Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness

 PlayStation 3
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 71 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 51 out of 71
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 71
  3. Negative: 12 out of 71
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  1. Lucky-Jinx
    Oct 10, 2013
    10
    This game is the reason that I own a Playstation 3 and the reason I will buy a Playstation 4. This tactical strategy game offers an infinite gaming opportunity in the form of random dungeons and a reincarnation system that means that you can repeat the process as many times as you like. The difficulty is also completely malleable and tailored to your own personal level. It is easyThis game is the reason that I own a Playstation 3 and the reason I will buy a Playstation 4. This tactical strategy game offers an infinite gaming opportunity in the form of random dungeons and a reincarnation system that means that you can repeat the process as many times as you like. The difficulty is also completely malleable and tailored to your own personal level. It is easy enough for a child to learn and play, but hard enough for a chess master to strain their abilities to stay alive.

    Is this the perfect game? For some yes. The 2 dimensional manga style graphics will not appeal to some and the Manga style humor may not appeal to everyone (Luckily you can simply skip it all and focus entirely on the gameplay)

    D2 takes the very best from its predecessors and adds suggestions from the fan-base to fine tune the system. Simple things like the ability to separate your team into premade groups so that you don’t have to waste time searching for them in a list. Enjoyable fight cut-scenes that you can turn off in the main menu, or if you prefer just skip them with a simple push of a button as they are performing them. There is even a character in your home base that allows you to change the percentage of experience or money you will obtain as well as cranking up the difficulty by not allowing you to ‘cancel’ an attack order for a wonderfully hardcore experience.

    If you enjoy tactical strategy games you will not be disappointed.    … Expand
  2. medv4380
    Oct 9, 2013
    9
    The overall system has been improved from the last. Item world has been reworked, and improved making it a bit better if you're planning on diving in. Apprenticeship is improved and actually usable. Before you'd have to be near the character that created the other in order to gain any benefit, but now it's always on, and can be changed to other characters, not just the original creator.The overall system has been improved from the last. Item world has been reworked, and improved making it a bit better if you're planning on diving in. Apprenticeship is improved and actually usable. Before you'd have to be near the character that created the other in order to gain any benefit, but now it's always on, and can be changed to other characters, not just the original creator. Rather than give you a few pre-made characters it sticks you with just the 3 core, and 2 prinnies to start. A training option has been brought in to replace the classroom options in Disgaea 3.

    Another change is that story characters will occasionally chat in battle just after moving them onto the board.

    My only complaint is in the Start time. The game takes an odd length of time to just start. It might be doing something to improves overall load times since it goes quickly after the initial start up, but it was long enough that I thought it had hard locked my PS3.    … Expand
  3. Kosmos999
    Oct 8, 2013
    10
    A complete quality of life upgrade over its predecessors. Staff weapons have been completely rebalanced to make magic users dangerous in a fight. Apprentices can now be swapped around at will making it much easier to get the spells you want on the character you want. You can now promote a character to their next rank without reincarnating them. Evilities are now decided when theA complete quality of life upgrade over its predecessors. Staff weapons have been completely rebalanced to make magic users dangerous in a fight. Apprentices can now be swapped around at will making it much easier to get the spells you want on the character you want. You can now promote a character to their next rank without reincarnating them. Evilities are now decided when the character is created allowing you to choose one of three depending on your play style.

    The new weapon, the book, takes the place of the staff as a weak melee weapon, but it provides the user with powerful summon spells.

