The Most Underrated JRPG Series Is Still ALIVE! Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection!

Phew, it's been a hot minute, but I come with stellar news! Etrian Odyssey is making its maiden voyage off of handheld double screened devices and is joining us in the modern era on Nintendo Switch and Steam! If you know me, you'd know that I just had to ramble about it. So that's what I did. What was supposed to be an approximately 8 minute video somehow stretched out to 30. Yikes, I don't know what I love more; Etrian Odyssey or the sound of my own voice. Either way, whether you're a long time fan or you're just discovering the series, I hope you're excited for these games and for the future of this series!
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[@MSS47Ag]

They better be making Wacom drawing tablets compatible with the Steam version😂 All jokes aside, I’m so happy that this franchise is getting a second life and more recognition. Honestly, it’s one of the best franchises I’ve discovered during my time with the (3)DS family.

[@kzeriar25]

I watched this video while playing EO2 me and my older brother got EO1 on DS I think when it came out, not knowing what was it about. I was a little child, and I would only watch him play, but the same was so damn hard we would always get stuck or not understand optimal gameplay. Eventually I would play too until I was the only one playing it. It had been more than a decade since we first stepped into the emerald grove until I defeated Primevil. Somehow in the meantime my brother got EO2 for DS, we played until the 8F, but I never touched it for some years still. Recently I restarted it from scratch and having all that joy again. I'll get EO3 for steam later, and I hope they remaster the other games for PC too, because finding DS games is becoming increasingly difficult. What is most captivating for me in this series is the magical aura to the labyrinths - the amazing music and the scenerie, the idea of such beautiful unscathed biomes where deadly demons await, and you're braving towards where no one has never been. Every time there's a gameover it's like another guild before you that died there. It connects me to the forest and nature in almost a spiritual way.

[@EtceteraDude]

I'm glad I got to be your background noise for your epic gamer session. That's a really sweet story you shared. Nostalgic gaming memories certainly hit different, and it's always nice to carry part of it forward with us into the present and future. The audio and aesthetics of Etrian Odyssey are definitely something that might not consciously cross everyone's minds when they play, but it can't be understated how powerful and effective they are in giving EO its identity. I always loved the artstyle and character designs, and I really grew to appreciate the music while editing this video. I've never thought of that before, but I really like that idea of your game overs paralleling the defeats of other guilds that may have tried and failed before you. We as the player obviously get as many redoes as we want, but the NPCs in game definitely stress how dangerous the labyrinths are, so viewing it from that lens really drives the point home of how easy it is for some of these adventurers to lose it all in one bad encounter. Etrian Odyssey really has a way of letting the mind and imagination wander while we play it, huh?

[@Gegs-f6r]

I really wish the remasters had the level of customization that Nexus had. It really helped the game lean even more into its Wizardry roots and made Roleplaying much better doing whole themes for your teams. I can still replace and edit sprites on PC but it's not the same without those goofy over the top voices

[@cheetah672]

I'm also probably going to get it on Steam too. Map drawing with the mouse is probably the best way to go about things without having a DS. Not everyone has one, but I also think this could potentially be a perfect Steam Deck game. You can use the touch screen just like the Switch, but using the touchpads to move the mouse around sounds like it may be even more intuitive than touching the one screen we have now I'm not going to pretend I'm the biggest EO fan (I bought 4 and 5, never got far in either. Also bought Etrian Mystery Dungeon and proceeded to not play that much lol), but I love your enthusiasm, subbed! I am revisiting EO4 just to say I beat one of the games (that isn't Persona Q lmao) before getting the collection and through guides/feeding off the hype of fans, I'm really getting into it! Excellent video!

[@EtceteraDude]

Thanks! I did think about the concept of playing these on the Steam Deck, but on top of not personally having one, I didn't want to assume it would be fully compatible. Games seem to have varied levels of functionality on the Steam Deck, so I'm curious to see if it'll run well, touch screen controls and all. It's a new release, so I'd assume it'll work, but yeah. The Steam Deck is cool and would be super cozy for EO

[@Darkkfated]

Having played EO 1 and 2 on emulator from time to time, using the mouse in place of a stylus on a touchscreen works surprisingly well. It's a little weird and janky sometimes, but a lot of that is because emulator mouse-to-touchpad conversion is always a little...off compared to doing stuff on an actual 3DS. I'll be curious to see if the mouse-map-drawing is better in the collection on Steam than it is on emulators. I sure hope so, but who knows, right?

