Maria-sama ga Miteru licensed (no question mark this time)
Following speculation here and there, Maria-sama ga Miteru’s three seasons (two TV series and one OVA) have been licensed by Right Stuf. Each season will be released in a boxset complete with its corresponding DVD specials, with the first season due out in July for $49.99.
Entertainment correspondent Aria: Punyu. [This will please the devout fans of the series, but even though we liked the two TV series, we were turned off the whole franchise by the dull OVA. Even so, we will be watching season four.]

Clannad 24 to be DVD only
Clannad fans, your waiting time has been extended, for episode 24 is to be the latest of many DVD-only instalments, and won’t be hitting shelves until this July. In the meantime, episode 22 will be the official series ending, with episode 23 being billed as a summer special. Clear as mud, eh?
Financial correspondent Mr Tibbs: These sorts of DVD-only episodes may frustrate the fanbase, but it also makes them keen to lap up the new content when it comes. Then again, those who are less enthused about the series tend to just forget about it and not bother seeing the series through.

Slayers gets a new TV series
Slayers fans, rejoice- a fourth season has finally been confirmed. With an anime-original storyline, this new series will be aired across two separate thirteen-episode seasons, although no further details are known at this time.
Entertainment correspondent Aria: Punyu! [At last, something everyone here is looking forward to- bring it on!]

ADV titles back on track?
As you may or may not recall, a couple of months ago, ADV removed various titles from its website, leading to speculation that it was either dropping them or going under completely a la Geneon. As it turns out, the problem seems to arise from one of their investors and licensing partners, and fortunately, many of the series in question are back on track for release. The hope is that all titles can eventually be restored.
Licensing correspondent The Admiral: Hiccups this these can occur between any two companies, but hopefully here the consumers won’t miss out on their DVDs.

Macross Frontier cream puffs
In our continuing coverage of anime-related food, we could not resist reporting that Japan’s am/pm stores are to start selling Macross Frontier themed cream puffs at the end of March. The cream puffs will come in both “Lanka” (green tea) and “Sheryl” (custard) flavours.
Social correspondent The Cardinal: Mmm…tasty.

Nippon Ichi opts for DS remakes
As reported over at moetron, Nippon Ichi will be remaking three of their titles for DS- the first Disgaea game (already remade for PSP), puzzler Jigsaw World and early SRPG title Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. The playing experience in Disgaea will once again be updated to incorporate the stylus and dual screen, whilst Jigsaw World will be gaining battle elements. Further details will be revealed as they become available.
Gaming correspondent Mikoto: I’m interested to see if NIS can improve on Rhapsody as the original was a bit lacking after a few hours’ play, but I wish they weren’t so hung up on repackaging Disgaea again and again.

Getting started with the game
Although Disgaea was the first Nippon Ichi PS2 game to make it over to the West, back in Japan, their dynasty of PS2 SRPGs actually began with a rather different game- La Pucelle Tactics. Loosely related to the Marl Kingdom series, La Pucelle takes us to the kingdom of Paprica for twelve chapters of demon-bashing and general saving of the world from evil. As you’ll come to see in this review (if, of course, you don’t already know), the game lacks a lot of the innovations of those that came after it, making it a bit harder to go back and get into after you’ve immersed yourself in the likes of Disgaea and Makai Kingdom.

Places to go, people to see
As part of the pre-Disgaea era, La Pucelle lacks the home base/dimensional gate to battle maps setup that we’ve become so familiar with in Nippon Ichi games, relying on a more traditional world map filled with the usual RPG locations. Although most of these are battle maps, there is a pseudo free-roaming aspect to the game in a few of the towns and villages- once you enter them, you can move left and right, pressing X to proceed to further screens or talk to NPCs as needed.

Unless you have an unhealthy fascination with chatting to NPCs, your main reason for visiting town (other than triggering cut scenes) will, unsurprisingly, be to drop into the Rosenqueen shop. Like its incarnation in the Disgaea world, the shop stocks limited amounts of items, and the selection will change according to a survey you can fill out after you make your purchases. Perhaps surprisingly, healing items seem rather hard to come by (luckily healing spells are easy to learn- more on that in a moment), and so the bulk of your hard-earned cash will be spent on the equippable items needed to enhance your characters’ stats. Since characters never change the weapons they use, these items are essentially accessories, which can be used to enhance a character’s attack, magic, defence and so forth. Rods are of particular note since they also increase a character’s strength in a particular element, thus enabling them to use spells of that element- and like Disgaea, if they use it enough times (variable depending on the character), they can learn that spell permanently.

Another feature available to play with is a connection to the Dark World courtesy of some generic hooded characters who pop up in various locations. Their purpose is not to take you to the Dark World, but to send your generic monsters there in return for being able to perform item fusion. Effectively, you’re selling them into servitude in hell in return for an ability you can’t get elsewhere- perhaps not an act befitting the moral standards of a demon hunter, but there you go.

Repent, Demons!
So there you are, all equipped and ready to take on some demons- so let’s waste no more time into getting into battle and its specifics. Each dungeon consists of a sequence of maps that can be approached in either the coward or completist manner- once battle commences, you can either make a run for the exit square that takes you to the next screen (a favourite tactic of mine in the Arc the Lad II days), or you can battle it out properly. The latter is recommended, not just because it’s a) the point of the game and b) essential for recruiting monsters and levelling up but for the simple reason that once a map is properly cleared, you get taken to a menu where you can save, sort out characters and equipment, and even return to the world map for automatic healing of all party members. As with Disgaea, characters emerge from a base panel (which they can also retreat into if they haven’t taken action that turn), and up to eight characters can be out on the field at any one time (the number decreases if a character gets killed).

Important as it is, however, the exit square is not the only event you can trigger on a map- keep your eyes open for any other red squares you may encounter, as stepping on them can trigger story events. Viewing these events isn’t just about seeing extra cut scenes- they can be the difference between getting the bad, normal or good ending for a chapter, complete with the healthy cash bonus that comes with the better endings.

Once you actually get into battle, on the surface of it La Pucelle looks like any other SRPGs- the player and computer take turns moving their units around and performing attacks and special skills on a grid-based isometric map. Play for even a little while, however, and you will soon begin to spot some key differences- which sadly feel less like innovations and more the result of this being a game from the days when Nippon Ichi were slowly feeling their way into the genre. For example, when you choose to attack an enemy, the attacker unit and all allies adjacent to them face off against the target unit and all enemies adjacent to it not on the main map, but on a separate ‘fight’ screen. Depending on their relative speeds, each unit on the fight screen gets the chance to attack someone on the other side, which means you can actually end up countering before you are even attacked. It also makes taking on a close-knit block of enemies more of a challenge, since even a weak enemy can bring his stronger buddies along with him. Fortunately, however, special attacks work a little different; not only are they performed straightaway (normal attacks have to wait for you to ‘execute’ or end turn a la Disgaea), but there is no opportunity for the target to counter. Unfortunately, once you use either an attack or a special, that character cannot move until next turn, even if they didn’t move before they attacked.

Getting used to this form of combat may make it harder than usual to get to grips with the game, but there is no doubt that La Pucelle is also one of the more difficult Nippon Ichi titles on offer. Chapters vary from surprisingly straightforward to annoyingly difficult with no real sequence, meaning that in one playing session you might make significant progress, whilst in the next you suffer several crushing game overs in a row (typically such game overs seem to be attached to boss battles which follow lengthy and unavoidable cut scenes).

One unavoidable feature of the battlefield is the presence of dark portals, which spill dark energy out onto the field. Left unattended, these portals will allow new enemies to periodically appear on the map- not the most welcome prospect if you’re already struggling with the ones that were there in the first place. Happily, there is a way to deal with these portals- all story characters except the air pirates and any generic monsters with maximum happiness can use the ‘Purify’ command to reduce the dark portal’s HP to zero. Once a dark portal is thus destroyed, all the energy coming out of it will also be removed, damaging all enemies standing on it with an elemental attack corresponding to the energy’s colour (or in the case of aqua/cyan energy, healing all allies). The more purification you do on a map, the higher your bonus at the end.

Dark energy isn’t just a random thing to have flowing across the field, however; it is perfectly possible to manipulate its direction to best suit your needs. The portals, which always produce primary colours of energy in red, green or blue, send energy flowing out in one direction, which can be altered by having a character stand on the portal and face a new direction. Further characters can then redirect or stop the flow by standing in the path of the energy, whilst the primary colour flows can also be combined into yellow, cyan, magenta and white for different elemental attacks. The most impressive way to put this ability to use is to create a ‘miracle’ by looping fifteen or more squares’ worth of dark energy round in a circle and then purifying it- doing so will summon an elemental creature that damages every enemy within the loop. Advanced players (or anyone who wants to spend time on GameFAQs) can even learn how to trigger multiple miracles in one go, leading to spectacular results.

Better still, miracles and purification aren’t just there to occupy the extreme gamer- they also have a practical purpose within the game beyond damaging enemies and preventing the arrival of further monsters. Each purification is worth a bonus score depending on how many squares you purify, enemies you damage and miracles you generate, and the total score translates to EXP for the items the purifying character has equipped. It can and does often seem like a rather tedious process for levelling up items and slowly boosting their stats, but those few extra attack and defence points can be the difference between life and death against some of the game’s harder bosses.

Just in case you were in danger of taking all of that in, there is also one more use for purification- the recruitment of generic enemies. In this pre-Disgaea age, there is no Dark Assembly or equivalent place to go and create generic characters- instead you must win existing enemies over to your side using purification. The more you purify a particular enemy, the greater the chances of it joining you once you defeat it- and indeed, on occasion an enemy will even choose to convert even though you didn’t purify it at all. Unsurprisingly, boss enemies cannot be converted off the bat- instead you’ll have to fulfil a specific condition in order to unlock that ability.

Once you have monsters under your command, you can affect their development by using the Train command in the menu. Each time you clear a map, you get a new training command- either a pleasant one designed to increase happiness, or a harsher action that will help them to build their stats more effectively. Whether you choose to be a harsh taskmaster or a more generous soul, it is always important to keep an eye on the happiness of your monsters- should it drop to one, the poor creature is apt to run away from its evil master, whilst raising it all the way to ten allows the monster to use purification.

As a game awash with the concept of levelling up, the equipment levelling and standard levelling with EXP is not enough for La Pucelle- there are also other aspects which must be paid attention to. As mentioned earlier, special skills level up with use, whilst equipment can also determine which stats get a boost each time a character gains a level. As a rule, the average player need not pay a great deal of attention to all this number crunching, but anyone wishing to dominate the game will need a good grasp of how to accumulate points for their characters.

Although it is entirely possible to complete the game without ever touching on it, lovers of random dungeons will be pleased to learn that their needs are furnished by what the English translation chooses to call the Dark World (we usually know it as the Netherworld, or in Japan, Hell). Each time you kill off your allies, use a Present or simply fail to purify all the dark portals before clearing a map, that map’s Dark Energy Index increases- and if it hits 100 or above, a portal to the Dark World will open. The Dark World is effectively a random dungeon of multiple levels, in which the player can level up and recruit certain types of enemies. It’s a welcome place for strengthening your characters and unlocking some of the more advanced mechanics of the game, but it comes at a price- spend too long in the Dark World, and Prier herself may even become an Overlord one day. There is good news for the pure of heart, however- purify all the dark portals on a map and the Dark Energy Index will decrease once more.

Story
Story-wise, La Pucelle is heavily reliant on the standard “forces of good vs. world-destroying evil” story that so often crops up in RPGs, with even the revelatory twists in character storylines erring on the side of the predictable. Happily, the story benefits greatly from its eclectic and likable cast, from Prier, a refreshingly direct and tomboyish female lead to Homard, an air pirate who commands a crew of humanoid cats.

Audiovisual
As per usual, Nippon Ichi have come up with some attractive character designs that translate well into cute sprites- although the girls do have surprisingly muscular and well toned legs. The often criticised isometric maps are indeed nothing spectacular, but are nonetheless functional and pleasant enough to play on (excluding the ones where camera rotation is disabled for some reason), whilst spell effects are likewise ‘good enough’ without being anything special. Then again, their level is no more or less than what I usually expect for SRPGs- I’m here for the game play more than mind-blowing graphics.

Unsurprisingly, the music is handled by Tenpei Sato, and whilst the soundtrack is less varied and memorable than his work on the Disgaea games and Phantom Brave, his quirky themes fit the tone of the game well whilst being reminiscent of Rhapsody (the games take place in the same world, albeit on different continents).

Final Thoughts
Going back and playing La Pucelle after trying out all their more recent games cannot help but make the game seem a little unsophisticated and rough around the edges compared to its more refined brethren, but even with the inconsistent difficulty level and need to get to grips with the numerous aspects of the levelling system, La Pucelle is still an enjoyable experience. Those who only liaise casually with SRPGs shouldn’t go to this as a first choice, but addicts to the genre will find a solid game to occupy their time.

