Gamer--freakz

Opening songs
OP 1 - Can't Take My Eyes Off You (Eyelis)

Ending songs
ED 1 - Koi no wana (Haruka Yamazaki)

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance

Episodes: 12



Third times the charm. Two anime seasons and 1 movie later, the "Hayate No Gotoku!" franchise still grows strong. The fans' never dying love for the characters of the series still remain after all these years, even after 2 years of having no news of the franchise. Still, the 3rd season showed through and now we even have a season 4 that's currently ongoing. Pure shenanigans if you ask me. Still, this 3rd season, "Can't Take My Eyes Off you", is a brand new story that is NOT part of the manga main story line. Its based off of the author's ideas for the series that never made it into the manga. So, how does that all fair, now that it's made into an anime season? Let's find out.

Meet Nagi and her new sister, Tsugumi.

Not this game! This game! And get that Blue-Ray anime movie as well!

GAH ALL STAR LEAGUE WEEKEND LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!


Seriously, if you aren't watching it and you're a league fan, what the hell are you doing?!? But for now the stream is on break, so I'll get into some posting. "Unchained Blades" was probably a very niche title. Not many would know about it, it showed up on the PSN store when the PSP was already pretty much dead for the US. Anyway, if you like dungeon crawlers, especially ones like "Etrian Odyssey", this will definitely tickle your fancy. I know it was a little repetitive, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.



*SPOILERS*

Looks like a final boss actually.

 

Name: Fang
Traits: Fire attributed, High physical damage
Rating: 8/10


As the main character, Fang is pretty dominant throughout the game. He has high as hell hit points (second to Hector), deals a shit ton of damage, probably the most in the game. Also, he's a dragon, and we all know how badass dragons are. He is fire attributed, so yeah, expect his ultimate high level skills Napalm and Dragoon raid to do fire damage. This is weird however, since those skills PRETTY much scale a lot on magic, which isn't his forte.


Fang is pretty hate-able throughout the early and easily for the most part of the game AS a character. As a thick headed idiot who only knows how to boast and brag about his strength, he really lets his past as the dragon king get to him. He gets better as he learns to care for others, but well, you'll grow to deal with it. He is pretty much a staple in your team for damage, and he fits well in the full out DPS team formation. Power charge makes him one scary idiot.

She fits the role "phoenix girl" really well.

Name: Tiana
Traits: Fire attributed, Early-mid physical damage, Late game magic damage, Healing
Rating: 8/10


Tiana is a really weird character statistically. When you first get her she's this weird rapier wielding girl that does pretty good physical damage and can do decent damage with magic. As you level her up her physical damage continues to scale well but not as well as the game's hard hitters. However, towards the mid forties/early fifties you will see her magic damage take a good rise. She is fire attributed (god that X-flare), and can deal a bunch of damage as well as HEAL the team. She is practically the utility character.


Tiana is this spoiled teenage phoenix girl that just thinks she's all that. In many ways, she is a female version of Fang, but instead of being a thickheaded bull charging  man, she's kind of girly. I feel that out of the entire party though, her wish is the most underwhelming, but that's that. She grows to become a likable character. She also works well in parties. Having painful normal attacks while wielding a staff late game for some insane magic damage, always works out.

Bah, another one of you guys.

Name: Lucius
Traits: Instant death, High physical damage
Rating: 7/10


Lucius is actually really good....if you ever get to using him. You have to play his ENTIRE chapter alone and that is just backbreaking, difficulty as all hell. The problem with Lucius is that when you do get him into your party, you have spent an ENTIRE chapter without him and he is severely underleveled when  he joins. This is where most players abandoned him, and trust me, I wanted to do that. But if you manage to get the patience to train him back up, he's actually good.


Lucius is this lone wolf type bijin character that doesn't trust anyone and just wants to get his job done. Basically a character that has to be in every anime or JRPG. I actually like these kind of characters...but they have grown rather stale to me recently. Trust me when I say you'll f**king hate him until the end of chapter 5...you'll see what I mean. If you actually get him to high levels, he has good physical damage and can cause instant death on his attacks.

