The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy

General Structure

If you were drawn to the game by talk of alternate routes or dozens of endings, know that there are no branching paths until after you've rolled credits once. You haven't missed anything. You didn't accidentally get on the wrong path. You don't need to keep dozens of backup save files. Just keep playing. You will be told in no uncertain terms when the branching paths part of the game opens up.

All enemies except the 1 HP "popcorn" enemies refund one AP when killed, so the best general strategy is to focus-fire the "real" enemies down in as few AP as possible. An attack on the filler enemies is wasted unless it clears a path to other enemies or finishes off a rout map. Sweep those guys up in the splash damage on big AOEs or save them for last.

Make use of the suicide attacks. Characters who die in combat come back at the end of the wave in perfect condition, so don't get too precious about trying to keep them alive. The suicide attacks have only one drawback (losing access to the character for the remainder of the wave) and a lot of advantages -- they deal a lot of damage over an area, don't expend AP or Voltage, generate a lot of AP and Voltage for other characters to use, and give a money bonus at the end of the fight.

The game's balance favors offense, so skills and tactics that increase damage are more valuable than healing, tanking, damage-over-time, debuffs, or armor. That being said, a surprising number of enemies, including several bosses, are vulnerable to stun, so that's an easy way to keep an enemy out of the fight for a turn if you just don't want to deal with them yet. (Check the bosses' status screens when they appear -- if they don't say "Null [whatever]," you can hit them with it.)

The special attacks that use Voltage, on the other hand, are a little tougher sell. They can be useful if they're generating a lot of AP or finishing off a wave, but the stun drawback is not inconsiderable. (Fatigue can be managed with good strategy, but stun means the character is out of the fight for the rest of this turn and all of the next one.) Early in fights, Voltage is best used giving your characters attack boosts with Hemoanima Boost -- the buff lasts the remainder of the fight (as opposed to the end of the turn or the end of the wave) and can really make a difference, especially for characters with big AOEs like Takumi or Darumi. Use the special attacks for fighting bosses at the end of the wave.

The buff from Hemoanima Boost stacks with other buffs from items or skills, but the buffs from items and skills don't stack with each other. This can be a little confusing, since the game's UI is pretty unintuitive, but suffice it to say that you can't just stack buffs on a character and pop a boss in one shot.

Don't sleep on items once you get them. They don't require any AP or Voltage to use, can be upgraded to affect an area, and automatically replenish for free at the end of each fight, so use them liberally. Use Attack Potions to hit enemy health breakpoints, Agility Potions to cure fatigue and move damage dealers across the map in a hurry, Spring Traps to reposition characters without spending AP or fatiguing them, and Desperation Potions to enable the suicide attacks at will. Even barriers can be plopped down to wall off an area if you can't or don't want to manage that front for a turn.

Each of your social stats is divided into two subcategories, both of which must be raised to fully level the stat. You raise social stats by reading books in the library, spending time with the other characters, and giving gifts to them. (Giving gifts is the most efficient method as long as you're giving someone a gift they like.) Each stat has one character who will raise each category and one who will raise both at the same time, but at half the speed. The game's not very good at displaying who raises what stat (or which category of those stats), so no one will blame you if you just look that part up.

You will be swimming in money eventually, so don't feel the need to hoard it or grind the VR missions for more. Just buy whatever seems useful. As for resources, keep enough on hand to make gifts and only go exploring when you're completely out of something.

Each of the characters' combat skills has the same overall progression: Level 1 unlocks the move, Level 2 increases Voltage gained by 50%, Level 3 increases its move (for melee attacks) or range (for ranged attacks), Level 4 increases its Voltage gained by 100%, and Level 5 increases the Attack by 1. Obviously Level 5 is the crown jewel for most skills, but it takes a long time to get there and the intermediate steps are pretty underwhelming. If you're strapped for cash, just buy every available move at Level 1 and leave them there. The difference between Level 1 and Level 2 isn't going to make or break you. Just focus upgrades on the characters and skills you use the most and save the others for when you've got money to burn. Takumi's a pretty safe investment if you've really got choice paralysis, because he's almost always around and is a pretty solid all-rounder.

When Exploring, if you get a message to the effect of "[X] appearance rate +/- some amount," that means your multiplier for the resource in question, not the appearance of the spaces. When gathering, it's usually best to build parties that specialize in a particular resource and gather as much of that resource as you can rather than trying to bring back a little of everything. Eventually you will have access to four exploration areas, each of which specializes in a particular resource.

You can't reach everywhere on the Exploration map until after you've rolled credits for the first time. The map gradually unlocks with story progression, so don't worry about the areas you can't reach yet.