Written By: Patrick Orquia
Title: Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth
Developer: Atlus
Publisher: Atlus
Genre: Dungeon crawler RPG
Number of Players: 1
Release Date: 04 Aug 2016 (JP) / 17 Oct 2017 (NA/EUR)
Platform: 3DS system
Price: $39.99
Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth is, as the title suggests, the fifth main line game in the Etrian Odyssey series, with the first game released in 2007 on the Nintendo DS. This game is the first that I have tried in the series, though, and I love it. This is the second dungeon crawler that I have played so far (the first one being the excellent indie game, Severed). In this game, you as the player travel through labyrinthine dungeons in first person view, so even if you don’t get to see your squad, you see what they see, making way for a more immersive experience, and it’s awesome, especially with the stereoscopic 3D on the 3DS.
Since I have not played any of the previous games, I can’t say if this game is connected in any way to the others, but as far as I know, it is not, kind of like how most of the Final Fantasy games are. I have no idea how good the other games are, either, but if their quality is anywhere as good as this one, then they maybe are. This game is a very long one, not so unlike other RPGs, but unlike the others, this game doesn’t seem much of a chore to play.
When the game loads, a short prologue is shown. It tells a story about a big world tree, Yggdrasil, located at the center of the land of Arcania. Reaching the top of Yggdrasil is said to fulfill different destinies, as believed by many people of different races. There are four races in the game, they are (description provided from the game): the Earthlains, hardy denizens of arcania; the Celestrians, pursuers of arcane truths; the Therians, a beastblooded warrior people; and the Brounis, kindly little allies of nature. At the bottom of Yggdrasil lies the Iorys, the City of Seven Hills, where different guilds of adventurers make their first stop as they prepare to trek through different strata of Yggdrasil with the hopes of reaching the top. At the start of the game, you as the player assemble your own guild with the help of Egar the guildmaster. You can register up to 30 members of your guild, but only five can be in your party at any given time, and that could extend to six when some characters join your party temporarily later in the game. You can choose from four different races, each with its own different job classes. Variety is the key to success, so it is better for your guild to have members of many different job classes. Once your guild has been registered, you will then need to go to the council for briefing with Ramus about what would be the challenges that your guild will face as you begin your adventure. You will have to return to the council many times later as you pass through different floors and strata of Yggdrasil to progress in the game. The other people to interact with in Iorys are Jenetta, who manages the inn where you would need to go to rest and fully regain your HP (hit points) and TP (technique points, used in performing special techniques) and also to save the game; Syrik, who manages the shop to which you will have to sell the different materials, treasures, and monster drops that you get in your adventure for him to create new weapons, gears, and items that will help you in your quest; and Mirina the owner of the Twilight Tavern from whom you will receive optional side quests, additional items, and useful information. Once you’re ready, you are now ready to begin your adventure.
Yggdrasil is divided into different strata, and each stratum consists of five floors. A stratum has its own unique biome and environment different from the others, for example, the first stratum is a forested area and the second one is a desert. Each of these also has different monsters to fight and they get stronger and hit harder as you progress through different floors. Monster battles are random encounters, and the more battles you fight, the faster you will level up. When you encounter a monster, a turn-based battle starts, with you facing the enemy/enemies. Aside from your usual normal attack moves, you can also perform special technique moves, use items, defend, or perform union moves. Union moves are special moves performed usually with 2 or more characters, that can be either an attack move, a move to heal one or more allies, revive a fallen ally, etc. There is a certain cool down period between union moves, so use them wisely. Once you have beaten the enemies, you get rewarded with experience points used to level up and item drops that you can later sell. Leveling up in the game enables you to learn and further level up new techniques or abilities. An ability tree is presented to the player, with one skill point given to a character each time they level up. Skill points can be used to level up abilities, with some more advanced abilities only open up after leveling up the ability below it to a given number. The more leveled up an ability is, the stronger and more effective they get, and, in some cases, you get higher chance you get to use them in battle. Different job classes have different abilities, so take note of this to your advantage.
Aside from the regular monsters, there are also bigger ones, called FOEs (Formido Oppugnatura Exsequens, basically huge enemies on the field, also unofficially known as Freakishly Overpowered Enemies, as people on the internet affectionately call them), which you see on the screen and marked clearly on the map. These FOEs are much harder to beat, so it is wise to avoid them in battle as much as possible, as facing them with your party not adequately leveled up means an almost certain wipe out within a turn or two, though you can go back and beat them later once you have leveled up enough. If you can’t beat these FOEs yet, you may get a chance for your party to encounter rare breed monsters, distinguished by different sparkling colors. These rare breeds have higher HP and they have the high tendency to escape from battles, so if you ever see one, kill them first right away, and doing so rewards you with high bonus experience points.
One unique aspect of this game is the map. As begin your quest on a particular floor, the map is blank, and as you walk through it, the map fills up the paths and walls. You then have to mark different areas of interest, like a treasure chest or a mining point or doors or hidden paths. This makes you accountable in a way on how you traverse a floor, so if you marked a location of a particular door wrongly, for example, and you make a mistake and get lost, it’s all on you. And with this, the game makes very good use of the touchscreen of the 3DS. Different symbols signifying different points of interests are given to you, and it’s up to you what you want to use to mark these locations on the map with. Most of them are self-explanatory, like there is a symbol for a treasure box to signify a treasure box and a bonfire to signify a camping spot, etc. Some of these locations, mostly mining or farming spots, can only be interacted once very in-game day, and the map also mark that accordingly so as to help you remember.
