Discarding It: Shinsou Version (Free RPG) - Introduction, Impressions, and Walkthrough

I played "Suteru Shika Nai Shinsou Ban," a game created with RPG Maker 2000.
"There's No Choice But to Throw It Away" is a game that won the gold prize in the idea game category of the 13th Free Game Contest.
This "Shinsou Edition" is a version with added features.

I became interested in the game after seeing screenshots and other players' opinions on Twitter.
The game left a strong impression on me with its strategic choices regarding companions and items, challenging boss rushes, and unique world setting.
It took me about three hours to complete the game normally.
It took me another three hours or so to defeat the hidden boss.

Game Overview

"No Choice But to Discard" is an RPG where you control Howl, who has come to a place called "Star Hole" to defeat the Demon King, and fight your way through the battles while discarding things along the way.
While the game's storyline is understated, it's clear that the character backgrounds and settings have been meticulously crafted.
You can also enjoy trying to deduce the background from the characters' dialogue and other details.

This game is an RPG, but there are no regular battles; every battle is essentially a boss fight.
Therefore, you can't defeat them by grinding for experience points and brute-forcing your way through.
The real thrill lies in devising strategies and tactics using your limited items to defeat powerful enemies.

Found item

This is about "lost items," which is the most distinctive feature of this game.
In this game, you can generally only carry up to 14 items.
To be precise, you cannot enter combat if you have more than 15 items.

Furthermore, not only recovery items and equipment, but also skills and companions are treated as items.
With each battle you finish, you acquire new items, forcing you to make difficult choices about which ones to keep and which to discard.
It would be easy to decide which item to discard if it were a superior alternative, but since each item has different characteristics, deciding what to get rid of is very difficult.
This game will be irresistible to people who enjoy strategizing and deliberating over various options.

Discarded status (not a typo)

This is the equipment screen for each member.
Below the weapons and armor, there is a section where, once certain conditions are met, you will be able to attach one discarded skill to it.
Attack power and defense power are values related to physical attacks, while magic power is related to both magical attacks and defenses.
The detailed damage calculation formula can be found during gameplay.

AP recovery amount refers to the amount of AP that is recovered each turn.
AP is a very important stat in combat, so I will explain it in the next section on combat.

battle

The battles are turn-based, but there is a clear distinction between your turn and the enemy's turn.
Your allies' actions are performed in order, starting with the character at the front of the line, and then it's the enemy's turn.
Since there is no agility stat, the actions of allies and enemies will not be mixed up during a turn.

At the start of your turn, you can check the enemy's remaining HP and AP, as well as their attack power, defense power, and magic power.
Please note that once you advance the screen, you will not be able to check the enemy's status until the next turn.
It's important to identify enemies that seem easy to defeat and then target them with your guns.

AP recovers little by little each turn, according to the "AP recovery amount" which can be checked on the status screen.
Skills have a "required AP" that must be accumulated to be used, and a "consumed AP" that is consumed when used.
The more powerful a skill is, the higher the AP required, so it's often impossible to use it until the battle has progressed to a certain point.

Another important aspect of AP is that if you have 50% or more remaining, you will automatically revive when you are incapacitated in battle (you revive when your HP is halved).
When a party member becomes incapacitated in battle, reviving them requires multiple actions, which inevitably becomes a burden.
However, if you keep your AP above 50%, you can avoid the trouble of having to revive it.
When using skills that consume a lot of AP, your AP will often drop below 50%, so you'll need to adapt your strategy to the situation.

The enemy also has AP (Action Points), and as it accumulates, they will unleash a variety of powerful attacks.
When an enemy is attacked, their natural AP regeneration rate is reduced.
Even if you only inflict a small amount of damage, attacking with area-of-effect magic can buy you time before the enemy unleashes their powerful attack.

Game progress

In this game, there are two enemies placed in each of the four areas: east, west, north, and south.
At the very back of the area lies a formidable enemy known as the Four Commanders, and just before them are enemies who could be considered the subordinates of the Four Commanders.
You're free to start anywhere, but it's probably best to defeat the subordinates in the four areas first before challenging the Four Commanders.
You can challenge the final boss, the Demon Lord, at any time, so you don't necessarily need to defeat all four of the Knights.

