AoD Review: World of Disgaea (artbook) Vol. #1

[JustThisGuy]

World of Disgaea Vol. #01 of 1
Released By: Broccoli Books
MSRP: 19.99
Pages: 176
ISBN: 1597411124
Size: B5
Orientation: Right to Left
Release Date: 11/2006
Review Date: 07/11/2007

Between the top-notch presentation, exquisitely reproduced artwork, and extensive production trivia, serious fans of the original game get a lot of bang for their buck. However, casual fans may be turned off by the book's second half, due to its excessive focus on in-game statistics and the massive number of spoilers.

[red_hamsterx]

In reference to your full review...

I thought the second half felt more like a production log than a strategy guide. It provided an overview of the game's key systems, tables used for balancing, and general logic related to development, in addition to the plot summaries and sketches.

All of the other Character Collections NIS has published (Phantom Brave, Phantom Kingdom, Disgaea 2) have followed the same layout format (art in the front, production summary in the back), which is part of the reason why I don't think "strategy guide" quite works as a comparison.

[JustThisGuy]

Originally Posted by Red HamsterX

I thought the second half felt more like a production log than a strategy guide. It provided an overview of the game's key systems, tables used for balancing, and general logic related to development, in addition to the plot summaries and sketches.

All of the other Character Collections NIS has published (Phantom Brave, Phantom Kingdom, Disgaea 2) have followed the same layout format (art in the front, production summary in the back), which is part of the reason why I don't think "strategy guide" quite works as a comparison.

Yeah, "strategy guide" probably isn't the best way to describe that part of the book, but I couldn't really think a better way to put it. I considered calling it something like a production log, but that implies to me that you get some sort of running commentary from the developers about how the game evolved over time, or at the very least some insight into its design principles. And there's a little of that in the form of interviews and such, but it's a very small portion of the content compared to the flood of raw data.

Like I said in the review, that kind of in-depth statistical information about the game mechanics doesn't really interest me, but at the same time I recognize that there's an audience for that sort of thing. My point wasn't really to knock the book for the path it took (although I stand by my claim that the organization of the book's second half is very haphazard, and that the basic tutorials are just plain out-of-place). I just wanted to make it clear to people expecting 175 pages of artwork or a standard strategy guide -- both being conclusions that a reader could reasonably draw from a cursory flip through the book or from Broccoli's promotional blurb -- that World of Disgaea isn't really either of those things.

[red_hamsterx]

Originally Posted by SomeGuy

Like I said in the review, that kind of in-depth statistical information about the game mechanics doesn't really interest me, but at the same time I recognize that there's an audience for that sort of thing. My point wasn't really to knock the book for the path it took (although I stand by my claim that the organization of the book's second half is very haphazard, and that the basic tutorials are just plain out-of-place). I just wanted to make it clear to people expecting 175 pages of artwork or a standard strategy guide -- both being conclusions that a reader could reasonably draw from a cursory flip through the book or from Broccoli's promotional blurb -- that World of Disgaea isn't really either of those things.

Fair enough. I can't say I can raise a reasonable objection to that statement.

I found the information to be presented a lot like a post-production project write-up, which is what I should have said in the first place. It seemed like a record of what was done, assembled and packaged with the game-obsessed, for lack of a better word, otaku in mind: those who want to know everything about the games that have taken hundreds of hours of time that could have conceivably been (maybe) spent doing/playing something else. As one of them, I found the section grouping to be satisfactory, though definitely not designed for casual skimming.


Side-note: A comparison of the English and Japanese versions shows that Broccoli left the layout virtually untouched in terms of what content sits where, so the haphazardness, to steal your term, is entirely NIS's problem.

[Noodle]

Originally Posted by Review

On the other hand, World of Disgaea is a much harder sale for fans who are entering the Disgaea franchise via the manga or anime series, or who haven't played the game through at least once. While I commend Broccoli for trying to incorporate a broad range of material into a reasonably inexpensive volume, there is not enough artwork here to satisfy non-gamers, and the game-related material focuses so much on statistical data that it can't really supplant a traditional strategy guide.

This sort of book is pretty much meant to be for the hardcore fans. It's a guidebook/fanbook, or whatever you want to call it -- full of all sorts of useful/less information. There are a lot of these types of books made in Japan. The content is also determined by the Japanese company; it's not something Broccoli themselves put together. Personally I think Broccoli did a really nice job on this book (though the binding isn't the best, as far as all the copies I've seen), although I do wonder how many Disgaea fans are going to find this in the manga section. This is really one of those books that should be in the game section, or sold in game shops instead.