite funny.

Many flaws of other games have been taken care of here. When you go into shops, they have new items each time, giving you a selection to choose from that you will find interesting. You can customize new characters, creating a party that is just perfect for your gaming style.

The voices are cutesy in the traditional anime style, and the sounds fit in well with the world. The plot is fairly involved and really draws you along. Again, this isn't a dark, serious story of angst and power. It's a fun, light-hearted romp through a fun fantasy world, where you can play for a few hours, save, and pick up the story the next time you have free time.

Well recommended.

A preliminary review

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 20 / 25
Date: August 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Having picked up the game only today, perhaps I shouldn't review it JUST yet, since I've only played it for a couple of hours. But initial response is d@mn good.

The fact is, Disgaea 2 seems to improve in all ways on its predecessor. The story seems quite deep (I'll spoil none of what I've discovered, although you can pretty much find it all out by reading around). The graphics are better (but still not up to snuff - it's the reason I dropped the game a star). There is an incredible number of extras to the game, and the voices are much better (at least in my opinion).

No, there is no Laharl (as the main character, although I haven't given up on seeing him, or the main character of Phantom Brave, in the almost-assuredly present end dungeons), but this game (at least early on) is pretty good nonetheless. I'll try to, uhhh, review my review, as I play more, but initial observations point to many more hours wasted on this series...

Addendum: Now, having completed the main game and embarked on the subplots, I can confidently say that this game trumps the last Disgaea, and that is about the highest praise I can give it. This is an INCREDIBLE game, with layers of strategy, and plenty of power-levelling if you so desire. I only wish I could change from 4 to 5 stars overall. You cannot go wrong with this one, if only for the optional dungeons alone (which include the Dark Worlds, the Land of Carnage, a trip to Laharl, a date with Mid-Boss, and even an opening extra).

Nippon Ichi, my hat is off to you. You have made one of the best games ever.

Fun, Improved, great for strategy fans.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 17 / 17
Date: August 31, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Granted, Disgaea 2 won't do much for fans of the Fighting, FPS, or Action genres, but for those who love anime and strategy will have a bundle of fun.

The battle system is on the outside the same as Disgaea's, but there are some interesting and important improvements. Here are a few:

One, there is a lift+attack move (lifting a character and then attacking, like in Makai Kingdoms.)
Two: A character who was assigned to attack, but was unable to because the target they were going to attack was eliminated by another character before they could attack no longer loses their move. Instead, they get to move again instead.
Three: guns operate in a significantly different way than bows (a problem with Disgaea 1) giving them a great utility.
Four: Speed down, Def down, and other effects occur more often as a result of weapon usage, and are easier to see.
Five: Treasure chests are now a part of battle!
Six: The item bag (I'm pretty sure) is larger.
Seven: Additional battle items are available, one of them being cellular phones. (You'll have to find out what they do..)
Eight: Team attacks have become more ridiculous. (This is a good thing!)
Nine: Battle maps are much improved, and more interesting.

The game now has a really spiffy intro, (hi-res!) and maintains the same irreverent humor of the previous games. The quality, however, is on par with (actually, better than) Disgaea: Hour of Darkness.

Voice acting manages to not be annoying (in many cases its very good!) And it is refreshing to play a good guy again. Laharl is obviously in the game (he is seen in the character collage art) and there are numerous references from La Pucelle Tactics, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Phantom Brave and Makai Kingdoms.

The manual lacks clarity in some places, and a lot of the graphics are still very pixely. Overall, though, its hard to beat this game for fun.

But be warned, it takes a LONG time to play.

Entertainment

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First of all, the game was in good condition when I got it. Second, the game was a laugh. I mean a big laugh. My sides hadn't hurt that much in quite a while. The battle sequeneces weren't always exciting, but they were usually fun nonetheless. I had no problems with the sound, the graphics, anything like that.

Have You Hugged a Prinny Today?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: October 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Admittedly, I haven't played a lot of strategy RPGs. I attempted to play Final Fantasy Tactics, generally considered to be a classic of the genre, at one point, but I found it really dry and I had serious problems with a class system that seems to really unbalance the game by making it too easy. I've never really had much motivation to seek out other examples of SRPG genre because there is Nippon-Ichi's Disgaea series, as unique as it is fun. And long-lasting too. You can spend several hundred hours playing through Disgaea: Hour of Darkness and Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories to beat all the bonus content beyond the main campaign.