Oh, a summon!

Name: Hector
Traits: Earth attributed, Tank aspects
Rating: 5/10


I hate tank characters in RPGs. Its understandable to have them in MMORPGs, but in regular RPGs, they feel redundant unless they are REALLY F**KING GOOD (I'm thinking the defender of Etrian Odyssey). Hector is one of those characters. Highest health in the game, highest defense, has a bunch of skills that have him covering for another character/defending himself/raising his defense. But, he has the lowest damage in the game, right along with Lapis. 


His character is also really really really REALLY hate-able. He acts like a coward for a good 2/3 of the game, and you'll see him want to pussy out almost EVERY time. Also, he gets this creepy obsession of Mari which gets totally wacked out (well, there are people into that kind of stuff). He gets better character wise, but meh, I don't like him. As a tank in battle, he is just a damage soak, but with enemies hitting your entire team for tons of damage he doesn't really cut that well.

Nine-tailed foxes, why must it be nine-tails? I'm fine with just one.

Name: Niko
Traits: Wind attributed, High agility
Rating: 6/10


Niko is probably one of my more liked characters in the game, but in battle she just doesn't DO much. She is an agility type character, and if you've read my previous posts on RPG parties, I hate agility types. They usually don't do a lot of damage compared to other characters, and even if they do get some late game, there is no incentive to use them early-mid. However, she still can output damage, at least more than Hector, and being the fastest, means she always gets to go first. I'm sure some people can use that to their advantage.


Niko's personality is just likable. In a party of misfits and unsociable people, Niko is the one that keeps the mood up. She is kind of stupid, but her positive personality really helps to change things up. And because she is a tomboy, the opposite of Sylvie, a very ladylike character, its nice to her getting scolded and having that pout face on. She really leans towards the physical damage side in battle, but as I mentioned earlier, you have to take advantage of her speed to really be good with her.

Ultra shy big-boobs girl alert!

Name: Lapis
Traits: Healing, Buffing
Rating: 7/10


Lapis quickly becomes a staple to your party. Heals, heals and more heals, you cannot do without a white mage in your RPG...for ALL RPGs in that matter. Lapis does everything you'd expect her to, AOE heals, single target heals, revives, buffs and more. She also gets to do damage, though not as much as some other obvious caster characters. Still, there is no reason to not want her in unless you'd want to die easily. 


Lapis is those kind of character that gets picked because of her personality. She is SUPER shy, with BIG boobs (reminds you of Mikuru from Haruhi Suzumiya, or Mizuki from Baka test), and she basically just doesn't want to be a burden throughout the game. She has an obvious crush on Fang. In battle, well, she's a healer, just take her with you and stop whining. The reason why her score isn't higher is because Tiana can heal as well, and that Lapis has pretty low damage.

A lot less demonic that I would imagine!

Name: Sylvie
Traits: Lighting attributed, Magic damage
Rating: 7/10


Sylvie is a straight out, all-in caster with a ton of magic damage. She easily does the highest magic damage in the game, also hosting the game's lowest defenses and health. In other words, she's a glass cannon. Give her Hexxa skills and Geyser, she'll wipe the floor with bosses and enemies without any issue. She starts off as a lightning type, but she gets to learn other elemental magic later which makes her a way more formidable force than you'd think. She works as a damage alternative if your team needs it.


Syvlie is my favorite girl in this game, right before Tiana. If there was a ladylike character in this game, it'd be Syvlie, and I am a sucker for those high class lady types. Constantly bickering on how Niko should act more appropriately as a lady or how Tiana should not sit with her legs crossed. Although her brother complex could be toned down a bit in my opinion. As a full blown magical based character, just put her into that caster spot, she can deal 0 physical damage.

Here you go you loli lovers.

Name: Mari
Traits: Debuffer, Status ailment
Rating: 7/10


Mari is the oddball of the team. She doesn't get a good stable source of damage until later (Arcana burst is wtf), but she still fits very well in the team for those people who like to play around differently. Her kit mostly focuses around throwing debuffs at the enemy and status ailments, this won't work for players who dono't know how to abuse this practice, but in any case, Mari is the best character to have around for unchaining monsters. Battle-wise, I'll leave it up to you.


