Moreover, Disgaea 7 is far more rich in content than its predecessor, boasting both a longer story campaign AND a more robust postgame (beyond the obvious grinding opportunities), making it feel like a full Disgaea experience. From what I can tell it also runs better on the Switch than Disgaea 6 did – while I *did* feel that 6’s performance issues were somewhat exaggerated, I do recall needing to go with the Performance Mode to keep the game running smoothly, whereas with 7, it runs fine even on its Graphics Mode, with the exception of a couple of unusually graphically intense maps. I also did feel that the series made a relatively graceful transition into fully 3D graphics with Disgaea 6, and 7 builds on that foundation, with a number of memorable special attacks that look truly sick.
I also ended up liking the main cast of Disgaea 7 more than I expected, though in this respect 6 does actually have it beat (I loved Disgaea 6’s cast of characters, and really wished there were more worthwhile maps that I could use them on). The character designs are great as always, the personalities are fun and enjoyable, and these guys undergo plenty of development throughout the story. Having played quite a few Disgaea games by now, I *do* however notice all sorts of similarities to past characters – just to name a couple of examples, Yeyasu has a lot in common with Axel, and the relationship between Fuji and Pirilika is superficially near-identical to the Killia – Seraphina relationship from Disgaea 5 (powerful, mysterious demon warrior loner with a tragic past is recruited by an obscenely rich girl to overthrow an oppressive Overlord), though there are plenty of differences too, with all these guys eventually coming in their own as unique characters. Pirilika was actually a real standout for me in terms of personality, being a total sweetheart (sharply differentiating her from rich bitch Seraphina), and her gimmick of mangling classic metaphors beyond recognition is both hilarious and adorable.
As mentioned earlier, Disgaea 7’s story campaign managed to keep me hooked throughout, despite having several other competing games to play at the time. It’s just a delightful, relatively lighthearted experience (despite some serious moments), with a world you enjoy spending time in and characters you have fun hanging out with. The story also is pretty compelling, with enough twists and turns to keep you on your toes and stay engaged from beginning to end. It doesn’t necessarily leave the strongest impression when all is said and done (the climax is pretty rushed, and the overall presentation feels quite cheap, with no real cutscenes, just some still images to illustrate certain big story moments), but I certainly enjoyed myself throughout the adventure – and the postgame proved quite solid too, with some great unlockable characters, including one girl I had pretty much given up on getting to add to my party.
Overall, while Disgaea 7 is an excellent game, it’s pretty middle of the road as far as the Disgaea series is concerned. However, that’s not necessarily bad thing, since it effectively makes it the ultimate all-rounder: while I would say that Disgaea 4 has both the best cast AND postgame in the series (with a whoppin’ 4 unique and mostly pretty lengthy bonus campaigns!), the main story campaign was actually pretty underwhelming (the party only truly feels in peril twice, and the True final battle actually only unlocks a Bad Ending), and was definitely weaker than 7’s campaign. Meanwhile, Disgaea 5 easily boasts the best and most meaty story campaign, but its cast of characters is more bland than Disgaea 7’s, and the game took itself a bit too seriously in the eyes of some long-time fans. Disgaea 7, by doing everything at least pretty well, and also being great in terms of quality of life features, serves as a great entry point for anyone interested into getting into the series.
