Part 1: Pages of Tragedy (Part 1

”And remember: Always burn the books.” – unknown

Video- “Opening”

Hear the Situation

Alright, this story needs a bit of set-up I suppose.



In one such world, in the corner of a backwater galaxy, humans rule over a senseless planet.
However, that’s about as important as a speck of dust in this pluralistic cosmos.
Well, here in the Netherworld, things work the same way.
I wanted to tell him that, but… he had problems with my prophecy, already.



Zetta had traveled to the Forbidden Library, where the Sacred Tome was kept.

Video- “Raiden”

Screenshots Don’t Do This Justice



Security’s tighter than I expected. Then again, this IS where the Sacred Tome is kept…
Argh! I shouldn’t be wasting my time! If I don’t hurry up, my Netherworld will disappear like that damn prophecy said…

I’m pretty sure Zetta never really grasped how this whole prophecy thing works, by the way. Anyway, he pushed deeper into the library.





What the--!? Who the hell’re you?
I am called Raiden. As per my master’s orders, I am here to destroy you.
So, uh, let me guess… You’re the reason my Netherworld is supposed to be destroyed?
Hyaaha ha ha ha! I’m a freakin’ Overlord, you idiot! …The strongest one in the entire cosmos.
Are you really the best warrior that prophecy could send? I’ll crush you like a grape!

And Zetta, master of jumping to conclusions, proceeded to do just that.



Overlord Feinne on Makai Kingdom: The Basics
Here’s a link to the combat tutorial video, which will explain what I’m about to but with pretty flashing lights and amusing cartoon skeletons when someone gets hit by lightning.

Video- “Combat Tutorial”

Experience the Power of Zetta

Anyway, the basics of combat in Makai Kingdom are sort of a hybrid of Phantom Brave and Disgaea. We alternate turns with the enemy, but every character has the ability to freely move rather than being stuck moving in set squares. When we’ve got a character selected, we can see their movement radius as a red circle.



We can queue up an attack either by selecting Attack from the menu or using the triangle button when moving. A blue wireframe will show the area of the attack we want to use. Just as in Disgaea, attacks only go off if we end our turn or Execute them from the menu, and multiple consecutive attacks on the same target will cause the later attacks to become increasingly powerful (as well as some other effects that we’ll talk about when we get to a real map). Once we’re done with our actions, we End Turn and the enemy gets to go. It’s just that simple. The tutorial map is of course a guaranteed win, as Zetta is level 2000 and can easily tear Raiden apart.

One of the few things about Zetta that can’t be faulted is his strength, though, and Raiden never stood a chance. This just left him to check the Sacred Tome…

Video- “A Poor Decision”

Zetta Makes a Bad Call

But, I’m over it. Looks like my Netherworld is safe, now.
Hyaaha ha ha ha! I’m one bad-ass freakin’ Overlord. Hahaha.
Ahh... “The Sacred Tome.” It’s about damn time.
Everything pertaining to my netherworld should be recorded in this book.
Let’s take a look-see if things have improved since I trashed that Raiden guy.
What the--!?



Heh, what a crock…
Well I’ll be a son of a—
Stupid, am I?
My foolishness doomed the Netherworld? Really?
How dare you read to me like that! I’m a freakin’ Overlord!
What is this!? “Sacred Tome?” HA! More like… Sucky…Dumb……thing…!

And then he lit the Sacred Tome on fire.



What the--!?

Not the sharpest tool in the shed sometimes.



Gruaaaargh!
What the hell’s going on!?
Wait…! If the Sacred Tome is…
Ahh, crap! My netherworld’s gonna be destroyed!
Grr… What the hell can I do?
…Aha! I’ll bind my soul to the damn book!
Confine!



I must admit I didn’t see the rest of this coming.



Anyway, thusly Lord Zetta’s Netherworld vanished into inky black nothingness…

But I figured when he called me what must have happened. Not one for social calls, Zetta…

Video- “Zetta’s Friends”

Loses a Lot as Screens Honestly

Guess he needs my help again. Tee hee…



Holy crap.
I lost everything… My netherworld, my castle, my brothers… Even my own body… it’s all gone.



How did I end up like this? I was the most badass Overlord in the universe, for Magog’s sake!



Hey, hold on a second!
Who the hell’re you? What are you doing here?
Only beings of demon class or higher are allowed in my space. How’d a little girl get in!?
Oh, you’re not concerned with me, sir.
…I’m not?
That’s a relief. Have a nice day!



H-Hey! Wait! Cease! Halt! Come back!
…What the hell was that about?
Aha! A strong mana’s coming this way—I can feel it! Who could it be?
Hmph. It better not be Salome!

