Etrian Odyssey: Even in HD, FOE

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Rea: Apr 5, 2011; Komi-san won.

Welcome to the fourth iteration of the Etrian Odyssey megathread. After five years with no news, hopefully it will have been worth the wait.

For those who have never heard of the series before, Etrian Odyssey is a series of dungeon-crawler RPGs developed by Atlus, who are more famous for Persona and Shin Megami Tensei. The series was created by Kazuya Niinou (also responsible for Trauma Center, 7th Dragon, and Dragon Quest Builders), though it has been helmed by Shigeo Komori (director of Shin Megami Tensei V) from Etrian Odyssey II onwards. Niinou sought to modernize old-school dungeon crawlers primarily by using the DS's touchscreen to make drawing your own maps of dungeons more accessible and simpler, as well as applying modern design sensibilities to the combat system and building your characters. It's safe to say that the idea was sound, given that the series is still kicking 16 years after its first game, and while the series often radically changes its balance and internal math from game to game, the core gameplay loop established all the way back in EO1 remains.

If you're familiar with classic dungeon crawlers, Etrian Odyssey plays much more like Wizardry than it does Dungeon Master. You navigate a tile-based labyrinth, interacting with events and gimmicks as you go, and are occasionally thrown into turn-based random encounters. When the time comes to return to town—be it due to your inventory being full, finishing a quest, your party becoming unable to safely continue progressing through the current floor, or any other myriad reasons—you sell off materials gathered both from killing monsters, as well as gathered from specific points in the labyrinth, unlock the ability to buy new gear, restore your party's HP and TP, and then do it all over again, hopefully making more progress this time.

What sets EO apart from Wizardry, and other Wizardry-like dungeon crawlers, are FOEs. Short for "Field-On Enemy" in Japanese, and "Formido Oppugnatura Exsequens" in English, FOEs are (usually) mobile mini-bosses. They exist in the labyrinth, and generally move when you do—hell, some of them move while you're engaged in a battle with other enemies. Their one purpose in life is to impede your progress through the labyrinth, and force you to figure out how to manuever past them—or, sometimes, use their movement and ability to affect the physical space of the labyrinth to your advantage. Engaging them in combat is also an option, if you want! It's just that fighting an FOE as soon as you see it, especially in the early parts of the game, is usually going to end with your party becoming unrecognizable smears on the floor. However, taking an FOE out, be it through raw power or through smart application of disables (and, in later games, field gimmicks), can be rewarding...

The Series' Current Status

Etrian Odyssey has been dormant for a while. The last games—Etrian Odyssey Nexus, as well as Persona Q2—were released back in 2018, stretching out to 2019 for their English releases. A few years went by, with the only serious indication that the series hadn't concluded being a summer 2021 Famitsu interview with Naoto Hiraoka, senior managing director of Atlus. In the interview, Hiraoka mentioned that there were EO projects in the works, but couldn't say much more. Given the strange development hell that Project Re Fantasy has been stuck in for the better part of a decade, with the occasional vague statement saying it isn't dead, one couldn't be blamed for not finding much hope in Hiraoka's statement.

Then, during the February 2023 Nintendo Direct, out of nowhere, HD remasters of the first three games are announced for release on the Switch and PC (via Steam) on June 1st, 2023. Suddenly, the series is alive again! Per developer interviews in the run-up to the remasters' release, a whole new EO game is in the works, it's just taking its time due to having to adapt to new platforms (and, presumably, Shigeo Komori being busy with other projects until recently).

Unfortunately, if you are new to the series, playing the 3DS games has become significantly more difficult after the 3DS eShop was closed down. Finding physical copies of the games is still an option, of course, but even then, if you did not already own the DLC for the games that utilize them, obtaining them is now impossible.

The Games

Etrian Odyssey

First game in the series, if it wasn't obvious
Nine classes, two of which have to be unlocked by progressing the story
In some ways the most straightforward game in the series
Still has its fair share of nonsense
Level is the most important stat in the game

Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard

Developed pretty quickly after the first game, original version has a fair amount of technical issues
Twelve classes, only one of which needs to be unlocked
Balance is completely screwed in this one compared to EO1. The game is either ridiculously easy or extremely annoying, depending on your team comp
Multiple long quest chains are required to do the postgame at all
Stats besides level actually matter now

Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City

Smoothed out a lot of the technical jank of EO2
Introduced subclassing, allowing characters access to another class's entire skillset (save for class-exclusive passives), with no restrictions on level
Story has multiple endings, with the branch point being halfway into the game. You'll need to do all three paths if you want 100% completion
Twelve classes, two of which are unlocked through different story branches
To facilitate the above, New Game+ has been added, allowing you to start the story from the beginning with your characters and items exactly as you left them
In addition to the Yggdrasil Labyrinth, there's also two vast oceans to explore and chart out, through a somewhat puzzle-like sailing system. Not only does exploring the seas unlock additional bosses and provide some extra money, it's also required for 100%
Related to the above, you can fight sea quest bosses with other players, the only time multiplayer has been featured in EO! While the original DS version was limited to just local wireless play, the remastered version of EO3 allows for netplay with other people (no crossplay between PC and Switch, sadly)
Character portraits now come with one alternate palette, allowing for more visual variety when you create your party

Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan

Introduced overworlds, traversable by skyships. Navigating the overworlds, and avoiding the extremely strong FOEs that inhabit them, is how you unlock dungeons now
Subclassing returns, but nerfed. Still useful
Ten classes, three of which need to be unlocked. This is the last game with unlockable classes
Skills now have far more variance in how many skill points they need to be maxed out. In general, it's much easier to max out every skill you would want on a given character than in previous games
Generally considered a very good starting point for the series

Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl

Remake of EO1
Offers both Classic Mode, which lets you create your own party ala the original, and Story Mode, which gives you a pre-made party, along with an entire exclusive dungeon
Eleven classes, two of which are exclusive to Story Mode characters. You can use them in Classic Mode through New Game+, however
While returning classes have the same roles they do in EO1, along with many of the same skills, they're generally more refined and offer far more greater depth than the original
Introduced the Grimoire Stone system. Allows mixing and matching of different classes' skills on one character, but requires far more setup than subclassing
Postgame is widely considered the most brutal of the entire series, which is saying something
Introduced several QoL changes that would become series mainstays
Introduced voice acting to the series, for better and for worse. Ever wanted to hear Chie from Persona 4, but Canadian?

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth

Persona, but Etrian Odyssey
Gameplay is a bizarre mixture of EO and Persona mechanics. Dungeon exploration and the core of the battle system are straight from EO, but significant alterations have been made to how skills work to accomodate Personas and the fusion system
Can choose to experience the story from either the Persona 3 cast or the Persona 4 cast's view. Doesn't change much gameplay-wise besides what characters you're limited to for the 1st Labyrinth, but does alter cutscenes significantly
You'll need to do both the S.E.E.S. and Investigation Team stories if you want to 100% the game
FOEs are severe HP sponges, and fighting them is heavily discouraged compared to EO
Dungeon design and gimmicks range from "alright but not too memorable" to "worst out of all of the EO games"
Don't play on Risky. Just don't do it. "The protagonist's death is an instant game over, and also you can't run from FOEs" really does not work in the context of EO

Etrian Mystery Dungeon

An attempt to put EO characters and design into the Mystery Dungeon format
Didn't really work well
Honestly not much else to say about it

Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight

Remake of EO2
Same Story/Classic Mode deal as EOU
A whopping fifteen classes. One of them is exclusive to the Story Mode protagonist, while the other is only available through DLC
Grimoire Stones return, heavily reworked compared to EOU
Boss design is heavily patterned and MMO-like. Whether or not this is a bad or good thing comes down entirely to personal opinion
Several quests are only available through the now-unpurchasable DLC. This includes an even more powerful version of the game's superboss
Introduced even more QoL changes, including dynamic map icons that allow you to, for example, see what treasure chests you've already opened

Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth

A far more back-to-basics game compared to the Untolds
No more Story Mode, you've gotta make your own characters again
Ten classes, each with two specializations that you can take after clearing the 2nd Stratum. Specializations allow access to more advanced skills that can completely change the role a character plays in your party
No Grimoire Stones, and no subclassing. To compensate for this, certain weapons now give access to skills when they are equipped
Yet more QoL changes, though the Untolds' Floor Jump has been removed
Lets you customize your characters' portraits through changing their hair, eye, and skin colors, as well as giving them one of a number of voices—or no voice at all, up to you
DLC is limited to extra portraits, grinding assistance quests, and an FM synth soundtrack option

