Funny that. When I first heard about Disgaea, someone compared it to Final Fantasy Tactics. ^^
From a gameplay standpoint, you just can't beat the Item World. A dungeon to level in, and power up an item?! What's not to like? ^_^ I thought that was a rather ingenious idea.
And from a perspective of story, you simply have to love the various off the wall situations you encounter as you go along! xd