Disgaea 7 seeks to pick up the slack from its predecessor and present itself as the series' greatest, and possibly grindiest, game. Read on to learn about the game’s story, gameplay, and post-campaign experience in our review.
Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless Review Overview
Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Wildly Entertaining Writing Expansive Filler Content |
Somewhat Imbalanced Early Game Incredibly Disappointing Story |
Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless Overall - 76/100
Disgaea 7 is, overall, a decent addition to the series. The main story carries itself well with its entertaining characters, engaging dialogue, and outlandish setting. But more importantly for a Disgaea game, its postgame is streamlined and convenient, but equally challenging and rewarding. It offers a lot of options for you to spend time on to combat fatigue, and manages to remain fun all throughout.
Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless Story - 6/10
Slightly insane, moderately comedic, and excessively unhinged - these were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect Disgaea narrative. Every Disgaea game since then has followed this formula, aside from the second game. Disgaea 7 follows this formula, but doesn’t seem to perfect it. The overall result is still a subpar mess of a story, with a severe lack of compelling hooks to maintain your interest in its plot. In fact, its plot may be one of the weakest in the series. On top of that, it also struggles, and ultimately fails, to develop all seven of its protagonists satisfyingly.
Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless Gameplay - 9/10
Although we’ve only seen a glimpse of what Disgaea 7 has to offer, it's enough to give you the impression that the entire gameplay is a solid work of technical expertise. It is deeply engaging and enjoyably strategic, propped up by the series' signature love for forcing its players to grind their levels. And though Jumbification, a major mechanic in the game that allows you to become a literal giant, feels a bit imbalanced initially, I have no doubt that it will be nothing more than just another feature to use and abuse later on.
Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless Visuals - 8/10
The Disgaea series has always been a bastion of cute super-deformed characters performing galactic feats of wanton, planetary destruction. But since the adaptation of 3D models in Disgaea 6, the series has suffered from being notably more tame than its predecessors. You will still witness wild displays of power from your skills, but only very few of them offer the same absurdity that the 2D games had offered. It’s also weighed down from markedly strange camera angles that prevent you from seeing certain skills in their full glory and a questionable user interface.
Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless Audio - 6/10
Admittedly, audio has never been the Disgaea series' strongest suit. While they have a banger soundtrack and decent enough voice acting to not make you reel from their sometimes cringeworthy humor, the sound effects are just… there. It’s also difficult to really hear the voice acting. This is somewhat alleviated with the voice volume setting, but even maxed out, it sounds too muted.
Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless Value for Money - 9/10
As a series renowned worldwide for their postgame that can stretch for literally hundreds of hours even without DLC, you're guaranteed to get a bang for your buck and then some… as long as you love the grind. If not, then you can expect a good few dozen hours of gameplay time. However, do note that when compared to previous titles, Disgaea 7 feels like a downgrade in numerous aspects, such as storytelling, customizability, etc. It makes one think that your money could be better spent getting those games instead.
Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless Review: A Thousand Hours of Pain and Pleasure
My total time playing every Disgaea game is around seven or eight thousand hours, though I'm not entirely sure, since my PS2 and PS3 have been sent to the netherworld by now. For some, that may seem like an insane amount of time to invest in something that isn't an MMO. However, compared to even more avid enthusiasts, those are actually rookie numbers.
Shout-out to the guy who has had over fifty thousand collective hours on the Nekopara series.
Those numbers are relevant to a Disgaea 7 review because the series is much more famous for its extremely grindy postgame experience than its main campaign. In fact, the series is so dedicated to making you grind, that you have to grind just to get to the grind. For many fans of the series, it's also what matters the most. That's why, for a Disgaea review to be genuinely great, it should focus most of its attention on the postgame experience rather than on the main campaign.
Fortunately, Disgaea 7 has quite a decent post-game grind. The Cheat Shop, a mechanic introduced in Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness, is back with its glorious array of quality of life improvements. Adjusting difficulty levels, modifying auto-sell settings, and other bothersome tasks are once again easily accessible to players. The developers have also streamlined the grinding process without reducing the labor-intensiveness of the activity, removing redundant features such as the Chara World from Disgaea 5, where you could directly upgrade your characters’ base stats.
