Disgaea

[TheTampaCepter]

Culdcept was really the first non-mainstream game i had ever bought before. So I decided to buy this game also and holy crap....its awesome. I've always liked "tacics" type games such as tacics ogre, vandal hearts, f f tactics, onimusha tactics, but this one is totally awesome. The story, gameplay, etc. Highly recommended!

[Salzy]

Some of the best games are games that aren't mainstream. Disgaea and Culdcept are two prime examples.

I would have to say that in recent memory, those two are the best examples I can think of. I got my copy of both those games very close to release date. This is because I know they are going to be VERY hard to find a year from now. If they aren't hard to get already

[avsphil]

Yep, I work at a game store and we dont have either of those games anymore. Disgaea was available off and on all summer but its gone now, and we only ever got a couple of copies of culdcept. I think that they screwed up releasing it in december with all the other big titles, they should have waited for a slower release month and maybe gotten a little bit more notice from magazines and websites. I noticed a few of the reviews were either just little blurbs (EGM) or non-existant whatsoever (IGN). Well we can only hope that they sold enough to justify a sequel that may be more popular.

[Captain Garak]

You know, I've heard a number of folks on various Culdcept boards speak very highly of Disgaea, and I'm wondering if this is something I should pick up. I would certainly appreciate receiving feedback on that.

Of course, you know I'm a Culdcept fan. I've also enjoyed quite a few RPG's (Zelda back in the day, and more recent titles like Morrowind and Asheron's Call, also), and I really like simulations (Sim City, Sim Tower, The Sims, and so forth) quite a bit. I even spent a great deal of time with Animal Crossing a while back.

So, given this history of mine, would you think this would be a good purchase for me? Any help would be most appreciated.

[Captain Garak]

I know I haven't waited long enough to get an answer to the question I posed above, but given how difficult it seems to be these days to lay hands on a copy of this title, I decided to try and find one. I discovered a "new but open" copy at an Electronics Boutique store near to me (the box was used as their shelf display), so I'm going to go in and pick it up on Monday. I've never really been a fan of the Japanese-sort of animation that Disgaea seems to employ, but then again, a similar style of artwork is used in Culdcept, and I don't have a problem with it. As is usually the case, the gameplay is where the title either is or is not proven.

So, my next question is... What about the Strategy Guide? I generally like to have such things at my disposal, so I'm wondering if the Disgaea guide is worth finding? Any opinions on the matter would be appreciated...

[TheTampaCepter]

Buy the guide asap if you see it not just because it is very useful but because its very rare. My gamestore has it delisted now.

[darklao]

This is probably too late to affect your decision, and it's really neither here nor there, but Disgaea was probably the biggest disappointment I've had in a game, recently.

There's just too much of mindless repetition and not enough of thinking your way to a solution, for my tastes. Each board seems to have two easy solutions: power-level and smash, or exploit "throw".

Anyway, your mileage may vary. I'm traditionally a big fan of deep, hour-sucking games of min-maxing doom--but something about Disgaea left me cold. The story was darling, but the game itself was a step backward in RPGs to the days when mindnumbing repetition was the order of the day.

[Captain Garak]

Thanks for the information, darklao. I checked the review scores on GameRankings.com, and it seemed as though Disgaea received even higher rankings than Culdcept did. I had also read the comments of a number of folks both here and on GameFAQs and on JVGFanatic indicating that this was a very deep and complex RPG title.

You're making me rethink my decision a bit....

[dtcarson]

I tend to agree with Darklao.

But as always, YMMV.

I bought both Disgaea and Culdcept with some birthday money, and perhaps I have 'new-toy' syndrome, because I've got like ten games I'm in the middle of playing, so something has to be at the bottom of the list.
History: probably my all time favorite games are Final Fantasy Tactics [played it 3 times, total of 250+ hours] and Heroes of Might and Magic III [both turn based strategy games.]
Right now I'm switching between Culdcept and FFX, and occasionally a couple battles in Gladius

I like Disgaea's art style, voice acting [has a *lot* of personality] and the story so far is unique, and written with a lot of humor [which, of course, any given person may or may not like.]

