Etrian Odyssey (all games and any future games)

[Rutger]

I have Untold and haven't started it yet. Is the story mode worth it at all? I was planning on only playing the classic mode.

You'll miss out on the Highlander and Gunner classes, as well as an extra labyrinth if you play classic(you can get the classes in classic if you play through story first). There may be some other differences, but I picked classic.

 

[KuroganeHammer]

ohHHH My god this is a thread

I am currently playing Etrian Odyssey 4

I love being wiped out entirely by every random mook ever.

Spoiler: 3rd "stratum" spoilerz

had all of my party killed instantly by one of the Boiling Lizards attacks even though im level 43. Wasn't too impressed. lollloollol

I've never played Etrian Odyssey 1, is it worth?

 

[Rutger]

I decided that it isn't worth it for me to play EOI.

Take that for what you will, but I think the remake is a fine substitute. The original has slower battles, less map tools, and no sidestep with L and R. The classes are also a big step back in the first two games, the games may end up harder because of all the awful skills you could end up picking, but you can also break the games if you get the right skills.

The remake should be easier to find too, and while I do think the classes have taken a big step back after EOIV, it's still a good game. Pick classic and you will pretty much be playing the original, but with a lot of the improvements that have been made since then.

 

[KuroganeHammer]

I don't think I can get the remake here :<

Atlus doesn't release games in Australia.

I never got to finish EO2 either... I should finish that one.

(I'm using floor titles for my custom title <3)

 

[Rutger]

Oh, I didn't even think to look at your location.

It's a shame that Atlus doesn't have a branch in countries outside of Japan and the US, a lot of people miss out on some good games.

It's hard to say then. If you can find it easily, and can put up with the loss of a lot of improvements, then it could be worth it.

However, since you have 2 and 4(do you have 3 as well?) and haven't finished either of them, there's probably no need for you to rush. I'd say finish what you have and if you still want more then look for EO1.

 

[mimgrim]

A huge fan of the more recent Etrian Oyddsey games, though I don't really like my rpg's to be difficult. I thought the character art for EO4 looked cute, so I downloaded the demo and by the next day I had bought the game.

My favorite thing about the series is probably how they get my creative juices flowing, and the music. Though I tend to not like very many Atlus games, I always adore the music. I got really close to writing a story based on my party's adventures in EQ4. I have Untold and haven't started it yet. Is the story mode worth it at all? I was planning on only playing the classic mode.

PS.
As with all things I'm a fan of, seeing you going around with that Avatar, mimgrim, always makes me a little bit happier.

The problem with Story Mode is mainly the predetermined party. However the extra dungeon and the banter between the party memebers is enough reason to do it. I know someone who played through Classic first then played Story mode carrying over his party from Classic so he could steam roll through it and not worry about the predefined party. Also when the characters get to level 30 on story mode they can Class Change, but beware that their stats do not change like a regular generic class would so you have to be careful in what you class change into if you decide to do that. But other then the predetermined party, Story Mode is worth playing through at least once. The banter between the characters is pretty good and the story isn't horrible, I've seen most people call it mediocre but I myself have found to it to be good, though it ain't nothing outstanding. It's also a good thing Frederica is extremely cute, and she just happens to be my avi currently xD, especially when she turns all red when you pick certain choices.

ohHHH My god this is a thread

I am currently playing Etrian Odyssey 4

I love being wiped out entirely by every random mook ever.

Spoiler: 3rd "stratum" spoilerz

had all of my party killed instantly by one of the Boiling Lizards attacks even though im level 43. Wasn't too impressed. lollloollol

I've never played Etrian Odyssey 1, is it worth?

Wait to see if EOU comes out in your region first.

As for Boiling Lizard, are you attempting to destroy the large scale to bring it down to half health when you fight it? That makes it much easier. Also if you have an RM in your party make sure to lay a Fire Rune down and keep it down or have your party equipped with fire resistant accessories or armor or Fire Mists can work to. That will make the attacks it deals out much more manageable.

 

[KuroganeHammer]

its ok i crushed the stupid lizard

im at the point where i have no idea what I'm doing with my characters

I was running L/D/F front line with M/R back line but i decided that D is complete and utter garbage and her skills were all over the shop, so I replaced her with a medic front line because I'm a troll, so I ended up being LN/ML/FD front line with MR/RM back line, now i want to use the Bushi character you get for the epic art but I have no idea who to replace

I think I'll go:

LB?/MB/FD
RM/BM

oh god help

Edit: Ok

Spoiler

I am now
LM/MB/FD
RM/BM

I am using Kibagami as a medic. Yes this is horribly inefficient

but he doesnt heal for anything. ;___;

 

[mimgrim]

its ok i crushed the stupid lizard

im at the point where i have no idea what I'm doing with my characters

I was running L/D/F front line with M/R back line but i decided that D is complete and utter garbage and her skills were all over the shop, so I replaced her with a medic front line because I'm a troll, so I ended up being LN/ML/FD front line with MR/RM back line, now i want to use the Bushi character you get for the epic art but I have no idea who to replace

I think I'll go:

LB?/MB/FD
RM/BM

oh god help

Edit: Ok

Spoiler

I am now
LM/MB/FD
RM/BM

I am using Kibagami as a medic. Yes this is horribly inefficient

but he doesnt heal for anything. ;___;

Freaking....

