Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth is all about the perspective.

For starters, it’s about physical perspective: The run-the-hallways, dodge the shadows third-person view we knew and loved from the insta-classic Persona 4: Golden has been swapped for an Etrian Odyssey-style first-person exploration view. It’s also about narrative perspective, given that you’re given the fun and entertaining choice when the game starts to play through the story in the company of the casts of Persona 3 (Mitsuru and Yukari!) or Persona 4 (Yukiko and Chie!). It’s like having two games in one.

Since we’re all trapped in the carnival-laden halls of Yasogami trying to figure out why a gigantic and ominous bell tower has sprung up in the courtyard, we’ll look at the game from a bunch of different perspectives, too.

Class Reunion
A huge, huge part of the fun here is getting another chance to hang out with the kids from Yasogami and Gekkoukan High and watch them bond and interact with each other. When Chie asks why a Laughing Table shadow can’t contain a plate of meat, it’s as funny as watching Teddie’s clumsy overtures to Yukiko and Rise get shot down for the bazillionth time or Ken and Kanji share fashion tips. These are such well-drawn, likable characters that getting to spend another 60+ hours with them in a setting that showcases their foibles and goofball banter better than the uber-serious Persona 4: Arena could is a total treat.

But Um, What’s Up With the Goofy New Kids?
Even with a huge cast of familiar and hilarious characters to draw from, Persona Q makes the odd decision to center its story on a pair of new characters: Rei, a waifish girl who devours corn dogs like they were freaking M&Ms, and Zen, a Vincent Valentine knockoff who wields a crossbow and a personality as dry as the Sahara. Both of them have had their memories “stolen” — seriously, can we just kill the amnesia trope already? — and take far too long to reveal their secrets.

Welcome to Cartography 101
Like the early Wizardry games and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass on the Nintendo DS, Persona Q includes an entertaining mapping component that finds you sketching out the layouts of the labyrinths on the touchscreen as you traverse them, marking the locations of secret passages, treasure boxes and P-spots. (It stands for power spots, you pervert, and it’s a cool risk-reward way to get key items to sell; it’s not the impetus for the game’s M rating.) This isn’t just a matter of the game inventing annoying busywork for those who’d rather just rush headlong into the next shadow battle. Remembering where key event triggers are located and which secret passages only flow one way adds to the ambience, particularly since you’ll be ducking in and out of each dungeon for healing.

Business in the Front, Party in the Back
It’s not the deepest strategic element you’ll ever encounter, but Persona Q does let you shift your five party members around in two rows to better manage their abilities and health status. Obviously, a heat-packing character like Naoto belongs in the back, while Chie and her roundhouse kicks are more effective up front. Still when one of your party’s on the verge of death, it’s nice to be able to move them out of harm’s way. Well, at least until the shadow you’re facing unleashes an unexpected Maziodyne on your party’s head.

F to the O to the E
As engaging as Persona Q’s psychedelic dungeons are, they can also be as cheap as the current price of a gallon of gasoline. Uber-powerful boss creatures known as FOEs (hello, Etrian Odyssey) stalk the platforms and corridors—sometimes in packs–and bumping into them ends about as well as using the Treasure Spotter persona ability to try to knock out an Emperor Beetle. While you can typically run away if you mistime your moves and bump into one, there’s no escape from random battles with unexpectedly powerful shadows or the copious “should you?” encounters that turn into deathtraps. At the same time, winning these challenging battles yields some seriously worthwhile rewards.

Super Sub
In the Persona games, you managed your roster of personas by identifying the threat you’d be facing and swapping in the appropriate type for the job. Persona Q doubles the fun by letting each character keep their central persona plus a sub-persona that adds its moves and additional health and skill points to the mix. Given the strength of some of the shadows your party will encounter, this isn’t just about strategy—it’s about survival.

You again?
The world of Persona Q is significantly smaller than the worlds of Personas 3 and 4, where multiple locations and copious side trips made it seem like you were inhabiting an actual world. Here, you’re trapped inside the school, with only a few options like the workshop and the nurse’s office to visit. In a move that echoes the Patton Oswalt’s Koenig Boys on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., everything’s staffed by either Margaret or Elizabeth, who are apparently branching out from their Velvet Room duties. (And, in a humorous touch, are not exactly happy about it, either.)

Developer Atlus has really hit all the synergy buttons here, taking two beloved franchises and coating them with a funky sheen of fan service. What they’ve created is something far greater than the fun of its parts.

