I’m working my way through EO1 with a LTM/AA party. Just snuck past the wyren in the 2nd stratum. I’ve played these games before when they first came out, but really enjoying them more now.
The QoL stuff that has been added (speeding up animations, a sensible skill tree display, and having the bestiary available in combat) make big differences to me. The later has made a party focused on elemental attacks more enjoyable.
The mapping as been surprisingly not painful. It was definitely more enjoyable on the DS, but it isn’t terrible on switch (even docked).
I’m really hoping this is a sign that the series may one day get a new entry (or a spiritual successor).
I’ve just started playing Etrian Odyssey 1 and been liking it a whole bunch. And have ignited a general interest in this genre of games, I normally play lots of different Traditional Roguelikes (not lite) and find many of the game mechanics the same / interesting.
Does any have recommendations for other First-person Dungeon Crawlers?
Been looking into the original Wizardry series and new game in early access: Wizardry: The Five Ordeals.
Depends on what you like about EO. EO makes party building and finding synergy a core part of it’s gameplay. For something like that, Star crawlers, Paper Sorcerer, and Wizardry 8 are good choices (7th Dragon series also falls under this, though it’s not first-person).
If the mapping is what you like, I don’t think there are any other games that integrate it into the game itself, but a lot of games expect the player to map using graph paper. For those, Wizardry 1-3 are good to start with as they are challenging but always fit on a 20 x 20 grid. Later Wizardry 5-7 are also very good but have larger maps that will end up going off the edge of the paper sometimes (though they tend to have more interesting combat too). Might and Magic III would also be a good choice if you want to do more than dungeon crawl. If you do try classic Wizardry, I’d recommend one of the console ports. Robert Woodhead (programming of Wizardry on Apple II) has actually said the Famicom version is the “best”. I’d say the GBC or SNES version are best.
For something more modern but still like Wizardry, there’s Elminage. It’s a modern take on Wizardry from a dev that actually made a lot of Wizardry spin-offs. It has more interesting classes that classic Wizardry. Experience also has some modern takes on the formula (Undernauts being the most recent) but I have trouble getting past the aesthetics of them.
Finally, if you want something more tactical and don’t mind AD&D, take a look at some of the gold box games like Pool of Radiance. Dark Heart of Uukrul probably falls in here too (but is not D&D). They have first person mazes, but grid based combat, sort of like a proto version of Tactics Ogre.
And my final off-the-wall recommendation is Legend of Legacy. It’s not first person, but it has the same explore, map, and push your limit loop as a good DRPG.
Legend of Grimrock was fun! I’d recommend that one, it had a neat aesthetic. Game was tough though, so prepare yourself :)
Not yet, probably going to wait for a price drop. I’d love to play them up on a bigger screen but have them all on the DS shelf of the bookcase anyway, and making the maps by hand was so much of the draw (Hah!) to play the game.
I felt the same way, but caved when I saw the multilanguage physical edition had English. No regrets so far. The QoL stuff added makes a big difference; I’d probably pick these over the original DS versions, despite no stylus mapping.
I’d love to in the future, but the price tag just wasn’t right for a game I’m not sure I’ll like (and already have too much to play, lol)
It’s on my wishlist, I just have so many games to play and the price tag for all 3 is a but much to splurge on. But I love the Mystery Dungeon games, and these seem similar, so I’d like to give them a try eventually!
Do you have any tips for a new player that never played the DS versions?
Did you know that there is an EO Mystery Dungeon? If you like MD, that’s probably a good starting place for you!
For tips:
- There are skill simulators online for each game, and they are valuable for not only planning your party but also telling you specifically what each skill does (in-game it might just say “attack up” but the skill sim will show “attack up +10%”). I use these for reference all the time.
- Don’t ignore the map
- Try fighting FOEs when have full health and don’t mind a party wipe; they have good rewards
- Don’t waste skill points on gathering skills; just make a second party for gathering
- EO1: learn immunize quickly and max it; it’s overpowered
- EO2: War Magus can be your main healer and is arguably better than a medic
- EO3: experiment with the classes; there’s a lot of stuff you can do when multiclassing is unlocked halfway through the game
I’m tempted to play it. I was really into Etrian Odyssey years ago so it’d be nice to revisit it.
I never played the serie, but I like “blobber” style dungeon crawlers so it’s on my wishlist. Pricing’s a little steep unfortunately, so I’m in no hurry. I’ll probably jump directly to the third game. I’m a little wary as well that plenty of positive reviews are from players tapping into their nostalgia from the DS era.
Yeah, I found most reviews just talked about the series and glossed over improvements that were made. I play a lot of blobbers, and EO in general does a great job with the fundamentals that many games still get wrong. Character progression and difficulty stay pretty consistent and the maps are generally interesting. I think in this case people have nostalgia for it because it’s a good game.
The price is definitely too high, I agree. I bought the physical release on PlayAsia, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the digital on sale for $30 USD by the end of the year.
Definitely something I want to look into! I just have a hard time separating EO from the DS, conceptually.
It’s so good, and I really enjoy the improvements like you said. I just got to the 3rd stratum and I’m loving it. Can’t wait to dive into the next two.
I’m interested, but like the other poster said, pricing is steep, so I am waiting on a sale. Generally I like picking up a whole pack and playing sequentially to appreciate the changes and progression in gameplay. But so far I have seen recommendations to go for the third if only going to play one. We will see!
I’ve played and enjoyed smaller scale dungeon crawlers inspired by EO, so it is intriguing to me to see how Etrian does it.
Thanks for posting!
EO3 adds multiclassing and is much more like later games I’m the series, where building weird party combinations is part of the fun, so that’s why it gets recommended over the others.
EO1 and 2 are still really good, especially now that some of the QoL stuff from EO3 (namely expanded bestiary and increased speed) iron out some rough edges, but they play more like Wizardry and classic games in the genre.
I fully expect and hope they go on sale soon so more people can play them.
That’s really helpful to know. Thank you!
Looking forward to checking them out.