Etrian Mystery Dungeon 2

EMD, but with more classes, and somehow even worse
Has the dubious distinction of being the only non-cellphone EO game to not be localized

Etrian Odyssey Nexus

A "celebration" game that largely remixes content from the older games with a bit of its own new stuff
A whopping nineteen classes; one new class, Hero, alongside eighteen returning classes from every previous game
Encourages the use of multiple characters of different classes, a notable departure from previous games
To accommodate the above, EON is generally easier than usual for the series, and it's quite easy to break the intended difficulty curve by just using the same five characters all the way throughout
Character portraits are customizable like EO5, and you can now use any portrait with any class
No English dub, due to the English versions coming out almost two years after the Switch was released

Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth

Persona Q, but with the Phantom Thieves
FeMC from Persona 3 Portable is here also
Only one story path this time. You start the game with just the Phantom Thieves, and recruit the Investigation Team and S.E.E.S. as you progress through the game
Battles and dungeon design are generally less frustrating than PQ1, with the notable exception of the first boss being severely overtuned
Instant-kill spells have been heavily nerfed from PQ1
The same note about Risky from PQ1 applies here
Like EON, the English versions are undubbed due to being released in July 2019, over two years after the Switch was released
Fun fact, PQ2 was the final 3DS game released in both Japan and Europe

Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection

Remastered versions of EO1, EO2, and EO3, all with significant UI changes as a result of no longer having the DS/3DS's bottom screen
Available on both Switch and PC (via Steam). No crossplay for EO3 sea quests. Besides that, the main difference between the platforms is that the PC version supports mapping with the mouse, while the Switch version allows for touch-based mapping when in handheld mode
Balance-wise, the games are almost entirely the same as their original versions. Some player-detrimental bugs were fixed, while player-beneficial bugs have been left untouched
A metric ton of QoL changes and features from the later games have been backported to each game in the collection, including the ability to walk faster in dungeons, the ability to see your entire party's buffs and debuffs at once, the ability to see monsters' information and buffs/debuffs during battle, etc.
Every class now has an additional new portrait you can use (note that classes that appear in both EO1 and EO2 share the same new portraits). In EO3, these new portraits also have alternate palettes
Like EON, you can use any portrait you want for a character, regardless of their class

Resources
Work is presently ongoing for creating a definitive resource for EO, but in the meantime, if you want to check, say, the numbers behind certain skills or enemies, there are data-heavy Let's Plays for most of the games that you can refer to.

EO1, by Crosspeice, Araxxor, and Rea
EO2, by Araxxor
EO2, by Crosspeice, Araxxor, and Rea (In progress)
EO3, by Araxxor
EO4, by Rea (In progress)
EOU, by Rea (In progress)
EO2U, by Rea
EO5, by Rea, Clarste, and Kinu (Japanese version)

There's also the old megathreads, which are useful too.

Got any questions about the series in general, specific games? Need advice on party composition, what skills to invest in, or how to beat a troublesome boss? Please feel free to post in this thread and ask! Many of us have sunk way too much of our lives into this series, and are more than willing to help as needed.

Rea fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Jun 3, 2023

# ? May 31, 2023 16:17

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 16:36

Rea: Apr 5, 2011; Komi-san won.

Some advice from thread regular Araxxor:

quote:

Are you complete newcomers to the series and are looking to enter through the HD collection? Well worry not, as we've got a few pieces of advice to make jumping into the series more friendly for you!

