Etrian Odyssey Review (Nintendo DS)

It's time to descend into the world tree labyrinth. The first of many, many games on the Nintendo DS where you explore a dungeon on screen and fill out a map on the other published by Atlus. So let's take our first hope-filled step towards an Etrian Odyssey review.
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#etrianodyssey #nintendods #retrogaming

[@soda3185]

Everyone gangsta until an androgynous tanned elf appears with his dragons.

[@HSnake5]

or the rabbits start breakdancing

[@Door_Into_Summer]

The 3ds games are on sale right now for 9.99$ on 3ds.

[@JuanAMatos-zx4ub]

@@Door_Into_Summer wow, that's extremely cheap. How do I know when a sale like that happens again?

[@Door_Into_Summer]

@@JuanAMatos-zx4ub I found out about that one from Wario64 on Twitter. He always links to great deals.

[@meekaboo_]

Yes, I love dungeon meshi!

[@lukesyvanen8773]

>Etrian Odyssey Review Ah, that's a breath of fresh air, how many years ago was this posted >2 days ago Guess I gotta subscribe now for quality content.

[@FranckyDGio]

Same here

[@colinswinbourn117]

All I can say is the dungeon crawler as a genre was born almost perfect. Because you look at the first dungeon crawlers from almost 40 years ago to modern crawlers and not much has changed

[@Aboveup]

It's honestly a very underrated genre. Like you play early FPS like Doom, and you can tell the level design language carried over to it. Which makes sense considering Carmack and Romero were into DND and made a bunch of RPGs independently before forming a studio.

[@colinswinbourn117]

But this franchise is the best to get people into crawlers in general, as the map making gimmick gets you already thinking about your space and front line back line team. The only thing it won’t teach you is that age mechanic in Wizardry

[@DonnyKirkMusic]

@@colinswinbourn117 and permadeath!

[@colinswinbourn117]

@@DonnyKirkMusic I think most people now understand perma-death as a mechanic but you’re not wrong

[@Desocupad0]

As a theme. Well more modern approach are roguelites like Hades. Or even action rpg like Diablo 3+.

[@Zombielokii]

I knew the Dungeon Meshi and EO audiences HAD to have a big overlap.

[@Aboveup]

I was just thinking of something last moment for my party, but it does add up, doesn't it?

[@KDBA]

@@Aboveup Another intersection with those two is Made in Abyss, if you've not read/watched it yet. It was sold to me as "EO but anime" and it really kinda is.

[@ArkRiley]

Dungeon Meshi itself is definitely inspired by Wizardry-like dungeon crawlers! Good stuff, good stuff

[@ferofax]

Dungeon Meshi is Etrian Odyssey but you don't get to go back to town so you go full Cooking Mama on the monsters

[@bengi8907]

This review of the game is how I initial learned of Dungeon Meshi. When the anime was announced, I immediately thought back to this video.

[@TheBatrahian]

One of the best dungeon crawlers on the ds.

[@Senordisastermaster]

The only better dungeon crawlers are its sequels.

[@EnzoZambrotti]

Strange Journey is great too. I wanna try Etrian Odyssey out on an original DS Cartridge someday.

[@Door_Into_Summer]

All of the 3ds etrian and smt games are in sale right now. They're 9.99$ to 19.99$ on the eshop right now!

[@ZedarShadow]

Legit have been looking for new retrospectives/reviews of EO all last week. Aren't enough

[@SuperConroy99]

The whole thing of "naming your party members after your friends" is exactly what I did with Etrian Odyssey 5, and I honestly had a lot more fun with it than I thought I would!

[@forbiddenwood]

Watching a great EO review? F.O.E.! FOE joke aside, this is a wonderfully written review!

[@Gothaman1]

The 5th stratum twist has gotta be one of the best

[@ohamatchhams]

After around a month subscribing to your channel, I found your channel and videos for JRPG archiving and retrospectives are criminally underrated

[@vittorioviegas]

Fantastic review! I followed the link in the EtrianOdyssey subreddit and when I saw it I was already subscribed to your channel! Keep it up with these reviews, they are a please to watch, especially in the weekends!

[@wolffster25]

Hmm might be a good series to port to steam. Anyway my first title was Etrian Odyssey 3 I fell in love with the deep and intricate combat system and it was cool to make maps. I especially loved the grueling boss fights heck in three the first boss runs away half way through the fight that was cool. My favorite track has to go to the legendary The End of Raging Waves it’s one of the best tracks you will ever hear from the speakers of a DS. Looking forward to seeing you tackle the rest of the series.

[@Aboveup]

EO3 soundtrack in general is one of the best things to have come out of the DS speakers. The End of Raging Waves is fantastic.

[@Vexdon]

And EO Origins Collection was released on Steam and Switch last year.

