Hello and welcome to todays article. This time around we'll be talking about the somewhat obscure Japanese tactical role-playing game 'Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice'
. Now in a record that may go unbroken for generations here's the earliest I've ever put a disclaimer in an article. I didn't finish 'Disgaea 3' nor did I finish 'Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories'
. I, however, did really like 'Disgaea: Hour of Darkness'
(the first one). So what was it about the first one that resulted in me liking it enough to actually complete* finish the game? Well compared to its sequels 'Hour of Darkness' was a more complete package. For starters the writing in the first game is actually decent, well paced and clever (we are after all talking about a series of games involving demons fighting over the Netherworld). With 'Cursed Memories' our writing is down to 'adequate' as the pacing blows and the writer responsible for the clever dialog has apparently left the company. By the time we've gotten to 'Absence of Justice' the writing is just generally awful as is in my opinion the story. The pacing is nonexistent and the attempts at being clever are downright painful to listen to. Additionally here to exacerbate the sub-par writing is the voice acting. While never exactly a pillar of excellence in the community the voice acting in the first two games was at least serviceable. The voice work in 'Absence of Justice'...eh, not so much. Alright then well what about the gameplay? Well I'm glad you asked. In 'Hour of Darkness' we're treated to a quirky take on the tactical RPG that manages to be somewhat challenging while still offering opportunities to power level in preparation for the (much) harder hidden areas in the game. In 'Cursed Memories' and 'Absence of Justice' there is precious little added innovation-wise making the combat (the combat in a tactical RPG is pretty much the entirety of the gameplay) much more tedious. It was for this reason that I quite on 'Absence of Justice'. The reason(s?) for my stopping short of the finish on 'Cursed Memories' have been lost to history.
. Now in a record that may go unbroken for generations here's the earliest I've ever put a disclaimer in an article. I didn't finish 'Disgaea 3' nor did I finish 'Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories'. I, however, did really like 'Disgaea: Hour of Darkness' (the first one). So what was it about the first one that resulted in me liking it enough to actually was a more complete package. For starters the writing in the first game is actually decent, well paced and clever (we are after all talking about a series of games involving demons fighting over the Netherworld). With 'Cursed Memories' our writing is down to 'adequate' as the pacing blows and the writer responsible for the clever dialog has apparently left the company. By the time we've gotten to 'Absence of Justice' the writing is just generally awful as is in my opinion the story. The pacing is nonexistent and the attempts at being clever are downright painful to listen to. Additionally here to exacerbate the sub-par writing is the voice acting. While never exactly a pillar of excellence in the community the voice acting in the first two games was at least serviceable. The voice work in 'Absence of Justice'...eh, not so much. Alright then well what about the gameplay? Well I'm glad you asked. In 'Hour of Darkness' we're treated to a quirky take on the tactical RPG that manages to be somewhat challenging while still offering opportunities to power level in preparation for the (much) harder hidden areas in the game. In 'Cursed Memories' and 'Absence of Justice' there is precious little added innovation-wise making the combat (the combat in a tactical RPG is pretty much the entirety of the gameplay) much more tedious. It was for this reason that I quite on 'Absence of Justice'. The reason(s?) for my stopping short of the finish on 'Cursed Memories' have been lost to history. |
| Pictured: A map that isn't especially representative of what you'll encounter in the rest of the game. |
So what was the big issue with the combat that would result in me shelving the game? Would you believe that it's something as simple as character movement? Yup, something that simple can really screw up the experience. It's also worth noting that the picture above is representative only of the design of the Disgaea's maps as the typical map is roughly 3-4 times the size of the one pictured. The game made me update and in doing so my save data got axed so no pictures of more advanced maps. You may also have noticed that the map is broken up into square tiles which correspond to character movement. The issue here is that on larger maps you and your opponents will usually start at opposite ends of the map and spend several turns just marching towards one another. Now, I'm hoping what I'm going to say next isn't incorrect (or at least not by too much) but it feels like the actual movement allowed to the non-main characters (your grunts) has been reduced by ~25% since the previous iterations of this game. I know that the Mage classes movement wasn't this bad in 'Cursed Memories' nor in 'Hour of Darkness' and I'm pretty sure that other classes where more mobile in those previous versions as well. The reason this is a problem is that it makes things take longer. Now I realize (and remember) that a couple of character classes in 'Hour of Darkness' had some downright stupid movement options (“Go coast to coast on a large map in one turn? Don't mind if I do.”) and I'm not asking for the game to allow for something like that but at least let me get to the enemy position in under 3 rounds. It's also worth noting that in many cases if you're too far away from the enemy that they won't move at all (tactically this is the right choice as you're likely to move into their range on their terms, i.e. they get to attack first). So in this case a choice that I have to guess was made for the sake of balance (a somewhat stupid concept for a single player game of this genre) resulted in a game that left me less than enthused due to stuff just generally taking longer than it should. It sucks but when a game isn't offering much else then minor things like this can become deal-breakers. See you all next week.
nor in 'Hour of Darkness' and I'm pretty sure that other classes where more mobile in those previous versions as well. The reason this is a problem is that it makes things take longer. Now I realize (and remember) that a couple of character classes in 'Hour of Darkness' had some downright stupid movement options (“Go coast to coast on a large map in one turn? Don't mind if I do.”) and I'm not asking for the game to allow for something like that but at least let me get to the enemy position in under 3 rounds. It's also worth noting that in many cases if you're too far away from the enemy that they won't move at all (tactically this is the right choice as you're likely to move into their range on their terms, i.e. they get to attack first). So in this case a choice that I have to guess was made for the sake of balance (a somewhat stupid concept for a single player game of this genre) resulted in a game that left me less than enthused due to stuff just generally taking longer than it should. It sucks but when a game isn't offering much else then minor things like this can become deal-breakers. See you all next week.*I use the word 'finish' instead of 'complete' as it is very possible to beat any one of these games without even scratching the surface on the content. The one person I know who got ~100% on the first game spent around 600 hours to get there. I suspect that the subsequent titles aren't too far off from that mark. My play-times where as follows (approximately):
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness – 200 hours
– 200 hoursDisgaea 2: Cursed Memories – 40 hours
– 40 hoursDisgaea 3: Absence of Justice – 15 hours
– 15 hours
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