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Update 9: Formido Oppugnatura Exsequens

Stupid green... augh...

I'll take a moment to talk about how Co-op Sea Quests work before going on with the rest of the update.

You can play co-op Sea Quests with 2 to 5 players, and it's with a wireless connection, no Wi-Fi. So when everyone chooses the co-op option, one person gets to be the leader, while everyone else has to join in on their voyage. Once everyone's ready, the leader gets to decide which Sea Quest they get to go on. You can't participate in a Sea Quest if it has NPCs and there are more players than available party slots. Once that's done, everyone sends a party member from their own guild to participate in the voyage, so if you have less than 5 people in the room, you can't fight with a full party, but you'll still be able to initiate the fight. Afterwards, the leader decides what the formation will be, and who equips what Limit. Then you get into the fight, and everyone decides what their own party member will do, and then waits for everyone else to input their commands. It's pretty fun, and if you do the co-op exclusive Sea Quests, you can completely break the difficulty of the fights. Even if you come in with an evenly matched party, since the bosses were mostly balanced around the fact that in most cases you won't be fighting with a full party. The Co-op Sea Quests don't have any rewards for clearing them, other than the Limit you can get on your first clear. And in case you're curious, the "plot" for all the co-op exclusive Sea Quests just amounts to "here's a monster at this place, kill it." Anyways, that's enough of that. Back to the update!

When he notices your approach, he hails you with a cheerful expression.

Made your report to the Senatus, have you? That means you’ve the right to go on ahead from here. In honor of your accomplishment, I’d like you to have this.

The guard pulls a small, metallic hammer from a bag hanging from his waist and offers it to you.

Wait, what's this?

It’s a forging hammer. Enhancing one’s weapons is common practice for explorers in Armoroad. If you seriously intend to explore the Labyrinth, you should consider doing the same.

The guard finishes by giving you not one, but three heavy hammers, which you gracefully accept.

Whoa! Thanks man!

You may forge to confer the innate effects of a hammer onto a weapon to strengthen it. When you get a chance, bring your hammers to Napier’s Firm to try the process out.

You may proceed apace or return to town and experiment with your new hammers at the Firm.

I'm curious to see how these can improve our weapons.

Only one way to find out.

Well then, allow me to explain the process. You may use these hammers to temper weapons.

Ooh! Then let's get star-

Not for free, of course. Perish the thought. A nominal fee applies which varies by weapon.

Secondary materials will also be required, but if I’ve purchased them already, that will suffice. Let’s table any questions for the moment and demonstrate.

If you use this intelligently, it will be a powerful advantage in battle.

Forging is a minor bit of customization that was added to the game, but it can be ignored for the most part. In order to forge something, you have to have a weapon for this. Armor and accessories can't be forged, and the weapon needs an empty forge slot. You also have a limited number of materials to work with, as once you run out, you can't forge anymore stuff.

After choosing the weapon you want to forge, you can choose which forge you want to apply. The attack forge increases your damage by 3% per forge. The VIT forge increases the VIT stat by one point. And the Blind forge adds a 3% chance for regular attacks to blind the targets for each forge. The Blind chance only applies to regular attacks, not skills, so I don't find that to be worth it.

Also you have to pay a fee to forge stuff. Each forge costs 1/4th of the weapon's cost. This really brings down forging for me, since it's a minor upgrade at best, and you're gonna be switching weapons fairly often. EO4 made forging free, which made it a lot more worthwhile in my opinion. For what it's worth, forging does raise the value of your weapon a bit, so you get a bit more money back from selling a forged weapon.

For now, I just opt for an attack forge on Akatsuki's weapon. Note the blue outline around the ATK forge. You can change any forges that were in an empty slot to a different one. However, you can't do that for any forges that were already on the weapon in the first place. Which also really limits what you can do with forging.

I didn't level up skills in the last update, so let's do that right now. Line Guard now decreases physical damage by 34% if used on the Hoplite's own row, and 14% otherwise.

Giant Kill now provides a whopping 51% damage boost to all attacks.

Attack them, not me!

I took the time to do another Sea Quest and level up Akatsuki and Asteria, because that power deficit was bugging me. I have Akatsuki level up Otori, which works just like Provoke, except it can be used on allies, not just yourself. Handy if you want your enemies to focus on your Hoplite, but they don't have time to cast Provoke. Otori has the exact same scaling as Provoke in terms of aggro values.

