The human world is a mess.

As a Disgaea veteran, I had very high expectations for Disgaea 4, the newest game in the strategy RPG series. With the exception of the second game, they've all managed to combine hardcore gameplay with storylines that are both funny and charming while still having a message behind them. Even with my expectations set so high, this game managed to exceed them.

Warning: Minor spoilers ahead.

Disgaea 4 starts off with the main character, Valvatorez, starting a rebellion due to an order Warden Axel (yes, that Axel) made to destroy all the prinnies in Hades. Along with his loyal servant, Fenrich, he encounters various villains and ends up recruiting them to help with the rebellion. Each character has their own motive for teaming up with Valvatorez, and while they initially don't seem to work well together, by the end of the game they've become their own dysfunctional family.

That's the simple version, anyway.

The storyline is very reminiscent of current world issues. It deals heavily in politics, even the gameplay system incorporates the senate. NIS clearly had a message to convey with this game. The best example of this is towards the midway point, when this conversation comes up:

Emizel: "So you guys only believe what you read in the newspaper?!"
Valvatorez: "They have complete faith in the news articles that were issued by the corrupternment...Have they given up the ability to view reality with their own eyes, or to think with their own brains?"
Fenrich: "Unfortunately, that's bound to happen to the masses. That's the reason information can be so easily manipulated. It's pathetic...Any source of information can alter the truth to their advantage, and conceal or change any news that's harmful to them...Any information that is floating around the Netherworld nowadays can be overwritten by the corrupternment to their favor."

The corrupternment...It's not really hard to find the meaning behind the name they've given to the Netherworld's government, is it? (There are more quotes that I'd like to add, but I'll give them their own post.)

I find it slightly amusing that with such an anti-war message, you're still fighting your way through the corrupternment for most of the game. Of course, there would be no game without combat, so it's completely understandable.

While this game does have a very serious message, it's not without the typical Disgaea silliness and 4th wall breaking comments that the other games had. Valvatorez is obsessed with sardines, to the point of overkill. He talks about them during most of the "Next Episode" previews. If you've played Disgaea 3, you probably remember Mao's obsession with hot sauce. This is ten times worse.

I've spent so much time on the storyline already, but there's one thing that I've wanted to discuss since I first started playing the game and I just cannot let it go, so please give me just one more minute and then we'll get to the gameplay. The relationship between Valvatorez and Fenrich. At first, it very much reminded me of Tamaki and Kyoya's relationship in Ouran High School Host Club. Tamaki seemingly being a friendly, delusional idiot (he was brighter than he seemed) and Kyoya being the brains behind everything they did. I stand by that observation. However, Fenrich is a lot crueler than Kyoya ever was. And while I'm not offended by cursing, this did bother me because it was said to a group of children. "You're all delusional. Calm yourselves, you little bitches." He said it with such hostility that it was very difficult for me to like him at all afterwards.

(Someone at NIS has serious daddy issues, by the way, and they take their aggression out on every game in this series. Okay, I swear I'm done now!)

Without a doubt, Disgaea 4 has the best story in the entire series. However, that does not mean it's my favorite. Disgaea 3 will always hold that title.

Most of Disgaea 4's gameplay is very similar to Disgaea 3. There are some interesting new additions though. And for those of you who have never played a Disgaea game before, they include several in game tutorials that will help you catch up on the basics.

The new location where you'll be passing all your bills is called the Cam-pain HQ. In order to create new characters, you'll have complete a map. Each completed map will give you one extra space in the HQ that you can either use to place a character or an Evil Symbol. Evil Symbols are like Clubs in Disgaea 3, they have certain effects that will benefit characters located in their radius.

There's also a new feature that allows you to appoint Cabinet members while in the HQ. I don't really understand the benefits of it yet, as I didn't really use it during the main game. The description it gives during the tutorial is, "Appointed ally characters will gain special effects according to the job they're assigned to. When a unit becomes the Education Minister, the bonus points added to its stats when it levels up will increase. All cabinet members will gain a positive effect, one way or another." I have no idea what the other benefits are, but this is definitely something I'll keep an eye on during post-game.

Things have changed a bit in the Item World. Every five levels, two gates appear. One will lead you on a path to level up your item more while the other will allow you to boost your innocents. This makes item customization much more in depth. Personally, I'll probably always go the leveling route, as you can add innocents to your items later on anyway.

