Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance PS4 review

[MartyG]

Disgaea's first outing on the PS4 and it's a great Disgaea game, I spent about 18 hours playing it this weekend.

Nippon Ichi seems to have gone all-in with this title, cramming as much in to the game as they could fit. The story isn't quite as captivating as Hour of Darkness, none of the Disgaea games have managed to better the first one on that front, but it's still passable and obsessed with Curry rather than Sardines. The premise is Void Dark is invading all the Netherworlds to suck up their power – your classic conquer everything super villain - and your crew of misfits must create a Rebel Army to defeat him.

The combat is typical Disgaea, turn based strategy and honed to a fine point, laying down a move set is like painting on a canvas, it’s very refined. There’s only one thing I don’t like with setting moves up which is going back out from an area spell goes to the skill select menu, rather than the attack area menu, annoying when you select 1x1 when you meant 1x3.

The way you recruit characters has been changed, this is now based on how much HL you’ve got (in game cash) and you can purchase levels up to that of the main character –no need to start at level 1 with each new recruit. Capturing new characters is also streamlined a bit making it far less hit or miss of throwing characters into the base panel. Some will surrender at the end of a map, others you can grab with the capture skill, so long as you’ve set up a capture crew team; this is also where you deploy other teams for experience and mana sharing (and a whole lot of other stuff). Crew management is definitely easier this time around.

Item World returns, as do evalities and character world, although this is very much different. Character enhancement is like a mini game of Game of Life now.

New things are resident farming and Netherworld explorations. I’ve not done much with the former (it’s unlocked quite far into the game), but the explorations let you send out a crew to a new Netherworld and they will come back with recruits, items and new boss fights.

There seems so much crammed in that 18 hours is barley scratching the surface. I’m on Chapter 9 now; I believe there are 16 in total. There does seem to be far more dialogue to get through this time around, with it continuing in the home base (or Pocket Netherworld as it’s known), but it's all skipable - you can have story dialogue auto continue now which is nice.

If you’re a Disgaea fan, I can’t see why you wouldn’t like this. Now, onwards to the after game …

Three hours of it here (mostly around Chapter 3 and item world and lots of menus for characters, equipment and skills set up, assembly, no sound but will spoil the story, obviously): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw_Vi8QE1YI

There is a Season Pass inevitably, but the content and release schedule is already mapped out, so you're not buying blind with this one: https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-...SGAEA5DLCSPASS - still not sure I want to pay nearly the full price of the game again for it though. You can play the through the main story levels with the extra characters this time, rather than having to wait for the end game stuff to unlock them.

Packaging



Item World

[Bassman]

My two main characters are Lv 27 and Lv 30. I have some much higher generics (up to Lv 515). I just tried the Recruit option and could create a new character up to Lv 412, so it is probably based on your average character level. There is admittedly very little difference in cost to create a higher level character, though you may end up with better stats starting from Lv 1 with some boosting Evilities.

I managed to bribe the Martial Training through (first map... I assume more are available later). I am on Episode 9. I have cleared that map on Lv 20 enemies using multiple attacks. I even managed some Lv 445 prisoners from it. You can only recruit them if you have unlocked their Tier by levelling up a character. The final Tier involves a fair amount of work. Tier 5 is fairly quick with the Cheat Shop boosting EXP. I usually reduce HL and Mana and increase the EXP accordingly... currently 190%. With the Skill Squad active (late in the main game) you don't need to use Quests for skills. I say this, because I find using a Heal skill on my highest characters, even when they have full health (or group of three after increasing the range of the skill) is the easiest way to unlock Tier 5. I used a Lv 25 Orc prisoner I had recruited and with a decent range of Evilities had Tier 5 unlocked by Lv 100 just by healing three high level allies... doesn't take long.

I think my favourite new generic is the Bear. My preferred personality is Gourmet. My Lv 175, now Tier 5, seems to have a thing for eggs with ketchup! He now has all base elemental skills plus a few other useful ones such as heal (for the initial levelling). Ice being a prerequisite for easy levelling on Martial Training map 1, in lieu of a specific skill with a suitable formation.

