[DS] Etrian Odyssey <3

WHY ISN'T THERE A THREAD FOR THIS GAME YET.

Any folks who played the JP Wizardry games will fucking adore this title. It's smooth, slick, has a nice presentation, and fucking HARD gameplay. The dungeon will stomp on your ass until you ask for seconds. I can't believe how good it is~

A shame that it might end up as a sleeper hit because folks are circle-jerking over the FF titles coming out soonish.

The frame rate is incredibly smooth. No choppy moving or anything of the sort. Now, the folks who played Wizardry: Tales of the Forsaken Land (PS2), you will feel like you're in an anime sequel to it all ;D The weapon shop details on gear (attack or defense+# as well as squares showing initials to class names that can and can't use them) is almost a spot-on-match. Visiting sites in town is just like Wizardry, but there are more places and it seems quite lively.

You start off being sent in to the labyrinth on a mission to map the first floor. This is an initiation to new guilds before they can take proper jobs. This is referred to as a mission, and you can take them from this special hall. There is also a pub that gives out quests & missions, but the bar wench won't let you take any until you do the initial mapping run.

The monsters are quite harsh. They land criticals and pre-emptive strikes fairly often, but not frustratingly so. I recommend grinding it out a bit at first so your healer can cast beyond four heal spells =p

Also, there are levels on top of skill points. Initially made characters get three points, and each level beyond that gives one more skill point. Ragnarok Online is quite a nice way to describe the feel in this part of the game, as you have three gathering abilities, upgrades to them, as well as each class bearing a wonderful amount of potential "builds". You could make a shield-and-sword tank or even hone him in to a healing paladin. Your warrior can be a cautious, precise attacker or an all-out berserker. The nuking class (alchemist) can range across Ice, Fire, Lightning, and Poison for their spells (I chose fire ^^). Healers can adopt the usual hands-on-healing spells or passive skills that regenerate HP following battles.

In addition to this, most mobs don't drop money (from what I've seen), but they drop items or "l00t" that you can sell to the weapon/armorshop NPC. After you sell enough of a certain item, the saleswoman gets an idea for making a new piece of equipment. This is a nice way of forcing folks in to grinding out certain items.

Sorry for the impromptu review, but I forget the special Latin/Germanic names that lotsa folks have :3 Anyhow!

I bought this game, and let me tell you -- I don't regret it. Lots of DS games I've purchased so far are quite nice, but I always had an ache kinda like "maybe I rushed into purchasing this game..."

Not in this case. It's the real deal for Wizardry fans. If anything can galvanize the genre, this baby is it. Its presentation, gameplay, and difficulty will keep me coming back for more -- I guarantee it.

The reviews I read on this were rather horribly put forth, harsh, biting, and it leads me to think that the punks doing the write-ups never played a game of this type. Some folks might not take to it due to the lack of a story that most folks adore, but that simply means that it is from before their time.

11/10. Oops. Typo. I meant 12/10 ;D

Now come on. Other folks are sure to have this game in mind

Jam it back in, in the dark.

There really isn't a story because your whole party is made up of custom characters. You are basically playing the role of the leader of a guild (or you could "imagine" yourself as one of the characters) and a group of folks that you make on your own. You pick the name, class, and portrait (identifying as male or female) and go on from there.

There are quests, missions, and plots that go on in the dungeon but you're basically some dude out for fame and money, and the best way to do it is to get into the labyrinth and loot some treasure.

There isn't character development or romances or the like, but you run into recurring characters throughout the dungeon, find sequences that have you make a choice (ie: pick up item and fight a surprise enemy or leave it alone), etc.

Most amazing jew boots

It's every bit as good as it looks. That sucks though =(

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

You get used to it. I enjoy it =3 You can use special markers to denote sites, ie: treasure, event, dead-end, memo, etc.

I still dunno how the heck to use the Memo thing >_O You'd think it'd be click-and-drag like all the other icons but it doesn't wooorrrrrk.

The mapping concept is really nice though. You see your cursor and every step you move through it explored or placed with a lighter shade box. You outline the boxes however you want (for truth or to fuck around~) and you can also manually place an explored position if you so wish.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Hafta have something there? O crack

How ya doing, buddy?