Although they also added an abundance of notable difficulty spikes that may force you to grind throughout the main campaign, they also made sure to include stages that make it convenient for you to farm experience in. These spots remain relevant even during the early stages of the post-game, where preparations for the more difficult sections begin.
Overall, Disgaea 7’s post-game design feels very cohesive, with a good balance of difficulty and convenience that can keep the interest of a more short-tempered gamer or newcomer. And of course, that means it will have no issues with holding the interest of its usual audience of grind-lovers. However, it does feel quite lacking in terms of everything else, especially when compared to its older siblings.
Pros of Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless
| Things Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless Got Right |
|---|
|
Wildly Entertaining Writing Expansive Filler Content |
Wildly Entertaining Writing
In order for it to be a Disgaea game, the writing must be at the same excessive levels of ridiculousness as the gameplay and visuals themselves. After all, what other kind of writing would be appropriate for a game where blowing up planets is the norm?
Everything must become a gag. All things exist to be made fun of. No comedy skit is off-limits. They're not even afraid to give certain characters… tendencies, such as Ceefore's penchant to snort and get high off of gunpowder and Pirilika being a shameless, hopeless otaku.
Does that sound annoying? Maybe. It may even feel like a con rather than a pro to some. However, fret not, for Disgaea has mastered the art of impudent tomfoolery. They flow well enough within the story and offer different flavors of social commentary, all within its universe of twisted morals. The scenarios, music, visuals, world-building, and characterization all work together to allow even the most forced gag to be entertaining.
You will encounter everything from anecdotal jokes that serve as exposition to fourth-wall-breaking quips that feel like a good Deadpool gag. Fuji and Pirilika, the game’s two main protagonists in particular, share a very entertaining dynamic. Pirilika’s excessive optimism is directly at odds with Fuji’s natural apprehension towards empathy, allowing for some entertaining interactions.
While other games utilize a few of these humorous moments to boost their entertainment value, most hide behind a facade of proper storytelling. That's why it's refreshing to see a few series of games like Disgaea be so shameless about its blatant disregard for a good story. Instead, all they want is to stuff as many jokes as humanly possible into every scenario.
Expansive Filler Content
Disgaea is a series that’s legendary for making people who are addicted to gigantic numbers very happy. Among all the turn-based games, it’s one of the very few that can comfortably handle, and even normalize, damage that can reach staggering values containing 18 digits (that’s almost a quintillion, mind you) or more in certain games. It’s more impressive when you think about how you essentially start the game being unable to deal even 100 damage. So, how do you reach the point where everything just disintegrates from a mere sneeze of yours?
Of course, strategy and planning play a large part in contributing to Disgaea’s massive numbers. During the early game, you’ll also rely a lot on luck for good loot to drop from clearing each stage. However, once you enter post-game, things change drastically. While you will still need an element of luck to obtain powerful items and a lot of planning to maximize your efficiency, the game eventually stops placing emphasis on items and more on the raw stats that can be achieved by simply putting in the time and effort.
Basically, the grind starts from this point. The goal? To defeat Super Overlord Baal, the Disgaea series’ recurring optional boss.
In every Disgaea game, Baal and his subsequent forms represent the theoretical limit of what you can achieve after hundreds of hours of grinding. While I admittedly haven’t beaten Baal in Disgaea 7 yet, I can attest that the feeling I got from defeating him at the highest possible difficulty setting in previous titles was nothing short of extremely gratifying. After all, that’s essentially what you were building up to. It’s a feeling quite similar to finally defeating Malenia in Elden Ring after dying against her 50 plus times (skill issue). But this time, it’s in a turn-based game instead, and after several hundred hours rather than several dozens.
There are many things to do to prepare for taking down Baal. These include maxing your characters’ stats through class masteries and reincarnation, farming for the strongest equipment in the game, going through the item world to increase their levels, and so on. Unless you’re a speedrunner, each of these will easily add about a hundred hours to your playthrough.
