Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten

So if you haven't heard of Disgaea it is a strategy rpg. The main idea being you move around a grid using skills and other factors to destroy your enemies. I recommend playing through 1-3 first to get the idea of it because they do improve on the gameplay, but all 4 Disgaeas have different stories

Story

Story involves Valvatorez, a vampire, that was known to be the tyrant of the Netherworld. He made a promise to someone long ago to not drink human blood. Because the power of a vampire is from drinking human blood he is no longer as strong as he was and now a lowly prinny instructor(prinnies are humans who have commited sins and died). After graduating the prinnies and promised them sardines(Valvatorez loves sardines) they were kidnapped by the Corrupternment(government). Not wanting to break that promise Valvatorez goes out to rescue them, not knowing that it will lead him in a chain of events. The story is pretty unique and sometimes it becomes silly and corny, but I like it.

New Game Cutscene



Gameplay

The Disgaea series has been pretty much the same since 1. If you have played any other strategy rpgs like final fantasy tactics it is similar.

In Disgaea you pick a weapon that a character can use and as they level they are able to use more skills. You can only have 10 characters out in the field. Story characters and secret characters have unique skills that others don't have. The mentor system allows you to learn normal skills by standing next to each other and you can use that skill, after a while you are able to permanently use it. Also if you normally attack without skills with other people around(up to 3 others) you may be able to do a team attack which increases the damage depending on amount of people joining in.

There are other factors that can have you at an advantage or disadvantage. For example, geoblocks are blocks that spreads an effect when in a colored part of the map. Like if the block with 50% exp bonus was in a purple colored floor all the purple has the effect. When you destroy that block in a different colored floor it will change that color, and if you have a transparent block you can clear the map of color and get a explosion that damages the enemy.

There are some new things in Disgaea 4, like the Cam-Pain(i c wut u did thar game). The Cam-Pain is a grid like area where you can place buildings and position characters. Buildings to have special effects with the characters around it, for example the training grounds increases 10% exp for 4 people around it. This area is also used to increase your team attack chance if you have people near that character. They have added a online mode where you can make a pirate ship and invade other people's games. They improved a feature in Disgaea 3 where you transform monsters into weapons. In Disgaea 4 you can fuse other monsters to make them better and you can dual wield monster weapons. The game seems complex at first so I would recommend going through the tutorials.

First map, basics



Replayability

It is possible for you to level up to 9999 in this game. There are randomly generated maps in the item world(where you level up your weapon by killing generals within it). You can invade other people or reverse pirate by pirating whos pirating. There are different endings and epilogues. There are secret characters you can get and have unique skills. Postgame there are more maps you can play. You can also play hard modes of the normal maps.

Item World and some other info



Graphics

If you played Disgaea for graphics I don't know what to tell you. It is 2D in a 3D environment. They upped the spirtes and environments to HD. If you had to compare Disgaea 1 to Disgaea 4 sprites and environment While playing the story the game shows an anime drawing and while talking they sometimes show little animation but no lip syncing. Also while playing to story they sometimes don't see those portraits instead they show the character jumping, posing, taunting, which is very normal for a Disgaea game, most people will think it's weird though. In battle the sprites stand in place holding the weapon and moving a bit, they walk when you move them and only animates when doing an attack. The animations for attacks seem to be longer, good thing that you can skip them. Also because of the transfer to the ps3 maps are bigger than in Disgaea 1.

Disgaea 4 is way less pixelated


Music

The music variety a lot throughout the game, from silly to serious tone. The game captures the scene's emotions pretty well and overall I love the music from Disgaea. Only thing i would think people would be a bit iffy about is that some of the songs that are used in battle is Jpop, which makes if the battle goes on for 10+ minutes you'll be hearing a lot of the same. Also i don't think you can change music in battle so what song that map has is there forever, meaning if you do want to level up to 9999 be ready to hear the same thing over and over.

During a sad moment

One of the boss themes


Conclusion

After about 15 hours I am still enjoying Disgaea 4, if you loved the other 3 games you should like this one. For newcomers I would also recommend it, but if you can start with the first one because it will tell about the universe Disgaea is in. I might include a grade after I beat the game.[right]

A nice, concise, well-organized review. I like your use of video and images; creating a review that was not only informative, but also aesthetically pleasing.

You did very well.
However you never talked about the music of the game like the style or tone. Also you never talked much about he graphics like if the sprites are really detailed or how the animations are in conveying actions or expression. These two things will make the review perfect .

I believe in you

Ok i've changed stuff a bit.

Also I think i can elaborate more on some of the features in Disgaea 4, but I might be a bit too wordy. Would you think its better to be brief and hit the main idea or explain it fully.

Zaraji, add me on teh Skype aiight? (angeho55).
I've got some info for ya