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Since my computer is working again, my DS is kind off on the bench lately. Worry not though, exams are coming up soon, so I will be riding the train a lot if you catch my drift. I was on a train today also, so I’ve spent some time in the game. I’ve also played a bit a few days ago, but I forgot to write about it, so I might have some issues recollecting everything.

Anyways, I managed to find the way to the fourth level, encountering the lost ninja on the way and helping him avoid some angry hippos (extra dangerous monsters on level 3). Before I went down the stairs to level 4, I returned to town to get a new mission from Via Senatus. I am to kill a giant fish that lives in the swamps of level 4. I can’t proceed further down to level 5 before I do this.

The fish was in the last huge room, as expected and I also found the passage further, but I couldn’t go through it with the fish still alive. I prepared my team, including a prince I decided to accept into the guild as a replacement for Rodney in the main team. Rodney will now be exclusively leading the peon team to gather raw materials. I attacked the giant fish and managed to get it to about 60% health before it kicked my ass. Sadly, it seems I will have to change my strategy, or even train up for a bit before attempting this again.

I recovered and entered the labyrinth again. I went down to level 4 to map the rest of the area first, and then I’ve spent some time on levels 3 and 4 to train up for a bit. Once I felt I was strong enough, I decided to try and tackle one of the dangerous giant lizards at level 2. I managed to kill one and sell his remains at the market, which allowed me to get a new, stronger spear crafted for Charles. This allowed me to go and kill more lizards and also to find a Power Book in a hidden passage guarded by one of them. Michael read the book, which increased his strength to 20, so he will also be hitting harder. I still think that I need to train more before attempting to kill the fish again, but I am positive I’m getting there now.

Anyways, that’s as far as I got on the train, so you will probably be getting an update sometime next week, during my next ride.

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Good things come in small sizes, right?

Well, this game fits that proverb perfectly. I installed it a few days ago, tried it for a bit, but got busy soon so I didn’t play for a while. A few days later, I completed most of it in one sitting.

Shank, Random Chainsaw Art

I went through Shank so fast, I didn’t even have the time to take a screenshot.

The story is simple and not at all important. Shanks girlfriend gets killed in a Kill Bill style scene and he is left for dead. Seven years later (or that is how I understood it) he is back for revenge and kills each and every member of his former gang, including a stripper, a butcher/wrestler, a priest and the big boss.

So what do I think of the game? I think the perfect way to describe it would be with one word – STYLE. This is what the game is all about. Anything you do in it, you do with style, no exceptions. You kill with style and you die with style. You speak with style and you jump with style, and you love every single bit of it. For pure awesomeness, I would give it a 10/10. For duration, maybe a 5/10, but that does not matter at all. The game is the perfect size for what it does, and it does that perfectly.

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I was hoping to update sooner, but there is no time for writing when you play the game. (^_^)

Anyways, after registering my guild, I had to go to Via Senatus in order to get my instructions from the city leadership. The old lady there told me that I need to report to the guard at the first level of the dungeon, who will then instruct me further in my task. Before all of this, I explored the town, checked the shops and the local Bistro for any quests, but it seems that the first mission is the only one I could take for now. It was time to descend into the dungeon.

The guard was quite easy to find, as he was guarding the passage to the more dangerous parts of the first floor. He tasked me with exploring and mapping out the area I can currently access, so I went and did this. I was forced to return to town several times to recover, but eventually, the area was mapped out. I reported my success to the guard and he told me I should also report at Via Senatus, so I went ahead and did that. During all this, I managed to make some new equipment available at the shops, thanks to all the materials I’ve been gathering during my exploration.

