Destroy the Hero (Free-to-Play Training Simulation) Introduction, Impressions, and Strategy Notes

Introducing "Crush the Hero," a simulation game with an intriguing title that's sure to grab your attention.
As a work by "Cynical and Rhetoric," the circle that created the masterpiece SRPG "Graymerca," I thoroughly enjoyed it.
This game has a slightly unusual objective: you don't raise your characters to become heroes, but rather to defeat them.
This is a remake, and I played it myself a long time ago.
The characters and graphics have been completely revamped since then, so I was able to enjoy it with a very fresh perspective.

Game Overview

This is a simulation game where you raise an ordinary person named Eto in order to win over your other childhood friend, Toshin, from your childhood friend, the hero Rusari.
Under the guidance of the mysterious figure Gilfeet, you will raise various parameters within a limited timeframe.
The ultimate goal is to defeat Rusari, but depending on the people you meet along the way, you may enter individual character routes.
The initial playthrough takes about 2-3 hours to complete, but you'll need to play through it multiple times to see all the different routes and endings.
To unravel the mysteries of the entire story, you'll want to see all the individual character endings.

The main screen is designed so that you can see all the necessary information at a glance.

The basic flow of the game is to train from Monday to Friday to raise your parameters, and then go out into the city on Saturdays and Sundays to trigger events.
If you don't get enough rest, you'll become ill and end up in a state where all you can do is rest.
It's important to plan your schedule carefully and not overexert yourself.

All types of training involve situations where increasing one parameter causes another parameter to decrease.
Therefore, it is necessary to create combinations that complement each other effectively, and to nurture them so that the overall result is positive.

When you visit the guild, you can fight various types of Suura (monsters) depending on your "Charm" value.
You can earn money as a reward by defeating Suura.
With money, you can buy weapons, shields, and other useful items.
Weapons and shields can be easily replaced because their purchase price and resale price remain the same.
Since all the items are useful, it's fair to say that money is quite important.

The combat system is a semi-real-time command battle system that incorporates timing elements.
The higher your speed, the faster your action gauge fills up, making speed a crucial factor.
When you attack an opponent, a large circle will appear and shrink as an effect occurs. Clicking when the circle is as small as possible will allow you to inflict greater damage.
The combat balance is such that high parameters directly determine the outcome, so you'll be completely powerless against strong enemies, but you'll also get the impression that you're growing stronger yourself.

Review (no spoilers)

It was a fairly common type of育成 (raising/training) simulation game, but the overall quality was quite high, and it was very enjoyable.
While there are many endings, they don't feel tacked on; each one is a complete and well-developed scenario, and the game offers a substantial amount of content.
The characters (mainly the women) were all unique and charming.
In the individual character routes, there were moments that made me think, "Wait, is this really a dating simulation game?" and brought a smile to my face, which was a feeling I hadn't experienced in a long time.

The game itself is quite smooth once you get used to it, so it wasn't too stressful.
Depending on the route, you have to go to the guild a lot and hunt monsters, which is a bit of a hassle.
However, since it's only necessary when retrieving certain routes, it's within acceptable limits.
If you're even slightly interested, why not give it a try?

Character-specific impressions (contains spoilers)

・Eto
The protagonist is a rather gloomy type, but I was able to empathize with him.
Depending on the route, he may be consumed by madness, but fundamentally, he is a kind and gentle young man.
The process of an ordinary person acquiring incredible power, while a commonplace development, was exhilarating.
There were many parts that made me laugh, such as the banter with Gilfeet.

Rusari
From Eto's perspective, he's definitely a nasty guy.
However, he's not really that bad, and in a way, he's a character who often ends up in a pitiable role.
He's not a bad guy at all, and he even admits his mistakes and apologizes to Eto, so I don't dislike him.
My first playthrough really made me realize just how strong the hero is.
In subsequent playthroughs, it's a bit sad that beating Rusari becomes such a high hurdle that it's practically expected.

Tosin
Personally, I neither like nor dislike this character, but I got the impression that they're the kind of character that people would dislike.
The image I have in mind is someone indecisive, like Nina from Mobile Suit Gundam 0083.
However, I found it endearing that she was aware of the unpleasant aspects of her personality.

・Raleigh

In terms of character, this might be my favorite.
They are open-minded, sincere towards those they respect, and their slightly awkward demeanor is a positive point.
I really liked how, after receiving advice from Gilfeet, he tries to be more honest with Eto.
Eto should marry Laray.

・Kutersii
It was quite challenging because you had to go through a lot of battles to get onto individual character routes.
I thought she had a similar personality to Laray, but she was more straightforward.
To be honest, I felt the dress didn't quite suit her, but in the final illustration at the end, she looked like a young girl again, which was nice.

Cheka

Whether you see her as innocent and carefree, or as cunning and manipulative, will determine whether you like her or not.
However, I honestly felt sorry for the grandmother when she passed away.

・Calst
Since I was in charge of what could be called the true route, I was involved in quite a lot of things.
As a female character, she's pretty much what you'd expect from her appearance.