Pros:
+ An additional 60+ hours spent with a huge cast of characters you know and love
+ Persona + Etrian Odyssey = surprisingly entertaining gameplay
+ Labyrinth mapping!
+ Strategic elements like formations and sub-personas provide additional depth

Cons:
– New characters Rei and Zen are boring and superfluous
– A few too many cheap, unwinnable encounters with FOEs and overpowered shadows
– It’s a small world after all

Game Info:
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
Publisher: Atlus USA
Developer: Atlus
Release Date: 11/25/2014
Genre: Dungeon Crawl RPG
ESRB Rating: Mature
Players: 1
Source: Game purchased by reviewer

Another game, another beautiful array of pre-order collectibles. That has always been the Atlus way. And so shall it be again with Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millenium Girl, the updated semi-remake of the original Etrian Odyssey for Nintendo 3DS.

Pre-ordering the RPG known for its map making and labyrinthine dungeons ahead of its October 1st launch will upgrade your copy to the “Etrian Untold, Unseen, Unheard” box set. This bundle of bonuses includes an art/design book and a soundtrack CD featuring seven songs. The collection will also be included in all copies of the game in its first printing, so even if you aren’t set on placing a pre-order you still may be able to find it on store shelves after launch.

Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millenium Girl‘s new opening anime cutscene can be viewed below. A live cut of the opening theme is one of the songs you’ll be able to listen to on the bonus soundtrack sampler.

There are some who would have you believe that all of the games for the Nintendo DS are either casual puzzle games, shovelware (bad licensed games) or licensed products such as Pokemon (i.e good shovelware). Since I like neither of those game types and have played and reviewed more than a couple hundred DS games over the last five years, and have a library of over 100 DS games I love to play, it is safe to assume the platform has more to offer. From excellent adventures such as Hotel Dusk to grand strategy games like Advance Wars to the recent JRPG Dragon Quest IX, the DS has something for everyone. Nor are games trivial – there is the hard-as-nails Shiren the Wanderer … and there are the Etrian Odyssey games.

I remember the first time I showed my kids the original Etrian Odyssey: I was deep in the labyrinth, trying to gain as much experience as I could before heading further down, and suddenly I turned into a small area and encountered a trap! There were creatures much too powerful for me, but I threw everything I had at them … only to have my entire party fall within two turns! Since this is the first game of the franchise I’ve reviewed here, let me start from the beginning …

Once upon a time there was this little game called Wizardry, in which you had to map your own dungeons and you walked about in a first-person perspective and met wandering monsters as you explored the dungeon. Time has progressed but all that was old is new again on your DS! Etrian Odyssey is a dungeon crawler that makes you draw your own maps, pay close attention to all of the members of your party, make sure you are generating adequate amounts of cash reserves on a regular basis and face monsters that will wipe you out in a single round of intense turn-based combat.

Did I say ‘draw your own maps’? Yes, indeed! As you explore, your map is displayed on the lower screen, and you draw boundaries, make notes and highlights and otherwise add whatever you want to help you out – since this is a multilevel labyrinth you need to be prepared for some backtracking between zones. Eventually you reach a new section with an entry and exit directly to the outside world, but for several levels in-between you need to be able to navigate through the dangerous areas … because there are always monsters on the prowl! Compared to earlier games there are now just four levels per stratum, making it less of a gambit getting from stratum to stratum than before. This is further aided by the addition of many more hidden shortcuts – many times I was near death with few supplies and a quick trip through a shortcut got me to safety before another battle would surely have meant my demise!

Gameplay will be immediately familiar to fans of classic party-based role-playing games such as Ultima, Might & Magic and Bard’s Tale, yet much of it will be alien to those whose idea of classic RPGs begins with Final Fantasy. That is because the so-called JRPG (Japanese role playing game) sub-genre is based off of the Ultima tradition. To play you move through the world in a first-person view and then meet enemies on a separate field and carry out your battles. Battles are turn-based, meaning that each player gets a turn to make an action with an order based on character statistics. However, much more than with many other games you need to think of your party as a team that works together and supports one another – because the difficulty level of the game is brutal.

The presentation is fantastic – the graphics are rich and brightly colored and full of details that draw you in. The characters you meet are done in a fairly typical fixed-portrait 2D style, but each has a personality that shines through. The music is pleasant and atmospheric and really adds to the contrast between the beauty and danger simultaneously occurring.

While there are many similarities to the first two games, having to map the first level as your initial quest, for example – The Drowned City takes you BEYOND the labyrinth … and on to the sea! You actually get to captain a ship, and while it isn’t a dramatic gameplay change, the difference in style and setting is very refreshing. There are numerous tweaks to the class system and an overall feeling that the game has been even better balanced than the two prior entries. It all just works well, and with the interesting story and somewhat quicker pacing of exploration due to quicker strata and shortcuts makes for an exciting experience that is possible to play in shorter sessions – though the overall game remains huge. I would estimate that I spent more than 100 hours getting to the end!