I geared up as much as I could and returned to the dungeon to explore the rest of the first level. Before I did that, though, I stopped at the Bistro to see If there are any missions available this time. There were. Among other things, a farmer was looking for a nice resting part at the first level of the dungeon, and the Bistro owner was actually looking for some ingredients for a meal she wanted to prepare. I took all the available missions and went to explore the rest of the dungeon. Again, I was forced to come back to town several times, but in the end, all of the areas I could access were fully mapped. I also found a locked treasure chest which I made note of for the future, as well as a mysterious gate with a moon shaped symbol on it. I will probably be returning for both of these things at a later time.I successfully completed all of the available missions and have found the stairs to the next floor, so I decided to go there.

I got my ass kicked by a giant bird monster as soon as I descended down the stairs.

It seemed that a change in strategy was in order. I was low on gold, so I couldn’t really buy the best available equipment for my entire party.Then I had an idea! I registered four more farmers at the guild hall. I don’t really care about their names, as they wont be adventurers, just peons to do the physical labor. I put them under Rodney’s command and took them back to the first level of the dungeon. They are highly trained in the gathering skills, so I took them to one of the lumber gathering points of the dungeon and worked their asses off until they were to exhausted to continue. We went back to town and sold all the things we gathered for about 600 gold.

That wasn’t enough, so I repeated this process over the next few days, leveling all of them to level 3 on the way and maxing out their harvesting skills. I could easily bring in 1000-1500 gold per day like this now. Once I geared them up properly, I started collecting gold for my main adventuring team and geared them up to.

I also went back to the Bistro and spoke to some guests. One of them told me that the green bird monsters only come out during the day, so I decided to explore the second floor during the night. My main adventuring team was ready to try again. I went down to level two and, this time, the fights weren’t hard at all. I started exploring, but pretty soon, I was stopped by a fancy looking guy who claimed he was here to help novice guilds. He explained everything about some dangerous monsters patrolling around and how to avoid them. Since I really was a novice, I decided to heed his advice and managed to avoid a few patrols during my explorations.

Pretty soon, I’ve encountered another person, this time a girl called Olympia. She explained how to find good campsites and use them to rest if I carry a tent with me. This was some more good advice, so I took heed of that also. After doing some more exploring, I started encountering muddy areas which really slowed my movement. This was another danger that could make avoiding patrols much harder, so I started marking such areas on my map. Soon, I encountered a third person, this time Hypathia, a member of the Muratsume guild. She was looking for one of their ninjas called Agatha, who went missing a while ago. She seemed tired so I offered help so she could go back to town to rest. I guess I’m nice like that.

I explored most of the area and even found the stairs to the next level, but then decided to go back to town to see if there’s anything new. Sure enough, there were three new missions at the Bistro. Someone was looking for some more ingredients, a group of adventurers from the Pale Horse guild went missing and thirdly, some farmers were looking for someone with experience to take part at a farming conference. Since Rodney was quite skilled by new, he offered to deal with that one. We waited for him to get back and then went back to the forest.

Soon, we encountered a guard and inquired him about the Pale Horse adventurers. He said that we should probably ask someone back at the Bistro, maybe even someone from another guild, as they do communicate allot. I did this and found out that the Pale Horse is a very cautious guild so they would probably look for the campsites on every dungeon level first, before doing anything to dangerous. I decided to go to the campsite and ask Olympia if she saw them. She said they did camp there, but then went down to the third floor. Since the dangerous monsters were still to tough for me on this floor, I decided to follow them.

Pretty soon, I’ve found another campsite, but there was blood everywhere. It seems that the Pale Horse adventurers fell prey to the monsters. With a heavy hearth, I went back to town to report the grim news, but it turns out I was wrong. I must have missed them because the adventurers returned while I was away. The blood wasn’t theirs, but belonged to the monsters they dealt with. Still, I did the Investigation, so I got the payment for the completed mission anyway. I guess everyone is happy, so it turned out fine.

This is where I decided to take a break and continue later.

