Disgaea 2
 

"NIS America announced today at an event held in San Francisco (and intentionally kept a secret until midnight) that Disgaea 2, sequel to Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, is coming to North America for the PS2. Created by parent company Nippon Ichi, the game promises to build upon its predecessor with new modes, narrative, and a refined combat system. Fans can also expect improved visuals, including a slew of newly designed characters and environments.

NIS America announced today at an event held in San Francisco (and intentionally kept a secret until midnight) that Disgaea 2, sequel to Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, is coming to North America for the PS2. Created by parent company Nippon Ichi, the game promises to build upon its predecessor with new modes, narrative, and a refined combat system. Fans can also expect improved visuals, including a slew of newly designed characters and environments. "

tEh oLD neWZ, nooes

It's out in Japan now, due out in the states sometime in August. Anyone else excited about this? And has anyone imported it?

Here's IGN's impression of the game so far
http://ps2.ign.com/articles/687/687738p1.html

I've been playing it. Really just more of the same, which bugs me when I am reminded that they even took a step backwards and went back to grid movement.

I thought I was dead-set on getting the game when it came out in North America, but now I'm not even sure.

Eh, some people may prefer the grid system... I personally found the free movement of Phantom Brave and Makai Kingdom to feel a little awkward and as such enjoyed them both far less than I did Disgaea, or even La Pucelle.

I didn't mind a similar system in Growlanser, though, which sort of baffles me.

Well, I can agree that the grid system isn't as... clunky as free movement, but I found it to be much more enjoyable than the usual squares. Seriously, grids are becoming the random encounters of Strategy-RPGs-- extremely overused, and new ways to fight need to be introduced and encouraged.

Oh, I agree... I'm sure with some tweaking somewhere down the line the system will probably be better. It's just that right now it isn't and so I don't personally prefer it. I'm rather glad they went back to the grid but I would like to see them make some improvements with the 'free movement' and try again.

I definitely see the point about it getting stale and overused as SRPGs since, well, the dawn of time have all used grid based systems and it does get tiresome at times. I barely notice it in fun games like Disgaea, though.

How's the music, by the way? The music for the Disgaea 2 trailer had a remixed version of one of the battle themes from the original...so does that mean Tenpei Sato is composing again, or are they using the trio that composed the music for Phantom/Makai Kingdom?

I honestly can't tell the difference between their composers, but I will say the music isn't that great so far. I've only heard a few battle themes and the hub world theme, but "forgettable" comes to mind.

How was the game received in Japan?Did it get good scores compared to the prequel? As for the grid, everyone's own choice I guess. The free roaming system felt awkward in Phantom Brave (haven't played any other Nippon Ichi games), but a game like Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter pulled it off pretty good.

The grid is not a convention I mind. It makes it easier to determine attack ranges and enemy movement. Not to say a free-roaming system would be a bad thing, but simplicity can be an asset as well.

Most importantly of all, how is the enemy AI? Nippon Ichi has been really, really lazy about this and I've refused to buy anything after Disgaea for that reason. I dig their combat system and class architecture, but the AI is going to make or break the game.

I still don't know what to think about the grid system coming back. On one hand, I like having maps all neat and tidey appropriately seperated in hundreds of little squares, though it's not as fun as the free roaming system. That's one of the reasons why I liked Phantom Brave so much.

Hmm, I still have to finish the original Disgaea. Such a long game.

Can someone verify if the game actually runs in hi-res, like they said it will?

I was palying Disgaea 2 the past week, just see the samething as the original disgaes with joke, battler system the same, great music, etc

Runs in hi-res? You mean High Definition? Definitely not.

The sprites are not hi-res, like they promised. Characters are now marginally more proportional, but not to the point where the felt the need to redo sprites of returning characters (Laharl, Flonne, Zetta, and everyone else have recycled sprites).

Bleh I was hoping for more improvements..doesn't sound like much has changed which really is annoying. Still, I'll probably pick it up once it comes out in the U.S. I'm actually glad they went back to grids too. The free movement system in Phantom Brave worked okay, but I felt that disgaea and la pucelle really required a lot more strategy in terms of character placement.

no, not high definition. just high resolution. you know, 640x480. Previous games were 320x240 and people appearantly complained that it looks crap on their 22nd century HDTV system or something, so they are supposed to up the resolution for Disgaea 2. There was some IGN article about it.

Doesn't it feel like we are being milked by NIS these days. After almost 3 years now the games have only made minor cosmetic changes and experimented with a half broken free movement system since La Pucelle. The same characters are recycled. More and more items added and even ridiculously higher damage can be wrecked. But still the flaw of this game along with their others is there is NO strategy. Its almost a simulation than a true strategy game they keep touting these games as since the gameplay is simply you spending 400 hours honing your perfect characters and the story and music thrown with each game being less and less relevant since Disgaea. That said there is a place for these games but i wish NIS would take more time to develop something that feels new. But i understand being a small company maybe they feel the need to rush games out to continue to profit or simply they know the PS3 looms near and trying to squeeze as much money as they can before we all move on. I don't know.

What's up with the music? I bought the limited edition original soundtrack (the one that comes with the limited edition boxset of Disgaea 2) without even knowing what to expect... Yes, I am a complete idiot when it comes to rare Disgaea merchandise.

I have to agree with Tyr. From the few NIS games I've played, they all just seem the same. Dated (but neat) graphics, stories that just aren't interesting anymore and characters that have been seen many times before. Their strategy games where pretty cool in the beginning, but I really think that it's time for them to be more innovative (at leaset fix your bloody AI!).

I don't know but your avatar is lovely. Where is it from?

It suppose to come out in Augest? Yeah, I can ask for it for my b-day! I liked the first one so I hope this one's good too.

No. I've made a point of not buying any of their games until they shape up. The best way to get your point across to the company is to quit giving them your money.

definitely looking forward to this one! i've seen the trailers at gamespot, but i can't really understand what's going on, so i have don't have an inkling as to what the plot is, but i'm sure it's good. ^_~

August already? yes.

I disliked the free movement system after experiencing it firsthand, since I'll oibsess about the maximum distance I can be from the enemy before having to make an attack, and then attempt to move away even if only a little bit. I prefer the confines of the grid.
I'm excited as long as there's sufficiently new eyecandy and attacks. I don't want to see just a redone Dimension Slash; I'd like something even more exaggerated, like maybe a Galaxy Bang spell or something. If they can think of such huge attacks, I want them to be even more ridiculously painful looking.

Is this one also going to be ridiculously hard to find a couple days after it is released, or will it see a wider release do you think?

Same thing will probably happen as with the last one. Not many stores will carry it to begin with, and after a week or two, pretty much no store will have it.