Is it a trend or something that makes people think the bullshit is only limited to Normal and Hard Mode? Because it's really not. That half assed guide also said the shotgun does little damage, and yet you're saying it does a lot when I use a specific spell. How the hell do you even get more Skill points? The guide and this reply assume you know exactly what to do. I barely have any SPs to unlock the other abilities. And somehow I'm still lvl 1, but killing lets me level up. Saw that from killing Lampas in one save file. Being the good guy must suck or something. Because you only get money from sparing them. Wth X'D
I already told Dasmir that I was playing on Easy. So how is it that people are still thinking "Oh man, this is a breeze on Easy!" when they themselves have most likely played through this shit like 50 times and already know how to get through it?
But I'm not restarting anything. If I have to go through the IM's 2nd fight again, with a possibility of the game crashing when I finally get to the last section of the fight, that can fuck off.
In order:
Yes, since Normal and Hard will make you want to break several things. Easy in comparison is EXTREMELY generous.
The shotgun for that fight ONLY does good damage when Empuse is in her red eye stance for one turn at a time. I thought it was implied that you shouldn't waste time or ammo shooting on other turns, so I apologize for not being specific enough. Sylph's Wind does not increase damage, it increases your evasion rate. At 90% physical evasion for 5 turns, you will only take damage from the Succubus if at all. Shoot with the shotgun when Empuse is in her red eye state and you have Sylph's Wind up. Reload, keep yourself healthy, or reapply Sylph's Wind on all other turns. You will win in 3 shots on Easy. The Succubus does have a skill that removes Sylph's Wind, so it's luck based whether or not she uses it on that specific turn. If she does, restart and try again, or go with the magic damage approach next time if you don't want to leave anything to chance.
For SP, you have two SP assignment menus. Stats are permanently assigned when you choose them, while you can reassign your SP from spells. Use the left arrow key on the spell you want to remove SP from. Stat improvements from SP are PERMANENT, so choose carefully. Or just focus on Vitality alone. For getting more SP, there are three ways in total:
1. Open the chests in the left room in Hell. Enemies have various poses in their fights, either from temptation or catching you with specific skills. View each at least once, even if you close the game after, or just explore each loss scene to find all of the poses. Enter the left room in Hell, read the red book, and start opening chests from the top right to the left. The percentage increases as you see more poses from enemies, and from doing the bonding event.
2. Raise affection to 99 and do the bonding event for every recruited enemy. Enter the right room in Hell after recruiting at least one enemy (Barghest is usually the first you recruit and unlocks this room.) Enter their room (occupied rooms have names instead of ??? over the door) and raise their affection. You raise their affection by having sex with them (5 points per orgasm) and giving them gifts (5 points from the magic stone, 30 points or so for special gifts like Monster Meat or Emeralds.) Presents can be given again after having sex with them once. You can only cum 5 times before you have to drink herbal tea or pass the time doing something else (battle monsters, progress the story, etc.) The bonding event is a conversation option after 99 affection is reached. Open the last chest on the left in the back of the room to get SP after watching the event. The first chest on the right is generally a box you can equip so that you can fight the enemy again when you go to sleep. The chest in the middle is generally an equipment unique to that enemy that helps you out.
3. Killing enemies and acquiring experience. Whenever you beat an enemy, choose to kill them instead of letting them go. Haven't done much of this since the fights get a bit brutal after a while.
People think it's a breeze on Easy, because it is compared to other difficulties. Try Normal or Hard, the difference in the Iron Maiden fights was huge. On Normal, it took me 50+ turns for both fights from having to juggle the status effects and lust. On Easy, less than 20 turns. Enemies do less damage, they have less health, they drop twice as much money, their status effects don't trigger EVERY turn, item pickups are doubled (items you pick up on the map, not from a fight), your willpower and vitality are higher... Easy makes a difference.
If you want an easier time of the game, focus on upgrading Vitality only when you improve your skills/status. After that, equip the ring that gives 5% vitality regen per turn. You will rarely run out of vitality from then on unless it's a fight mechanic, like with Sphinx (If you don't make choices quickly, you won't have enough vitality to use the only struggle option that works.) If lust is an issue, here are some options: Drink the herbal tea before the fight, it lowers all lust gain for a while (It's the glowing tea set in every safe room. Drinking requires 1 Herb, which is dropped from Lampas, bought from the Merchant, or found throughout the game.) Use Morphine to reduce lust each turn for 5 turns. Use the breathing skill to increase willpower and reduce lust.
Spell wise, try them out since you can reassign SP from those at will. Fire generally defeats Lampas in 2-3 hits, Wind generally beats Barghest in 3 hits and knocks her off of you, Sylph's Wind lets you dodge practically any physical skill, etc.
If you want more specific information on fights or game mechanics, just ask. The guide tecnologias14 linked has less details than I would like on some fights and mechanics, but there is a LOT that can be covered.
How is removing your clothes against any enemy in this game effective? Doesn't that make you more vulnerable to pleasure and temptation? In which with Empuse's case, there's several status ailments flying around trying to hit you.
Some enemies do not take damage until you remove your clothes, or take so little damage that you'd rather quit the game than keep trying for 100 turns. Iron Maiden (in her first fight), Barghest, and Mother Rabbit switch to a temptation stance that is more troublesome than the default stance if you don't win quickly. Mother Rabbit will defeat you if you don't one shot her, for example. Magic is a slower action than firing a gun, so she auto wins if you try to use a spell at that point.