One Week Musou (Free RPG) Introduction, Impressions, and Strategy Notes

The free game introduced in July 2020One Week War RechangeIn version 2.00 (updated September 2021), an extra mode featuring an epilogue story was added.
It's called "One Week of Unrivaled Power" and becomes playable after clearing the main story.
Since this takes place after completing the main story, the game content contains spoilers for the main story.
Please be aware if you haven't played the game yet.

The total time to complete "One Week Musou" was approximately 16 hours.

Game Overview (No Spoilers)

"One Week Unrivaled" is an RPG where you choose a protagonist from eight characters and fight your way through seven days while strengthening them.
Once the story progresses to the later stages, you'll return to the character selection screen and continue playing with a different character.
Once all eight characters have cleared the game, you will be able to proceed to the final stage.

My first playthrough took about two hours to complete.
Since it's possible to skip common events for the second and subsequent characters, I was able to complete the game in about an hour.
If you replay with the same character, you can skip everything, so you should be able to complete it in 30-40 minutes.
There are many event variations depending on the character you choose, and the game is very meticulously crafted.

The game flow begins at a "base" where you prepare for battle, and then progresses to the "battle phase."
The combat section consists of battles against regular enemies and boss battles.
After defeating the boss, the story progresses, and you'll return to your base to prepare.
You'll use the experience points you earn in battles and the AP you receive at each base screen to strengthen your characters.

The combat system is an improved version of the one used in the main story's Regil arc.
First, during the player phase, you can choose an action from "Attack Selection," "Charge," or "Healing Potion."

"Attack Selection"You can choose from normal attacks, strong attacks, and special moves.
A normal attack deals damage equal to your ATK stat while also increasing your CP and BP by +1.
"Strong attack"This attack consumes BP (Battle Points) but instead performs an attack with enhanced attack power and accuracy.
The performance of strong attacks varies depending on the character, and they can be strengthened by using experience points.
"Special move"This is a technique that consumes CP to inflict massive damage.
Special moves can be upgraded at your base.
"Healing Potion"It is the only way to fully restore your HP, and you can only do so by the number of items you possess.
Use it when it really matters.
"charge"By consuming "BP," you can restore "CP," "Evasion CT" (explained later), and other items displayed in the message window.

During the enemy phase, you choose an action from "Defend," "Evade," or "Conserve."
"defense"This reduces the damage you take from enemies, but you will always take damage from them.
"Avoidance"This allows you to always dodge enemy attacks.
However, once used, it cannot be used again until the evasion cooldown reaches 0.
"Preservation"This recovers CP while relying on the character's evasion ability.
If you have sufficient evasion skills, you can avoid the attack with a high probability, but if you fail, you will take normal damage.
Additionally, the amount of CP recovered by using "Conserve" gradually decreases, but the amount of CP recovered returns to 4 after defending once.

As the story progresses, enemies will also start using "strong attacks."
Since strong attacks cannot be dodged, you have to choose between consuming CP or BP to reduce the damage or taking the full force of the attack.

Each character has different stats and skills.
The key is to understand and nurture each character's unique characteristics, and then use their strengths to your advantage in battle.

Review (no spoilers)

The bonus mode is almost as long as the main game, but I managed to clear it successfully.
I had been wondering if it would be possible to play a game using the battle system from the Regil chapter as a standalone work, and I am truly grateful to the creator for actually making it happen.

The main story is balanced in such a way that you won't get stuck unless you make a major mistake in how you raise your characters.
Playing with restrictions to unlock achievements can be quite difficult depending on the character.
While there are eight characters with similar characteristics, they are differentiated in subtle ways, such as the performance of their special moves and strong attacks, making it interesting to consider individual strategies and character development for each of them.
The final boss, after clearing the game with eight characters, felt quite challenging at first.
One reason is that I didn't think I'd be able to use AP to enhance everyone's training during the preparation right before the event.
However, by leveling up several characters I had already used to clear the stage and trying again, I was able to successfully defeat the enemy on my second attempt.

Because the game involves repeatedly playing through the same main story with different characters, you will end up seeing the same scenes many times.
However, since there's a skip function for events you've already seen, I was able to play comfortably.
If there wasn't a skip function, it would have taken a very long time and been quite difficult.

As it's a bonus, it has more comedic elements compared to the main story of the One Week War.
However, the main storyline delves deeply into the inner lives and relationships of the eight characters, making it a truly engaging read.
This work allowed me to fully enjoy the interactions between characters who didn't have much interaction in the main story.

Strategy Notes (Contains Spoilers)

I'll write about what I consider to be tips for beating the game.
For subsequent playthroughs, you gain bonus experience points from unlocking achievements, making it easier to complete the game if your goal is simply to finish it.
However, with the final all-out battle in mind, it's best to unlock all eight achievements as early as possible and clear the game while making the most of the bonus experience points.

Overall Strategy Notes

- "Defending" will always result in taking damage and will also consume CP.
Therefore, for characters with a high evasion rate, it's best to use "Conserve" to recover CP, and then use "Defend" to reset the recovery amount when it starts to decrease.

