Disgaea Fans Rejoice, the third entry retains the marks that made the previous entries fun, while innovating gameplay
1. Trophy Support added as of July 30, 2009
2. DLC of Characters from previous Disgaea Titles ($1.99 each)
3. DLC of modes to share states online
4. DLC of chapters for one of the side characters (Rasberyl) adds roughly 10-20 hours of gameplay.
Generally speaking the only addition most players will need is the FREE trophy support update which you may be prompted to get if you are buying the game for the first time. Who doesnt want PS3 trophys?
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Anyway all of that aside, Disgaea 3 is the third in the demon underworld strategy japanese role playing game from NIS. Although it carries the 3 behind its title, the story is completely unrelated to the other games and introduces an entire new cast of characters. The only returning characters are NIS signature Prinny's which add a bit of comedic relief.
The game explores the story at this underworld school as you, as Mao the overlord's son, are an honor student dedicated to trying to get revenge on his father since he broke his video games that he had invested thousands of hours of playtime on. You are also trying to be the number one delinquent in this school since that is what is good in the demon underworld. The story proceeds on through about 8 or 9 of these chapters that expand from this minor story to one that is greater and more epic as you go through plot twists, face the upperclassman sophomores and the diez gentleman (a group of upperclassman students), and more.
Along the way other storyline characters join the quest such as Almaz von Adamant Almadine (who wants to be a hero), Princess Sapphire, Rasberyl and her friends, a few teachers. The character cast is actually quite hilarious as you will face a Home Economics Teacher, Master Big Star the Sophomore Class Leader, and even the PTA.
The story is enjoyable and lasted me about 100 hours to get through...
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Gameplay, Disgaea plays out like the previous version. You play as Mao and can create new characters to join your team. Characters can come from numerous classes. Each class has about 6 tiers with level requirements to satisfy unlocking more. You can also transmigrate your character to a higher tear (but they will start at level 1) or to another group altogether. Basically if you want to explore the system you can but some players can breeze through the game using just the first tier of character straightway.
Additional caveats to character creation include the ability to alter their weapon choices by having them use a variety of weapons and gaining the skills and level points for it, you can also go into the "class world" to boost a few of their abilities, or go into the item world to boost the points of the item. Furthermore in the items you can move the residents (basically character who give additional features to the item such as higher health, or exp gain), to other items or combine them. Once again the possibilities are endless but you can go through the game to avoid it.
Additonal caveats
-Players gain experience points in battle to level up
-Players gain mana points in battle when they vanquish an opponent
-Mana points are used to learn and boost abilities (evilties), boost skills/learn new skills, or to use in the "Homeroom" to make new characters, or pass topics in homeroom (tons of topics, useful in the post storymode to unlock the maps to get bosses and previous characters and DLC)
Generally speaking the way in which the gameplay is setup it can cater to a variety of players, new people can breeze through it, while other players can invest in FAQS or guides to dig into the statistics and boost their characters for hours on end. The level limit is 9999, you can do billions of damage, but all of that depends on how much time you are willing to invest post game. Once you beat the story mode you can go back and keep using your characters, everything transfers over except for unlockable characters which you will get at the time you unlocked them
For new players, the game works by you going to the gate keeper and then selecting the next map, there is no exploration or anything of that nature.
Production Values
-Sound: The Disgaea soundtrack by Tenpei Sato is true to the series. A few tracks from previous titles return while there are tons of news ones. Extreme Outlaw Overlord will never get old (plays when you are in the schoolgrounds), and nothing ever gets old. Most of the songs convey the story scenes emotion quite well.
-Voices, Voices are available in Japanese or English, English sounds good to be honest. I love the lines Almaz has as well as the passion with which Mao's voice actor speaks.
Graphics: 2D sprites are nice, battle animations start off unimpressive, but if you raise the tier higher these attacks look flashier and more powerful. Vasa Aergun for Mao looks awesome and never gets old. Get a gunner and try those higher level attacks, lol. Actually a few attacks look quite brutal!
Overall the game can last anywhere from 40 hours to thousands of hours depending on your play style. Ive actually gone back since beating it at 80 hours to unlock more stuff and to raise my characters to above lvl 500, with some characters at lvl 4500! Some of the trophies are a feat to get. It was well worth the 50$ I spent on this game.
Note to veterans: Borrows Geoblock elements from Disgaea Afternoon of Darkness and expands them