Eve and the Otherworld Conquest (Free RPG) Introduction, Impressions, and Strategy Notes

"Eve and the Otherworld Conquest" is a work described as a long-form, dark fantasy RPG.
The story falls under the category of isekai (another world reincarnation) stories, but it's not a story where the protagonist becomes invincible.
As for the term "dark fantasy," you can think of it as a world where the characters act based on self-interest, just like in the real world, and sometimes even resort to dirty tactics.
The completion time was approximately 15 hours.
I think my playtime was quite long because I got lost quite a bit and spent a lot of time leveling up.

Game Overview

The story begins with the protagonist, Yuki Natsume, dying in a traffic accident and being reincarnated in another world under a demon lord who seeks to destroy humanity.
The Demon Lord's army wants to invade human territory, but the concentration of "mana" in human territory is low, making it difficult for them to operate as they wish.
In order to create a barrier to amplify that mana, Yuki, along with Eve and others who are descendants of the Demon Lord, embarks on a journey into the realm of humanity.
Because Yuuki has a "Great Magic Stone" embedded in his body that generates mana, Eve and the others who act alongside him can function without any problems.
These detailed settings are well-developed and are explained in detail within the story.

The gameplay involves accepting quests at the town's guild, triggering incidents, preparing for them, and then conquering dungeons.
Rather than simply accepting requests, the story often unfolds with the characters getting involved in or becoming entangled in cases.
In addition to the dungeons in the story mode, there is also a 100-floor dungeon for farming that can be accessed from your base.

The battles are standard turn-based command battles.
You can have up to four party members, and you cannot swap in a fifth or subsequent member during battle.
You can freely switch characters while traveling, so take the characters you want to level up and proceed.
The combat experience points you gain will increase your party members' affection levels, and there will be related events, so focus on leveling up your favorite characters (they also have individual endings).
Each character has strengths and weaknesses in different elemental attributes, and it may be necessary to switch characters or adjust their equipment depending on the boss.

Skills can be divided into those that consume TP and those that consume MP.
TP increases or decreases only through actions taken during combat, which is why many of the TP abilities associated with it are quite powerful.
It's great that TP isn't reset after the battle ends.

Equipment can mainly be purchased at shops.
There are also crafting shops where you can combine materials to create equipment, and these shops tend to have more powerful equipment.
However, materials can only be obtained in farming dungeons accessible from your base.
When leveling up, it's generally more efficient to use dungeons designed for farming materials rather than story-driven dungeons.
By pressing the Ctrl key, you can speed up battles, making it easier to level up when combined with auto-battle.
By the way, it's always possible to escape from battle.

Review (no spoilers)

The story itself was well-developed, with a well-crafted setting and plot development that made me really want to know what happens next.
Compared to typical RPGs, a distinctive feature is the frequent descriptions of each character's feelings, often expressed within parentheses.
Many of the characters say one thing and think another, so it was good to get a good look at their darker sides and thoughts.
Therefore, it felt more like a novel than a game.
While the main character is Yuuki Natsume, the story seems to focus primarily on Eve's growth.
The dialogue and descriptions of emotions were clear and logical, and I could sense the meticulousness of the setting.
There are no outlandish plot twists, but the story flows smoothly, making it enjoyable and reassuring to watch until the very end.

Regarding the gameplay, I feel that there are many situations where you have to rely on brute force to clear them.
The boss's main attack method is usually a multi-hit attack, often consisting of either an area-of-effect attack or a powerful single-target attack.
Each member of your party has their own strengths in terms of elemental attributes, but if you get hit with two area-of-effect attacks, the main character will ultimately have to keep healing the entire party to survive.
Therefore, my impression was that the overall strategy for fighting didn't change much whether or not there was one member with a particular advantage in terms of attributes.
However, having members who are weak to the enemy's elemental attacks is dangerous, so it's more important to decide who to leave out than who to include.

Buff and debuff spells also have very short durations, resulting in a relatively large loss of turns, making them difficult to incorporate into tactics.
Walt's "Provocation" seemed like it could be useful, but it was too difficult when the boss's powerful single-target attacks came twice, so I couldn't use it effectively.
Therefore, I felt that the basic strategy for boss battles often ended up being "the protagonist constantly heals the entire party, while the other members unleash attacks that deal as much damage as possible."
However, since you can definitely feel yourself getting stronger by leveling up, you rarely get stuck, and personally, I found it easy to play.

One slightly inconvenient aspect was that save points were predetermined.
I'm not saying we should be able to save anytime inside a dungeon, but it would be convenient to be able to save in towns and on the field.
There's usually a save point before a boss fight, which is good, but sometimes there are sudden battles.
Depending on the situation, there may be times when saving in a state where you cannot purchase items is dangerous, so caution is advised.

The second point is that the party order often changes automatically after an event.
This is likely due to the event-related characters being moved to the front of the party, but this can also change the members participating in battles, so be careful.
After the event, you need to carefully check your party members.

I've written a lot, but I ended up playing it so intently until I finished it.
If the story intrigues you, why not give it a try?

