This part of the guide will explain to you each character and what exactly they do. So far, there are 8 playable characters:
1. Levi - The ex-soldier
2. Marina - The Occultist
3. Daan - The Doctor
4. Abella - The Mechanic
5. O'saa - The Yellow Mage
6. Olivia - The The botanist
7. Marcoh - The Thug/Boxer
8. Karin - The Journalist

This section of the guide is to merely explain what each character's strengths and weaknesses are. If you'd instead want to figure out which characters are "beginner friendly", go to the "Recommended Starting Characters" section of the guide. That being said, this guide will not strong-arm you into picking a character you simply do not enjoy. If you see a character that looks cool. Play them. As playing someone you like will make the game more enjoyable.

Advantages

- 1 of 3 characters that can have 125 max HP

- Can wield two handed weapons.

- Specializes in using guns in the overworld.

- Gets to start with a gun of your choosing.

Disadvantages

- If you're not careful during your choices in the backstory, you can start with one of the worst de-buffs in the game: Heroine addiction.

- Many of Levi's skills aren't useful during turned-based fights, making him reliant on using guns in the overworld.


Advantages

- Is one of the few characters that can acquire spells early on

- Has a lot of utility do to her skills and affinity with a god of your choosing.

- Is ability to have various strong starts via backstory options.

Disadvantages

- Can't use two handed weapons

- Magic users can be a bit harder for newer players, but marina makes the experience much better.

Advantages

- Many of Daan's skills are amazing or down right over-powered

- Can use two handed weapons

- Hot

- Great at healing and can even revive party members in battle for a price.

- Starts with a pistol or scalpel, which is better than the starter knife weapon.

Disadvantages

- His skillset is very mind intensive, making resource management a bit harder.

- Daan's "Analyze" skill can trivialize some fights, which could cause bad habits in turn-based combat.


Advantages
- Is the only Female character that can use two handed weapons.

- Can craft traps, but more importantly, multiple devastating weapons.

- Starts with a pipe wrench, a much better weapon than the starting knife.

Disadvantages

- Older players say the main disadvantages of playing Abella, is not being able to recruit Abella, but newer players won't have an idea how to recruit her, so don't worry about that.

- Requires the know-how of where certain items are in order to create her powerful weapons.

- Harder to acquire magic in the early game.


Warning: O'saa is the only character that I can not recommend for newer characters for both gameplay and story reasons.

Advantages
- The strongest magic damage character in the game
- 1 of 3 characters that can start with 125 Max HP
- Has a unique text adventure that gives his character more depth.
- Can change certain properties of spells
- Starts with either a sword or a spear, both much better than the starting knife
- Can use two handed weapons

Disadvantages
- Can't use guns
- The previously mentioned text adventure CAN kill you.
- O'saa has a lot of ties to the previous fear and hunger game, which can make completely new players to the fear and hunger universe confused.
- Magic focused, which means he's mind intensive, making resource management harder.

Advantages
- Specializes in Damage Over Time effects. They will be getting a nerf, but I believe they'll still be good.

- Can pick up plants that can heal mind/body or cause potent debuffs

- Best girl <3

Disadvantages

- Olivia starts with a wheelchair. Making stairs hard to get up on, and if she loses one arm, she will move considerably slower. If you lose two arms, then you get a game over.
- If not in a wheelchair during combat, olivia can only use items. You will have to waste a turn to equip your wheelchair if you want to attack or use skills.
- Some attacks cause Olivia to be knocked out of her wheelchair.
- Can't use two handed weapons

Advantages

- The best physical fighter in the game

- 1 of 3 characters that can get 125 HP

- Has a unique unarmed attack that allows him to hit twice, this is generally a better option than most early game weapons, and even some mid game weapons.

- Can use two handed weapons

Disadvantages

- Marcoh is a bit too good when it comes to early game fights, which can cause bad habits during combat early on.

- Another character in the game does not like Marcoh

- A bit harder to acquire magic in the early game.

Advantages

- Specializes in talking, which can give enemies debuffs.

