all games are not created equal

Two strategy games that really hooked me.  One fairly serious, one...not so much.  Final Fantasy Tactics was a game that gradually sucked me in over the hours that I put into it; the story just got more and more complicated up to the epic climax at the end.  Disgaea was a game that I didn't see coming at all.  The wicked sense of humor that I found in the dialogue and story kept me entertained throughout the game to its completion. 

However, One thing that bothered me was whenever you came up against a level that was just too tough, your only alternative was to grind until your characters were tough enough.  This was also true with FFT, but the possibilities that the job classes held was an effective counter to keep me motivatied to grin and bear it.  I wanted to have two ninjas on my team, and I had to work to earn them.  As opposed to Disgaea, where I could have as many fighters as I wanted after I earned them; I just had to work for the mana if I didn't want them all to completely suck.  Sure, there were a few awkward sentences in Tactics, especially when it came to spellcasting, but I always found those to be like unintentional humor.  In the face of all the politcal scheming in the storyline, to see a badly translated sentence was like a reminder that it was still just a game, and not to take it so seriously.  Disgaea started out light-heartedly enough, with quite a few ridiculous episodes that got me to like the characters, but things took a turn for the serious closer and closer to the end, as I suppose that all anime-inspired games tend to do.  It was a little bit of a downer afer all the good laughs that I had beforehand. 

So, while I firmly believe that these are both excellent games, I have to give the win the old-timer, Final Fantasy Tactics.