Disgaea: Hour of Darkness

Avata · Joined: 03 Dec 2006 Posts: 372

Okay, so I just picked this up for my PS2, and I must say that it seems awesome. I'm about 30 hours in now, and things are shaping up for Disgaea to be even better than Final Fantasy Tactics (yes, I said it).

My question is, given that you can go back to any map at any time, is there a need to play through the game more than once? I ask because my typical route of playing games is 1) go through it once without any guides or spoilers, then 2) go through it with a guide to get everything.

Am I going to want to do it that way, or can I just get up to the last battle, then go back to whatever I missed with the help of a guide, and get 100%?

TugaChampion · Joined: 26 Jan 2006 Posts: 402

I'm not an expert but I also love this game. I have it for the PSP which is almost the same just with a few adds to the PSP version.

I think that you can do all or at least most things by going back but some stages (mainly the ones countainning bosses) will be diferent after you beat them. Also there are a few stages that will disapear once you beat the last one of teh series (I won't say why so I don't spoil it for you).

Also there are more than 1 ending (at least in PSP's version) and after you beat the game you MUST start over with the level and equipment you had before. When I beat the game I just loaded the last save and kept playing to beat the optional stages because I didn't feel like passing all those easy levels again.

You can get more information in video game sites. I don't know if I can post them here so I'm not posting but if I can please tell me.

BTW getting 100% (I mean doing everything including leveling all possible characters to max level) is just insane. And I really mean insane because so few people did it and it takes so much time that you won't have a life for a long time and will probably quit before making it. However you can get 100% in items which is already a pretty good goal and will take some time to get there.

Avata · Joined: 03 Dec 2006 Posts: 372

Basically I want to make sure I see as many endings as possible (although I'll probably get bored if there are 10+ endings, etc.) and see all the optional content (hidden bosses, ultimate weapons etc.) and get all of the characters abilities. Maxing all the way to 9999 and doing all the random content (item world) is less of a concern, although I probably will continue to do the random content until it stops being a challenge.

With multiple endings though, I'll just play through and worry about starting a separate "maxing out" game later.

TugaChampion · Joined: 26 Jan 2006 Posts: 402

The itemworld is pretty funny and also needed to improve the items as it greatly boosts rare and legendary items.

Avata · Joined: 03 Dec 2006 Posts: 372

Yeah, I've definitely enjoyed the item world up to this point, I'm just not going to preoccupy myself with getting every item to 100 if I'm just going to start a new game after this one anyway. Smile

methodless · Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 13

I have about 150 hours on this game and more on the sequel. It is just awesome. feel free to ask me any questions about either.

Avata · Joined: 03 Dec 2006 Posts: 372

So I take it the sequel is worth picking up? Is it better/worse than the original, or about the same?

cloysterd · Joined: 24 Jan 2007 Posts: 49

Disgaea is one of my favorite games on any system. The sequel isn't as funny but the gameplay is just as good and there's even more hidden/extra stuff. And you can also check out the other tactics RPGs by NIS: La Pucelle Tactics, Phantom Brave, and Makai Kingdom (I particularly enjoyed PB).

Regarding the endings I don't really remember how to get them all. I know a few of them come after beating optional levels, but I think at least one requires you to play the whole game through again. And the last optional boss is something like level 5000 (I never got that far).