Recently, I was asked to respond to an authentic problem and to provide a briefing on Differentiated Instruction. Specifically, I was asked to highlight what DI is; to identify barriers to bringing DI to high school; to highlight the role of DI in meeting the needs of at risk students.
While the request to asked respondents to limit their response to 1 page, I couldnt resist but to respond in a differentiated manner. Here is the 8 minute presentation I shared in response.
Whether you have success stories in bringing DI to the high school environment; suggestions for overcoming barriers; or approaches youve tried in professional development, Id love to hear from you. Stories shared in comments; through hyperlinks; or via email would be appreciated.
One of the gaming industry�s worst kept secrets finally came out yesterday as Bungie revealed the first piece of art from their upcoming shooter, Destiny 2. Unsurprisingly, leaks have started to appear in the wild, first with promotional posters followed most recently by a figure of the Hunter Vanguard, Cayde-6 has been making the rounds online causing most fans to speculate that this item could be involved with Destiny 2 somehow.
Originally Tweeted by Grithorne and later picked up on Reddit, the image shows a very detailed and small figure of Cayde-6 in front of what is clearly rows of pre-owned controllers at GameStop. Naturally, this photo has set of speculation that the figure is the same one mentioned in a leak earlier this year that a GameStop pre-order of Destiny 2 would include an action figure of the lovable Exo rogue. Others have begun to assume that this statue is instead part of the Limited Edition package. Either way, this isn�t the first time a collectible has been issued out at GameStop as Mad Max and Forza Horizon 3 came with replica cars while Battleborn offered fans one of five random character figure boxes with a preorder as well.
@Gothalion apparently this is the Destiny 2 LE item you get #Destiny2 pic.twitter.com/n5WOii2K0v
� G (@Grithorne) March 27, 2017
Reddit user Ren_Echo went a step further and confirmed the statue of Cayde comes from the toymakers at BigShot Toyworks who actually displayed a couple of unpainted figures at New York Comic Con last year. At that time, the company revealed it had teamed up with Bungie to produce a line of figures set to release in waves sometime in 2017. The collection on display included the aforementioned Cayde-6, Lord Saladin, and one of the wolves typically seen hanging around the Iron Temple on Felwinter Peak.
What�s unknown at this point is if this figure is a prototype version of one of the figures due out later this year, or perhaps a promotional item there to get people not only excited about Destiny 2, but perhaps willing to throw down some cash on a pre-order. With Age of Triumph finally available to players, fans should be hearing more about Destiny 2 sooner rather than later.
While there�s no official word from either Activision or Bungie regarding the plot of Destiny 2, the first piece of art that Bungie reveal appears to show the Last City under the Traveler set ablaze. Popular fan theories started to develop earlier this year when a leaked retail listing for a Mega Bloks set revealing Lord Shaxx fighting off an Elite Cabal squad and a Siege tank. Longtime fans will note that this is something that has never occurred within the game and could be a possible starting point for where Destiny 2 begins.
My name is Josh Mosqueira, I am the new game director for Diablo III, and I want to take a moment to say "Hi" and introduce myself.
Im a writer, designer, and lifelong gamer, and I got my official start designing games back in 1996. Thats when I had my first real break as a writer for White Wolf (makers of the Vampire: The Masquerade pen-and-paper role-playing game), when I co-wrote Constantinople by Night and Montreal by Night while serving in the Canadian army and finishing university. After that, I went on to work on a number of popular game series, including Homeworld, Company of Heroes, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, and FarCry. However, 1996 is a key year for me for another reason, because its when I, like many of you, was introduced to Diablo.
Having a heavy background in pen-and-paper design�specifically in telling stories and building worlds set in realms of horror and fantasy�I was immediately drawn in by Diablo. While the games dark, gothic setting hooked me, it was the intense, fast-paced action gameplay and the thrill of finding awesome loot that kept me coming back for years after.
Thats always been the magic of the game for me. It starts with a setting that pits epic heroes against the teeming, endless hordes of the Burning Hells, in an adventure filled with nonstop, intense action. Its in players facing off against enemies like the Butcher and Diablo, villains who truly capture the essence of evil. And having the alluring promise of new and more powerful treasures around every corner doesnt hurt either.
