Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl

[Grazza]

Quick question: Is it possible to start Classic Mode once you've started Story Mode?

 

Yes, but I'd recommend completing the main game (25 floors + 5 new maps) in Story Mode before you switch to Classic, as there are unique enemies/drops in the new areas (numbered I-V). In fact you might have to do that, as I don't remember getting the New Game + option until I'd seen the credits.

 

Personally, I'm down to Floor 30 and have completed the Monster Codex, and I'm still in Story Mode. I just need to beat the post-game boss.

 

Also, I see you there, @darksnowman - the man who got me into this series!

[darksnowman]

Also, I see you there, @darksnowman - the man who got me into this series!

 

Beady eyes. Updating 3DS now in order to try this demo...! :awesome:

[Grazza]

So, got mixed feelings about this game now. I wanted to see how far you can take Story Mode without switching to Classic. Let me be clear - Story Mode is an accomplished remake of the original, with likeable characters, good voice acting and two useful new classes (which you can only use in Story Mode). It does lose a certain amount of subtlety, but it also fills in blanks that I for one didn't fully understand previously. The graphics and remixed music are superb, and it generally retains or exceeds the appeal of the original.

 

The problem started when I moved to post-game (the 6th Stratum). These are designed for completionists and are always arduous. However, I would actually say it's more frustrating than it used to be. In the original, the level cap was 70. You'd probably want to Retire and grind to 70 again when you met the Primeval, but you'd generally be able to get through the last 5 floors at level 70 (unretired). In the remake, however, the level cap can be raised to 99, and it's as though the difficulty has also been stretched over this range. Even playing on Normal difficulty (Expert would be a thankless task), it's tougher than it used to be. Floors 28 and 30 have FOEs that spawn and dash at you, and if they catch you off-guard it's no fun at all.

 

Regardless, if you do get to level 99, with a bit of luck you can blast through and draw every map, get every treasure, obtain every item and fill in the Monster Codex. This brings me to the one thing I always hated about the original game - Primevil. As I say, I wanted to see how far you could take Story Mode on Normal. Whilst I'm sure it's possible to beat Primeval (now called Yggdrasil Core) with this set-up, I tried so many times, and found it so frustrating, I gave up. It's just so darn random - if you guess the wrong element you're toast. With a certain amount of shame, I set the difficulty to Picnic and beat him that way just to get the drop.

 

So, just like the original game, I felt I needed a party full of Retired characters, with the stat boosts that brings. The problem? You can't Retire your Story team (or create new characters in Story Mode). The overwhelming thing about this game is that Story Mode and Classic Mode are just so clumsily linked. In frustration, I switched the Classic Mode, and whilst I can still access the Story Mode characters if I want, I still can't Retire the Protector (Raquna) into my own Protector. I'm faced with going through the whole game again, levelling my new team to 99 (if that's possible), Retiring them, then getting them to 99 again. It was fine doing that in IV (the more I played the post-game, the more I loved it), but that was because you'd been in control of your party from the beginning.

 

Furthermore, my Guild Card has disappeared for now. I'm sure I'll get it back sometime, but don't know if all the achievements will still be on it when I do.

 

As it is, I think I need to put the cartridge back in its box for a while, and forget about it. Etrian Odyssey Untold is a good remake, but I don't know if I can justify all the work needed to get anything more out of it. Trouble is, if I don't, it's going to bug me.

Edited May 29, 2014 by Grazza

[darksnowman]

Raquna: cool.

Mage kid: kinda annoying.

Amnesia girl: clichéd.

Ruins expert: Raine from Tales of Symphonia.

 

Grazza, I hope you're missing something cos that sucks. Judging the story mode from the demo, it seems really well done but if it doesn't take you all the way to the very end of the game... annoying. Maybe you are supposed to switch to classic mode and begin work on your own party sooner? Hmm.

 

I thought the level cap being lifted to 99 would help with alleviating the late game difficulty, but of course they would scale all the enemies up accordingly too.

