Unsolicited update on my mostly blind Paradox run, at roughly ~60 hours: just finished what I believe is Act 2 in Part 1? Not sure how the game is necessarily structured, but the plot now has the squad moving to the next region/continent to get Undine.
The team currently consists of Luka, Ilias, Promestein, and Minelli (Mimic) as the front line, with Lime, Hild, Nuruko, and Reina as the second line. Minelli is genuinely crazy if you run her as a Mimic for the 100% chance to trigger Surprise Box, allowing her to usually vore someone on the first turn. Combining that with 100% escape and Quintuple Encounters allows for some decent farming cheese, though I'm sure there's more efficiency to be found through adding other vore synergies. Minelli was especially helpful in devouring like half of the tower basement's Honey Pots, allowing me to avoid dealing with her obnoxious AOEs and rejoicing in all that free JP. Oh, and what I also found really amusing is that you can vore someone and they can still be recruited after the battle.
Build-wise, almost everyone has finished the grind for Endure (Warrior > Power Fighter 6) and Goddess's Blessing (Apprentice Hero 8) so they can tank 3 hits apiece, rather than being one shot and destroying my team's action economy through revives. This also helps free up an accessory slot, as I don't think the accessory versions of those abilities stack. Luka has also picked up Einherjar for a full-party raise spell (though it inflicts Rampage, basically berserk with an extra action), so that's been helpful. I can't see any of the advanced jobs as of this post, so I'm hoping they allow for some solid diversity.
Luka's also really picked up in strength. In the last battle of Act 2, using Sylph with a 150% boost for next physical action let him almost instakill the boss and did like 60-75k damage with Red Lotus Flame Blade. It was great. Can't necessarily say the same for Ilias or Promestein, though they are good in smiting trash packs (if they get their attacks off).
Composition-wise, I'm thinking about benching Lime in favor of someone else, though I haven't fully recruited everyone from the continent, so I may do that before making any decisions. Getting someone with a more helpful trait for higher evasion or boosted priority on certain skills might be worth it. I'm also not sure what to do with Minelli now that she's maxed out her racial class. Swapping her to either of the other options available to her removes the 100% chance to open the fight with Surprise Box, so I'm loath to lose that. Either way, I know as soon as I figure out a potential lineup replacement the game will probably give me a strong unique character through plot developments and make all this moot.
Speaking of the plot, it's batshit insane in a good way, which is to be expected for something involving multiple worlds, but I'm here for it.
As for affinity and money, should I hold off until I get to the new region to spend it? I'm at 270k and was able to clear Act 2 without really buying anything, but it does seem like it's enough to get some of these 10k affinity items through store-bought items. I assume Cook is able to make meals for expediting the affinity grind, but I haven't actually used the job whatsoever, so I dunno. Any insights here would be appreciated.
Gameplay-wise, I'm also confused as to the game's implementation of monster girls. Why do they all share the same affinity score for recruitment purposes? Is that a gameplay simplification? Similarly, are you just fighting the same one/s over and over until they join? Or is there some kind of hive mind thing I'm not aware of? The temple NPCs made it a point to explain that each monster girl's affinity score is shared with all of them, but didn't really go into detail as to why that's a thing. I assume it's just gameplay simplification for the same reason eating these enemies whole doesn't lower my affinity, but I'm curious if it's ever brought up whatsoever.
