Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited – Worth the Visit
Despite being a long-running and very popular series, I doubt you would be blamed if you were to admit that you’d never heard of Disgaea. Still, being over a decade old and with fans all over the world, there are very good reasons to pay attention to this adorable little Turn Based Strategy series!
In Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited our protagonist of Lord Valvatorez, nicknamed Lord Val by his esteemed cohort. Lord Val trains the cute and friendly Prinnies in the Netherworld – Prinnies being corrupt human souls who are placed into the bodies of penguin-like creatures and made to spout “dood” in almost every sentence. Valvatorez is steeped in the midst of a sardine obsession and promises his gaggle of Prinnies sardines for when they finish their training – only to discover that the Prinnies are due to be executed – and therefore – will not be able to eat sardines. In his rage Lord Val swears to get delicious sardines into the mouths of his Prinny squad, even if it means waging war.
The premise of Disgaea 4 can seem a little silly, but it’s all told in such a charming way that you can’t help but like Lord Val and his virtuous (more or less) quest to fulfil his promise. The bulk of the game is played out in grid-based battles, similar to those found in Advance Wars, Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics. Fans of those titles will find Disgaea immediately involving and familiar, but still with new tricks to be learnt.
Character actions can be planned out in more detail – abandoning a more traditional Walk > Action > End style of battle, and battle environments can be modified thanks to coloured blocks which can be destroyed or built upon. One important series staple that I’m yet to find in any other series is literally stacking characters atop one another in order to execute powerful attacks or just throw your characters to out-of-reach platforms in order to reach other enemies. It’s not a huge change from the traditional SRPG formula, but it makes a big enough change to your tactics that Disgaea is a series well worth getting invested in.
A whole host of characters get involved in Lord Val’s conquest in the name of sardines – some more likable than others. Throughout the campaign Valvatorez’s one-track mind and amusing dialogue remains entertaining and doesn’t become tiresome.
The sprites and animations in A Promise Revisited are truly a highlight. Colours look lovely on an OLED screen and even with the PS Vita Slim’s LCD display everything looks crisp and vibrant. Environments are varied and detailed whilst never taking away from the game’s overall aesthetic.
Throughout Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited I felt like I had invested my time wisely. The PS Vita is a great handheld to play this kind of title on because long strategic sessions can be broken up by putting the console to sleep, only to return to where you left on awakening the device. Characters and their conversations flesh out personalities and you’ll find yourself becoming slowly absorbed and genuinely interested in what may happen next. Although not the best RPG story I’ve ever seen, the interesting mix of Netherworld politics and character development is enjoyable and remains perfectly serviceable and a nice complement to the turn-based battling.
Strategy fans may find a new favourite in Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited, whilst more casual players might be put off by a tough difficulty level and bucketloads of optional statistic boosts you can lay upon your characters through the Senate and taking over the Netherworld with your Cam-Pain.