Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness review

[Bassman]

I ought to do some more of those Heros. They are quite useful with the extra movement (at the expense of Deathblow) Evility. I even managed to buy an Accellerator yesterday.

I was having "fun" yesterday clearing CoO6 on LoC at base level (Lv 100 Enemy Strength). The enemies had around 925K HP! My mage could do it in about 3 turns for each block (with Magic Boost). She is past Lv 6000 now as is one of my Sea Angels (from a Reincarnation of a very poor one) and she has much better stats than the mage, with a similar arsenal of spells. For some reason Sea Angels seem to get a better than 200% Attack bonus, so she can almost clear the enemy blocks in one hit now with a Magic Boost.

As long as you keep your troops on the line behind the Base Panel, the near group of 3x2 enemy will not move. I just move extra Sea Angels on the map before making an attack to get the bonus Exp if I defeat anyone, removing them again before end of turn, unless the near group of enemies is gone.

Gradually working my way down a legendary Staff. I must admit to getting bored and just heading straight for the exit, other than on each tenth level where I clear it. I think I may be losing out on a kill bonus or something. Not being a maximum rank item I decided I was not too bothered. I presume I get some Cheat extra(s?) from the Item God.

[MartyG]

I always check to see what the item bonuses are first, but I've been trying to max out the geocube gauge and clearing all floors mostly given there are usually only a few enemies on them now, rather than the dozen or more in previous games. It's often worth it for the HL and exp bonuses in higher level items before you unlock the grinding maps.

[Bassman]

At least having got to an Item God (I finally got to the 100th floor of the mid-rank Staff I was working on), I can do some map size and number of enemies adjustment in the Item World (big map, few enemies, or small map, more enemies as well as normal).

Even on low HL and Mana, my resources have built up courtsey of CoO6 on LoC (Lv 100). I have over 4 billion HL to play with and my two best characters have over 100K Mana.

People talk about getting decent items from the LoC. Is there something else to unlock, or do I just have to steal stuff?

I need to do some more Thief grinding as mine is only around Lv 1300 at the moment which was no good for stealing items from enemies with the levels I was seeing towards the bottom of that Staff.

I am still not up to the point where I can further level my items. I wonder how that works...

[MartyG]

Not sure, I haven't been to LoC yet as my characters need beefing up some more for that - I've been doing a lot of high level item world stuff and you get quite a lot of high value items from that if you push the bonus level to the maximum. I've also been using the "change bonus items" spell until new stuff shows up in the list.

[Bassman]

For some reason my Lv 8000 (ish) Prinny God keeps dying. Last time it happened, he had definitely not been on the map! I have now reincarnated to improve his stats and see what happens. At LoC (Lv 100) it does not take a vast amount of time to level up monsters on CoO6 using my Mage to climb on their back and blast the enemies with a Fire Spell.

I can now have a maximum of 600% on the gauge, having unlocked a few more post game characters. All I have now is Prinny Land Part 2 and Baal (to ignore completely for the moment). I now have Rasetsu Mode which only seems to affect LoC, at which point even the low level enemies have an insane amount of HP.

My Thief is now sitting at Lv 9999 for ease of stealing.

My best Mage is rapidly approaching Lv 9999 again (reincarnated around 9000 last time). She can do 1M damage on suitable enemies. She has a Lv 106 Rank 30 Staff now.

I experimented with my best Staff (white) and levelled it to 35 (finally successfully obtaining Level Spheres!). On leaving the item, it promptly turned green. On that, I presume it will go legendary when I get to Lv 60. Sounds like a useful feature to say the least. As it is a higher rank than the staff my Mage has, it should give here a reasonable boost when it is levelled.

If you register with Prima Games, you can get free access to the online guide for the game.

[MartyG]

There's a free DLC for this title which gives you the costumes for Etna, Flonne and Laharl from the original Disgaea, although you have to pass a bill for each of them in the Dark Assembly to get them.

[Bassman]

I noticed that the DLC was there yesterday and downloaded it. Thought I'd might as well download Fuka and Desco as well. They join you at Lv 1 though...

Had some trouble in the Item World in the first 90 floors of a White Staff (it changes rarity as you go down it!). I had characters dying in the Base Panel. I wasn't deploying all 10 characters and also had Autosave on. Both thought to have some effect on the 1HP Laharl glitch (I had that briefly).

I took the now legendary Staff from Floor 90 to Floor 100 and had no deaths. When it turned Legendary, I was back on Floor 0 with east enemies to contend with. I now have a Lv 110 Ganesha Staff (found two Level Spheres). Even managed to buy a Statistician for it in one room. Disappointed in the stats for that as they are low. I have almost built up a 300 Stack of Statisticians.

I have set Item World to Cramped so I get more enemies and better loot (have a good number of fairly decent Legnedary Items now as a result). It also means on a good run I can clear each map in four hits!.

Working on another of my Mages now. Took her to Lv 9999 before Reincarnation. I think the last visit to CoO6 at LoC level (100) got her the last 500 levels in one visit. I'll get here well levelled and then try Prinny Land Part 2.

