Etrian Odyssey III: Part 2

In the spirit of role-play, inspired by some comments regarding that topic from a friend and an inspiration (and also to brush up on my storytelling skills), I've decided to blog about my party's exploits as though they are keeping a journal. Dorky? Yes, hella dorky. Also, kind of spoilery if you haven't yet happened upon the third stratum, so beware the green text if not.

The Metroid Guild continued to explore the strange labyrinth below the sea town of Arboroad, and had found their way down to the tenth floor. The unease the group felt on the ninth floor from the occasional pool of lava grew to full-blown terror once they stepped into what appeared to be an active volcano. Their armor seemed to grow heavier under the heat, and the perspiration on their hands and faces seemed to boil from it. As they carefully explored the area, Kyle cast light ice magic to use bits of ice to soothe the party's burns and provide some drinking water.

After thoroughly mapping the first room, the group pushed past the rock at the far end and entered an altogether different cave. There were pools of lava stretching as far as they could see, but that was the least of their worries; in the center of each pool lie an enormous dragon! As they stood there, mouths agape, some three foot tall living mushrooms who had sneak up on the Guild began spewing thick clouds of spores in their faces. Nathan found himself confused from the spores, and began swinging his sword wildly in hopes of ending the disorienting torrent. In his panic, he struck Yukiko's left leg, and she let out a yell in pain. As Kaitlyn began rapidly firing her pistol at the mushroom closest to Nathan, Kyle applied a healing salve to Yukiko's wound. Shadow, however, was barely even paying attention to the plight of his guildmates; the ninja had been eying the dragon who lay only fifty paces away, and watched as it made a beeline for his preoccupied friends.

"We should leave, now," he insisted. When his compatriots asked why, the stoic ninja merely pointed behind them to the lumbering dragon now only twenty paces away. Nathan had regained his composure, so the party began making their way to the room they had left mere moments ago. To aid in their escape, Shadow chanted a few arcane words and created a duplicate of himself to distract the mushrooms. As they pushed past the narrow door of rock, the dragon behind them let out a roar of disappointment. Her meal had escaped by a mere hair's breadth.

One of the things I love the most about the Etrian Odyssey series is the narrative. Not the narrative the game explicitly gives you, mind; the narrative you construct in your head for your tailor-made party. The game is largely scant on narrative detail, and even the graphics, although very good, contain fairly repetitive environmental design. But the design of the levels adds character to the otherwise bland environments. This is because the player knows the game on a systematic level; they know the rules of the battle system and the rules of the field map. How far they can stretch those rules safely becomes crucial almost immediately. However, the level design constantly changes those rules, forcing the player to adapt.

For example, take the Metroid Guild's first jaunt into the tenth floor, for example. None of that green text up there was ever stated in the game; almost all of it popped into my mind as an extension to what I was experiencing in game, so the above was very easy to write. When I had to run from those enemies, I did so not because I thought they were too difficult - I ran because I saw, on the bottom screen, two FOEs moving towards my group. One of the unwritten rules of Etrian Odyssey is: DO NOT ENGAGE A FOE ON YOUR FIRST TRIP TO A NEW FLOOR. It may be one of the most important rules, really, and there was no way I was going to break it. So I ran - but I did so knowing that eventually, I would be strong enough to come back and best those FOEs.

I don't know if I'll continue writing up my experiences in narrative style, although I had fun doing it, so we'll see. I had gotten to a pseudo-boss battle, and got destroyed pretty handily, so I'm going to grind a little, so back to it...