Some of you out there know what Disgaea is. Others may be new to the addiction. Disgaea 3 provides plenty to returning players, but newcomers may find this even more difficult than previous Disgaea's to learn.
The story of Disgaea 3 takes place in a Netherworld, a place inhabited by demons. In the Netherworlds of Disgaea, evil deeds are praised, and good deeds are looked down upon. The main character, Mao, is the #1 honor student (meaning the most evil). The story is Mao's journey to overthrow his father, the Overlord, and become the new Overlord. If this sounds familiar, it should. The overarching plot of take down "Daddy Overlord" was the story of Disgaea 1. Granted, D3 explores tons of new ideas throughout the plot, so it isn't an entire rehash of D1. But still, it would be nice to see a new story like Disgaea 2 or Makai Kingdom did. Fortunately, Disgaea 3 is loaded with the humor the series is famous for.
The game itself is a very deep SRPG (Strategy Role Playing Game). When you go to a level, your characters start on your base panel. You deploy your characters, and they move and attack on a squared out grid to attack, use spells, heal, etc. Characters have different stats which affect how far they can move and jump, how much damage they can take and deal, amount of spell casting power they have, and number of times they can counter-attack. On top of that, there are Geo Blocks which can have different effects on the battle, such as Warp, Enemy Boost, Silence, Ally Damage, Attacks +1, and many, many more. You can also make massive chains with Geo Blocks, but it would take me far too long to explain the entire system.
Outside of battle, it becomes a huge numbers game. A character can have 1 weapon and 3 pieces of armor. Deciding what to equip your character with has such a high level of importance because it affects how you plan to handle battles. For example, if you load a character up with armor and health boosting items, you'll have a slow and durable team. Alternatively, you can equip them with shoes to increase the number squares they can move with attack items and create a blitzkrieg team.
Every character class and type of monster that you can create for your party has multiple tiers. When you get the Tier 1 Male Warrior to level 15, he can be reincarnated, meaning he restarts at level 1 with some stat bonuses, into a Tier 2 Male Warrior. Reincarnating characters is key to building super-powered end game teams since reincarnated characters get exponentially more powerful. When your characters can level up to 9,999, you're talking about some very serious differences. There is also the item world. EVERY item has a randomly generated dungeon inside of it, some going up to 100 floors deep. The further you traverse into an item, the stronger it gets.
Also in Disgaea 3 is the Classroom. When in the Classroom, you can arrange characters, put them into clubs, pass bills, and several other things. Arranging characters and putting them into groups affects their ability to use team attacks in battle. The bill passing is done in front of a group of classmates of sorts. Bills include things such as unlocking new clubs, new types of items for sale, new character classes, and several other things. Members are displayed as either being blue (with you), red (against you), or neutral colored (either way). This gives you the opportunity to bribe them and sway the vote your way. Later on, when you've got some power under your belt, you can beat them into submission if they reject your submission. The cost is that beating them into submission makes them less likely to vote for you in the future.
Now, unfortunately, the review takes a slight turn downhill. The graphics are obviously a PS2 project that converted to PS3 midway. Although the game has an amazing art style to help make up for it, graphics whores will feel insulted by this game. I'm someone who prefers great art over super pretty graphics, but not everyone will agree with me. The special attacks in battle are still incredibly over-the-top crazy. The animations are also usually very fluid, but with the amount of time you will spend playing this game, they can get repetitive.
The music has a very Japanese feel. Some will like it, some won't; I can't make that judgment for you. The other sounds, though, are pretty well coordinated. Attacking enemies with giant super powerful attacks sounds great, and it really adds to the excitement of some of the abilities. The voice is some of the best you will find in gaming. I've always enjoyed the voice actors and their performances. With the amazing script, it really helps bring the characters to life.
Summary: If you haven't played a Disgaea game before and are interested in the huge amount of things available for you to do, it's definitely worth it to give this game a shot. Just the main story will take you a few dozen hours at least, and that's only the beginning.
This section is for returning Disgaea fans!
I'll do my best here to describe some of the changes to Disgaea 3 from 2/1. I can't cover everything they've done because I haven't unlocked everything, but I'm trying to get this review out to you as fast as possible.
The Geo Blocks take the place of Geo Symbols. They have the same basic function that they apply effects to Geo Panels when placed on them and chaining, but they do much more. Geo Blocks can be stood on top of. They also have an independent chain system where if you throw an Aqua Block on top of or against another group of Aqua Blocks, they will chain destroy. Also, even if there aren't Geo Panels, the effects of Geo Blocks apply to the square where they are. Meaning that if you had to two Ally Damage 20% Blocks stacked on top of each other, standing on top of them is Ally Damage 40%.
