Concerning Geo Panels, Bonus Gauges, Transmigrations, Pupils and Senators [Disgaea]

Chen

i.e. The Most Convoluted Strategy Role-Playing Game With Arithmetics That Could Rival Goku And His Ragtag Team of Misfits.

"I lost hundreds of hours with Disgaea.", an acquaintance said. "There's endless stuff to do.", he continued. Well, I had my doubts to his claim, but now that I'm playing the real deal I sort of understand his sentiments, because this game is arduousness of the highest order. I'm already dreading the future grinding, not to mention stealing items, learning skills/spells, increasing weapon masteries, acquiring demon ranks and transmigrating to keep up with the hordes of enemies.

This is why I call upon thy wisdom and share hints, tips and advice before I burrow my head too deep into the abyss. I'm not planning on replaying it, so it'd be great if the first and last run could be relatively painless. I mean, the amount of levels you can reach here is daunting and frankly terrifying. It'd be a slap in the face if I screwed up with the game's elaborate systems I didn't delve into until later in the game. Anything to make the quest smoother would be appreciated.

You may also use this thread to tell thy tales of thy stay in the wondrous world of Disgaea, so that I may too bask in all of its gloriousness.

JHunz

You can complete the main storyline without going into the Item World at all except at the one point where it tells you how to do so, and is in fact the only way to play through the storyline with any level of challenge involved. I recommend it for a first run.
I suppose it depends on what your definition of replaying is. If you're actually trying to complete every optional goal in the game definitely plan to spend those hundreds of hours your friend was talking about. I never did finish the final uber-boss, and I believe my save is at somewhere around 400 hours.

Chen

Is Geo chaining the only way to significantly raise the bonus gauge? If so, I can't really wrap around how it works. So you collect all the Geo symbols, throw them on single color panels and throw the last one that turns the panels into a different color to start the chain? How do you prevent the other symbols from starting a chain reaction first? And what are the values?

There are some juicy bonus items in the 6-9 region, but Lord knows how to get there.

Seol

Geo chaining only works effectively on a small number of levels. The trick is to start with two blocks (say Blue and Red) on a colour that there are no blocks for (eg Cyan), and then another block on one of those colours (eg Purple on Blue), the next on the other of those first colours (Yellow on Red), and then another on the first of that second set (Green on Purple), and then the null on the last (so here Null on Yellow). Think of it as building two separate chains, each of which triggers the next in the other chain. Start by destroying Blue, and all cyan will be blue - then red will trigger, take out the blue blocks - ie, all the ones that were cyan, plus the originally blue ones, triggering purple. Purple will turn all red ones purple - ie, all the ones that were cyan or blue, and the originally red ones, triggering yellow. Etc.

Chen

I'm dumb. I still don't fully comprehend it. From StrategyWiki:

Chain Strategies

1. Put all Geo Symbols except for one on a single color. If there is a color of panel with no corresponding symbol, make sure that is the color that all the Geo Symbols are on. Choose one of the Geo Symbols that you will destroy first, and place the Null symbol on that color. Then destroy the chosen symbol.
2. This is similar to the first, except that the Null symbol is placed on the same color as all the other symbols. Just make sure that the Null symbol is the furthest symbol from the one that is destroyed first.
3. This one is slightly more complicated. Start by placing two colored Geo Symbols on a single color of Geo Panel (one without a corresponding Geo Symbol, if possible). Choose one of them to destroy first, and put it at the start of your list, and put the other one next. For example, if you start with red and green on yellow, your list will start out like this:

1. Red on Yellow
2. Green on Yellow

From here on, always place Geo Symbols such that they are on a panel the same colors as the Symbols two before them on the list. For example, the blue and Null Symbols might be placed like so:

1. Red on Yellow
2. Green on Yellow
3. Blue on Red
4. Null on Green

So method 1 can only succeed if there are more different colored panels than symbols and method 2 if the null symbol is geographically the furthest away. So far so good. The last method though reads like what you've described and it's complete jargon to me. I can't visualize the procedure at all and I sure as hell can't remember it. Shit is complicated in Disgaea.

BlitzAce1981

Chen wrote: »

I'm dumb. I still don't fully comprehend it. From StrategyWiki:

Chain Strategies

1. Put all Geo Symbols except for one on a single color. If there is a color of panel with no corresponding symbol, make sure that is the color that all the Geo Symbols are on. Choose one of the Geo Symbols that you will destroy first, and place the Null symbol on that color. Then destroy the chosen symbol.
2. This is similar to the first, except that the Null symbol is placed on the same color as all the other symbols. Just make sure that the Null symbol is the furthest symbol from the one that is destroyed first.
3. This one is slightly more complicated. Start by placing two colored Geo Symbols on a single color of Geo Panel (one without a corresponding Geo Symbol, if possible). Choose one of them to destroy first, and put it at the start of your list, and put the other one next. For example, if you start with red and green on yellow, your list will start out like this:

1. Red on Yellow
2. Green on Yellow

From here on, always place Geo Symbols such that they are on a panel the same colors as the Symbols two before them on the list. For example, the blue and Null Symbols might be placed like so:

1. Red on Yellow
2. Green on Yellow
3. Blue on Red
4. Null on Green

So method 1 can only succeed if there are more different colored panels than symbols and method 2 if the null symbol is geographically the furthest away. So far so good. The last method though reads like what you've described and it's complete jargon to me. I can't visualize the procedure at all and I sure as hell can't remember it. Shit is complicated in Disgaea.

Step 1, hit Red. This turns all yellow panels to red, and triggers the green symbol.
Step 2, the triggered green turns all the red panels to green, and because the blue symbol is on a red panel, it triggers.
Step 3, the triggered blue turns all green panels to blue, and triggers the null symbol.
Step 4, the triggered null clears the blue panels.
Step 5, flashy light show where all enemies get hit for the same amount of damage.
Step 6, bonus gauge shoots up.

Seol

If it helps, think about the colour changes you want in reverse order, ending in taking out the null.