Persona 4

[Dreadlord Santa]

I can't believe this game doesn't already have a thread! I've seen 2 people with P4 avatars in my 20 minutes or so on the board, but nobody made a discussion topic for this incredible gem of a game? Criminal.

I'll try to sum up the game in a single sentence, as they have that search bar in the corner of your browser for a reason: Persona 4 is a simulation/RPG hybrid wherein you have to balance your social relationships with classic dungeon crawling, all the while trying to unearth the mystery behind the recent string of gruesome murders that has hit the sleepy town of Inaba. <_< Hey, that wasn't bad, I don't think.

In any case, I got Persona 4 home this time on Tuesday, and have almost 40 hours logged already. It just... grabs you, and doesn't let go. The characters, the storyline, the atmosphere... it has the most engrossing and original plot I've encountered in any game in my 14 years of gaming. The characters are all totally believable, from the tomboy, to the sentient teddy bear you meet in the TV world - even your silent protagonist has more character to him this time around.

The gameplay is more involving (and difficult <_< those of you who've made it through the first real dungeon should know what I'm talking about...) than Persona 3's intelligently-designed combat, throwing resource management into the mix with the old combat system that rewarded careful strategy over simple brute force. The team aesthetic is improved as well, allowing you to control your teammates directly instead of relying on the irritating AI to do what you want via vague commands.

Social Links, the other important part of gameplay, are much improved as well. All of your team members have a social link associated with them, which, when levelled, will increase their capabilities in combat - they finally have something to bring to the table that the protagonist can't do better!

<_< I just realized, this is reading more like a review than a discussion topic. I'll stop now ^_^ Post away, share your theories on the mystery, your thoughts, cries for help, whatever! If there's anything that this game does better than any game I've seen, it would have to be encouraging discussion.

 

[Rutger]

I did not make a topic because I think a topic about it will most likely die, sadly this is a niche game.

I can't stop playing but I'm not far, yay expert mode. ^_^
It has been really great so far.


See, no one posting.

 

[Wolfgang457]

I can't wait to play it but unfortunately I have to wait until christmas when I receive it to get into it (though I at least made sure it was obtained through pre-order so I'd receive the art book I dig stuff like that). I'm a fairly recent fan since I by some chance found Persona 3: FES in my gamestop new with a used copy of the original. I took a chance and bought the new FES and it really sucked me in. I played a lot of that game from early September to October and have logged in a fair amount of hours on it. Though that only gets me more hyped up for 4 as for what I've read seems to flow better and seems to fix some of the minor issues I had with 3.

WHY CAN'T IT BE CHRISTMAS ALREADY?!

 

[Minato]

I have P4, I haven't started it yet due to Finals and all at school.

And I'm proud to say I liked the SMT franchise before P3.

 

[Dreadlord Santa]

Minato: I'm assuming, though, by your username, that you were a fan of P3 before a fan of Smash Bros. ^_^ I was a fan of Shin Megami Tensei before Persona 3 as well; I really liked Nocturne when I still had it, but I lent it to my friend before I really finished it and never got it back v_v I also have yet to find any copies of Digital Devil Saga 1 or 2 anywhere... the release totally caught me off-guard, and thanks to Atlus' "brilliant" sales method, I haven't seen any copies of the games since I realized they were out.

Wolfgang: If it helps, it seems to be the consensus that P3 had a better ending than 4... I don't really know, because for any of a number of different reasons, I have still yet to finish it v_v I tried to stave off the excitement through playing it again, but still only made it to December or so before 4 came out. For all the improvements 4 may have made over 3, FES was still quite a good game ^_^

Rutger: I'm not expecting to get that many posts for a niche RPG on the generic video game forums for a competitive fighting game, especially a game that was just released during finals season... I just figured I had a better chance for quality discussion here than on, say, Gamefaqs ^_^ How far did you manage to get on Expert mode? I'm honestly terrified of it, as I've been struggling much more with this game than I did in FES's Hard mode, or even the aforementioned SMT: Nocturne, even though Persona's supposed to be easier than the flagship SMT series games. Heck, I'm even stuck on the boss of the 4th dungeon on Normal; I can't seem to get the Personae I win from Shuffle Time to mix into anything good >_<

I guess I'll update the OP with the box-art; that's kind of standard procedure here, isn't it?

 

[Minato]

Yeah, I've decided to use Minato as my username because of the MC's unofficial name in the manga.

