Let's Play Disgaea because the Hydra can't.

Why do I keep buying tactical RPGs?

The simple fact is, I cannot win them. Any sort of roleplaying game with a system more complex than 'mash A to grind here' tends to escape my meager skills, and yet at the same time, I find myself fascinated with them.

Just last month, I picked up a copy of Devil Survivor, and before that, I bought Shadow Dragon. Why? Who knows, because the fact is that I'm very unlikely to finish them.

But enough about how much I suck; it's time to get to the topic of today's Liveblog. Today, I'm going to be playing Disgaea DS, and will hopefully gain some chops in the Tactical RPG department. It's a Coming of Age Story - but with Disgaea.

To start us off, I'll admit that I have a cursory knowledge of the game already; in fact, I previously managed to get to around Chapter 3 just by dithering around. This Let's Play will obviously be centering on an entirely new file.

People are free to suggest things that I do, or offer improvements to my underwhelming strategies, though I will do certain things on my own. In particular, created characters will need names, and I'll be relying on you, the Tropers, to provide that for me. It's a heavy burden, but I feel you're up to it.

Enough whining. Let's Play Disgaea.

edited 12th Oct '10 6:05:49 PM by Blazinghydra

just remember, Etnas only use in battle(IMO) is throwing people. She can throw far.

To start us off, I'll recap what I've already done thusfar.

Awakening

We start off with a voiceover explaining the recent history of the Netherworld. Evidently, the long-time ruler King Kriskevzkoy Kroshevzoy Krichevskoy recently died, and the resultant vacuum of power led to a mad power-grab war of the realm's ambitious demons. Which, one would assume, would be most of them.

Evidently, this makes the Netherworld even more desolate and anarchistic than usual- we start the game proper two years into this altercation.

We start with an odd Good Morning Crono scenario, with a female waking up some Prince. The screen flashes pretty violently until we finally get a grasp of the situation...

Wherein we see a red-headed girl in a black bikini standing over a blue haired youth in a coffin. With what appears to be a broadsword, drill, gigantic flail and...a Gatling gun?!...behind her, as she complains that he won't wake up. She aims a handgun at the guy after figuring that he's not going to wake up, and of course he chooses that moment to get up.

...the kid certainly has the lines of a Large Ham, even if he doesn't use the proper tone of voice. "What fool dares awaken me, the great Laharl?" indeed.

The red-haired girl is apparently glad Laharl is alive, whereas the prince himself claims he was just taking a nap; the weapons were red-haired girl's attempts to wake him up- (Well, Laharl suspects she was really trying to kill him, but there we go) -because his dad (King Krisviskny Kichevskoy]] himself), died. Two years ago.

In any case, Laharl is annoyed when he learns that other demons are challenging his inheritance, and decides to go out and show them who's boss. Red-haired girl, who's name is Etna and is apparently his vassal, goes with him.

Chapter 1 - Prince of the Netherworld Laharl

Wandering around the castle reveals a variety of servants, most of which having thought Laharl was long dead. One even had a grave ready-dug. Either way, they have ridiculously high levels, so it seems the castle is fairly secure for now.

In any case, I complete the tutorial, learning the basics of Tactical RPG play again in the process. At this time, Etna reveals three servants of hers; Prinnies, who are strange penguin-like creatures that appear to be used primarily as meat-shields. Or artillery, as they explode quite spectacularly when thrown, improbably enough.

At this point, a new locale opens up- Vyer's Castle. The nearby monsters mention that Vyers is one of the strongest competitors for the title of Overlord, though Laharl hasn't heard of him.

At this point, I decide to step back and do a little grinding before proceeding. I play the first level of Vyer's Castle, which is fairly easy. I also use some of my spare Mana to create some party members; Laharl gained a Brawler pupil, and Etna a Cleric, both of which are of Incompetent denominations. Their names are Amaterasu and Lute, for those curious (Note: From here on in, I'll be taking suggestions as to created party member names).

The results of my grinding are as such:

Laharl lv6 [Blade Rush lv2] [Hurricane Slash lv0] [Blazing Knuckle lv1]

Etna lv5 [Impaler lv2] [Sky Lunge lv0] [Heal lv1] [Prinny Raid lv1]

Prinny Lv1, Lv1, Lv2

Amaterasu (Brawler) Lv4 {Mentor: Laharl} [Triple Strike Lv1]

Lute (Cleric) Lv2 {Mentor: Etna} [Heal Lv2]

...A suggestion on a more efficient stat report form would be helpful as well.

edited 12th Oct '10 8:02:41 PM by Blazinghydra

is it a male or female cleric? because male clerics suck compared to female clerics.

I see by Etna knowing heal that you're utilizing the mentoring system well. This is good. Continue to do so, it will serve you well.

the damage of a prinny explosion is based on their current HP. Also, a prinny caught in a another prinnies explosion will also explode regardless of how much damage they took or hp they had. Use this info wisely(or not, I never really used prinnies at all after the first few levels...).

edited 12th Oct '10 8:10:54 PM by Blissey1

IIRC, Prinnies are dirt-cheap to heal compared to anyone else. Use this knowledge wisely.

Also, avoid killing party members with friendly fire at all costs. Trust me on this one.

^Also, see that guy in the lower-left corner of the castle? He can tell you if you have.

Used to do that by accident through the use of area-effect spells. Damn me for doing so.

I like the dynamic between Laharl and Etna at this point. Frankly she hates him, but calls him "Prince" mostly because it's her job as vassal. Not to say she won't go along with some of his more insane cooler plans. Also, their voices are amusingly recognizable in some instances. Laharl is basically a miniature Rita Repulsa.

The Cleric is female, as is the Brawler. Thanks for that reminder, by the way; as it turns out, I DID have an accidental party kill (caught a Prinny in the way one of my specials during the tutorial). I made a new file and progressed it to the point where I left off; everything is roughly the same.

In any case, we head into Vyer's Castle. We start at the Magnificent Gate, which is divided into two segments; the later segment is where the enemies are and is covered in panels that increase enemy strength. The corresponding Geo Symbol is essentially right next to the entrance point; I take it out as my first action, though I toss the spare Geo Symbol next to it first. Destroying one takes out both, and nearly kills every enemy standing on a panel; it's a cakewalk from then on.

As we enter the Blessed Court, Etna admires the surroundings and observes that most of the things in it are valuable. Laharl, predicting her thoughts, chides her for acting like a petty thief. He claims that to be a proper Overlord, he needs to be impartial... and plunder everything. The prinnies and Etna take turns calling him rutheless, cold-blooded, etc, until he tells them to stop out of humility, then gives the order for them to take anything they can grab.

The level itself is pretty short. A few enemies are in a straight hallway, and there's a couple squares that increase defense and grant an additional attack towards the end. I station Etna and Laharl there while Amaterasu cleans the rest out, and win fairly easily.

