Disgaea 3

[StorminNorman]

Finally, a reason to buy a PS3. (http://kotaku.com/gaming/clips/extended-disgaea-3-trailer-of-power-333377.php)

If anyone still had any doubts about how indescribably awesome this game is going to be, then that trailer should put them to rest.

[UC1]

Some pretty crazy shit going on there. I didn't think I really liked SRPGs until playing Disgaea, so I'll probably pick this up if/when there's an english version.

[Mori]

To clarify, I'm not a graphics whore. I prefer a good story or good gameplay over graphics any day.
But for PS3 these graphics are a joke. I can't see why they don't just release it on the PS2.
I like the series and all, but if they're going to make a game for the PS3 they should at least make it look like a game for the PS3.

[Koroshiya_Keefu]

To clarify, I'm not a graphics whore. I prefer a good story or good gameplay over graphics any day.
But for PS3 these graphics are a joke. I can't see why they don't just release it on the PS2.
I like the series and all, but if they're going to make a game for the PS3 they should at least make it look like a game for the PS3.

This is the Disgea style though, I'm assuming the amount of special attacks and new particle systems will be impressive, also the amount of levels is probably PS2 Disgea x 100. Unfortunately, I'm not going to get this, as of yet, as I am utterly terrible in the PS2 game. SO, UTTERLY, TERRIBLE. Maybe I should practice on the PSP version? :p

[Mike-Towns]

To clarify, I'm not a graphics whore. I prefer a good story or good gameplay over graphics any day.
But for PS3 these graphics are a joke. I can't see why they don't just release it on the PS2.
I like the series and all, but if they're going to make a game for the PS3 they should at least make it look like a game for the PS3.

I couldn't imagine Disgaea being any other way that it is now, and if I ever purchase a PS3 this will be the first game I get.

Also been meaning to buy one of these

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/3908/disgaeaprinny01smalluz3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[UC1]

I am a graphics whore and still thought it looked good =P

[StorminNorman]

I don't really mind the way it looks, but at the same time I kind of wish they'd adopt the Jeanne D'Arc graphical style, which looks great.

[ElPresidente]

Awesome trailer. I'm fine with the look too. The environments are certainly a bit more detailed but the simple advantage of high resolution text on menu screens is a big deal to me. Considering how many menus you use in these games I think this will increase my enjoyment even further. Am I weird?

Anyway hurry the F up and bring it out you bastards. :P

[Zace]

Holy crap in a box!! This game looks amazing. And finally looks like a game worth buying a PS3 for. And it will probably be long enough till hold me over until MGS4. By the by, Sony online vs. mode. kthxbi.

[Quatters]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I didn't intend to buy a PS3, but this looks like my hand will be forced.

[UC1]

Hey Disgaea 2 is on PSP in Japan right? Any word of a translation?

[Quatters]

Not that I'm aware of.
There have been 2 Disgaea PSP games. A straight port of Hour of Darkness and also Afternoon of Darkness which is a Port +

[Mike-Towns]

Not that I'm aware of.
There have been 2 Disgaea PSP games. A straight port of Hour of Darkness and also Afternoon of Darkness which is a Port +

Holy crapsticks, I thought AoD was a straight port of Disgaea 1 which I own so I never considered getting a PSP for the game.

Now I might have to rethink this...

[Quatters]

It is Disgaea 1 with
-Etna Mode, this is a hypothetical mode where Etna kills Laharal and you play the story as Etna trying to become the Beauty Queen Overlord.
-New bonus missions
-A music shop/listening place
-A stat keeper, he pretty much keeps stats of EVERYTHING you do in the game.
-Multi-player mode
-Guest apperances from characters Disgaea 2 and Makai Kingdom.

I think there's a couple of other things too but I can't remember atm.

[Zace]

It is Disgaea 1 with
-Etna Mode, this is a hypothetical mode where Etna kills Laharal and you play the story as Etna trying to become the Beauty Queen Overlord.
-New bonus missions
-A music shop/listening place
-A stat keeper, he pretty much keeps stats of EVERYTHING you do in the game.
-Multi-player mode
-Guest apperances from characters Disgaea 2 and Makai Kingdom.

I think there's a couple of other things too but I can't remember atm.

This game sounds awesome. I hope I get a job on Monday. If so, come to me disagaea and FFT.

[Super Mario]

This is awesome doods

[Sac]

Disgaea 3 is close, so very close, to convincing me to buy a playstation 3...but not close enough. (And I bet if I DID get it, just like D2, you'd probably need to invest 100s of hours before you got anywhere near unlocking Laharl :mad: I'm still mad about that in D2.)

Now a proper Suikoden sequel...

[Mori]

I'm not saying they should change the style, but there are ways to make it look better. Take Soul Nomad, another Nippon Ichi game. It still uses the 2D sprites and 3D backgrounds, but they're much improved. Working on the sprites is one thing, but they can also put much more detail into the 3D elements and the special effects.

By the way, anyone who gets pissed off enough to send someone an angry message because they said a game's graphics could be better should really do something productive with their time.

[UC1]

Opening Movie (http://youtube.com/watch?v=84IogtMbxEE) (imbedding not allowed).

[Quatters]

So cool! I love the dancing!
Also the Prism Rangers are back! Huzzah!

It looks like there's going to be several new classes and new characters!
JOY :D!! <3 <3 <3

[Zace]

Jan 29 it comes out in Japan people. Wonder how long the translation will take.

[Quatters]

Hopefully it takes a long enough time for the PS3 to get a serious price drop!

[Quatters]

*BUMP*

So it's been released in Japan and Asia, how long until we get a translation...

[StorminNorman]

I'm secretly hoping the Japanese version already has one on the disc.

30GB is enough for it, surely!

*pine*

[StorminNorman]

US version in August. (http://kotaku.com/361495/disgaea-3-hits-us-ps3s-in-august)

[ElPresidente]

*holds breath* I can do it til August. I swear. :D

[Quatters]

I know!
So excited!

[Slippery]

Wow thats soon, Quatters shot me down at the start of the year saying it'd be '09.

[Quatters]

Well I was being a bit pessemistic.

