Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny (Complete) REview

Initial release date: January 28, 2021

Developer: Nippon Ichi Software

Series: Disgaea

Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch

Genres: Adventure game, Tactical role-playing game

"Review Copy Provided By NIS America"

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean you cannot improve upon it with some quality-of-life changes which is exactly what you can expect with Disgaea 6. There’s nothing here that is groundbreaking or new which you would find shocking considering that this is the 6th mainline entry in this storied franchise, however, not having anything new isn’t exactly a bad thing when you take into consideration that the game does make the most of adding in several improvements and quality of life enhancements to streamline the gameplay and experience then you’ll see some value in this. The question now is does just adding QoL changes and improvements warrant a full-on purchase of another Disgaea game? Let’s find out!

UPDATE

Disgaea 6 is now available on the PS4, PS5, and Steam with the new moniker of the “Complete” which includes all of the previously released DLC content as well as all the patches and updates to fix the technical issues that plagued the Nintendo Switch version which had varying degrees of performance issues. I will be diving more into the differences between the ports in further into the review and which is the best version overall.

Story

Starting off in medias res, Zed the zombie is standing amongst a battlefield laden with Prinny about to defeat the Netherworld’s God of Destruction. He is ultimately killed and is reborn into a new world all the while being faced with the same God of Destruction. Zed is blessed (or rather cursed) by Cerberus who utilized a forbidden spell called Super Reincarnation which allows its user to continuously reincarnate until their goal is achieved.

What is Zed’s goal? Well, you’ll just have to keep playing to find out.

Gameplay

If you’re looking for a radically new or different feel to a Disgaea game, then this ain’t it chief as there’s really nothing new here that you haven’t experienced before in earlier entries. What you do have here is some tweaks that make the gameplay that much smoother and more streamlined.

The gameplay of Disgaea 6 is the same as it’s been in all the previous entries with it being a standard SRPG or Strategy Role-Playing Game with the battles taking place on a massive grid. You have to pay attention to what characters you have available in your party along with what skills and abilities and their strentghs and weaknesses in contrast to your opponents on the battlefield.

The lift and throw mechanics have returned allowing you to be able to have extra strategy on the battlefield along with Geo Effects. Repeated usage of skills will allow you to become more proficient and more worthwhile for your characters. Utilization of Geo Effects and combos will allow you to gain bonus prizes at the end of each level. One aspect of the game that is both loved and hated is the ability to attack and kill your allies. Another aspect of the game that has changed is the removal of the Female Warriors and Clerics which kinda sucks.

The Super Reincarnation mechanic that’s introduced in the plot is also a mechanic in the game’s battles, however, it is very much like the reincarnation mechanics found in previous Disgaea games.

As I stated earlier, there isn’t any real changes or additions to the gameplay; just a more refined and streamlined experience and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Graphics

Visually, Disgaea 6 looks incredible with its 2D hand drawn art style being translated into 3D for the first time in the series. The characters are incredibly well detailed and designed that make them standout against the isometric backgrounds.

The design of Zed is really gnarly because he has a unique look to him with his ribbon tied around his neck that eventually surges when he gets excited or angry. The environments are all made in 3D which allows the 2D art to pop, yet, there are issues with that because some of the 3D models lack animation and expressions. The gamess’ cutscenes are just as good as they ever were with the visual novel-esque style.

The Nintendo Switch version included three graphic quality modes which were Performance, Graphics, and Balanced which regardless of what you picked; none of them have a stable frame rate along with visual issues constantly occurring. While the Nintendo Switch version has had numerous patches, it still is not the best way to experience this entry. In docked mode, the game runs at 1080p with a variable frame rate while in handheld mode it runs at 720p also with a variable frame rate. The PS4/PS5 versions have better stability and performance with a few graphical options such as Performance and Graphics modes on the PS5 along with the PS4 version having an option called “Best Graphics”. All of these options run at nearly 60fps while the Graphics and Best Graphics options do dip a bit below 60fps. The PS4 version runs at 1080p with 60fps (depending on the graphical option selected) while the PS5 version runs at 4K 60fps regardless of the mode selected.

The Steam release allows you to run the game at a base 1080p 60fps all the way up to 4K 60fps and up with widescreen support. Playing the game on the Steam Deck gives you 720p at 60fps and no performance hiccups. It is really astounding in how the game performs substantially better on the Steam Deck than the Nintendo Switch. When comparing the PS4, PS5, and Steam release to the Nintendo Switch version; the visual fidelity is incredibly noticeable and even with over a year after the initial release, the Nintendo Switch version does not look anywhere near as good as the PlayStation and Steam releases.

The Wrapup

If you’re looking for a foundationally strong SRPG then you cannot go wrong with Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny. The game has a strong narrative, solid controls, incredible humor, lovable characters, and enough brain bending strategy gameplay to keep you going for months if not years. Make sure you pick up this game today!