[@QueenViolet8]

I would love to see a re release on the Switch to see this on the big screen would be awesome 😎

[@fuumaxkamui]

I keep seeing people say this but how?? The stylus seems critical and without it how would you do the map making

[@QueenViolet8]

They might do what they did with The World Ends With you🤔 it’s better played in Handheld mode😊

[@fuumaxkamui]

@@QueenViolet8 I agree definitely should stay handheld. I love this series I hope they find a way to make it work on switch

[@NixterThePhoenix]

@@fuumaxkamuiWell, I guess we’re about to find out. HD remasters of EO 1-3 for Switch were just announced today

[@Vexdon]

Did you get the EO Origins Collection?

[@FinalDragoon]

I got into Etrian Odyssey with the release of Untold 1 and, over the following years, went on to buy and play through every 3DS entry. It has become one of my favorite game franchises and I patiently wait to see where the series goes next. It's been a while since Atlus dropped that teaser for the next game, so I hope we don't have to wait too much longer.

[@allmightygir4865]

If you played Nexus may i ask how it was? I always debate on splurging on it.

[@FinalDragoon]

@@allmightygir4865 It's a lot of game for your money, but I would not recommend it as someone's first Etrian experience. It's clearly a "Greatest Hits" game and a sendoff to the 3DS as a whole.

[@ellolired3994]

Teaser??? When? Where???

[@gabrielsanabriaalcazar7164]

Why is not there the EO3 in 3ds? ToT

[@ellolired3994]

@@gabrielsanabriaalcazar7164 I think they didn't have enough time, since the 3ds was pretty far on its life cycle when EO2U came out, and they wanted to finish with Nexus

[@mii9010]

Glad to see you making videos again! Though I knew Yuzo Koshiro made the music for Etrian Odyessy, I didn't know much about them since I wasn't the biggest dungeon crawler fan aside for SMT, but I'm glad I got to know more about them, so I'll make sure to play them one day. Also, I find it incredibly ironic that Atlus somehow almost always manage to botch remakes of their games. Let's hope that this trend stops one day.

[@Aboveup]

Yeah, Untold isn't great. Because of it, I never played Untold 2, which from everything I heard of it, is actually a lot better at being a remake than the first one was. Atlus's 3DS remakes just feel so pointless as remakes for games that can be played on the same platform in the same cartridge slot. A reprint would have been more than enough for a lot of their games. And looking at sales, nothing sold anywhere near as well as their original releases either. So it's odd that they kept making more remakes instead of just doing that.

[@Zanji1234]

this was one of my first games on the DS :-) i played some RPG Dungeon Crawlers before but BOY was this game addicting

[@cantrip7]

While Untold's story isn't great, you can always play the game with create-a-characters and without the extra story elements, and it's great. Etrian Odyssey V is the most recently released RPG I've played that feels like it has actual level design. The series' maps are fascinating with puzzles, shortcuts, sly patterns, and multiple "best" routes for resource gathering, shortest distance, sustain... navigation feels like a puzzle, even when revisiting a floor. Modern games are just like... everything is a big circle, a bunch of small circles, or a dungeon full of dead ends with treasure. It's made me appreciate pre-rendered RPG environments, actually, because they're often dense with navigation gimmicks. I feel like Japanese devs really struggle with rendered, fully 3D environments, even now... Anyway! Etrian Odyssey is a series that reminds me of what RPGs could be, and that robust mechanics and design are INHERENTLY narrative in how they alter your perception of data and overall mood. We still have a lot to learn from pen-and-paper...

[@srboromir452]

Did you not play Etrian Odyssey Nexus? A sendoff for the series, best dungeons from the series and all the classes to pick from

[@cantrip7]

@@srboromir452 Ooh, I haven't! I've been planning on... improving... a 3DS at some point, and I'll definitely give that a go sometime. (right now I'm in a Final Fantasy-hole)

[@srboromir452]

@@cantrip7 Bought into that Secret of Mana collection a few months ago. Final Fantasy Adventure scratched an itch I forgot I had

[@srboromir452]

And just a comment on the EO series, I really appreciate how much thought has to go into every battle, elemental and physical weaknesses, if you're not paying attention a group of "weak" monsters can take down your party

[@cantrip7]

@@srboromir452 Oh, for sure! That's partly why I still appreciate random battles and save points in games when well executed. While encounters in Etrian Odyssey always have the threat of being lethal, they're much more manageable once you go hog-wild expending resources on offensive abilities & buffs & binds, even against rats. And that means every single battle is unique, because your remaining items and SP are slightly different from the last time you fought 3 rats, and that weighs on you psychologically... Most games that have battle design like this are very modern JRPGs without the resource management, and combining both creates this wonderful intensity!

