I think one of my favourite things about the Etrian Odyssey games are the screenshot let's plays by Ragnar Homsar, Crosspeice and Araxxor. It's so fun to read through them
There's also a lot of good technical info in there, which can be really helpful. Though for the first playthrough, I want to go through it blind (aside from the skill tree data, that should've been in the game to begin with ), so I haven't started reading it yet.
It's also unfortunate that the EOU Classic mode let's play was never finished. There were only a few more floors to go
I've been catching up on the EOU Story mode let's play by Araxxor. It's kinda funny seeing all the game overs in the Claret Hollows (a majority of them due to ambushes lmao).
That stratum is brutal to the point of absurdity. It's really one of those things where I don't know if I should laugh or cry about it.
And yet, I don't know, I actually like how ridiculous it is. Sure, the game is throwing everything at you, but it also feels like you're supposed to use everything in your arsenal to fight back. And making players engage with game mechanics is something I always dig.
Even the toughest encounters that initially make you go, "WTF I'm dead either way!" have ways for you to handle them safely. I remember having strategies for every possible encounter, which made them as manageable as the other stratums'.
Take for example, the double crab and double root encounter in B30F. You can use Sonic Bombs to prevent the roots from using their instant kill, and use a row-wide volt attack to whittle down the crabs simultaneously, so that they don't get a chance to massacre you. And with that, this encounter isn't the dilemma that it first seemed, hmm?
Alternatively, equip Jewel Eyes to make instant kills useless against you!
(For context, the roots have a skill that tries to instant kill each member of your party, but it needs to be charged up. This process can be interrupted by using a Sonic Bomb, preventing the roots from using their skill.
Meanwhile, the crabs are very powerful, but they only attack if another enemy has died.)
If anything, I actually appreciate the interplay enemies have on one another, due to the different types of threat they present. In one encounter, you'll burst down this enemy. But in another, you'll have to disable or guard against it.
And the sheer difficulty of the stratum also makes for a nice feeling of accomplishment when you reach the end. The stratum is ridiculous, but you still survived everything it threw at you and mapped it all out!
I also had this awesome moment, where I actually got the Depth Dancer's conditional without a Formaldehyde! Praise be to my dark hunter Alizia and my hexer Selene
(And yeah, I brought over Arthur and Simon from NG+ because my Classic mode party didn't originally have an alchemist and medic, and I didn't want to grind a ton to train them up.)
@rgbunny How'd you push the party past lvl 70? Isn't that the cap in eou?
@lucxx By default, it is 70. But if you defeat the 3 dragons (Storm Emperor, Blizzard King, Great Dragon) in the post-game, you'll raise the cap by 10 for each one. As such, you can go up to lv99.
@rgbunny I went as far as I could at lvl 70 because I thought you had to retire 29 times like in the original etrian odyssey... ;~;
@lucxx Oh god, that sounds really painful. I don't think the later floors of the Claret Hollows are manageable at lv70, much less the FOEs or the true final boss...