Shin Megami Tensei for the SNES was the first game of the series I played. I played it on an emulator when I was like 10 or 11. Persona 2 is still one of my favorites though, and I haven't played the translated version of Innocent Sin yet.

So I couldn't help myself and decided to play P4 even before Finals week. I'm loving it. The game's really great, and the script is well written.

 

[Rutger]

I'm about to be able to go to Rise's dungeon. Expert is not that bad, I just have to grind more then I did in P3, may even be blessing for the middle of the game because I will get better skills earlier. I also don't have to deal with increased compendium costs, the only thing that prevents me from playing hard mode in P3. 24 hours in, I may be going a little slow, don't know.

I have not played a SMT game before P3 FES, P4 is the only other one I have played. They are too hard to find and I don't want to deal with Rom's right now so...

Luckily my finals were finished when I picked up the game.

 

[Minato]

I would've played P4 on Expert mode, but The Answer from FES made me not want to choose it.

The Answer had so much grinding and required a lot of luck and great persona fusions.

@Rutger, if you have money you should try to purchase SMT: Nocturne and the two Digital Devil Saga games for the PS2. You can find them all at Amazon, and they're brand new and are priced at 40 dollars each.


Edit: I just found SMT: III Nocturne with both the game and the CD for only 20 bucks today.

 

[Dreadlord Santa]

Oh, Amazon has the games for decent prices? Never would have guessed... looks like I'll be getting Digital Devil Saga for Christmas ^_^

I don't think you've going that slow, Rutger; 24 hours at Rise's place doesn't seem too bad, especially if you have to do extra grinding. I wouldn't worry about speed too much anyway; you've gotta savor these kind of games!

Update on my status: I'm about a third of the way into Naoto's dungeon... it's getting frustrating, because the dungeon floors are getting way bigger, and have less treasure v_v The enemies aren't too hard, especially with Yosuke confusing enemies half of the time he hits with his regular attacks, and the powerful shadows in this area just keep spamming Ziodyne on my main character... which is an element he reflects ^_^ Oddly, the reflected Ziodynes are the best source of damage I have against them...

I've also finished up my 3 main party members' s-links: Chie, Yosuke, and Yukiko (who I chose the lover path for, not that it makes any difference, really, since it only kicks in after you hit rank 9) ...yeah, they're the first 3 characters you get... I have a horrible tendency for doing that. Upgrading makes a bigger difference in this game than in p3, I believe. Did the upgraded personae in 3 add an extra resistance in addition to nulling the persona's main element? I don't think I ever checked that...

The school trip is officially the greatest thing ever in my book, now... look forward to it, it's especially great for those of us who played P3 (practically all of us, natch ^_^) I've never laughed so hard playing a video game before in my life. I love how well they mesh the serious and lighthearted parts of the game.

As pertaining to the mystery, I've got a theory for your all (spoilers up through the beginning of Naoto's dungeon, highlight at your own risk):

Spoiler

Do any of you get the feeling that the killer is, for some reason, targetting people who stand to inherit local businesses? I'm not really too sure what the deal is with the first victim, the anchorwoman, but... Saki Konishi stood to inherit the liquor store, Yukiko was inheriting her inn, Kanji was next in line for the textile store, Rise had a good chance of taking over her grandmother's tofu shop, Morooka had nothing to do with the other kidnappings/(attempted) murders, and Naoto's family is a long-standing line of detectives. It seems like too much of a coincidence, even if they all DID appear on T.V. shortly before being kidnapped... although I guess it could just be because, the game being an RPG, all the main characters have to be at least somewhat important... I can't seem to get the idea out of my head. It would give the killer a motive of some sort, which has been sorely lacking in the case up to this point.

Whew, that ended up being a pretty good read... it'll spoil a lot of plot twists, though, so don't feel obligated to read it <_< I just had to get that out somehow.

 

[trueganon]

Let me start things off by slapping some backstory on you guys. You can skip this first paragraph if you dont like origin storys. Out of nowhere, I decided to buy a random Playstation game and found a little gem known as Persona 2. I got it from E.B. when it was still around and they still sold Playstation games. Needless to say, this was quite the while ago. I very quickly went 100% nuts over the game. It was unlike anything Ive ever played before. Not knowing jack about it before that time, I decided to dig up all the info I could. Hence it led me to the incredible Persona 3. It blended all its features in so well, I couldnt get enough. I went on and raved about the game to everyone I knew and converted afew normal people into Personiacs also. Once I heard about 4, you can guess my reaction.

