Eight Adams Side Story (Free RPG) Introduction, Impressions, and Strategy Notes

I played "The Eight Adams Side Story," an RPG created with "WOLF RPG Editor."
This work was unveiled at the 11th WoodyCon held in 2019.
At the time, this game was released as version 1.00, but it was later updated, and version 1.10 was released in April 2021.
I learned about it on Twitter, and since I liked the art style, I became interested and played it.

This is an RPG set in a desolate world, where you pilot mechs called "Stars" to mine resources and engage in combat.
This work is appealing because of its well-developed characters, story, and setting.

My first playthrough on "Normal" difficulty took about 8 hours.
If you try to see all the different endings, it will take a total of 10 to 15 hours.
This game features multiple endings and clear bonuses, making it a game you'll want to play through again and again.

Game Overview

In this game, you play as Raz Reeves, a resident of Sandra City, and progress by choosing weekly tasks such as quests and mining, earning money while developing the town.
You use the money you earn to modify and upgrade your mecha, "Stars."
Additionally, the story progresses as days pass and requests are completed, and the areas that can be explored increase.

You can select the difficulty level at the start of the game.
You can change the difficulty level during the game, but be aware that doing so will prevent you from seeing some of the endings.
Unless you're particularly bad at RPGs, I think you'll enjoy a challenging difficulty level if you choose "Normal."
While this isn't a game where you can level up indefinitely, it's designed in a way that prevents you from getting stuck.

story

Raz Reeves, a former soldier who lost his wife in a major disaster two years prior, was living in Sandra City with his two children.
Raz, who pilots a robot called "Stars," was doing mining work, but after using Stars to repel thugs attacking the town, he began to receive requests other than mining.

Will Raz be able to protect Sandra City from "something" that will happen in the fourth week of December?

mining

"Mining" can be selected from the "Work" command.
By stopping the vertical line that moves from left to right on the screen at the right time on the mining point, you can obtain money, experience points, items, and help develop your town.
By the way, you can only earn money when Raz is mining.

When your mining stat is low, the bar moves quickly and it's difficult to stop it properly.
However, as your mining capacity increases, the bar moves more slowly, making it easier to stop it on the target point.
Although it's a simple mini-game, it's tense and surprisingly addictive.

You need to have explored all the areas where you can mine.
The types of items that appear vary depending on the area, so choose your location based on the item you're looking for.
When selecting an area, you can check the types of items that have already been discovered and the trends of items that can be obtained.

Furthermore, you can choose your actions for the week for each character.
When you have three party members, you can have all three of them mine, allowing you to attempt mining three times.

search

"Explore" is a command that can be selected from the "Tasks" command.
Each character can choose their weekly activities, but since "Exploration" involves combat, it's safest for everyone to choose the same area.

The game is basically a non-field RPG, where you explore by making choices with each step, such as whether to move forward, return, or use an item.
During exploration, battles and events will occur with every step you take.
The events vary widely, ranging from casual conversations between allies to encounters with NPCs who can heal you.

When your "exploration progress" reaches its maximum, you will have conquered that area, and mining will become possible there.
The number of actions you can take is determined by your "number of available actions," and once these are exhausted, you will be forced to return.
Since the number of turns spent in battle is also deducted, if battles take too long, you may not be able to fully explore that area.
However, even if you return, your progress won't be completely reset, so you can continue exploring from where you left off next time (note that some areas will require you to start exploring from the beginning).

Some requests require conquering a specific area, so it's best to conquer any unexplored areas one by one.

request

You can accept requests by going to the "tavern".
Basically, if you focus on completing the requests, the game will progress naturally.
Some requests require you to explore a designated area or collect items.
Many tasks expire and disappear, so it's necessary to complete them systematically.

Some requests can be attempted without any time elapsed by selecting "Execute" at the bar.
Identify which requests will take time and which will be completed quickly, and work through them efficiently.

