One Life Left: Etrian Odyssey Untold

I inch forward along the dungeon floor, my spear clutched tightly in my hands. Brilliantly colored foliage on either side of me, I occasionally pause to jot a note down on the crude map I have with me. I hear a rustling in the underbrush. There are monsters about. The rustling grows louder, I hear a growl, one of my companions screams. A sick guitar lick strikes up and I prepare for battle.

Etrian Odyssey: Untold: The Millennium Girl (EOU) for the 3DS is the latest in the long running and well regarded dungeon crawl series produced by Atlus. EOU is a remake of the original Etrian Odyssey, but adds a slew of new mechanics and story details to go along with its updated graphics and music. Known for being both difficult and time consuming, Etrian Odyssey games are not for those who find themselves strapped for time. At first glance, the gameplay seems like fairly traditional JRPG fare. Dungeons are traversed in a first person perspective, enemies are randomly encountered, and then your party and theirs take turns bashing each other over the head. In between forays into the dungeon you return to town to pick up quests at the local bar, sell the loot you’ve acquired and rest at a comfortable inn.

What sets Etrian Odyssey apart are a handful of unique mechanics combined with a difficulty level that requires some serious strategizing. When preparing for battle you will form a party of five characters. You can assign skills to these characters to allow them to play very different roles, and making sure that your party is properly equipped with both standard gear and Grimoire Stones is critical. An improperly prepared party will find themselves overwhelmed by the various brightly colored monsters that await them in the dungeons below. While questing through the dungeons you will be able to draw your own maps of them on a grid on the bottom screen. Filling out a complete map of a floor will allow you to navigate and complete quests more easily, which is absolutely critical as wandering around blindly is a good way to get yourself killed.

Unlike previous entries in the series, EOU allows you to choose between two modes of play. Classic Mode allows the player to create a full party of characters from the get go. The party can be customized by name, appearance, and character class, which allows the player to create some interesting class combinations. While these created characters can be fun, they won’t have as much of an influence on the game’s story, as they all act as pretty much silent protagonists. Story Mode follows the adventures of the Highlander as he explores the forest around the base of the World Tree, Yggdrasil. Joining him are four pre-created companions. This party is made up of fairly standard classes, but each of the characters possesses some unique skills and abilities that make building them up as a party significantly more interesting.

I found myself enjoying Story Mode much more than Classic. While I have enjoyed previous entries in the series, the addition of characters who actually talk and interact with the world on a narrative level is a welcome one indeed. The narrative is surprisingly strong for a game so focused on dungeon crawling and boss killing. Etrian Odyssey games have always had interesting fiction to go along with them, and seeing one of their stories with a party who can actually talk back to the characters they are interacting with is refreshing. If the Etrian Odyssey games ever felt like they were missing anything it was a cast of speaking characters, and these fit the bill nicely. They all fall into fairly standard anime or JRPG tropes, but with a bit of an Etrian Odyssey flair.

The feel of the Etrian Odyssey games might be what draws me to them the most. The art is brightly colored and sleek, combining the 2D character portraits nicely with well rendered 3D backgrounds and enemies. Because the combat takes place in first person, the enemy design has to shine to make combat appear dynamic and interesting. That, and the music is excellent. The aforementioned guitar licks that play during battle give way to smooth jazz saxophone when the party returns to the bar in town, and all the music is good enough to listen to on its own.

The Etrian Odyssey games have always been fabulous examples of the dungeon crawl genre. Tough but fair, beautiful to look at and to hear, EOU is no exception. The satisfaction of clearing a floor and slaying one of the game’s giant bosses makes the slow trek through the previous floors seem all the more worthwhile. Playing an Etrian Odyssey game can be hard work. You have to be able to juggle numerous statistics, strategies, and inventories, and the actual progression through the game can take quite a while if you are not fighting at peak efficiency. Being an adventurer is not an easy job, but it is an immensely satisfying one.