Disgaea 7 | Garrulous Gaming Gallops

Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless_20241112230420

I made an impulse purchase, because I am human being. Considering how my site is specialized in discussing worldbuilding and I really admire Disgaean worldbuilding, I want to incorporate this the commentary in this site. So, I will review it on this site and discuss it more on the section of my site, Bannersglare Publishing.

Narrowing The Narrative

7/10

There is pathos in the main story, though not as much as Disgaea 6. While that installment dealt with themes of family, identity, gaslighting, and incredibly high stakes, this installment tended to dwell on power struggle. It would make for a great Disgaea game, and in the case of Disgaea 7, I can see how this would help delve into Disgaea lore. Unfortunately, I didn’t get too much to delve into. It didn’t help that there was a character who I thought would provide a connection to Disgaea 5, but clearly the character was meant to troll the player numerous times. As far as lore, I learned more about Celestia than the Netherrealm.

I did think that the chapter in the middle, meant to be an important turning point, was not well-developed.

I did like how the humor is toned down to more dry humor, while Disgaea humor is typically over-the-top. Perhaps it is meant to reflect off the milieu of the Hinomoto Netherworlds. There’s also a lot of humor that is either meta or relatable. This is especially seen with Fuji coughing up blood every time he is met with kindness. Let’s be real, a lot of us feel that way.

Crafting Characters?

8/10

Fuji as a character complements this game, especially when juxtaposed with all the other characters. However, I didn’t get enough of a spotlight on him compared to the rest of the party.

Pirilika does serve as the annoying sidekick prone to malapropisms (though technically she is the one in charge as the girlboss influencer); however, it turns out that she is annoying in the sense that you can clearly imagine someone like this existing in real-life.

Despite being the creepy character, Yeyasu does have a lot of depth. This is befitting, since as a son of a shogun, he would have a role that becomes consequential. Also, aspects of his family life come into focus throughout the game, along with all the other characters, including Fuji.

The overall character development of this game progresses naturally for the most part.

Wandering Wonderous Worlds?

7/10

While I was pleased with the Item World levels, not so much the main story levels. This Netherrealm is based on Japan, so there will be worlds based on the Japanese history and landscape. Other than that, the levels are standard.

I did like how you could idly explore the levels, however they are quite limiting since there is nothing much to do. You are only offered potential party members, missions, and shops for unique items, but nothing more. It is an improvement, but not by much.

Many Mollifying Moves?

7/10

Jumbability proved to be useful. I can say that this was a major improvement to Disgaea 7. Indeed, I am pleased that the features from Disgaea 5, and the new additions like Jumbability, either returned or are improved. However, the restrictions of Disgaea 7 are the exact opposite of Disgaea 6. While Disgaea 6 imposed an unattainable system, Disgaea 7 restricted me in many ways.

Finding Fun Farming?

5/10

I was hoping that the auto-battle feature was not changed too much, since I found it helpful quickly leveling up any characters less important than my typically used characters. It became extremely curtailed, notably it cannot be used in the Item World. Removing the auto-battle feature from the Item World brought the score down low.

The squad system has barely changed. Notably, it becomes easier to level up the squads—at least when compared to the reduced stats. I continue to use this system and the Cheat system to level up.

As for the items themselves, I found the level limitations quite helpful. In this sense, I would not feel as though I am progressing through 100+ levels without making any progress. Those limitations forced me to really focus on character leveling and strategy.

Grappling Graphics?

9/10

The characters are vivacious in color as always, whether it would be their attires, their weapons, or their fur.

Mention Mighty Music?

7/10

I was underwhelmed by the music. While past Disgaea games pulled you into the game, Disgaea 7 devolved from 6 and 5.

Intriguing Interconnections?

6/10

I can’t say that the plot and the setting really fit together. I can clearly see how Zed’s backstory in Disgaea 6 would fit into this game. In the case of Fuji and the other characters, they fit well enough.

As far as the whole setting of the Hinomoto Netherrealm, I can only say that the whole point of my fascination in the Disgaea series were the unique, over-the-top the settings. In this case, the derivative setting may have connected well enough with the rest of the game, but only at a bare-minimum, not enough to motivate me to continue playing.

Although I try to not bring myself up to speed on the Dynasty Warriors series, at least in the case of the Xtreme Legends sub-series, Koei Tecmo can experiment with new features before progressing to the next installment. Disgaea doesn’t really have that type of system—at least specifically to Disgaea. Nippon Ichi does produce a lot of RPG games in the same vein as Disgaea, yet the influences never seem to show as far as I can tell.

Skimming, Scavenging Score

7/10

I was hoping that this installment would be a major improvement, however the only substantial improvement seemed to be scaling back the megastats.

Recommend Recklessly To…

  • Anyone interested in the JRPG games, but wanting to focus specifically on Japanese aesthetics.

Sources

  • Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless. Nippon Ichi. 2023.