[@chrishunter9185]

Hell yeah. EO getting some love

[@GreyCartridge]

The OST isn’t made with just any FM synth either. Allegedly, Koshiro sampled his own PC-9801’s and PC-8801’s sound cards and used those samples to compose tracks on the DS.

[@Aboveup]

That sounds like Koshiro, yeah. When he made that Actraiser inspired BGM for Korone, he sampled a SNES soundchip to get the sound just right too. He really is dedicated to getting his sound profiles just right. And I'm sure that in this case, he wanted to have the sound fit the era of the games EO is inspired by. So PC-98 is the right call with his own history on it with stuff like Ys and Sorcerian.

[@ellolired3994]

A review of the original Etrian Odyssey on 2021? I love it. EO deserves more attention I totally agree with most of the points you make. The way the game leaves most of the story to your imagination is what got me in the series. I personally enjoyed the Untold remakes tho; I think is cool to see the lore of the series being expanded, and I consider it more as a bonus since I played the originals first. I'm kind of concerned about the future of the series since I'm not sure if the same formula would translate well to modern consoles. Not having the DS/3DS touch screen could really hurt the series, so I hope Atlus is able to find a way to translate the game formula faithfully. On a side note, I just started a few weeks ago a playthrough of the original Etrian Odyssey with a full medic party... Maybe Etrian Odyssey is indeed for masochists lol

[@prof.penspinner9038]

The only other console I could see working with EO is the Wii U, but we know how that panned out commercially... Shame too, because it was content starved. And yeah, the prospect of EO on modern consoles is pretty grim. I guess they'd either have to awkwardly split the screen or rely on players having a pen and paper to hand, which would come across as archaic to any modern player.

[@snowmanleblanc6053]

I think one button toggle map function is really fine in my opinion. For example, we press ZR on switch to quickly open map screen and ZR again to switch back. Switch touch screen, while not really accurate is fine too. I personally play EO not for just cartography, but also for it's extensive freedom in party building mechanic. The game is for me, a perfect marriage between the freedom of western rpg and the intimacy of eastern rpg.

[@Machzy]

I just bought the originals and the Untold remakes. Do you think it makes sense to play both? Or can I just play the Untold remakes and be set?

[@ellolired3994]

@@Machzy If you play Untold's story mode, its a completely different experience from the original, but a much more newcomer friendly one. Play the original just if you want to experience the original masochistic version, and then you can play Untold since its different

[@notcreativename2238]

A video talking about EO in 2021!? Bless your soul, you get my sub

[@user-my8wo6ms4z]

I'm a Japanese high school student. I'm a one of fans of this game. I feel so delightful 'cause a lot of abroad people play it and it's still being played today. I desire that ATLAS releases new version（remaked 『Ⅲ』and others）! I really LOVE systems （『skills tree』,『difficulty of battles』）,designs of characters,graphics of maizes and great music .（Mr kosiro!!） My English skills and vocabulary are so poor, So,there may be any mistakes... Please tell it . I LOVE Ⅳ The Best!! I Love『疾風』too!!

[@Aboveup]

ka sa 2さんの英語はわかりやうくって、たぶん私の日本語以上レベルと思います。 世界樹の迷宮について日本人からなにもきいたことがないのでこのコメントが本当に感謝委します。

[@shadyfsmusics]

The first 3 games got released on the nintendo switch, and on steam for computer release!

[@internisus]

Fantastic review. I love that you state the lack of plot as a positive for the imagination, the context you provide with other dungeon crawlers, the way you make explicit the little visual touches that help the player judge distance in the 3D space, your description of FOE behavior and how they can join a fight in progress or stand as a kind of movement puzzle on the map, how you paint a picture of the emotional effect of game systems by talking about wondering whether you're up to an FOE challenge or whether you've prepared well enough for an excursion. I think you've captured what makes EO special better than any other review I've seen. The only thing that occurred to me that you didn't mention is the memo feature in the mapping functions. You can drag a memo over any other icon you've dropped onto the map to add a note. I like to log story events, label bosses, and keep a record of what I find in chests. But you can use it to solve a lot of issues; for example, you said that you can't tell what type of item gather point something is from mapping, but if you just drop a label on it then you can verify it later with a tap of the stylus. Also, it might be worth noting that the original EO is unfortunately a bit buggy--not in the sense that you'll see obvious glitches but more in the way some items and abilities are balanced. Immunize especially is famously broken because, rather than just protecting against elemental damage, it provides a very powerful shield against all damage. It basically feels like cheating to use it. Other abilities aren't nearly as useful as you'd expect. So as much as I adore this first EO for many reasons (including the twists to the story that you touched upon) it all-but requires reading guides or forum threads to learn what does and doesn't work among each class's skills.