Also I felt that buying a PS3 in 09 had a certain ring of truth to it.
However, if you add Smarch in, August is the 9th month...

[coryne]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BjRxta9brtw

How thems some pretty numbers !!!!!!!!!!!! lol

[Slippery]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BjRxta9brtw

How thems some pretty numbers !!!!!!!!!!!! lol

If only I knew what they were doing.

[ElPresidente]

I'm loving the new combo attacks. They look awesome and seem to be more powerful than combo attacks in the originals.

I'm also really intrigued about these cube geopanel thingies.

[Quatters]

I know, and the swing thing.

Man, so excited!

[pecka_a]

Wow I can't wait for this one,NIPON ICHI I love you.

[Slippery]

Bump

It's coming soon

Very soon.

Tomorrow infact is it's U.S. release date, anyone importing? I sadly will wait until exams are over as this is a game which will make my marks drop considerably.

[Adios]

I'm importing :D. Got it pre-ordered and everything. Hopefully will ship soon! I can't wait, and can't wait even more so because I've never played a Disgaea before.

[Gio]

Is it reccommended to have played Disgaea 1 & 2?

[DrSeti]

I was wondering that too Gio, from what i have read it sounds like an awsome game, but yea, havent heard if playing the others is worthwile to get the full experience from it.

[Nintendork]

Didn't you just say that Forbidden Siren was too "Japanisy" for you. This game is a lot more "Japanisy"

[/backslash]

Is it reccommended to have played Disgaea 1 & 2?
Nope, but it makes you appreciate it more and understand what you're getting into. Disgaea 1 is about the funniest game I've ever played :D Missed out on Disgaea 2 (no backwards compatibility on my PS3). Be warned that its very addictive and with sidequests (like exceptionally hard bosses) to do after you beat the storyline there's more than 100hours+ of gameplay (I devoted 125hrs for the first game)

Disgaea 3 has a new storyline so they're not connected. Buy it, you won't regret it - my copy should be shipped out in a couple of days from PA

[Tonez]

backslash, if you were selling a copy of it to a person who has no idea about the game, how would you sell it?

[Super Mario]

http://www.wolfgames.com/ps3disgaea3le.JPG

I wonder if the frog is in it.

[Lex]

I know how I'd sell it

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y69/EvaUnit01_James/1199603970835.jpg

[Rosca]

I know how I'd sell it

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y69/EvaUnit01_James/1199603970835.jpg

How does it fail, i was just about to pick this up.

[pecka_a]

so the English translation is out soon SWEET!!! looks like I'll get my bro to order it for me.

ahh sweet disgaea and nipon ichi how I love you both,

I'm thinking about playing Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome soon stopped playing it after i got my ps3 but I rented on of those ps2 memory-card cables and have bliped my info over to my ps3

[Lex]

How does it fail, i was just about to pick this up.

I, personally, thought it sucked. Generic grindan gaem, with really lame LOLRANDOMXD humour.

but a lot of people disagree with me, so hey, you might like it.

[StorminNorman]

My copy will arrive either today or tomorrow.

[/backslash]

but a lot of people disagree with me, so hey, you might like it.
I disagree with you :p Obviously it wasn't your type of game
backslash, if you were selling a copy of it to a person who has no idea about the game, how would you sell it?
3 words; Best. Game. Ever ;) Its hard to describe it but if you like weird japanese humour then its a must buy. Just buy it or try it out

[Tonez]

I disagree with you :p Obviously it wasn't your type of game

3 words; Best. Game. Ever ;) Its hard to describe it but if you like weird japanese humour then its a must buy. Just buy it or try it out

It's obviously a JRPG but what's the battle system like? Turn based? Are there random battles?

[/backslash]

I haven't played it for years so its much easier if you read one of these reviews (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps2/disgaeahourofdarkness?q=disgaea). Its turned based though and there's stages of levels as well as a level you use to upgrade your weapons. There's also a lobby of sorts where you get to make new characters, buy weapons & rare items etc

[Rosca]

I disagree with you :p Obviously it wasn't your type of game

3 words; Best. Game. Ever ;) Its hard to describe it but if you like weird japanese humour then its a must buy. Just buy it or try it out

So is it in the similar vein as afternoon of darkness? Or have they tried a newer "hip" approach towards the humour?

[JubeiSaotome]

It's obviously a JRPG but what's the battle system like? Turn based? Are there random battles?

Turn based. You have a set number of units you place on the field. Each round your units and enemy units alternate between moving & attacking until the victorious team wins.

[Nintendork]

Turn based. You have a set number of units you place on the field. Each round your units and enemy units alternate between moving & attacking until the victorious team wins.

I assume this would be every time...

[StorminNorman]

Yeah, it's pretty rare in Disgaea that the victorious team loses, tbh.

[/backslash]

So is it in the similar vein as afternoon of darkness? Or have they tried a newer "hip" approach towards the humour?
I don't know, I haven't been reading about Disgaea 3 but I would imagine it'd be very similar

My copy from PA shipped today! WOO :D

[Nic Xtreme]

What do you mean a "hip" approach? Isn't the beginning of the storyline how the kid wants to get revenge on his dad, the overlord of the netherworld, because he deleted his save file on a game? Sounds like usual Disgaea gold to me! How can one refuse the pure awesomeness of a Disgaea storyline? Filled with Prinnies and randomness like the unexpected arrival in the first game of Captain Gordon: Defender of Earth!!!

[Rambo]

And Prinnies!

[JubeiSaotome]

I, personally, thought it sucked. Generic grindan gaem, with really lame LOLRANDOMXD humour.

but a lot of people disagree with me, so hey, you might like it.

I feel the same. It's basically a Turn-based Strategy RPG with a tonne of added grind and a light hearted story. Then again, I preferred the original Vandal Hearts to the original Final Fantasy Tactics.

[ElPresidente]

Really should put my order down come next pay. I wants me some D3 goodness!

[pecka_a]

backslash, if you were selling a copy of it to a person who has no idea about the game, how would you sell it?

I would say item world, and the level cap is 9,999!!

*edit* hurry up tax return I want to order this game.

[ElPresidente]

I couldn't wait... just ordered it from Play Asia then, should have it next week. :P

Also grabbed the Persona 4 soundtrack too. Loves me Shoji. :D

[Rosca]

What do you mean a "hip" approach? Isn't the beginning of the storyline how the kid wants to get revenge on his dad, the overlord of the netherworld, because he deleted his save file on a game? Sounds like usual Disgaea gold to me! How can one refuse the pure awesomeness of a Disgaea storyline? Filled with Prinnies and randomness like the unexpected arrival in the first game of Captain Gordon: Defender of Earth!!!

How the first games are usually hillarious then they try and relate the humour to real life situations.

Failure usually follows.

Also if anyone wants to sell their copy i'll buy it ! If not who wants me to use their affiliate link ?

[ElPresidente]

I hadn't looked at any reviews for this and upon seeing a sub-80 average on Game Rankings I felt a little disappointed... then I read the reviews and now I'm back up to super excited. The reasons for the low scores generally were a lack of a accessibility and perhaps being a little too focused on pleasing the core NI fanbase rather than trying to be more inclusive of all gamers.

In other words, nothing for an NI fan to be concerned about. BRING IT ON!

[/backslash]

Recently noticed this (http://www.amazon.com/Disgaea-3-Absence-Justice-Playstation/dp/B001C4C4KW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1219922353&sr=8-1). The US version comes with a soundtrack from all 3 games for those who pre-ordered it available from participating retailers (I found it on a Gametrailers trailer)

http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/videogames/promos/Disgaea_ps3_cd_600.jpg

Since mine is an asian copy I doubt I'll have much chance of scoring one :( You never know though - I've had mine pre-ordered for months, fingers crossed

[Starscream]

So pre-ordering the US version at PA, still gets you the basic english soundtrack. :/

[Adios]

Wow I sure hope it does! Anything free is welcome. Is the soundtrack to Disgaea as cooky as the visuals?

[/backslash]

Wow I sure hope it does! Anything free is welcome. Is the soundtrack to Disgaea as cooky as the visuals?
Pretty much

yDuiSgh-01U

[ElPresidente]

God I love Etna. :D

Well my copy is currently on a plane to Australia. A bit annoyed I didn't order on Wednesday because then I'd have it in my hands today. It looks more likely I'll get it on Monday. No big loss... but still.

I want my Disgaea 3 and Persona 4 soundtrack damnit! :D

[Tonez]

ElPrez: Can you tell me if this game is random battles or not?

[pecka_a]

If its like the first two no random battles.
You go to a map, fight, move to next map and so on

its good trust us disgaea kicks so much butt.

[ElPresidente]

Indeed. Disgaea (nor any of NIS tactics titles) is not a random battles game. The games are made up of levels which represent a specific challenge. You start the level, there will be a number of bad guys at pre-determined locations and you have to wipe them out.

[Tonez]

Just read the review and it says people who have never played before may find it incomprehensible. I think I should stay away.

[ElPresidente]

Pick up a copy of the first game cheap and see how you go. NIS titles are the pinnacle of turn based tactical games for me.

[immol8]

PS3 only? Nutburgers.

[ElPresidente]

I think any PS2 owner looking at will be dissappointed because outside of the higher res menus and geometry there is nothing in the game that couldn't happen on the PS2.

[Adios]

Awesome. Can't wait. My copy ships this Monday... thanks to me purchasing one item from the US and another thing from Japan I'm guessing.

[ElPresidente]

Mine should be in hand by monday but I then realised I'm out of the house all day (the one day a week I work outside of my home office) meaning I won't get it til Tuesday. Oh the humanity!

[Slippery]

Does this mean you will change your Av/Sig set to Disgaea?

Please do, she scares me.

The Asian Version of Disgaea 3 (Eng Lang) is only $50 on PA...

Curse my damn exams!

[StorminNorman]

I think any PS2 owner looking at will be dissappointed because outside of the higher res menus and geometry there is nothing in the game that couldn't happen on the PS2.

Apparently the whole "swinging a stack of your characters around" mechanic wasn't possible on the PS2.

[ElPresidente]

Surely that isn't so.

[raz0r]

i dont think iv heard of this before? this an out of the blue game?? could be very good since the ps3 has no rpgs basically

[Nintendork]

Not really out of the blue, seeing as it had two predecessors. Definitely not for everyone but I thoroughly enjoyed the first 2.

[Nic Xtreme]

New Disgaea announced, d00ds! (http://www.hyper.com.au/forums/showpost.php?p=910806&postcount=2901)

[DrSeti]

This comming out on the 360 too or an exclusive?

[ElPresidente]

exclusive

[kid B]

So I need to buy a PS3 now.
God damn it.

[the_tic_begins]

Ordered Disgaea 2 from playasia, picked up Hour of Darkness today from eb ($60 freaking bucks, using trade bait i got it for $27)

Any tips for a complete noob, as its very un user-friendly, im stuck on the firt level, map 4.

[/backslash]

Ordered Disgaea 2 from playasia, picked up Hour of Darkness today from eb ($60 freaking bucks, using trade bait i got it for $27)

Any tips for a complete noob, as its very un user-friendly, im stuck on the firt level, map 4.
Surround enemies in groups to get a combo damage deal happening and take advantage of gem areas. Oh yeah and level up your items in that 'Item level' place if you're having trouble with the story mode

That's all I can think of

[AnTrAxX]

Ordered Disgaea 2 from playasia, picked up Hour of Darkness today from eb ($60 freaking bucks, using trade bait i got it for $27)

Any tips for a complete noob, as its very un user-friendly, im stuck on the firt level, map 4.

check the disgaea thread in the handheld section. Tips galore.


That Prinny game looks awesome.

[Slippery]

Level your characters some more?

Disgaea is all about abusing the rules of the game - that won't become apparent for a while yet though.

Check out the Disgaea Afternoon of Darkness (psp port) thread in the handheld section - it has some good discussion on the first Disgaea.

Edit: Antraxx beat me to it

[the_tic_begins]

Thanks for the tips, ill check the handheld thread.
pep for all, except /backslsh, im firing blanks in your direction

[/backslash]

Psh, whatever :p I haven't played the game since 2003

[ElPresidente]

Disgaea tips compilation (http://www.hyper.com.au/forums/showpost.php?p=709743&postcount=227)

If you read from there onwards you will find all the best tips displayed together. There are some small factual errors in my list but if you read past my posts other people have corrected them.

Anyway the UPS guy appeared at my house yesterday with both Disgaea 3, the DoubleJump guide (big fan of their books) to get my hands on stat formulae, etc and the Persona 4 soundtrack.

As I've been sick I've only had a quick look at Disgaea 3 but lying in bed reading the manual has me feeling VERY positive. So many new wrinkle and tweaks to the rules to exploit. I'm getting rugged up, lying on the couch and playing this all day! :D

[Slippery]

El Prez I expect a lengthy first impressions post by the end of the day.

You've gotta tide me over.

[ElPresidente]

I've put about four hours in so far and these are my first impressions.

For starters this is pure Disgaea. All the sillyness you expect from the franchise is here in abundance. Characters are pretty good so far but no patch on the original teams which is no big deal because NIS never really topped Laharl, Flonne and Etna except with Phantom Brave and those characters were largely not intended for laughs. My only real complaint is that so far the story feels like it is just a jumbled up Hour of Darkness... the school setting might be new but Mao's quest does not feel too different from Lahral.
Interesting change in the skill growth mechanic. Unlike in past games where simply using a skill would increase its power and wielding a weapon over time would give you access to more skills - in Disgaea 3 you have to buy new weapon skills and buy the skill levels to boost their power. You purchase these with mana which makes a seriously major change to the way you look at mana compared to past games. In the past, after a while it generally didn't matter who accumulated mana unless you were focused on the pupil/mentor system for character growth (which is no longer present in Disgaea 3 as far as I can tell). The reason was that most of what you bought mana with benefitted the whole party. Now characters need mana to boost their skills which means you can no longer rely on just fighting characters to be the mana winners of the team, everyone needs to earn their own if they wish to be effective on the battlefield.
Levelling healers is made a little easier thanks to proficiencies in bows so they can actually do damage these days.
Geopanels are no longer the only way time effective means to build the bonus guage. Combo attacks can provide a big growth boost - not as big as using geopanels but significantly more influential than just taking down enemies.
Combo attacks add a second means of taking advantage of your allies on the battlefield. These attacks occur when a series of 2 or more uninterrupted consecutive normal attacks (melee or ranged) hit the one target. As the combo metre goes up each time the next attack does more damage. Combo attacks don't split XP like team attacks do. The person who does lands the final blow gets the XP as usual but since, as mentioned, they can build up the bonus guage surprisingly quickly it feels like this method will be more useful more often with team attacks being more useful for power-levelling low level characters.
The Classroom is an awesome concept! Already I've spent a significant amount of time in here moving people around chairs, starting homeroom discussions (think Dark Assembly from the previous games), joining clubs and reacting to teacher changes. Depending on which clubs you put people in, where you sit them and what teacher is currently presiding your performance on the battlefiled can vary greatly. You can also use the classroom to manipulate certain elements of the game to your advantage. I've already spoken about the difficulty in getting non attacking characters such as priests to build mana to upgrade their skills. However it is possible to start a school club where its members will steal 50% of the mana gained by characters sitting next to them in class. Alternatively you might want to speed up character levelling and form another club where members sitting in the corner of the class room get a 25% XP bonus. I've just used the above two examples to show how important the classroom can be.
Homeroom is the game's replacement for the Dark Assembly and it operates a little differently as far as bribes go. There are actual affiliations amongst the student reps (read senators) and successfully bribing one rep may drop the inclination of an opposing faction to vote in your favour. On top of this there are potential status ailments for certain reps such as being asleep when the vote is taken that you can influence through item use such as a bomb to wake up drowsy reps. Then there are rare student reps who appear from time to time, each with a special ability which will impact the vote significantly.
The new geoblock mechanics are awesome.
The music is perhaps the best in a Disgaea title to date. Especially the music in Mao's Heart Bank.
Level design is very good with actual environmental animation.
As much as the low res 2D sprites of Disgaea have a charm it is a bit dissappointing that they weren't done in a higher resolution. I don't think I'd suggest moving to 3D but c'mon... they have so much character now, what if they were even more expressive thanks to a higher resolution.
I'm listening to the english dub and it aint too bad.

All up I'm loving it so far and there are so many things I've not had the chance to try out. Tower attacks, reverse pirating, item world and more await me. Time to get back to it. :D

[immol8]

Nut. Burgers. Any prinnies yet?

Also this...
Homeroom is the game's replacement for the Dark Assembly and it operates a little differently as far as bribes go. There are actual affiliations amongst the student reps (read senators) and successfully bribing one rep may drop the inclination of an opposing faction to vote in your favour. On top of this there are potential status ailments for certain reps such as being asleep when the vote is taken that you can influence through item use such as a bomb to wake up drowsy reps. Then there are rare student reps who appear from time to time, each with a special ability which will impact the vote significantly.

...was first in Disgaea 2. I managed to get Majin unlocked because I bribed one of the powerful senators that wanted a bow. Lucky me had one in amongst the battle trash.

[ElPresidente]

You're right, factions and status ailments were in number 2. Too much time on the PSP version recently. :P

And yes, plenty of Prinnies. They are the first characters in the game to speak outside of the narrator.

[Mike-Towns]

picked up Hour of Darkness today from eb ($60 freaking bucks, using trade bait i got it for $27)


Not a bad price actually.

[ElPresidente]

Up to chapter 4... have done my first run of item world... very different experience in Disgaea 3. All sorts of new things to get my head around.

Regardless, the more I play the more I fall in love. This could be the best NIS title yet!

[/backslash]

Hey ElPrez did you get the soundtrack with your copy?

[ElPresidente]

Alas no. :(

[pecka_a]

the place that my brother is ordering it from has it.

[StorminNorman]

Finally got my copy today. I really love how they've utilised the vast increases in CPU power to make a more readable screen font.

