Disgaea 5 Complete on PC Isn't Entirely Complete

Published: October 23, 2018 5:05 PM /

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disgaea 5

NIS America has confirmed that omitted NPCs and other online play features missing from Disgaea 5 Complete are by design, not the result of a bug. Citing "irreconcilable platform differences," NIS America elaborates in a blog post that the "Network functions from the original game could not be implemented into the Steam version." NIS America continues by apologizing that the "differences were not communicated in advance, and we appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter." NISA closes the apology by reminding users that "Steam purchases come with [an] option to fully refund the purchase if total playtime has not exceeded 2 hours." The two-hour cutoff applies for automatic refunds, so it's possible that NIS America may approve refunds for players with more time, especially when Disgaea 5 Complete takes 50 hours to complete.

The full list of missing NPCs and features missing from Disgaea 5 Complete is as follows:

Data Shop
• Everybody’s NW, Someone’s Records
Netherworld Edit Shop
• Netherworld Network, User Netherworld
Map Edit Shop
• Facility Removed
Settings
• User Netherworld, User News
Strategy Assembly
• Spread News to Everyone!, Give Item to a Friend!
Netherworld Hub
• Map Edit Shop NPC
Stoking the anger of the community's fire is the fact that the Switch version of Disgaea 5, the original Complete version did come with all of the networking features. This even as the Switch version was released two years after the initial launch on the PS4. The Steam reviews have slipped into "mixed" territory, sitting at just 64% positive as of writing, even as Disgaea 5 was heralded as a great game in a series not known for striking differences between iterations. Many commenters in the Community Hub are left wondering why NIS America waited until after Disgaea 5 Complete was fully released on Steam before announcing that various networking features wouldn't be available.

This isn't the first time a Disgaea game had a botched launch on PC. The original Disgaea released with a lesser soundtrack and a whole host of controller and performance issues. NIS America games don't have a stellar track record on Steam to begin with, as was the case with the well-publicized debacle surrounding Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana earlier this year. Similar to Ys VIIIDisgaea 5 Complete was also delayed five months, from May to October this year, and still launched without the aforementioned networking features. This was also coupled with the fact that savegames from the demo did not carry over to the full release, as NIS America changed the savegame file structure, thus making the two versions incompatible.

We have reached out to NIS America for comment, and will update this story, should they respond.


Quick Take

After reporting on the comedy of errors that Ys VIII eventually turned into, one would hope that NIS America would have put their best foot forward for PC gamers, especially when Disgaea is their flagship series. I'm also left puzzled why NISA chose not to use Steam Workshop integration for custom maps, arguably one of the easiest ways to give Disgaea 5 Complete plenty of replayability. Hopefully, NIS America is learning from their litany of mistakes.

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Kyle Johnson
| Japanese Gaming Specialist

Professional painter. Semi-professional weeb. I've played hundreds of games, but finished very few. I speak Chinese and Minnesotan.