Since this game does not have a level system, you will have to rely on the following methods to strengthen your party.
- Replace with a member who has high basic abilities.
- Obtain powerful equipment, items, and skills.
- Obtain items that have a positive effect just by possessing them.
- After defeating a certain number of enemies, Howl will learn a new resurrection technique.

Since defeated enemies can be recruited as allies, it's necessary to constantly replace party members with stronger characters.
In particular, the Four Commanders have performance that is almost a superior version of their subordinates, so having them in your team would be a great advantage.
Once you've seen the ending and gotten used to the combat, I think it's a good idea to try and unlock the various special endings.

As an additional feature in the "Shinsou version," you can fight the hidden Four Knights by discarding certain items.
This opponent is even tougher than the usual four cavalry units, so those confident in their skills might want to give it a try.

Review (no spoilers)

I think it took me 2-3 hours to reach the ending (without any redemption options) on my first playthrough.
There was a lot of trial and error, but the excitement of finally seeing a path to victory is the real thrill of a high-difficulty RPG.
Even though it's considered a high difficulty level, this game is very user-friendly, as it includes tutorials, detailed explanations, and helpful features.

When I started my second playthrough to challenge the hidden boss, I was able to use the experience I gained from my first playthrough to play more efficiently.
The reason why it feels easier compared to the first playthrough, even though the characters' stats haven't increased, is likely due to the player's own familiarity and growth.
Defeating the hidden boss is very difficult, and I think it took me about 6 to 8 hours in total to get there.

With so many different ways to fight, I was able to find my own tactics and see how far they would take me, which kept me engrossed until the very end.
It's not like a chess puzzle where there's only one way to solve it; it's not that difficult.
However, once you reach the level of the hidden boss, the powerful strategies that everyone comes up with will likely start to resemble each other to some extent.

The battles are designed to be restartable, which creates a well-balanced pace that prevents them from becoming long and drawn-out, making for a very enjoyable experience.
The way it seems like it's going to be a checkmate but doesn't quite is exquisite.

I had a great time, but there were a couple of things that bothered me a little.
This is about the scene in battle where the enemy's status is displayed at the start of your turn.
Once you advance the display screen, you can no longer see the enemy's status for that turn, which sometimes made it difficult to remember things like, "Which enemy is suffering from a status ailment?" or "Which enemy is immune to physical attacks?"
It might be difficult to view it again due to system limitations, but I would have been happy if I could have reviewed it again.

Another issue is that when you discard an item, you are returned to the menu screen from the item list.
When using the rescue option to redo the selection process, you have to go back to the beginning each time, which felt cumbersome when there were many items.
I also felt that it would be even easier to organize things if the items I currently have equipped were marked.

I've played several RPGs with high-difficulty battles before, but I was able to enjoy this game, "Shinsou Version: There's No Choice But to Throw It Away," just as much.
The concept of "discarding" is deeply intertwined with both the system and the story, making it a truly remarkable work.

Playthrough log and strategy notes (contains spoilers)

If you play without thinking, treating it like a typical RPG, you won't be able to win very often.
Read the tutorial and the "See this if you're stuck" text included with the game files to understand how the game works.

Also,Official websiteThere is a walkthrough available there.
If you're stuck, try using this as a reference.

Overall tips

I'll write about some tips and tricks I noticed while playing the game.

・ Utilize status effects
Unless the opponent has resistance to it, status ailments will always work.
If you can inflict restraint on physical enemies and spiritual affliction on magical enemies, the battle becomes considerably easier.
Especially in the early stages, it's important to cherish skills that can inflict restraint.

- Maintain AP at 50%
From the mid-game onward, enemy attacks become quite intense, so being able to maintain a health level of 50% or higher, which allows for automatic revival, will give you a significant advantage.
Therefore, I feel that it's more stable to refrain from using skills that have high power but also high AP consumption.
Equipment that significantly reduces AP recovery may also be difficult to use effectively.

- Rely on items for healing.
Healing skills consume AP.
Since having AP drop below 50% can lead to being incapacitated in battle, it's easier to rely on items for recovery if possible.
Additionally, you'll want to keep at least one item that can restore your entire party's HP.

