I liked phantom brave, but where Disgaea's number crunching became familiar territory after a while, PB threw a lot of numbers at you a lot faster. I was much happier with the game after I bought the strategy guide, and they explained a way to get an uber weapon in like 3 hours, thus saving the game for me. This, however, showed the games one and only flaw:

Marona was a permanent character on the battlefield, and with a weapon that let her have 150Million turns, the game became a bit of a breeze.

this was fixed in Makai Kingdom.

but, meh, I still love each of NIS's games for their individual charms (EXCEPT LA PUCELLE)