[Grazza]

Raquna: cool.

Mage kid: kinda annoying.

Amnesia girl: clichéd.

Ruins expert: Raine from Tales of Symphonia.

 

Agree. Raquna is definitely my favourite.

 

Grazza, I hope you're missing something cos that sucks. Judging the story mode from the demo, it seems really well done but if it doesn't take you all the way to the very end of the game... annoying. Maybe you are supposed to switch to classic mode and begin work on your own party sooner? Hmm.

 

I've got my Guild Card back now and it's better than expected (didn't take long - I was just letting frustration get the better of me). It does have all the achievements, thankfully.

 

I do think you're meant to play Story Mode first, then switch to Classic any time after the credits. There is no real story after the 5th Stratum, although there is some story-based dialogue for one of the Quests that is specific to the Story Mode characters. I'm glad I got all the drops with the Story team, though, as I can kit-out my Classic team with the best equipment right away. I've chosen the team I originally beat Primevil with - Landsknecht (Axe), Protector, Medic, Alchemist and Survivalist. I'm hoping their slightly different skills (plus stat boosts from Retiring) will make the battle go a bit easier, at least until the "random luck" stage.

[Grazza]

Thanks to @darksnowman I've got back into this now and am really enjoying it again.

 

I Retired my Classic team (Landsknecht, Protector, Medic, Alchemist and Survivalist), so hopefully the stat boosts will prove useful. Retiring replaces them with level-30 characters, and I zoomed from levels 30-50 very smoothly. Onto 99 we go...

 

Retiring also gives you more skill points. That said, skill points are not scarce in this game, due to the level cap now being 99 and not 70. There is also another reason skill points no longer matter so much, and it is a mechanism I've not appreciated much until now... Grimoire Stones.

 

As a brief explanation, whilst in battle you have a chance of a Grimoire Stone being created, which you can then equip. These stones give you a skill (with a quality of 1-10), either from a beast or one of your own... and it's the latter that are more useful than I realised. Let's say you have a Protector with the Front Guard skill maxed. If you're lucky, you can get an exact replica of that skill via a Grimoire Stone, meaning you can Rest and spend the points elsewhere.

 

Even better, the Protector has skills like Aegis (chance of surviving a blow with 1HP) and En Guarde (chance to block an attack). In the past these didn't seem that useful - OK, your Protector is left standing, but what about everyone else? Well now, in theory, you can give everyone Aegis and En Guard! Very useful for a Medic, to say the least!

 

Really getting back into this game now.

[darksnowman]

Thanks to @darksnowman I've got back into this now and am really enjoying it again.

 

Not sure how but great news. There should be someone playing an EO game at all times. Luckily that is normally covered by yourself.

 

I Retired my Classic team (Landsknecht, Protector, Medic, Alchemist and Survivalist), so hopefully the stat boosts will prove useful. Retiring replaces them with level-30 characters, and I zoomed from levels 30-50 very smoothly. Onto 99 we go...

 

Not just your classic team but that is THE classic team. I tinkered with Ronin and the Hexer in EO but reverted back to the same team as that before long. Maybe if they were unlocked sooner it would have given them more of a chance to bed in.

 

Retiring also gives you more skill points. That said, skill points are not scarce in this game, due to the level cap now being 99 and not 70. There is also another reason skill points no longer matter so much, and it is a mechanism I've not appreciated much until now... Grimoire Stones.

 

As a brief explanation, whilst in battle you have a chance of a Grimoire Stone being created, which you can then equip. These stones give you a skill (with a quality of 1-10), either from a beast or one of your own... and it's the latter that are more useful than I realised. Let's say you have a Protector with the Front Guard skill maxed. If you're lucky, you can get an exact replica of that skill via a Grimoire Stone, meaning you can Rest and spend the points elsewhere.

 

Even better, the Protector has skills like Aegis (chance of surviving a blow with 1HP) and En Guarde (chance to block an attack). In the past these didn't seem that useful - OK, your Protector is left standing, but what about everyone else? Well now, in theory, you can give everyone Aegis and En Guard! Very useful for a Medic, to say the least!

