Makai Kingdom

Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome, released in Japan as Phantom Kingdom, is a strategic role-playing game released by Nippon Ichi. It follows the trials of Overlord Zetta, the self proclaimed 'Most badass freakin' Overlord in the Entire Cosmos' and his attempts to get his body back and rebuild his Netherworld.

Story
Lord Zetta was known throughout the universe as the strongest overlord. However, one day, when Pram the Oracle told him of a great cataclysm that would befall his Netherworld, Zetta went to a Library that held the Sacred Tome, an ancient book that could foretell the entire history of Zetta's Netherworld.

On the way, he was attacked by a being called Raiden, a powerful greater demon who was ordered by his master to kill Zetta. Zetta assumed that Raiden was the cataclysm that Pram foretold and defeated him in battle.

Afterwards, he continued to the Sacred Tome to see if anything had changed. However, when he looked at the tome, it stated that his stupidity would be the thing to doom his Netherworld. Enraged, he burned the book only to realize afterwards that burning the book will destroy his Netherworld.

He saved himself by trapping his soul in the Tome but lost his body and Netherworld. Now he has to have other Overlords wish for new Netherworlds so he can conquer them and use them to rebuild his own Netherworld and get his body back.

Characters

 * Zetta
 * Pram
 * King Drake the Third
 * Valvoga
 * Alexander
 * Seedle
 * Salome
 * Babylon
 * Trenia (Non Playable)
 * The One/Corn Guy (Non Playable)
 * Raiden (Non Playable)
 * Asagi
 * Marona (Non Playable)
 * Castile
 * Flonne
 * Etna
 * Laharl
 * Baal (Non Playable)

Character Classes

 * Apple Kid
 * Archer
 * Berserker
 * Bombster
 * Carrot Dude
 * Chef
 * Corn Guy
 * Darkstalker
 * Death
 * Devil 1 (Lesser Demon)
 * Devil 2 (Muscle Demon)
 * Engineer
 * Forsaken One
 * Gardener
 * Gobbler
 * Guardian
 * Heaven's Bliss
 * Catsaber
 * Idol
 * Iron Golem
 * Magician
 * Mana Sphere
 * Medic
 * Merchant
 * Mimic
 * Officer
 * Priest
 * Prinny
 * Professor
 * Pumpkin
 * Soldier (Female)
 * Soldier (Male)
 * Swords Master (Female)
 * Swords Master (Male)
 * Thief
 * Thunder God
 * Valkyrie
 * Vampire
 * Warrior
 * Witch

Vehicles

 * CX-1 Hellpha
 * CX-2 Hellta
 * Dark Gear XX
 * Dark Runner Z2
 * Driller G
 * FX-7 Skydiver
 * Gear Metal LEX
 * Justice Gear
 * Super Robo Suit
 * RX-66 Helldam
 * Sonic Blaster
 * TX-5 Hopster
 * Warcry 01
 * Yamasaki ZX1
 * Yoshitsuna

Facilities

 * Dog House
 * Hut
 * Raider Tent
 * Castle
 * Outpost
 * Fort
 * Academy
 * Factory
 * Hospital
 * Shop
 * Laboratory
 * Food Market
 * Lighthouse
 * Clock Tower

Gameplay
Makai Kingdom's gameplay takes elements from both the Disgaea series and Phantom Brave. Though it uses Brave's open movement and targeting system, turns and attacks are resolved in the same way as Disgaea, allowing for attacks to be combo'd.

Weapon attacks are tied to the weapon itself, and draw from different stats. Unlike either Disgaea or Phantom Brave however, a weapon's stats and attacks are fixed.

In the game, players go to Maps (some of which are randomly generated) and try to defeat all enemies or get enough points to conquer the map by defeating enemies and collecting or destroying objects. At the end of a Map, the player is rewarded with Items, Experience, Hell, Materials, or Vehicles in increments of 100 up to 1000 points per map.

Players summon their characters by selecting Zetta on the map, choosing Invite and selecting the desired character. Typically, the player can only invite eight characters in a single battle (some random dungeons may restrict this further). Characters have a circle that shows their movement radius, meaning they can move anywhere in the circle (under most circumstances). When a character moves to a spot where they can attack an enemy, selecting attack and choosing a skill will let them do so. What attacks a character can use depends on their equipped weapon. Players can also Invite Facilities and Vehicles into maps as well.

