So, it's been about a month since I finished playing Etrian Odyssey Untold, and I was initially going to write this review as like a subtweet to a review to the original Etrian Odyssey due to myself thinking said review is spreading misinformation. However, that's not what I want to do and so this will just be a straightforward review, though I will bring up some minor complaints I have with said review regardless.
Of course, Spoiler Warnings for Etrian Odyssey and Etrian Odyssey Untold.
I had first heard about this game when a friend of mine showed me said review for the original Etrian Odyssey. We had a laugh about how ridiculous we thought the review was, but I didn't ultimately get interested in the game until our friend Alan got to talking about it.
That's when my buddy Simon started his playthrough of the original Etrian Odyssey. The game was very intriguing due to it's nature as a dungeon crawler.
Unlike other Dungeon Crawlers I've played that automatically map for you as you go along, Etrian Odyssey requires the player to chart their own maps utilizing the touchscreen of the DS/3DS. This results in an immersive process I can only compare to how people used to play adventure games back when the Internet was far less accessible and players had to rely on drawing out their own maps to track their locations and findings.
And that was only part of the experience. For alongside navigating blind through these labyrinthian halls of forest, were creatures of pure terror and despair.
FOEs, these imposing Orange Orbs, which contained enemies far deadlier than any other, were plentiful throughout the winding paths and gaping corridors. If you want an accurate description of what FOEs are like, imagine Mr. X from the Resident Evil 2 Remake, but there's more than one and they are everywhere.
Watching Simon wander terrified with his Guild was a sight to behold, and while I was thinking of hopping on the original EO, I quickly changed my mind when I heard this.
Etrian Odyssey Untold's soundtrack, with it's pure orchestrated glory convinced me to play that version, and so I did.
I started the greatest of all the Guilds, the Alan Cock Guild. With myself as the Ronin leader, Alan as our Dark Hunter Mascot, Yuiz as our Masterful Medic, Godman as our Triumphing Troubadour, and Simon as our Helpful Hexer, we were sent out into the Yggdrasil Labyrinth to discover its many environments and venture into its very depths.
At the start, it was brutal. We were barely equipped to fight even the weakest of foes, they weren't so much battles as much as they were fights just to survive. The FOEs were the most terrifying, especially given how the remake opts to show what they actually look like, and because of the use of 3D models, could provide the most terrifying of scenarios like with these Boars shaped like Boulders that wake up when you walk in front of them.
I'd argue that Etrian Odyssey is a better horror game than most on the market. Every new FOE, every new Floor Boss is built up too steadily, and makes encountering them for the first time an absolute shock to the core.
Of course, that only made it all the more satisfying when the Alan Cock Guild grew strong enough to kill these ferocious creatures. As we continued to explore, as Forests gave way to Jungles, and Jungles gave way to Coral Reefs, we got ever stronger.
Along the way, we wind up encountering this Forest Girl who clearly does not want us there. Eventually the Radha, the people who we have been working for the entire game, demand that we do one more thing if we seek to venture further into the labyrinth: "Annihilate the Forest Folk".
So, back onto the minor complaints thing. The review that I read that initially introduced me to this game tried to make this argument that this final mission was Atlus saying that Genocide is good and acceptable. It was also at the point that the mission was introduced that they stopped playing the game.
Now, I'm not going to say Genocide isn't bad, or that the game doesn't have you partake in it. However, I do want to point out that at no point does the game actively relish in the actions.
From the very start of the mission, it is made clear how unsettling this demand is. Quinn, the Mission Giver, is clearly upset about the whole ordeal, mentioning how he "wished they would resolve this peacefully" revealing that the Radha Chieftan, Visil, has been acting strange in regards to these demands.
Throughout the entire quest, it is commented on how your guild does not want to do this, and that the whole thing is a setup by Visil to try and get you killed before you discover more about the Yggdrasil Labyrinth.
The game does not try to glorify the act of genocide, and I think claiming that Atlus was attempting to do so here is disingenuous.
Even then, I'd like to posit this argument. Why is it suddenly that when it is specifically the Forest Folk that it is this moral dilemma?
Think about what you and your party do all game.
From the very start you have been invading the habitats of the various creatures you come across, killing leagues of rats and wolves, slaughtering without end and without mercy. To come to this mission and think that your guild is innocent when they've already decimated an entire eco-system is just a bit hypocritical to be quite frank. (Also just want to say, assuming that Explorers are going to automatically be good is kind of naïve given history, most explorers have done terrible shit.)
And even then, by the end of the game you fight back against those who sent you to commit these heinous acts, and foil their plans with the Yggdrasil Tree.
If I had to make an argument about what I think the game is trying to show is that it shows the results of Capitalism on the environment.
You kill, you take in order to gain wealth and fame for your guild. The entire reason the genocide thing is set up to begin with to get your guild killed is to keep the mystery of the labyrinth going so that more explorers seeking the same fame you do will come to Etria.
More Explorers means more business, and you actively see these effects just by how the Shop's wares increase based on the drops you sell. Watching in real time as you becoming richer makes prices go up, and mercantile empires expand.
But at the end, you turn your back on that. You fight Visil in one last duel and strike him down, ending his plans, and eventually revealing the truth to everyone. Capitalism may have been what drove the guild before, but at the end, you fought to stop the cycle of destruction.
I realize that hey, this is probably an entirely subjective perspective on the whole thing... but I think this idea is interesting to me so I'm sticking with it.
The game is hard, but from the map-making, to the incredible score, to the deeper themes, to the areas themselves being absolutely beautiful, I think it is worth your time.
