Game: Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny
Genre: Strategy, Role-Playing
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on PS4)
Developer|Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software | NIS America
Age Rating: EU 12+ | US Teen
Price: UK £53.99 | US $59.99 | EU € 59,99
Release Date: June 29th, 2021
Review code provided with many thanks to NIS America
Back From the Grave
The Disgaea series are strategic RPGs that have a very dedicated and passionate fan base. A series that has now seen 6 mainline releases as well as multiple side games including the Prinny games which I reviewed on this very awesome website. Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny looks to bring the familiar feel of the main series, but, also adds some much needed polish and changes.
If you are a fan already, this review will likely be irrelevant as you’ve most likely purchased and possibly finished this game way before my review surfaced. Nice job, have a gold star. But there is plenty of incentive to look into Disgaea 6 even if you have absolutely no familiarity with the series.
Funny With Excellent Voice Work
The story follows Zed, a zombie of the Netherworld, considered to be the lowest of the low in terms of the residents that reside there. Zed is on a mission to defeat the God of Destruction. Of course, the task is not as easy as Zed may think, but then this would be a very short RPG if it was. In order to do this, he has to take on new companions in a variety of locations and try again and again to take this mysterious bad dude down.
The Disgaea series has always been known for its rather wacky but entertaining humour and this holds strong in this 6th entry. Expect to encounter a wide variety of unusual characters, both within and outside the Netherworld. Zed acts like quite the big-headed teenager, leading more with his ego and rarely thinking things through. But beneath this angry surface is a soft side with a purpose to his mission that you learn more about as the story progresses.
The stand-out character by far is Zeds zombie Dog called Cerberus who has a more formal and methodical tone. Correcting Zed when he makes mistakes, whilst also supporting him in his impossible mission. The two personalities are constantly clashing, making for quite an entertaining experience. The voice acting is excellent in this game. Characters are truly brought to life with passionate performances from the voice cast. Considering this is translated from Japanese, incredible work has been put in to make the humour shine through, which is sometimes lost in translation.
Prepare to Battle
Disgaea 6 is split into two core sections. You have the isometric turn-based battles the series is known for. In these, you grab your band of weird heroes and head into battle with the main goal being to take down all the baddies in the area. The main strategy for success is positioning your characters near each other before executing an attack so you can activate a combo causing additional damage.
For the player, there is a huge amount of flexibility on how to take on each mission. You can equip each character with various weapons and abilities which feels like a lot if your new. After about the three hour mark I kinda just got drawn in, struggling to let go of this addictive battle system.
You jump into a battle from a menu, a small cutscene plays and off you go. Once you win you unlock a horrific amount of experience. It’s rare I can say I reached over level 100 in a game within the first three battles. Of course, that doesn’t mean things are going to get easier. It’s not just about defeating the enemy, sometimes you need to throw blocks to access higher platforms, destroy switches that turn off floor panels which give buffs to the enemy and there’s also the regular boss fight with the God of Destruction.
Perfection isn’t necessary and the game does provide plenty of flexibility to make mistakes. If you do lose, you can just restart or head back to base to tweak your team before trying again. The load times are also very short bouncing you straight into the action.
Return to Base
You also have the main hub area. Here you can grab new equipment, upgrade characters, hire new characters (and name them), take on side quests as well as talk to NPCs. The list is pretty endless and I spent probably just as much time here flicking through menus trying to create the best party possible, as I did actually engaging in battles.
Again, this feels overwhelming to start. But, each area comes with a tutorial menu to get you used to each hub which is extra handy if you decide to take an extended break from the game. Tutorials also extend to the main battles. The game drip feeds you new mechanics for the first few battles making the game nicely accessible for those new to the series. But these can be skipped if you feel you are already a veteran at the Disgaea series.
Camera Views and Cursors
The general niggle I have which always seems commonplace with the series is the isometric camera view, in Disgaea 6 you can alter the camera angle and even select your characters with the shoulder buttons. However, I still found the cursor to be very fiddly, especially when you’re trying to select a character on stairs or elevated platforms.
Get Ready to Grind
Disgaea is well known for the grind and expect plenty of that here as well. I found I would get through about 5 battles per gaming session before burning out and needing to have a well-needed gamer lie down. But I absolutely love that you can save often in this game and that each mission is generally quite short. Making this a rare RPG you can enjoy in short bursts.
Disgaea also offers an auto-battle feature. Initially, this comes across as a mode that essentially plays the game for you. But, as you progress you unlock the ability to program the logic of your party. After putting some work in it’s quite satisfying. Once you feel you have the battle under control, tap a button and just watch the carnage play out. You can then use the time to check your phone to see if your friend received that amusing dog picture you sent them.
3D Upgrade
One of the newest features of Disgaea 6 is the new 3D graphics style. Character models are colourful 3D models that make for a refreshing change from the series 2D style. The game also lets you tweak some graphical settings. You can opt to maximize the graphics, focus on performance or a balance of the two. In TV mode I found the game to look pretty good whichever option you selected.
After all, this is a turn-based strategy RPG, so performance is not really that essential when characters are mostly standing still. In handheld mode though I did notice the graphics become much more blurred if you choose to opt for performance over graphics. None of this is deal-breaking and it’s a shame more console games don’t allow you to choose your graphical preferences. There’s also a decent musical score with the standout piece to me being the awesome jazz style piano number playing in the main hub world. Games need more jazz.
Disgaea 6 is a full-priced game and you get plenty of bang for your SRPG buck. But if you are still on the fence as to whether this is for you. There’s a free demo on the eShop. A small word of warning: a friend of mine tried this and reported slow down in the demo which I didn’t experience in the full game.
Conclusion – To the Netherworld and Back
Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny. As someone who has only casually dabbled in the series, I found the silly story an amusing treat. Any game that can make you laugh is good in my books.
For fans of the series, this does feel more of the same, only with the graphical facelift. Whether you are new or old to this series Disgaea 6 is well worth diving into the Netherworld for some well-needed chuckles and compelling combat.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot 