Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness ((PSP)

[X]

Pre-ordered from VG+ and arrived Monday.

Looks the same as the PS2 version. One extra character in the Castle to handle your collection of items. A new Etna Mode (from New Game) unlocked by reading Etna's Diary every Chapter or by entering a succession of buttons when the game first starts.

Now about 4 hours of play and I am on Chapter 2. By all accounts Etna mode is funnier than the standard story. My only reservation is trying to read the stats for the characters on the small(ish) screen as my eyes are not as good as they used to be.

I have a way to go before reaching the 520 hours I put into the PS2 version. At last my PSP will get a decent amount of use...

The game is (allegedly) released at the beginning of next month here in the UK.

[therev]

I started it up this lunchtime and only managed to do the first tutorial battle before having to stop.

First impressions are that the graphics look quite lovely on the PSP's screen - certainly better than they look on a big TV - but the stats are a bit of strain to read.

What you said, basically.

I put somewhere between fifty and a hundred hours in on the PS2 version, I think, but never finished the story. Hopefully I'll manage it here.

[X]

I finiahed the story on the PS2 a number of times. At the last "New Game+" I started my characters at Level 1 (with vastly improved stats and weapons of course). Didn't take long to get them to high levels again.

I have an incentive to finish on the PSP just so that I can get to the Etna storyline (with some decent stats as it is supposedly harder than the standard one). I'll no doubt be going for some power levelling when the right maps turn up...

[therev]

In many ways, I don't understand why Disgaea is fun. It shouldn't be. Spending half an hour revisiting the tutorial map so that my brawler can learn some ice magic from his Ice Mage pupil (you know, just in case) shouldn't be fun. Yet somehow it is, despite being repetitive and ultimately pointless. (He hates ice, doesn't do much damage with it, can't use it much and is fast enough so that he can normally get into range of an enemy for a direct attack.)

So that was about half an hour of the six hours I've spent on the game so far. Apart from that I've taught my cleric some fire magic, taught Laharl to heal, gone into Item World a couple of times to get some specialists out of rare gum, created a few characters and, oh yes, finished the first chapter in the story.

I think the appeal of Disgaea lies in the team. It's not about getting to the end of the story, but about creating and moulding characters to reflect your vision. It's a reversal of the RPG norm, where you level and customise your team to enable you to get through the story. Here you go through the story to help you level and customise your team.

Or maybe the appeal lies in something more direct, in the way that battles are always fun, with the puzzle-type levels that often populate SPRGs kept to a minimum so that you always have tactical freedom.

Let's not forget, also, that the player decides how difficult these battles are. The focus on levelling means that you can decide where to go, what level enemies to face and therefore how hard you want the game to be.

It's less of a traditional RPG and more of a tactical, character-building sandbox, where choice and customisation are far more important than the (fairly funny but emotionally unengaging) story. It's not a Final Fantasy style game trying to be an epic movie, it's just trying to be a bedroom floor littered with toy soldiers.

So here we are, with the sorely underrated PSP playing host to three great SRPGs in as many months. Jeanne D'Arc's got the looks. Final Fantasy Tactics has the brains. And Disgaea's got the soul.

Go team!

[zektbach]

Just to say that I am absolutely loving playing this through on my PSP.

One of the reservations I had with the PS2 was that at points it began to be a bit of a hassle having to actually turn the PS2 on and sit down and play for hours on end. Having this game portable (and looking a lot better than the PS2 version I must say) is a godsend.

PSP took its time but it's finally becoming great.

[X]

Now up to 15 hours. On Chapter 6 with the Mage on Level 50 and Laharl and Etna in the 30's. Enjoying it more now as it has become easier. At least the stack up in Chapter 5 helped get some decent levels (though that stack proved variable as far as the amount of damage the Mage could do). Had to use the "more expensive shop stuff" option a few times to get some weapons that affected it. At least that map was good for about 18,000 HL.

Combat with the d-pad is now pretty much second nature and speeds things up somewhat.

The biggest pain is having to recharge every so often. At least my PC on powersave will still charge it (saves leaving my 360 or PS3 on to charge it).

[therev]

I've played for about seventeen hours now. I'm a slow leveller, so my highest character are level fifteen and I'm on Episode Four.

I spent hours over the weekend doing the last ice world level over and over again until I could afford a Skilled Golem, which helped level my fire magic users up nicely.

I'm wondering whether to keep creating new characters or whether it's best now to concentrate on just getting the best out of my current team. I've got more characters than I can use already and the Prinnies very rarely get chosen.

I'm also wondering if I should transmigrate my level fifteen Cleric to a Bishop. I'm not really sure whether I get any long term advantage that way. (And I'm not even sure if she'd still have the very useful Teacher/Pupil relationship with my Red Mage.)

I'm enjoying pottering around doing things myself without going to GameFAQs and using that for power levelling and finding secrets and stuff, though.

[noizu]

It's not really called 'Afternoon of Darkness' is it?? That's brilliant.

