Etrian Odyssey 5 (3rd Stratum Party)

For the third Stratum, I felt like shaking up the party a lot. So I pretty much replaced everyone I was using before in order to have an entirely new party. So for my reasons for why the party would change, I decided to go all out with the dramatics. It was time for forced plot twists clearly.

The two childhood friends of Annie end up being brutally murdered by none other than Annie.  Chikane had turned out to be a follower of an evil Goddess. Her lust for Chikane and her new found devotion to an evil Goddess made Annie far more dangerous an opponent for  Sarah and Kurumi. Both of whom were thrown off by the betrayal. Both died feeling betrayed and hated.

With her two friends now dead, Annie left with Chikane and Sakura. Chikane takes Annie to her guild in preparation to be reborn. In other words, these three are being retired into new portaits. So in a sense they're "dead" until they live again. As for their future portraits that will be revealed later. Sadly it might have to be through camera images which are of lower quality.

At this point, we're going to switch protagonists. Hanami has her own guild just like Annie and she's a vary capable warrior. This is actualy the 2nd labyrinth she started exploring. As for what that previous one was? It's meant to be a mystery. To be honest, I wanted to use a Harbinger from the start, but held off until now to give other classes a chance to shine. I also felt that the Harbinger could make a good alternate protagonist.

Fighting by her side is Maya, whoe has been her guardian for years. She's dedicated to her role. Plus it gives her purpose in life. That and  the pay from Hanami's parents is good. She somehow manages to both being greedy and devoted. Ultimately speaking, I still needed a front line fighter so I figured I'd keep the Murasao for another round. However I probably won't use on in the 4th and 5th Stratums. 3 uses for a class is enough.

Becky ran into Hanami and was convinced to try going on her journey again. Becky eventually finds out what happened to Annie and blames herself.  Hanami's guild offers her their help in this regard since Becky has proven a valuable 5th member. I figured rather than make a new Shaman, I'd just bring back the one I had before. Plus Becky gets to redeem herself maybe. If nothing else she's more confident than before.

Mikuru is the girlfriend of Hanami, literally her lover. Mikuru is devoted to Hanami and Hanami is to her. Maybe a bit too much. Yeah, you could say death loves the undead. Because she is Hanami's lover, Maya protects her too. Necromancer is another class I decided to save for later.  In this case because the demo gave me the impression the class needed some levels under its belt. Also Mastery helps a lot.

Rena is pretty much Hanami's adopted sister, an abandoned child. Because of her position as adopted sister, she is also under Maya's protection. She's sometimes jealous of Mikuru.  She on occasion rants to Maya about things. I figurred for this new party it might as well have a faithful pet. Hence forth why she's a Rover. I decided to give her the Hawk path because reasons.