A look back at the history and evolution of the Disgaea video game series, focusing on its dark themes.

A reader reviews the Disgaea series, from its beginnings on PS2 to present, in-depth.

December 23rd 2023.

A look back at the history and evolution of the Disgaea video game series, focusing on its dark themes.
Disgaea 1 Complete - for many, the original is still the best. This year, Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless was released and it did not disappoint. It's a great game, with a better story than the previous two, a great selection of characters and some decent DLC.

However, it's the original Disgaea: Hour of Darkness on the PlayStation 2 that many consider the best. Even though the game may have looked like it belonged on a PlayStation 1, or even a SNES, it had some interesting ideas and valuable contributions to the genre.

It had the idea of levelling up your weapon skills the more you use them, which was still quite rare and unusual for a console game. Plus, it allowed you to create an army of angels, zombies, thieves, and explosive penguins. All of which is still a thrill.

Disgaea also encouraged you to 'cheat' the system in your own favour. You could stand before the Dark Assembly and propose bills before demon senators. You could then bribe them with items in your inventory in order to get them on board. This could be a very expensive process, but it was worth it as you could get all sorts of lovely goodies.

Then there's the Item World. This was an ingenious idea, allowing you to go into any item, from swords to gum. You could even go into gum that's already been chewed. Gross, I know. But even once you have hit the ridiculous 9,999 level cap, you're not done. You still need to reincarnate back down to level 1 in order to see everything the game has to offer.

Lastly, Disgaea had an entertaining story, with a great character arc in Prince Laharl. The Red Moon chapter and Laharl's almost reunion with his mother is still the best thing the series has done. Despite this, the subsequent games have all fallen short of their full potential to some degree or another.

Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories came along in 2006, with a new cast and a new story. The male lead, Adell, was a stock hero archetype, but was still far more engaging than Killia from the fifth game. Rozalin, the sheltered demon princess, was the real main character, although you don't realise this until the ending.

All in all, Disgaea 1 Complete is a great experience, and for many, is still the best. It had some great ideas and contributions to the RPG genre, and the story and characters are still entertaining. Despite the sequels, Disgaea 1 Complete is still a must-play game.

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