Etrian Odyssey III: the drowned city

[briareos_kerensky]

4th stratum, here I come!

Gained access to the Shogun class, but since all my party members are in the 40s, Motoko will have to wait for someone retiring and changing class or for a completely new party.

Before fighting the boss on B12F I changed Arisu (Farmer/Monk) for Litchi (Monk/Farmer) to have better in-battle healing. I've come to the conclusion that the Princess alone isn't capable of supporting a high level party as her in-battle passive healing skill tops at 46HPs/turn and she must be unharmed. I haven't ditched her due to her buffs, but now that Shoguns are available I'm thinking on improving my first line...but again, maybe when I'm done with the game.
I stopped using Litchi at level 5 and now she's near level 30 and I don't want to postpone Labyrinth exploration anymore.

Besides, Aina with Nine Smashes can dish out 400-500 damage per turn, without buffs...Erika had her Giant Killer skill upgraded a couple of levels and Cloudbuster almost matches Aina's Nine Smashes so I don't strictly need a new damage dealer. Unfortunately subbing Arbalist do not give access to Giant Killer.

I still have to chose a sub class for Erika as the Arbalist class needs a lot of skill points (at least, on how I'm customizing it, with Cloudbuster, elemental attacks and Giant Killer plus extra TPs and HPs) that would leave out only an handful of points for subbing; currently considering Wildling to limit preemptive attacks from enemies or Buccaneer to increase critical rates.

But Triela is now the heavily armored ninja! I know it doesn't make any sense but I realized that mixing classes turns the game into comedy gold, like the having a farming princess or a ninja pirate (does the EO universe implodes after making one?).
Back to the heavily armored ninja, Triela can create a clone of herself by splitting in half HPs and TPs: this clone is at the player's command and can be commanded as a sixth party member; having two Phalanxes means the party can be protected by Parry and Magic Parry in the same turn or multiple elemental guards.
If one of the two dies, the remaining is considered the "true" character and if the battle ends with both alive the casting character gains back TPs and HPs of his/her clone.
Being a Phalanx (high HP and defense) even with half HPs the characters can survive till the end of the turn (passive) healing from Princess or until Litchi casts an active healing spell.

Now I'm curios to build up a Ninja and see what other skills the class has.

A party idea could be Shogun, Ninja, Buccaneer, Zodiac and Monk. But then again, when the main game is done.

[briareos_kerensky]

The 4th stratum was fun despite the numerous traps laid around.
Around all floors of this stratum there are

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metal gates that close when you pass on in a certain direction past them. All gates on the stratum (I think, I know for sure that two floors are interconnected) close, and all gates open when you press one of the many buttons around the stratum.
Opening/closing gates mean to set free one or more F.O.E.s that will actively chase the party until a door is passed or the gates are closed.
Orange F.O.E.s aren't particularly hard to kill, but others require a strategy and a lot of TPs

.

On B14F there are

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four red F.O.E.s that will act as the F.O.E.s on the previous floors and it's rather easy to cage them in certain portions of the labyrinth as the party progress in their search.
However, when the explorable portions of the floor are limited, the party finds themselves in a blocked corridor, able only to go into a central room where all four red F.O.E.s gather...the trap has sprung!
These red F.O.E.s are of two kinds, and when two of the different types join the same battle they can unleash an area attack that insta-kills the first party member struck.
First time I tried to escape all battles with these F.O.E.s but I ended being bounced back and forth between them and had a game over without me doing anything.
Ouch.
The solution is to kill these F.O.E.s one at a time and explore the floor without them prowling around.

B14F also holds one of the few puzzles in the entire game, which despite looking complicated has a very simple solution.

B15F

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has the southern part of the floor filled with holes to send the party to blocked areas of B16F, which must be navigated to get the the right part of B15F...the fifteenth floor also holds some sort of game of tag with an F.O.E. a quest asks you to kill: you have to grab the F.O.E. by trapping it inside these blocked areas

.

Then

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there's the Otherspawn, a relatively weak enemy that can summon other Otherspawns. Fine, more XP.
However three of them can fuse into the red F.O.E.s found on B14F!

4th Stratum boss is

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the Kirin (wikipedia entry); it has a standard physical area attack, a area fire spell that gets stronger the less HPs it has, a area binding attack and area thunder spell that does extra damage to bound characters. Stars of the fight were the two Triela, spamming Fire and Volt Barrier to counter the otherwise deadly attacks from the beast,

with Devilotte constantly buffing and Litchi healing party members while Aina and Erika chipped away at the monster's health.

