SPECIAL NOTE: Do not download the patch (In USA: 1.11, JP: 2.0, EU: 1.01, or any later versions) of the game until you have read the guide or at least the section in the FAQ about the duping glitch.
This patch, once downloaded, will eliminate the duping glitch, but you can play the game just fine without the patch. You will not be able to go online or access DLC without the patch though, but it can save you many many hours if you do take advantage of this duping glitch.
If you download the patch and make a game save, you cannot access that save if you then delete the patch. Only download the patch once you are ready to move on and leave all old glitches behind. Existing saves will work once the game is patched though- just not the other way around.
Roadmap
Overview:
Estimated trophy difficulty: 7.5/10
Overall number of trophies: 51 (1, 50
: 42
5
3
)
Offline: 51
Online: 0
Approximate time to 100%: 175+ hours without patch, 250+ with patch
Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 2
Missable trophies: 10. The following trophies are only obtainable in a single playthrough though but can also be gotten with new game+ cycles: Items Roadshow, Special Stalker, Scavenger Hunt Champion of the Netherworld, The End of the Beginning, Fight the God Fight, Of Promises Past, Fenrich's Mission, The Melancholy of Fuka Kazamatsuri, Desco's New Purpose, Vote for Emizel.
Glitched/Unattainable Trophies: Possibly Scavenger Hunt Champion of the Netherworld not popping once all chests found in one playthorugh.
Do cheat codes disable trophies?: No cheats. Several beneficial glitches currently exist pre-patch though.
Required peripherals: 1 Controller
Introduction:
Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten is the latest entry from the famed hardcore strategy RPG series. While Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics put SRPGs on the map, the genre was all but close to fading into obscurity when NISA came along with the Disgaea series and has kept in the main light ever since. With hundreds and hundreds of hours of gameplay possible in each game for the hardcore, or a simple 40 hour story if you like, Disgaea had a little something for all. Each entry since has taken its now famed depth of style and added a few new layers to the masterpiece, and the fourth entry does not disappoint.
To get a few things clear from the get go: This is a guide to get the platinum for this game. If you are interested in the main story and want something fast to play, forget about the plat and just enjoy the parts you encounter. Plat runners for this game need to be ready to buckle down and do serious grinding. To get the plat you will be playing the same maps over and over and over again, reloading save files over and over and over again in hopes of getting 1 item you want, playing endless levels of dungeons and hoping upon hope that a little pirate ship will finally appear when you want it to. If any of that sounds unappealing, turn back now. This is a game for the hardcore. The grinders. The OCD freaks who love to unlock everything in a game and exploit it to its very core. The game is not difficult per se. Fights do not require that much skill to beat. Maybe at the very beginning some skill is needed, and some Dim-X maps require puzzle skills, but almost every problem in Disgaea can be solved with time spent grinding. Over leveling was made for this game, and it can solve almost everything. So in a sense, the game is not hard, but takes along time. What is hard- is keeping everything organized in your head. It’s only taking 60 hours to do what others took 120 hours to do, because you planned ahead. Its reading the 800+ page guides for the previous 3 games, and sifting through hundreds of message board pages to gleam the very best way to accomplish every last little thing, and do it all at the same time and from hour 1. Extreme organization and multitasking, those are the skills needed here. It can be very overwhelming for many and can make the game hard to play. That coupled along with the high gaming hours needed causes its difficulty rating to be so high.
