Etrian Odyssey?

I just found out about this series a few weeks ago after snooping around on Nintendo's 3DS EShop. I came across an ad for Etrian Odyssey IV, downloaded the demo, played it, and ordered a copy of the game within a week. At first, I thought it was a relatively easy game to master since it had a battle system akin to some of the early Final Fantasy games for the SNES, despite actually being a first-person dungeon crawler. However, after progressing some way into EO4, it ended up turning into one of the hardest RPGs I'd ever played (there are actually two difficulty settings for the game: Casual, which is super easy, and Normal, which is unbelievably hard. I tried Casual in the demo, but switched to Normal when I got the regular game because Casual was too easy). I did some research on the series in whole and apparently it's been out since 2007, and the games are intentionally hard to keep the players on edge. I was just wondering if anyone else has ever heard of or played this series and, if so, are the rest of titles worth getting or is it one of those series where if you've played one that you'll pretty much get the jist of them all? EO4 seems like a really good game, even though I'm kind of progressing at a snail's pace, and I'm giving serious thought to getting other EO titles as well to see what they're like; however, some input would be nice before I actually spring for them.

I only recently found out about this series. Have a demo of Etrian Odyssey Untold downloaded and have really enjoyed it so far, plus it's already gotten challenging. Am highly considering picking up the full version.. though I've heard IV was great as well, and it's on the 3DS too. Would really like to nab both of them whenever possible.

I'm actually pretty new to the series, too. Like you, I played Legend of the Titan's demo and fell in love with it, so I bought it. I downloaded Millennium Girl's demo not too long ago, and it's definitely more challenging than IV. It's different enough that if you picked it up after playing IV, it would feel like a new experience. Well, at least it wouldn't feel stale. That's what I think, anyway.

I bought a copy off of ebay last week. Haven't had a chance to play it yet - Bought Agarest on Steam and I've been hooked on that.

I played 1-3 a couple of years ago and they were fun but the difficulty curve was so insane that I didn't have the desire to buy 4. It's a good series for sure, especially if you like the old school dungeon crawling style. I might pick up a copy of 4 when I go to get Pokemon today.

Calamitastrophe said:

I'm actually pretty new to the series, too. Like you, I played Legend of the Titan's demo and fell in love with it, so I bought it. I downloaded Millennium Girl's demo not too long ago, and it's definitely more challenging than IV. It's different enough that if you picked it up after playing IV, it would feel like a new experience. Well, at least it wouldn't feel stale. That's what I think, anyway.

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I'm thinking about buying The Millenium Girl sometime in the near future (or, at the very least, I'm thinking about asking for it for Christmas). I'm currently just up the end of the second main dungeon in Legend of the Titan, and I'm addicted to this game pretty intensely. I'm surprised how good EO4 actually is, even though I've been making rather marginal progress (turns out that even Casual mode makes you take your time since the game's story doesn't change and some of the monsters take extra time to beat).

Cirno said:

I only recently found out about this series. Have a demo of Etrian Odyssey Untold downloaded and have really enjoyed it so far, plus it's already gotten challenging. Am highly considering picking up the full version.. though I've heard IV was great as well, and it's on the 3DS too. Would really like to nab both of them whenever possible.

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EO4 is good thus far, but one thing I've found a little annoying is that it takes forever to level up your characters because there's no real way to level grind in the game. It's definitely not a boring game and makes you want to keep playing.

I remember being hyped for this game and when it came out I was dissappointed but the game grew on me I would stare at the cool artwork for possible party members in awe because of how beautiful it was. I finished 1-3 100% the addition of the sea travel in 3 was excellent I loved it personally and I also loved the story. I wish though it had 3d models and instead of just seeing the enemy it would be likr dragon quest 9 where you characters would actually run up and attack. I enjoyed the quests and the missions and I loved the unlockable classes....unlocking te beast class was epic!!!!

chuckleslucifer said:

I remember being hyped for this game and when it came out I was dissappointed but the game grew on me I would stare at the cool artwork for possible party members in awe because of how beautiful it was.

