Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories
Score: 87% ESRB: Teen Publisher: NIS America Developer: Nippon Ichi Software Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Strategy/ RPG
Graphics & Sound: I rarely replay games. I go back to some games from time to time, but I usually need a compelling reason for a replay. This is even truer in recent years; "life" only leaves so much time for activities. When I do go back – especially years later – it is always fun to see how my tastes have changed. With Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories, a digital re-release on PSN, I am happy to say my tastes haven’t changed much at all. Don’t expect any sort of "HD upgrade" from the PSN release. Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories looks exactly as it did in previous releases. Environments are 3D with hand-drawn sprites. It doesn’t look amazing, but I was surprised with how well the game holds up. Much of the credit goes to the art direction. The anime-styled visuals stand out, though without extreme details it still manages to skip the awkwardness you might see in other games of the era. Of course, the art direction may be a turn-off for some players. Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories is unapologetically anime. Character designs and their mannerisms are over exaggerated and in line with what you might see on Cartoon Network’s late night anime block. But, it also gives the game personality. The soundtrack is great. Six years after the initial release, I still have some songs on my playlist. However, I am still not completely onboard with the voicework. Admittedly, it is better than I remember and the cast is exceptional, there’s just something about the English track (my usual preference, mind you) that doesn’t work for me.
Gameplay: Some of my localization issues may lie with the script itself. If anything else, NIS releases are good for a whimsical, yet incredibly off-kilter story. Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories focuses on Adell, the last human in a world populated by former humans who have been cursed to live as demons by Overlord Zenon. Not one to stand idly by and let the curse continue, Adell vows to defeat Zenon, breaking the curse. Adell’s plan involves summoning Zenon, though things go a bit topsy-turvy when he accidently summons Zenon’s daughter, Rozalin, instead. Rozalin isn’t Adell’s target, though the summoning does bond her to him, offering Adell a path to Zenon. Adell’s quest may sound like typical fantasy fare, though the story is presented in such a way it avoids "typical." The overall tone is more light-hearted and incredibly satirical, but also manages to sneak in heavier philosophical quandaries, such as the nature of loyalty. Where the writing stumbles is it tries to get too smart or witty, as if it is too self-aware at times. Still, the overall story is something I’d like to see more of in games and it helps Disgaea 2 overcome the dull, sluggish moments inherent to the genre. Not that the game is dull, battles are just long and you’ll spend a lot of time replaying battles as you grind XP for characters. Fans will enjoy this, though it might beat down a few players. Most of the game takes place on gridded battlefields. Each turn, you move units in Chess-like fashion until one army is defeated. Battles can easily last upwards of an hour, so if you’re into fast-paced gameplay, Disgaea 2 won’t deliver. What it does deliver is depth and lots of content. Time between battles is spent in town. You can re-equip units and save your progress, though you’ll likely spend most of your time fighting through Item World, Disgaea 2’s weapon upgrade system. Completing levels – which are just more grid-based battles – improves your items, unlocks new attributes, and gives you the opportunity to recruit special units. Downtime is also spent appearing in the Dark Court or lobbying in the Dark Assembly. The Dark Court is a reward system for completing certain tasks (called "Crimes") during battles. More serious offenses lead to better rewards, though you have to get really creative in battle if you want the court to find you guilty. The Dark Assembly is a little more complicated. Here you can attempt to unlock new character classes and items by bribing senators or outright fighting them in – you guessed it – battles. The Dark Assembly also serves as a way to upgrade your units, though there are risks involved. The new unit will usually come out on the other end with lower stats and fewer abilities. This isn’t always the case, however, since you can sometimes end up with a more powerful character, or at least a new character with a unique mix of old and new abilities.
Difficulty: Aspects like Dark Assembly feed into Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories’s larger difficulty issues. The game is challenging, though not through any major design faults. Most of the time, if you’re having trouble, it can be traced back to either lack of familiarity with game systems or poor tactical choices. Disgaea 2 forces you to think a move or two ahead, not just in battles, but when deciding how to handle situations in the Dark Assembly. The biggest mistake you can make is focusing on a handful of units. You’re bound to have your favorites, but keeping a small group can make the randomness of features like reincarnation a riskier proposition. Unfortunately, the need for multiple units highlights one of Disgaea 2’s mechanical faults. Unit XP is rewarded for kills, not individual player actions. Finding ways to get XP for non-combat units will disrupt your strategies. Of course, you could choose to go with an all-combat army, but you’ll need the support units in later battles.
Game Mechanics: Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories’s battle system runs deeper than maneuvering units into attack range. You also have to take unit formations into account, which if handled right, offer massive attack boosts during battles. If certain characters are near others – either side-by-side or in formation – they will team up during attacks. As many as four units can participate in one attack, so it is entirely possible for characters to get multiple attacks per round. Then there’s the "Toss" ability, which opens up a completely new tier of strategies. Any unit can pick up another. Most of the time, you’ll use this to get an injured unit out of harm’s way, though you can also use it to overcome impassable obstacles, or to turn units into living projectiles. The latter isn’t the preferred use (you won’t earn experience and can lose the unit), though sometimes it is the only option. Battle strategies are also affected by Elemental Field Conditions. Placing crystals (also found on battlefields) on a section will alter some aspect of the battle. Placing a crystal on a green space grants an XP boost whenever a unit kills another while on a green space. Other colored spaces can decrease units’ stats or offer advantages to enemy units. Destroying crystals weaponizes the colored spaces, causing all of the spaces to explode, dealing damage to whoever is standing on them. Place your crystals correctly, and you can set off explosive chain attacks – netting bonus XP and dealing more damage than normal. The PSN version of Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories doesn’t add anything new, but that doesn’t detract from an already great game. It is just as much fun now as it was nearly six years ago. If you’re still holding on to your aged copy, there’s little reason to grab the PSN version, though players who may be been bitten by the strategy bug with releases like XCOM: Enemy Unknown may want to give it a try.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
Related Links: Game Vortex's Review of XCOM: Enemy Unknown Game Vortex's Review of Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories on the PS2
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