Disgaea 2 shines as being a more polished version of the first Disgaea. Character sprites are more vivid, spell effects have more visual flare. The music and dialogue has a sharper audio quality. All the bonus quests from the first Disgaea have been expanded on such as the inclusion of the Dark Court in the endless dungeon of the Item World and even more stuff to do in the Dark Assembly.However, it is also so similar to the first game that it feels almost like an expansion pack rather than true sequel.

The story of Disgaea 2 is similar to first one, in that it is highly character driven and told with quite a bit of humor. Overlord Zenon has tranformed all the residents of the world of Veldime into monsters. Adell, the last remaining human, embacks on a quest to slay the Overlord with Rozalin, Zenon's haughty and neglected daughter. Along the way, they meet a colorful cast of enemies, rivals, and allies as they attempt to crack the mystery behind the near-immortal Zenon. It's an enjoyable story, if a bit meandering. It's one major susprise is a twist at the end that caught me off guard though it probably shouldn't have.

Combat, like most SRPGs, takes place on a series of grid-like maps, usually four to a chapter. Characters can move around so many squares per turn and have the opportunity to attack any enemies that falls within their attack range. The battlefields are littered with Geo-panels, multicolored pyramids that confer penalties and bonuses to certain areas of the maps. There are dozens of classes, both monster and human, to fashion a powerful army out of. Choose wisely, because a grand total of 10 can be deployed at any one time. Unfortunately, experience points only go to the character that deals the final blow so level disparities between characters combined with a steadily increasing difficulty curve make it neccesary to replay some of maps at times. Luckily, the difficulty curve is much more finely tuned in this game, so you will spend less time leveling up than in the first game. The main campaign in Disgaea 2 is pretty short, I clocked in a little over 30 hours in my first play through, granted I barely touched much of the sidequests. I also found it to be a little on the easy side. I didn't die once until I was on the penultimate chapter. I don't know it that is because the game is easier or if it's just from spending over one hundred hours conquering the first game.

SPRGs are probably the hardest sub-set out of the RPG genre. The Disgaea series is highly recommended for experienced and inexperienced players alike. Disgaea 2 has many different systems that enhance the playing experience, but unlike many games, doesn't force the player to learn how to work them all. Players have the option of playing the game at face value or learning all the complex systems for a more enriched experience. This is a very accessable game, and this is a genre that definitely needs more games that strike a balance between being too hard or too easy.

Disgaea 2 yeas and nays

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: January 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The item world is a lot easier to get through than what it was on the first Disgaea. It's also easier to get bills passed in the dark assembly. I don't like having to wait to create new charectors. But the story line and the new charectors are just as good as the old. And I love the opening music video!

An Excellent Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Play as Adell, a youth who has sworn to defeat the Demon Lord who transformed his once-fair homeland into a Netherworld.

The entire theme, from graphics and sound to the dialog, is humorous and fun. Nothing cutting-edge, but it's nearly perfect for what it is.

Combat is turn-based strategy, and somewhat more polished than the original: you can cancel/change nearly any actions you've chosen for any of the characters any time before you execute.

Leveling up your equipment in the item world has gained more depth, with the Dark Court, Mystery Room, and Innocent Town. The Dark Court gives characters Felonies, which in turn boost experience gained. The Mystery Room can contain any number of possibilities, from randomly altering your item level (good or bad), to stores selling things you can't buy anywhere else. The town in the item world has a version of the Assembly that allows you to boost your item in various ways... To list a few of the new things available there.

More bonus areas and characters to unlock, more skills, improved and better balanced combat system, and a story that's as good as the first (Disgaia, which was great)... Have fun!

Where did my comical evil go?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: January 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I really enjoyed the first game. The depth of play was ridiculous. This one just didn't deliver as fun of an experience for me. They would have been better off rebranding it as a non- Disgaea game.

Most the fun ,for me, with the original was the cartoon sociopath cast. This new main charcter was too nice. Laharl was a fun character to play and I didn't have the same attachment to Adell.

If you like the tactics style gameplay from the first game then you will still enjoy this one just don't get your hopes up about revisting old characters. Good game just not a great sequel.

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