I think Koei finally did it.
Well, Square has had a hold on the geeky section of my soul for long enough... They've had some ace games to be sure, and memorable characters too. But their reign of glory as my favorite game company is at an end.
Personally, I've always been a fan of Koei's Dynasty warriors games, sure they're samey, but it's a kind of samey I enjoy... Good solid storyline, less outlandish costumes than recent Final fantasy games and action that leaves your thumbs sore at the end of it.
But I admit, I had considered the company a bit of a one trick pony... Sure, they do good mass slaughter games, but what are they like with a more strategic style of play?
Disgaea - Hour of darkness arrived yesterday... It's a wonderfully overcheesy game in the style of Final Fantasy tactics (which never quite got my attention for long)
At first I was a little alarmed at the stock dialogue, what had I bought?... But as the first battle started, I realised that rather than a poor attempt at a serious storyline, the story is a send up of fantasy games in general... If that wasn't apparent at first? well... Three words should reassure...
Exploding... Zombie... Penguins.
... who address everything as "Dood".
Failing that...
Stackable heroes!
The ammusing saccharine cuteness of the demon world and it's denizens make the game worthy already... But there's a surprising depth to the battles as well. Not exactly hard, as such... As the main character is a bit of an uber tank, but if you're careless? you eat floor.
But yeah, I was very glad to see that although there are attacks which can quite literally kill everything on approximately 95% of the map... This does include allies... and indeed the originator of the attack... It was rather heartwarming to win a battle the first time I pulled one off (they can be done at quite a low level) only because I happened to have one person standing on a safe tile... Everything else got toasted.
It's nice to see more games which don't concentrate on fantastically impressive graphics, but go with cute fun :3
Well done Koei :)
Personally, I've always been a fan of Koei's Dynasty warriors games, sure they're samey, but it's a kind of samey I enjoy... Good solid storyline, less outlandish costumes than recent Final fantasy games and action that leaves your thumbs sore at the end of it.
But I admit, I had considered the company a bit of a one trick pony... Sure, they do good mass slaughter games, but what are they like with a more strategic style of play?
Disgaea - Hour of darkness arrived yesterday... It's a wonderfully overcheesy game in the style of Final Fantasy tactics (which never quite got my attention for long)
At first I was a little alarmed at the stock dialogue, what had I bought?... But as the first battle started, I realised that rather than a poor attempt at a serious storyline, the story is a send up of fantasy games in general... If that wasn't apparent at first? well... Three words should reassure...
Exploding... Zombie... Penguins.
... who address everything as "Dood".
Failing that...
Stackable heroes!
The ammusing saccharine cuteness of the demon world and it's denizens make the game worthy already... But there's a surprising depth to the battles as well. Not exactly hard, as such... As the main character is a bit of an uber tank, but if you're careless? you eat floor.
But yeah, I was very glad to see that although there are attacks which can quite literally kill everything on approximately 95% of the map... This does include allies... and indeed the originator of the attack... It was rather heartwarming to win a battle the first time I pulled one off (they can be done at quite a low level) only because I happened to have one person standing on a safe tile... Everything else got toasted.
It's nice to see more games which don't concentrate on fantastically impressive graphics, but go with cute fun :3
Well done Koei :)