Sometime early last year, I read an article previewing a game called Etrian Mystery Dungeon, a spin-off of Etrian Odyssey, a series of dungeon crawlers featuring random encounters, turn-based combat, and mapmaking. I'd already decided to tackle the EO series by this point after successfully completing (and greatly enjoying) Persona Q, another spin-off/crossover with Persona 3/4. I wrote about this game at length at the very beginning of the year. Sometime shortly after that, I started Etrian Odyssey, with the goal in mind to complete all four of the principal entries of the series and then follow with Etrian Mystery Dungeon. I had no idea what I was getting into.
I completed the first three games of the Etrian Odyssey series sequentially without really playing anything else in between. Each took me about a month to plow through due to their unparalleled difficulty and complexity. Although I found the games to be immensely frustrating, they were also quite rewarding. I was already familiar with the gameplay thanks to Persona Q, but found it somewhat difficult to adjust to the lack of frills by comparison. Persona Q had a wealth of Etrian Odyssey titles to draw on to streamline the experience--and unlike the main entries in the series, Persona Q featured no classes or complex skill trees to navigate. Most of that side of the gameplay came from the Persona series. Etran Odyssey is brutal and unforgiving by comparison, but I found it quite satisfying to conquer the game's challenges as I plumbed the depths of the games' respective labyrinths.
What I found compelling most of all about Etrian Odyssey has nothing to do with the dungeon design or mapmaking. To be honest, I mostly found these aspects pretty frustrating, especially in comparison with later entries in the series. What interests me most of all about each successive Etian Odyssey entry is the amount of gameplay to be found in putting an adventuring party together. There are a number of classes available in each of these games, all with a series of unique abilities with woefully vague descriptions. I found myself doing a ton of research on classes, builds, and party compositions as I played through these games--but I still derived a lot of satisfaction from exercising creativity in putting my party together.
The first two games in the series were host to several glaringly broken mechanics, most notably the ridiculous power of the Medic's Immunize in the first game, and the entire Dark Hunter class in the second. And you'd better believe I abused them both--because even with access to these powerful mechanics, these games are hard. When I got around to playing Etrian Odyssey III, I discovered there weren't very many especially powerful mechanics to abuse and so I felt I made slower progress. Fortunately, it was also the first game in the series to introduce dual-classing, a mechanic that vastly increased the complexity of the party composition process. Each character could effectively be two classes at once with surprisingly few restrictions. More restrictions were inevitably put in place by Etrian Odyssey IV--which I didn't end up playing until several months later.
After playing three Etrian Odyssey games straight, I was beyond burnt out. I saw dungeons and maps in my dreams. I was intrigued by the pretty 3D graphics of Etrian Odyssey IV and curious about how it would take the sublcass mechanic and sailing mechanics from EOIII and expand on them--but I knew at the time that I just didn't have the heart for it. My original goal was to blaze through the EO series and be ready to play Etrian Mystery Dungeon around release day, but that certainly didn't happen. I finished the third game almost a month after EMD's release, so I left it to languish while I played a lot of other games. It wasn't until probably four months later that I finally did get around to it.
I found Etrian Odyssey IV pretty refreshing after a break from the series. The graphics were massively improved and the gameplay and interface significantly streamlined. Sailing became flying (with an airship) and was integrated more into the main gameplay instead of being separated into its own thing. The dungeons are separate and have distinct identities instead of being interconnected into one giant Tartarus-esque super labyrinth. The classes are interesting and distinct. It is probably the most solid entry into the series so far, even if there are certain aspects from Etrian Odyssey III that I prefer. I missed creative classes like Ninja and Wilder--but was pleased with new additions like the Imperial and Nightseeker. As with all Etrian Odyssey games, it did eventually become a bit of a chore what with the endless grinding and soul-crushing repetition of venturing ever deeper into the game's deepest dungeons--but I still felt immensely satisfied when I finally completed it.
At this point I decided to take another break. Earlier in the year it had been no big deal to play several Etrian games in succession, but I think that wore me down for good. I worked on other things for a month and then I finally started Etrian Mystery Dungeon, a full seven months after it was released. I finished it last night, but now that I've written so much about the events leading up to it, I think I'd rather talk about it in my next entry.
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