[ElPresidente]

Smartarse. :P

However considering how much time you spend in menus in a Disgaea game it is surprising how welcome the high res font really is. At least they didn't do the lazy thing in the font department like they did with their sprites. :)

[StorminNorman]

In their defence, the sprites have been cleaned up and given extra frames of animation. Handling sprites is CPU-intensive at the best of times if you don't have dedicated hardware, so it could be that even the basic sprites they used were too much for the (notoriously underpowered) PS2 to handle.

EDIT: One thing that definitely got lost in the transition from PS2 to PS3 was the quality of the English dub. I've no idea how, but the dub for Disgaea 3 is terrible. Fortunately, the Magic of Blu-Ray<tm> means that you can switch to the Japanese audio.

[Slippery]

Jap Audio ftw!

[ElPresidente]

I don't mind the D3 dub at all.

Mind you I'm not one of those guys who does the Japanese dub on much (as far as video games go... I can't handle overdubbed live motion... except in Luc Besson's Subway - Shutup with your f***ing Da-Da-Da Da-Da-Da - Classic :D). I don't understand the language in the slightest so the rises and falls of the pitch that carry so much of the meaning of any spoken language mean nothing to me. I'd rather have the exagerated English dub where at least I can pick up on the intent.

Exceptions to this... any game featuring the DOA girls. The pitch of Western voices just can't do bubble-gum like J-girls. :D

[StorminNorman]

The main character's voice is much better in Japanese, and Raspberyl actually sounds like what you would expect.

[clint999]

I don't really mind the way it looks, but at the same time I kind of wish they'd adopt the Jeanne D'Arc graphical style, which looks great.

[StorminNorman]

Yeah, I totally agree with that. Jeanne D'Arc looks fantastic.

[ElPresidente]

No real power-levels have made themselves known to me in these early chapters which is a bit annoying when I'm trying to level up my fire mage enough to unlock a star or even prism mage.

Also statisticians don't naturally appear in items, you have to go reverse pirate for them which is something I'm yet to do as I've not been attacked by any rangers yet. Oh but when I am... I'm a going statistician farming damnit! :D

[Rosca]

I picked a copy of this up yesterday(gametraders ftw) really liking it so far, especially the new class room system it just feels like theirs a lot more depth to this one !

Also Mr Chaploo is the best, reminds me of the chef from futurama, Boom !

[ElPresidente]

Master Champloo beats out that chef... Champloo is awesome. Boom!

[pecka_a]

My brother just ordered it for me, it's on its way soon......I hope

[/backslash]

Received this game today but didn't get the soundtrack :( Haven't played it yet even though I got it 3 hours ago (been playing The Sims 2 again)

[Adios]

I got it today too :D !

Too bad I won't get to play it this week. Waaay too much homework.

[ElPresidente]

C'mon folks... I want Disgaea discussion. Get your copies in your PS3s post-haste!

[/backslash]

C'mon folks... I want Disgaea discussion. Get your copies in your PS3s post-haste!
Okay its in my PS3, now what do I do? :p

[Starscream]

Okay its in my PS3, now what do I do? :p
Eject it and watch a Blu-ray movie.

[/backslash]

Eject it and watch a Blu-ray movie.
Done & done :D

Actually I played an hour's worth just now, I like the intro - very anime like and the lobby music is addictive as well "la la, lalalala". I also liked how the main character was reading a comic book as well which kept on cutting in during the conversation with the prinnies. One thing that put me off though was the dodgy speech bubbles for the comics, they could've used a better font style & at least centre the words so it doesn't come across as a crappy fansub.

Its unfortunate they couldn't give some high-res sprites for the characters, especially when you zoom in on a 46" tv. The first 4 battles have been pretty easy (as one would expect thus far) but I'm keen to get into the item world to level up my armour rather than only being able to buy 1 or 2 items each battle.

Not sure if I like the japanese audio, it suits the characters but I find it a little dull especially Geoffrey - might switch it to english and see how it goes. Good game thus far

[ElPresidente]

Well that's the last you see of that comic so no need to worry about that font annoying you any further.

Regarding item world you have a bit to go before it opens. Item world won't open until chapter 3. Really what you'll be spending your time mucking around with until then is the classroom and getting your head around how seating positions affect you in battle.

My pro-tip for the early stages of the game is to make use of the Corner Res Group club and put the characters you wish to level in those corners. It is also a good time to make use of the Robber Shop club once it opens to start spreading mana around so you can buy and boost skills.

Also when you get access to the class room you will note that three seats are taken up by the Vato brothers. I can't remember who is who but you can free up those seats by placing team members near the brothers. One hates being seated next to girls, another being seated next to guys and the final brother hates having someone sit either side of him. Get rid of those rascals as they will drop items when they flee the class.

[/backslash]

Cheers for that ElPrez

I'm now up to chapter 2, completed the first level & replayed some previous levels in order to buy some of the more expensive weapons & armour like the Judo outfit. I've got about 3 imperial gems now too, they're quite handy and I've bought a couple of skills and levelled them up. Funny how the Overlord is such a massive character

Switched the audio to english which is quite good, the humour doesn't reach the original game though, I haven't lol'd yet. I like the random bizarre art images after you complete a stage, like some girls playing beach volleyball (I think) and the ball's a prinnie

Can't get enough of the music, wish my copy came with the soundtrack GODDAMNIT!

[Adios]

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!

I'm getting the soundtrack. Got an e-mail from Play-Asia which said they're sending me one :D Might be the same with you backslash!

[/backslash]

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!

I'm getting the soundtrack. Got an e-mail from Play-Asia which said they're sending me one :D Might be the same with you backslash!
Wha? Which version did you buy? Asian or USA & did you have to complain to them?

[Adios]

US version. I didn't even know I was getting anything extra until they sent me that e-mail today. Didn't complain at all.

[/backslash]

Damn, I pre-ordered got the asian version. Wonder if that matters? I don't see any emails in my inbox either, think I'll complain :p

[/backslash]

Shot off an email to PA & got a reply

Thank you for contacting Play-Asia.com.

For the soundtrack, we will receive from our supplier later. It sends
separately with the game. Therefore, we will send the soundtrack to the
pre-order customer later after we received the stock.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Well at least I know I'll be getting it eventually

[Slippery]

That was fast

Props to their customer service, granted they probably should've sent you that e-mail without you asking

[/backslash]

Yeah, well maybe they were but hadn't gone around to it. Still, the soundtrack should've been sealed with the game like Phantom Brave rather than a mysterious limited edition

--------------

Finished Chapter 2 last night and unlocked Item World. I levelled up 4 times before I used 'Mr Gate' and escaped since I was getting my ass kicked. That and also because I was running out of good throwing characters (I didn't clear a single level, just throwing my guys around the place to get to the next stage)

What characters should I make? I've still got all the default ones. There's quite a few and too many stats for me to remember them. I'm thinking of making a decent archer (aside from the healer who is still useless despite buying the best weapons that money can buy) and maybe another spear guy, their 2 space attack is quite handy though its a shame if there's 2 enemies in a line it doesn't attack them both like Jeanne D'Arc

[pecka_a]

Still waiting for my game (i'm wondering how my brother placed the order, maybe by turtle) I mean sure it's only thursday and he is getting it from some canadian website but I want it NOW!!!

[Adios]

Managed to give it a try late last night.

For my first Disgaea game, it's hilarious! I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment, even though I'm still managing to finish off enemies with ease, I feel I don't have a good grasp on the other tactical side of it (weapons, equipment, evilties, geo blocks and so on). Guess that'll come eventually.

[/backslash]

Completed the first set of 10 levels in the 'Item World', took me long enough. I've died 4 times already and had to keep restarting - because the items I was trying to upgrade were rare there were more annoying geo blocks like 'Deathblow'. If you're on a deathblow square and get hit by an enemy, its instant death. I never even notice some of these squares since there's up to 6 different geo blocks on 1 level

Its incredibly frustrating when one of my best guys always gets killed and then I've got to somehow manage to finish the rest of the levels. I go to use the item to escape but I kept forgetting to move items from the warehouse before I begun so it turns into a suicide mission. My PS3 decided to spit the dummy too on my last play, midway through the item world I finished one level and then all I got was some strange noise and a blank screen, argh!

[ElPresidente]

Always be careful of which items you level up. As a general rule, the more powerful the item the more powerful the denizens that reside inside.

More importantly, you don't have to clear each floor, you just need to pass the floor. What this means is tower throw, tower throw, tower throw.

Check the bonus sceen. Is there anything there you really want? If so then take a look at the levels of the enemy and make a realistic estimate of whether you will be able to defeat them without too much damage to yourself. If there is good stuff up for grabs on the bonus and you can take the enemies down easy then clear that level.

Otherwise stack up as many characters as you need to throw the stack right over to the exit gate. If there is someone on the gate you may need to make sure the top character in the tower is a first weapon user (or someone else with a move enemy attack) to knock the enemy off the exit (enemies that start the level on the exit won't leave it and they can't be lifted) and then walk on in. Assuming you picked up the top character in the tower directly from your base panel they should still have a movement option left after they have shifted the enemy.

Also try and predict how tough the 10th, 20th, etc level is going to be as you approach it. When assessing chances of success on earlier floors don't just think about will I survive the battles on this floor but also will I get through it healthy enough to survive the 10th floor battle. The reason for this is that if you only clear one level per trip to item world you want it to be level 10, 20, etc because then you get a Mr Gency's Exit and you really want to have a stockpile of 5 or so in your inventory to make your item world journeys less risky.

[StorminNorman]

Disgaea 3 alleviates some of the difficulties that the item world presented previously by providing an "Innocent town" after each 10 levels. This allows you to revive your characters and continue on inside the item world if you so desire without using a Mr Gency's Exit to go back to the hub and recharge there.

It's a nice addition.

[ElPresidente]

You never had to use a Mr Gency's Exit to leave in the last Disgaeas. Every 10 levels you were given the option to either exit or continue on except here they send you to the innocent town first and then when you go to leave that you are given the option to continue on or leave.

That said, as there are benefits for item levelling in not leaving, being able to recharge in item before moving on is a definite positive.

[/backslash]

Since my PS3 is dead now I won't be able to play anymore of this game for quite a while -_-

[ElPresidente]

Holy crap... totally dead... you poor poor man. :(

You still within warranty?

[/backslash]

Well its not totally dead but it may as well be. I can't load any discs but I've managed to backup my game data, currently doing the 3 hour HDD formatting (not as exciting as playing Disgaea)

Also my warranty expired 4 months ago (PA only allow 6 months)

[Adios]

Sunk 6 hours into it last night. Totally addicted :p

[pecka_a]

well you can do keep talking about how good it is, but I'm still waiting semi-paciently for mine. hurry up and get to me already!!!!

[ElPresidente]

This man is a genius...

It really struck me today how unfortunate it is that this game didn't come with trophies. I mean, seriously... has any game been better suited for trophies than Disgaea? You want that platinum trophy for leveling up your legendary sword to 100 (or does it go up to 1000 now)? Good luck, see you next year. And now instead of just bragging about it on message boards, you could actually show it off in your PS "Home" (if it ever comes out). Oh well... what a loss.

I had never thought of that but now I have thought of it I'm all depressed. I want trophies in Disgaea 3 damnit!

[pecka_a]

I got it this morning and I LOVE IT sure i'm still in the traning levels but its great,

I find it weird now that you have to buy your skills but then again I always had lots of mana to spare. more coments when i get into it.

[ElPresidente]

The trick is going to be making sure that healers and the like get mana. Make use of the Robber Shop club!

[pecka_a]

robber shop club check, I have to listen to the cd also.

[ElPresidente]

Awww man... what a horrible experience.

I just levelled Sapphire 20 levels in the item world as well as picking up a level sphere on the way to make for a very nice and profitable item world visit. With two Gency's in my inventory and everyone fully healed up in the item world' innocent town I decided to continue on my journey without heading back to the netherworld.

The very next level on my first go I accidently chuck an enemy into my base panel with only one character out on the field. My first thought was no biggy as the characters inside were all a higher level than the monster but suddenly I remembered there reason I rarely threw monsters into the base panel in previous games is they need to be significantly damaged first as you need a much greater level difference between those in the base panel and the monster to come out unscathed than you would normally expect on the field.

