I'm really not managing to get the hang of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness for the Playstation 2. I haven't managed to defeat the first midboss (the French Adonis-type demon) in the first Chapter because I'm really struggling to get the hang of it. I've made a couple of classes to use (all good-for-nothing or inadequate for now) such as a Warrior, a Cleric, a Martial Artist (Brawler?) and a Red Mage, and an extra Prinny.
I don't really know how to level up my characters, I've played the same two maps over and over, sending out two Prinnies and all my made characters (Not Laharl/Etna) and I've only managed to level up a few characters by a few levels each.
Can anyone provide advice on how the level-up system works?
Disgaea's level up system works the same as most other level-up systems: kill ****, you get exp; you kill enough ****, you level up. Its just that its dreadfully slow in the beginning of the game. There's a few maps that are good for level grinding, but those come later.
Tbh, Disgaea is a bit hard to get the hang of, and I remember struggling against Mid Boss the first time I played too. Levels are important, as is equipment (but you don't have much money in the early game), but sometimes strategy can snag you a win too.
...It's been a long time since I've played Disgaea 1, but iirc, the map you're on has archers that are being buffed by Geo Panels, correct? Something to try is lifting and throwing characters over to the geo symbols that are buffing the archers, then having those characters lift and throw the geo symbols off the colored panels so the archers are no longer buffed.
If Mid Boss is still giving you trouble, use the old lift-cheese strategy: wail on the boss (when all other enemies are dead), but before you end your turn, have one of your junk characters lift him. He won't be able to do anything. Rinse and repeat until he's dead.
And one other thing: make sure to level/power up Laharl, Etna, and whatever other story characters you like as much as you can; it makes life better.
god I hope that helps....