- Prepare characters capable of handling both physical and magical attacks.
Enemies can be categorized into those with high physical defense and those with high magic defense.
If our attack methods are unbalanced, we often struggle to land effective hits and end up in a difficult battle.
Therefore, it's a good idea to have one character who excels at physical attacks and one character who has high magic attack power.

Prioritization of Kasutan's treasure chests
It depends on the strategy, but personally, I think the following would be good: The body of the past ⇒ The body of regret ⇒ The body of a field of corpses or The body of the foundation.
Your AP will increase by 32% from the start of combat.
It helps you get a head start, and having 50% AP at the start of battle makes you less likely to fall apart.

Being negative allows you to use all the techniques you previously abandoned, broadening your tactical options and also being useful in terms of consolidating your inventory.
The last two are optional.

Strategy Notes - Early Game

The following is a walkthrough I wrote while playing through the game for the second time.
The first time around, I didn't know what to expect and tried a lot of reckless things to get through it, but I think that was a good experience too.
Therefore, please be aware that reading the following article may spoil the enjoyment for those who want to conquer the game through their own efforts.
I hope this serves as a helpful example of gameplay.

My playthrough order for the second time was as follows:
Poi (West) ⇒ Kishas (South) ⇒ Hais (North) ⇒ Discard (East) ⇒ Nabedel (West) ⇒ Hendabled (South) ⇒ Sleng (North) ⇒ Forgjet (East)

After the "Ura Shihai-kai" challenge, I didn't feel that the difficulty level changed significantly depending on the order in which I attempted the challenges.

West 1
- Summoned creatures that steal the law, Poi, the last surviving offspring of the Outer Intelligent Race, Summoned creatures that carry out evil.
Useful items: Tiger Sword (restraint), Dis Prod (bleeding)
Howl: Conserve AP while attacking with Dis Prode, etc.
Hocus: Prioritize restraint with the Tiger Sword
Chal: Attack/Heal
Strategy/Tactics: For now, I focused my attacks on them in order from left to right and took them down one by one.
Restraining the enemy with the Tiger Sword while simultaneously causing bleeding with Disbrod makes the damage dealt more efficiently and easier.

South 1
- Martyred swordsmen of the Wreath-Giving Order, Wreath-Giving Order wrestler Kishas, Martyred artisans of the Wreath-Giving Order
Useful items: Dis-Teria (damage reduction), Scrap (suppresses AP increase for all enemies), Dis-Prode
Howl: Magic attacks, item-based healing
Poi: Magic attack
Chal: Healing with items
Strategy and Tactics: Focus your attacks first on the Martyr Mage, who will be boosting the enemy's stats.
I felt that using Dis Teria (grants sword resistance to everyone) or Scrap (area attack) gave me a significant advantage in battle.

North 1
- Master of the Great Depravity Technique, the Ice Prison Ace Pilot, Hais, the embodiment of the legend of annihilating an army of a thousand men
Things that were useful: Your old self, scrap
Howl: Attacks with scrap metal, heals with items.
Poi: Attacks with scrap metal, heals with items.
Kishas: Attacks with scrap, heals with items
Strategy and tactics:
I was able to defeat it easily by constantly using scrap metal and recovering my items.

West 1
- Armored Winged Dragon, Dragon Knight Commander Discard
Useful item: Beast Killer Vinyl Black (4 times more effective against dragons)
Howl: Use the Repentance Cancard to hit and restrain the opponent, then heal with an item.
Poi: Beast Killer Vinyl Black for normal attacks
Kishas: Magic attacks, heals with items
Strategy and tactics:
We'll focus our attacks on the dragon first.
The main focus is on the normal attacks of the character equipped with "Beast Slayer Vinyl Black," with other characters joining in the attack whenever they have a free moment.
Discard doesn't take much physical damage, but if you can hit it with the Repentant Cancard and put it in a restrained state, it becomes easier to deal damage.

