Otaku Combat Guide (read: how to git gud)

Having trouble winning your fights?
Synthesizers just won't leave you alone?
Getting your clothes torn off by a group of idols?
Maybe you should... git gud.

Preface

This game is not hard and if you're having trouble with it then you're probably just bad. On my first playthrough, coming into the game knowing nothing, I picked Gamer (because I didn't want to pick easy or be a filthy casual - not that I wanted to be a gamer either) and cleared the game and all of the side missions with no issues. Even iDOL dIS@STER. I went with Otaku for my subsequent playthroughs and breezed through with my broken NG+ gear all the way to that 100% completion.

Now, I'm bad at video games and I was still able to beat the highest available difficulties, so you should be able to as well. To save you all of the thinking and trial and error involved, though, I'll graciously contribute my guide to the game's hub.

I'm gonna take it for granted that you understand the game terminology, and maybe a bit of fighting game jargon too.

I was thinking of adding images to illustrate what I write about, but I realized that doesn't really help, and I'm too lazy to record video clips of everything. This game doesn't really have any art on the boorus either so whatever. Have a lewd Shion & Rin so I can pretend this isn't a wall of text.

Difficulty Settings

Like in most games, the different difficulty settings don't really change that much in the game itself. The only thing that really matters is the enemy damage and armour multiplier. For the game modes that matter:

Gaymer: Enemies deal 2.5x more damage and take 2.5x less damage.
Otaku: Enemies deal 5x more damage and take 5x less damage.

Those numbers are not scary because the enemies are dumb. You might have a little difficulty at the beginning of your first playthrough if you're on Gamer, but you can just leave it to your partner to deal damage and do the stripping yourself.

Since you get better drops on the harder difficulties, you're gonna find +1 items sooner or later and damage/armour won't even be a problem any more. There's no reason to play the easier difficulties unless you don't like fun, or you want to blaze through Tohko's route just to get her ending because Tohko sucks.

Game Engine

The game is a PS port, so naturally it will have it's faults. That being said, it's still 100% workable and there's nothing game-breaking about it, so instead of blaming the game engine, it's time to buck up.

Another thing: use a gamepad. If you don't have one, get one. I don't know the keyboard and mouse controls and I don't even want to imagine what they'd be like because they'd be terrible no matter what. There is no reasonable way to convert the PS controls to conventional kbm inputs, and I'm willing to bet that that's the one root of any problems you may have.

So, for the rest of the guide, I'm going to be referring to gamepad inputs. I'll try to use general terms where applicable, but it's on you to figure out what I'm talking about if you're too cheap to buy a proper input device.

Buttons

Controls for battle mode:

I played with a DS4 - objectively the best gamepad - but the Steam version of Akiba's Trip uses X360/standard PC gamepad input displays in-game, so I'll be using those.

Left Analog Stick: Move character.

Right Analog Stick: Move camera.

Up: Unison Strip. Basically your super move.

Down: Items. Use this to dope up before your battles. Doesn't make a difference, though.

Left: Command: Attack. Make your partner hit things. Default partner state.

Right: Comand: Defend. Make your partner stop hitting things. They'll try to heal when they're hurt, too.

X: Jump. Useless.

Y: High attack. Damages hats, helmets, headphones, nekomimi, whatever. Hold for strip.

A: Low attack. Damages pants and skirts. Hold for strip.

B: Mid attack. Damages shirts. Hold for strip.

L: Stow weapon. You need to do this before trying to run away. Takes time and you will get hit out of it.

L (Hold): Heal. Restores all non-torn clothing to full health.

R: Block.

How to Press Buttons

Hold down R.

This is the single best piece of advice I can give.

Defence is key in any sort of combat, but morever, you may have noticed that you're not always getting the moves you want when you make your inputs. Holding R will resolve all of these issues.

Akiba's Trip isn't a fighting game, something I failed to realize for a little while. You don't tap forward and B at the same time to get the forward mid, you need to hold forward and tap B. How do you do this without having your character just run into the group of enemies, though? Actually, how do you even do an unblockable without turning around? Simple: hold R.

Since you can't move while blocking, you can hold the directional motions for your unblockables/forward moves while guarding, and simply tap an attack button (while holding the direction and R) to get the move you're after.

Not only does this make your attack startup basically safe, but it will also keep you from getting those annoying missed inputs. If you actually know how to play, and the only thing stopping you was your intended moves not being registered by the game, then problem solved.

