Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny

Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny (魔界戦記ディスガイア６, Makai Senki Disugaia Shikkusu, literally: Netherworld Battle Chronicle Disgaea Six) is a game in the Disgaea series.

It was released exclusively in Japan on both the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on January 29, 2021. It was later released Worldwide on June 29th, 2021. It is the sixth title in the main series and features full 3D models for all characters in the game, a first for the series.

Plot
The first act is a recounting made by the young zombie, Zed, and his zombie dog Cerberus, to Overlord Ivar and the Darkest Assembly about their exploits across different worlds to defeat the strongest God of Destruction in history through the use of the ultimate power, Super Reincarnation. During their journey, the two are joined by Human World king, Misedor, Musical World princess, Melodia, TV world superhero, Piyori, and Magimage school principal, Majolene. It is ultimately revealed that the God of Destruction is actually Zed's younger sister, Bieko. The act ends with Zed seemingly dying while cradling Bieko who has returned to her original form after Zed's defeat of the God of Destruction.

The second act begins with the reveal of the true culprit behind Bieko's transformation, Cerberus himself. Cerberus is revealed to be the Super Sage Misual who plans to destroy the entire universe through the creation of Gods of Destruction. Zed's group attempts to thwart Cerberus' plans and learns of his past and the reason for his sorrow. The act ends with Zed defeating and reconciling with Cerberus.

Characters

 * Zed - The main protagonist of the game. A boastful zombie who possesses a special power called Super Reincarnation. When he and his sister Bieko are threatened by a God of Destruction, he must rise to the challenge by using his Super Reincarnation and allies gathered along his journey to stand up to this threat.
 * Bieko - Zed's sister who accompanies him on his journey to face the God of Destruction.
 * Ivar - An unknown overlord who appears to be part of the main cast based on the boxart. His current role in the story is unknown.
 * Cerberus - A zombie dog with genius level intellect. His current role in the story is unknown.
 * God of Destruction - The God of Destruction who threatens Zed and Bieko. He appears to be the main antagonist of the game. He is simply named "God of Destruction" and it is currently unknown if he has a real name or any relation to previous Gods of Destruction that have appeared in the series.
 * Majolene - A grand sorcerer and headmaster of the magic academy. She uses a legendary magic wand and has made a name for herself as Magical Girl Pretty Majolene.
 * Misedor - King of the Human World. As the richest man in the world, he believes anything is possible with the power of money. He has the special ability to revive a fallen hero.
 * Melodia - A princess who dreams of wonderful love. She is eagerly anticipating her happily ever after. She loves to sing and always tries to do so when the opportunity arises.
 * Piyori Nijino - Leader of the Rainbow Squadron Prism Rangers. Our hero who crossed dimensions. As the squadron’s first female leader, her goal is to restore their ratings.

Other characters include Laharl, Etna, and Flonne who make a return as part of the post game. Additionally, characters from Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories, Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice, Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten, and Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance are set to appear as DLC. According to a Famitsu article, the DLC will be split into waves:


 * Wave 1 features Adell, Rozalin, Laharl-chan, and Asagi, who were available for free.
 * Wave 2 features Mao, Raspberyl, Valvatorez, and Pleinair.
 * Wave 3 features Fuka, Desco, Killia, and Usalia.

Additionally, those who purchase the DLC will receive alternate colors for Asagi, Pleinair, and Usalia.

A crossover DLC pack was released in collaboration with virtual Youtuber agency Hololive, adding new characters based on Vtubers:


 * Fubuking, a Prinny based on Shirakami Fubuki.
 * Ruusha, a Succubus based on Uruha Rushia. Removed in Disgaea 6 Complete due to the talent's removal.
 * Torte, a Psychic based on Shiranui Flare.
 * Watameh, an Evil Eye based on Tsunomaki Watame.
 * PolPol, a Witch based on Omaru Polka.

Generic Classes that are confirmed to return based on pre-release footage include: Warrior, Mage, Thief, Archer, Gunner, Magic Knight, Ninja, Prinny, Succubus, Dragon, and Horseman. Other confirmed returning classes based on other pre-release materials include: Martial Artist, Clergy, Samurai, Armor Knight, Undead, Sea Angel, and Mothman. Lucky Boards from Disgaea 5 also seem to make a return.

New Generic classes include: Mecha Girl, Psychic, Pincer Shell, and Evil Eye.