Now I sit here kicking myself due to my recent loss of my job so I couldnt pick up P4 yet. If I dont get my hands on it soon, things will happen. To ease off the painful topic, I dove back into P3 to muscle through once more. I sat there and noticed that it is hands down my favorite game by a long shot very easily. Either you love Persona, or you just dont get it. I also have all the Shin Megumi games (Nocturne/a hard find for me/, Digital Devil Saga /1 and 2/, Devil Summoner) I could get my hands on. I could honostly go on and on about all of these without ever tireing of it. I really hope to get my hands on P4 as soon as possible. I dont want to have to lose my mind. Reading your posts about it makes me more and more impatient.

And lastly thank you Rutger for pointing me on over here.

 

[Minato]

If you think P3 is your favorite, P4's going to take that spot very soon...

The only English MegaTen games I'm missing are the two DDS games and the first two Persona games. (and Demi Kids if you count those)
I've still played Persona 2 before, and I love it. I'm still trying to get a real copy since it's just that good.

Edit: Maybe I should make a rumor that my local game stores have it...

 

[trueganon]

Oh I know it too well. Its why I grow more and more impatient by the day. I feel like Cartman waiting for the Wii to launch.

Persona 2's Rumor and Convo. systems where awesome. Unlike anything in any other rpg. All the new Persona fans should really at the very least give it a try. Im really glad I got ahold of my copy when I did.

Ha, I remember going to Gamestop with the sole purpose of getting ShinMeg Nocturne, but none of them around here had it. I took thier online survey thing and wrote in it that I was unsatisfied by their stores for the lack of this game. Within a week, I saw newly shipped copys of it to the store I had sent the survey on. Im still not sure why, but I remember flippin out and buying both copys they had.

 

[Dreadlord Santa]

I've got a pretty good condition Persona 2: Eternal Punishment disc, but I can't seem to bring myself to play it after reading about the fact that it's the second Persona 2 game <_< The same thing happened when I got Shadow Hearts: Covenant, not realizing it was the second game in the series... I stopped playing it once I realized I hadn't gotten the whole story. I know there's a translation of Innocent Sin out there, but I don't really know how to do all that patching and stuff v_v. Maybe one day, I'll really dive into Persona 2. Oh, I've also got a copy of Demikids: Dark Version somewhere. I recall having a lot of trouble with it, due to the fact that I couldn't figure out how to get the fusion guy to actually let me fuse my demons >_< It definitely wasn't an especially good game, though...

Apparently, DDS2 is out of stock at Amazon, now... the first one is still there, though, so I'll at least have one, I guess.

I'm really angry at myself; I was wandering around in Rise's dungeon with Teddie and Kanji in my party, trying to do a quest for that annoying guy next to the bookstore who has the most difficult quests of everyone. Anyway, I got into a battle with 5 enemies in it, and mindlessly ordered my protagonist to use Blade of Fury on 'em... not realizing that 3 of the enemies present reflected physical damage. The result was easily the most devastating 3-target Blade of Fury I've ever encountered, taking down a MC with the latest armor from full health (~450 >_<), and forcing me to go back to a save 4 days earlier, before even finishing the thick hide quest (RAGE) Thus, I've spent the day since catching up on the second route of Fate/Stay Night... oh, and btw, Rutger, you think THIS game is niche, try being a Type-Moon fan ^_^

 

[Rutger]

Wow, that sucks. I'm still working my way through Rise's dungeon, about level 35 I believe and I've reached the top and some of the enemies can one shot anyone but I'm getting 800 some exp from them, worth the risk imo.

I want to be a Type-Moon fan, I enjoyed the F/S N anime but it felt incompleat/like stuff was missing and I want to try the visual novels but obtaining them is a different story for me right now. I really want to see the Unlimited Blade Works route.

 

[Dreadlord Santa]

HEhe, yeah, you should want to see UBW. It's lightyears better than Fate. You should try to acquire the VN by any means necessary. *cough* Seriously, they can't expect you to pay hundreds of dollars for the game, and you really can't get the same experience from the anime, with it's lukewarm combination of the 3 routes that just makes everything way more confusing... yeah, the anime is definitely missing most of UBW and HF, but it gives a pretty complete retelling of Fate. Also, I thought the Tsukihime anime was much better than F/SN's, so you might want to check that out as well, if you haven't. It has easily the best soundtrack of any anime I've ever watched. I'm actually more a fan of Tsukihime than anything else, so you know it can't be that bad if I liked it. Shiki's way too depressive in it, but the storyline is nice and concise, and like I said, the music is ridiculously good - I patched the anime soundtrack into my copy of the VN.

