Etrian Odyssey has long been the hardcore RPG fan's bastion of viciousness on the DS
and 3DS systems.
You build your party, you get a bajillion customization options and plenty of skill
trees to navigate, you delve through dungeons, fight off fell beasts and cruel creatures,
and draw all your own maps while doing so.
It's that intersection of old-school adventure fan and moe-appreciating otaku, who - for
being a small portion of the market as a whole - have apparently supported the series enough
for Atlus to localize all four chapters up to this point.
All of them have one thing in common: A party that you have to build yourself from members
recruited through the guild system.
Etrian Odyssey Untold, on the other hand, actually GIVES you a team.
It's strange, I know, especially for this series.
But this foreknowledge of who's who lets them also do really cool things like, y'know, plot-advancing
animation.
For sacrificing a bit of control over the members of your own party, you stand to gain
a number of improvements upon this re-imagining of the first installment of the Etrian Odyssey
series.
Firstly and primarily, there's an actual cast of compatriots for you to get to know, including
a strange girl who was locked in some high-tech ruins and suffers from amnesia.
And yes, that does kinda sound just like Star Ocean plus a sharp blow to the head, but stay
with me here.
You're tasked with investigating those ruins, as well as the various strata of the forest
nearby, and drawing maps of what you see.
See?
Cartography does come in handy sometimes.
Along the way you put down packs of monsters, collect their various bits to sell to NPCs,
fulfill quests at the pub because that's where people go to take up quests, and generally
do everything in your power to rack up more sweet, sweet EXP to fuel your navigation of
each party member's skill tree... or to save your hide in case you fail in slaloming through
the huge freakin' monsters you're prone to finding in each dungeon.
To help ease the fact that you're given a static party, Grimoire Stones are available
to diversify each member's available skills and weapon proficiencies.
(read: This is why your healer is on the front lines with a sword.)
These stones are occasionally generated during battle and can be melded together at your
own mansion to customize or consolidate the powers you prefer.
You've also got a maid who's adept at whipping up delicious refreshments that lift your spirits
(and stats) through your next raid into the wilderness.
And yes, occasionally, you get Ice Cream.
Turns out Lushy McTankpants hails from this cold, snowy region known as "Ontario," which
makes her at best a Leafs fan and, at worst... ugh... a Sens fan.
Oh well, that's why she takes the hits.
And drinks to forget.
But if you're not a fan of these, y'know, characters getting in the way of your good,
traditional RPG dungeon slog, you have the option of just going without.
Say "bollocks" to the advances of half a decade, and just play it as you would a standard Etrian
Odyssey.
You're welcome to do exactly that thing.
It's a surprising accommodation from a game that, in most every other respect, is there
to beat down your soul under cartography tasks, fetch quests, and a brutal difficulty curve.
I guess some folks just go for that sort of thing, and I guess I'm one of 'em.
Now pass the ice cream before I put your head on a pike.