[DS] The Dark Spire- Thought Etrian Odyssey was for pussies? Then this is probably for you

This actually looks pretty good. I'm not going to lie, I prefer the "anime-y" feel of EO over this, but anything along the lines of EO, I'm sold for.

I might pick this up whenever it drops a bit in price because I have too many games to play right now anyway.

Definitely looks interesting.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by GB

Well, although the game shares some visual and basic gameplay similarities to Etrian Odyssey, it's better to think of it like Wizardry. Or maybe at the most an extremely westernized Etrian Odyssey.

See, the issue with that is that I was told to think of Etrian Odyssey as a throwback to Wizardry back when Etrian Odyssey debuted, so all three are the same, in my eyes, right now. Granted, I've never played Wizardry, so this is a rather indirect link between the Etrian Odyssey and The Dark Spire.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I'd love to play this game, but as of right now, I've got WAY too many DS games active right now. Since one of those is Disgaea DS and the queue for DS games is ridiculously long, it'll be a long time before I get started (not to mention I haven't even played EO2 yet. I did finish EO1 though.)

How ya doing, buddy?

Yeah, I bought it back when it was still $19.99 at Gamestop, which is reasonable for me, because I'm a big fan of dungeon crawling.

Though, playing this game, it seems like I took the create-your-own-map aspect of Etrian Odyssey for granted because I have no idea how I'm supposed to keep track of warps when there's like 4 adjacent ones leading to a room of 4 more adjacent ones. It gets confusing fast. (I'm looking at you, Floor 2)

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Originally Posted by GB

I never really had any trouble keeping track of where I was. Even if I did, there are spells and items that can tell your exactly where you are and what direction you're facing.

If you keep at it, you get good at navigation very quickly-- especially in the basement, where movement tiles are all over the place to break your concentration.

See, most of the time, I don't have an issue with keeping track of where I am, but only when you put warp tiles all over the place do I get confused, especially if all the warp tiles are adjacent and I stop playing for an extended period of time and come back to it later.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by GB

Well, in some ways, Etrian Odyssey is harder because of its ample use of bosses that are impossible to beat when you first stumble upon them. This game, at least, always gives you winnable battles.

But in most other aspects, the Dark Spire is the more difficult of the two. Mapping and navigation are far more vague, regular battles are deadlier, leveling is slower, skills are more difficult to learn and have far more subtle uses than Etrian Odyssey's, etcetera.

Etrian Odyssey II and the Dark Spire are both great games though, and I'd recommend the former if you're enjoying the latter. I just think the Dark Spire has a much greater atmosphere.


The best way to figure out where you are after a warp is to look for changes on the map. If a new tile is marked, that's where I am (I'll move forward once to see what direction I'm facing). If not, it means I've been there before and I just have to either use a compass or look for landmarks.

I would consider Dark Spire to be harder than Etrian Odyssey personally on the note that it's so hard to find my way. (Although if you want to be really technical, DS is easier because of the "Save Anywhere" function.) I know I haven't even gotten deep yet, and since there's so many icons in the legend for the map I haven't even seen yet, I know I'm going to get even more screwed later on.

Which leads me to my next ponit:

I'm well aware of the strategy of checking the map for differences because that's how I initially figured out where I was about 3 or 4 weeks ago. Now that I haven't touched the game in 3 weeks, and all of the tiles are already marked, that strategy is no longer valid and I have to start guessing exactly where I am with the warps. (or use a Compass or whatever the spell equivalent is called.)

If it sounds like I'm hating this game, I'm not. I'm just frustrated that I have to resort to using tons of compasses just because I stopped playing for a bit and forgot how everything goes in something I've already explored. It's only an issue for me because I'm prone to going on-off on most games I play.

I think EO has a stronger emphasis on character customization since, as you've already mentioned, you level up faster. And every time you level up, you get a new skill, which means that even though you might have several characters of the same class, they can all have different disciplines of their class, and could play entirely differently. DS has a stronger emphasis on straight dungeon crawling and exploration, which I suppose is what's expected in such a genre. So if anything, EO is more of a regular JRPG in the guise of a dungeon crawler whereas DS is just straight up dungeon crawling with random bits of RPG elements. Both are fun, but for different reasons.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by GB

In that case, you need to start remember where warp points take you. I never have too much trouble remembering since there aren't terribly many on each floor.

If that fails, I've found it's really easy to deduce where you are by looking around at the layout of the dungeon and comparing it to the map. Takes me about 30 seconds if I'm completely stumped, since most rooms won't have the exact same amount of doors in the exact same places. I think I've used a compass maybe twice, and the first time was because I didn't know exactly what it did. The second time I was impatient.

As for customization, it's debatable. Classes are permanent in Etrian Odyssey, while it's all very fluid in the Dark Spire. Characters can ultimately fulfill several roles on the fly, while party members in EO must be carefully crafted from the beginning to fit in to one or maybe two specific roles through their entire career.

Yeah, I played for a bit just now to get reacquainted with the warps on the second floor and it didn't take that long surprisingly. I still don't know where I'm going, but I have an idea where the warps take me. Since most of them take me in circles, it's probably better if I just ignore those.

I do wish they would mark pitfalls though because falling through them really sucks when you're trying to match up warps with their destinations, though I suppose the only warps worth memorizing are the ones that take you forward.

Also, where is the Flame Jewel? I was wandering around the Basement and found the Blizzard Jewel (or something) by accident. I've also found Ectoplasm and other stuff, which I assume are quest items in the future, but I have yet to find this Flame Jewel, which is my current objective.

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