[@MrRaui]

The way I mapped damage tiles in the first Etrian Odyssey was to leave them unfilled entirely. I turned off automap too.

[@tazamane9705]

This game is pure nostalgia for me. layed it as a child but never remembered the name. Looked it up today to bathe in nostalgia, mainly the Emerald Grove theme which stuck with me. I will so play this again! I also remember crushing on Shilleka lol. Damn Japanese artstyle.

[@UmatsuObossa]

I actually DON'T like the newer take on FOE where you get to see what they are. Not knowing what was in the fuzzy ball until you touched it was a great part of the tense atmosphere, since if you just walk into a room and see an FOE you already know you can handle fine, it's not tense...walk in and just see "mystery enemy" and it's always tense. And NOR feeling safe in the dungeon, to me, was always a big part of the game's atmosphere.

[@R3GARnator]

The way the remake messes with the original too much reminds me of The Journeyman Project adventure game and its remake. In the first game, it had a chilling, horror-esque atmosphere, being alone in fantastical mazes while on a timer counting down to your death. While the remake, Pegasus Project, gives you a companion A.I. character and other things to change the atmosphere completely.

[@Senordisastermaster]

I agree Untold changed the atmosphere, but it wasn’t a negative change. You could even play Classic to maintain the same sort of feel of the original, but Story mode had to be changed to actually start explaining what was being shown.

[@honeybutter8257]

You can literally play classic mode for the original game, the story mode is not something that is forced into you, and i believe it is an amazing plus that adds tons of lore to a fantastic game

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

Don't forget Events that can send you to the starting screen pretty fast if you choose wrong

[@lucasvallet4487]

@@honeybutter8257 it changes the cool mysterious and minimalistic intro for a mediocre anime cutscene that spoil almost everything

[@fallenmorningstar9224]

Good to see others still playing this awesome game series these days. Recently been collecting the entire series,so I can play them all and I'm currently playing 1 atm. My entry into the series was 3 and i got hooked ever since. Love to ya and love to all the other Dungeon crawler brothers out there who love this game series.

[@Inkfy]

Thank you for this review! I haven't seen an Etrian Odyssey review in so long. Especially for the first game. I've recently gotten into the series via five and now I'm playing for and got a physical copy of Untold 2, I really appreciate the time and effort that went into this video! You give insight into a lot of things I haven't seen from other video yet either. It's really neat! I hope you check out the next few games! These reviews are really nice!

[@ghazezali742]

Can't wait to see your review on the other series of EO

[@ethanself2405]

Not sure if you read comments on old videos like these but this video is the only reason I ever read dungeon meshi so thanks for that

[@pintadezombie9126]

Tips for all new player. You HAVE to take elemental protection spells on your guard to level 5 at least, if you want to complette this absurdly hard post game senario. You'll save a lots of hour if you take care of that ._.

[@thean1men1ac92]

This is my favourite series, and i’m glad i found this in my recommended page. I’ve never seen anyone else talk about it, so i’m excited to hear what someone else thinks about it

[@heartisblazing3698]

I want to enjoy dungeon RPGs. I've played a decent bit of EOIV, Untold 1, and some other DRPGs on Vita, and somehow or another I always kinda wind up being put off. Maybe my whole approach to the dungeon deep diving idea has been wrong though, since I usually hate running back to town time and time again. I'm gonna have to give EOIV or another DRPG a fair shake again after watching this.

[@heartisblazing3698]

I'm back with an update: I started with Demon Gaze on the Vita, since I heard it was a good beginner's DRPG. I wound up loving every minute of it. It wasn't TOO difficult and it still let me create my own party that I was able to do quite well with. Thanks to the gear drop system, artifacts, and demon keys, I found it keeping me consistently engaged. I beat the main story and even cleared the post-game boss; it was an absolute blast. So now I've gotten my hands on quite a few DRPGs to play, and right now I'm actually playing EOU1. I did opt for the Story mode though since my party setup in Classic would've been exactly the same. Also, with no Gladsheim in the Classic mode, I felt like I'd be missing out on some content.

[@DonnyKirkMusic]

I'm mostly put off by generic Japanese ones by their lack of ambiance and sometimes crazy mixture of artstyles, reminiscent of doujin games where it feels like every artstyle was put in a blender, from hard-fantasy to gaudy anime art, with no real coherence. basically, wizardry 1-3 on snes, wizardry v on ps1, tale of the forsaken land on ps2, undernauts, shin megami tensei series: those are games that have that intense feeling of being in a maze with monsters and treasure and shit, which makes playing them more engaging. etrian odyssey does good too, for what it is; it definitely is comfy more than tense, though, but it does have an ambiance to it that spurs your imagination on. but the majority of recent japanese ones? they really make me think of mobile games and grinding and uhhh...that generic feeling of playing a grindfest? its that half-comfy feeling you get from mmo games. its saccharine.

