Bonus characters/classes

[Sabi The Worst Player Ever]

Honest question - how much would it break the game if I would actually use them from the start? I dont want to trivialize game way too much.

[iHaku]

not at all, outside of very few exceptions (metallica learning tera spells at level 40ish, prams passive attack ability can cheese a lot of bosses that dont move) and in those cases its on you to use that specific mechanic once you realise its there.

breaking the game is basicly what D5 is for and can be done quite easily with generics.One thing to always keep in mind is that the speedrun of D5 is actually using kilia just because making and leveling new units is too much of a time waste. if you do anything at all, you cant be breaking the game as much as that so just enjoy whatever you do. on top of that, overleveling just by a tiny bit already trivializes the entire story content. :P

[Sabi The Worst Player Ever]

I kinda expected a little bit of moderate challange like I had in first Disgaea...

[PootYolo]

Disgaea 5 is the easiest of them all, imo. If you want to speedrun every trophies in D5, it's an estimated 7-8 hour run.

[GeminiEclipse]

It doesn't really break it. It removes the grind and gives more people for squads. It can be a bit overwhelming having so many people, but the difficulty will catch up.

If you're more interested in the story or reaching end game then having all the characters and bonuses makes that faster.

But it's fine not taking anything and just farming everything from scratch.

[Trehek]

Difficulty is relative. If things are too easy, just add some stars in the Cheat Shop. A lot depends on how you happen to play the game. If you rush the story, things will be a bit harder, but if you level up and grow some items in the item world and/or Martial Training, things will get a lot easier. The DLC characters and classes do contribute, but unless you work on their strength, the game will quickly outgrow them. Like I said, comes down to how you play.

Ignoring the stats thing, I agree that this Disgaea is the easiest in the series. The battle maps are generally quite simple. The layouts don't present as much of an advantage to the AI as many maps in earlier titles did, and there are practically no geo puzzles beyond "we're standing on some geo tiles and there's the side path to deactivate them". A bit disappointing, really.

[Sigvuld]

Just remove the DLC characters' weapons when you get them, and they won't one-shot things anymore. You'll level them like everyone else.