Etrian Odyssey III

[Grand Master Kickface]

So who else has picked this up? I put together a starting team of Monk, Prince, Buccaneer, Arbalist, and Ninja. I tried to avoid learning about how the classes and skills work beforehand so I could enjoy figuring them out myself, but I've sure made the game a lot harder for myself by doing so. The classes this time around are so unorthodox too.

I'm loving all the little touches so far that make this game a smoother experience than the first too, like being able to change the equipment of members who aren't in your party at the equipment shop, or the new ability Combat Study which lets members on the bench get part of the experience from battles. After making my primary team, I made one of each of the remaining classes and spent their first 3 points on that ability so I'll be able to more easily experiment with different party combinations in the future. The ocean exploration side element seems like it could be interesting, but I haven't delved into it too much.

What kind of experiences have you had with the game so far? I'd be interested to see how other people have organized their parties and such.

[Kim]

I have learned something playing this game, and that is I don't like to do shit like make my own maps. I just turned in the first mission, and my opinion thus far is basically, "It would be a fun game, if I didn't have to bother with the mapmaking." I might not be as bothered by it later if it doesn't make me map entire floors to progress in the future.

[Grand Master Kickface]

Short attention span, eh? You're not required to map floors from there on, but that mission's just there to force you to learn how, because you will get lost later on if you don't. Personally I like seeing a map come together. It's like an indicator of your progress.

[Kim]

I don't mind seeing the map actually unfold as I explore it, as it did in SMT Strange Journey, or even being able to mark it with little details. What I don't like is that the map won't mark basic things... like walls, or treasure chests after I've opened them.

[Ryong]

I won't talk much about the third game, but about the series in general:

The maps are based, as was explained before the first game was released, on having to do your own maps in old dungeon crawlers otherwise you'd always be lost. It's just how it is. If you feel it is dickish then the game makers have accomplished their mission: To make a hard game - based on skill, luck and having to grind - that takes very long to get through to show just how "strong enough to save the world" is, specially compared to a starting out adventurer. The map is a design choice, since it's "fixed" in Strange Journey, remember that.

So yeah, it's not a series for everyone. I know I couldn't get through any of the games. Also, back in the first game, it was mentioned that your party is 5 people because 6 felt too complete for the developers. It forces you to lose something and so pick your party better. EO2 had some mixed classes, but hey, instead of being good at one thing they were half-good in two or three. EO3 makes most classes into this.

On difficulty: The first game was hard, but you had exploitable skills - Medic's Immunize cut damage down by a LOT - and combinations. The second game gets rid of those and makes some builds more practical - Ronin in the first game need to change into a stance before using their skills, in the second game you get a passive stance skill that increases damage for those skills, for example - but it still stays that every thing you were "abusing" was very much needed.

[Kim]

The maps are based, as was explained before the first game was released, on having to do your own maps in old dungeon crawlers otherwise you'd always be lost. It's just how it is. If you feel it is dickish then the game makers have accomplished their mission: To make a hard game - based on skill, luck and having to grind - that takes very long to get through to show just how "strong enough to save the world" is, specially compared to a starting out adventurer. The map is a design choice, since it's "fixed" in Strange Journey, remember that.

But a game made hard through bad design is a bad game... I shouldn't have to grind this much to advance...

[Grand Master Kickface]

Grinding in this series is a penalty for having an inefficient party setup. You'll almost certainly have to grind in the beginning while you're still figuring out how all the skills work and what you want to put your skill points towards, but once your builds start coming together you'll hardly have to grind at all. This is especially true in III now that you get experience points from completing quests as well.

Anyway, I'm taking this game kind of slowly since I'm going back and forth between this and other games, but I managed to beat the first stratum. Makibishi is surprisingly great on my Ninja, and I just unlocked his instant-kill passive too. I think I'll go for his cloning abilities next. I'm still not sure what I'm doing with my Buccaneer though. I originally wanted him to revolve around the gun chasers, but they're not elemental attacks themselves like I thought they would be, and even at level 5 they miss a lot of activations. On my Prince, I don't know whether to aim for Protect Order or Regal Radiance first. He's actually the tankiest character in my party, so I don't think the Royal Veil line would be good for him. On my Arbalist I'm just kind of putting points into whatever. I have one point into each elemental barrage so far, and I think I'll work on Ambush or Giant Kill next. Night Vision sounds cool, but I don't know how many more critical hits it would give me considering the skill point investment.

[Kim]

Grinding in this series is a penalty for having an inefficient party setup.

Or, you know, the only option I have when party members are being OHKO'd through no fault of my own.

[Grand Master Kickface]

Sounds like somebody ran into his first Great Lynx. There's some exceptionally powerful random encounters that are meant to be a big gamble between fighting and running. When I first ran into a Great Lynx I managed to beat it, but not without losing two party members in the process. There's no shame in running in Etrian Odyssey. It sure is satisfying when you come back when you're stronger and mop the floor with the enemies that gave you such a hard time back then though.

[Kim]

Sounds like somebody ran into his first Great Lynx. There's some exceptionally powerful random encounters that are meant to be a big gamble between fighting and running. When I first ran into a Great Lynx I managed to beat it, but not without losing two party members in the process. There's no shame in running in Etrian Odyssey. It sure is satisfying when you come back when you're stronger and mop the floor with the enemies that gave you such a hard time back then though.

Actually, it's the birds on B2. I'm at the point where I can actually kill them, but if they hit my Ninja, he's dead. Period. I tried using that "negate damage" thing and it didn't work. As for "It's okay to run"? I've tried. I've gotten party wiped because three turns of telling all my characters to Escape was not sufficient to actually let them run away apparently.

[Grand Master Kickface]

Yeah, I really wish the Escape function had a higher percentage of success too. I hear it's based on your Agility and Luck, maybes. If you explore at night, you won't run into any birds. I stuck to that until I reached floor 4, and it made traveling a lot easier.

[Ravashak]

I have learned something playing this game, and that is I don't like to do shit like make my own maps. I just turned in the first mission, and my opinion thus far is basically, "It would be a fun game, if I didn't have to bother with the mapmaking." Just be glad it's grid-based and you know what direction you're facing :D