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Disgaea 5: Allegiance of Vengeance: Get Your Revenge, Dood!
Company: NIS America

Disgaea has been an extremely interesting series ever since it was released over 10 years ago and has proved to be one of the best strategy series available, but they’re not just strategy games. Disgaea always manages to have a true storyline with a hero (or rather anti-hero in a lot of cases), a quest, and even humor. Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance continues the trend with a new set of characters, a whole new quest, and lots of humor. This time, join Seraphina, Killia, Red Magnus, and more on a quest to end Demon Emperor Void Dark.

Disgaea 5 opens with Seraphina (Princess Overlord of Gorgeous) and an army of Prinnies (bribed with a few sardines) on a quest to take on the Demon Emperor Void Dark. First they will have to go through his men, the Lost Army. She’s about to have to fight for herself when Killia show up and he destroys the entire Lost Army in one move. Of course, Seraphina is going to want him for herself after a display of that kind of power. How she gets him to join is a bit unorthodox, but Killia joins with Seraphina. Actually, Seraphina wants all men to follow (and fall in love with) her. As you go through the levels, you will pick up more and more allies on the way. Personally, I like Red Magnus. He’s the big, dumb brute, but he’s quite humorous. Seraphina has a "pocket dimension" that you can use as a home base. You’ve got a hospital, training, shops, quests, and more.

Disgaea 5 has given us a several new things. My favorites, so far, are Revenge Mode and Alliance Attacks. First off, Revenge Mode is pretty cool dood. Once you enter it, your critical rate will be 100%, your SP cost for skills is reduced to 1, and you take 25% less damage. To get into Revenge Mode, you need to fill the meter. You add to the meter when you take damage, when allies are killed, or when you kill enemies in Revenge Mode. Obviously, the third is preferable as it doesn’t damage you or your allies, but like you, enemies will have the same advantages in Revenge Mode, so be careful! Beating an enemy who is in Revenge Mode will also give you a power fragment, which you really want. I always look for the enemies in Revenge Mode to attack first. Overlords can use their Overload Skill when they are in Revenge Mode, which can be really awesome! In Overload, Red Magnus grows giant and has massive power. Seraphina will charm any male units within range, making it so they will attack their allies rather than you. As you get other Overlords, you’ll learn what their overload powers are.

Alliance Attacks can be quite beneficial as well. First off, you will need to put your characters into squads. The various squads will have different affects on the characters and give them various abilities. You really need to learn what each squad does and which characters are best in those squads. Each squad has one leader and the leader of the squad can call an Alliance Attack when they are in Revenge Mode. An Alliance Attack will let every member of the squad join in for one giant attack. Obviously, the bigger the squad, the bigger the attacking force. They’ve definitely given you a reason to create lots of characters and level them up as well!

So far, I am loving Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance. They have added so much to do on top of an already long game that I would say you’ve got a lot more hours of gameplay than you have time for. You can spend hours in Item World alone. While it is a lot of stuff, it’s mostly free form so you can choose what you want to work on and when. You do have an order to the levels, but with the quests and such, you are continually going back to the previous levels to play them again. Keep your eyes out for Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance coming next month, dood!



-Cyn, GameVortex Communications
AKA Sara Earl
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