Mari is the quiet silent type girl that doesn't say anything. She doesn't care about much and only speaks her mind if she needs to. She doesn't show much expression throughout, so she's easily the type of character that you won't really like or hate. She neither physical nor magical, but I'd say magical later on as Arcana burst is a truly broken skill to have for damage. Other than that, she fits as the standard debuffer.



Finally, here we go.


My party
--------------------------------------------------
Fang
Tiana
Sylvie
Lapis
--------------------------------------------------


The rest in ranking
--------------------------------------------------
Mari
Lucius
Niko
Hector
--------------------------------------------------


Peace.

Opening songs
OP 1 - UNDERSHAFT (Maon Kurosaki)

Ending songs
ED 1 - Laterality (Nagi Yanagi)

Genre: Action

Episodes: 12


Every time I review anime sequels there's not really much to talk about that I haven't covered in its predecessor. "Jormungand: Perfect Order" is the direct sequel to the original "Jormungand", and needless to say, it continues doing what it does best. Guns, blood, murder, assassinations, a group of wacky ass gun totting mercenaries and their half-witted crazy leader. The theme that it focused on stays, and its safe to say that the anime didn't stray too far away from the first season. Also, as the story progresses, things heat up, which really gives the anime some much needed sense of urgency and tension. All while leading up to a satisfying yet thought-provoking conclusion, this sequel has done the franchise justice.

The bosses and their favorites.

They're kind of like brother and sister already.

Gamespot Score: n/a

My Score: 7.3


(+)Pros: - Great song selection for each character featuring beautifully rendered music videos with amazing visuals (considering that this is the PSP), - 4 difficulty modes for each song, - Easy to pick up, - Each version has different songs and characters, - Customizable notes and music gear, - Exclusive anime episode bundled with each version.

(-)Cons: - No crossover support, - Having only 2 buttons means that you will never ever fail any song (though scoring high can still be a challenge on higher difficulties), - Individual versions can be lacking and slightly overpriced. 


Gameplay time: - 

So if you checked out my "Idolm@ster" anime review awhile back, you will know that I love this franchise, almost as much as I love other franchises like "K-on" or "Hatsune Miku : Project Diva". I am, however, not a huge fan of the idol raising simulation thing that the original "Idolm@ster" games have going. Basically in those games you just choose an idol, and then you send them for training sessions, spend time with them, then finally send them for concerts to gain fame. Not my cup of tea, but luckily, "Idolm@ster : Shiny Festa", is a full blown music game, with songs, difficulty levels, and notes to hit!  Needless to say, if you like music games or the franchise itself, these are the games you may be looking for!



The "Idolm@ster" franchise has always been quite ample with its story, and for the most part it has been handled well. These games each have their own story as well, though its told in 3 different iterations in each of the versions. The games follow up the story of the anime, using the same producer and character cast. Basically, it speaks of a new resort that opened overseas and that many idols/music groups are going there for a music centered festival. Of course, the idols of 765 pro cannot forsake this opportunity, so the producer already managed to book a slot there for a performance by the idols. However, not everybody gets a chance, and the girls who get to perform there are......

Beautiful visuals for the PSP.

...varied depending on your version, more on this later. "Idolm@ster : Shiny Festa" tries to go for a more "Pokemon"  feel, by selling 3 different versions, each with its own differences. The games split their song selections over 13 different characters, along with plenty of collaboration songs. There are 20 songs for each version, with each character getting their own songs exclusive to that version, with the inclusion of songs that are present in all 3 versions. Each version tries to portray a "theme", which the song genres will fit into. "Groovy Tune" goes for a more serious tone, having the most epic songs out of the 3 versions. "Funky Note" has the catchy and super cutesy songs that will get all the loli-cons raved up into the air. "Bright Sound" is a middle ground for both, having a mixture of catchy and serious songs.


