next »

[JWK5]

My 3DS is so fuckin' ready!! 



(Click for Video)

[Kramlack]

I always wished that these games were top down RPG's, the art is beautiful. With that said I've never been a fan of first person dungeon crawlers, but I've been meaning to grab one of these to at least give it a try. A 3DS game is the prefect chance for me to jump in, so if this comes stateside, I'll be picking it up for sure.

[C.A. Sinner]

this series is ok as far as wizardry clones are concerned but i could really do with less lolis

[Rm88~]

Day one. I loved the previous games and the 3DS could really use some RPGs.

[Capntastic]

this series is ok as far as wizardry clones are concerned but i could really do with less lolis

The first one was pretty good, but it's pretty weird how each new installment sort of drifts further down that path, in terms of art direction.

Yeah the art was always Anime As Fuck, but it never had 12 Year Old In A Bikini.

Edit:  This is the second or third time I've seen Etrian Odyssey mentioned here, though I don't think I've seen anyone rep The Dark Spire, which is arguably a more pure form of the genre, as well as having the whole contemporary/retro mode mechanic (and two soundtracks!)

[Kramlack]

From what I've seen, lolis or more specifically what I assume is the dancer class, have been around since the first game, although not in bikini's like the one shown here. I can understand the need to change the design from each game so it doesn't look like you're just reusing stuff, but getting back on point, yeah, I could do without so many lolis as well.

To those who have played, how do the stories stand up to other RPGs? With dungeon crawlers, I can never imagine anything out of the ordinary, but I think I'd prefer it that way.

[SundownKid]

I played the first - the game's story was pretty cool, but not very long at all. Most of the time is spent dungeon crawling, and it's damn hard. Not only does the Etrian Odyssey series have The Best Music, but it really uses difficulty to immerse you in the world.

I really want to play this new installment since it has the new monster designs/arranged music.

[TeeGee]

I have the third and the story was pretty nice for a dungeon crawler. Not intrusive at all. You could skip it entirely and focus on the crawling, but fun and mysterious enough if you wanted to get into it. Had a nice vibe of "there's some big secret in the dungeon below, go and discover it". Even featured some choices that resulted in different endings and different player class getting unlocked.

I also really liked how different and colorful various dungeons were. No gray walls and chains. Forests, underwater coral reefs, porcelain gardens -- all with a cool distinct look and some mechanic specific to that dungeon.

Really nice game overall, though a lot of the challenges could be overcome with simple grind.

[Rm88~]

Random Battle Music:


I love it.

[JWK5]

Nowhere do they state that the characters are 12-year-olds, and I imagine they are no more so than this is an image of a 4-year-old:

It is just a stylization.

It is not like the whole game is loaded with characters in bikinis or anything, it is pretty much one class (which amounts to about 2 to 4 images total) and the character is essentially wearing a belly dancer's outfit, which makes sense considering the class is the dancer class of the game. Most of the female characters are fairly well clothed, in fact more so than is generally seen in RPGs.

It's fine if you don't like the art style of the game but let's not be dramatic.

[SirNiko]

I was in the same camp as the rest - when I saw the dancer character I thought she looked a little young for that outfit. It's not a gamebreaker, but is needlessly awkward. It's just that combination too - if her outfit wasn't so skimpy or she looked obviously older I wouldn't have thought twice.

I've never played any of these so I'm actually surprised they're already up to 4. I didn't realize they had the first sequel yet. Is this a randomly generated dungeon crawler or something with intelligently designed dungeons?

[JWK5]

The dungeons in the last 3 weren't random, they were pretty well designed. I imagine they will do the same with this one.

This is the alternate version of the dancer image:

I wonder if people would interpret the primary dancer image as still being a 12 year old if it had larger breasts...

[Zest]

I always wanted to try one of these, partly because the colorful look is so enticing. How accessible is it for a dungeon crawler?

[C.A. Sinner]

well yeah i think this whole business of "stylizing" supposedly adult characters to look underage in japanese animu culture is creepy as fuck. if you cant see that i cant help you. etrian odyssey isn't as bad as something like deathsmiles (the only game im embarrassed to own) but theres still a distinct whiff of creepy about it.

[JWK5]

I always wanted to try one of these, partly because the colorful look is so enticing. How accessible is it for a dungeon crawler?

The series has never really held your hand, in fact more often than not it just punches you in the face, but this entry is supposed to feature a "casual mode" (whatever that is). The biggest hurdle is just getting used to the fact that you're going to need to do some serious grinding because the enemies are pretty tough. Things get a little easier as you start gaining momentum but in the beginning it is a slow process.

As far as its difficulty in relation to other dungeon crawlers, it is not the easiest but it is not the hardest either. I think they've struck a nice balance between challenging and "fair".

well yeah i think this whole business of "stylizing" supposedly adult characters to look underage in japanese animu culture is creepy as fuck. if you cant see that i cant help you. etrian odyssey isn't as bad as something like deathsmiles (the only game im embarrassed to own) but theres still a distinct whiff of creepy about it.

I've always viewed them in the same light as the exaggerations of cartoon characters or comic characters. I mean I can see a difference when they are directly implying "this character is underage" and they are trying to exploit that, but I don't really get that with Etrian Odyssey. And it is not like she's wearing crotch-less panties or something, what she is wearing is essentially a bathing suit.

EDIT: I don't see the style as being much different from exaggerations such as this, which has similar proportioning: