As the title says, yes. As shameful as it is, I’ve never played a core Disgaea game, or at least not for longer than a few minutes. Don’t get me wrong though, I love the universe, the characters and the humor that the game has introduced. I’ve watched some of the anime, I’ve played crossover titles like Cross Edge that feature characters from the series, and put hundreds of hours into the two Prinny spinoffs. Yet, the task of pouring another hundred into a game as seemingly large and complex as any of the Disgaea games has always scared me off, even though I’ve had every intention of starting up my copies of the first, second and third games… Someday.
What I did know however, is that the general consencous considers Disgaea 4 the highlight of the series, which delivered on its promise to take the franchise to absurdly new heights back in 2011, both literally and figuratively. Building on that strong reputation is Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited, an enhanced port for the Playstation Vita, which delivers numerous balance tweeks, all of the console version’s DLC and a slew of new features, none of which I noticed since this was my first go around. Regardless, this was the perfect excuse to finally give one of the main titles an honest shot, and what I was left with was a often humerous, deceptively deep turn based strategy that offers more hours of content than I know what to do with.
At the start, the game introduces us to Valvatorez, a former Underworld tyrant who values his promises above all else. Since then, his strength has declined, leading him to a demotion as a Prinny Instructor, due in part to a refusal to drink blood, (substituting it with an odd love for sardines). After his latest batch of graduates prepares to head off into a world of abuse and servitude, the Prinnies mysteriously vanish before their instructor can reward them with the sardines he promised them, kicking off an adventure that will take him all across the Underworld in search of those responsible.
Starting with Fenrich, Valvatorez’s loyal companion, Disgaea 4 offers a nearly limitless amount of characters for you to customize your party with, easing you into the game’s mechanics in the process. Starting off with your typical RPG classes as you build a larger team, traditional classes like mages, healers, warriors and everything in between make an appearance. In addition, any class of demon that has been defeated in battle can be recruited, adding even more party variety in both abilities and actions. And naturally, as the story advances, more core party members like Fuka, the human girl who was given a Prinny outfit in lieu of becoming an actual Prinny due to a shortage in resources, are added to the team. As expected, each one is a welcomed addition, bringing the off the wall humor and fourth wall breaking we’ve come to expect from the series on top of their attacks and special abilities.
Using a grid based format, the large variety of weapons and skills all have different attack ranges, so managing space on the field becomes even more important than performing the right attacks. But outside of the standard game play tropes we’ve gone over already, are abilities that are both new and old to the Disgaea franchise, including lifting and geo panels. Lifting allows human units to pick up enemies, allys and items alike, giving players the ability to move farther than they can in a normal turn, or moving enemies out of advantagous spots. Speaking of advantagous spots, geo panels are colored grids that can grant both helpful and harmful effects, adding a layer to the importance of field placement. Special blocks can change the color of the field when destroyed, harming everyone on a affected grid in the process.
If throwing isn’t your thing, there are plenty of other, equally crazy ways of leading your team to victory. For one, it’s possible to stack multiple units on top of another, leading to devastating special abilities that literally uses your wall of characters as a weapon, (assuming you’ve purchased the right upgrades). More traditional forms of attack include team attacks, where two adjacent characters have a chance to inflict extra damage when using a standard move against an enemy, which is shown through some amazing looking special animations, thanks in part to the game’s gorgeous 2D visuals. But if you’re more of a substance over style kind of gamer, these moves aren’t just for show. Properly utilizing combos, geo blocks and team attacks fills a bonus meter, which unlocks extra items, money and EXP bonuses at the end of each round. It’s not every day that an RPG dishes out extra rewards for playing well.
But if you like games like this, the standard fare isn’t enough for you, is it? Which is exactly why Magichange and Fusion abilities were included during combat. Magichange transforms demon units into weapons for humans to weild, netting both of them valuable EXP points. Fusion joins together two demons of the same type to create one giant version, taking up much more space, while doing an increased amount of damage and pushing aside units who block their path, creating yet another movement option. As you progress, you’ll even be able to Magichange fused monsters into even stronger weapons, which when all things considered, is just a bonus piece of a combat system that is deceptively complex.
With so many combat options at your disposal, it’s vital that you put each one to good use, because after the first episode, the game gets steadily more difficult. But once you’ve recruited all of the teammates you can find, and it’s still not enough, what’s a would-be tyrant to do? Thankfully, the options given to strenghthen your party members are just as varied as combat itself. In the hub world, you can spend your hard earned HL on new abilities, weapons, armor and items, which get stronger in a variety of ways.
Abilities are strengthened through constant use, but the items themselves can be upgraded by taking a trip to the Item World. Here, your team will give up an item in exchange for the chance to go through a variety of floors, challenging enemy teams along the way. As you progress, the item can get stronger by leveling up the item itself, or the Innocents contained inside it, (which serve as upgrades and abilities for certain characters). With a multitude of floors to discover, and a reward that introduces custom pirate ships to pit online against your friends once you get far enough, the Item World is like a game in itself, which can be a great place for both level grinding, and exploring.
Then again, if you don’t feel like working for your advancements, you can always take your case to the senate! When Valvatorez hauls over to the “Cam-pain HQ”, he’ll be able to build towers on a World Map that net different combat bonuses for each party member in its vascinity. In addition, a second type of currency called Mana, can be spent to call a senate hearing, where you convince various powerful demons to change the game in your favor. These range from hiring new party members, to opening a cheat shop, and even asking to embezzle their own pay for yourself. Obviously, they might not be too thrilled with every proposal you introduce, so much like the real senete, you can bribe each member with items to win their approval. Unlike the real senete, they’ll eventually vote. And yet, if things don’t go your way, you can always pass your ordinance through good, old fashioned force. Just be prepared to get completely slaughtered, unless you find yourself at around level 800.
And yet, leveling is where the game slows to a grinding halt. In between all of the hilarious banter, strategic combat and customization options with the senate, there will eventually come a time where you can’t proceed unless you fight the same enemies over and over again. Between the item world, and the option to replay any stage you’ve completed, you’ll never have a hard time finding a place to grind. Regardless, when every new recruited party member that’s not related to the story starts at level one, getting them up to speed becomes a miserable undertaking, one that wears the good times thin after too much time has passed. It gets to the point where advancing through the main missions feel like a reward for the hours of tedium. Something tells me that this isn’t the intention.
While on the subject of time, battles tend to feel like they’re going much slower than they should. I know that when it comes to turn based strategy games, slow is kind of considered the name of the game. And yet, I’ve been spoiled by much faster titles in the genre that don’t feel like they drag nearly as much. This tedium, combined with the many times certain mechanics wouldn’t work as intended, leaving me to figure out why on my own made it feel far too frustrating at times.
Luckily, once these moments pass, everything is a blast to play through again. You just have to trudge through some of the expected faults of the genre to get there. All in all, Disgaea 4 went a long way to convert a newbie like me to looking forward to whatever the series has in store going forward. With its impressive visuals, catchy soundtrack, laugh out loud script that’s exemplified by stellar voice acting, a never too serious, yet at times, touching story, and way more content than most of us will ever see, and it’s no wonder that the series has the following that it does. In fact, I’m suddenly inspired to go back and finish the back logged prequels! Just… Not today.
tl;dr
+ A deep, varied combat system with nearly limitless options.
+ The lengthy story, tons of bonus modes, multiple endings and hours of post game content will keep you playing for a very long time.
+ Offbeat humor throughout, which compliments the strong presentation.
– Lots and lots of level grinding.
– Battles can move at a pace that’s much too slow.
– Certain aspects of the mechanics aren’t explained very well, leading to lots of guesswork.
Final Score: 4/5