Please note that for exploration or combat quests that require multiple members, the rewards will be split equally among them.
Even if the reward is 15,000S, if there are three members, Raz's share will be 5,000S.

modification

This section allows you to pay money to improve your Stars' basic abilities and weapon power.
The upgrade system is reminiscent of the Super Robot Wars series, where the more you upgrade, the greater the required funds and the higher the stat increase.
You could modify it in a balanced way, or you could focus on improving one particular aspect.

It's important to carefully consider what the key elements are and then modify them to suit their respective roles and characteristics.
The stage at which modifications are possible depends on the level of development of the town.

battle

The battles are turn-based command battles, where characters act in order of their "reaction" speed.
The following actions are available to you:

・Equipment
Use the weapons mounted on your vehicle to attack the enemy.
Depending on the weapon, some consume ammunition, some consume energy, and some consume both.
Furthermore, there are differences between ranged and melee weapons, as well as modifiers for accuracy and critical hit rates, resulting in a wide variety of weapons with unique characteristics.

・Move
This action can be performed without consuming a turn, and it allows you to choose your distance from the enemy.
At close range, attack and accuracy increase by 20%, but defense and evasion decrease by 20%.
The opposite correction is applied to long-range attacks, while there is no correction for medium-range attacks.
It's best to adapt your strategy based on your opponent's strength and their actions during that turn.
If you feel the enemy's attacks are too intense, try changing your distance.

・Skills
It's like the spirit commands in Super Robot Wars.
This ability consumes the pilot's "SP" to temporarily increase their stats during battle.
There are many useful skills you can use, such as using a skill to increase your attack power before unleashing a powerful special move, or using a skill to increase your evasion rate when you're in a pinch.
By using it effectively, you can defeat even superior opponents.

·defense
This command increases your defense for the turn you choose.
This is a useful low-risk, low-reward command when you want to reliably reduce damage.

Avoid
This command increases your evasion rate only for the turn you choose.
Since the damage taken when hit remains the same, this is a high-risk, high-reward command.

·tool
Use the consumables included with Stars.
Since healing options during combat are limited, this can be a valuable means of recovery.

Review (no spoilers)

I played through the game three times and was able to see all eight different endings.
(You can unlock all the endings by playing through the game twice.)
I was able to complete the first playthrough in about 8 hours, while the second and third playthroughs took around 3-4 hours each.
The story was interesting, and the game system was designed to be addictive, so I really enjoyed it.

The game itself progresses on a weekly basis, and I get the impression that it has a good pace.
The game progresses primarily through requests received at the tavern, so you'll never be at a loss as to what to do next.
Whenever I had free time, I was eager to earn experience points and money through mining, so I didn't have any idle time and was completely absorbed in mining.

In terms of difficulty, I think it's designed to be moderately challenging and rewarding if you properly understand the game system.
While the turn limit during exploration sometimes felt restrictive, it also required efficient combat, making it interesting and challenging to strategize.
While the encounter rate can sometimes feel high, items that extend your action time or reduce enemy appearances are available for purchase, so those who are concerned can take countermeasures.

While some endings are difficult to reach on the first playthrough, the rewards for achieving them make them easier to reach in subsequent playthroughs, which provided good motivation for repeated playthroughs.
The rewards for achieving different endings are that the more endings you achieve, the more money and powerful items you'll start with.
The fact that events can be skipped during subsequent playthroughs also made it feel user-friendly and convenient.
From the second playthrough onwards, the gameplay felt almost like a New Game Plus, offering a refreshing sense of exhilaration. However, the final battle in ED8 was a very close victory, so personally, I think it had a perfect balance.

The conversations and portrayals between the main character, Raz, and the surrounding characters felt natural, drawing me into the story without any sense of incongruity.
The story has a traditional feel, but the writing style is easy to read, making it very enjoyable.
If you like the Metal Max-esque atmosphere, I think this is an RPG you should definitely play.

Strategy Notes (Contains Spoilers)

I'd like to briefly write about some of the key points I noticed while playing this game.
There are many different ways to play, but I hope this serves as one example of a strategy that you can use as a reference.

