So, for those who don't know, Disgaea 1's getting a remake for PS4 and Switch. So that makes 2 Disgaea games available for Nintendo's hybrid.

I'm currently playing 4 as my first Disgaea game and I'm quite enjoying it so far. Not too far in, but I can already see myself losing track of time during grinding sessions and not wanting to put the game down, so of course I'd love a portable version.

Problem is that I'm a newbie to this franchise and I don't think these two would typically be compared to each other so looking it up would be pointless. I'm not sure how popular the franchise is so this may not get a lot of replies, but I figured asking you lovely people would be worth a shot.

So which do you think is the better investment?

Disgaea 1 and Disgaea 4 are the two best entries in the series imo.

5 is just okay.

Disgaea 5 is, mechanically, probably the best in the series imo. Story and characters though? Ehhhhh, I've played a lot of NIS games so my opinion may be colored differently because of exposure, but I think in those aspects it's some of the worst in the series. Sooooo depends on what you want out of it. Sounds like you lean more towards the mechanics so I'd go for 5.

From a story and character perspective, I'd agree with this. But gameplay wise, it's hard to go back to older Disgaea games without the cheat menu from D2 and 5. Those two are far and away the most accessible games in the series, and have the best post-game content.

@sparky_buzzsaw: I suppose it does depend on what you're looking for. The story and characters are part of the appeal for me, so if those are lackluster it's hard to enjoy the rest. Especially since the games don't evolve THAT much. 5 does have some quality of life improvements, but it's still very similar.

That being said, from what I understand the D1 remake is a proper remake, not just a port, so there's a strong possibility many of those quality of life improvements will be included anyway.

1 and 2 were the best.

Actually Disgaea 2 and 5 are the best in the series, 4 is superfluous and its story is boring AF, Disgaea 1 is okay, Disgaea 2's story is soooo much better (Maybe the best in the series). 3 is my Least played but I prefer it to 4 or 1.

Come at me :)

@mentalaspants: 2 was just too cliche for me, and I didn't like most of the characters very much. I remember groaning at the ending for being such a blatant rip-off of Lunar: Silver Star. I don't hate it, but it's not that memorable for me.

3 I actively dislike. It tries way too hard to be weird that it just ended up being stupid nonsense. It's the only NIS game I ever quit before the end.

As a fan of Lunar, c'mon its not a ripoff, its a silly story (wink wink). If anything its an (H)Omage to it, d00d!. :P (But I can appreciate if you didn't like it's humour)

I won't argue with 3, as I bought it 3 times and really didn't like the storyline, even though I tried to put a lot of effort into it....

No love for disgaea D2?

I've played then all but 2, 4 and D2 were my favourites personally.

I'd wait and see what the Disgaea 1 remake is before I made any purchasing decisions too

Yeah but D2 is a Disgaea game in name only really, its like Persona Q where its still good but its not a game in the series strictly.

I also started with 4 and loved it. It has the best balance of goofy characters and fun gameplay. 5 is definitely way more fun from a gameplay perspective, but the writing isn't nearly as good. Its just not as endearing as the others. It has its moments, just its inherently not nearly as fun of a story. But I wouldn't recommend any of Disgaea for the story/writing alone. Its good as set dressing, just now what I'm here for.

People swear by Disgaea 1, but I found it such a slog to play. Those early games make it really hard to field a variety of units without it becoming more of a grind. Things like the cheat shop, squads/symbols, made 4/5 way easier and more fun to play. Anyway, 2 was the game where it actually clicked for me(I think its better paced) and 4 was the first one I actually finished. So yea I lean toward getting 5. Most of the fun in those games is messing with systems and that game has the most of them.

@iamterics, I can get why thats your fav, they are so different in narrative, speaks to each of us differently.

Yeah I bought disgaea 1 on PSP , Yes ps2 was first, but I collect Disgaea, i'm weird, used to collect dumb shit like snes, nearly had a CIB pal set), then ps2, and again on Steam, I collect what matters to me, theres plenty of wankers pretending to PRESERVE games that make their livelyhood from it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-O5IHVhWj0

@iamterics: Personally I kinda like the comparative simplicity of the first game. While the series has made many improvements over time, they've stacked so many mechanics on top of mechanics on top of mechanic that sometimes it feels kind of overwhelming. While there are certainly quality of life stuff I miss from more recent games, even going back to it relatively recently I enjoyed it for what it was.

I won't deny there's some degree of nostalgia in play though. Disgaea was the first of its kind and nothing I had played before was anything like it. It was so weird and unique and ambitious. None of the sequels ever managed to capture the same magic. (Especially when it comes to the Disgaea series itself, which has kinda unfortunately become a very iterative series.) Disgaea 4 is the only other one that came close for me.

If they update the mechanics to add in stuff like the Cheat Shop from later games, I say absolutely go with D1. Otherwise, I think it might be tough to go back to.

I have started Disgaea 1 several times and never manage to finish it, don't know why but it just feels kind of slow compared to the later entries. I adore Disgaea 4.

Clearly it depends on what you value from these games. I value mechanics over story, so I prefer D5. Sounds like 1 and 4 are the better entries as far as story goes. I just can't ever bring myself to play the older games once the new one is out.