All games:
-The games are not tightly interconnected, so if you feel like jumping to another title or starting off with EO2 or 3 instead, feel free. You won't miss out on much, though EO2 does have a few save file... bonuses (or penalties...) if you have it read an EO1 save at the start of the game.
-The games come with auto map, but if you opt to draw your own, make sure to draw good maps. You won't want to get stuck for a while because you drew a wall where there wasn't one and all, would you?
-Make a habit of keeping more than 1 Ariadne Thread on hand at a time (Especially in EO2). These will warp you out of the Labyrinth instantly, and is your lifeline for bad situations, or if you're just done exploring for the day. And the last thing you want is to be stranded in the middle of the labyrinth with no easy way out. Outside of the Persona Qs, the games do not remind you to buy any if you're out of threads, so being stranded is a very real possibility that has happened to even series veterans quite a few times.
-FOEs are not meant to be fought when you first encounter them. The game hammers home this advice when they get introduced, and they mean it. They're meant to spice up navigation and are typically a punishment for moving incorrectly. Red FOEs in particular are very strong and should be saved for later. Typically the best time to take them on is around 1 stratum's worth of floors later from when they first appeared. Do note if you're playing EO2, you may want to consider saving them for even later, as the FOEs in that game are easily the strongest in the series.
-Expert is the original difficulty of the games, so if you want to experience what the DS originals were like difficulty wise, pick this. That being said, don't be afraid to dial down the difficulty if things are getting hairy and you really want to move on. Or toning down tedious segments such as farming for item drops more easily. Basic slightly sands things down while Picnic really tips the edge in your favor. The difficulty can be changed any time in town, but not while you're in the labyrinth.
-You don't need to buy every single piece of equipment that you unlock. You'll want to pace out your upgrades, as buying everything will quickly drain your funds. If you're only gaining a few extra points of stats, it's typically not worth it. If there's a considerable gap between your current equipment stats and what's in the store, then do consider buying those. The specifics of what you'll want to prioritize varies from game to game, so read those segments for more details.
-Magical classes such as the Alchemist in EO1 and 2, and the Zodiac in EO3, primarily use the TEC stat to deal damage. The upgrade path for them will be different as they will want to focus on the TEC increases over the attack stat of the weapon, which only affects their regular attacks.
-If your Protector (EO1 and 2) or Hoplite (EO3) aren't having most of their skills show up, make sure they've got a shield equipped, as their skills need one in order for the tank classes to even function.
-Retirement should only be used if you want to swap out a character later in the game (typically for a newer class that you may have just unlocked to make the transition less painful). In EO1, this option should never be touched as it sets your party back for very little benefit.
-A spare team of 5 Survivalists with their skill points invested in the gathering skills (Or Farmers in EO3) can be used to make a farming team to easily gather items from item points and selling them for funds and item unlocks without setting your main party back. It's up to you if you want to do this or not, but Atlus does not consider this an exploit and even highlighted this strategy in promotional materials for the DS games back in the day. This can also be used as an alternate means to get a leg up on the game if you're having trouble with the current stratum otherwise.
-Don't underestimate support skills! Buffs and debuffs can be huge in turning the tides of battle in your favor, as well as ailments and binds. A well timed disable can easily win you a tough battle. As for what binds are, each skill uses a body part. If that body part is bound, you can't use that skill, and this applies to both you and your enemies. Binds also saddle you with a nasty side effect such as lowering a stat, so you don't want to leave them on your party, even if it's not locking you out of any skills.
-Random encounters can and will wear your party down and possibly kill them easily. This is a core part of the experience. For the most part, you won't need to grind in the same spot for levels. Smart usage of skills can get you through battles, so don't just save them for "big fights". You're meant to exhaust that mana pool as you go on instead of relying on the basic attack.
-Skill points are a rare resource though how they should be spent will vary from game to game. An underleveled party member that has spent their skill points wisely will be far more effective than a higher leveled party member that hasn't. With that said, there is no need to obsessively min max. Playing well enough can get you through the game even with a slightly "unoptimal" party. Do be warned that these games are more unforgiving than the 3DS era of Etrian Odyssey in that regard though.
-Principles that apply to one game will not automatically apply to another. Each Etrian Odyssey game has such vastly different balancing and mechanics that what was the best in one game, may not even come close to that in another. Keep this in mind if you're planning on playing multiple games.

Etrian Odyssey:
-Level is the most important stat in the game. No other stat comes close, as it has such a huge influence on the damage you deal and the damage you take. Unfortunately this can mean that depending on your situation, grinding levels can truly be the solution to your problems. No other game has level be this influential, so this thankfully doesn't apply to other games nearly as often.
-All skills in this game have 10 levels. Unfortunately, not every skill level will warrant an upgrade since the balancing on these can be stretched thin. It's up to you on what's considered worth it or not, but an easy example is that minor TP cost decreases aren't typically really worth using up your precious SP for.
-This is the only time in the series where it outright recommends having a class in the party in-game, and it's the Medic. This class can save a lot of funds on healing supplies by healing themselves, and they can help your party survive a lot more often. You don't need one to beat the game, but it's generally not advised to forgo one unless you really know what you're doing.
-What boost does is increase the power of a skill by treating it 5 levels higher for the current turn. It's not a huge increase, but you may as well use it whenever it comes up, the boost meter builds up at a decent pace. If you can, try to use it on buffs or debuffs instead, as those last for 5 turns and give you more bang for your buck on Boost. Normal attacks are also a great place to use them, as they double its damage, and the effects of boost on attacking skills isn't as much in comparison most of the time.
-Oils can heavily increase the damage of normal attacks in this game, as well as giving them another element to attack with. Definitely a strategy to keep in mind. Sadly oils are nowhere near as good as in later titles, so this advice really doesn't apply there.
-Ronin and Hexer are unlocked very late into the game. This game does not have easy grinding methods, so if you wish to use them, expect to spend a lot of time grinding. Or maybe save them for a new game plus playthrough.
-Weapons are a bigger priority when it comes to equipment, though don't neglect armor entirely.

Etrian Odyssey II:
-This game can read your EO1 save file, but it doesn't unlock many vital features or changes dialogue all that much. The benefits are rather few, and more often than not it incurs penalties (For example, there's an event at the start of the labyrinth where you get free starting medical supplies if you did NOT import an EO1 save. If you did, you miss out on these entirely.) So playing through EO1 just to get benefits for EO2 isn't vital.
-Many skills in this game are terrible at level 1. You pretty much have to invest several SP into them for them to really do a lot, as their power grows exponentially with each skill level.
-Until much later in the game where you can fill up the Force meter much more easily, it's more of a desperation measure or a cheese strategy for getting past a tough fight, as the Force meter in this game fills up so slowly you won't get it naturally unless you stay in the labyrinth for an unnaturally long time (the meter depletes upon leaving.)
-Beast is unlocked really early on, so if you wish to use one, it's pretty easy to swap out a party member for a Beast.
-Armor upgrades are a huge priority, as they severely decrease the damage you take. Weapon upgrades won't increase your damage as much unless they come with a strength boost or the gap between weapon attack stats are really big.
-Quests unlock a lot of stuff in this game, so make sure to do them, even if they're annoying.

Etrian Odyssey III:
-Partway through the game, you'll unlock a feature called subclassing. This allows a party member to gain access to almost all of another class's skills, aside from their class skill. Don't try to use this to mash 2 classes' skillsets together, you just don't have the amount of SP needed for that. Instead, use the subclass to enhance the main class's skillset (or the other way around if you so choose) by investing in a few skills that really synergize with the main class. How you do this is up to you.
-This game introduces summoner classes. These classes can summon an entity to fight alongside your party, however the way this is handled is by putting them into an empty party slot, and you actually have 6 slots to work with. This means a party of 5 actually has 1 empty slot, so they only have room for 1 summon. Unfortunately this results in making it so that using multiple summoners (The classes in question are the Ninja, Wildling, and Yggdroid, the last of which is an unlockable class) in one party can end up being really unfriendly, as they'll end up fighting over the slot. While this isn't as big of a deal for the Yggdroid, it can be a dealbreaker with the Ninja and Wildling, so it's generally advised to only pick one of those classes within a given party, or to avoid using a Ninja subclass with a Wilding there.
-Quests give experience points in this game (And are way less annoying overall compared to EO1 and 2) so you'll really want to do them to strengthen your party!
-This is the first Etrian Odyssey game to introduce bar patrons. You can talk with extra NPCs in the bar to gain advice for upcoming obstacles on the current floor, and even learn how to acquire certain conditional drops. These rotate out with every floor, so check back after reaching a new floor to gain new insights on the labyrinth!
-Sailing is a side feature you can use to access several boss battles that you can also tackle in multiplayer. Doing this early on can also help a lot with funds as making good use of this feature can grant you some extra pocket change to afford equipment and such with. However, progress on this front is gated by the story, so you can't knock out everything with sailing in one go. Check back after every stratum to see how far you can go.
-Weapon upgrades are a bigger priority here, as they have a huge effect on physical damage. Armor on the other hand got considerably nerfed. You don't want to ignore it entirely, but it's a pretty low priority upgrade unless you see a piece of armor with great secondary benefits, or you just haven't upgraded it in a long while.
-This game introduces a primitive version of the accumulative resistance system. Every time you inflict a disable on an enemy, that enemy will become more resistant to that specific disable until eventually becoming immune to it altogether. You'll want to vary up your disables on hand as a result. Resistant enemies get immune faster. Note that this system also affects your party, unless they die and get revived anyways.
-This is the only Etrian Odyssey game to have multiple endings. The path you take will determine which class you unlock and which bosses you get to fight. Don't worry, you can experience the other path on new game plus, and a new game plus playthrough only takes an hour or 2 to speedrun through. The post-game doesn't really change aside from a few dialogue snippets, so the best time to start a new game plus playthrough if you want to do that is right after submitting the final mission report after beating the main game.