Dark Ether is cheaper to cast. And now, back to the Labyrinth.

Huh? What's with that moon handle? ...Hey! It's not opening!

Oh, I see a hole of some sort. Perhaps we need a key before we can open this.

Awww...

You seem to have no way to open this door at the moment. You leave it be for the moment to explore elsewhere.

I can't open these right now, so I'm going to mark this door. But this game doesn't have a locked door icon like EO2 did.

So I leave a memo instead.

A quick shortcut back.

But another one that's inaccessible for now.

Here's another Chop Point.

D5 Chop Point:
Supple Branch: 30% Gather Rate.
Soft Bark: 70% Gather Rate.
Palm Trunk: Rare.
Common Gather Periods: 1 to 12.
Rare Gather Periods: 1 to 5.

The Chop Points within a Stratum all give out the same items. Different item points just give out certain items at different rates.

Oh, but here's a shortcut we can go through immediately.

Huh, must lead deeper into the Labyrinth.

But why are there stairs in the Labyrinth? And for that matter, doors?

I dunno, and who cares? Let's go.

But we still haven't seen all of the floor yet. I must admit, an incomplete map makes me a bit uneasy.

And who knows what's down there. It would be best to prepare ourselves first.

Fine, we'll keep looking around. _{Party poopers.}

The sprouts look as if they might be edible... Will you muster the courage to pluck one and eat it?

Hmm... feeling a bit peckish. Let's try these, they look good.

Sidney, I don't think it's a good idea to-

Sidney, entranced by its fresh scent, takes a bite of the sprout and swallows... Suddenly, Sidney begins to complain of severe stomach pains! It seems that the sprout, far from being edible, was a species of poisonous plant!

I immediately regret my decision!

Perhaps eating random plants that grow within this deadly Labyrinth wasn't such a good idea.

Ya don't need to rub it in.

Regretting your carelessness, you return to your explorations.

Some events have minor consequences. In this case, the game chooses the 3rd character in your party (or the first or second in solo or duo parties) to lose some HP. If you say no, this happens instead:

Carelessless can lead to certain death within the Labyrinth! You decide the risk is greater than any possible reward and leave the sprouts where they are.

Now, this event actually has a couple of different outcomes depending on what classes you have in the party. EO3 has a few events that'll differ if you have the right class for it. These replace the class specific shortcuts that were featured in EO2. If you have a Farmer in the party and someone else tries to eat the plant, this happens:

I wonder if those flowers'll make a good snack.

Wait!

You reach out to pluck the sprout, but Alice stops you. Alice, drawing on lifelong experience with plants, explains that the sprout is poisonous.

Oh. Well, thanks for the save!

You defer to Alice’s expertise and leave the sprouts alone in favor of moving on.

If the Farmer is chosen to eat the plant, this happens:

Oh what a lovely- AH!

Alice! What's wrong?

Alice reaches for the sprout, but hesitates and then throws it away in alarm. Seeing your confusion, Alice explains that these are poisonous plants which appear edible. You crush the sprout beneath your boot heel and resume exploring the Labyrinth.

PAH! What devious tricks will this Labyrinth try next?

Now if you don't have a Farmer in the party, but a Gladiator gets chosen to eat the plant, the best outcome happens:

Ooh! I could use a bite.

Rose! Don't!

Rose, entranced by its fresh scent, takes a bite of the sprout and swallows... Suddenly, Rose begins to complain of severe stomach pains! It seems that the sprout, far from being edible, was a species of poisonous plant!

Ugh...

Hey Rose, you okay!?

Yeah... I'm fine. I'm not letting a flower get the best of me!

...But Rose is too strong to be daunted by the poison and comes away with renewed resolve!

Rose recovered 10 HP!

Ah, that was a nice little snack.

Typically in class specific events, different classes can cause different outcomes, or a certain group of classes can avert a bad thing. I think it's a nice way to spice up a playthrough instead of resorting to 2's class specific shortcuts, which outright restricted you from exploring part of the Labyrinth if you didn't have the right class.

Another shortcut we can go through immediately.

Most of the time, shortcuts like those lead to treasure rooms.

