Etrian Odyssey is a very difficult game by today's standards. It's a throwback to a time when games were not designed to hold your hand at the start and gently take you through every experience it had to offer. Back then, it was usually a matter of you versus the game, and that's exactly what Etrian Odyssey is all about- your band of adventurers versus the seemingly impossible challenges of the labyrinth. It was this very level of challenge that made me realize that; more so than any other portable game I had at the time, every moment I spent in the labyrinth was valuable.

The couple of level ups on the train in the morning was not simply an exercise in killing time- no, it was a means of stacking the odds every so slightly in my favor that my little guild of brave souls would actually some day find out what secrets lie on the deepest of floors. The few minutes spent mapping out a small pocket of the overgrown maze while waiting in line at the noodle bar was actually pin pointing valuable resources to gather later on and create medicines for my party. In flight movie? Bah! I'm nearing the end of this stratum and know that whatever is guarding that last staircase is going to be bigger, and meaner than anything I've faced so far- there's skill points to obtain!

This steep difficulty curve was what made that little pocket world such a thrill to visit- it was a dangerous one. It was a world where the heroes you created were your own and because of this you wanted them to make it to the very end. The story, and the means by which you saw it through were your own.

So to that I say bring on whatever new and nastier dangers are waiting in Heroes of Lagaard. I've got plenty of waiting rooms, long lines, car trips, lunch breaks and restaurant waiting lists to ensure that my new guild will come out on top!