The Corridor of Love is a bit larger than the Blessed Court, and contains some archers that were mildly annoying. The enemies are a little tougher and managed to get a couple good hits in on Amaterasu (and kill Lute), but they still couldn't scratch Laharl or Etna. A single enemy stayed inside a bunch of Geosquares that gave them a regeneration effect, but he died in a single hit of Flame Knuckle anyway.

We enter the Hall of Caresses, and Laharl also seems to think this is the last room. Someone laughs maniacally and when questioned, points out that Laharl's pretty rude demanding anything of him when he just rampaged through his home. He enters through use of a blue-wind effect, "Voila!", and apologies for leaving them in awe... his nametag-thing appropriately labels him 'Sassy Demon', though he introduces himself as Vyers, the lord of the castle, in the same sentence. Etna identifies him as the one who's been crushing the competition, and he agrees being "[[An aristocrat with both strength and beauty, known as the Dark Adonis]]". He notes Laharl is the deceased king's son, but tells him that nobody cares since everyone forgot he existed. Demons must have short memories... or Laharl just isn't that memorable. In any case, Laharl shrugs it off and casually says that he'll make them remember. With force.

Vyers compliments him on his foresight to identify him as the greatest threat, but Laharl quickly correct that he doesn't even know who he is, and that he's just a stepping stone on his path to the throne. Vyers is scandalized, but Laharl cuts him off and renames him Mid-Boss... which his nametag quickly corroborates. He calls for vengeance, and we head into the battle proper.

Along with Vyers here, we have a fair assortment of enemies here, so I bring out the Prinnies as Meat Shields. An archer and a red mage stand on two squares that grant them a major offensive boost, so I start off by destroying all three of the Geo Symbols with Laharl's Blade Rush while Amaterasu and Etna kill off the rest of the enemies.

Mid-Boss decides to enter the fray a little early and nearly kills Etna with his Adonic Shot, though she luckily survives and manages to heal in time. With everyone else gone, Vyers still takes a fair few hits, though two rounds of specials drop him.

After losing, he claims that he made the mistake of being too kind hearted, since Laharl's seemingly just a child. Etna and Laharl call him on his bullshit, and he leaves screaming at them. As they pack up the loot, Etna mentions that she needs to use the restroom and runs off, leaving the prinnies to do her work for her, to their chagrin. A red prinny tells them to cheer up, as they only need to work until the next Red Moon- oddly, she doesn't end her sentence in 'dood'.

...and now we catch up with Etna in what's presumably not the restroom. She claims Laharl doesn't suspect a thing, and her shadowy confidant wonders how he survived drinking some potion. Etna tells him not to worry, and that she'll make sure the throne is his- (the unknown correspondent, that is, not Laharl's)- in exchange for having something returned to her. The scene fades away again, and it ends with the shadowed person laughing maniacally.

Chapter 1 Prince of the Netherworld END

Before we end for today, we get some exposition about Celestia, the heaven-analog to contrast the Netherworld. On one of the gates that act as nexus points between the two realms, we cut to a conversation between two angels; one a small, cute girl with a blue bow, the other an older male was ridiculous-long hair named Lamington.

Lamington (labeled as 'Seraph') called the younger one, Flonne, and directs her towards the flowers. Flonne admires them, and wishes she could be like one of them; Lamington then tells her that she's ordered to travel to the netherworld, and assassinate the Overlord King Kozacky Krichovskoy.

Flonne is somewhat surprised about this.

Character Stats

Laharl Lv8 [Blade Rush Lv2] [Hurricane Slash Lv1] [Blazing Knuckle Lv2]

Etna Lv6 [Impaler Lv3] [Sky Lunge Lv1] [Heal Lv1] [Prinny Raid Lv1]

Prinnies Lv1, Lv1, Lv2

Brawler F-Amaterasu Lv5{Mentor:Laharl} [Triple Strike Lv2] [Tiger Charge Lv0]

Cleric F-Lute Lv2{Mentor:Etna} [Heal Lv2]

edited 13th Oct '10 4:24:59 PM by Blazinghydra

You might want to level up the Prinnies. You can always transmigrate them into being something less useless later.

Episode 2 - Enter Flonne

We begin with Flonne in front of the Overlord's castle. She wonders what the Seraph is thinking, sending her to assassinate the Overlord rather than one of his archangels.

We cut back to Celestia, where we see one of those archangels with an awesome mustache. Apparently named Volcanus, he questions why the Seraph went and sent Flonne rather than him to assassinate the ruler of the Netherworld; he's rather upset about it, though I get the feeling it's because he wanted to kill demons rather than any other reason. Lamington cryptically adds, once he leaves, that that is exactly the reason he's not fit for the task and it's something only Flonne can do.

We cut back to Flonne, who's sneaking around the castle with a pretty awesome infiltration sound playing in the background. For some reason, she keeps verbalizing various sound effects... apparently because she's always wanted to be a ninja. Fair enough I guess.

She falls out of her ninja fantasies, however, when she once again questions is she should be assassinating someone, wondering if demons are actually evil and it isn't really fair to judge someone on rumors alone. Plus, it doesn't feel right to kill someone she doesn't know... or one that she DOES know either. She puzzles what it means since it isn't right to kill strangers or acquaintances when Laharl happens to notice the strange girl in his room.

She freaks out and pushes him away, then apologizes for it. She notices he's a demon, and seems surprised there are demons that young. When questioned, she introduces herself as an assassin, before quickly realizing she probably shouldn't have said that.

Laharl is appropriately skeptical and calls her dense; Flonne tells him that's not nice, but he retorts that killing people in their sleep is a bit more rude than name-calling. She agrees after a moment, and apologizes again. She mentions that it seems she failed this time, and moves to take her leave, while of course mentioning she'll be back and to take care.

Realizing that he probably shouldn't let an assassin run off like that, he calls for his vassals. Etna comes a moment later and mocks him a little, but shuts up when she sees how worked up the prince is. Apparently, the Prinny guards partied themselves to sleep; I suppose you had to expect as much.

Throughout the castle, the various servants apparently noticed the girl go by, but didn't bother to stop her because they're all uselessly lazy. A couple congratulate Laharl on the first attempt on his life. In any case, the Gatekeeper mentions that she sent the girl to the Frozen River when she requested a place to hide, which is where we'll be going to find her.

First, though, I spend some of Laharl's extra mana to create a male warrior, named Kord. I give him an axe for variety's sake and train him up a bit.

We head off to the first section of the Frozen River, the Forsaken Land. The enemies are a bit tougher than in Vyer's Castle, but most of them are zombies and don't hit very hard, even if they take a couple hits to kill. There's two archers and an annoying cleric on top of a mountain in the corner, which I needed Etna to toss Laharl and Kord up to kill, but otherwise a simple stage.

