Honestly? Feels like a real return to form after Disagea 2.
I liked parts of Disgaea 2 — Rozalin's entire arc is actually really memorable to me, for example, since I didn't really predict where it was heading — but a lot of it dragged on. It felt too long; its experiments with geo puzzles were welcome but kind of difficult, it required a bit more grinding. It was a more serious story, but it didn't really let go of the comedy, so the tone felt muddled. At heart it's a romantic shonen plot.
Isn't all of Disgaea a sort of shonen so far, though? I suppose so, but the approach is different usually. It isn't purely "I must become stronger", it's the confused morality and irreverence that carries the story. Disgaea 1's cast was chaotic and mutually distrusting in a way that made you laugh. Disgaea 2's cast I barely even remember now! Disgaea 3's cast is comparatively really wholesome and loving.
The only outlier is Mao, our lead, who is being thrown through the psychological ringer. He starts out having long been in a state of regression, as though he is keeping himself a child because anything else would be too hard for him.
The story is a bit abbreviated — I think it's just the right length, giving me about 25h (whereas D1 was 45h and D2—was shorter at 22h? But man it felt long).
The difficulty curve is also just right, requiring really barely any grinding to proceed, depending on how tactical you want to be with your playstyle. And the story itself was silly enough to enjoy but had so much heart that I just fell for it more than I thought. (D1 also has heart and wholesome moments! I know! But it keeps it in the back half.)
Oh oh and I really like the new additions! Evilities are interesting to plan around; tossing geo cubes to remove obstacles is cool, tower swings are cool ... I don't recall the prior games showing you the attack queue, but maybe they did. Oh and the student clubs so you can split up your party into subteams and add bonuses to them! Those are also interesting to plan around and let you share EXP and mana in ways that streamline the game a bit. Honestly the QoL started feeling really good in this one.
If there weren't 700,000 Disgaeas I could be convinced to do the postgame in this one, but alas.
ps. Did they not rerelease this because nearly every chapter in the story has Mexican cariactures in the cast? It just felt like it was laying it on thick.
I liked parts of Disgaea 2 — Rozalin's entire arc is actually really memorable to me, for example, since I didn't really predict where it was heading — but a lot of it dragged on. It felt too long; its experiments with geo puzzles were welcome but kind of difficult, it required a bit more grinding. It was a more serious story, but it didn't really let go of the comedy, so the tone felt muddled. At heart it's a romantic shonen plot.
Isn't all of Disgaea a sort of shonen so far, though? I suppose so, but the approach is different usually. It isn't purely "I must become stronger", it's the confused morality and irreverence that carries the story. Disgaea 1's cast was chaotic and mutually distrusting in a way that made you laugh. Disgaea 2's cast I barely even remember now! Disgaea 3's cast is comparatively really wholesome and loving.
The only outlier is Mao, our lead, who is being thrown through the psychological ringer. He starts out having long been in a state of regression, as though he is keeping himself a child because anything else would be too hard for him.
The story is a bit abbreviated — I think it's just the right length, giving me about 25h (whereas D1 was 45h and D2—was shorter at 22h? But man it felt long).
The difficulty curve is also just right, requiring really barely any grinding to proceed, depending on how tactical you want to be with your playstyle. And the story itself was silly enough to enjoy but had so much heart that I just fell for it more than I thought. (D1 also has heart and wholesome moments! I know! But it keeps it in the back half.)
Oh oh and I really like the new additions! Evilities are interesting to plan around; tossing geo cubes to remove obstacles is cool, tower swings are cool ... I don't recall the prior games showing you the attack queue, but maybe they did. Oh and the student clubs so you can split up your party into subteams and add bonuses to them! Those are also interesting to plan around and let you share EXP and mana in ways that streamline the game a bit. Honestly the QoL started feeling really good in this one.
If there weren't 700,000 Disgaeas I could be convinced to do the postgame in this one, but alas.
ps. Did they not rerelease this because nearly every chapter in the story has Mexican cariactures in the cast? It just felt like it was laying it on thick.