There’s a trend in mobile games of releasing gacha games based on beloved video game properties with history. Typically, these are properties with lots of sequels and characters -- obviously so they have more drops for their gacha chests. Popular tactical JRPG, DISGAEA, is the next series to be “gachafied” for mobile phones.

DISGAEA, by Boltrend Games is a series known for its sarcastic tone and a penchant for parodying video game and media tropes. All of that is alive and well in DISGAEA RPG. In keeping with series tradition, the dialogue is riddled with jokes, characters casually break the fourth wall, and it doesn’t take very long before one of the series’ many running gags makes its debut.

Of course, considering how much of the writing refers to characters and events in previous installments, player mileage may vary depending on familiarity with the DISGAEA property. This is very much a game for hardcore fans of the series. As a casual DISGAEA player (beat DISGAEA 2, played lots of 3, and 4 currently sits untouched in my Steam library), many of the references and jokes flew over my head. I imagine the game’s plot about Overlords and parallel Netherworlds might cause a newcomer to completely zone out during the game’s many story segments.

A gacha game lives or dies by its ability to keep players buying and unlocking their favorite characters, so it helps that the characters in DISGAEA have such strong personalities. DISGAEA RPG really puts a lot of effort into making and keeping its cast of hellish characters interesting, with full (Japanese) voice lines and a cheeky writing style that keeps all the fighting and talk about demons light and fun.

It’s too bad that the same effort wasn’t put into designing the actual game. Gameplay-wise, DISGAEA RPG is very much like any other auto-battler on the market. You choose a stage, pick your lineup based on which characters have the highest power levels, and defeat waves of enemies. Most of the time, you’ll leave the game running on Auto while you’re off doing something else, which means DISGAEA RPG barely qualifies as a game in my book. On the upside, you can accelerate battle speed to up to four times the normal rate, so you can be in and out of a level in seconds.

Grinding battles alone won’t give you the strength you need to beat the more difficult stages. Interestingly, your progress isn’t actually linked with the power levels of your characters, at least not directly. Rather, the strength of our characters depends on the quality and tier of the weapons they wield, and you only gain access to more powerful items going up in Customer Rank, which is done by spending currency in the in-game shop. High quality items are what make it possible for you to defeat higher-tier enemies, which provide your characters with the experience they need to level up, and that means you need to buy a lot of weapons from the shop.

You can upgrade your weapons using materials earned from Item World, one of the many game modes in DISGAEA RPG. Props to the developers, Item World uses no stamina and can be farmed for as long as you like, so if you’re the type who doesn’t mind grinding for hours, then at least there aren’t any annoying time walls to get in the way of your progress.

DISGAEA RPG is a grind-heavy game (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), and at least the game looks great. Developers Nippon Ichi have nailed the DISGAEA series’ distinctive visual style. Yet, while it’s fun to see our favorite DISGAEA characters accurately recreated for mobile, it’s unfortunate that this faithfulness to the series’ PS2 roots extends to the game’s interface design. The main menu is particularly offensive on the eyes, with several sprites and buttons of varying resolutions slapped onto your phone screen in a kaleidoscope of colors. The in-game character sprites look incredible on a phone screen, though they appear to have been lifted directly from DISGAEA titles of different generations, so you can see inconsistency in colors, contrast, and sharpness between them. Still, despite these niggles with the art, as a whole, fans of the DISGAEA franchise should be satisfied with the way DISGAEA RPG looks.

So, is DISGAEA RPG worth the 1.4GB of memory it takes up?

If you’re not a fan of DISGAEA, definitely not. This is a game that leans heavily on the charm of its mainline titles. Without a familiarity with those games, the simplistic combat and grind-heavy gameplay in DISGAEA RPG guarantee you’ll be uninstalling in a few days.

Hardcore DISGAEA fans will love the writing and characters, but if you don’t typically enjoy auto-battler RPGs, DISGAEA RPG won’t do much to sway your opinion on the genre.

By Andi Nuruljihad for Gamesforum