Next stage is Icy Breath, and Laharl notices Flonne straight away. Etna is surprised at how innocent the supposed assassin looks, but shrugs it off when Laharl tells her to just capture her.

Flonne recites a magical verse that sounds like the activation phrase in a Sailor Moon ripoff, and summons a bunch of zombies. Wha? Apparently necromancy is an Angelic Art in the Disgaea universe. Etna realizes that she must be from Celestia if she's using Angelic Incantation, but Laharl shrugs it off with a Badass Boast. Flonne says that if it gets too dangerous they can run off (dunno is she's talking to the zombies or the party), then legs it herself.

We cut to the Seraph, apparently alone, as someone makes a sound. He demands they reveal themselves, but quickly relaxes as he recognizes them (we don't get to see a sprite). He asks how things are going, and the mysterious contact responds that despite some complications, it's going pretty smoothly. Lamington apologizes for putting such a burden on the unseen correspondent, but is waved off by the other person saying it was their idea to begin with. He asks how the girl's doing, and if she managed to meet Laharl safely; Lamington says she's managing, in her own way, and that he has faith in her as the correspondent has faith in Laharl.

The actual fight then starts; this one is even easier than the previous, if only because zombies are the only things here. The terrain is nothing special, and I beat it in record time.

Next is Eternal Winter. They catch up to Flonne again, who questions if all demons are this persistent. She's going to use a sleep spell so she can escape, but Etna intercedes with a spell of her own, sending a mass of flames at her. Flonne casts a barrier to reflect the fire, of course directing it right into Laharl's face. Though he doesn't seem any worse for wear, his hair's kinda frayed; This Is Unforgivable, as it happens, and she runs off again.

Eternal Winter is much harder than the previous ones, if only because it includes about five Imps, flying enemies with the annoying group-attack Hell Pepper. Hell Pepper also generally poisons its party members, which means that I'm out of luck if I don't kill them quickly; which is difficult, since I don't really have anyone capable of hurting multiple enemies at the same time except Laharl. In any case, annoying enemies aside, it's rather straightforward, I beat up everyone in the stage and move on.

White Death is the final segment of the Frozen River. As we begin, the group finally manages to corner Flonne, leaving her with no route of escape. Laharl claims to be the Netherworld's most persistent demon, and Flonne seems impressed (Laharl thinks she's mocking him).

Flonne thinks it's time for the special technique she can only do once thanks to a gift from the Seraph, and utters another spell, summoning a dragon.

The stage itself is rather difficult, as the only enemies here are Imps, Flonne and the Dragon itself. The Imps are the most annoying part, and I've found were the most deadly to my party, taking them out quickly as I could was key to winning; being poisoned is not fun. Once they're gone, Flonne goes down quickly. I never got to see her use any special techniques, as she died in a couple hits. The Dragon has a lot of health, but between my Cleric and Etna healing, he never really overwhelmed me.

Flonne seems surprised you managed to take down her dragon, while Laharl just muses that she's caused a lot of trouble for him, and she'll rue the the day she tried to assassinate him. Flonne is confused, and asks why she'd want to kill him; she was after King Kristoph Krichevskoy. Laharl calls the king his 'old man', and Etna reveals the King's been dead for two years; she apologizes again, then sniffles as she feels sorry for his dad dying. Laharl points out the hypocrisy of that, since she was here to kill him in the first place, but she ignores that and questions if he feels sad or not.

Laharl claims he doesn't have sadness as an emotion, but Flonne doesn't believe him, asking if his heart ever ached when he lost someone important to him. Laharl claims to not know what she's talking about- as a demon, he's never felt sadness. Flonne asks if that means they don't feel love either, and he confirms it; she finds that sad. Laharl thinks to himself that she reminds him of his mother, and questions the point of love, calling it a stupid emotion; apparently, it's the reason his mom is dead. Meanwhile, Flonne decides that its up to her to investigate whether demons actually have love or not. She decides that this is a divine sign to change her mission, and explains to Laharl that if what he says is true and demons don't have the capacity to love, then they're a real threat to Celestia. She tells him that she intends to find out the true nature of demons, and if necessary, carry out her mission with a new target.

Laharl laughs maniacally and decides to humor her, and burn a "true vision of horror into that empty head of hers". She then joins the party; Etna sighs and wonders what the prince is on about, hiring an angelic assassin, but figures it'll distract his attention from her- a perfect timing.

Episode 2- Enter Flonne End

Alright, with Flonne now on my team, I decided to create a Green Skull as her Pupil so she can learn some offensive magic. I named him Augustus- my question is now whether I should make some more pupils for her, so she can learn more varieties than just wind-elemental magic, or leave it as that as it is. Opinions?

Also, I'll now be entering the Item World in order to attain a level 10 weapon and proceed to the next chapter. Any tips on that end?

Stats:

Laharl Lv9 [Blade Rush Lv3] [Hurricane Slash Lv1] [Blazing Knuckle Lv2]

Etna Lv7 [Impaler Lv3] [Sky Lunge Lv2] [Heal Lv3] [Prinny Taid Lv1]

Priny Lv2, Lv3, Lv1

Amaterasu(Brawler F) Lv8 {Mentor:Laharl} [Triple Strike Lv3] [Tiger Charge Lv1]

Lute(Cleric F) Lv6 {Mentor:Etna} [Poison Arrow Lv2] [Dark Flash Lv0] [Heal Lv3]

Kord(Warrior M) Lv7 {Mentor:Laharl} [Boulder Crush Lv2] [Skull Splitter Lv1]

Flonne Lv6 [Wind Lv2] [Power of Love Lv1]

Augustus(Green Skull) Lv2 {Mentor:Flonne} [Wind Lv2]

edited 17th Oct '10 3:17:37 PM by Blazinghydra

I've never used Flonne much, but from what I hear, she can easily outperform mages once she learns their spells. So it's useful if you want to develop a really strong magic user, I guess.

Firstly, nice LB so far. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, time for viewer suggestions!

I say give Flonne the two other Skull pupils, just in case you meet something weak to all magic except the one you're specializing in. Alternatively, give the Green Skull the pupils; while this'll take longer for Flonne to become well-rounded in magic, you'll end up with at least two decent spellcasters. Also, I glanced at the Game-Breaker trope, and it says that Flonne + Bow = Good. If you can, you should probably choose one as your Item World destination.

...One more thing. Have you ever tried throwing a monster into your Base Panel? I'd recommend having a few strong units in reserve if you try, but it might net you something nice...

Good move giving the warrior an axe. at this point in the game, they may not seem too different from other weapons, but later on, they'll be your best source for single target damage. Of course, they have 0 multi target attacks, but it's totally worth it for the massive single target damage.

