Sorry for the late reply! I really loved the characters too, especially Akiho (yeah, the article gives that away pretty quickly lol)! And yes, you definitely need a guide, I really have no idea how that system works… I don’t usually mind checking a guide, but I guess that might be a problem for some people.

About Dash, when I tried it, I felt it clashed with how characters were portrayed in the prequel, but apparently, that might be due to an imprecise translation; you should definitely try it with the Committee of Zero patch, as that fixes the translation and consistency issues with the rest of the series. Personally, I’ve played most of the games without the patches, as they’re only on Steam, but I can see why people enjoy them! Maybe that will make you want to try Dash?