Extra: My Party in Brief
Story characters

• Prier: Many people use Prier as their primary attacker, but mine is more of a middle of the table character. She has plenty of close-range attacks to bring out, but with all my bears what I really need is a distant attacker.
• Culotte: Prier’s brother, Culotte is one of those characters that perpetually has potential, but never delivers on it. In principle he could become a good mage and healer, but mine is too weak to survive to that point.
• Alouette: Sister Alouette is no longer useful in any capacity as an attacker, but she does have a nice stock of healing spells. I like to keep her well behind the front lines so that she can heal or run back to the base panel as needed.
• Croix: A ranged gun user, Croix is not only powerful, but he is useful for linking with the bears in adjacent square attack squads. His Double Shot special is a useful HP decimator.
• Homard: Although Homard is useful to others, I haven’t really spent the time on levelling him up, and hence even his Burning Soul attack isn’t the devastator it could be. Perhaps he can shine in New Game+ (a PAL only feature, if I am correct).
• Papillon: Due to her high movement range, Papillon is most people’s running away character, but since mine is Level One, I never even get her out.
• Yattanya: Homard’s deputy, Yattanya is slowly gaining strength- his Long Paw attack is particularly useful.
• Chocolats: Generic cat members of Homard’s crew, they are cute but weak.
• Salade: Despite being an old man, Salade joins the team at Level 50 and never looks back. His 50 Year Jab ability combines economy of SP with highly respectable damage.
• Éclair: Although not particularly useful as herself, later in the game Éclair gains the ability to become the devastating Dark Éclair, who makes up for not wearing much by delivering some deadly attacks.

Generics
Although many monsters joined up to be a part of my team, the ones I rely on the most are the Bear types (Big Bears, Ogres and White Devils). Cute in appearance yet deadly in battle, bears may be weak against magical attacks, but their decent defence and high attack make them great front line attackers. I couldn’t have beat the game without the help of my trusty legion of bears.

Since most readers on here are above the age of ten, you may or may not be aware of Club Penguin, a children’s website which I admittedly visit once or twice a fortnight to mess around on. Nonetheless, Club Penguin feels lacking in something, and so it seems to me that we must update it for the anime and gaming generation, with an all-new spin on it entitled Club Prinny. On Club Prinny, one must input a number of sins in order to generate a damned soul, which is then sewn into a prinny. After customising your prinny, you can wander around the Netherworld performing tasks to atone for your sins, and generally serving Laharl and Etna. Special events include payday (once a year) and the night of the red moon, where prinnies who have atoned for their sins can finally leave the site.

So don’t delay, play the simulation of eternal servitude for the souls of the damned today!

Kaiji 4

“HARD GAY will be revolutionised!”

“Oh no, my fantasy is turning into a tentacle rape nightmare!”

“…and yet I’m starting to feel strangely aroused.”

“That means we’re compatible!”

Random Thoughts: Zetta

This week we interview the most badass Overlord in the entire cosmos- Zetta! So, Zetta, are you really as badass as you claim, or is it all just a smokescreen?

Of course I’m that badass! Don’t ask me those kinds of questions unless you’re ready to go a few rounds and find out.

How did your career and life opportunities change once you got turned into a book? Did you have to turn over a new leaf?

Look, I’m sick of the book jokes already, okay? Yeah, being in this form isn’t ideal, but don’t think that I’m out of the game because of it. Everyone has minor setbacks, but strong people like me can easily overcome them.

Does it annoy you that you have to rely on low level battle monkeys whilst you sit on the field as a motionless book?

Part of me would love to get up close and personal with the enemy, but then again, you don’t spend years clawing your way up the ladder just to keep doing everything yourself. There’s no point having underlings if you don’t delegate the day to day work to them.

And finally, which is better- love or power?

Power, you idiot! Love is for losers.

This Week in Anime

“Look, oranges, I hate to say this, but I just don’t think our relationship is working out.”

What would life be without Pizza Hut?

“Ouch- why did you have to kick me there?”

“Take me now! I don’t care that we’re in public!”

“I will now teach you survival- Ray Mears style!”

“Tell the truth- you just hid that behind the bush earlier, didn’t you?”

“I support grapes and the revolution!”

“This fruit is not for the likes of you!—

“Oh well, I’ll make do with walnuts- they’re everywhere anyway.”

Anime World Tour: Utawarerumono

Welcome to a pastoral future of furries, simple living, gods and monsters! If you like the idea of a harem of cat, dog and foxgirls, then this is the place for you, and whilst the constant political turmoil across the continent may seem off-putting, it does ensure that you can go from nothing to owning your own country within a matter of weeks. So put your plans of conquest to the test and net yourself your own castle filled with beautiful girls- but beware of continual attack from unstable dictators!

Amusing Search Terms

women in tears anime: You beast, wanting to see women cry.

unusual pleasuring methods: Ah, you’ve come to the right place for everything from DOG to PILLAR.

azure rare playmate: Who doesn’t want a playmate?

Mai HiME doujin H-game: Sorry, my game is all-ages.

punyu movie: What is this?

anime bad angel: Bad angel- naughty!

realistic naruto: Naruto is highly realistic, isn’t it?

anime girL FROM OUTER SPACE: she’s from OUTER SPACE, I tell you!

Amusing Spam

“Instant Payday Loan…

>From what I can tell public policy managers who reside in Waterbury whimsically applaud cash advances…”

How utterly whimsical of them.

“amateur housewife…

I really do not understand why you are so on you”re point….”

Sorry, but I just have to make my point before I’m satisfied.

“free magic coin tricks…

Have heard from it before, but is indeed a very good comment. Thanks….”

Glad I could help with your free magic coin tricks.

“amateur wife…

..”

This whole business is filled with amateurs! Let’s see some professional wives.

Hello and welcome to another edition of Sunday News Bites! This week we are joined in the newsroom by Nozomu Itoshiki from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, who claims that Azure Flame has left him in despair! Let’s see if we can dissuade him from suicide attempts long enough to comment on the week’s news.

Not quite Sayonara for the hopeless sensei
Did the fact that Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei was a mere twelve episodes long leave you in despair? Then never fear, because come the start of 2008, a second season will be coming our way, promising more insanity and bleak humour from the depressive teacher and his class of misfits.Sensei says: Anime producers know that a second season is cheaper and easier than coming up with something new and exciting from scratch! This culture of sequels has left me in despair!

New manga- Shiki
Shiki, a novel series from Fuyumi Ono (author of the Twelve Kingdoms and Ghost Hunt novels) is set to follow its brethren into the realm of manga adaptations courtesy of mangaka Ryu Fujisaki. A fantasy/horror series about an isolated village whose population mysteriously starts dying, Shiki’s manga incarnation will begin in the January 2008 edition of Jump Square magazine.
Sensei says: This blatant attempt to squeeze more money out of consumers by adapting the same story across different mediums leaves me in despair! Never mind that my anime is near identical to the original manga!

Lay-off hell: the apocalypse is coming
In recent weeks, both FUNimation and (more infamously) Geneon have laid off employees, but now ADV joins them in laying off 13 of its 100 or so employees (although admittedly a few new staff members have been brought on board). These changes are supposed to reflect ADV’s priorities, but without further details, we can’t say exactly what they are prioritising and why. Note, however, that these numbers do not include freelance workers such as voice actors.
Sensei says: You work hard and then get laid off by the big bosses! This capitalist culture leaves me in despair!

Too loli for TV?
The infamous Kodomo no Jikan already made waves when Seven Seas caved in and dropped the manga license, but now the TV version has gained notoriety after its airing was cancelled from all but two channels- a move apparently sparked by the arrest of a 54 year old elementary school vice-principal for soliciting obscene behaviour from a 16 year old girl (he is also accused of filming and photographing obscene footage of 600 other underage girls). The channels which chose not to drop KnJ aired a highly censored version of the first episode this week.
Sensei says: This teacher thinks he has problems with overly mature elementary school students, but just let him try teaching at my school!

Be the height of fashion with Bleach shoes!
Come next February, you can impress all your friends with a limited edition pair of Bleach shoes from the Viz online store! Rather than being shinigami-style sandals, these special Bleach shoes are actually a pair of trainers with shinigami symbols on them, only 360 pairs of which will be made available. This really should take the biscuit for unnecessary merchandising, however Viz have already outdone themselves by offering Naruto-themed boxer shorts.
Sensei says: The merchandising culture leaves me in despair!

Manga licenses
Media Blasters have picked up Akihabara @ DEEP, a six volume novel adaptation about the trials and tribulations of life in Akihabara, alongside Strawberry-chan no Karei na Seikatsu, a one-shot volume about a frog and her master. Meanwhile, Del Ray have picked up Toto! Wonderful Adventure, a five volume series about a boy who meets a dog wearing an experimental collar, and Haridama Magical Cram School.
Sensei says: What are all these manga anyway?

Disgaea 3 promo video
Yes, in the slow drip feed of information about the new Disgaea 3 videogame, we now have a whole video to watch- and I have to admit it looks good. Although it will be a while before I have either a PS3 or the game, I’m looking forward to it.
Sensei says: So…if I commit suicide, I will become one of those prinny things? The afterlife has left me in despair!

In his own words, Lord Zetta is the most badass freaking Overlord in the entire cosmos, and there’s no doubt he’d like to keep it that way. To that end, he’s prepared to do anything in his power to avoid the prophesied fall of his Netherworld, even going so far as to consult the Sacred Tome, an all-knowing book whose pages should contain the answer to everything. Unfortunately, when he reads a paragraph about his own stupidity, he burns the Tome in a fit of anger, causing the very destruction he was trying to avoid and forcing him to confine his own soul to the book in a bid to survive. Now, book-Zetta’s only hope of regaining his power is for his fellow Overlords to wish him up new worlds to conquer by writing in the Tome, but it seems more than likely that his power-hungry peers will try to slip in a few schemes of their own to trip him up.

Getting started with the game
“I’m one bad-ass freakin’ Overlord.”

A tweaked hybrid of fellow Nippon Ichi games Phantom Brave and Disgaea, Makai Kingdom offers a mere nine episodes of Netherworld conquering, bulked out by extensive random dungeons and overpowered secret battles that, as per usual, will require you to grind your way all up to Level 1000. As with its fellow games, Makai Kingdom proceeds through battle maps interspersed with avoidable cut scenes (oddly referred to as ‘Demos’), but where the general form of the game is the same, some new features have been added to the actual specifics of play.

Organising your battle monkeys
“Disperse, loyal battle monkeys! Do my bidding and bust a cap!”

This time around, your home base is the starting point for rebuilding your Netherworld- a small area floating in space in which fellow Overlord Pram kindly wishes up for you. Unsurprisingly, it is here that you can create characters, heal, buy weapons and equipment and generally get yourself prepared for the all-important task of conquering various maps.

• Creating characters: Since Overlord Zetta is stuck in the form of a book, fighting is a little beyond him- instead, he must rely on a party of generic ‘battle monkeys’. Sadly, for those who like story characters, there are none in the main game- it will take much more levelling up and unlocking of secret maps to even have a shot at recruiting named characters from both this and other NIS games.

In order to create characters in this game, you must permanently confine them to inanimate objects picked up in battle- everything from flowers and trees to vegetables and swords is fair game. Be warned, though; the type of item used affects the starting stats of the character you confine to it, so whilst rocks and anthills are useful for making high defence physical attackers, mages will become more adept if created from flowers and weeds. As with previous NIS games, both humanoid and monster types are available for creation, with new classes becoming unlocked when you either encounter them in battle or fulfil specific conditions.

Reincarnation/transmigration also makes a return appearance; if the character has been confined to an item with a star next to its name, that star can be used to reincarnate it into a new level one body, with certain abilities and stat bonuses carried over. Unfortunately, if the character has no star available, the only way to reincarnate is to turn them into a facility (more on that below).

• Getting equipped: When it comes to equipment, Makai Kingdom follows the same lines as Disgaea- characters can equip one weapon and three (or in a few cases four) accessories, with different classes having proficiencies in different weapons. Compared to earlier games, however, the range of weapons is much more varied- alongside the usual run of swords, spears and guns, characters can also equip more esoteric brands of weapons, from drills and wrenches to magnets, UFOs and even cakes. As someone who has always wanted this variety of weaponry, this is a most welcome addition. Unlike its fellow games, however, there is no way to level up equipment- what you see is what you get.
• Facilities: Completely new to Makai Kingdom is the ability to create facilities, which not only serve a purpose on the base map, but can also be deployed in battle. Forget about summoning your warriors to the battlefield one by one- not only can you deploy five or six at once with the help of a facility, but every character in the facility will gain a protection stat bonus as long as that facility remains on the field. Facilities also make a great holding area for characters you don’t want out on the field anymore- simply put a weakened character inside and replenish your fighting force with a fresh one.