So there I watch my base panel go boom... leaving only Sapphire. No probs, just use my exit... except I have already used an action that turn (throw) and the enemy had to have a turn before I could use my exit. Of course pixelated gang rape followed and I died.

An hour of item worlding gone to waste. :(

[funcshen]

Finally a reason to buy a ps3? If u havent got one ur missing out allready. Metal Gear solid 4 is the best game ive played to date, 360 or ps3. Resistance2 the has potential to leave halo 3 in its wake (I have halo 3 btw). Cant wait till november...Fable2, Fallout3, resistance2

[ElPresidente]

????????????????????????

[Nic Xtreme]

I bought/traded this off Rosca and got it today, I love the two matches I've played so far! I never got to play Disgaea 2; I'm hoping it comes to PSP :( so it's interesting to see how the game has changed since the original! I love the soundtrack, and the battle animations are great! I love the Prinny two-person combo one with the bombs :D ~ pity about the lack of high-res sprites, though. Very happy :D

Finally a reason to buy a ps3? If u havent got one ur missing out allready. Metal Gear solid 4 is the best game ive played to date, 360 or ps3. Resistance2 the has potential to leave halo 3 in its wake (I have halo 3 btw). Cant wait till november...Fable2, Fallout3, resistance2

Oh yeah I bet you can't wait for the PS3 version of Fable 2!

[ElPresidente]

Had a very good session this morning. I'm at 5-4 and have most of my characters levelled up to 45-60.

Have yet to create anyone yet outside of reincarnating my Prinny as a Prinny Cpt.

Cool feature I discovered in Item World is the ability to recolour characters. Doesn't work for named characters but for all others it allows you to colour them as any of the types for that monster/character that you have unlocked. This made me happy since, as far as I'm concerned, Prinnies should be no colour other than blue. The first time I met the Item World Artist I changed the colour of my orange Prinny Cpt back to the normal Prinny blue. I'm happy now. :D

Also encountered a mystery level which is a platformer. To get to the best chests you need to hop across a whole heap of pillars and you even encounter a Rosen Queen seller who sells ultra rare items (at an ultra steep price alas). Was pretty cool.

[/backslash]

Got my PS3 back today & my save files on the USB were corrupted so I had to start over again! :( Thank god you can skip the storyline

[ElPresidente]

You weren't too far in though were you? If so it could have been worse. :P

[StorminNorman]

Also encountered a mystery level which is a platformer. To get to the best chests you need to hop across a whole heap of pillars and you even encounter a Rosen Queen seller who sells ultra rare items (at an ultra steep price alas). Was pretty cool.

That level is so godsdamn annoying.

[/backslash]

You weren't too far in though were you? If so it could have been worse. :P
Level 24. I suppose it could've been worse but the thing is it wasn't supposed to happen at all

[pecka_a]

I'm loving the linking special moves.I think I'm up to level 3 but I am hanging out in item world to get my guys stronger.

[/backslash]

I put in some hours yesterday and quickly surpassed the place I was before. Cleared a few of those Item Worlds without using an exit so my characters eventually became super powerful with some awesome armour purchased in the mystery level and thanks to benefiting from the geo combos I got plenty of stuff to sell

My balance is now 320,000 HL :D And that's after purchasing all the equipment that cost me up to 20,000 each for every character

[/backslash]

Reincarnated some of my characters (Prinnie is now Cpt Prinnie) and bought a couple of 100,000HL weapons/armour. I like it how when you reincarnate you get a different desk depending on how much mana you have (that way you'll remember who's levelled up).

Mao now deals over 900 damage and he's only at level 36 :D I've been focusing on levelling up my items rather than playing through the storyline - currently at Chapter 4

[Nic Xtreme]

So I've played this for about 3 hours now, and I have to say it's definitely starting off weaker than the first game. The storyline is really...lame. Not that funny. I'm not really enjoying the characters; as such, I feel rather detached from the game and getting round to playing it feels...forced. A far cry from Disgaea 1. Still, I'm sure it all gets better, and I won't stop playing now!

[ElPresidente]

The storyline has grown on me significantly since I started. Mao is still not as appealing as Laharl and Raspberyl switches between a character I like and one that really annoys me. However Almaz, Champloo, Sapphire, Master Big Star, Salvatore all earn big thumbs up from me. Sapphire in particular I really like.

The story is not as 'funny' as Disgaea 1 but is more emotive. It is a bit of a cross between Phantom Brave and Disgaea 1.

From a gameplay perspective, despite the lack of early power levelling stages I am enjoying this more than past NIS titles. I do think it is their best to date.

[pecka_a]

how are we going to get the downloadable content???

[Adios]

Do we need to create another account?

Sigh... I wish I had more time to play this game.

[/backslash]

Last night I met the character Sapphire, I agree with El Prez on character choices.

I've got 1,500,000 HL now :) Characters are finally proving to be useful in the item world when both my main characters got killed off early on yet I still managed to pass 10 levels just by having my guys stick together and healing frequently

[StorminNorman]

Healer classes work so much better in this than in D1. From memory, Disgaea 2 added the feature where healers gain XP from healing, and that really really helps. It's definitely worthwhile taking a healer into a group and levelling them up, as they become quite powerful later on.

[the_tic_begins]

Im almost at the end of the story mode of Disgaea: hour of darkness (still so much to do onc the story is over) , i havent played Disgaea 2 at all. I have disgaea 3, screaming to be played.

Do i play Disgaea 3 now or wait till ive finished the story of Disgaea 2, will i miss anything.

[Adios]

The Item World is the biggest time suck I've ever seen in a video game!

I think I need to get more characters specializing in spears. Mao just kicks so much ass with it and the extra range is a god send.

[ElPresidente]

But spears don't have much in the way of convenient group attacks. The best approach is definitely to have a mix of weapons in your team with appropriately learned skills.

Mid way through Chapter 7 at the moment and have finally hit my first true power level: 7-3.

The first time you play the level it won't be apparent it is going to be a power levelling stage since the make up of the stage changes markedly when you come back for your second time on.