When I joined Blizzard, I was entrusted with the responsibility of helping to determine whether it would be possible to create a console version of Diablo III and working on what that might look like. I took this responsibility extremely seriously as I wanted to ensure that the legions of players new to the series on console could experience the magical combination of action and treasure hunting that Diablo is known for. It was important to me that we retain that essential core that is Diablo�every player who has ever roamed the shadowy halls of Sanctuarys dungeons, hunting vile demons and looting their corpses, knows it well. My goal has been to help keep that core magic formula going strong with Diablo III, and to continue refining the game, initially for the console version, and now for the game as a whole.
Enjoying the nice weather with a few teammates (left), and our PAX East crew celebrating an epic convention (right).
For me, first as a Blizzard gamer and now as a game designer at the company, Ive always felt that one of the things that sets Blizzard games apart is our passion and commitment to support our games well after launch. Many of the people Ive worked with here have been at Blizzard since the early days of the company, and our heavy focus on putting the games first is the culture they helped create and that everyone here lives by. Thats why we didnt call it a day after launching Diablo III and move on to the next project�the care, dedication, diligence, and ongoing effort from our development team continued full steam ahead as we listened to and acted on your feedback. We dont just ship a game and leave it at that; we make sure that it grows and evolves after launch.
In the year since Diablo III launched, weve made good strides, but there are still things we can improve and new surprises in store for everyone. As Travis mentioned earlier, itemization is one of our big focuses for Diablo III moving forward. We want items to feel more meaningful, and we want players to be excited about the next loot drop. Our goal is to make the loot experience more enjoyable for ALL players. This includes reducing the amount of loot that drops while improving the overall quality, introducing targeted Legendaries, and giving players ways to directly customize their characters armor�both visually and mechanically. Were also looking into ways to reduce the impact of the Auction House. While we think the feature does provide a lot of value, it shouldn�t feel like the end-all-be-all force driving character progression.
Weve built a solid foundation for the future of Diablo III and were focused on staying true to the core essence of the game, while pushing boundaries to evolve gameplay in ways that will keep players like you excited. We hope youll agree that with each update, the game keeps getting better and better, and were only just getting started.
In the future, well be focused on preserving the core fantasy by cultivating the roots of the Diablo storyline, fine-tuning the heroes for what lays ahead, and creating new monsters and demons that will once again plant the seed of fear in your hearts. While some Diablo players out there are just looking for a fun single playthrough of the game, for many others, part of the appeal of the game is coming back again and again to test their mettle against challenging foes in an ongoing search for rare treasures, with the goal of making their heroes more and more powerful. We want to give those players, and really everyone, even more reasons to keep coming back to Sanctuary, and we have some great ideas brewing for ways to address randomization, what our endgame should offer, and how to make playing online with friends truly fulfilling.
To this end, you can expect to hear more from our designers, producers, and directors about what we have in store.
Thanks for being a part of the Diablo family, and well see you in Hell!
Disgaea 4 A Promise Unforgotten PS3 A return to form Dood!
Lets do a quick math problem shall we? What do you get when you add 650 hours + 211hrs + 28hrs + 97hrs + 59hrs? You get the embarrassingly large amount of time I have spent playing Disgaea games. Each one of those digits represents the time stamp on of my save files. So if you havent figured it out already, I kinda like these games. And even sadder, those numbers dont include the offshot titles produced by the same company like La Pucelle Tactics, Phantom Brave, Makai Kingdom, Soul Nomad, or Raphsody just to name a few more.
The first entry of this series Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is heralded by its cult following as one of the best tactical RPGs ever released. Boasting incredibly depth, Fun characters, incredible customization, and a tounge in cheek story light that goes from goofy to brilliant in a heartbeat makes it one of the most memorable games Ive ever played. The story will play you about 40 to 60 hours. But if you look at my 650 hour save you can see that I still havent done everything the game has to offer. With different aspects like character reincarnation, tons of hidden levels and bosses, character throwing and Geo panels, the first Disgaea was nothing short of phenomenal. Since its release there have been sequels and offshoot series, but nothing has matched up to the first one. And I can tell you the three reasons why:
Meet Laharl, Flonne, and Etna. The reasons to play Disgaea
The story of demons, angels, and humans may be the overall driving point of the story, but the dynamic of these three characters are what make it special. Their tongue and cheek attitude to each other and other characters is hilarious in every chapter almost to the point of being nauseating to the non-anime fan, but if you can stick through it, when the main climax starts to roll up the they show such development as characters to real make you feel for them even if you are getting the good or bad endings (one that is particularly heart wrenching). Both of which are equally satisfying and drive you to play through the game more than once. Which is great because the game lets you keep your characters and levels.
