''Nippon Ichi Software has another strategy-RPG in the works for PlayStation 2, following the annual tradition that began two years ago with the American release of Disgaea. Phantom Kingdom, according to today's announcement, is only scheduled for Japanese release as yet, but we won't be surprised to learn of an American release further along the line.
Though the name brings to mind Nippon Ichi's last game, Phantom Brave, the new project's style and setting is closer to that of Disgaea. The game takes place once again in the demon-ruled underworld, and the tone is to incorporate more of Disgaea's slightly gallows-y humor.

Lord Zetta, the lead character, once ruled the underworld until accidentally wiping out his empire and himself. Instead of going gently into that good night, though, he gets a second chance from three evil gods, who want to entertain themselves by watching him try to reconquer the world (and giving him a bit of a hard time in the process).

Zetta press-gangs a motley collection of different soldiers into his army -- the cast of characters creates all kinds of anachronistic combinations, with sword-wielding knights fighting alongside modern troops with rocket launchers. In addition, the way in which troops reach the battlefield is the focus of a new game system, called "Invite." Drawing a cue from realtime strategy games like Starcraft, Phantom Kingdom has commanders summon special deployment facilities to the battlefield, which spawn fighting units in turn.

Unlike some of its predecessors, which used carefully-designed maps to create traps and puzzles in key stages, Phantom Kingdom employs a random map generator to create a theoretically unlimited selection of challenges.

We'll have a fairly exhaustive preview of the game early next week, so look forward to learning much more shortly. ''

Hehe, klingt sehr geil. Den Galgen-Humor eines Disgaeas hab ich in Phantom Brave nämlich kläglich vermisst. Das mit diesen Gebäuden tönt auch sehr interressant. Ich freu mich auf das Spiel! Und zwar sehr. PB und Disgaea fand ich nämlich ziemlich geil (Disgaea hat mir aber etwas besser gefallen, lag vor allem am Humor, dafür war das Kampfsystem in PB cooler- weil strategischer). La Pucelle hab ich noch nicht gespielt, werde da jetzt auch auf die PAL-Version warten. Mal gucken.