Etrian Mystery Dungeon
It’s been a long time since I’ve played a Japanese RPG that I just couldn’t put down. This isn’t because I don’t like them mind you; Bravely Default is awesome. It’s just that western RPG’s have been the catalyst for evolution within the genre in recent years. Thankfully, we have ATLUS – who just loves to import interesting games to North America!
One of these interesting titles is Etrian Mystery Dungeon, a game that combines popular elements from Spike Chunsoft’s Mystery Dungeon series and ATLUS’ Etrian Odyssey series, for the Nintendo 3DS. The story takes place in a small village called Aslarga that’s nestled in a mountainous region. Because of its proximity to the world’s most mysterious dungeons, it has become a hub for adventurers seeking fame and fortune. By developing different businesses that cater to heroes, the town has been able to prosper over the years. The real reason why Aslarga is so accommodating though has to do with the town’s secret. For some reason, the mystery dungeons near them produces extremely powerful monsters. The citizens of Aslarga want adventures to come as their adventures may lead them to the source of this problem. Or at the very least, help the town fend off an attack from one of these creatures.
Etrian Mystery Dungeon (EMD), lives and dies by its unique gameplay mechanics. The story, while interesting at times, took a long time to get going and ultimately failed to hold my attention until I neared the end of the game. What made me constantly drain all the power from my 3DS was the strategic, turn based combat and difficult dungeon crawling. EMD starts with you creating a group of characters to go adventuring with. Using the customization and character class system from the Etrian Odyssey series, you’ll pick their name, gender, occupation, starting stats, and more. From there, comes a lengthy (yet necessary) opening segment story arc/tutorial that teaches you the ins and outs of basic dungeon crawling.
There are a lot of things to consider when venturing into one of the many Mystery Dungeons. Only up to four party members can go out at one time so you’ll want to make sure you’ve picked classes that complement each other, at least at first. For instance, having a Medic to heal the wounded and a Protector to pull an enemy’s attention away from weaker characters is a great way to keep the group alive. When it comes to dealing damage, using a Landsknecht is a wise choice as they can take as well as dish out a decent amount of punishment. One of my favorite classes was the Hexer. Having the ability to put an entire room of enemies to sleep was a life saver. Many of these classes will be familiar to those who’ve played an Etrian Odyssey game before. There are some new ones though, like the Ninja who can vanish and reappear behind monsters before delivering a devastating backslash.
Players will also need to be mindful of the turn based combat and overall movement mechanics. You see, each step you take counts as a move when in a dungeon. Once you’ve completed a turn, your allies and every monster in the dungeon will also take turns moving. If there are no enemies in the same room you’re in, then it will seem like you’re moving normally with your companions following in tow right behind you. As soon as you run into a monster, the action will slow down to depict every move as they’re made. Additionally, you can only control one character in your group at a time. Other than forbidding them to use certain moves or to focus on something like defense, your other companions aren’t directly controlled by you. The lead character (the person you’re playing as) can be changed before starting a turn, but once you move/attack the others will do their own thing. The only time you are permitted to assign moves for the entire party is during a major boss fight.
Not being fully in control of all party members can make things difficult in most games. And there were a few occasions where my group refused to act in EMD; sometimes if they weren’t fully in a room before a fight starts, they won’t engage the enemy even though they had the means to. The good news here is that for the most part the AI is rather smart. They’d do their best to back me up as well as keep themselves alive, allowing me to focus on fighting rather than babysitting. What really shocked me though was how well they adapted to a given situation. For instance, after defeating monsters, the game records their strengths and weaknesses in a Monster Tome. My companions will utilize this tome and change their approach depending on what we are fighting – like using fire magic on an ice based creature or making sure not to stand next to an enemy that might explode upon death. They’ll even prompt me before using a major item, making sure I agree with their decision before going forward.