Strategy Notes - Mid-Game (Four Cavalry Units)

West 2
- Great Summoning Creatures, Four Knights Nabedel, Mushishishi God's Foul Curse Maggots
Useful items: HP recovery items, scrap, incinerate
Howl: Heals with scrap, incinerate, and items.
Kishas: Recovers with scrap, incinerate, and items.
Discard: Physical attack
Strategy and tactics:
First, focus your attacks on the Mushishishi God's maggots and defeat them.
After that, Nabedel will start reviving the worm-like creatures, so you'll need to kill them every turn, including them in the scrap.
This reduces the number of moves required from Navedel.
After that, I fought while keeping an eye on my AP level and using items to recover.

South 2
- Martyred priests of the Flower Offering Order, four-headed Hendald, the bloody plaque of the god Mushishishi
Useful items: Full HP recovery, Negative Spirit, Incinerate, Demolition, Deep Curse Sword
Howl: Incinerate, heals with items
Discard: Deep Curse Sword
Nabedel: Physical attack, demolition
Strategy and tactics:
We focused our attacks on Hendalut.
When the enemy's defense is 999, attack with Incinerate or Demolition; when their magic is 999, use Discard or Navedel for physical attacks.
If you don't have both physical and magical attackers, there will be turns where you can't land any effective attacks.
When the enemy's attack power is 999, if you don't have more than 50% AP, use a Deathblow spell, and the other two will attack.
When I left the Martyred Priest as the last enemy, it started using a fairly powerful area-of-effect attack, but since there was only one left, it wasn't much of a threat.

north 2
- Severely injured, four-legged sleng, the filthy filth of the Mushishishi god
Useful items: Overall HP recovery item, Negative Spirit Shield
Houl: Incinerate, heals with items, time-traveling magic
Hendered: Demolition
Discard: Child Tiger Savage Sword (Bleeding, Spiritual Ailment, Restraint)
Strategy and tactics:
First, use the Child Tiger Sinister Sword (or the Ancestral Great God - Divine Spirit Twin Fox can be used as a substitute) to inflict status ailments on Sleng and the Cave Caveman.
This significantly reduces the damage you take.
If you have the opportunity, using Howl's Death Mark technique will provide even greater peace of mind.
After that, prioritize attacking the Mushishishi God's filthy organs to prevent the enemy's stats from increasing.
Once demolition becomes available, you've pretty much got it.

East 2(Due to the difficulty of the battle, I've also included my items and equipment.)

- Albino Horse Dragon, Four Cavalry Forget, Mushishishi God's Smelly Claws
Useful items: Healing items, Ancestral Great Spirit Twin Foxes, Dis Frey, Deathblow Technique, Spit-Sealing Sword (Sparse Dust Spit-Sealing Sword)
Howl: Ancestral Great God - Divine Spirit Twin Foxes, Dripping Pus Skin, Dis Fret
Hendablet: Night Demon Blade Sigara, Mushishishi God's Foul-Skinned Organ, Dis Host
Discard: Beast Killer Vinyl Black, Good Blocker's Great Masterpiece, Spit Blocker Sword (Dust Spit Blocker Sword)
Strategy and tactics:
First and foremost, we need to focus on defeating Forget with maximum firepower.
The strategy involves using Howl's normal attack to inflict restraint, bleeding, and spiritual affliction, followed by Hendablet's Dis Hoost and Discard's Dust-Slapping Sword.
If you use the same attack on the second turn without considering healing, you can defeat Forget.
The rest of the strategy involves using normal attacks to maintain the Albino Horse Dragon's status ailment, using normal attacks or the Dust-Slapping Sword depending on Hendablet's remaining HP, and using items to heal or Dis-Host to defeat him.

Strategy Notes - Part 2

南
Saint Papeskorgen, God's Corpse Katulova
Useful items: Ancestral Great God - Spirit Twin Foxes, Eastern Maple Sword, recovery items + Corpse Plain Goddess, Spatial Alumistil (Spatial Twist)
Howl: Inflicts status ailments with Ancestral Great God - Divine Spirit Twin Fox, heals with items
Hendable: Twist space with Alumisteel, heal with items
Forget: Focuses on attacking with the Maji Higashi Kaede Sword.
Strategy and tactics:
Leave Papescolgen alone for now and concentrate your attack on Katulova.
It inflicts status ailments while attacking with high-powered moves.
Katulova's incendiary bombing is powerful, so it's tough if you don't maintain a status effect.
We want to keep our AP high and try to avoid losing any allies.
Papescolgen will slowly inflict status ailments on you, so be sure to have plenty of healing items ready.
Having armor that protects against instant-kill attacks would make things much safer (I fought without any myself).