Note: the game engine is a kind of fickle in what it considers back and forward. To do unblockables, pointing the stick the direction your character's back is facing generally does the trick. For forward motion moves, it seems to prefer you pointing the stick towards an enemy over the actual forward.

If there's an enemy behind you that you want to do a forward move on, and another one in front of you, pointing towards the back enemy and attacking will usually get you an unblockable, so you'll need to turn around. I admit, it's a bit fiddly, but you'll develop a feel for what works as you play.

How to Attack

About 95% of your attacks should consist of counter attacks. Maybe more.

Unless you outnumber the enemy, counter attacks are basically the only way to deal damage without getting killed. Unlike any other form of attack, counter attacks have full invincibility frames. This means that, from the moment you start your counter attack animation, you cannot take damage from any source, and you will not take damage until you have completely recovered from the attack animation.

Basically, it's Assassin's Creed. Hold R and you will dodge every incoming attack. Continue holding R and do a counter attack to punch someone. Keep holding R and you will be immediately blocking again when your counter attack finishes. The enemies will have no opening to attack you.

Note: you can get a manual counter attack by doing R plus the attack. This gives you the same move, but it is NOT safe or guaranteed to hit. Make sure you evade an attack before attempting to counter so that you don't get a manual counter attack.

Counter strips are also completely safe, unlike the standard strips. Generally you should aim for these as well, unless your clothes are out of health.

Of course, this assumes you're outnumbered (which you will be, 99 times out of 100). If there's only one enemy (on you) though, you can just go ham with strings. Don't mash like an idiot, but throw out small swings and wait for them to stop guarding before starting your combos. Alternatively, go for the unblockables.

How to Avoid Unblockables

Despite what you may have inferred from the previous section, perpetually guarding and only responding with counter attacks is not the perfect aegis because unblockables exist. A good number of them are quite annoying too. That heavy weapon one where they just run after you and topple over onto you is especially frustrating.

So, your counter for unblockables.

Running to avoid the attacks is typically a bad idea because you will take a barrage of smacks to the face in the process and get hit by it anyway. Most unblockables can be interrupted, though. So all you need to do is do your manual counter quickly enough and hope that no one else punches you before it connects.

However, some unblockables cannot be interrupted. You will need to crush these. Although you are vulnerable during the startup of manual counter attacks, it still has the intermediate invicibility frames. This is typically true only for the low counters, but it varies from weapon to weapon.

Anyway, all unblockables are slow enough for you to react in time to do a manual low counter. This will either hit the enemy and interrupt the move, hit the enemy and not interrupt the move or whiff. In the first case, you've successfully avoided the move by preventing it from happening. In the latter two cases, you still avoid the move because you won't get hit during the counter attack.

To wrap it up: your basic gameplan is basically holding R. Press the appropriate counter attacks where possible. If you see an unblockable coming, do a manual low counter and hope no one attacks you.

Also, while blocking, if you tap the left analog stick, your character will do a small hop in that direction. It's too short to be entirely useful, but the mechanic exists.

How to Interrupt

Outside of their conventional, intended use, regular strips (holding down high, mid or low attack) also have another use.

When you make a strip attempt, it will immediately cancel any move that's about to go through. Enemy about to swipe your last item of clothing? Uninterruptable unblockables? No problem. Just hold down an attack and watch the magic happen.

This is unbelievably useful. It basically allows you to avoid any incoming attack whatsoever. If there's a move you're not confident you can crush, go ahead and try to strip. The opponent doesn't even need to have strippable clothing. If they're on full health, your strip attempt will still go through and it will stop the opponent in their tracks.

It's also a very viable strategy when your clothing is low on health. If you can't find a chance to heal, repeatedly making strip attempts and whittling down the opponent's clothes through struggles will all but guarantee you a win, albeit a tedious one. All's fair in love and war.

Needless to say, you shouldn't abuse this. Low counters are generally the safer play as strip attempts leave you vulnerable during the startup. Know that this option exists, though. It will definitely save you a lot of retries.

How to Heal/Run

In the unlikely event that you've taken damage and are in imminent danger of forced exhibitionism, you're going to have to heal. Unfortunately, healing takes time and the process is easily interrupted - your enemies will be happy to oblige.

Thankfully, the enemy AI handles the idea of "going around" quite terribly, and we can use this to our advantage.

