Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City

Saying a game is difficult by today’s standards doesn’t mean as much as it used to, but Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City is difficult even in comparison to its previous entries in the series. With its mix of relentless obstacles and constant need to plan far in advance, this isn’t a game for the faint of heart or the impatient. For those willing to take the time and effort demanded by The Drowned City, however, the payoff is just as steep.

                If you’re a newcomer to the Etrian Odyssey franchise the explanation is fairly straightforward. The game drops you in the role of a greenhorn who’s just arrived in a city dominated by a large tower filled with monsters and, like the dozens of heroes who have made the pilgrimage before you, you’ll take your stab at working your way to the top stratum for ultimate glory and power. You create your party from scratch, load up on supplies and equipment, and set out to succeed where the others have failed. That’s it. The rest of your characters backstories and motivations are left to your imagination. It all harkens back to old fashioned, hardcore RPGs of yesteryear, and if there’s one word that describes The Drowned City, it’s hardcore.

                All the elements of classic tabletop roleplaying are here, from creating your guild and its members to charting your own map as you go, it’s a do-it-yourself game from top to bottom. The Drowned City doesn’t try to shake up its predecessor’s formula too much, but it does add a lot of welcome enhancements in almost every area. The city now offers a port to go sailing, the weapon shop now has a forge to imbue socketed weapons with elemental attributes or stat boosts, there’s a bar to accept side quests and get advice for your next escapade in the tower, and the inn is always open to revive fallen teammates and rest your party for a fee. But Atlus’ new feature set extends beyond just the city surrounding the tower.

                The cast of character classes has also been expanded, now ranging from summoners to farmers who each have their own unique and often crucial skills. You can also choose a sub-class for your characters as the game progresses, with new unlockable classes appearing along the way. Once you’ve sorted your party out and set foot in the dungeon for the first time you’ll notice the changes don’t end there, either. The map making tools are largely similar, with a few new symbols to more specifically chart your map, but the big change to your map making toolset is auto pilot, a set of arrows in each cardinal direction you can now place on your map wherever you like to allow your character to move along your custom track automatically. To be honest, I’m not too sure what this was supposed to be used for since auto battle still requires you to advance text after each attack, so it’s not as if you can set a track and leave your overpowered party to grind on a weaker floor while you occupy yourself elsewhere. Regardless, there are also plenty of prudent changes in the floors themselves. Visually there is no change from the typical Etrian Odyssey style 3-D environments, but the sharper visuals and creative character and monster designs are sure to please fans. The monsters, however, have been tweaked for a more strategic approach in combat, with each monster having an alternate item they drop when defeated using a certain method. If things get too intense (and they will) you can use any designated camping spots you find to rest your party inside the dungeon, saving you the danger of hobbling back through the floor to the entrance and risking death. The layout of the floors is also much more varied now, with more to see and plenty of short cuts and one way crevices to discover, making the actual navigation of the floors much more engaging.

It’s not all good news though. Fans know the Etrian Odyssey games have always been brutal, but The Drowned City feels difficult in a lot of the wrong ways. Its seems like things get too punishing as a result of smaller aspects that compound each other, and although it might not happen to everyone, those that do fall into its trap will most likely find themselves making a new party and starting from scratch. The character’s exhaustive skill trees have plenty of useful skills, but the most important seem hidden behind prerequisites of skills you probably don’t want. This is especially true with the zodiac class, as trying to invest in anything except exclusively in one of the 3 elements is suicide, and three zodiacs would be more than half of your party. Your only option is basically to juggle 3 zodiacs separately, or ignore one or both other elements. It’s a skill system that requires a lot of forethought and planning since your only option besides starting a new character is to reset your character's points at the cost of 5 levels.  But the biggest hitching point for me was the balance of the economy. Keeping your equipment current is crucial, and the inn’s fees increase per stay so recovery items are also important. Add that on top of supplies for sailing, forging weapons, and reviving team members and you’ll need to grind a lot to keep up with your tab. The problem is since you need that equipment to grind and you need to grind to keep up your equipment, it’s easy to end up somewhere in the middle where you can’t afford to do either.

Smaller problems also frustrate throughout your adventure. The sailing feels like a missed opportunity, with little customization and a rigid system that doesn’t allow a lot of freedom. It would have been a nice escape from the grinding in the tower if it had just been a little more fleshed out. Experimenting in combat to find rare drops is enticing, but considering team members can often be killed in one shot it’s too much of a risk unless you’ve already ventured far above the floor you’re on. Multiplayer is fun but not much of a departure from the norm of single player, and it would have been great if it had been more fleshed out, even though I am glad to see it in the game at all. Since there are already plenty of great skills for each class on their own and skill points are so hard to come by, the sub-class addition is almost too much to take on unless you have a very specific strategy in mind for that character.

In the end though, that’s what The Drowned Sea is all about: planning. It’s hard, frustrating, and sometimes downright cheap, but this isn’t a game for the mainstream; this is a love letter to all the fans of the Etrian Odyssey series. If you want a portable RPG that demands as much strategy as it does patience The Drowned City will give you the tools you need, but you’ll have to figure out how to use them all on your own. Just don’t expect to get anything out until well after you’ve started putting in.