Etrian Odyssey - Guild of Miscellanies

[Skykid]

Sorry, confused at which point you stopped talking about Wizardry and started talking EO? Are you saying there's a chance of having my guys getting permanently killed off here?

Can someone give me a brief outline on this madness?

Am I meant to create 20 characters and grind all of them up to decent levels so I have reserve teams or something? And can someone just tell me the optimal team, because frankly if there are a bunch of dud character classes in here just to drive me to despair, I'd rather skip the tribulation.

[BryanM]

He was firmly in the haRdCoRe universe of Wizardry.

Odyssey is a love letter to that series (you can see it in speedy ninjas that attack first for lowish damage for example), but it is much much much much kinder.

As for party composition, if you have a medic you'll be fine. Defender classes are better than they normally are in Jrpgs (the AI has a bias to target the guys with the most HP)... but medic = fine.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Am I meant to create 20 characters and grind all of them up to decent levels so I have reserve teams or something?

That's more of a Wizardry thing. Etrian Odyssey isn't nearly so masochistic to play as it doesn't have permadeath, although it's still helpful to have a few extra Farmers in reserve to swap in for Earth's Bounty to get extra EXP whilst grinding.

Basically, if you find EO too punishing, I don't recommend you play Wizardry. The Megaten games tend to be pretty brutal (in many of the games if the main character dies, since he's the one who summoned all the demons it's gameover when he's dead), but you can reload from an old save if you die. The only Wizardry games that don't save themselves constantly I think are the Playstation ports, so you could technically cheese those by reloading from an old save if your team suffers a wipe.

Odyssey is a love letter to that series (you can see it in speedy ninjas that attack first for lowish damage for example), but it is much much much much kinder.

Whereas in Wizardry, HP damage from physical attacks isn't so much the issue as is the threat of being decapitated by certain enemies (!), and enemies show up with instakill physicals as early as the second dungeon level (Vorpal Rabbits).

[BryanM]

Youse Strange Journey advocates are carazyyyyy imo. It's a great game for feeling like you're completely alone in the universe and for recommending to newbs so they can scrub out against every boss 16 times before finally learning the particular Konami code involved in beating them. (My favorite one is "make a completely new team lul" - ASURA ROGA.)

My favorite moment in that game is when you're fighting the final boss, and you think you're doing alright, and then she just eats you and it's like "GAME OVER LOSER" and you're like "WAT HAPPEN".

Ah, good times..

[cj iwakura]

EO is a lot easier than Wizardry likes for sure. A good taste of that flavor of pain is Elminage, the PSN Wizardry, and The Dark Spire.

[Kakizaki]

^Strike PSN Wizardry from that list. It is pretty damn easy compared to traditional Wizardry titles or even EO.

[Squire Grooktook]

I've actually been hoping to try that game. It's good right?

[Kakizaki]

I've actually been hoping to try that game. It's good right?

Wizardry LoLS? Yeah, I had fun with it, but it is a little basic. The dungeon design is kind of bland and it is more similar to Class of Heroes than Wizardry for obvious reasons, but for the price it isn't too bad of a game to pick up if you dig dungeon crawlers. I did like some of the art and music. But like I said, it shouldn't be listed as some balls hard game. Pretty easy really.

[Mischief Maker]

Is Strange Journey even playable on the go with the sound off? The main reason I've been leery of that title is trying to navigate the blackout sections bereft of a map or "oomph!" sounds.

(At least The Dark Spire has the decency to map the blackout sections and give you a lvl 1 spell to tell your location on the map)

[Ganelon]

EO is a lot easier than Wizardry likes for sure. A good taste of that flavor of pain is Elminage, the PSN Wizardry, and The Dark Spire.

In terms of grinding for levels and equipment, certainly. However, one aspect that makes Etrian Odyssey potentially more frustrating is that it doesn't allow saving anywhere like the other games.

[Squire Grooktook]

I've actually been hoping to try that game. It's good right?

