Disgaea 3

[Teaf]

Just picked up this game for a steal at a local game store in the 2nd hand bin (fiver!) after checking some reviews and videos. Utterly love this game, but I'm finding it immensely confusing as it's my first Disgaea game I've played and I'm not familiar with the mechanics it uses. I'm about 8 hours into it (still on chapter 1 :/) and I'm struggling with understanding some parts of the game that it already expects me to know. I've googled quite a bit but information is sketchy - some of it is translated from Japanese and the names of skills and stuff are wrong so I don't know what's what and GameFAQs doesn't have much on it.

I'm very tempted to buy the official strategy guide but considering it's nearly 4 times as much as I paid for the game I'd rather not. So, on that note, does anyone have any good sources of info for this game that are in English? Not after walkthroughs, just information to explain things like the Homeroom, Geo-blocks, using abilities etc.

Cheers!

 

[Mr C]

It's a LONG time since i played Disgaea 3 and sadly since then i played other similar games so i can't remember the battle system at all and i'm likely to mix the ability use with other games, so i can't help you there..

If i remember correctly though, the homeroom is the main area where you access everything. The shops, warp to the missions, first aid, buy abilities, classroom and mao's heart can all be accessed from there.

The classroom was what i found most confusing with all the groupings and how they affected the characters depending on what class groups you put them into and where they were seated in relation to other groups. I think they were all self explanitory though such as +20% exp to people sitting next to them. In the classroom you can make all manner of changes to things depending on the points you accumulated. The points are per character so you can use them all individually. Almost everything has to be voted on and you will be given a success % before attempting. You can also create new characters and restart current ones back to level 1 with better stats depending on their level.

Geo-blocks are simple by design but are a pain by the end of the game. They affect all the squares of the same colour as the block itself and will have some kind of status enhancment or penalty. Throwing or destroying geoblocks on other coloured squares will turn the squares that colour and also do damage on all the squares. The idea behind this is with multiple colours that when one square changes colour it destroys another geoblock that is on that square and repeats the process of changing all the squares another colour and doing damage on all those squares.

For example destroying a red block on a blue square will turn all blue squares red and do damage on all the blue squares. Then afterwards if you destroy a yellow block on the red squares it will turn all the red ones yellow including the new red ones which was previously blue. You get a damage bonus from chaining geoblocks together and even more so by removing all the colour on the field. The strategy is to try and line it up so that when you change one set of squares colour the damage on those squares sets off another geoblock which restarts the whole process causing more damage and changing more squares.

I can't remember using any sources for other information and just trial and error most things. I hope my explanations wern't too long winded or confusing because i know i found a lot of stuff confusing by the end of the game.

Also if you enjoy Disgaea and don't mind japanese voicing with english subtitles and want a similar game after finishing that, i'd reccomend also trying to pick up Agarest: Generations of War. I found that a bit more entertaining personally. Although it dosen't have the same kooky atmosphere as Disgaea.

 

[Insanties_birth]

Just picked up this game for a steal at a local game store in the 2nd hand bin (fiver!) after checking some reviews and videos. Utterly love this game, but I'm finding it immensely confusing as it's my first Disgaea game I've played and I'm not familiar with the mechanics it uses. I'm about 8 hours into it (still on chapter 1 :/) and I'm struggling with understanding some parts of the game that it already expects me to know. I've googled quite a bit but information is sketchy - some of it is translated from Japanese and the names of skills and stuff are wrong so I don't know what's what and GameFAQs doesn't have much on it.

I'm very tempted to buy the official strategy guide but considering it's nearly 4 times as much as I paid for the game I'd rather not. So, on that note, does anyone have any good sources of info for this game that are in English? Not after walkthroughs, just information to explain things like the Homeroom, Geo-blocks, using abilities etc.

Cheers!

I don't know any good sources but I'll try and help you myself if I can. I'll give you general information and if there's something more specific you want to know just ask.
The home room is sort of a way to get extra's and progress the school area, you get mana by killing enemies and use this in the home room (each character has there own mana) to unlock extra's like a bigger class room (so you can make more soldiers), make more soldiers, make the shops have more expensive weapons and other useful things you'll need to progress the game. This is like an out of level team management system.

As for the geo-blocks, they are blocks that sit on top of a series of coloured squares, if it sits on any square and is any colour (e.g. a green geo-block can sit on a yellow square) it gives the squares (yellow in this example) whatever effect the green geo-block would have listed if you scroll over it. The reason for it being coloured is that if you smash it then it will turn the squares into it's colour (a way of hurting anyone on these squares and racking up a combo). You can get rid of the effect by putting geo blocks on a regular square of the grid that is not coloured or by destroying them. Should you want that effect to boost you however keep it on and have your men stand on the colour squares it is on (regardless of if they are connected since it just gives the effect to all squares of that colour).
To put it simply it's a block designed to strengthen or weaken people, you'll need to either remove it or take advantage of it's effects during levels.

Abilities are pre set bonuses generally. They're pretty useful and most characters have them.

 

[Teaf]

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Appreciate the info chaps! Few things you both mentioned that I didn't know that's cleared things. With Geo-blocks I mainly got confused when I first stepped into the Item World as rather than having say a bunch of red next to a bunch of green next to a bunch of blue, there was just different coloured squares everywhere and not connected to each other which had my head pickled I ended up just ignoring the blocks and killing the guys to advance onto the next floor, just seemed easier.

I'll check out that game also Mr C, thanks! I don't mind Japanese voice overs for games like Disgaea as I normally mute the game and play some music instead when playing.

Did have a question though... just did my first item world this morning, got to about the 8th stage then saw a Mystery Room. It was the second one I came across, first being some guy guardian two chests which was easy enough. Second one was a vendor room with some guys that sold things like megaphones, weapons and health items. So I bought some, then decided to go for a toilet break, came back and none of them would allow me to buy from them and when I tried to leave I got "Stage Start!" and there was me trying to fight off 5 level 500 characters with my level 10 guys. What happened there exactly? Lost about 1.5 hours of gaming due to that :/

Also, for the Robber Shop Club (the one that leeches Mana from people seated next to you in the classroom) do the people you are leeching from have to be in the Robber Shop as well or can they be in any Club?

 

[Mr C]

Did have a question though... just did my first item world this morning, got to about the 8th stage then saw a Mystery Room. It was the second one I came across, first being some guy guardian two chests which was easy enough. Second one was a vendor room with some guys that sold things like megaphones, weapons and health items. So I bought some, then decided to go for a toilet break, came back and none of them would allow me to buy from them and when I tried to leave I got "Stage Start!" and there was me trying to fight off 5 level 500 characters with my level 10 guys. What happened there exactly? Lost about 1.5 hours of gaming due to that :/

Also, for the Robber Shop Club (the one that leeches Mana from people seated next to you in the classroom) do the people you are leeching from have to be in the Robber Shop as well or can they be in any Club?

The robber club takes Mana off anyone seated next to you they don't have to be in the club to take mana from them.

In the item world there are some horrible trap rooms that will kill almost anyone until you are super equipped for them and most of the vendors only let you buy from them once and then you have to wait until you find them again in another mystery room.