Its also worth a note that the visuals for the music videos as you play through the songs, are absolutely beautiful. Since you can't customize the outfits for your idols (each song has them automatically switching outfits), most the music videos consist of short animated clips and CG graphic dance routines. These look great, among one of the best I have seen for anime themed games. Though there are quite a few modes right off the get-go, there are only 2 related to gameplay. Stage and festival. Stage is like a free play mode where you just play songs whenever you want, while festival is more of a "story" mode where you go into an event and try to perform as well as you can to outshine other idols.

Keep pressing those buttons!

The main gameplay is easy to pick up. Whenever a song plays notes come out from the left and right side of the screen, and will close in on a center circle. Pushing any button on the D-pad registers a left side note, while triangle, square, X or circle registers as a right side note. As the notes come in you just push buttons from the left and right side of the PSP, simple! Though in higher difficulties, this still proves to be very challenging as multiple sections appear on screen and the lines carrying the notes will be twisted or distorted, making it very confusing at times. There are 4 difficulty types, and those apply to the higher level difficulties. There are different songs and characters for each version. "Groovy tune" hosts Miki, Makoto, Yukiho and Takane. "Bright Sound" hosts Haruka, Chihaya, Ritsuko and Azusa. Finally, "Funky Note" hosts Yayoi, Iori, Ami, Mami and Hibiki.


Playing songs earns you two things, money for customization and items, as well as fans. Fans are divided into a few tiers, leading from D to S rank, with a maximum of 200000 fans at the top of the chart. That is hardcore, though I managed to hit that amount for 2 of the versions. Items you buy either make you account out for a mis-note or give you more fans for the next song you play...the effect varies on what you buy. You can also customize the music notes, lines and gears to your liking. These unlock as you progress up the ranks of your fans, which gives us incentive to get more fans. Each version also has an anime episode, chronicling the adventures of the different girls at the festival for each different version.

Exclusive anime episodes serve as an extra goody.

Now it stinks hard that the games lack any feature to let us play with other players with different versions. I mean, that is the point of making 3 versions ain't it? To share among others? It sucks that this is not the case. Also, this may be a problem for the hardcore music players. A 2 button music game is sure to turn off those hardcores, though I will come to their defense. While it is hard to score in those high difficulty songs, its almost impossible to fail a song. Even by mashing buttons you can get past them. Also, the fact that all 3 of these games combined feel more as a whole, each individual version might be a little underwhelming, considering that it is a full priced game. FFS the IOS app costs $54.99 US PER VERSION, which is ridiculous.


This is already a dream for "Idolm@ster" fans who love the franchise, but don't initially dig the idea of an idol raising simulation. What other way to bring out the music in "Idolm@ster"? A rhythm game its the bill correctly, and "Shiny Festa" will probably appeal to a much bigger audience, seeing how not everyone wants to raise virtual idols. In my opinion this is a better step forward for the franchise, though there are improvements to be had. Lets hope the western side sees some future "Idolm@ster" content, seeing as how they managed to localize this for the IOS on English.





Happy gaming!

Opening songs
OP 1 - Rakuen Project (Ray)

Ending songs
ED 1 - Foul Play Ni Kurari (Kanon Wakeshima)

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Episodes: 12



When its awesome, don't stop. The "To Love Ru" franchise has been rather successful, and it makes perfect sense that they would continue the show starting everybody's favorite lord of harem, the playboy of over 10 girls already. "To Love Ru Darkness" aims to continue what the series has already been doing for 2 seasons, fanservice and the story of getting all the ladies! You should already know what to expect, and you can be pretty damn well sure that we'll be seeing a lot more fanservice, though I have no knowledge of an uncensored version as of yet.... DAMMIT! Well censored or not, "To Love Ru Darkness" is still sexy to the core, and I'm quite sure fans of the series will continue to adore its shenanigans. 

Panties panties panties....

