Makai Kingdom: Chronicle of the Sacred Tome (PS2)

'Kingdoms' is, in essence, a sequel to 'Disgaea'. Something was briefly explained in one of its episodes where an overlord from an alternate netherworld attempts to take over protagonist Laharl' netherworld. This is developed in Kingdoms where Lord Zetta, a powerful overlord of another netherworld, has attempted to save his kingdom from a bad fate and ended up losing both his world and his original body form (he's turned into a talking book...).
Now he must rely on the help of newly bred foot soldiers and his best enemies (don't ask) to get a new netherworld underway. But as it soon turns out, there is more to the entire situation than what first thought.

The story, and most particularly the characters seem incredibly flawed. Mainly because there is nothing that hasn’t been seen before in previous incarnations. 'La Pucelle' had a spunky lead and friends who go through a journey of understanding one another, 'Disgaea' on love, what is true evil, and redemption and 'Phantom Brave', acceptance of individuals, no matter how strange or misunderstood.

'Makai Kingdoms' is much like 'Disgaea' - unbearably so. We have the lead as a selfish and arrogant overlord and characters that are humorously just as evil but in a cruel to be kind way. Then we have a young, helpless (ish) girl who will change all that for the better. Unfortunately, none of the characters are as interesting or sympathetic than in 'Disgaea', and I don't think they can be even if you haven't played this prequel. Not only that, the voice acting is, at times, almost unbearable. This is mainly due to over exaggeration and overuse of clichéd lines. Lord Zetta can't help but say
"Bad ass overlord!" every five minutes, Pram the Oracle, a white cat-human overlord with the power of seeing into the future includes "Tee-hee" somewhere in almost every line, and Mickey, another overlord, has quite possibly the most queer voice that you just have to hear for yourself. Conversations also have the habit of dragging on for too long, and haven't been thought to have been cut shorter or executed to be more bearable.

There isn't much visually exciting either. The cut scene animations are uninspired and the same throughout. Many are based in space and have characters talking one-to-one amongst a bland space backdrop. The humour in this game is far more watered down to 'Disgaea'- namely because none of the characters are particularly loveable.

The battle system follows very similar to 'Phantom Brave'. No grids, more free roam, yet a few minor changes have been made to make the experience not quite the same as any earlier games. Various items and monsters holding 'keys' must be destroyed which in turn open up extensions on the map. In order to complete a level you don't necessarily have to defeat all monsters but accumulate the minimum points required before level (this isn't explained why).

Creating characters, a signature of all Nippon games, is back. This time, in order to create a character one not only needs enough Mana points but also welds items to the character giving is boasts in various areas (strength, defence, etc). Nothing really feels different here.

The real new device added to the game is vehicles. These allow getting around battlefields a lot faster and efficiently. Also, not only do you summon characters to the battlefield, but buildings too, e.g. your hospital, and by placing characters into the buildings will give them special effects e.g. 10% health up on every turn.

Animation in the games also seem a little tired and uninteresting. There are some humorous moves but not near enough to other game'. What's more, levels seem even blander in any previous Nippon Ichi game! Even more bland than 'La Pucelle'!

Music is another downer. I love the music in earlier instalments - all quirky and different to other soundtracks in RPGs it's surrounded by. This is repeated in 'Kingdoms' but to less effect. Some tracks are fun to listen to but they sound more of the same to tracks in previous games. This might be okay in a racing game or fighter, but with a tactical RPG, where you are required to spend SERIOUS hours training up characters, not having a significant soundtrack can really damage the overall fun.

'Makai Kingdoms' is the same as any other NI game. But whilst earlier games have attempted to stretch to never horizons here and there to create a little diversity, grabbing attention to new customers whilst keeping a firm grip on the hardcore audience, 'Kingdoms' feels like too much of a good thing. Long-term fans of their games may think that having the same greatness will never become boring, but this has in fact happened in 'Kingdoms' further more, there is nothing here to grab fresh blood.

'Makai Kingdoms' is still appealing in every sense for fans of past NI games that still thrive more of the same, but there is nothing but the backbone standards of one of their games here. And for those who have never played a Nippon Ichi game before, it is seriously suggested starting with 'Disgaea' or 'La Pucelle' first.

Basically, Makai Kingdom does what it sets out to do: provide a deep, exciting and long-term strategy RPG that goes way beyond it's story to provide literally days worth of gaming hours (my save is at about 74 hours), so if you liked Disgaea, you'll probably like this. At the very least, it'll tide you over until the proper sequel.