These few words in the introduction of the game’s official trailer aptly describe Disgaea as a whole. The game offers some really punchy gameplay in terms of both fun and competition, making it a force to be reckoned with. The addition of such an unusually strange story makes Disgaea feel like a strange, twisted concoction that came as a result of the efforts of a mad scientist in a lab. In short, this is a very unconventional game.

Disgaea does not offer the typical story that players are accustomed to. There are no damsels in distress, no haunting memories, no inevitable disasters on the horizon. Instead, the game is about Hell. After the untimely death of the overlord, King Krichevskoy, the inhabitants of the underworld, nobles and demons alike, enter into a fierce competition for the vacant throne. Two years later, the overlord’s son, the short-tempered and vocal protagonist Laharl, awakens to find out the current state of the underworld. Laharl and his men receive the news of his father’s death with indifference (so indifference that he claims he orchestrated the assassination plot himself), and resolve to assert his rightful claim to the throne. The craziness of the game’s story is hard to explain. It doesn’t touch on any sensitive themes like morality, ethics, metaphysics, or other topics that games like Xenosaga deal with. It doesn’t portray the inner conflict of a man with an unfortunate past like Final Fantasy VIII, it’s just a humorous game. It often makes you laugh, but more often than not, you’ll find yourself grinning with delight. Disgaea: Darkness brings a refreshing change to the polluted atmosphere of the same old role-playing games.

Unfortunately, the game takes too long to progress through the main story. The story is divided into several chapters, each of which contains four or five battles and brief plot snippets. In each chapter, the player becomes the unfortunate victim of a series of trivial and mundane side quests before the action finally begins. These side quests have their moments of humor, but ultimately serve no purpose other than to introduce the characters. It’s not until about halfway through the game that Disgaea’s plot really begins to unravel. Those with the patience will not find Disgaea’s long drawn-out story annoying. Others may find it daunting. Fortunately, this little dilemma doesn’t have as detrimental an effect on the overall experience as certain other areas.

Disgaea’s most obvious flaws are its graphics and sound. Both are simple, but ironically, that’s exactly what the game desperately tries to avoid. The graphics aren’t bad, but they clearly show how little value the makers place on them. Praising the sprite graphics, some might argue that Disgaea was intentionally designed to look like a “classic” or “old school” game. However, Disgaea could have easily accomplished this feat with the PS2’s modern 3D graphics. Disgaea would be a more authentic game then. It’s not that big of a deal that the graphics are substandard, but it’s still a shame that the game isn’t great in all aspects and not just some.

At the very least, a game that is primarily about nastiness is expected to take the time to make each game unique with its own flair. Unfortunately, many of the monsters and classes available to players in Disgaea use recycled sprites with only the color or shade changed to represent a different class. Despite these common complaints, the game is never an “eyesore,” but at the same time it doesn’t escape from being stuffy.

When it comes to Disgaea’s sound and music, players are once again faced with a mediocre performance. While the characters’ voices are adequate and have the potential to be funny, the voice actors themselves aren’t at their best, reading their lines like they’re in a Ben Stein commercial. Certain lines don’t live up to their potential to be as hilarious as they could be if delivered with dignity.

The game’s melodies are once again boring and typical of RPGs. Aside from the theme made famous in the trailer, “Invasion from Within,” a song borrowed from Californian punk band Tsunami Bomb, the entire soundtrack is played in MIDI, a file format that must have been deprecated these days. However, like most games, there are always a few notable tracks and Disgaea is no exception. Similarly, there are just as many annoying tracks that assault your ears at certain moments. However, there is a nice touch in that, like the voices, the music volume can also be adjusted in the options menu.

Disgaea has arguably the most complex combat system of any strategy RPG to date. It’s essentially comparable to Final Fantasy Tactics. Both use 2D sprites on a 3D environment, panels to move around, and job classes that allow for different abilities, magic, and special moves. However, while FFT has a few job classes that evolve into one another, Disgaea has over 150 different monsters and class types that can be accessed in a variety of ways. Some are gained by building your base class, others by discovering them during the game. Other players can capture them by throwing them into the player’s base space, which is where Laharl’s troops will deploy. Another difference is that Tactics’ turns depend on each unit’s speed stat, while Disgaea is purely turn-based. As soon as the player inputs their command and selects “Execute” from the menu, chaos begins. The player can then do any final tasks required, after which they select “End Round”. The AI ​​then takes over, ending the round swiftly, ruthlessly and calculatingly. Then it’s back to the player’s turn.