Miscellaneous things =o Like "wtf is this. o wull MEMO"

Most amazing jew boots

I did some absent-minded browsing of the internet while pacing forward and backward, and before I knew it, I filled up my inventory and made around 700 en. EXP wasn't too great compared to my rough encounters on the 2nd floor, but I'm able to just hold down the "attack" button and not look at it the DS except for crab fights =p

How ya doing, buddy?

Selling items from what I've seen. But there are bound to be humanoids (ie: Goblins?) that drop coins later on, I'd think! Came across one spot that gave me a bag of 100 en, but that was just a search-spot.

How ya doing, buddy?

Wow. You're further than I am! Everyone is around 8 for me, but the melee folk are geared up really nice.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

The only thing this is missing are special characters that join you. In Wizardry, there were custom characters (all you started off with were custom, really) and bit by bit you got special storyline characters. They'd often offer input to storyline, but some were uber-ized versions of that class =o

I wish this had them, but it's perfectly wonderful as it ;D

Most amazing jew boots

You killed a Stalker, Lacerta?! O___o

I'm trying to get my protector to get the En Garde skill so he can auto-block. Following that, I'm guessing that Parry, F. Guard, & B. Guard should follow?

How ya doing, buddy?

I'd like to backtrack and undo some gathering/mining/chopping points. I sprinkled a few around on a couple characters '~'

Hmm. I'll try that. What's the purpose of F./B. Block though? The protector pretty much acts as a meat-shield?

I was going slow, but I just tore through the fourth floor like it was nothing. The Hexer that heals you near the stairway is pretty sweet ;D Also, I love the wolf FOEs. I can drop 'em in two rounds, easy. XP++. I just have my medic spam "Salve" every round. She's slow and I can't predict who it'll hit. Plus, it's only a little more expensive than cure. I suggest you put points into it if you haven't already~ =o

I need to explore the NW room on floor 3 (the one with two FOEs). I'll give that tactic a shot ;3 Thanks!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

RE to observation: Yeah I know =o I almost never use the "hollow out tile" tool or whatever it is. I only do it for the background on squares where I put chest icons and the like. Because I'm thorough.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Guhhhh >__< I just blew my landsknecht's skill point in to something worthless, when I was debating whether to up 2-hit or Allslash... I wish there was an "ARE YOU SURE?" popup

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

How's Allslash? You tried it or know much about it? =U

FELIPE NO

For the first FOE, get your alchemist to use Volt. Volt is a nice route to go for damaging FOEs (I use Fire on Wolves though). Some folks recommend poison, but it doesn't have a 100% (or nearly) success rate on anything beyond normal critters.

The initial grind is a little lengthy, but once you get through floor 3, it gets easier. Floor 4 basically consists of dodging the FOEs there for a while (they chase you but fall behind, giving you a window to pass them). Floor 4 & 5 are loaded with FOEs, but they don't have much health (but do lots of damage) and they give loads of XP.

I peruse Gamefaqs on occasion and find myself laughing at people who think this game is too hard. Obviously they never played Wizardry 8 (or NES games for that matter)

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Holy crap. You just beat it?

I just beat Fenrir. Been playing slooowww~

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Yeah, any of the FOEs can be aggressive. On the 2nd floor, there is a bull-like one that'll chase you. On floor 3 somewhere, there's one of those horned FOE critters (from floor 2) that is actually aggressive as opposed to passive.

Wolves on floor 4 have a pack mentality, and whenever you're fighting one FOE, the others will close in on you aggressively until the fight is over. Really cool concept =3

There's nowhere I can't reach.

FOEs hit on floor 2. The first one is weak vs thunder =U I've specialized my alchemist in Fire and somewhat in Thunder. Gave him the first ice spell and the first poison spell, and he's dandy.

There are crab monsters that become more common, and they require magic to kill. Blue ones, that is. I haven't dabbled enough, but on Floor 4 you run in to red ones, and I've noticed that poison is probably the best way to handle them. But I haven't tried ALL the elements :U

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.