In previous games after selecting your attack after moving, you could back out which usually resulted in your character reverting to its pre-movement position. This now seems to be a two step process, so you can easily redo just the attack.

I have put in some 50 hours into the full game (plus an 85 hour grind on the Demo). Even with reduced HL in the Cheat Shop, I have 123 million HL, mostly courtesy of Martial Training 1 at a million a time on Lv 20 enemy strength (you need to defeat the three Lv 445 Nether Nobles).

As usual, I pretty much ignore the shop and use stolen items, or stuff from the Netherworld expeditions. My thief is now Lv 357... I need to level her some more on the Martial Training.

The Lv 1 Succubus I recruited yesterday afternoon is now Lv 453 and Tier 6, courtesy of Heal and subsequently Ice on Martial Training 1. She still gets multiple levels on clearing that at full strength enemies.

As some of the later Netherword expeditions have higher level enemies (Lv 75 is the highest so far), I use an ex-prisoner Nether Noble to lead the expedition now (currently Lv 477). I can send out 6 expeditions (which I was doing with lower level enemies).

I think the limit on the number of prisoners you can hold is 128 (I've hit the maximum a few times). I presume the same holds true for you character Roster (I have 71 currently). You can use prisoners to enhance your squads (the new Clubs from previous games).

I now have access to the Innocent farm where you can use Innocents to breed! I really ought to go to the Item World again! I've only done about 60 levels so far so have a lack of innocents. Day-Care in Pokemon springs to mind!

Character World is totally different. You do it at four levels of difficulty and have a limited number of turns to move from the start to the goal (check out the layout when you first get in). It is a bit like a board game, and each square can give you something positive ( or negative), or a battle. Come prepared! I have only used it once so far.

[MartyG]

I've almost unlocked all the character classes now (although not all tiers) - frustratingly some of the non-human classes are being a bit of a pain as their requirements of needing certain inventory items aren't helpful.

I like the new Pirate class which has some great special attacks and the Dark Knight with his Ripple Impact attack which leeches HP points. The Wrestlers are "Pro Tossers" too Item unlocks still have a long way to go.

Can't say I've found the story that interesting, but the combat is fab - I'm onto the final chapter and I've managed to put 60 hours game time into it, so it's definitely holding my interest on the strategy side of things.

Edit - and story mode end credits are go - good ending for me.

[Bassman]

I have been making good use of the Lv 99 Disgaea "glitch" today. This is where a character of this level gives the experience points of a Lv 300 ish enemy. Setting enemy strength to Lv 1 in the Cheat Shop produces three Lv 99 Nether Nobles on the first Martial Training map. Even my Lv 900+ Succubus managed a level or so from them.

I've been doing some recruiting from the two Martial Training maps I've unlocked so far... at Lv 20 enemy strength. I am using seven of the Lv 445 Nether Nobles, plus a lower level one, for Netherworld Expeditions. I also have some Lv 790 Wrestlers from Map 2.

The Innocent Farm has been producing some offspring.

I find healing spells work reasonably well for unlocking the Tiers. I can get to the final Tier sometime up to Lv 220 (with suitable Evilities), using the Succubus and two Lv 790 Wrestlers for a three block heal after learning the Skill via the Skill Squad. The two headed dragon had the added advantage of having two "attacks" as I wasn't moving it.

I found your Netherworld Expeditions are limited to 100 though you can delete completed ones. Items to 2000. Not sure about characters. I currently have around 80.

Even with reduced Money and Mana (the only two I use to boost Exp), I still have around 270 million HL. The Martial Training Maps help with that.

[Bassman]

Got my Innocent Farm levelled up sufficiently to provide subdued Innocents. I have a ridiculous number of Hard Workers (subdued and non-subdued). Need to get more Statisticians.

