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She's confident, and deservedly so. She makes plans to achieve her goals, and actually executes those plans well.
She's strong enough to hold her own, and so she doesn't let anyone push her around or badger her into submission. The only time she goes along with anyone else's plans against her will is when her memories were stolen, and even then when she gets them back she's quite willing to kill the person who stole them.
She's not afraid of going against Laharl's wishes. She's his "vassal", but is very much a demon lord of her own with her own goals, and both she and Laharl know it, and have some actual respect for each other's abilities.
She's quite willing to be cruel or spiteful when it makes sense, which is fitting for a demon. Instead of just claiming to be a demon but constantly shying away from any "negative" traits like anger or vengeance, or instead of just constantly being a jerk all the time for no reason other than to try and prove that she is a demon.
They're not remotely the same in temperament. Imagine if Seraphina tried the stupid little random gun shots thing on Etna or Laharl or someone with an actual spine, they wouldn't just meekly take it like the wimps in D5, they'd attack back with full force.
Or take how Laharl handled the death of his family. He missed them, sure, but he didn't turn into an angsty teen who's obsessed with some airhead who thought that picking a flower was tantamount to murder.
Or take Raspberyl. She's "good", but the reason she does good deeds isn't because that's how people are supposed to be, it's because demons are expected to be bad, so she specifically does nice things to be a badass rebel.
The characters in D5 are just nice because that's how people are supposed to be, and who are "secretly" into each other because that's how the main male and female are "supposed" to act, etc, etc.
Also, take Laharl's growing affection for Flonne. I don't like her, but the affection is actually shown growing throughout the game, instead of everyone just constantly saying "oh, you two are in love, right?" with the characters constantly denying the obvious.
Also, Laharl's fondness for Flonne is based on her cheerful and loving personality, whereas the reason Seraphina and Killia like each other is because, no apparent reason. Seraphina says it's because Killia "saves" her, but most of those times she wasn't even in any actual danger. And Killia's love for what's-her-name is because of, why? Because she was nice to him? That's barely anything.
What are you two even on about? Sexual tension is completely different than sexual content.
I'm not complaining about the sexual content, I'm annoyed by the "oh, we're totally not in love, no sir, definitely not, we don't like each other at all" ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that's going on between Killia and Seraphina. It's obvious that they *do* like each other, and all this waffling about is just tedious, boring, and annoying. They're acting like shy teenagers who've never so much as talked to a member of the opposite sex, rather than the demon overlords they supposedly are.
Almost as if the characters and story is meant to be full of tropes, parodies, and comedy.....
Also, you've left out a very important part, where the previous games also frequently had quite serious moments that were handled with dignity. Like Laharl finding his mom, for example, or Etna's admiration for Krichevskoy, or even Hoggmeiser and his son caring for each other, and many other such instances. These contrast sharply with D5, as I already went over, where there's just random overblown angst inserted randomly because angst is trendy. For example, Killia has literally no reason to be this whiny over the death of what's-her-name, because souls and reincarnation specifically exist in the Disgaea universe. If he really loved her that much, he should be out there looking for her reincarnated soul, instead of just constantly reminding everyone that's he's haunted by his angsty dark past, while refusing to even talk about it even when the other characters ask over and over at different times.
The games were not just a bunch of "lol so random", they were generally written with serious and humorous parts meshed together in a cohesive whole, with characters who had good reasons for their behavior instead of just saying "lol, what if she shoots everyone randomly with her guns, and he randomly eats food all the time".
None of the characters are even consistent with the tropes they are based on.
Seraphina seems to be a bit like Etna at first, shooting prinnies prety much any time she is annoyed by something, but Etna varies her weapons and didn't exactly do it at every single dialogue she was in (ok, Seraphina has a few times where she doesn't shoot anyone, but they are not that numerous compared to the times she shoots an ally).
Etna ended up looking like someone you don't want to piss off, but Seraphina just ends up like a violent teen with a lot of hormonal issues that will shoot anyone for the slightest reason.
Magnus started looking like a muscle-brain that likes to "finish off" his foes in flashy ways, but he rapidly devolves into a very dumb character that speaks a lot about wanting to be the strongest but never really puts it in action outside of comedy skits (you'll notice that he is frequently in the back when enemies come at the start of a map for example when it should show him rushing forward most of the time at least).
We even lose his finish after barely a few, which is sad because they were sort of redeeming his character a bit instead of being a not-so-smart character that ends up getting shot all the time.
Killia is supposedly a badass on his way to revenge at any cost, but he shows very little of that outside of a select few scenes and he ends up as a "love freak" like Flonne of all people, encouraging his team and supporting them when needed (and with very little justification too).
Usalia is also supposed to be burning with hatred until a bit later where she supposedly tries to go on to live her life instead of being consumed by hatred, but it doesn't show in her dialogue or her tone of voice (even in japanese), so she just ends up as a "smart" type pre-teen that says "~pyon".
Zeroken is just one of those weak-minded teens that like to boast in ridiculous ways that are not even realistic.
He gets multiple chapters focused nearly entirely on him and his "growth" but it doesn't change anything about how he acts.
Chrysto is an angel (apparently it's a spoiler because people can't read between lines) that was accused to be a pawn of the bad guy
Because he is a very intelligent guy that's good at strategizing, he goes around to look for people with high potential in order to go against the bad guy (without even trying to get an estimation on the power the top executives of the opposing side have).
But in facts, he is just always in the back saying "this is not demon-like" or "no Killia, you can't be nice, be a demon at least to your enemies" on loop.
He is absolutely useless at making strategies, he doesn't have any sort of backup plans for when something doesn't go as expected, he doesn't play his role as advisor on where to go and how to approach situations either.