- Focuses on utility.

- Can start with a pistol, a weapon much better than the knife early game

Disadvantages
- Can't use two handed weapons

- Combat during the early game is a bit harder since most of her skills are utility and magic is harder to get with a fresh karin, but this can teach players that there's more to fights than just attacking.

- Will more than likely have to dabble in magic during the late game if you want Karin to be a good damage dealer.

These are the four characters that I believe are great for beginners, whether its through their strong skill sets, their character history versatility, or both:

• Abella - The mechanic
  
• Marcoh - The thug/boxer
  
• Marina - The occultist
  
• Daan - The doctor

You can find in depth analysis of your backstory options and recommended starts further in this guide.

The mechanic Abella is one of the strongest characters in the game for two reasons. She can craft powerful weapons that not only do high damage, but can apply powerful DOTs, and she has one of the best beginner skills in the game: wrench toss. For her backstory you will be given the following choices:

Learn electronics: This gives you the "short circuit" skill, which can unlock various electronic doors located underground in the game.

Learn mechanics: This gives you the "wrench toss" ability. It allows Abella to throw her wrench at an enemy for massive damage and has a 95% to apply the concussion status effect when targeting a limb. Concussion is like a stun. Un-equips wrench from hands.

Report the man to the officials - This gives you 9 shillings and 1 lucky coin. Shillings are found pretty much everywhere, but the lucky coin can be useful.

Took the man back and treated his wounds - This gives you the officer's sword weapon. A great alternative if one does not wish to learn mechanics in the previous choice, but is also a vital crafting component in one of Abella's special weapons.

Help with crafting weapons - This gives you the weaponcraft skill. This allows you to make some of the best weapons in the game, so long as you can find the materials.

Help with creating traps - This gives you the trapcraft skill. You can make booby traps and bear traps. These can stun your opponents and cut off their legs in the overworld respectively.

Stock up on medical goods: This gives you 2 blue vials and a cloth fragment. Pretty good early on because Abella doesn't have many ways to heal herself in the beginning.

Stock up on spare parts: This gives you various items that are used in the weapon crafting and trap crafting skills. Pretty good as you'll have to do less scavenging to make powerful items.

Stock up on food: Gives you various food items. Not a great option as food is plentiful.

Choice 1: Learn mechanics
Choice 2: Took the man back and treated his wounds
Choice 3: help with crafting weapons
Choice 4: Stock up on spare parts.

These choices allow you to stock up on parts needed for weapon crafting, while also giving you a great damage skill early on. Wrench toss can one shot some of the early game enemies if you target their torso, so you have all of early game in order to find the proper items to build one of Abella's wonderful weapons.

The Boxer Marcoh is easily the best character if you merely want to "win" fear and hunger. He gets multiple ways to get a strong start, a lot of really great skills, and has an ability that allows him to hit twice with unarmed attacks. Being able to hit twice means a lot of the early game weapons will be outclassed along with some of the mid game weapons.

Become a pickpocket - you gain the "steal" skill. Steal is a real risk-reward ability. You can get some great items, but you have to use a whole turn in combat to use it that could be spent defending yourself or dealing damage.

Become a burglar - you gain the "lockpicking" skill. The lockpicking skill is a lot like Abella's short circuit skill, except a lot more applicable. This can get you easy access to extra items, weapons, and is one of the many ways to get into the town as early as the morning on Day 1.

Lead an honest life - You get 10 shillings. I'd really only pick this if you feel like RPing, but other than that, the other options are leagues above this one.

Train strength - Gain +2 attack. Attack stat increases are really situational for marcoh as one of his abilities mentioned later on in this guide benefits from multiple sources of attack increases, but other than that, not much of a great option.

Bulk up in mass - Gain +3 defense and -5% damage received in all physical damage. Defense is pretty okay, but the main reason for this option is the -5% as you can stack a bunch of defensive items along with one of marcoh's skills to make him a tank.

Improve your footwork - Gain +2 agility. Agility is really good in termina as it gives you extra turns once you can increase it to 16, and increases your chances of escaping battles.