Guild Horizon

Adventuring Team:

  • Michael, Level 9 Gladiator
  • Charles, Level 9 Hoplite
  • Awena, Level 9 Zodiac
  • Clarice, Level 9 Monk
  • Rodney, Level 9 Farmer

Labor Team:

  • Rodney, Level 9 Farmer
  • 4x Level 3 Peons

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I played the first part of this series, but I was thrown off by the grind relatively close to the start of the game. Apparently, in the third part, the grind isn’t as bothersome, so I decided to try it. I made a party and started the game.

Etrian Odyssey III, Box, Cover Art

The Box Art

The guild “Horizon”

  • Michael, Level 1 Gladiator
  • Charles, Level 1 Hoplite
  • Awena, Level 1 Zodiac
  • Clarice, Level 1 Monk
  • Rodney, Level 1 Farmer

Wish me luck!

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Since I completed the game, I thought I should do a short review, so here goes…

The Review

The game is fun, it really is. I wasn’t bored at any point while playing it. It’s not perfect, but it definitely is fun. It sort of reminds me of a mix between the old Soulblazer and a Zelda game for some reason. It’s colorful, looks nice all around and has a cheerful atmosphere. It’s light on the story, but it also doesn’t make the story that important so you wont mind.

Now, about the imperfections. First of all, as I said, It’s light on the story. At some points, the story just isn’t making that much sense and the whole “saving the humanity” part just drops in on you unexpectedly and ends right there so it kind of feels weird. Secondly, I feel they could handle the whole monster raising thing better. Basically, you have 4 fupong types and you feed and combine them to make them grow. The problem is, it takes a while, and a much bigger problem is, if you’re not careful, you can lose your fupongs just like that, which makes the whole process of raising them a bit tedious. In my case, what happened was that I was using level 1 fupongs throughout the entire game and was just raising one of each kind at the ranch to see how they look like, but never used them. It basically makes them not really a part of the game.

Still, as I said, the game is fun and is worth playing. You get an enhanced mode after completing it which let’s you keep your old weapons and stuff on a new playthrough, but I wont be going through that. I feel that the 17 hours it took to complete it once is more than enough playtime i got out of it.

The Verdict

All in all, I would give it an 8/10 – Something I will complete, but wont be going back to it.

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In the two dungeons, I’ve found more people, but no villagers this time. Both of the people accused me of being “the alien who abducted them”. One of them was a woman who was also missing her husband. After clearing these two, I managed to find a few more dungeons, saving more unknown people. Soon, Annela gave me the password past that one room in the first “techy” dungeon so I went there two, which just created even more mysteries.

While doing all of this, I started finding chisels and flower seeds, which I would give to the villagers so they could make stone statues for the plaza and plant flowers around the village. The village started to look really nice because of it. I even managed to raise the red fupong to the max level, but I never got the chance to use it.

Away: Shuffle Dungeon, A Sad Fupong

A sad fupong.

After clearing all of the available dungeons, Annela finally woke up, so I spoke to her. She said she remembers allot of things now. It was Sword who abducted her from her world, even though he doesn’t remember. After hearing all of this, Sword promised he will do anything to get to the bottom of the mystery. Annela said she had a dream while in the hospital, about a portal opening up under Swords bed, so they both decided to spend the night at his place (nothing sexual, you pervs). The dream turned out to be true and a new portal opened up. This one took them to a control room of a spaceship and that is when they realized the truth. The whole of Webb village is just an Illusion created in the spaceship. The ship was hit by a meteor and is malfunctioning so this is why the earthquakes started happening in the village.

Before I could do anything, the control robot, which also malfunctioned, attacked Sword and Annela. Sword managed to kill it in basically one it, but it was to late…

Annela was dead!

Sword tried to do everything he could think off, but it was to late. All he could do was to give her a burial in space. I explored the rest of the ship and found the main computer. According to the diagnostics program, a part was missing. The computer said that it indeed was Sword that brought all the people to the village. Why he lost his memory was unknown, but it was probably due to the malfunction. All of the caves he was exploring were actually subspace passages to various locations in timespace. I also found the place where the meteor hit, and discovered the Subspace Dungeon. At the bottom of it, I’ve found the missing part and used it to repair the computer. Once this was done, the autopilot was engaged and the ship suddenly started moving to an unknown location. Sword tried to stop it, but the ship wouldn’t listen.

