Etrian Odyssey Series

I would say the major defining factors that make this stand out from most other RPGs is the presentation & the difficulty curve. Outside of that, there really isn't much that is groundbreaking -- 5 character parties, arranged with front and back rows, various classes to choose from, fairly standard level up and skill tree systems, and normal JRPG combat mechanics. The story is not heavy on dialogue or existent for the most part. But what little that does exist is presented well.

Presentation wise -- it makes good use of both screens. You explore the labyrinth in a first-person view, and you map it out on the bottom screen. It mimics real old-school RPG games in that regard, which is part of the game's appeal to it's target audience. Each game consists of 30 floors, a different theme every 5. The first 25 consist of the primary story, and the last 5 + bonus optional side quests (tough bosses) in the lower 25, consist of the post-game. The third game, which I haven't had time to play, adds another "world" outside of the labyrinth tree, which is a sailing-based mini-game with what I presume has various bosses and treasures and such. Each "sequel" builds upon itself fairly well. EO2 fixes many problems in EO1 + a few new classes and EO3 introduces a totally new set of classes. Many different combinations work, though it is more flexible in the later versions, EO1 is a little too prescriptive, especially amongst the side-bosses. It isn't necessary to play them in order, they are autonomous from each other. However, EO2 allows you to import your save-game from EO1, and you get a bonus accessory at the start.

Difficulty -- The game has a very steep difficulty curve. When you are introduced as a bunch of rag-tag adventurers, the game really treats you that way. Your party is virtually worthless in almost every regard, and up until around the halfway point, assuming you don't farm, it keeps a fairly good difficulty curve. Once you get past the halfway point or so, things start to balance out, you obtain more powerful skills, and you aren't spending many (game) days stuck in each floor. If you have played Azure Dreams (another good quirky / niche RPG -- ps1), it has a very similar difficulty curve model.

Either way, each new floor presents itself with new monsters, some of which are radically stronger than the previous floor. Furthermore, There are these "FOEs" which are basically really tough monsters, and until you really hit the ~halfway point, they are typically avoided. Generally foes in the previous stratum can be easily defeated / have moderate difficulty once you gain ground in your current one. I guess the best example is the stuff you face in stratum 1, you typically avoid until stratum 2. It becomes fairly easy to gauge whether or not you can beat them, & you can run if necessary.

If you want to keep it challenging, a good rule of thumb is to more or less keep your average level at Current Floor * 2-3, with it slowing down towards the end, as the cap is level 70 (can raise it through retiring mechanics -- re-rolling your character). It isn't that uncommon to be in your last story-game stratum (floor 20) in the mid-upper 50s, lower 60s though, and the game can still give you a run for your money.

Other things:
Items you purchase are unlocked by selling monster drops. Various equipment require various items. This includes FOE drops from the previous stratums that you may not have killed.
Characters level up traditionally, but have skill trees, and basically leveling up skills unlocks other skills. IE fire 1 at whatever level unlocks fire 2.
Status effects really do mean something, both against and for you (poison will wreck you)
Save often. Game over is Game over, no restart in town.
You get 'geomagnetic poles' every 5 levels, reducing backtracking.
The soundtrack is actually pretty good.

I only played the 3rd one and thought it was amazing. However, the games seem very similar so I never really felt the need to go back to the old ones

On June 28 2012 04:06 SeeDLiNg wrote:
Looks fun I might try them out!



On this note, what is the best one to play? Is one dramatically better than the others (like say... suikoden 2)

I doubt I'll play the series, but I'd love to try at least one of them out. Any recommendations?

On June 28 2012 05:52 ShadowDrgn wrote:
What disappointed me most about these games is that you can get all your skills by level 15 or so. After that, every level is just increasing your stats or making the skills you already have a bit better. The way you play the game doesn't change at all from that point, and since the games don't have much of a storyline, I got bored immediately.

If anyone's looking for an old-school dungeon crawler experience on the DS, I liked Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey a lot more.

On June 28 2012 06:07 IPA wrote:


Strange Journey is fantastic. However, you definitely can't max out your skills by level 15 in EO. Your core skill alone goes up to 10 levels and you get 1 point per level up, and that's not including the wealth of sub-skills for each class. Can you explain what you mean by that?

On July 13 2012 07:57 Cedstick wrote:
Been thinking about going back to this. Bought Etrian Odyssey when it came out, but only got a few floors in before I gave up. I gave up under the impression that I'd have to start from scratch if my builds/team composition weren't going to get me through the game. Is this true? Would I have to start over?