Zelaron Gaming Forum - [PS3] Disgaea 4: A Review Unforgotten

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The first thing I thought when I found out the main two characters were a vampire and werewolf, I thought "Oh great, here come the Twilight jokes." and I was pretty unenthusiastic about it. I pretty much thought it would be the "end of NIS" as far as I could care. However, I was proven wrong, as Japan is infinitely more mature than America, taking the vampire/werewolf very seriously (well... as seriously as a Disgaea game takes anything).

I won't spoil anything, other than that the story is somewhat short, not nearly as quirky as two and three were, returning to it's original concepts from the first Disgaea. It takes place in Hades - the prison of the Netherworld, which is basically a place where "bad" spirits live (English translation being "demons", but they're definitely far from the western approach, when it comes to mentality, and the Japanese word being Youkai and Makai, which are pretty far from Akuma, the word that basically means the western demons) - and the Netherworld in this game is very different from others. Instead of an "Overlord" who is determined through brute force and support usually obtained by that force, you get the "Evillections" and the "President", which more-or-less is American politics, taken to the Makai level. You build an army using your political views, and become the next President - however some sinister business is going on. The world is polluted, the Makai have grown weak due to the lack of human fear, and humanity has grown out of control, with theft, murder and wars, as they have stopped believing in demons and angels.

Well that's the skeleton of the story. Now for the characters, you have Tyrant Valvatorez, who's pretty much Vlad the Impaler: the After Years, and his servant Fenric, a protective werewolf who comes off as a dick to anyone other than Valvatorez. While seeming completely oblivious to the world, Valvatorez solves every problem with inspiring speeches and brute force.

In short, the game is about rebellion in America (all hail the power of similes) and how Atheism will ruin the world, if demons and angels happen to be real by some slim chance. It also takes a stand against war, has strong "loyalty" themes, and a few other nice things, making it my favorite Disgaea game to date, the only one of the four that beats the original.

Gameplay seems easy, if you've played 3, but with a few new twists, and the final stages going into retarded amounts of difficulty, as well as a dozen downloadable gameplay features, that can keep you busy for WEEKS. Graphics have gotten eons better, as most Disgaea games do, only this time it blew my mind to see. While they used to be pixels, they've turned into full on drawings, and the "puppet" like character pictures now move entirely, which was almost shocking at first, however some of the sprites just move around dumb, and some of the skill were animated awkward. The music is great and often changes, so things don't get unbearably repetitive, like Disgaea 3 did.

Story: 10/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 9/10
Music: 8/10

Overall: 9/10