The opening song for the anime is "Rakuen Project" by Ray, and I gotta say, it doesn't fit the anime at all. Look at "Loop-The-Loop" for season 2, that's something I would expect out of an anime like "To Love Ru". Ah whatever, it may not fit the anime, but "Rakuen project" is a great song that I really enjoy, though I think it would fit more into a fighting anime or something. "Foul Play Ni Kurari" by Kanon Wakeshima is the ending song, and its another one of those cutesy catchy songs that you may or may not like. I thought it was pretty alright.



Rating: 8.0/10



They got rid of the episodic style of season 2 where they split each episode into 3 individual short stories and went back to season 1 style where each episode is a separate story on its own. I kind of liked the way they went with season 2, since that opened up opportunities for more character screen time for the girls we don't see too often, however that also limited the way that the actual story of the anime could be told (not that there is much focus on the story in the first place anyway). Now that everything is stringed in an episode,  you can see more of a connection and a little more of a story....but who gives a damn we are here for the boobs, the ass and the panties. Fanservice ahoy, there's still tons of what we all love here, though its censored pretty heavily. F**K!

A dream situation, I'm sure.

As usual we go back to the shoes of Yuuki Rito, the guy that everybody wants to be. Following the events of season 2, Rito continues to live his life as per normal. This time though, instead of Lala, Momo serves as the main heroine. Seeing Rito live an indecisive life, as he cannot choose between the girls, Momo decides to help him become a harem king so that he can have all the girls, and not just one. In the process, Momo meets a mysterious girl, Mea, whom has some ulterior motives towards Rito. Watch as Momo tries to take things one step further for Rito, and how she would want to assemble more girls for Rito's future harem...with  all the girls from before as candidates already.


"To Love Ru Darkness" is as we'd expect. Its a full blown ecchi fanservice centered anime with a great progression to the series. All the girls are so likable as they were before, and the animation only gets better with each additional season. I can only hope that the next iteration (we all know its coming) continues down this route, and guys....cut down on the censorship, I mean, you did season 2 uncensored :D.



Peace.

Gamespot Score : n/a

Probably the best interface in the entire game.

F**king beautiful game, ain't it?

Cat fight!

Crossbreed Priscillia
HP: 2300
Skills: Invisibility*, Ice blow, Scythe swing
Souls: 30000


Difficulty: 2/5
Times died on 1st playthrough: 1



Like Gwyndolin, this boss is completely optional, but is still recommended that you do it. Its best to kill every available boss in the game to get the best out of your souls. Still, I didn't post a boss profile for a good 2 months, but fret not, I just forgot, its still here. After the shenanigans in Anor Londo, and if you got the doll from your revisit to your cell in undead asylum, you can access the Painted World Of Ariamis, which is by the gigantic room which is filled with painting guardians. Going into the giant painting means that there's no turning back until you make it to the end, and you'll find the most sympathetic boss in the game. You don't have to kill her to leave, but being the heartless idiots that we are, here's the strategy.

Of course you did.

Priscillia really doesn't want to fight you. She just wants you to leave and will offer no resistance if you ever try. Still, beating her isn't difficult, she's one of the easier bosses in the game. You will probably die once if you don't know how to deal with her, but if you do, it should be easy. She can do a lot of damage and can instill an almost instant bleed effect on your character if she manages to hit you. However, those attacks are telegraphed and can be dodged easily.



Invisibility*- This is her trick, and probably what will get you the first time around. If you do not get around this, you will never win. Priscillia envelops the entire arena in a blizzard, turns completely invisible, and everything she does...cannot be seen.

Ice blow- She blows a fierce force of freezing wind towards you, dealing damage upon impact. Nothing much to worry about here.

Scythe swing- She swings her scythe, and upon impact, deals damage PLUS causes bleeding if you do not have strong bleed resistant armor. Can cause problems when invisible, otherwise is telegraphed heavily and can be dodged or blocked.



The moment you decide to hit her, the fight begins, and she turns invisible. If you do not know how to deal with this, you can never beat her, but hints come easily, and if you spot it, the method to counter her invisibility should come quite quickly. She has no far ranged attacks, her attacks are mostly melee or medium ranged at best. You can block all her attacks, dodge them, and she takes a good deal of damage from yours.  As long as you get past the invisibility, this battle is yours by a long shot.

