Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories/Episode 1: The Overlord's Daughter

During the introductory scenes, the only aspect relevant to gameplay is Adell's Dad introduction to the three units automatically added to your team; a male Fighter, a Red Skull, and a Healer. He gives an adequate description of each, but you can find more in-depth information in the Humans section of this guide. You can also talk with Adell's Dad later to get a quick tutorial about the different types of weapons humans can wield.

This early on in the game, most shops and services aren't yet open, so you don't have many options. If you still feel like looking around, have a chat with some of the local demon residents. They rarely have anything important to say, but from time to time they'll spurt out something humorous. When you're ready, follow the advice of Adell's Mom and talk to the Dimensional Gatekeeper, the girl with the frilly blonde hair.

Tutorial Stages
The first episode will help ease you into gameplay mechanics and basic battle tactics through four tutorial stages, undoubtedly the easiest of all stages in Disgaea 2. This batch of stages will disappear after completion, and you'll never be able to battle through them again, unlike most stages.

Tutorial 1
When selecting a stage, press psx: X if you want to see the cutscene beforehand, or press psx: T if you just want to get straight to the battle. It is suggested you view the scene this time, as it contains a comprehensive tutorial. The game has video to go along with their explanations, while this guide only has still images, so go ahead and select "Sure". Whether or not you skip the tutorial, most of this information can be found under the "Help" option of the Main Menu (which can be brought up in battle or on the base map by pressing psx: T).

This battle is very straightforward, you only have three enemies as opponents, all Lv1 Pvt Prinnies with no equipment. Whenever the game throws Prinnies at you, it's sure to be an easy battle. Just be sure not to send out your Red Skull or Cleric to the front lines, since they can't take as much damage as Adell, Rozalin, or the Fighter.

Your melee fighters don't have any special moves yet, so try to make good use of Team Attacks to build up Weapon Mastery.

After the Battle
Upon your return to Holt Village, make sure to heal up your soldiers at the Hospital (Adell's Mom will point it out) and save your game. It's always better to heal and save now rather than later, you never know when unexpected trouble will arise.

If you still have money left over from healing, take a tour over to the now-open shops. Make sure you talk to the Weapon Shop owner (guy with a sword bubble above his head), as he'll outline the basics of Weapon Mastery for you. After you enter his shop, make sure to equip your Cleric with a proper staff. At this point of the game, it's better to have a cleric who switches between weapons than one who stays solid with either a bow or a staff. Make sure to keep your Cleric's bow or staff in the Item Bag, and not the Warehouse, when she doesn't have them equipped. In the middle of future battles, change the Cleric's weapon to a bow when attacking (because of its greater range and attack power), and use a staff when casting spells (since spell range and efficiency is increased with Staves). After selecting the Cleric, you'll be able to switch current weapons with those in the Item Bad by using the "Equipment" command. Staff Weapon Mastery will only increase while casting spells, while Bow Weapon Mastery will only increase while attacking, so that's just another reason to use this strategy.

If you feel like switching around the weapons of your other units, do it now instead of later, but make sure they have a high Weapon Mastery with whatever weapon you give them. It's better to stick with one type of weapon early and stay with it, so you won't waste Weapon Mastery levels on something you won't use.

After you're done shopping (or if you've run out of HL), go back over to the Dimensional Gatekeeper and head for the next battle.

Tutorial 2
Don't skip the story this time around, as it'll provide another tutorial, this time about lifting and throwing other characters. After the tutorial is over, bring up the main menu, go to help, and select Lift & Throw. It'll provide more important information that could make or break a battle. Remember, those blue penguin-things are the Prinnies it's talking about. While you can destroy the Prinnies by tossing them, you won't earn any experience that way, so it would be best to take them down the old fashioned way if you want to level up.

This is another simple battle, almost identical to the last: Three Lv1 Prinnies with no equipment. The map is designed to make you want to throw your characters closer to the foes, however, it might be best to send out Rozalin or another endurable character just in front of your Base Panel for the first round. This will prompt the Prinnies to advance, but none will be able to get close enough this turn as long as you're within two spaces of your base. Now that they're all in proximal range, you'll be able to attack with more characters instead of having to send out only a few into harm's way with throws.

After your victory, you might want to grab some armor if you ran out of HL earlier, and be sure to heal up at the Hospital if your units are injured.

Tutorial 3
Another tutorial spearheads the beginning of this stage, but it isn't nearly as comprehensive as the first two, so you may just want to skip it. You can find all of the information provided under Geo Effects on the Help section of the Main Menu.

Another simple battle awaits you, and another three Lv1 Prinnies with no equipment. The +50% Enemy Boost Geo Panels aren't much of a threat considering your foes. All of the Prinnies are fairly far away from your base panel again, so just use the "Base Panel Wait" strategy used in the last stage. This will most likely take both Prinnies off of their 50% boost panels. As long as you're lined up against the far edge next to your base panel, they can't strike you on the first turn.

The third and final Prinny won't come forth until you're in its attack range, but it isn't much of a threat no matter how you look at it, so just defeat it in any manner you see fit.

