A Gaming Diary
PSP
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP)
Dec 4th
Same as yesterday. Same level, same team, one Prinny died again, two characters levelled up.
It’s like Groundhog Day round here.
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP)
Dec 3rd
Only had ten minutes spare this lunchtime, so just replayed a story level with some of my low-level characters. One of my Prinnies got killed, which was a shame, but I did level a couple of other characters up, so it was worth doing.
Bite-sized chunk gameplay at its very best.
Kula World (PSP)
Dec 3rd
A great lost Playstation game, that has apparently been fetching massive amounts on eBay over the last few years. It’s a 3D, rolling-ball puzzle game and it’s quite good fun, though I’ve seen nothing yet to suggest that it’s some amazing lost classic.
Unless I’m missing some camera controls you need to memorise the layout of the levels as you sometimes have to jump to places you can’t see and only know about because you saw them earlier in the game. Which seems a little unfair to me.
Beats (PSP)
Dec 3rd
A download from the PSP store. It’s a pain the rear to use if you’ve got a Mac, as you have to use special PC-only software to download stuff which is, obviously, impossible. Luckily, things you buy appear in your download list in the PS3 version of the store, even if you can’t buy them there, so I was able to buy the game on my Mac, then download it on to my PS3 and then transfer it from that to the PSP. Phew.
Was it worth it? Yeah, probably. It’s a rhythm action game that uses your own music (so I guess it’s similar to that iPod game that came out recently that I can’t remember the name of and can’t play). I’ve tried it with Johnny Cash, Gretchen Wilson and CSS, to name a few, and while I never really felt the connection between the game and the music I did have fun. It’s pretty frantic, even on Normal, but not stupidly hard.
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP)
Nov 29th
Today I didn’t go into any sort of gum or candy. Nope, I went into an Unopened Drink.
Managed to get some specialists with DEF/INT/SP bonuses to add to an orb Flonne’s carrying, but didn’t manage to level up a single character, despite using my low-level guys (i.e. Prinnies) most of the time.
I suspect these entries might need a translation for some people. I’m not sure it’s worth doing, though.
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP)
Nov 28th
Another lunchtime spend inside some candy looking for specialists.
I’m really trying to keep all my characters equally levelled, but it’s just about impossible. The guys with long range attacks always level up faster – my two fire-wielding guys are still above Laharl, even.
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP)
Nov 27th
I’ve just noticed something today. I always thought specialists were only “unlocked” if you defeated them Item World, but it seems they get unlocked if the other enemies killed them, too.
I went into some candy today and saw three specialists, two of whom I killed and one who was killed before I could get to him. Upon exiting the Item World at level ten all three could be moved.
Well, that changes my item World tactics a bit, then.
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP)
Nov 27th
Yesterday lunchtime; a fairly short session. I taught Laharl Mega Fire and Mega Heal, then went into some chewing gum to grab a Marksman to put in Mina’s gun.
As you do.
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP)
Nov 26th
This is what I spent most the weekend playing. Hours of it. Didn’t achieve much, really. I spent most of the time on the last level of the ice world, which is episode two or three, just killing and killing and killing until I got a Golem down to a price I could afford.
(I originally wanted a Gremlin, because Hell Pepper looks like a good special power to have, but they don’t look very good, do I decided against it.)
Anyway, I’m now trying to level Franky the Golem up a bit, so he can slot into my team. He’s up to level six now, which is good. (I’m not a GameFAQs-reading power leveller. These things take time for me.)
I’ve also created a rogue called Mina but she/he is really, really rubbish. I’m not sure why I bothered. Stealing items sounds good – and I’m guessing there are some items it’s only possible to get that way – but it hardly ever works and keeping Mina alive is provin very tricky. I’ve now given her a gun and am doing early levels with just her, Franky and Laharl as healing backup, but it’s a slow process.
It sounds really tedious, I know, just doing levels over and over and over again, but it’s actually really good fun. I think it’s because it’s not stressful and because the goals are mine, not set by the game.
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP)
Nov 19th
I didn’t play this much, just a quick go while the wife was using the Wii for Endless Ocean. (Which is a fantastic game everyone with a Wii should own, by the way, and which should probably sell more copies than even Mario if the world worked properly.) I’m currently trying to work out how best to level Flonne up. I’m thinking I need to get her enough mana to create a disposable pupil with some attack magic she can learn, but getting that mana is proving tricky.
