Disgaea 1 Complete – for many the original is still the best (Picture: NIS America)

A reader and long-time Disgaea fans takes a long and detailed look at the series, starting with the first two games on the PlayStation 2.

This year has been pretty good year for video games. I have yet to upgrade to a ninth generation console and yet I’ve still been well catered for. A new Legend Of Zelda; a remake of Resident Evil 4 that, for the most part, exceeded the wary expectations of many – including myself; and what will probably end up being the best fighting game of generation nine in Street Fighter 6. And one that I could still enjoy on my wheezing PlayStation 4!

Also, this year came Disgaea 7: Vows Of The Virtueless. It’s not going to be giving Baldur’s Gate 3 much to worry about – though it might be more accessible – and I’ll be very surprised if it ends up on any site or magazine’s top games lists this year, but it is good. Great, even. Depending on personal mileage. A better story than 5 and 6, much better selection of characters than its immediate predecessor and even some decent DLC.

I’m not going to review it here, though, as most people who were interested in it have already bought it and made up their own minds. No, I want to do a retrospective as a whole and how the franchise might move forwards in the future. Because this is a very conservative series that makes all those special editions of Street Fighter 2 look innovative.

Disgaea: Hour Of Darkness came along for the PlayStation 2 back in 2003, which was also a good year for games. Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic was easily the best role-player overall and Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker came out that year, too. And while that may be one of the lesser Zeldas, it’s fair to say it was still game of the year material.

Disgaea may have looked like it belonged on a PlayStation 1, or even a SNES at times, but it still had some interesting ideas and valuable contributions to the genre. The idea of levelling up your weapon skills the more you use them was still quite rare and unusual, especially on a console and creating your own army of angels, zombies, thieves, and explosive penguins was and still is quite a thrill.

Disgaea also encouraged you to ‘cheat’ the system in your own favour. You could stand before the Dark Assembly, where you propose bills before demon senators whom you can bribe with items in your inventory to help get them on board. This could be a very expensive process. However, in return you could get all sorts of lovely goodies.

Then there’s the Item World. Which has always been overhyped, in my opinion, as going through it quickly becomes tedious. It’s a clever idea, though. You get to go into any item, from your favourite killer-anime sword to a humble stick of gum. Even gum that’s already been chewed. ABC. Yes, that’s gross. Hell, it’s not even over when you have hit the ridiculous 9,999 level cap! To see everything the game has to offer, you’re going to have to reincarnate back down to level 1. I know, that sounds like madness, but you’ll get better stats when you do. Assuming you do it at ‘maximum level’.

Of course, it really helped that it has an entertaining story, still boasting one of gaming’s best character arcs in Prince Laharl. The Red Moon chapter and Laharl’s almost reunion with his mother is still the best thing the series has done. But then the sequels came…

Not that any of the sequels have been outright bad, the fourth game is arguably the best in the series in my view, but they’ve all fallen short of their full potential to some degree or another. Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories came along in 2006, and had some decent amount of hype behind it. The three major characters from the last game – Laharl, Etna and Flonne – returned only as cameos, while a new cast had a new story adventure.

Male lead, Adell, was a stock hero archetype, but still far more engaging than the tedious Killia from the fifth game. Oddly, it was Rozalin, the sheltered demon princess who was the real main character. Although you don’t realise that until the ending. And that the summoning spell from the beginning to bring the main antagonist, Overlord Zenon, straight to Adell’s home village actually worked in a way. A very clever bait and switch. But you’d have to play it for yourself to fully understand what I’m talking about.

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The story is still entertaining, Rozalin makes for an intriguing and complex character and her romance with Adell is quite affecting. That said, once Etna shows up she completely steals the show. And the translation is a little clumsy here or there. A key line is ‘I am a being of solitude!’ Okay. Lacks power, doesn’t it? Why not ‘I will always be alone?’ Much more emotive and that’s without me really trying.

But, despite the fancy anime intro and incredible soundtrack, Disgaea 2 squandered the opportunity to evolve the game mechanics beyond fighting and micro-management. Next time, hopefully, I’ll elaborate on what else the series could do and how they should have done it 17 years ago.

By reader DMR

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A reader and long-time Disgaea fans takes a long and detailed look at the series, starting with the first two games on the PlayStation 2.