The Disgaea franchise might not be as well-known as other strategy role-playing games, but for a good number of gamers, this quirky series stands as one of the best and brightest. For years, Disgaea has offered players an insane amount of grid-based strategy gameplay, all wrapped up in a comical shell where demons, angels and humans mingle in adventures that aren't to be taken too seriously. And throughout the entire series, there is one critter that will be familiar to any Disgaea fan: the prinny. Prinnies are adorable penguin creatures that serve as vessels for the souls of the damned, and one particular prinny is going to star in Disgaea Infinite, the upcoming title developed exclusively for Sony's portable. Disgaea Infinite is not an SRPG, however -- it's more like a dialogue-driven adventure game.
In Disgaea Infinite, players take control of a down-on-his-luck prinny that serves at Laharl's castle. In case you're not familiar with Laharl, he's the star of the original Disgaea and a prince of the Netherworld. But Laharl isn't the only powerful demon to inhabit this sinister palace. Laharl's underling, Etna, is also constantly causing the prinnies grief, and it's a brief exchange between Prinny and Etna that starts the game off.
While cleaning, Prinny bumps into Etna and is almost pulverized because of his "grievous error." Fortunately, Etna is merciful to Prinny and decides to spare his life, because her mood is particularly good. After Etna wanders off, the angel Flonne, another resident of the castle, explains that Etna is in a good mood because she ordered a super rare pudding to eat. But Prinny mustn't tell anyone about this, considering the risk of someone stealing the pudding from Etna and inciting her infinite wrath (Can you tell this is a comedy?). Unfortunately, Laharl overhears this conversation and sets out to steal the pudding. He is a demon, after all.
After a few more twists and turns, Prinny stumbles upon a mystical pocket watch which not only removes his soul from his body, but can also send him back in time, which will be helpful to unravel the assassination attempt made on Laharl later in the game. With all these puzzle pieces ready to be placed, the adventure begins.
Disgaea Infinite is nothing like the other Disgaea games. Infinite is an interactive visual novel of sorts, where players can possess other characters and control their minds in order to unravel the mystery behind the rare pudding, the assassinating attempt and more. The game is divided into several hours, with each hour housing a different scene in one of six locations. For example, a player can possess Laharl for the entire nine hours, but will only witness a specific side of the story. At the end of the story, Laharl will inevitably explode and the whole shindig begins anew. It's like Groundhog Day in the Netherworld.
There's really nothing to say about the gameplay other than the fact that players can hit the L and R triggers in order to possess different people in the room at one time. From what I saw of Disgaea Infinite, the sequence always begins in the same room, and from there you must guide Prinny's soul from one character to another in order to experience the story. Every so often, you'll have the opportunity to perform mind control on the character you're possessing. During that period of time, the player is given three dialogue options that can be used instead of the character's default line for that particular conversation. These result in different outcomes, depending on the option selected.
At the beginning of the adventure, for example, Laharl comes into his bedroom (the eventual scene of the crime) where Prinny stands, hollow and soulless. Laharl is about to wake Prinny up, but if you possess Laharl and influence his actions, you can force him to believe that Prinny is "too cute to wake up." These scenarios play out with adorable little sprite scenes reminiscent of traditional Disgaea battles.
Although I only just scratched the surface of this silly mystery, Disgaea Infinite is promising. It was great to play a Disgaea game that doesn't use strategy RPG mechanics, but my concern is that there will be a tremendous amount of repetition when players re-watch certain dialogue scenes over and over again. You can certainly skip them, which is good, but I'm curious to know just how much actual gameplay there is. The timeline grid players have access to is also super confusing, but it could make more sense after extensive play time.
Disgaea Infinite is a fun, comical departure from the franchise's traditions. For hardcore fans of the series, it could be a fun glimpse into the Disgaea universe that doesn't require hundreds of hours of grinding, but for some, that's the whole point of the experience. Only time will tell how fans feel about this one. Until then, keep your eyes peeled for our review in June.
