Good Disgaea 3, You Look Kind of Dated

When game company Nippon Ichi released the first Disgaea game for the PS2, I was a bit skeptical because I felt the graphics were lacking. Well, I played it anyway, and I was pleasantly entertained--the graphics for the most part were fitting, and were nicely animated too. Disgaea set a certain standard for SRPGs and sprite-based games, with its design, gameplay, humor, and sheer entertainment factor. As an added bonus, the North American voice acting wasn't half bad either! In fact, unlike most dual-audio games wherein I would always switch to the Japanese track, I actually preferred to use the English track for this game.

Then Disgaea 2 came out, again for PS2. Slight graphics update, slightly updated gameplay, but overall the same. Didn't grow old though, because the plot, story, and characters (and character design) is what makes this series enjoyable.

However, for some reason I can't wrap my head over the fact that Disgaea 3, which will be released for the PS3, is still sprite-based, in glorious 2D:

There's practically no difference between this and the older installments. The PS3 is a monster of hardware, capable of handling, oh, I don't know, why don't you watch a MGS4 trailer or something...I feel that a Disgaea game, with dated graphics, will look really odd on the Ps3, unless they compensate for it with tons of animated cutscenes or extra-extended gameplay. The original Disgaea, in Japan, could fit in one normal CD, and was in fact a game for Playstation One. The NA release only needed extra space because of the additional American vocal track. Now if Disgaea 3 will be the same size and is for the PS3...then I will be terribly, terribly disappointed.

When Nippon Ichi was asked why they stay with 2D in today's graphics-heavy age, they said that there's something 2D can portray that 3D cannot. True, 2D characters always look brighter and more vivid, and expressive. 3D characters can get really creepy-looking at times; if not, awkward. Still, maybe PS3 isn't the right system for this game.

Although, being the nutjob that I am I'm most likely picking it up anyway. Disgaea has a grasp on me, as well as on most of its fans, and it's hard to break from it.