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March 29, 2024, 08:39:20 AM

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Disgaea 5

Started by Shay Chaise, May 28, 2017, 09:30:52 PM

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Shay Chaise

I haven't got this yet but want to try to understand it, because I hear lots of great things. I tried the demo and enjoyed elements of it but I sacked it off once I heard that the save file doesn't transfer to the main game, if I buy it.

I've never really played any tactical RPGs or whatever this genre is. I quite liked Advance Wars on the DS but not enough to be really excited by it. I've never played any Fire Emblem either, and don't get the appeal too much. This is supposed to be even more chaotic and is ultimately about breaking the systems to pieces and grinding.

I'm not being antagonistic but what is fun about this game? Is it building up and feeling ludicrously OP or just seeing the numbers go up or what? I'm really tempted to get it just for the main story and see if it keeps my interest for the post-game but I've no interest in putting hundreds of hours into something like this, I don't think.

Is it a relaxing game? Is it a podcast kinda game? What's the appeal please?

Thursday

I couldn't get into it, but this made me wish I could https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSW9t4UGMw4

I think the appeal is essentially giving you so many systems t play around and tinker with but I didn't have the patience, and it's still ultimately tied to a tatical RPG I just didn't find that fun.

Consignia

Their quite good fun, but by Satan's fluffy arse hair, they are niche. If you've played the demo, don't expect anything different out of the full game. Except harder and longer battles. I have both D3 and D4 on the Vita, but I've only got about half way through the story on the latter, and smacked into a real wall on the post game in former. I just did not have the time for maps that can take an hour a go, and gamble if I'd really prepared well enough and re-do the entire chapter if I fail. It's real time sink.

I've had a go of the demo on the Switch, and I'm tempted to pick it up. It looks ace on the Switch's handheld screen and it feels right. But it feels like I'd just get to 50% of the story after put 50 hours in and give up again. Not without finishing D4 first, which I doubt will ever happen.

brat-sampson

Disclaimer: I've barely scratched the surface of this. From what I've played/read (around 8 hours?), it's a Final Fantasy Tactics/Fire Emblem-style game mixed with a ChampMan degree of menu micro-management, the depth of a GT racer and the aesthetic of a cheesy anime show. Lots of Dood and discussions revolving around curry etc. It's addictive and I want to keep going, but can at times feel a little overwhelming. As mentioned in the video, you can level up characters, sure, but you also level up individual skills, which is not the same as upgrading them, and you also not only buy stronger weapons, but can improve a character's mastery of a certain type of weapon (leading to a greater modifier when using that type) or even go *into* the weapon and level up the weapon itself. Rarer items also have special buffs, which are not only transferable between items at a certain point, but you can also upgrade the *buffs*. Or even take them out and breed them. Yup. Of course, a character's abilities and weapon affinities are related to its given class, but the class itself can be upgraded or used in tandem to unlock new stronger classes, meaning you can then buy stronger units with better affinities. This is all without even mentioning things like the cheat shop where you can simply boost all received experience or increase/decrease enemy levels etc, the Dark Council where you can change some of the gameplay rules, the squads which receive extra abilities or bonuses in battle (such as being able to capture wakened enemies to be interrogated alter in the dungeon and won over to your cause, or simply given the ability to be Giant for the first few turns of a map) (these squads can, of course, be leveled up...). If you get bored of the grinding, you can even send groups off into the nether-realms to essentially replay levels by themselves while you do more important things.

In battles you can go around moving next to/near enemies and bashing them or form a stack of characters that hits *so* much harder but only once per tern. By grouping characters in the right way you can initiate team attacks which also do a lot more damage, then shuffle them around for another one. The video barely mentions these but soon enough there are coloured regions of tiles on the maps which transfer an effect to units on them corresponding to a stone on the level with that effect which is also on a tile of the same colour. You can throw the stone off the colour, throw it onto a *different* colour if that's more beneficial or just attack it, causing all the tiles previously affected to explode, changing *their* colour to that of a different stone (if one is present) and damaging units on them.

There really are a fucking stupid number of systems at play, but the thing with the systems is you can also just ignore them for the bulk of the story, and focus on leveling up a core crew who you like or who work well together. There's relatively little penalty for failing a battle a few times and you can always replay previous maps to level up whatever you want or mess around in the item dungeons or etc.

I'm definitely having fun, even if I don't *really* know what I'm doing?

Shay Chaise

My reply was deleted but just to say thank you for the replies and thoughtful insights. I gave the demo another go and suspect it's not my thing, really. It looks like a proper time sink to get the best out of it and I can't spare another of them at the moment. I'm also not particularly fond of the core gameplay, like setting off a series of reactions, basically, and I prefer the physicality of movement, etc.

Shay Chaise

That said...

I have a forty hour journey coming up next month so I got this and I'm having fun with it. I didn't realise how low my standards could drop but I've found it quite amusing at times too. It's absolutely not my usual thing and if not for the Switch versatility there's no way on earth I'd have bought this but I enjoy the pace of it, it's actually a decent contrast to the physicality and direct gamey nature of most Switch games. You can take your time a bit. I expect to pump five hundred hours into it by next weekend.

a peepee tipi

Glad you decided to go for it! It's a really fun time sink, 500 hours sounds about right for seeing everything per game! Post game for the series usually consists of power grinding until you've acquired all of the characters and maps. A lot of the fun does come from the inflation - for an SRPG the focus here is more on the RPG and it's always a blast maximizing and pulling off some ridiculous numbers with your stats and attacks. It's balanced like shit but that just makes the chaos more fun.Lovely sprite work and animations too. I started with D3, so naturally that's my favorite.

If you do happen to find yourself wanting to try another SRPG/have the time for one, I really would recommend you at least give a non-3DS Fire Emblem a try, easily my favorite series, or Tactics Ogre/Ogre Battle (the latter mixes RTS and RPG quite nicely and the 64 game still feels like one of the most sprawling RPGs I've ever played). The Ogre games are also well-written JRPGs, if you want to experience that phenomenon

Bhazor

Quote from: Thursday on May 28, 2017, 09:37:32 PM
I couldn't get into it, but this made me wish I could https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSW9t4UGMw4

"Championship Manager with Demons" is about the best summary of the game I've ever heard.