Strategy Notes (Contains Spoilers)

Basic Strategy

The bosses are quite strong, so if you try to progress normally without leveling up, you'll often find yourself unable to move forward.
However, if you level up, you'll usually be able to defeat them easily.
I think it's better to level up in the 100-floor dungeon where you can also obtain materials.
Also, there are many useful recovery items, so stocking up on them will make things easier.

Money tends to be quite scarce, so let's start by acquiring equipment that has a high effect.
In particular, I think it's a good idea to prioritize acquiring members who frequently participate in battles.
The equipment you can obtain through synthesis is powerful, but gathering the materials is quite difficult.
I was able to clear the game without any problems using only commercially available equipment, so if you don't want the hassle of collecting items, you don't need to worry about it.

Status ailments that prevent you from acting are dangerous, so be sure to have various accessories that grant resistance to them.
In particular, if Yuki is silenced, frozen, stunned, or confused, it can lead to the party collapsing.
Until the very end of the game, there are no bosses that use these status ailments simultaneously, so at least prepare some accessories for Yuuki.

Character usage impressions

・Yuki Natsume
A healer who constantly supports the party with recovery skills.
You can heal fairly quickly, before the enemy attacks, but if you can't, you'll be in a pretty bad situation.
The TP skill "Blessing of the God of Wisdom," which increases the defense of all allies, is very useful.
Most bosses use powerful area-of-effect attacks, so this member will practically be essential.

Eve
Since he's an excellent attacker, you'll want to equip him with good weapons to maximize his damage output.
Basically, the goal is to gain TP using multi-hit attacks and then use the Fierce Blade Slash.
Heel will probably only make an appearance towards the end of the match when Yuki is absent.

Lazuli
A pure magic attacker.
Since its durability is somewhat low, be aware that it can easily be incapacitated in battle.
In the early stages, area-of-effect attacks are more abundant than single-target attacks, so I think it's fine to use them as regular battle units.

Luna
The attacks mainly consist of techniques that hit a single target multiple times, and the critical hit rate seems to be relatively high (though that might just be my imagination).
Because of its high agility, it's also useful for healing with items before the enemy can get to you.

・ Bestra
His techniques are straightforward and well-balanced.
It includes single-target attacks, area-of-effect attacks, and status ailment recovery.
Resist Enchantment opens up possibilities for combos when combined with other characters, but in reality, it's probably only useful when you want to reliably heal in a pinch.

Walt
Taunt may seem useful at first glance, but it lacks the durability needed against bosses, making it a difficult technique to use effectively.
Weapon Break and Magic Break are extremely useful and greatly increase the party's stability.

Maria
While it can perform actions like attacking, healing, and reviving incapacitated characters, it leaves a somewhat mediocre impression.
Since its magical power isn't very high, it's best to use it primarily for physical attacks.

·chaos
Besides Yuki, he's a valuable character who can use the Recovery ability.
However, since this technique consumes TP, be aware that it cannot be used as frequently as Yuki's technique.
The character has a variety of easy-to-use techniques, including single-target and area-of-effect attacks, and its advantage against all elemental types is also a strong point.

・Mitsuki
They're like a helpful character in the final stages of the game.
In terms of ability scores, it's excellent.
Triple Shot is useful for single-target attacks, while Super Explosive Magic Wave is useful for area-of-effect attacks.
The TP technique Meteor Swarm isn't as strong as it was when fighting it as an enemy, so I recommend using Fierce Blade Slash instead.

Notes on where I got stuck during gameplay

If you get stuck in a 100-floor dungeon, carefully check if there are any walls you can climb.
In some cases, you can climb onto the wall using vines or other climbing structures.
I didn't realize it at the time, and I ended up going around in circles on the same level for quite a while.

- An old key is hidden in a chest of drawers in Altum's hideout.
Be careful, as it's easy to overlook.
Also, there are times when you'll need to split your party into two to fight, so make sure you don't have any under-leveled members.

Walt's TP techniques, Weapon Break and Magic Break, are quite useful.
Since it likely works on all enemies, use it to reduce the power of either physical or magical attacks, whichever is more powerful.
This technique consumes TP, but if you run out of TP, you can maintain the damage reduction from enemies by using something like Yuuki's Wisdom God's Blessing to keep going.

The "Silver Key" needed to proceed further into the 100-floor dungeon can be obtained by clearing the Adventurer Rank A exam.
Once you reach rank A, the selection of goods in Gargid's shop will improve, so make sure to progress through the game.
To go to deeper levels, a "golden key" is needed, but I haven't been able to proceed because I don't know where to find the mithril needed to craft it.

- Towards the end of the story, after fighting Mitsuki and before heading to the final battle of blood, make sure to have four "Double Check III" items ready, if possible.
In the battle against "Embodiment (Rampaging)" that you will face some time later, the enemy's status-altering attacks are intense.
In particular, silence and confusion, which can hinder recovery actions, can lead to a dead end if countermeasures are not taken.
Let's make sure we're well-prepared.