I just got blown away by a new game-Etrian Odyssey

[greylord]

Saw it at the gaming store and thought, what they heck I'll pick it up and give it a try. I hadn't heard of it and figured I might be taking a huge risk. I even thought it might stink badly.

 

I was wrong.

 

ALL wrong.

 

This game ROCKS.

 

Seriously Rocks thus far.

 

I'm not certain if there is much story yet, I'm only in the first few hours so haven't gotten that far. However it started out with you creating a party which you name, and put in formation. You then head off to the dungeon (It's a town...and a dungeon, that's it really...a really really BIG dungeon). You MAP out the dungeon yourself, AND, unusually for a DS game, you can put notes on it (like BG2 type notes but not quite as long), markers, and other items. The dungeon crawling in appearance is like the Old eye of the Beholder games, Dungeon Hack, or Wizardry games.

 

The artwork isn't old school however, it's more anime drawings for characters, and the backgrounds are up to date overall so much more vibrant than the older games and more detailed. There isn't much customization on character creation other than picking class (basic classes, though they are renamed, you have your fighter class, you ranger class, your paladin class, your Wizard class, your healer Class, a wierd class I'm not certain what it falls under, and a Bard class...along with two others I haven't unlocked yet. As you level up however, you get much more customization as you pick what types of spells you want your casters to know, what skills for your warriors, and find better weapons to buy, etc.

 

I don't have a full review for it yet, but if you like old school games you might consider checking this one out. From a risky buy, it's turned out to be the absolute BEST nintendo DS game I've gotten thus far. It completely rocks!

[LadyCrimson]

I Googled some reviews - sounds interesting, although at this time in my life, possibly also a bit excruciating ... in a good way.

The mapping thing sounds cool, but ... I don't have a console.

 

I love it when you pick up a game on a "lark" like that and it turns out to be one of your favorite games ever, or something. Same thing happened to me with Dungeon Keeper way back when.

[Hurlshort]

I picked up the original Jagged Alliance on a lark. Best decision ever.

[Tigranes]

You MAP out the dungeon yourself, AND, unusually for a DS game, you can put notes on it (like BG2 type notes but not quite as long), markers, and other items.

 

Can you explain that more? What, you design the dungeon yourself, then you go traipsing in it?

[Tale]

You MAP out the dungeon yourself, AND, unusually for a DS game, you can put notes on it (like BG2 type notes but not quite as long), markers, and other items.

 

Can you explain that more? What, you design the dungeon yourself, then you go traipsing in it?

You map it. As in you draw the map so you don't get lost.

 

That's what I gather.

[metadigital]

So like using MS Paint with a mouse?

[greylord]

You MAP out the dungeon yourself, AND, unusually for a DS game, you can put notes on it (like BG2 type notes but not quite as long), markers, and other items.

 

Can you explain that more? What, you design the dungeon yourself, then you go traipsing in it?

 

You don't design it, you map it out as you go along. Similar to some other older games, except instead of having to get your own pen and paper, you use the stylus and lower screen of the DS to draw it out, put in markers of monsters, treasure, stairs, doors, events, notes, and other such items.

 

The game itself is no waltz in the park. It's easy to die if one doesn't ready themselves right for the next level, doesn't use common sense in party design, or simply gets lost and can't figure out how to get out. You'll get a rudimentary mapping done as you progress, but it's up to you to basically fill in all the details and such.

 

So far, great game. Just discovering another element to it which is the economics. It seems that you can only have a five person party, but they belong to your own personal guild of which you can have up to 20 individuals. Economically this can pay out because instead of having characters that are focused on combat feats or wilderness feats, you can have those which you specialize in mining, wood cutting, or trapping, and such economic items as doing these jobs to get stuff to sell and actually make money. Interesting concept that I haven't tried out too much yet (just created my first miner and woodcutter to add to a guild for a money gathering team). In addition, I got smoked on one of the levels as I hadn't prepared my party well enough, but I will have them geared up soon to take it on again after reloading up the save.