# ? May 31, 2023 16:19

theshim: May 1, 2012; You think you can defeat ME, Ephraimcopter?!?

You couldn't even beat Assassincopter!!!

I love these stupid games and have played them way too many times.

e: would you mind including links to the previous megathreads in the OP? I find I have reason to refer back to them every so often.

theshim fucked around with this message at 16:28 on May 31, 2023

# ? May 31, 2023 16:26

Regy Rusty: Apr 26, 2010

Here's hoping there's a new game in the works too

# ? May 31, 2023 16:36

Meowywitch: Jan 14, 2010

Sir tech the anime lives on

# ? May 31, 2023 16:42

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

I really hope the Origins collection is good. A small part of me suspects that this is going to be a very low effort remaster (especially on PC), but we'll know tomorrow!

# ? May 31, 2023 16:53

Gyoru: Jul 13, 2004

new thread, old anthem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB_PVPyn6n8

# ? May 31, 2023 16:57

Mierenneuker: Apr 28, 2010; We're all going to experience changes in our life but only the best of us will qualify for front row seats.

I doubt anyone cares about guild cards at this point, so I'm mostly posting them here so I can fondly look back on the adventures with my dungeon crawling buddies :buddy:

EO V (EU region) - still in progress

Mierenneuker fucked around with this message at 17:36 on May 31, 2023

# ? May 31, 2023 17:08

Pureauthor: Jul 8, 2010; ASK ME ABOUT KISSING A GHOST

I think I'll wait for the first sale to pick them up.

# ? May 31, 2023 17:11

MarcusSA: Sep 23, 2007

Hell yeah.

Great thread for great games.

# ? May 31, 2023 18:09

Arzaac: Jan 2, 2020

At the very, very least I'm picking up 3, because it's impossible to get a DS copy of that game and it doesn't have a remake.

Might just get all of them though, I do like the series and wanna show my support.

# ? May 31, 2023 18:11

MarcusSA: Sep 23, 2007

I�m getting all 3 because,

Arzaac posted:

I do like the series and wanna show my support.

# ? May 31, 2023 18:13

Snake Maze

Jul 13, 2016

3.85 Billion years ago

Having seen the explosion on the moon, the Devil comes to Venus

I'm going to finish my playthrough of V before picking these up, but definitely getting them after that.

When playing 1 as a kid I read the description for immunize, figured it sounded useless, and didn't put any points into it until right before the final boss. Looking forward to seeing how hard it breaks the game when I use it from the start. 3 is definitely the game I want to replay the most, though.

# ? May 31, 2023 19:23

Araxxor: Oct 20, 2012; My disdain for you all knows no bounds.

Farmer supremacy! All hail Farmers.

# ? May 31, 2023 21:15

Arzaac: Jan 2, 2020

Vaguely considering running a Farmer when I finally get around to playing Nexus just because of those Force skills, hot drat

# ? May 31, 2023 21:17

Meowywitch: Jan 14, 2010

Princess is where its at

# ? May 31, 2023 23:13

Arzaac: Jan 2, 2020

Ultimately my favorite class is really whatever has chains/links. I'm a sucker for that kind of stupid combo bullshit, and I have to actively force myself to make different kinds of parties when I start a new EO.