Jeeze, I got really off-topic, there... I just maxed out Rise's SL, and I have to say... get started on this as soon as you possibly can. Her upgraded persona lets her give you a weakness of the enemies you're fighting, which needless to say makes everything MUCH easier. It's integral, much more important than anyone else's link.

I, uh... don't really have anything else to say, so since I was just on the topic of the Tsukihime Anime soundtrack, thoughts on the Persona 4 soundtrack? I think it's a big improvement over 3... I don't think I could explain why, but the only song I thought compared to P4 from P3 was the remix of Burn My Dread from the FES opening... which is, coincidentally, in 4! My favorite songs from 4 are the Opening, Battle, and Sunny Day themes. This is definitely one of those few games where I'm really, really glad that I got the soundtrack CD with the game... even if it is only half of the full soundtrack v_v I'll probably use it to give background music for my Smash videos, since I have to use a digital camcorder to record it all, which naturally picks up out "commentary," which is usually rather embarassing, and something I'd rather not post on the internet.

So, yeah, in closing... go ahead and try to "find" F/SN on the internet, Rutger ^_^ You won't be disappointed, and it's already fully translated, so you can't go wrong!

 

[justaway12]

here is a stupid question, i've been looking for yusoke after school, for s.link purposes, and i can't find him O.o
Where do you find him?

edit: actually... forget it i found him

 

[trueganon]

Tears run down my face as I can joyfully say that I will soon join in with the conversations and help requesting/advice giving. The game shall finally be within my grasp as of tommorow afternoon.

 

[Rutger]

Well I'll be sure to look for F/SN soon, don't want to get off topic so I'll leave it at that I have seen the Tsukihime anime.

Just got through Rise's dungeon, was surprised at how the boss fight went.

Spoiler

Did not expect Teddie's shadow right after, I'm surprised I won because I was doing around 70 damage the whole fight. Two close calls at the end and it took about 30 - 40 min.

On the soundtrack, I think it is great. I like it better then P3, I'm not one to normally listen to Rap but P3 did a good job with its music and I enjoyed it(most notable for me is battle for everyone's souls). P4 though I like much more, I've done a good job avoiding spoilers and to keep that up I have not listened to any track that I have not heard ingame but all of the daily music is nice, I can't stop listening to I'll face myself(Battle and normal), and the main battle theme is better. I've already found the second half, overall I like the soundtrack to P4 a lot.

 

[Dreadlord Santa]

Yeah,

Spoiler

Shadow Teddie was a ridiculously lengthy fight. It wouldn't have been so bad if you, like... ever actually felt like he had a chance of killing you, but his offense was horribly pathetic. Even with a move that auto-dizzies a person, none of my characters came even remotely close to dying, though I did use a massive amount of SP... I doubt it would be possible to do both of them in a row without the heal after Shadow Rise.

I managed to get really turned off to P4 again because of stupid physical reflecting enemies. This time, I didn't even KNOW they were physical reflecters, and I ended up losing, like... 5 hours of playtime, at least. Back to right before fighting Shadow Naoto, now, after 2 weeks or so passing and clearing out all of Void Quest and almost all of the Secret Laboratory the second time >_< It's very frustrating, how these stupid deaths are the ONLY things that ever kill me...

 

[Minato]

At least the game isn't as hard as FES...

FES would've been so much easier if there was a compendium in The Answer.

 

[trueganon]

I finally got it awhile ago, when I said I would, and have been playing alot. The only breaks in it was to play the occasional Brawl All-Nighters I pull with my buddy and some Reading and work breaks. I also managed to convince my friend to pick it up for christmas with the gift cards he always gets. Im up to Rise's dungeon now, only afew days into the activation of it, so not too much done yet. Just like in P3, Im having trouble trying to figure out how I want to spend my days. Alot of my time has been spent standing infront of someone for extended periods of time and debating on going out with them, work on a part-time job, go fishing, or just going to dungeons. Too many options. T.T

Im also really diggin the Soundtrack. I loved the ones from P3 and DDS. Once again, the good ol' Shin Meg.s didnt dissapoint. Thier irrisistably catchy tunes always score big with me. Also love the Tanaka song in the game. I flipped when I heard it on P4 for the first time. The best part is now I can listen to them all with my long awaited super awesome headphones. The limited edition ones from the original release with the Gekko High logo on 'em. BWAAAHAHA! BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!
..wait, I got off topic. Ive been progressing pretty smoothly through the game with an occasional bump in with powerful enemies, but grinding always takes care of that problem. My fav. moments so far have been the whole Class Campout trip thing and all the Kanji moments.