[Llyranor]

If you have a DS, you have no excuse to not get this game unless you're a chickenwuss.

 

In terms of player impressions (Japanese ones from a few months ago, and the recent NA ones since the English version just came out) so far, they've all been pretty much glowing all-around. 'Professional' reviews have been less than stellar, but the game isn't built for mainstream audiences. From the sounds of it, this is an old school dungeon crawler for hardcore gamers. Apparently, there isn't too much to the story, but the narrative is supposedly pretty good.

 

The turn-based gameplay is also supposed to be topnotch. It occurs via random encounters (unfortunately). A nice twist to it is that there are these bosses which you can see on the map (via the second screen) while you're in a fight. For every step you make or turn you pass in battle, the boss makes one step (possibly closer towards you). So if a boss (or multiple) is chasing you around and you take too much time in one battle, you can end up having to fight the boss without any break. Sounds pretty intense.

 

In terms of mapping. The DS has two screens. One of them is touch-enabled, so you can use a stylus to write on it. The game has no automap feature, so you have to draw everything yourself. It doesn't sound like the best idea ever, but player impressions have been pretty good on that end. Sounds interesting, at the very least.

 

I'm just waiting for the game to show. It's already shipped. If Haitoku is around, he should have some nice impressions.

 

In any case, for all the Bioware fanpeople out there, you should be getting a DS anyway, what with the DS title in development that supposedly should be out before the end of the year.

[Diogo Ribeiro]

turn-based

 

ur so dead lol

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Anyway, that sounds spiffy. Unfortunately I can't commit to anything else on the DS since there's some stuff out I still want to get my hands on - such as Puzzle Quest, Advance Wars, Hotel Dusk - and I can't afford many games nor getting this huge list of them to play.

[Llyranor]

Heh. All those games except Advance Wars are bound to become hard to find pretty soon. Etrian, though, I'd say will be very rare not too long from now, given that it's Atlus publishing.

[Tale]

I'm tempted to get one.

[taks]

Anyway, that sounds spiffy. Unfortunately I can't commit to anything else on the DS since there's some stuff out I still want to get my hands on - such as Puzzle Quest, Advance Wars, Hotel Dusk - and I can't afford many games nor getting this huge list of them to play.

hotel dusk was captivating, but overall only a fair game. some major story-telling problems that i've seen pooh-poohed in reviews, but i felt were big weaknesses. sometimes the logic used to advance the plot was very lacking, too.

 

i'm going to have to check out this etrian odyssey. my son plays super mario 64, and we originally got the DS because my wife's gameboy died and we wanted tetris anew (an original gameboy, still playable but it has major issues).

 

taks

[Haitoku]

Just want to chime in the say that this is the best DS gave I have ever played and the best game I've played all year.

 

Game has a lot of great aspects layered on top of no another. There is battling, character customizing, map making, harvesting, expanding shop inventories, quest of course the dungeon crawling.

 

I'm not really good at giving impressions, but I'll be happy to answer any questions.

[Jade]

Awesome! I was looking for a good game to get for my DS. Thanks for the tip!

[Missy]

Sounds interesting. I don't have many games for the DS, and I've been looking out for something decent. Might give this one a shot.

[Llyranor]

Alright, game finally arrived. Impressions to follow eventually.

[Llyranor]

Well, let's just say I've played about 6-7 hrs of the game since getting it yesterday. I can't actually recall the last time I did that.

[metadigital]

What ABOUT IMPRESSIONS?!?11/!

[Llyranor]

It's a turn-based dungeon crawler. If you like the genre and have a DS, just get the game. No further impression is required.

 

I mean, I'd write some if I weren't playing it right now.

[taks]

so you lied that impressions would follow. sheesh! had us all hanging in suspenders.

 

taks

[Llyranor]

Eventually.