Defeating one of the Four Underworld Knights grants you the "Hidden Death Technique," which increases your inventory limit by +2, making things considerably easier.

西
・60,000 people, Muru, the exiled performer, and Gonbai, the moon god
Useful items: Floating Sunstone Euthyster + Corpse Plain God's Body, Plum Shield + Dripping Pus Skin + Mushishishi God's Foul-Smelling Organs (Abnormality nullification)
Howl: Inflicts status ailments with Ancestral Great God - Divine Spirit Twin Fox, heals with items
Forget: Focus on attacking with the Majito Kaede Sword.
Hendable: Magic attacks, heals with items
Strategy and tactics:
If you equip everyone with gear that provides resistance to abnormal status effects, it won't be too difficult.
However, if you don't have equipment to prevent status ailments, you'll have a very hard time, so you'll want to at least secure enough for your attackers.
The status ailments inflicted by the Moon God Gonbai are troublesome, and since it can also heal other incapacitated enemies, I think it's best to focus your physical attacks on Gonbai first.
Next, let's defeat Mur.

東
- Slow-moving hippopotamus, cowardly Galbarge, fire god's corpse Chakkarogto
Useful items: Dis Hoost, Toukauken, Scrap, Fire Principle - Beast Nest
Howl: Inflicts status ailments with Ancestral Great God - Twin Foxes, heals with Dis Hoost and items.
Forget: Umaji Tofuuken
Hendable: Recovers with scrap and items
Strategy and tactics:
Chakkarogto revives every turn, but you can keep them from acting by continuously defeating them.
Use Scrap on Hendablet to suppress the overall AP increase of the enemy while defeating Chakkarogt.
The reason it's scrap is that with demolition, you can't use it immediately at the start of combat, and you need to maintain high AP.
First, target Galbarge, inflicting status ailments with Howl's normal attacks, and then defeat it by attacking with the Majito Kaede Sword.
After defeating Galbarge, the next target is the Hippopotamus Dragon in Houl's Dis Hoost.
Since the Hippopotamus Dragon has high defense, Forget will only provide support for attacks, and its main role will be to heal with items.

北
- Siege Air Raid Dragon, Sopona the Inhuman, Sugami Corpse Inaenoon
Useful items: Su no Ri - Saikuri, Dis Hoost, Demolition, Maji Tofuken, Zizi Toramanken
Howl: Inflicts status ailments with Ancestral Great God - Twin Foxes, heals with Dis Hoost and items.
Forget: Horse Road Maple Sword, Child Tiger Savage Sword
Hendable: Demolition, item recovery, Tiger Sword
Tactics and Strategy:
Since all enemies primarily use physical attacks, it becomes much easier if you can immobilize them all on the first turn.
After that, focus your attacks on Inaenon and defeat it.
Even after Inaenon is defeated, if any of your party members become incapacitated, it will revive with 10 HP recovered.
However, if you keep the remaining enemies immobilized and properly heal your HP, I don't think you'll be defeated that easily.

Items found after defeating the four enemy cavalry units (no relief measures available).

Final Boss
- Slave Dragon, Demon King (with bloody embryo), Mushishishi God's bloody tendon
Useful items: Recovery items, Corpse Plains, Spatial Twist
Howl: Twist space, heals with items
Forget: Horse Road Maple Sword, Child Tiger Savage Sword
Hendablet: Inflicts status ailments with Ancestral Great God - Mitama Twin Fox, heals with Landfill and items.
Strategy and tactics:
First, use Spatial Twist to grant everyone resistance to swords and heat.
This significantly reduces the damage taken from enemy fire and weapon attacks.
Without armor that prevents instant death, the Slave Dragon's deadly gas becomes a threat, so defeat it first.
The dragon and the demon lord are easier to deal with if you keep them afflicted with status ailments using the Ancestral Great God - Divine Twin Foxes.
Once you've defeated the four hidden cavalrymen, you shouldn't have any trouble.

This is the result from the second playthrough (the playthrough covered in this strategy guide).