Sadly, because of these three hitting the mark so perfectly it makes it almost impossible to repeat this. So when the 2nd came out, I knew this and took Adell and Rozalin as their own pairing and found them to be just as entertaining in their own interesting dynamic. The 3rd one however really missed the point. The game was fun to play the but the story was just awful. So it was with a little hesitation I jumped into the newest installment of a game I loved so much.
Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten: (PS3)
The game starts off with you controlling Tyrant Valvatorez, a vampire who has lost his powers and relegated to his new role as a Prinny Instructor in Hades with his servant, a Werewolf by the name of Fenrich. (For those who dont know, a prinny is basically the soul of a human trapped in an combustible penguin demon form who is forced to work essentially slave labor to atone of their sins in life in heaven or hell). Val sustains what little power he has left through an obsession with sardines. Fenrich makes multiple efforts to try to make Val drink blood again to regain his powers that make him a tyrant, which Val ardently refuses to keep promise he made years ago. While he is about to reward his graduating class for completing their prinny training before they go on the Netherworld or Celestia, a vortex rips them away to be destroyed and he follows after them to maintain the promise he gave. Here the game begins.
Generally the play style of Disgaea maintains its core roots. The sprites are much better detailed this time through but the game gives you the option to go to the classic sprite style. It uses the same grid tactics system you would see from its previous installments, and after a few tutorials you are pretty much free to go after all the features of the game right from the get go. You start off each chapter in your home base where you can equip your characters, run to the item world, talk to some of the inhabitants, or go to your Cam-Pain headquarters.
The Cam-pain HQ, for those who played 3, is essentially the same as the classroom system. Here is where you can create your new characters and adjust their bonuses. The Senate voting system comes back here as well. For those who havent played Disgaea, you use the senate if you wish to get better equipment for the store, unlock new powerups for your map, raise or lower the difficulty of the levels, unlocked new character classes, open additional levels, and a myriad of other things as well. Many of the same tricks you might have learned in past editions are there as well. Such as a cheap trick to make some extra money. When you use the hospital and they give you and item for healing so much, instead of taking the item right away, back out and check it again. Doing this gives you the chance for a rare version of the item which will have better stats and value if you need to sell it. They did take away the ability to get Legendary items from this as I havent been able to do so.
They went back to the Skills and Evilitiy shop for getting new attacks and abilities. Before in the older versions when you would play, every class as an aptitude for certain weapons. And the more you used them, the more special attacks you would get. I preferred this because it was easier to boost up a character. In this there is a shop you spend the mana you earn from killing baddies to unlock new attacks and level up their strength or attack range, its slower and kinda forces you to keep using the same characters, so if youve built 20 characters some of them are going to ride the bench.
Disgaeas best attribute in the actual play is something that they hold over most tactics games is the ability to make changes to you selections after you make them. Meaning if you line up 3 or 4 people to make an attack on a certain enemy, but then realize youd rather go somewhere else, you can can cancel out those selections as long as you did not execute them aside form a move. Most Disgaea vets use this constantly, as you can move characters towards your healer, have them cast their heal and then undo the moves to put them right back in the fray. The tower throwing and attacks come back as well, with a slew of new tower attacks to use to help level up those lower level characters.
Doing a review for a game like Disgaea is difficult because there are so many different features to talk about that I could go on forever. Now like I said earlier, I came into this installment a little sluggishly because with Disgaea, the story is everything. Three was fun to play but the tale was so uninteresting it really took away from the game. It just didnt have any of the magic that the first two had. For the first few hours of the game, I did get a bit of a chuckle out of some of the scenes but I wasnt rushing to play it. But as I was trudging along in the game, I found Valvatorez to be a very likable character. He sometimes is downright hokey in his heroic banter or sage like advice for the other characters, yet in the very same conversation is so absent minded that he can be manipulated by Fenrich at will. But almost every single bit of banter he has with characters made me laugh through the course of the game with every chapter raising a new question to be answered as you play. And while the overall story branches into a series of different sub paths as every single character seems to have a different motivation, The climax at the end pretty much has me completely gripped that Im ignoring the shit I need to do to try to finish the game to see how it all ties up.
So not every line is gold....
Lord Val giving Desco tips on being the Final boss.
Aint it the truth....
