Nippon Ichi (Disgaea, Makai Kingdom, etc.)

No, buy from vendors. The more you buy, the better the stuff they will sell later on. You have to go through class assembly as well to make them sell better stuff though.

edited 29th Dec '12 5:08:19 PM by Marioguy128

No and yes, actually. The series' odd system makes it so that the only way you can buy better equipment from the normal shops is by being a regular customer, which in turn requires you to buy a lot of junk and make frequent visits to Homeroom to increase the shop rank (as well as unlock clubs that let you have a better variety of equipment in the armor store).

Basically, just continue to keep your equipment up to date and your units properly stacked - at least up until the post-game where the normal shops are usually maxed out and rendered all but obsolete - with the odd exception of useful loot you get from the bonus gauge or some other random occurrence.

edited 29th Dec '12 5:13:25 PM by Demonfly

Oh, okay then. That's a little odd. Is it the amount I buy or the amount I spend that matters? And should I be focusing on armour or weapons more?

Also, what the heck are innocents and how do they work?

Sorry for all the questions, but I want to have a good idea of what I should be doing xD

It's the amount of money spent that matters. Focus on weapons. It's better to kill things quickly than to tank a whole lot. Your defenses don't really seem to go up as quickly as your offenses.

Innocents are little guys in your items that boost their stats. You unlock them in the item world and once you've done that you can move them from item to item.

edited 29th Dec '12 5:27:02 PM by Arha

No no, it's no trouble. The Disgaea games are a bit complicated. I believe it's related either to how much you spend, or the stuff you buy. Oh, selling stuff also increases Customer Rank. If you find your units (you don't have to take care of every single one) dealing less damage than usual, buy weapons. If you find your units taking more damage than usual, buy armor.

Innocents are how item stats get boosted. There's more to it than that, but it would require a gigantic explanation.

I don't really remember the details about the customer rank system, although I do recall it increasing faster the more higher-ranked/expensive equipment I bought. Individual weapons and armor don't really matter unless they have a perk (the occasional extra MOV, for example) or an innocent combination you really like.

Speaking of which, innocents are basically innate stat boosters that you can boost and freely move around by killing them in the Item World, where you can get more via increasing the item's population rank and looting some via reverse pirating^* which, in turn, you need to beat a pirate crew at least once for. They're rather rare, so you may not want to concern yourself with them until much later in the game. Only a few are unique to individual items, so you don't really need to worry about them unless you either run into said items or plan on minmaxing, in which case you may want to consult this.

And don't worry about it, this thread could use some productivity.

edited 29th Dec '12 5:35:03 PM by Demonfly

Sweet! I like the sound of that (the focus on attack).

I just got my first approval on "more expensive stuff".

By the way, when you have a bunch of crappy items you might want to use them to bribe the senate with rather than selling them outright. A senator that has been bribed generally stays bribed and will vote for you in the future. On bills like improving the shops, making stronger enemies or a few things like that it doesn't really matter though.

And, at least within the first two games, the price of items doesn't matter when bribing, so loading up on things like Fairy Dust and the cheapest food and shoes aren't a bad idea before going to a vote.

When bribing, its actually a better idea to have a wide array of really cheap stuff instead of just a few expensive items. So if that guy likes shoes and that guy likes swords, you'll have everything you need. Instead of wasting that awesome axe on a level twelve senator that voted against you anyway because whatever.

Good to know, I probably would have went for the expensive shit otherwise >.>

Yeah. I'd say give the expensive stuff to your generics, so long as it boosts their stats and all. Or sell it. That's always a viable option.

The Dark Assembly is awful and I hate it.

Just though I'd throw that out there.

Oh, a reminder, each monster type has a specific item they want, and they might not care for any of the junk you are trying to bribe them with if it's not that item type.

Also, you can bribe them to near total support, and they will still vote against you. This has happened to me more than once. :|

I'm surprised this Student Council tangent is still going. Ah well.

Might as well mention that if you spot Hall Monitor as one of the clubs available via bill, take it. It lets you have a decent chance at stealing something out of a list of low ranked items they possess, with the amount of chances depending on how many units you shoehorned into it. A good portion of them usually contain gold bars, which basically exist as a near-guaranteed way of gradually increasing their approval.

There are a number of factors that go into the Dark Assembly.
There are different levels of support for instance.
Senators that Love! you will almost always vote in your favor.
While senators that are Strongly For you are somewhat less likely.
Weak senators can be influenced by stronger senators.
Legendary senators can completely change the tide of a vote.
Its not that hard to play the system once you figure it out, but you gotta figure these little factors into how it all pans out.

Legendary Senators are also awful. More often than not, they will start off completely against you, don't particularly like anything, and will use their effect to rig the vote in their favor (which is usually against you). I think the easiest of the Legendary Senators to deal with is the Mage in D4, who will vote for you if you give her the one item she requests when she shows up. (It's a random item type each time. If you don't have said item type, yeah you are screwed)

Basically, if you run into a Legendary Senator, it's best to just reset.

edited 30th Dec '12 8:41:17 PM by Otherarrow

What's the point in resetting if you don't get your mana back?

By resetting I mean resetting the whole game and loading up your last save.

...Also, I recommend saving before you attempt anything Dark Assembly related.

I'll keep that in mind. What happens if the bill is rejected? Lost Forever?

If a bill is rejected, you can either give up (basically wasting your mana) or try to force it by killing all the opposing Senators. Since all but the easiest of bills have Senators well into the 100s, if not 1000s, this is generally not recommended until endgame/postgame.

If you fail to pass a bill, you can always try again.

edited 30th Dec '12 8:17:08 PM by Otherarrow

Speaking of which, you can exit and reenter the part where it shows you the rate of approval for your bill. Doing so can easily haggle the rate into something slightly more preferable^* There's usually around a 7% difference between the highest and lowest rate for bills that aren't outright one-sided, and should be used as a general rule of thumb when passing new bills.

As for forcing, if you have a particularly high leveled neutral unit on your side, you can throw it into other weaker units to assimilate them and increase its own level, which in turn lets you passive-aggressively win the ordeal (runners like thieves would be especially recommended for this). Just try to avoid letting it get hit at all costs, unless you feel like getting curbstomped by said unit.

edited 30th Dec '12 8:24:54 PM by Demonfly

Do note that this strategy is harder to pull off depending on the game, just due to how the Dark Assembly Stage is laid out. I think it's hardest in D1, though D3's two layouts aren't very generous either.

Legendary Senators aren't that common, though. Also, unless they were buffed in D3 or D4 I never found them that difficult to work around. But yeah, they all hate you.

edited 30th Dec '12 8:36:58 PM by Arha

EDIT: Too slow, Tex.

edited 30th Dec '12 8:55:54 PM by Durazno

They're worth like 300 votes in D2. It can be a big blow. Especially with post-game bills. Mid-game bills are no sweat, though.