And so I gained access to the 5th Stratum; the party averages around the mid 50s, I think I'll take my time to reach level 70 to see if it's still the max level cap before retiring. Then, I'll try to beat the crap out of the final boss.

[briareos_kerensky]

I have finally reached B20F, which could be the last "in game" stratum, the next floors will probably be sealed off until the main quest is complete.

The 5th stratum introduces

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warp tiles and build an entire floor around them; it's nothing new and like the iron gates on the 4th stratum they are clearly visible and they follow easy to understand rules, instead of the "hey, invisi-warp for you" tiles in the first Etrian.

The biggest surprise

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comes from a new tile type; the first time I walked on it I though it was a bug because the map didn't automatically update my position, but then I noticed that footstep sounds and floor graphics were different from the rest of the stratum...proceeding in "invisible" areas is easy as long as you draw the map tile by tile and don't turn around too fast to search for hidden passages; long fights can make you forget the facing you had before it, but placing arrows on visited tiles makes the process of finding your way through these areas only longer than normal areas.

This stratum,

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the Porcelain forest, is styled after a Japanese birch forest and the warp gates are temple torii. The graphics on this stratum are very nice and single floors are complex, forcing long walks from an end to an other the first time a floor is accessed.
Monsters here are oriented toward status ailments and volt attacks; status changes and elemental attacks weren't heavily used by monsters on previous strata, so I had to use a lot of skill points to have Litchi (the monk) casting party-wide status cures. I'm glad I already started improving Triela's elemental defenses, although they didn't save me from red F.O.E.s lurking on B19F, which attacks the party with strong are thunder-based spells.

The good thing is that even small monsters drop items with a good value and give a great amount of experience even to characters around level 60.
However what gives more experience are quests taken at the bar, F.O.E.s are great for drops to create new items but they have a relatively bad difficulty/exp ratio.

I've returned to the sea to explore it a bit more.
Found two more cities

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and the road to the north sea, which has several footholds that serve as alternative starting points and its own cities, events and trade items to collect.

Each new city means one more monster to kill in three different sea quests; for each city/monster combo quests are always fought with one, two or three NPCs. Depending on the NPCs given and the monster fought having independent party members could be either great or bad; monsters that use area attacks or status ailments are the hardest and while they are not impossible, often "PC" characters are held back by their NPC counterparts.

Most of the sea quest monsters are the same as EOI and EOII, sometimes with redrawn sprites but otherwise they use the same tactics and have the same weaknesses of their ancestors. It's a bit disappointing that developers chose to recycle old ideas, but I guess it gives the three games some sort of continuity.

[briareos_kerensky]

Game completed.
On my way to get all characters up to level 70, this might take a while but I'm soloing the 4th and 5th strata for quicker experience. Will elaborate on the whole game later.

[briareos_kerensky]

Beating the last boss opens the 6th stratum, just like all other EO chapters, as well as uber-powerful bosses.
The 6th stratum is

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yet another forest, this time a dark forest were background trees shake as they were alive and the music lets you think that one of those tree could jump out and eat the entire party...which is true! During night hours, anywhere on the map and whenever engaged in combat a F.O.E. will join the fight in two turns, often starting with a party-wide poison-inducing attack, which heals the F.O.E. too.
The 6th stratum has slippery tiles (on which you cannot stop unless there's a wall stopping you), invisible tiles and holes...I won't be surprised if they throw teleports in the mix.

The most common enemy on this stratum is

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the Pandora Egg; like previous eggs it will hatch if not dispatched quickly (usually two turns) but at least three monster times can come out from those eggs, including a little thing that can switch party members around. It might sound pointless, but having fragile characters in the front row or Gladiators in the back row can screw up a lot of plans, especially if the party is facing other monsters. Not enough, the small thing completely heals its comrades when dying.

Instead of continuing your old game, it's possible to start a new game, keeping all created characters (with level, equipment and stats), drawn maps (shortcuts must be re-opened and all strata must be reached again before having direct access though), quests done (Senatus missions must still be accepted and they still give exp when completed though) and everything discovered during sea exploration.
Why would someone do that?
Unlike previous games, EO features branching story paths that could lead to three different endings and extra the classes (Shogun and Yggroid) are unlocked by choosing one of those paths.
During this first playthrough I went along the Armoroad path, which unlocks the Shogun, then I'll go with the Deep City to get the other extra class.

As this is a "new" game, I retired my level 70 party and started with new recruits at level 30 with the same equipment (including a couple of unique weapons) and enhanced stats.
Walking over the first two bosses and all orange and red F.O.E.s was fun.

