Imagine you liked Final Fantasy Tactics. No, better yet—imagine you really, really liked Final Fantasy Tactics. You liked Square's PlayStation monsterpiece so much, in fact, that you round up a bunch of friends, write a game that's an homage to FFT in every way possible, and turn it into what's become a sleeper hit in Japan. Oh, yes…and you also like Tim Burton films. In Disgaea, you play Laharl, Prince of the Netherworld, and while you were sleeping, your father died and every petty demon in the land started fighting for the throne that's rightfully yours. With your castle as a base point, you and your party go through 14 episodes and several dozen game maps, leveling up like mad and proving you're the strongest imp in the world. The graphics, battles, and magic system in Disgaea are straight out of FFT. Really. If you asked what inspired Nippon-ichi, it's highly doubtful anyone there would deny it. However, they've also added a wheelbarrow-load of extras to speed up the pace—combo attacks are triggered like machine-gun fire, you can throw (literally) allies and enemies around the map, and sets of color-coded Geopanels turn some stages into miniature puzzles. It's trippy, but it's also unlike any strategy game before. The plot in Disgaea is not so deep—in fact, it's really nothing more than an outline. The idea here instead is to explore the game's battle system right down to the coffee grounds, switching jobs, exploring the worlds inside your items (don't ask), and leveling up 'till you're blue in the face. If this is no problem to you, then please buy Disgaea immediately—while it's not for casual folk, the battles are so addictive that hardcore gamers may never need another strategy RPG ever.