[@Darkkfated]

@mushy haha, that's fair. It IS nice having most of my EO games on my 3DS so I can play them wherever, but if I have to play 2 out of the 8 at my computer and no where else, I can deal.

[@deadturret4049]

I find that using a tablet stylus on switch works incredibly well.

[@Sh1ranu1]

I’m so stoked to get the games on steam, I’ll be able to stream it with friends, Demi-fiend, I won’t have to sacrifice my first born to play Etrian 3, and all the portraits are updated so I can see all that beautiful 2d artwork

[@senorapples1115]

Im glad etrian odyssey 1-3 is coming to the switch, i pussy out on the 3ds trilogy and live to regret it. So this will be my point of entry and happy to see HD enemy sprites

[@jonathanschwob8650]

fucking based review. im 13 hours into my first eo experience, eo3. this is it, this is peak gaming.

[@Hank49716]

No physical for switch is a bummer though

[@EtceteraDude]

I completely forgot to mention that. There's actually so much I forgot to mention, but I didn't want to make a 3 hour vid. I don't know how that slipped my mind, but that's actually another tick on the cons side of the pricing, imo. The fact that there's no physical option definitely hurts it. I already plan to get it digitally on steam, so I didn't really think about that.

[@Xeno-The-Wanderer]

Japan gets a physical edition but it’s unknown if the language option is there but I have a feeling they will because switch but only because I don’t know if there are games without language options to at least English

[@Trenell83]

There was an update. From Play-Asia there is a physical version coming with english subtitles.

[@Xeno-The-Wanderer]

@@Trenell83 all versions?

[@Trenell83]

@@Xeno-The-Wanderer No. Only the Asia version is Multilanguage with English being listed. The Japanese version does not list English as a language option.

[@matty6878]

im the biggest EO fan i know and i will buy it but man... that retail price is steep...

[@Darkkfated]

Being able to play EO 1, 2, and 3 on my computer without needing to fight with buggy emulators that run like ass and can never display the font properly? Sign me the hell up. Also, if anyone is wondering, most of the music in this video was from Etrian Odyssey 4 (which has one of the BEST OSTs in the entire series), but the music in EVERY EO game is *stellar*. Is the bundle overpriced? Ab-so-lute-ly. Will I happily pay it to support Atlus and EO in general? Also absolutely. These games are some of my favorite games of all time. Period. They could charge $300 for this bundle and I'd still buy it. And not just because I don't have real, physical copies of EO and EO2 - I may be an EO nut, but I'm not paying some asshole on e-bay or re-seller on Amazon that kind of money with none of it going back to the EO devs, just to have an original DS cartridge collecting dust on my "DS display" bookcase. I'm lucky enough to have physical cartridges for EO3, 4, Untold 1, Untold 2, 5, and Nexus - if I "only" have 1 and 2 digitally, that's good enough for me. As for the new "Atlus crossover" portraits... they're pretty lame (and stupidly overpriced, like the bundle itself), and pretty immersion breaking... but you get them "for free" if you pre-order, so I guess I'll have them available if I'm ever feeling goofy when making characters. Maybe I'll use the Joker one at some point? That one's okay, the rest I really couldn't care less about. Lastly, if anyone out there is reading this comment (and watching this video), and is a fan of JRPGs (or dungeon crawlers in particular) and you haven't played Etrian Odyssey yet, you need to rectify that. You are missing out, full stop. It really is like playing a classic Dungeons and Dragons adventure, just with a bunch of anime avatars. The combat is the best in the business, the mapping is super immersive, the freedom in party creation (and building) makes for near-limitless re-playability, and the game NEVER lets you get complacent or grind mindlessly by mashing "attack" until you win - every fight is a struggle, every reward is earned, every new piece of gear is near-vital to your continued success. Toss in amazing soundtracks and clever dungeon layouts, and you have one hell of an addictive RPG series.

[@triplespearmint]

Just a few more days...

[@fdevlin5932]

1:35 😂 👍 well done

[@johnrodriguez4904]

this is both a great review and analysis of what we know while also being a passionate loveletter to a beloved franchise. great video!