[@fdevlin5932]

This is by far the most accurate and informative review of Etrian 1 available. Nice work.

[@S43Z4R]

OF COURSE, Dungeon Meshi names! That woulda've been a great theme for me, damn, good pick! Also, as expected, you really went above and beyond with this one, the wait really paid off.

[@UmatsuObossa]

The original EO was the one that hot me into it. I'd just gotten my DS and needed games, and EO just came out. The cartography caught my interest so I bought it...that was it, I was hooked and it's been my favorite series ever since.

[@AXMdoes]

As a newcomer, I got halfway through the second stratum in _Untold_ before finding out enemy stats were increased across the board. Needless to say, I got pretty discouraged as I wasn't having the easiest of times. I never realized it might have been in part because of the Story-exclusive dungeon until you said it. I thought it was mostly because they wanted to force you to engage with the Grimoire system and its very bad random nature.

[@grittynerd]

I like the idea that trying to complete the information in the bestiary for each area basically unlocks new gear that can make a difference in the next hard battles. I don't remember in the first one but you even deliver that information to the city leader and there's some rewards at certain ammounts of data. About Untold games i can understand the reason for disliking them (party lock, etc) but for me it was kinda fresh to see something like that after so much games in this style with "generic" characters. The first Untold is not much memorable but the party of second one kinda is, with various funny events in the town focusing on creating food and so on. I think that probably the most interesting one to have generic characters is 3. About FOEs another series kinda took a similar approach, 7th Dragon but with finite number of them around the world you need to destroy to have something (spoilers. that you need to dispose of them is clear by a counter on screen all the time). It's weird how they tried to mimic even elements of the interface of EO, art style and some classes and skills but i can say it has its unique ideas that i suggest to play it. Open world, moving around with 2D sprites in dungeons, some more involved story and world features, etc. Cannot say anything about its sequels because i still need to clean the world of those FOEs to be satisfied with the first ;)

[@Aboveup]

Funny you mention 7th Dragon, since that's another dungeon crawler series with music by Yuzo Koshiro. I do want to cover that sometime, if only to cover more of Rieko Kodama's work after Skies of Arcadia.

[@KDBA]

@@Aboveup The first 7thD is literally designed by the designer of the first Etrian Odyssey. It's definitely worth a play (though I recommend enabling the cheat to remove flower damage).

[@haruharudude]

Totally recommend Untold 2 on classic mode. The bonus dungeon is actually added as side-quests and the game is a lot more balanced than the absolutely busted original 2 and the grimoire system is actually fun. Dark Hunter, Troubadour, Hexer, and Beast are also the best classes in that game which story mode doesn't have on the team

[@Aboveup]

Yeah, I do want to dive into Untold 2. It sounds very interesting.

[@haruharudude]

@@Aboveup I still think that 5 is by far the best and most polished, but Untold 2 really shifted the series toward more clever puzzle designs and parties designed around ailments actually being incredibly good for the entire game

[@Aboveup]

5 is the main reason I wanted to do these videos, actually. Haven't played it, but heard nothing but good things from fans.

[@Remixdj3]

I appreciate every single dungeon meshi reference. Made me crack a smile.

[@Randomizer482]

I hate that I never put too much time into 4 all those years ago. I got stuck at some point and never really played a dungeon crawler or RPG that punished you for statting incorrectly. Thanks for reminding me of these games, I'm gonna have to give them a run through now that I'm older and not dumb

[@Randomness-hz7kj]

Always a treat to find people talking about EO! This series is definitely one of my favorites, the ost especially so. Say what you will about Untold 1 (and I agree with a lot of the issues with it), but it gave us the Roadside Trees Outside the Window and Sandy Barrens remixes, so I can’t be too mad at it.

[@LutraLovegood]

I never made the connection between Etrian and Dungeon Meshi even though I like both and you can make dishes out of monsters in at least one game...

[@LoofahLuffa]

Etrian Odyssey is one of the best games ive ever played. It has also influenced my life in a way. Thank you for the review.

[@hemangchauhan2864]

Playing games in unconventional ways (through emulation) will never not be fun. I played Sin and Punishment 2 (Wii) with KB/M controls and it was a RIDE.

[@Aboveup]

I still need to replay Timesplitters 2 and 3 with the mouse injection mods on Dolphin one of these days. Same with Metroid Prime. It just weirdly makes sense with EO considering it's pulling so much from the PC scene already as is, so to bring it back to PC is just a natural fit.

[@Nathan-rb3qp]

I absolutely love Yuzo Koshiro's music.

[@AnjuDieQualle]

Your pronunciation of Landsknecht sent shivers down my spine

[@javongoshay]

It isn't often we see brand new Etrian Odyssey videos pop up. Thank you for your contribution!!!

