Just a quick one in the interests of ensuring no one here ends up in the "So apparently these Nippon Ichi games rock... WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T BUY THEM ANY MORE?!?!?!" boat.

Basically the latest Nippon Ichi (La Pucelle Tactics, Disgaea) turn based strategy hits our shelves this month (the 11th to be exact). I doubt it will be released in large numbers so I thought I should give advanced warning to those of us who can't play NTSC titles.

I've got my copy on order, how about you?

Apparently the PAL version comes with a soundtrack CD. For Disgaea fans this apparently isn't as exciting as one would think since the soundtrack is reputedly not up to Disgaea's high standard (Though it is supposed to be very good nonetheless).

And now I'm going back to Disgaea. :P

On February 11th I'll be wishing I have a PS2. :(
Though hopefully I'll be able to find it when I get a PS2 for my B'day..
Maybe one of you guys could buy a copy and keep it for me? Eh? EH? :D

Wait a minute, so you can't get Disgaea over here now? :(

It's very hard these days DC. It's still possible though as I managed to find a PAL sealed copy of Disgaea. :D :dance3:

I'll definitely be picking Phantom Brave up too. Apparently it was supposed to release on the 4th but obviously this isn't the case.

Pres (or anyone for that matter), is La Pucelle any good?

Ahhh you got a copy Nismo. Nice work! How much fun is it?!?!

Anyway I can't comment on La Pucelle, I've not played it alas. From what I hear Disgaea and Phantom Brave are better but that's just me going on what I've heard.

i'm a total noob to these sorts of games, all i've played is ff:tactics so far but i really enjoyed it. it sucked away many hours of my life. is phantom brave comparable to tactics? and would someone who has only played tactics (and enjoyed it) dig pb?

Well I've not played Phantom Brave but if you enjoyed Tactics you will love Disgaea (and chances are Phantom Brave as well).

Disgaea is simply a much deeper game with 100s of hours worth of gameplay.

I hear that, I clocked at 125 hours before I finally beat it, well, I nearly beat all the bonus stages but the last boss was too time consuming to level everyone up. Btw, the NTSC version is alot alot better since it has optional japanese audio ;)

I'm interested in Phantom Brave too but I've already got too many games to play. Xenosaga Episode 2 is coming out in 2 weeks (not here, USA, and if you do think it's coming out here, it's episode 1 you're thinking of) and Suikoden IV has also hit the markets (USA again), though I don't think I'll buy that since it's another time consuming game!

Blast these stupidly long games

i have a feeeling that was aimed at me :P

hmmm... i'm interested in disgaea now. i stumbled across this in my searching...

http://realgamer.com.au/browseCatalog.do?a...tId=559&cPath=1

i might pick it up... is 95 bucks a good price?

Bah to Jap audio elitists.

The English dub is excellent IMO. Very campy and perfectly suiting the feel of the game.

BTW that is a fair price to pay. The game is still fairly new over here.

OMG, don't buy Xenosaga if you're getting Disgaea!! :noo: You have to live boy! With those two games esp. :P I've started playing Xenosaga but never went far enough cos it was in Japanese. I think I enjoyed Xenogears more than Xsaga. And Suikoden 4 I have to get soon, but its still in japanese where I'm at. :(

Well I wouldn't know how much fun it is actually, as it is still yet to arrive in the mail. ;)

I'm only saying I prefer the japanese audio because they always capture the emotion better. If you'd at least listen to it, you'd agree with me.

However, that being said, the dub is still good with some of the actors being hired from ADV, but it's just not as good as the japanese actors. Sometimes I prefer the original audio compared to the dub and other times I'll go the other way (such as Neon Genesis Evangelion), but the majority of the time is in favor of the japanese.

Oh, and I bought my Disgaea copy brand new for $65 and sold it for $80, not bad huh? ;) Given in mind that mine was NTSC and usually sells for lower if you're not planning to sell internationally. Actually it's quite hard to find the american version now, hmm, perhaps I should've held onto it

yes :P

I think someone's said this before but I can't remember the answer. Do you understand japanese?. Oh and btw DZ, Suikoden IV is already released in USA for only $39.99 (USD)

Yes, I can speak jap a little and understand a little too, I'm starting Intermediate classes in a week. BANZAI!

It's a sure bet that I'll be spending at least some of my time on the 11th picking up a copy of Phantom Brave. Disgaea was a total classic, and yeah, from all accounts Phantom Brave is at least as good.

Just been informed by DVD Crave that my order has been shipped. Phantom Brave for me tomorrow!!! HOORAY!!!!!!!!

not that it probably needs to be asked, but let us know what you think :D

Hehehe... are their indications that I may have already made my mind up? :P

My copy just arrived at work. I can confirm the existence of the soundtrack CD and I don't know what people are on about regarding it not being as good as Disgaea. Yes it may not be as varied but it is still VERY good.

A weird blend of folk style tunes and a carribean flavour.

Obviously I'm still at work so I can't say what I think of the game yet but I am pissing off everyone in the office with the soundtrack. :P

excellent work mr. president! carry on.

Just to answer that question on what I'll be doing on Feburary 11th (which is today) .

I'll be playing KOTOR II on Xbox :D

is that out today? i was going to get that... write a review for us borg :D

not in this thread obviously...

Pffft... screw that, I'm installing the PC version now. :P

*strokes PC copy*

Incidently this game is pretty much a shoe in for anyone who loved Disgaea. Just expect a more serious storyline this time around, which is a good thing. Plenty of sillyness is there but the underlying story is considerably more mature than Disgaea.

Havent played enough of yet to write an in depth review, but keep checking the appropraite thread in the Xbox section, I posted some small intial impressions.


