[Zulithe]

Initial impressions: Quite fun, good music, love the humor. Can't wait to reach hour 10,000,000.

[Tambini]

I didn't really like the game when I tried in on PS3 a while ago but I think I'm gonna give it another go. Seems like a good fit for a handheld.

[DrAndonuts]

Anyone know how to switch the L/R camera directions? I think I read that it's mapped to the back screen, but I'm not sure how to do it.

EDIT: deleted last post.

[Trin3785]

I am loving this game!! Never played a disgaea game until this one, should I play the others or do fans consider this one to be the best ( gameplay wise) I do think the story is a little cheesy but it only adds to the charm as I love cheesyness.

Edit* I cant believe this game is 2 gigs though!

[btkadams]

any tips for a newcomer to strategy rpgs (let alone disgaea)??

[Koroviev]

any tips for a newcomer to strategy rpgs (let alone disgaea)??

Focus on minimizing the number of enemies. So, for instance, instead of having each character work on a separate enemy, have two or three gang up on an enemy. This not only reduces your team's damage taken, but also reduces the amount of damage that the enemy team can deal. Take out the healers first (i.e. cut off the supply stream). Really, just use common sense and plan ahead.

[NateDrake]

I am loving this game!! Never played a disgaea game until this one, should I play the others or do fans consider this one to be the best ( gameplay wise) I do think the story is a little cheesy but it only adds to the charm as I love cheesyness.

Disgaea 1 is awesome. 2 is pretty great, 4 is solid.

[ohhthegore]

I am loving this game!! Never played a disgaea game until this one, should I play the others or do fans consider this one to be the best ( gameplay wise) I do think the story is a little cheesy but it only adds to the charm as I love cheesyness.

Play the first one, it's the best story wise

[Bebpo]

I am loving this game!! Never played a disgaea game until this one, should I play the others or do fans consider this one to be the best ( gameplay wise) I do think the story is a little cheesy but it only adds to the charm as I love cheesyness.

1 > 4 ~ 3 > 2

They're all pretty good though. Only 2 is kind of weak.

[Trin3785]

1 > 4 ~ 3 > 2 They're all pretty good though. Only 2 is kind of weak.

Nice, Ill have to try to find a copy for PS2 of the first one. What is Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness for the PSP? Is that number 1 or something different?

[Eusis]

Nice, Ill have to try to find a copy for PS2 of the first one. What is Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness for the PSP? Is that number 1 or something different?

It's the same game, but updated. Unless you really want the licensed song they got for the PS2 release (or hate playing on handhelds, but why even take this thread seriously?) the PSP version's the way to go. You don't even have the resolution argument in this case, the PS2 game ran at 240p and the PSP is above that.

[Absoludacrous]

Nice, Ill have to try to find a copy for PS2 of the first one. What is Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness for the PSP? Is that number 1 or something different?

It's a port/update of the 1st one. That's the one to play if you can, it mixes in some of D2's UI improvements and adds a bit more content/characters.

[Trin3785]

It's a port/update of the 1st one. That's the one to play if you can, it mixes in some of D2's UI improvements and adds a bit more content/characters.

Sweet! thanks! This series seems like a good one, I am surprised i never tried it until now.

[Absoludacrous]

Sweet! thanks! This series seems like a good one, I am surprised i never tried it until now.

If you get really into it, you can also check out some of the ps2 spin-off games like Makai Kingdom and Soul Nomad.

For a while, NIS didn't really do sequels, just spiritual successors, but lately it's been all Disgaea, all the time.

[Trojita]

My game arrived. I hope Magichange is as useful in this game as it was in 4.

[scy]

So some cursory work on Item Leveling shows that Item Bosses are indeed repeatable (and not just two of them like in Disgaea 1 - 3 and pre-patch 4) but they also give Levels. The Item Level formula has also changed it seems but I can't iron it out quite yet. I'll work on that when I have some better items to level to eliminate some of the rounding errors.

So basically, you can infinitely kill Item Bosses for stat bonuses AND Item Level boosts. I don't know if there's a cap yet nor do I know the Item Level formula that D3:AoD uses. Hopefully I can get those ironed out by the weekend.

[SPE]

Disgaea noob here.

Question: During the very first tutorial, you're told how to change the view. One of the views is an overhead, non-isometric view, that gets described as 'for advanced users'. How do you select this? Square and L just cycles between normal, zoomed out, or zoomed out and slightly overhead.

[btkadams]

Disgaea noob here. Question: During the very first tutorial, you're told how to change the view. One of the views is an overhead, non-isometric view, that gets described as 'for advanced users'. How do you select this? Square and L just cycles between normal, zoomed out, or zoomed out and slightly overhead.

hold square and touch the screen.

