It's hard to get your hands on strategy RPG's here, so when does make it a big fan like me has to check it out. Just the idea behind moving characters on an isometric field turn-based is simple, yet great. Disgaea is a good experience on many points, but the most important one was missing, and that's the gameplay. Laharl, the prince of the Netherworld, had overslept. His father died, two years ago, and only now he finds out. Not really mourning the death of his father, he's more mourning the loss of his throne, many demons have seized the opportunity while Laharl was absent, and instead of one heir to the throne, there are now dozens of demons trying to become the king of the Netherworld. Needless to say Laharl wants to kick some demon butt in order to reclaim his rightful place in the Netherworld hierarchy. Of course there's always some conspiracy going on behind the scenes.... In order to get yourself on the throne you need to work your way through the game's chapters. You have to recruit an army of demons, retainers and monsters of the most insane sorts, level them (and yourself) up and finish up the stages, one by one. The bigger your army gets, the longer it takes to level them all up etc. etc. Equip your charactes with the right equipment and let them have the finishing blow on an enemy from time to time. And that's the weak point of the game, it's made the game pretty weak. Leveling up drastically improves your character, it's mandatory to stand a chance, so you want 90% of your characters to walk in line level-wise with Laharl. However, in order to gain experience points they need to finish off an enemy, and that's hard. Your healers, for instance, won't do much good in combat, and getting them to deliver the finishing blow is near impossible. The farther you get in the game, the more you'll be calculating what the chance is a certain character will do enough damage in order to gain some of his much need EXP points. That is, I tell you, very, very annoying, to a point of total disturbance. Good thing there's something like the Item World. The Item World is a world inside a weapon that's full of enemies. You go inside the weapon, make your way through a few stages, killing everything on your way until you're out. Good for some power-leveling, I tell you, if it weren't so goddamn boring. It's more of a necessary evil in order to be able to progress the story. They could've made so much more of this Item World, and items that have been leveled up this way do not add much to the overall performance of the character wielding it. Another wasted opportunity is the Demon Council. In order to give characters extra points, raise extra money or recruit a unique addition to your already extensive army you can consulty the Council. Bribe them, fight them, do anything in order to get them on your side. Problem is that it's a feature you can overlook to save yourself the trouble of bribing the Council Members. It's fun to play around with, but I never really used it, because it's not really necessary. So you'd say the game is extremely flawed? Well, don't. The battle system on itself is so much fun, with the counters, the combos and special attacks that you'll keep playing anyway. It's just rewarding to see your little, crazy army move around over the field, smashing everything that's not on your side with insane and devastating attacks. Add some nice extra elements like Geo Symbols (blocks that give advantages to certain squares on the field) and the ability to throw characters, friend or foe, and you have a deep and rich gaming experience that makes you overlook the flaws for this time only. The graphics are not top-notch, but there's not much to wish for in this game when it comes to graphics. You just want to see the characters and you want some nice effects when they attack. Do not worry, you'll get plenty of them. Same goes for the sound. It's terribly soft, but they are cartoonish and really add to the insane and humorous atmosphere the game breathes. Overall this is a fun experience. The gameplay gets tedious and annoying, believe me, but it's fun story, deep battle system and great classes make you forget these things, if this game fits your tastes. If that's the case, you'll enjoy it, despite its flaws.
At times, the video game era we're currently in can be tough on some of the more dedicated gamers. Small developers used to tune a game towards a small subset of a genre's fans, but since the production costs were so lo... Read Full Review
I received Disgaea as a birthday gift for my 26th birthday. I didn't play it until after my 27th birthday. I had not read reviews, and had not even considered giving it a chance until after I grew bored of my other, ov... Read Full Review
