SHATIKU QUEST 2 (Free RPG) Introduction, Impressions, and Strategy Notes

This article is about the mid-to-long-form RPG "SHATIKU QUEST 2".
The name "corporate slave" is quite impactful, so it left a strong impression on me from the first time I saw it.
After seeing other players' impressions on Twitter, I gradually became interested in playing the game myself, and that's why I played it this time.
My main story completion time was approximately 12 hours (I did a little experience point grinding towards the end).

I haven't played the previous game, but I was able to enjoy this one without any problems.
I think this game is packed with the essential elements that make RPGs fun, such as boss battles, item collection, class changes, and skill acquisition.

Game Overview

The synopsis of this game, "SHATIKU QUEST 2," is as follows:

While it features a lot of comedic and meta-commentary, there are also serious moments.
Those who dislike a laid-back atmosphere should be aware of this.

This game is an RPG, but it incorporates several distinctive systems, so I'd like to introduce them one by one.

First, let's talk about combat.

The battles are turn-based, command-style, side-view battles.
Each turn, characters act in order from the one with the highest agility.

After a battle ends, your HP will be fully restored, and your MP will be restored at a certain rate.
Even incapacitated party members still gain experience points, so there's no need to revive them.

Members participating in battle can be swapped with reserve members even during combat.
At the start of each turn, you can swap out your party members as many times as you like, allowing you to flexibly include various members in battle.

TP, which is accumulated through actions during battle, is necessary to use TP techniques.
Techniques that consume TP are all powerful, so they will be your trump card when fighting tough enemies.
However, be careful, as your TP will be reset if you become incapacitated in battle.

In addition, there are various other elements, such as being able to use the accumulated "limit gauge" to perform multiple actions at any time you choose.
The exciting combat is arguably one of the game's main attractions.

Regular battles are relatively easy and can be completed quickly, but boss battles and FOE (formidable roaming enemies) are more difficult.

The key to combat in this game lies in deciding what strategies and tactics to use against powerful enemies.

This game has strong hack-and-slash elements, allowing you to randomly obtain equipment and other items by opening treasure chests and defeating enemies.

There are a great many types of equipment.
Even in the early stages of the game, if you're lucky, you might be able to obtain powerful rare items.
It could be said that this is one of the factors that increases motivation to defeat the enemy.

In this game, you acquire skills by spending SP, which you obtain when leveling up.
Skill acquisition is based on a skill tree system, where you allocate points to acquire skills.

You can also reset your point allocation by using items sold in the shop, so it won't be an irreversible mistake.
However, simply learning skills haphazardly will make boss battles difficult.
It's a good idea to think about which techniques you want to master and then plan your learning process accordingly.

In this game, it is possible to change the class of each character.
In addition to the character's default class, there is another subclass available, which can be changed at no cost from the menu screen.

The skills acquired are completely different, and SP (Special Points) must be allocated to each class.
The points you allocate are saved for each class, so even if you change classes again, they will remain in the state they were previously allocated to.
You can easily change classes without the hassle of reassigning students.
When you get stuck during boss battles or other difficult situations, it's important to try out skills from different classes.

Review (no spoilers)

I completed the main story in about 12 hours.
As mentioned in the previous section, the story progresses at a brisk and engaging pace.
The overall atmosphere is relaxed, so serious scenes might feel a little out of place.

However, many of the events and conversations with NPCs in town were quite entertaining, and I found myself laughing a lot.
The fact that you can obtain all the furniture in a house as items is a bold system, and the surreal sight of the house becoming completely empty made me burst out laughing.

Enemies in regular battles can be defeated very quickly, and leveling up is also easy.
However, the bosses and FOEs were quite tough, and I felt they got progressively more challenging as I got further into the game.
The stat increases from leveling up aren't that significant, so they're not strong enough to be easily defeated by brute force alone.
Therefore, I had to think of various strategies to defeat tough enemies, which was very enjoyable.

