System: Swap
Launch date: October 3, 2023
Developer: Nippon Ichi Software program
Writer: NIS America
Disgaea video games have all the time been a bit overwhelming. Their nonsensical plots, zany casts, and seemingly impenetrable partitions of programs upon programs which have stats going into the thousands and thousands and injury into the quadrillions could make them appear unapproachable to newcomers at one of the best of instances. Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless, the most recent within the long-running collection, shares the identical foibles as its predecessors to various levels, however is by far essentially the most accessible sport within the collection up to now, and is a simple suggestion to make for anybody trying to sink their enamel into an expertise that by no means takes itself too severely however affords strategic depth simply on par with one of the best the style has to supply.
Disgaea 7 follows Fuji, a demon obsessive about cash and apparently little or no else. His quest for riches has him run afoul of Pirilika, a particularly rich otaku with an obsession for Bushido, who has come to the Netherworld of Hinomoto to expertise its tradition firsthand solely to search out that its denizens have lengthy since deserted it because of the shogun and his magistrates. After Fuji bonds with one of many legendary Seven Founding Weapons that she simply so occurs to be carrying round in her bag, the 2 of them crew as much as acquire the opposite six weapons, defeat the shogun, and in the end restore Bushido to Hinomoto. Or, in Fuji’s case, receives a commission for his troubles and put this entire mess behind him, as a result of he didn’t learn the fantastic print on the contract earlier than he signed it.
Like its predecessors, Disgaea 7’s story is a light-hearted affair that’s filled with references to anime and video video games, stars a solid of ridiculously quirky characters bursting with character, and has a normal aversion to any form of seriousness outdoors of 1 or two very uncommon moments which have all of the extra influence for being so totally different in tone from the remainder of the dialogue, and are flawlessly introduced into line as characters will conclude by making essentially the most ridiculously dramatic statements potential. The story progresses easily from chapter to chapter, being informed in scenes between fight phases in bitesize, simply digestible chunks, and introduces new characters at a gradual tempo. There may be maybe rather less character improvement right here than earlier entries within the franchise, however every of the primary occasion members stands out as distinctive and will get round this by sheer pressure of character to various levels of effectiveness: some characters you’ll like, others you received’t, and so they’ll do little over the course of the sport to vary that first impression. However every comes with an awesome stage of enthusiasm that makes it troublesome to not empathize with them in some small method, and enhances the remainder of the occasion to make for some fascinating and infrequently extremely entertaining dialogue.
Disgaea 7 is a grid-based technique RPG, though describing it this fashion appears like a gross oversimplification. You possibly can actually play it the identical method you’d some other sport within the style by taking your core solid of characters (and perhaps just a few generic NPC lessons if you happen to had been of a thoughts to) and deploying them out of your base panel, operating by way of every stage and attacking your enemies for the win, however there may be a lot depth and selection to its supporting programs that it appears like a disservice to the sport to explain it this fashion. There are dozens of different programs current that returning gamers will acknowledge and newcomers would discover daunting and incomprehensible if I had been to take a seat and systematically undergo and attempt to summarize every, and so they type a wealthy, interconnected tapestry of gameplay that has a shocking quantity of flexibility that, as soon as all of it comes collectively, is immensely satisfying to discover after which to use. This can be a sport designed to allow you to simply construct your characters, and there are such a lot of methods to do it that regardless of the overwhelming grind it requires, it’s really very troublesome to get bored. Should you’ve had sufficient of gaining ranges, you’ll be able to improve your weapons within the Merchandise World as a substitute, for instance. Over time you’ll naturally accumulate sources for the Juice Bar, which you’ll then give to your characters for a further increase. The whole lot that you just do in Disgaea 7 will not directly allow you to to perform one thing else, so there may be by no means any effort wasted or directed at a single job.
The sport brings its personal new concepts to the collection too, with the 2 most distinguished ones being Hell Mode and Jumbification. Hell Mode could be activated after killing enemies on the stage, and means that you can unleash particular strikes that deal considerably extra injury than the norm in spectacular vogue. Jumbification sees characters develop to monumental measurement off the stage, granting them elevated stats and wider ranged assaults. Of the 2 I discovered Hell Mode to be the extra satisfying, because it tied in completely to the sport’s dramatic aptitude, and made brief work of bosses. Jumbification I tended to not activate after discovering that it tended to immediate enemies to put it to use in response, and mine would put on off sooner, forcing me to traipse to the sting of the stage – whereas being frequently pummeled – so I may end off the enemy if I didn’t clear the stage beforehand. However there’s something to be mentioned for seeing a large Prinny towering over the sting of a stage, and it completely matches the loopy nature of the sport. The Merchandise World has additionally been fully overhauled to be rather more manageable, with the variety of flooring lower right down to a most of 30, and Merchandise Reincarnation being the brand new technique for bettering weapons over the long-term, with Properties including passive boosts which might be a lot simpler to acquire and extra accessible than Innocents, which return on a smaller scale. As a long-time fan of the collection, that is the change that I appreciated essentially the most, as a result of it breaks down the grind for constructing higher gear into extra manageable chunks with out sacrificing any of its depth.
