Etrian Odyssey III: One step forward, two steps back

 

 

“7 hours, 34 minutes and 50 seconds; 12^th floor barely reached — and I’m calling it quits.

EOIII is not horrendous; but as the title implies, it’s not quite as good as EOII. The latter’s strata themes clicked with me in the most effortless way; EOIII’s strata themes, on the other hand, feel a bit off — and clearly underexploited. For instance: despite being an absolute sucker for marine depths, I felt absolutely nothing when roaming the Undersea Grotto. No sweet wanderlust, no soothing immersion; that stratum felt more like a papier mâché décor than like a real ocean floor.”

 

This is what I initially wrote, and it was perfectly true at the time; in fact, I still stand by it regarding the subpar execution of the strata themes. The part about quitting, though, is outdated; for lo and behold, I dove back into EOIII with a vengeance and finished it in one fell swoop! 

 

 

The first order of business was to extract myself from the maddeningly labyrinthine Undersea Grotto. I found myself stuck because of some currents, and quickly reasoned that I was facing a headache — in every sense of the word — similar to the Elevator situation in EOI’s fifth stratum. Being a wise gamer honed by decades of gaming the way a fine blade would be, I knew obstinacy was as vain as it was futile; and thus, I quickly ran to the internet and let the wisdom of other fellow gamers enlighten me! The way out of that darn second stratum proved ridiculously arcane and convoluted — like, ‘80s Point-and-Clickers levels of convolution. But nevermind, I got myself out this mess and could soar ahead — as much as one could soar in a subterranean labyrinth, anyway.

 

 

Yeah, about that: after the liberation of climbing of a giant tree in EOII, we’re back to the oppression of diving into an abyss. This is already galling enough for claustrophobic little me; to make matters worse, the marine setting and the Deep City stop reminded me unpleasantly of Made in Abyss — and I just DON'T wanna think about Made in Abyss, EVER. Erm, anyway! Another thing I mourn from the awesome EOII are the no less awesome one-way Geomagnetic Poles, which were present every two or three floors and enabled direct teleportation from town to the given floor once activated. 

 

Back to the strata: the Molten Caves were as graphically dull as any other lava level from any other game; as for the Abyssal Shrine, it was so unremarkable that I genuinely cannot remember what it looks like as I’m writing this. However, they were both stimulating to crawl, and they single-handedly rekindled my interest in the game. Then came the true jewel in the crown, a.k.a. Porcelain Forest. Gosh, the perfection! Splendid crystalline graphics, epic “the end is night” music, clever and challenging gimmicks: all this made for delightful crawling, and a very happy little me. Then came the pre-final boss — namely the Automaton King and Olympia, as I had chosen the Armoroad Route. Disposing of them was a matter of a couple of turns and minutes… and led me straight to the credits roll, leaving me gaping at the screen and thinking “wait, is it already over? Just like that?” Not gonna lie, that ending was kinda… anticlimactic. Sure enough, the Cyclopean Haunt was there for the crawling after the credits; however, that qualifies as postgame to me, and I don’t do postgame. 

 

 

I rank EOIII halfway between EOII and EOI. The second entry remains my absolute favourite of the original trilogy; however; I can see myself replaying the third — and not just for the sake of clearing all endings and getting more of the strata I liked. The weapon system, for one, was a real treat: not only were there more weapons available than in both EOI and EOII combined — both in terms of types and volume — but characters could also equip a variety of weapons instead of being stuck with a mere one or two types. This made for interesting variations in fighting dynamics, especially once the Class system was factored in — a.k.a. the game’s second saving grace as far as I’m concerned. 

 

 

Here's how it goes between me and class systems in RPGs: I hate single-class systems because they’re too darn restrictive for no good reason, but I love double-class systems because they allow for endless permutations. As you guessed already, EOIII’s class system belongs to the latter variety — and gosh, was it an absolute treat! My party became a roaring force of rampage as soon as the second class became available, and the enjoyment I derived from the game skyrocketed. So did my crawling speed: I polished off the three remaining strata in a puny five hours, making my run clock in at 12 hours, 20 minutes and 14 seconds. 

 

 

At any rate, one thing is abundantly clear: as far as the original EO trilogy is concerned, the Origins Collection is the real deal for me. I can thus part with the DS original games and 3DS remakes without a care in the world! I’d never thought the Switch would come to host so many past glories and hidden gems, bringing them to a wider audience; but that’s a development I’m more than happy about, and I’ll be the first to celebrate it. We need more games from generations past on the Switch, yes please!