Tutorial 4
This tutorial gives more in-depth examples and explanations of how Geo Effects work. For more in-depth information however, you may want to check the Geo Effects portion of this guide.

Again, this stage features three Lv1 Pvt Prinnies with no equipment as your opponents. Don't worry about the monotony, this is the final tutorial stage.

The most efficient way to defeat all enemies with the effects of Geo Panels is listed below. You don't gain EXP when defeating enemies with Geo Effects, but your Bonus Gauge is boosted and thus provides more bonuses, and it's much faster, so it's really up to which gains are needed at the time.
 * 1) Approach the Blue Geo Symbol with Adell, and have him throw it on the closest edge of the group of red Geo Panels.
 * 2) Attack the Blue Geo Symbol with Rozalin or your Red Skull's Fire (use Rozalin if the target has an elemental resistance to fire) to turn the red panels blue.
 * 3) Take out your Healer, and position her directly between your base panel and the group of Geo Panels that were red until recently. Take out your Fighter, but do not give him an action to perform just yet. Grab him with your Healer and throw him closer to the Null Geo Symbol. Move the Fighter closer to the null symbol and have him throw it anywhere on the blue Geo Panels.
 * 4) Destroying the Yellow Geo Symbol with your remaining characters, not putting any of them on the blue panels if you can. This should start off a chain reaction that turns all panels yellow, then nullifies all panels and provides you with a Complete Null Bonus. All of the Prinnies should be dead, and you should be damage-free.

After the Battle
Upon returning to Holt Village, Adell's Dad will tell you the Dark Assembly is finally open. This means you can create new characters now, but... it's likely none of your characters have more than 5 mana, so you'll only be able to create characters with "Good-for-nothing" potential, meaning you have to subtract 5 from their base stats upon creation. Make sure the lost stats aren't normally used by that class, such as warriors and INT, or Mages and ATK.

Because of Master-Pupil Relationships, it would normally be best for characters to make units of their same type. This means melee attacks should make warrior-type units, Mages should make magician-type units, Gunners like Rozalin should make other sharpshooters such as Thieves, etc. For now, it would be advised to make a Lady Fighter, a Thief with a gun or bow in hand, a Green Skull/Mage, and a Blue Skull/Mage, so you can balance and fill out your team.

You may want to consider making an extra Lady Fighter equipped with a bow, so you'll be able to unlock the Archer class faster (Clerics and Thieves take much longer for their Bow Mastery to get to Lv5), and then reincarnate the Lady Fighter as an Archer once she has over 100 mana.

Some argue that Prinnies are a valuable asset, as they level much faster than the average character, cost only 1 HL to heal, and can be used as "ammunition". Even if their levels are high, a Prinny's stats most likely won't exceed another character who has received an equal amount of EXP. In any case, losing one mana point for another character isn't much of a loss, so go ahead and create a Prinny. If you find out you dislike Prinnies later on, just delete it later with the "Delete this Character" option in the Dark Assembly.

Make sure to equip your new recruits with proper weapons and armor with bonuses you received from the previous four battles, or with new items from the local shops. Remember to give them weapons they're skilled with. If you equip one Lady Fighter with a spear, keep your male Fighter with a sword, offer a Bow to your additional Lady Fighter, and keep Rozalin and Adell with their original weapon types, you'll be able to unlock more of the human classes earlier.

If you don't like the names your three generic starting characters you were given before Tutorial, you can change those in the Dark Assembly without having to spend mana. For more in-depth information about the Dark Assembly, view the corresponding section of this guide.

Stage 1-1: Beginner's Field
After clearing all of the tutorials, this stage will replace the tutorial stages, but it does not need to be completed to advance onward in the first cycle.

This stage contains three Lv1 Petite Orcs and two Lv1 Ghosts, none of which have any equipment. Your first action should be to take out the Null Geo Symbol with a ranged attack, which will take roughly half the HP of all enemies, and remove their healing bonus. Kill all the Orcs with Gun or Bow attacks and thrown characters, wizards who can exploit the Orcs' elemental weaknesses are recommended to be tossed. Any of your characters, except perhaps Prinnies or wizard-types, should be able to hold off the remaining Ghosts' attacks easily. Now just finish off the remaining, pre-weakened enemies. A Ghost's DEF is low, but their RES is high, so use physical attacks instead of spells.

Stage 1-2: Reflection Pool
There's no tutorial section in the story this time, or any other stages after this, so go ahead and skip the story sequence if that's your style. The enemies include four Lv1 Pvt Prinnies led by a single Lv2 Pvt Prinny. The only Geo Panel effect is +50% Enemy Boost. If you feel like rushing through this battle, toss one of the Prinnies into the center of the group. The resulting explosion should finish off the other four quickly, but remember, you don't gain any EXP or bonuses this way.

Using Geo Effects can offer a separate quick end to this battle, which yields more rewards. First toss an allied character close to the Null Geo Symbol and destroy it. The resulting effects will take around a dozen HP from your foes and half that amount from any allies standing on the affected Geo Panels. Your Prinny foes won't be killed with this, but they'll be weakened to the point where even your weakest characters should be able to take them out with a single attack.

