[Game Review] Disgaea PC
The Journey Of The Prince Of Demons Who Strives To Rule 'em All By Exploiting The Battle System, Along With His Vassal & An Angel.
Salam (Peace)
Disgaea PC is a port of the first game in the series, developed by Nippon Ichi Software. First released on PlayStation 2 as Disgaea Hour of Darkness... This port includes HD graphics (with the old graphics as option.) And extra content. I talked about this game on steemit more than once and finally here's my Review.
Steam Store Page
Gameplay & Graphics
Disgaea is a turn-based tactical game, where you control your whole party every turn, best compared to Fire Emblem & Tatics Ogre. A major difference between Disgaea and other strategy games is the iconic Lift/Throw mechanic you can use to move your characters and enemies along the map. Also the stats (levels and equipment) in Disgaea play a bigger role in deciding the outcome of the battle so grinding is necessary.
Disgaea exclusive Geo Panels add effects to some positions on the map making this game play like a puzzle. And you can reach level 9999!! (the can be beaten around level 90 but not post story content.) Everything can be leveled up (Characters, items, enemies) and procedural generated Item World maps clearly help in leveling.
The tactical battle system of the game comes with a lot of loop-holes to be abused (only player characters can Lift/Throw so you can abuse your enemies inability to do that) but that doesn't make the game easier. The game expects you to abuse these loop-holes or the fights would be much harder.
Graphic-wise, Disgaea isn't that impressive. (The PS2 version released more than 10 years ago wasn't impressive at its time.) But that doesn't mean the game isn't pretty. Despite using PS1-era-like sprites and low poly 3D maps, the game is awesome to play and the Character Design (and their story art) is so good it makes you forget that they are small sprites.
Story and Characters
The story starts with Laharl, a demon Prince who slept for two years. His vassal Etna woke him up and told him about his father's death while he was asleep. He decided to be the next Overlord as the heir. At the same time the clumsy angel Flonne was sent to Assassinate the overlord. After her encounter with Laharl who told her that her target is dead and he doesn't care, she decided to prove to him that even demons could love.
The game is a huge ride. The Thirteen episodes would take you all over the Netherworld and sometimes even other worlds, every episode in the game contains its own story, while short don't feel rushed. The story doesn't take itself too seriously which makes the real serious parts of it stand out.
And despite the bleak premise (the main character being a Villain,) the story focuses on a lot of positive themes like justice and friendship and LOVE.
All the characters are unique and interesting, with traits over-the-top just like everything else in the game. All of them have well thought personalities & motivations.
Some character's to mention are the cute pengiun like creatures (Prinnies,) Mid-boss the rival of Laharl (yup, he has a real name but that's how they refer him,) AND CAPTAIN GORDON, DEFENDER OF EARTH.
There's No Fourth Wall
The characters in this game know about the leveling/stats system, and in many cases they imply that they know they're in a game. One character is referred only by the name Mid-boss (He has a name but other's don't seem to listen.)
Characters know that some things happening in the game are popular media material, Flonne is anime otaku and gets easily excited on concepts like justice and GIANT ROBOTS. Etna always narrate "In the next episode." and says things that would be spoilers if it weren't for how she exaggerate and add ANIME elements to them says them.
Etna's Mode & Disgaea PC Extras
Disgaea PC added a lot of improvements like HD graphics mentioned above plus all the content of Disgaea: The Afternoon of Darkness. Like Disgaea 2 characters (post game) and Etna Mode.
Etna Mode is a "what if? Scenario" following the journey of Etna becoming the overlord after accidentally killing Laharl. I thought it was easy to unlock after you finish the game but I soon realized it's tricky to unlock this mode.
I should also mention the whole post-game content, the story can be easily beaten on levels at 80-90, but after the main story and to get some of the endings you have to reach insane levels +1000. I haven't reached them yet but they can only be reached through item world and the like.
Funny, But Serious When It Count
The game parodies many things, and almost everything is NOT being taken seriously or TOO Seriously it makes you laugh. But some scenes are so tragic, awesome and/or moving that it makes you feel you're right there with the characters.
I Highly Recommend this game or any game in the series: the order doesn't matter (Unless the direct sequel "Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness," play this first.) If you're looking for a comedy game that has some deadly serious parts. If you enjoy anime or if you're looking for a puzzle game disguised as pure strategy.
I Don't Recommend: for people who can't stand grinding (Unless you're amazing strategist, you'll need grinding a lot to proceed.) and this game takes too much time out of you... The first run will probably take you around 40-60 hours to beat, but if only played the main story without grinding (New Game+ for example) it should take less than 15 hours.
What do you think?
~ Hope You Liked This Review ~
My Related Gaming Posts:
| Cover | Game Review |
|---|---|
 | Half-Minute Hero: The other side of spectrum. RPG game that you don't have to grind. (One of my first reviews.) |
 | Azure Striker Gunvolt: My latest review before this. A game I like to refer as "More than Megaman." |
I've never played Disgaea, but it's a game that I want to playin the future. I had a friend who told me that he lost a lot of time in the game (almost 999 hours!) And I didn't even want to believe him when he told me that. Grind games were never quite my choice, I like Action RPG or Pixel Art RPG more. However, I want to see if I give one day an opportunity to this game.
I like your article! I hope to see more of the genre in the future!
Thanks for reading.
For me it depends on how heavy the grind is, and the reward of it... If the reward only leads to more grind (like most MMORPGs) I probably won't play the game for long. But Disgaea had a story I'm interested in, and after some time I'll stop playing it (I think you really need 999 hours to %100 this game, that's harsh.)
I can say that until you beat the story the first time the game is totally enjoyable, and if you played it I advice playing the New Game+ to get the other main ending (you'll get either Normal or Good Ending in the first run, unless you fulfilled the HARD conditions of other endings by mistake, and you wouldn't if you didn't grind a lot.)
Apparently I have to add the game to my Steam wishlist. Ahahah
Yes the grind is interesting when they give more history to the game itself. As far as the MMORPG's is concerned, it's not really like that anymore, because you basically grind to level up what's not worth it.