MrPopo wrote:I cheesed it with some sort of bullshit party (maybe it was the 5x Hexer Revenge party).
That's the thing man... I think a lot of folks are using online resources to determine optimal party configurations. Now I'm not saying
you did, but the kind of party builds people go on about, just don't seem all that intuitive to me. I think there's a lot of online discussion concerning this series every time a new release hits, and folks share tips and party concepts. I assume that. I don't know
where they talk about these things. GameFAQs perhaps?
To answer my own questions:
What are your experiences with the Etrian Odyssey series?I first tried EO on DS back in 2010, the original game. I thought it was OK. When Untold 1 came out, I bought in on 3DS. I proceeded to beat it on Expert. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was too stubborn to consult guides or lower the difficulty. Eventually I beat the game (took me over a hundred hours... I really had no idea what I was doing). I had some amazing times with Untold, and I had some soul crushing times too. I remember being stuck on one particular boss for multiple nights in a row... that was terrible. I did not however, clear the post-game sixth stratum. I just didn't have it in me to bother after the harrowing core game. Also because I played the story mode, I played through an additional stratum anyway that didn't exist in the original game. So that sixth stratum was more like a seventh stratum by that point. I have messed with Untold 2 a little bit, but not officially started it yet.
Do you have any favorite entries?At this point, no. But I think EO3 and EO4 look interesting. I do own every USA 3DS EO released, including EMD and PQ. I also have EO3 on DS, because it wasn't remade for 3DS, unfortunately. (I don't know why.)
What did you think when modern EO started offering easier difficulty levels? There's no denying that once Atlus allowed folks to lower the difficulty level, the series started selling a lot more. Not everyone wants to deal with the true EO challenge! I like the idea of uncompromising gameplay... so I'd rather the difficulty selections have never been an option. Yeah I'm an elitist douche like that. Ultimately though, it does let more casual players into the door, so they can have fun too.
Do you have any interesting memories from playing EO? The best memories are when I wasn't getting trashed, and rather was just wandering the stratums exploring. EO can be very relaxing believe it or not, when you're listening to the more somber tracks (this series has stupendous OSTs), and exploring more serene stratums. However most of my memories of Untold 1 are of horribly difficulty FOEs and bosses I had no idea how to handle. Honestly I think I have a little PTSD.
However the feeling of elation I got from beating some of those bosses was like nothing else in gaming. Well, except for bits of Demon's Souls.
Do you deeply enjoy cartography?Honestly, no. If I could enable full auto-mapping, and just explore without stopping to draw the map, I'd like that better. I know some later EOs allow partial auto-mapping, but you still have to place doors, chests, and other icons. I'd like to have a completely hands off auto-map mode available. Now, that's just me. I do understand some folks play EO primarily for the cartography. And that's cool too. I just don't like the idea of tracing maps that already exist. If the floors were randomly generated (at the start of the game, but didn't change throughout), I'd feel like mapping them was more personally meaningful.
If you are a fan of EO, did you try the Mystery Dungeon version?Haven't tried it yet, but I bought it. I hope the sequel releases here too. I enjoy roguelikes, and I enjoy EO. What could go wrong?
And howabout the Persona Q games? (Yes PQ2 is in the works.)Well, I bought PQ. I haven't played it yet, because I'm only familiar with the P3 characters at this point. I'd like to know the P4 characters as well, since they work with the P3 characters in the game. Eventually I'll play it. I just hope P4 is a lot better than P3 was...
Do you think Atlus produces EO too fast and too often, or is there no such thing as too much EO?I think Atlus really,
really got their money's worth out of rehashing that EO4 engine throughout the life of the 3DS. Considering Atlus has hinted that EO6 will be the final entry in the series, I guess it's okay they've made so many on the 3DS. I don't know how Atlus could bring this series to the Switch, and still keep the same style of gameplay. You'd have to manually switch screens between exploring and map making, and it just wouldn't have the same flow.
What changes would you make to the EO formula if you could?Full auto-map. I'm not a big fan of the chibi/loli character designs, I'd rather characters be proportioned more realistically. Get rid of difficulty selection. A little less grindy, by that I mean lower encounter rate but higher EXP reward.
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Hopefully MrPopo and myself aren't the only members with experience in this series.