I guess what I am saying is that this one brought Disgaea back for me. Even as I write this article with homework sitting on the desk in front of me Im thinking about flipping the game back on to get a little more level grinding to start ubering my characters to shred through playthroughs to see the other endings the game has to offer. If you are a fan of Tactical RPGS, dont mind some anime cliches or pop culture references, or are looking for a story that doesnt take itself too seriously then I would highly recommend Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten.
Displaying a Word or String in an 16x2 LCD with PIC16F877A and MPLAB X
We have seen how to interface an LCD with PIC16F877A . In this we are printing only a letter in the LCD , now we are going to Display a string on the LCD for this following steps are followed
First Create a MPLAB X project as in the steps for Blinking a LED using MPLAB X , PIC16F877A And check the Interfacing LCD with PIC16F877A in MPLAB X to know how to interface a LCD Components 1.PIC16F877A micro controller 2. 2x16 LCD Display we are using the following functions
void delay(unsigned int msec) // Time delay function
void lcd_cmd(unsigned char item) // Function to send command to LCD
void lcd_data(unsigned char item) // Function to send data to LCD
void lcd_data_string(unsigned char *str) // Function to send data to string
void lcd(unsigned char str[10])
To display the string in LCD , just call the below lines in main function
lcd_cmd(0x01); lcd_cmd(0x86); lcd("STRING TO DISPLAY");
The functions are defined below
void delay(unsigned int msec) // Time delay function { int i,j ; for(i=0;i<msec;i++) for(j=0;j<1275;j++); }
void lcd_cmd(unsigned char item) // Function to send command to LCD { dataport = item; rs= 0; rw=0; en=1; delay(1); en=0; return; }
void lcd_data(unsigned char item) // Function to send data to LCD { dataport = item; rs= 1; rw=0; en=1; delay(1); en=0; return; }
void lcd_data_string(unsigned char *str) // Function to send data to string { int i=0; while(str[i]!=) { lcd_data(str[i]); i++; //delay(10); } return; }
Today I bought a bot from Living-Bots. Bot is stationed in clan w3 under name rocstars.bot. It has only RS maps in his maps folder and current maps version is 4.0. If you want to get an admin on it so you can play on RS maps whenever you want, whisper me on battle.net.
Many of you may have already discovered Docker, but have been put off using it due to the prospect of it killing your development cycle because you are rebuilding the container after every change.
We are going to address this by mounting the files directly within the container with SSHFS. This will allow us to make changes in our IDE or text editor, and see them take place immediately inside the container, removing the need to keep rebuilding.
Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes you already have a built container (or a way to build one) and a "project" consisting of a codebase, such as a website. It also assumes that your codebase is on a Linux host that you want to share from. I will be using an Ubuntu 14.04 container, but the theory should also apply to other Linux OS types.
If you are a Windows user, you could use Samba to sync to a linux host, and then use that one for this tutorial
Start your container with the
--privileged
flag added to the
run
command. I dont know what options/switches you already have, but you just need to add this one to the list.
Enter the running container. For this I use lxc-attach, but there is also a fantastic tool called docker-enter on github that you can use, which means you dont have to be running LXC for the container engine.
Run
apt-get install sshfs -y
from inside the container.
Create a folder where you wish to mount your codebase. This may want to replace any existing code that was imported into the container when it was built, in which case remove everything from inside that folder.
The allow_other part is to allow other users within the container, such as www-data to be able to access the files
Thats it! Any changes you make to your codebase are immediately changed in the docker container. This allows you to use docker as an easy/quick way to get a development environment up (like Vagrant)!
When writing forms I frequently find I need to do some of my validation server side(for example checking if a username is already taken) but want to have a responsive real-time field validation displayed to the user. Obviously this effect can be achieved using AJAX but if you want to validate while the user is typing sending an AJAX request on every keypress is a very inefficient way of doing things. It seems to me that a "onInputFinished" event is needed so that you can detect and take action when a user stops typing in an input field.
I had a bit of a google around and couldnt find an elegant solution for it so I decided to roll my own using jQuery. This simple jQuery script allow you to add the "onfinishinput" attribute to HTML input fields in the same way you would use normal onclick and onkeyup events.