When you first start out, Pram will kindly supply you with a doghouse, shop and hospital (the latter two can be used for buying items and healing after battle, although a merchant and healer character can perform the same function and gain EXP for it), but by making a wish in the Sacred Tome, you can create more facilities for your use, from simply huts to academies. Any character who is not currently equipped or assigned to an existing facility can give up both life and mana in order to bring a new facility into existence- unfortunately, the trade-off is that if you want that character back, you then have to reincarnate them into a new level one body.

• Vehicles: Another innovation for this game is the use of vehicles in battle; ranging from simple cars to full-fledge mecha, they offer characters a way to increase their range and employ devastating attacks. Vehicles can take one driver in their cockpit, and other characters or equipment in their accessory slots, and like characters, they can take damage, gain experience and undergo modification. In order to get the most out of vehicles, you will need a professor to turn their experience into an actual level up, and a mechanic (as supplied by the game) to repair them and supply parts for equipment and modification.

Whilst all these features help to make Makai Kingdom an experience that is the same but different to its predecessors, it cannot be denied that the game’s system can sometimes be a bit fiddly and tedious, to the point where the average player will probably ignore a lot of the options available to them because they are simply too much trouble. For example, in order to simply get to the facility creation screen, you have to make sure the character you want to use is unequipped and not inside a facility, and that you have room to place another facility on the base map- if any of these conditions are unfulfilled, the menu will simply close and you’ll have to start all over again. Then, by the time you actually reach the list of available facilities, you will most likely realise that you don’t have enough mana for anything but the most basic of huts- but of course, if you cancel the process at this point, you have to re-equip the character and put them back in their original facility. All in all, it’s not a recipe that encourages you to experiment.

Reincarnation is similarly fraught with difficulties- especially as for non-“starred” characters, the only way to reincarnate is to go through the whole facility creation process, followed by the steps for reincarnating your character into a new object. At this point, you may well find that your plans to reincarnate your character into a higher tier of their class are again foiled by a lack of mana- instead, like Zetta, you will have to restart from the ground up.

Reclaiming the Netherworld
“I’ll crush you like a grape!”

Mana issues aside, when the time comes, Zetta and his loyal battle monkeys will have to take to the field, and here again Makai Kingdom borrows from its sister games whilst adding a few touches of its own. This time around, Zetta himself is effectively the base panel, and whilst he cannot move himself like Marona can, he can be lifted and thrown by other characters (and it’s best to throw him out of harm’s way, because if Zetta is attacked, everything on the field gets damaged and you lose the ability to summon more characters).

Using the Invite command, Zetta is able to summon vehicles, characters and facilities to the field, up to a maximum of eight characters/vehicles and three facilities (characters inside facilities do not count towards the population). If a character dies, your maximum population decreases and naturally, once it reaches zero it’s game over (although there are times when you’ll have to quit before actual game over because the only thing you have on the field is an empty car). Turn order proceeds in Disgaea fashion, with your units and the enemy units alternately making their moves.

Once out on the field, characters can take all the usual actions, from moving and attacking to lifting and throwing everything from items they find lying around to each other, and in some cases, even facilities. In Phantom Brave style, the grid has been replaced with circular move ranges (although characters now move immediately so there’s less annoyance in getting them where you want to go), whilst the ability to throw things off the map and out of bounds has returned. There are still some annoyances about characters getting all clustered together or things accidentally slipping out of bounds, but overall the gridless system feels better implemented than it was in Phantom Brave.

Unsurprisingly, just like you, the enemy will have their own vehicles and facilities on the field, and facilities especially need some thought as to how to deal with them. Attacking a facility from the outside is entirely possible, and if its HP drops to zero, it will explode- taking everyone inside with it. If that looks like too formidable a task, however, you can send your own warriors inside the enemy facility, where they will do unseen battle with the occupants until one side wins. Victory within a facility is sometimes desirable, since it erases special effects like the ability to produce one new enemy each turn, whilst often giving your own characters new and powerful protections.

Makai Kingdom has more up its sleeve, however, for when it comes to the battle map, what you see is rarely the same as what you get. The initial map also comes with extensions outlined in white, which can be unlocked either by throwing something onto them (instead of going out of bounds it will reveal the new part of the map) or by defeating an item or enemy marked as a ‘key’. Each extension will contain newer and often harder enemies, and revealing one may also cause added effects, such as inflicting an unpleasant status effect on the entire field. On most maps, the form of these maps and their extensions is random, although important story and boss battles always have a fixed map. The type of enemy encountered also depends on which Overlord you asked to write a wish in the Sacred Tome at the beginning of a game ‘episode’.

When it comes to clearing a stage, however, it may comes as something of a relief to learn that you don’t always have to defeat every enemy. Makai Kingdom works with a point system, where each enemy and item on the battlefield is worth a certain number of points. Once you reach the point requirement for a stage, you can choose to ‘end action’ at any time during your turn, even if many enemies still remain- you’ll miss out on points and EXP, but it’s a useful way of getting through a map when your flagging party is unable to tackle the last few enemies. It’s also worth noting that the trees and flowers lying around the battlefield aren’t always chump change when it comes to points- sometimes destroying a single flower can net you over a hundred points.

The number of points you earn also acts like Disgaea’s bonus gauge- the more points you have at the end of a stage, the more bonus items, money and EXP you get to take home with you. You can also bring back any random items that you picked up during battle (these can be equipped as a weapon or put into a free accessory slot), but unfortunately, the reverse is also true- if you drop your weapon and leave it behind on the battlefield, it is gone forever.

Speaking of which, lifting and throwing is also back in this game, but sadly, the awkward Phantom Brave system has been chosen over the easier Disgaea one. What this means is that if one character wants to throw another, both must unequip their weapons, and not only is it undesirable to throw an unarmed character into a bunch of enemies, but you have to take care that those weapons don’t get lost forever as described above. Fortunately, you can tackle most levels without ever needing to lift and throw.

Battle mechanics aside, when it comes to plain difficulty, Makai Kingdom is the easiest of the PS2 Nippon Ichi games, which is to say that it is easy by NIS standards rather than general gaming standards. No, you can’t just expect to brute force your way through without any strategy whatsoever, but if you have the “SRPG mindset”, there are very few story maps that will cause any difficulty whatsoever- in fact, in direct contrast to the Disgaea and Phantom Brave, you can get through the entire main game with only a handful of game overs and no real need to ever spend time levelling up. What difficulty there is is generally contained in hideously difficult secret bosses and lengthy random dungeons (which can also contain restrictions to stop you summoning vehicles and facilities).

Story
“Like I haven’t heard the book jokes a thousand times already.”

It would be nice to say that Makai Kingdom could make up for its game play flaws with something good in the way of story, but sadly, this is actually the weakest aspect of the game. Although there is some amusing and sharp dialogue, the overall story of Makai Kingdom is most underwhelming- aside from doing the whole Netherworld/Overlord thing to death in the first instance, it all gets a bit stupid in the later episodes, with random and barely plausible plot twists shoved in to disguise us from the lack of any real story. It doesn’t help that the main game is a paltry nine episodes long (compare to 12-20 for the other games), with most cut scenes taking place in a featureless area of outer space.

Audiovisual
Visually, Makai Kingdom is much like the other NIS games, with its isometric maps and 2D sprites whose low level of detail have caused many a complaint in the past. Personally, I’m fine with the distinctive NIS style, although admittedly the character sprites here look a little squashed and stubby when compared to Disgaea. At least character art is as good as ever, although it is rather sad that the few impressive location designs in the artbook seem to have taken second place to the dull cut scene location of outer space mentioned above.

For once, the game music is not handled by Tenpei Sato, and whilst it is not as distinctive and memorable as his work, nor is it as bad as feared- most tracks are simplistic and there’s a lot of forgettable filler music, but there are also a number of catchy themes that you’ll find yourself humming along to.

Final Thoughts
Although it is a fun game to play once you get into it, Makai Kingdom feels like the least well developed NIS SRPG- there are some interesting and novel ideas packed in, but it all feels a bit rough around the edges, and it is this lack of polish that causes it to lag behind its fellow games. It’s something of a shame that development of a sequel seems to have been abandoned, as it would have been interesting to see what the series could have accomplished with all the kinks worked out.

Extra: My Party

A-team: Always used in battle
Dyne (Fighter): Although he dropped down to second place for a while, a glut of EXP has ensured that Dyne now holds the pole position uncontested. My strongest physical attacker, Dyne wields a standard sword in battle, letting him crush a single enemy with Moon Slash, or devastate a group with Tornado Slash. His high HP also lets him withstand most attacks; a real powerhouse on the battlefield.

Nida (Fighter): Despite holding the post of strongest for a while, Nida has since dropped down to the third place. After switching from sword to knife, Nida has become highly damaging with her Illusion Hunt and Aero Striker skills, and rarely requires help in taking down an enemy. Sadly, she seems to get targeted a lot by enemies. Since she and Dyne share the same class and were the first two characters to be created, I imagine them to be a couple.

Akira (Warrior): My second female fighter, she constantly tries to break up the ‘relationship’ between Dyne and Nida by copying Dyne’s sword technique. Sadly, her strength is far below his, and so she usually needs some backup assistance in order to actually finish off the enemy.

Clare (Sorceress): Despite being green in colour, Clare is a master of ice magic, and although the order switches around a lot, on average she is my strongest mage. As she currently only knows one type of elemental magic, she isn’t very versatile, but in most situations she can pack a punch.

Maya (Witch): The third tier of female mage (I forget its exact title), Maya is a master of fire magic and thus complements Clare.

Makoto (Witch): Another fire user (I’ve yet to gain a wind mage), Makoto was my first ever mage, but has subsequently become one of the weakest. Like all the mages, she can devastate with elemental magic, but usually dies in one hit when it comes to the enemy’s turn.

Su Ling (Hell Kitty): One of my two kitties, Su Ling uses a flail in battle, giving her great power but adding an unfortunate tendency to toss the enemy out of bounds, or at the very least out of reach of a planned follow-up attack. Like the other kitty, Sora, Su Ling’s high movement range puts her on clean-up crew duty, roaming the battlefield and finishing off weakened enemies.

Sora (Hell Kitty): A katana-using kitty, Sora has been reincarnated from Cat Kid to the next tier up, making for a swift, strong attacker.

Alfred (Magician): My final mage, Alfred is another ice user who lagged behind somewhat after being reincarnated once, but is almost back up to par.

B-team: Backup
Clara (Healer): My main healer, Clara comes out to use her curative magic on my warriors, before retreating to the safety of a facility.

Tan (Orderly): A backup healer, Tan also wields a gun but is generally too weak to contribute on the offensive front.

Akatsuki (Ronin): Although his stats are promising, until Akatsuki gains a few more levels he remains too weak to be placed on the front lines.

Ardavan (Professor): Named for a former tutor of mine, this sexy professor rarely fights on her own, but as the pilot of the Driller G vehicle she mows down the enemy.

C-team: Completely ignored
Isaac (Enlistee): A gun user, he has never been able to inflict more than zero damage.

Melodee (Junk Trader): My merchant, Melodee’s job is to sell me items back at the base, for which she receives experience.

Jack (Pickpocket): A weakling from day one, Jack is only ever brought out to throw facilities across the map.

King (Pumpkinhead): Once I had to rely on him in battle due to a lack of other options, but now his low attack power has relegated him to the bench.

Elric (Prinny): Every team needs a Prinny, and Elric is mine- sadly he has never done anything of note in battle.

Odpaul (Mechanic): In charge of vehicle modification and repair, Odpaul once was a respectable presence on the battlefield as well, but now is my lowest levelled character.

Anyway, the advantages of attending dance lessons are as follows-

• Women will always, always outnumber men at the lessons. That means you get your pick of single ladies (note: do not try to compete with the good looking male instructor).
• Women will be impressed if you can dance, since it’s a rare skill among men.
• If all goes well, you’ll know how to dance in plenty of time for your wedding.

Ideas for Phantom Brave 2

I know manga disagrees, but I enjoyed Phantom Brave, and yet the basic system was also in need of some improvements. Here are a few suggestions for making Phantom Brave 2, without simply answering “Makai Kingdom”

• Bring back ranged attackers; seriously, what was with the lack of gunners and proper archers (I can hardly count an archer who only has a bow attack when unequipped).
• Add riding animals such as horses for characters to get on and increase their range/attacks.
• Make it easier for a character to extend the number of turns they are on the field through levelling up.
• Encourage use of Putty and Owl types by creating optional maps where only those classes can be used.
• Increase the number of available Boar type classes.

Bokurano: Gonzo endings predicted

By now, we all know that the Bokurano director doesn’t want to permanently kill off all the children, and that as long as it doesn’t involve magic, the mangaka doesn’t mind if the ending is changed. With that in mind, let’s try to guess at how it will turn out.

• The prize for winning the game is to reset the world to how it was at the beginning, or to revive the players (who cares about dead generics).
• When the players signed the contract, they actually fell unconscious and were put into a VR simulation. At the end, they all emerge from pods.
• There is a parallel universe where they are all alive and living happy lives.
• Everyone is just unconscious and sealed inside Zearth until the end.
• It was all a dream Kokopelli had in the shower.

Ayakashi Ayashi

Generic #1 expresses his HARD GAY preference.

“Attractive as you are, I won’t give in to my desire!”

“Could this be a rare woman?”

“Nope, I’m a man too!”

“You can upgrade your Rod as much you want, but it won’t improve your HARD GAY.”

“Usually you just get straight down to the Pleasure.”

The first enemy, Giant Wang, appears.

Monster Pleasure begins.

Giant Wang faces off against another enemy, Multi-Wang.

“Is he our destined HARD GAY partner?”

Monster Pleasure gets taken to the next level.

“I must join in with some Cannon!”

“I told you no good would come of this sort of HARD GAY!”

Giant Wang is defeated.

Multi-Wang strikes again.

Random Thoughts: Shion

This week, we talk to Shion from the Xenosaga games. Shion, can you explain how you got to be a first-class scientist when you seem to be largely incompetent?

Head scientists don’t need to be competent *laughs*- we just let our underlings do the work and take credit for it. Anyway, I initially got my job because my character design was much less generic than anyone else’s.

How do you explain how your character design shifted so much?

Jealous, aren’t you? I just spent some skill points on levelling up my appearance.

Did you create KOS-MOS just for HARD YURI?

No, no- of course not! …How did you know? Did you find the photos? I swear I was only trying that bondage gear on!

Do you ever wish the games had been created as they were initially envisioned, in six spacetime-spanning parts?

No, because then I would have only been in the first game, and I would never have got the appearance upgrade.

And finally- are hot pants the answer to the Xenosaga universe?

Yes- yes they are.

This Week in Anime

“Mmm, good apple.”

“Crispy and sweet.”

Oranges find a new guardian to protect their stronghold.

Don’t like oranges? Try some lemons.

Forget Cup Noodle- try some Cat Noodle.

“I shall prove myself worthy of these olives and meat buns!”

“So I just put it in the backside here, right?”

The Pizza Hut era in Darker than Black begins.

Fruits band together to make an assault on meat.

“Looks like the horse is ready and waiting.”

July Anime Awards

The “Best Anime Ever” for Consistent Quality in the Face of Declining Standards Elsewhere goes to Dennou Coil, the new best anime ever.

The Darkly Comical Award for Finding Amusement in Suicide Attempts goes to Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei for its bleak humour.

The ER Award for Longest Medical Arc goes to Saiunkoku Monogatari II.

The “Where are the Answers?” Award for Frustrating Lack of Plot Development goes to Darker than Black.

The “What the Hell is Going On?” Award for a Complete Lack of Sense goes to Mushi-Uta.

The Rail Adventures Award for Train Otaku goes to Tetsuko no Tabi.

The Predictably Amusing Award for Mild Entertainment goes to Doujin Work.

The Insomniac Cure for Dullness is shared between Seirei no Moribito and El Cazador de la Bruja. Watching the former before bed the other night was a good way to induce tiredness.

The On the Rails Award for Standard Adventures goes to Romeo X Juliet and its mining arc.

The HARD GAY Award for Effeminate Males is still held by Koutetsu Sangokushi.

The Inoffensive Award for, well, Inoffensiveness goes to Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai.

HARD YURI corner: Kaleido Star New Wings

Having lost her HARD YURI lover, Sora has to resort to Hyper Self Pleasure until Kalos arranges for her to have STRAIGHT with a new performer, Leon. Unfortunately, Leon decides that rival May is better at STRAIGHT, and Sora is left to continue her Self Pleasure. In desperation, she returns to Layla and even tries Yuri as a partner, but despite her continuing cheerfulness, she cannot land a permanent partner. After much training, however, she is finally worthy of Leon, but choosing him will mean giving up HARD YURI forever in favour of STRAIGHT…

OST spotlight: Fantastic Children

As excellent as the series it accompanies, the Fantastic Children OST uses haunting piano and cello themes alongside some Celtic-style tracks to weave a melancholy and poignant atmosphere. Even if you haven’t watched the series yet (and if you haven’t, why not?), this OST is a must-listen.

Notable tracks: Voyage (Cello version), Befort no Kodomo-tachi, Helga, Helga no Zensei, Helga (Cello version), Sentou, Mizu no Madoromi

Mini-editorial: Acquisition above enjoyment

There comes a stage in every collector’s life where you find yourself buying items at a rate faster than you can appreciate them, be it manga, anime or games. When this happens, one has so many unfinished games, unwatched DVDs or unread books that it isn’t hard to lose interest entirely- after the brief flicker of getting something good in the post, the item in question is merely tossed into the nearest shelf and abandoned. Is this phase inevitable, or will we always end up in a state of buying things to have them rather than to use them? Can we ever recapture the old feelings, even if it means a break from that hobby? I know this factor contributed to the close of my first gaming era, and so in this era, I’m only going to buy games once I’ve finished or definitively abandoned the ones I have.

Harem of the week: Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy 7)

A man of few words and so few accomplishments that he had to claim his best friend’s memories for his own, Cloud nonetheless exuded some kind of pull over women.

Harem

Aeris: The quiet and innocent flower girl with mystical powers, predisposed towards Cloud due to her attraction to Zack.

Tifa: The childhood friend with large “melons”.

Priscilla: The young animal lover who instantly vows to marry Cloud.

Jessie: The chirpy freedom fighter with a penchant for disguises and fake IDs.

Yuffie: The headstrong teen ninja with a flippant attitude.

Barret: He may be a man, but you can go on a date with him at Gold Saucer. He may or may not like giving Cloud “gun”.

Don Corneo: Can be enticed to pick a cross dressing Cloud to spend the night with him, and may even try to land a kiss on him.

Rivals

Zack: Basically Cloud!Original version, he got the girl long before Cloud ever got his hands on her.

Fashion Police: Laharl

Sorry, Disgaea, but the time has come to send the Fashion Police into the Netherworld, and their first target is none other than demon Overlord Laharl. Although a flowing scarf can be used to compensate for a multitude of sins, nothing can completely erase Laharl’s crime of fabric (or rather lack of it). Yes, taken on their own the shorts and shoes are not too bad, but when reconciled with the fact that there’s a lot of skin showing and not really much else to the outfit, the time comes to declare that the heat of the Netherworld is nothing compared to looking well turned-out and presentable.

Fashion sense: D

Amusing Search Terms

You toube is back! I feel as if I’ve been reunited with an old friend.

azure alternative: Offering an alternative to Azure Flame- not reading Azure Flame.

pink toube: Only pink videos allowed

romance, words, thoughts: “I love you”

nanoha parodies: Always wanting more parody.

RPG maker beyblade sprites: Once you mention it, Beyblade never fully goes away

Added a new parody movie to the movies s: Did you? Good for you.

rpg maker xp resources blood: Actually, I did work on some blood splatters a while ago.

virtual sex: Let’s all have a good laugh

watch tenchi forever online: I know they mean the film Tenchi Forever, but it amuses me to think that they want the ability to watch Tenchi indefinitely.

techniques to give a gay man pleasure: As I said before, he likes it from behind.

.hack// incest: Also known as Legend of the Twilight.

anime having sex: Anime can have sex now? Is manga its partner?

“foreign demons”: damn those foreign demons.

what is the code for azure flame: Use the secret knock to gain access to our headquarters.

yuri sora festival: What is this?

toki packaging: Packaging for a clock?

great doctor in romance three kingdoms: This makes me think that Doctor Who is going to visit the Three Kingdoms era…actually, that’s not a bad idea.

anime desire angel: Heavenly Pleasure.

touka broken utawarriors: How can Touka be broken?

gundam seed gay: You know the reason Kira never touched Lacus was because he wanted Athrun.

manga art large boobs: Tenjho Tenge.

gay bold: Better than gay italic.

runner: how does this simple one word search reach my blog?

Getting started with the game

The second instalment in the Disgaea series, and one of the newer titles in Nippon Ichi’s expanding catalogue of SRPGs, Disgaea 2 takes us back to a world of Netherworlds and Overlords for thirteen more episodes of demon hunting fun. As Disgaea 2’s game system is really a tweaked version of the one used in the original game, to save us all covering the same old ground I’m only going to point out how and where the game play has been altered. If you’re unfamiliar with Disgaea (in which case go and play it now) or you need a refresher, check out my original review.

The flow of game play remains the same as the original, with only the humorous episode previews now replaced for between episode news reports recapping recent in-game events. As with the first game, it is once again possible to skip pre-battle cutscenes, and in a welcome addition for those playing their second cycle via New Game+, the post-battle scenes can also be skipped. Once again, however, if you automatically press X instead of Triangle, you will find yourself carried into a scene with little choice but to sit through it

Holt Village: a new base map

As Adell, your game play hub is your home in Holt Village, where you can chat to NPCs and access vital services. It’s business as usual at the Netherworld Hospital, Dimensional Gatekeeper and Rosen Queen item shops, but the Item World and Dark Assembly have undergone some upgrades, whilst an all new post officer will deliver subpoenas to your door every time the newly created Dark Court decides you have committed a crime. I’ll describe all the changes in further detail in their own dedicated sections.

For the dedicated gamer, there is also the opportunity to unlock the “Dark World”, a shadow version of the game where enemies are harder and every level is affected by the Dark Sun, giving effects like “enemies are revived every turn”, “base panel is destroyed after three turns” or even “game over after three turns”. Alongside the secret levels of varying difficulty that can be unlocked via the Dark Assembly, this gives the game an inbuilt challenge mode more extensive than anything seen in Nippon Ichi games before.

Dark Assembly

The Dark Assembly continues to serve much the same purpose as it did in the first game, enabling characters to use the mana accumulated in battle to create new characters or address the assembly to present proposals ranging from unlocking secret areas to improving the shop inventory. There are, however, some significant differences in getting the senators to see your point of view. Bribing them has been raised into an art form, to the point where you can even obtain items specifically for offering to senators. Senators can also now be drunk or asleep; sleeping senators cannot vote, whilst drunken ones will often take offence at well meaning gifts. Happily, there are also items to induce or cure these statuses, although if a senator is in a particularly bad mood, he may well refuse to accept them.

Bribery is now also not limited to affecting an individual; senators now belong to factions, and bribing one member will cause the goodwill and influence of that entire faction to increase, whilst that of the opposition decreases. Fortunately, the bias is in the positive direction, so getting one faction to totally support you does not make their opposition loathe you.

When it comes to increasing your influence in other ways, promotion exams have been scrapped, putting the burden of making your voice heard on building up felonies in the Dark Court. Even so, it seems harder than before to get approvals passed; in my personal experience I’ve had practically all the senators glowing blue with approval, yet when the time comes to take the vote I’m still met with a chorus of “nay”s. Even persuading them by force seems harder, due to a rather high volume of powerful senators.

Creating Characters: now tweaked

Likewise, creating character has been altered slightly; whilst the basic procedure remains the same, the way to unlock new classes has altered. For the lowest tier of each class, you must either encounter them in battle (monster types) or fulfil specific requirements and then pass a bill at the Dark Assembly (humanoid types), however, to get higher tier variations, you must level up a character for the tier directly below. For example, no matter how much you level up a Gunner, you can only ever unlock a Sniper; if you want an Outlaw, you would have to level up a Sniper.

Although it existed in the original game, one thing I neglected to mention in my previous review was the process of reincarnating a character into a new class, forcing them to start again from level one, but letting them carry over some of their existing skills. Reincarnation always seemed like too much trouble in the first game, but I’ve warmed up to it a little more here, although it isn’t something you want to be doing to your best characters towards the end of the game. Story characters can also be reincarnated, but obviously they cannot change class- it just helps them to get a stat bonus you can use to improve their growth.

Those who have accumulated felonies also have the option of using reincarnation to atone for their sins, although for generic characters they have to reincarnate as a prinny for a time before they can return to normal. This is a nice nod to the purpose of prinnies, but it isn’t something you’ll necessarily ever want to do.

When a character creates another and becomes their “master”, they can use their apprentice’s skills by standing next to them in battle. Once their proficiency in the skill reaches level one or above (usually after ten uses), they permanently have the use of that skill- useful for giving a character abilities they wouldn’t normally have access to.

I’m innocent! No wait, I’m guilty as charged

As I’ve already mentioned several times, one of the innovations in Disgaea 2 is the Dark Court, a court of prinnies that takes you to account for your criminal actions. There are a number of crimes that your characters can be found guilty of, from having overly high stats to destroying too many Geo Symbols- and since this is a demon world, earning felonies is a mark of respect.