Train your stamina - Gain +25 Max HP. Max HP is really good and Marcoh is one of three characters that can obtain this. This choice makes you just a little bit better at everything, as you can take more damage for tanking, and can focus on damage just that little bit more before needing to heal in a fight. Think of this as the safest option.

Specialize in accuracy - you gain the "bare-fisted proficiency" skill. This makes your punches more accurate. You don't really have to worry about accuracy in this game, so the only positive I can think is this is the first skill you have to take in Marcoh's skill tree to access other skills when leveling up.

Specialize in evasion - you gain the "bob and weave" skill. This is a skill you need to take a turn to use in combat. This allows you to dodge attacks, but dodge is RNG based, so this skill could be a godsend or utter garbage. I wouldn't recommend this option either.

Specialize in defense - you gain the "perfect guard" skill. Guarding may not seem useful in a game where there's magic and guns, but it can be a life-saver. Not only does it negate a lot of damage, but guarding can prevent enemies from doing devastating coin flip attacks. Perfect guard further increases the damage negation, and more importantly, prevents limb loss while guarding.

Specialize in offense - you gain the "adrenaline rush" skill. This is a really special skill in that it increases your attack stat over time in turn-based fights. On turn one you get a 5% increase, 10% on turn 2, and 30% on turn 3. This is really good, and gets better the more attack increases you get.

Get rid of Riccardo - you gain the "killing intent" skill. So the idea behind this skill is that some enemies won't try to fight you in the overworld. The only problem is that the enemies affected by this list are no threat to Marcoh.

Get your sister and flee the country - you gain the "escape plan" skill. This increases your chances of escaping fights. Considering the other option isn't that great, I'd recommend this skill 10/10 times.

Stock up on medical goods - Marcoh doesn't have a reliable way early game to heal, so this is a nice option.

Stock up on food - Just assume from now on that this option should best be avoided unless you really just want some extra food.

Take your luxury products - This gives you two powerful items: heroine and pep pills. Normally you have to get these items through RNG or hard fights, but Marcoh can start with one of each. This is a good option if you're in desperate need, but you do run the risk of gaining the heroine addiction debuff.

Marcoh can be built in various ways, so I'm going to give you my personal choices, then give you a few fun archetypes you could build around.

Choice 1: Become a burglar
Choice 2: Train your stamina
Choice 3: Specialize in defense
Choice 4: Get your sister and flee the country
Choice 5: Stock up on medical goods
These slew of choices allow you to explore the many locked off areas of the early-game, while still being able to take a punch when encountering new enemies, and if you can't beat them, you can easily run away.

Choice 1: Any
Choice 2: Bulk up in mass
Choice 3: Specialize in defense
Choice 4: Flee the country
Choice 5: Stock up on luxury goods
While not too different from my personal recommendations, these choices allow Marcoh to really take a beating (as far as a fear and hunger character goes).

Choice 1: Any
Choice 2: Train strength
Choice 3: Specialize in offence
Choice 4: Flee the country (or the other option if you're really want to roleplay big strong guy)
Choice 5: Stock up on luxury goods
These choices will allow you to snowball in longer fights as the extra attack stats can make all of the difference. Pep pills and heroine can also increase the number of attacks made and damage respectively.

Aside from being baby girl, Daan is probably one of the most beginner friendly characters out there aside from Marcoh. Daan is able to conserve resources through some of his abilities, while also having some really powerful skills in battle making him great in both combat and overworld exploration. If there's a problem, Daan can usually fix it.

Try to find honest work - for once, this isn't a bad option because it leads into another choice that gives you the following two choices:

Memorize this very line - this gives you the skills "medicinal" and "organ harvest". These two skills allow you to harvest organs, which in turn, can be used to cure several status effects on your party members. Just make sure to cut off the head before harvesting organs, otherwise you'll be losing out on soul stones which is the main way to gain new skills in the hexen.

