Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice/YMMV

• 8.8: To say there was a fire storm over IGN's 6.7 review is an understatement. The review mostly focused on graphics and wrongly claims that there are no gameplay improvements (an observant gamer will notice them in 15 minutes of play). Just recently, they also placed this game in the "tears" section of strategy games which describes games that should be avoided at all costs. Once again, the article spends all its time bashing the game over its graphics.
  • That's not to say that graphics, which for the uninformed are essentially the same as the ones used in the previous PlayStation 2 installments, weren't bad or very much disappointing. But the specific way the review kept hammering on it constantly without going into detail on much else.
  • IGN averts it with the review of Absence of Detention which got a respectable 8.5. Though the reviewer does take off points for it's graphics, he does say that they look better on the Vita screen.
• And the Fandom Rejoiced: Man, I hope NI starts making more characters from their other games downloadable rather than recycle Disgaea: Hour of Darkness and Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories chara—Holy crap! Is that Gig and Revya!?
• Anticlimax Boss: Compared to the final bosses of the first two games, Aurum is constantly viewed as such, even by the cast (appearance-wise, at least).
• Contested Sequel: It wasn't one originally, but it has slowly become one for fans over time. Its detractors often cite its short length, Random Events Plot, unlikable protagonist, unbalanced post-game and outdated graphics as reasons.
• Crazy Awesome: Sapphire is completely off her nut, and we love her for it.
• Designated Hero: Mao is the protagonist, but isn't a very good hero. Regardless, he spends most of the game bearing the 'Hero' title... which he stole from Almaz, who "made it himself".
• Ear Worm:
  • The main theme. Especially the lyric-less version that plays in the main hub of the game. It will get stuck in your head for days.
  • The Game Over theme too.
• Foe Yay: Mao and Rasberyl's "rivalry" can sometimes come off like this, particularly in Rasberyl Mode.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Raspberyl is the most popular character of the third game's cast in Japan, followed by Almaz and Champloo.
  • Sapphire has a much larger fan base in America (in here as well) than in Japan.
• Good Bad Bugs: Two well-known bugs are commonly exploited to great effect by most players in the meta game.
  • For some reason, the Guardian innocent gives its boost to all equipment under it rather than just the equip it's inside.
  • Normally, it's impossible to steal items from clones, but the Puppy Paw Stick weapon has a special effect that has a 20% chance to steal an item from an enemy upon killing them. This even works on Class Dropouts, a special type of clone. Using this method, you can duplicate your strongest items with only a little bit of patience.
    • Furthermore, despite the popularity and widespread nature of these bugs, they have never been fixed during any of the many patches that have been made available since the game's release.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The Prism Ranger stage's dialogue is much funnier in the US version once you realize that Johnny Yong Bosch was once a Power Ranger.
  • Almaz's comment about wanting to be the charming and dashing Prism Blue becomes even funnier in the Fuka Desco Show because Prism Blue is played by Johnny Yong Bosh.
  • Hey, Rozalin, remember when Laharl said that the only reason you and Adell defeated him was because you were the main characters and you said that was a stupid reason. Not so stupid anymore, is it?
• Ho Yay: Between Mao and Almaz. It doesn't help that they have a master/slave relationship and Mao can't stop touching Almaz if only in the name of science.
  • Almaz' whole point of staying with Mao beside being forced into a slave is to open his heart. Now anyone could have opened Mao's heart but it's Almaz that has to open it to the point that he's considered a threat to the main villain's plan. And when Almaz dies, Mao's reaction is to yell at him for dying on him. While his true self is the one that returns Almaz' title and brings him back to life, given that his true self values Almaz more than anything, it goes to say what the real Mao thinks about him.
• Memetic Molester: In the name of science, Mao will grope you. The fact that he actually does grope Almaz doesn't help his case. Neither does his heavy breathing and panting, which either sounds like he's masturbating (English) or having an orgasm (Japanese).
  • When Vic Mignogna, Mao's voice actor, heard that Johnny Yong Bosch would be doing Almaz, his response was "YESSSSSSSSSSS! HE'S MY SLAVE!", adding to his Memetic Molester status.
  • Disgaea Infinite shows that he's even worse in this regard. Seems NIS is aware of Mao's memetic mutation and has decided to have some fun with it.
  • And his list of targets keeps on growing with every appearance. Poor Desco...
    • And then NIS decided the joke's getting old in D2, when it's outright stated that Mao isn't a pervert in a way that's directed at the fans.
• Memetic Mutation: Sapphire being just a weee bit Axe Crazy is getting a lot more focus in the fandom (including here) than in the series...
  • DO A BERYL ROLL.
• Moral Event Horizon: The details of Super Hero Aurum's plot in episode 8 (including causing the death of his #1 fan) certainly qualifies. The cast agrees.
  • Raspberyl points this trope out when she lectures Mao in episode 7.
• Most Annoying Sound: Geoffrey's Japanese voice, which is annoyingly high pitched. It doesn't help that he speaks so slowly.
• Scrappy Mechanic: Like previous Disgaea games, the key to becoming truly powerful lies in reincarnations. Unlike previous games, the cost of reincarnating doubles each time you do, making the heights of power prohibitively expensive pretty quickly.
• The Woobie: About half the fandom treats Almaz as one. Guess which half.
  • He gains more woobie points in the Almaz ending as well as the worse ending in which he stays dead.