She does look pretty badass.....

Priscillia's invisibility can be tracked as she moves around the arena. The entire area is covered in snow, and when she moves while invisible, she still puts tracks on the ground. Stay near any edge of the snow covered center of the map, and look around, spot the footprints that she leaves behind. She likes to stay motionless for awhile to bait you to move about so she can hit you when you come in range, but if you play the waiting game, she will eventually start to move, and make tracks on the ground.


Follow her movement with your shield up, and if you're ranged, just start throwing spells at the general direction of the footprints to hit her and eventually force her out of invisibility. If you're melee, just walk up to her and when she hits you, you'll block it. Same deal, hit her over and over, she'll eventually turn visible, now the fight starts for real.


She only has 2 attacks, and to add to that, she is rather slow, so beating her while visible is easy. Her scythe swing is slow, can be blocked/dodged without much problem, but can inflict instant bleed without proper resistances. Avoid this at all costs, but its simple to do so. Her ice blow is even slower and she stays motionless during the entire attack animation, making her vulnerable during this attack. Just maneuver around her to dodge and avoid this attack.


Note that when you attack Priscillia, its better to his her from the back, specifically, the tail. Chopping off her tail grants you one of the best DEX scaling weapons in the game. She has low HP for a boss and can be killed really quickly with a decent weapon. If you fail to kill her fast enough, she will make herself invisible and you'll have to repeat the entire process of killing her again. Shouldn't be too bad though.

...and pretty cute as well.

Unfortunately for everybody's favorite moe half-dragon waifu, Priscillia isn't a hard boss at all. After getting pass the invisibility there's nothing left to fear. She drops a good 30000 souls for your efforts, plus her soul to make into the broken Priscillia's scythe. Sometimes its good to just skip this boss entirely, because killing her makes you feel like a complete asshole as she is the only boss in the game that DOESN'T want to attack you.

Peace.

I can't believe I haven't done one of these in April.


Anyway, our 3 animes of the day. "Kore Wa Zombie Desuka?" is another one of those comedy/harem animes with a twist. Its really funny and easily puts a smile on any viewer's face, though I'd say season 1 is better than season 2. "Kokoro Connect" is some intense stuff. Its hard to explain about 5 average high school students trying to get their lives back to normal, but it turns out to be an incredible emotional ride. "Kannagi" is just, you know, "Kannagi". Crazy shrines maidens, is what it is. Its another romance/comedy anime, its pretty good, but nothing too amazing.



Kore Wa Zombie Desuka?

This has got to be one of the funniest animes I have ever watched, and it expanded into a pretty lovable franchise that made no sense, but was just enjoyable nonetheless. There are tons of great, funny characters here, but here's my favorite.

Sexy ninja....she's not the first.

Kanzaki Kaori lookalike? Check. Huge boobies? Check. Tsundere as f**k when she needs to be? Check. Sexy beyond all hell? Check. Voiced by Yoko Hikasa? Check, check, check. Seras is just the sexiest girl in the series, and that goes without a second thought. Every time she shakes those huge boobs of hers she just puts a perverted smile on my face. That being said, what does the vampire ninja offer to the table other than just a sexy body?


Ever felt like a masochist? Like when a girl insults you, you feel girl and ask her to continue? That's the case with Seras. She is pretty much sadist throughout most of the series. Her insults hit spot on, she shoots Ayumu down hard like a bee stinging an ant. Out of all the girls that surround Ayumu in his life, Seras is probably the girl he has the least chance with, just because she keeps a cool head around everything and everyone.


In the house of four, she's probably the big sister figure. As I said earlier, she doesn't freak out, and does everything perfectly. In rare cases in which she messes up, she goes completely embarrassed and that is just insanely cute to watch. She doesn't offer much to the fight section despite being a vampire ninja though. I mean, she fights, but we just don't see enough of her swing that leaf sword of hers to actually define her combat ability, compared to the magical girls.



Kokoro Connect


Now this one was easy. The entire series had great characters throughout, and without a doubt every single character had an insane deal of character development. There were lots of internal stuff going on, and when it boiled down to it, there could only be one.