"Evade" is a useful move, so use it whenever you can.
It's probably most efficient to use it as soon as the CT reaches 0.

When receiving a healing potion, it's best to pay 30 experience points.
AP is a valuable resource, so try to use it to increase your stats if possible.

- The achievements that seem to be the most difficult to unlock are "Don't level up" and "Don't use AP".
It's difficult to achieve both at the same time, so let's aim for one at a time.
It will be easier to achieve if you try this after accumulating a lot of bonus experience points from unlocking other achievements.

Character-specific gameplay notes

I'll write down my notes in the order I completed the game.
I also tried to unlock achievements while playing, so some characters might appear different from those in a normal playthrough.
note that.

・Regil
The special move only costs 3 CP, so it's nice that it can be used easily.
The experience points required to level up are low at 150, and the growth rate is good, so you can become quite strong just by leveling up.
If you focus on increasing your HP and attack power by spending AP, you should be able to defeat enemies quickly before your own HP runs out.
If you can strengthen your CP and special moves, it will become even easier.

Ember
I was the second player to play.
To unlock achievements, I imposed restrictions such as "not using AP" and "not strengthening support," and played the game relying solely on leveling up for enhancement.
Since its growth rate wasn't as high as Regil's, it was quite tough.
The final battle on the fifth day against Bilbatos was quite challenging because Ember's major advantage, "Foresight," never activated.

・G-Aid
I attempted to unlock the achievement "Do not strengthen by leveling up."
AP-based enhancements focused primarily on accuracy and attack power, while experience point-based enhancements focused on skills, CP, and defensive commands.
However, from the fifth day onward, it becomes difficult to even hit weak enemies, so I couldn't do without my second healing potion, which I obtained by paying experience points.
Since special moves don't result in two consecutive hits, I think it's best to focus on using strong attacks for a more stable fight.
To conserve BP, it's a good idea to choose to consume CP when defending against strong attacks from enemies.

Mia
I attempted to unlock the achievement "Clear without strengthening support."
The experience points required to level up were relatively low at 175, making it easy to level up.
Since you have high evasion, you should be able to fight with ease as long as you can avoid enemy attacks.
To take advantage of the benefit of natural HP regeneration, prioritizing increasing HP will make you tougher.
The battle against Bilbatos on the fifth day is difficult because your evasion ability is irrelevant, and you'll need to increase your HP or prepare some healing items.

Samsung
Since the damage reduction from the defensive command is significant, it's best to fight primarily using the defensive command.
This character can win by repeatedly pressing the confirm button, using normal attack and defense commands.
Since BP accumulates easily when you repeatedly attack and defend, strengthening your powerful attacks with BP will increase your destructive power even further.
Pay attention to your remaining CP, as running out of CP will leave you unable to defend and make things difficult.

・Ties
Overall, this character has high abilities and is easy to use.
The dodge command acts as a counter, providing many opportunities to attack.
On the other hand, since strong attacks have a cooldown period (CT), normal attacks and special moves will likely be the core of combat.
The experience points required to level up are a bit high at 300, so leveling up can be difficult.
However, since their accuracy and evasion are also at a high level, they should be able to fight effectively no matter which stat they focus on improving.

Gian
Overall, she has higher abilities than Mia, but her growth rate is slightly lower.
Accuracy and evasion will increase reasonably well, but you might struggle if you don't increase your attack power and HP with AP.
Because of its high evasion rate, it's easy to defeat weaker enemies without taking any damage, so the key is to save up CP before the boss fight.

Wisbeck
The ability to stun enemies and skip their actions is extremely powerful, making it a strong point to be able to attack them unilaterally with normal attacks.
However, since its accuracy and evasion stats don't increase well, it might be better to prioritize accuracy when using AP for growth.
Since you'll inevitably be defending against enemy attacks more often, it's difficult to accumulate CP.
It's best to focus on normal attacks, and only use strong attacks, rather than special moves, when the situation calls for it.

Final battle strategy notes

After clearing all the characters, there are two final all-out battles where everyone combines their strengths.
If you cleared the game with characters that you hadn't fully powered up in order to unlock achievements, it's a good idea to clear the game again and train them further.
Prioritizing HP first, then accuracy, and finally attack power will likely increase your chances of winning.

• You will be given 5 AP to prepare for the final phase, but don't forget to distribute it among all your characters.
(I didn't think I could do it the first time, so I didn't try.)
Also, be sure to add a second healing potion to your inventory.

- Even if you use up all your healing items in the battle against Yoshioka, they will be replenished for the next battle.
If you have two of a character, they will be replenished to two, so there's no need to hold back and fight.

In the final battle, you will be fighting both Jiriga and Crystal simultaneously.
You cannot harm Jiriga until you defeat the crystal.
To survive the battle against Ziliga while fighting Crystal, you can safely get through it by using Mia, who excels in evasion and healing.
Since Mia has automatic HP recovery, if you want to buy time to recover HP, chip away at her health with normal attacks to slow down the rate at which the opponent's CP accumulates.