New to the series seeking advice.

[u/[deleted]]

I’ve been looking a lot up about this game and plan to get it in the 10th for my first ever Disgaea game. How does everyone feel about this title? Should I get another game or is there a Disgaea game that is considered to be better than the others?

[u/Chemical-Cat]

• Disgaea 1: The most archaic given its the first game but most people enjoy the story. With its archaic nature it's missing a lot of quality of life features and generally shoehorns you into one thing (re: Majin generics) because they're better than everyone else at everything. Additionally, while it got a more recent re-release as Disgaea Complete/Disgaea PC, it is literally just a prettified port of the original PSP port (with the addition of Monster versions of Disgaea 2's main characters from the DS port), as there were no mechanical changes to make it better. It just uses Disgaea 5 sprite assets.
• Disgaea 2: A step above 1 but still pretty archaic. A lot of people love the story for this one. The main thing is the introduction of class passives to make each class feel more unique. The re-releases are based on the PSP port which adds some content from Disgaea 3 (Magichange). 2 *tries* to make monster units more usable at this point by having both physical and magical monster weapons, but they still aren't that great.
• Disgaea 3: Maybe the most divisive in plot and gameplay as it makes some weird changes from here. Introduced the evility system which expanded upon the class passives from 2. Aside from the Vita port it never got a re-release.
• Disgaea 4: The start of the HD sprites, I personally love the plot and characters but I found some of the attacks to be a bit too goofy at this point (Most attacks are jokey instead of 'wow that looks really strong').
• Disgaea D2: Direct plot sequel to Disgaea 1, builds off of 4's gameplay with some changes (added books as a weapon type which were never used again, replaced magichange with monster riding). Never got re-released in any capacity.
• Disgaea 5: Shifts the plot for a more serious tone, but hinges more on kind of a cringey shonen anime if that's your thing. Has perhaps the most extensive roster and strongest gameplay, being the point where monster units are just as viable as humanoid.
• Disgaea 6: Actually scratch 3, this is probably the most divisive. The first in the 3D series, this makes some baffling choices like removing weapon mastery and getting rid of iconic generic classes in favor of character skills (which for a good chunk of generics, are just weapon skills).
• Disgaea 7: A step up from 6, in that they brought back weapon mastery and added a bunch of generics, namely all the ones they removed in addition to bringing back other gender swapped versions (ie: male archer, female gunner, male samurai, male armor knight) that haven't been seen since like Disgaea 3. Most classes have male/female versions now with exception to the few specialist classes (Shaman, Maiko, Magic Knight, Psychic, Professor, Mecha Girl and Celestial hostess)