Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny is the long-awaited sequel in the beloved franchise that is out as a Nintendo Switch exclusive. Check our Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny review!
It’s been a long wait, but NIS America has finally released Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny, the long-awaited sequel in the beloved franchise that is out as a Nintendo Switch exclusive! It’s been six years since the last entry in the series, and this one starts by mixing things up since it features 3D visuals, a first for the series that started its life way back on the PlayStation 2. You’ll be playing as Zed, a zombie that is accompanied by Cerberus, a zombie dog, in an adventure unlike any other in Disgaea’s history!
He enters the Darkest Assembly, where all of the Overlords have gathered to talk about the new and mighty God of Destruction… but it seems that Zed has already managed to defeat it! It’s there he meets Overlord Ivar, the self-proclaimed strongest and most important Overlord in the Universe, who is astonished to learn this is even possible. We’ll then go and experience the journey that leads to Zed defeating the God of Destruction after many, many, many tries. Cerberus will make sure that you learn about all of the times Zed failed, like when the God of Destruction sneezed so hard that Zed and Cerberus were sent flying to their death. You’ll be joined in this journey by Bieko, Zed’s sister, who is the zombie sunshine that keeps him going forward.
The battles will have you using a cursor to select the character you want to move around the field, selecting it with the A button. After this, you’ll be able to pick between moving it to a new spot, using its attack, using a special attack, or defending in order to lower any potential damage it receives from enemies. Positioning is key since attacking enemies from the side, or the back will increase your damage output. This does mean that the same can apply to your enemies’ attacks, so you need to be careful!
Most enemies will take a single spot on the field, but there are some larger and more powerful enemies that will take up five spots, blocking you from moving any further while also increasing the number of squares you can target with your attacks and special abilities. You should also try to have as many of your characters surrounding your opponents before you attack, as well as chain a variety of attacks and abilities so that they can be boosted by the support of all of your companions who are around each enemy.
The colored panels on each battle map are called Geo Panels. On each map, you’ll also find matching Geo Symbols. Depending on the color of a panel, an effect will be placed on it by the corresponding Geo Symbol. For example, a red Gep Panel means it’s being affected by a red Geo Symbol, bestowing a 50% attack boost to any unit currently standing on top of said panel. If you grab and throw a Geo Symbol on top of a differently colored Geo Panel, you can then destroy the Geo Symbol to try and create a chain reaction, as long as the Geo Symbol is a change color symbol. If you plan things just right, you can set up a series of color changes that will end up damaging any unit standing on top of the panels that are about to change color. You can also receive a bonus by destroying all colors in a battle.
Units can also have an Evility. This is a special ability that grants a unit a special bonus. For example, Zed’s Evility grants him a 1% increase in damage for every Super Reincarnation – up to a max of 200%, so that you don’t end up breaking the game even more. This does mean that each of your opponents will also have an Evility, and you need to make the most of the ones for your characters to counter what your enemies can do in battle. An Evility might grant a boost while lowering another stat, or it could activate only under specific circumstances, so you’ll need to pay attention and experiment as you go.
Level caps for most strategy RPG games are set to level 99, but Disgaea does not play by those rules. Disgaea 6 goes a bit level cap crazy since now the level cap is set at 99,999,999. No, that’s not a typo. If you’re familiar with the Disgaea series, then you can probably imagine how a level cap of 99,999,999 will end up affecting how many zeroes the damage dealt by your characters will be when a powerful special attack lands. And trust me, there are going to be a ton of zeroes to consider for your attacks with this crazy of a level cap!
Since you’re not invincible – and neither are your companions – you’ll be paying many visits to the Netherworld Hospital during your time with Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny. While healing your wounds and recovering is going to cost you HL, the good news is that the more you spend at the Netherworld Hospital, the better the prizes you can get! You can think of this as getting frequent flyer miles or being part of a points reward system that will grant you bonuses based on how much of your hard-earned HL you spend.
HL can also be spent at the General Store, a proud subsidiary of Rosen Queen Co. It’s at the General Store that you’ll be able to purchase weapons, armor, or items to help you survive the onslaught of battles in your future to complete the game’s story – as well as survive the post-game content. The more expensive an item or a piece of equipment, the better the quality and the higher the stats of said item. Characters will also have an equipment aptitude, making them more ideal for wielding this or that weapon in battle.
You could buy a powerful piece of armor to boost a character’s defense, shoes that can boost your movement and jump power, or glasses so that you can increase your accuracy to make every hit have a better shot of landing. Items will be consumable and can be used to recover hit points, special power for skills, or to help recover from a status ailment. As is the case for the Netherworld Hospital, you can increase your customer rank at the General Store by spending lots of HL. The higher your rank, the better the service you’ll get, so you’ll start to receive discounts on items and sell those that you don’t want anymore for a better price.
For this Nintendo Switch exclusive, you have the option of selecting between three different options for how the game is displayed on your console – be that when playing in Docked Mode on your TV or when taking this over-the-top strategy RPG adventure on the go in Portable or Tabletop Mode, or when playing on a Nintendo Switch Lite. You can select Performance, which will lower the resolution while maintaining a smoother framerate, Graphics will favor the highest resolution possible, but the game’s framerate can take a hit when things get a bit more hectic or Balanced, which meets you halfway, with a higher resolution than in Performance, but a higher framerate than in the Graphics option.
Another interesting thing is that Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny includes a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy. That’s right, you can trophy hunt in Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny, even if the trophy system is self-contained and only available within the one game. The list is split into Bronze, Silver, and Gold trophies, with the last one being the Wish Granted trophy for obtaining all other trophies and getting the Platinum. The objectives to complete include jumping 100 and 1,000 times at your Netherworld base, passing a bill at the Dark Assembly that grants you a trophy, paying 100,000,000 HL at the Dark Assembly, getting a game over, super reincarnating by way of the Dark Assembly, destroying 20 objects on the map, claiming all prizes at the Netherworld Hospital, creating 50 new characters, unlocking all character classes and ranks, maxing out an item’s level, leveling up to 99,999,999, dealing over 100,000,000,000,000 of damage to an enemy, and more!
As a heads-up, there’s a ton of DLC available for Disgaea 6, which is not surprising since the same applies for Disgaea 5 on PlayStation 4, hence why we got Disgaea 5 Complete on Nintendo Switch, which rolls all DLC and the main game into a single release. This time around, you can purchase eight characters for the game – Killia, Usalia, Fuka, Desco, Valvatorez, Pleinair, Mao, and Raspberyl – as well as many colors and equipment sets. You can get each DLC piece individually à la carte, but there’s also the option of going all-in and get the Season Pass for $34.99 and save some money in the process. There are also two free DLC packs, one for a starter set that will grant you some HL and other items to help you during the start of the game, as well as a cross-over DLC pack with Hololive that includes characters based on Vtubers.
I’ve been a fan of the Disgaea series since the first entry launched on the PlayStation 2, so I was very much looking forward to this sequel since it’s been six years since the last one! The move to 3D does change the way the game looks and feels, but I do believe the team found a good way to offer a presentation that pays homage to the hand-drawn characters of ages past. There’s a ton of content to enjoy in this one, as well as lots of customization options for how the game performs, as well as how powerful your enemies and characters are, how much money you earn, how much experience everyone ears, and more! Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny is out on Nintendo Switch with a $59.99 asking price, and it’s a must-buy for fans of the long-running series.
Disclaimer
This Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by NIS America.