Early game

Whether you're mining or exploring, the more companions you have, the more opportunities you'll have to act.
Complete the "Memento" quest as soon as possible to recruit Julia as a companion.
Furthermore, we will start exploring and developing the explorable areas as soon as possible.
The western area needs to be explored in a single attempt, so I think it's fine to tackle it after you've become somewhat stronger.

When upgrading in Stars, I recommend focusing on aiming, durability, and HP in the early stages.
In particular, you'll want to upgrade the aiming system to the point where you can maintain a 100% hit rate against most enemies in normal combat.
If raising the aiming reticle is financially difficult, you could compensate by placing it at close range and instead focus on improving its durability and HP.
If your hit rate is low, it will take longer to eliminate the enemy, you will take more hits, and you will waste more turns.

I think it's more efficient to focus on modifying only the most useful weapons.
In the early to mid-game, Balfan would probably use the Star Sword, Morgon the Hand Machine Gun and Morgon Cannon, and Titania the Stealth Missile and Barrage Missile.

Mid-game

While completing requests one by one, it's a good idea to gather useful equipment as we head towards the end of the game.
Specifically, it's an item that restores HP, EN, and SP every turn.
The Nano Automatic Repair Machine, which restores 200 HP, the Quantum Generator, which restores 30 EN, and the Ultrasonic Fatigue Recovery Machine, which restores 15 SP, are all items you'll want to equip as standard equipment on every member.
It will be difficult to acquire all of these from the start, so let's begin by collecting things like automatic repair machines, solar panels, and high-end audio equipment, and gradually upgrade them.
Collect the parts you need by repeatedly mining in the area where they can be obtained, earning money and experience points along the way.
Mining helps the town develop, which in turn strengthens your party.

High-end audio equipment and circuits (extremely rare) are necessary to complete the request, so it's convenient to collect several of them in advance.

Final stages

For requests requiring extremely rare materials, such as those for university construction, even with diligent mining efforts, obtaining them can be quite difficult.
Once the town's "products" category reaches S rank, you can purchase them at the market, so if it seems difficult to obtain them before the deadline, consider buying them.

When fighting bosses, don't hesitate to use your skills and unleash your powerful special moves.
When fighting enemies with barriers, it's easiest to destroy them by safely attacking them from a distance with melee-type weapons, regardless of the damage dealt.
Once the enemy is down, you can fight more efficiently by unleashing a powerful, skill-intensive attack all at once.
It's a bit of a waste to use skills to attack before the barrier is destroyed, so let's avoid that.

Endings 3, 4, 6, and 7 are relatively easy to obtain, so it's worth watching them to make your next playthrough easier.

Character-specific usage impressions

Raz

He was a very reliable presence, especially as the central figure in battles.
I mostly used the Star Sword because it had a good balance of power and fuel efficiency.
After learning Ran Flash, he proved useful as a powerful area-of-effect attacker when combined with the Demon God skill.

While Run Flash and Full Burst are powerful, they both consume a lot of EN, so upgrading EN should be a priority.
To see END 8, this character's stats should be fully upgraded.

Crow

This Stars is useful for its area-of-effect Hand Vulcan and single-target Morgon Cannon (later Morgon Rush).
The advantage of the hand-held Vulcan is that it has a large ammunition capacity, so you don't have to worry about running out of ammo, and you can use it continuously.
In normal combat, you'd want to unleash your hand-held vulcan cannon first, but its reaction time is a bit slow, which is frustrating because it means you're slow to act.

Morgon Rush is quite powerful, so using it in combination with the Fierce Deity in boss battles can inflict significant damage.
This character is also useful for destroying barriers with their powerful attacks.

Julia

The Barrage Missile, which attacks all enemies, and the Stealth Missile, which has high accuracy, are powerful, but the drawback is that both have limited ammunition.
It's a good idea to upgrade your Star Shoot just in case.
Learning Starfire allows you to deal significant damage to bosses, but since it only has 3 shots, you need to choose when to use it carefully.

