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You Really Should Be Playing This Game: Disgaea DS By: PoisonRamune, the Apathetic Lizardman I remember reading an old Nintendo Power and seeing the statement: If you think outer space is huge, it’s nothing compared to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I found this somewhat laughable, due to the fact that I had just recently finished FFTA and didn’t find it as epic as Nintendo Power did. Moving ahead 4 years, the handheld role playing game market has made some serious leaps and bounds. With the release of some new hardware such as the PSP and the DS, handheld games are looking closer to their console game brethren as each day goes by. Allow me to bring Disgaea DS to your attention. If you’re an avid gamer, then the franchise title should be familiar to you. In fact, you’ve probably already played a version this game as this is a remake of a game that came out on PS2 in 2003 (and was subsequently ported to the PSP last year). However, if you’ve never heard of this title, let me bring you up to speed on what this amazing game is all about.
The game is your standard Japanese tactical/strategy role playing game. Levels are divided into a grid like matrix. You are to lead your band of troops into battle against the opposing group of soldiers, using positioning and strategic attacks to defeat your opponent by attrition. Mechanically, the game plays near identically to a Final Fantasy Tactics game. However, your turn based action is divided into corporate faction turns, rather than individual character’s turns. This allows a less constrictive element of strategy as you can readily set up group attacks and combos (which are actually encouraged in this game). While this game has been lauded as essentially a Final Fantasy Tactics rip-off, take heart in knowing that you won’t be buying this game based on the gameplay alone.
The story is quirky and down-right hilarious. If you’re a fan of cheesy syndicated anime, you will laugh out loud numerous times. The game further tries to be to anime like by doing a “Next Episode…” teaser trailer at the completion of each level. Also, the DS version has something that takes the story’s comedic factor to a whole new level; using the DS’s dual screen technology, the developers offer an option known as “Prinny Commentary.” Think of it as the game’s DVD audio commentary done by a penguin familiar with a California surfer accent. I must say, I’m not a big fan of epic/deep story in my video games. However, there was something in the over the top comedic styling of Disgaea that made me want to check out every line. In fact, I caught myself resetting the game quite a few times just so I could re-read a joke or Prinny wisecrack, that’s how alluring this game’s script was.
I know I haven’t said anything about the plot; however, I don’t want to say anything that may spoil the story for you. The general theme of the game’s story is the struggle between: humans, demons and angels. However, the actual message in the story is more about sacrifice, learning selflessness and the capacity to love (the basic issues dealt with in most anime). Told from the perspective of Hell (the Netherworld), you play as a “young” demon (young in a relative sense, as he’s an adolescent at 2000 years old), Laharl the rightful heir to the throne of Hell. However, due to an unexpectedly long nap, he finds his kingdom divided and overtaken by various servants of his family. Laharl and his unlikely band of friends including a sadistic, disobedient vassal and a naïve angel must fight to reclaim his lost kingdom.
As this game tries to be like an anime with its storytelling, the art style is very manga/anime-esque. All the characters have that large, glassy eye look as if they’re a bunch of hyped out drunks. The character design is very nice, using a simple yet distinguished line style. I’d compare the character simplicity with that of the Simpsons. In which the characters are so essentially simple in their basic line art that any: emotion, reaction or mood can be displayed with just a few subtle line changes in a character’s face. This is further evidenced by the gameplay sprites and their ability to show emotion decent in the pre-battle “skits.” Another draw of this game is the depth. If you ever thought reaching level 70 in WoW was too easy or that you could be doing so much more with the Final Fantasy games if they let you level up past 99; then Disgaea is definitely the RPG you’ve been waiting for. With over 50 jobs to learn and master (ranging from the standard RPG fare to jobs only found in more contemporary RPGs like: scouts, samurai, and majin) and a level cap of 9999 (not a typo), you’ll be busy for quite some time. Adding the fact that you can “reincarnate” any character back to level 1, but effectively retaining all of the character’s stat values; I’d say that you have a game that’s going to keep you busy way longer than any other role playing game on the market game could (aside from the very first IBM Wizardry, I heard my parents logged in well over 600 hours on that game).
Finally, if you’re some sort of pervert or pedophile, this game doesn’t fail to give you your loli-goth fix. You’ll be treated to seeing a myriad of pre-teen looking female characters prancing around in some very suggestive leather outfits. Even though I’m not into the younger crowd (well, not that young looking, at least), Etna the selfish vassal really makes me wish that I had a girlfriend with near nonexistent breasts (actually, maybe not). Disgaea DS gives a little something to everyone: on earth, in heaven and in hell in its gameplay, story and characters. And it also gives a whole lot of everything if you’re some sort of hardcore otaku. Either way, you really should be playing this game.
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