Disgaea PSP help!

Snare

Firstly, sorry if there is already a thread but I can't search these forums, the link does work or something (maybe Im being dumb)

But I've just picked up Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness after reading all the great reviews people give it here.

I've played a few hours and Im already struggling...

How exactly do you level new characters you make? They normally just die after 1 hit (even on very first level) and I have to get Laharl or Etna to kill everything...

Do you have to get the killing-blow with a character to get xp for them? Or is xp shared over the whole team?

I've put some basic shop-bought items on a few of them and I think it helps a bit, but they are so weak still.

Also, as they are all dead all the time, Im running out of HL to heal people so I end up using all my Mint HP items and using Laharl and Etna for everything?!

I've not played a Strategy RPG before, so please give it to me in basic

Behemoth

Early on, Laharl is going to be a monster, he's going to carry your team until you can buy better equipment.

You only get experience for a killing blow, but that makes it easier to level weaker characters. You can beat a more powerful enemy down to a sliver of HP and then have one of your weak guys kill it for all the experience.

You get better stuff in the shops by passing "more expensive equipment" bills through the dark congress. They're really easy to pass, you probably won't have to bribe anyone at all.

You WILL have to grind, and grind a lot, but there are lots of ways to speed up the process later in the game.

MuddBudd

I find that passing the "Better equipment" bill too early can be detrimental, as very early on you have almost no cash.

I just replay the first few areas over and over until my created characters are closer to Laharl and Co.

I can't quite get the hang of the item world however.... too tough.

NailbunnyPD

Early on, play in the item world to: A. accumulkate more cash, and B. level up your equipment.

For starter characters, have them pair up with their mentor and take out enemies. You can stand them on adjacent tiles and they will be very likely to help each other attack. While you can do this with multiple characters, the XP gets distributed amongst all those that participate in the killing blow, so I recommend sticking to your low level (maximize XP) and their mentor (highest chance of paired attack.)

Strayth

Put your lowbies adjacent to their mentors (Laharl or whomever) when they attack. They will join in a combo, and even if they don't do a good deal of damage, they'll share some experience. Worked for me.

If they're ranger-types, try to plunk them down someplace safe and have them pick off enemies that way. If you're like me, healers were the most troublesome to level up, so stick a good weapon on them and make like they're brawlers in adjacent squares to the master.

Aroduc

Strayth wrote: »

Put your lowbies adjacent to their mentors (Laharl or whomever) when they attack. They will join in a combo, and even if they don't do a good deal of damage, they'll share some experience. Worked for me.

If they're ranger-types, try to plunk them down someplace safe and have them pick off enemies that way. If you're like me, healers were the most troublesome to level up, so stick a good weapon on them and make like they're brawlers in adjacent squares to the master.

Or give them mage pupils so they can learn attack spells.

MuddBudd

NailbunnyPD wrote: »

Early on, play in the item world to: A. accumulkate more cash, and B. level up your equipment.

Yeah but it's kicking my ass. I can't make it 10 levels down to get back up.