The game has a day and night cycle, with each hour passing every so minutes. There are a few scenarios that only happen on a particular time span of the day, like some floor traps and monsters only appearing during the day, so careful planning must be done. Every time you go back to Iorys and take a rest at the inn, Jenetta asks you whether to do so until morning or night. You can choose either, depending on your strategy, but you have to remember that the aforementioned locations that can only be interacted once a day gets reset at the start of a day, so if you go to the inn on a particular day and only rest until the night, these locations will not reset yet until the next morning. Aside from taking rest at the inn, you can visit the marketplace to sell whatever items that you have collected on your quest. Your item inventory is limited, so if it gets filled up while you are still on the field, you will have to delete some items to make room for new ones. The problem with that is some items are more valuable than others, and if it is your first time on a particular floor, you have no way of knowing which one fetches for a higher price unless you sell them to Syrik. As I mentioned above, Syrik makes new weapons, gears, and items out of the materials you sell him, with items obtained from harder/rarer monsters fetching a higher price. You need to upgrade your weapons and gears every so often as you level up to have a better chance against stronger enemies, so this is also one motivation for you to continue exploring the floors and strata.
Speaking of equipment, the character customization in this game is quite vast. Different job classes use different weapons and gears, and if you have varied characters (belonging to different races and job classes), you will be required to beat more enemies in order for you to craft different equipment. But doing so is very fun and addicting in this game, so it’s not really much of an issue. Even if the floors themselves become annoyingly difficult to traverse due to the higher number of FOEs or intertwining paths and obstacles that warp you from one point to another, especially on the higher floors, it’s still all good, as the game makes you strategize more. And you as the leader of your guild has to do it well. Remember, reaching the top of Yggdrasil makes you come face to face with your destiny and see if all the myths and legends passed from generation to generation is true. Play well and be rewarded, and have fun along the way.
Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth is one of the very best games that I have played on 3DS, ever. It’s so addicting and fun, has different characters to interact with, story twists to untangle, and mysteries to uncover. With its unique first person dungeon crawler game mechanics, I feel much more involved in the game, and makes me care more about the characters in my party. If this will be the last Etrian Odyssey game to ever get released on the 3DS, it is a very fitting way to say goodbye the console, for as we all know and anticipate, Nintendo may soon merge their home and handheld consoles into one with their new hybrid console, Switch. But I hope it is not the last one, as I still want to see another Etrian Odyssey game with this quality in dual screens, and I know I will enjoy playing that one as much as I enjoyed this game. If the next one comes out on the Switch, that will be a welcome change as well. The future is inevitable, and this game series needs to be enjoyed more by gamers, old and new.
REPLAY VALUE: high
PROS:
- Very good story, art style, character design, level design, game mechanics, and level up system
- The first person perspective makes the experience more immersive
- Awesome soundtrack, ranging from soothing sax-based music while you’re in Iorys to frantic metal during boss fights. Each stratum also has its own theme music
- Beating monsters and getting new items drops is very addicting
- Grinding is needed, but you can set a battle to auto where the characters do normal attacks on their own until the end of the battle or you disable it. Also, battle speed can be adjusted so if you want to get through a battle, you can set it to fast in the settings for it to be over quickly
- Very varied character customization
- You get to create 30 characters and you can mix and match them in your party and see which ones will be the most effective together
- The game looks good in stereoscopic 3D, making the visuals pop out more
- The game makes very good use of the touchscreen for the in-game map and providing the current HP/TP of your characters during battles without having to pause the game
CONS:
- Some game mechanics are not provided explicitly to the player. There is an NPC in the tavern who provides the info you need regarding battles, skills, etc. but she is easy to miss, since she is not really visible
- Lack of character animation: the characters you interact with, along with your party characters, are only shown with their character illustrations (with very minimal animation to signify change in emotions). You don’t get to see them in action, except for the monsters
- Some scenarios are only described in text. It would have been better to see them happening or with accompanying illustrations
- The item inventory is limited. Sure, there is a way to upgrade it through leveling up some skills for it on some characters on certain job classes, but they are not permanent (i.e., if the character is not in your party, their skills go along with them). There is no other way (as far as I know) to upgrade the inventory, and with the huge number of enemy encounters you get, your inventory gets filled up quite fast, making you having to go back to Iorys to sell your items before continuing further more often. And unless you have opened up a shortcut, you will need to start the floor again from the very beginning to reach the location that you were in prior
- Lack of saving while you’re on the field. Saving is only though the inn, which means you don’t get to save anywhere else. A save point is located at the opening floor of each stratum, but it’s not on every floor. You are given a second chance if your party gets wiped out, though, if you are playing on normal difficulty, which allows you to warp back to Iorys if needed.
RATING: 4.5/5 myths and destinies
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