Title: Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention
Format: PS Vita
Release Date: April 17, 2012
Publisher: NIS America
Developer: Nippon Ichi
Price: 39.99
ESRB Rating: T
Well before Kid Icarus broke the fourth wall with yucks penned by SNL alums, the prinnies of Disgaea "dood"-ed their way through about 1.7 million units of comedy gold. Tactical RPGs, as niche creatures, are like the late night television of video games. Sorry to the fans first person shooters, this genre is truly where the rubber hits the road as far as who is a hardcore gamer. There's character customization, stat bonuses, level bonuses, morphin' monsters, over the top dialogue, and on-card DLC that's paid in full. As a launch window game this isn't a system seller, however, the included features make this iteration a value pack of sorts for any Netherworld virgin.
Story & Presentation
The logic of the story, if either exists in Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention, follows: the protagonist is the top honor student in the school for baddies, he wants to excel so he must be really bad or bad-bad, bad-bad meaning being heroic or good, but he's only being heroic so he can defeat his dad which is bad, but his dad is the evil overlord so defeating him is good. Yeah, there's kinda sorta a story in that, but it's more an excuse to tell a string of jokes and give Asagi from the Development Hell title "Makai Wars" the cameo she desperately needs.
Disgaea 3 effects a school of comedy along the lines of Carol Burnett. Youtube her; you owe it to yourself. Disgaea's cast winks, smiles, fights the bust ups, and tugs their collective ear at the camera. The level of game-related humor is high and the audience definitely has to be literate in the tropes and archetypes. But, just in case the laughs whizz past your head- Look! It's a flat-chested girl! We all get a laugh and she goes on to abuse exploding penguin-moogle things.
Graphics
Graphically, Disgaea 3 is pragmatically a letdown. This is after all a port of the PS3 game with low-res sprites. The smaller screen on the Vita is a boon to the look of the game. Still, those who have helped themselves to a heaping helping of high-res sprites in Disgaea 4 will feel a little underwhelmed. Gamers will politely ask for those luscious high-res sprites even through the D4 cameos. Still, NIS responds with a slap on the wrist and a 'No, those are for PEOPLE!"
Core Gameplay
Who cares about graphics? Get me to the game! As you're completely underwhelmed by sprite art, as you rudely press triangle through all of the one-liners and quips, you highlight a core tenant of gaming: it's all about the +1's. You play the game to do battle. You do battle to earn points and bonuses. You earn points and bonuses to distribute them to earn items, equipment and abilities. You do all that crap to battle. And then, you're battling, because you're playing the game. And the world turns... Now, any normal RPG would ask you to do this for 99 levels of grinding and playing. This game's hardcore, you'll have to do all of that for 9999 levels! For and about the Netherworld, the tedium of grinding goes on and you learn to love the abuse like a masochistic prinny.
All the features of the old version of Disgaea 3 are new again in this port. Earn mana through battling, distribute that mana to learn skills and class based evilities. Then, distribute even more of your hoard to boost or weaken those learned traits. Monsters can morph into weapons through "magichange" and can be used in-battle by other units. To initiate a magichange, you must first visit the in-game school's classroom and setup extracurricular activities and clubs. Combo-ing is achieved by positioning classmates in arranged seating in the classroom. Who needs to buy Persona? We have your teen angst and social links all right here! The system of gameplay mechanics could either be described as convoluted or controlled chaos.
Final Thoughts
Late night television analogy in mind, Disgaea is a sketch comedy on at two in the morning and stands proudly as a send up of the mainstream with a cult following. The PS Vita and its market share may make this a niche title on a niche system. But, we all forgive the flaws and clamor for more.
Oh wait- you know what? Disgaea is more like Sabado Gigante, cause it's not really funny unless you know Spanish. But then it's bright and colorful. So, it kinda fits, you know?
Final Score = 8.0/10 Email: jeanlucpierite@gmail.com Twitter: @jeanlucpierite PSN ID: neshoba78 XBLA: neshoba78