Unfortunately, the whole process of visiting the Dark Court is rather long and convoluted; first, you must accept a subpoena from the post officer, then you must go into the item world of the subpoena and battle down to a level where there is a gateway to the Court. At this point, any character (not just the one charged with the crime) can choose to enter the court and accept the felony. At any stage of the process, there is nothing to stop you from just giving up- in fact, aside from one point where you need to go to the Dark Court to fulfil a story requirement, this feature of the game can be entirely ignored with no ill effect.

Fighting your way to Zenon

Although the battle system for Disgaea 2 is largely the same as that of its predecessor, as to be expected from a sequel, there are a few alterations.

• Geo Panels now have some extra effects, such as Fusion (the opposite of Clone) and Encroach (inability to leave the coloured panels). Damage caused by Geo Panels changing colour now seems greatly increased for large chains, to the point where my best characters have died from it where Laharl and co. would have weathered it easily.
• Guns can now only shoot in a straight line, but to compensate they have a longer range. Bows can still shoot diagonally.
• Treasure chests now appear on maps, and if destroyed will reveal a bonus item, money or EXP. If an enemy is killed by a bow user, they may drop a treasure chest, whilst living enemies always seem to pursue chests quite aggressively.
• When throwing a character or Geo Symbol, they can be caught by another character, enabling a sort of “pass the parcel” system to occur. It is also possible to perform tower attacks with stacked characters.
• Support abilities now give EXP, which means healers and the like can level up without needing to attack and kill enemies. As you can imagine, this enables them to keep pace with the fighters and actually prove useful in battle.
• Certain Geo Panels can now move around, altering the squares their effect is given to- these panels may even attack and provoke a counter from enemies and allies. This adds an extra layer of strategy to dealing with Geo Panels.
• Elemental attributes and immunities are now more important, with many classes having distinct resistances and immunities to certain types of attack. Some attacks- such as Hurricane Slash- that were not elemental in the first game have now been elemental properties.
• Cellphones now enable you to call NPCs such as Kurtis, Axel and the Prism Rangers to assist you in battle.

Although it may just be due to my familiarity with the system through extensive playing of Disgaea 1, the second game certainly feels easier than the first; game over is much rarer and I was able to proceed through much of the game without any need for levelling up. Characters now level up more easily, and mages in particular really come into their own, to the point where my strongest generic characters were all magic users. In some levels, I was able to beat the entire stage simply by having my mages stand well back and snipe the enemy with spells whilst never moving into the range that would trigger a response- whilst this was more welcome than a tough melee battle, it also highlighted a flaw in the enemy AI in responding to long range attacks.

Compared to the first game, the range of characters seems more equally balanced- back in the old days, Laharl was the only character I could depend on, to the point where I had to quit the game if he got killed, even if I hadn’t yet reached game over. This time around, it is actually possible to rely on more than one character to finish off a stage- so even if Adell or my best mage dies early on, continuing to play does not seem such a hopeless waste of time.

All that being said, even though the game feels easier, it also seems to consciously compensate for that with some hard to deal with Geo Panel layouts. In one level, every turn after the eighth sees an “Ally Damage +20%” added to the field, to the point where most of the battle area has “Ally Damage +80%”, whilst another creates an “Enemy Boost x3″ over most of the field after a certain number of turns. Although it can be satisfying to clear this type of map, it just feels like a contrived way to add difficulty to a stage.

Finally, although this was possible in the first game, it has taken me all this time to realise a “neat” way of levelling up weak characters. If you are due to receive EXP via the bonus gauge at the end of the stage, simply bring out any weak characters you can dispatch right before the fighters deliver the final blow, and let them partake of some easy EXP without the need to go back and level them up. Using this tactic, I’ve managed to promote level one characters to level sixteen in a matter of moments.

Item World: More complex and just as annoying

As with Disgaea 1, inside each item lurks a fully formed random dungeon of multiple levels, which once again is made somewhat tedious by the uneven terrain. As before, you can battle through groups of ten levels in order to boost the item’s stats, but now there are a few changes (not least of which is that the stats will boost even if you leave early). The other innovations add extra value to visiting the Item World, and are for the most part kindly received.

• As well as having a dimensional gate that lets you skip to the next level, certain levels of the item world have a “mystery gate” that takes you to a small room containing treasure chests, random characters or shops selling rare items. These rooms also allow you to access the same menu as Holt Village (minus the ability to save), enabling you to mess around with items and equipment.
• Similarly, after every tenth level, instead of merely being prompted to return home, you get taken to Innocent Town, a small hub of NPCs and other services from Holt Village. As well as healing and being able to go back to Holt, you can enter the Item Assembly, a duplicate of the Dark Assembly which enables you to present bills related to the stats of the item you are in.
• On some levels, you may find yourself unfortunate enough to be attacked by Item Pirates, high level enemies who randomly arrive several turns into the battle. The pirates can offer good items and EXP, but it can also be irritating when they are so strong that you have to skip what would otherwise have been an easy level.
• Specialists now include “lovers”- copies of a particular character, who, when subdued, give a special bonus to that character.

Story

Disgaea 2 has some interesting named characters with well developed back stories, but whilst it is overall more cohesive than the first game (which lost its original direction somewhat with the inclusion of the Earth arc), it does not really mark itself out as being distinctively superior. Early in the game, Adell comes across as an annoyingly heroic type, whilst returning character Etna seems little more than a parody of her former self and “Dark Hero” Axel is clearly a Mid-Boss wannabe without the charm. Even so, the usual humour is in place, and whilst it is none too sophisticated, it still amuses from time to time.

Audiovisual

Effectively, Disgaea 2 is identical to 1 in this regard, with similar character designs (I actually prefer the Disgaea 1 designs for returning characters) and Tenpei Sato once again handling the music. Nonetheless, Rozalin deserves mention as having a particularly worthy character design- quite possibly the best glimpsed in any Disgaea game thus far.

European players are also lucky enough to get the Japanese audio this time around, something they had to do without in the first game. Even so, the English dub is reasonably strong, despite some annoyances such as Rozalin’s lacklustre delivery of the final scene.

Final Thoughts

Disgaea 1 and 2 are like two halves of the same whole; whilst I initially thought this couldn’t possibly measure up to the first, it instead complements it well by maintaining the core of what makes Disgaea great and experimenting with a few tweaks that have both positive and negative effects. If you enjoy SRPGs, there is no reason not to buy this game- as Manga said, “Play it, like it, love it”.

Extra: My Party

Arrows indicate that a character was reincarnated into a new class.

A-team: Awesome

Adell (Demon Hunter): A close-range fist fighter, Adell starts off weak, but soon becomes strong, with a range of devastating multi-hit specials. His main weaknesses are that his unique attacks are all Fire element, whilst the ranges of his special attacks can be difficult to work with in close quarters, forcing one to rely on a basic attack instead.

Rozalin (Zenon’s Child): The first truly worthy gun user, Rozalin is not the strongest character by any means, but her attacks and specials are still powerful and generally non-elemental.

Fritz (Red Skull): My strongest character, Fritz doesn’t have Rozalin and Adell’s HP, but his Fire magic is devastating, whilst he has also learned Wind and Ice from his mage apprentices. Once I unlock Prism Mage, Fritz will be reincarnated to even up his elemental abilities.

Yukimaru (Kunoichi): A sword-wielding ninja, Yukimaru is the weakest of the A-team, but she has the familiar sword attacks that Laharl once wielded, alongside some abilities of her own. Despite the disappointment of the once-deadly Hurricane Slash now being hampered by its Wind element attribute, Yukimaru is still a reliable physical fighter.

B-team: Backup

Tink (Dirty Frog): Although he is now far less useful than he once was, Tink is still a passable physical fighter (even more so considering he is a floating frog) with a useful multi-hit special. He can switch between two forms, although I keep him as blue since it has an impressive movement range. As a floating character, Tink can also reach places others characters may find it hard to get to.

Rita (Green Mage): My second strongest mage, Rita may not have Fritz’s skill, but she still packs a punch with Wind spells. Sadly, however, she does not have any spells from other elements.

Priscilla (Healer): My primary healer, Priscilla is mainly there to use her curative spells, but she is also a dab hand with a bow.

C-team: Could use some levelling up

Tim (Star Skull): A non-elemental mage, Tim has potential but his attacks are still weak.

Nagisa (Ice Mage): I seem to have bad luck with ice mages, and Nagisa is no exception. Her spells are much weaker than those of Fritz and Rita, and her low HP means she dies swiftly.

Wyatt (Gunner -> Sniper -> Outlaw): Dragging himself up the ranks, Wyatt refuses to let reincarnation set him back with his high HIT stat making him a solid backup for Rozalin when it comes to gunning down the enemy.

Grandpa (Druid): Although he has Star magic and the ability to mess around with Geo Panels, I actually use Grandpa as my second healer- he isn’t quite as good as Priscilla, but he is still better than nothing.

Pringer (Private Prinny): Prinnies are slightly stronger than they were in the first game (although disappointingly Prinny Dance now only hits once instead of four times), and so Pringer was useful for backup for a while, even though he now does negligible damage on stronger enemies.

Fanta (Captain Prinny): Basically an orange version of Pringer with negligibly better stat growth.

D-team: Deals minor damage

Cielo (White Dragon): His design is great, but despite his high looking stats, his attacks are always weak. Named after Romeo’s HORSE, since he bears a slight resemblance to it.

Hanako (Adell’s Sister): She was useful for the first couple of battles she participates, but is now weak and useless.

Taro (Rozy’s Slave): A novel character in that he drinks milk to power up; he has a multi-hit basic attack but all too often deals no damage with it.

Etna (Beauty Queen): Joins up after losing all her levels; progressing fairly well for her level but needs serious attention.

Ayu (Red Mage -> Star Mage): A passable Fire Mage who reincarnated as a Star Mage as part of the project to unlock Prism Mages. She has both Star and Fire magic, but they are both weak in her current state.

Iroha (Hanakage): A female ninja, I never use her for attacking, but she has a good throwing range that comes in handy in certain situations.

Ki (Cu Sith): A canine beast with Wind immunity, he is serviceable against weak generics but lacking in real situations.

Maya (Nekomata -> Cait Sith): As a Nekomata, she was bidding for a place in the C-team, but when I reincarnated her, she became weak and barely able to hold her own in D-team.

U-team: Underused

Zerik (Fighter): A male fighter who joined at the start of the game; semi-useful at first but now languishes on the bench.

Elda (Lady Fighter): A female version of Zerik; she wields a spear but never seemed especially useful.

Derren (Heavy Knight): My only axe-wielding character; hasn’t actually been used in proper combat yet.

Lui (Togabito -> Yasha): A sinner and fist-fighter; only used once or twice in the Item World. He was named after Meine Liebe’s best character because of his relative bishiness.

Aki (Ronin): The male version of my Sakura in the first game; supposed to be mastering bow skills but has only come out to fight once or twice.

Kitsune (Thief): I made towards the beginning of the game in the hopes of mastering the ability to steal, but she soon fell behind and got abandoned.

Elmya (Magic Knight): She has a nice design and some interesting magic sword abilities, but has yet to be used properly.

Ryver (Colonel Prinny): My third Prinny (this time purple); generally left alone since I have two other Prinnies already.

Following a somewhat lengthy two-year nap, demon prince Laharl awakens to find that his father has died, and that in the absence of any leader, the Netherworld has quite literally gone to hell. Determined to take his rightful place as the Netherworld’s Overlord and impose his will on the denizens of the underworld, Laharl- as aided by his not-so-loyal vassal Etna, angelic assassin Flonne and a squad of demonic penguins known as Prinnies- sets out on a quest to take back the throne.

The central title of the Nippon Ichi SRPG clan, Disgaea may have spawned a sequel game (and associated manga), alongside an anime series so poor that it was only recently ousted by Shining Tears X Wind as the Worst Anime Ever, but what exactly does the game itself have to offer? The only way to properly find out was to erase all memories of that awful pizza in the face ‘joke’ from the anime and go back to where it all began.

Getting started with the game
Disgaea is divided into fourteen episodes of game play, each laid out in the same way- after some introductory cut scenes to set up the story, you progress through a series of maps (some with story before and after the battle) before defeating the boss of the episode, seeing some final scenes that wrap the story up and being treated to a humorous parody preview of what may or may not be coming next. Once the game is completed, the New Game+ option enables to go back around and take your levelled up characters straight into the next ‘cycle’ of the story, an essential move if you want to achieve the various different endings available.

Thankfully for those playing second time around, there is an option to skip pre-battle story scenes, but unfortunately, those after battles and at the beginning and end of episodes can be sat through (you can speed them up by repeatedly hammering X, but that’s about it). This, couple with the fact that it is all too easy to press the wrong button and thus not skip the pre-battle scenes at all, means that whilst this feature is welcome, it really should have been implemented better.