[MartyG]

I've farmed a level 900 statistician, currently working on another - best thing is just to have your two highest stat residents in the farm, the higher level they are, the higher level the farmed one will be.

I've maxed out all but two of the different squads now, so passing anything in the assembly now is trivial as your entire squad always votes yes. I still haven't unlocked the final training map though as the post-game Dark Void has stupid high HP and I'm not able to deal enough damage currently even with tier 38 weapons to make that battle go quickly. Shouldn't take much more, perhaps build up some more Gladiator residents, do they cap?

HL are at silly levels; I'm having to get rid of items after warehousing the residents that sell for 10,000,000 HL+, so it gets to the point you can never spend it all, even hiring maxed out characters.

[Bassman]

I need better weapons.

I have three characters past Lv 1000, my Lilith being around Lv 1330. The others are a Witch and a Thief just past 1000.

I have been using Martial Training Map 1 for captures to level up Squads. Doesn't take long and with that Lilith I get a 99% chance to capture three.

I can get to Tier 6 on a new character in about 20 minutes healing initially my highest character until they learn Heal and the a line of three highest. I have been recruiting new classes at Genius to maximize stats.

My high level characters can still level up on Martial Training 1 on Enemy Level 1 due to the Lv 99 enemy feature. Map 4.2 at Enemy Level 16 is also populated by Lv 99s.

[MartyG]

Unlocked the final training map and I've beaten that now, so now I need to get to LoC.

Managed to steal an Arcadia, so I'm going through that in Item World at the moment to try and get a few more. All my characters have the Exodus equiped which gives a good boost. Most of my characters are over level 1000, only the story characters are struggling a bit as I'm not really using them - they're all hovering around the 800 mark.

You definitely get your money's worth out of Disgaea games, I'm clocking a little over 90 hours in atm.

[Bassman]

I've been using the Squad that gives Exp from the leader to other members (fully levelled) and Seriphim (I've not been using her much) has gone from Lv 30 to around Lv 900 courtesy of my Galaxy Mage levelling via Martial Training. She is now around Lv 2100. I read somewhere that it was one of the Squads that weren't useful!

I found it is pointless to increase the power of the Professor's buffs beyond Lv 4, because at that level Magic Boost doubles INT and that is the maximum. Is there a way to improve this?

I received a couple of Common Yo****sunas from my Netherworld Expeditions.

I find it interesting that an identical weapon or armour can have different stats. Sometimes a lower rank item can have better stats. Needless to say this does not apply shop bought items.

[Bassman]

Finally have the Carnage Dimension open. Only done one map so far. My best Sage and Witch now have three unique Evilities. With the Nether Noble Evility (Greedy Disposition) boosting stats based on your money (over 8 billion), they have good INT. My Witch has over 2 million at around Lv 8000 or so (after a couple of reincarnations. The Sage Common Evility that boosts INT based on remaining SP helps. Using the Fairy Unique on the Sage to regen SP at the end of each turn is useful.

The Innocent Farm has now turned out about 8 maxxed out Statisticians so far!

I am at the 1000 point Cheat Shop. Using some Sea Angels with the Evility to boost Exp by 30%.

I can reincarnate and get back to around Lv 9000 in about 30 minutes. No chance of clearing Carnage Dimension Martial Training on Lv 20 enemies... bit more work to do.

Now have done some Carnage Dimension Netherworld Research. Useful for high power weapons.

Reincarnating my Thief to boost Stats having reached Lv 9999.

[Bassman]

Gone a little over the top with my Thief... it has all Sub Classes mastered. Over 11 million INT and I have seen 43 million damage with a spell against a suitable weakness... probably with a Magic Boost. I have a set of Evilities on the Thief to max out INT which also includes a good boost in Exp but means no lifting for it. She has all the available Evility slots. With boosted standard movement and three LoC footwear items, not being able to throw her is not an issue as she has a range of 17 squares. She has Sword and Staff Mastery Maxxed and also the associated skills! Currently working on a couple of Sages (one being a capture at around Lv 4000 and Tier 6).