Gilfeet
I was surprised by their true identity.
I really like him because he often says or does things that are like jokes and has a playful side.
The sudden "Yes, the answer is in!" in the harem route and other routes is quite amusing.

・Fianel
Seeing him all alone makes me feel sorry for him, and he evokes a stronger desire to protect him than the Czechs.
If you choose to quietly be taken away in the final choice of each individual route, it leaves a very bad taste in your mouth and leaves you feeling sad.
I felt that the harem route was quite forceful.
Actually, all the female characters in this work are very eccentric, but that's what's good about them.

Jail
He truly felt like the ultimate secret boss, bringing the secret route to a spectacular close.
I appreciated how his honesty with his own desires and his attitude when sacrificing Rusari, saying "it wasn't a positive choice, but I had no choice," conveyed his genuine emotions.
The healing ability is vicious, and unless you time your attacks perfectly and keep attacking, you'll never be able to defeat it.
I had quite a hard time with it.

Strategy Notes

The official website (currently closed as of May 2024) contains information on the conditions for each ending and events, so referring to it will make your second playthrough easier.
However, since it doesn't include specific strategies, I'll just jot down some of my personal tips.
This is just how I did it, so I'm sure there are many other ways to do it.

First, maximize your intelligence and get Jupiter.

When training increases one parameter, another parameter decreases.
However, intelligence is one thing that cannot be diminished no matter how much training is undertaken.
Focusing on that, in my case, I first repeatedly combine "studying literature" and "studying tactics."
While all stats except intelligence and MP will decrease, the key point is that there's a lower limit to the parameters, so they won't go below 1.
Take breaks regularly to avoid getting sick.

Then, on weekends, go shopping and continue to choose the option to "talk" to the tool shop owner.
Your intelligence and MP will increase significantly, and if you listen to all 10 stories, you will obtain Jupikitasia.
This increases your sturdiness by +380 and charm by +310, allowing you to choose from more monsters in the guild and providing a decent level of defensive capability.

In my case, this happened when I had 59 weeks left.

Earn money and recover HP by hunting Suura.

My next goal is to earn enough money so that I can regularly use concentration drinks.
To achieve that, you need to increase your arm strength, sturdiness, and leg strength.
Since my sturdiness has been somewhat enhanced by Jubiquitasia, I will continue the combination of swordsmanship practice and jogging for a while.
If you're aiming for the Kutershi route, make sure to visit the guild frequently on your days off and start by racking up the number of Suura you can defeat.
In this case, you can reduce the loss of time spent resting on weekdays by recovering HP through meditation or other means during battle.
However, be careful, as continuing to hunt Suura on weekends can lead to a condition similar to an illness called overwork.

Boost your efficiency with a concentration drink.

The benefits of the concentration drink are not only that it doubles the effectiveness of training, but also that it eliminates any negative parameter effects.
This makes the training purely beneficial, significantly increasing its efficiency.
However, drinking it every week can lead to addiction, so after using it regularly for a while, you should reduce your usage to once every two weeks.
I didn't become addicted when I took it about every other week.
You might want to take advantage of the Czech medicine event along the way.

The final touches are what make it truly appealing.

With Jupikitasia and a weapon (something like Durandal), your charm should be enough to fight Desperena.
Once I've gained enough strength and sturdiness to easily hunt Desperena, I'll aim for the strongest sword, Cinderella, and work hard to earn money so I can buy lilies.

Since the "Charm" stat is related to the branching conditions of many endings, it's convenient to save raising it until the very end to make adjustments easier.
With the intensive drink included, you can raise your level by about 80 per week, so it should take about 15 weeks to reach the maximum level.

At roughly this level, you'll be strong enough to easily defeat all the final bosses.
Having this kind of data prepared makes collecting all the endings much easier.

Battle Tips

The basic principle of attack is the mindless circular dance.
The Mindless Dance technique, which can be learned with an intelligence of 999, allows you to perform a 4x attack without consuming MP.
When attacking, I generally don't use anything else.

・Ogami speed
If the boss is healing and you're not able to deal much damage, use the Great Speed attack.
Great Speed consumes a lot of MP,Something like Speed Strawberry, which has an effect that lasts for 20 turns, might be more convenient.

・Utilize stress
While stress reduces effectiveness during training, it increases base attack power during combat.
Sometimes, deliberately raising your stress level to the maximum before a boss fight can make the battle much easier.
The effects of stress are only subtly explained at the beginning, so they tend to be overlooked.
Outside of training, choosing to "hear rumors" in town is a good way to increase stress levels.

- Press the attack, exceeding the enemy's healing limit.
The final boss in the main story will recover its HP using abilities like "Healing Hand" or "Meditation" once its HP drops to a certain point.
Once you've reduced its HP to a certain extent, prepare your own resistances, then unleash a barrage of attacks using Great Speed or Speed Strawberry.
If you find it troublesome, you can learn "Ultimate Technique Seal" (though it will cost money), which will make battles considerably easier.