Douglas

While not particularly strong at offense, this character is a support character that helps with HP and EN recovery.
The only usable piece of equipment is probably the Star Beam.
If you want to destroy the barrier, using a powerful attack like "Great Collapse Strike" to crush it can also be useful.

Being able to replenish the energy of the Balfan, which consumes a lot of energy, is very convenient.
Since EN replenishment works by sharing your own EN, be careful not to over-modify your equipment.

Regarding the ending conditions

I'll write down some information about the endings whose conditions might be a little unclear.
Those who wish to discover this for themselves should exercise caution when viewing this content.

・"END 5 My Friend"

If you play normally, you'll complete the requests in order, and Crow will remain in your party as you progress. However, to see END 5, Crow needs to defect.
If you haven't completed the early-game requests related to Crow, such as "Lend me Balfan," an event will occur where Crow leaves Sandra City and enters Digeno.
For a while after that, episodes featuring Crow inside Digeno will be inserted.

Then, at a meeting in a bar in December, they decided not to fight Digeno and chose to go to Waihaha in the fourth week of December.
Then, when the speedboat is attacked by Garcia of Digeno, Crow also arrives, and if you win the battle, you will get END 5.
It's an ending that takes a little effort to watch, but it's definitely one you'll want to see because it includes plenty of new episodes related to Crow.

- "END 8: The Path of Carnage"

The condition is that you must play the game without ever changing the difficulty level from "Normal".
If you choose not to fight during the bar meeting in December, and then in the fourth week of December, after choosing between "Go to Waihaha" and "Stay with Sandra," repeatedly select "No... that's not right" from the options that appear, a new option, "Yes. I'll go alone," will appear. Choosing this option will take you down this route.

You will need to win a series of battles on your own, and in the end, you will face the Human Emperor.
The Human Emperor has high attack power, and direct combat will result in heavy losses.
Make sure to upgrade Balfan's stats to their maximum potential, and equip him with items that restore HP, EN, and SP every turn.
For the remaining two components, it might be best to prioritize defensive options.

Until the barrier is destroyed, I chip away at the enemy's health from a distance with the Star Sword, and once they're down, I combine it with my skills and unleash a full burst from close range.
After that, I use "Evasion" every turn, attack from close range with the Star Sword, and when my SP or EN is about to run out, I choose to defend from a distance and endure.
Since it also uses techniques that lower your defense and evasion, when you're not in top condition, try to fight in a way that avoids taking direct hits.

Added on May 2, 2021There was information that the effects of automatic recovery-type equipment stack.
Therefore, if you equip three ultrasonic fatigue recovery devices that restore SP, you should be able to use Evasion every turn, making it easier to defeat the enemy.
However, since they mentioned that this will be patched in the future, this strategy may become unusable depending on the version.
please note.

Review (contains spoilers)

After seeing all the endings, if I had to choose the one that left the best impression, I'd say it's definitely Ending 1.
The way they team up with people they've worked with on previous missions to repel the final attack on Digeno is incredibly exciting.
With all four party members present, we managed to defeat Digeno and repel the Adam series, so it felt like a happy ending.

However, if I had to choose which ending I personally liked best in terms of the story, I would have preferred END 5.
Certainly, END 5 is not exactly a happy ending.
Nevertheless, the details of Digeno's inner workings, which are only fully depicted in END 5, and the episode in the past where Crow was saved by the Black Dragon, further enhance the dramatic quality of the story.
Furthermore, Crow's death strengthened Raz's motivation to continue fighting, making it feel more convincing.

I felt that Crow is a great character because he fits well both as a younger brother figure and as an enemy.
Even if it was the wrong choice, the way the story led up to it is so well-depicted that players might feel that it was unavoidable.
Every character in this work is developed with just the right amount of depth and distance, making them all feel natural and appealing.
I also like the relationship between Douglas and Raz, who can't be honest with each other.

This work is labeled as a "side story," and I believe it was completed during the production process of the main story.
Given the density of content in this side story, I imagine completing the main story will be incredibly challenging, but I'm looking forward to the day it's released.