Recent reviews by K0NJURA

Menu doesn't pick up controller inputs. Horrible UI/UX; too convoluted compared to most racing sims.

Modding doesn't seem to make up for it.

As one of Nippon Ichi's core titles, I can highly recommend this to anyone who's a fan of the Disgaea games, or even players of JRPGs and turn-based strategy in general. As one of Nippon Ichi's core titles, I can highly recommend this to anyone who's a fan of the Disgaea games, or even players of JRPGs and turn-based strategy in general. Although out of all their other games, it's more similar to Makai Kingdom (which I’m still vainly hoping will also get a PC release), where characters move within a radius rather than across a range of tiles, and it also simplifies character equipment by only providing one slot used for weapons, cutting out the three extra slots for armor/accessories (which aren't visible on the character anyway).

For each battle, various objects that can be found on the field are used to summon (or confine) whichever characters the player has at their disposal. They remain on the field until the end of their turn count, at which point they may also obtain the object confined to. Any of these objects can even be used as weapons, including rocks and trees for example, allowing more variety than just swords/daggers/staves/etc.
Given that this would create several types of weapons, the game features skill type proficiency instead of Disgaea's weapon mastery system. Each unit has varying ranks in each of the skill types, which determines the capacity for SP available for the corresponding skills (unlike the more typical SP system that applies across all skills).

Each type of object also comes with its own unique abilities that can be transferred to other objects through combining them (which even applies to characters). Combining, along with leveling up items, character creation, healing, etc happen by interacting with characters on Phantom Isle, the home base.
The level itself for your items doesn't have as much effect on their stats as how they are combined and the title that's assigned to them, which can grow exponentially provided the right technique.
The downside of this is that it's not as straightforward as leveling up through the item world, since both leveling and combining come with a mana cost, which can go up pretty damn high depending on the item's current level and how many others were combined with it before.
which you can do simply by spending mana in place of exploring random dungeons (which you do to level up titles instead).

While I did appreciate the differences in mechanics from the Disgaea games for the most part, what I didn't like so much is the initial level cap I've noticed being set within the 100s for player characters, and the way reincarnation is handled in comparison (where it's only possible with a changebook, which is rare and tricky to obtain).


(WARNING: Spoilers Ahead)

The main story (not including Another Marona or post-game events) is given to us in four chapters made up of 20 episodes in total, with between two to six fields to be cleared on each episode.
Starring as our main protagonist is a young orphan girl named Marona, gifted with chroma abilities that allow her to confine and speak with phantoms, along with Ash, a phantom who fought Sulphur, the main antagonist of the game, alongside her parents before they were killed 8 years before the game’s events.
They live together on Phantom Isle, set in the world of Ivoire, and much of the first chapter involves Marona taking on jobs that deal with clearing out monsters to pay off rent. We see her being treated quite coldly and taken advantage of for her abilities, out of the belief that she’s "possessed". But even so, she holds no grudges, and still goes about doing her best. Fortunately, she befriends Castile, gaining the appreciation of her and her family.

Over time, others warm up to her as well. But Ash comes to realize that the growing presence of monsters are a sign of Sulphur's impending return, but somehow decides to play dumb with Marona about it until that becomes blatantly clear to them… because uhh, revealing that bit of news might scare her, I guess.

Eventually, Marona gains ownership of Phantom Isle, but still continues to take up jobs just for the sake of helping others.
Fast forward to the last chapter, and Sulphur is once again unleashed onto Ivoire. Marona, along with her new allies, come to face up against Sulphur’s forces, and the people of Ivoire who previously shunned her start to cheer her on.

When she arrives for the final battle against Sulphur, Sprout intervenes to take the honor of defeating the demon for himself. Although he appears to have won the battle at first, Sulphur quickly retaliates by possessing Sprout’s body, forcing Marona to fight him. As Sprout regains his mind, he brings his sword into his chest in an attempt to take Sulphur down with him. Unfortunately, this doesn’t help, and Marona must now of course fight another battle against Sulphur’s true form. But although weakened, Sulphur yet again reappears just as they seem to have been vanquished, proving to be quite persistent.

Ash nearly sacrifices himself in a last effort to have Sulphur sealed away, much to Marona’s despair. But Walnut (Marona’s self-proclaimed rival, who turns out to be Castile’s older brother) steps up, and insists on doing it in his place, successfully putting an end to Sulphur. This marks the end of the game’s main plot before the credits roll, followed by a brief, touching exchange between Marona and Ash back at their home afterwards.

I quite liked the story here; doesn't have any major shortcomings as far as I can tell, but I would've liked for it to expand the role of supporting characters, including Sprout and Marona's parents. I think it’s partially covered in Another Marona, which I haven’t played through yet. But I’m sure it’ll be every bit as good as the main game!
(EDIT: Actually, forget I said that... Turns out it's quite ridiculous, really. More like in a dumb way than in a funny way.)

Final Score: 9/10