Customer Reviews

Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're already familiar with the Etrian Odyssey series and fan of the first two entries, stop reading now. This is the best entry in the series by far, and you should go out and buy this immediately.

For those who are new to this series or genre, it'll take a little thought on your part to determine if this is a game you'll enjoy. If you're the right kind of gamer for this game, however, I can just about guarantee that you'll absolutely LOVE this game.

Etrian Odyssey III is primarily a first person dungeon crawling RPG. It's got a bare-bones story that pushes you to create your own plots and stories as you play. The story overall is pretty involved and you'll meet a lot of interesting characters, but all the characters that you play are entirely of your own creation (from name to job to portait). To maximize the storytelling potential of this game, I highly recommend you take the time to create (and maybe even write down) stories for your guild and guild members.

Where EO3 really shines, however, is the gameplay. Character customization is the deepest in the series, and some of the best in the genre. You can create up to 30 different characters, and take a party of up to 5 with you into the dungeon. EO3 replaces the old classes from the first two entries in the series with 10 completely new classes. These classes are very unique and most are completely original (and not just a carbon copy of an old EO class). Within this class, you'll be spending skill points (you earn one with each level-up) to obtain both passive skills and skills you use as commands in battle. You can choose your character's name, gender, class, portrait (including 2 color schemes for each portrait), equipment, skills, and later in the game, a subclass. That's right, for the first time in the series, you'll be able to select a subclass and get most of the skills from class in combination with skills from your character's primary class. It adds a whole new level to customization and experimentation.

Exploring the labyrinth is simple enough thanks to fantastic controls (including the ability to slide sideways without changing direction with the L or R shoulder buttons). As you explore, you'll be drawing your own map on the touch screen. New to this entry is also the ability to draw a path of arrows on your map, which you can use for auto-walking. As you explore the labyrinth, you'll encounter enemies. Although they're technically random encounters, there is a gauge which changes color, so you'll rarely be surprised by battle. Battles are standard turn-based affairs, but tend to be very challenging and require a lot of strategy to win. You'll obtain items to sell and experience from battle, all of which are important to powering up your guild members as you progress through the Yggdrasil labyrinth. And of course FOEs (powerful boss-like monsters which roam the labyrinth) also return, and are back to giving out experience. Side quests are also available in the city of Armoroad, which are great for giving you something else to do besides exploring and mapping.

And if you need some fresh air, EO3 introduces sailing! Similar to exploring the labyrinth, you can now sail a ship on the open seas. You'll still be mapping them, but you won't be fighting any enemies while you sail. It's still challenging and requires some strategy, and you'll unlock quests which pit you against more challenging monsters (with valuable rewards, of course). Inver Port is also home to the another new element in the series--multiplayer elements. You can tackle tough battles with friends using local wireless, go into a "tag mode" where you can meet other guilds, or trade items with fellow explorers. The only issue here is that it's a very minor component, and can only be used locally (and not online). If you've got friends with the game, however, it's a great feature, if not a bit underwhelming.

EO3 continues tradition with presentation. Most of the game's graphics consist of gorgeous 2D art (the maritime theme really leads to some stunningly beautiful areas) and very detailed character portraits. The labyrinth and seafaring feature 3D graphics, all of which are perfectly functional if not attractive. You'll encounter some absolutely beautiful areas in the labyrinth, and I personally found them to be a bit more varied and interesting to look at in general. Battle animations are a bit more varied, and of course the monster designs are all fantastic and detailed. There's no voice acting in the game, but the sound effects are sufficient. And of course, the music is absolutely fantastic. It's got a retro sound to it, but the melodies are all excellent. If you enjoy the music in the game, I highly recommend listening to tracks from the Super Arrange soundtrack album, which feature these melodies played with actual instruments.

If all of this sounds interesting and fun to you, go get the game, because I'm sure you'll love it. If you're still not sure, I still recommend trying it out. It's very challenging and the presentation is attractive-but-simple, but it's a very deep and customizable RPG experience that will literally last you for hours. There's also a new game+ feature, which allows you to keep replaying the game with all your maps, items, and guild members, which means you can easily experiment with different parties, classes, and skill builds. Basically, if you enjoy RPGs and don't mind a challenge and lighter story, GET THIS GAME!

~QUICK READ~

STORY: Sufficient but barebones; this game is more about creating your own story.

GAMEPLAY: Fairly simple overall, but a lot of customization options. You explore dungeons/the ocean and map these areas yourself. Battles are standard turn-based encounters, but very challenging.

PRESENTATION: Again, simple, but still very attractive. Music is fantastic, major high point of the game.

LONGEVITY: This game takes a long time to finish, and the gameplay is customizable enough that it's worth playing through multiple times.

BUY IT: If you like RPGs focused on exploration, character customization, and tough battles.

DON'T BUY IT: If you're looking for an involved story, high-end presentation/graphics, or forgiving difficulty.

First let me just say that I haven't played Etrian Odyssey I/II, but I've heard that III is an improvement.

The art book is also nice and feels rather high quality.

Anyway, on to the game review:

I just got the game earlier today and I don't want to stop playing it. You start off by creating a Guild and adding/creating members (30 maximum) from a total of 10 classes and 8 appearances for each class. I've heard that you can even dual class later on in the game, but I haven't gotten that far yet. There's basically two ways to level up, earn gold, and find items: Labyrinth and exploring the sea. The Labyrinth is basically a dungeon crawler similar to Strange Journey, but there are quite a few interesting additions. My favorite additions are the item system and the FOE. The item system is pretty unique/fun because you can sell monster parts and materials to the shop to unlock new equipment for purchase/crafting. You can also upgrade equipment by adding bonus effects to free enhancement slots in a similar manner. I suppose it's time to talk about the dreaded FOEs...

...FOEs are basically Elite enemies that walk around dungeons and will try to hunt you down. Generally, you don't want to fight them because they're INCREDIBLY powerful, but there's some serious experience and unique materials involved if you manage to defeat one. As of this review I just managed to defeat my first FOE after around 4 failed attempts and crafted a really powerful Lance using the materials it dropped. I honestly can't wait to find another one to test my new weapon out on. lol

Last but not least is the exploration mode. You basically get your own ship and can sail the open seas in search of treasure, bosses, and new areas. I think the most interesting part of this mode is that you unlock new Sea Quests by discovering new locations. These quests are pretty fun and usually pair you up with NPCs to take on a powerful boss or multiple waves of enemies and can be played with friends using local wireless multiplayer. I also got a few unique equips that the NPCs were using for completing the quests.

Anyway, that's about all I know at this time. I'm sure there's a lot more to this game, but I've only played for around 6 hours and couldn't resist writing a review. The short and simple: this game is definitely worth buying and I can't wait for my DS to finish charging so I can continue playing.

Etrian Odyssey III continues the dungeon crawl that began this series, and where the second game didn't add much variation, this time they have added some features to change it up a bit. The graphics and sound remain on par with the first two games (if you haven't played them, try to get your hands on them), and the game play remains the same (enter dungeon, slay monsters, draw map while exploring, take bounty from victories back to store to earn money and buy better weapons/armor), but they have added a second quest where you go asea to explore the area around the dungeon site city, and they have added a few new character types (add a princess to your party!) to bring some more variety into the game. If you like your game to go from A to B, this one isn't for you, as you will be doing huge amounts of retreading through the dungeons to level up enough to survive the night. They have added "camping spots" this time, so you don't have to continually head to the city, and there seem to be more secret paths so you can zoom between levels more directly.

I am really enjoying this, in a time-wasting way, and should get many, many hours of play out of the game.

I had just finished playing golden sun: dark dawn before I grabbed this one up. More and more I've yet to find rpg's that challenge me in any wa. Growing up on games like wizardry and the bard's tale, rpg's were fun because you could explore and battles didn't end just by mashing the A button. you really had to think. I hadn't found one in a long time with that kind of difficulty.