[Kazerei]

any tips for a newcomer to strategy rpgs (let alone disgaea)??

Focus on a team of 4 or 5 characters. Too many and it dilutes the amount of EXP everyone gets (like in Pokemon).

It may be a bit overwhelming at first, but spend some time setting up your party in the homeroom, clubs, Evility lab, etc.

If you get stuck and need to grind, try going into the Item World of someone's equipment. Even just the first 10 levels will greatly improve that piece of equipment, plus you can score lots of EXP, HL, and items as you go.

Chain throwing is super duper useful. I keep several crappy fighters just to use as fodder.

Disgaea noob here. Question: During the very first tutorial, you're told how to change the view. One of the views is an overhead, non-isometric view, that gets described as 'for advanced users'. How do you select this? Square and L just cycles between normal, zoomed out, or zoomed out and slightly overhead.

Square + top left touch screen

[scy]

If you get stuck and need to grind, try going into the Item World of someone's equipment. Even just the first 10 levels will greatly improve that piece of equipment, plus you can score lots of EXP, HL, and items as you go.

More than that, take advantage of Reverse Damage or Invincibility panels when you find them. Just get a character onto one and then throw enemies into each other (combines them). Then just make a huge tower of your guys by lifting a lot (or just walking into another humanoid) and then you can attack over and over until you kill that really high level enemy. Nice way to mass level a lot of people and you can do it safely due to the Invincibility/Reverse Damage tiles.

...well, make sure no enemy can heal if you use the Reverse Damage tiles. But, other than that, safely!

[dreamer3kx]

Just looking at some of the screens I can see I will hate fonts, going to pick this up soon.

[matmanx1]

Can you still learn skills from other teammates in this one? And does it work the same way it did in Disgaea 1? Or does the game use the mana system for this also in that I can eventually buy those skills for my mage? I'd ideally like to have my 1 mage know how to cast fire, ice and wind instead of having to field 3 different mages.

And a team of only 5, eh? That seems to be a shame considering all of the cool characters you can make. Any suggestions on team makeup for a group that small?

[Kazerei]

Can you still learn skills from other teammates in this one? And does it work the same way it did in Disgaea 1? Or does the game use the mana system for this also in that I can eventually buy those skills for my mage? I'd ideally like to have my 1 mage know how to cast fire, ice and wind instead of having to field 3 different mages. And a team of only 5, eh? That seems to be a shame considering all of the cool characters you can make. Any suggestions on team makeup for a group that small?

The mentor-pupil thing has basically been replaced with clubs. The club leader can use club members' skills when standing next to them in battle, but can't actually learn by leveling up the skill. What you're looking for is the Class World, which is better explained in this mini FAQ.

EDIT: oh and the second question!

Please don't feel like you need limit yourself to a team of 5. I just think it's a good balance between getting through the story efficiently and having a bit of variety. If you want to experiment, then please do! It might take longer to finish the story but whatever. As for team makeup I think the standard Final Fantasy-esque build works fine: warrior (sword or axe), fighter (fist), black mage (staff), white mage (bow), and thief (gun).

[matmanx1]

The mentor-pupil thing has basically been replaced with clubs. The club leader can use club members' skills when standing next to them in battle, but can't actually learn by leveling up the skill. What you're looking for is the Class World, which is better explained in this mini FAQ.

Thank you, that's helpful. The new system seems more and less complicated at the same time. Doesn't look like I will be able to combine my magic into one mage anytime soon.

[Hispanicguy]

Just beat the game.

Play time is at 29 hours.

There were some fights where I had to regroup and try out different strategies but for the most part, the story isn't too difficult.

Learn to pick up and toss people to get into the spot you want. Want to use a special move but your character isn't close enough? Pick up and throw that person first, THEN move to get into position.

Having trouble with a boss? Is he the last one left to defeat? Attack the boss with all you've got then use a decoy character to pick up the boss then end your turn. When it's the enemy's turn, the character who picked him up will die (you take damage if you're carrying an enemy) but on the bright side, that uses up the enemy turn. So basically, you get a free turn. Then, proceed to attack again. Rinse and repeat if you have to.

Out of the 13 people on my team, I had 5 that were the heavy hitters while the others were used as a decoy. I would use a decoy to make the enemy come to me and proceed to stomp on them lol. There are situations where the enemy won't move at all until one of your characters is somewhat near them. Use that to your advantage. Instead of running out there, let 1 person go out and get as close to them as possible to in order to get their attention.

My highest level character is at 81. After that it goes: 71, 66, 62, 61, 51. Everyone else is in the 40's, 30's and 20's.

Bow, sword, fist, sword, gun were my classes. 4 of those people were story characters, while the gun one was a created character. I had another gun user, but she didn't hit as hard as my main one, but still did a good job. It's all about that long range!