The two words don't sit together at all, it's like 'Teatime of Devastation' or something. Putting 'Afternoon' in your title just makes it seem a bit wishy-washy doesn't it?

[Pupponvesh 2]

That's Disgaea for you I guess. The whole game just feels like a big joke. I love it.

This is probably the best PSP game since Everybody's Golf.

[Garwoofoo]

Been playing this a little bit and it's great.

Can someone explain how the experience works? I've come straight off the back of Final Fantasy Tactics where characters gained experience for each action they did. But I'm sure my Fire Mage zapped someone and didn't gain any experience at all. Am I missing something?

Also, I'm a bit baffled by the game's explanations of Transmigration and Specialists, though they seem pretty key. Can anyone explain these in very simple terms for an idiot like me?

[therev]

Been playing this a little bit and it's great.

Can someone explain how the experience works? I've come straight off the back of Final Fantasy Tactics where characters gained experience for each action they did. But I'm sure my Fire Mage zapped someone and didn't gain any experience at all. Am I missing something?

Also, I'm a bit baffled by the game's explanations of Transmigration and Specialists, though they seem pretty key. Can anyone explain these in very simple terms for an idiot like me?

I'll try my best, but I might be wrong about some of this.

Experience I'm fairly sure of. You only get experience for killing blows, nothing else. Not for damage, not for healing. If you're one of the characters that kills the enemy, you get the experience. So you need to attack the character yourself, or be next to the character that does the attack and join the team attack. This makes levelling clerics and other such classes a bit tricky. The way I get round this is to create some sort of mage pupil for my cleric and then use the pupil to teach my cleric some offensive magic. (My cleric Tara learned Fire and Mega Fire from a pupil and is now one of my most powerful offensive characters.)

Transmigration sets you back to level one, but you keep some of your skills and get a boost to your base stats. As your stats level up based on their initial values, this means you can be powerful level-for-level than a newly-created character. I've not done it yet. People online don't seem to think it's worth doing unless your character is about level 1000(!) or something.

Specialists live in items and increase stats or give other bonuses. A Marksman specialist increases the Hit stat of an item, for example, and a Medicine Man means your less likely to be paralyzed if you use a weapon with one in. If you go into Item World you can find these specialists. If you kill them you can move them between items and combine them to make more powerful specialists. Just now I went into some chewing gum and killed a Marksman, who I then moved into my rogue's gun to increase the Hit stat.

[Garwoofoo]

Fantastic - thanks for that. Makes perfect sense, although the experience thing is going to be a bitch. All part of the challenge I suppose!

[Lorfarius]

Is the UK edition being optimised or changed in anyway?

[Garwoofoo]

Is the UK edition being optimised or changed in anyway?

Not that I'm aware of. It's not like there are any glaring errors that need fixing. The only thing they might change is take out the Japanese voices (which they did for the PAL PS2 release, for some reason). So I went for the US version of this one.

[Cosmic_Guru]

I'll try my best, but I might be wrong about some of this.

Experience I'm fairly sure of. You only get experience for killing blows, nothing else. Not for damage, not for healing. If you're one of the characters that kills the enemy, you get the experience. So you need to attack the character yourself, or be next to the character that does the attack and join the team attack. This makes levelling clerics and other such classes a bit tricky. The way I get round this is to create some sort of mage pupil for my cleric and then use the pupil to teach my cleric some offensive magic. (My cleric Tara learned Fire and Mega Fire from a pupil and is now one of my most powerful offensive characters.)

Transmigration sets you back to level one, but you keep some of your skills and get a boost to your base stats. As your stats level up based on their initial values, this means you can be powerful level-for-level than a newly-created character. I've not done it yet. People online don't seem to think it's worth doing unless your character is about level 1000(!) or something.

Specialists live in items and increase stats or give other bonuses. A Marksman specialist increases the Hit stat of an item, for example, and a Medicine Man means your less likely to be paralyzed if you use a weapon with one in. If you go into Item World you can find these specialists. If you kill them you can move them between items and combine them to make more powerful specialists. Just now I went into some chewing gum and killed a Marksman, who I then moved into my rogue's gun to increase the Hit stat.

You are correct - you only get exp for the kill, not for, say, healing if you are a white mage (this was changed in the second game).

So there is an art to protecting your weak mages ,in particular, until they can come up for the finishing touch (or move them to participate in a group attack which does not count as a move in its own right). Later they become very powerful members of your team.

I've completed the game twice but never transmigrated a character.

I did spend a lot of time in item world though from the beginning- it is great how you can check out the rewards at the outset of each stage and work out if there is something worth going for, or if it is better to hurry to the exit. As well as collecting new gear, it's a good way to level up as a break from repeating the same batles time after time.

It's a super game and I will probably end up buying it when it comes out in the UK later.

[Garwoofoo]

One more question about experience: if a character participates in a group attack, but does zero damage, do they still get experience for the kill? Or do they actually need to land a decent hit?

