Brainstorming a Disgaea Stew fanfic
06-12-2019, 03:24 PM (This post was last modified: 06-12-2019, 03:33 PM by classicdrogn. Edit Reason: missed brackets )
06-12-2019, 03:24 PM (This post was last modified: 06-12-2019, 03:33 PM by classicdrogn. Edit Reason: missed brackets )
Disgaea Stew? Yerwot?
By that I mean, taking parts from multiple entries in the series. I've had a few different ideas for the story to use, either dropping an SI or crossover character into D1 at the Flonne/Durian boss fight or (initially) as Sardine Thief in D4 after they have a Truck-kun encounter, or doing something like in the The Gamer manwha and just applying Disgaea mechanics to a viewpoint character in another setting, but with D5 on my mind and hating the tone of the Killia-focused A-plot (and Seraphina's one-sided romantic subplot) my thoughts have lately turned to removing him and adding a character to carry the "rescue Sera and teach her how to fight" bits. Oh, and just as a note, "D2" is always "Disgaea 2" while "DD2" is "Disgaea D2."
Sticking a Disgaea-flavored insert into another setting does have its appeal, though, especially things like Worm (by Wildbow) that deeply deserve to have someone inject a little of that Disgaea irreverence and humour. In that case, I might use D3's Maritsu Jaaku Gakuen as a prologue/training area and starting zone immediately after getting Truck-kunned that they can commute to and from with the Dimension Gate after getting a handle on their basic abilities or to use the shops/Item Worlder/D5-style Chara Worlder/etc.
Ideas and opinions on setting and plot directions are welcome, though I may disagree with them, and haven't played many other games/watched much recent anime/any US TV since the late 1990s/etc. to know their settings. TBH, I'd actually like D5's space opera framing if they hadn't also thrown out the humour and afterlife aspects that have been defining features of the series as a whole, so keeping that but with D4-style ship exterior parts rather than the surreal D5 "pocket netherworlds" is entirely on the table even if not doing the D5 story or even that era's characters. That's mostly irrelevant to what I'm trying to do here immediately though, which is more to codify the mechanics to frame it in (mostly D5 with some bits of DD2 and D4 at the moment) and the MC's unique class/skills/evilities/etc.
Last thing first, because while huge ensemble casts can be done they're much more difficult to do well, would be that the MC's base form is a Succubus with an extra unique skill, Transform. This lets me out of needing an army of developed characters to use any and all generic classes by using Suredeath Hellman Beyond X's shtick from Disgaea 3 and being able to turn into generic classes. If I was actually doing this for a game it would probably be whatever her current subclass is set as, but with a more flexible prose format I lean more to being anything she's gained at least one subclass star in, tier depending on how many stars she has.
This and maybe a unique combo skill would be the only U-skills kept all the time, being used to change back to the unique-Succybutt base form when in any other. This would be something that persists after the map is cleared like D2 Tink's red/blue forms but I'm not decided on whether it would "take an action" as such since most of the generic Succubus unique skills (which the MC would have by default in base form as well) involve transforming herself or the target a couple of times as does the victory pose as long as you're counting "poof her clothes off" as a transformation.
Exactly which version of unique skills to go with which class might be open to variation, and how to handle the magic skills that can normally be taught to any class is a bit of a question also. Just automatically getting them with subclass stars equal to the spell tier+1 is probably the lowest-hassle method, since the whole point of the character's design is not to need a bunch of other cast members. Weapon skills would work as normal, and given the Transform skill I'd just let them use any weapon, monster or humanoid. Succybutts do have normal hands, after all, even if the games make them stick to monster weapons. I prefer the DD2 teacher/student system for actually teaching or learning skills with other characters, and for having the apprentice's stats buff the master a bit.
Magichange I'm inclined to make a lot more flexible, allowing any weapon form for any class, at least by passing an Assembly bill to change it from normal. Humanoids do a DD2 style Monster Mount piggyback with a similar stat increase for the character giving the ride instead of turning into a weapon as such, while Monster Fusion is a different visual effect for the same mechanic. I like the Professor class unique skill to turn characters into giants, so that stays and can stack with Fusion to make double-giants.
For MC's unique evility, I'm mostly thinking to steal Nisa's and rename it Protagonist Power, reframing it from +1% to stats per 10 hours on a "game clock" to hours of deliberate training, as in track and gym time. The "Equip Unique Evility" bill would be available to her as soon as she completes five stars in some class rather than based on plot progression, while the late-story second unique would be Perfect Transformation that automatically changes to the unique evility of whatever class she turns into when using Transform.
