Hills

Background and Role in the Story

Hills arrives in Gadola with partial memories and a pressing need for income and shelter. Early dialogue establishes Hills as capable but not yet connected — a blank slate the city tries to shape through job offers, favors, and threats. Within the first week Hills crosses paths with Micoco, whose recognition of Hills hints at a deeper history tied to the series' prior adventure.

As investigations deepen, Hills becomes a visible actor in the conspiracy linking the Noble Quarter, Market District, and Slums. Your choices do not redefine Hills' core personality wholesale; instead, the game tracks conviction flags (justice, pragmatism, secrecy) that gate dialogue and endings. Consistency matters — sudden tonal shifts can fail hidden checks even if average affinity looks fine.

Base Stats and Growth

Hills uses the same core attributes as companions — Vitality, Insight, Agility, Resolve, and Presence — but starts with balanced baselines that bias slightly toward Insight and Presence to support investigation gameplay. Training actions during the day raise stats incrementally; rare key items and chapter rewards provide larger spikes.

• Vitality — HP pool and tolerance for environmental hazards during exploration.
• Insight — Success on clue checks, puzzle options, and critical hit chance in combat.
• Agility — Turn order, dodge interactions, and action point efficiency in multi-target skills.
• Resolve — Guard effectiveness, status resistance, and crisis event stability.
• Presence — Relationship gains, shop prices, and intimidation or charm dialogue branches.

Hills gains EXP from combat and selected story missions. Level-ups award small stat points and one perk pick every five levels. Perks are permanent; respec is not available outside New Game Plus mods.

Combat Identity

In battle Hills occupies a flexible striker/support hybrid slot. Weapon choice — blade, implement, or mixed off-hand tool — is fixed by a mid-game story decision but can be shifted in New Game Plus. Basic attacks scale with Insight; guard and item use scale with Resolve. Hills also carries a unique "Tactical Pause" once per fight that lets you inspect enemy intent icons, a mechanic introduced in Combat Basics.

Because Hills must be in every party, avoid building purely as a glass cannon unless your companions cover mitigation. Pair aggressive Hills builds with a frontline companion from All Companions and healing or cleanse support. For boss rushes, consult Action Point Builds for stat breakpoints that unlock stronger combo actions with Micoco during set-piece fights.

Daily Life and Action Point Interaction

Outside combat Hills is the avatar for all action point spending. Work actions raise currency and sometimes Presence; study actions raise Insight; fitness raises Vitality and Agility. Social actions raise relationship flags but rarely raise combat stats — plan social days before combat gates, not after.

Hills-specific appointments appear as gold markers on the map. Missing them usually wastes the slot rather than failing the game, but repeated misses stack exposure or lose companion trust. The Save Points guide recommends saving before any gold-marker evening that follows a major district unlock.

Route Flags and Ending Influence

Three hidden conviction tracks — Justice, Pragmatism, Secrecy — move based on major choices. Endings require thresholds on these tracks plus companion and NPC states. The Requirements Checklist lists exact numbers for the True Ending; even if you ignore min-maxing, avoid maxing opposing convictions simultaneously or you may lock yourself into neutral outcomes.

Hills also maintains a "Debt" and "Exposure" pair of economic/social meters. High debt limits shop purchases and certain bribes; high exposure triggers checks in the How to Protect events. Managing both is as important as winning fights.

Build Recommendations by Phase

Early game (Days 1–10): Prioritize Insight for clue checks and Presence for cheaper supplies. Take one Vitality training before the first mandatory boss in Early Game.

Mid game: Balance Resolve and Agility so Hills can guard while companions apply debuffs. Start syncing perks with your main companion's abilities.

Late game: Push Insight to combo thresholds for Micoco link attacks and ensure Resolve prevents one-shot failures in finale bosses.

Personality Convictions in Practice

Justice flags rise when Hills exposes corruption publicly, returns stolen goods, and sides with clinic workers over profiteers. Pragmatism rises when accepting bribes, selling clues, or prioritizing coin to pay debt. Secrecy rises when hiding evidence for later or lying in hearings to protect companions. Endings read pairwise comparisons — high Justice plus high Secrecy without Pragmatism buffer often yields ambiguous neutral outcomes.

Dialogue UI shows only subtle color cues on major choices; there is no on-screen "+Justice" popup. Walkthrough writers recommend journaling big decisions or using save slots named by conviction lean. How to Complete lists chapter beats that move convictions sharply — avoid accidental swings before companion heart events.

Hills in Exploration and Stealth

Outside combat Hills interacts with clickable nodes — lockpicks, ledgers, eavesdrop points. Insight gates success; Agility reduces AP cost to reach distant nodes same day. Failed checks rarely fail the game outright but may raise Exposure or close same-day retry until a tool from All Items is used.

Stealth sequences (Vessa tutorials, noble infiltration) use a simplified detection meter separate from combat AP. Hills can crouch behind cover; companion escorts are narrative-only in stealth — do not expect Renna to tank detection. Silence Oil reduces patrol density one transition; it does not stack with duplicate oils same day.