This PS VITA port of Disagaea 3: Absence of Justice can safely be said as one of the better hour-consuming RPGs in Vita's now-bigger game library. Absence of Detention was released April 17th, 2013. It includes all the DLC content from the PS3 title, Absence of Justice. The story of Absence of Detention follows the same formula as many Disgaea games that had come before it. In the third installment to the series by Nippon Ichi Software, You follow the story of Mao, the son of the demon overlord. Mao's mission is to defeat his father so that he can become the overlord. He thinks with the help of the title of "Hero", which he supposedly obtains from Almaz, he can defeat the overlord. The setting is just like other Disgaea games where doing evil deeds are good and doing good deeds are considered as juvenile.
The opposite, bad-is-good, type of world is funny for the first few hours into the game where you're constantly finding little instances of how the bad-is-good thing works. And it helps that the game is delivered in comical fashion with whimsical characters who are nicely voiced. I should definitely give props to the dialogue of the game as there were many funny lines being delivered by funny characters. However, After a while, the story loses it's flavor and it becomes a little boring as you go on. Especially if you've played other Disagaea's before where you know the bulk of the game is in the battles. Throughout the game the story slowly gets more and more predictable as it follows the traditional hero-on-an-adventure type story. All in all, you'll get a good laugh here and there but sadly, those moments come few and far between.
The graphics won't wow you in the game either. Like other Disagaea games, it follows the anime, hand-drawn art style that its familiar to the series. The different settings are nicely made as you sometimes rotate the screen to find hidden items and treasure. Other and that, Not much can be said about the visuals.
The real bulk of the game is definitely in the gameplay. Disagaea is one of the very few games that convinced me grinding for higher levels is fun and collecting loot is even funner. The style of battle is a strategic, grid-based and turn-based fighting. All this is bolstered with the use of Geo blocks which add a certain power to the block, be it 50% increase in EXP or +1 more move. The Geo blocks add a whole new strategic element as players can throw those Geo blocks to other colored areas to change their powers. It makes battles interesting. The reward system during battles also encourage players to use as much strategy as possible. Destroying enemies quickly in one turn or using geo blocks increases the Bonus meter. The more levels you reach on the Bonus meter, then the more rewards you'll get. These rewards range from new equipment, money or exp.
One of the main attractions of Disagea 3: Absence of Detention is the Homeroom system where you can ask for more better (and more expensive) equipment, stronger monsters for more exp, creating a new type of character etc. All of which will be decided with a vote from class mates. If the majority of the class agrees, then the request will be granted. Otherwise, you could always take on the entire class in combat (which is unwise to do) or bribe them with certain items they might be interested in to influence their vote. The Homeroom also allows you to assign who sits next to who in the classes. No, you're not going to be attending classes in the game but arranging the seats will help during team-up attacks. Basically, a player can team-up with another character to attack, The character should be standing next to the player for this to happen. The effectiveness of the attack depends on literally, how close they sit in the class.
The number of character types in this game is absolutely staggering at best. with over 10 types of monsters and more types of human characters to make and tens more to unlock. They can range from healer to Warrior, Armor Knight, Archer, Thief, Sniper, Gunner and much more. All of which have their own purpose in battle and all of which you can create to help you when you fight. Creating the new characters are always fun and leveling them up in earlier stages can be quiet enjoyable as well. However, my personal favorite aspect of the gameplay - aside from the fighting - is the Item World. The Item world is where you can go inside an item - to its world, basically - and level it up by beating stages upon stages of enemies. Each stage you clear gives you 1 level on that item. It's a great way to grind, level up new heroes, get more money, more exp and of course, MUCH better items. The Item World is really where a huge bulk of the game is going to be spent after beating it. Characters can also learn skills in the form of evilities. There are different skills for different weapons like the Axe, Sword, Gun , Staff etc. Other evilities can give you stat buffs or immunity to certain ailments.
One problem with the game's character and battle system is that it can be quiet difficult to level up certain types of characters, like the Healer who spends most of their time only supporting. It would've been nice if the characters could all level up equally.
Disagea 3: Absence of Detention brings the famed strategy turn-based RPG to the PS VITA. And it's good that they did. The VITA didn't have many RPGs at the time and Absence of Detention - some might argue - is just what the VITA needed at the time. The story can be predictable and boring, and it can be difficult to level up certain types of characters, but other than that. The battle system and how the game encourages you to use more brains than brawn is simply one of the best RPG battle systems out there.
Final Score - 7.3 / 10
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