I see that this is soon to be on PSN. I'm a big fan of Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics and I was wondering how this game was? The monster collecting sounds interesting. (I also should add I've never tried Disgea, but I have found from the outside for it to appear a little too whacky for my taste, with all the stacking of characters and things. A bit too "anime" too. Don't take offense just how I see it!)

It's very weird and dense from what I hear.

@ArtisanBreads:NIS yo. They made Disgaea.

Yeah I"m aware that's why I asked about the Disgea connection. As I said that series turned me off but this looks more up my alley as far as story and setting goes, but that's from the little I've seen. And dense is just fine and preferrable really as it keeps me learning throughout, weird... well I can like weird too.

Mechanically it's a clunkier Disgaea, can't say that I remember everything about the story but it's more about Prier's thighs and stupid anime stuff than political intrigue and murdering civilians to further your goals.

So.. Avert your eyes? This coming from someone who loves both Tactics Ogre and Disgaea.

La Pucelle was the first of NIS's original angel vs demon trilogy (LP, Disgaea, and Makai Kingdom). Their lack of experience compared to later games shows, but its still an OK game from everything I've heard. IIRC LP's gimmick is that there are Ley Lines on every battle field, and you can cast magic on them to extend the magic's range. Also "anime" is kind of a broad qualifier, but LP is probably going to be a fairly wacky game. That comes with the territory for NIS games.

If you're interested in NIS's PS2 output in general I have heard from a friend (who has played all of them) that Soul Nomad is the best one. It's the best mix of innovative systems, interesting characters, and, as far as I saw, exactly zero 10 year old girls in bikini armor. If you're just looking at PS2 games on the PSN, then LP is a much better SRPG than Ring of Red.

If being "too anime" is a put-off, then I don't know if La Pucelle would be any better of a fit for you. That's a broad term though, so it's hard to answer. Let's just say that La Pucelle is a cartoony game decorated with many of the common tropes associated with JRPGs.

I personally enjoyed it. This was the first NIS game I played, and it got me into the rest of 'em. The Disgaeas, Phantom Brave, Makai Kingdom, and so on. It's a solid game with interesting, but simple, mechanics. I think it would feel kinda archaic to go back and play today, but, having not played its successors you may not feel that way.

Anyway, I think the big question is just how much of Disgaea makes you uncomfortable. If it's just the mechanics, La Pucelle is a very basic game by comparison, so I'd say it's easier to get into. If it's the off-the-wall anime goofiness, La Pucelle still has that kind of thing going on -- albeit to a lesser degree, I suppose. It's hard for me to say as someone who is way into all this nonsense. But if you're still really curious, I'd say just go for it... depending on the price tag involved.

I think my distaste for anime or JRPG asthetics is a little hard to explain... I was a fan of JRPGs for my younger years and find some interesting but often find them tiring. I guess it's a lot of the cliches I'm sure we can all imagine.

Anyways, this game is only $10 on PSN, so almost worth a gamble. Still deciding though. Thanks for the repsonses.

@sodacat :

The Ley Lines tactic sounds pretty interesting, and I like some of what I'm reading about the Soul Nomad game on the wiki but it sounds like there may be less development of your characters in that game?

@Superkenon said:

If being "too anime" is a put-off, then I don't know if La Pucelle would be any better of a fit for you. That's a broad term though, so it's hard to answer. Let's just say that La Pucelle is a cartoony game decorated with many of the common tropes associated with JRPGs.

I personally enjoyed it. This was the first NIS game I played, and it got me into the rest of 'em. The Disgaeas, Phantom Brave, Makai Kingdom, and so on. It's a solid game with interesting, but simple, mechanics. I think it would feel kinda archaic to go back and play today, but, having not played its successors you may not feel that way.

Anyway, I think the big question is just how much of Disgaea makes you uncomfortable. If it's just the mechanics, La Pucelle is a very basic game by comparison, so I'd say it's easier to get into. If it's the off-the-wall anime goofiness, La Pucelle still has that kind of thing going on -- albeit to a lesser degree, I suppose. It's hard for me to say as someone who is way into all this nonsense. But if you're still really curious, I'd say just go for it... depending on the price tag involved.

Disgaea... maybe I haven't given it a fair shake but I just have seen screens of characters stacking up on top of each other to do attacks and it seemed a bit much. Then just from the outside it seemed a bit whacky, however I do like whackey things. I guess it really depends. How would you describe the series? Which entry is the best? Maybe I just need to look more into it. I am admittedly ignorant.

As far as depth, I am all for that. Deeper the better as far as that goes.

Which of the NIS games do you think is the best? Maybe I just need to look for another they've put out.

@ArtisanBreads: That depends on what you consider a character as. In Soul Nomad you're commanding an army, so the details of the individual troops isn't that big an issue. The squads those troops are in, however, are. The squads (called "rooms" in the game, because in the game's fiction you're arranging rooms with dolls that have people's souls trapped inside, and you summon and unsummon them into combat at will using the dolls) are basically characters unto themselves, and you have to set up the units in the room so that they accentuate each other's strengths, don't get in each other's way, and are effective against enemy squads. It's like playing rock-paper-scissors with a set of Mahjong tiles. One unit may be the obvious foil for another unit, but there are so many units, foils, and layouts that in the right room a unit could easily defeat its own foil.

@sodacat said:

@ArtisanBreads: That depends on what you consider a character as. In Soul Nomad you're commanding an army, so the details of the individual troops isn't that big an issue. The squads those troops are in, however, are. The squads (called "rooms" in the game, because in the game's fiction you're arranging rooms with dolls that have people's souls trapped inside, and you summon and unsummon them into combat at will using the dolls) are basically characters unto themselves, and you have to set up the units in the room so that they accentuate each other's strengths, don't get in each other's way, and are effective against enemy squads. It's like playing rock-paper-scissors with a set of Mahjong tiles. One unit may be the obvious foil for another unit, but there are so many units, foils, and layouts that in the right room a unit could easily defeat its own foil.

