Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention

I have no idea where to start with this game; it's a great game but it feels weird.  It breaks the fourth wall and yet still manages to maintain the dignity of a good Strategy RPG; note that the version that I'm going to talk about is on the PS Vita.  There we go, that's my starting point, the genre.  As you probably have read, SRGPs are one of my favorite genres of all time.  In fact, Final Fantasy Tactics is my favorite game of all time, which I've said enough times to kill an elephant.  In any case, Disgaea 3 is an installment in the Disgaea series, which takes place in the Netherworld. 

Just one sample of humorous dialogue.

In the Netherworld there's an evil school that your main characters are, normally, students of.  Most missions take place in and around the school setting, and your home base and other stats, like Honor Student Quotient, are all based off of a school theme.  It seems kind of silly, but that's only because it is.  The game takes great advantage of the situation and constantly makes reference to itself as a video game, characters playing video games, characters reading comic books, the hero and demon ideals, and a ton of other things that make you chuckle and shake your head.  As you can see from the various screen shots that I have up here, it takes a lot of the qualities from anime and manga that we all so love, which really makes you want to keep up with the story in between all of the great battles.

I like how sharp everything looks on the Vita.

The humor and self-realization of the game are the main things that give it such an enjoyable role-playing experience, but the meat of Disgaea 3 really brings you a great tactical world.  The various stats, HP, SP, Str, etc, all go up to insanely high values, at least 100x as high as your common RPG.  The game itself says that you should spend a million hours playing it...and the anime style, funny dialogue, and strategy elements combined really make it seem like you could spend that much time, and then some sitting in front of your PS3 or holding your PS Vita.

A four-person combo attack.

As for the game play, it's pretty much your typical SRPG.  You move along on a grid and use tactics to eliminate your enemies.  The main innovation that Disgaea provides is the combo attack.  Depending on where your team member is seated in home room, which is your base, they can perform an attack with someone that's sitting next to them.  The combos are significantly more damaging than normal attacks and are even more destructive when you use special skills to combo.  I also like the Magichange feature where your monster allies can transform into a weapon to be used by a teammate that's next to them in home room.  For instance, the prinny monster class, which is essentially a penguin, changes into a laser.  How much more awesome can you get?  I can't think of anything I want more than a penguin friend that turns into a laser cannon.

I've been waiting to write this brief review for some time now, and I finally got the guts to do it today.  The reason I was putting it off is because I could spend 100 paragraphs explaining the game and giving it the props it deserves, but no one wants to read that.  I just wanted to introduce you to the world of Disgaea 3, not write a book.  For anyone that is an SRPG gamer, RPG player, or an anime/manga lover; I highly recommend this game.  Personally I'd take the PS Vita version for the mobility, which I think SRPGs were designed for, but the PS3 version has some great advantages too.