Then came Etrian odyssey 3

This game is a challenge. It WILL test your patience. Casual gamers are not going to like this game. Anyone who likes their hand to be held while playing, will not like this game. But if you're the type of person who loves getting involved in charcter customization, who likes the fact that you have to grind a little bit, and can't just rush through things, no doubt will you find an amazing and fun experience. Each class is unique, and have a deep skillset so that customization is so unique in every game. This is not a game about story, it's a game about the journey.

If you're looking for pretty graphics, and deep rich intricate storylines and no challenge, this game isn't for you. For those of you like me, who wish more Rpg's require thought, this may be the perfect game for you.

Etrian Odyssey III is a game line that adheres very well to the "Less talk More Rock" theory of game design. It doesn't hold your hand, it doesn't explain every little last detail of the game in pesky tutorials, and it doesn't bore you to death with inane story babble. You turn on, make your party, and get to work after one brief npc discussion in a dungeon that pulls no punches.

I can't say enough about games like this. Some call it old school, but whatever it is, I call it quality, and I wish more games were designed in this sort of mindset.

Visually the sprites are wonderful (especially the character portraits which really give life to each class) as are all the hand drawn backdrops etc. The insides of the dungeon are 3d, and look pretty nice as well. I hear people complain that without animation things seem lifeless, but I never felt this way. Animation would be nice, but it really wouldn't add that much to the game. Nice clean classy look, very enjoyable presentation.

Gameplay is simple, even repetitive, but never seems boring. You travel through the dungeon, mapping out each floor as you go with the stylus (which is fun and addictive) randomly encounter monsters, and frequently encounter super powered enemies called F.O.E.s that appear as a glowing ball on the map screen. These guys add a lot of fun to the game, as you have to carefully evade them as you go along, until you are later powerful enough to come and get your revenge. Each floor has new stronger foes, and every 5 or so floors the scenery and dungeon theme (forest, sea floor etc) changes as your descend into deeper stratum.

Rather than gold loot like most games you get resources in the form of monster remains, and items taken from special nodes hidden around the dungeon, sell them to the shop in town and the shopkeep crafts them into items you then buy, but for each you want to buy you must provide enough of the proper resources. Boss monsters and F.O.E's drop rare resources to make powerful items. Nice system, keeps you interested.

Classes (all 12 of which are brand new for this iteration) are all well designed, and each different class has different ways it can be built and played especially with the addition of sub classes. Lots of room for satisfying personalization and experimentation, and 30 character slots to work with leave a world of options open to you.

My personal favorites are the Princess and the Farmer. Sounds like a fairy tale pairing, I know. In function the Princess is a good fighter who also keeps my team alive with her passive healing abilities, while the Farmer helps me dig up better resources at nodes, can send me back to town (which is super handy), and while not a heavy hitter has a high luck stat which ups her chances of inflicting status effects on my foes. Most people don't use farmers on their main team, but I for one really enjoy doing so. It's great to have weird choices like that.

Not much grinding is really required in regular game play, if you play smartly you don't need to do MUCH leveling or loot hunting unless you want to. Theres a fair share of back tracking through already explored areas, but the addition of auto pilot paths on the map help take the pain out of it.

Quests, missions, story and npcs are interesting, and don't bombard you with reams of dialog, or get in the way of the actual game play of exploring the dungeon and hunting down baddies.

The addition of sea travel doesn't add much, but is a nice new feature as well.

All in all, it's a great game. One that doesn't coddle or condescend, and which offers you a deep, lengthy, challenging and rewarding experience. All of which is presented in a clean, simple and well conceived package.

If you played 1 or 2, 3 is a notable improvement on an already solid format, or if you are an just RPG lover, and someone who can appreciate an old fashion smartly designed challenge EO3 is a great place to start, you wont miss a step not having played its predecessors.

In my mind EO3 is a fantastic rpg, and simply one of the best games available on the DS.