 

[Dreadlord Santa]

Just wait until the real class trip comes around again... a friend of mine just recently got to that point, and we both agreed it was the greatest scene in any RPG we've ever played ^_^ SO funny... this game has me busting out laughing all the time.

...not that I've really played it recently. I've spent almost all of the past 3 days playing Guilty Gear in preparation for MAGfest. For some reason, it's imperative that my crew does well for this tournament, even though I'm the only one who has any history of doing decently in a competitive atmosphere... so, I've been sitting around trying to teach my friends how to play characters I don't even use, whilst getting precious little actual practice in for myself. Not to mention that it's caused me to forsake Smash Bros, which has always been my #1 competitive fighter... but, hell, that's totally off-topic, yet again. I'll be leaving my friend's house shortly, so I'll finally have time to re-do the Shadow Naoto fight - which was, I forgot to mention, uncharacteristically easy. He keeps nullifying your resistances to stuff, but he never once struck a weakness on any of my characters, which is obviously the way a boss will do the most damage to you... so, yeah, he basically does enough damage every turn to make one of my characters cast Mediarama, so I end up getting in 3 attacks per turn, and he doesn't have any super crazy attacks or anything to potentially throw a wrench in your gears... it's just an endurance fight, like

Spoiler

Shadow Teddie,

though he probably has altogether less health, even though you're way stronger by the time you fight Shadow Naoto. Disappointing, really; the game's become almost as easy as P3, though only almost; regular battles are still noticeably harder, as enemies tend to have more reflections and resistances in this game, and you have to use a skill to actually see the enemy's resistance to it >_<

 

[justaway12]

i can't believe what happened to king moron

Spoiler

i can't believe he died i thought you could have a social link with him... I'm heartbroken the best i can hope for is that he comes back from the dead and he has the death arcana like the death kid in P3

 

[trueganon]

You dreamed that you were being chased by Chie. It was heartpounding. Your relationship has intensified.

XD Awesome.

 

[trueganon]

Ha, I just got past the class trip last night. I couldnt stop laughing either. I also loved the P3 and Devil Summoner things they snuck in there. Three cheers for Captain Buzz Kill. How I wished it couldve gone on abit longer.

 

[tirkaro]

I just got this yesterday, great game, but....

JESUS CHRIST, WILL THAT GO**** BEAR EVER SHUT UP

 

[trueganon]

Wow, Wow, Wow. Just when I think Ive seen the best this game has to offer, it tops itself. The Culture Festival was beyond awesome for no reason. Naoto is ownage on stilts. And I finally got to make my White Rider persona. Having him now makes me want to play Nocturne really bad. I still need to get all the Riders in it. Looks like an all nighter for me.

 

[justaway12]

I just got this yesterday, great game, but....

JESUS CHRIST, WILL THAT GO**** BEAR EVER SHUT UP

what's wrong with the teddie i think he's quite a delight to have around it's also an RPG game so i don't think it can distract i think people hated fuuka in P3 for the same reasons i never understood why though

 

[Rutger]

I just got this yesterday, great game, but....

JESUS CHRIST, WILL THAT GO**** BEAR EVER SHUT UP

His english voice is much less annoying then the little I've heard of his Japanese voice, he won't stay as tactician for long anyways.

what's wrong with the teddie i think he's quite a delight to have around it's also an RPG game so i don't think it can distract i think people hated fuuka in P3 for the same reasons i never understood why though

Fukka's acting was bad, her voice itself was not bad but the way she said here lines was just hard to listen to.


I'm still at the game(beginning of it, have not gone in yet) I got Chrono Trigger DS and found F/SN so those have been taking up time for me as well.

 

[trueganon]

I'm sad that I am nearing the end of my journey, but excited to get me some true ending action going. I spent the last dungeon I was on totally focused on crushing all the shadows and forgot about the persona fuseing for quite some time. When I finally went back to it, Ha. Im very happy with the outcome of what I had on hand.