DIAURA - REBORN (Type A+C) (2013.03.13) [ Mini-Album ] Purchase | CDJapan: Limited Type A | Limited Type C Ref/Description: Limited Type A | Limited Type C Tracklist: 1. Taidou 2. REBORN 3. anti people 4. Kindan Ryouiki 5. Garden of Eden 6. Virgin Mary (Rerecording Version) Download | 4Shared | MEGA
Detecting the current branch failed fatal ref HEAD is not a symbolic ref
This issue occurs when I tried with Jenkins build using Maven Release Plugin. I was trying to build my production release artifacts. I was building my "master" branch and its for final release. I have used Git as repository. I faced this issue when clicked on "maven release build" link on left side corner of my Maven project (Jenkins job) . As we know build issue is common for developers those are actively participating with Build and Release. This issue over Jenkins is common , but I never found any direct or easy solution for this. I spend couple of hour to resolve and goooogle almost all relavant sites and article.But, not able to work out. Finally did it by some HIT and TRY ,then it works for me.
[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-release-plugin:2.0:prepare (default-cli) on project hello_world_app: An error is occurred in the checkin process: Exception while executing SCM command. Detecting the current branch failed: fatal: ref HEAD is not a symbolic ref -> [Help 1]
[ERROR]
[ERROR] To see the full stack trace of the errors, re-run Maven with the -e switch.
[ERROR] Re-run Maven using the -X switch to enable full debug logging.
[ERROR]
[ERROR] For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles:
[JENKINS] Archiving /opt/jenkins_dev/workspace/SDP_BIZ_HELLO_WORLD_APP/pom.xml to in.com.company.xcop.sdp.bizservice.test.dao/hello_world_app/0.0.8-SNAPSHOT/ hello_world_app -0.0.8-SNAPSHOT.pom
channel stopped
Started calculate disk usage of build
Finished Calculation of disk usage of build in 0 seconds
Started calculate disk usage of workspace
Finished Calculation of disk usage of workspace in 0 seconds
Solution :-
In Jenkins job , open the configuration and go to Git configuration => Advance Options => << add your local branch name >>. In my case I have added "master" .
If you are using some other version of jerkins then , you may find the similar settings with other way. In the same way Git configuration => Advance Options => Additional Behaviors => Check out to specific local branch => << Add your local branch name >>.
Attached the screenshot below with highlight.
Hope it will help you. Happy Building.
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Disconnect a network user from the network using Tuxcut in Ubuntu Debian
Tux cut is this is a simple program to disconnect the network user in the same network , NetCut is a Software that helps network admin by purely on ARP protocol . List IP-MAC Table in secs, turn off & On network on any computer on your LAN including any device like router , switcher. Also, can protected user from ARP SPOOF attack . How to install tuxut in ubuntu/Debian see This Link
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Digital Currency Exchange ShapeShift Raises 10 four Million Series A
Digital Currency Exchange ShapeShift Raises $ten.4 Million Series A
Digital currency exchange startup�ShapeShift has closed a $10.4m Series A.
Led by Berlin-based Earlybird Venture Capital, the round incorporated participation from Lakestar, Blockchain Capital, Pantera Capital and Access Venture Partners, the firm stated these days.�Existing ShapeShift backers, like FundersClub, Digital Currency Group and Erik Voorhees (the companys founder and CEO) also�took element in the round.
The fresh capital will be utilised to increase the exchanges engineering crew, a move that would come ahead of two exchange-related items set to be released later this yr.
In interview, Voorhees mentioned that many of people hires would come on the engineering side, the two in preparation of those launches as effectively as an anticipate rise in volume. In accordance to ShapeShift, platform growth has averaged 48% per month in the last three years, seeing an regular month-to-month trade volume of about 50,000 bitcoins spread across 40 digital currencies and assets.
Despite the fact that tight-lipped about the precise nature of long term ShapeShift merchandise, Voorhees�indicated that each had been new sorts of exchange, 1 built fully close to wise contracts.
Much more broadly, Voorhees spoke to the exchanges�clear vision of the prospective diversity of cryptocurrency tokens, which was much less well understood by the sector in 2014.
He informed CoinDesk:
"What we noticed when we began was that tokens had been going to grow to be a widespread phenomenon. We believed there would be blockchain tokens representing all kinds of value past currency, and thats grow to be increasingly true, which is why ShapeShifts frictionless exchange is crucial."
Voorhees also stated that ShapeShifts policy of not holding any consumer assets or other particulars aided to give self-assurance that the impact of any hacks or other breaches would be minimum.
"We take buyer protection to a new level by not endangering them in the very first place," he said. "In the hack we suffered a 12 months ago, it was the very first exchange hack where customers werent at chance either in money or individual details."
The funding coincides with a broader uptick in interest for option cryptocurrencies, with this industry going through a latest boom�some suggest is a indicator it is building into a new asset class.