MC's specific Common Evilities... well, it's super-cheaty, but I'd probably just take the top five or six from the D5 DLC characters because again, reducing cast size. Almaz's Lucky!, Artina's Phantom Thief, maybe Mao's improved alchemy or Salvatore's (whichever letter)-Interrogator that improves Magic Extracts? (I'm hesitant about including the capture/interrrogate mechanics from D4 & D5 at all, as torture and brainwashing enemies into joining you, giving up treasures, or rendering them down for wuxia-style stat-increasing magical medicine is cringey at best. Maybe for beastial monsters only.) Not sure on the evilities otherwise, but I'm open to suggestions. Plenair has always been a base NPC and those would be the other non-story characters I would keep in the party, and an alt-colors Desco clone can be created by the Professor NPC so no need to rip off theirs.
For the Dark Assembly itself, I'm inclined to treat the bills as being some kind of ritual magic that needs a bunch of participants to reach a certain minimum power level and the "vote" as being a matter of getting the others to agree to help you rather than the "Mother-may-I" sort of thing it's always come off as in the games. They're demons, why should they even care what a bunch of assholes in a meeting hall think unless it actually had some direct relation to what they want to do?
While the D5 Chara World is a MASSIVE, MASSIVE improvement over its handling in any previous game, I think I'd prefer to frame it as the Heart Bank from D3 rather than just some rando base NPC who lets you play a board game that somehow powers you up. Not that the Heart Bank is really any better explained, but making the enemies who block the path and give you a boost for defeating them into doubts and fears given material forms at least makes some kind of sense, and meshes with treating the Item World in a similar way with the enemies representing flaws and weaknesses in the base item being improved.
Treating the Item World like that with the enemies faced there being constructs who are just a facade over a blob of magical energy until you dispel/collect/etc. them could make the series-signature capture mechanic morally viable - turning them into party members is then reinforcing the construct imposed on the raw mana by the Item Worlder's version of Dark Assembly ritual/Heart Bank vision quest-y thing into a stable new demon, while getting a Magic Extract or treasure is converting it into an inanimate form. If the Capture base NPC is a Professor as in D5 this also gives her material to work with for making Des-W, though I do like the Beast Master class as found in D2/3/4 and including one would allow for replicating the extremely handy evilities and Overload skill from D5 DLC Metallia, who had the Beast Master's unique evility as a common one anyway and a kind of meh unique herself. The Professor class is my favourite generic anyway, so I might just use one to replace the bland ninja as D5-style Netherworld Research base NPC with a Beast Master for the capture NPC ala D4.
... and that was where I apparently fell asleep with this open, and now sit here reading it quite perplexed. Not that it doesn't mesh with some vague ideas that had been bouncing around, but that I put it together and planned to post it on the GameFAQs D5 board, rather than here or Spacebattles or something.
So, uh, what do you think, sirs? /mst3k
By that I mean, taking parts from multiple entries in the series. I've had a few different ideas for the story to use, either dropping an SI or crossover character into D1 at the Flonne/Durian boss fight or (initially) as Sardine Thief in D4 after they have a Truck-kun encounter, or doing something like in the The Gamer manwha and just applying Disgaea mechanics to a viewpoint character in another setting, but with D5 on my mind and hating the tone of the Killia-focused A-plot (and Seraphina's one-sided romantic subplot) my thoughts have lately turned to removing him and adding a character to carry the "rescue Sera and teach her how to fight" bits. Oh, and just as a note, "D2" is always "Disgaea 2" while "DD2" is "Disgaea D2."
Sticking a Disgaea-flavored insert into another setting does have its appeal, though, especially things like Worm (by Wildbow) that deeply deserve to have someone inject a little of that Disgaea irreverence and humour. In that case, I might use D3's Maritsu Jaaku Gakuen as a prologue/training area and starting zone immediately after getting Truck-kunned that they can commute to and from with the Dimension Gate after getting a handle on their basic abilities or to use the shops/Item Worlder/D5-style Chara Worlder/etc.
Ideas and opinions on setting and plot directions are welcome, though I may disagree with them, and haven't played many other games/watched much recent anime/any US TV since the late 1990s/etc. to know their settings. TBH, I'd actually like D5's space opera framing if they hadn't also thrown out the humour and afterlife aspects that have been defining features of the series as a whole, so keeping that but with D4-style ship exterior parts rather than the surreal D5 "pocket netherworlds" is entirely on the table even if not doing the D5 story or even that era's characters. That's mostly irrelevant to what I'm trying to do here immediately though, which is more to codify the mechanics to frame it in (mostly D5 with some bits of DD2 and D4 at the moment) and the MC's unique class/skills/evilities/etc.
Last thing first, because while huge ensemble casts can be done they're much more difficult to do well, would be that the MC's base form is a Succubus with an extra unique skill, Transform. This lets me out of needing an army of developed characters to use any and all generic classes by using Suredeath Hellman Beyond X's shtick from Disgaea 3 and being able to turn into generic classes. If I was actually doing this for a game it would probably be whatever her current subclass is set as, but with a more flexible prose format I lean more to being anything she's gained at least one subclass star in, tier depending on how many stars she has.
