This is easily the most fun Disgaea game in terms of gameplay and quality of life improvements, and good lord is it carrying what would otherwise be a weaker entry it it wasn't THAT fun to just play.

The cast is very hit or miss, the story is one of the most generic in the franchise, and Killia is easily my least favourite Disgaea protagonist.

I love D5 as a game and have sunk far more hours than reasonable into it, but it's purely from a gameplay perspective for me.

I love Disgaea 1, I played it on a whim after finding it on the PS2 in a second hand store and fell in love with the franchise since. The cast and story of D1 are arguably still the best in the franchise to this day.

While I love D1 and the memories I hold with it, Oh my god this game is a nightmare to go back to after playing later enteries. This game is hard, and not in terms of difficulty (It is also really difficult), but in terms of the quality of life introduced in later enteries.

The Item World's random generation is one of the most fun aspects to play with, as it gives a unique challenge every single time you run through it, but any run in the item world can be very suddenly and abruptly screwed over by terrible RNG, the exit being unreachable or enemies just being too far away to kill is a extremely common occurance that set me back hours sometimes. I'd love to say D1 Complete fixes this issue but I'd be a liar if I did.

This is ignoring other QOA improvements made later in the franchise, like making turns go by faster or generally making post game grinding more enjoyable, but fun the first attempt at this you have to give it some level of slack (Again wish I could say D1 complete fixes any of this)

This game set a great foundation for the rest of the series, and even now they love to bring the D1 cast back as much as possible because of how likeable and iconic they are.

A very fast step up from D1 in terms of gameplay and general quality of life. The item world no longer has that issue of screwing you over randomly, new mechanics introduced will be seen throughout most the franchise going forward, and a post game that feels more in line with what to expect going forward. All these improvements have to have a downside, and it does: The cast of 2 just isn't the cast of 1.

I love D2's cast, Rozalin is one of my favourite characters in the series period, but Adell isn't as fun a protagonist as Laharal, the siblings aren't amazing standouts, Axel completely ruins the point I'm making I love Axel so much, and Etna being apart of the main cast feels like they realised this exact issue at some point. Also theres a frog.

2 is still a great entry in the series, but it felt like some steps forward came with some steps back, thankfully alot more steps was done in the right direction.

The only game in the main series to not get a PC port, and honestly I can see why.

Disgaea 3 isn't bad, its gameplay is good, improvements and mechanics made here will be carried over to later games, it's a first look at a Disgaea game on later system hardware, it is indeed a Disgaea game.

But thats kinda just it, it's a Disgaea game, without anything exceptional about it. Despite being the first game on the Playstation 3, it's not HD, the spritework still looks the same as D1 and D2. Now not inherently a problem, disgaea's spritework has always looked excellent, It's very notciable once you've seen 4 onwards. Laziness or time restraints, your judgement.

On the topic of nothing exceptional, the cast. I actually have a differing opinion than most when it comes to Mao, alot of people hate him and think he's annoying, but personally he's the best part of the game. He's the perfect protagonist for a disgaea game, he's entertaining to watch and played to perfection by the VA's, the issue comes with everyone else being exceptionally unexceptional. This cast is forgettable, I cannot tell you most of who they are and frankly don't really care to, and a forgettable cast leads to a forgettable story.

The main narrative hook is very fun, Mao wanting to use the power of trops and heros to defeat his father, but the story never feels like much of interest is actually happening. I cannot tell you most story beats in this game, and while yes alot of it comes down to time, even with other games in the series I've not played in awhile I can recall most of what happens in their stories. I just can't do that here, nothing stuck with me.

This game isn't bad but it's the most nothing installment in the series, If it never comes to PC or gets a complete edition, I won't be very upset. I'm more upset my steam collection goes D1, 2 ,4, 5, 6, 7 than about actually owning the game again.

Story wise, this game is one of the stupidest and least needed in the entire franchise. Gameplay wise, a lot of new additions are very welcome to the franchise going forward.

