So, this one is being released on the switch this week and I am pretty uncertain of picking it up. The last game in this genre I've played was Final Fantasy Tactics on the GBA and it is great. I barely tried out the demo because I was in a rush, but was kinda overhelmed eith the interface and hub and such and wanted to go quickly into battle, but it didn't really "clicked" for me. So, how beginner friendly is the game? How long does someone need to play it in order to fully enjoy it?

I tried Disgaea 3 once and even though I love FFT it is quite overwhelming. I don't think it is a good game for casual SRPG players. It seems more like a giant time sink for enthusiasts. It's the Civilization for Settlers of Catan players or the Europa Universalis for Risk players.

I haven't played Disgaea 5 but, quite honestly, it's a series that is best started at Disgaea 1 because they typically add something new every game on top of what you could do before. Of course, you can ignore stuff you don't like, which is what I mostly did when they introduced character stacking.

That being said, the games usually have an extensive tutorial, though it might take actual game-play before all the elements stick.

It is the easiest Disgaea for me story wise, but it would still be hard as the enemy ai is often pretty smart. Later game is of course most challenging. Grinding isn't a problem though if you do get stuck, as there are a lot of interesting things you can do to improve your characters. If you think you will have difficulty, you can take some suggestions to make it easier or look at guides.

I played the PS4 version for over 200 hours.

If I recall the game does a decent job introducing all the different mechanics over the course of the story.

There is a demo available. Might as well try that.

Should give you a better grasp of the game than any reply in this thread should.

I got the first Disgaea for PS2. Even then, I felt overwhelmed, despite loving FFT on PS1. Luckily, I purchased it for like $10 from a video rental store that was going out of business and I was able to sell it along with some other JRPG that I can't remember and got a DS Lite.

The series gets great reviews but I don't think it's for me. I'll try the demo, though. Maybe I'm a more mature gamer, now.

I don't know. I loved Front Mission 3, Valkyria Chronicles,  Advance Wars, and Jeanne D'Arc, too. I don't know what Disgaea didn't click with me.

I agree with everything you said but it had so much charm and I felt so satisfied after each battle. I can't help but remember it as one of my favorite PS3 games. I even bought it on PS4. Unfortunately, I didn't finish the newer version. Fucking Valkyria bending the rules....

*grumble* *grumble*

http://www.metacritic.com/game/switch/disgaea-5-complete

Just sayin'