Though for EO2U I just went with Hexer/War Magus/Dark Hunter, which is its own brand of stupid combo bullshit. :v:

# ? May 31, 2023 23:35

Araxxor: Oct 20, 2012; My disdain for you all knows no bounds.

The Picnic lock is thankfully not in. It'll be left as a lapse of judgement in Nexus, so you can switch between all 3 difficulties freely in the collection.

Oh and it comes with a 50% exp boost, so it should really speed up grinding if you need to do it.

# ? May 31, 2023 23:43

Araxxor: Oct 20, 2012; My disdain for you all knows no bounds.

So uh. Turns out there were some game changes that made their way in that weren't just outright bug fixes.

EO1 had EO3 style party member moving backported in. (Which makes sense if it's the same engine for all games, as Cliones would be worthless enemies if it was 3DS style moving.)

The resting penalty in EO1 was lowered from 10 levels to 5! Oh and there's no more level 30 restriction either, you can do it at any time.

The Medic's Healing Touch was buffed.

This is the DS original.

In the remaster?

What the gently caress?

Arm Heal is still 10 levels by the way. Poison Mastery does nothing but it was lowered to a 5 level skill. But sure, the EO1 Medic, needed a buff.

Not all of them but we'll find out as more of the games are played through.

# ? Jun 1, 2023 00:29

nrook: Jun 25, 2009; Just let yourself become a worthless person!

It�s always funny for me to read about the wacky balance of EO2, since (likely by pure chance) I selected a reasonable party and found that the game presented an appropriate challenge the whole way through. I did cut my beast in the fifth stratum as even I figured out by that point that he was pretty useless.

I�m not sure what I would have done without my dark hunter, but I�m not sure what to do without binds in any EO game. That�s something I always am careful to keep access to.

# ? Jun 1, 2023 00:32

Tired Moritz: Mar 25, 2012; wish Lowtax would get tired of YOUR POSTS

_{_{(n o i c e)}}

EO1 really is Medic's game to shine.

# ? Jun 1, 2023 00:35

Slide Hammer: May 15, 2009

Araxxor posted:

So uh. Turns out there were some game changes that made their way in that weren't just outright bug fixes.

EO1 had EO3 style party member moving backported in. (Which makes sense if it's the same engine for all games, as Cliones would be worthless enemies if it was 3DS style moving.)

The resting penalty in EO1 was lowered from 10 levels to 5! Oh and there's no more level 30 restriction either, you can do it at any time.

The Medic's Healing Touch was buffed.

This is the DS original.

In the remaster?

What the gently caress?

Arm Heal is still 10 levels by the way. Poison Mastery does nothing but it was lowered to a 5 level skill. But sure, the EO1 Medic, needed a buff.

Not all of them but we'll find out as more of the games are played through.

Yeesssssss. Massage those EOs, Atlus. Shine that pearl.

...That sounds sarcastic here in 2023, but I'm all for it.

# ? Jun 1, 2023 00:36

neongrey: Feb 28, 2007; Plaguing your posts with incidental music.

okay so I remember party composition really tripping me up for 3 since the classes felt odd to me and then you (or I do anyway) want to think ahead for subclassing. Could someone give a rundown on what's good and annoying pitfalls?

# ? Jun 1, 2023 00:38

Endorph: Jul 22, 2009

neongrey posted:

okay so I remember party composition really tripping me up for 3 since the classes felt odd to me and then you (or I do anyway) want to think ahead for subclassing. Could someone give a rundown on what's good and annoying pitfalls?

there arent really huge pitfalls outside of the ninja/wildling thing tbh, subclasses can be changed and most classes work well with a variety of subclasses

# ? Jun 1, 2023 00:41

Endorph: Jul 22, 2009

Regy Rusty posted:

Here's hoping there's a new game in the works too

theyve said there is one im pretty sure

# ? Jun 1, 2023 00:42

Rea: Apr 5, 2011; Komi-san won.

Endorph posted:

theyve said there is one im pretty sure

I think it was mentioned in the most recent interview of Famitsu? Not sure, but I definitely remember reading it from somewhere.

Fun fact, according to SteamDB, the remasters have been in the works for quite a while�December 2021 is the earliest date given for changes to any of the games.