Also people who think this is boring haven't played enough DMC2.
Anyways this review is probably real messy but I don't think there was much of an overly coherent way of making this. Next review will be more organized.
Of course, Spoiler Warnings for Etrian Odyssey and Etrian Odyssey Untold.
I had first heard about this game when a friend of mine showed me said review for the original Etrian Odyssey. We had a laugh about how ridiculous we thought the review was, but I didn't ultimately get interested in the game until our friend Alan got to talking about it.
That's when my buddy Simon started his playthrough of the original Etrian Odyssey. The game was very intriguing due to it's nature as a dungeon crawler.
Unlike other Dungeon Crawlers I've played that automatically map for you as you go along, Etrian Odyssey requires the player to chart their own maps utilizing the touchscreen of the DS/3DS. This results in an immersive process I can only compare to how people used to play adventure games back when the Internet was far less accessible and players had to rely on drawing out their own maps to track their locations and findings.
And that was only part of the experience. For alongside navigating blind through these labyrinthian halls of forest, were creatures of pure terror and despair.
FOEs, these imposing Orange Orbs, which contained enemies far deadlier than any other, were plentiful throughout the winding paths and gaping corridors. If you want an accurate description of what FOEs are like, imagine Mr. X from the Resident Evil 2 Remake, but there's more than one and they are everywhere.
Watching Simon wander terrified with his Guild was a sight to behold, and while I was thinking of hopping on the original EO, I quickly changed my mind when I heard this.
Etrian Odyssey Untold's soundtrack, with it's pure orchestrated glory convinced me to play that version, and so I did.
I started the greatest of all the Guilds, the Alan Cock Guild. With myself as the Ronin leader, Alan as our Dark Hunter Mascot, Yuiz as our Masterful Medic, Godman as our Triumphing Troubadour, and Simon as our Helpful Hexer, we were sent out into the Yggdrasil Labyrinth to discover its many environments and venture into its very depths.
At the start, it was brutal. We were barely equipped to fight even the weakest of foes, they weren't so much battles as much as they were fights just to survive. The FOEs were the most terrifying, especially given how the remake opts to show what they actually look like, and because of the use of 3D models, could provide the most terrifying of scenarios like with these Boars shaped like Boulders that wake up when you walk in front of them.
I'd argue that Etrian Odyssey is a better horror game than most on the market. Every new FOE, every new Floor Boss is built up too steadily, and makes encountering them for the first time an absolute shock to the core.
Of course, that only made it all the more satisfying when the Alan Cock Guild grew strong enough to kill these ferocious creatures. As we continued to explore, as Forests gave way to Jungles, and Jungles gave way to Coral Reefs, we got ever stronger.
Along the way, we wind up encountering this Forest Girl who clearly does not want us there. Eventually the Radha, the people who we have been working for the entire game, demand that we do one more thing if we seek to venture further into the labyrinth: "Annihilate the Forest Folk".
So, back onto the minor complaints thing. The review that I read that initially introduced me to this game tried to make this argument that this final mission was Atlus saying that Genocide is good and acceptable. It was also at the point that the mission was introduced that they stopped playing the game.
Now, I'm not going to say Genocide isn't bad, or that the game doesn't have you partake in it. However, I do want to point out that at no point does the game actively relish in the actions.
From the very start of the mission, it is made clear how unsettling this demand is. Quinn, the Mission Giver, is clearly upset about the whole ordeal, mentioning how he "wished they would resolve this peacefully" revealing that the Radha Chieftan, Visil, has been acting strange in regards to these demands.
Throughout the entire quest, it is commented on how your guild does not want to do this, and that the whole thing is a setup by Visil to try and get you killed before you discover more about the Yggdrasil Labyrinth.
The game does not try to glorify the act of genocide, and I think claiming that Atlus was attempting to do so here is disingenuous.
Even then, I'd like to posit this argument. Why is it suddenly that when it is specifically the Forest Folk that it is this moral dilemma?
Think about what you and your party do all game.
From the very start you have been invading the habitats of the various creatures you come across, killing leagues of rats and wolves, slaughtering without end and without mercy. To come to this mission and think that your guild is innocent when they've already decimated an entire eco-system is just a bit hypocritical to be quite frank. (Also just want to say, assuming that Explorers are going to automatically be good is kind of naïve given history, most explorers have done terrible shit.)
And even then, by the end of the game you fight back against those who sent you to commit these heinous acts, and foil their plans with the Yggdrasil Tree.
If I had to make an argument about what I think the game is trying to show is that it shows the results of Capitalism on the environment.
You kill, you take in order to gain wealth and fame for your guild. The entire reason the genocide thing is set up to begin with to get your guild killed is to keep the mystery of the labyrinth going so that more explorers seeking the same fame you do will come to Etria.
More Explorers means more business, and you actively see these effects just by how the Shop's wares increase based on the drops you sell. Watching in real time as you becoming richer makes prices go up, and mercantile empires expand.
But at the end, you turn your back on that. You fight Visil in one last duel and strike him down, ending his plans, and eventually revealing the truth to everyone. Capitalism may have been what drove the guild before, but at the end, you fought to stop the cycle of destruction.
I realize that hey, this is probably an entirely subjective perspective on the whole thing... but I think this idea is interesting to me so I'm sticking with it.
The game is hard, but from the map-making, to the incredible score, to the deeper themes, to the areas themselves being absolutely beautiful, I think it is worth your time.
Also people who think this is boring haven't played enough DMC2.
Anyways this review is probably real messy but I don't think there was much of an overly coherent way of making this. Next review will be more organized.