First playthrough, thinking of going Refrain, but I have a few questions.

[SoulEchelon]

Haven't bought the game yet, but I'm probably going to do so as this seems right up my alley. However, I did a bit of research. While I'd like to keep the story as intact as possible, I admit I'm unsure if I'll do a second playthrough of this game. Usually I try my best to 100% games like this in one playthrough, so the Refrain option seems to be the way to go.

However as stated, I'd like the story intact if possible. So here are my questions:

1. When would it be okay for me to begin using the 2 Refrain characters in the story?
2. If I wait that long to use them, will I miss anything important that may make me lose an achievement or two?
3. How's the levelling system in this game? Do characters not in your party level up as well, or do you have to grind them out one by one?

Thanks in advance.

[[AJM]AlphaElite2]

3. They don't get any experience. But you can make/get an item which fixes this problem

[WilhemFaust]

Refrain is pretty much a "Lol what??!" run as far as the new characters are concerned as you still have them as opponents in the story. In all honesty Refrain is better as a "New Game +" run when you've already did the story than as a first time experience.

[SoulEchelon]

Hm... I guess maybe I can do a "blind run" that focuses on just blazing through the story, and then do an achievement run afterward. Focus less on grinding and getting everything in the game on the first run, then go crazy on the next.

My only worry is that I'll lose the desire to do another run simply because I'm usually that way with RPGs. I do one really big achievement run, and then stop. But alright then! I'll do it that way. Original first, then Refrain.

Thanks for the answers!

[Qpax ツ]

I am like 30 40 lvl at the moment and stopped the game for a long while and i am not playing Refrain mode and not planning to play it so all i just want to do right now is the beat the story and move on. I didnt want to play Refrain because i didnt want to get spoiler ahead while they are in my party so if you want to story to be intact as possible i suggest you to play without Refrain mode. It's just extra two characters that you are going to date and you can watch their runs on Youtube or something.

[SoulEchelon]

Originally posted by Qpax ツ:

I am like 30 40 lvl at the moment and stopped the game for a long while and i am not playing Refrain mode and not planning to play it so all i just want to do right now is the beat the story and move on. I didnt want to play Refrain because i didnt want to get spoiler ahead while they are in my party so if you want to story to be intact as possible i suggest you to play without Refrain mode. It's just extra two characters that you are going to date and you can watch their runs on Youtube or something.

I started in Original mode, but I'm almost definitely gonna play through again because I have a thing for being a completionist. But it doesn't always happen that way but we'll see.

Either way thanks for all the answers everyone.

[Doom_Cookies]

If you do play through Refrain mode, take this advice. The two bonus characters each give you a special item after a date in Refrain mode. Do not use it. After you complete literally everything else in the game, there's a special scene with them that you can get only if you still have those two items.

This is literally the only true missable in the game. Just watch out for that.

[SoulEchelon]

Originally posted by Doom_Cookies:

If you do play through Refrain mode, take this advice. The two bonus characters each give you a special item after a date in Refrain mode. Do not use it. After you complete literally everything else in the game, there's a special scene with them that you can get only if you still have those two items.

This is literally the only true missable in the game. Just watch out for that.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind when I do Refrain.

[Tiasmoon]

Best to start with refrain if you dont want to do 2 playthroughs, imo. (just dont do the character events for the new character untill late in the story)