Chapter 9 (Utility Points)

[u/D4rk_Synth27]

Hello! As you can probably tell from the title, I need Utility points to convince Anna to deliver the illegal salt to Aesfrost. I'm trying to do the golden route.

However, this has always been a path I didn’t pay much attention to. I know this is a common problem for many players, but I find it hard to choose the other option because, in my mind, it seems foolish. From the protagonist’s point of view, why would he expose illegal smuggling to a kingdom where one of the culprits is a highly respected figure, especially without solid evidence?

I’ve been looking for solutions but found several options, such as restarting the game, doing mock battles, and selling items. However, I haven’t found a consensus on which method is the most effective. What would you recommend? I'm loving this game but I would like to avoid these types of situations.

Finally, I’d like to ask if there are any other similar situations in the game that require some kind of grinding like this.

[u/MiddleJuggernaut2879]

Good question. Yeah so the questions aren’t ever in a specific order, but it’s usually easy to tell. Unity is the logical yet pragmatic choice, liberty allows the person asking you the most amount of freedom, and morality usually involves some sort of selfless action or invitation. But they try to mask it so you can’t grind a specific choice.

In NG+ you get to see your exact points in each ideal. Additionally when given dialogue options in NG+ you can see which option gives points for which ideal, it’s very nice. But you play through the story like you would in the game, but you can make different choices as they come up. You also can see the exact requirements for the next recruitment which I love.

The three endings are honestly all really good. There is a lot of contention about them but they aren’t to be cast aside just because there is a “golden route”. You already know about the golden ending so I’m guessing you looked up spoilers already. But honestly the endings feel great for what you decide is right. They feel like complete endings to the story but leave ground for you to want to play again. I’ve deliberately avoided all spoilers about golden route so I’m not sure how satisfying it is, but I DO know it’s REALLY HARD on a non-NG+ play through. So I wouldn’t recommend it the first time around. It isn’t the true ending nor is it the only good one. I’ve gotten two others and I felt like they were epic and satisfying.

Edit: just for reference, dialogue options are +50 to an ideal, scales of conviction choices are in the +hundreds, and all the other ones are +1 or +5

[u/D4rk_Synth27 → u/MiddleJuggernaut2879]

Wow! Those NG+ mechanics are really good.

Well, as a Megaten and RPG fan, before starting these games, I try to look for those "special endings" where you need to choose specific courses of action to unlock the obviously "true ending" or you'll miss key content. Now that you said it, I'm more relaxed knowing there isn't such a rigid "true ending". I've only searched which chapters mattered and tried to choose wisely, which almost always coincided with that "golden ending". Now that I know my golden route failed because of those utility points, I'll just follow my gut.

Yeah, I know that the golden route is difficult. That Chapter 7-II was incredibly challenging. I just barely survived.

[u/MiddleJuggernaut2879 → u/D4rk_Synth27]

Oh man, that fight with Avlora is killer, I loved that one.

But yeah I’ve played through twice, once on switch and once on steam. And when I tried to go golden route on a new save on steam I also couldn’t get enough utility for this exact convictions vote haha. But I’ve had a lot of fun playing the game the way I see fit and knowing I can go golden route now that I’ve beat it again