ok so...
this bears the disgaea name but it's no SRPG,it's a visual adventure novel which means there isn't much gameplay here besides reading and making choices... ok now that's the first batch of an already small group is gone,let's go to the next question... so what's the plot?
you take yet again the role of a prinny tough this time the full cast of the original disgaea is also here (plus that guy from disgaea 3) basicaly laharl mysteriously explode and thinking of it as an assasination attempt from the prinnies he decide to cut all the prinny salary to a minimum but the prinny you control has an ace in it's sleeve because you see,he got himself a clock which let him go back in time
and here's where it gets interessing,basicaly you return back in time before laharl explode and then try to discover how to prevent laharl from exploding (saving your salary in the process) to do so you have two special power... your first special power let you possess the character,viewing the story from their point of the view and it's a very cool system!
for example at the start of the game,laharl comes to the prinny to wake him up,you can then attach yourself to laharl and continue from his point of view,after that laharl encounters gordon (DEFENDER OF THE EARTH) so you can decide to switch to gordon point of view or continue with laharl,if you continue with laharl,you end up meeting etna so you can switch to etna point of view,if you instead switch to gordon,you get gordon point of view and get to possess all the character that gordon encounters... that's it until laharl finaly explodes again and you are forced to loop back in time before laharl explode...
since it can be hard to keep track of who encounter who there is a nice time table which tracks all the character encounters you have seen at least once
your second power is the ability to controll the character you are possesing in certain segments,all of these bits are done with sprite animation and are animu wacky (dare to say... that they are funny?)
spoiler (click to show/hide)
i had laharl breaking pots and barrel and finding mysterious rupee like gems and hearts,a bit where laharl assumes an entire crime movie plot after convincing himself that the sleeping prinny in front of him is dead, and gordon washing laharl scarf by jumping into space after laharl ask him "how does he get his clothes so soft"
most of them are useless but some can change the time schedule of a character,for example
spoiler (click to show/hide)
at a certain point you can force laharl to help flonne which makes him miss etna
making use of this is apparently what brings the plot forward but so far i haven't been able to make any sort of progress
other than that there is nothing much to add... there is a database which holds a small bio about the characters and also holds some bits about other facts tough these are pretty short and added there just for the animu weirdness factor (for example there is an entry for etna flat chest and another one which explains that the stuff in the dressers and vases that the adventurers finds in these kind of game are there as a thanks to the hero from the NPC) these are unlocked as you keep playing,you also have a diary in case you forgot what you have to do next
apparently there are also 14 different ending (i accidentaly stumbled upon a bad ending)
spoiler (click to show/hide)
i possesed a geo panel... etna found it and destroyed it,killing the prinny in the process,the prinny remarked "isn't this the tutorial of disgaea:hour of darkness THE GREATEST SRPG EVER?"
sooooooo what do i think about this?
i'm not sure... it's disgaea and i love disgaea,it's one of those groundhog day story and i love those! there is no better plot than a time manipulating one,but here's the thing
i'm completly stuck and i haven't moved a inch from the start as i haven't the slighest clue about what to do next plus everytime i fumble,i have to see all over it again,there is a very handy option which let you skip scenes (either as a straight skip or by fast forwarding the text) but if you are too fast,you might end up forgetting possesing someone and end up wasting more time than intended,trying to think about what i have to do makes me giggle but having to skip the same scene over and over makes me bitter
anyway apparently there is another game by nippon ichi that uses the same gimmick as this one but has a much more serious plot called infinite loop and this really pisses me off because it's a VERY cool gimmick!
oh also i forgot,there are guest appereance from toro!