I got some light armor for Cassandra. I put this on her for the time being. Now here's something to keep in mind while playing EO3. Armor isn't that important to upgrade. This is because the damage formulae take the total defense from all the armor on a character and divides it by 3, and reduces the base damage from an enemy by that amount. This means that spending an extra 150 or whatever to upgrade to a piece of armor that provides 2 more points of defense is a massive waste of money because it won't actually mitigate damage that much. Despite what I said, you shouldn't ignore armor altogether, as damage reduction is still damage reduction. You'll just want to prioritize upgrading your weapons more often than your armor. Only upgrade armor if you either find it in a treasure chest, or it's a significant upgrade over your current pieces of equipment in some fashion.

Bravants are a very good consumable. They increase the damage output of physical attacks by 45% for 4 turns. Unfortunately, they do not work on elemental or Almighty attacks.

We're done with the 1st floor for now. There's more to it, but that's inaccessible right now.

Faye gets a timely level up from a fight.

Line Heal now has a healing power of 65%.

An inaccessible shortcut.

If the first floor was that easy, we shouldn't have any trouble with the rest of this place!

You turn to find a young explorer before you. He is blond and has a stern look that hints at greater maturity than his youth would suggest.

Is this your first time on the second floor?

He asks, as if gauging your mettle. Though he is alone, his presence is somewhat fearsome. You wonder how best to respond...

Yes, we just got done with the first floor.

On hearing your honest answer that you are novice explorers, the man smiles and continues.

Welcome, newcomers to Armoroad. By now you must have been to the Senatus, no?

Yes. Did they send you?

The man, who is clad in a red outfit of foreign design, speaks much more amicably than before.

My orders from the Senatus are to give useful advice to novice explorers in this Labyrinth.

The man stops for a moment and shifts his gaze toward the dense thicket of trees further in.

Don't worry about us. We've got a handle on this whole Labyrinth business. Heh, you could even call us veterans!

You tell the man that you are experienced explorers, to which he gives a clearly mocking smile.

Ah, pardon me. I’m here to give advice to newcomers, advice which you... veterans... wouldn’t need.

Excuse me?

The man, who is clad in a red outfit of foreign design, shifts his gaze to the forest ahead.

And uh, who are you?

The man seems surprised and amused to have his question answered with another question.

Me? I’m not the one you should concern yourself with right now. The monster ahead is.

What monster-whoa nelly!

The man, who is clad in a red outfit of foreign design, shifts his gaze to the forest ahead.

Know that shape well, for we will be seeing it a lot. What you're seeing right now is a core mechanic of the Etrian Odyssey series, the FOE. It's short for Formido Oppugnatura Exsequens. I have no idea what that means, other than it's in Latin and translates to something about a terrible force of nature or something like that.

You follow the man’s gaze to a powerful monster, the likes of which you’ve never seen.

That... is a big lizard.

The rest of the man's dialogue changes depending on the choice you made. If you picked the 1st or 3rd choice, he'll say this:

If everyone was smart enough to back away from fights they clearly can’t win, there’d be no issue. But too many novice guilds perish from foolishly charging towards monsters beyond their abilities. ...I must caution you as well. Watch the enemy’s movements before making your own.

The man gives a faintly sardonic smile and bow before walking deeper into the forest.

I look forward to meeting you again should our paths cross.

He calls out as he walks away.

The FOE is basically a super strong monster that will usually kill your party when you first come across it. You can take it on later when your guild is stronger. They're basically obstacles to be avoided, not enemies to fight. FOEs are actually field encounters, and running into them will initiate a fight. Learning their movement patterns and avoiding them is a key party of the gameplay.

How very helpful of him.

Tch. Who does he think he is? My dad? We can totally take that thing.

Wait, what?

I don't think this is a good idea!

ATTAAAAAACK!

If you chose the 2nd option...

But who, save novices, would make such an error? Veterans like you should have no worries.

The mocking smile does not leave the man’s face as he disappears from view into the forest.

How rude of him.

_{Oh no.} Faye. Please don't do anything rash.

So. He thinks we're just rookies that can't do anything. He thinks we can't take on a big dumb stupid lizard. Well. I'll show him! AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!

Oh dear god. Sidney! Stop her!

CHAAAAAAAARGE!

I've had a short youth. YEEEART!

WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.

Video: Greedy Lizard

Probably my favorite FOE track in the series. It's pretty frantic and fast paced.

