Can a Mook become the main character? (Disgaea/Negima)

[OverReactionGuy]

Just a heads up, I'll be calling the vote tomorrow. Probably around 12:00pm or 3:00pm. Depending on if I get sleep or not. -sighs-

 

[Czlyydwr Llrngwl]

I want to see the next part, but geez, ORG, get some zees! Everything text-based is better when you're well rested, if only because your eyes won't be dry and/or crossing as you try to look at it.

 

[OverReactionGuy]

It's true that I've been barely getting sleep lately.

Anyway, 20 mins till the vote closes. Also, character sheet is up but I'll explain things are it when I finish the dark assembly and scratch my head trying to figure out what to put in that.

 

[Czlyydwr Llrngwl]

My own working theory on how mana collection (and the Bonus Gauge for that matter) works is that it's a matter of gathering and condensing ambient magical energy that's intitially attracted by the turmoil of a powerful soul in combat which can then be shaped into physical matter for BG prizes, with XP bonuses being basically the same thing as gaining bonus points at reincarnation, applied on the spot. Using that power for "major works" (ie things you need to get the Assembly to pass a bill for) are handled as group ritual magic offscreen, and that's what is actually needed rather than getting the senators to vote yes as some kind of "mother may I" permission. Under that kind of paradigm, the local "dark assembly" could just be a suitably large number of magically-aware staff and/or students - IIRC the school-themed Disgaea 3 had a Student Council instead of a Dark Assembly, but it worked much the same way.

Now, this doesn't quite work perfectly - "get this person to join the party" bills for extra characters look kind of shaky from this angle, for example - but in general it seems fairly plausible to me as an IC explanation for the game mechanics, and not incompatible with what's already been said on camera here.

Now, I only have a PSP, so I've never played 3/4/D2/5 and if any of them went into more detail of the lore in this regard I don't know about it.

Edit for further thoughts: Having their bodies formed directly out of mana like this would explain why everything turns into a little ball of energy and fades away when killed, and also play into the idea of the winner collecting the lingering ambient energy after a battle. Possibly not for the original bodies characters are born into (The "Worst End" for Disgaea 2 certainly suggests that certain bodies did not vanish immediately after being struck down, though that could also be Even More Fridge Horror implying that they weren't actually dead yet...) but for reincarnated or "summoned" (non-script event recruited/generic) characters.

Grr, and now I forgot the thing I actually started editing to add, after getting distracted by that. Ah well.

Edit 2: Obligatory Disgaea 2 News school screenshot:

 

[Heaven Canceler]

I thought Disgaea lore is that it is a Video game and everything works because of game mechanics. Like, Laharl hacks that one guy's title into Mid-Boss and so on.

 

[Czlyydwr Llrngwl]

Eeh... only a little bit. Outside of the tutorial missions you'll occasionally have a character drop a 4th wall breaking one liner, like the mothman complaining that it's tiring to hover in place all the time but they didn't draw any sprites of him standing still, but the only consistent one is people wanting to "be the main character" - even there, it's generally only postgame or extra character joke references, while the plot segments of the game all play it straight as far as I remember. It's just that the postgame is so vastly longer than the actual story, even though they do have a decently long story mode plot, at thirteen episodes with 4-8 missions each, that it's where the kind of hardcore completists and/or grind-monkey gamers that are most likely to be big Disgaea fans spend 80% or more of their time, and therefore the part that springs most readily to mind when thinking about it.

Because I'm playing Disgaea 2 right now, I can confirm that out of about 200 hours on the game clock, 20ish were a not-quite-speed-run to get the Tink ending, with all cutscenes skipped except the last, battle FX turned off, etc. I did replay one stage to get a certain item at Legendary rarity for the collection record and spent perhaps ten or twenty minutes of that kicking Tink from Lv70ish up to the required lv1000 at the end, but pretty much played straight through that cycle as fast as possible otherwise, and faster than would be possible for a new game since I had lots of rank 39 equipment to make crushing the enemies a breeze. Even at 200 hours, I'm only beginning to scratch the post-game.

Again, I've only played the first two games, so the "it's a video game IC" factor might be brought more to the fore in later installments. I generally regard most of what gets said in the hub area as OOC unless it explicitly advances the story, which mostly just means the introduction to each new episode before you set out.

 

[OverReactionGuy]

I think I already had Maetheris break the forth wall in the previous chapter. Can't remember. Also did the it's a videogame joke with the fall damage comment I think. Anyway, Maetheris will likely be operating under different rules in the Negimaverse. At least, that's how I'm explaining away the stats not being used. >.>

Still incredibly powerful with the power to become even more powerful though. Could probably shatter a planet with a S-Ranked Twin attribute.

-shrugs-

Anyway, currently working on neko and my Pulla SI, I'll probably get back to this soon though. Kinda ran into a wall with my other quest though. Everytime I go to finish writing the chapter I left off on, I end up drawing a blank.

 

[Czlyydwr Llrngwl]

I know how that can be... and I like Neko too. My own experiment with the MGCYOA went two parts (posted elsewhere under a separate @ID) and then got smothered by rebuilding my Disgaea 2 game, along with most other voluntary activity in the past... uh... only two weeks? I'm... not sure what to think about that. Probably that I should go do something else for a while instead of just one more trip to the Item World, but pffft.

 

[OverReactionGuy]

I know how that can be... and I like Neko too. My own experiment with the MGCYOA went two parts (posted elsewhere under a separate @ID) and then got smothered by rebuilding my Disgaea 2 game, along with most other voluntary activity in the past... uh... only two weeks? I'm... not sure what to think about that. Probably that I should go do something else for a while instead of just one more trip to the Item World, but pffft.

Click to shrink...

Actually I have two magical girl SI's.

The accidental one and the Pulla one created using a modified worm CYOA. xD

 

[BFldyq]

Eeh... only a little bit. Outside of the tutorial missions you'll occasionally have a character drop a 4th wall breaking one liner, like the mothman complaining that it's tiring to hover in place all the time but they didn't draw any sprites of him standing still, but the only consistent one is people wanting to "be the main character" - even there, it's generally only postgame or extra character joke references, while the plot segments of the game all play it straight as far as I remember. It's just that the postgame is so vastly longer than the actual story, even though they do have a decently long story mode plot, at thirteen episodes with 4-8 missions each, that it's where the kind of hardcore completists and/or grind-monkey gamers that are most likely to be big Disgaea fans spend 80% or more of their time, and therefore the part that springs most readily to mind when thinking about it.

Click to shrink...

In Disgaea 3, the entire plot was kick-started when Mao stole the title of "Hero" from Almaz, with Almaz having the title of "Demon-in-Training" applied in its place, which results in him slowly becoming a Demon, while Mao slowly becomes, well, more heroic.

A large chunk of the plot is them being driven to reverse the title changes.

 

[edmantgoog]

[X] Say hello and introduce yourself while inquiring on where you are.
-[X] Flirt with the blushing girl, both for fun and to glean information while she's off balance.

 

[OverReactionGuy]

[X] Say hello and introduce yourself while inquiring on where you are.
-[X] Flirt with the blushing girl, both for fun and to glean information while she's off balance.

Click to shrink...

Vote closed awhile ago, but your in luck. That vote won.

The new chapter will likely be up after the holidays or if I stop getting distracted.