LogFAQs > #952302621

#1 - Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (PS2, 2003; played on PSP, 2007; DS, 2008; and PC, 2016)

My number one game, as it has been for years, is Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, which I've played in many forms and have done almost everything there is to do in the game - and there's still more I think I can do in it. I feel that it is the only Disgaea that I've enjoyed to the fullest, and considering the Disgaea games I've played through to the end of the story (1, 2, D2, and Infinite), all of them have one of the characters from Disgaea 1 as a main character at some point in it. It really shows how well-developed the characters of this first game are overall.

I mentioned this in my writeup of ZHP way back, but NIS does its best when the humor really sticks its mark, and in Disgaea 1 it does the best out of any NIS game. From the interactions with Mid-Boss to the chapters with CAPTAIN GORDON, DEFENDER OF EARTH it's a great ride through the story. Even when it pivots off to do some drama in a few chapters as well as some of the endings, it doesn't feel too out of place and still presents it very well. Gordon and Laharl are probably my two favorite NIS characters in their entire history, as CAPTAIN GORDON, DEFENDER OF EARTH is just an amazing humor character every time he speaks, and Laharl also makes many great scenes better as well. His laugh is also amazing, and I will never forget how it sounds.

Of course, Disgaea is more than just a well presented story, it's the very first SRPG where numbers go up to absolutely insane amounts. Grinding is a necessary evil in Disgaea as you can push character levels, statistics, and equipment up to as high as you want to go. Not that you need to for any purposes, but some of the superbosses definitely require a good amount of grinding. I still remember farming CoO3 many, many times to get the levels and stats I needed. (Or Demonhall Mirror once CoO3 becomes obsolete.)

Not only that, but Disgaea offers a great deal of character customization with its master/apprentice skill system, as well as any character being able to equip any kind of weapon they want. Want a healer throwing out elemental spells all over the map? You can definitely do that. Getting some useful heal spells onto Laharl was definitely a factor that contributed to my first clear of the final bonus boss of the game. Plus, you can name every one of your characters besides the main ones, and like Nick does in his writeup, several of my character names have been passed through many other Disgaea games and multiple versions of this game in particular!

I still have yet to play the PS4 version, but I'm saving that one for a trophy milestone somewhere down the road - I don't really have the time at the moment to make it #200 and I already have several plans for that number. I know, however, that I will still enjoy my time with it just as much as I have throughout my many playthroughs of this game to date.

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