Also, Fluid is correct. Give Flonne an apprentice of each color mage and a cleric, and have her learn all their spells. She'll become one of your most powerful characters.

I think it's better to give the pupil a pupil of its own, rather than give Flonne several pupils.

I think it's also a good idea to start naming the pupils after forum members. Just a thought.

also, you should start unlocking some classes soon. Once you current warrior and brawler pupils hit level 10, you should get the opposite gender version of them and level those to 10 as well. I believe that should get you the ronin and ninja classes.

• Note: I completed this episode before I had any responses, so don't worry, I'm taking your suggestions.

Episode 3 - a Hint of Kindness

We start off with Laharl being told by Etna that it's the Prinny squad's payday, and he apparently has to cough up the cash because Etna's servants are technically his servants. Laharl agrees, but only if it doesn't come out of his pocket- he's rather protective of his allowance. Considering I think it's his pocket that I'm buying all my equipment out of, I'm inclined to agree.

The obvious solution, of course, is to beat up the nearest rich guy for his cash and use that instead. Can't argue with that, I suppose... though Flonne apparently can. She wonders if Laharl's always like that, and Etna confirms that yes, he is. Evidently, there isn't anyone in Celestia with quite that cocktail of undesirable traits- Etna believes this, but also notes that if she's going to stay in the Netherworld, she should really get used to stuff like that.

The Gatekeeper manages to locate someone who fits the bill, but unfortunately there's a lock on it; I need a level 10 item to pass. I screw around in the Item World for a bit (not going to bother documenting it), and come out of it a few levels higher and with a level 10 Swordbreaker as a nifty weapon for Laharl. Dinero Palace is then unlocked.

We start off at the Gaudy Entrance, which is guarded by a fair few male fighters. Simple as can be; go through and destroy them. Magic makes it a fair bit easier than it otherwise would of been, as I now have offensive casters.

Next is the Golden Courtyard; as we enter, Laharl notices that there's a bunch of stuff that used to be in his castle there. Etna figures it was probably looted when the King died, and Laharl figures that means whoever lives here used to be a vassal. He figures this is going to be fun, and tells the Prinnies to work hard taking the stuff; not sure if he actually intends to sell it, or he just wants the crap back where it belongs.

Flonne, meanwhile, observes that Netherworld prinnies are different from Celestia ones; evidently, the ones she knows of are personal slaves that cook, clean and do the laundry without pay... which somehow still sounds like a better deal than what they get in the Netherworld. Etna adds that they're all the same on the inside, as they're made from the souls of what was essentially the scum of humanity, and work to atone for their sins; Celestia prinnies work for no pay, but still earn balance out their sins with good karma, whereas Netherworld prinnies work for money until they have enough to pay off their karmic debts. After they do all that, they can be reincarnated.

Flonne understands this, but wonders why money factors into the equation at all. Etna responds by saying that money's the most important thing in the world, and seems to look at Flonne oddly when she responds that things like love and friendship are more valuable. She calls Flonne's head full of flowers; she doesn't get the insult and just responds that she loves flowers.

This stage is a little more interesting, as we have two parts separated by a line of Geopanels that prevent passing over them until their pyramid-thingy is destroyed, once again filled with male brawlers. I take out the first section and kill everything across the perimeter I can with magic or arrows before I destroy the geopanels. In the second part, there's a cleric and a chimera-type thing, both of which are the highest enemies encountered yet at level 9. They're annoyingly resistant to magic, but I manage to kill both by hammering them with Laharl, Kord and Etna over and over again eventually.

Next part is the Flashy Passage. As we enter, Etna finds a picture of King Ksninana Krichevskoy; all three are pretty interested, and Etna calls him a magnificent overlord. Laharl doesn't agree, and notes that he probably would have dethroned him himself if he hadn't gone and died. Etna wants the picture, and Laharl just gives it too her; he obviously doesn't care too much about anything having to do with his dad.

Flonne asks how he died, and Etna tells her he choked on a Black Pretzel. She's pretty surprised by this, and muses briefly that this was the person she was assigned to kill.

In the actual stage, we have a rather small hallway with a couple curves, the beginning of which absolutely choked with female brawlers; about fifteen if I counted correctly. Still, they're under-leveled for the area and between Flonne and Augustus, they get taken out pretty quickly. There's a nasty suprise in the form of one orange-haired brawler; she's level 10, and probably the strongest thing I've faced thusfar. It takes a couple hits between Laharl and Kord, but she goes down like all the rest.

All that's left is about three archers on a space somewhat separated from the main area; killing them is just a manner of sneaking Laharl around to hit them with Blade Rush while my casters mop up.

Final area of the palace is the Lavish Hall, which contains a throne I see. We get to see a dubbed 'greedy' demon here, who resembles a giant monstrous pig, while he counts his cash. He has an odd affinity for talking in symbols; in particular, he chooses to end all sentences with a '$'. I choose to interpret that as a 'cha-ching!' sound.

Anyway, he intends to fund a military with his cash and become Overlord. Laharl, however, interrupts and calls him 'Hoggmeiser'- which I suppose sums him up in a nutshell. Laharl reveals himself, but Hoggmeiser still doesn't recognize him. He spells it out, but the hod just kinda shrugs and mentions that he knew that he forgot about something... yeah, at this point I'm wondering if someone cast a Someone Else's Problem Field over Laharl or something, because he seems the type to stick out in memory...

Laharl chastises him for being a bad vassal, but Etna points out that he's just being true to his demonic nature. Laharl protests, but Etna just calls him self-centered- which is true, but rather besides the point. In any case, Hoggmeiser thanks him for refreshing his memory (it was apparently annoying him that he forgot something), but asks what he wants. Laharl responds that he's taking his dad's throne, and intends to collect Hoggmeiser's fortune as part of that; the hog just kinda laughs, says that power is the only thing that matters, and challenges him to take it by force. Laharl quickly agrees, and they decide to fight.

Flonne, meanwhile, seems rather disgusted by the whole fighting-over-money-and-power thing, and is starting to consider the notion that demons might actually be incapable of love. She leaves the thought unsaid about what she'll have to do if that turns out to be true.

We finally get to the boss battle, which doesn't seem too hard. We have a line of about six lower-level male brawlers, a level 10 male brawler at one end and a level 10 female brawler at the other, and Hoggmeiser himself at a beefy 12. Magic once again comes in handy clearing out the lower levels, while the upper ones take a bit of firepower and manage to kill Augustus; Hoggmeiser, luckily, stays out of the fight until all his cronies are gone.

The pig himself was rather dangerous; his regular attack took most of my characters to around 30% hp, and he has an annoying spin-attack he only used when I tried to fence him in. Even trying to heal the damage, he averaged one character death every two turns; fortunately, it only took me three, maybe four turns to kill him so it all worked out.