Overlord’s Castle
Throughout the game, your base will be at Overlord’s Castle, the only place where you can move around freely and attend to matters between maps. As well as talking to your vassals, there are a number of services you can avail yourself of, although unsurprisingly they generally come at a price.

• Dimensional Gatekeeper: This is your gateway to actually participating in any of the story- the Dimensional Gatekeeper opens up the maps you need to go to, letting you visit and revisit them as necessary.
• Netherworld Hospital: Battle can sometimes be taxing, but thankfully the Netherworld Hospital is there to heal all your wounds- for a price, of course. Sustain enough damage and they’ll even let you claim prizes, which are usually useful items.
• Item World: From swords to candy, inside every item exists a world not unlike a random dungeon, populated by monsters. Complete ten levels of the item world to increase the stats of an item, but if it all gets a bit too much, use the item Mr. Gency’s Exit to leave and pick up where you left off later. There’ll be more on the item world later on.
• Rosenqueen Shop: Run by the Rosenqueen family of Rhapsody, this shop has various weapons and items in stock, and while most of them are useless, you may turn up something worth buying.
• Dark Assembly: A collection of Netherworld Senators, the Dark Assembly covers various vital functions of the game. A character must be chosen to address the assembly, using the mana they build up in battle to pay for the creation of new characters, or to address the assembly themselves to suggest motions from unlocking more powerful items at the shop to opening up secret maps. When a proposal is made by a character, the assembly must vote on it, and if they are disinclined to approve of your suggestions, you may have to either bribe them or, at worst, persuade them by force in a full on battle. To increase your influence at the assembly, a character can fight a promotion exam alone against monster examiners- be warned, though, lose the exam and it’s game over.

Getting ready for battle
Naturally, before you go into battle, it is wise to create a few characters to support you, since in all honesty, there’s only so much Etna and three weak prinnies can do to further Laharl’s cause. Character classes are unlocked either as you encounter them in battle or by fulfilling specific requirements, and they come in two distinct types- humanoid and monster. Humanoids can equip the usual ranges of swords, staffs and bows, with different classes having different proficiencies in the various weapon types; monsters, however, can only equip special monster weapons, although anyone can equip up to three accessories to boost their stats.

Also available in battle is an item bag that holds around twenty items and can be filled with healing items or spare equipment (equipment can also be switched in battle). Extra items are stored in the warehouse, and can only be accessed in Overlord’s Castle.

Kicking some demon backside
With all that in mind, you’re probably itching to actually get into battle, and fortunately, Disgaea has a solid system to offer. As per most SRPGs, battle takes place on an isometric map, with a grid to determine movement and spell range. From your base panel, you can call out up to ten characters and move them around the field, or, if they haven’t done anything yet on a turn, you can send them back in and call other characters out in their place. Each turn, every character on the field can move and perform one other action once (either attacking, lifting and throwing, using an item or defending); once you’ve assigned them actions, hit the execute command and they’ll perform them in the order you specified. When you’re all done, end turn and the enemy will move.

Since most games execute a command as soon as you select it, the whole process of having to execute manually after inputting commands may initially seem a little awkward and counter-intuitive, but there actually is a purpose it- having several characters make consecutive attacks on a single enemy will increase the combo count, creating a chain attack that does more damage than the component attacks would do individually.

Also of use in racking up huge damage is the ability for characters standing next to each other to perform combo attacks- if you ask one of them to do a normal attack, then anyone standing next to them might well join in the fun (the chances of this happening depend on the relationship between characters). Not everyone is a good team player, but this can be a useful way to rack up more damage than you expected, whilst a strong character giving an assist to a weaker one can help the weak one gain more experience than they would do on their own.

One feature that truly sets the Disgaea world apart is the degree to which terrain is used- compared to its often half-hearted implementation in other games, terrain is truly important here. The relative heights of attacker and victim play a big role in how much damage an attack can manage (or indeed, even if an attack is possible at all); as you might imagine, cleaving in an enemy’s skull from above is far more effective than slashing up at their angles from below. Even this, however, is but a small feature compared to the game’s extensive use of so-called Geo Panels to imbue various areas of the field with different attributes. When a Geo Symbol is placed on a Geo Panel of a particular colour, every Geo Panel of that colour gains whatever boost or handicap that Geo Symbol provides, from increased attack and defence to the ability to randomly teleport around the battlefield each turn. The only way to get rid of this effect is to move the Geo Symbol to a different coloured panel, or to destroy it entirely. Destroying a Geo Symbol shouldn’t be done thoughtlessly, however, since it can cause all Geo Panels of the colour it is on to change to the colour of the destroyed symbol, setting off a chain reaction that damages anything standing on a panel that changes colour, but filling up the bonus gauge in the process (the bonus gauge, when filled at least once, provides extra items, money or experience at the end of battle).

As if that wasn’t enough to consider, Disgaea also introduces another innovation in the form of being able to lift and throw other characters- both enemy and ally. Building up huge stacks of characters can be useful for throwing someone across the field in a single turn, but throwing the enemy should not be discounted either. Throwing one enemy onto another will cause them to fuse into a more powerful enemy, whilst simply throwing one a few squares may be useful for getting them off a Geo Panel giving them a bonus, or to put them in place for another character to attack. Unfortunately, novel as this is, there are times when there is no choice but to employ throwing to even get to the enemy in the first place, and this necessity can make what should be a novelty into something more than a little tedious as you waste turns getting your allies into a position to throw each other around. It should also be noted that only humanoid types can lift and throw- monsters can only be thrown, and prinnies are unique in exploding when they hit the ground.

With all these things to consider, as well as the various options available in Overlord’s Castle, it may seem as if the game system isn’t the easiest to get into- and indeed, it will take a while to appreciate the value of everything the game has to offer. Thanks to some tricky map and Geo Panel layouts in certain story battles, learning to manipulate Geo Symbols and throwing is a necessity for getting through the game, but other aspects such as the Dark Assembly and Item World can practically be ignored in favour of brute forcing one’s way through the game with extensive levelling up. Even so, paying attention to these aspects does make the game more rewarding, and so it is up to the player as to how deep they wish to delve into the workings of Disgaea.

Unfortunately, whilst the game can thus provide enjoyment for everyone from the ‘pick up and play’ type to the most stat-obsessed number cruncher, there is one aspect in which it really needed finer tuning, and that is in character balance. There is no doubt that Laharl is a powerhouse, but all too often he becomes the linchpin upon which the success or failure of battle hangs, whilst other characters become increasingly weak and useless. The worst part is that the weaker a character it is, the harder it becomes to level them up, for unlike Phantom Brave, where a pathetic character can get EXP just for coming out and being slaughtered before they get a turn, Disgaea only awards EXP when an enemy is actually defeated- a nigh impossible task for a puny weakling. Unless you have enough time and patience to go back into lower level maps and train up your weaklings, you will inevitably see them falling behind.

More on the Item World
A vital part of the levelling up process, the Item World enables you to go inside an item and work your way through various levels as you would a random dungeon. The standard way to complete a level is to defeat all the monsters present, but for those looking to take a shortcut, getting to the dimensional gate will enable you to skip straight to the next floor- sometimes a necessity no matter how much it wounds your gaming pride. Of course, the penalty for skipping a floor is that the item won’t receive as much of a bonus when its stats are levelled up after ten levels, but it’s a handy option to have if you find yourself in a sticky situation.

And indeed, no matter how well prepared you are, the Item World can still throw some nasty surprises at you. Monsters and awkward Geo Panel arrangements are of course an issue, but the element that proves to be most annoying is quite often simply the map itself. The highly uneven terrain of the Item World can often make it hard to even see where your characters are (I once got stuck a trench that rendered the base panel and the characters I brought out invisible to all camera angles), whilst throwing across to other areas is often a tedious necessity and sometimes even impossible (in principle no Item World map is absolutely impossible to complete, but it may well require several turns of meticulous planning or simply be beyond the capabilities of your particular party).

The Item World is also one of the places where a third faction appears in battle- on some levels, a non-enemy, non-ally known as a ‘Specialist’ will appear. Although the enemy may well destroy the Specialist before you can, defeating it yourself will cause it to submit to you and imbue that item with a bonus- anything from raising its attack and defence to causing a weapon to inflict a status effect on anything it attacks.

Story
An amusingly tongue-in-cheek tale, Disgaea makes a strong start with its tale of a demon prince trying to become King of the Netherworld (a refreshing change from a village boy becoming a destined hero), but sadly, it does lose steam a little towards the end with an arc about Earth attacking the Netherworld. Obvious parodies of stereotypes such as Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth may be mildly amusing, but the whole sci-fi setting of the Earth arc jars somewhat with the initial Netherworld stories.

Audiovisual
Visually, Disgaea may seem a little dull and uniform in terms of maps, which are serviceable rather than innovative, but it at least makes up for it with some cute sprites and well done character designs- even if more than a few of the characters could use a visit from the Fashion Police.

Unsurprisingly, the music for the series is handled by Tenpei Sato, who brings his usual level of skill to weaving a soundtrack that complements the tone of the game and proves to be solid enough to listen to independently as well. Sadly, the European version lacks the option of the Japanese audio track, but the English dub is solid enough, if not as good as that of Phantom Brave (despite using many of the same voice actors).

Final Thoughts
A solid and enjoyable game, Disgaea should prove a worthwhile experience for both the occasional SRPG dabbler and the full-on fanatic thanks to the option of immersing oneself in as much or as little of the game system as one desires. There are some annoyances such as Item World maps and the imbalance in strength between Laharl and other characters, but happily this only detracts a little from the overall enjoyment of this unique and quirky game.

Extra- My Party

S-team: Supreme

Laharl (Demon Prince): The only character actually able to hold his own in most situations, Laharl is the one thing standing between you and utter annihilation due to a party of generally weak characters. Ignore his annoying personality and focus on his killing power; take advantage of his natural affinity for swords and he’ll quickly build up a stock of special attacks for all occasions- however the enemy chooses to deploy, he’ll have an attack that can hit them.

A-team: Actually able to inflict some damage
The A-team are good for mopping up whatever Laharl leaves behind, but if the situation gets even slightly difficult, their base crappiness is revealed.

Mia (Brawler): Leader of the A-team, Mia is my second strongest warrior, although her nature as a close-range brawler means that she’s better suited to taking down single enemies than blasting apart groups. Her most satisfying special attack is King of Beasts, although it requires a clear space in which to enact it.

Kurtis (Rival): A latecomer to the party, Kurtis is a green prinny still in possession of most of the abilities he had when alive. Despite his high attack and defence stats, he somehow manages to not be outstanding in any particular department, and whilst he can deal out the damage in some situations, other times he is just a big green target.

Sakura (Ronin): Although she started out in the lower ranks, her position as a swordswoman made it imperative that she be levelled up in order to become a backup user of Laharl’s sword attacks. She may still only have her half her Overlord’s strength, but with her high HP and solid strength, she can often finish what Laharl starts.

Maderas (Demon Sire): For a long time after he joined, this story character was my second best warrior, but as time passed, his basic physical attack began lagging behind. His Chaos Fire special attack was useless from the outset, but the abilities he gains later on are useful in terms of both range and damage.

Thursday (Super Robot): One of the Defenders of Earth trio that joins in the game’s second half, Thursday’s stats aren’t all that impressive, but he has potential thanks to his special attacks and their useful range of attack. He needs work, but eventually could shine.

Bran (Scout): A gun-wielding scout, Bran’s attack can sometimes seem a bit low, but the fact that he can perform ranged attacks and specials makes him good for sniping the enemy from a distance. Although his bare chest classifies him as a male, he has a rather girlish voice.

Gar (Warrior): I named him Gar in the hopes that he would actually become tough and manly in battle, and whilst it didn’t work entirely, it seems to have helped this axe-wielder improve from his meagre beginnings. With a multi-hit Skull Splitter attack, Gar just scrapes into the A-team, and has been vital backup for Laharl on a couple of occasions.

B-team: Better than nothing

Van (Fighter): This spear-wielder used to be in the A-team, but after a poor performance she slowly slipped down the rankings, and is now only used in situations where closer range weapons won’t reach.

Helene (Cleric): A weakling in battle, but as one of the only two healers the time comes, her weak and ineffectual Mega Heal is sometimes called upon to bolster a warrior’s HP.

Etna (Vassal): Poor Etna, she used to be a worthy warrior, but now weakness is her watchword. Even her once useful Prinny Raid, Asteroid Drop and Sexy Beam (“Call me Queen”) attacks are now pathetic.

Gordon (Defender): He may be the Defender of Earth, but Gordon is sadly rather weak once he gets to the Netherworld- and it doesn’t help that his weapon’s strength depends on the HIT stat, whilst his specials depend on ATK. I keep persevering with him, but to little avail.

Nara (Rogue): After initially thinking this class was female until Nara cried “who the man?” in a male voice, he spent a lot of time on the bench and has only recently gained any strength whatsoever. His greatest use is his ability to throw other characters a massive six squares, enabling all but the furthest reaches of the item world to be accessed.