The Class World has been added. It behaves very similarly to the Item World. It has the same Dimensional Gates and Geo Blocks, but it's a bit different. The Class World is for internally powering a character with stats like Move, Counter #, Throw Distance, and a few other things. They actual upgrades cost a large amount of Mana, but that can be reduced by clearing out all the Geo Blocks on a level puzzle style. This unfortunately means that every level is loaded with Geo Blocks, so traversing is much slower than the Item World.
The Classroom does a lot of things different from the Dark Assembly. Character arrangement along the desks is important. Characters located adjacent to one another have a higher percent chance of team attacking. The new club system also plays a big role. There are many clubs that you can unlock, and they each have different benefits. Some clubs, for example, allow characters to gain 50% of the Mana gained by the people next to them. This further adds to character desk placement. Entirely new features include the Magichange and Team Specials. These can only be done with people in the same club. Magichange allows monsters to turn into a weapon for a couple turns, get equipped on a character, and use some exclusive special attacks. If two characters have a Special Attack queued up on an enemy, and they are in the same club, it will do a combined Special Attack. These combined specials are WAY more powerful than using the abilities one after another.
The new skill system is a weird choice. Characters don't learn their skills when the level up. Instead, you need to use your Mana to buy them from the vendor. Although this sounds troublesome, which it kind of is, it has benefits. Instead of having to use an attack 30 times for it to level up, you buy the upgrades from the vendor. It requires some additional thought to whether or not to power up since it uses Mana, and the attacks get more SP expensive with each level. The Tier system plays a bigger role now. The high level special attacks can only be bought from the vendor by the higher level Tiers. Tier unlocks are now done purely by Human Character Levels. You longer have to use your weak Healer as an Archer until you can unlock the real Archer class.
I've read that there has been a lot of work done to balance high level/end game content, but as I said, I'm just trying to get this out to you as fast as I can. I don't know if there is something similar to the Land of Carnage or Cave of Ordeals, but GameFAQs should fill up with info before too long. There's a good number of new classes and monsters available for your enjoyment as well. There are also plans to release DLC. I've heard that they plan to eventually release new characters, levels, and scenarios, but I assume that they will be charging for it, and they haven't specified any release dates yet.
EDIT: OK, Team Specials are skill dependent, not club dependent. Cave of Ordeals has been replaced by House of Ordeals. Dark World levels are now unlocked by taking tickets from Pirates in Item World, no longer from special conditions on regular version of level. Land of Carnage is still in the game, unlocked after clearing 25 Dark World stages which means: Clear 25 Dark World stages (1 default unlocked + 24 tickets found in Item World) = Land of Carnage.
Some of you out there know what Disgaea is. Others may be new to the addiction. Disgaea 3 provides plenty to returning players, but newcomers may find this even more difficult than previous Disgaea's to learn.
The story of Disgaea 3 takes place in a Netherworld, a place inhabited by demons. In the Netherworlds of Disgaea, evil deeds are praised, and good deeds are looked down upon. The main character, Mao, is the #1 honor student (meaning the most evil). The story is Mao's journey to overthrow his father, the Overlord, and become the new Overlord. If this sounds familiar, it should. The overarching plot of take down "Daddy Overlord" was the story of Disgaea 1. Granted, D3 explores tons of new ideas throughout the plot, so it isn't an entire rehash of D1. But still, it would be nice to see a new story like Disgaea 2 or Makai Kingdom did. Fortunately, Disgaea 3 is loaded with the humor the series is famous for.
The game itself is a very deep SRPG (Strategy Role Playing Game). When you go to a level, your characters start on your base panel. You deploy your characters, and they move and attack on a squared out grid to attack, use spells, heal, etc. Characters have different stats which affect how far they can move and jump, how much damage they can take and deal, amount of spell casting power they have, and number of times they can counter-attack. On top of that, there are Geo Blocks which can have different effects on the battle, such as Warp, Enemy Boost, Silence, Ally Damage, Attacks +1, and many, many more. You can also make massive chains with Geo Blocks, but it would take me far too long to explain the entire system.
Outside of battle, it becomes a huge numbers game. A character can have 1 weapon and 3 pieces of armor. Deciding what to equip your character with has such a high level of importance because it affects how you plan to handle battles. For example, if you load a character up with armor and health boosting items, you'll have a slow and durable team. Alternatively, you can equip them with shoes to increase the number squares they can move with attack items and create a blitzkrieg team.
Every character class and type of monster that you can create for your party has multiple tiers. When you get the Tier 1 Male Warrior to level 15, he can be reincarnated, meaning he restarts at level 1 with some stat bonuses, into a Tier 2 Male Warrior. Reincarnating characters is key to building super-powered end game teams since reincarnated characters get exponentially more powerful. When your characters can level up to 9,999, you're talking about some very serious differences. There is also the item world. EVERY item has a randomly generated dungeon inside of it, some going up to 100 floors deep. The further you traverse into an item, the stronger it gets.
