Etrian Odyssey III, continued

Okay, so I've spent a considerable more time playing Etrian Odyssey III, and I can honestly say that I'm loving it. I can't remember the last time I was this drawn into an RPG. Maybe back when I was playing Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Golden Sun: The Lost Age, or Pokemon Gold? As you can see, I'm a much bigger fan of RPGs on handheld systems versus consoles, even with less cutscenes and nice graphics.

I've come to realize drawing the map is much more interesting than I originally thought. By giving the player the map right off the bat, the player would already know where to go to find the staircase, boss, event, etc. But by not giving the player the map, the development team created an old school dungeon crawler, which is extremely rare to find these days. I'm talking about games like Phantasy Star, Shining in the Darkness, and others just like them. I'm betting two guys from the development staff sat down a decade ago thinking, man, I think it's about time the dungeon crawler came back, or better yet, the text adventure! But the other guy said, "Guys, no one wants to play those games, because they're too hard. Who wants to get frustrated trying to figure their way around a dungeon, the whole time also trying to remember the whole dungeon layout?" They all agreed that the smartest players would draw the map out on paper, space for space, and the same thing with text adventures with each "room". So the game never got made. In 2006, the DS came out, and it had a touch screen. At that point, I bet it hit those developers hard, the possibilites of having a bottom screen which could be drawn upon. The dungeon crawler was reborn, and as bonus, they added plenty of text adventure flavor to it as well. I love randomly coming across a plot point, asking if I want to do something or not, with having an outcome to either my characters or the story. As an example, I've been helping a kid (although I think he's a kid...) through the floors, and he's been happy for it. The past time I ran into him, he wanted me to help him defeat the boss of the first stratum, but unfortunately I was not prepared yet for that battle, so I turned down his offer. He didn't seem very happy, but I was being honest, and knew that if I tried to help him and failed, it might have an effect on the game. Being honest can really have an effect on the gameplay, which is really cool. Maybe not that situation, but I played it as though it did. Not many games can get me to role-play along with them. I know I'll see that kid later.

My characters are leveling up nicely by the way. I spent quite a bit of time grinding yesterday, because that boss was hard. I felt GREAT after I beat that boss. It was the same feeling that one gets after beating a tough final boss of a video game, except that it's actually the first boss of the game. Like a friend told me, the game is tough, but it's not unfair. I lost the first time I fought the boss, but I learned what my mistakes were, and what I needed to do to defeat it. I leveled up each character about 3-5 levels, gained some important abilities (revive being one of them), and brought along a TON of items. My Wildling summoned the insect, and while it didn't hit poison very often, it took quite a few hits instead of my other characters, which was nice. All my others just became more powerful, thanks to buying all the best weapons and armor. As for my "idea" of how to break the game, it's pretty simple. My hoplite has learned an ability called provoke, which draws all enemy attacks to him for three turns. He's also learning two other moves, which may nullify all physical and elemental damage... if those passive abilities work while having all attacks aimed at him, then my team will be a force to be reckoned with. We'll be untouchable, depending on those abilities working. And then I'll have a subclass to add onto the Hoplite. Right now I'm thinking Buccaneer, though that could change. With Buccaneer abilities, I could have my Hoplite hitting enemies multiple times on one turn. I'll have to research all classes though, to decide what's the most appropriate.

I'll also say that I'm on the 6th floor, halfway through the second stratum. I'm really enjoying the second stratum, with the water currents pushing in different directions. It gives a new level of thought and difficulty to the game, just like mud did in the first stratum. Enemies are also considerably more difficult, but that's not surprising. Finally, I've spent a bunch of time sailing on the ocean, and I'm very happy they added that to the game. It's a nice sidequest kind of idea, and it brings in quite a bit of money. I'll blog more as I get further, though I doubt they'll be this long.