This is not an end all guide to the Disgaea series. That would take more posts to cover then PS3T.org may have server space for, LOL. I must assume you understand some SRPG and Disgaea basics and how to play the game in several ways. Otherwise each trophy would require pages of posts to explain in full. I will do everything I can to make it clear and simple how to get each trophy in the game, but I cannot cover everything, so please….be gentle. Also, while Disgaea 1-3 where heavily covered by great guides from Doublejump Books, sadly they went out of business. The only current guide for Disgaea 4 is from Bradley Guides, and it is pretty embarrassing. It works well enough for beating the main story and is great actually for the Dimension X maps. Beyond that it is full of misprints, errors, and a complete lack of 80% of the real game; the post game content. This means much much much of this game remains unexplored, unexplained, and it up to the players to figure it all out. Luckily the hardcore come armed with an army of math types as well as dedicated and persistent players who love sniffing these things out. We have discovered much, but not everything. This also means any guide will be a dynamic one that will change over time and could be completely wrong at times. Please keep that in mind when reading. I will do my best to culminate information from the message boards on PS3T.org, Gamefaqs.com, Existing strategy guides, and the Japanese game’s Wiki to compile the best information that we as gamers have on each trophy.
My thanks to all of the players who have helped on the various sites, mathed out the formulas, and discovered the many secrets of the game. You are all awesome, and too numerous to name to get them all. Just know- we all thank you for your continuous efforts and help.
Walkthrough:
STEP 0: Do Nothing.
Don’t touch anything. Just watch the opening. See This is Disgaea 4!.
STEP 1: 1st cycle, Beat the story
Now you can start the game. For first timers and those new to Disgaea 4, the story is basically a very long tutorial. It will teach you all of the basics you need to know to play the game effectively for the most part of the beginning. Relax, take it slow, and enjoy the story. There is soooo much post game work to do that this is merely foreplay, so there is no need to rush it.
First basic rule is to save; very often. Before and after every battle would be a good start. Multiple save files are also recommended. Also, customize the settings before you get really started. Pick your animation speeds and text speeds. You can turn the animations off to help speed up the game, but 2 things you should know. 1 – you miss out on many of the cool animated sequences that were made for the game, and 2- all special skills need viewed once to obtain Special Stalker. There is a way around this. If you turn the animations off, hold down at the beginning of a turn and hold it down and all animations will play out the long way. Then let go when you want the short cuts back on. In some of the boss fights during story mode, there are skills that need to be viewed, so see the trophy details for help on that.
There are a handful of trophies you can get right off the bat within the first 5 battles (including even the actual tutorial). Save before the very first battle in the game, then play the first map to get Collateral Damage and Success comes from Failure. Re-load up your save, and then go for Viva Sprites. After that is completed, go back to the nice advanced graphics if you wish.
In every chapter of the story, there are hidden treasure chests in the base with random goodies for you. You need to obtain all of them to get Scavenger Hunter Champion of the Netherealm. Your main character jumps higher as he gains levels, but you need to be level 3000-6000+ in order to reach all of the post game chests, so you should really wait to do this on your second playthrough.
Play out the rest of the story to get: New Party Established, E Pluribus Netherealm, End of the Beginning, and get the first epilogue Of Promises Past. NOTE: Before you beat the final boss, make a separate save file that you do not overwrite. This will be used to get all of the epilogues later. Also, if you used the Legendary Tree evil symbol and established any relationships- remove all of them in the senate before you beat the game for the first time.
While finishing the first playthrough, the goal should be to also get a vast majority of the bronzes: How’s That Item World Coming Along?, Power of Creation Compels you, Baby’s first Reincarnation, Lead Tongue Tyrant, Step back and watch the fireworks, Lobbyist Hobbyist, Timid Timmy, Hanging at the Quick Yield, Pirate is as Pirate does, Snare Bear Stare, Treasure Hunter, Phantom Thief, Damages with Wolves. It is very possible to also get, but more likely these will happen in post game depending on how you play: Axel Statue Down, Dominatrix Lovin, Scrooge the Pooge, Pirate Ninja.
Make sure you are also working towards Items Roadshow along the way. Buy, steal, and earn as many items that have “new” on them as possible.
