YMMV / Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth

• Annoying Video Game Helper: Necromancers' Wraiths and Rovers' Hawk and Hound can attack enemies, which does little damage but is still usually an acceptable supplement to your own party's attacks. Unfortunately, these attacks also wake up sleeping enemies, which means the sleep ailment is much more unreliable for any party containing these classes. And the Eternal Tyrant, the final boss is weak to sleep, so these "allies" will most likely deny you some precious opportunities to heal and reapply buffs during this difficult battle.
• Contested Sequel: Some fans of the series appreciate this game for refining the tried-and-true "create your own guild and explore a 30-floor dungeon" formula, especially the four-race system, expanded cosmetic customization options (such as RGB sliders for hair and eye colors and choosing voices for characters), and some of the more unique selections of new classes (the Harbinger/Reaper and Necromancer in particular stand out). Others don't like that the game did away with the Story Mode of the Untold games and the world maps of the past two non-Untold games, resulting in what feels like a bare-bones product. The substitution of the series-staple subclassing mechanic with Legendary Titles is another point of contention; some feel that Legendary Titles help draw out the full potential of each class, but others prefer subclassing for the greater variety of builds it allows.
• Disappointing Last Level: The final stratum may still have level design and enemies that keep the player on their toes, but it's also rather lacking in Adventure Episodes that populated the previous strata and kept things less monotonous. The postgame stratum is completely devoid of Episodes that aren't story-based cutscenes, and only has one sidequest tied to it.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Some fans of the series are disappointed that this game is too back-to-its-roots, having ditched the overworld exploration of the previous two non-spinoff games and the Story Modes of the Etrian Odyssey Untold games.
• Older Than They Think: The Sixth Stratum and the introduction of the Arken threw many new players for a loop with the reveal that Arken is from an advanced alien civilization and the True Final Boss is a star destroying monstrosity who destroyed her friend and family. This would not be the first time Etrian Odyssey featured Big Bads from outer space, however; the Abyssal God from The Drowned City isn't native to Earth and wound up there when it tried to escape its Arch-Enemy, which coincidentally was Yggdrasil.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • A core mechanic of the series is the ability to draw a map of the dungeon on the system's touch screen, so it makes sense for this game to add the ability to turn in your map to the council and get rewarded (with the ability to start your expeditions on higher floors) if it's accurate enough. Unfortunately, many players reported Ramus rejecting their maps due to their mapping style not being recognized by the game. Note that the game doesn't give any official guidelines on how to "properly" draw maps.
  • Fencers can learn Rapier Mastery, which changes their attack type from cut to stab in lieu of the game having separate "sword" and "rapier" weapon types...but it's a passive skill and so makes the change in attribute permanent unless you are willing to have the Fencer rest, as opposed to being an active in-battle skill that can be switched on at will and ignored if cut attacks are preferred instead. Resting in this game is more generous than in the DS and Switch games, costing only two levels, but it's still a pain to have to not only redo their skills but also have to bring their level back up because you ran into a situation where having the Fencer do cut attacks is more effective.

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