Elprez, screw your PC version at that 'installing process' :P .

Yay, I have Phantom Brave! Hoorah!

However, I also finally cracked and bought a copy of Donkey Konga today, so I've pretty much been playing that. Words can not describe how silly I feel, though, drumming and clapping like a... a... drumming, clapping buffoon :P

But I'll definitely get on to Phantom Brave sometime.... although I've actually started playing Planescape: Torment again. I'd forgotten how mind-blowingly good it is.

Enjoying the soundteack Buffoon?

I like nice extras. :D

Yeah, the soundtrack CD was a nice surprise, especially considering it's not mentioned anywhere on the case.

And so far the game is awesome. It's obviously a lot like Disgaea, but there seem to be some marked differences as well, strategically speaking. It took me a while to get my head round the fact that your phantoms can only exist for a short period of time; that's definitely going to add some strategy.

However... I do have a few problems with the game. Firstly, it's sometimes hard to see and select the exact thing you want to select when they're very close together. That just requires patience. Secondly, and more seriously, sometimes the characters (friendly and enemy) seem to get stuck around steep bits of terrain. If it's a friendly character, fine, you can cancel their move and go around the obstacle. But if it's an enemy they just get stuck and waste their turn, which seems a bit unfair.

And most seriously, I encountered what seemed to be a major bug, in which I was stuck on my island, unable to talk to Marona or to use the mailbox to go elsewhere. Even loading the game didn't work, and since I only had one saved game at that point I was contemplating having wasted four hours of play time (not much, true, but annoying). Fortunately, I reset my PS2 and it worked again. Anyone else had a similar problem?

But really, the problems are minor compared to the excellence of the game.

However... I'm still addicted to Planescape: Torment (again). I'd forgotten just how good it is. No other game comes even remotely close to the quality of the writing in Torment. Sure, I like Final Fantasy (okay, I love Final Fantasy), but Torment has a level of depth and subtlety that just blows my mind.

And that Annah... she can wrap her tail around me any day! I think El Pres knows what I'm talking about. :P

Hell yeah.

I can't listen to any 80s music by Sheena Easton the same way again.

Gimme some of that Tiefling action. :P

I've not played as much Phantom Brave as I'd planned... I've been too hooked on KOTOR 2. Playing through that game and experiencing the brilliance of Chris Avellone's writing has made me long to play Torment again. I REALLY need to get that back off my friend.

Q: Is Shenmue II really XBox exclusive? Cos I saw a copy of the game in the PS2 section at the "chinese" today. :wacko: I'll go inspect further this morning.

DC and Xbox only. Sorry.

Darn, looks like DVDCrave have already sold out of Phantom Brave within a couple of days after it's official release.

Bloody hell.

Why don't they release enough copies in this country... it is easy to see people wanna buy them. Disgaea's limited release got snapped up quickly, Phantom Brave... I hope who ever is in charge of distribution doesn't screw it up with the PAL release of La Pucelle.

Ah crap! I read it wrong, I think I need glasses. :( It was actually a copy of Syberia 2, which should be released soon. Crap game imo. Western RPG's have a tendency to SUCK!

GRRRRRRR.

Syberia is an adventure game.

Just like Shenmue is an adventure game.

Ad-ven-ture... not an RPG.

And how can Western RPGs suck when only the west make RPGs? Hmm?! HMM?!?!?

</Prez "What is an RPG" rant>


Anyway Syberia 2 is not as good as Syberia but is a beautiful tale nonetheless. :D

down boy! *squirts elprez with a water pistol*

typically, i've obviously left my getting phantom brave a little late... i'll have to start scrounging already.

is syberia anything like the oldskool fmv pc game cyberia? i loved that game :D

A story about some guy and this chick trekking in the mountains looking for mammoths is beautiful!! :wacko: :blink:

I bought Street Fighter Snniversary Edition instead. :P Hadoken!! :thumbsup:

Argh! The water! IT BURNS!!!! :P

Anyway the answer is no, Syberia is nothing like Cyberia.

But for those out there who lament the loss of mature story telling in games, let me give Syberia and its (admittedly lesser) sequel a big thumbs up.

Kate Ryan rocks... and has a sweet arse. >_>

Well, I've played Phantom Brave enough now to say it's definitely the best strategy RPG I've ever played. It beats Disgaea in terms of strategy and depth of combat, although not in terms of characters or humour (that's a matter of opinion, obviously).

And El Pres, damn you and your RPG semantics argument, damn you to hell. In any case, you're wrong :)

down boy! *squirts robocod with a water pistol*

alright mr. president, you got me curious.

i haven't had a decent bash at a p'n'c adventure game in a while, last one i played was broken sword 3 which was a little underwhelming. i read through the ign reviews and they were really scathing of syberia 1 (6/10) but seemed to really like the second one (8/10). syberia 2 looks to be fairly easy to get a hold of but an initial search shows the first one no where to be seen. is it really worth checking out? and can you liken it anything else?

...hmmm... these questions seem familiar somehow...

Are you telling me Syberia is an RPG? :P

Anyhoo I'd get the PC version of Syberia second hand first Marky Mark, the pure adventure genre is one that really does seem to require devotees of the genre to enjoy. Sure there are the standouts that everyone will get into, games such as Grim Fandango, Monkey Island, etc... but these more serious and mature adventures aren't universally loved the way the were back in Siera and Lucarts heyday.

There isn't much comedy, it is very serious in tone, the plot moves forward slowly and ultimately it is just the story of a lawyer trying to find the heir to a business she was supposed to be settling dealings with regarding its purchase by a large multinational.

I got my copy for $15 and was enchanted. It doesn't require a high powered PC so give it a look on the cheaper format.