Part 14: Family

Chapter 12: Family

Last time on Disgaea 2 Axel kidnapped Taro and Hanako. Today, we head out to get them back and find out a little bit more about our characters as we do it.

We're going to start with some Disgaea 101, though.

The Dark Assembly

The Dark Assembly is a major feature of all three Disgaea games. We can exchange Mana earned to create characters and to ask the Assembly to give us various advantages. Here's an example:

Disgaea 101: Dark Assembly


So, if we pay 10 Mana, we can ask the Dark Assembly to let us create Magic Knights. It will provide you an estimate of the % of the vote you will garner. If you have above 50% approval you usually expect the vote to pass. So let's enter the Assembly and hear a brief explanation of what's going on.



By preparation, I really mean bribery. Get the senators to agree with you by giving them bribes they seem to want.
Blue senators are for you, red senators are against you. Try to get powerful parties (monsters) on your side to get the approval.
Giving one senator a bribe affects all the senators in that party (monster type).
Not all senators who are for you before the vote will necessarily vote for you. You should understand this beforehand...
Once you are done preparing, press the triangle button and select Begin the Vote or Return to HQ.
Mana you use will not be returned, but it is important to Return to HQ if you're not confident. It's pointless if you die.
Now then! Begin the Dark Assembly!!

So, we can go around and bribe senators to improve our chances beyond the 51%, which is really a crapshoot. Senators come in six parties divided into three tiers. The lower senators are the Ghost and Orc parties. Ghosts often sleep through the Assembly, making their votes not count. Orcs have higher approval towards female characters. The middle senators are the Mothman and White Dragon parties. Mothmen prefer monster characters if I recall, while the White Dragons are immune to bribery. The upper senators are the Wood Golems and Rifle Demons. Rifle Demons often show up to the senate drunk, which causes them to vote randomly. I don't recall what sorts of characters the upper senators favor. When you bribe one part of a pair the rest of that senator's party will also go up, while the entire opposition party will go down. In general all senators will favor a character more highly if they have lots of felonies.

What does all this mean? It means Rozalin is the perfect choice to introduce all our bills, at least early on, because the Orcs will start out favoring her by default. Since the Ghosts come to Assembly asleep, we can't bribe the Dragons, and the Rifle Demons are usually drunk, we will focus on the Orcs, Mothmen, and Wood Golems.



Items a senator doesn't want will reduce your approval with them and the party and raise approval with the other party. We only need a simple majority in Disgaea 2, so passing bills is in general much easier. As in Disgaea if a bill doesn't pass you can fight the Assembly, although upper senators can be as high as the 700s and it'll be a while before we could realistically defeat such enemies. Our bill passes, though, and now we can make Magic Knights!



Now let's get on with this rescue operation.

Drama- Bloody Valley Intro




No, that's...
Who made the promise to return me to my father?
Well... me, but...
Then fulfill your promise to me. Take me to my father.
So, I'm supposed to be your guide now!?
Oh ho ho ho ho. Looks like ze circumstances have flipped, Monsieur Adell. Ze summon has backfired.
...Can anything get worse? You're giving me a headache...
What are you waiting for? Taro and Hanako are waiting to be rescued.

Map- Bloody Valley




This map features a bridge covered in No Range Attack panels with enemies at the other end. A river we cannot cross on foot blocks us from conventional travel across it. We can throw someone to the other side to get rid of the No Range Attack, and further we can throw the EXP + 50% symbol onto the red as well. Technically you could just ignore the No Range Attack effect, but the enemy are melee specialists supported by ranged characters outside the red area, and you're at a significant disadvantage if you can't cast and heal from the bridge.

Drama- Bloody Valley Outro




What do you expect!? He kidnapped my little brother and sister!
Hmph. Just as I thought... What you told me was just a lie.
What are you talking about?
And now you feign ignorance? You have a family, yet you lied about not knowing your parents!
...Oh, that. That is the truth.
I'm not related to Mom and Dad by blood. Or to Taro and Hanako, either.
...I was abandoned by my "real" parents when I was still young. So, I don't know who they are.
So, you have been risking your life all this time for people who aren't even your family! And, now you expect me to believe you?
Blood isn't the bond that makes a group of people a family. It's the heart.
......!!



......
Eh? Princess?
Being bound by the heart is what matters... Indeed, you are right! Well said! I commend your insight!
Thanks... I guess.
My bond with my father comes from our heart, not our blood. And that is what makes us a true family, as well.
Excellent. Now, let us find Taro and Hanako. After all, family is an irreplaceable treasure.
I never expected to hear a demon utter those words. And you say I'm odd...

Drama- Life Exchange Intro




(Can you go ask Adell... About his real parents?)
(Why must you put me on such a dangerous mission when you could ask him yourself?)
(It is a hard thing to ask. He did say that his real parents abandoned him.)
(If it is so hard to ask him, what makes you think it would be better coming from me?)
(Very well. I won't ask you to do anything you don't want to do. So, I order you to ask him.)
(...OK. I will do it. How hard can it be to ask?)



What!? That was sudden!
Oh, but, I am curious, eh... Please, tell me.
Pshh... Well, I don't really know much myself. I was too young to remember them.
All I know is, they were close friends with Mom and Dad and they left me with them when I was 2 years old.
All they left for me was a letter that said, "We will return as soon as we have fulfilled our duty."
I believed that letter when I was a kid. I hoped for the day that they would return. But, they never kept their promise.
My parents were cowardly liars. When I realized that, I decided to always keep my promises and to never lie.
Ah, so zat is ze reason you are so stubborn about keeping your promises.



Map- Life Exchange


This map is a real pain in the ass, as the video shows. There's an ATK+50% Geo Monster that moves back around an island far out of reach. Either the red or yellow panels on the map will get this effect. The map alternates between large areas of yellow and red, with enemies in each zone. As much as possible you want to draw the enemies out of areas where they get extra attack and to areas where you do. The Beast Masters and Cockatrices on this map are a serious threat, though. Especially the Cockatrices, which debuff you when you are adjacent to them. Try not to engage them in melee if you can avoid it.

Drama- Life Exchange Outro




Ah, yes. Perhaps ze curse stole zeir memories and conscience too, eh.
They abandoned me just before Zenon's curse spread throughout the world.
But, they abandoned me because their duty was more important to them than I was.
It doesn't matter if it was the curse's fault that they haven't returned. They chose to leave.
...A duty that is more important than their child. What could that be?
I don't know. Mom and Dad don't seem to remember what if was, either.
...Look, can we just stop talking about this? We should concentrate on finding Taro and Hanako.

So we've found out a bit more about Adell and why he's a basket case. We don't yet know why Adell's parents left or what happened to them, though. We'll just have to wait and see.

Next time on Disgaea 2: This guy seriously needs to give up.