Also in Disgaea 3 is the Classroom. When in the Classroom, you can arrange characters, put them into clubs, pass bills, and several other things. Arranging characters and putting them into groups affects their ability to use team attacks in battle. The bill passing is done in front of a group of classmates of sorts. Bills include things such as unlocking new clubs, new types of items for sale, new character classes, and several other things. Members are displayed as either being blue (with you), red (against you), or neutral colored (either way). This gives you the opportunity to bribe them and sway the vote your way. Later on, when you've got some power under your belt, you can beat them into submission if they reject your submission. The cost is that beating them into submission makes them less likely to vote for you in the future.
Now, unfortunately, the review takes a slight turn downhill. The graphics are obviously a PS2 project that converted to PS3 midway. Although the game has an amazing art style to help make up for it, graphics whores will feel insulted by this game. I'm someone who prefers great art over super pretty graphics, but not everyone will agree with me. The special attacks in battle are still incredibly over-the-top crazy. The animations are also usually very fluid, but with the amount of time you will spend playing this game, they can get repetitive.
The music has a very Japanese feel. Some will like it, some won't; I can't make that judgment for you. The other sounds, though, are pretty well coordinated. Attacking enemies with giant super powerful attacks sounds great, and it really adds to the excitement of some of the abilities. The voice is some of the best you will find in gaming. I've always enjoyed the voice actors and their performances. With the amazing script, it really helps bring the characters to life.
Summary: If you haven't played a Disgaea game before and are interested in the huge amount of things available for you to do, it's definitely worth it to give this game a shot. Just the main story will take you a few dozen hours at least, and that's only the beginning.
This section is for returning Disgaea fans!
I'll do my best here to describe some of the changes to Disgaea 3 from 2/1. I can't cover everything they've done because I haven't unlocked everything, but I'm trying to get this review out to you as fast as possible.
The Geo Blocks take the place of Geo Symbols. They have the same basic function that they apply effects to Geo Panels when placed on them and chaining, but they do much more. Geo Blocks can be stood on top of. They also have an independent chain system where if you throw an Aqua Block on top of or against another group of Aqua Blocks, they will chain destroy. Also, even if there aren't Geo Panels, the effects of Geo Blocks apply to the square where they are. Meaning that if you had to two Ally Damage 20% Blocks stacked on top of each other, standing on top of them is Ally Damage 40%.
The Class World has been added. It behaves very similarly to the Item World. It has the same Dimensional Gates and Geo Blocks, but it's a bit different. The Class World is for internally powering a character with stats like Move, Counter #, Throw Distance, and a few other things. They actual upgrades cost a large amount of Mana, but that can be reduced by clearing out all the Geo Blocks on a level puzzle style. This unfortunately means that every level is loaded with Geo Blocks, so traversing is much slower than the Item World.
The Classroom does a lot of things different from the Dark Assembly. Character arrangement along the desks is important. Characters located adjacent to one another have a higher percent chance of team attacking. The new club system also plays a big role. There are many clubs that you can unlock, and they each have different benefits. Some clubs, for example, allow characters to gain 50% of the Mana gained by the people next to them. This further adds to character desk placement. Entirely new features include the Magichange and Team Specials. These can only be done with people in the same club. Magichange allows monsters to turn into a weapon for a couple turns, get equipped on a character, and use some exclusive special attacks. If two characters have a Special Attack queued up on an enemy, and they are in the same club, it will do a combined Special Attack. These combined specials are WAY more powerful than using the abilities one after another.
The new skill system is a weird choice. Characters don't learn their skills when the level up. Instead, you need to use your Mana to buy them from the vendor. Although this sounds troublesome, which it kind of is, it has benefits. Instead of having to use an attack 30 times for it to level up, you buy the upgrades from the vendor. It requires some additional thought to whether or not to power up since it uses Mana, and the attacks get more SP expensive with each level. The Tier system plays a bigger role now. The high level special attacks can only be bought from the vendor by the higher level Tiers. Tier unlocks are now done purely by Human Character Levels. You longer have to use your weak Healer as an Archer until you can unlock the real Archer class.
I've read that there has been a lot of work done to balance high level/end game content, but as I said, I'm just trying to get this out to you as fast as I can. I don't know if there is something similar to the Land of Carnage or Cave of Ordeals, but GameFAQs should fill up with info before too long. There's a good number of new classes and monsters available for your enjoyment as well. There are also plans to release DLC. I've heard that they plan to eventually release new characters, levels, and scenarios, but I assume that they will be charging for it, and they haven't specified any release dates yet.
EDIT: OK, Team Specials are skill dependent, not club dependent. Cave of Ordeals has been replaced by House of Ordeals. Dark World levels are now unlocked by taking tickets from Pirates in Item World, no longer from special conditions on regular version of level. Land of Carnage is still in the game, unlocked after clearing 25 Dark World stages which means: Clear 25 Dark World stages (1 default unlocked + 24 tickets found in Item World) = Land of Carnage.