Title: Etrian Odyssey: The Fanfir Kngiht
Developer: Atlus
Time Played: 100 Hours
Story:
The kingdom of High Laggard is
the home of two mysterious landmarks: the ruin known as Ginugaap and
the ancient labyrinth that towers over the city in the form of the
tree Yggdrasil.
Our
hero and his friend, Flavio, have traveled from the Midgard Library
on a research assignment to investigate Ginugapp and determine what
it’s true purpose is. In the process of exploring the city they
find that someone else is also interested in exploring the ruins and
has posted a job request at the local bar requesting assistance from
any guild willing to take the job. According
to the barkeep the job poster is in the labyrinth doing what they
need to do, pass a simple mapping test of the lowest level of the
labyrinth so that they can stay in the town and be recognized as
explorers.
After
some exploration they come across a young woman by the name of
Arianna that matches the description of the job poster. It turns
out that she is actually a princess from a neighboring kingdom that
sends a representative to Ginugapp every hundred years to perform a
ritual that “renews” the structure and keeps the lands safe from…
something. It turns out that Arianna is not even sure what the
ritual is since it
is apparently seen as more of a tradition than
anything else. After the last ritual the exact details were lost for
some reason, but her kingdom sent her anyways thinking it was
probably just a ceremonial type of thing. Unfortunately during the
intervening 100 years the monsters have taken over the ruin and she
is unable to complete her task without help.
Since
they have a common goal the group sets out to the ancient ruin where
they come across an older knight known as Bertrand and his young
charge Chloe. These two also have an interest in exploring the ruins
even if they are vague about their exact reasons.
Seeing the condition of the ruins, the five decide that working as
group will be the easiest way to accomplish all of their goals.
This
is where the adventure truly begins. Five strangers come together to
form a guild that will change High Laggard forever. The mystery that
lies deep within the Ginugapp ruins has it’s origins in the ancient
past and it’s answers in the highest levels of labyrinth. It is
your task to guide your group through the twists
and turns of the towering maze to
discover the true purpose behind the ancient ritual and rediscover
the lost history of High Laggard.
Game Play:
The game play of the Etrian series is what one would expect from a dungeon crawler. The player explores a maze like floor fighting enemies, solving simple puzzles and finding treasures. The difference with the Untold remakes of the Etrian series is that they have updated the games to include a story and to take advantage of the 3DS’s touch screen. The touch screen allows the player to draw a map of the floor as they explore and note any discoveries that they may find such as treasure chests, locked doors and shortcuts.The touch screen also allows players that have drawn a complete map, or explored the level enough to unlock it, to warp between levels and to any discovered stair cases in the level. This comes in handy as the player gets further in the game and some of the floors begin to interconnect.
Beyond that the game also features a few different types of crafting. To get better weapons and armor the player must collect various item through slaying monsters and finding harvest spots scattered throughout the levels. These in turn are sold to the item shop to unlock new purchases. The same goes for the food crafting system. As the player explores they will come across various ingredients that can be returned to town to unlock new recipes at the guild hall that will give the player various beneficial effects for their party.
There is also a grimoire system in the game that lets the player boost their character skills or acquire enemy skills. These are earned randomly during battles and can allow characters to use skills they normally wouldn’t be able to use. This can come in handy if the player has built their party in a certain way but is having trouble getting through certain levels or battles.
Graphics and Sound:
Good for the type of game this is. The top screen does a serviceable job of showing the labyrinth as the player explores. The bottom screen lets the player draw their map and has plenty of icons that can be used to note the various things in the dungeon. The enemies during the battles are well animated and various effects are shown on screen if the enemy is afflicted with any status effects.
The story bits of the game are also well done. For the most part the story is well written and well acted through the use of anime character portraits that show various reactions depending on what is going on. The only issue I had was that sometimes the grunts, gasps, and one liners can get a little annoying when the scene is not fully voice acted as each character only has one surprised gasp and one or two one liners. This didn’t happen too often though so it was noticeable when it did. When a scene is fully voiced it is done very well so that makes up for it.
The rest of the sound is great. The background music and battle music are pleasant and generally convey the mood of the game well. If you happen to get the version of the game that comes with the sound track I suggest giving it a listen as it contains the full versions of the back ground songs. The orchestral live version of the opening song is done really well.
My Thoughts:
I
like this updated take on the Etrian games. I spent about a 100
hours over the last couple of months crawling through the labyrinth
and found most of it to be enjoyable. There are a few places where
the game can come to halt at a boss monster but that can usually be
resolved by grinding out a couple of extra levels or figuring out
exactly what the monsters weakness is. Once that is accomplished
it’s right back to the
mapping and monster bashing. If you like these types of games then
this is an easy game recommend. If your new to dungeon crawlers or
didn’t like the fact that older games like this required a pencil
and a few dozen sheets of graph paper then give this updated version
a try. You might be surprised at how much fun it is to make your own
map of the mysterious labyrinth.