In many cases, parts of the map are hidden from view so players need to reveal these hidden parts (called Extensions) to access the rest of the map. Defeating an enemy or item with the word "Key" above their head or Inviting a character, Building or Vehicle into the Extension's Area will reveal the Extension. Revealing an extension may also trigger a random event. A picture appears on screen, showing whatever was unleashed when the extension was revealed (such as lightning which paralyzes all on screen characters or a large group of Vampire Monsters).

Facilities
Facilities can store mass amounts of characters and items, and some Facilities confer bonuses to characters who deploy from them. A facility already on the map can be entered by both friendly and enemy characters. Like throwing an enemy into the base panel in the Disgaea series, brawls will break out in a Facility if it's occupied by characters on opposing sides at the end of a turn. Facilities have a separate Invite Limit of three per map, and may be restricted in a random dungeon.

Vehicles
Vehicles can be used by characters to move farther and unleash devastating attacks. Vehicles count as part of the character invite limit, and count as two if it already has a driver equipped. Vehicles can gain experience points just like regular characters, but can only level up between battles with the help of a Professor. They are also healed by certain Wrench attacks in the field, or by Machine Shops and Mechanics between battles. Each type of vehicle comes with a set number of item slots that can be used to hold items, equipment, or other characters.

Vehicles have their own stats which work just like any other character, with the exception of the TEC stat. A vehicle with a TEC stat lower than that of it's driver will gain bonuses to it's stats, and suffers penalties if it's TEC is higher. Vehicles have a separate selection of items that are used to increase it's stats. Vehicle healing and item purchases are bought through Materials (Mt) rather than Hell (HL). Mt can be awarded after a battle, or spare items can be converted into Mt.

Kingdom
In between maps, the player spends time in the Kingdom area. While this area is normally empty, you can however add in Characters, Items, Vehicles and buildings to make it look more lively (as well as access certain features depending on the characters and buildings in the area). While in the Kingdom, you control the Leader character. This character is picked at the start of the game, and it isn't until later that you can switch the leader. By talking to Zetta, you can do several things including adding items to the Kingdom or have wishes granted which includes creating new Facilities, new dungeons, unlocking special stages, changing the leader character and reincarnation.

Like in Phantom Brave, services are handles by party members of the appropriate Class. Healers heal and resurrect characters, Merchants sell items, Professors upgrade Vehicles, while Idols can paint them. Certain Facilities, such as the Hospital and Shop can be used to perform these duties instead, but unlike the characters do not gain experience from doing so.

On a side note, the leader can move around, jump, and even throw and attack other characters (which can earn the Leader mana if they are strong enough. These controls will be brought up by the NPCs, who might also add that the player should have gotten Phantom Brave instead.

Character Creation and Reincarnation
In order to create a new character, you need an item to confine the character to. Your character's stats will altered depending on the item you confine them to (A Rock would boost Attack and Defense while a Flower would boost Intelligence and Resistance and so on) so it's wise to confine a character to an item that boosts their highest stats. Just find the item you wish to use, "talk" to it, select "create new character", find the character class you wish to create, name them, add bonus stats and your new character is ready to go.

As stated before, you can reincarnate characters to move them up in tier and boost their stats but it's not as simple as it is in Disgaea. In order to select Reincarnation your character would need to have been confined to an item with 1 or more stars next to the name. Alternately, wishing for a new Facility will sacrifice the character making the wish, allowing them to be reincarnated. Either option will result in the character being "dead". "Dead" characters are reincarnated the same way new characters are made. When an item is chosen, all "dead" characters will be listed under "create new character" and by selecting them, you can reincarnate them. However, you cannot "kill" any characters that have equipment or are currently in vehicles or buildings.

A reincarnated character keeps all the skills and weapon mastery's of their previous class(es), but instead of transferring stats (like Transmigration), each incarnation of a class comes with Passive Upgrades that increase their stats, and increase at certain levels.

PSP Version
A re-release of Makai Kingdom was released for PSP in Japan in 2011. The PSP version contains new characters and content which includes a new story scenario.

The new scenario Petta Mode (similar to Etna Mode and Axel Mode and Beryl Mode) stars a character named Petta, who is Zetta's daughter.

Valvatorez and Fenrich from Disgaea 4 were also scheduled to make an appearance.

Trivia

 * This is the first of many games to feature Asagi as a cameo character.
 * This is also the first game to have the Super Battleship Yoshitsuna appear in it.
 * All of the Unique Characters (Zetta, Laharl, Alexander, Pram, Etna, etc.) can only be unlocked on a Second Playthrough or higher, making this the only Nippon Ichi game where the player can only use Generic Characters on the first playthrough.
 * The Professor Class appears as a character class in Disgaea 4.