The location was Earth!

He used the transporter to exit the ship and he was greeted by a bunch of scientists, one of which was professor Atom, who explained everything. Humanity is dying out. There is a strange disease that is systematically destroying the human DNA and the cause of it is unknown. The doctors are trying to do everything, but nothing is working. They considered time travel to go to the past and find people with healthy DNA, but there is no technology that could send a living organism to the past. This is when they got an idea. They sent a ship with an artificial intelligence to the past to find Sword. The ship would then travel at the speed of light and thus use time dilation to “travel to the future” and get more people on the way to the present. Their DNA could then be used to restore the missing pieces and cure the disease. Just as the last people were found, the ship was hit by the meteor and the mission could not be completed. Now that the ship is back, though, Sword could use the minimizer machine in the lab to shrink to a microscopic level and restore the DNA.

Off course, this is what I did and humanity was saved. The “dungeon” was a tough one and I had to try several times, but in the end, I got to the bottom level, defeated the boss and fixed the DNA. The problem now is, there is no technology that could be used to bring the people who’s DNA saved humanity back to their own times. They decided to all stay and live in the Webb village, as there is nothing else that could be done.

This is when professor Atom got an idea. Why not use the ship to continue traveling to the future until such technology is invented? Sword agreed and started the ship again. A few generations later, he got back to Earth and was greeted by professor Tatom, the great, great, great, great granchild of professor Atom. He managed to invent the technology needed and everyone could now return.

One by one, the villagers entered the machine and went back to their homes. The professor gave each of them a gem to remember him by. The last person to go was Sword, but then he got an idea. Instead of going back to his own time, he went back to the moment he and Annela were attacked by the robot. This time, the battle was much tougher, but I managed to win and Annela was saved! He got her back to Webb village and then it was time for her to return to her own time to.

Sword, on the other hand, decided to stay on the ship. After all, he would have probably died in his own time line, as he was taken from a shipwreck. He would use the ship to travel through space and live out his days with his only company being the fupongs that were left behind.

One day, he was walking through the village, when a strange light appeared in Annela’s old house. He opened the door and she was there. Annela was back! The game that the professor was giving to all the villagers is actually a device that she used to return to Sword. As she was explaining this, all the other houses lit up to. All of the villagers decided to return. They loved their time in Webb village and they missed each other and sword, so they all decided to live there, instead of in their own times. They will use the ship to go on more fun adventures and live out their lives together in happiness.

THE END

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I had some time to play today and I advanced the game pretty far, so I’m not sure if I will be able to remember about all the things I did, but here goes…

The twins’ dungeon was where I found Belisarius (not sure about the name), who seems to be the final villager that required rescue. He got stung by a monster so I had to take him to the doctor as soon as we got back to the village.

Away: Shuffle Dungeon, Anella

Anella

I went on to visit Annela and she just woke up so we went to the beach. Soon enough, a huge earthquake happened and Annela fainted again. I took her to the doctor and went to inspect the damage. The earthquake opened up a large fissure at the center of the village and an actual traffic light appeared there. I looked in the darkness bellow and discovered another dungeon. This one was strange, all high tech and electrical and there was no one to save in there. There was a giant robot that attacked me, however, so I had to fight him. Once he was gone, I continued to the next level but the door was locked by a password. Luckily, a teleporter was there that took me back to the village, so I didn’t have to go back on foot.