Continue with the studies to learn more - this gives you the analyze skill. This allows you to target the weakspot of an enemy (usually the head) without running the risk of missing because you didn't take out the other limbs. This weakspot will also take more physical damage, making this great for parties that can attack multiple times.

The other option is:

Try to become a pickpocket - this gets you the magical ability "loving whispers" and +2 affinity with Sylvian. Sylvian is a god in fear and hunger that specalizes in healing magic, and due to the affinity increase, you get other skills like "phermones" that acts like a taunt ability, or a party wide healing ability.

Join as a medic - this gives you a light blue vial, pep pills, and a scalpel. The light blue vial heals around the same amount as the previously mentioned "loving whispers", the pep pills allow you to get double turns for a fight, and the scalpel is great early game melee weapon.

Join the Infantry - This option gives you a pistol and some ammunition. While I can't recommend the shotgun and rifle being used in turn-based combat, I think the pistol is a great early game weapon due to its ability to dish out high damage in turn based combat with relatively low opportunity cost.

Stock up on medical goods - Daan is the one character that I'd say this not as great of an option because of how easy it is to get healing from other parts of the backstory. It's still a better option than food though.

Stock up on food - food is abundant in termina, so you don't need to worry about this.

Stock up on alcohol - alcohol is one of the few ways to heal your mind, and because every skill gained from Daan's backstory requires mind to use, this is likely your best option.

Like Marcoh, there's a few ways to build Daan. If you look on other videos online, you will notice that what I'll recommend is far different from others' opinions.

Choice 1: Become a pickpocket
Choice 2: Join as a medic
Choice 3: Stock up on alcohol

Many other guides will tell you to go for the analyze skill, but I'm going to defend the other option in choice 1. Analyze is one of the best skills in the game, but you don't need it from the get-go. A lot of early game enemies have you trying to take out a certain limb turn 1, so analyze isn't good there. Many of the early game unique enemies/bosses will overwhelm a solo Daan through either cutting off his limbs, coin flip attacks, or shear amount of attacks, so having a skill that takes an entire turn against these deadly enemies won't work either. Since you don't really need the analyze skill from the beginning, take Sylvian's spell because it has a use in the early game when healing isn't as abundant. Do note that you're not missing out on analyze, because it's a part of Daan's skill tree in the hexen. Plus you are getting +2 affinity with Sylvian, so that gives you access to the spells "pheremones" a taunt ability and "healing whispers" a party wide heal ability.

If you don't want to become a pickpocket in choice 1, the other options are both really good either so that would be up to personal preference. I believe medic is the better option for choice 2 solely because the scalpel doesn't need ammunition and you get pep pills. For choice 3, as previously mentioned, Daan is a mind heavy character so anything that can heal that will be the better option.

Marina is very lovely and is one of the most versatile characters not only in her choices, but ways she can use magic and various other skills tied to only her. This is mainly because she gets max affinity with a god of your choosing, and the option to start with a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bible. This makes Marina a very versatile character in the early game.

Side note: When talking about Marina, the gods will be brought up. Here's a quick run-down: There are several gods in the game that each require their own actions to gain affinity with. Gaining affinity allows you to take abilities from their skill tree. Here's how to gain affinity with the gods. To conduct rituals for the gods you need chalk and the skin bible named after them. Once those items are in place, you will have to find a sigil to draw their icon on. There are two types of ritual circles that relate to the god, and if you write the wrong one down nothing will happen and you will waste that circle. Here are the ritual circle names that can be drawn on:

Asymmetrical: This circle almost kind of looks like a pentagram shape. The gods that can be drawn here are Gro-goroth, Sylvian, Vinushka, and Rher

Perfect circle: This circle looks like a bunch of squiggly lines (I'm not really good at explaining it, but you will first see one in the train if you head back inside.) The gods that can be drawn here are The God of Fear and Hunger and All-Mer.

Note: There's also a book called, "Occult Grimoires" that explain these mechanics.


Study occultism - You gain the "engrave" skill. So what engrave does is it gives you various buffs to your stats depending on which god you choose. This is a top skill in the game as it just adds more to what you're already doing, but you don't really need it off the bat unless you get really lucky with a later choice.

