Etrian Odyssey

My beloved dungeon crawlers

Etrian Odyssey is one of favorite video game series of all time. And it's the reason I met one of my best friends.

I got started with a used copy of Etrian Odyssey II for the Nintendo DS not terribly long before the third game was released. I had never played a dungeon crawling game quite like it before, and I was hooked.

The music is beyond incredible. Yuzo Koshiro is a legendary composer, and this was my first big exposure to his music. I own several game soundtracks and arrangements for the series, and listening to them can bring out so many emotions and memories for me. As a total sicko for Nintendo handhelds, the DS was the last truly great handheld by them, in my opinion.

A meticulously crafted interface in various shades of green? You bet I loved this. The game also really indulged the build crafters out there. While the story is pretty minimal, I think it does a good job of giving you a reason to keep going. This is a gamer's game about gameplay, with all the best possible art to make everything engaging.

At the time I loved (and sometimes hated) the map drawing system. The dungeon floors were often extremely creative and treacherous in a way I feel like I rarely see. Getting to the next floor was always a journey.

I remember the excitement of getting to a new stratum (a group of about five floors) and seeing the new visual style and new song. Sometimes less is more with storytelling, and this game did so much with visuals and music that other games would do by beating you over the head with walls of text.

It's just your party vs the dungeon, and there isn't a lot to talk about. You're just immersed in the experiences. One of the really interesting ways the story plays out is through events that can happen when you interact with points of interest. It frequently plays out like a "choose your own adventure" novel, with one choice leading to success, and another leading to a monster encounter. It could be something like "Do you eat the tasty honey from the bee's nest?". And if you say yes... a nearby bear who wants the honey attacks you!!! Killing your entire party lol. You could call it cheap, but usually the results were less dire. It's a subtle kind of roleplaying, but combined with the silent protagonist and first person perspective, it feels so immersive.

The game's combat system was extremely satisfying to me, and I devoured these entries for several games. I'm glad that Etrian Odyssey has been wrapped up, but I hope to see a new generation of fantastic dungeon crawlers that can live up to the awesomeness of some of these games.