Disclosure:�CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in ShapeShift.�
Disgaea 5 Alliance of Vengeance A Contender for Overlord Plip!
Edit: This review was done months ago, but Ive been two flippin lazy to screen shot images for it. Sorry for the delay.
Its already been well documented but if I was forced to list my favorite franchise of all time, you can bet your ass that the Disgaea franchise would be up there with the best of them. Its been a bit over a year since our last installment of this series (Disgaea D2), and while I had some lukewarm feelings to the necessity of it, I still enjoyed my experience with it.
Its been a number of years since the last numbered installment way back in Disgaea 4, but if you go back to that very vintage review of mine, you can see that I felt it was a return to form, being the that game I have liked the most since the original. This series has been consistent since its inception, but now we have our first shiny PS4 edition of the game. How will it hold up the legacy before it?
DISGAEA 5: ALLIANCE OF VENGEANCE(PS4)
Our tale opens up with us learning that there is a fierce demon emperor by the name of Void Dark, who is assembling a massive army of demons called "The Lost". Like an unstoppable wave, the Lost have been rolling through the Netherworlds either subjugating them to the Lost army or destroying them outright.
Here we find an Overlordess named Seraphina who is currently in the midst of battle with the Lost in the midst of an assassination plan to kill Void Dark. Before her forces start to get overwhelmed, a lone demon named Killia takes a seat in the middle of the battlefield and begins to eat a meal. When the Lost try to attack him, Killia dispatches them with incredible ease.
Serphina quickly becomes enamored with him and tries to use her Balor Gaze overload ability to subjugate him and make him her servant. When it doesnt work, she somehow becomes even more enthralled with him and begins to follow him as they reveal they both are out to defeat Void Dark. They dont know it yet, but this will be the seed that beings to form the Rebel Alliance of Overlords to take the fight to overthrow Void Dark.
It was interesting to see that Disgaea of all series decided to take on a theme of revenge and vengeance for its major plot points considering the very tongue and cheek nature of this franchise. I was concerned that they were going to go full serious with the story. The series always manages to have its serious moments but it manages to do so while still be amusing. Thankfully, as I played through it didnt really take long to show that despite the theme, the cheeky nature of the dialog wasnt going to be absent this time around.
I kind of have split feelings on the cast this time around at the start of the game. This is usually a contested point in almost every version of Disgaea because there is always some really strong characters, and always some really weak ones. Disgaea 1 had Laharl but it also had Captain Gordon. Disgaea 2 had Rozalyn but it also had Tink, and so forth.
Disgaea 5 however seems to revolve around six major characters. Killia can be considered the hero, but hes kind of the cold stoic emotionless type. Hes a deeply conflicted character, but his delivery always feels kind of monotone and flat. Seraphina kind of fills our Etna role, as shes the posh and pampered overlord of the wealthiest Netherworld, who abuses and underpays her prinnies. They are both great characters because they tend to compliment each others nature, I just wish Killia had more range.
Then you guys like Christo, Zeroken, and Red Magnus. Each of them falling into their own kind of anime trope. Christo is the tactician so its hard to know if he can be trusted, Zeroken reminds me of Axel in the way he jumps in like hes bad ass and ends up getting squashed. Then we have Red Magnus, who quite literally yells all of his lines, which is bad enough but when you realize almost all of his dialog is basically just citing the mid 90s version of the Rock from WWE, it becomes cringe worthy. None of them are grossly horrible I guess, but some are more likable than others.
But the best character, hands down, is Usalia. Shes basically a bunny demon from the Netherworld TotoBunny, who is cursed to eat the food she hates the most: Curry. If she doesnt she basically turns into a berserker version of a were-bunny and pretty much can shred her opponents to bits. Shes out for vengeance because she witnessed both her parents get murdered, but through it all she is a sweetheart to everyone and cute as a button. It was impossible for me to not love Usalia. Even though she is a monster type character which I never use, I had to because she was too great to be riding my bench.
Shes a demon bunny who loves curry and blows up a planet with a giant prinny. How can you NOT love Usalia?
This leads to my problem with the characters, because on top of having 6 major protagonists and 3 major villains, in addition to that every time you beat a Netherworld (read stage/chapter) their respective overlord joins you, basically adding another monster type to your party and taking up another spot. This annoyed me because I already have a list of created characters I made that are barely getting used because I have so many major protagonists to use. I know you can use up to 10 people in a level, but I pretty much never did.
