History YMMV / Disgaea

** Ditto with the Nintendo Switch port of Disgaea 5, though there wasn't any new content released with the port beyond the DLCs.

** The actual villains in the games mostly avert this, either by being impossible to root for due to being ''actually evil'' unlike most demons (namely [[spoiler: Vulcanus, the fake Overlord Zenon, and Super Hero Aurum]]), or by [[AntiVillain not being evil at all]] (namely [[spoiler: Seraph Lamington and Xenolith]]).

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: It's really common to see players have a bunch of CannonFodder characters in their playthroughs specifically for throwing more important characters to specific areas of the battle field. Common fodder for this role usually includes mages[[note]]since teaching your main mage spells outside of their specific element usually involves winding up with a bunch of apprentice mages anyways[[/note]] or Heavy Knights.[[note]]Since they have the best throwing distance.[[/note]]

* NightmareFuel: Many players have shat their pants the first time they laid eyes on Baal's stupidly high stats. The stages he's fought on are lined with mysterious runes on the floor that only amp up his unholy factor. And he ''never stays dead''; he'll simply move from one body to the next to stay alive, ensuring that it's going to take another GameBreaker army to keep him down.

* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: The games' stories aren't exactly seen as the best writing, so the appeal for a lot of fans is the many ways to raise units to become [[GameBreaker game-breaking]] juggernauts. NIS seems to be aware of this, as many games allow the player to skip cutscenes even if it's their first time viewing them.

* ShipToShipCombat: Should Laharl end up with Flonne or Etna? It doesn't help that there's ample ShipTease for both ships across the games and other ExpandedUniverse works (the first game and the novels tends to favor Laharl x Flonne while D2 and the Disgaea 2 manga tends to favor Laharl x Etna). Some, however, [[OneTrueThreesome take a third option]].
** Valvatorez is also a victim of this, in regards to both Fenrich and [[spoiler: Artina]].

* MostWonderfulSound: The ''chhhing!'' sound that indicates that a unit has upgraded their Class Proficiency, learned a new skill, or gained an Evility slot.

* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: The games' stories aren't exactly seen as the best writing, so the appeal for a lot of fans is the many ways to raise units to become [[GameBreaker game-breaking]] juggernauts.

** ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'' had [[LaPucelle Overlord Prier(e)]]. Notably La Pucelle was the only game that consequently got a localization afterwards.

** Pleinair is also very broken in both the first game and the third game. Given the long mission you have to do to get her in the third game, she's worth the trouble. In the UpdatedRerelease of the second game, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Plenair]] is a free {{DLC}} character. She starts at level 100, is available at the very beginning of the game, and joins without a fight. So long, any challenge for 90% of the main story...

* SlowPacedBeginning: The games start off heavy in exposition and with tedious but necessary tutorial stages that explain the many game mechanics present. Once you unlock the Item World, [[JustOneMoreLevel the game becomes very hard to put down]].

* MarthDebutedInSmashBros: Every game but 2 so far has had a run in with this trope. Let's see:

%%** "Everyone's {{Lolicon}} for Etna"

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: It's really common to see players have a bunch of [[WeAreTeamCannonFodder cannon fodder]] characters in their playthroughs specifically for throwing more important characters to specific areas of the battle field. Common fodder for this role usually includes mages[[note]]since teaching your main mage spells outside of their specific element usually involves winding up with a bunch of apprentice mages anyways[[/note]] or Heavy Knights.[[note]]Since they have the best throwing distance.[[/note]]

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: It's really common to see players have a bunch of [[WeAreTeamCannonFodder cannon fodder]] characters in their playthroughs specifically for throwing more important characters to specific areas of the battle field. Common fodder for this role usually includes mages[[note]]since teaching your main mage usually involves winding up with a bunch of apprentice mages anyways[[/note]] or Heavy Knights.[[note]]Since they have the best throwing distance.[[/note]]

* SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer: It's surprisingly easy to get addicted into gaming the Dark Assembly. Perhaps the easiest way to to farm for items in the item worlds, which can power level your equipment and your characters, and gives you the mana to try even more fun bills... wait, what am I forgetting? Oh, right, the ''plot''...

* ContestedSequel: Character and story-wise, most fans consider ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'' to be [[FirstInstallmentWins the best]]. However, fans are divided on which of the sequels had the better story and characters. The biggest point of contention seems to be between ''VideoGame/Disgaea2CursedMemories'' and ''VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice'', the former being seen as a ClicheStorm that [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks deviated from some of wackiness of its predecessor]] while the later is criticized for being a little [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks too similar]] to the first game. Luckily, most fans agree that the gameplay has improved with each game, with the fifth game taking what worked in the previous games while streamlining and fixing many of their problems to make it accessible.

* CharacterRerailment: When Asagi first appeared in ''VideoGame/MakaiKingdom'', she was portrayed as fairly calm and cool-headed, a stark contrast to her varying personalities in later games. ''VideoGame/Disgaea5AllianceOfVengeance'' brings back that calm and cool-headed Asagi and to further differentiate her from past appearance, she joins the party willingly after they take out the Asagi clones. It makes more sense if you've played the Prinny spinoff games, where it's explained and shown that there's [[MesACrowd more than one Asagi (probably millions, in fact), each one with their own differences and personnalities.]]

* HilariousInHindsight: All the Prism Rangers battles become outright hilarious when you realize that in each game, they've been fighting a former ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' cast member. In the first game, as noted above, they fight Rita Repulsa in order to claim the throne. In the second game, they fight [[Creator/WendeeLee Scorpina]] in a tournament in order to face Overlord Zenon. In the third game, Prism Red comes face to face with the [[JohnnyYongBosch former Black Ranger]]. Then, it all comes full circle when said former Black Ranger returns as the Blue Prism Ranger in the fourth game's Fuka and Desco Show.

* HilariousInHindsight: All the Prism Rangers battles become outright hilarious when you realize that in each game, they've been fighting a former ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' cast member. In the first game, as noted above, they fight Rita Repulsa in order to claim the throne. In the second game, they fight [[WendeeLee Scorpina]] in a tournament in order to face Overlord Zenon. In the third game, Prism Red comes face to face with the [[JohnnyYongBosch former Black Ranger]]. Then, it all comes full circle when said former Black Ranger returns as the Blue Prism Ranger in the fourth game's Fuka and Desco Show.

* CharacterRerailment: When Asagi first appeared in ''VideoGame/MakaiKingdom'', she was portrayed as fairly calm and cool-headed, a stark contrast to her varying personalities in later games. ''VideoGame/Disgaea5AllianceOfVengeance'' brings back that calm and cool-headed Asagi and to further differentiate her from past appearance, she joins the party willingly after they take out the Asagi clones. It makes more sense if you've played the Prinny spinoff games, where it's explained and shown that there's [[Me'sACrowd more than one Asagi (probably millions, in fact), each one with their own differences and personnalities.]]