Couple of questions.

[Baker]

Alright so my plan to platinum this game was to do a blind playthrough on easy first, and do a NG+ on very hard to clean up. I also didn’t download any DLC so far. But I find myself dying when going into multiple boss fights in a row because even on easy they do a lot of damage. So I’d like to know a few things.

 

1. As I’ve read DLC is a one time use and doesn’t carry over into NG+ should I pick up all the DLC now or wait until NG+? I’ve also read the DLC makes you very OP, is that true?

 

2. Are there any stats I should focus on? So far I’m just looking at stats that unlock skills and put my points there. Is that a good strategy?

 

3. Any good combo combinations? I’m putting in all new skills I learn but I don’t really see an increase in damage output.

 

4. What are special skills? I’m currently in chapter 5 and don’t have any yet. Will they come later or am I missing something?

 

5. Is there any point to look at the days counter? When doing missions you have to complete them within 60 days or something. But you can do them all in like 2 days. So it looks completely pointless to me. Could I just use the other days to do some leveling up?

 

I’ll probably have more questions later but for now this will do. Thanks.

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Baker121

[acasser]

It's been two-and-a-half years since I've played this title, but I'll give it a try from memory and hope it helps you....

 

DLC can make you overpowered in the early game, but equipment-type DLC tends to be stuff that's out-matched by what you can naturally find/create later in the game.  Personally, I recommend against using that sort of stuff because it can ingrain bad habits that you'll have to un-learn later on account that being able to stomp stuff often inhibits learning the nuances of a combat system and leaves you struggling once enemies catch up to that stuff.

 

DLC that provides things like money and EP?  Save it for NG+ if that's the way you're going, because you'll lose a healthy fraction of it otherwise and NG+ is probably when you're planning to do a significant number of things that you won't do in the first cycle.

 

Stats?  If you're going to focus on particular areas, you probably want to build around the weapons each character uses.  Melee/Ranged/Firearm based on their equipment types, some Stamina for health and some Agility for Evasion/Speed.

 

I honestly don't recall the combo system, so I can't help you there.  Sorry.

 

Special skills don't unlock until you have sufficient stat points in a variety of areas -- each character has a different combination of necessary benchmarks.

 

You typically have more than enough slack time when it comes to the Days counter.  Missions will continue to get harder as you progress deeper into the game, but you shouldn't be too pressed for time any which way, even if you have to do some grinding to get through everything.

[Baker]

@acasser Thanks. But now that I finished the game I got a couple more questions ?.

 

1. I expected there would be postgame content but after beating the final boss I got immediately plunged into NG+. Is postgame only available on Very Hard?

 

2. This is actually my most important question. Since I didn’t get the true ending, I got everyone at 3 stars affinity, could you tell me which guide you used to get the true ending?

 

3. Do you think paid DLC is necessary? How the hell do you get stats to 999 without it?

[acasser]

Postgame:  I believe post-game requires you to get the True Ending regardless of difficulty.  But if you're going for the Platinum Trophy, you want to get it on the highest difficulty; not only is there an explicit trophy tied to that, but I believe DRV is one of those games that gates certain segments of post-game content behind difficulty barriers and won't let you do quite everything if you aren't on the highest difficulty.  (A lot of Compile Heart games like to do this.)  For this title, that means starting the game on Very Hard and never lowering the difficulty at any point: the amount of Postgame you have access to is dependent on the lowest difficulty the game was set to at any point in the cycle.

 

Getting the True Ending:  What you want/need a guide for are all the affection questions so you can get all the heroines up to very high numbers before the game decides who the "female traitor" is.  Because it's your affection with her that's a big part of whether or not you can make it to the True Ending.  The other important thing is getting the interview segments right.  Sometimes it's really obvious, sometimes it's not, and sometimes there isn't a liar at all.  What I found to be the most reliable way of working through it was a fair amount of save/reload so I could ask all the questions -- the general interview subjects will change when you reload, but if you save immediately before the identity of the liar (if there is one) won't change.  And then leave that "branch save" intact so you can go back if you find out later that you fouled up the interview, because there's a fair amount of lapse time and stuff to do between the interview and finding out if you got it correct.  And since the True Ending (supposedly) requires you to get at least three of the four interview segments right....

 

Paid DLC:  I've never used it in any Compile Heart game that I've played.  I don't think it's worth the investment, you usually can get better stuff just by playing the game, and I believe (as I said above) that it inhibits the ability to learn a battle system and its' nuances by letting you stomp enemy encounters for a fair chunk of game.  Strategy and tactics can make up for a fair amount of raw power; your power will eventually catch up as you play the game and grind a little even without the DLC, but the opportunity to properly develop the strategy/tactics/intelligence part of the game is harder to come by.

 

Stats to 999:  It's a combination of leveling up really high, putting a heavy emphasis on increasing one stat -- usually the most inexpensive to level up -- and saving a lot of PP to add on top of that.  If you were able to carry over a healthy pile of PP into NG+, that'll help you; if you couldn't, I'd suggest not spending much if you don't have to other than possibly amping your Stamina at the very beginning of the game given how that directly impacts how much HP you get at level up and how piling points into Stamina at the very start therefore has a compounding effect.

[Baker]

@acasser Thanks man. I appreciate all the answers. I grabbed one DLC just to be sure as I don’t want to screw up the interviews and noticed you can upgrade Kana so you can ask more questions and have a higher succes rate by investing a lot of medals. I also found a Youtube video that has all the correct replies for maxing affinity. I hope I get the True Ending this time, otherwise it would be 40 hours waisted.

Edited July 5, 2021 by Baker121