Greedy Lizard
Behavior: Patrols a set path.
Aggressive: No
Level: 13
HP: 736
STR: 16
TEC: 13
VIT: 15
AGI: 14
LUC: 15
Attack Type: Slash
Exp: 2266
Item Drops:
-Drop 1: Lizard Crest - 80% Drop Rate. 1 needed for Lance (Spear. Must be restocked.)
--Lizard's fin undaunted by fledgling warriors' attacks.
-Drop 2: N/A
-Gold: N/A
Description: Bacteria are rife on this lizard's fangs. Any bite wounds should be treated immediately.
Damage Resistances: Slash: 100% Strike: 100% Pierce: 100% Fire: 50% Ice: 150% Volt: 100%
Ailment Resistances: Sleep: 10% Confusion: 10% Plague: 10% Poison: 0% Blind: 150% Curse: 10% Paralysis: 10%
Bind Resistances: Head: 50% Arm: 50% Leg: 50%
Other Resistances: Death: 10% Petrification: 10% Stun: 50%

Skills:

Greedy Fang: Uses the Head. Deals 130% STR-based Slash damage to one party member, and has a 60% chance to inflict Poison. The Poison ticks for 40 damage. Has a hit rate of 99%. Has an action speed modifier of -3.

Greedy Lizards are very powerful. They have the same amount of HP as the Meregho Saeno, and they actually hit harder. While they're limited to single target attacks, they're pretty much guaranteed to kill most classes at this point. They only have one skill, and that's Greedy Fang. It can inflict Poison, so if someone survives the initial hit, they'll probably die from the Poison.

I'm gonna have Faye keep Cassandra's HP high.

Cassandra will tank.

Sidney will deal damage.

Akatsuki will support and deal damge.

Asteria will deal damage.

MARCH!

Hello there. I am Akatsuki. I am here to tell you that this girl will make for a very tasty meal, while the rest of us taste terrible.

Wait, what!?

_{Just go with it. You need to distract it.}

Ugh, fine.

Yoo hoo! Over here!

This should put a dent in it!

Oh come on!

The Greedy Lizard is also way more durable than the Meregho Saeno.

All of you better kill this thing soon! Or we could just do the smart thing and run away.

Something I want to note here. Due to Cassandra and the Greedy Lizard's TEC and LUC stats, the Greedy Lizard should have had at least a 111% chance of inflicting Poison on her here. However, no matter how high anyone gets their infliction rate, it is hard capped to 90%. Nothing in this game is guaranteed to inflict something, so Cassandra got pretty lucky in this instance.

That's quitter talk, and I'm not having any of that here!

Aha! Found it's weakness!

Asteria is my main source of damage, and I'm pretty much relying on her to carry me through this fight.

You can also check the current status of a party member, and see what buffs and debuffs they currently have. A new improvement that EO3 made is that you can see how many turns you have left on your buffs and debuffs. Also, I'm showing you this to show that Otori and Provoke don't stack. They'll just overwrite each eother.

I'll have Cassandra alternate between doing stuff and defending. Mostly defending as I want her to tank hits as much as possible without being worn down while she's being healed up.

I didn't have Sidney use Mumyouken before, since that would have gone before Charge Tactic went off.

Pa-POW! That's more like it!

The Greedy Lizard's regular attacks still hurt, but they can't Poison, so I want to see it use that instead of Greedy Fang.

Do not worry, for I shall use my Ninja arts to distract it!

I don't think he liked your, uh, “illusion.”

Aww... But I worked so hard on it.

My insides are burning!

Oh... Oh god!

Poison deals damage at the end of every turn. However, the amount of damage the Poison deals depends entirely upon the skill that was used to inflict it.

I got your back! Don't you worry!

Oh, thank you so much!

I... I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. Please tell me it's almost dead...

Don't think... it can last much longer...

One final... assault...

You were loud and ugly and now you're dead!

Of course, with the right party you can take down FOEs pretty easily. I'll be honest, I personally think that this game has the weakest FOEs in the series. While there are some that are out of your league when you first come across them, you can take down most of them on your first visit as long as you have the right strategy.

Oh, and here's something else of note. In EO2, FOEs didn't give out exp, making fighting them not really that worthwhile. Thankfully EO3 reverted that change, so FOEs give out exp again. And they give out a fairly decent amount too.

Ha ha! See? That thing was nothing but a chump. That guy was so wrong about us being too weak to take it on.

Yes that's nice, but we should never do that aga-

You know what that means? We're invincible! Nothing can stop us now!