Strategy notes, hidden bosses, etc.

After defeating all four of the hidden cavalrymen, if you talk to the man in the Exposed Divine Land, he will disappear.
After that, when you reach the point where you can challenge the Demon Lord, a new option will appear: "Go and settle the score."

Furthermore, discarding the Mushishishi God's embryo will cause a hidden staircase to appear at the Tanden Crossroads where Kasutan resides (only if no rescue measures are used).
Once the stairs appear, you can use the rescue measures.

Hidden Boss 1
- Slave spirit Kuzuryu, favored god Kisukaiside, Kisukai embryo of the god Mushishishi
Useful items: Chaos Stone Yoster, Mushishishi God's Smelly Shield, Mushishishi God's Smelly Curse Maggots, Climbing Maple Sword
Howl: Deathblow, Climbing Maple Sword, Heal with items
Poi: Climbing Maple Sword
Kishas: Inflicts status ailments with Ancestral Great God - Twin Fox Spirits, heals with items
Strategy and tactics:
Since having four cavalrymen with you will render you unable to act, I will bring everyone else with me.
When Custaside accumulates 444 AP, it will use a deadly technique that inflicts massive damage on you.
You'll need to survive that turn by using a death spell or something similar.
Attack during turns when the Deathblow spell is active or when you have enough AP remaining, and seize any brief openings to your advantage.
First, we'll take down Kuzuryu.
The early stages, when there are three enemies, are the most difficult, so use various items to reduce the number of enemies.

Full Power Final Boss
- Slave Dragon, Demon King (no bloody embryo), Mushishishi God's bloody tendon (immortal)
Useful items: Chaos Stone Yoster, Climbing Maple Sword, Custaside
Howl: Climbing Maple Sword, heals with items
Custom: Toufuken
Hendablet: Inflicts status ailments with Ancestral Great God - Mitama Twin Fox
Forget: Horse Road Maple Sword, Child Tiger Savage Sword
Strategy and tactics:
I'm currently unable to defeat the blood tendon, but if I've managed to defeat the four hidden cavalry units, I don't think I'll have too much trouble.
Especially if you've included Custaside, there's almost no way you can lose.

Secret Final Boss
- Opening the Law Slave Dragon, Demon King Udal, Thoughtless Grim Reaper's Bloody Tendon
Useful items: Chaos Stone Yoster, Climbing Maple Sword, Custaside
Howl: Climbing Maple Sword, heals with items
Custom: Toufuken
Hendablet: Inflicts status ailments with Ancestral Great God - Mitama Twin Fox
Forget: Horse Road Maple Sword, Child Tiger Savage Sword
Strategy and tactics:
Basically, it's no different from the previous battle.
However, if you defeat any enemy other than Udar first, they will revive in a healed state, so you should defeat Udar first.
When its AP is full, it will unleash an attack that deals 4444 damage to everyone, so be careful.

After defeating the Demon Lord Udal and watching the ending, you'll get information that unlocks a small bonus mode.
This mode allows Howl, who never spoke during the main game, to begin speaking lines.
The gameplay itself won't change, but you'll be able to learn more about Howl's character.

After defeating Custaside, if you head south where you fought Hendablet, you'll find a new hole.
If you proceed further, you will encounter the hidden boss, "Corpse Encyclopedia."

Hidden Boss
- The lifeless princess, the dying coronator, the foul-smelling vomit tube of the Mushishishi god
Useful items: Chaos Stone Yoster, Climbing Maple Sword, Mushishishi God's Foul-Smelling Worms, Remnants: Foul-Smelling Worms, Deathblow
Hendablet: Ancestral Great God - Twin Foxes inflict status ailments, single-target magic attacks, heals with items
Howl: Deathblow magic, heals with items
Custom: Toufuken
Strategy and tactics:
The Coronation's number of actions increases with each passing turn.
Therefore, it must be defeated as a top priority.
You need to use two Sinister Worms to deal damage equivalent to 33% of its maximum HP, otherwise you won't be able to withstand its fierce attack (use them over two turns).
We'll use Ancestral Great God - Divine Spirit Twin Foxes to suppress the princess with status ailments, while attacking the crowned warrior with the Climbing Maple Sword.
The best time to use the Deathblow spell is when all three characters are alive and Howl's AP is 94% or higher (allowing him to revive twice even after using the Deathblow spell).
Using the Deathblow spell when Howl's AP is low is risky because it will take time to recover afterward, so it's only effective if you can deliver the final blow to the crowned hero.
If we can defeat the crowned champion and keep three members alive, then we should be pretty much set.