But I just don't like *the game*. I'm on the 4th, I think, story battle; the previous one was a challenge, with creatures who were my level or one higher. Now everyone is like 4 levels above mine, so I'm getting my tail kicked. So I guess I have to go level up. But I shouldn't have to level up 4 battles in. And the people in my party, it's hard for me to tell what they are, or get a strategy going [like on FFT, Okay, here's my monk, he's going to go punch this guy, my Time Mage, going to cast Slow, whatever]. Plus even apart from the leveling up, it seems like there's *too much* in the game. You can travel inside items and level them up, but they have I think 10 floors, and you can't escape.
I want to like Disgaea, but I just can't. I'm hoping it goes up in value so I can sell it for a profit, because I honestly don't see myself playing it. There are so many good games out there that do draw me in and are a lot more accessible, that I'm not going to waste my time playing a game I 'should' like.
Disgaea really does have a lot of unique attributes that I like, but those don't counter my lack of enjoyment for the gameplay itself.

[TheTampaCepter]

The item world is one of the best parts of this game imo. It allows you to customize your weps and lvl up your characters at the same time. You can escape item world with a special item called mr gencys. A lot of items have more then 10 floors and can be way more challenging then the story mode battles. Best then about item world is that it is basically random since really no two items are the same even if they have the same name. In my next post I'll try to explain some other things about the game which make it a stand-out title.

[ExMortis]

Against the guide:
It's not really good. A smaller company put it out, and it's cool they went to the effort and all, but it just doesn't cover the whole game very well. The free FAQs go into exhaustive detail about everything, down to formulas.

For Disgaea:
I'll probably be putting the finishing touches on my 100+ hours this week or next. You can beat the game without much levelling grind, but there is a lot involved in doing all the extra stuff (hidden bosses are level 2000, 2500, 4000 and 6000 - my main character was around 80 when I beat the game the first time.)

It can be fairly mindless, the only stages you really have to think on are those story stages with tricky Geopanel layouts, and there's an OK number of those; occasionally you'll also run into an item world stage where you have to stop and think and not clear it in one or two rounds.

I notice you listed Asheron's Call, so maybe you wouldn't have a problem with power levelling anyway (heh, heh). What it comes down to really is this:
- have you enjoyed other games in the genre?
- do you like the visual style? (established- not really)
- do you like the subject matter? (demons, monsters, netherworld, humorous coming of age story)
- X factor that makes people form their own opinions about games and negates anyone else telling them whether they'd like it or not -- oh snap!

But yeah, have you tried to find it for rent? That's the ultimate equalizer, I know it's "rare" and all that but they do have it to rent here for what it's worth.

[dtcarson]

See, that's one of the things, on first glance, that I liked *least*, about the items. I can deal with the items having different inhabitants, but then each item even of the same type having totally different mods to the character--that's a little *too* different and *too* micromanaged for me. Eventually I'll probably go back and try it again, but Disgaea is definitely a niche/cult title.

[ChamoftheGemini]

I really enjoy playing it. Culdcept and Digaea are my two time zappers. I do agree with the "repitition" as a down side, yet I play in Item world for leveling and such where each map is on a variabled randomizer. With no two maps being the same it is hard not to go back. I just have passed 90 hours on the time clock and intend to double that with all the extras that are available. I love strategy and this is better than chess. Although, it does have an unforgivable A.I. This plays more like the older Sining Force games, if you know of them.

[ChamoftheGemini]

To bring life back to this thread for mainly info reasons. Sould you own the game post you current hospital stats.

HP. 1,554,794
SP. 306,568
Dec. 363

[Captain Garak]

I'm very glad that you resurrected this topic, friend. Although I do own a copy of Disgaea, I haven't plugged it in yet (things have been a bit hectic for me lately, for various reasons). However, once I get started on it, I'm sure I'll want to talk about it....