Dem feels.

Inaba, was just an amazing character. I thought using Miyuki Sawashiro's badass woman voice would be a little bit too much for a high school girl, but it worked out well in the end. She was the character that changed the most throughout the entire series, and I felt that she had made the biggest improvement in character over 17 episodes of the series. 


Inaba started out as a stuck-up, anti-social prick that really didn't think too much of being a "friendly" person. She only communicated with others when she needed to, and out of the 5 club members, she seemed to be the biggest bitch in the club at the very start. She picked on others on their inabilities, and commented on how Taichi's "knight" personality was just sickening and helping others was just too much to poke into. She made a huge deal out of the first case, when obviously Iori had it harder.


Of course, she grew greatly  throughout the series, and when the final arc came, she just became this beacon that held the club together. She stayed positive throughout, and just helped stopped things from steering too much out of control. During the last few episodes, you can just feel that she helped keep everyone strong, and you just can't dislike the fact that she was the one ending up with Taichi.



Kannagi


I do not have much recollection about "Kannagi", it is a pretty old show. I can only remember it being an anime about a crazy goddess that got carved out of wood and just started invading the life of another innocent high school kid. And by pure coincidence, she was a goddess that had the body and looks of a high school girl as well. What the hell is wrong with this world....

Nyaan~~Pizaaaaa

I remembered this girl though. Zange is just a bad girl, a priestess that gives no f**ks at all. She is Nagi's sister, and as a fellow rival god, she intends to compete with her sister for worshipers, in any way she sees fit. Who can forget her always trying to pick on Nagi when she was weak, or that gym storehouse bondage scene where she just tied her sister up and threatened to hang her naked in the room just for rivalry's sake. What a naughty girl indeed.


Its really hard to hate Zange though, even after all that (Kana Hanazawa as her seiyuu btw), she stands as the cocky, seductive girl that tries to steal away the main character even though she knows that he's got eyes on someone else. She knows that Jin is going to freak out every time she clings onto him, and she continuously does that just for the sake of it. She makes fun of her sister often, but when it comes down to it, they still get along well at times.


Zange gained her popularity not only by being cute and sexy. She was a "sister" that would give advice to anybody who needed them, and she gained a good deal of worshipers there. Many would flock around just to ask her for advice (for a price), and whether or not they were accurate, the people didn't really care. Hell, I wouldn't care, I'd still see her everyday!



Peace for now, next one should be out sooner.

Gamespot Score: 7.5 (Good)

My Score: 8.0


(+)Pros: - Great tactical game play that is still addictive as ever, - Humorous and clever writing that is easy to laugh and have fun with, - Tons of character customization as always, - You can still grind to become ridiculously powerful, - Still has a disgustingly immense amount of post-game content that will literally take you hundreds of hours to complete.

(-)Cons: - Has not evolved much at all, unlike the 3rd game from the 2nd, - Grinding still makes up most of the game.

Gameplay time: From 40 hours to as long as 100 hours+

I remember how I pleasantly enjoyed every "Disgaea" game I have ever played. I didn't play the 2nd game, but the original was a fantastic entry to the series, and the 3rd game only made me love it more. What better to expand my love for the series than playing the latest of the main flagship franchise? "Disgaea 4:A Promise Unforgotten" aims to appeal to the fans like never before. With improved HD sprites, a brand new story and cast of characters, the game is surely an improvement over the slightly under-polished "Disgaea 3". However, how does the quirkiness of "Disgaea 4" stand up to the rest of the series? Will we see another funky main character with weird tastes? Of course we do!