There is some debate at this point as to which way you should go with the Roadmap. Some believe that the best way to play is to stay in the first cycle and continue to get every single trophy you can- including most grinding ones in the post game. Then only start cycle 2 after most of the game is finished. Reason being is that a new cycle makes getting the pirate ship parts very much easier. The downside is that you lose out on all 2nd cycle benefits for the vast majority of the game, including access to the highest rank generic humanoid class. If you are going for purely speed, this is the route for you. If you want to enjoy all that Disgaea has to offer, I recommend my route for maximum enjoyment. At worst, if you want the pirate ship parts easily you can always start a 3rd cycle and just beat the story mode 1 more time. It does add time to the total game experience though. The choice is up to you on how you want to enjoy the game.
STEP 2: 1st cycle, Post Game Events
After the final story chapter is finished, you enter the post game. First post game task is to knock out the other epilogues. Use the save you made before the final boss fight, and reload it up. See Of Promises Past for the details on all of the epilogues and get them now. You will have every ending/epilogue trophy now but Fight the God Fight, which will be covered in another step soon enough for good reason. There are other special endings, but no trophies for them so I will not cover it in this guide.
Continue to work on all of the silver and gold trophies as you play through. Once you have the epilogues, its time to start a new cycle with the Time Traveler in your base.
STEP 3: 2nd cycle, Beat the Story
Start a new cycle, and simply beat the story again. This should be a breeze at your current levels. If you did not get Scavenger Hunter Champion of the Netherealm yet, ensure you get all of the chests in every chapter on this run. Also, now that you are going through the story a 2nd time, ensure you have all of the missable and viewable boss skills for Special Stalker by the end of this run.
Start a save file before map 10-6 and do not overwrite it. Obtain Fight the God Fight. Then reload your save file, beat the game with a normal ending (just use multiple allies on last 2 maps) and continue on to the post game.
STEP 4: 2nd cycle, Post Game Grind
This is the playthrough that you will take to the limit. Power level in the extreme and go for the top.
The first goal is to power level enough to beat the post game event battles. Reason being is that the Pringer X has a special rare item that is only carried once per playthrough, and needs to be stolen the first time you encounter him for Items Roadshow. You also get some cool allies to play with. You could do these battles in the first cycle if you like, but you will need to get to around level 100-4000 for these battles so that why I say put it off until later. Try them out yourself though and see. Unlocking Mountain of Ordeals and its coveted map 4 for level grinding is also of high importance at this point. With this map you can grind to 9999 with ease if you take advantage of innocent farming. See Bottom of the 9999th! for details.
Through the item world, you will encounter many mystery gates with strange rooms. In 2 of these rooms a vendor will sell you tickets that unlock Dimension-X maps. For clearing a certain % (20 increments, 20/40/etc) the Dim-X navigator will reward you with rare legendary items. These are also needed for Items Roadshow. Clear all of the maps to obtain X-tra-Dimension-al Conquistador.
When strong enough and up to the task, make sure to visit the Land of Carnage. See Carnage in the Streets for details on how. It’s an alternate world of all the same maps you already have, but with INCREDIBLY more powerful versions of them. Do not take this lightly. This is where the real Disgaea is played. It is also necessary to unlock the rank 40 items for each weapon, armor, and emblem for Items Roadshow. Also, you need to fight Pringer X here in his later event map, known as “Roar/Poison”, in order to get Roaring Pringer Bringer Downer.
Grind out all of the final trophies: Biggus Stickus, Evildoer of the Year, Items Roadshow, Pimp My Ship, Intelligence Director, Special Stalker. See each one for individual notes on how to obtain. You should be working your way towards all of these the entire game. Few of them only need final touches to complete and unlock.
Note: Playing new cycles resets Post Game Event battles, Legendary Tree relationships, Item World Innocent Town meetings (i.e. Prinny Kurtis, Shroom, Prinny), and all Dimension X maps cleared. Be careful investing too much time in any of these events if you plan on starting another cycle. You will lose all progress. The extra battle characters will come back into your party once you clear their event stage again. They will be the level and have the items they had when they were last in your party, despite what shows up during the event battles themselves. Dim-X battles will all show up as not cleared, but you can also get the bonus items each of the 20% cleared milestones again.
[PS3T Would Like to Thank Metal_Jaws and stgermain for this roadmap]