I don't even understand why the others trust him, he clearly calls others "demons" and wants his allies to be barbarians, he very clearly is not an ally of most demons and you don't need to be a genius to think that he will throw you into a pit at the first occasion if he gets a good opportunity (not saying if it happens or not, that's just how he appears from the very start).
Even the bad guys, the zombie girl just wants undead as company and likes to betray and torture the living, the armour dude is always "I don't even need my power to handle you" but gets defeated all the time, the boss of the bad guys is portrayed as a psychotic killer (just look at the number of his secretaries among the many victims that come up for no reason).
Sure, the characters evolve a bit as the story goes on, but it remains mostly the same stupid comedy-based interractions with a few cases of "we need serious right now because story".
You need more than just comedy skits if you want at least a part of the cast to be remembered by the players, and NIS made a lot of characters that you might love or hate but that remain unique enough that they can put them as cameos all over the place (they even have an ghost-user little girl, two souls in one body and a talking book as main characters in other games), and it's not like they relied nearly exclusively on those base tropes like this time on their previous games.
It also doesn't help that I feel like I am playing with a main cast that is composed of human teens instead of demon overlords that each have/had control over a whole world and have lived for hundreds or thousands of years (and through many different situations as well).
I'm not saying everyone needs to be a badass or an evil demon, but it really feels like they picked characters that would better fit in a rom-com visual novel than a game about demons fighting that has a sub-title like "Alliance of Vengeance", and that dissonance never goes away for me.
I'm honestly pretty relieved to see that there are so many other people who are also disappointed with the writing.
Hopefully they can bring back some of the previous quality in subsequent games. Though since characters in all media tend to become mere parodies of themselves the longer a series runs, it may just be time for NIS to move on to a fresh IP and start over with new characters and settings.
All the ingredients were there for D3 to be a riot.
I also find that Zeroken and Seraphina's growth are much shallower than the other four.
Still like Killia and Lieze though.
Sorry but that doesn't make any sense. You said Disgaea 1 has a much better story and there is a lot more sexual tension in Disgaea 5. Yet the protagonist in Disgaea 1 is literally a little kid who is afraid of sexy women and his only weakness is big boobs. Can it get anything more cliché than that?
Seraphina has the typical tsundere ojousama trope which is used in like 90% of all manga or JRPGs. If you don't like it, that's okay. I also agree with most of what you say. It's just that ALL disgaea games are like that and the writing is not getting worse. That's just you lookig through nostalgia tainted glasses.
Also don't forget we are getting older. I don't know about you, but I played the first Disgaea 10 years ago. Now I'm around 30, which makes me probably 15-10 years older than the target market. I'm not that impressed by childish cringy jokes anymore and I still like Disgaea 5's story. You just have to be in the right mindest and not expect shakespear but take it for what it is.
I tried responding to this post earlier, but thought my words would just be empty minded, but you sir, you've worded it correctly.
Those who go into Disgaea games expecting a "Story" or serious "lore" from characters, are in the wrong.
Disgaea is meant to be a joke. But some how in the end manages to teach something at the very least...
But there is just as much brown tinted glasses in play.
Hey Remember how much the game devoted to Laharl being scared of boobs?
Frankly I can't judge because the games ALWAYS present the characters 1-dimensionally at first and then shows you their depth... often while having a blast!
Should be said that from letsplays, of all the DLCs the D3 ones were both funniest... (though D1 is a close second due to the box scene).
Granted, it's a dumb joke, yes, but it was at least referenced far less often in D1 than the characters in D5 claiming to not be in love with each other even though they clearly want to do each other.
Also, I've never seen anyone specifically scared by women with large breasts before or after that, so I don't think it could possibly be that cliché. Especially since you admit that:
which is certainly far more cliché than Laharl's discomfort around breasts was.
You haven't presented any evidence of that at all, nor addressed any of my previous comparisons of the games.
You are deliberately exagerating my objections. I did not expect anything in particular from the story. And am, in fact taking it for what it is.
The problem is, that what it is, is a by-the-numbers generic story put there so that the gameplay has something to hang off of, and does not have any merits on its own.
Can you honestly say that anything in D5 is as well written and honestly emotional as things like Etna's admiration for Krichevskoy, or Laharl meeting his mother, or Laharl killing Lamington and mourning for Flonne? Sure, D1 was no masterpiece, by any stretch, but it had some effort and soul, and that showed.
You are objectively wrong. Go play Disgaea 1 and actually pay attention. Take the entire red moon chapter as just one single example. The story in Disgaea 1 had humor, and it had seriousness. It absolutely wasn't just one or the other.
What exactly is that? Because I cannot recall any of the previous games trying to "teach" anything. D5 does seem to be trying to "teach" people to be nice, but the problem is that it forgets that it's set in a world full of literal demons where dying is merely an inconvenience since you just reincarnate and start over.
Very little is. Compare it with how often Killia randomly eats before battle, or Seraphina shoots people over trivial matters.
Edit: Forgot to mention how often Usalia says she wants to eat curry. I don't remember the exact amount, but somewhere around when you go to Scorching Flame to destroy the spear, there are four or five different scenes in a row where literally the only thing she says is that she wants to eat curry. Laharl's fear of breasts is never taken to that ridiculous level of repetition.
Now if he had a martial arts fight where he keeps the enemies back while chomping on food... that would be awesome.
Disgaea 5 definitely had issues with repeating the same joke over and over though, especially compared to 1
They definitely are not reasonable people and have a tendency to fight a lot to "solve" problems, but they are not really evil outside of a few.
That disconnect between demons and evil is even shown in quite a few NIS games where it's the human worlds (and Celestia, the "heaven" of their universe) that conveniently push the concept of evil onto demons.