I've been working on Etrian Odyssey Nexus off-and-on for about three months now. I would have expected to finish it much sooner, but I keep running into brick walls. With Etrian Odyssey, I'd normally expect my biggest barrier to be its difficulty, but the problem I'm having most of all is that the game has become repetitive.
I really like that the game features a huge variety of classes (nineteen of them!) and at first, I was excited that the game had so many dungeons to explore.
But then it started to become clear, since Nexus is essentially a "Greatest Hits" collection of past Etrian Odyssey releases that every dungeon I came across was a retread of something I'd seen before. It was nice to revisit some of them, but it started to become a little tiring after going through five or six. The only new dungeon in the mix so far involves a cool mechanic in which you can swap between different elevations so that even the walls of the dungeon can be traversed. Then the game proceeds to reuse that dungeon format several times over, utterly destroying whatever novelty it might have had.
Nineteen classes also provides a huge amount of variety for class compositions, but then you have to consider that only one of those is brand new. I really like the Hero class and if several of the other classes were new as well, I'd be way more excited about the game. Maybe I would have felt like there was more with which to experiment if sub-classing unlocked earlier. As it is now, you don't gain the ability to sub-class until Labyrinth 9, a stage at which I was about 45 hours into the game. At that point, I'd already almost entirely filled out my characters' builds. With something like six more major dungeons to go before I finish the game, what do I have to look forward to in terms of character growth? Not much, it seems.
What I thought might have assuaged the game's issues with repetition is experimenting with different party compositions. But then you have to consider that leveling up new characters is a trial in itself because acquiring experience happens so slowly. Sure, the game has an accessory that allows you to share experience among all of your characters, but benched party members only gain about half as much as your primaries, meaning you still have to devote a significant chunk of time to getting them up to speed. That's not even to mention the tremendous amount of Ental (the game's currency) you'll need to spend to ensure they're properly equipped. This is a game in which equipment is very important in tackling foes, too. If your armor isn't up to date, expect to be one-shotted by even basic enemies.
When I first started playing Etrian Odyssey Nexus, I spent a lot of time theorycrafting my party composition and as a result I ended up with a pretty rock-solid lineup. I've only made a couple of changes to it as I've progressed. Noboru the Ninja was eventually subbed out for Xavier the Arcanist, since at the end of the day I was only using the Ninja for his status ailments, and Arcanists simply do that better. I also retooled my Hero, Kalindra to be more offensive after a certain point, since the raw power she had at her disposal was more valuable to me than a more protective build.
Even despite making these changes, the ways battles play out hasn't changed much in the 50+ hours I've played the game. And it's certainly gotten old using the same abilities over and over against enemies I've fought many times before in other Etrian Odyssey titles. Unfortunately, even when I try different party compositions and invest time into making sure they're leveled up and properly equipped, they just don't perform as well as my primary party. Because the game is fairly difficult, it doesn't make a lot of sense to fall back on a party that just doesn't perform as well, so I inevitably will end up going back to my primary party and the same strategies as before. It's an endless cycle.
You'd think there'd be a host of viable party compositions with such a huge roster of playable classes, but then you have to consider that the class archetypes are really distributed suboptimally. Out of all of those classes, only two of them are dedicated healers, for instance, and only three are dedicated back-row damage dealers. This means there are tons of different viable melee classes all competing for slots while you have far fewer options for the back row. Compounding this issue is that the game's new class uses a mechanic in which abilities sometimes create a mirror image character that occupies whatever available space you have in your party. There are a total of six slots in combat, three in both rows. If you have three melee characters in the front row already, then this copy the Hero creates is automatically going to go to the back row where it will deal much less damage and be less effective overall.
Since Hero is the only new class is Etrian Odyssey Nexus, it makes a lot of sense to field one for your team, so if you want to put together a successful party, you might well decide to only feature the Hero and one other melee character in your group. This makes for a paralyzing decision point, since the game features a huge number of viable melee classes, like the glass cannon Ronin, the burst damage Imperial, or the ailment-centric Nightseeker, just to name a few. It feels like you're pigeonholed, even though you have so many different options. It doesn't help that the few back-row damage dealers in the game just aren't that interesting. I've already used the Gunner and Survivalist in previous Etrian Odyssey games and didn't particularly care for them. The Zodiac is painfully boring and always has been.
Repetition has always been an issue in Etrian Odyssey games, but never has it been more of a pressing issue than in Etrian Odyssey Nexus. It's a real shame, because there's a lot the game does well and the premise seemed extremely promising. I know I'll still finish it, but it might take me a few months.
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