Study Alchemy - you receive two books called: Alchemilla vol 1 and Alchemilla vol 2. This is a really great starter choice. You get the crafting recipes for both healing items, a buff item, and a damage item early on. This gives you a lot of early game healing items, which is much needed for newer players or players that want to play riskier.

Study Blood magic - you gain the "necromancy" skill. This is a skill that allows to raise the undead, but it only works on corpses in soldier uniforms or a certain type of enemy that wields a sickle once defeated. It's really good because you can get party members early on. Granted you can't control these party members, but they're meant to be more meat-shield-y than your fellow contestants. It's a really good skill both early on, and to get god affinity as you can sacrifice them with no worry.

This choice is very unique, in that you can get max affinity with a god you're choosing. Here's a quick rundown for each god and what they'll give you.

Gro-goroth: Focuses on damaging spells and summoning (including the necromancy skill you can get from choice 1)

Sylvian: Focuses on healing magic and gives a taunt ability.

All-mer: Gives you a spell that can summon a weapon. Great if you don't have any other good weapon options.

Rher: Mainly utility allowing you to read minds or get +25 max mind.

Vinushka - Sort of combines Sylvian and Gro-goroth, but you need both mentioned gods' affinity as well to get the better options in her skill tree.

The God of Fear and Hunger - Has several abilities that can cause some vital debuffs and has one of my favorite skills in the game "Flesh Puppetry". Also lets you talk to vermin which can give you items.

This is sort of up to your choice because you can get the all the affinity you want by the end of the game. Although I'd like to mention that Sylvian and Gro-Goroth are the easiest gods to gain max affinity with, but each option is still useful.


Stock up on medical goods - A great way to get early game healing if you didn't study alchemy, but it's not really that good in comparison to one other option.

Get something to read - This gives you a random skin bible. In order to use your engrave skill minute one after finishing character history you need the skin bible of the god you want. You also need skin bibles to draw ritual circles, a pretty large part in the game's mechanics and one of the many ways to gain god affinity.

Stock up on food - While I haven't recommended food for the other character guides, I highly suggest not to pick this option because of the skin bible option.

As you can probably tell by the other character guides, the characters I recommend are also the most customizable in the beginning, and Marina is no different. Here are my personal reccomendations:

Choice 1: Study Alchemy
Choice 2: Gro-Goroth
Choice 3: Pick something to read
This gives you early game healing and the easiest access to all the fun damage spells along with a few summoning spells to help with the lack of party members in the early game.

Here is an alternate way to play that I'd also recommend:

Choice 1: Study blood magic
Choice 2: Sylvian
Choice 3: Something to read
These options give you a nice combo: Blood magic allows you to raise corpses, while Sylvian gives you an ability that lets your undead taunt enemies called "pheremones". Pair this with the healing skills and some good armor, and you can have a pretty good tank on your side while the actual useful party members can focus on offense.

These characters I would say are for more advanced players that at the very least understand the basic mechanics of the game, and would not only recommend these folks for a second play through, but in the guides I will be assuming you've at least gotten through most of the game once:

• Levi
  
• Karin
  
• O'saa
  
• Olivia

First and foremost, Levi is by no means weak, and he was the first character I've beaten the game with. Like all the other playable men in the game, levi is able to wield two-handed weapons, and is one of three characters to be able to have 125 hp in the game. These two facets make him strong in turn-based combat, but the over world is where he specializes, due to his skills focusing around the gun mechanics. Reminder: Don't be afraid to use ammo, especially if you know where places to acquire it. Not only are guns powerful, but they're fun to use and Levi gives them much more depth. Here are his choices:


Pray for a god - This gives you +1 affinity with a god of your choosing. Unlike Marina, this option isn't all that useful as it is only 1 affinity point compared to marina's max affinity. The only reason I could think of choosing this option is to get either All-mer's blood sword (a summonable weapon that does mid-game damage) or The God of Fear and Hunger's rot (a skill that reduces enemies' torso's max HP) as early as possible.