Thankfully, the pocket netherworld (read: home base) as a number of things you can do with them here. A lot of the old mainstays are here like your weapons and items shops, the Item world, this games version of the assembly for the various things you can vote on. The Cheat shop makes a return so you can divvy up the earnings from a stages for level, money, mana, or skill grinding as well as raise the difficulty. But in addition to these things, there are a couple of new tricks to look at here.
The home base is packed with even more things to do than ever.
Most importantly, you can make "squads" these various squads give a number various effects that can take place in battle, in the netherworld, or through some of the other things you can. Boot camp is great for grinding because it takes a percentage of the experience of the leader, some shops like the Curry shop or the Alchemist only open up when a squad member is there. And then there are odd jobs people can do like the Research Team, where you can send off unused party members to other netherworld to get items, exp, prisoners, and other bonuses. There is like 30 squads and many of them are very useful so youll want to level them up.
Some of these squads break the game in ways the old Disgaeas didnt. The Assembly squad is one of the best, because if you can max the level of it, everyone in that squad will always vote yes when you try to pass bills for new levels, bosses, abilities and so forth regardless of their stance on the issue. So you just pump like 30+ characters into the group and win bills you have a 1% shot to win by a landslide. In post game, you need the Elite squad, which Ill get into later.
Pro Tip. Putting your strongest character in the Capture squad is a great way catch people. Using captives to level your squads is a great way to max out the important ones. (Or all of them)
In addition to things like the Item world, theyve added a new "Character world" which basically lets you play a Mario Party style board game that if you can navigate to the finish by the end of the level, you can give yourself a permanent boost to some of your abilities which is great for increasing movement, or adding more room for passive abilities. Then you have the Innocent shop, where you can take your subdued innocents from the item world and make them breed and level, making getting that 900lv Statistician to level a grind a breeze.
I honestly could keep going about the various new shops and features you can play with in the pocket netherworld, but that could literally take up a whole review itself. So lets get back to the game. First thing I noted is that this game has an incredibly long campaign. I think before you get to the post game there is like 16 chapters of story each with at least 6 or so maps to fight through. It actually can be pretty daunting because some of these maps are pretty big, and geo panels can be frustrating. But as we all know, the solution to that is grinding for levels.
The character world is a great way to get your character extra stat boosts. Which I basically spent on movement and nothing else.
And thankfully, this installment of Disgaea knows this more than others, because it seems to be the most grind friendly version of the game. I was late to learn this, but there is a glitch in the game that if you fight an enemy that is level 99, it gives the experience of one that is 300+. So that is a good place to get started until you can unlock the Martial Training levels. These unlock as you progress through the game, and if you can tackle a semi difficult level, you are rewarded a spot that is great for grinding at increased XP and Mana.
Going through these stages in rapid succession with the right combinations of items, innocents, attacks, buffs from the netherworld suddenly doesnt turn the game from a grind to level 9999, but how many times and how fast can you do it. If done properly, there is a martial training stage that is so difficult, if you can clear it it jumps you from level 1 to 9999. This is where the Elite Squad comes into play. When you are in that group, XP is reduced to 25%, but you get an massive increase to your stat growth, and this is where you start building your godlike characters.
Once you start one Hit killing these guys, Grinding is a breeze.
I guess I should talk about the game play at some point. Disgaea 5 stays true to the grid based tactical RPG roots that brought it to the dance, but not without innovation. Much of the mainstay Disgaea battle system goes unchanged from what you might remember. Bring up to 10 characters out and chose your moves and actions before you actually execute them, using your abilities or using team attacks if everyone is in proper proximity to do so.
Tower stacking is of course back and there are a whole new slew of tower moves you can use in battle, but I will be 100% honest because of the grind friendly nature of this one, I didnt use the tower attacks all that much this time around. It is still helpful for giving some of your lower level characters a quick jump, and in the late late late stages of grinding, its probably still a massive help.
In the last installment you were able to mount monsters, apparently this wasnt a very popular feature because they return to the Magi-change system where monsters can become weapons for a humanoid character to use. This of course, promoted my use of Usalia because she turns into fist weapons, which is exactly what Killia uses, so grinding with them increased the productivity twofold. But in addition to that monsters now finally have their own throw.
Even at high level, Enemies and Bosses can be tough to bring down.