"Disgaea 4" puts you in the shoes of our latest evil hero of the underworld, Valvatorez. Valvatorez is a tyrant lord, a vampire feared by denizens all around the underworld, but because of a promise he made to a certain young woman in the past, he has swore not to drink any blood. And as anyone knows, a vampire without blood, is a weak ass vampire. Valvatorez now lives in the bottom depths of the underworld, Hades, where all weak criminal demons resides. Valvatorez lives on as a prinny instructor, dedicating himself to disciplining and teaching prinnies the right path of becoming.....a prinny. He does so with his loyal vanguard, Fenrich, a werewolf that willingly throws his life for Valvatorez. "All is for my lord", he says. Noticing one day that the netherworld government has been corrupt and that the old demonic ways have changed, Valvatorez sets up to overthrow the government with his group of lackeys! With the power of sardines!

Yeap, the characters are still whacked out as all hell.

As usual with the "Disgaea" series, writing, in game dialogue and voice acting are all humorously top notch. I play all "Disgaea" games in English voices, and hell, I'd slander anyone saying that its bad. Like in the previous game, "Disgaea 4" has great voice English voice actors, and most of all, they are expressive, full of emotion, and funny as all hell when they need to be. Valvatorez seems to have the best treatment here. The core gameplay mechanics of the "Disgaea" universe still remain in tact. You fool around in a "HQ" area where you shop for items, weapons, armor, or simply go to the new campaign HQ (which replaces the classroom system from "Disgaea 3") to rally and set up your characters. After all is said and done you talk to a dimension guide which sends you to the next battle.


And what battles these are. If you are a fan of the series you should already know what to expect. You start off in a base panel where you can deploy up to a certain amount of units, which you move, toss, attack or cast spells with. You move all your units, end your turn, then the enemy moves all of theirs, simple as that. Its still the great gameplay we all know and love, with a little bit of changes here and there. Classes have been tweaked, and a new monster fusion mechanic has been introduced, where you fuse two monsters to make a bigger, super-sized and more powerful one. This can be used for some new strategy set-ups.

Get f**ked.

Like in all previous "Disgaea" games, you are allowed to create side generic characters on your own, in addition with your main story characters. Like your main characters, you can seriously go in-depth with these guys, ALL OUT. You can plan out the stats for them when they are created, then as you level them up, you unlock higher tiers of that generic character type, then you can reincarnate that character to level 1 again for advanced growth when you train them up again. And of course, by training them up, I mean grinding them up to become gods. As you open up more stages in story mode, you will soon find maps that give more EXP than others, then let the grinding begin! Reach 4-digit levels, hit 7 digits worth of damage, that has always been the goal of some players.


The post-game content...god, the amount of stuff here is just nauseating. Fans of the game who go for the post-game story to get cameo characters (most players do this, me included), will be indulged for easily TWICE the gameplay time than normal players who just play for the story. The enemy levels skyrocket in the post-game, making grinding a must. Your characters will hit the 4 digit range before you know it in post-game. That's not even all. Lets not forget the shenanigans of the item world, where you can go on for HOURS just to power up a SINGLE piece of equipment. Or the land of carnage for the hardcore players, to get your perfect rank/stats items. You can easily indulge yourself in the hundreds and hours if you devote yourself to the post-game. 

No cat shall be spared.

For long time fans of the series, this entry will seem a little dry and recycled. If you've always liked the "Disgaea" games, make no mistake, you will love this title just as much as the rest, though there isn't much in terms of new offerings. At least in "Disgea 3", they added the geo block system which added a shit-ton of depth to the tactical combat, in there, there wasn't anything I could remember other than the giant monster fusing. And well, this is as expected of the "Disgaea" games, a lot of grinding is involved. In fact, most of the game itself is grinding. While most fans expect and embrace this, it is a fact that most of the game composes of grinding your guys for future tougher battles.


"Disgaea 4:A Promise Unforgotten" is just as you'd expect from a "Disgaea" game. Insane, in-depth, tactical battles of ridiculous scales. Fans of the series would probably enjoy this one like any other "Disgaea" game, but if you've never liked these games, than "Disgaea 4" will probably not appeal to you as well. Lets hope the next "Disgaea" games give us something more awesome, new gameplay mechanics that'll really knock our socks off. Until then though, Valvatorez is one of the funniest video game protagonists up to date, he'll satisfy your "Disgaea" needs. Look out for "Disgaea Dimensions 2"!





Happy gaming!