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Disgaea: Hour of Darkness HD Remake


ImplyingYouCare

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The original Disgaea is getting an HD remake for it's 15th anniversary. The release window is Summer 2018, but we don't know what systems it's for yet. The most likely console choices are PS4 and Switch. (Vita is probably not happening. Disgaea 5 was never released on the Vita and no Disgaea has ever had a simultaneous release on consoles and handhelds.)

 

This is really nice news though. Most people agree that the first Disgaea has the best story but the least refined gameplay. Having Hour of Darkness with decent sprites and Disgaea 5's gameplay systems sounds like the best thing you could ask for from the series. 

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Excellent. I shall eagerly await the glorious moment Cursed Memories / Dark Hero Days rears its head as well.

Would be great if Makai Kindgom [Portable] and La Pucelle Ragnarok and Phantom Brave: The Bermuda Triangle got a spotlight eventually.

...and can't forget Soul Cradle. I own the PSN JP version, but it isn't the same, to be honest.

Edited by NetEntity
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48 minutes ago, ImplyingYouCare said:

The original Disgaea is getting an HD remake for it's 15th anniversary. The release window is Summer 2018, but we don't know what systems it's for yet. The most likely console choices are PS4 and Switch. (Vita is probably not happening. Disgaea 5 was never released on the Vita and no Disgaea has ever had a simultaneous release on consoles and handhelds.)

 

This is really nice news though. Most people agree that the first Disgaea has the best story but the least refined gameplay. Having Hour of Darkness with decent sprites and Disgaea 5's gameplay systems sounds like the best thing you could ask for from the series. 

 

Got a link? Would like to read up at the source :)

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1 hour ago, SnowxSakura said:

Knowing NIS, it will probably just be a port of the pc version

 

A port is not a remake, they directly said that it was being remade.

 

1 hour ago, Crispy_Oglop said:

 

Got a link? Would like to read up at the source :)

 

Here you go. It was announced today at the end of a Nintendo Direct style video put out by NIS.

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7 hours ago, mako-heart said:

 

hahaha, I'm glad someone else remembered!

 

Yeah, i never really used the US (i'm from EU, but i don't use it anymore, too) but i remember everything... i think they even asked for a sale after it went on sale!

 

There was a similar guy in the EU blog years ago who kept asking for "cross-region gifting" and other impossible things like digital versions of Crisis Core or Birth By Sleep. Hopefully he chose to disappear after a while.

 

ps: now that i think about that, the actual sentence was "disgaea 2 sale please" ;)

 

7 hours ago, SnowxSakura said:

Knowing NIS, it will probably just be a port of the pc version

 

PC version is NOT a HD remaster/remake. It's a port of the PSP version. HD probably means something like Disgaea 5 graphics applied to Disgaea 1.

Edited by Lance_87
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Talk about your unnecessary remakes. I really liked this game back in the day, and I liked its first two sequels...which were exactly the same thing. I started Disgaea 4...which was exactly the same thing, and then they released Disgaea 5, which I'm sure was...exactly the same thing. Put this together with numerous Vita remakes and the like, and man...it's time to give this franchise a rest.

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6 minutes ago, starcrunch061 said:

Talk about your unnecessary remakes. I really liked this game back in the day, and I liked its first two sequels...which were exactly the same thing. I started Disgaea 4...which was exactly the same thing, and then they released Disgaea 5, which I'm sure was...exactly the same thing. Put this together with numerous Vita remakes and the like, and man...it's time to give this franchise a rest.

 

That's not true though. Hour of Darkness would benefit from a remake more than any other JRPG that NIS has made and it's because of how much was added to the sequels. All of the numbered Disgaea games have added a ton of new mechanics, it's just that you don't really see the benefits of any of them if you only play through the main story. You're not going to see just how differently Disgaea 3 and Disgaea 4 function until you make it to the post game and start to use things like the character worlds, cheat shop, pirating, and the Classroom/Campaign HQ. Besides that, there are only 2 Vita games and they're not remakes, they're ports with all of the DLC added along with new mechanic systems that the sequels introduced. 

 

I honestly don't understand why you're saying that these games are all exactly the same thing when the only thing I've ever heard from people recommending Disgaea games is "Just play the newest one because it has the best gameplay." Playing these games out of order is awful because of how different they are and how much the newer ones improve. Trying to go back to 1 after playing 5 is incredibly hard to do because of how different it's systems work.

 

Like off the top of my head I can tell you right now that Hour of Darkness needs a serious overhaul because guns are broken due to their range, and healers only getting EXP from defeating enemy units is awful. There's no evilities, no machichange, no stat changing HQ items, no HQ groups, no X dimension, no pirating, no character/class worlds, no dual weapon equips, no cheat shop, and no sub classes. Just tons of things that are used very heavily in later games are completely absent from the first and make it a chore to play in comparison to the newer ones. 

