Does Disgaea 4 deliver and maintain the tradition of the series? Read on!
In brief, Disgaea 4 revolves around Valvatorez, a vampire turned prinny (humans reincarnated as penguins in servitude to pay back their crimes from life), as he initially tries to save his penguins and attempt to restore the Netherworld to its former glory. The story leaves quite an impact and is memorable. Many of the characters introduced are given their own mini arcs and development with the hopes of players to be able to (hopefully) identify with one or two and enjoy their ride. They even receive their own themed epilogues. With its numerous epilogues, there is much to be had in replaying the 40-60-hour long story mode. I enjoyed the story and the numerous characters it involved.
Presentation-wise, the story itself is carried out in either on-field display moments (character sprites moving) or via 2D character portraits that pose and have slight movements of life. Sadly, there weren't any anime cutscenes typical for this genre. But the game does offer English and Japanese voice acting. With competent and personally, non-annoying, English VA, I found it enjoyable.
Gameplay-wise, the basic premise remains simple and easy. Players go through a map, position and move their units, attack opponents, end turn, lather, rinse, and repeat. Beyond the basics, the game provides a basic tutorial on more advanced features such as geo panels and blocks, that give various bonuses when enemies and players are placed and destroyed on them. They also provide features such as fusing characters on the field to increase skills and abilities, magically changing certain characters to weapons to increase damage, and even dual-wielding them for greater damage increase.
I found the tutorial to be a bit lacking, forcing me to use online guides for assistance. Most players will be forced to use online resources to fully maximize characters, but this isn't anything new for veterans of the series.
The game is, in my opinion, quite overwhelming initially. There is an item world where items can be ranked up to 300 and given numerous abilities; a character world where characters can be ranked up to gain more abilities; pirates for invading one's items; and capabilities to invade other friends via online. Characters themselves can be leveled up to level 9999 for maximum damage and skills, and not to mention, can be reincarnated so one can do it again and again for even more damage and skill maximization.
All of this is not necessary for completing the story, but is utilized for the tons of post-game content, all of the epilogues, and x-dimension (replaying all the maps with enemies at super strength).
Overall, ignoring the overwhelming aspect, Disgaea remained true to the series like others in the past. One's milage is really based on how committed they are to playing post-game and seeing all that there is. Fortunately for the casual RPG fan, the lenghty story mode and all the epilogues are worth it, and the level grinding and character maximization is not necessary.
There are tons of joy to be had from the story due to its heartwarming, emotional, and at times hilarious nature. The promise of DLC to bring in characters from other Disgaea games is alive and well, and will keep the game fresh for many months to come. This JRPG is a must have.