Hoggmeiser (Rich Demon): Another story character who was my second best when he first joined, Hoggmeiser has slowly but steadily depreciated in value, to the point where even his special attacks are puny. It’s a shame, really, as they were initially useful for hitting multiple enemies.

Akane (Red Mage): I know mages can be extremely powerful if handled correctly (just look at the enemy), but I’ve never been able to level mine up consistently. Akane is my best effort in this game so far, and whilst her fire attacks have potential, they aren’t significant enough to bring her into play in any important battles.

Jennifer (Sidekick): Another close range attacker like Mia, Jennifer is sadly rather weak, and even her unique special attacks are disappointing.

C-team: Completely useless

Flonne (Angel): Her Power of Love healing ability was handy at first, but her tendency to get killed on first hit combined with the difficulty of levelling her up soon relegated her to the back benches.

Ryuk (Dragon): He’s still on level three- need I say more?

Nayuki (Blue Mage): Since Akane specialises in fire magic, I felt I needed an ice specialist, but sadly Nayuki is far too weak and underused to even make it up to Akane’s level.

Kennel (Pvt Prinny): The strongest of the three prinnies you get at the beginning of the game, Kennel swiftly became weaker and more useless as time passed.

Exocet (Pvt Prinny): The middle member of the three starting prinnies, now absolutely useless.

Lambda (Pvt Prinny): Weakest and most pathetic of the three starting prinnies.

Helena (Warrior): Another sword user, efforts to make her worthy have largely failed.

D-team: Deleted

Aria (Fighter): Only ever used once.

Della (Green Mage): An attempt to have all three types of starting mage, deleted after said plan was indefinitely delayed.

Lavie (Centurion): Never used.

Glor (Red Skull): Surplus to requirements thanks to Akane’s existence.

Jack (Pumpkin): I recruited him because I wanted to use the skills that pumpkins had so often used against me to deadly effect, but ultimately I decided to leave that project for another time.

Like many young women, Cornet dreams of the day when her Prince Charming will rush in to sweep her off her feet. In the meantime, her ability to talk to puppets, fairy friend Kururu and a horn with special powers are her best weapons in her quest to at least get the Prince’s attention, at least until she is called upon to step things up a notch and save him from the clutches of Marjoly the witch.

Before they came to prominence with their incredibly addictive SRPGs, Nippon Ichi brought us Rhapsody, a game that was to show only the very first hints of the greatness they would one day achieve. For gamers looking to take the first tentative step from regular RPG to SRPG, it might be a good primer, but as more experienced gamers will soon discover, it is far too easy to offer much in the way of longevity.

Unlike most SRPGs, where maps are separated by cut scenes, Rhapsody is more of a free roaming game- almost irritatingly so. You can wander around in towns, forests and dungeons much as you would in a standard RPG, and whilst this aspect is agreeable enough at first, it soon becomes tiresome. The vast majority of dungeons are based on one of two simplistic designs, which quickly become tiresomely repetitive and easy to get lost in- just a little bit more variety would have been most welcome. As if this wasn’t bad enough, you may slog all the way through a dungeon just to find that you cannot continue because you forgot to trigger some cut scene back in town, or that you have no clue where to go because you forgot to talk to absolutely every NPC you can find. It’s a scenario that quickly becomes frustrating, especially when you get to the “find the five elemental stones” stage of the story.

Sadly, the battle system is equally prone to wearing out its welcome, thanks to such an incredibly low difficulty level that there is only one boss battle in the entire game where you are in any danger whatsoever of suffering from game over. Battles take place on a small isometric field, forcing you to move around before attacking- an innovation which may sound like it introduces an extra element of strategy, but actually quickly proves tiresome in adding another step to take before battle is complete. Instead of just destroying the enemy in a single turn with a wide range magic spell as is usually the case, you must move towards them and then cast the spell- and even though battles are unsurprisingly quick, they are also random, a recipe for annoyance even when the encounter rate is as low as it is here.

Unsurprisingly, the ease of battles ensures that most of the system in place is utterly useless- the point of most items, accessories and spells is nullified when you can just defeat the enemy in a single turn without ever touching them. Even healing items have little use when you’re fully healed every time you level up (which is often), and half-healed after a battle in which your character died. You don’t even have to pay to stay at an inn- you can get free healing just by talking to a goddess statue. If this game were any easier, it would just run automatically.

That being said, there are one or two innovations in battle that can be seen as the very early precursors of the systems in later games. As the party lead and only non-puppet that fights, Cornet has some unique abilities of her own that differentiate her from all the other playable characters. By playing her horn, she can power up any puppet in range, adding a note to a musical bar at the top of the screen for each puppet affected. Each time the bar fills with music, a new special attack is available, most of which consist of dropping giant desserts on the enemy. Getting killed by a sword is honourable, but just who wants to explain to the powers-that-be in the afterlife that you died after someone dropped a giant stack of pancakes on you?

All in all, it is such little innovations that make it almost a shame that Rhapsody isn’t better developed, for despite all these flaws, the game is quite enjoyable and even addictive in its early stages. Had it just maintained that throughout the game with even a touch more complexity, it could have been much more enjoyable throughout. It would also make you more inclined to collect all the playable characters (of which there are a healthy number) and complete their respective sidequests- as it is, you simply reach a point where you want to get the game over with as quickly as possible.

Story-wise, Rhapsody is a bit thin on the plot front, starting out as an amusing tale of trying to win the prince’s heart, before turning the usual conventions on their head by have Cornet rescue whatever the male equivalent is of the damsel in distress. Sadly, this chance for further humour on the part of both heroes and villains is wasted when the story turns into a generic search for the five elemental crystals, although a tongue-in-cheek disregard for narrative conventions still crops up here and there.

Visually, Rhapsody takes place in a 2D world, with cute sprites and good looking character designs. Forests and towns are generally good looking, but, as mentioned above, dungeons are simplistic and repetitive to the point of being tiresome. The background music is composed by Tenpei Sato, but unlike his work on later Nippon Ichi games, the themes used here are a little too basic to truly stand out. There is little in the way of voice acting, but a number of vocal themes appear throughout the game, ranging from the amusing to the saccharine.

Final Thoughts
Although it started off as a bit of simple fun, Rhapsody simply lacks the depth and complexity to be more than of fleeting interest to all but the most easily pleased of gamers. It might be a good recommendation for newcomers to the genre (especially those looking to make the move from RPG to SRPG), but otherwise it’s only for interest to Nippon Ichi fanatics.

In the world of Ivoire, thirteen year old Marona works as a Chroma (effectively a Hunter), earning the money she needs to pay for her home on Phantom Isle. Eight years ago, her parents were killed, and now their friend Ash watches over her as a Phantom- a being caught between the worlds of life and death. Unfortunately, thanks to Marona’s unique ability to communicate with Ash and other Phantoms, she is shunned as the ‘Possessed One’, but where a lesser person would have given up, Marona remains determined to help people in the hopes that they will one day accept her. And accept her they eventually must, for Marona and Ash may be the best defence Ivoire has against the Dark Lord Sulphur.

Having already made a name for themselves in the English-speaking world with the likes of Rhapsody, Disgaea and La Pucelle Tactics, Nippon Ichi went on to give us Phantom Brave, a game that truly should be called the queen of all SRPGs. Easy to learn, difficult to master, Phantom Brave goes beyond the other games of its genre to provide us with SRPG 2.0, a whole new experience. Even in its hardest and most frustrating hours, no game has ever been as addictive as this one, to the extent that nothing else matters so long as the daily fix of Phantom Brave can be gleaned. This is a game that will rule your life until it is complete, and rightfully so, for it has almost everything a fan of the genre could wish for (I’ll discuss suggested improvements in a future Tuesday Rumble).

Getting started with the game
With twenty episodes divided amongst four chapters, the overall flow of Phantom Brave is very simple; you see some events setting up a storyline, fight through a series of battles (interspersed with more events) in a particular location until said storyline is resolved. There is no free roaming- the only place you can walk around in is your home on Phantom Isle; other than that your selections are limited to choosing which of the islands on the world map you want to visit. Thankfully, event scenes can easily be skipped, so the many crushing game overs you will experience do not lead to having to watch the same twenty minutes of dialogue over again.

As your home base, Phantom Isle is crucially important if you want to be in any way ready for the many battles that will come your way. This is the place where you can save, heal, recruit characters, buy weapons, equip and set up any other niggling options that need attending to. Make sure you bring plenty of money, however- this may be your home, but you still have to pay for most services.

What to do on Phantom Isle
On Phantom Isle, you control Ash (unless he’s dead, in which case you’re the generic tutorial whisp). You can walk around, jump, pick up and throw characters and weapons and even damage your own units (not recommended). You can also interact with Marona and other phantoms in order to accomplish more constructive goals.

• Making a Phantom Army: Marona handles Phantom recruitment, giving you the ability to create a level one character of any class you have unlocked (humanoid types can be obtained by defeating them on certain maps, monsters are available after defeating twenty of the same type) and adding bonus EXP to them if you have enough money. Since you can only have up to fifty characters or weapons on the island, you can also choose to store extras. Stored characters cannot be used in battle, whilst stored weapons can still be equipped, but they do not gain mana like the ones lying around on the island do. You can also rename Phantoms or even banish them from existence if they’re not doing you any good.
• Healer: Ah, healing, where would we be without it? Your healer doesn’t work for free, and she’ll near bankrupt you in the early stages of the game, but it’s worth it to get everyone in fighting condition again- especially as weapons are just as prone to losing HP and ‘dying’ as characters in this game. You can also bring back ‘spiritless’ characters whose corpses were destroyed in battle, but only at the cost of an item.
• Blacksmith: Unsurprisingly, the Blacksmith is the place to get your weapons upgraded by spending the mana they earn from being in battle or lying around on the island. You can level up weapons and add abilities, up to an inbuilt limit.
• Witch: The witch lets you re-order your skills, which isn’t particularly useful at first, but becomes more essential later on, when you’ll find yourself frantically scrolling through a long list of abilities to find the one you want to use.
• Titlist: Classes are important in most SRPGs, but Phantom Brave adds an extra dimension with titles- for example, your fighter isn’t just a fighter, he may be a Weepy Fighter, a Hungry Fighter, and so on. Each title confers a different stat bonus and set of abilities, and it’s the Titlist’s job to swap them around between characters, weapons and random dungeons. You can gain a title for use by completing a random dungeon, or by banishing a weapon or Phantom from existence.
• Dungeon Monk: Your dungeon monk is your key to levelling up, thanks to his convenient ability to create random dungeons for you to go and fight in. These dungeons can be tens of levels deep, but thankfully you can use his return ability to go back to Phantom Isle if your party is flagging and you don’t want to tackle it all in one go. Lengthy as they can be, random dungeons at least add some variety to levelling up, since you don’t have to keep going back to previously completed maps in order to gain EXP.
• Fusionist: Fusion may be costly in terms of mana, but it’s a great way to add the abilities of one character or weapon to another (instead of A+B=C, this sort of fusion works as A+B=powered up A). It also extends the level cap above 100, up to a maximum of 9999- yes, that’s right, in this game you can waste your life trying to attain such a ridiculously high level.
• Merchant: Unsurprisingly, the merchant sells weapons to you, for despite already being dead, she is somehow able to trade in them. Armour, accessories and support items are not available in this game, so weapons are all you ever need to equip (one slight annoyance in this regard is that if your weapon ‘dies’, you have to make sure to re-equip it, and on some screens, it isn’t clear who is equipped with what).

That’s all very well, but I want to fight!
So, once everything is set up, it’s time to head for the battlefield, and it is here that Phantom Brave really showcases its uniqueness. As the only living character on the team, Marona is the core of the party, and also the only one you’ll have on the field when you begin a battle. If you want to get your Phantoms out, you must use her ‘Confine’ ability to place them in one of the many items strewn about the battlefield- from rocks and trees to bread and trolleys, everything is fair game, but make sure that what you choose doesn’t adversely affect your stats. Also be aware that many such items are also giving or receiving ‘Protections’ from other items, and whilst some protections are beneficial stat boosters, others are most unwelcome, draining your HP or even preventing you from moving off the spot.

Once your Phantoms are confined (you can have up to fourteen units on the field, where an unarmed Phantom counts as one, and an armed one counts as two), they will leave the field after a set number of turns, ensuring that it is near impossible to rely on just one strong fighter at the expense of the rest of your party (note that turns are taken based on speed, rather than “all allies, then all enemies”). The fact that everyone except Marona has a limit on their fighting time means you must plan carefully, and even then you may find yourself (as I have) with only Marona on the field and having to adopt hit and run tactics to finish off the last few enemies.