After your victory, Adell's parents will explain that the item world is now available for exploration. At this point of the game, it would be unwise to recklessly rush into that place. If you still feel like facing a brutal challenge, go ahead and talk to the Item World guide. You may want to check out the Item World section of this guide before you do so.

Stage 1-3: Psycho's Hideout
Your enemies this time include four Lv2 Petite Orcs, all without equipment, and a Lv3 Mothman equipped with a nearly-worthless Paw Glove weapon. A Lv1 chest is found in a distant corner of the map, but its contents aren't worth reaching that far into the enemy lines, so just let the Orcs destroy it on their turn.

Using any of your characters, lift the Red Geo Symbol and toss it onto the nearby Blue Panel, causing all panels to exhibit the EXP + 50% effect. If you destroy the Geo Symbol this turn, it will weaken all the Orcs, but on the other hand, any of the Orcs you kill on the blue panels will yield more EXP if you let the Geo Symbol lie. If you advance into the blue panel territory on your first turn, then keep the effect active. If you don't, you may want to go ahead and destroy it now, as the Orcs will advance onto non-blue territory in order to attack.

Compared to enemies you've fought thus far, the Mothman could be a challenge to defeat with just one or two characters. Remember to use Combos and Team attacks, and target its elemental weakness with your mages or skulls.

If you have warrior-type units left over, move them closer to the Orc's territory as bait. Only one or two Orcs will attack the character if it's in range, as a couple will instead be focusing on the chest.

After your unit has endured enemy attack, send in your full forces to finish off one or two of the nearby Orcs. The remaining forces won't be much of a threat as long as you keep your wizards and thieves out of harm's way. After the Enemy has had their turn, simply finish off any remaining targets in any method you see fit.

Stage 1-4: Dead Tree Field
This is the final stage of Episode 1. After the last stage in each episode, all of your units will be completely healed and revived without charge. Essentially, this means you can be more reckless and sacrifice your units if your wallet would normally be holding you back.

Orbs are fairly rare, since they can't be purchased in Holt Village's shops, and are the only items that naturally increase SP. So, you may want to take a chance at stealing that item from the enemy Healer in the midst of battle, if you have a Thief and hand items.

None of these enemies will approach if you keep your characters on the three normal panels (not including the base panel) furthest from them. If your Healer has leveled up enough, you can use this opportunity to buff other units with Shield to increase DEF. However, the enemy Healer will be doing the same. The enemy Healer's first priority is to heal, so if you damage an enemy every turn, she will not use Shield. Take out Rozalin, or any gun-equipped character, and attack the closest Fighter without moving from the Base Panel. After attacking, move your gun-wielder to any of the three "safe panels". The enemy Healer will most likely heal the Fighter you damaged instead of casting Shield on other characters. When it is your turn again, move the Gun-wielder back onto the base panel, then take them out again, attack, and move. Repeat this process and you should have an infinite amount of "free" turns to buff your characters with Shield, without the enemy's Healer won't do the same. If you use this strategy, it'll be fairly easy to just recklessly charge into battle without having to worry about taking much damage in return.

If your Healer doesn't yet have buffs, or if you just don't wish to use that strategy, you can skip it and use the strategy below. While the above is more reliable, it isn't needed to win.

Even if you can't (or don't plan to) buff with your Healer, perform the first step of the process listed above. In addition to that, take out a durable character and keep it on your base panel. On the foe's turn, the enemy Fighter will move closer to your high-DEF character and attack, and the enemy Healer will remain still (she won't cast Shield on the first turn). Now take out that Fighter with a Team Attack or two, and return your supporters to the Base Panel by canceling their actions with psx: C. Make sure the attack leaders are fairly durable, as the target has a Counter of 3.

This turn, the enemy Healer will simply cast Shield on one of her companions, and no others will approach you.

None of the enemies on this stage will normally advance unless one of your units comes within their attack range, so bait one or two at a time with a high-DEF character, and then attack them brutally with everyone when they're drawn in. To overcome the Healer's Shield spells, use offensive spells of your Skulls/Mages, since RES defends against their spells and not DEF. Remember to heal any injured allies with your Healer whenever possible, but keep your comparatively lightweight Healer out of danger if possible.

While you can, try to stay out of Axel's attack range and save him for last, since he's a step or two above the other enemies, and doesn't have any elemental weaknesses. Once you get to him, attack fiercely all at once with Combos, Special Moves, and Team Attacks. The "Rising Tower Attack" strategy might not function too well here, as the bottom levels of the tower might be taken out by Axel's counterattacks.

If you lose this battle (or any battle against Axel), you'll be treated to a different-than-normal ending, and you'll be asked to start a new cycle. Let's just hope you win, which will cue a series of cutscenes, and begin the next episode.

Return Visits
If you return to this stage later, Axel will be replaced with a Green Skull, a much easier-to-defeat target. He holds a Common Orb like the Healer, which might be worth stealing if you're still in Episode 2.