Jeez, that stupid yelling every single turn gets annoying. "Senpai's health is low. Youd better heal him." "Sombody heal Senpai, QUICK!" All I did is change my persona and the next hit to me will heal me back to full health, but no. I get that yelled at me every single turn until the enemys decide to attack.

 

[Dreadlord Santa]

Heh, yeah, they kind of went overboard with warning you about stuff in this game... it never really bothered me too much, because I usually cut Rise off because of how fast I select my skills, but yeah, there's no reason they should have to warn you about the same thing every turn.

I haven't played Persona 4 at all over the past week or so. It's not that I don't want to play it or anything... I've just still had no time at all to play it. I got the Fate/Stay Night fighting game a few days back, Unlimited Codes, and that's sucked up a lot of my time. Easily the craziest fighting game, execution-wise, I've ever played. I also got a new HDTV, so I've been playing a lot of my XBOX 360 games that I couldn't get into because of the unreadable text on standard def TVs. And now, I'm getting ready to go off to MAGfest for 4 days T_T It's going to be a few more weeks until I can actually finish up this game...

 

[trueganon]

Beat it. Woot. Actually awhile ago, but Ive been distracted playing Nocturne again and L4D all nighters with a friend. You should all obviously go for the true ending, its all extended and more stuff to it. I also like playing a second playthrough on P4 alot more than P3 thanks to the new social links like the sports clubs, each one is a diffrent person and diffrent events unlike P3's every club being the same guy and manager. Also the same with the Sun Link. Then theres the friendship or lovers route with all the girls, all the random quests from people all over town, and Ill never grow tired of seeing the epic scenes like the campouts and such.

Everyone go beat it right now. **** the budget!

 

[epic of DE]

Persona 4 is definitly going to be a diamond for those that play it but it won't be as popular as other RPG's around.

You are right though trueganon the ending is definitly worth it by the end of the game and I'm more willing to do newgame+ since unlike persona 3 FES where you keep your level and everyone else is back to their original story level so you really can't go to the unlocked area for a while.

Campout was frickin hilarious but I still get a kick out of things like the cultural festival and even the scenes in the dungeons are enjoyable to watch again.

 

[trueganon]

I hope it doesnt get as big as the others, as small as it is, it was still freakishly hard to find a store that wasnt sold out of it. Didnt help that not many stores carried it to begin with. I a man of simple needs, and I dont want to be ording a game online when I can just walk out and pick it up in one go.

Everyone I know that plays the game is way more than willing to go through that second playthrough and they all agree that the scenes are awesome. Leveling up the social links is so much easier when you know what answers to pick, and its nice that you get huge boosts if you have a Persona of the Arcana of that link. I got Yukiko up to rank 7 within a week. On this playthrough I want to take on the hidden boss and try my luck against The Reaper when he rears his ugly mug. After that, I can prolly go again and try to perfect my compediulm.

 

[TheJerm]

Persona 4 is epic. I'm playing it at a slow pace since I'm busy, but I'm always addicted when I do play.

 

[epic of DE]

Yeah it did take me a few tries to find a place to find it since PS2 games are hardly being sold at common stores like BEST BUY but Gamestop tends to be nice to you.

But I think before I really get serious about doing a new game with Persona 4 I should first finish Phantom Brave and try to complete Disgaea 2 with a disc that isn't scratched beyond belief.

Side note...would there be any reason why Disgaea 2 wouldn't play on the original "fatty" PS2 that had the I/O switch on the back?

 

[trueganon]

Yeah, I ended up buying the last one at the third Gamestop I tried at. Luckily they build one every two blocks away from each other down here.

I play my Disgaea 2 on my old "fatty" PS2. That thing has never let me down. But Disgaea before Persona? That game is MASSIVE, to say the least. At least if you intend on getting all the bang for your buck.

 

[epic of DE]

Um...Well I'm not sure yet if I'll attempt Baal (haven't done much of the crazy stuff in the first Disgaea since I'm not grinding at the CoO)

But I liked the changes from the second game like having the monsters being a useful slot for your party.

 

[trueganon]

Majins ftw. Its been awhile since I played Disgaea though, I remembering loving those monsters with the cannon for a hand. Mine was way above the level of any other character.

Sorta like in P4, my second playthrough has so far consisted of my main character muscleing his way through everything with Satan equip, taking no damage and constantly healing everyone thanks to the multiple Regen. and Invigoration skills Satan has.