    The story begins right where Disgaea 1 left off, but you shouldn't feel like you need to have played the first game, since the entire game is just an upgraded version of the ones before it.    … Expand
  4. casketeer
    Oct 9, 2013
    10
    D2 is the best Disgaea published. I am fully ready to accept it as the true heir of Disgaea. D2 returns to the absurd character of Disgaea. The banter is amusing again. The mechanics are easy to use and difficult to master.
    Nippon Ichi has removed many barriers that interfered with enjoying the Disgaea series: promotion to next rank no longer requires reincarnation. Weapon skills are    D2 is the best Disgaea published. I am fully ready to accept it as the true heir of Disgaea. D2 returns to the absurd character of Disgaea. The banter is amusing again. The mechanics are easy to use and difficult to master.
    Nippon Ichi has removed many barriers that interfered with enjoying the Disgaea series: promotion to next rank no longer requires reincarnation. Weapon skills are earned instead of earned and purchased (ala 2-4). You now choose a mage's or witch's elemental forte instead of rolling and re-rolling the dice. All this allows you to spend less time in menus and more in battle or dialogue.
    In short, D2 is just different enough, having made the changes that matter and undone a few mistakes, D2 is a gem.    … Expand
  5. Tridus
    Nov 19, 2013
    8
    There is a plot, but it's not terribly interesting. The main bonus of this game over Disgaea 4 is there are numerous UI and quality of life improvements. A lot of things have been cleaned up and are easier to work with now, with almost every change being a positive. Plus, you can have a witch riding around on a prinny. What's not to love? For fans of the franchise it's a solid package andThere is a plot, but it's not terribly interesting. The main bonus of this game over Disgaea 4 is there are numerous UI and quality of life improvements. A lot of things have been cleaned up and are easier to work with now, with almost every change being a positive. Plus, you can have a witch riding around on a prinny. What's not to love? For fans of the franchise it's a solid package and worth picking up.… Expand
  6. BAG-GOMEZ
    Mar 8, 2014
    10
    The best in the series since DISGAEA HOUR OF DARKNESS on the DS. Hope it gets a Wii U port. This game easily gets the series back on its feet after the last two games started losing what made DISGAEA DISGAEA.
  7. Kai82
    Sep 28, 2021
    9
    This spin of of the Disgaea series continues the story of the first game aka we get more more from Laharl, Flonne and Etna. Laharl has become the Overlord after the events of the first game but the demons in his realm do not respect him and some even did not take notice that there is even a new Overlord. There are other problems as the Kirchevskoy Group is trying to usurp power, a strangeThis spin of of the Disgaea series continues the story of the first game aka we get more more from Laharl, Flonne and Etna. Laharl has become the Overlord after the events of the first game but the demons in his realm do not respect him and some even did not take notice that there is even a new Overlord. There are other problems as the Kirchevskoy Group is trying to usurp power, a strange flower appears that normally only exist in Celestia (Angel realm) in the demon realm and a mysterious character named Sicily appears and she will turn things upside down. As expected with a Disgaea game we get an awesome crazy story with dark humor and our likable quirky characters (Quirky is meant always positive for a Disgaea game). Those always won me over and are a strength of the franchise. The characters have such a good chemistry and always enhance the games. Gameplay wise we get the strategic Disgaea RPG experience. While other RPGs cap at level 99 here you can reach level 9999 (no typo) and even reincarnate to increase you stats further. You can improve your skills and items also. There is an item world where you can improve all items to ridiculous power levels. You can also throw teammates (do this carefully with Prinnies). There are colored Geo panels with pyramids given effects. Destroying them can cause chain reactions that damage all characters on them. The game has a lot of depth and you can easily get 100 hours of playtime out of it in a single playthrough. There are a lot of things you can unlock later on too. New in this game is the possibility for humanoid characters to mount / ride monsters. The human character can attack and the monster takes damage. There are new mounted abilities and a rating called likability that affects the strength of these collaboration aka mounted abilities. I think the cheap shop was new but can be wrong. You can re-balance certain values like for example more experience for less money in battles. The further you progress into the story the more you can increase / decrease these. In total we get a good and entertaining gameplay system. Together with the story these two parts make a great game. Graphically the Disgaea franchise has its own unique style. I like it but say it is more a preferential thing to be fair. The soundtrack is excellent and enhances the atmosphere. Overall a truly good game in the franchise. It has the awesome Disgaea combination of good gameplay, humor and great characters in a crazy story. I recommend the game for Disgaea and RPG fans.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

70
#70 Best PS3 Game of 2013
88
#88 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2013
76
#76 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 37 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 37
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 37
  3. Negative: 0 out of 37
  1. PlayStation Universe
    Aug 23, 2014
    90
    NIS shows us tradition can easily hang with the Hollywood blockbusters of the video game world. The best game in the series, Disgaea D2 has humor, depth and story that will keep players entertained for weeks on end.
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  2. CD-Action
    Mar 5, 2014
    80
    A specific game for a specific subgroup of hard core gamers. [03/2014, p.73]
  3. GameCritics
    Jan 14, 2014
    70
    It’s a shame Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness is a direct sequel. Despite niggling issues and a lackluster story compared to the original, it’s the most forgiving Disgaea to date. I woudn’t say it welcomes new players, but it streamlines things that took a long time without good reason and, in general, is the easiest Disgaea to play.
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