For reference, it takes an average of over 1,000 hours to max out your stats in Disgaea 6, which is considered one of the easier games of the series, and defeat Baal’s strongest form.
These endgame preparation requirements can mostly be done in any order. Although there are, of course, some more optimal ways to go about it, Disgaea never actually forces you to prioritize.
Regardless of what you do, there will be incremental improvements to your performance. That will allow you to face proportionally stronger enemies to accelerate your grind. It’s an incredibly satisfying loop for power-addicted gamers, and to those who find a prolonged grind to be a near-meditative experience, such as myself.
Cons of Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless
| Things That Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless Can Improve |
|---|
|
Somewhat Imbalanced Early Game Incredibly Disappointing Story |
Somewhat Imbalanced Early Game
Disgaea is a bundle of contradictions. Although one such example, its writing, ultimately persevered as a blessing. The gameplay experience, on the other hand, is a far more difficult crime to judge. However, despite my own misgivings, I'll ultimately have to call the series' dedication to the hustle a curse.
Objectively speaking, not everybody is a masochistic mess of a person like me to enjoy Disgaea's tedious grind. After all, like I mentioned previously, it's so committed to the idea that it wants you to grind before you can get to the real postgame grind. This is likely why Disgaea is such a niche title, even though it offers you some of the lengthiest playtime of any video game for its price, albeit arguably filler content. Disgaea 7, similar to most of its predecessors, will proudly and shamelessly abandon all those averse to excessive filler content, all in favor to appeal to their target audience.
This can be readily felt early in the game. Each stage offers limited EXP to gain, while the enemies disproportionately keep getting stronger and take up very advantageous positions on the map. Yeyasu, in particular, who acts as the final boss for the game's second chapter, is at such a high level of power that simply matching his levels will run you the risk of a party wipe with just one of his attacks.
You would do well to revisit every stage you’ve cleared at least once. Give particular attention to stages where enemies are grouped up or are present in great numbers over a small area. This is especially true for stages with "+X% EXP" field effects, or Geo Effects, as they are called in-game. These are the stages you are meant to grind levels on to tackle more difficult content.
Depending on your preferences, skills, and circumstances, you may have to run those stages several dozens of times in order to match what the game demands from you. However, that is not an issue with the game’s design. This imbalance is simply what Disgaea is famous for and what many of its fans, including myself, come back to regularly. And now, with a limited and exceptionally upgraded Auto system, all Disgaea 7 has proven is that you’ve purchased a grindy game, and you’ll be there to grind.
Incredibly Disappointing Story
Disgaea games never actually had notably good, well-written stories. The only titles to have a decently-written plot were Disgaea (the first game) and Disgaea 2, with Disgaea 4 only barely missing the cut-off. And unfortunately, Disgaea 7 wouldn’t be able to join that prestigious two-member club. Far from it, really.
The main problem, I think, stems from Disgaea 7’s large main cast. Weaving a good tale for seven characters within just a dozen or so chapters is nigh-impossible. It’s already an incredibly difficult challenge for any narrative, and even more so when half of the dialogue is reserved for gags.
To fit an entire saga about saving the Netherworld in that timeframe, several sacrifices must be inevitably made. And for Disgaea 7, it was Fuji and Pirilika’s companions that were offered up.
At best, they are simply underdeveloped. At worst, they’re just accessories used to deliver jokes that would have felt unnatural for Fuji and Pirilika to make. Luckily, they all possess personality, so they’re certainly not dull, bland NPCs. But there’s just no weight behind their characters, something a good story arc for them could have created. It’s a damn shame, too, since their backstories run quite deep and are full of potential.
But while the companions took the brunt of the game’s unsatisfying writing, Fuji and Pirilika are also not spared from it. They have vastly more opportunities for development throughout the game, but it’s all ruined by the end when the main story’s pace noticeably accelerates towards its conclusion.
Is Disgaea 7’s Post-Game Good?