The last thing to consider before heading down into a dungeon are the rouge-like elements sprinkled on top of everything. Outside of the number of floors available to search, each dungeon is randomly generated. Enemies, traps, items, even the floor layouts (the positioning of their interconnected rooms) all change upon entering these dangerous places. Death can come in many ways. One is obviously by succumbing to the monsters lurking around. Another is by not getting enough to eat. As you travel from room to room, your party leader will grow hungry. If their stamina bar hits zero, they’ll lose health with every step thereafter. This can be negated somewhat by allowing someone else to be the party leader. If all of your party members die in a dungeon or you quit, you’ll lose all of the items and gold in your inventory. You also lose random equipped items; I once headed back into a dungeon only to realize my Landsknecht was missing his prized sword. Even with these obstacles, you’ll eventually have to find a way to keep going if you plan on conquering the dungeon.
If your group does get wiped, it is possible to send in a rescue team. EMD allows you to recruit a large number of heroes to your guild. By getting another team of four to the floor you died on, you’ll be able to keep all of your items. Of course, that’s easier said than done. Because most people will be playing as one or two groups for lengthy periods of time, the other heroes will probably be under leveled. When out of combat, they gain experience at a reduced rate. Even if they are strong they might not have the powerful weapons that you would have most likely given to the main party. With all that being said, the satisfaction of rescuing your adventures against all odds is only beaten by the thrill of taking down a boss.
There are ways of leaving a dungeon without actually quitting. You can return to the exit on the first floor, build a fort with a Geomagnetic Pole that can teleport you back to town, or use an escape item. Speaking of forts, they are vital to getting your party to the end of really tough dungeons. For one, building a fort will lock a dungeon’s floors into place. The individual rooms will still change but not in how they lead to each floor. Think of it like a house on a street corner. The way the game is set up, the house and its floor plan could change every time you visited that neighborhood. When using a fort, the house will always be on the corner but the rooms inside it might differ from one day to the next. Basically, forts help to keep the randomness to a minimum.
They also help with your other guild members. By leaving them to guard a fort within a dungeon, you’ll help them to gain double the experience they would otherwise get back in town. Not only that, they will be there to help you deal with mini-bosses called DOEs. These powerful enemies will try to exit a dungeon in order to attack Aslarga. If one escapes, they’ll not only cause you to fail resulting in the loss of equipment but they’ll also destroy one of the businesses in town, making life more difficult; you won’t be able to shop for weapons until you spend the money to rebuild for instance. Setting up a fort in their path will deter them from reaching the exit and send them back to the bottom of the dungeon. If you have a fort ready that’s being guarded by your guild mates, they’ll attack the DOE once it reaches their floor. By standing with them, you can trigger an epic fight where up to eight of your guild members can battle the DOE at the same time. While that might seem like overkill is actually quite adequate as the DOE will only take 1% damage regardless of attack unless it’s affected by a debuff or bind first. At that point, it comes down to its strengths and weakness (like any other enemy).
There’s so much to talk about in EMD. What I really want to get across though is how fun it is to play. Working your way through a tough dungeon, returning to the town to restock items or switch out characters, then heading back in for more is an addictive gameplay loop. Its relenting challenges and rouge-like elements makes way for some tense, yet exciting moments. And it has some of the best boss fights found in a handheld game. Outside of the gameplay comes an excellent soundtrack and great visuals; even from a top down perspective, the 3D effect really pops. I just wish the story was more of a focal point. It helps to move things along and the main mystery is interesting, but there’s nothing memorable about what happens. Most likely the reason you’ll continue playing after beating the game is for the side quests*. Going forward though, I think ATLUS should consider making EMD into their next major RPG series. It has enough going for it to stand on its own.
*ATLUS is offering free DLC missions for those who snag EMD before May 5th. Based on our brief hands-on time with them, they are worth checking out!
Gameplay:
9
While the story isn’t that memorable the challenging gameplay is worth experiencing.
Graphics:
9
I like the anime and chibi-like visuals, especially with the 3D effects. The environments could use more variety though.
Sound:
10
I like the game’s many melodies; the tune that plays during boss fights really gets the blood pumping!
Replay Value:
9
I can definitely see people going back to finish side quests and/or to complete the main campaign on harder difficulties.
Final Score:
9.3