Etrian Odyssey!

So um, at the moment, besides walking down memory lane with DKC2, I'm still playing MK2. Which I kinda set aside for a little while. Will find time for it later. But mainly I be playing Etrian Odyssey for the DS. Interesting little game from Atlus. And it's hard just like alot of Atlus games are. It's not a new game or anything. I've already beaten the main game but I'll give a run down of how this game works~

First off, when you start the game you create a guild and name it. My guild name is ironically and easily guessable: Arcadia. The Arcadia Guild! The most awesome dang guild there ever was. Ahem, alright enough of that. So anyways, after you do that then you need to create your characters. You can only have a team of 5 so yeah you need to plan out how your team is gonna work. You can position them in battle with 3 in the front and two in the back or 2 in front and 3 in back. Since only 3 can be standing anywhere at one time. So what kinda classes we got? Be patient I'm getting there~

Landsknecht~ Or as I like to call it "Land Shark" for easier saying. Don't ask why. The name looks German. Actually it is. I just Babelfish'd it and got "Land farmhand". ...Yeah I'm sticking with Land Shark. It sound way cooler. So after I've wasted precious seconds of your time with randomness instead of getting to the point let me tell you in one word what this class is: Swordie. The end. The class specializes in swords and axes and is extremely powerful. A very useful class. Can work beautifully with an Alchemist to follow up their elemental magic with their own elemental weapon skills.

Survivalist~ Once again, in one word I'll tell you what this class is: Archer. Extremely fast and agile class. The very useful thing about this class is a skill called First Turn. Why? It can be used on any party member and allows them to go first regardless of speed in battle. Why is this important? Let me put it this way. Imagine you're fighting a boss that can smash your entire front line easily if their defense isn't buffed. Uh huh. See where I'm going with this? Give priority to your buffer so they can get it off first. It'll save your butt. But this class is also powerful. Multihit strikes more than once and Apollon is awesome.

Protector~ Do I need to say what this class does? Yeah, it's your defensive man. The whole nine yards here. Physical and elemental defensive skills to protect your party. Now this class is powerful anyways. The only attacking skill you need is Smite. And it's strong none the less.

Dark Hunter~ I don't know if they meant to make this class perverted but... my mind went in the gutter looking at the skill names and just thinking about the weapon it uses. Yes, this class likes whips. Though it can also use swords. Now why did my mind go in the gutter? Two skills: Ecstasy and Climax. *hits self* None of that. Anyways, this class likes to cause status effects like Poison, Bind, and Petrification. Bind is extremely useful to use against bosses. So that's really where this class shines for you.

Medic~ Yep, the healer. And actually your main source of defensive buffness. Immunize is your miracle in this game. Buffs your physical and elemental defense all at once. And when I safe buff I mean buff. You take incredibly less damage with this skill. But this class can also attack too with Caduceus. Got some good stuff all around.

Alchemist~ Your elemental damager. Fire, Ice, and Electricity. The main 3 elements in this game. That's really all you use this class for. But it's powerful so it gets the job done. Almost necessary for post game where enemies are so strong in physical defense and hardly take any other damage. This is why I made one. And as I said earlier with the Land Shark, they work well together.

Troubadour~ Does all the other buffing in the game such as attack and speed. And Divinity increases EXP earned after battle. Well it does have a skill for buffing defense but it doesn't stack with Immunize. No use using it. Can also imbue a party member's weapon with an element.

Ronin~ Okay so this class uses katanas as you would expect. They're faster than Land Sharks and have two different styles of attacking. This class is really powerful though. Not even available at the start of the game. You get it later on.

Hexer~ If I made one of these, I'd name her Chloe. Status effects galore. This class has it all. Can majorly cripple a party of enemies. This class has a skill that causes a terrified enemy to take it's own life. That's dang scary. Can turn enemies on each other too. You get the point of this class. Also good at binding like the Dark Hunter so yeah. Good for bosses.

You don't start with Alchemist, Dark Hunter, or Hexer being available to make right away. Gotta progress a bit first. When you choose a class you pick what you want them to look like out of the choices and name them. You can customize their skills any way you want but you only have so many Skill Points. Level 70 is the max level. You can get more Skill Points by retiring them once they reach level 70. That brings a character back to level 1 but you can create any other character from it. Doesn't have to be the same class as the one you retired. Nets you higher stats too. Anyways, so here's how the game works. It's a dungeon crawler. You're exploring the crazy roots of this giant tree. No joke. There are 5 stratums in the main game each with 5 floors to traverse. With a boss on the 5th floor of every statrum. For a total of 25 floors. As you travel these floors you map out the dungeon. Lemme get a screenie as an example~

So there you go. The tiles come up on their own as you walk but you can label stuff like treasure chests, events, shortcuts, pitfalls, etc, on the map too from the toolbar. Really neat. So you just journey around with your guild checking stuff out and beating bad guy tail. Though they do alot of beating your tail too. The enemies aren't slouches no matter where you go. So anyways, once you beat the game there be a post game in a 6th stratum with 5 more floors and another boss. So really there are 30 floors. Post game will kick your butt. This game will kick your butt if you're not prepared.
Save often and bring a Warp Wire every where you go! Warp Wires automatically teleport you out of a the dungeon. You need to do this because there are random freakishly powerful enemies called FOE's wandering around dungeons. Like no joke, if you run into one of these guys in a dungeon odds are you aren't powerful enough to beat it and will thus die horribly. Possibly run away after losing 4 party members. But you can see them on the field. While the rest of the battles are random, you can see FOE's.

See, they deceive you looking like little fuzzy balls. Don't be deceived! They be evil fuzzy balls of doom! Now as you level more you can take them on. Like you can't handle them the first time you see them in a stratum. But the further you go and the more levels you gain you'll be able to kill them. Just take them on as a boss. That's the way to win against them. Throw it all at them. Just stay away from them otherwise. They usually go in a set pattern not following you. Though some are aggressive and will come after you if they see you.

There be my gaming post for the day xD
The team I beat the main game with was: Landsknecht, Protector, Survivalist, Medic, and Troubadour. My favorite team really. The only thing I'm doing with post game is adding in an Alchemist. The random battles there call for it. So anyways, more on this when I actually get done grinding back to level 70 with my retired characters. I'll tell you the names of my party and what they look like at some point. Along with levels, stats, and skill sets. I hope I didn't bore you to tears with this.

Oh yeah, and there's a sequel which I will start on after finishing this one. With some new classes to boot. And you can carry over 2 things from the first game after you beat the main game and post game. So um, have a nice day~