Etrian Mystery Dungeon Review

Explorers, explorers, hurry up!

History at the base of Etrian Mystery Dungeon it is not complicated at all: there is a mystical place in the world, where it is possible to experience incredible adventures, that place is there City of Aslarga and guess what? We are on an airship headed right towards this city!

All that glitters is not gold and even the City of Aslarga has had its recent problems, which have inevitably affected the economy of the entire town. Monsters, in fact, have been behaving strangely for some time and although we are simple tourists with a strong adventurous streak, we will also find ourselves having to deal with city chores, which it will be our task to carry out in order to bring ending the title story.

So, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. How to play?

Etrian Mystery Dungeon, as already widely repeated in the opening paragraph, was born from the collaboration between Spike Chunsoft and ATLUS and combines the best of two franchises: Etrian Odyssey and Mystery Dungeon; the first takes the hub of the game and the creation of the team and the various classes that will then be available within the title, the second, however, takes the mechanics of exploration and combat. The result is an exuberant video game, full of action and strategy, deep, complex and punitive. Too punishing too.

Before delving into this last topic, however, it is our duty to provide a brief description of the game system of the title: Etrian Mystery Dungeon in fact puts us in front of a game hub simple and intuitive, we will have access to a series of buildings and each of them will serve a very specific purpose, specifically:
- Hotel: where to rest and deposit objects and money;
- Shop: where to buy, sell and upgrade our items;
- Restaurant: where to accept requests related to secondary quests or allow our characters to have a meal that will provide us with a temporary boost to the statistics;
- Guild: where to manage and organize our team, registering new characters or adding those already present in the team;
- House of Magan: where to undertake the quests that are part of the main story of the title and where we will have access to the "development" functionality of the city, which through the investment of EN (game currency) will allow us to have access to new features and bonuses;
- Workshop: where to learn more about the history of the game;
- Port: from where we will set sail for the various dungeons that will be gradually made available within the title;

As for theexploration of dungeons it is good to know that it will be possible to take with us up to 3 allies, controlled by the AI. For those who know the Mystery Dungeon series there is not much to explain about the gameplay of the title, for those who do not know the mechanics of the series, it is good to know that the title uses a isometric visual and that the movement within the scenarios will take place thanks to one grid (can be activated and deactivated via the game options) and a movement system ad 8 directions, combat Sara in shifts and where it will be possible to make more decisions for the AI, the system will intervene automatically asking us for indications on the action to be carried out.

In this case the classes by Etrian Odyssey plays a fundamental role, the right training and conformation of the team could in fact decree the success or the failure in reaching the final plan of a dungeon and, in most cases, it could decree victory or defeat in the battles against boss or DOE; what are DOEs? For those who know Etrian Odyssey, this is the Mystery Dungeon version of the FOE, for those unfamiliar with Etrian Odyssey it is enough to know that they are gods enemies that are halfway between simple minions and bosses and that put the skills of gamers to the test.

Returning to a topic already mentioned above, the difficulty level of the title is well above the norm and even if you consider yourself expert gamers, you may still have difficulties in facing the well-determined quests necessary for the continuation of the story, and you will therefore find yourself forced to have to grind and leveling up your characters when you don't feel that something more drastic is needed, like changing your entire team.

It is therefore not strange, in Etrian Mystery Dungeon, to get very far with a team and then decide that some changes are needed, register new characters and start again from level 1.

To report one total lack of multiplayer functionality that will not affect, in any case, the final grade of our review.

You cannot shine in everything

Indeed Etrian Mystery Dungeon presents numerous defects from a technical point of view. While often being cheered by drawings and illustrations of excellent workmanship during our relaxation-breaks in the City of Aslarga, the same does not happen inside the dungeons, where poorly defined textures and polygonal models reduced to a minimum they will keep us company for the entire course of the adventure, together with the tremendous frame rate capable of reaching minimum peaks on the verge of decency.

Il sound compartment faithfully reflects thehigh quality level proposed by the titles of the Etrian Odyssey series and is capable of immerse ourselves perfectly in the scenarios and in the various types of levels that are proposed to us, always being pleasant and never intrusive, as well as the well-calibrated sound effects.