It’s Good But It’s Not the Best
If I had to compare Disgaea 7’s post-game experience with previous titles, I would say it’s worse than Disgaea 5, but just above Disgaea D2. For reference, Disgaea 3 and 4 tie for first place, while Disgaea 6 arguably has the worst post-game. As a whole, it’s slightly above average of all the main Disgaea games. It relies mostly on time and strategy and less on luck than the other games in the series. And, although you’ll still have to fight against RNG for certain items to appear, it ultimately doesn’t matter after several thousand runs of the same stage.
Additionally, the game supports fast-forwarding animations by up to eight times, severely reducing the amount of time you’d need to spend in combat. Rather than slowly watching a couple dozen characters walk around and kill each other, you can now spend that time figuring out the fastest way to clear a stage.
Nippon Ichi Software’s efforts to streamline the grinding experience was already obvious ever since Disgaea 5. There, they introduced the Sage class, which could hit the entire map with Land Decimator, which is a spell that caps out at 50% accuracy. This further reduced the time needed to clear stages by completely eliminating the need to plan moves against normal enemies. But that was clearly still not enough for them, as they decided to replace the Sage with the much more reliable Mecha Girl in Disgaea 6. With Mecha Girl’s Full Strike, they reduced the range from a global attack to a skill that has an infinite, cone-shaped range. But in exchange, the attack does not suffer from reduced accuracy and has double the base power of the Sage’s. It seems this was the right move in their eyes, as the Mecha Girl class is back in Disgaea 7 to ease your grinding experience significantly.
Of course, these improvements do not undermine the effort required to max out characters at all. You will still need to spend several hundred hours grinding the necessary stats, weapons, masteries and class levels to prepare against Baal’s strongest form. Additionally backed up by the game’s overall good visuals, the result is one of the better post-game grinding experiences the series has to offer.
Is Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless Worth It?
Yes, But There’s A Catch
All of the Disgaea games have always been worth every cent to me. That is, if you don’t mind filler content. Rarely does a game demand three to four-digit hours from its player to accomplish everything it has to offer. Although others may potentially offer the same replayability as a Disgaea game, they ultimately fall short of the latter’s incredibly steep demands.
However, while the main games have been worth the money, the DLCs, which only offer additional characters from Disgaea’s previous games, aren’t worth it at all. Only very few of them are worth purchasing for their combat value, and even less for their story. Honestly, you should only consider purchasing them if you’re a fan of the characters themselves.
Unfortunately, in addition to cutting redundancies and inconveniences from the past, the game has also started cutting features that players had enjoyed. For example, your home base is no longer customizable and the random treasure chests that would spawn in your base were removed.
Bases in the Disgaea franchise were always explorable to a certain degree, and it would open up further as you unlocked more methods of movement. This allows you to access better rewards that are placed just outside your reach until you made a certain amount of progress. Disgaea 2, in particular, changed your home base depending on which part of the story you are in. Disgaea 7 has reduced your base into a mere hub that becomes no different from a menu once you unlock shortcuts.
They have also completely removed in-game cutscenes and embraced a much lazier, visual-novel (VN) style of storytelling. While I’m not bashing VNs at all, it’s a marked downgrade from how the previous titles such as Disgaea 2 and D2 delivered certain sections of their story with in-game sprites interacting with each other.
Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless Overview & Premise
The Hinomoto cluster of netherworlds is in trouble! Their culture is endangered after the Demmodore Opener has opened Hinomoto’s borders to foreign influence. To save what remains of Hinomoto culture, Pirilika hires the ronin Fuji, a man severely allergic to empathy. Together, they must collect the Seven Weapons of Origin, challenge Opener for his position, and restore Hinomoto to its former glory.
But, wait. Pirilika's ideas about Hinomoto culture all came from movies? That can't be good…
Game8 Reviews
Disgaea 7 Product Information
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| Title | DISGAEA 7: VOWS OF THE VIRTUELESS |
|---|---|
| Release Date | October 3, 2023 |
| Developer | Nippon Ichi Software |
| Publisher | NIS America |
| Supported Platforms | PC, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch |
| Genre | SRPG, Adventure |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | Teen |
| Official Website | Disgaea 7 Website |