Stand up against your father - You get +25 max Hp. Same as Marcoh's deal: It's the safe option that allows you to better focus on damage or defense during a fight without needing to heal as often.


Pistols - You gain a pistol with 10 bullets. 10 bullets is nothing to snuff at, but both the gun and the ammo are relatively common (I once had a run where I used the pistol often and still had 20+ rounds).

Rifles - You gain a rifle with 4 rounds. Rifles can take off entire limbs of enemies which is a big help in all stages of the game. The only downside is you can get a rifle in the early game in Old Town using a simple key.

Trench guns - You gain a shotgun with 3 rounds. This option is highly recommended as trench guns are much harder to find, and you can shoot off the lock that blocks you from going into the city. There's also a certain boss within the woods that can easily be killed in two shots.


Take the mission and fulfill your duty - WARNING: THIS OPTION GIVES YOU A MAJOR DE-BUFF IN THE GAME CALLED HEROINE ADDICTION. That being said, you get one of levi's skills that pertains to the gun you choose in option 2. Gunslinger allows the pistol to shoot off limbs much like the rifle, marksmanship gives the rifle a 25% to kill an over world enemy in 1-shot, and executioner is currently bugged and does nothing. You also gain 1 heroine.

Abandon the sinking ship - You gain nothing, but you also don't gain a heroine addiction for a skill you can unlock as early as afternoon 1.


Stock up on medical goods - You gain 2 blue vials and a cloth fragment. A good option as levi doesn't have much healing early game.

Stock up for ammo - Depending on the gun you choose in option 2, you can get either 4 pistol rounds, 3 rifle rounds, or 2 shotgun rounds. This option's value increases if you picked the rifle or shotgun. If you have the pistol, I'd at least think about the other options.

Stock up on food - Same as usual: Not that good.

Levi is one of the more straight forward characters in the game when it comes to backstory if you're planning on optimizing. Here's the personal recommendation:

1. Stand up to your father
2. Trenchguns
3. Abandon the sinking ship
4. Stock up on ammo

But say you wanted a bit more of a challenge. Say you beat the game once before and you want a whole different experience. May I present to you: the closest thing to a meme build.

1. Stand up to your father
2. Pistols
3. Take the mission and fufill your duty
4. Stock up on ammo

An addict levi and a non-addict levi play about the same, but you need to be a lot more careful in turn-based combat as the lowered agility will make early game enemies go first, and the lowered attack can put you under certain damage thresholds to take off limbs in one hit. That's where the pistol comes in, as you'll be shooting limbs off rather than fighting normally.

While I believe Karin to be the weakest among the current playable characters, she is by no means bad, and in my opinion, is one of the most fun playstyles in the game. While she has a lot of utility, she's not all that good of a combatant in the early and mid game, but finding solutions to problems other characters wouldn't have is so much fun. By late game though you're more than likely going to spec Karin into some form of magic. Here are her options:


Convince passerby that you've been kidnapped - You gain the persuade ability. Persuade enhances the talk skill, allowing for Karin to give unique de-buffs (and sometimes buffs) to enemies. The main downside is talking requires a turn, but Karin has a skill in her hexen that allows 1 free talk at the start of battle, so it gets better as you go along.

Run through the crowded streets and hide - You gain escape plan. This works the same way as Marcoh's escape plan, but the only difference is Karin has this in her hexen. Meaning if you don't pick this option you can still get escape plan.


Help those who were wounded - You gain 4 cloth fragments and 2 blue vials. 4 cloth fragments is pretty good since a good amount of early game enemies cause bleed.

Grab a pistol from one of the officers and defend yourself - You gain a pistol with 6 rounds. Really great because this is the only good option Karin will have in the early game by either using in turn-based battles or the overworld.

Run through the crowded streets and hide - You gain escape plan. This time around, this is not a good option due to the other two being leagues better. Also does nothing if you already picked escape plan.


