Computer's been flat-out dead since this Sunday, so I'm having to borrow another comp and actually post on the forums for once. Anyway.
Disgaea 4: People other than Desco actually exist playthrough
Yeah, I've put this off long enough--at least as far as having paused in the middle of reincarnation-releveling my generics. Needless to say, with levels more spread out than in a Main Cast Only game, I've had to pull some interesting tricks to get through a lot of C7's fights. It's notable that I have used a minimum of Item World, and have only stopped to level generics, none of the main cast. And oddly fitting, they all hit L50 or so right before 7-8 (Death King Hugo's fight). I'm probably underleveled, so there's going to be boss respect on my part at large (and I may have to stop to grind at a later point if things start jumping up in level again), but anyway, current cast (and some generics') impressions! (I'll go more in-depth if I make my own stat topic)
Valvatorez: He's good at long fights, that much is for certain. That is, if he can survive to them. Seems like everyone has glass cannon syndrome at this rate, and it hurts in Val's case. Cross Demon Rush gives him some much-needed killpower, but the point is that his usefulness is entirely dependent on when he's deployed in the fight. Absorption might change that a bit if I can funnel him some kills, but given how early he was targeted and killed off in 7-8, not sure how well he'll fare in later maps.
Fenrich: Awesome when Val's around, decent when he's not. He's largely a single-target attacker who benefits massively from his first Evility--and is elementally-dependent for the most part. I went fist route with him, and while he's nicely evasive, he also has problems inflicting damage outside of counter wars and Dual Canine Fist. Not too bad, but could be better--if, for example, I could find a way to keep Val alive more often.
Fuuka: Was mediocre for a good bit of time, even with her amazing defensive Evility--largely due to accuracy woes and her damage being okayish. Then she hit level 50, and R.I.P. gives her some much-wanted ST killing power and range(and axes are a thing to behold in Dis4). Looks to be getting better now, looks hopeful.
Desco: Even without abusing Descozilla fusion, she's damn effective. Solid evilities, good stat bases, and a good pair of area attacks make her always useful to say the least, but best in a crowd-control situation. A bit lacking in single-target capability, and I'm not sure that'll be rectified at all, but her stats are good enough and she synergizes well enough with a Beastmaster that I don't really care.
Emizel: Kid honestly has nothing he needs to prove, he's been outright amazing through all of C7 in particular. Access to spells of every element, plus the consistently best damage has him as MVP so far. Requires care in his use, but holy shit he will absolutely wreck anything that has a weakness.
Vulcanus (no relation to the fat mustached one from the first game): No real surprise, she's the worst PC so far in terms of base abilities. Hell, her stat tendencies even easily paint her as a healer more than a gunner. Maybe it's a prerequisite of non-generic angel PCs? However, her minor usefulness with guns has led to one interesting detail with her--she has flat-out awesome synergy with the Heart Cannon due to this; positioning is key here, but Support Attack is one of the best things in this game, especially since it lets me avoid grinding.
Death King Hugo: Yeah, not a PC, but worth consideration given that he's neither Axel nor one of the many souped-up generics in C7, and at least for me, his fight was pretty damn good. AI's stupid (but Disgaea AI, not sure you can say much more than that,) but gets credit for moving into the fight while I was still dealing with Onmyo Monks and cleaning up stray Samurai. Overall, pending on durability respect, I'd see him as either a Middle/Heavy or a Heavy. The bouncers do inflate his defensive stats, though, so it's hard to really say, but even without them he's got support credit and the ability to completely nuke anyone's MP in one shot. Spoiler, perhaps? His music is the best battle theme I've heard in the game so far, at the very least.
Warriors: Tier 3 Warriors are a thing to behold. Two words: Demon Annihilation. First A-rank skill you can get, and reincarnation releveling can get you most of the needed Mana for that. Aura Pyramid use can feed you the rest. Fails against the fire-resistant, but everything else, it's awesome. Would love Dragons' first optional Evility for the sizeable damage boost.
Valkyries: Valks go one of two directions with their weapons. They either go for single-target attacks (Sword or Spear) or ranged crowd control (Bow). I'd honestly say they're flat-out worse for raw power than Warriors, but that's not saying too much when they've got their own benefits (this does nicely illustrate the gap between B and A rank skills, however). Shield Mastery isn't too bad, has its uses more with counter wars. Throw it on a Nekomata for fun.