Laharl comes to tell Hoggmesier he's taking everything, as promised, too which the hog responds that he won't be able to survive without it. Laharl figures that means he should just finish him off now-

Which Flonne hears, who finds this incredibly cruel. She abruptly decides she can't let him go through with it, and will stop it even if she has to fight Laharl herself-

...However at that moment, a smaller Pig Demon comes to tell off Laharl as being a bully. This is apparently Hoggmeiser's son- Laharl tells him to take off, or he'll kill him too, even if he's a kid. He doesn't budge, and Laharl questions why he's willing to risk his life for a greedy pig, and if he wants to die. Flonne comes forward to ask why Laharl doesn't understand that it's because of love. Laharl sighs in exasperation and asks if that's the only thing she can think about- and dubs her a Love Freak . Flonne takes that in stride, but again asks why he refuses to believe in love- is it because he's afraid?

We get a flashback, in which we see what's presumably a younger Laharl and his dad. His father asks if he loves him, to which he responds with a definite 'No', and adds that he hates him. Krichevskoy notes that it's a typical answer for a demon and that's fine for now, but one day...

We return to present day, where Laharl notes that now she has him thinking of his father, and wonders what he meant in that conversation. He then decides that train of thought is stupid, blames it on the Love Freak, and says out loud that he's wasted enough time. Etna's surprised that he isn't going to finish him off, to which Laharl responds that it wouldn't make him any richer. He tells his people to strip the place of valuables... but leave enough for the two hogs to survive.

Flonne seems to be happy, but Laharl just waves her off with a 'hmph'. Evidently, Hoggmeiser is moved enough by this gesture to join me whether I want him to or not, but I'm not going to turn down a free level 12 character anyway- even if the game decided this wasn't important enough to relay in a cutscene. In addition, I'm richer by 5000 Hell.

To finish us off, Flonne says that she finally understands what the Seraph meant- we go into her flashback too, where she tells Lamington that some of the older angels told her that demons are all evil. Lamington wants to know what she thinks, but she says that having not met one, she wouldn't know. The Seraph is amused by this, and proceeds to tell her that absolute evil and good don't exist- the stereotype that angels are good and demons are evil is an unfortunate misconception. He says demons have love, even if they don't realize it, and encourages her to guide them.

Back in the present day, Flonne says that she'll accompany Laharl a bit longer as, despite him being selfish, self-centered and stubborn, she saw a little hint of kindness in him that she believes can grow and allow him to love. She ends by asking Lamington to forgive her for staying a little longer, and I notice just now that the sprite she's been using for this conversation has her hands clasped in prayer- which makes sense, I guess.

Episode 3- A Hint of Kindness END

Alright people, after this episode, I decided to make two more Skulls, this time linking them in a chain of mentor/pupil partnerships as was suggested to maximize their usefulness. Though this time I went with the Caeser naming scheme, I'll be sure to dub any future nameable party members after tropers .

Laharl Lv12 [Blade Rush Lv3] [Hurricane Slash Lv3] [Blazing Knuckle Lv3]

Etna Lv10 [Impaler Lv4] [Sky Lunge Lv3] [Asteroid Drop Lv0] [Heal Lv3] [Prinny Raid Lv2]

Prinny Lv1,2,3

Amaterasu(Brawler F) Lv9 {Mentor:Laharl} [Triple Strike Lv4] [Tiger Charge Lv1] [Lion's Roar Lv0]

Lute(Cleric F) Lv9 {Mentor:Etna} [Poison Arrow Lv2] [Dark Flash Lv0] [Heal Lv3] [Espoir Lv1] [Shield Lv1]

Kord(Warrior M) Lv10 {Mentor:Laharl} [Boulder Crush Lv2] [Skull Splitter Lv3]

Flonne Lv9 [Fire Lv2] [Wind Lv4] [Mega Wind Lv3] [Ice Lv1] [Magic Boost Lv1] [The Power of Love Lv2]

Hoggmeiser Lv12 [Spinning Slash Lv1]

Augustus(Gskull) Lv10 {Mentor:Flonne} [Fire Lv3] [Wind Lv4] [Mega Wind Lv3] [Ice Lv2] [Magic Boost Lv1]

Julius(Rskull) Lv6 {Mentor:Augustus} [Fire Lv4] [Ice Lv3]

Nero(Bskull) Lv5 {Mentor:Julius} [Ice Lv2]

edited 18th Oct '10 6:35:15 PM by Blazinghydra

Here's a fun little tidbit: remember how you were advised not to kill anybody in this playthrough? If you decide to go through things again, try having at least 50 ally deaths before ending Chapter 3. You'll be in for a surprise, that's for sure...

Also, since your Skulls are all at least Level 5, I think a new class will have opened up: Star Skulls. I'd make one as a trainee to Lute the female cleric, who can use some magical offence and can pass things up to Etna. You can also unlock Star Mages by doing something similar with the girl magicians, but if I were you, I'd wait a bit before creating/reincarnating those.

...One more thing. There's two buttons hidden in Laharl's castle that unlock a bonus feature. However, to get the full benefit of it, you'd have to use it once every chapter. A bit late for that now, but maybe once you've beaten the game...or if you lose to the next boss, or Chapter 6's...

You mean that accursed button unsticks and unbreaks between chapters? And that there is a second one?

I thought I had to had a specific character in my party or something like that to push the button in a non-brutish way...

Edit: Thanks, got it, found it.

edited 21st Oct '10 2:04:44 AM by Medinoc

There are two buttons you must press, starting at the beginning of the game. This unlocks a location in the castle you must visit every chapter of the game to ultimately get the reward.

We start off with Volcanus, who notes that Flonne escaped from the grasp of demons... and seems to believe it was with her "Feminine charms". This almost seems like a Crowning Moment of Funny, Considering Laharl and the fact I don't think Flonne even knows what "feminine charms" are.

He wonders why Flonne hasn't returned to Celestia, and assumes it's because she's trying to use the demons to stage a coup against the Seraph. He laughs and says he won't allow it, then complains that the 'demon den' he's standing in is filthy.

He finds a book just laying around, and given his response, it's either a Tome Of Eldrich Lore or pornography. Now I'm actually kinda curious who left that lying around around- anyway, he calls it a demon's dirty trick and refuses to be corrupted.

He looks around for Flonne, and upon hearing her snoring, sneaks into her room and steals her pendant. What a jerk.

Episode 4 - Gift from an Angel

In the morning, Flonne tells Laharl she lost her pendant. Laharl presumes she's accusing him, but she clarifies that she doesn't think he stole it; this takes him off guard for a moment. She just wants his help in looking for it; he doesn't take to that well.

Etna comes and observes that Flonne looks tired. She agrees and mentions that Angel Trainees can't stay in the Netherworld long without a pendant like that that without dying.

