4 – Disgaea Games Don’t Start until the Post-Game
You can normally finish the story portion of a Disgaea game without getting to level 100. Just keep buying better gear, balance out your team and you’ll be fine. Once you finish the story though? Get ready to grind, my friend. This is where the line is drawn, where the game really starts. For some of you, the thought of dumping huge chunks of time into making god-level fighters is too much to bear. For others (read: me), it’s a siren, calling you to the jagged rocks and foamy waves. Ever higher stats, skill and weapon proficiencies, better gear. This is a tower with no top, my friends. Best get climbing. The difference between enemy strength before and after the credits roll is incomparable. The gulf is so vast the entire story mode might as well be renamed ‘The Extended Prologue.’
5 – Start Preparing for Baal Real Early
Tyrant Overlord Baal. He is the strongest opponent in any Disgaea game, period. 5 is no exception. You will face many monsters during your time playing this series. A lot of them will have what seem like pretty impressive stats and abilities. Baal is so powerful this time around you need seven digits worth of health to even enter the battlefield. Baal is one of those secret bosses they couldn’t resist making ever more intimidating with each new game in the series. When you meet this monster in battle, hovering over him will show a hit point count so high you’ll think the game is glitching out. You want to take on Baal? You’re in luck! The PS4 version of Disgaea 5 has been out long enough that a host of strategies are available. You will need a full squad of characters with perfect stats, god-tier weapons, and max-level skills. Start planning now.
6 – Â Don’t Ignore the Geo Panels
These are the game’s way of keeping you humble. Or torturing you. Most strategy RPGs are content to let you duke it out on a basic field of battle. There’s walls and gaps and bottlenecks, but nothing normally stands between you and your opponents. Disgaea considers this too simple, too forgiving. Geo Panels will litter most battlefields, producing a host of different effects. Units on these panels will be powered up, impossible to lift or even invincible. On the other hand, some panels will damage you as you touch them. Or swap your magic and hit points. Or just kill you. Some will merely block your progress forward or even give you stat boosts. But mostly the Geo Panels make things harder for you. Learn what each one does. In the beginning, careful placement with Geo Panels in mind can be your key to victory. Especially if you’re feeling cheap, which is almost a prerequisite for playing this game.
Disgaea games are a weird breed. You have to love strategy RPGs, but you also need to be willing to dismantle them. Patience is both rewarded and punished. And of course, cheaters not only prosper but actually finish the game, leaving honest tacticians choking on their dust. If this sounds like your kind of game, Disgaea 5 is going to be a must buy when it hits the Nintendo Switch this May.
Are these tips helpful? Do you have any tips of your own? Tell us in the comments below.