Disgaea stories have always been very hit or miss, there's a not too unpopular opinion that D1 is the only good story the franchise ever had, but DD2 is known for how not great it is. A lot of new characters get added, new lore around the D1 cast get established, unneeded things happen (Laharal-Chan was very strange) and more. It feels like filler, and it's how I choose to engage with DD2, It's dumb filler that won't ever really be important. The D1 cast are mostly relegated to DLC that can be ignored in later games and even there, most the events here aren't really mentioned.

If you really care about Disgaea's story, you'll hate this, if you're willing to just let it be some dumb fun with some exceptionally good gameplay, you'll have a blast.

I am a very big fan of detective media, it's a genre I obsess over alot, and this game just does something right for me. I can see this being "A lesser mans danganronpa", but I would urge most people to allow it to stand on its own two legs.

It is flawed in alot of ways, the gameplay that does exist can feel a bit lacking in areas, mainly the case solving aspect, evidence feels like a afterthought honestly, and some of the challenges thrown at you are trial and error at its worst. Some solutions can feel contrived or convoluted, with the game not being clear of whats expected of your answers.

Despite all of that, the heart of this game is solid. I really loved the cast by the end of this game, the way it tackles ideas to do with mystery fiction from people who clearly know alot about the genre is something I wish to see more of, and it's music is honestly impeccable for the generally low number of tracks the game actually has. The mastermind was one of my biggest worries, but I ended up finding them to be one of the best aspects of the game, and the micro mysteries are overall solid little murder mystery puzzles.

I can see this game being hated by people downright, and I am not blind to its issues, its MANY issues, yet I can't help but respect it and loved it whole heartedly. I am a liar if I was to say I wasn't a bit sad to see the credits, knowing my time was over, but thats proof enough It was worth the time.

The game gets so close to actually good ideas, chapter 3 has some actually vicerally upsetting material in it that genuenly got to me, but ironically it was when it wasn't related to the main plot about the major 3 characters in this story.

It has the subtly of a brick hitting a window, and while I wanted to commend the game at least handling such a sensitive topic well, It doesn't even do that. The ending is one of the most accidentally hysterical things I've ever witnessed. What hurts the most is there is a actually really good story somewhere in here, just they told it poorly.

This is to say it's the best modern silent hill has to offer, 2 remake is looking worse the more we get to see and what even was Ascension supposed to be? If this is foreshadowing for SH:F then I'm more worried than I was before and just generally its even harder now than ever to have hope for this franchise.

I almost miss the days of Downpour and Homecoming, and thats actually a scary thought.

"The fake is of far greater value. In its deliberate attempt to be real, it's more real than the real thing." ― Deishuu Kaiki

A work of clear passion and love in every aspect of its creation. Far from flawless, but its imperfections can be drowned out by how wonderful the whole is.

This takes the core foundations of the souls genre and injects its own unique soul into it, its own mechanics, world and improvements to the formula that feel fresh yet familiar. Not all it's attempts at reinventing the wheel worked perfectly, but what really stuck with me is how interesting the weapons and customisation of them are, really allowing you to find a style that works perfectly.

I fell in love with the world and story, the world feels well fleshed out and well planned, all the references to other works of literature are full to pick up on. Fans of Fromsofts more quiet storytelling maybe annoyed about how much clearer things are here, the story isn't subtle in its main themes, but for me and I imagine most it's not much of a issue.

It's far from flawless, my playthrough was wraith with some enemy/enviroment pop-in from time to time and not all the areas are designed equally in terms of enjoyment. I also have some issues with cheap kills being a constant go to in terms of enemy placement, it becomes predictable to the point when I saw a corner, theres likely some guy winding up a attack.

I also think the difficulty trails a bit by the end, the final 2 bosses feeling a bit of a let down in terms of challenge, that or I "got too good", remains to be seen.

Overall, it's really special, it maybe a imitation, but in all it's attempts to be unique, it found its own idenity.