 

Also, Hour of Darkness is unfortunately really ugly and desperately needs new sprites. It was hideous even when it first came out and giving it a graphical overhaul on par with 5 would do wonders for the original. 

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1 hour ago, ImplyingYouCare said:

 

That's not true though. Hour of Darkness would benefit from a remake more than any other JRPG that NIS has made and it's because of how much was added to the sequels. All of the numbered Disgaea games have added a ton of new mechanics, it's just that you don't really see the benefits of any of them if you only play through the main story. You're not going to see just how differently Disgaea 3 and Disgaea 4 function until you make it to the post game and start to use things like the character worlds, cheat shop, pirating, and the Classroom/Campaign HQ. Besides that, there are only 2 Vita games and they're not remakes, they're ports with all of the DLC added along with new mechanic systems that the sequels introduced. 

 

I honestly don't understand why you're saying that these games are all exactly the same thing when the only thing I've ever heard from people recommending Disgaea games is "Just play the newest one because it has the best gameplay." Playing these games out of order is awful because of how different they are and how much the newer ones improve. Trying to go back to 1 after playing 5 is incredibly hard to do because of how different it's systems work.

 

Like off the top of my head I can tell you right now that Hour of Darkness needs a serious overhaul because guns are broken due to their range, and healers only getting EXP from defeating enemy units is awful. There's no evilities, no machichange, no stat changing HQ items, no HQ groups, no X dimension, no pirating, no character/class worlds, no dual weapon equips, no cheat shop, and no sub classes. Just tons of things that are used very heavily in later games are completely absent from the first and make it a chore to play in comparison to the newer ones. 

 

Also, Hour of Darkness is unfortunately really ugly and desperately needs new sprites. It was hideous even when it first came out and giving it a graphical overhaul on par with 5 would do wonders for the original. 

 

Icing. There's a reason that sales plummeted on Disgaea 5 (which, in turn, is probably why NIS is trying to bring up the nostalgia clock). You might care about these things, but many people (myself included) found them to be little more than annoyances. At no point in playing, e.g., Disgaea 3, did I ever say to myself, "Man - I wish I could equip dual weapons!"

 

It's odd that you act like people really like the new ones, and dislike the old ones. For the people I talk to, it is exactly the opposite. Perhaps that's just the glare of nostalgia, but most of my gamer and critic friends look far more fondly on Disgaea than on, say, Disgaea 3 (I can't really comment on Disgaea 5, because like about half of the purchasers of Disgaea 4, I didn't bother with the newest entry).

 

I am stunned that you see so much difference in the graphics of Disgaea and the later games, but maybe Disgaea 5 really (finally) had that ever-so-needed graphical overhaul. In my experience, all of the Disgaea titles just re-use assets. Yeah - they might clean up the look in Disgaea 4 a bit, but it's the same old crap. Again...

...

...which brings me full circle. This remake feels unnecessary. I'm sure there is a devoted fanbase that will buy it, because there always is. But it won't be me, and your post doesn't convince me of its necessity (any more than it convinces me that I should go back and finish Disgaea 4).

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23 minutes ago, starcrunch061 said:

 

Icing. There's a reason that sales plummeted on Disgaea 5 (which, in turn, is probably why NIS is trying to bring up the nostalgia clock). You might care about these things, but many people (myself included) found them to be little more than annoyances. At no point in playing, e.g., Disgaea 3, did I ever say to myself, "Man - I wish I could equip dual weapons!"

 

It's odd that you act like people really like the new ones, and dislike the old ones. For the people I talk to, it is exactly the opposite. Perhaps that's just the glare of nostalgia, but most of my gamer and critic friends look far more fondly on Disgaea than on, say, Disgaea 3 (I can't really comment on Disgaea 5, because like about half of the purchasers of Disgaea 4, I didn't bother with the newest entry).

 

I am stunned that you see so much difference in the graphics of Disgaea and the later games, but maybe Disgaea 5 really (finally) had that ever-so-needed graphical overhaul. In my experience, all of the Disgaea titles just re-use assets. Yeah - they might clean up the look in Disgaea 4 a bit, but it's the same old crap. Again...

...

...which brings me full circle. This remake feels unnecessary. I'm sure there is a devoted fanbase that will buy it, because there always is. But it won't be me, and your post doesn't convince me of its necessity (any more than it convinces me that I should go back and finish Disgaea 4).