[@DylanKaneda]

What an excellent review and retrospective of the first game of this amazing series! I really liked the structure and the presentation of the video.

[@realOmegasMovie]

Interesting video👍 I played Etrian Odyssey IV on 3ds last year. And danm it was tough but in the end I beat the game and had a fun time. I really understand how you can enjoy these games 😄

[@momijistudios8387]

Hi I just found your channel. Keep up the great work!

[@franks3876]

"I do intend to cover the whole series over time." Aight so I'm subscribing

[@Fomortiis100]

I've been waiting so long for somebody to make a more in-depth look at Etrian Odyssey which is my favorite RPG franchise, to the point where I was considering making the videos myself despite my lack of editing knowledge, and I might still do that someday! But I'm really glad to see somebody else tackle these games and shine a light on them that they deserve.

[@obligatoryfate6849]

This game was ‘the one’ that got me into dungeon crawling, and I first played it a few months before the release of EOV. I love this game. Thanks for this video, I hope you make a video for each of these games and the spin-offs.

[@antoniomohan4676]

Me: A 26yr old seeing an F.O.E for the first time since high-school. My Anxiety: Cue Japanese F.O.E music video PTSD.

[@Darkkfated]

Great review, but you're pronouncing "Landshark" wrong. ;) (Also, huge props for playing a clip of IOSYS' FOE song. FOE! FOE! FOE! FOE!) Last second edit: Untold 2 fixes ALL the problems that Untold 1 had and is probably my favorite game in the entire series. Definitely worth your time! To wit: The optional Story-exclusive area is now explorable in Classic Mode; Multiple save files allow you to have Story and Classic games running at once; better New Game + options; no late-game spoilers in the opening cinematic; Story-mode characters are far more interesting this time around (and so is the overall plot involving the titular Fafnir Knight).

[@CP-zu5pi]

There is a huge difference between the original trilogy and the 3DS remasters. Not only were the graphics updated, the music was changed from FM to full orchestral (FM music was paid DLC which is sad) and extra "quality of life" features were added with skill boosters and party buffs...but this makes the newer games vastly easier but also more accessible for players not used to old school rpgs. The extra "story mode" areas power level your party without needed to farm specific items in a regular stratum, with untold adding super powered story classes in Gunner to EO1 and the godlike killing machine Fafnir Knight to EO2. FOEs also don't give exp in the original EO2 lol masochists play OG EO2

[@CrowScareify]

Etrian Odyssey IV "Storm" is one of the best battle themes of all time. OF. ALL. TIME.

[@newtonmarques1271]

Eyo first time I caught one of your vids at the first hour. Here to say you do a great job and helped me find many games i would not have given a chance otherwise, thanks for that :)

[@philiphunt-bull5817]

I played persona q2, and now I want to play this series, because q2 is one of the best RPGs I've ever played.

[@michaelolaf9968]

I'm glad someone else feels as much. The game feels like three decks' worth of cards packed into the space of one, if that makes sense.

[@prof.penspinner9038]

If I'm to be honest I preferred PQ1, but maybe that's because I like P3/P4 cast more. Still good game tho! Just be warned, Etrian Odyssey is much more punishing than either PQ games. Have fun! EO really needs some recognition and it's nice to see interest :)

[@ken-ch1rp]

(Funniest)Nexus>EO2U>EO3(NDS)>EO4>EO5>EOU>EO2(NDS)>(least funniest)EO1(NDS) for fun level EO1(NDS)>EO2(NDS)>EO5>EO3(NDS)>EO4>EOU>EO2U>Nexus for progressive new elements

[@ipdfmd1632]

For the lack of map indicators for trap floors and the floor that moves you automatically , for the first one i used the brush since it changes colors of the tiles to know there was the dmg tiles and for the 2nd one i remember there was an arrow symbol so i used that to know you can only move certain way.

[@Ghalion666]

Oh god I hate those survive for 3 days quests too. At least have an npc guard you can sell junk to. Its painful throwing away all the stuff you grinded for so long

[@lucassworldofletsplays9270]

That FOE part was hilarious

[@Liferake]

Game's pretty fun. Very comfy. One of my favorite game series, for sure. I'm with you for the Untold shortcomings, I really liked revisiting the dungeons on the 3DS but how the games leaned so heavily on the story components, ehhhh they were only okay to me. I really want to play 5 and Nexus again after seeing this.

[@tun1412]

Here 2 years after seeing this video, Etrian Odyssey unrelated, but thanks for indirectly introducing me to Dungeon Meshi

[@Aboveup]

Glad to have led someone to that manga. It's a real treasure.