Wizardry LoLS? Yeah, I had fun with it, but it is a little basic. The dungeon design is kind of bland and it is more similar to Class of Heroes than Wizardry for obvious reasons, but for the price it isn't too bad of a game to pick up if you dig dungeon crawlers. I did like some of the art and music. But like I said, it shouldn't be listed as some balls hard game. Pretty easy really.

Sounds decent. The bland dungeon design sounds troublesome, but I might give it a shot anyway.

[CMoon]

^Strike PSN Wizardry from that list. It is pretty damn easy compared to traditional Wizardry titles or even EO.

Let's also not forget how the game turns into an enormous grind for super-rare weapon drops. I'm talking pure bladestone rare, maybe worse. I gave up on this title not because the game was terribly hard but because there was a point I felt it just couldn't maintain the illusion of it being anything more than a random number generator game.

[O. Van Bruce]

I've been playing Class of Heroes recently to try out Dungeon Crawlers. It turned out to be the perfect genre when you are tired of shmups because it lets you go at your own pace and you can choose when you are tense and when you are just mechanically doing things

Now, as I'm now interested in EO (Suppose I'l start with EO3, since there are so much people recomending it) My question is, is Class of Heroes easy compared to EO3? I'm asking because I've barely died on Class of Heroes and only once I was with 2 dead team members.

Gotta point out that the starting affinity of all the members of my team was +110 and the least bonus points I accepted for a character was 20 (I got one with 38 bonus points ). Did I broke the game by getting überpowered characters since the beginning?

[BryanM]

Is Strange Journey even playable on the go with the sound off? The main reason I've been leery of that title is trying to navigate the blackout sections bereft of a map or "oomph!" sounds.

I think it always shows your map position.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Let's also not forget how the game turns into an enormous grind for super-rare weapon drops. I'm talking pure bladestone rare, maybe worse.

Do you actually need the rare weapons to beat the main game? I know some of the ultra rare stuff has very handy properties, but usually the more common stuff is enough to handle the main game (the rare, cool stuff is generally better for stuff like the second game, which was basically an expansion pack to the first). Post game/bonus boss stuff certainly tends to merit the best stuff possible like in the PS2 games.

[cj iwakura]

^Strike PSN Wizardry from that list. It is pretty damn easy compared to traditional Wizardry titles or even EO.

Let's also not forget how the game turns into an enormous grind for super-rare weapon drops. I'm talking pure bladestone rare, maybe worse. I gave up on this title not because the game was terribly hard but because there was a point I felt it just couldn't maintain the illusion of it being anything more than a random number generator game.

I liked it enough, but yeah, it had some flaws, some of which Elminage highlights; that a low budget PSP game can have more breadth and depth than an HD PS3 title.

Still, I've heard the sequel improved on LoLS a lot. Shame it's probably not coming out here.
(Town of Forsaken Spirits)

[BulletMagnet]

Bumpin' this because, despite usually being too much of a wimp for "real" dungeon crawlers, I impulse-bought Etrian Odyssey IV earlier today (well, I did try the demo first), and am currently dipping a toe in it. Decided to just jump in and try "Normal" difficulty - only in the second dungeon at the moment, but no Game Overs yet, at least. No idea how far I might get in the end, but so far I'm enjoying poking around and seeing what pops up.

[AweOfShe]

These types of games aren't really my thing, but I've been playing EO4 for about half a month now, and I'm still really enjoying it. I impulse-bought it as well, and never expected to enjoy it as much as I do now.

I've just unlocked sub-classing, and am still figuring out what I want to do with that.

My main party is made up of:
Front row - Landsknecht, Fortress, Dancer
Back row - Runemaster, Medic

All of them are level 42, atm. Right now, I have my Dancer subbing Nightseeker, and my Medic is subbing Arcanist. Anyone have any recommendations/ideas for the other 3? I mean, so far it isn't really a big deal, since my Landsknecht, Dancer, and Runemaster are tearing FOEs up like they're nothing, after I have Links and Dances activated. But I've been thinking maybe some extra passive skills might be pretty nice to have still.

[CMoon]

Looking forward to getting back to EO4 after finishing Soul Hackers...which of course is also a dungeon crawler. EO4 was feeling both good but really slow to me. I'm sure it will take off once I unlock multi-classing.