Guide to Disgaea

Written by Ross Locksley on 02 Apr 2012

In 2003, software developer Nippon Ichi Software formed a pact with the Netherworld to bring the adventures of one Prince Laharl to the attention of the masses. Taking the form of a stretegy RPG, the game chronicles the rise of Laharl from the moment he's awakened in his coffin until his inevitable rise to King of the Netherworld.

Now, strategic RPG's were nothing new of course, with Final Fantasy Tactics having been released some 5 years prior, but never before had the genre been quite so uniquely represented. Any pretension of serious drama was thrown out of the window, as the rag-tag misfits of Disgaea were far too lively and vibrant to be constrained by a sensible narrative.

Joining the ego-maniac Laharl on his quest are his fiery servant, the flame-haired, skimpily attired and unscrupulous Etna, and her Prinny army - essentially a bunch of peg-legged penguins containing souls of the damned who must work and suffer for redemption. Told you it was daft...

What set Disgaea apart, besides the humour, was the beautifully thought-out setting. The Netwherworld has its own laws, assemblies and rules for grinding, and it caught the imagination of gamers worldwide. Not only could you fight epic, demonic battles, you could also jump into weapons and grind those too - in effect the game is the ultimate time-sink, and fans loved swapping hours of their lives for higher numbers on their stats.

The characters

The game was helped in no small part by the character designs. Cute, imaginative and devilish in every way, the denizens of the Nethworld were utterly appealing.

The tightly-written script introduced everything from demons, archers and fighters through to angels, space adventurers and dimension hopping, large breasted deities. If you could imagine it, chances are the Disgaea crew got there first.

Although the first game had a tight-nit cast, they were sidelined in subsequent games - Disgaea 2 followed a the last human and a demon-pricess named Rosaline into the very depths of hell, but this didn't stop Laharl and his crew from getting into the game and attempting to get the focus back. The in-game character rivalry was just another highlight of a deeply layered experience. Even as Disgaea 3 and 4 have moved further away from Laharl et al, they're always in the background somewhere, lending continuity to proceedings while allowing the games to bring you fresh adventures.

With dozens of character classes all represented by wide-eyed designs, the game had "cult hit"written all over it, and sure enough the series began to spread into other media.