I seem to be having problems boosting Aptitude. The Character World not seeming to have much effect.

I've given up farming Statisticians as I have well over 20 stacks of subdued 900's! Now working on Instructors to boost Weapon Mastery.

I unlocked the final Carnage Martial Training Map after reading that placing your attacking unit(s) on the tower is the answer. I boosted my Thief's INT with a Professor and sent her up the tower. The dragons congregated around the Professor (quickly defeated) and stayed there which made it easy to beat them from a safe distance (though the 38 million HP would have taken a while to whittle down had they attacked).

I have over 100 characters now (about 20 or so being captures) so I am guessing a 128 maximum. I have around a dozen characters currently at Lv 9999. Useful with the high level Carnage Netherworld runs.

I am currently levelling a Carnage Dimension Staff. All enemies are Lv 9999 but are not too high on HP. I've pretty much abandoned normal weapons.

Time played is now at about 266 hours!

[MartyG]

Still trying to get the Carnage Dimension open - I just need a little bit more in the defence stats for the multiple boss fight map as the Prinny boss (which annoyingly you can't lift to throw and kill) can one hit my level 9999 magic users and the level 8000 warrior classes.

Nearly there ... all the challenge maps have been done now.

[Bassman]

I now have three characters with all sub classes mastered. The Thief and two Sages. The second has been boosted with consolidated shards and has fewer levels than the other two (they have Sage - 70,000 and Thief - 50,000) but has better stats... 42,000,000 HP and 12,000,000 INT.

Land Decimator is great for mastering sub levels on the Carnage Asagi Map on Enemy Level of 1 star... if you can clear it (about 1 million INT needed I think). One clearance will master a sub class (some take two). The shards you get can seriously boost a character. I am in the process of working on another character, via a Sage of course. I do have a Carnage Silver Rod with over 300 levels which means a Level 1 character can clear the Final Martial Training Map on 20 stars... using 8 sea angels with the Exp boost Evility for good Exp. I do a Lv 4 Magic Boost from a Professor to be on the safe side (she gives a 100% boost on base INT stat for some reason). After a few runs of that I usually resort to the Boot Camp Squad (maxxed) as a member using one of my big 3 as leader on to the Carnage version on 0 stars helps with levelling, though it still takes a while.

I can't remember the stats I initially had to beat that Prinny. I think I defeated him at the first attempt but had done a fair amount of grinding beforehand.

Try to get the Nether Noble Sub class mastered on a character as Greedy Disposition Unique can give a decent stat boost... If you have a lot of money. Some of the other Common Evilities can give a decent boost to INT (I've only used magic characters on that Prinny). I like the one that gives a boost based on remaining SP. Open as many Evility shots as you can. On my new "project" I went through Chara World on the lowest level to get four more slots. Need plenty of Mana for that.

My main issue is not getting Aptitude boosts in Chara World. On harder levels the boss kills me far too easily.

[MartyG]

Managed to get the carnage dimension opened after doing a couple of reincarnations and levelling back up to 9999, now there's a whole new level of collection needed as I go through and get all the CD stuff, which just makes for stupid level stat boosts

It's going to take a while to clear all the CD maps. As for money, I have well over 10,000,000,000 HL now.

[Bassman]

With some consolidated Shards and a couple or three reincarnations on the Nurse I am working with (currently in Sage guise), she now has plenty of INT to clear the Asagi Carnage map on 1 star enemy level with Land Decimator. She has Lv 100 Staff Mastery and Lv 99 Skill on that and the base elementals. As she has a nice Evility that boosts Class Mastery by 100%, she Masters a Sub Class easily on one visit to that map. I also have the Elite 4 Squad up to 90% boost. I have two Evility set ups. One for Sub Classes and one for levelling.

I have been using the Boot Camp for levelling my current character (at higher levels) via the "big 3" which has got a fair few other characters to Lv 9999, including Killia and Searaphina.

I am now around the 300 hour mark!