and 3DS systems. You build your party, you get a bajillion customization options and

plenty of skill trees to navigate, you delve through dungeons, fight off fell beasts and

cruel creatures, and draw all your own maps while doing so. It's that intersection of

old-school adventure fan and moe-appreciating otaku, who - for being a small portion of

the market as a whole - have apparently supported the series enough for Atlus to localize all

four chapters up to this point. All of them have one thing in common: A party that you

have to build yourself from members recruited through the guild system. Etrian Odyssey Untold,

on the other hand, actually GIVES you a team. It's strange, I know, especially for this

series. But this foreknowledge of who's who lets them also do really cool things like,

y'know, plot-advancing animation.

For sacrificing a bit of control over the members of your own party, you stand to gain

a number of improvements upon this re-imagining of the first installment of the Etrian Odyssey

series. Firstly and primarily, there's an actual cast of compatriots for you to get

to know, including a strange girl who was locked in some high-tech ruins and suffers

from amnesia. And yes, that does kinda sound just like Star Ocean plus a sharp blow to

the head, but stay with me here. You're tasked with investigating those ruins, as well as

the various strata of the forest nearby, and drawing maps of what you see. See? Cartography

does come in handy sometimes. Along the way you put down packs of monsters, collect their

various bits to sell to NPCs, fulfill quests at the pub because that's where people go

to take up quests, and generally do everything in your power to rack up more sweet, sweet

EXP to fuel your navigation of each party member's skill tree... or to save your hide

in case you fail in slaloming through the huge freakin' monsters you're prone to finding

in each dungeon.

To help ease the fact that you're given a static party, Grimoire Stones are available

to diversify each member's available skills and weapon proficiencies. (read: This is why

your healer is on the front lines with a sword.) These stones are occasionally generated during

battle and can be melded together at your own mansion to customize or consolidate the

powers you prefer. You've also got a maid who's adept at whipping up delicious refreshments

that lift your spirits (and stats) through your next raid into the wilderness. And yes,

occasionally, you get Ice Cream. Turns out Lushy McTankpants hails from this cold, snowy

region known as "Ontario," which makes her at best a Leafs fan and, at worst... ugh...

a Sens fan. Oh well, that's why she takes the hits. And drinks to forget.

But if you're not a fan of these, y'know, characters getting in the way of your good,

traditional RPG dungeon slog, you have the option of just going without. Say "bollocks"

to the advances of half a decade, and just play it as you would a standard Etrian Odyssey.

You're welcome to do exactly that thing. It's a surprising accommodation from a game that,

in most every other respect, is there to beat down your soul under cartography tasks, fetch

quests, and a brutal difficulty curve. I guess some folks just go for that sort of thing,

and I guess I'm one of 'em. Now pass the ice cream before I put your head on a pike.