This and maybe a unique combo skill would be the only U-skills kept all the time, being used to change back to the unique-Succybutt base form when in any other. This would be something that persists after the map is cleared like D2 Tink's red/blue forms but I'm not decided on whether it would "take an action" as such since most of the generic Succubus unique skills (which the MC would have by default in base form as well) involve transforming herself or the target a couple of times as does the victory pose as long as you're counting "poof her clothes off" as a transformation.
Exactly which version of unique skills to go with which class might be open to variation, and how to handle the magic skills that can normally be taught to any class is a bit of a question also. Just automatically getting them with subclass stars equal to the spell tier+1 is probably the lowest-hassle method, since the whole point of the character's design is not to need a bunch of other cast members. Weapon skills would work as normal, and given the Transform skill I'd just let them use any weapon, monster or humanoid. Succybutts do have normal hands, after all, even if the games make them stick to monster weapons. I prefer the DD2 teacher/student system for actually teaching or learning skills with other characters, and for having the apprentice's stats buff the master a bit.
Magichange I'm inclined to make a lot more flexible, allowing any weapon form for any class, at least by passing an Assembly bill to change it from normal. Humanoids do a DD2 style Monster Mount piggyback with a similar stat increase for the character giving the ride instead of turning into a weapon as such, while Monster Fusion is a different visual effect for the same mechanic. I like the Professor class unique skill to turn characters into giants, so that stays and can stack with Fusion to make double-giants.
For MC's unique evility, I'm mostly thinking to steal Nisa's and rename it Protagonist Power, reframing it from +1% to stats per 10 hours on a "game clock" to hours of deliberate training, as in track and gym time. The "Equip Unique Evility" bill would be available to her as soon as she completes five stars in some class rather than based on plot progression, while the late-story second unique would be Perfect Transformation that automatically changes to the unique evility of whatever class she turns into when using Transform.
MC's specific Common Evilities... well, it's super-cheaty, but I'd probably just take the top five or six from the D5 DLC characters because again, reducing cast size. Almaz's Lucky!, Artina's Phantom Thief, maybe Mao's improved alchemy or Salvatore's (whichever letter)-Interrogator that improves Magic Extracts? (I'm hesitant about including the capture/interrrogate mechanics from D4 & D5 at all, as torture and brainwashing enemies into joining you, giving up treasures, or rendering them down for wuxia-style stat-increasing magical medicine is cringey at best. Maybe for beastial monsters only.) Not sure on the evilities otherwise, but I'm open to suggestions. Plenair has always been a base NPC and those would be the other non-story characters I would keep in the party, and an alt-colors Desco clone can be created by the Professor NPC so no need to rip off theirs.
For the Dark Assembly itself, I'm inclined to treat the bills as being some kind of ritual magic that needs a bunch of participants to reach a certain minimum power level and the "vote" as being a matter of getting the others to agree to help you rather than the "Mother-may-I" sort of thing it's always come off as in the games. They're demons, why should they even care what a bunch of assholes in a meeting hall think unless it actually had some direct relation to what they want to do?
While the D5 Chara World is a MASSIVE, MASSIVE improvement over its handling in any previous game, I think I'd prefer to frame it as the Heart Bank from D3 rather than just some rando base NPC who lets you play a board game that somehow powers you up. Not that the Heart Bank is really any better explained, but making the enemies who block the path and give you a boost for defeating them into doubts and fears given material forms at least makes some kind of sense, and meshes with treating the Item World in a similar way with the enemies representing flaws and weaknesses in the base item being improved.
Treating the Item World like that with the enemies faced there being constructs who are just a facade over a blob of magical energy until you dispel/collect/etc. them could make the series-signature capture mechanic morally viable - turning them into party members is then reinforcing the construct imposed on the raw mana by the Item Worlder's version of Dark Assembly ritual/Heart Bank vision quest-y thing into a stable new demon, while getting a Magic Extract or treasure is converting it into an inanimate form. If the Capture base NPC is a Professor as in D5 this also gives her material to work with for making Des-W, though I do like the Beast Master class as found in D2/3/4 and including one would allow for replicating the extremely handy evilities and Overload skill from D5 DLC Metallia, who had the Beast Master's unique evility as a common one anyway and a kind of meh unique herself. The Professor class is my favourite generic anyway, so I might just use one to replace the bland ninja as D5-style Netherworld Research base NPC with a Beast Master for the capture NPC ala D4.
... and that was where I apparently fell asleep with this open, and now sit here reading it quite perplexed. Not that it doesn't mesh with some vague ideas that had been bouncing around, but that I put it together and planned to post it on the GameFAQs D5 board, rather than here or Spacebattles or something.
So, uh, what do you think, sirs? /mst3k
--
‎noli esse culus
‎noli esse culus