Stock up on medical goods - You gain 2 blue vials and 1 cloth fragment. This option is okay, but much like marina, there's one clear cut answer to this option. If you want healing items from the start, just take it from previous option.

Stock up on self defense items - (If you took the gun in option 2) you gain 7 more rounds and a fencing gambeson. (If you didn't take the gun in option 2) you gain a pistol with 5 rounds, and a fencing gambeson. This option is the best no matter your previous choices because you either get a gun or more ammo, and a piece of armor that is pretty good against piercing attacks.

Stock up on food - It will be a cold day in hell when I recommend this option.

Option 1: Run through the crowded streets
Option 2: Grab a pistol from one of the officers and defend yourself
Option 3: Stock up on self defense items

These choices give you the easiest time in the early game if you don't feel like killing your other contestants. If you're feeling a little murderous, I'd suggest picking the other choice in option 1. With 13 bullets and a near-guaranteed chance to escape, you should be able to kill enough enemies for some heads and explored enough areas for either better weapons or enough items to get into mid-game.

Olivia, at first glance, doesn't seem like she'd be all that powerful. She's in a wheelchair that, if knocked out of in combat, wastes a turn because you can't attack or use skills while not in her wheelchair. Olivia being weak couldn't be farther from the truth as she has a solution for almost everything. She has strong healing, damage, and utility throughout all of her skills and backstory options. Here they are:


Give in to jealousy and try to outdo her in science - You gain the short circuit skill. This is the same effect as Abella's. It opens up electrical doors in the underground areas of the game. While it can be useful to getting into the city early on, many of the areas locked behind electrical doors contain parts for the "weapon making" skill, which Olivia can't utilize as well as a character that can hold two handed weapons (unless you have party members that can).

Stick to botanism - You gain the undergrowth awareness skill. This allows you to harvest nettle, hemlock, wild daga, and blue roots. These are pretty good items on their own, but it's Olivia's other skills that makes this the go-to option.


Try to steal the affection of the professor - Gain the book "Recipes of the 15th Century Vol 1." You get a cookbook, and while you're getting a book out of the loot pool at bookshelves, it's not really much of a benefit to have it early on.

Just concentrate on your own studies - You gain advanced botanism. This gives you a bunch of powerful item recipes. You can make items that regenerate your health, allowing you to focus less on healing during long fights, or make full-healing items for your body and mind stats. You'll need a lot of red herbs though.

Expose the professor to his superiors - You get nothing. No, seriously.


Specialize in folkloristic side of botanism - You get the book "skin bible: vinushka". Drawing vinushka's sigils allows you to get to various places that have extra items or skip entire places. For instance, in the abandoned shack, the sigil will allow you to get into the deep woods, an area with a lot of herbs and other items Olivia loves.

Specialize in toxicology - You gain toxicology. Allows you to craft condensed nettle and condensed hemlock. These are just more powerful versions of the nettle and hemlock items. Nettle lowers the defense, of the targeted limb, the hit rate of physical attacks, and skips that limb's turn, while condensed hemlock has the powerful "toxic" status effect. Toxic takes off 15% hp per turn of whatever limb you targeted, which is pretty big for boss enemies.


Find something to read for your travels - You gain the book "Alchemillia Vol 1." This allows you to make blue vials and mix blue and red herbs. It's an okay option, but as Olivia, red herbs will be used for the more powerful items.

Stock up on herbs - You get 2 blue and green herbs, 2 lavender, and a red herb. This is a really great option because it allows you make the powerful items in previous options the moment you step off the train.

Stock up on food - You gain 2 dried meat and moldy bread. I do not recommend this option.

:1. Stick to botanism
2. Just concentrate to your own studies
3. Specialize in folkloristic side of botanism
4. Stock up on herbs

If you've read any of my other guides, you'll know that I usually recommend options that the player usually can't get without some rituals or killing other contestants compared to skills they can obtain in their hexen (I.E Daan with loving whispers), but a lot of Olivia's skills are so powerful that you'd want them at the beginning over the other options. The only outlier is the third option, but it's up to personal choice with that one.