Etna seems largely unconcerned and asks Laharl what he's going to do, who plays the "She's an assassin" card again as an excuse for not helping her. Etna 'compliments' him on turning his back on a helpless little girl; Laharl seems briefly flustered, evidently not sure how to respond to that, and stutters a little when Flonne speaks to him again. She says she'll give him "Something good" in exchange for her pendant; Laharl claims he could just steal it from her, and she asks if he would use physical violence on her while she's weak. Laharl decides on his stance and loudly claims that, as a demon, he'd steal from anyone; the old, the weak, the diseased...

Flonne claims her gift will never be his in that case, and Laharl thinks she's trying to provoke him. When she doesn't answer, he decides he has some time to kill- though he makes it clear he isn't doing it for her sake. Flonne thanks him and he flies off the handle briefly, yelling that an angel shouldn't thank a demon and he does what he wants whenever he wants.

Some of the vassals mention that a middleaged man was seen going through a portal, and the Portal Guide adds that a warp to the Blazing Core was opened late last night, so I suppose that's where we'll go.

We start at the Blazing Road, where Etna claims it's far too hot, [[Stripperific despite wearing almost no clothing]]. Laharl notices a feather on the ground, and Flonne gets all excited; it's an angel feather, and from one older and far stronger than her as well. Laharl claims the place reeks of 'goodness', and Flonne wonders why another angel is here; she was on top-secret orders from the Seraph. Etna wonders if the angel stole her pendant, and Laharl muses he didn't expect a Love Freak like her to have enemies. Flonne claims she didn't and weakly protests that an angel couldn't have done that, but Laharl shoots her down with logic; nobody but an angel would know what that pendant was in the first place. She goes silent and Laharl shrugs it off.

Simple stage here; we have a new enemy type that I've seen in the item world, a Jack-O-Lantern type thing. On the bright side, everything here has an ice weakness, and I have four casters with Mega Ice. Two bigger guys with fire for heads were also across a small bridge, though they were even more vulnerable to magic than the others and went down quickly.

Onto the Parched Ground. Etna complains about the heat again (seriously, once again... no clothes...) and points out that Flonne will shrivel up in the heat, being weakened. Flonne says she's fine, however, and not because Angels are Just Better; evidently, a prinny gave her medicine. Etna finds this hard to believe, but Flonne can't point out the one that helped her; they all look identical. Etna of course, doesn't believe her.

This stage is almost identical to the previous one, except with a couple more of the big guys. Tank with Laharl and Kord, spank with the battalion of mages, easy as could be. The small ones have a somewhat annoying special that usually one-hits any of my mages, but as long as I'm careful that's a nonissue.

Blazing Field. As we enter, out of the blue, Laharl asks about what kind of person the Seraph is; he claims because he might end up fighting him one day. Flonne agrees to talk, since he's looking for her pendant and all, and says Lamington is a kind person who likes flowers and poetry. Laharl quickly adds that he wanted to hear about weak points, but Etna butts in and notes that Flonne evidently looks up to the Seraph.

Flonne asks if Etna looks up to anyone, and she responds with the late king. Laharl is somewhat annoyed she doesn't look up to him (To be fair, he's very short), and Etna's pretty blunt about how she doesn't. Suck up, she is not. Laharl considers punishing her, but opts to just return to looking for the pendant.

This is a weird stage. We start on a small island linked to the mainland by a 1-tile bridge, with six small enemies already standing on it. The catch is that the entire mainland (and bridge) is covered in Geopanels that increase enemies stats significantly.

Using Laharl and my casters, I blast through the six on the bridge taking only a bit of damage. As I cross, I notice an unused Geocrystal whose' listed effect damages everyone on a panel each turn; somewhat curious, I pull everyone back to the island except laharl and throw the crystal in play. Miraculously, over the course of five turns, the geo panels kill every enemy on the floor who don't even try to fight back. How's that for ridiculously cheesy tactics?

We see Volcanus again, whose name is incredibly ironic since we're in Disgaea's Lethal Lava Land, speculates that Flonne's probably dying right around now. He notes she could have lived a long life were she less ambitious... I can taste the hypocrisy even though he hasn't really done anything yet. Oh, and he wraps up with "Nobody can stop me now"- at this point, I'm somewhat hoping he doesn't end up a villain, as he's so Obviously Evil...

The pendant echoes my sentiments and starts burning his hand; I assume it has some sort of evil-detector, though why it activates now is a mystery. He drops it, and...

It lands on top of Mid Boss; I feel oddly happy about this development, Mid Boss grows on you quickly. After brushing off the attack, he picks up the pendant and declares it beautiful; he figures it must be a heavenly reward for good behavior. He thanks God, and is immediately reprimanded by Laharl, who asks what sort of demon thanks God.

Mid Boss is happy he can fight his rival again, though Laharl contests that he's not his rival. Etna is surprised at seeing him again, and reminds him they've already fought; Mid Boss kind of shrugs her off. Flonne notices Mid Boss has her pendant, and he seems to take a liking to her, though he's still annoyed that even she doesn't call him The Dark Adonis. She begs for her pendant, but after a moment's hesitation, Vyers decides that he can't do it. Finders keepers, after all; Etna figures this is almost as bad as Laharl, who resents the comparison.

Flonne confirms my theory; the pendant punishes the wicked who touch it. She warns Mid Boss, but after a few moments pass and nothing happens, she figures it's broken. Mid Boss chuckles and claims that the heavens wouldn't dare punish a heart as pure as his, and bequeathed him the name 'The Dark Adonis'. Laharl corrects him, as his name is Mid Boss, and he takes enough offense to attack.

Finally a harder stage. Here we have a couple of the magic-vulernable big guys, an even stronger enemy type that I've never fought (one was in the previous stage, but it died before it could attack), and Mid Boss, who's at a surprising level 17.

Splitting up the party works surprisingly well, and despite Mid Boss getting in an Adonic Shot that killed Etna and Nero, they all go down fairly quickly. Mid Boss himself was surprisingly potent, but he didn't have nearly the staying power he had last time.

...And now he's in a fully body cast, hilariously enough. He claims he's showing mercy for Flonne's sake, and limps off lamely still claiming he's The Dark Adonis. Flonne's pendant slips off into the magma crevice, and we fade to black briefly. When we come back, Flonne is by the edge when Laharl comes back, bearing the penant. He tells Flonne to stop looking so pitiful, and to take the damned pendant since it's burning his hand. She does so, and Laharl is relieved to find that his heart is wicked.

Flonne asks why he did all that for her, and Laharl claims it was all just for the reward. Flonne giggles and Laharl wonders what's up; she thanks him and he gets flustered again, telling her to stop doing stuff like that. He demands the reward, and Flonne says she already gave it. She tells him to put his hand on his chest and feel the warmth; the kindness he showed in going to get that pendant, and the opportunity to find that was her gift.