During my skirmishes on the 6th Stratum and against a couple of optional bosses I realized that my party lacked some damage dealing capabilities.
All characters kept their class except Devilotte, which retired for Motoko, a Shogun that subclassed to Princess.
With the Monk stepping up as main party healer (and doing a great job at that), many Princess abilities felt redundant, though attack/guard orders and Ad Nihilo (debuffs enemies and deals damage) where useful, so I spent some time with this great Skill Simulator and tried to create a fighting class that will at least have these three skills. I didn't want any double and Buccaneers already needed a lot of TPs, so I was a bit reluctant to build a Shogun with only passive and basic attacks but after using one, my doubts vanished.

Shoguns aren't as strong as Gladiators, but they can wield two weapons (katana and dagger) and for one attack action they always strike twice, plus each slain enemy or ally increase their strength. They can be further customized to heal allies upon resurrection, and those are passive abilities, leaving enough TPs for buffs and offensive spells.

And so the party is now Aina (Gladiator/Arbalist), Triela (Hoplite/Ninja), Motoko (Shogun/Princess), Erika (Arbalist/Buccaneer) and Litchi (Monk/Farmer).
Hopefully I'll be able to slow down a bit with EOIII now that other games are beginning to pile up.

[Kaladron]

I've been stuck on B02F for ages now... I just can't beat the F.O.Es there. Any tips or do I just need to grind?

[briareos_kerensky]

Are the F.O.E.s on B2F the giant lizards or the violet deers?
BTW, both can be outmaneuvered until you can take them out by brute force (lvl 20-30 they are a cakewalk); if you really want to take them out, have anti-ailment items or skills ready. The best would be a Monk with party-wide Refresh (skill level 7 or higher), but that would mean low healing skills.
F.O.E.s on the first stratum are dangerous because they can inflict status changes to the whole party with fairly high chances of success; the lizards are more manageable because they let you control the party, but they are still though opponents.

[briareos_kerensky]

Yesterday I was going to write what would have looked like a full review of the game but I found myself leveling up an Yggdroid just for the sake of it. Will postpone full review to...I don't know, maybe when I'm done with the second playthrough.

[briareos_kerensky]

Party change time!

I figured out two things: I can't live without Ad Nihilo and having the Shogun subbing as a Princess for this ability limits the damage that class can dish out.
So I built a new Princess dedicated to healing with Protect Order (HP regen on one row for three turns, scales with skill level and TEC stat) and of course Ad Nihilo (removes enemy buffs and does some damage).
I had the Princess sub to Monk for a full HP revive, which stripped her of free HP recovery while in battle (at full HP), after battle and while walking, but I was able to go through three red F.O.E.s on B19F without loosing anyone.
Also the Princess has Attack Order, so Charge Tactic plus attack order plus the Shogun's Warrior Might (follow up with damage boost to all ally attacks) means a lot of damage...and the Shogun can also immediately kill enemy below a certain amount of HPs. Too bad that this applies to party members too, but thanks to good armor Guard Order from the Princess and Line Guard from the Hoplite, damage taken can be greatly reduced.

Nearing the end of my second playthrough, let's see how this party does in the endgame.

[briareos_kerensky]

Main story completed a second time and I was able to get the "true" ending.
Following this path opens up a portion of the 4th Stratum that would have been otherwise inaccessible, which also features two new enemy types and respective combat drops. Open of those drops unlock the Bikini Armor, an "armor that doesn't look like armor at first glance, but does its job."; pretty low physical defense boost but has the best elemental resistance of all armors I've seen.

[briareos_kerensky]

Dragon hunting.
The usual dragon trio for the endgame shows in EOIII too and just like every dragon trio, they can mop the floor with your party if you don't come prepared (maxed elemental guard for the Hoplite or Prophecies for the Zodiac, plus HP and TP restoration items) and don't study their attack patterns; and even if you do, they still offer a very stiff resistance.

I was able to bring down the ice dragon into its HP red zone but a freak group attack brought three party members down to 10&#37; of their HPs and the Shogun had to activate Kaishaku on all three...Kaishaku can activate on enemies and allies alike when they fall below a certain HP amount, based on the skill's level, and instantly kills them.
Luckily enough the skill is triggered by successful offensive actions, so using skills that sacrifice HPs for buffs is risk-free, as long as you speak about Kaishaku.
It's a precious little skill that when maxed out turns the Shogun into a killing machine, but it's extremely dangerous, so one or two points are usually enough.

