Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness

Overview

Disgaea Dimension 2: A Brighter Darkness is a strategy role-playing game and a direct sequel to the original game in the Disgaea franchise, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. It features the return of Prince Laharl, now King Laharl, and his vassals, the semi-loyal Etna and Flonne (who is now a Fallen Angel), as the main cast in a story that picks up where Hour of Darkness left off. Despite being featured in many cameos throughout the series, this is the first time Flonne and Laharl will return as main characters (Etna was an important character in Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories).

Disgaea D2 features many of the core concepts and gameplay features introduced throughout the series, including reintroducing the weapon experience system cut from later games. Like previous Disgaea titles, there are a wealth of new features in the game, including a monster riding mechanic and a new weapon type: books that allows the user to summon monsters, such as fire-breathing dragons, to attack enemies.

Plot

After struggling to claim the throne throughout the events of Hour of Darkness, Laharl is finally crowned the Overlord of the Netherworld. But amidst the expected apathy, disrespect, and rebellion among his subjects, The King Krichevosky Faction is created by the those loyal to Laharl's late father. They seek to overthrow Laharl and give the throne to Barbara, a knightly demon who sees the throne as a means to free herself from blindly following her superiors' orders. The Krichevosky Faction also believes the rapid appearance of the Celestial Flowers throughout the netherworld, which alter the atmosphere and threaten the ecosystem, are a retaliation by the angels for the campaign Laharl led against Celestia.

As Laharl tries to gain the respect of his subjects, defeat the Kichevosky Faction, and track down those behind the Celestial Flowers blooming, he must also deal with the appearance of Sicily, a young angel that claims to be his younger sister and has come to challenge him for the throne, and a curse that turns Etna into a 2P color palette version of herself and Laharl into a woman.

Gameplay Features

After previous titles introduced major changes and new features to the monster classes, D2 offers a new experiment with the Prinnyback system. This allows for humanoid units to ride ally monster units on the battlefield, giving them stat boosts and new abilities based on their compatibility. This also allows for both units to gain experience at the same time.

As mentioned before, the weapon experience system from the first two Disgaea games will make a return. If a unit uses a weapon type they have an affinity for, they will gain experience with it and, eventually, they will level up their mastery of that weapon. A character's mastery of a weapon determines what skills they possess and the bonuses that weapon grants them.

Disgaea D2 marks the first time you can control more than one character on the overworld map, allowing for you to take control of at least Laharl, Flonne, and Etna. This will impact what dialogue appears when you talk to overworld NPCs.