[Lorfarius]

Not that I'm aware of. It's not like there are any glaring errors that need fixing. The only thing they might change is take out the Japanese voices (which they did for the PAL PS2 release, for some reason). So I went for the US version of this one.

A lot of reviews have mentioned that the US version has quite a bit of slowdown in sections. I was hoping they might have altered this for the UK release

[therev]

One more question about experience: if a character participates in a group attack, but does zero damage, do they still get experience for the kill? Or do they actually need to land a decent hit?

I don't think amount of damage matters. A 0 hit is as good as a 58 hit, I think.

A lot of reviews have mentioned that the US version has quite a bit of slowdown in sections. I was hoping they might have altered this for the UK release

That's interesting. I've played for sixteen hours or so and haven't noticed any.

[Garwoofoo]

A lot of reviews have mentioned that the US version has quite a bit of slowdown in sections. I was hoping they might have altered this for the UK release

You're not confusing it with Final Fantasy Tactics, are you? That did suffer from slowdown (not that it affected the game). Disgaea seems flawless so far.

[Lorfarius]

That's interesting. I've played for sixteen hours or so and haven't noticed any.

Ignore me on this. I read "Fixes some of the slowdown issues in the original game" as having slowdown issues. Been a long day.

[smac]

Just now I went into some chewing gum[...]

C'mon - that has to have sold this game to everyone reading this!

[boxoctosis]

25 hours in, got a party of levels 30 - 40, transmigrated a few characters a few times to widen their skills.

Also have been through the item worlds to collect Statisticians (they provide exp bonuses). Losing hours and hours to this. It's perfect for the PSP - a really good conversion, fast loading, you can play for hours or just a few minutes given you can save at any point.

Also , the Power Rangers stage had me laughing out loud - a really really good bonkers script.

I played a lot of this on the PS2, but this suits the PSP absolutely perfectly.

[Zappster]

Fantastic - thanks for that. Makes perfect sense, although the experience thing is going to be a bitch. All part of the challenge I suppose!

There are certain maps that are perfect for levelling weak characters. I used to use some of them all the time on the ps2 version but it has been a long time so I can't really remember which ones specifically. All I remember is that all the ones that I used had invincibility geo square thingies. So I'd just plop my weak characters on them so they wouldn't be killed and had my higher level characters next to them to join in on team attacks and to deal the major damage. IIRC it involved alot of throwing of enemies too and trapping them in certain spots where my weak/strong characters would be ideally placed to kill them.

That's another thing. You can throw enemies onto each other and they combine to form a higher level creature (sum of both their levels IIRC) which again is useful for levelling. Using that with the invincibility squares is what I used to do all the time, particularly when working my way through the story mode and so not having the access to the cave of ordeals.

[Cosmic_Guru]

There are certain maps that are perfect for levelling weak characters. I used to use some of them all the time on the ps2 version but it has been a long time so I can't really remember which ones specifically. All I remember is that all the ones that I used had invincibility geo square thingies. So I'd just plop my weak characters on them so they wouldn't be killed and had my higher level characters next to them to join in on team attacks and to deal the major damage. IIRC it involved alot of throwing of enemies too and trapping them in certain spots where my weak/strong characters would be ideally placed to kill them.

That's another thing. You can throw enemies onto each other and they combine to form a higher level creature (sum of both their levels IIRC) which again is useful for levelling. Using that with the invincibility squares is what I used to do all the time, particularly when working my way through the story mode and so not having the access to the cave of ordeals.

Yes there is one map in which all squares bar the starting point are invincible (red). The idea is to throw a few of the enemies into the starting hole until it closes, then throw the remaining enemies together to form higher level ones and throw them in turn onto the one vulnerable square. Your characters can then line up in front and take pot shots without any risk and low level characters can be levelled up very fast as a result. To be frank it's a bit tedious but by far the quickest way to power level.

There are a couple of other maps which are useful too as a I recall because you can more or less clear the board straight away using special attacks - set everything up go away and make a cup of tea and the job is done. Rinse and repeat.

[therev]

I've just noticed something today. I always thought specialists were only "unlocked" if you defeated them Item World, but it seems they get unlocked if the other enemies killed them, too.

I went into some candy today and saw three specialists, two of whom I killed and one who was killed before I could get to him. Upon exiting the Item World at level ten all three could be moved.

Well, that changes my item World tactics a bit, then.

[Jansh]

Amazing game, one question.

How do I gain xp when using a healer, she can heal, but her attack is shite.

Its so unlike Final Fantasy Tactics.

[robdood]

Healers gain XP just from healing, don't they? (they used to in the PS2 version, I swear)

[Jansh]

Hmmmmmm, it just seems to then be fuck me slow grind. You gained xp when smiting demons in fft, but not in this one.

[robdood]

Or, use your other characters to weaken enmies, then the healer take the final blow. They will also share XP when involved in team attacks that kill an enemy.

[imp]

Healers gain XP just from healing, don't they? (they used to in the PS2 version, I swear)

No, that's in Disgaea 2...