First, you'll need to somehow create an opening to find your temporary reprieve. Most low counters have a reasonably wide arc that will floor nearby enemies so you can start running.

There is one best place to run, and "away" is not one of them. If you just run in a straight line, the enemy will follow suit and catch up before you have time to heal. Instead, run around a corner or get behind a fence or something. The enemy will take their sweet time circling around despite running full force right at you just before you went around the bend, and you'll be able to go make a cup of tea, then come back and heal.

Even hiding behind a tree or bollard will buy you enough time to heal up and resume blocking. If you're unfortunate enough to be in an area without any obstacles (read: the arena), you can still run around your partner and their entourage to heal most of the time. If they're dead, you're pretty much out of luck, but if there's only one or two enemies, you can sometimes worm around Antoinette and make enough time to heal.

Of course, all of this applies to fleeing from battle as well. Instead of healing, use the time to stow your weapon and then leg it to the next map.

How to Use Unison Strips

This is your spell card lifeline. You'll very rarely use this more than once per fight. By very rarely, I mean never, outside of iDOL dIS@STER. Never - I repeat - NEVER use this for damage unless it's a boss fight, and it will kill the boss, and killing the boss will end the fight. That is a very strict conditional statement.

The only time you should be using your unison strip is if you're in imminent danger of being stripped, and won't be able to find/make an opening to heal. It's on you to decide when this is, but you need to use it smartly. It's your single get out of jail free card to give you (and your partner!) a heal, so make it count. Obviously, charge it up before any major fights. Also, make the most out of it by using it on a fully clothed opponent.

How to Use Your Partner

Don't be stingy with your equipment and upgrades. Giving your partner actually good gear is the single easiest way to make them useful. Though it certainly helps, this isn't enough most of the time. Just like the enemy AI, your partner AI is also quite stupid. Since you only have limited control over what they do, you need to take advantage of it as best you can.

Attack Mode

Your partner will just fight whoever's in front of them. They'll typically use most of the weapon attacks they have, and not much else. They will very rarely attempt to strip someone or heal. They will do both of those things, but don't count on them doing so. Oh, and they also don't really block much.

Defend Mode

Your partner will basically just hold down R. If their clothing is damaged/missing, they will repeatedly attempt to heal regardless of whether or not they're getting attacked. Note that when your partner heals, they recover any torn clothing. They will also try to run towards you (and bring whoever they were fighting along with them) when their health is full.

Using the Modes

Normally, you should leave your partner to their own devices on attack mode. Most of the time they'll do all right. For more difficult battles, though, you'll need to manually control your partner to make sure they're still around for the unison strip when you need it.

In these instances, you have to keep an eye on your partner to make sure their clothing isn't about to be torn. If it is, switch to defense immediately. Unlike you, they will not find cover before trying to heal, and will likely die as a result. You're going to have to support them by going over there and attacking the enemies to buy them time to heal. If only they did that for you, huh.

Alternatively, you can just keep your partner on defensive mode to use them as a meat shield. Not very effective, but if they're not pulling their weight then they gotta be useful somehow.

How to Predict Chain Strips

The other half of combat is a race against time. When your strip finisher animation starts, you'll have less and less time to press the right button as your chain strip counter increases. As it gets higher, you'll need to start preemptively pressing buttons to get it in on time. Fortunately, there are a few things that make this more of a prediction than a guess.

Firstly, the chain strip will prioritize the current target. If you've just taken off someone's pants and their shirt is glowing, you'll need to press B next, no questions asked. Unless they have a glowing hat too, but you knew that.

The chain strip also moves on to the next closest target. This can be a bit difficult to tell depending on your strip animation, but try to keep an eye out for nearby enemies. If you've just stripped a guy down to his birthday suit and the guy next to him only has a pair of glowing pants on, hit A.

It's a bit of a memory game too. Don't just go by the glow during the chain strip, as it can be especially deceiving. Try to remember which items of clothing on which enemies arere vulnerable before you start your chain strip. It also helps to take mental note of which enemies/clothes you've attacked as well.

For the last hit of your strip finisher, the timer will reset to its initial value and you'll have plenty of time to make the right input. Don't rush this one, especially because it's completely random and there's no way to predict it. Missing out on this means missing out on underwear, which you don't want. Make sure you finish your strip properly!

