Disgaea: Hour of Darkness Cover

IGDB / 11610

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness

2003 87 / 100 Role-playing (RPG) Strategy Tactical
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is a tactical role-playing video game and the first game in the Disgaea series. Battle gameplay takes place on a map divided into a square grid. The player controls a squad of humanoid units and monsters, which each occupy a single square of the grid and do combat with a group of enemies. Depending on the character and attack selected, the player will be able to deal damage to a specific ene Show full summary

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is a tactical role-playing video game and the first game in the Disgaea series. Battle gameplay takes place on a map divided into a square grid. The player controls a squad of humanoid units and monsters, which each occupy a single square of the grid and do combat with a group of enemies. Depending on the character and attack selected, the player will be able to deal damage to a specific enemy unit or a designated region of the map. Combat ends when all enemy units or all of the player's units are destroyed.

World design Nicht eindeutig ExperienceChoices GameplayCombat-focused GameplayRole-playing

Deep dive / Spielprofil

Everything about Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: story and gameplay

A structured look at the narrative, game feel, and traits that define this game.

Story & context
The story of Disgaea opens with Laharl rising out of an open coffin in his room. Etna, one of the castle vassals, is standing next to him, surrounded by various weapons. She explains that he has been sleeping for two years, far longer than he intended, and his father, King Krichevskoy, has died. Laharl vows to reclaim the throne, and, after consulting with Etna and his other vassals, goes to Vyers' castle. After defeating the demon Vyers, who refers to himself as the "Dark Adonis" and is renamed "Mid-Boss" by Laharl, he meets Angel Trainee Flonne. Flonne had been sent to the Netherworld by Seraph Lamington, the ruler of Celestia, to assassinate King Krichevskoy (who was already dead). Shocked by Laharl's lack of grief at his father's death, the eternally optimistic Flonne joins Laharl's party to determine if demons are capable of feeling love. Observing them in secret is the paranoid Ar Show full description

The story of Disgaea opens with Laharl rising out of an open coffin in his room. Etna, one of the castle vassals, is standing next to him, surrounded by various weapons. She explains that he has been sleeping for two years, far longer than he intended, and his father, King Krichevskoy, has died. Laharl vows to reclaim the throne, and, after consulting with Etna and his other vassals, goes to Vyers' castle. After defeating the demon Vyers, who refers to himself as the "Dark Adonis" and is renamed "Mid-Boss" by Laharl, he meets Angel Trainee Flonne. Flonne had been sent to the Netherworld by Seraph Lamington, the ruler of Celestia, to assassinate King Krichevskoy (who was already dead). Shocked by Laharl's lack of grief at his father's death, the eternally optimistic Flonne joins Laharl's party to determine if demons are capable of feeling love. Observing them in secret is the paranoid Archangel Vulcanus, who interprets Flonne's actions as treason and is convinced that she is plotting against him. After Etna demands that Laharl pay the salary of the Prinnies that she has hired, he decides to attack the demon with the most money in the vicinity. This is Hoggmeiser at Dinero Palace. After defeating Hoggmeiser, Laharl is about to kill him, until Hoggmeiser's son rushes out and gets in the way. Flonne convinces Laharl to spare them, and Laharl lets them keep some of the money. In response to this act, Hoggmeiser joins the party. At one point, Flonne and Etna discover a photograph of Laharl in an embarrassing situation. Laharl refers to this as a "paparazzi shot", however, the actual contents of the photo are never actually revealed. A threat on the back of the photograph states that copies of it would be distributed if Laharl did not accept a challenge to fight for the overlordship; thus Laharl was blackmailed. Responding to this challenge, Laharl meets Maderas, a vampire. He was banished by King Krichevskoy, for stealing the King's favorite snack, black pretzels. Maderas takes advantage of Laharl's two biggest weaknesses – optimism and women with sexy bodies. Maderas was also controlling Etna by holding her memory. He had instructed her to kill the prince, but she had put him to sleep for two years by poisoning him instead. Etna eventually betrays Maderas, and along with Laharl, Flonne, and Mid-Boss, defeats him. Waking up later at night, Flonne discovers that several Prinnies are chanting and leaving the castle. Laharl, worried that his reputation will be tarnished if it is discovered that he let his vassals escape, chases after them the next morning. Eventually, he runs into Death, and the player learns that Big Sis Prinny is actually Laharl's mother; she became a Prinny because she gave her life to save him.

49 weitere Tags
Traitadapted to - anime Traitanime Traitanthropomorphism Traitanti-hero Traitanti-villain Traitbased on - comics Traitboss fight Traitbow and arrow Traitcameo appearance Traitclass change Traitdemonic protagonist Traitdepression Traitgame with chapters Traitgeomancer Traitgrid-based movement Traitgrinding Traithand-to-hand combat Traitice stage Traitleveling up Traitmagic Traitmonster capturing Traitmoral decisions Traitmultiple endings Traitnew game plus Traitninja Traitnot-so-bad guys Traitparty-based combat Traitplatform exclusive Traitplot twist Traitps2 classics Traitrecruitable characters Traitrecurring boss Traitredemption Traitreluctant hero Traitretroachievements Traitrobots Traitsamurai Traitsatire Traitsealing your own fate Traitself-referential humor Traitshopping Traitsword & sorcery Traittactical turn-based combat Traitturn-based Traitupgradeable weapons Traitvillain turned good Traitvoice acting Traitwomen in refrigerators syndrome Traitworld domination

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Game profile / Plain language

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: release, platforms, and facts

Studio, play style, releases, and official sources — compactly prepared from external IGDB data.

01
Studios & ownership

Studio & publishing

Developer
Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher
Nippon Ichi Software, Atlus USA, Koei
Franchise
Disgaea
02
So spielt es sich

Spielprofil

Modi
Single player
Perspective
Bird view / Isometric
Themes
Comedy
03
Wo & wann

Platform releases

  • PlayStation 2 May 28, 2004
  • PlayStation 3 Jan 15, 2013
  • PlayStation 2 Aug 27, 2003
  • PlayStation 2 Aug 30, 2004
  • PlayStation 2 Jan 30, 2003

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