Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan

I just finished off the last main story boss of Etrian Odyssey IV. I want to put down my initial reactions to the game here for posterity.

So the first thing I want to say is that the game is really good. It seems well balanced (at least in the early game; unlike the first three games, it got easier as it went), the balloon is a much better idea and better executed than the ship from III, and many other things I'll get into.

But that "it gets easier as it goes" thing bothers me. I'm not saying the game has to be absolutely insanely hard; that wouldn't be very much fun either. But the fact that I was able to plow through most FOEs when I came across them as the game went on was disappointing; it wasn't like the first three in that FOEs were absolutely deadly until you outleveled them by quite a bit. There were exceptions, of course; many of the quests you got from the Dancing Peacock had areas with FOEs that were pretty brutal (Chameleon King and Baboon King can go to hell). Even the FOEs you encounter in the 4th Maze aren't tough at all on their own; I beat two of them at once the first time I encountered them. Strange!

The classes in this game are pretty fun, though. They did a very good job of giving each class quite a bit to do during battles. Each member of the Metroid Guild supported each other in many different ways. My Fortress was always busy. Whether reducing the damage characters take for a couple of turns to straight up taking the damage for them, to taunting the enemy so he got attacked more often, etc. My Night Seeker did so much damage, I ended up using her ailment throws less and less throughout the game, to the point where I'd only use them on bosses and when Spread Throw would auto-activate at the beginning of some random battles. My Runemaster did more and more damage as the game went on; I didn't think Origin Rune would be too useful because of it's insane TP cost, but because of Free Energy and its ability to do a TON of damage quickly if needed, I found it quite useful for the late game.

But my favorite class is actually a tie between Dancer and Arcanist. Dancers are fun because they are such fantastic supporting characters. I primarily used mine to keep my front line's HP up throughout the game - Regen Waltz was used quite often, and Chase Samba is quite possibly the most useful ability in the game. I had fun subclassing Dancer onto my Night Seeker, to occasionally have her Chase Samba along with my main Dancer for some attacks that went on forever (especially with Swords Dance, which is a passive skill that makes your character sometimes get 1-3 extra attacks in a turn). All of this combined with Mist Dance, which stuns the enemy (makes them lose a turn), meant my Dancer was a mainstay through the entire game (who made my Night Seeker even better because of all the extra attacks, subclass or no).

Arcanists are so useful, though, I'm not sure if I would have been able to beat the game without one. Maybe subclassing Arcanist onto a Medic would do in a pinch, but some of the abilities are so amazing I would want them maxed out (plus I can't imagine an Arcanist without the Class Ability that lets them regain spent TP whenever a circle dissipates). Apparently, Poison Circle is incredibly useful (and would really help a Night Seeker do an absolutely ridiculous amount of damage), but I didn't even put one point in it! My Arcanist was a binding machine, with maxed out Chain, Snare, and Hood Circles so I could bind the enemy at will. Having put Sniper as my Runemaster's subclass, whenever someone was bound he would hit them with a free Chase Bind, so that was a nice bonus as well. After casting a circle, though, my Arcanist would usually Dismiss Blow or Dismiss Blast (depending on the amount of enemies remaining) to do several hundred damage. I'm glad I switched out my Medic for an Arcanist - they are a lot more versatile and absolutely fun. I really enjoyed balancing keeping the Circles in effect for their passive healing or Dismissing them to do a lot of damage to an enemy. For the final boss, Dismiss Blast was critical.

Subclassing is interesting in Etrian Odyssey IV. I would like to go back and play III to remember all the things I did there for subclassing; one thing I don't like about IV is the inability to put more than half the points into abilities for subclasses as compared to main classes. I understand it's likely a balance issue; many of the classes in EOIV would be pretty much unstoppable, most likely, if they could max out their subclass (can you imagine a Night Seeker with pretty much full Dancer capability? Wow), but I enjoyed the flexibility of III. Also, I miss the ability to fill the sixth slot at will from III - either with a summoned animal or a Ninja clone. Sure, you could have guest characters join you on the third floor of the late mazes, but they were optional! I want to clone my Dancer for the back row, Atlus!

It's quite interesting to think about how the characters in the series have evolved from characters who all serve their own individual purposes and stand on their own to being pretty codependent on each other. I'm not sure if the Wizardry games (the inspiration for the series, according to the developers) did that to much degree. If not, it's a pretty interesting evolution!

I really enjoyed exploring in the balloon, though. Dodging giant FOEs on the overworld was challenging, and having some of them guard extra caves to explore was neat, too. The whole world felt a lot more coherent than any of the other Etrian Odyssey's because of the balloon, and I hope it returns for future games in the series.

The music was a bit of a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, the music in the 4th Maze is absolutely amazing, but stuff like the music in Tharsis is just awful. I mean it's good music, but I think I prefer the old school charm and mystery of the PC88 music from the first three games. Etrian Odyssey III had some gems in its soundtrack for sure.

I also miss the multiple endings of III - I'm not sure if your choices throughout the game really change the story much if it all in IV. I thought it was pretty fun in III that you had to choose sides, and I thought the same would happen in IV but it really didn't. If there are other endings in IV, I'm unaware of them! There does seem to be a New Game + option though, so perhaps I'm missing something.

All in all, though, I'd rank the games as follows, from best to worst:

1. Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City
2. Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan
3. Etrian Odyssey
4. Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard

A lot of the reason that list reads the way it does is because III and IV are way more sophisticated than the first two. It would be interesting to go back and play them now; without subclassing, they would probably feel pretty light. Which is weird to think about, since I enjoyed them quite a bit!

I may delve into the postgame stuff a little; none of the postgames of the series have really captured me yet. I hear IV's is the most accessible. I guess time will tell.

I love this series. I'm already waiting for Etrian Odyssey V.