[@BoevayaKrevedka]

Never played Etrian odyssey, but I love ATLUS, so preordered the game just for the preinstall option, to start playing it the moment it launches))

[@firby7341]

i was thinking of getting the port despite owning all etrian odyssey games but heroes of lagaard and the second mystery dungeon, but when i found out the alchemist's poison passive wasnt fixed and still doesnt increase poison damage i was like nah xD then i keep playing the originals xD

[@midnightshade32]

It's not 1st party so it will go on sale. It's on sale now. Just picked it up for $47. Glad I waited. I have them on 3ds too bought them on Release for my old ds I no longer have,. I could play on 3ds but I fear it won't last the more I use that so if they come elsewhere I grab them.

[@fdevlin5932]

Great video dude. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts after playing the HD collection.

[@dimensionalnemesis8636]

I just want more EO content! But do what you want, you're fun to listen to >W

[@kazuhiro7816]

Banger video my dude! Looking forward to more commentary videos from you.

[@keman501]

almost time just 4 more days hope you have fun bud

[@akaimizu1]

One thing that made me figure (of course) when it came to how to make it dual screen when only having a single screen, is the limited resolution and screen size, of the DS systems. But when the Switch has so much more room, it works so well. However, the Switch uses touch for any game that could really use it. There are a number of card games (including stuff in that 51 games collection) All the games in the Voice of Cards series. Darkest Dungeon, if you want to use that functionality. Not nearly an exhaustive list. So there’s more than one would think. It works really well and makes a comfortable way to play it in bed.

[@pootissandvichhere9135]

Those orange balls are called FOEs. Deliberately overpowered enemies who form the crux of the games puzzles, where you have to find a way to slip past, lest you be crushed to a pulp.

[@CarlosSilva-bh4bi]

I like that in this game YOU are just the guy making the map, and if you get all KO you just die because you are all harmless

[@deadturret4049]

in EO3, the guy at the explorers guild says you can step into the fray yourself or just hire explorers, with the implication being that the game wants to let you roleplay. If you want to pretend you're a party member, its totally valid. Same thing if you want to just pretend youre a manager or a cartographer. You really make your own team's story.

[@XexalSeyer]

I agreed with the entire video--up to the point where you gush about the map making and stated how you were one of the MANY that kept questioning / worrying over the map making part of the gameplay. Which in my honest opinion, as one of this series' biggest fans, I could care less if they took it out. It's a nice and fun little gimmick but at the end of the day, this is one of the most solid JRPG's ever, with a neat map making gimmick tacked on top. Not the other way around. What makes Etrian Odyssey, Etrian Odyssey is not the map making. It's everything all at once. The art style, the music, the combat, the skill trees, the gameplay loop. IDK but the way they ended up doing the map making in the collection is the same way I and many others have been saying they'd do it for a while now. The DRPG genre has existed before and after EO and so it most certainly works on consoles without 2 screens! Good video otherwise, we ate well that day. Already pre-ordered and can't wait to experience the first 2 games since I started with 3 but didn't go back for 1 and 2.

[@EtceteraDude]

I've never really had any friends to talk to who played the series, so all my thoughts and take aways are entirely from my own experience. I've always been really interested in game and level design, so the map making always stood out as a highlight to me which I feel like enhances the exploration element of the game. That's totally valid, though. I'm well aware that a lot of what I said might not resonate the same for everyone else, and I'm not familiar with any other games that use mapping like EO does. In retrospect, I guess I really got caught up on the mapping element. I just really like it, lol.

[@Piradood]

while that's fair, the games were designed around the mapping function. It was the core conceit of the game and is one of the main parts of the gameplay loop. Pre-emptive knowledge of what lies ahead and what to work around is integral to dungeon sustainability and prep. It's really what ties it all together imo.

[@Darkkfated]

Strong disagree. The mapmaking absolutely enhances the experience. It gives you a sense of ownership - YOU mapped this floor, YOU found all the shortcuts and gathering points, YOU *mastered* this part of the Labyrinth - and you have this here map to prove it. Not that the rest of the game isn't also amazing - Yuzo ALWAYS knocks it out of the park, the combat is always satisfying, the party building is always a great challenge, and so on. But if the game just auto-mapped everything for you it would make EO play and (more importantly) feel like virtually every other dungeon crawler (and even a lot of the EO spinoff games). It would lose a certain something, a key piece of what makes EO.... EO.

[@XexalSeyer]

@@Darkkfated Nah, not at all. It's still a gimmick at the end of the day, everything else is what matters.