Anyway, Zetta was in a foul mood as usual when I arrived.





Oh, it’s you. Hello, Pram.
“Hello!?” Who were you expecting? You’re the one who summoned me here.
Oh, right…
So, you’re looking literary today. Walk me through your makeover, page by page… *giggle *
Stop laughing! I didn’t do this on purpose!

It does make sense he’d call me, not like Zetta’s got a lot of friends.



But, she recently received one of her own. She’s young, but she has the ability to see into the future, which earned her respect among the other Overlords.
Still, her exceptional mana power is also making them nervous.
Pram is the Oracle who foretold my netherworld’s demise.

He’s lucky I had a plan for this.



Of course! Don’t you have any faith? I brought a friend along.

And that at least one person was worried about him, though I can’t understand why.





Haa, are you okay, Zetta? You nearly gave me a heart attack!
When I heard you were in trouble, I rushed right over.
Ohhh please! Cut the crap, Micky, you’re here to kill Zetta.
What!? Goodness, no!
Hehehehehehe… Kill him kill him kill him! Ahahahaha!
Stop that, both of you! I’m really worried about Lord Zetta…



In many worlds, they’re the Final Boss.
The lower body is a dragon named Dryzen.
That face on its stomach is Ophelia, the fallen angel.
The upper body is Micky, who supposedly makes the decisions…
But, the other two tend to bully him. …They’re basically calling the shots.
For a demon general, he’s pretty spineless.
There’s more than one world in the universe, so of course there are many netherworlds.
I have mine, but it’s not the only one. Of course, with all these netherworlds floating around, Overlords try to conquer other nearby netherworlds.
In fact, they pounce on any chance to do so.
Nobody attacked me before because of my Mana power, but now…

Zetta can never miss out on an opportunity to talk about how ‘badass’ he is, which was pretty funny when he was an immobile book I’ve got to say.



Damn right! I’m the best there is. You lame Overlords can’t compare to me!
Put a sock in it, already.
Mana power isn’t worth much if you can’t even move around.
You’re awfully helpless for a “bad-ass freaking Overlord.”
Damn…
Seriously, what’s the plan? Can I really get my netherworld back again?
Don’t forget, I’m Pram the Oracle!
You became the Sacred Tome, right? Well, just write your wish in the book; the Netherworld will return.
Are you sure?
Just trust me on this, kay? Hm, though, you obviously can’t write it yourself…
Dammit, arms! Maybe you can write some in.
Nah, arms are overrated. Ooh, here. I’ll try writing something. Let’s see…
Whoa, time out! Stop! It’s my body, and I’ll decide what gets written on it!
…Write something about a castle. I need an Overlord’s Castle!
Castle, hm? Isn’t that a little greedy?
Hey, I know! How…about…this!

I had the perfect castle in mind for Zetta’s current situation…



Sweet! An Overlord’s castle!



It’s a doghouse. Why not start again from the bottom? Life’s not easy, y’know?
You could have made it easier!

Of course, Zetta was still in a bit of bind, what with being an inanimate object.



I need loyal servants to be my arms and legs.
Now go create custom characters by confining lost souls to objects found within the kingdom.
Depending on what you confine the souls to, character status will change. For example, rocks will increase (DEF), while flowers will increase (INT). I will create the first character, so you do the rest.
That item over there looks useful.



Overlord Feinne on Makai Kingdom: Character Creation
Alright, so to create characters in the Kingdom all we need is foliage and (for stronger tiers of a class) a bit of Mana power. As Zetta said, what items we use will impact the base stats of a character. We want to avoid using items that will negatively impact the valuable stats of the character, of course. Let’s look at one of the classes we start with really quickly to show off the basics.



So, on the left we see the name of the character type, the mana cost of this tier, and then a list of that classes’ signature skills. The first four will always be weapon skills, and these are the only weapons that class can normally gain skill with. We also see Healing and Passive Skills for the Healer, as she is a magic user. Then we see SP+1 and RES+1. These skills provide the Healer with extra bonus stats in those areas above and beyond everything else, and the more powerful versions that appear at higher tiers and levels can make characters exponentially more powerful. At the bottom middle and right you can see the item we’re using and how it will impact the stats of the resulting character.



I always use the first tier of Warrior (F) for my first character because it’s half of the requirement for one of my very favorite classes. It also gives us one very solid character no matter what. We get a few bonus points to spend on stats, I push those into Attack because hitting things harder is the only thing that matters in Makai Kingdom, as I’ll discuss at length later on. Anyway, now Zetta wants us to create some more characters, so mosey on down to the recruitment post below this and see how you too can join in the noble effort to restore Zetta’s Netherworld!