There are two distinct additions to the SRPG formula that form the basis of Disgaea’s gameplay, while also highlighting its own innovations within the genre. The first and most obvious feature is combination attacks. By assigning a character to the space next to, adjacent to, or across from another character, a variety of common attacks can be performed. Up to four characters can team up to unleash devastating combo attacks. Combine this with the fact that characters can only level up to 9999, and you can imagine how ridiculous the damage levels can get. Geo Stones (environmental conditions within the game’s 3D game board) have a similar effect. Geo Stones can affect different areas with different status types, such as “Attack + or -50%”, “Defense + or -50%”, “Enemy Status x3”, etc. However, these impediments can be nullified by destroying the Geo Stone that corresponds to that effect. However, some Geo Stones can have a detrimental effect when destroyed, causing a series of explosions that snake around the panel once impacted, damaging both enemies and the player. Therefore, a strong strategy must be adopted to effectively use these Geostones, especially those that provide advantages such as “invincibility” to the player.

Though not as appealing as the two aforementioned features, the “Throw” command during battle is still worth mentioning. To use this command, a human character must be placed next to another character (ally or enemy) and then lifted or thrown. Blending simplicity with a nasty and bizarre twist, Disgaea also allows players to lift their entire team of characters to form a giant pillar that can be thrown over distances, heights, and other obstacles. Often this technique is life-saving, allowing players to access enemies hiding at the top of the map much faster than using ranged characters. Even more strangely, players will notice that some allies have an unusual tendency to explode when thrown by enemies. Sounds weird? It is, but it’s definitely worth it. Does singing “Dood!” by the Prinny Squad give you a headache? Well, give it a try and see what happens. The “Throw” feature is very important to the player and their strategy to victory. This is especially true when recruitment is an issue. Enemy monsters on the field can be picked up and thrown into the base field to instantly turn them into allies.

Outside of combat, Disgaea’s adaptability is of utmost importance. Within the walls of Laharl’s Castle are two very important features: the Item World and the Dark Congress. The Item World is a unique element that allows players to determine the strength and stat-enhancing properties of Disgaea’s weapons and equipment. As explained in the game, the Item World is a kind of parallel world that exists for every item. The world and its inhabitants are based on the type and rarity of items, which directly affects the difficulty. By stepping into the Item World and clearing floors, players can upgrade the characteristics of the weapons they entered. Of course, it is better to wipe out everyone on each floor than simply jumping through the gate. However, the challenge is that players can only leave the Item World every 10 floors or use more or less rare items. Still, while venturing into the Item World is often a gamble, it’s well worth it for those willing to brave the risk.

“The Dark Congress” also adds a new and innovative twist. As the name suggests, it’s a gathering of underworld monsters who vote on various issues proposed by Laharl. An early example is war funds. However, like all creatures of the underworld, the monsters in the Congress are corrupt and can be bribed to sway their votes in a more positive direction. Another way to influence votes is to challenge the Dark Council to a duel directly. If players manage to gain the Dark Council’s support on a particular issue, they will receive a number of useful bonuses.

The Dark Congress menu also offers the ability to create a character with a mana cost, reincarnate the character into a different class than the one originally assigned to them, and increase the demon rank through promotion checks. This is ultimately the determining factor in a character’s ability to achieve certain feats, such as performing a reincarnation.

Like most SRPGs, the majority of the game revolves around combat. Disgaea’s combat system may be incredibly addictive, innovative, and complex, but it can still get boring after a lot of repetitive battles. This lack of diverse gameplay is ultimately why Disgaea fails to entertain players. Everything can be resolved by combat, but without the star mini-games to engage the player, the game requires stamina to play.

So what should we make of this mess of inconsistencies, flaws, and strange anomalies? A game that gets most of the right features right. Regardless of whether graphics play a major role in the mainstream now, they still pale in comparison to the importance given to story, dialogue, and gameplay in RPGs. Disgaea isn’t earth-shattering or groundbreaking, but it is definitely fun and entertaining. It’s packed with jokes and gimmicks, some predictable and quite a few unexpected. In short, it’s a good game. It’s definitely worth your time, especially if you like strategy RPGs. So grab the game and follow the instructions: Good luck!