When you get stuck on a boss, you can usually get through it by adjusting your class changes, skills, equipment, buffs, debuffs, and status effects.
My impression was that there wasn't just one solution, but rather various ways to approach it.

This game is meticulously crafted, with particular emphasis placed on core elements of role-playing games, such as combat, character progression, and equipment collection.
This is an RPG that I highly recommend to anyone who wants to experience the primitive joys of RPGs.

Strategy Notes (Contains Spoilers)

The boss battles in this game aren't too difficult in the early stages, but they become much tougher from the middle of the game onward.
I'll start writing strategy notes from the boss I encountered around the time I first got wiped out.

- Chimera (Quicksand Cave)

For now, you need to inflict a status ailment on them, otherwise their counterattack will be troublesome.
Use Hansa's (Strider) "Poison Mist" or Cait's (Heavy Gunner) "Poison Gas" to keep the enemy poisoned during battle.
If you want to rebuild your party, you can use Violetta's (Necromancer) "Blizzard" to freeze the enemy, which will temporarily disable their actions and allow you to slowly recover.
Be careful, as attacking will remove the freeze effect.
Once you're ready, attacking with lightning-element attacks will allow you to deal damage efficiently.

Since it is weak to dark-element attacks, you can inflict a status ailment on it and then use Violetta's "Curse" to deal significant damage.
You could also use Lilizak (Scholar)'s "Dark Weapon" to add elemental attributes to your physical attackers' attacks.

The attacks, including those using fire and wind, are intense, so it's important to prepare your resistances with equipment and buffs.
The enemy's ability boost from "Howl" should be quickly dispelled with Violetta's "Lament of Anguish."
This is a tough enemy that attacks fiercely even after its HP is reduced, so be sure to prepare by using buffs and other means to reduce the damage you take before fighting.

・Metal Force (Kofuku Company Headquarters B1F)

Its weaknesses are lightning, stun, and paralysis.
Focus your attacks on Kirika's Rune Knight skills, "Radiant Mysterious Rune," specifically "Thunder Slash" and "Lightning Seal."
Hansa (Strider)'s "Lightning Release Technique" is also effective.
If your party is in trouble, using "Ground Movement Technique" to stun the enemy will help you regain your composure.
The enemy primarily uses physical attacks, and they're quite intense, so make sure to buff yourself thoroughly before fighting.
Make sure to prepare plenty of items, such as items that heal the entire party and items that revive fallen party members.

- Gerald (Happiness Company Headquarters, 10th Floor)

I had a really hard time with it.
First of all, to avoid awkward silences, a portable microphone as a decorative item is essential.
You can buy them at the shop, so equip them to your main members.

Since the opponent's attacks are mostly light-based, let's strengthen our resistances.
If you lack equipment that increases resistance, you can either increase your HP itself, or use Lilizak (Scholar)'s "White Barrier" to protect at least your less durable members.
Since it is weak against poison and darkness, it's easier to fight if you try to keep the poison status active and create a source of damage.
If you can inflict darkness, many physical attacks will miss, making the fight relatively easier.

For this attack strategy, use Lilizak's "Dark Weapon" on a physical-type character and then fight.
Violetta's dark magic is effective, but since Violetta herself has low durability, it might be difficult to force her into battle.
There isn't really a surefire way to win, so let's fight steadily using conventional methods.
I leveled up quite a bit beforehand, raising my average level to around 60, but I still struggled quite a bit.

- Dead Sorcerer (Lower management of Happiness Company headquarters)
The biggest drawback is that we can't see enemy information.
In long battles, not knowing the enemy's remaining HP is frustrating, like running an endless marathon.
Perhaps because of this, its attacks weren't as intense as previous bosses, and I felt that as long as you were prepared for magic attacks, you wouldn't be in a particularly critical situation.

Its weakness is light, so using "White Weapon" on a physical attacker or Angelica's "Celestial Sword" are effective.
I think this will be a battle of attrition, so let's fight patiently.

- The ultimate weapon (Happiness Company headquarters, lowest floor)
Since they launch fierce attacks, include a support character and a healer to strengthen your defenses while fighting.
It has high defense and HP, and no apparent weaknesses, making it difficult to land an effective hit.