Skulls/Witches: Your magic users. Come in four maingame varieties, this is readily obvious anyway. Skulls are power mages, Witches can cast longer. Due to this, Skulls have honestly seen more use for me so far. Omega spells and above are very postgame, but Giga Fire/Ice/Wind/Star are useful enough on their own right. As for their higher evilities...a...haha...ha...oh god where would one ever find 30,000 mana.
Beastmasters: For the most part, they're pretty good. Combine the weapon options of a Warrior and Valkyrie, and give them easy synergy with a number of monster types, and they're generally useful. Their Evilities and spells are all about boosting monsters, and throwing one next to Desco has easy benefits. Power obviously goes down if you're not fielding any monsters, what with their weapon options opening up later than the classes they draw them from.
Shamans: status status status status. They have literally every single status and statdown spell in the game. If you work with that, they can be useful, but they're an absolute pain to level given their notable lack of raw damage-dealing ability. As a sidenote, Dis4 statuses can't be stacked, so you can't pull off the sleep/paralysis+poison craziness that dominated Dis2.
Archers: Archers are, needless to say, impressive. Not as far as raw damage ability, but more for accessible crowd control combined with Support Attack usefulness. Really, you're not giving them spears, ever. Just like you're not giving a gunner fists ever. That aside, Spear Surfing and Doppelganger are good enough to go by, and Accel Shot has some usefulness.
Gunners: Read above about support attack and fists. That, however, is the only use gunners really have aside from sheer range (Range 6 attacks are an awesome thing). Throw one in a support attack chain, watch the other guy crit (autocrit if you grabbed the other Evility) every other attack and do that much more damage off of it. They're good at what they do, they just don't do too much.
Heavy Knights: Try not to think of them as a class. Try to think of them as a semi-mobile decoy with the added benefit of Throw 6. They're too slow to really do much in a fight, so I don't give them much credit.
Mage Knights: They're Emizel-lite for the most part, trading in a lot of raw power for the ability to apply it over multiple targets, the ability to use swords, and better durability. Nevermind the elemental affinity spells they're known for, they're solid in general.
Samurai: Physical glass cannons who focus on single-target damage. Give them swords, that base Evility is wasted on bows. Mind's Eye would be a nice one to give to any particularly evasive character, though.
Prinnies: Have Fuka throw them. Enough said.
Nekomata: Pretty fun monster if you can work with them. The ability to counter -anything- gives them some benefits. They'd love to have something like Shield Mastery, though, just to make their counters that much better.
Succubi: Notable largely as a sort of red mage who gets something from all pools (Fire, Healing, and some status) and can actually use them all decently, special notice goes to the capturable Empusa in 5-4 who starts with, of all thing, Giga Ice. Yes, you can capture her multiple times. Yes, that is the sound of the game crying in agony from reincarnation abuse.
Reapers: Something tells me that someone in NIS wasn't pleased with how Reapers were in Disgaea 3, because they've gone from an averageish magic-using type to "holy shit" in terms of usefulness. Very little's actually required on their part to make them good; their base Evility lets them destroy enemy SP pools without even half a thought. Now consider how important SP is in this game.
Tree Giants: Haven't gotten any yet, but I can already tell from 7-7 that their regen has been nerfed from 10% MaxHP to 10% Current HP.
Dragons: Largely unimpressive aside from their insanely expensive first Evility and any toilet humor gathered from their first skill. Move 3 is still a giant pain in the ass to work around. Oh, and the worst affinity growth rate I have ever seen.
Baciels: Single-stat attacks with gun range make them the strongest Support Attack candidate in the game. ...were it not for that 3 Move. Their specials are largely unimpressive as well.
Chickens: Trolls. Pure unmitigated trolls. How else can you explain an auto-Silence aura and the fact that every single thing they use inflicts status of some kind, including the one that kills your EXP gains?!
Haven't messed around enough with the rest to pass a verdict on them, but I admit this is seeming easier to stat topic than Dis3 already, if due to actual grind maps. Might see endgame as different pending on how much grinding I'll need to do to catch up, since I'm definitely underleveled right now (went into 7-8 at level 50-52 with Rank 18 items.)