I went to check up on Anella and she was delirious again, saying something about how she was late to a play and was at the traffic light when the light took her. Since her sleep talking lead me to a bunch of other dungeons, I decided to go check the traffic light at the fissure and, sure enough, I discovered another techy dungeon. This time, I found a prisoner at the bottom, but he wasn’t a villager. He accused me of being one of the aliens who abducted him with their UFO, but Sword had no idea what any of those words mean. In the end, I managed to convince him to go back to the village with me. We spoke to the chief and he said that he fully expects me to find a way back to the guy’s world if I continue exploring all the different dungeons. The man introduced himself as Kaanvas, the painter. He decided he would paint this strange world he is in while waiting for me to find him a way home.

I went back to Anella and this time she was talking about how the traffic lights are programmed to keep blinking when there’s a parade or a festival in the city so I decided to go check the light again. Nothing was there so I first went to speak to Kaanvas and then to the chief. Kaanvas shoved me a painting he was working on, which contained a tree and a strange shiny object next to it, while the chief gave me his super nose to try and find a clue that way. I used the super nose to find “Control Chip B” and then I’ve found “Control Chip A” next to a tree, just like on the painting that Kaanvas painted.

I used the two chips on the traffic light and opened up two new dungeons. This is where I decided to take a break. Which dungeon I will tackle next, I’m not sure, but both of them will be tackled eventually.

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My hardware troubles continue. The replaced GPU worked like a charm and the computer was used for 3 days, but then a new problem appeared. This time, the computer freezes on the POST part of the boot screen. I can’t do anything about that from the software side, so I left it at the shop so they can look into it properly. I can expect it next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Away: Shuffle Dungeon, Sword swinging a Huge Ax

Sword’s name doesn’t limit him. He can also swing huge axes.

I guess I have time to complete this game now. Anyways, I had a really hard time guessing where to go next after saving Camelia as Anella’s new house was empty and I was supposed to listen to her talk in her sleep. Finally, I found out she’s actually still sleeping at the chief’s house in the guest room. She gave me a total of three hints, which means I’ve found three new dungeons, one outside next to Camelia’s house, one inside Camelia’s house and one in Anella’s house in a vanity mirror.

I cleared all three of these and freed the twins Yula and Ula, the wizard Majique and the flaming “decorator” and “fashion guru” Tylor. All three of the dungeons weren’t easy and took allot of attempts to clear, but eventually I did it. During all this, Anella gave me a new hint which allowed me to found the fourth dungeon in the twins’ house so that is the one I will be tackling next. For now, I’m taking a break, since my headache is back in full.

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I finally managed to get my computer working, so expect a whole bunch of posts in the future. Sadly, I have a headache today, so all I did was to play some Civilization 5. It’s every bit as awesome as I imagined, so I’m reserving a permanent spot on the hard drive for it.

I just started a random, non-custom game and I got China as my civilization. First I’ve spent some time expanding and then I encountered a total of four nation states and the Aztecs. I destroyed two of the states and allied with the other two. Then the Aztecs attacked one of them, so I decided to retaliate and destroy them. Since I was now alone on the continent, I researched the required techs to cross the ocean. On another continent, I encountered the Ottomans, Americans and the Egyptians. The first two hated the Egyptians, so I decided to cash in on that and gang up on Ramses. Pretty soon, he was capitulating and gave me half of his empire just to stop the attack. This is where the headache got to strong and I saved my game.

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Just a short one today, since I played for 10 minutes total. I went to search for Annela and found her at the beach. She seemed to be sleepwalking and said something in the lines of “three steps west, two steps north and then two south again”. I decided to follow the instructions and this unlocked a portal to a new dungeon, this time an icy one again.

Away: Shuffle Dungeon, Sword on a Bridge

This is a bridge in the town.

The dungeon was quite easy and I soon reached the bottom level, where I’ve found Camelia who seems to be the town musician or something. I brought her back with me and she mentioned how everything seems distant in her memories, like it happened ages ago. The chief came to see us and told me he found Annela while I was in the dungeon. She is in his house now. I went to my house to save the game and stopped playing.