September 10, 2003 Fanboy’s Corner Game Review PlayStation.c RST] Disgaea: Hour of Darkness Publisher: Altus Developer: Nippon Ichi Genre: Tactical RPG Number of Players: 1 ESRB Rating: Teen Nick Hogg OP Game Guy V. 2.0 All I can say is it’s about time that we got one of Atlus’s wonderful tactical RPGs from Japan. My only hope is this game sells well enough for them to con- sider bringing more of these types of games across the Pacific. This is the most complicated tactical RPG I’ve ever played, the battle system is extremely in depth, there are 60 human job classes, over 150 types of monsters, a level cap of 9999, multiple endings, and a new game + feature. I can’t think of much more I could ask for from a game. Although a few funnels can always improve a game The best part of the game is that it’s a comedy, which is hardly ever seen. It’s about Laharl the son of the King of the Netherworld, or Hell as most people call it. He had been asleep for the past two years and when he awoke he discovered that his father King Kirchevskoy had died and that there is a very large demon power struggle going on. The prince isn’t going to take this lying down, not any longer anyway, and he sets out to reclaim his birthright. Along with his vassel, Etna, and the underpaid Prinny Squad, Laharl sets off on his quest to take back the Netherworld by any means possible. Since this a comedy, the voice acting is done very tongue-in- cheek, which fits very well. There are some parts where the enemies are badly over acted, although the overacting just improves the humour. Most notable performances are by the Angel Flonne who is sicken- ingly cute and as smart as a sack of hammers, Vyers the Dark Adonis, or as Laharl renamed him—Mid- Boss, and finally the Prinny Squad, who are penguins with bat wings and a devilish battle cry of “DOOD.” The game play is extremely complex and the bat- tles are hard, this is not for anyone who isn’t an expe- rienced RPG player, or a strategy player, or anyone who doesn’t mind a very steep learning curve. How steep? You can die in the tutorial levels if you don’t know what youre doing. Beyond the regular levels to contend with, each item contains a vast world full of Culture ¢ the other press © monsters. By traversing this item world one can greatly increase the powers of any item. You can even subdue special monsters that increase the stats of item and can be moved to other item. As well, noth- ing you do in The Netherworld world is without the intervention of the Dark Counsel. You can take a battle test to increase your rank with the counsel; the higher your rank the more influential senators attain this Dark Congress. Everything from getting better items from the shops, to extorting military funds, to creating new and better characters are voted on by this congress. How do you get the vote to go your way? Bribes of course, and if the vote doesn’t go your way you have the option of persuading my forces, where you can painfully show the Senators the error of their ways. Each character class comes with their own set of special skills as well as a different learning curve with each of the six various weapons, which have their own set of learnable skills. Beyond that, in battle there are a number of team attacks allowing the chance for three adjacent characters next to the attacking character to join in and brutalize the enemy. This also allows characters to share in the experience of defeating an enemy, which allows weak characters to benefit from your overpowered ones. Even with character levels in the thousands, the game keeps it interesting by throwing evermore-powerful combination characters at you that never cease in causing you pain. With all these features I’ve only experienced a small percent of the game play and it’s been very entertain- ing and time consuming. By combining weird Japanese humour with strategy, and role-playing, we get a combination that appeals to anyone who likes game and anime. With inclusion of 60 job classes, q level cap of 9999, an endless assortment of weapon levels, and the new game + feature Disgaea is a game that isn't gong to be mastered in a week, or a month or possibly even a year. | Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change Tanya Perone OP Contributor There couldn’t have been a better time of the year to bring relationships to the centre stage, or more specif- ically, to the Granville Island Stage. Its July 17 open- ing came right around the time of many wedding dates. Plus, with all those new romances wafting amidst summer's air, it’s an ideal time to watch a musi- cal that cleverly interprets the many wonderful, and also very dreadful moments of dating and marriage. From first date jitters to those endearing moments as mama and papa—with children who no doubt won't leave you alone, J Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change certainly had the audience relating to mating. Now’s your chance, before school gets too hectic, to find time to take that blossoming date-mate or your old- time honey, heck even just a buddy, to this most worthwhile summertime show. Playwright and composer, Joe DiPietro, took the all too common subject of romance and made it fresh with witty lyrics and well-crafted scenarios. DiPietro’s success has everyone wanting to watch and today [ Love You, You're Perfect...is one of the funniest—and more importantly, longest running—Off-Broadway musicals, circulating in over 150 cities around the world. Regina-born Director, Michael Scholar Jr. has proudly brought this performance back to Vancouver for the third time. So far, it’s been as well received here as it was the last two times and so it should be; these performances were close to Broadway worthy. This clever musical comedy had all the makings of simple yet brilliant. With a plain stage design and only select props, the audience was prepared to get lost in the performances, nothing else. What was most creative and useful about the stage is how it comple- mented the overall theme. In their greatest use of props, suitcases sent the intended subtle message out in scene one; Baggage. Every person enters a relation- ship with his or her own suitcase full of it. The two acts were divided into the two major stages of a relationship: dating and marriage. There were a total of twenty scenes and songs and though each one dealt with all the cliché moments of couplehood, it was never overdone. The brilliant lyrics seemed customized to each indi- vidual, all of whom showed a stage presence diverse enough to distinguish between the many different http://www.otherpress.ca faces of couples in love. Though each scene was as impressive as the last, one performer stood out from the rest: Neil Minor. The Granville Island Stage veter- an took all the characters he played, small and large, and made them uniquely powerful. Definitely a scene-stealer—but worthy of every moment—he is pure talent and deserving of the eyes and ears of each audience member. This is not to say that the other three performers didn’t prove their talents, there was simply something special about Minor. He caught our hearts and had us dancing in our seats. The only downfall to the show had nothing to do with the performers and everything to do with the sound system, which in turn affected certain perform- ances. At times, one of the women was under-mic'd and though I have no major complaints, this oversight prevented her from sounding the way she should have. If you didn’t take time out of your busy summer schedule, then you still have a chance to buy tickets. Its original end date of August 30 has been carried over to September. For ticket information visit . Page 15