Laharl is slightly pissed about this, and Flonne claims that he'll soon awaken to love. He stomps off yelling about how he was taken in for a sucker, and Etna admires how she managed to play him as a fiddle. Flonne seems happy, and explains it's because she now knows there is Love in Laharl; if Laharl has love in his heart, so do all demons. Etna claims she's being naive, and most demons would kill her without a thought; Flonne asks if Etna's like that, and she just grins and tell her that she'll find out soon enough.

Meanwhile, Volcanus appears and is annoyed that Flonne managed to survive. He figures she's tougher than he first thought, and she's been manipulating demons to do her bidding... which is technically true in a certain manner of speaking. He decides to return to Celestia for a while, but he will be victorious in the end. Before he leaves, he adds that we shouldn't forget that, even if he doesn't appear for a while... that was a rather blatant painting of the fourth wall, but there we go.

Episode 4 - Gift from an Angel END

This time we start with Etna and Flonne chatting. Etna mentions she kicked him 'there', but unfortunately Flonne doesn't Know What She Means. Etna whispers an explanation, and Flonne is surprised but still interested in the story. They notice a photo and after a second, burst out laughing.

They After giggling about it, Flonne identifies the person in it as Laharl. Something's written on the back, but before they read it, Laharl comes in to complain about the noise. Etna shows him the picture, and upon noticing the subject...

...My god. That is the most awesome sprite ever; you can SEE the absolute abject horror in it. He's rendered speechless and Flonne says she didn't know he was into that sort of thing.

He gets his voice back after a long, long stutter and asks what the hell's going on. Etna points out the obvious, but Laharl reads the back, which is a blackmail message forcing him to attend a duel in Jotunheim. The blackmailer is, quite obviously, after the title of Overlord.

Laharl calls this fighting dirty, and when Etna mentions that demons do that, he claims it crosses the line. He decides to barge in, even knowing it's a trap, and char the blackmail and his paparazzi to the ground.

Episode 5 - Etna's Secret

The vassals are oddly supportive of Laharl; one even admits he has a hard job, though it still isn't enough to make him actually do anything. The Portal Keeper warns Laharl that it's obviously a trap (the portal's being opened from the other side), but he, of course, goes in anyway.

We start off in Absolute Zero with no opening cut-scene. The stage is pretty annoying; it's filled with nothing but imps, and is pretty open. The entire field is covered in a Geo Effect that (1) Deals damage to my team each turn, (2), reduces the power of our attacks, and (3) powers up our defense. Annoyingly, the crystals generating the 1 and 2 effect are at opposite sides of the field.

I rush to destroy the #1 crystal, and take only one round of damage from it before it dies. The imps are annoyingly resistant to anything and everything I throw at them; magic is still mildly effective, however, so that works. Luckily, their Hell Pepper is far less unfair this time around and does peanuts damage; the poison is still an issue, however.

Though it takes a while, I sludge through and destroy the second crystal. Without a damage restriction, the imps fall like dominoes.

Next part is the Endless White. We see some Imps, and Laharl is annoyed that these puny demons are the only things waiting for him as a trap; it's a big disappointment. He taunts one, and it responds with "A wonderful life". Laharl reacts like he's been struck. "World Peace", "Let's all be friends", "Girls take Initiative"... he reacts in the same way.

When Flonne asks, Etna tells her that Laharl HATES optimism. Flonne thinks for a moment, then adds "Eternal Love". We see that soul-wrenching mind-blasted utterly horrified Laharl sprite again, and he lets out an impressive scream. He calls it the "Most horrifying word in existence", and demands to know if Flonne's trying to kill him. Flonne looks a little disappointed and notes that that's her favorite word. Laharl wants to know how they knew his weakness.

Appropriately enough, Laharl's stats decrease. This stage is a bit more difficult because of that; it's small and there aren't many enemies, but without Laharl it becomes significantly more difficult. There's several level 15 enemies here, who can kill my less bulky players in a single shot; since they're gun wielders, that's bad.

In any case, they're all weak to fire. A few rounsd from my mages take most of them down, and Kord finishes off one particularly annoying enemy, and it's done.

We get a cutscene after the battle this time. Laharl is panting, and Flonne wants to know if he's okay; Laharl says she nearly killed him with that word. Flonne is about to say it again, but is cut off; he's starting to believe she's doing that on purpose now. Etna chastises them for fooling around, and says they need to focus on the picture; Laharl agrees and they head off.

We cut to Lamington. He asks if something needs to be done to his mysterious associate again, who responds that he would have done something long ago if it was necessary. Mysterious person claims he has faith in 'her'- not specified, but I'm guessing Etna given the title of the chapter. Lamington is silent, and mystery person chuckles and says he worries too much; he'll take measures, just in case.

Stage 3 is Terrible Cold. As we appear, a bunch of... uhm... voluptuous demons come up and ambush Laharl. One flirts with him, and he screams; Flonne wonders why he's reacting so badly, and Laharl admits that for some reason, sexy-bodied women cause him to react badly. He then proceeds to add, for no reason, that flat chested women like her and Etna have absolutely no effect; they have a rather scary reaction to that.

A vampire-like demon then comes out of nowhere, cackling evilly. Laharl identifies him as Maderas, a vassal who was banished for stealing Black Pretzels. Flonne notes that that is pretty pathetic. Laharl wants to know what he wants; Maderas says he wants to be Overlord, and Laharl laughs at him. The vampire claims to know all of his weaknesses, thanks to... Etna.

Laharl turns on her, and Maderas calls her his loyal dog, thanks to the her Memories he keeps. The vampire says that this place will be his grave, and commands Etna to die there with him. She yells that he broke the deal, and he disappears. Laharl connects the dots, and notes that Etna probably took the photos too. Flonne protects her, but Laharl says he'll take no excuses from a traitor; he tells them to get the sexy women out of his sight.

Ironically, this is possibly the LAST stage you could possibly die on. Maderas probably should have checked his ambush point; it's entirely covered by an Invincibility Geo Effect, which predictably enough, negates all damage. The trick is to ferry the various enemies to the single non-effected square and gang up on the individually; takes a while, but entirely safe. Easy as pie to complete, and I note this as a great training spot, since you can pile enemies on top of eachother to make stronger enemies to fight.

Final Stage is Ice Queen. Laharl catches up to Maderas, who tells him that his luck ends here. He calls up more sexy women, who proceed to be seductively optimistic; an assault on both of Laharl's vulnerabilities.

Flonne tells him to hang on, and suddenly Vyers appears out of nowhere. He introduces himself, but Maderas still asks him for his name -sigh-. He says he's the Dark Adonis, and Mederas decides suddenly that he doesn't care. Vyers blows him off and turns his attention to Laharl.