While searching for the dragons I also met familiar faces:

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a females Landsketch, a female Ronin and a female Hexer travelling together and...hey, aren't you one of the bad guys in the first Etrian?

Each of these encounters is linked to a dragon but they don't add anything to the story beside few lines of dialogue; it's a pleasant addition as cameos aren't limited tomonsters and bosses.

Through leveling Erika (the Arbalist) was able to get some points in Double Action, which can double attacks for skills targeting a single enemy...I've also discovered the joy of placing her in the front line and unleash Front Mortar, which does immense amounts of damage.
A conditional drop from one boss also made available a 300'000en for her and I've currently saved 200'000 or so en thanks to an army of Farmers (which I call a Farmy...not Farty.): Arisu (a Farmer I registered at the beginning of the game), 3 gathering-devoted "spare" Farmers (named Yui, Ui and Yuu) and a random character.
The group is able to stroll through the labyrinth safely (Farmer special skill) and get 30 items per gathering spot, get back to town immediately (other Farmer skill) and go back for some more gathering.

I wonder what items is possible to forge from dragon drops...

[briareos_kerensky]

I have finally reached B24F.
I'm not playing as much as before, but the two previous floors required a lot of expeditions.
B22F is full of rooms where you can't see the party locator and said rooms are full of pitfalls leading to B23F, which in turn is full of damage tiles and "eyes" that make all nearby F.O.E.s converge on your position.
These F.O.E.s have a good amount of HPs, can perform strong line attacks and party-wide stone spells, requiring tons of TPs and/or items to win the battle. In particularly bad cases two of these F.O.E.s can deplete your reserves and the only option is to get out to stock on items have have characters stay at the inn.
What I noticed is that EOIII tends to be less cruel with party wide-stone spells and after a character has been cursed twice, it's very unlikely that he/she will be turned to stone a third time, especially if other party members are mhmm...stoned.

[briareos_kerensky]

Bump of the thread.
Yesterday I finally beat the first of the three big dragons,

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Drake, the dragon of ice.
Not an extremely heavy hitter, Drake performs an ice based party-wide attack worth around 1000 damage points every five turns and the Protector proved invaluable to completely nullify its damage. Drake can also attack and bind the party and cast recovery and defense buff spells which can be eliminated with Ad Nihilo. The real show-stealer is an insta-kill attack triggered by four or more party buffs, so the overall damage output is somewhat limited as Gladiators (mains and subs) cannot do their usual Charge Tactic/Wolf Owl/Berserker Oath/Charge routine as they would be killed after commands have been assigned.

Defeating the dragon granted the party members an higher level cap (from 70 to 80); unfortunately the item dropped by the dragon didn't add any weapon or armor...oh well, let's see what can I do with the other two overgrown lizards.

[briareos_kerensky]

Second dragon down.
I went for

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Wyrm, the fire dragon. This time the battle was harder because the dragon hit harder, almost always with area attacks or attacks striking multiple times at random. Thinking it would follow a pattern similar to Drake's, I was surprised that it only used its elemental breath once, at the start of the battle. It often cast attack buffs and an attack can cause multiple binds; it felt like it didn't follow a scripted pattern, which raised the challenge bar.

Motoko (Shogun) died multiple times and twice it fell Erika (Arbalist), but Erika replied with multiple double Front Mortars (for a total of 5000 damage points per attack) and Motoko cut the dragon's life short with Kaishaku.
As with the previous dragon, its defeat granted an higher level cap (up to 90) and turning in the spoils

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made available a sword called Dragonbane.

However I still need

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a Thunder Scale (from the third and last dragon I presume)

and no one in the active party uses a (straight) sword.

Now the party is at level 76, I want to level up a bit before going for the third dragon just because I feel like to overpower it.

[briareos_kerensky]

On B25F (last floor, I presume, as there's

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a huge black ball of hate the game indicates as the source of all evil

) there are F.O.E.s that...

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run away from the party. So, uhm...do I have to chase them? Yes, I need to. I mean, F.O.E.s running away?

I'm more than curious to discover what they are.
An other F.O.E.

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was standing in a room and it was a bit too similar to this (it had no arms and different colors though).

Between the two dragons I also killed an Alraune (straight from the second game) that fetched a nice 100.000en bounty and a Kraken in a new sea quest...bloody overgrown blue snake likes to decrease the party accuracy in the last turns of the battle and chipping away the last hundreds HPs was irritating; as sea quests fill one or more slots with an NPC I had to sacrifice a character and I had no Kaishaku support from the Shogun...