 

Really getting back into this game now.

 

Yeah but even with the extra skill points and levelling, the post game stratum is scaled to take this into accordance, yeah? Its not like you are marching in with level 99 characters to take on a boss thats designed for a level 70 guild.

 

So the Grimoire Stones act like the Augments in the FF IV DS remake, or (sort of like) like Materia in FF VII? Like sub sub classing. The things I've read about Millennium Girl didn't go into the details of what Grimoire Stones are so much as complain about how annoying/ random they are to obtain. Could you, in theory then, get Medic skills dropped as Grimoire Stones and thus not need an actual Medic in your party any more?

[Grazza]

Not sure how but great news. There should be someone playing an EO game at all times. Luckily that is normally covered by yourself.

 

And only me!

 

Not just your classic team but that is THE classic team. I tinkered with Ronin and the Hexer in EO but reverted back to the same team as that before long. Maybe if they were unlocked sooner it would have given them more of a chance to bed in.

 

Even if they were, I'm still not sure they're that useful in the original. Well, maybe the Hexer, but the status effects aren't likely to work on the Core, so you'd have to replace her eventually. The Ronin, on the other hand, needs the stance to be set up before he can attack, which is not really my style. It's a different story from the second game onwards though.

 

Yeah but even with the extra skill points and levelling, the post game stratum is scaled to take this into accordance, yeah? Its not like you are marching in with level 99 characters to take on a boss thats designed for a level 70 guild.

 

True, but once you've got the best equipment (I got 100% drops before I Retired), it's a lot easier. I was surprised how early I've been able to take my Retired team down to B30F - around level 50/60.

 

So the Grimoire Stones act like the Augments in the FF IV DS remake, or (sort of like) like Materia in FF VII? Like sub sub classing. The things I've read about Millennium Girl didn't go into the details of what Grimoire Stones are so much as complain about how annoying/ random they are to obtain. Could you, in theory then, get Medic skills dropped as Grimoire Stones and thus not need an actual Medic in your party any more?

 

Yes, absolutely. In theory, you can give everyone Salve, Revive etc, although having a Medic with them maxed gives you a better (only?) chance of getting those Stones in the first place.

 

My Medic is an absolute tank now though. He's got the Def Up quality (which Medics don't normally have) and the shield bonus from the Grimoire Stone, so he's also got the best shield!

 

To synthesise a Grimoire Stone, you need three of them.

 

The first is your base, so it's best to choose one with the most slots (and some skills you want to keep).

 

The second should be one you want skills from (you can only select skills from the first and second Grimoire).

 

The third only gives a weapons bonus. So, if it's a Bow Grimoire, you can use bows, even if your class normally can't. My personal preference is for Shields, as everyone's defence improves massively with a shield.

 

[Grazza]

I've finally reached the point where I've got my Classic team to Level 99 again after Retiring. Thus, I can compare the stats of the Level 99 Story Mode characters to the same class (Retired) in my Classic team:

 

 

Simon - "Healer"

54 STR 64

65 TEC 75

49 VIT 59

50 AGI 60

52 LUC 62

 

 

Arthur - "Fire"

37 STR 47

73 TEC 83

31 VIT 41

57 AGI 67

63 LUC 73

 

 

Raquna - "Shield"

55 STR 65

54 TEC 64

73 VIT 83

31 AGI 41

48 LUC 58

 

 

So, a +10 boost to every stat. Also, these figures are without any weapons/armour. Fire's TEC, for example, easily goes to 99 once he's got all the best equipment on.

 

The other two classes aren't available in Classic Mode, but my Landsknecht is looking a lot sturdier than the Highlander.

[Grazza]

Darn game. I've done all that and still can't beat the Core. Battle seems to go on and on compared to the original. I need to be more aggressive, but to do that I'd need special Grimoire skills... not exactly fun to obtain.