In my case, I equipped Daniel with gear focused on offense and defeated him with attacks using the Warrior's "Berserk" ability.
We managed to inflict nearly 1500 damage in a single hit, so we all focused on defense and supported Daniel to defeat him.
Be careful, as the enemy's attacks become more intense when their HP is low.

Character impressions (contains spoilers)

I'll be writing about my impressions of using the party members.
This is probably a part where the impression will change considerably depending on how the player uses it.

·main character
This character is a physical attacker who can act as both an attacker and a tank.
Because it simply has high attack power and is tough, I think it's a reliable attacker.
It feels great when you can taunt the enemy and then land a counter-attack.
When equipped with gear that prioritizes attack power, "Berserk" became a very significant source of damage and proved to be very reliable.

Kirika
It had single-target and area-of-effect attacks for each element, which proved particularly useful in normal battles.
Trying to master every attribute evenly would be very difficult, so I think it's best to narrow down the attributes to some extent.
I think it's a good idea to teach them attributes that other members don't have very often.

Lantana
As a healer, they will be extremely useful until the very end.
In boss battles, it was the lifeline that ensured the party's stability.
Reflectors and Light Walls, which increase the physical and magical defense of all allies, are useful.
The valuable area-of-effect healing spell, Heal Rain, is something you'll want to acquire as early as possible.
However, its agility seems somewhat low, so you'll need to make some adjustments to its equipment and other factors if you want to take the initiative and heal effectively.

・Lilizak
They were a very reliable member of the team, providing support such as buffs and debuffs.
In addition to buffing spells for allies, there's a full array of skills that are effective in long battles, such as Regen All and Reinforce.
Weapon-type abilities that imbue attacks with elemental attributes become even more powerful when used on the protagonist, who is a physical attacker.
They are truly support experts.

Violetta
This character primarily uses dark-based attack magic.
The "Curse" ability, which increases damage when there are many status ailments, was effective against bosses.
Additionally, "Lament of Anguish," which removes enemy buffs, is useful.

Hansa
Skills that guarantee the occurrence of darkness, poison, stun, etc., unless the enemy has resistance to them, are extremely useful.
It has many area-of-effect attacks and high agility, so it's helpful to be able to get the first move in normal battles.
However, its durability is somewhat low, so that's something to keep in mind.

Kate
I feel that the Ranger is a class solely for exploration, and the Heavy Gunner isn't really suited for boss battles either.
I only used it a little when grinding in regular battles, so I didn't include it in my party very often.
Since he can use status-altering techniques such as poison and paralysis, I used him in a role similar to a sub-character for Hanza.

Angelica
I was using Lantana, my healer, as a tough healer to use in emergencies.
While it doesn't offer full party healing, being able to use resurrection spells like Arise is useful.
It also has the powerful light-element skill "Celestial Sword," so it can be used as an attacker against bosses that are weak to light.
However, I think this character is better suited to a role that combines healing and tanking.

My thoughts on memorable scenes (contains spoilers)

I never imagined that the two contrasting settings—a company and a magic academy—would connect in the second half of the story.
The story follows a protagonist who escapes the harsh reality of a factory run by a black company to the fantastical setting of a magic academy, only to find himself trapped in a time loop.
It felt like a message suggesting that even if you run away from a painful reality, you can never truly escape the past.

In particular, the lines spoken by the department head in the following image resonate deeply with me because they are relevant to real life.

"Everything you learned during your student days—the irreplaceable friendships, the youth—will all be devoured by this rotten company."

This line is a response to the Happy Company's actions of erasing students' memories of their time at school.
However, I feel that this term is not an exaggeration and actually applies to the reality of exploitative companies that exist in the world.
While I have many things I'd like to write about labor relations issues, this article is primarily a game review.
Therefore, I will refrain from writing about such issues.

It's kind of funny how these modern items are made from fantasy-like materials; there's a bit of a disconnect.