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Disgaea 2 for dummies?
Sorcha Ravenlock
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I was looking for a game to play that is suitable for when my daughter is around, and came across Disgaea 2 in my PS2 library. I bought the game about a year or so ago from a bargain bin, but never really got into it.
The truth is I'm pretty new to the SJRPG genre (I dabbled a bit in Luminous arc, and got about 16 hours into FFTA2) and the game is just overwhelming me with options.
I never played the first, but a lot of online FAQs seem to assume I did, which is not helping.
I don't really need indepth help on how to build characters and stuff (although I will need that later on probably, but that sort of info seems to be abundantly available) but more on what to focus on when I'm playing through the first few chapters.
Do I need to start making new classes right away? New weapons? Should I focus on levelling up the group I have first? What about the storyline characters, what should I do with them?
Should I try and do some felonies right away or play through the main story a bit? Should I do every level a few times, and when I do I know when it's time to move on?
I can't be the only one needing a bit of a beginners guide with hints and tips to make the start a bit more easier to oversee, so I'm assuming there's got to be something like that around. Anything that makes the game a bit easier to oversee is much appreciated.
The truth is I'm pretty new to the SJRPG genre (I dabbled a bit in Luminous arc, and got about 16 hours into FFTA2) and the game is just overwhelming me with options.
I never played the first, but a lot of online FAQs seem to assume I did, which is not helping.
I don't really need indepth help on how to build characters and stuff (although I will need that later on probably, but that sort of info seems to be abundantly available) but more on what to focus on when I'm playing through the first few chapters.
Do I need to start making new classes right away? New weapons? Should I focus on levelling up the group I have first? What about the storyline characters, what should I do with them?
Should I try and do some felonies right away or play through the main story a bit? Should I do every level a few times, and when I do I know when it's time to move on?
I can't be the only one needing a bit of a beginners guide with hints and tips to make the start a bit more easier to oversee, so I'm assuming there's got to be something like that around. Anything that makes the game a bit easier to oversee is much appreciated.
Sorcha Ravenlock on
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You don't need to make new classes right off. In fact, it's better to wait until you have A) Some money saved up to equip them with good stuff and
Of course, their's nothing stopping you from makeing new characters right away, if you want. But money is scarce early on and keeping an army equipped is an expensive proposition, particularly if you go magic heavy.
the main thing to remember is that theres really no way to do things wrong in disgaea. youre never going to permanently screw yourself over or anything. just go through the story, make whatever characters seem appropriate at the time, and level whenever you start having trouble with the story levels (you'll come across levels that made for leveling your characters, its pretty pointless to try leveling before you hit the first one of those). just have fun with it and dont get bogged down trying to do everything perfectly or else you will never ever get anywhere. there are so many options and things to do that if you get all OCD with it you will drive yourself insane.
I am having lots of fun with it so far, I love the humor.
I do find the red mage I have rather useless. Should I make a different color mage, or just stick with this one and let him level a bit, or maybe make one of each color?
I tend to make one of each colour. My preferred strategy is to have my healer make one mage as a pupil, then that mage creates the other two types as her pupils. This way I can teach my first mage and and my healer all the elemental spells.
As you appear to have already created a mage, you could have your healer and your mage each make one of the mages of the other colours.
Edit: And now I want to play some Disgaea 2. Damnit, I have things to do today!
The red mage came with the team Adell's father initially gave me. I have Adell, Rozaline, a male fighter, a healer and a Red mage. So it's easy enough to dump the red mage at these low levels, and apprentice the mages the way you suggested. I did end up creating a thief last night, but I'm still not sure how thieving works since she kept dying in the first round. I'm sure i'll work that one out though.
And sorry for making you want to play Disgaea
You need to buy hands from shops in order to steal. They are one use items that let you try and take something from a monster. Anyone can use them, but thieves have a bonus to using them. Having a high hit score is necccessary too since it raises the chance to steal (and the chances are pretty low when you start off).
Great thing about disgaea is that the powergaming features are completely upto you.. it's one of the few srpgs you don't actually need much advice.
Some of these classes have some cool abilities, useful specialties, or both.
I've read about those other classes (I am reading guides on gamefaq but all the information is so scattered all over the place). Some are straight forward, like 3 levels in bows gives you an archer, but others require more. For example a Magic knight needs both staff and sword at level 13. Do I need both those skills on the same character, or can I have 1 person getting swords to 13 and another staff?
Another question: how do you capture monsters?
Man, I feel so out of my depth with this game. :? This is why I gave up the last few times, the more I read about the game the more questions I have.
I'm half-tempted to pick up the strategy guide here: http://www.doublejumpbooks.com/disgaea2/
I never bought a guide for any game before, but having all the info in one PDF would be rather helpful...
And you can capture a monster by tossing them onto your base panel. Though the chance to capture them depends on how many people are in your base panel, and how strong they are. The monster will systematically tear through the people in your base panel until it's either captured or the base panel is destroyed and the monster bursts out. Though don't try this during your first visit to an area, as the monsters seem to either be really hard to capture, or they just burst out by default. I would personally suggest grabbing a Nekomata when you get the opportunity. It's a pretty nice early physical fighter when combined with a Beast Master, and it's pretty useful against a particular re-occurring boss that happens to take reduced damage from humanoid characters.
And I wouldn't worry too much about figuring everything out. A lot of the stuff is completely extra. Useful and cool, yes, but not necesary by any means.
I don't think I casted a single spell the first time through. My asskicking girth made it unnecessary.
It's already been said, but hold on to your red mage. My most asskicking character was that red mage you get early in the game. I had to force myself not to use him too often because he would obliterate stuff, keep all the XP for himself and be way overleveled compared to my other characters.
Called them The Brothers, and they tore shit up.
Same thing happened, they got to be massively over powered/leveled, forcing me to choose to either just use them (as everyone else on the team was fairly worthless in comparison) or go back and grind my way up with the other characters to equalize them.