[@CountMecha]

Great review. I was looking at some of these Atlus game reviews because they're currently on sale for 3DS (and probably will be for the last time). Had to hit the subscribe button for the Dirty Pair appreciation at the end of the video. 🤙

[@NixterThePhoenix]

Who else is here after the latest Nintendo Direct?

[@Ar0474]

✋ definitely, I'm pretty excited for it!

[@Rael199327]

Etrian Odyssey and Dungeon Meshi in one video? Just perfection. Have you played EO: Untold 2? It has food mechanics and all i could think about while playing was in DM lol

[@Aboveup]

Haven't played any of the games past Untold 1, no. But I did hear Untold 2 had some more interesting twists added that I want to mess around with in the future.

[@Conkel]

That bard looks like hes been playing his guitar for so long... hes dead inside lol. Great review man! Love this series.

[@dimensionalnemesis8636]

Old EO review in this day and age? Fuck yeah! Anyway personally i saw a video on KZbin looking up something minor and just mimicked it by leaving all trap floors and quicksand stuff unpainted with just drawing the walls at said spots, works really well, i remember the dungeons well to not forget its gimmick after all, and pits as actual holes and shortcuts, although in post game dungeon i actually ran outta pit icons on holes... So i left the rest unpainted, there's no limit to paint after all, as im in the 3rd game now im still using the same unpainted method. Anyway many great thanks for the review EO needs as much spotlight as possible its amazing. (Edit: Oh and obviously for this to work always leave auto-painting off in options)

[@wiiseeyou]

A review of Infinite Space for the Ds would be interesting. It one of those "It's good?" kind of games.

[@ThirtyfourEC]

Love when hopeful turns hopeless. Great intro.

[@tun1412]

Hell yeah, Etrian Odyssey! This game really got me hooked me up, I'm already playing Nexus!

[@RangedPaladin]

EO4 was my first EO game and I have become enamored with it, very excited for future reviews for the series

[@Fomortiis100]

"I did consider Marcille as a Medic originally, but I didn't want this playthrough to become too dark." *OOF*

[@lucislibari]

This is a really well done video! Etrian Odyssey games are my favorite games bar none, I'm interested in seeing how you approach the other games in the series! I also really like your style of review, consider me a new subscriber . My favorite game in the franchise by far is Untold 2, have over 400 hours in that bad boy, shortly followed by EOIV...interested in hearing your thoughts on those!

[@Andrew_Erickson]

F-O-E!

[@Aboveup]

F O E

[@jayce704]

That was the best EO expirience I ever had. It was the very first one! Great rewiev. Thank you :)

[@Taro_SMT]

My favourite Saga for portable consoles!! Love your review, thanks! Evolution until EO Nexus is fantastic!

[@Faceless_time_traveler]

We need more people to talk about Etrian Odyssey

[@skyeguy7914]

I’ve wanted to start doing KZbin stuff, and one of the things I’ve been wanting to do especially is a King K inspired retrospective series on these games. I may do it some day, but not any time soon I don’t think.

[@snowmanleblanc6053]

Hands down my best jrpg ever. I never really able to enjoy big times jrpg like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, etc. But Etrian is the first one to hook me in.

[@arngrim9159]

F O E O O E O F

[@Aboveup]

F O E

[@Liferake]

Even in the KZbin Comments section F O E!

[@marnixvandenhof8120]

This was all I played when I was smaller and still fit in a small tent on my holidays.

[@CeleryCoffee]

Between DunMeshi getting an anime adaptation and Etrian Odyssey HD releasing, this video has aged like fine wine. I'm gonna go play the first one after I'm done with the third.

[@rumotu]

I was watching this on my Dual monitor Pc setup. And kept glancing all my lower screen all the time to see the map, and every time I had to cut myself as there is no second screen on video xD

[@BloomerTNC]

i like to call the FOE with a more acurate traslation: Fckin Overpowered Enemy

[@Pridetoons]

Thank You for reminding me of this game.

[@DrAraxxor]

A pretty nice and well researched review of EO1. Not too many people realize how powerful oils (and the Troubadour song equivalents) were in 1. I will say I think the remake was a bit under talked about here. Namely that Gladsheim is actually pretty tacked on and there's not much boosting it would have done for a Classic Mode party. Story mode on the other hand, is way worse than what was outlined in this video, though that would have been getting into spoiler territory admittedly. My personal favorite of the series is 3, and it's my favorite soundtrack of the bunch as well, though 5 is a close second. Interestingly enough while a lot of people have the perception that the remake was designed around Story first, looking through the game data told me a different story. Seemed like they focused on making a 3DS remake of EO1 first and foremost before adding the story related content which looked like it was super tacked on. Because while everything regarding Classic mode is a neat and tidy package... Story mode's organization and such was a huge trashfire, to put it bluntly.

