The PS3 era of Disgaea has always been a little messy, eschewing a lot of the strategic aspects causing the levels to oscillate between being pure stat checks or extended geo puzzles, but Disgaea 4 is definitely the most polished game from that era. Mechanically I still prefer D2 by a lot, but this game is very fine tuned and runs quickly in battles. The complete version adds even more options like animation fast forward, which is cool if you like to see the animations but don't want to spend 3 years on them. The balancing for progression is very inconsistent which is my least favorite thing. The early game it takes forever to get mana for good attacks, and when you can finally get it quickly the attacks themselves very quickly become to costly to use a ton. With the removal of level multipliers and the intense nerfing of secondary equipment like Orbs and Emblems, it can take way too long to get more than a single character up and running, The Chara World also way overcomplicates aspects that were very easy originally and I do not like it at all. All that said though, if you liked Disgaea 3 a lot you'll likely enjoy this one even more, and it's a great time killer game if nothing else.

Oh yeah the story. Not as funny as 3's but it hits the emotional notes a little better. I don't consider it to be as strong as 1 or even 2, playing out a lot of hackneyed tropes dead straight that the first two games approached with much more care and awareness. It is what it is. Valvatorez and Emizel are great at least.

Hoo boy, this one is rough. Disgaea Hour of Darkness is hands down one of my favorite games of all time and this version is... We'll start with the good stuff. It has all the content of the PSP version plus more Quality of Life options like faster movement speed options. The unique features of the DS are also great, I especially love the map screen and in general making good use of the dual screens to give additional information. The cons? The graphics, sound and performance are absolutely horrible. Everything is blurry and extra pixelated, the game has the frame rate of an N64 game and it chugs terribly in the item world. Even navigating the menus (Which you do a lot since this is a strategy game) is often laggy and unresponsive, ESPECIALLY in the item world. The music is also terrible, either being horribly compressed or bad midi remixes of the original soundtrack. As a cherry on top, almost voice acting has been removed, leaving you to wonder why they even left the scant few pieces of it in. Now back in the day, I'd say it was a serviceable port if it was your only option to play the game, but these days it's just a novelty. Much better versions of the game are freely available and my rating is largely influenced by the strength of the original release. Only check this one out if you're a huge fan of the game like me and are interesting in seeing the unique aspects of this port.

Disgaea 2 is something of a mixed bag as a sequel to one of my favorite games. The main story is considerably weaker to me, although as time has gone on the characters have grown on me at least. The main thing this game has over the first is greatly expanded secondary and post game content which was a major weakness of Hour of Darkness. This game actually gives you reason to want to reach the 9999 mark and has tons of interesting bonus bosses and side areas such as the Land of Carnage. It also contains numerous mechanical updates which are probably for the best but does have the unintended side effect of making the early game a fair deal more annoying and complicating aspects that you didn't have to think hard about in Hour. I'll fully admit nostalgia does kind of push Hour over the edge for me in comparison to this game, but on purely objective merits it's still a great game that I can spend a lot of time with and it's a high recommend from me if you enjoy the series.

The third game in the Erebonia arc, and it's... well made with interesting mechanics but also suffers from some of the more persistent weaknesses of Cold Steel in the writing department. It does well creating a new cast of distinct characters that serve as foils to the previous Class VII but the expansive cast makes it tough for anyone outside the new group to get much focus. The game can also be extremely aimless unfortunately and there is much padding to be had in developing the ongoing plot until it collapses in a massive cliff hanger. The new Brave Order system is cool but the impact it had on gameplay has also made the game very much slanted in the player's favor resulting in an extremely easy experience. Even on Nightmare mode, end game Quartz setups and Wind Blade let me tear through the final bosses without much trouble.

On the whole, I'd say this game is weaker than the two before it but far from a bad game and the plot had a little more focus to it than Cold Steel 2 did. In the series as a whole, the Quality of Life updates make it a better game that Sky FC but I can't say I like it better than anything else in the series. Far from a bad game though and its undemanding gameplay makes it perfect if you're more in for the story than the combat.

A nice little horror game to kill a couple hours. Not the most inspired thing I've ever played but it has a suitably disquieting atmosphere a couple decent surprise scares here and there. The looping nature of the game can be a little tedious, particularly since there are some tasks that remain done in one playthrough while others have to be done again and again. The game probably could have stood to implement more environmental changes as you progress to spice things up. The price is right though, so it doesn't hurt anything to give it a shot! Not for those who squirm extra hard at the idea of violence against children.

The follow up to Milk Inside of bag of milk inside a bag of milk! On the whole, it looks much better than the first game and much better captures the feel it was shooting for. On the whole though, it still feels more like a proof of concept for a game rather than a full package, being only 45 minutes to an hour long and only 5 endings to shoot for.

It has a greater degree of interactivity than Milk Inside, though funnily enough the game lacks any kind of failure state in contrast with the first game. There's only one room to explore but a variety of ways to interact with it that contribute to one of 5 endings. After Milk Inside more or less outright stated why the girl was he way she is, Milk Outside delves deeper into her back story and raises more questions about the exact nature of her psychosis. The game ends abruptly on one of the dream endings, each one offering different insight to the girl's past, her fears or her isolation. Don't expect a happy ending of any sort with this game, it's all depression through the lens of esotericism.

While I can't say this is a great adventure game, the visuals and atmosphere grabbed me much more than Milk Inside and I'd love to see if this goes anywhere with another follow up. If you like surrealist horror, give this one a shot!

If you're a fan of classic beat em ups, particularly from the SNES era, then this one... won't exactly light the world on fire. Speaking from a strictly objective point of view, it's more of a 2.5 stars but I can put myself in the era pretty well. The pros of the game are good music and sound design, plus pretty decent visuals. It has an actual plot, which is a novelty for the genre. The game is also not overly difficult on the whole, generally enemies only come 2 at a time. On the downside, the controls are a little stiff and combat relies heavily on knowing which moves can loop the enemies. As well, while the game is not too hard, there are sections that WILL kill you a lot until you figure them out, particularly the bike sections and the final bosses. Still, it's cool to see a game of yesteryear that never got a chance in America officially finally see the light of day on Western shores. The framing story tying in to River City Girls 2 and the retro style themed music are a nice treat on top. If you're eager to scratch an itch for more River City Girls while waiting for 2, then give it a shot. If you're not that desperate, I'd definitely wait for a sale instead or get it at a reduced price via Switch gold coins.

A great follow up to the entries on the 3DS, boosting far better presentation, tightened up game mechanics and a very flexible system for upgrading both your demons and protagonist allowing you excellent controls over battles the whole way. Major cons include rather poor visual presentation due to the graphical limitations of the Switch. The story is also a little anemic by the standards of the series, even compared to the games from the SNES days. Overall I'd still say Nocturne is the better game, but this is much easier to get into and is a total blast once you have a grasp of the games own systems. Strong recommend for anyone who loves traditional RPG's but also likes having modern conveniences at their disposal.