And finally, we have O'saa, who's probably my favorite character in this game both story and gameplay wise. We will not be discussing the full-text adventure (there are other guides made by lovely people for that), but just the abridged version. Here are his choices:


Take your family Chac chac - You gain a chac chac. This gives you +30 magic attack, and it's pretty good for O'saa because of a skill we'll talk about later.

Take your father's memento, Soul stone - You gain a soul stone. You get dozens of these throughout the games so long as you're sawing off heads, so I suggest the other option


Learn worship in Europa - You gain +1 affinity with a god of your choice. Unlike Levi, this option is slightly better because of O'saa's more magically inclined skill set. Still not better since it's just one affinity which could only unlock something like blood sword or rot.

Learn magic from the eastern sanctuaries - you gain the pyromancy trick. It's a nice early game damage spell, but I personally don't like the fire spells in the game because they have a base chance to fail on top of possibly missing if the enemy has magic evasion.

Learn methods of your home country - you gain the meditate skill. Meditate is currently bugged. What's supposed to happen is whenever you guard you gain 1 rev point, but instead it gives 2. Even without this bug this skill is amazing because guarding is already really good, so anything to make it better is always preferred.


Learn basic techniques - You learn the skill La Danse Macabre. This is very similar to Marcoh's Adrenaline rush, but deals with magic. On turn 1 you will have 50% more magic attack, turn 2 gives you 270%, and turn 3 gives you a whole 500%! This is additive (I.E if you had a magic attack do 50 damage on turn 1, you'd do 75 damage, and 300 damage on turn 3.) This is hands down one of the best skills in the game.

Learn more advanced magic - You gain the skill hurting. It's a damage spell that does a flat 276 damage with the only variation being the enemies' defenses. The only drawback is it requires 1 rev point to be used, so unfortunately no turn 1 hurting.


Pick skin bible Gro-goroth - You gain Gro-goroth's skin bible. Great if you want to get his damage spells early on.

Pick skin bible Rher - You gain Rher's skin bible. Great if you want some lore stuff as many of his skills gives you things like mind reading and the sorts. Also gives you a whole +25 mind.

Pick skin bible Sylvian - You gain Sylvian's skin bible. Great if you want pheremones and healing magic early on.


Pick the officer sword - You gain the item officer sword. Solid slashing damage weapon that only requires one hand to use. Anything is better than the base knife, and can be used in crafting if you get one of Abella's skills.

Pick the iron spear - You gain the iron spear item. While needing two hands, this is the best starting weapon anyone in the roster could have. It does piercing damage which is what a lot of enemies are weak to. For instance, you can one-shot the woodsman's hatchet arm turn 1 (Only in fear and hunger mode).

Stock up on medical goods - You gain 2 blue vials and 1 cloth fragment. Pretty alright option and great alternative if you didn't pick up any spells in the backstory.

Stock up on magical goods - You gain 2 Tobacco and 1 condensed lavender. This is great as it gives you a stock of mind healing items from the very beginning. This is even more desired if you picked more magic focused options.

Stock up on food - I'mma be real I've ran out of things to say for this bad option. 2 Dried meat and 1 bread.


Much like Marcoh and Daan, there's a few ways of going about Osaa's backstory. I'll give you my personal recommendations and a more magic focused option because come on, you picked the wizard looking man to cast spells and ♥♥♥♥, not the "meta".

Option 1: Take your family chac chac
Option 2: Learn Methods of your home country
Option 3: Personal preference
Option 4: Pick skin bible gro-goroth
Option 5: Pick iron spear
Option 6: Stock up on magical goods

I go back and fourth on what's better for option 3. La Danse Macabre leaves you without a spell making it useless in the beginning, while hurting requiring 1 rev point doesn't make it appealing early game when the spear can do much more damage to a lot of early game enemies.

Option 1: Take your family chac chac
Option 2: Learn Magic from the eastern sanctuaries
Option 3: Learn basic techniques
Option 4: Pick skin bible gro-goroth
Option 5: Pick iron spear
Option 6: Stock up on magical goods