There are some games that can stand the test of time and no matter what platform they are on deliver a solid experience. Disgaea is a game that is fourteen years old and originally was on the PS2 platform. I never owned one so when I heard that Disgaea PC by Nippon Ichi Software, Inc. was going to be available on Steam I had to pick it up and see why this game had such a large following. It was enough to spawn a 5 game series.
The Game:
Disgaea PC is a turned base tactics RPG. You will have a team of at most 10 units that you can move across the map to kill off enemies. Each unit gets the chance to move and use an ability. After you finish your turn the enemy will take theirs and attempt to take out your units and for an old game, the AI is pretty good at it. You are able to lift your allies to throw them extra distances and this can be chained. Only human units can lift but all types can be thrown.In a lot of maps there are colored tiles (Geo Panels) that sometimes have pyramids (Geo Symbol) that sit on them giving those tiles attributes. There are many ranging from damage bonuses to debuffs to allies on those squares. You have the ability to destroy symbols and if you do on a color panel that is not the same, it turns all of those panels the same color as the symbol. This can cause additional damage to enemies and if you clear them it not only delivers damage to the whole map but will add on to your combo for the level. The higher your combo the more item you get after the level.
The crazy thing about this game is everything can be leveled. Along with the characters, gear can be level by entering into it. These Item Worlds have randomly generated maps, which can really screw you. There are units called specialists in these item worlds that if you manage to kill grant your items even more buffs. Characters abilities can also be leveled through using them on the enemy or allies if you are not paying attention. There is freindly fire.
In the home base besides weapon vendors, you can enter the item worlds, talk to npcs, teleport to the next area, or call an assembly. An assembly can add additional buffs, unlock weapons, create new characters, or unlock additional maps. You can do this by spending mana, which is gained for each character by killing enemies. The only thing is some of these rely on council votes, which are several monsters with varying opinions of the action. You can try and bribe them into voting for you and if that doesn't work you can try and fight them into submission. This can be really cool and really frustrating at the same time. When you really want something but you get a counsel of really high levels, you know you are going to get fucked.
My Thoughts:
This is a game that has aged incredibly well. Yeah the graphics are not top notch but the pixel art is great, the anime style drawing is timeless, and the story is still enjoyable if not a little campy. The animation to some of the later moves is pretty entertaining. If there is one complaint it is that this game can get really grindy. I mean really grindy. In fact I played this game over a few months in chunks to make sure I didn't get too bored.The fact that weapons can be leveled means you are going to be spending a lot of time in items worlds that can be anything from really cool maps where you can combo geo symbols to bullshit hills and valleys where you are spending far too much time trying to throw the right units over the gaps. This variation makes the game interesting but there were a few maps that I am almost 100% were not solvable, which is incredibly frustrating. You either have to the item with you to exit or you just wasted all the time from your last save
(Story Spoiler)
I did enjoy the story of this game. Although campy at times it was still quirky and fun enough that I was invested in the characters. You start out as Laharl who is the rightful error to the underworld waking up from a nap to Etna pointing a gun at him. He finds out his father is dead and so now the kingdom is his. After seeking revenge for his father's death he runs into an angel named Flonne who has come from heaven to prove there is good in demons. Little does she know she is about to be used as a pawn in attempt to get Laharl to attack the heavens.
(Ending Spoiler)
The interaction and the story progression of Laharl is well done. Flonne's nonstop mission to find good in the darkest of places is sweet and really caps off when she makes the ultimate sacrifice and Laharl does the same trying to save her. Well at least in my ending because there are multiple to this story. I got the one where Seraph is struck down so Laharl must sacrifice himself so Flonne can live again. It was a great ending to the story although it was not considered the "best ending".
I chose the Japanese voice acting because I wasn't feeling the English ones. I also fucked up my best champion who was a ninja. You can basically pump them full of speed and they are nigh impossible to hit, even with magic. You can do what is called transmigration where you return a character to level 1 as a different class, and they retain stats and can be buff with more points if you have the mana. I turned him into wrong class and then had to grind that class back up so I could turn him back to a ninja. I am pretty sure it nerfed him and it took for fucking ever to do but lesson learned.The game overall was a great RPG. I had a lot of fun playing and it has definitely aged well. I am really happy that Disgaea 2 is also on PC and without a doubt will pick it up and play it. Even though grindy it had a lot in the game to compel me to finish and I am glad I did.
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