Items on the field are not just for confining to, however, for if you find the weapons you bring with a little lacking, picking up anything you can find is fair game- including both enemies and allies (although enemies will attack the person holding them each time their turn comes around). Even corpses can be used, since they rarely disappear when they are first killed- instead you have to do so-called “over-damage” to remove them.

As if this all wasn’t enough, Phantom Brave has also removed the traditional SRPG grid in favour of use distance ranges and generally enabling everything to be more up close and personal. Although it is hardly the first game to try this, it can be difficult to adjust to at first when combined with the ability to stack characters, and certainly trying to target an enemy in a cluster or plan a route through uneven terrain can end in frustration and wasted turns, but even so, there is something refreshing and liberating about the lack of grid. It’s not something I’d want to see implemented in every SRPG, but it’s an interesting move.

On top of the lack of grid, there are also a few other tweaks to the battle maps of Phantom Brave. Maps have no borders, which means that almost anything can be tossed ‘out of bounds’, unable to return. At this point, you must surely wonder what prevents you from ‘cheating’ by throwing all your enemies out of bounds, but this possibility has actually already been accounted for. Aside from the fact that you can only lift and throw unarmed enemies (if they’re holding a weapon, you’ll try to steal it instead), every time you toss a living enemy off the map, the remaining ones level up- and once just one enemy is left, it becomes impossible to remove them from the map.

For those interested in remaining on the map, however, there is also terrain to pay attention to. Terrain can be both slippery and bouncy- the more slippery it is, the more your characters will slide before stopping (a double-edged sword since you can move farther than your range would normally allow, but may not end up anywhere near where you intended), whilst bouncing affects anything dropped or thrown on the ground.

Finally, no SRPG would be able to aim for the top without three faction battles, and even here Phantom Brave is able to come up with the goods. Although they are relatively rare, there are times when you’ll find yourself facing off against two different armies, where both will either fight you, fight each other, assist you (there are times when you can even revive NPC units from the dead to help you tackle the enemy) or do nothing until you provoke them. Be warned, however, even when NPCs are helping you, they feel no compunctions about cutting through your units if it means they can get a clear shot at the enemy.

With all these considerations to take into account, Phantom Brave is by no means an easy game, and as already mentioned above, there are times when you’ll face a crushing game over as even your best characters are revealed to be nothing more than puny weaklings in the face of the enemy. Even so, it manages to be immensely enjoyable at the same time, perhaps because it poses a challenge that forces you to actually play instead of merely hitting the attack button over and over.

After the game is cleared…there’s more?
Think you’ve finished the game when the final boss is defeated? Think again, because ten difficult bonus maps await you, featuring characters from Disgaea and even Rhapsody. Aside from the first map (and perhaps the second if you’ve been assiduous in levelling up), these extra stages will test you to the extreme, requiring hours of fusion, levelling up, and plumbing the depths of the game system. Even the most devoted player may balk a little at learning three thousand is the recommended level for attempting the later maps (you’ll end the main game at around level eighty to a hundred).

Story
In an almost offhand way, Phantom Brave bases its main storyline around the existence of a Lord of Darkness, but unlike previous games, Nippon Ichi has dispensed with the light-heartedness and tongue-in-cheek dialogue for a more serious tone. In fact, in its early stages, Phantom Brave is depressingly miserable, with poor Marona being hated by almost everyone she meets, and only making her first ever friend in Episode 4. By this point, you expect the story to continue in its vein of doom and gloom, and it is only in hindsight that you realise that the situation actually does improve later on, reducing the volume of tragic back story a little to actually include some happiness.

Despite the relative simplicity of the story, however, Phantom Brave actually achieves the rare state of making you care about the game characters, even if it is sometimes only to the extent of shouting at the screen as the pure-hearted Marona refuses a much needed cash bonus for her services.

Audiovisual
Unsurprisingly, Phantom Brave is set in an isometric world, and whilst maps are hardly groundbreaking in their complexity, they are still solid enough. Character sprites are detailed and generally good-looking, although some of the possible colour combinations are bit questionable (imagine a manly blacksmith with cropped pale pink hair).

I’ve already given the game’s music a favourable review in Tuesday Rumble, and my opinion of it has only improved since then, resulting in a love of almost every track, especially those used in battle. Voice acting is surprisingly solid (even youthful Marona fails to grate on the ears once you get used to her), with the likes of Crispin Freeman and Steve Blum lending their talents to the game.

Final Thoughts
I may have gone a little overboard in writing so much about Phantom Brave, but it only showcases my absolute love of the game. An absorbing and increasingly addictive ride that threatens to steal all my fangirl points and the title of ‘Best Game Ever’, Phantom Brave is by no means easy, but the satisfaction you’ll gain from mastering it is worth every hour spent on the game.

Extra: My Party

A-Team: Awesome
The A-team are my front line fighters; they’re a bit lacking in terms of magical backup but when it comes to brute strength you can’t go wrong with these guys.

Marona (Chroma): Marona may start out as a weakling (and she’ll certainly never be a great physical fighter), but as the core of the party, it’s helpful to make sure she can hold her own. Since her strength is in magical and support attacks, I’ve made her into the party’s healer, with a solid basic vase attack that means she can handle herself on the occasions when your phantoms are dead and gone and she’s the only one left to finish off the enemy.

Ash (Phantom): Ash is the heart of my fighting force, and although Johnny rivalled him for a while, now no one can touch him in terms of strength. With a sword in hand, and high end abilities like Killer Spin, Hurricane Slash and Heliotrope, few can take on Ash and live. The only downside is that he gets a mere five turns on the field, although to make up for it his attack doubles on his final turn.

Johnny (Fighter): With axe in hand, Johnny sacrifices speed for strength, but once his turn rolls around, he can steamroller the enemy. Unfortunately, his Power Combo is inconsistent, sometimes dealing out huge damages but occasionally reverting to something embarrassingly weak.

Shu (Mystic): You’d think a mystic would be good with magic, but somehow my Shu has ended up being a useless mage and healer (despite his innate healing abilities) in return for being a strong fighter. With his Love Brick, he can smash right through the enemy’s defences.

Kay (Saber Kitty): Named for the feline hero of Legend of Kay, Kay started off weak and pathetic, but once he levelled up a bit, he became an indispensable member of the team. Armed with a knife and the multi-hit King of Beasts and Instant Death abilities, what Kay lacks in defence and HP he makes up for in speed and strength.

Saki (Valkyrie): Although she was once my second best fighter, Saki is now the lowest ranked warrior in the A-team, proving weak with swords and only ‘solid’ with spears. She fights well enough, but unlike the others in the A-team, she doesn’t have any high damage signature moves.

Karen (Amazon): She may have joined up later than the other A-team members, but once she threw away her dirk and got a solid axe in her hands, Karen became as tough as nails and a vital contributor in the later battles of the game. Her Drill Kick cuts right through the enemy’s defences.

B-Team: Backup
The B-team are all desperately competing to be A-ranked, but their stats are just a little too low. They’re usually mixed up with the A-team to provide support.

Gray (Blacksmith): As well as being able to strengthen weapons back on Phantom Isle, Gray is a serviceable warrior who once belonged in the A-team. Unfortunately, although he has shown promise with both crates and bricks, he has dropped out of the big league due to his inability to administer massive damage. He is named for the young blacksmith in Harvest Moon’s Mineral Town.

Leonas (Manticore): A latecomer to the party, Leonas is steadily levelling up, and has made it all the way from meat shield to formidable warrior. Like Kay, he has King of Beasts, and with a few more levels, he should have the SP to use Burning Refuse, a damaging attack that has been used against my party to deadly effect in the past.

Atoli (Owl Sentry): Although it took me a while to notice that she was female, Atoli is one of the strongest of the owl types. Unfortunately, she just hasn’t been able to keep up with the A-team, and is notorious for getting killed within a turn or two.

Karasu (Owl Knight): The second of five owl characters, Karasu may be a bit chubby, but he has recently overtaken Atoli in terms of strength, and seems to be working well with a mace.

Lena (Lady Zombie): Once she belonged in the D-team, but after levelling up in a few dungeons, Lena proved to be a dab hand with a crate. In battles where I’ve saved the A-team for a later appearance, Lena has provided good support to Marona.

Robin (Knight): Named after Chevalier’s Robin, his oversized blade does solid damage, but until he levels up a bit more and gains some better abilities, he must remain B-ranked. He does, however, have a useful ‘Healing Steps’ ability, which lets him heal a percentage of HP each turn.

C-Team: Crappy
These are the characters that I know could be great if they gained some more levels, but somehow they just never keep up.

Melodee (Merchant): In the first few levels of the game, my limited party meant Melodee was one of my best fighters, but after better classes came along she began to lag behind, especially when I couldn’t find a weapon that she seemed to agree with. She has finally been equipped with a Cactus, and she shows promise for the future. She is also useful for buying weapons from on Phantom Isle.

Shana (Fusionist): Equipped with a crate, Shana (named so because of her flaming red hair) was once equal to Shu, but he soon left her behind and now she tends to get killed before she can even take a turn. Nonetheless, on Phantom Isle she shows her worth by fusing characters and items together.

Corti (Archer): Named after the female lead in Polyphonica, Corti cannot actually be equipped with a bow and arrow, but she does have a ranged attack when unarmed (in contrast to everyone else’s close range unarmed attacks). At the moment she’s more weak Guraa than killer Dorii, but there’s always hope for the future- and she comes with Quick Attack, which lets her take a turn as soon as she is confined.

Nox (Fenrir): Basically Leonas with Quick Attack, Nox has yet to fulfil his potential, and currently attacks with a weed. Based on enemy Fenrirs, he has the potential to become fearsome.

Teol (Owl Ninja): The third owl character, Teol has yet to show any skills or abilities that mark him out from the crowd.

Alf (Slime): Named after a smiley face car air freshener, Alf was part of the project to show that slimes do not have to be pathetic weaklings- but sadly, it didn’t work. When equipped with an axe, he has a promising Slimurai attack, but most of the time he gets killed before he takes a turn, and only once has he made a notable contribution to battle.

Suzanna (Healer): A Healer should be vital in battle, but with Marona already filling that role, Suzanna is just excess baggage who usually gets killed before she could ever heal anyone. Her main worth is for healing on Phantom Isle.

D-Team: Distraction
I’ve generally given up on levelling this lot; they’re purely brought out as cannon fodder to occupy powerful enemies whilst Marona and the others get to safety and plan their counterattack.

Mellon (Zombie): A slow and weak zombie, Mellon has often been considered for banishment.

Ader (Titlist): Although he can damage everything around him when confined, Ader is next to useless in battle. His main worth lies in assigning titles on Phantom Isle.

Noodles (Soldier): Whilst your party is out saving the world, Noodles can usually be found sunbathing on the beach or getting distracted by a shiny object. As a soldier, you’d think he would at least be a good physical attacker, but he seems to resist improvement.

Para (Dungeon Monk): He can create random dungeons for levelling up, but when it comes to actually fighting, he’s lucky if he can inflict more than zero damage.

Hayla (Mermaid): Enemy mermaids are formidable, but mine is useless.

Titan (Merman): The same goes for my merman, although in his defence he was only recently recruited.

Lyrica (Bottlemail): Yes, you can actually send out a bottle to fight, and the reason you would want to is that they have the highest probability of bringing the item you confined them to home with them. Unfortunately, I’m usually too focused on battle strategy to bother with that.

U-Team: Unused
They never get a chance to shine, and I don’t know why I created them.

Willow (Whisp): I made “Will O’ the Whisp” because I read Whisps were good healers, but it doesn’t seem worth the effort of levelling it up.

Bana (Putty Smith): The first of several putty units made on ‘must have putties’ day, Bana can perform the same functions as Gray.

Brains (Putty Shaman): A putty version of the fusionist, named for its large glasses.

Sadako (Putty Mage): Named because of the black ‘hair’ that obscures its face, has yet to see the light of day in battle.

Putty (Putty): A standard putty and mascot character.

Benik (Owl Sage): An owl healer, he’s useful on Phantom Isle, but never gets called upon in battle.

Derik (Owl Mage): Enemy owl mages are powerful, but mine is a weakling.

Grandma (Granny): This old lady has a short movement range and only spends two turns on the field before disappearing- even if she could damage the enemy, she can’t even reach it.

Gorben (Old Man): Named after the pervert mage in Fantasy Legend Adventure, this old man is the ultimate in desperation characters- a unit who can do no damage no matter what the circumstances. He can randomly give you EXP, though.

Sharu (Funguy): A mushroom character, Sharu has yet to prove himself as annoying to the enemy as their mushrooms are to me.

Banished
Already banished from Phantom Isle and thus from existence.

Putty 2 (Putty): Another putty mascot, already gone.

Su Ling (Saber Kitty): Named for the female cat in Legend of Kay, another unused mascot character.

Walrus (Blob): Seriously, what was I thinking when I made a blob?

Tetsu (Mimic): See above.

Candela (Shade): See above.