# ? Jun 1, 2023 00:56

Your Computer: Oct 3, 2008; Grimey Drawer

argh the game is out and i just can't settle on a party composition in EO3

i know i absolutely want a gladiator, buccaneer and wildling (yes i know they're bad i just love beastmasters) but that leaves me with no healing and no elemental damage i think? so it'd be obvious to slot in a monk and a zodiac but none of their portraits stand out to me. portraits are important! why yes i do want to include a farmer granny on my team

help

# ? Jun 1, 2023 00:59

Araxxor: Oct 20, 2012; My disdain for you all knows no bounds.

where is the game?

# ? Jun 1, 2023 01:11

Araxxor: Oct 20, 2012; My disdain for you all knows no bounds.

Your Computer posted:

argh the game is out and i just can't settle on a party composition in EO3

i know i absolutely want a gladiator, buccaneer and wildling (yes i know they're bad i just love beastmasters) but that leaves me with no healing and no elemental damage i think? so it'd be obvious to slot in a monk and a zodiac but none of their portraits stand out to me. portraits are important! why yes i do want to include a farmer granny on my team

help

You can choose any portrait with any class.

# ? Jun 1, 2023 01:11

Your Computer: Oct 3, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Araxxor posted:

You can choose any portrait with any class.

wait is this true no way

e: it's true. grannny sovreign shall watch over my party blessed be

Your Computer fucked around with this message at 01:34 on Jun 1, 2023

# ? Jun 1, 2023 01:14

loopsheloop: Oct 22, 2010

What the gently caress, atlus

# ? Jun 1, 2023 01:33

Rea: Apr 5, 2011; Komi-san won.

Steam version probably drops at 9 PM PST, midnight EST, despite what the store page said.

# ? Jun 1, 2023 01:41

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Steam users come in last yet again :negative:

it�s not going to be much longer of a wait, I�ll live.

# ? Jun 1, 2023 01:54

felgs: Dec 31, 2008; Cats cure all ills. Post more of them.

I think I'll pick up all three in the bundle because it works out cheaper and I know I'll buy all them eventually, and then play through 3 again. It was my first EO game, and I'm still very fond of it.

Planning to go with switch because playing these games on the bus is how they get played for me.

# ? Jun 1, 2023 01:57

Gaffle: Aug 23, 2013; sWAg

neongrey posted:

okay so I remember party composition really tripping me up for 3 since the classes felt odd to me and then you (or I do anyway) want to think ahead for subclassing. Could someone give a rundown on what's good and annoying pitfalls?

My opinion is that a party wants at least 2 of gladiator/arbalest/zodiac, so you have some damage, and you'll also want other characters to have hoplite, monk and princess skills, but you can get some of those via subclassing you don't need all that defensive support in the beginning of the game.

# ? Jun 1, 2023 01:58

Dpulex: Feb 26, 2013

You bros playing on the steam dreck? Thinking about going that way for sweet cheevos

# ? Jun 1, 2023 02:08

Araxxor: Oct 20, 2012; My disdain for you all knows no bounds.

I will note Monk is not a great class in EO3, as a lot of their defensive support can be replicated by just using items instead to heal. Subclassing does make them actually good, but it's up to you on whether you actually want a weaker earlygame when Sovereign is a lot stronger of a support to bring along.

# ? Jun 1, 2023 02:12

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Which platform is Etrian Odyssey playable on now? Steam and Switch show as pre-order still.

# ? Jun 1, 2023 02:32

Your Computer: Oct 3, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Araxxor posted:

I will note Monk is not a great class in EO3, as a lot of their defensive support can be replicated by just using items instead to heal. Subclassing does make them actually good, but it's up to you on whether you actually want a weaker earlygame when Sovereign is a lot stronger of a support to bring along.

this terrifies me. actually using items?

I said come in! posted:

Which platform is Etrian Odyssey playable on now? Steam and Switch show as pre-order still.

it was a midnight release on switch for me (eu timezone)

# ? Jun 1, 2023 02:37

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 16:36

RegalStar: Jul 17, 2016

Sovereign could sustain your team with Royal Veil, Triumphant Cry and Monarch March, so you're not totally dependent on items even if you have one instead of a monk.

# ? Jun 1, 2023 02:45

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Etrian Odyssey: Even in HD, FOE

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