[@Aboveup]

"Story mode on the other hand, is way worse than what was outlined in this video, though that would have been getting into spoiler territory admittedly." Yeah, the video was already getting pretty long for a look at just the first game already and I was considering going deeper into Untold's story additions. But I think going over 30 minutes is definitely going to repel people not too familiar or sure about this series and my intent is trying to getting the appeal across to people who might want to play it for themselves later. Even just going to Gladsheim when the big twist about what the world really is when you get to Lost Shinjuku is all sorts of messed up. Doesn't make sense a "secret" like that needs to be protected anymore when you've already gone to similar areas before. I know there's more, like the forest people massacre not fitting, but that alone already really bugs me a lot and it happens very early on.

[@DrAraxxor]

​@@Aboveup Yeah that twist being spoiled was one of the biggest things that bugged me when I first played through EOU story considering it's cited within both the international and Japanese playerbases as one of the most memorable moments in the series. I kind of glossed over the rest of story mode on my first playthrough until I played through it again recently and uhhh, wow it's a mess. A ton of inconsistent and abandoned plot points brought up early on that never get followed up upon. An incredibly inconsistent central theme (I couldn't even tell you what it was but it sure felt like it wanted to have one.) And the writing from Stratum 4 onwards takes the game from "kind of droll and doesn't add anything to the experience" to "outright bad." It was like they couldn't decide what they wanted the game to be on that end and it shows. 2U story mode and that game as a whole is a lot more organized on that front.

[@Aboveup]

That's a shame. I kind of stopped playing EO after Untold. Partially because of how bad a taste it left for me, but also because I wasn't the biggest fan of the 3DS hardware to begin with and it started failing on my pretty early despite not treating it poorly. Part of why I want to cover the series is also the good things I heard about 5 and Untold 2, so going through the older entries helps serve as a nice refresher.

[@maximmillennia]

brutally hard xD EO1 on ds is one of the rings in hell

[@skyeguy7914]

As far as the maps having intrinsic value, I absolutely agree. I genuinely enjoy leaving no stone unturned in these games. Even when it leads to certain disaster for my party. Sometimes a hard lesson in survival instinct is a reward in and of itself, funny enough. The biggest thing I enjoy about the maps in EO is specifically the sense of accomplishment. Knowing the map like the back of your hand. Looking over all the puzzles and traps you had to overcome to get to the end… it really does have a unique satisfaction to it.

[@Toastkoro]

For how little content EO gets, this video was very good.

[@geliscon]

I like to call the encounter orb the “foe-dometer”

[@Vulcanfaux]

I'm still hoping for a new game on the switch soon. I know figuring out the mapping is gunna be a question on everyone's mind, but I think I know of a way to do it. In handheld mode touch screen, Duh... but on docked mode, Gyro Controls. Now hold your horses, look at okami on the switch, it uses the gyro controls for drawing too. Yes it may seem or feel weird at first, but once you get use to it it's pretty fast amd easy. They could set A to always place/draw depending on what you have selected and B to erase. Then the trigger and bumpers (L, R, ZL, ZR) as ways to scroll through options, heck they can give us a radial menu like in monster hunter worldborne/rise tolet us select the things we want faster, even letting us customize it to put things like doors, stairs and other icons we use alot. It's not perfect by any means but it is the best I can think of to allow mapping in docked mode. And - or X can be used to bring up/put away the map. They can even do a neat animation to have the screen pan down like your party is actually looking down to see the map.

[@elistiagel642]

Yeah, we all remembered that we used to have a crush on female Hexer (the purple one)

[@eddiespaghetti7878]

Rewatching this now knowing we are getting the Switch remake!

[@prof.penspinner9038]

Love the Etrian Odyssey DS games - even the first title was solid. Just have a fondness for the map making, skill trees, the atmosphere of the different strata, avoiding the FOEs... Will say it's not the grinding that makes the series fun for me (as someone with not a lot of time) but I've gotten used to the trappings of old school dungeon crawlers over time. Despite the map making being the gimmick of the series, not many reviewers talk about the clues the games give you to gauge space. Might be because they think they would be stating the obvious, but as a player you don't usually pick up on this stuff. So props for mentioning!

[@Schnitwagon]

11:19 blaze it

[@williamhououin]

Great video! I loved Etrian Odyssey back in the days, played 2 and a few others, and the first EO is still my favourite! Love those DRPG games! the Ps Vita (rip) is a fantastic handheld for those types of games Cheers !

[@CallumDark]

I hope you do check out 2 Untold at some point. While the story mode is better, this time the classic mode has the new content in it so you don't miss out. Plus they improved the grimoire system. Highlander from 1U is a class in 2U. The only real downside is the bosses are a bit damage spongey because they are designed around the story party, Fafnir deals a ton of damage.