 

I don't think you know what you're talking about here, honestly. Disgaea 5 didn't sell well at launch, but Disgaea games have always done better in the handheld market. Everyone was waiting for the handheld version of 5 because those versions end up being complete with all of the DLC and Disgaea works better as a portable game. When 5 launched on the Switch it sold more than double what the PS4 version had up to that point. It's also not fair to compare a niche series' sales from the late PS3 to a game at the very start of the PS4's life. The install bases are totally different and that attach rate is not what you're saying it is here.

 

For real though, look at any forums where people talk about Disgaea and you'll see what the general opinion is. I never said that people dislike the old games, just that people tend to agree that the first has the best story and that it's pointless to play the in-between games because the plots are poor and the newest games have updated mechanics. Why would you play 4 instead of 5 if the story doesn't matter and 5 has better gameplay? People will tell you to play the first game if you care about the story, then the newest game because it's the most refined. Also using 3 in your example of a "newer" game is a bad choice. The game is over 10 years old, there's 3 games made after it, and it's the black sheep of the series. It's highly agreed that it's the worst entry point/ worst to go back to. It's exceedingly rare to hear anyone say they like 3 more than the first two.

 

But you really see no difference in the sprite and animation quality between the PS2 and PS4 games? Because there's a world of difference in how well they're drawn and animated. If you mean the 3D models, I never talked about those. I was talking about the differences in the quality of the sprite work, because it's seriously night and day. 

 

dutvFkM.png

 

 

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29 minutes ago, ImplyingYouCare said:

 

I don't think you know what you're talking about here, honestly. Disgaea 5 didn't sell well at launch, but Disgaea games have always done better in the handheld market. Everyone was waiting for the handheld version of 5 because those versions end up being complete with all of the DLC and Disgaea works better as a portable game. When 5 launched on the Switch it sold more than double what the PS4 version had up to that point. It's also not fair to compare a niche series' sales from the late PS3 to a game at the very start of the PS4's life. The install bases are totally different and that attach rate is not what you're saying it is here.

 

For real though, look at any forums where people talk about Disgaea and you'll see what the general opinion is. I never said that people dislike the old games, just that people tend to agree that the first has the best story and that it's pointless to play the in-between games because the plots are poor and the newest games have updated mechanics. Why would you play 4 instead of 5 if the story doesn't matter and 5 has better gameplay? People will tell you to play the first game if you care about the story, then the newest game because it's the most refined. Also using 3 in your example of a "newer" game is a bad choice. The game is over 10 years old, there's 3 games made after it, and it's the black sheep of the series. It's highly agreed that it's the worst entry point/ worst to go back to. It's exceedingly rare to hear anyone say they like 3 more than the first two.

 

But you really see no difference in the sprite and animation quality between the PS2 and PS4 games? Because there's a world of difference in how well they're drawn and animated. If you mean the 3D models, I never talked about those. I was talking about the differences in the quality of the sprite work, because it's seriously night and day. 

 

dutvFkM.png

 

 

 

Such "general opinions" are useless, because they're certainly NOT general. Forums are filled with fanboys, and certainly NOT with the 500,000 or so people who purchase these niche titles. 

 

And citing (ever so vaguely) the opinions of Disgaea "experts" from fanboy-infested forums doesn't change my mind that this series is well past its expiration date. As far as your comparison of character models, is that really your big selling point here? Because, to be honest, I like the sprites better. And even if I didn't, such a change doesn't excuse NIS constantly trotting out the same tired enemies, classes, and allies over and over and over (which is really the whole point of EVERYTHING I've written).

 

Finally, I'd like to see ANY kind of evidence that Disgaea 5 has the kind of sales you're touting on the Switch. Anything at all. Looking at vgchartz, Disgaea 5 sold around 350,000 copies on PS4. I can't find ANYTHING to suggest that Disgaea 5 sold 700,000+ copies on the Switch. It sounds like nonsense, and honestly, it weakens everything else you have to say (was this also "general opinion" of your forums?).

 

Again, I'm glad you're happy that Disgaea is getting this upscale treatment. I'm glad you find so much enjoyment out of the exciting combat enhancements like...towers and...evilities and...whatever other surface additions are being made to this tired franchise. I don't, which is the point here. And the bunch of faceless group speak that you've cited doesn't change my mind in the least. And honestly, it's tiring to keep jumping through the hoops that you're demanding in this debate - I mean, it's not fair to compare titles, it's not fair to use Disgaea 3 as a point of comparison, there's no reason to talk about anything other than the first title and the last title, and all of these rules are apparently dictated by some forum cabal. 

 

It's very wearying. Maybe 5 is the one that really changes my mind. Those first 4? Just ignore those; they're old. That doesn't fly with me.

 

 

Edited by starcrunch061
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