Reality x Minds (Free RPG) Introduction, Impressions, and Strategy Notes

This is an introductory and review article about "Reality x Minds," an RPG created with RPG Maker MV.
Overall, it's a well-made work, and the combat in particular was very impressive.
I've completed the game on normal difficulty, so I'd like to write an article about it.

The completion time is approximately 6 hours.

Game Overview

This is an RPG where you progress through the story by repeatedly engaging in conversation events, exploring dungeons, battling bosses, and strengthening your characters.
The main story took about 6 hours to complete, but there are challenging extra bosses and other elements after the main story, so it will take a little longer if you include those.
It's a fairly orthodox RPG, but the system incorporates clever features throughout, keeping players engaged and preventing them from getting bored.

The original graphics are beautiful and used very extensively, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the world of the story.
Character portraits and event illustrations are used without reservation.
The background music also features many great songs that stick in your mind.
I like RPGs with a wide variety of battle music, and this game also has many songs, so I never get bored.

dungeon

There is no field map; instead, maps are divided into two types: those without enemies, such as towns and castles, and those with enemies, such as caves and grasslands.

The game uses a symbol encounter system, and enemy movements are slow.
Therefore, you can easily avoid it if you want to.
On the field, there are gimmicks that allow you to push or destroy obstacles, so if you can't find a way to proceed, it's important to investigate anything that looks suspicious.

battle

The battles are command-input style battles with up to three players.
This is a difficult challenge that cannot be overcome by simply brute force.

In the early stages, you'll often find two-person parties, and the combinations of these parties change frequently from dungeon to dungeon.
Therefore, when forming a new party, it's necessary to consider how to divide roles and responsibilities and fight together.
The battles take a while, but there wasn't anything in particular that required grinding or anything like that during the main story.
However, avoiding combat too much will make boss battles difficult, so it's necessary to fight enemies along the way and get used to how to deal with different combinations of enemies.

There are no healing items whatsoever; healing is done through "Special Abilities" and the "Rescue" command.
The enemy's attacks are quite intense, so it's important to balance offense and healing.

A distinctive feature of the system is "cooperative attacks," which are activated when specific combinations of techniques are used.
Cooperative techniques are activated separately from individual member actions, offering an advantage equivalent to having an extra action available.
Since it's also a way to acquire SP to strengthen your characters, actively aiming for coordinated attacks will be key to fighting effectively.

Skill Acquisition

The game uses a skill tree system, where you acquire skills by spending "SP" obtained in battle.
It is necessary to learn effectively while considering the role of the character.
魔法が使えないキャラクターに「魔法攻撃10％アップ」などを習得させても仕方ないので、注意しましょう。
Furthermore, some higher-level skills require items to acquire.

Equipment

The only things you can change with equipment are accessories.
Your main weapons and armor are strengthened by consuming items and "battle points" (money).
Upgrading equipment is quite effective, and upgrading accessories also significantly improves performance.
It's important not only to acquire character skills, but also to properly upgrade your equipment.
However, since there are no shops while you're exploring a dungeon, it's important to plan your visits to shops strategically when you have the opportunity.

thoughts

It had been a long time since I'd played an RPG, but I really enjoyed it and was able to play through it all in one go.
I particularly enjoyed the combat, and I found myself engrossed in the battles, making progress in the game without even realizing it.
Regarding the story, I was immediately drawn in by the body-swapping plotline at the beginning, and that became my driving force for continuing to play.

You can change the difficulty level of the battles, so I don't think you need to worry too much about it.
I played on normal difficulty, and somehow managed to clear the game without a single party wipe.
There have been many times during boss battles when I thought, "It looks like we're going to be wiped out...", but since you can revive incapacitated characters without consuming a turn, you can surprisingly manage to pull through.

The fact that the party combinations changed frequently was one of the reasons I didn't get bored while playing.
When you're using a new party combination, you're initially feeling your way through the battles, but by the time you get to the boss fights, you've developed your own established strategy, which I think is a perfect balance.
In the later stages of the game, once you can form a three-person party, your combat options expand considerably, making battles much easier.

With features like hints that show you where to go next, and overall a very user-friendly and thoughtful design for the player, this was a truly excellent game.
If you're hesitating about whether or not to play it, why not give it a try?

Strategy Notes

Even though these are strategy notes, you can adjust the difficulty level, and I think anyone familiar with RPGs should be able to complete them without any problems.
Therefore, I only write down very basic notes.

The strategy I personally found easiest was:The goal is to enhance TP acquisition rate with technical stones and skill-enhancing skills, so that you don't have to worry about running out of TP during battle.
TP naturally accumulates when you take damage from enemies, so as a result, you only need to worry about MP.
In this game, where normal attacks offer almost no benefit, the key is how often you can use special abilities. Therefore, if you take measures to prevent running out of TP, battles become considerably easier.

Additionally, area-of-effect healing magic is obviously important, so be sure to learn it as soon as possible.
Area-of-effect magic is also useful in normal battles.
Also, since being stunned can be more troublesome than being incapacitated, which can be easily recovered from, it might be a good idea to increase your stun resistance.