Well that sounds crazy but in a very interesting way. I was worried there was not going to be the depth but that sounds like an interesting spin.

I may have to delve into the NIS catalog and see what I think of these games. There are just so few SRPGs being released, especially on consoles.

If you have any other recommendations by all means. Thanks for the explanation though.

@ArtisanBreads: One thing to know about Disgaea is that it's a parody. It simultaneously pokes fun at, embraces, and turns on their heads all manner of JRPG and anime references. It's not shy about breaking the fourth wall, yet in the middle of all its nonsense it manages to have a fairly dramatic tale at its core. Or... not? Wacky is another pretty nebulous term, but Disgaea is definitely that, if you ask me. It's got wacky in spades.

And it serves as a proper vehicle for the frighteningly deep descent into lunacy that is its gameplay mechanics and its reckless abandonment of stat limits. How does this grab you? You can make characters from scratch, choosing from a plethora of classes, naming them, distributing their growth attributes... blah blah. Characters can learn a variety of skills, either class-based, magic, or weapon-based (ie, will learn skills unique to the weapon type they've equipped), which have their own levels that go up as you use them. Of course, before any of that, you must arm your dudes. Which can a simple matter... or the exact opposite, depending on how far you're willing to go. Every character has four equipment slots (one weapon, three armor), each capable of housing an item which themselves have their own levels and -- watch out now -- multi-tiered dungeons.

Not sure if you've heard of the fabled Item World or not, but here's the basic rundown: there's a randomly-generated dungeon inside every item. Each floor you clear levels up the item, and there's even "residents" inside that you can "tame" to boost certain parameters even more, or add special effects to the item. Those residents can be moved to other items too, which means potentially a hell of a lot of boosts under your control if you're willing to work for it, by diving into more items and amassing these Residents. Subsequent games have added a lot of additional features and events to be had within these worlds, too.

That's just a single side distraction for your equipment alone, but there's enough going on there that it could well be a game of its own. And I won't lie, I can easily find myself pretty much living in the Item World. Must keep powering up...! And indeed, there is a lot of powering up you can do, because the game sure isn't going to stop you. The level cap is 9999, which isn't even really a cap, since characters can be reincarnated back to level 1, retaining a significant percentage of their stats and growths... and repeating that process over as many times as you like. The stats themselves... I'm not entirely certain if there is a cap on those. I've seen them go well into the millions with room to keep growing. Billions of damage? Sure, why not. It's completely crazy. Keep in mind that this is still a tactics game, so we're talking about an entire army of this nonsense.

The beauty part is, even though this unrepentantly nuts leveling system exists, you can safely ignore as much of it as you want and still complete the main game. Even a feature as big as the Item World is something I only looked at a couple times on my first run of it. So can enjoy the game on an average, easy-going level... but if you want to go crazy, there's an expansive post-game designed for just that. which is to say, enemies exist that completely warrant leveling up to 9999 and beyond. So I've noticed Disgaea to be a strangely accessible game for people looking for completely different things out of their time with it.

Again, it just comes down to whether the material is for you in the first place. This trailer here might be a good indication of what you're getting into: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soH8jG_gfGQ (it's slow to start, but soon does what it needs to do)

Whew... I went into a bit of a ramble there, didn't I? Probably none of that was helpful, but there it is!! Can't do anything about it now!!

Anyway, my favorite NIS game right now is Disgaea 4. I think this is one of the best series in terms of its ability to iterate and improve on itself.

So, uhh... yeah. La Pucelle, huh? Looking back, it's definitely what I would call a "Disgaea Lite". If you're willing to give it a $10 taste, it'd probably make for a good barometer to test whether anything further in the series is any good for you, keeping in mind that its systems are pretty dated in comparison. Or if you want to hear Jennifer Hale play a role that is totally not Naomi.

Okay, that's enough outta me! FOR NOW.

@Superkenon :

Wow that sounds... insane! But actually really cool. I'm not sure how much I would delve into but I like that it would all be optional more or less and that it's all there. With this kind of game I'm never sure what exactly will grab me.

The trailer for 4 was cool, seemed like it had a overworld map strategy element in addition to the SRPG combat which I like. I may have to look out for that one, it is nice that it's PS3 (looks great graphically). Thanks for the post and the ramble haha.

I'm getting this too. Can't be worse than the anime hell known as Record of Agarest War.

@ArtisanBreads: Hey, no prob! It's easy for me to start rambling about Disgaea, haha.

Just to clarify on that overworld map thing, it's probably not what you think it is. (I thought it might be something like that too, until I actually played the game.) It's pretty much just a glorified menu, but it's part of an interesting mechanic nonetheless. You freely place your units on those territory tiles, and the characters adjacent to each other gain combo bonuses when fighting together, and the like. More significantly, you unlock buildings as you progress through the game which you can also place as you please, and they grant various bonuses (of which the variety is absurd) to particular nearby spaces (each one has a differently-shaped radius). One of the buildings' squares of influence is also a Leader space, which comes with its own set of benefits (dependent on the building in question), as well as giving the lucky unit standing there a bonus based on the stats of the other units in that buildings' influence. And of course different buildings' squares of influence can stack on top of each other, which opens up a whole 'nother crazy realm of possibility. Blah, blah... I'll stop before I go too far (especially since this supposed to be a La Pucelle thread, I guess?), but it's yet another system that you can go into as shallow or as deep as you want... or go crazy and indecisive like me, constantly shifting and rotating formations and positions and seeing how many buildings I can make one unit the leader of at once... and then undoing all that in favor of something completely different... o-ho...!