synklare posted... For me, it'd 100% have to be the Disgaea franchise as a whole.
It enabled my older brother and I to become closer during a period where my family was quite fragmented growing up. We all had our fair share of troubles and whilst things seemed fine on the surface, there was a lot of animosity in my household.
Despite that, my brother and I began to spend more time together when I caught him playing the original Disgaea. It became a subject of discussion and in-house meme for us at the time, with some of our dialogue being replaced by things from the game.
DOOD, DOOOOOOOOOD or DOOD-HA were the three phrases that would essentially wind my parents up after having to put up with us saying it, at numerous volumes, with silly voices and expressions. We'd pretty much greet one another from then on for a while by saying it. We even took it a step further into cringe territory, and had no qualms about saying it when we'd meet up in public. Perhaps not a super interesting story, but the franchise is dear to me purely because it aided in maintaining a good relationship with my brother and also happened to be an amazing game in the process, not just a temporary remedy.
Disgaea as a game appealed to both of us because it had fantastic gameplay, endearing art, likeable / goofy characters and it was a joy to see the features improve over the course of the franchise, at least up to D5, I haven't played D6 yet. I missed out on D4 sadly.
I feel you with the Disgaea connection. It became a HUGE part of my life. All the merch. All the games. Posters and tapestries.
I turned my car into the Etna mobile (color, Disgaea decals, and plate. For my daughters birthday next year im gonna buy her a new car with a "Prinny" plate if i can).
My baby mama was super into it as well and thats how we got together. With her Etna cosplays when we were in high school. She looked the part perfectly (still does even after our 2 chubby Prinnies).
The new GF isnt as into Disgaea, but shes slowly coming around.