Downloadable content
Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny features downloadable content in the form of alternate colors for unique units, equipment sets, additional items and additional characters.

The following is a list of the downloadable content available within the game:

Gameplay
Disgaea 6 appears to build on the base gameplay mechanics of its direct predecessor, Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance. The most major change in Disgaea 6 is the use full 3D models for all characters in-game, and as a result the entire game world is fully rendered in 3D.

The level cap has been raised to 99,999,999, and stat caps appear to exceed 10 quadrillion for HP/SP, and 100 billion for all other stats. Potential damage can now exceed 1 quadrillion with these raised stat maximums in mind. Unlike prior games in the series, the main eight stats start in the tens of thousands. In addition, characters level up at a drastically greater rate than before, easily reaching level 40 during episode 1 of the game during normal gameplay.

The base gameplay of Disgaea 6 appears to follow the same formula that Disgaea 5 has used so far. Returning mechanics appear to include Weapon Mastery, specific Weapon resistances along with Star resistance, Evilities, Squads, dispatch groups, and Reincarnation. Unlike prior games, monster class specific weapons do not appear, and monster class characters instead equip the seven traditional weapon types. A variant of Reincarnation called Super Reincarnation is also slated to appear, but its differences from standard Reincarnation are not yet known. According to pre-release information from the official English website, Super Reincarnation appears to some sort of revival/retry mechanic for battles.

The general UI of the game is based on the format of Disgaea 5 with visual tweaks. Only some mechanics from Disgaea 5 such as subclasses and squads return. Sub-weapons are removed, reverting characters to being able to equip only one weapon at a time. The traditional Item World and Dark Assembly return.

The game will also feature options such as Auto, Retry, and Replay to appeal to casual and hardcore players.

Due to the limited power of the Nintendo Switch console, the game offers three graphical modes. Performance mode reduces the game resolution allowing for a higher framerate. Graphics mode increases the game resolution at the cost of having a reduced framerate. Balanced mode aims for a graphics setting that is proportional to the framerate.

Development
The game was discussed in a 20 September 2018 interview with Sohei Niikawa, the president of NIS:


 * "Yes, there's definitely a wish to revisit that cast and maybe other casts. Disgaea is a series that we're constantly thinking of what to do with it. And right now, while all eyes are probably on or looking forward to Disgaea 6, there's still a lot of other things that we're still planning and thinking about in the Disgaea series that maybe we'll be announcing in the future. At least please know that it's being thought about"
 * "There's a lot of talk of PlayStation 5 right now, and I personally don't know when it's going to come out, but I know as a company we definitely want to be on there very early – one of the first companies to put something out on it. This goes back to earlier in the conversation, but again, just going forward [our goal is] making Disgaea 6 up to the level that everyone is expecting."

Sohei indicated he would bring back the original cast of Hour of Darkness who had been revisited in Brighter Darkness. Based on the reveal trailer, Laharl, Etna, and Flonne do reappear in the game but it is unknown whether they will play a role in the main story or not or simply be relegated to post-game cameos.

After years of speculation, the game was officially announced on the Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase, which aired live on September 17th, 2020. Unlike previous games which primarily released on the PlayStation family of consoles first, Disgaea 6 will not be released for any PlayStation console in the west so far and will release exclusively on Nintendo Switch. Disgaea 6 will still be released on the PlayStation 4 in Japan however. It is unknown whether there will be plans to release the game on other platforms in the West so far. The game was revealed to use full 3D models for its characters, rather than HD sprites as seen with recent entries. The reasons for this change are unknown, but are likely due to the easier and quicker development of creating and animating 3D models rather than manually drawing every frame of an HD sprite.

Trailers
Official English Announcement Trailer

Official Japanese Announcement Trailer

Trivia

 * As mentioned above, this is the first entry in the Disgaea main series to use 3D models for its characters. However, previous Nippon Ichi Software games have featured animated 3D character models such as The Witch and The Hundred Knight and Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood!
 * Disgaea 6 features the highest level, stat, and damage caps in the series, far surpassing previous games such as Disgaea D2 and Disgaea 5.
 * The release year gap between Disgaea 6 and its predecessor, Disgaea 5, is the longest in the main series, being around 6 years (from 2015 to 2021).
 * Disgaea 6 is the first Disgaea that will not be released on a PlayStation console, at least in the West. It is also the first new mainline Disgaea game to release on a Nintendo Platform at launch.