The third game in a series of difficult RPGs, this game's reputation was enough to grab my attention. The game is very difficult, with plenty of monsters that can kill your entire party in one turn, and even more bosses that require specific knowledge or an uncanny grasp of skills and stratagems. If you find yourself looking for a portable version of a tough game like Demon's Souls Greatest Hits, then you've come to the right place. It almost goes without saying that this is not a game for Role-Playing Game novices, nor for those who are more interested in casual fun than challenging, (often repetitive) dungeon battles. The music is adequate, if forgettable, and as said, some parts of the game can be rather repetitious. (Although, to be fair, there are both auto-walk and auto-battle functions to mitigate some of the tedium.)

Those who can endure the crucible--or who, like me, enjoy it--will find a deep almost perfect strategy RPG. Dungeon floors start with no in-game map, but can (and should) be mapped by hand. Your maps will either help you...or not. The map making system is robust, and monsters, items, weapons and the like are both varied and interesting. This helps to overcome the fact that most of the game will spent "spelunking" in a seemingly never-ending labyrinth.

However, party customization is where the "cerebral" part of this game really starts to shine. The five person party you take with you to explore this maze can be composed of men and women with 10 different starting classes (2 more are unlocked upon completion of the game.) Like most everything else in the game, their abilities, strengths, and weaknesses all contribute to how you traverse dangers, and in general, your battle strategy. Similar to Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen, certain classes can evolve, and a sub-class can eventually be unlocked. Customization runs deep, yet if you make mistakes in your characters' specifications, you reset their "skill points" for a nominal cost.

Overall I found this game to be challenging, but deeply satisfying. In sum, if you like strategy games like Ogre Battle or Final Fantasy, and/or if you like Diablo 2 or Demon's Souls, you should definitely give this game a try.

Fantastic game. I'm 75 hours into it and about halfway finished. I've never put more than 65 hours into a game before (FF VI is the only game I wanted play for longer). The story is pretty good but comes in chunks rather than a nice even flow. The things that stand out in this game are the character customization and exploration. It is hands down the best dungeon exploring game I have played. I wish Atlus would use this engine to remake the old Might & Magic games on a portable system.

I bought the first Etrian Odyssey years ago when it first came out. I spent a little time with it, struggled to get into it, but decided it was needlessly difficult, lacking a story, and not much fun. I eventually got back into it and it was satisfying the urge to play a difficult dungeon crawling RPG. I became interested in picking up the sequels, and grabbed EO3 from Amazon before the price could go up too much. When it finally arrived, I decided to just check out the opening and create a few characters then get back to EO1. It's been in my 3ds ever since!

For those who aren't very familiar with the series, this game is similar to the old bard's tale/wizardry style of dungeon exploration games. You create a party and try to delve down into a labyrinth and map it out. The story opens up as you go. You can swap out party members as you see fit. The game is mostly menus and first person exploration. The view while exploring by ship is from above and behind your ship.

The game is much improved over the first entry in the series. The difficulty seems a bit more moderated, and it takes the time to spell out a few things that weren't entirely clear in the first game. It also provides you with ocean navigation as a great distraction from delving into the labyrinth. You can explore the high seas, or just head out to fish for a bit. There are also solo and co-op sea quests where you send members of your guild off to help other adventurers. The graphics are improved, the classes are balanced a little better, and skills clearly indicate what other skills you need to unlock them. Finally, the game doesn't wait to make you feel like your group is just one of many guilds exploring the labyrinth.

Overall it's a fun game. I like putting together my guild and sending out groups on adventures to chart the seas and map the labyrinth.

I love this game as a good grinding, perfect your characters type of rpg game. The only problem is you get to a certain point (halfway through the game) and you get stuck cause it's so damn hard. It's a rock and a hard place, as you don't want to create a new character to see if that might change you luck/skill, and it gets harder to level off of the same minions over and over. Also, it states that it's multiplayer, but it is only multiplayer for the Ocean stuff, not for the dungeons.

Love this game, but maybe this is not for everyone. Lots of planning, strategizing, meticulous map marking, figuring out enemy weaknesses, effective defensive tactics, very involved game play and that's why it can be so satisfying.