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This part explains how I felt about the game. I got IV. It looked and felt cool. I played for a while, and then it got really hard really fast and I put it down.

Several months later, something clicked in me and I popped the game back in. And if it wasn't for Rune Factory 4 and Pokémon, I would be playing it right now.

I'll wait for the price drop before I buy Untold Story.

Ahh I really need to play these on 3DS. the new Etrian Odyssey, Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl looks really good. I really need to play it, I've never played this series so I can't add any input.

I found out about this series through a random article on Destructoid. Picked up IV and loved it. The game got hard fast and after a couple months of owning the game I got addicted to it. I got untold as well and it is awesome. Though am a little disappointed that you can only have those 5 classes they give you in story mode. It would've been nice to at least be able to change the classes of them.

shadowdueler474 said:

I found out about this series through a random article on Destructoid. Picked up IV and loved it. The game got hard fast and after a couple months of owning the game I got addicted to it. I got untold as well and it is awesome. Though am a little disappointed that you can only have those 5 classes they give you in story mode. It would've been nice to at least be able to change the classes of them.

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Well, the point of the series is to be intentionally hard. I've still got to finish EO4: Legends of the Titan, but I still want to get my hands on EO Untold: The Millenium Girl. The demo gives you a choice for difficulty options in Story mode (which I'm glad for), but FOEs actually seem harder in this game than than in EO4 (especially the Boulder Boars...they're hard to avoid since they charge at you in a straight line, which is problematic when you're stuck on a narrow path and can't just move out of the way).

Yeah, Untold is harder than 4 because it is a remake of the original game which I was told by my friend were much harder than 4. Yeah I know the games are intentionally hard. Whenever it gets too hard for me I just solved it with grinding. Except for in 4 when I grinded up to 70 and still had trouble in the 4th stratum. At least until my friend gave me good skill sets. Then I steamrolled the game up until the boss of the post game labyrinth.

I really like the series. Sadly, it's difficult for me to play one game for a longer period (unless it's Pokemon). I quit EO1 countless times. I started playing it again recently, and now it's on hold once again. As difficult as it is, it all depends on your play style. It reminds me a bit of Dark Souls, except that DaS is way more forgiving, and EO is more of a grind game than skill based. Still, you need to be a lot careful and never take unneeded risks.

Here are some tips for newcomers:
Tip 1: Never let your character die. Better return to town and heal 10 times, than be reckless and end up resurrecting characters.
Tip 2: Never rush into an FOE before saving. Also be sure to be at least level 10+ before challenging the first FOE.
Tip 3: Be sure to have a Warp Wire/Ariadne Thread every time you enter the maze.
Tip 4: Don't unlock Mine/Take/Chop on your main team. Create spare Survivalist character for those skills and take them with you every time you need to Mine/Take/Chop. Saves you precious skill points + you get more items this way.
Tip 5: Never use up all of your money. Always leave at least enough to resurrect two characters (in worst case).

Also I'll just leave this here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB_PVPyn6n8

shadowdueler474 said:

Yeah, Untold is harder than 4 because it is a remake of the original game which I was told by my friend were much harder than 4. Yeah I know the games are intentionally hard. Whenever it gets too hard for me I just solved it with grinding. Except for in 4 when I grinded up to 70 and still had trouble in the 4th stratum. At least until my friend gave me good skill sets. Then I steamrolled the game up until the boss of the post game labyrinth.

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Thus far, I've only play Untold's demo, which only lets you start Story mode. I like it because it's got this whole post-apocalyptic/sci-fi feel to it, but when/if I get the actual game, I'm going to try the remake's mode first to get a better idea of what the original game was like (I never had the chance to play the first one, and I'm not sure I want to track down a copy of it at this point, so a remake's the next best thing).