I was surprised how (relatively) cheap it was to get a Bill passed in the Assembly with HL.

[MartyG]

Yeah, the HL option is a cheap option, but is it really any cheaper than passing by force once you level so high that passing stuff is a given? The Dark Assembly has always felt rather badly weighted in terms of losing.

I've not seen this 1HP glitch myself or atleast not noticed, sounds a bit annoying

[Bassman]

It only happens in the early stages of the game. I don't recall it happening more that about a couple of times. The dying characters was a little more expensive as my Lv 9000ish Mage was one of the casualties once.

I am currently farming Prinny Suits on Prinny Land X. My Lv 9999 Thief can steal it from the from 8 squares away and from the front. I pick up Pringer X with my Masked Hero (3 Accellerators), put my Thief back in the Base Panel and bring out some low level cannon fodder. On Game Over I am back in the Castle with the Item. It is finally getting my Revived Count up for the items I have missed in the Hospital Prize List. Cheap way to get a piece of armour with DEF of 3750 and it is always Legendary.

Reincarnated my second Mage again. She now has almost 750K INT but can't even make a dent in Pringer X. She can clear CoO6 at Lv 200 (LoC) in two hits for each block with Magic Boost.

How are you progressing with CoO?

[MartyG]

I've gotten to the fifth map in CoO - quite a tricky one with the geocube layout.

[MartyG]

Have cleared CoO now, but I don't think any of the six maps are that great for power levelling, no 9x9s with exp increase geocubes. The clone and encroach of map six makes it a pain as the geocubes have to be taken out quickly unless you can clear the map in one or two rounds (which I can't currently). Still need to get those mages properly levelled, the highest one is lvl 610 at the mo.

[Bassman]

You need to go back into CoO6 as the format changes after you defeat it. You get a 3x2 block near you. Stand on the line behind the Base Panel and they won't advance at end of turn. The second 3x3 block is the other side of the pool. There are Exp and Mana Geo Pyramids to further assist. On Lv 0 Strength, the enemies have around 20-25K. On Lv 20 it is around 95K each. Lv 100 (Lv 0 LoC they are around 925K and on Lv 200 around 2.7M (I can clear those in 2 hits with my best Mage and a Magic Boost).

Finally unlocked Big Bang. Used the Masked Hero as he was the only one with S on Fist Mastery. I have one around Lv 2000. Had Weapon Mastery maxxed in the Cheat Shop on 3.1 with minimum enemy strength to level to the Lv 21 Mastery required. Only other 3x3 attack and now I can use the Apprentice System to use it for other Humanoid Classes. At least with a 3x3 Fire Spell (other alternative) I can use that on any type of character though I need the Skill Level up sufficiently to use it (seems better for Monster Classes).

I have 9 Sea Angels on CoO6 for another 90% Boost on Exp. One of them is set up for Magic Boost and Braveheart for boosting (courtesy of Lanzarote). For those the Sea Angels are definitely the best as they have a much better range for spells initially and you can easily level them via Mounting. I use the Monster Weapon with the INT Boost. I miss the good old days where you could do multiple boosts. As far as I know you are only allowed one now. Not sure which game saw an end to that.

My best Mage is now ready for another Reincarnation. Took maybe 20 minutes to reach Lv 9999 (only one 300 stack of Statisticians so far, but I get another 600% from the Cheat Shop and 90% from the Sea Angels). At Lv 1 it takes her a couple of so hits per block to clear CoO6 (Boosting of course).

If you have plenty of Statistician Stacks, 6.1 at enemy Lv 9 should boost their level a fair bit. You will need to boost their Spell Skill via the Cheat Shop to get the maximum range.

I presume 8 squares is the maximum for the Thief and her Stealing Spell (Lv 16 on that now I think).

[MartyG]

You need to go back into CoO6 as the format changes after you defeat it. You get a 3x2 block near you. Stand on the line behind the Base Panel and they won't advance at end of turn. The second 3x3 block is the other side of the pool. There are Exp and Mana Geo Pyramids to further assist. On Lv 0 Strength, the enemies have around 20-25K. On Lv 20 it is around 95K each. Lv 100 (Lv 0 LoC they are around 925K and on Lv 200 around 2.7M (I can clear those in 2 hits with my best Mage and a Magic Boost).

Ah okay, I didn't actually go back in to the map, just looked on the preview screen where it appeared to be the same - I'll take another look at it.

[Bassman]

I have now defeated Pringer X after getting a fair number of Prinny Suits, of course.

With 800% Exp Boost from that, 9 Sea Angels (90%) and finally two whole 300 stacks of Statisticians, I can clear CoO6 on Lv 100 Enemies in about 5 runs. I then do a run with 800% ManaBoost to get enough to do the next reincarnation (last one was 102400).

I need to get some more stacks of Statisticians to get the job done even quicker. I keep buying items that have a Statistician on them when I am in the Item World.

I am now in excess of 100 hours on the game.

[MartyG]

Got my best mage past lvl 1000 now by farming exp on CoO6, although it's a tad tedious compared to grinding through item world.

Have you tried base captures yet? It was a bit hit and miss in the original, I've not seen any mention on it for D2.