I think the gun class is my favorite at the moment. Wouldn't mind one day making a team of them.

My healer did her job. She's at level 40. I'm just happy a healer has an attack skill.

There are multiple endings. Adding more to the already insane replay value.

And now..the real fun begins. Even a random character in the game understands beating the story is only the beginning:



EDIT: After beating the game, you unlock 3 modes each with their own set of rules. One of them is survival attack, where they strip you of equipment and give you random equipment and you have to see how far you can make it in the item world. These 3 modes also have leaderboards! I think this was part of the DLC that came out for the PS3 version.

^ Totally unexpected surprise. Replay value keeps rising. Wow!

[OneMoreQuestion]

Is there any multiplayer in this game a la Disgaea 1 on PSP?

[Hispanicguy]

Nope, no multiplayer.

[B.K.]

I just picked up the game. I never played Disgaea 3. I played the first two, but this will be my first time through 3. Is there a good faqs anywhere that tells how to unlock everything and how to get the ultimate weapons, armor, and accessories?

[Alchemy]

Aw crap, I forgot about this game. Buying it later tonight.

[dantehemi]

Just picked this up today. Only got to the tutorial. I'm gonna have to sink some serious time into this game. I really have no experiance with srpgs... Any good sites that can help with this game? Like a beginners guide just to get the hang of things?

[brettchalupa]

Just picked this up today. Only got to the tutorial. I'm gonna have to sink some serious time into this game. I really have no experiance with srpgs... Any good sites that can help with this game? Like a beginners guide just to get the hang of things?

My suggestion to you would be to replay a bunch of the tutorial and earlier battles. You'll gain some extra experience and money while getting more familiar with the game. Learn through discovery and trial and error ~ don't ruin that experience with game guides!

[scy]

Just picked this up today. Only got to the tutorial. I'm gonna have to sink some serious time into this game. I really have no experiance with srpgs... Any good sites that can help with this game? Like a beginners guide just to get the hang of things?

There's some stuff from GameFAQs you can read through on this from the PS3 version. A lot of it still applies. I uh ... spend a lot of time on Disgaea games so I don't mind answering some mechanics questions.

I just picked up the game. I never played Disgaea 3. I played the first two, but this will be my first time through 3. Is there a good faqs anywhere that tells how to unlock everything and how to get the ultimate weapons, armor, and accessories?

Most the class unlocks aren't too bad. Basically, level one of every class (even the gender swaps) to deal with all the generics. As far as equipment is concerned, it's the same procedure of finding Rank 39 equipment so you can steal Rank 40 equipment from the Land of Carnage Item God.

And maxing Items out in this version of D3 seems to be pretty easy. You get +Levels from killing Item Bosses AND you can infinitely kill them (not just double!). Still haven't had the chance to check how/if they capped this somewhere to prevent abuse but I'm going to go with probably not.

[matmanx1]

Using the cheat code (hehehe, it IS in the spirit of the game, afterall!) I unlocked Raspberyl's Chapter and played through the first 2 maps tonight. After the 2nd map you are given the Vato Sword and a fairly awesome spear as well with which you can then jump back into the main story and have a couple of hilariously overpowered weapons. I look forward to decimating my opponents with said weapons at the earliest opportunity!

That being said, Raspberyl's 2nd map is no joke. The enemies start out at level 2 but due to a geoblock that is set out of reach your movement is -1 and the enemies gain a level every turn. The block to destroy all of the panels is located behind the main boss at the other end of the map. By the time I'd gotten my thief with a gun close enough to destroy the null block the enemies were all level 10-12 and my party was mostly 4-7. I only had 4 guys standing at the end but I was able to max out the bonus, win the map and get a trophy plus the 2 outstanding weapons.

[Reluctant-Hero]

What happened to the manual in the US? The JP version had a nice full color manual with multiple pages. I figured NISA would translate it for us. But... we get nothing.

=(

[B.K.]

What happened to the manual in the US? The JP version had a nice full color manual with multiple pages. I figured NISA would translate it for us. But... we get nothing. =(

Vita games don't have physical manuals in America. All we get are digital manuals.

[Mudo]

I just picked this up and so far it's great. I don't remember the backgrounds being this sharp on PS3 and the character sprites on "sharp" look wonderful! I am having trouble with the rear touch pad as I always seem to accidentally press it (especially on the left side) and weirdness ensues. If I disable it, does anyone know how to make your cursor on the field instantly go back to the "home base" spot? scrolling slowly back to it is getting tedious. Other than that, is there any reason I need to rear pad turned on? I really hope nothing mapped to it has no other control option!

