Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny, the tried and tested demo
Disgaea 6
Within a few years, Nippon Ichi has proposed several re-editions of Disgaea, his most famous series ever, on Switch. It was definitely needed: the first title dates back to 2003 and for a long time remained the passion of a hard core of strategic JRPG lovers. Distinguished by wacky characters, hilarious gags and crazy mechanics that enhance the management and numerical component of this genre, Disgaea lived a kind of second youth on the Nintendo hybrid console, making itself known and appreciated even by those who had missed previous appointments on PlayStation, PC and so on.Therefore, after having also revived Disgaea 4 Complete +, Nippon Ichi has set to work on a new chapter, Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny, which will be released on June 29th exclusively on Switch, a few months later. distance from the Japanese release. We tried the demo of Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny recently released on the eShop: here are our first impressions.
Disgaea got a makeover
The first thing that will leap into the eyes of anyone who has played at least one Disgaea in their life is that now the characters are completely polygonal: Nippon Ichi has replaced pixel art with cel shading, favoring a vaguely chibi style that further shortens the distance between Disgaea 6 and a Japanese anime. We didn't mind the result, but we can understand the skepticism of fans accustomed to the old sprites, generally more detailed than these models that give their best only in the short cinematics in which the characters unleash their most powerful special attacks.Taking advantage of the fully 3D graphics, shots and direction appear immediately more effective and engaging, but the vintage feeling, so to speak, that characterized the previous Disgaea is lost. The problem, if anything, is that the realization in general seemed rather bland: not only the 3D models, but also the isometric scenarios are poor in detail, and the intermission kinematics that tell the story using the game engine are few. and coarse.
Disgaea 6: a fight. That said, overall performance was the most disappointing part of our test. Disgaea 6 allows you to choose between three display modes: Graphics, Balanced and Performance. Considering the certainly low / medium budget nature of the Nippon Ichi title, the 30 stunted frames and aliasing in Graphics mode are not explained, while in Performance mode the game loses so much in resolution that it appears dirty and muddy both on the TV and in portability. . Balanced is the best option to set, but games like Monster Hunter Rise run on Switch that humiliate Disgaea 6 in every respect.
The story is told through long, but hilarious dialogues between characters also represented through the usual illustrations. , if not tables that seem to come out of the pages of a manga in black and white, and you can choose between dubbing in English or Japanese, while while the texts are in English, French or Japanese.
Disgaea has always been a series that rides humor and sarcasm, and Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny is no exception, even if the first two chapters of the story playable in the demo did not allow us to intuit the definitive scope of a writing that doesn't seem very brilliant at first.
Disgaea for newbies?
Disgaea 6: a combo. It could be argued that Disgaea belongs to that group of video games in which the graphics component is completely secondary, and in a sense it is true, but what we have tested is quite controversial.Lovers of strategists who have never gotten their hands on a Disgaea will find bread for their teeth and will have to come to terms with a universe full of crazy rules, absurd statistics and bizarre gameplay to say the least. The very first stage is just a taste: it is essentially a flash-forward in which we control the protagonist, Zed, at the height of his power. Each attack inflicts billions of damage, figures that in Disgaea were reached after spending a fair amount of time to grow and customize units.
Although this is only an intriguing prologue, and the situation returns to more ordinary levels already in the next stage, the developers of Nippon Ichi have preferred to speed up the times and start immediately with the numbers, probably to impress new players and push on the most characteristic trait of the franchise.
Disgaea 6: Zed is the protagonist zombie. In this sense, the content of the demo is a gigantic tutorial that unlocks, mission after mission, the various features of the gameplay and the hub in the Netherworld in which we will be able to customize units, equipment and battles. The first hours will certainly be disorienting for those who are struggling with their first Disgaea: from the beginning the game shows statistics, parameters, skills with weapons and unusual rules for a turn-based strategy in which, however, you can move the units and make them act without following a precise order.
Veterans, on the other hand, will immediately notice a summary simplification of some traditional aspects in the series, such as the class system, which counts far fewer than in Disgaea 5, and the learning of skills and spells. Our impression is that Nippon Ichi, developing the first unreleased chapter on Switch, has decided to appeal to a much wider audience than in the past, and in doing so has simplified or refined the sophistication of the previous titles in order not to alienate new players. br>
Disgaea 6: the inevitable Prinny. In general, Disgaea 6, net of an unconvincing technical sector, remained a joy to play, and already in these two chapters it is possible to invent the worst things with a minimum of cunning: you can even maximize the level of units and prepare your army ahead of the release, as the save will be compatible and you will be able to pick up where you left off in the demo. The innovative automatic combat system, which relies on customizable artificial intelligence reminiscent of the Gambits of Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, allows for more relaxed approaches for lovers of the grind, while the Dark Assembly and the Cheat Shop return in great style with a whole host of bonuses and modifiers that will allow players to fully customize the difficulty and depth of the gameplay.
The first impact with Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny wasn't exactly the best. Despite the transition to 3D, the Nippon Ichi title seemed to us little cared for from a technical point of view, and certainly less sophisticated in gameplay than in previous episodes. This, however, does not mean that the combat, growth and customization systems are any less extraordinarily varied and complex. The test of the final code will confirm whether the series has taken a step forward or a step back, it being understood that the first two chapters of the demo suggest an episode designed specifically for new players.
