Shopping Guide
Level 9999, 40 million HP. If someone told you that there was game that, once you got into it, you could keep playing until the day you die, would you believe them?
A game that truly breaks the mold is the level-building style strategy RPG Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. It’s a popular series from Nippon Ichi Software that has been released for the Nintendo DS and PlayStation consoles. There are a multitude of cutscenes and dungeons, and the scales for levels and HP far surpass the level 99 and 9999 HP maximum used by most games. It has a strong hold on fans of strategy RPGs who love to level up their characters. The series has been widening its reach outside of the game as well, with manga, novel, and even anime adaptations based on the story. The latest game, Disgaea D2, began to be released overseas in October of this year.
We recently had a chance to interview two people involved in the development of the Disgaea series, director Takehisa Matsuda and series writer and Nippon Ichi Software President Sohei Niikawa, about their thoughts on Disgaea D2 and the response it’s received abroad. Continue reading to see what they had to say.
[About Disgaea D2]
––Nearly a month has passed since the international release of the game. How has the response been?
Matsuda: Fortunately, the game has been well received abroad and it’s being played by a lot of people. The reviews have been positive and looking at Twitter, people seem to be enjoying it just as much as Japan, so as one of the developers, I’m very happy.
––Has there been any particular response from players that has stuck with you?
Matsuda: Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of players happy about the return of Laharl, Etna, and Flonne, the main characters from Disgaea 1. It made me glad to have made D2.
––What was the reason for bringing back Laharl, Etna, and Flonne from the first Disgaea as the main characters in this game? Also, could you share the reason for naming the game Disgaea D2 instead of Disgaea 5?
Matsuda: When we thought about what kind of Disgaea game we should make for both the 10th anniversary of Disgaea and the 20th anniversary of Nippon Ichi Software, we thought it would be good to tell a story with the popular characters from Disgaea 1, and then, with the idea that it wouldn’t be the fifth game, it would be a sequel to the first game, we started to develop D2 which stands for “Dimension 2.”
––Could you talk a bit about what you kept in mind the most when you were making the game in terms of its system and story?
Matsuda: There were three major things that we kept in mind developing this game. First, no matter what, we had to have a story that could use Laharl, Etna, and Flonne well. Also, we wanted people who had played the game 10 years ago but not much since to be able to play this one easily, so we had to allow ourselves to trim down the system that had been building over 10 years and adjust each system to make them easier to get into. Finally, we wanted to include a system that made it easy to build relationships with the characters through things like the Likeability system that changes the dialogue in the Overlord’s Castle and allows allies to save each other in battle and the Character Creation that has a lot of features for players to choose from. These were the areas we focused on the most for D2.
––Could you offer some advice to anyone coming into the series for the first time with Disgaea D2 on how to enjoy the game?
Matsuda: Of all the recent installments of the series, I think this one is the easiest to play, so actually it’s just right for beginners. I’d be very happy if this game allows them to become fans of the series.
––Going to the other extreme, the complex level-building features of the game are a big draw for core fans, so is there anything you could say to those kinds of fans about what to enjoy in this installment?
Matsuda: The Disgaea series allows players to improve the characters’ stats more than any other game, so my hope is that they put their love into their favorite characters and bring them up. If they have enough confidence, I think it would be good for them to challenge a secret boss who is one of the strongest of the series to a battle and get taken down. [laugh]
––Since we’re here, do you have any inside stories about the development stage that you can share?
Matsuda: There are probably people wondering why Laharl and the other characters that they built up so much in Disgaea 1 are back at Level 1 in D2. The secret lies in the Demon Buns 1 sold in the Overlord’s Castle... Basically, they ate too many. [laugh]
––Have you already begun working on the next game in the Disgaea series, if you don’t mind me asking?
Matsuda: Yes, we are already right in the middle of developing the next game!
To be continued in Part 2.
^1^ An item sold in the Overlord’s Castle. When used, it drops your level by one.
This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.