Basically a 3x3 square of Champignon's on EXP+100 squares. Just been using my Red Mage to squish them with a 2x3 shot of mega fire followed by a 1x3 shot to clear them out (Still haven't maxed out spells to +9 yet).

Levelled her up to 150 and forgot it is a Star Mage I need to get to 150 before unlocking Prism Mages. So I reincarnated and in one attack on 7-3 took her from Level 1 to Level 40. Judicious use of the Stronger Enemies homeroom bill along with repeat visits means I got her to 150 in about 5-10 minutes.

Reincarnated again to make her a Prism Mage and now have her up to around 150. Good little spot and with multiple trips to Class World her INT stat is ridiculous. Has around a 150% aptitude on INT.

God I love this game.

[Adios]

Sorry I'm a Disgaea newbie, but what advantages does reincarnation give to the character?

[Nic Xtreme]

Anyone with a PS3 and without this game, I'm selling it in the HAH ~ go buy it! Trade me de Blob for it!

[ElPresidente]

Sorry I'm a Disgaea newbie, but what advantages does reincarnation give to the character?

Reincarnation has a couple of advantages:

The character retains all of the skills of their previous incarnation
This means you can build super characters with all the skills of all the classes if you so wish. In the main though this means that reincarnation is generally your best bet for upgrading specific classes as higher tier class ranks are available. For instance you may want to upgrade your Red Mage to a Star Mage to retain the skills you have already developed plus gain access to star magic where as a Star Mage created from scratch would only have access to star magic. Just be aware that you can only ever LEARN the skills of that class. For instance if you reincarnate a Star Mage to a Prism Mage you will no longer be able to learn star magic skills but will keep any you have already learned.
The character gains stat boosts
Reincarnated characters gain small boosts to aptitude with each successive reincarnation. Story line unique characters (Mao, Almaz, Sapphire, etc) in particular do very well out of reincarnation with an even higher aptitude boost than what normal classes get with reincarnation.
You can build upon existing stats
Choosing the quality of the reincarnated class gives you the ability to spend a bit more mana to get bonus stat points to use just as with character creation. However a reincarnated character goes back to their base stats, giving you the ability to really pump up a handful of stats over time.
You reset your Class World access for that character
Depending on the quality of the character incarnation you can access Class World a set number of times. For instance distinguished characters can enter Class World three times whereas Good-For-Nothing characters can only enter it once. Reincarnating resets the clock as it were, allowing you to go back to Class World to either boost stats, share evilities, level up, or any of the other beneficial tasks you can complete in Class World.

However reincarnation is not without draw backs.

You reset the amount of mana the character has back to zero
For this reason always spend as much mana you can on the character quality, any left over mana is going to disappear so don't let it go to waste.
Reincarnation can get very expensive
While story characters simply have a flat rate of mana cost no matter how many times they are reincarnated other classes double the mana cost of each quality level for each reincarnation.
Higher class tiers can make previous work redundant
Unless you know the properties of higher teir classes you may waste some time trying to learn a whole raft of skills. The perfect example is Mages and Skulls. You could reincarnate your starting Red Mage in to a Blue Mage after learning all the fire skills and then into a Green mage after learning all the ice skills and then learning all the wind skills. One would think you have created some form of super mage for all that work but the truth is that once you hit level 50 you unlock the Star Mage and if you level one of those to 150 you unlock the Prism Mage (and later the Galaxy Mage which is the same as the Prism Mage but with access to star magic as well). This class has access to all of the elemental types (ice, fire, wind) and simply power levelling your way to that class is going to take less time than learning all the elemental skills manually.

Hope that helps.

[ElPresidente]

Finished the main story last night... had quite a sweet ending and was nice satisfying conclusion to the whole plot.

So now for the really fun bits... the post-game.

I spent ages trying to figure out how to get started but it turns out you need to speak to the Shaman right near where you start at the begining of the post-game. This will unlock the first extra mission - Meet Master Big Star or though Meet Master Bigster would be more appropriate (it makes sense, trust me :P).

Have not played the level yet, had to do a bunch of other things but looking forward to jumping in this evening.

Time to start work on levelling a fight master to the fourth tier so I can unlock Big Bang... the only 3x3 physical skill in the game. Then it is on class world to give it to everyone. :)

Oh I should explain why... the first main power-levelling stage is 7-3 and it is a 3x3 formation of Champignons you need to bash the crap out of. Without a 3x3 attack it can be very dangerous for low level characters, not too mention time consuming.

[pecka_a]

So I was in item worlds leveling up my people and I was one level away from being able to leave there and save so what happens, I get into a mystery room and buy some stuff and I accidentally talk to the guy again after I finish buying all his stock and it then goes into battle mode Let’s just say my level 15 guys died by the hands of the level 1500 guy

[ElPresidente]

That's a bit harsh. I never knew that happens.

[pecka_a]

Neither did I they normaly say the same thing over and over.

[pecka_a]

For the few of you that do not have it yet disgeae 3 is coming out either February or march this year.

[ElPresidente]

Finally!!

[pecka_a]

you got that right, sure I already have it but that not the point we should have had it by now.

[Adios]

For the few of you that do not have it yet disgeae 3 is coming out either February or march this year.

Wow!

Really happy I got it shipped all that time ago :D

[pecka_a]

Wow!

Really happy I got it shipped all that time ago :D

Same here I still have a lot to do in to do in it.
but there are too many other games to play.

[ElPresidente]

Anyone in the post game yet or just me?

[pecka_a]

I don't even know what your talking about so I'm going to have to say no not yet.

[ElPresidente]

Post-Game = Main story finished.

[pecka_a]

ahh then no, I think I'm in chapter 3 or 4, I will have to get back into it this week.

[Nic Xtreme]

Disgaea 3 will not only be $109.95 in Oz, but "Exclusive to EB Games" when it comes out on the 19th of Feb... (http://www.ebgames.com.au/PS3/product.cfm?ID=13825)

...even though DVDCrave are listing it. (http://www.dvdcrave.com.au/products/product.jsp?pid=47998)

[ElPresidente]

Well that will sell a whole lot of nothin'