Is it a strange thing to call a game that will mercilessly kill you ‘charming’? Perhaps it is, but that is a feeling I associate with this game. The nice graphics, draw-your-own dungeons and sweet music playing everywhere all just draw me in immediately whenever I start playing. I love the challenge, the feel of the game, and the ability to lead a party and have my choices matter. I enjoyed the characters in town, the way they change and grow. But everything comes down to the dungeons in a game like this, and that is where Etrian Odyssey shines brightest – the balance of you against your environment is perfect, and the execution of making a massive dungeon that is challenging at all levels is simply sweet perfection.

Pros:
+ Excellent new and updated classes
+ Combat is better than ever and executes more quickly
+ Challenge level feels fair throughout
+ Core game mechanics are still fresh and fun

Cons:
– Still tough as nails
– Occasional difficulty spikes slow progress

Game Info:
Platform: DS
Publisher: Atlus
Developer: Atlus
Release Date: 09/21/10
Genre: RPG
ESRB Rating: E-10+
Players: 1-5
Source: Personal copy

Atlus returns to spoiling its faithful followers, today announcing an extra-special pre-order bonus for upcoming DS exploration RPG, Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City.

‘Forests Of Eternity’, a 60-page, full-color premium art book filled with sketches from the entire Etrian Odyssey series, is your prize for pre-ordering at participating retailers such as GameStop and Amazon, and man oh man is it pretty.

“From the sparking beauty of Armoroad and its broad azure horizon, to the haunting depths of the waters off its coast, Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City is a visual treat, offering explorers a world full of varied, colorful locales to discover,” stated Aram Jabbari, Manager of Public Relations and Sales at Atlus. “As such, the addition of a premium 60-page, full-color art book for fans who pre-order feels like the perfect complement. What makes ‘Forests Of Eternity’ even more appealing, however, is the fact that it boasts designs and sketches not just from The Drowned City, but from the first and second Etrian Odyssey games as well. It truly is the ultimate collectible for series fans.”

Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City is scheduled to release on September 21st. A digital preview copy of the ‘Forests Of Eternity’ art book is viewable here.

Atlus USA keeps on crankin’ out the portable RPG goodness, using the spectacle of E3 this week to shine the light on Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City for DS and Knights in the Nightmare for PSP. Both will ship this fall.

Etrian Odyssey III promises to redefine the exploration RPG gameplay the series has become so highly regarded for, whisking players away to the seaside metropolis of Armoroad to discover why the city has been sinking into the ocean. This new locale brings with it the introduction of navel travel and oceanic cartography, and 10 new classes and sub-classes will be available for even deeper party creation and management. Multiplayer is another key addition, allowing up to five players to party up via local wireless connection to complete special combat missions and trade items.

“The Etrian Odyssey series is renowned for successfully marrying deep roleplaying gameplay with a grand sense of adventure and the thrill of the unknown,” stated Aram Jabbari, Manager of Public Relations and Sales at Atlus. “The Drowned City, the third chapter in the fan-favorite franchise, takes the established exploration RPG gameplay–a loving tribute to classic pen-and-paper and PC entries in the genre–to exciting new frontiers. The seas off the coast of the city of Armoroad offer an exciting, mysterious unknown, filled with hidden dangers and bountiful treasures. With an entirely new host of character classes to customize and train, the addition of naval travel and exploration, and the unprecented introduction of cooperative local multiplayer content, Etrian Odyssey III isn’t content to simply continue the series; it seeks to redefine it.”

Also due in the fall — October 19th more specifically, and simultaneously on UMD and PSN — is a remastered PSP version of Sting’s DS title Knights in the Nightmare, which combines elements of RPG, strategy and “Bullet-Hell” shooters into one truly unique gameplay experience. On top of the expected graphics and audio enhancements, the new PSP version will also feature expanded narrative depth and replay value in the form of a third playable character, Princess Yggdra. To help ease up the learning curve for PSP newcomers, Sting is also incorporating an even deeper tutorial system.

“We’re proud to bring one of the most unique roleplaying experiences in recent memory to PSP system this fall,” commented Aram Jabbari, Manager of Public Relations and Sales. “The many improvements this new version brings aside, Knights in the Nightmare, at its core, is one of those must-play gaming experiences, combining sumptuous 2D art and animations, a moving story, and some of the most novel combat mechanics ever into an irresistible portable package.”

Atlus’ “vaguest reveal ever” is actually anything but. The niche publisher “vaguely” announced its E3 lineup today, unveiling four new games in the process. Those four games include Trine 2, a PSP version of Knights in the Nightmare, Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City and Rock of Ages, the next game from Zeno Clash developer ACE Team. Atlus also hints at possible surprises to come, stating that these are only some of the games on tap for E3.

Back with more on Atlus USA’s E3 lineup once additional info and assets are released. Stay tuned!