Izayoi Oboro

The best weapon in the game gets its own section. It has myriad useful moves and traits (I won't mention the useless ones), and it's the only weapon you should be using after your first game clear. If you don't care much for dress-ups, give one to all of your partners too.

THE MID STRING

If you just got this weapon and started mashing buttons, you probably would've discovered this straight away. This string completely obliterates upper clothing on the subatomic level. Be careful with it, as the number of hits risks tearing the enemy's clothes before you get a chance to strip it. You can also do a low into the mid barrage. Also, the last hit launches, so you get a guaranteed strip attempt on the enemy in the air.

THE COUNTER LOW

Amazing crushing. Avoids basically any attack with the right timing, and most moves even without any timing. Basically press this to become invincible. Hits in a wide radius, so it knocks down and creates opportunity to escape/heal.

THE LOW STRING

4-hit low string. The first two hits will be in front of you, the third will be behind you, and the last will be either in front or behind, depending on enemies. I think it's the only move in the game that will knock down all enemies 360 degrees around you. It's especially useful to incapitate a whole group of enemies so that you can run/heal/let your partner heal. Startup is quite slow, though. I find that doing a counter low first, and then immediately following with this is the best way to achieve the desired results.

THE UNBLOCKABLE

Best unblockable. Most unblockables are horribly impractical as they have really long startup times which leave you vulnerable, and they'll either be interrupted or get you killed. Not this one, though. Anon will take a huge leap back, evade any incoming attacks, and then jump towards the nearest enemy with a wide slash. Easily knocks a whole group of enemies down. Covers a very large distance, too. Note that you are just as vulnerable as you are with any unblockable. This one is just better because you stay vulnerable for a shorter duration. The startup is fast, and it's only one swing.

THE COUNTER MID

Covers the rest of your bases. Single hit that does good damage and knocks down. Also hits with a decently large radius. Nothing amazing, but a solid move and staple component of your combat.

THE FORWARD HIGH

This is the single best move in the game, the true highlight of this weapon and the reason it's the best. No longer shall an underwear-clad ...female... with cat ears or a ribbon on her head stand between you and victory. You don't even need to ask how her head garment protects her from the sun because you can just drill right through it, and her skuil along with it.

End Note

Well, I wrote a lot of things. Maybe I'll come back and add images of all of my characters to each section for a bit of flavour once I'm happy with them. Thanks for reading, and happy stripping.

[DaWrench53]

Lol I literally thought it was Senjougahara on thumbnail for a second

[SotiCoto]

Stupid controls say "hold" to strip, but pressing the button also attempts to strip. Whoever programmed these controls gave far too short a time-window for interpreting button inputs as "holds".

[davrosin01]

The Tennis Racquet I find is a good weapon to use in the first game as Nanashi. You can damage enough opponents to chain because each opponent you fight is knocked away from you by the weapon so you can focus directly on that opponent rather than a group. It also keeps you away from the group when you are building enough opponents for a chain.

[davrosin01]

There is one thing I don't think gets mentioned. I can't speak for Otaku but in Easy, Casual and Gamer I have maxed out the defense base to 300 and at that point you become virtually invulnerable. The amount of damage any one opponent gives is 1 damage (including Police). I assume in Otaku this also occurrs.

[Mikkeli]

The Izayoi is too fancy for me so I equipped all the girls with Izayoi's and stuck to my 999 police baton.

[Kazumi]

Actually, a post on gamefaqs when looking up the unblockable attack solved the real problem with this game's combat for me. Apparently, to pull off an unblockable attack, it's not that you press Back and Attack, or even Back then Attack...it's press Attack and then immediately press Back. For whatever reason, the game checks that you're doing an attack first, then has a slight lag before actually checking the direction you're holding. Pressing R does help, a lot, after learning this, I experimented for a bit and can pull off the unblockable without guarding now.

[KatoBytes]

I think chain strips are only worth the stress if you don't have the underwear of your opponents, particularly those of bosses. In that case I never activated the special.

[ミルきんブランク]

Personally I consider that a bad thing because it prevents you from doing chain strips. There's also the sense of accomplishment that comes with using the final boss weapon as opposed to the mid boss weapon :P. Whatever works for you, though. Thanks for reading!

[KatoBytes]

Man I always see Izayoi be regarded as the best weapon in the game, but I feel so attached to Zenya's Crimson Death I have to argue otherwise. The special after its 5-hit mid is so satisfying as it rips their clothes instantly. Nice guide though.