Character usage impressions

Poi, Navedel
With stats that allow it to handle both physical and magical attacks, and a good AP recovery rate, it's easy to use.
Since roles can be changed by other members, it can be operated in a way that suits the player's style.

・Kishas, Hendablet
They are known for their magical powers and toughness.
In particular, the AP required for automatic revival is 33%, and it fully restores the AP.
I think it's a good match if you want to use powerful magic that consumes AP.
I think it's easy to use and I would recommend it for beginners.

High, Sleng
This character has the advantage of being able to equip two weapons, making them a strong physical character.
However, this will take up inventory space, so you'll need to make adjustments such as not equipping armor or focusing on normal attacks instead of using special skills.
I didn't use these two characters in my second playthrough.

Discard, Forget
They primarily use physical attacks, but also have some magical abilities.
Its most notable features are the ability to use Dragon Sword techniques and the fact that it doesn't consume HP.
It accumulates AP easily and is easy to use as a key component in attacks.
The Maji Tofuu Sword is powerful, and with the Zizi Hu Man Sword, you can create a full course of status ailments.

- Custaside
As expected of a hidden character, they are extremely strong.
Essentially, it's like using just one item slot to add a fully equipped member who can use almost all techniques.
While its defensive capabilities are somewhat lacking, it can handle both physical and magical attacks quite well, and its AP recovery rate is 29.
Furthermore, you will also possess items that allow you to use the Mushishishi God's Foul Curse Maggots and Foul Curse once each.
This item is certainly not subject to the effect of the Corpse Field God, which doubles the number of uses.
Her slightly lisping, clownish way of speaking is adorable.

A recommendation for a four-person party

While this game is designed for a three-person party, a four-person party can actually be played quite easily if you know the tricks.
However, the selection process becomes more critical, so this is best suited for those familiar with the game's system.
Why not give it a try when you replay the game in the special mode where Howl speaks?

I'll be writing about the advantages and disadvantages I experienced during the 4-person party challenge.

·merit
The advantage of a four-person party is that it allows for more actions during combat.
This is useful when you want to get a head start and defeat enemies all at once.
With one more member added, we have more members who can heal allies or inflict status ailments on enemies, which will increase the depth of our offense.

Disadvantages
Since your HP will be divided into four equal parts, you will be more easily defeated by enemies.
I struggle against enemies with area-of-effect attacks, but if the enemies only have single-target attacks, it can actually be more stable if the targets are spread out.
Furthermore, it will take up at least one slot for a teammate, making the decision-making process much more critical.
The number of slots you can allocate to equipment will be significantly reduced.

Tips for operation
Since each character's HP decreases, using status-boosting techniques such as Death Time, Dis Teria, and Dis Klimet will make them harder to defeat.
Having one extra move allows you to have the luxury of using support skills like these.

Regarding equipment, it's best to carefully select items that suit the character's role, and equip only one at a time, either a weapon or armor.
If your character is a physical attacker or a magical attacker, they should only be equipped with a weapon or armor; if they are a healer using items, they should not be equipped with anything.
If you equip Howl properly and use his death magic, the other three can focus on attacking with peace of mind.
I think the easiest strategy is to focus the other three characters on offense, using Death Magic to prevent them from being incapacitated, and aiming for a quick victory.
Highs and Sleng, due to their nature of requiring a lot of equipment, might be especially difficult for a four-person party.

To free up item slots, get the "Body of Negativity" as soon as possible and discard skill-related items without hesitation.
Regarding recovery items, it's necessary to discard those that can be substituted with skills like Disfred.

In the second half, it's also effective to use the Ancestral Great God - Divine Spirit Twin Fox and Child Tiger Sinister Sword to inflict a full course of status ailments on two enemies at once.
If all four of you attack at once, you can inflict a lot of damage, so it's important to judge the right timing.