Just to take a break from the 2017 catchup for a minute, I'd like to discuss a couple of the games I've been playing recently! I've been feeling absolutely buried by games lately which is simultaneously stressful but also a lot of fun because it means I have multiple games vying for my attention, all of which I enjoy. Of course, on the other hand, that also means I'm stressed that I won't finish any of them and I'm a little obsessive about that.
Firstly, the game I'm most excited about at the moment is Etrian Odyssey Nexus, which for whatever reason I completely forgot about when it was originally announced. I was skeptical the game was even going to be released in English since the 3DS is currently taking its dying breaths and I can't imagine the Etrian series pulls impressive sales numbers in the first place. Its a series that I absolutely love, though, and I was excited enough that I preordered it instantly as soon as I was able to do so.
Just to give some context, Etrian Odyssey is a series of tough-as-nails dungeon crawler RPGs uniquely tailored to the DS and 3DS because you're tasking with drawing a map as you traverse expansive dungeons in first person. This aspect of the game is cool enough as it is, but you're also given the freedom to assemble a party of your choosing, with whatever combination of classes that are available within the game. Each of these classes have a pretty wide variety of skills that can be developed in any way you'd like. There's a diverse set of different builds for each class, some of which are remarkably more effective than others. Experimenting with these builds is part of what makes the series so engrossing, and this is all on top of the navigation and map-making element that makes the game's unique.
Nexus feels very much like a sendoff of the series in a lot of ways. It styles itself as a retrospective of sorts in that it features returning classes from every previous Etrian Odyssey entry, for a whopping total of 19 classes to choose from. Combine this with the fact that each of your characters has the ability to adopt a sub-class as well and the variety of character builds and party compositions becomes positively staggering. Aside from all these new classes, there's also a new Hero class which I'm enoying quite a bit as well.
Now, if you're not familiar with the gameplay, you might find it a little vanilla. It certainly doesn't look flashy. If anything, it's pretty similar to old school Dragon Quest titles in function, but the strategy involved in combat is on an entirely different level. Even standard encounters within the game's labyrinths can be tricky and it's not difficult to end up with a party wipe if you're not careful. Nexus (and other recent Etrian titles) fortunately features a couple of difficulty options that dials back the unforgiving nature of the game. This wasn't present in the first three or so entries in the series and they were brutal as a result. For me, I find conquering that level of difficulty pretty rewarding, so I prefer to stick to Expert, even when the game can become very frustrating.
Because Nexus features so many different classes, it can be overwhelming knowing where to begin. I spent at least two hours before venturing into the game's first dungeon just trying to figure out what my party would look like. I'm still not sure it's what I want to stick with, but I've got a whole guild full of backups just in case I decide to switch things up. In fact, I'm thinking of recruiting a few more just in case I want to experiment with different sub-class combinations!
On standard difficulty levels, Etrian Odyssey typically demands that you have certain roles included in your party composition. These elements are by no means a requirement but the difficulty level escalates extremely if you don't have a dedicated healer and tank, for instance. Hybrid roles certainly exist and it's possible to work around those requirements with clever enough builds--and that's a big part of why I find the series in general so engrossing.
I've only played for five or six hours at this point, but my initial party composition seems pretty solid to me. I'm not at a point in the game where I have access to sub-classes so I haven't even started thinking about that yet. (Whew.) Right now, I have Kalindra the Hero, Talys the Ronin, Vaneth the Highlander, Hela the Sovereign, and Noboru the Ninja. My Hero serves as my tank but is also a pretty solid source of damage, whereas both the Sovereign and Ninja serve as hybridized supports. Sovereigns have a wide variety of buffs at their disposal but also heal as a by-product of their abilities. Ninja divert damage from others and can also inflict status ailments. The Ronin and Highlander are pretty much straight damage-dealers, but the Highlander does also contribute to the healing in some capacity just because of how his abilities work.
I may do more of a deep dive on the mechanics and intricacies of that party composition later on, particularly when I get access to sub-classes, but suffice to say it's a really fun and engrossing game. I have a lot more to say about it even now, but I'm looking forward to updating my impressions as I progress further.
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