Laharl demands to know what he's doing, and Vyers decides that it's his obligation to 'warn him'. Laharl questions what he's on about, and...

the music becomes awesome. He tells Laharl to 'Open his Mind's Eye' to stop from being distracted- he goes on about awakenings until Flonne interrupts, mentioning that he's setting the bar a bit too high. He shrugs and tells him to just shut his eyes and plug his ears.

Now entirely deprived of his senses, Laharl claims he has no weaknesses. Maderas commands Etna to kill Laharl now, but Etna tells him to shove it; she admits she followed his orders and poisoned the prince (leading to his coma), who angrily yells at her (Flonne pointing out that he's been plugging his ears yet still managed to hear that all the while). She says she hated working for Maderas, and so devised a plan to escape from her- the only reason he's been following his orders up until now in order to get him in the perfect position to take her revenge.

Maderas calls her a double-crossing backstabber, the hypocrite. He commands the prinnies to kill her, but they ignore him; Etna reveals that she bought off the prinnies he hired to watch over her a LONG time ago. She tells him he's been falling into her trap the entire time, with the prince as bait.

Laharl compliments her on her ruthlessness on using him for bait, who modestly adds that Flonne and Midboss weren't part of the plan so she can't take all the credit, but vows to absolutely terrify Maderas.

We start the level; this one is a network of one-tile long hallways, which leads to interesting plans. Ironically Etna is very useful here, since her spear can attack from two squares away.

The only threats here are some Succubi, which are easily taken care of, plus a Golem. Maderas himself enters the brawl early which messed up some of my plans, but it ended with Flonne and Kord double-teaming the Golem while, of all people, Augustus ended up tanking Maderas. Augustus did well here, surviving every hit and even gets the final blow in; I'd call that his Crowning Moment of Awesome.

Maderas begs for his life, and Etna considers it, deciding to keep him after he compliments her. He agrees to return the candid photos and her memory, plus joins my pary much like Hogmeiser.

Etna notes that that's the end of that, but Laharl complains- she used him as bait, poisoned him and still pretends to be loyal? Flonne jumps in to defend Etna, but can't think of anything- luckily, Laharl adds in that he admires that side of her. As Overlord, he needs someone ambitious like that on his side, and tells her to get ready for a ton of work he'll be giving her. She tells him to watch his back; if he turns out not being worthy of ruling the throne, he might have an "accident". He just grins and tells her she can have the throne if that comes to pass.

Flonne puzzles after this, but seems happy the two reconciled despite what happened. She decides this might be demon's way of expressing love; she's surprised, since nothing like this was ever in Celestia.

Episode 5 - Etna's Secret END

Oh wait, Midboss is still back there. Oh well, looks like they forgot him.

Episode 5 - Etna's Secret END

...Phew, how's that for a double-update?

As for a stat update...

Laharl Lv18 [Blade Rush Lv3] [Hurricane Slash Lv5] [Wind Cutter Lv1] [Blazing Knuckle Lv4]

Etna Lv14 [Impaler Lv4] [Sky Lunge Lv3] [Asteroid Drop Lv0] [Heal Lv3] [Mega Heal Lv1] [Prinny Raid Lv2]

Prinny Lv2, Lv3, Lv1

Amaterasu(Brawler F) Lv15 {Mentor:Laharl} [Triple Strike Lv5] [Tiger Charge Lv2] [Lion's Roar Lv0]

Lute(Cleric F) Lv11 {Mentor:Etna} [Poison Arrow Lv3] [Dark Flash Lv0] [Heal Lv3] [Mega Heal Lv2] [Espoir Lv1] [Shield Lv1]

Kord Lv15 {Mentor:Laharl} [Boulder Crush Lv3] [Skull Splitter Lv4] [Colossal Fissure Lv2]

Flonne Lv14 [Fire Lv3] [Mega Fire Lv3] [Wind Lv4] [Mega Wind Lv3] [Ice Lv3] [Mega Ice Lv2] [Magic Boost Lv1] [The Power of Love Lv3]

Augustus Lv14 {Mentor:Flonne} [Fire Lv3] [Mega Fire Lv3] [Wind Lv4] [Mega Wind Lv3] [Ice Lv2] [Mega Ice Lv2] [Braveheart Lv1] [Magic Boost Lv1]

Julius Lv13 {Mentor:Augustus} [Fire Lv4] [Mega Fire Lv3] [Ice Lv3] [Mega Ice Lv3] [Braveheart Lv1] [Magic Boost Lv1]

Nero Lv13 {Mentor:Julius} [Ice Lv4] [Mega Ice Lv3] [Braveheart Lv1] [Magic Boost Lv1]

Hoggmeiser Lv14 [Spinning Slash Lv2]

Maderas Lv19 [Chaos Fire Lv1]

I mentioned this before, but now is a good time to do it. You're going to want to get the opposite gender versions of your melee troops and level them to 10. In this case, a male brawler and a female warrior. Doing this will unlock the Ninja and Rōnin classes. Ronin are basically awesome damage dealers: they get 110% of attack from items! Ninjas are the kings of dodging, they can and will dodge pretty much everything. Even healing spells.

edited 21st Oct '10 10:28:40 PM by Blissey1

As a possible addition to the above, have you tried out Reincarnation yet? It's an option selectable from the Dark Assembly. Just pick a character, choose the option, and pick the class you want to change him/her into. Want your Cleric to move up from her original class to the next rank? Want to turn Amaterasu into a Magical Girl for the lulz? They'll be reset to level one, but I'd highly recommend it!

Why, you may ask? Here's the kicker that makes it really worthwile: you get stat growth bonuses depending on how much XP you've put into them. If you reincarnated Nero into the exact same class he is now and leveled him up to 13 again, he'd still have better statistics than he does now. And if you did that AGAIN, the bonuses stack, so he'd be an even more powerful Lvl. 13 Skull!

...Oh, and I think they'll keep their skills. Just in case you want your Knights and whatnot to have magical powers and advanced weapon skills right from level one.

P.S. Noticed you saw how combined monsters equal higher levels, with the highest-leveled monster taking priority. Try throwing a monster from an earlier battle into your Base Panel (as long as there's still reasonably-leveled units in there!), and then using this to your advantage if you successfully recruit him/her/it.

edited 21st Oct '10 11:05:13 PM by EndarkCuli

They keep skills, but the skills are powered down a few levels. I believe it's necessary to have the skills around level 3ish for the skills to not be depowered past level 0 (and thus, nonexistent).

Isn't there a "percent inherited" statistic somewhere on the reincarnation screen to show how much of the skill you inherit?

Also, to get the option to reincarnate, you need to get them to Rank 3(or was it 4?) in the Dark Assembly.