Well sort of. They cant pick up and be in the center of a tower like others can, but they get something called Mon-toss, which allows them the basically punch a character to another square on the map. With some monsters boasting a 7 throw, this is a useful way to move some people. But also, if a enemy lands on monster, they are instantly tossed the throw distance in the direction they are facing. so with proper placement, you can move a character nearly across a whole stage before they actually have to take their move action.
This is handy because it seems like some of the levels are way bigger than some of them need to be, and with some geo effects it forces you to take a long annoyingly linear path to complete them. Some of them forcing you to rely on throwing to even be able to complete a stage sometimes (or so it felt like to me). I thought we had gotten away from that style of play way back in the original Disgaea.
So what didnt I like about Disgaea 5 that I already havent mentioned. The home base music. The home base music from Disgaea 5 is going to be the song that plays in the elevator that descends me to hell for eons. I can barely understand what she is singing about. I cant tell if its in English, Engrish, Japanese, or some unholy combination of them. You will most likely be in your pocket netherworld often, so you will hear this song often. For the love of Christ use something a bit more upbeat like Makai Kingdom used or something.
It feels like there are less jobs than normal, but thats ok due the number of characters the story barfs onto your party. You wont use half of them.
The rest of the music in this game is your pretty typical Disgaea fanfare. Kind of weird sounding future epic style music with some kinda tango-y undertones as I could be describe it. The only song in this game that blew me away is the one for the opening movie, which is also played for one of the final bosses and it makes the fight feel more bad ass. I am always a huge advocate of a proper score complimenting a video game to make its moments more impactful.
And I have bitched about this shit before, but Mugen Souls in all its failures had one really good idea, and that was to slightly animate the stills for emotions and reactions during dialog sequences. it tends to break up the monotony of the still images you see in visual novel style games and cutscenes that have been so prevalent in Disgaea. Almost everything about this game seems more polished up and new, but the visual novel style images make it feel old. It wouldnt have been a drastic change and I think it would have helped.
I hate to continue to beat a dead horse with an adopted red-headed rented step-mule, but this is another example of a DLC ruining what used to be a good thing. All of the old Disgaeas prided themselves on an abundance of post game content and unlockables. Lots of characters to play, bosses to fight, and mini stories to unlock. Now all that shit is withheld because they want to you pay for it with DLC separately or with a 30$ season pass.
And lo and behold, there was glitch for people who got the season pass that unlocked all the DLC at once instead of releasing it overtime like they planned to do. Again showing that the content was created, completed, and locked away on the disc instead of releasing it as part of the package. When will this shit stop? How much more do these companies need to gut their fucking customers out of their money? So now, I wont get to unlock all the old characters because I refuse to be any more for the content that should have been on the disc to begin with.
Characters from all over the NIS universe are available if you are willing to pay for them, Which Im not. Fuck you and fuck your DLC.
So by not doing that, the greatly reduces the amount of post game you can play. Now as far as I can tell, you can play 2 post game chapters to unlock bosses, fight a reoccurring minor character, fight Baal, and either play the carnage levels (increased difficulty), or new game plus. In the old versions of the game all the shit that would have been DLC would have all been included as stuff to do. Kiss my fucking ass, NIS.
This one is starting a get a bit long winded so Ill wrap it all up like this. Disgaea is a game series that has always been a model of consistency. Its a game that has been constantly making little tweaks and changes to to the formula to improve things, and have taken things out that didnt work as well. All the while managing to do so without changing how the overall feel of the game has been played. Even a bad Disgaea game is still pretty good game. What it usually hinges on is how good the story and characters are.
And if I can CRTL + B right here, I will say that Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance might possibly be my favorite one since the first, if not overall. When I really got rolling with the story, I found it next to impossible not to love these characters, even with all their flaws. The story managed to get more exciting as it progressed, and all the little annoyances I had with the series (with the exception of DLC) have been polished to a mirror shine or removed completely.
When I finished the campaign story and some of the additional chapters, all I really had left to do was grind my characters beat some extra stages before I could fight Baal. I had other new games to play that I wanted to get to. But I didnt. I continued to grind my way to start boosting my characters, started going through the process of making my godlike characters to stand against Baal. I had to force myself to put it down so I could continue my other games.
Its been a long time since I wanted to just sit and grind with a Disgaea game. Probably not since the first, and that says a lot about how much I enjoyed this one. I felt that Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten was a return to form for this series, and I feel that Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance has some serious potential to be the best in the series. Highly, HIGHLY recommended.