[scy]

I just picked this up and so far it's great. I don't remember the backgrounds being this sharp on PS3 and the character sprites on "sharp" look wonderful! I am having trouble with the rear touch pad as I always seem to accidentally press it (especially on the left side) and weirdness ensues. If I disable it, does anyone know how to make your cursor on the field instantly go back to the "home base" spot? scrolling slowly back to it is getting tedious. Other than that, is there any reason I need to rear pad turned on? I really hope nothing mapped to it has no other control option!

Just tap the top-right of the screen to do the same.

[Mudo]

LOL so easy I just didn't realize it. Awesome - I am turning the rear pad off ASAP!

[B.K.]

I just picked this up and so far it's great. I don't remember the backgrounds being this sharp on PS3 and the character sprites on "sharp" look wonderful! I am having trouble with the rear touch pad as I always seem to accidentally press it (especially on the left side) and weirdness ensues. If I disable it, does anyone know how to make your cursor on the field instantly go back to the "home base" spot? scrolling slowly back to it is getting tedious. Other than that, is there any reason I need to rear pad turned on? I really hope nothing mapped to it has no other control option!

I haven't found a way to get the top-down view without touch controls.

[Reluctant-Hero]

Vita games don't have physical manuals in America. All we get are digital manuals.

Huh... is that an SCEA mandate?

[Hispanicguy]

Decided to go after some of the alternate endings. So far, I'm at 3.

Doing some grinding here and there. Mao is currently at level 140.

Reading through some info from the PS3 version and trying to understand everything that has been thrown at me, lol.

Such a great feeling being on the train/bus and playing this game. No need to wait till I get home to grind when I can do it while I travel.

Best Vita game out right now.

[matmanx1]

Decided to go after some of the alternate endings. So far, I'm at 3. Doing some grinding here and there. Mao is currently at level 140. Reading through some info from the PS3 version and trying to understand everything that has been thrown at me, lol. Such a great feeling being on the train/bus and playing this game. No need to wait till I get home to grind when I can do it while I travel. Best Vita game out right now.

Certainly the most content rich, that's for sure.

I'd forgotten how much I love the sprite work in this game. The silly looking flips, jumps, swings, air juggles, etc. that go into the special moves and team attacks are hilarious and awesome and even without HD the sprites in Disgaea 3 animate really well. It's a fun game to watch which is not a compliment you can pay all SRPG's.

[Eusis]

Huh... is that an SCEA mandate?

It's looking that way... though doesn't NISA stick with black & white manuals in the US anyway? They might not consider it as worthwhile as their Japanese counterparts and wouldn't have fought to get one in. I think the real test is when Persona 4 comes out, given Atlus has been pretty good with manuals historically.

It's what I feared with others dumping manuals though. Ideally you'd just have the companies that don't give a crap dropping them and that's that, while those that want to have them still put them in, but in practice I suspect that'll end up with retailers trying to discourage including manuals (if not outright reject for the added weight) or hardware manufacturers take it into their own hands, and this seems to be an example of the latter. I'd stick with physical anyway though because it's a 2 GB game.

[Darknight]

What's best? Digital or retail for this game?

[Koroviev]

What's best? Digital or retail for this game?

It depends on how much you're going to play it and how certain you are that you will enjoy it.

[Zulithe]

buy physical... gives you more flexibility on what you want to do with it in the future... if anything :) besides these carts are so damn small now, you can easily carry a couple dozen around in your bag and it's no big thing.

I have a 32GB card but I'm reserving it for psp/ps1 and downloadable-only games. at the current rate I think it'll fill up in a year or so. I'll be happy to have a lot of these games on cartriges.

[Eusis]

What's best? Digital or retail for this game?

It's 2 GB, so if you think it'd be worth saving on the memory card space in exchange for swapping it with other games then get retail.

[Jucksalbe]

I haven't found a way to get the top-down view without touch controls.

Square+L. The only thing you really need the touch screen for is throwing Prinnies....and saving.

[jigglywiggly]

Oh man, I was so gutted to discover this line was in the original version as well.

Loving this game. With 90% of the time ever I put into my PSP being with Afternoon of Darkness, it feels like home again. And everything looks so sharp now. Delicious. I've just made a start on the second chapter, but I'm already padding out my party's stats. With the previous game, I power-levelled one character at a time, but with this I'm taking a "no man left behind" approach. For now at least. We'll see how annoyed I get with the Prinny's slow progress.

[PhantomOfTheKnight]

It's looking that way... though doesn't NISA stick with black & white manuals in the US anyway? They might not consider it as worthwhile as their Japanese counterparts and wouldn't have fought to get one in. I think the real test is when Persona 4 comes out, given Atlus has been pretty good with manuals historically.

Is the digital manual in color? That's my only "concern".