Disgaea -Hour of Darkness

[Concept]

That is very disappointing. And patronising too.

Why do publishers keep doing this?

Capcom did it with Onimusha. Sega did it with Otogi... Now whoever is publising Disgaea in Europe has done it as well...

Do they think we're too simple over here to grasp the fact that we might find playing a game in it's original language as more preferable to the often cack-handed alternative?

[E. Randy Dupre]

Great. I decided to go with the PAL version because it's got to be a damn sight easier and cheaper to get hold of than the US, but also because I figured Koei would have enough respect for both the game and audience to produce a decent conversion.

Order shipped yesterday. Huzzah

[bowser123]

Whilst not perfect I've found the PAL voice overs more of a slight annoyance than a game wrecker. Still a top game.

[Concept]

Oh, I'm still going to get it.

I've heard more than enough good vibes on this to know it's something special... I'd only refuse to buy Disgaea if any gameplay content was modified or cut, a la Ninja Gaiden.

This is the first new game since mid-March I intend to purchase, and if (like you say) the voices aren't detrimental to the overall experience of play, then I'm not overly worried.

I can't imagine the voiceovers destroying the game's atmosphere such as how Siren's did, for example. It's just mildly disappointing to find a feature that was present in the US version removed for probably what Koei either thought wasn't of our interest... Or to cut down on game production costs by producing the game on CD instead.

Either way it's a fairly cynical move.

[Naiera]

. The voice acting is SO BAD that it can put you off the game completely. Maybe you'll have to mute the sound during the story scenes.

Err, I thought it was excellent in English.

[bowser123]

Buy it from Game Concept to get an idea of what they're like for yourself. If you find you hate them you can always get a full refund.
If people would really prefer the US version then VideoGames+ have it for ?30 with postage.

It is disappointing that KOEI have taken it out, but in all honesty, I'm just happy that I can get a chance to play it as my PS2 isn't modded.
Do fully understand and agree with your points though.

[Concept]

That's what I intend to do.

I'm hoping it's my cup of tea, because I'm looking forward to a meaty RPG that I can properly get my hooks into. So maybe this'll be my bag.

[MartyG]

I thought the voice acting in English was very good too.

[E. Randy Dupre]

It'd be nice to have the choice, though, especially as it wouldn't require any extra work to provide subtitles. Just smacks of PAL territories getting treated like the inbred cousins of the gaming world again - "Nah, remove the extras so that we can fit it on a CD and make a bigger profit. They'll never notice."

The one justifiable, if unlikely excuse I could see for the removal of the subbed soundtrack is that, if they were responsible for its production, Atlus would own the rights to it and might not be prepared to sell them on. But then, Koei would also have had to re-record the English soundtrack with a new translation and I doubt that's happened.

Still very much looking forwards to playing it, though. I've been itching to get my hands on it since the news of the PAL version was released.

[Razz]

You must be on crack.

Front Mission 4's voiceovers are good, but not Disgaea's.

All the humour and life is taken away from the story with the english, it's like they're just reading it from paper, with no soul.

[MartyG]

Clearly played a different game to the one I put 150 hours into then.

[Naiera]

Indeed. Laharl, Etna and Flonne cracked me up. Yes, The Defender Of Earth got on my nerves, but he's supposed to sound like a moron.

[E. Randy Dupre]

Arrived this morning. I've barely started to scratch the surface of the game itself, so I can't comment on the meat of it yet.

As far as the PAL conversion goes, the Gamefaqs guy has it right - there's no 60Hz and the original soundtrack has been removed entirely.

Borders are minimal - we're talking a similar size to something like the PAL version of Ridge Racer Type 4, rather than Street Fighter Alpha. Not big enough to be worth worrying about - they don't distort the art to any noticable degree, expect when, say, a button icon appears on screen, and then only slightly.

Obviously, I've not got far enough in to find out how well the American voices stand up overall, but so far the results are... mixed. Etna's voice is perfect - sassy, funny, quick, well acted - whereas Laharl's is poor - general video game dub standard, with emphasis in completely the wrong places in sentences and sounding detached when a conversation is supposed to be taking place.

It's not as bad as I'd feared. Ceratinly not as bad as it could have been Still going to use the feedback card to express my annoyance at the missing stuff, though.

[Concept]

I picked this up yesterday, along with Ninja Gaiden (yes, I caved), although I've yet to play it. Hopefully I'll get my mitts into Disgaea sometime later today.

So, the original soundtrack is missing? On the back of the DVD case it says:

"Featuring the song 'The invasion from within' by Tsunami Bomb!"

[E. Randy Dupre]

Sorry, I meant the voice acting. The soundtrack is apparently the same as the US English language one - American voice acting and the JPN music minus lyrics.