Maps now include random items that you can destroy, such as mushrooms with various status effects. Collecting these allows you to use them in the Map Editor, another new addition to the Disgaea series. The Map Editor allows you to create your own maps as well as play maps created by other users. It's nice that they've found a way to make the game more interactive, as well as giving players an almost limitless amount of material to play through. With the ability to play maps created by other people, you'll most likely never run out of things to do in this game.

The last major gameplay element worth noting is monster fusion. You're now able to fuse two monsters together to create one giant monster. Eventually, you can pass a bill that allows you to magichange the fused monster, which basically means that for two turns, you'll have a massive weapon that will cause a LOT of damage. I wasn't a fan of fusion for most of the game. In fact, I hated it because I never took advantage of it and I found myself being killed on several maps by fused monsters. It became incredibly frustrating. Then the lovely users on GameFAQs suggested fusing Desco with another monster to clear 10-6 (she has a really great Evility), and I realized how easy it is to level up through this method.

I've never found an effective way to level up monsters in the other Disgaea games. If you fuse Desco with another character, one of her attacks becomes a 3x3 grid. I'm sure one of the post-game maps includes a group of 3x3 enemies on top of Exp +100% geo panels, just like in all the other games. This means that I will be able to take advantage of monster classes now because it's so much easier to level them.

Other minor changes include a damage prediction bar, so you can see just how much HP you're likely to drain from enemies. When you're moving characters from your base panel, a picture of the Evil Symbol they're located on will appear. I'm not sure if this was used for Disgaea 3's clubs, but I don't remember it.

All of this is wonderful, but the game does have some cons. Valvatorez starts off talking so low you can't hear anything he says and then gets progressively louder. I'm able to overlook this because his voice actor happens to be Troy Baker. Troy voiced Greed (the second one) in FMA Brotherhood, and I'm a huge Greed fangirl, so I love him.

I always seem to have trouble keeping my generic characters in the same level range as story characters. They constantly fall behind. Story characters are stronger to start off with and it's hard to keep a balance between them because of it.

This isn't something exclusive to Disgaea 4, I have never understood the inclusion of maps that contain no dialogue. They're just sort of throw aways, and while yes, it means there's more to play, they add nothing to the story.

The difficulty in Disgaea 4 jumps around so much that it's impossible to keep up with it. I never had problems with the other games, but there were three maps this time around that I had a significant amount of trouble with. Episodes 3, 4 and 5 were incredibly hard and then Episode 6 eased up a bit. This back and forth went on until the very end of the game. I'm not sure if NIS was trying to keep people on their toes, but I would rather have a steady increase in difficulty than be underleveled for one map and then way overleveled for the next. At first I thought the reason Episode 6 was so easy is because you're fighting Axel, and he's arguably the most useless character in the series, after Mid-Boss. (I love them both.) But clearly, that was not the case.

Lastly, the "final" episode is dragged out in three parts. It's overkill. If they wanted to do it once and then say, "Just kidding!" that would have been fine. But having three final episodes is just too much.

I don't want to end this on a negative note, so let's jump back to the positive side of things briefly. The voice acting in Disgaea 4 is incredible. I know there will be people who say the Japanese voice actors are better. Those people are always around. Just because the Japanese voices were great, that doesn't take away from the fact that the English cast also did a really nice job. The only character I have a complaint about is Nemo...I didn't feel that his voice fit the character. I have no idea who voiced him, someone said it was Vic Mignogna. I suppose it's possible, but I have a hard time accepting it. I'll need confirmation from someone else. (For the record, I love Vic. So if it is him, it's nothing personal, I just didn't think the voice was right for Nemo.)

Disgaea 4 has an excellent soundtrack as well. Some of the songs are recognizable from the other games, which is not a bad thing. I like a lot of those songs, I don't mind listening to them.

Speaking of music...(Like that segue? I was wondering how to incorporate this in here.) There's a Gin Blossoms reference from the prinnies! "Anywhere you go, we'll follow you down...but not that far, dood!" I wonder whose idea it was to include that in the game. And why. Either way, I loved it.

I haven't spent much time on post-game yet, but I do know there's a ton of extra content to keep you occupied. Once again, the Land of Carnage is available to play. There are also recruiting maps to unlock so you can play as characters from past Disgaea games. In addition to all the post-game content, NISA is also planning to release DLC for Disgaea 4. Basically, what I'm saying is, this game has so much to do in it that it will consume your soul.

Overall, Disgaea 4 is a lot of fun to play. It has one of the most intelligent storylines I've ever seen in a video game and I like the fact that it brings up real issues with today's society. Disgaea 3 may be my favorite, but if I had to recommend one game in the series for people to play, this would be it.