To be honest, saying that this is the end of Disgaea 4 would be misleading. There is an absolute ton of post-game content, including some goofy side missions, the Cave of Ordeals, pirate hunting (and reverse pirating!), and so much more that it's bananas to even think about finishing all of it. But this, readers, marks the end of the main story of Disgaea, and for a time, it'll mark the end of this series of blogs. I fully intend on bringing up what I'm doing in Disgaea 4 in future Sparky's Updates, but I don't believe they'll be nearly the length of these blogs. Thanks for all the support over these ten blogs. I know I've been completely inconsistent on their schedule and am about a month late in delivering the last one, but here it finally is - the so-called end of Disgaea 4.

Defying God

The episode opens with Artina explaining what she recognizes as Fear the Great. Fear is a system put in place by none other than God himself to destroy the world should the level of malice on Earth reach a certain point. It doesn't take long for the party to figure out that the cause for the terrible malice is Judge Nemo. Despite the seemingly insurmountable odds of defying God and destroying Fear the Great, the party saddles up. Flonne declares she cannot take part in the upcoming battles, but she createst a link for the party to appear before Fear the Great. Convenient - and I'm extremely grateful I don't have to listen to her screeching voice anymore. Seriously, imagine a five year old with a screech like nails on a chalkboard, and you'll get an inkling of how annoying Flonne's voicework is.

Now that we've ditched the Love Angel, the party discovers dark, malice-formed versions of monsters. It takes Valvatorez a minute to recognize the voice of Nemo, muttering in pain and anger through all the creatures' voices. The team quickly takes out a great many of the malice-monsters. Slowly throughout the next few battles, Artina reveals the tale of how she knows Judge Nemo.

Four hundred years prior, when Artina and Valvatorez met on their fateful day upon the battlefield and he made his promise to her to never drink blood again until he had frightened her, there was a war going on between two nameless sides. A soldier from one of the sides was wounded and brought to the enemies' camp as a prisoner. There, he was treated by a beautiful and kind woman - Artina. He eventually escaped back to his own side, where he was thought to be a spy and a traitor. He was tortured, his family was persecuted and killed, and he was left once again to the enemies' mercy, where he was also tortured and beaten again. Artina was believed to be a traitor for treating him, and she was killed in front of Nemo. In anguish, he vowed to live his years finding retribution for her.

His rage lasted beyond even his death, and Nemo became a ghost. Although he didn't seek vengeance against the entirety of mankind or demons at first, slowly, as he witnessed the atrocities of man, he came to hate mankind and blame the demons for not doing their duties on Earth by punishing the wicked. His mind cracked, and he became the entity known as Judge Nemo. Artina, who had become an angel upon her death, had stayed with him every day, trying to convince him there was good in the world and to stop his quest for vengeance, but due to his lack of faith, he never saw her.

Back in the present, the party is nearly overwhelmed by the malice-monsters. Fenrich devises a plan to get at the heart of Nemo, by convincing him the angel Artina was there and that she wanted him to stop his madness. Nemo continues to refuse and deny her existence, despite the fact that she slowly starts to get through to him. During one rough battle, Fear the Great and Nemo put up a desperate last stand together as a giant dragon-creature. To the delight of the party (save Fenrich), Valvatorez vows to protect Artina until he keeps his promises to her. The party manages to defeat the malice-monsters yet again, cornering the dragon-monster and forcing him to see Artina for who she truly is. Valvatorez and Artina gently convince him to stop his search for vengeance and retribution, and realizing his madness, Nemo agrees. Before leaving, he says that he and Fear the Great will "disappear."

Realizing that Nemo means to end his existence entirely by taking Fear the Great into the void of nothingness and erase his own soul in the process, Artina and Val agree that they must stop him and make him atone for his sins the hard way - by becoming a Prinny! Truthfully, the story of Nemo and his regretfulness seems to have struck a chord in the party, so saving him and punishing him seem to be the goals in equal measure. They encounter Nemo at the very core of Fear the Great, and inform him that they will save his soul in order to punish him properly as a Prinny. Each demon member of the team cheerfully informs Nemo of the particular nasty things they have in mind for him to do to make up for his sins, and grateful to Valvatorez and Artina, Nemo agrees to be reborn as a Prinny. Before that can happen, Fear the Great mkaes one last grab at Nemo, transforming him into the real final boss of the game - the malice version of Nemo himself.

This was a ridiculously hard battle this time around, due to my self-imposed restriction of "No Valvatorez." The map itself is straightforward - no Geo Blocks or areas, just a beeline to Nemo and about four generic, powerful enemies... at first. Every turn, a new enemy is warped into a random spot until Nemo is defeated. I tried at first to strategize this one, using a warrior and fighter to fend off the normal enemies while my damage-dealing Shaman and Masked Hero blasted Nemo. It worked like crap, and I quickly realized I needed to focus all my characters on killing Nemo as quickly as possible - a task made much more difficult due to his high hit points. Still, though, drawing him in towards the base, chipping away at his HP, and sending out as many characters as possible to deal combinations of damage whittled him down, and soon enough, the battle was won.

Valvatorez asks Emizel to perform his duties as Death and reap Nemo's soul. Emizel is reluctant, having never actually taken a soul before, but eventually cuts down a grateful Nemo and sends him to Hades. The narrator gives a few lines about how the six companions would go on to become legends, and the game ostensibly ends there. Being Disgaea, however, there are all sorts of alternate endings and additional scenes after the credits roll. I won't spoil any of these for you here, because I've gotta leave you with SOME reason to do the quest. Suffice it to say, though, that these add quite a bit to the replayability of the game and I look forward to eventually unlocking them all.

And that's it, really. The credits roll, a couple of scenes play out, and we're dumped right back into the game. There are two options from here - continue playing the current game, which allows you to access a bunch of post-game stuff, or start a New Game+ with everything - and I mean everything - intact. For me, for now, this is the last I'll play of Disgaea 4 for a while, but someday soon, I'll be back for the Cave of Ordeals and the post-game missions.

I genuinely hope you enjoyed this blog series and learned a little bit about what makes Disgaea and an NIS game tick. It's a game that I personally adore, having now spent just over about 50 hours with it. There's really nothing like it on the market (save for its predecessors), and if you're the kind of person who loves an incredibly deep game that requires a ton of grinding, this is exactly the game for you. Even if that doesn't sound appealing, I dare you to try it, and I'll bet you'll be surprised at how much you enjoy it.

Good night, folks, and a very happy New Year.