Though Disgaea 7 incorporates most of the divisive modifications that Disgaea 6 dropped at the franchise, it adopts a extra again to fundamentals strategy. Ranges have fortunately returned to a extra manageable cap of 9999, making the method of leveling really feel extra significant and fewer daunting. There are a bigger variety of lessons, though many of those are female and male variants of the identical position (i.e. the feminine Cleric and the male Clergy) with small variations in beginning stats and evilities being the one factor that actually distinguishes them. Auto-battle makes a return however now has a useful resource value within the type of Poltergas, which you accumulate by clearing phases manually. This can be a large enchancment in my view as a result of it makes the method really feel extra like a supporting system, quite than the necessary crutch that it was in Disgaea 6. It’s a superb compromise that helps those that would favor to not grind achieve ranges extra rapidly, and doesn’t devalue the hassle it takes to achieve ranges and sources manually.
However regardless of this Disgaea 7 is extraordinarily accessible for newcomers, and for a grind-intensive, stat-heavy sport, the story really requires little or no engagement with its finer factors to get by way of comfortably. The sport introduces new gameplay mechanics regularly as you progress however by no means requires you to interact with them previous the preliminary tutorial, which is offered as just a few pages of very primary info at most. Phases are typically brief, and the extent curve feels prefer it was designed for gamers who would solely wish to use the primary solid of characters and received’t interact with different programs to present them an edge. The brand new Hell Mode and Jumbification mechanics imply that you can seemingly play by way of the sport stage-by-stage with out ever needing to grind in any respect so long as you didn’t have too massive of a celebration and had been strategic together with your strikes: though the sport encourages brute-forcing your method by way of phases and makes it very simple to take action, it isn’t a requirement.
Nonetheless, Disgaea video games are considerably notorious for his or her expansive postgame content material, and Disgaea 7 is not any exception to this. The story is a really small a part of the expertise, and if you happen to intend to play the sport past this then it turns into virtually necessary to interact with all of its programs, which could be overwhelming if you happen to’re unfamiliar with the collection. “Grind” is a phrase that has loads of adverse connotations relating to video video games, and outdoors of its story Disgaea 7 is all in regards to the grind. There may be an unavoidable time funding on this, with HL specifically being fairly scarce within the early phases of the sport, and this may be fairly off-putting till you’ve gotten into the movement of the sport and may accumulate sources extra rapidly.
The sport rewards you handsomely on your efforts with mind-boggling numbers (though not so uncontrolled to the purpose that they change into meaningless, as was the case with its predecessor) however that is positively an acquired style and one thing these unfamiliar with the collection will need to remember: though the story is a completely self-contained and pretty satisfying expertise, it’s a tutorial that does little to organize you for the remainder of the sport. If you wish to expertise every part Disgaea 7 has to supply it requires loads of preparation, which is able to imply doing the identical maps time and again to regularly construct up power and sources. The payoff is immensely satisfying, however getting there takes time.
Like its predecessor, Disgaea 7 options 3D fashions, which I feel is a visible fashion that lends itself properly to the collection’ anime aesthetic and inspirations, though I do really feel that the HD sprites from the fourth and fifth entries gave it a extra placing fashion. However particular assaults are suitably grandiose and dramatic, and the sport explodes (usually actually) onto your display with vivid and crisp visuals, particularly on the Swap OLED. There are two modes, Graphics and Efficiency, and issues are barely sharper in Graphics mode as you may anticipate, and that is the sport’s default setting. There may be no need to modify to Efficiency mode, as a result of the sport runs fantastically on the Swap: at no level did I expertise noticeable drops within the body charge, even with animations sped up. The one slight level of be aware is the occasional delay between ending your flip and enemies shifting when their flip begins as the sport processes their strikes, though that is by no means longer than two or three seconds at most, and there’s no delay that follows as soon as enemies have moved.
Disgaea 7’s sound design is great, delivering a fusion of conventional Japanese devices and heavy rock and metallic that blasts your eardrums with reckless abandon, infusing its scenes and fight with vitality. The outdated acquainted tracks make a welcome return alongside this, making the story situation really feel new and recent, however the easy acts of buying objects really feel nostalgic because the RosenQueen Netherworld Department theme performs its delightfully catchy jingle as soon as once more. The sport is absolutely voiced in each English and Japanese, and I discovered the English dub to be on par with earlier entries within the collection, with strains delivered with emotion and enthusiasm. There may be loads of it as properly; one of many flaws of many trendy anime-style video games is to have solely a partial dub when in comparison with the Japanese voice performing, however that is fortunately not the case right here, that means if English dub is your desire the sport will cater to your style on an equal stage.
The Verdict
Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless is a sport that doesn’t know the that means of the phrase “restraint” and can pull you in with out hesitation or mercy, whether or not you’re simply trying to dip your toes into its light-hearted story, or go all-in on its postgame and lose hours to the grind. It presents itself as an approachable place to begin for newcomers with out compromising the depth that epitomizes the collection. Few video games nowadays include as a lot character, depth, or content material as this one does, and it’s a welcome return to type for the franchise that I can’t suggest extremely sufficient for newcomers or collection veterans. With a free demo accessible on the eShop too, that is one that ought to positively be in your radar.
Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless copy supplied by the writer for the needs of this assessment.