First thing first. A > M for healing, by loads. Hell D > M for healing even. Main reason to use M is for Star Drop which is an excellent skills for specific parties. So retire the M into a A and subclass the A as a M.Then move it to the back.

Your L doesn't have good synergy in your party, Possibly consider a NS in the front as a NS alone can carry a party to victory. Now you have 2 options here. Get another front row user or back row user. If you go for back row another RM or a Sniper would be good. RMs work well on the same line together thanks to the passive boost found through their Prof skills. Sniper would work great with a A/M since the A/M should focus on binding and healing (don't bother with the aliment circles, your NS can land aliments well enough) and when it successfully binds the Sniper's Chase Bind will activate. If you go for front you can go for a Dancer who works good with a NS if it gets subclassed into a NS and made offensively with a focus on Chase Samba, Attack Tango, Regen Waltz, Sword Dance, and Mist Dance on the Dancer side and only going for Blade Furry on the NS side, also do not put points into both Fan Dance and Speed Boost as it is bugged only Fan Dance as it is the better one. Btw for the NS subclass as a A for a high aliment success rate on the throws.

So about all the being over the place, it's late and I didn't feel like organizing my thoughts on it.

 

[Rutger]

Spoiler

I am now
LM/MB/FD
RM/BM

I am using Kibagami as a medic. Yes this is horribly inefficient

but he doesnt heal for anything. ;___;

I'm curious to know why you feel the need to have four medics?
And why would you want to sub a Bushi as a Medic? If it's to recover TP, then you could just bring some amritas. Though I like to use low TP as a reminder to go save. But you Bushi should be focused on dealing damage, as should your Landsknecht, and probably your Runemaster too.

If you want efficient healing then try to get an Arcanist subbed Medic, not only will it's circles heal a little while they are up, but you can dismiss them for more health(which can be boosted further with heal mastery from the Medic subclass) AND you can get a passive skill that will heal up to 10HP per step in the labyrinth. It's probably the best healer you can get in this game.


Also, don't look down on the Dancer, every class in this game is well designed and you can find a way to make them work. The Dancer and the Sniper were essential to maxing out my Landskencht's links by the endgame.
My team of:
LR, FD/FR, DN
SN, AM
Was able to to get defeat everything(I changed my F's subclass for the postgame.)
Well, I didn't try the post game final boss without weakening it beforehand, don't feel like grinding for that right now. :/

Anyways, there's a lot of ways you can build any class. One of the best part of EO is the freedom it gives you imo, and IV has some of the best class balance.

 

[Nautilus]

Thought I'd talk about my team in EQ4. I had some more wiggle room with what was viable since it was easy mode and I got lost often enough to be slightly over-leveled on top of it.


Fortress(Sub-Bushi), Landy[Sub-Nightseeker), Dancer (Sub-Archer)
Runemaster (Sub-Fortress), Medic (Sub-Arcanist)

The Runemaster was made to work in conjuction with the landy and dancer to form the core strategy for the team. I'm sure other people who've played EQ4 know what I'm talking about. I also made sure it had MP that pretty much never ran out, because I'm lazy. Subclass was purely for bonus SP.

The Landy is mostly meant to capitalize on all the elemental junk, The stuff I took from Nightseeker was a chance of attacking twice in a row and making her move first in my turn order via her own statistics.

Dancer mostly just buffed and did her followup attacks. Would occasionally heal but Medic really had all that covered well enough. I got Archer purely because I thought it fit thematically and just got the ability that prevents wild encounters from occurring for a certain amount of time. Had a couple of skills that could help out that core landy strategy from Archer too if I needed them too.

Medic with specific Arcanist abilities was amazing. Via a combination of healing a certain amount after every battle, and slowly healing as I walked through the dungeons, I was at full health for basically every single random encounter and never needed any items. Auto-Heal and occasionally Auto-Revive also were extremely generous to me, and I had her learn Tame Ground. This was all very desirable since I'm lazy.

Fortress ended up different from what I imagined. By the time they got the Bushi subclass doing so made them ridiculous self-sufficient. I again relied on luck and only used Taunt/Auto-Taunt to prevent my teammates from being hit. She took hits and hit back pretty hard, and healed and recovered sp efficiently. Basically, if the rest of my party died to mooks because I did something stupid like press a wrong button, or got really unlucky, she could take care of any threat all by herself, given enough patience and careful treading. Or at the very least give me additional turns in which I could run away. [I read of a post game build for Fortress/Bushi that could solo Dragons, actually. Sounded super legit.]

I constantly hear from everyone that binds are vital, and I'm sure they are for people who aren't playing on Baby mode like I was. But I was playing on Baby mode, so I used none. :B

I chose these five characters because I thought they were cute, primarily. The Landy and Fortress were the ones in the cover art, as was the Medic. The Runemsater is the red haired chick and the Dancer is that pink haired chick. If I played again, I'd make it a point too use the five classes I didn't use this time. No other reasoning is good enough to convince me to do otherwise with my new game +.

 

[Zankoku]

Hi, I've been exploring EOU, cleared Story Normal for, well, the story, and am now trying to get everything done on Classic. My party so far is Ronin (Upper+Peerless Stance phys), Protector (Parry), Dark Hunter -> Gunner (Skill Boost+Ricochet phys), Hexer (binds + elemental Grimoire), Troubadour (buffs+Taboo Rondo), and I've reached B29F. Everything's scary in the 6th Stratum :S

 

[mimgrim]

Hi, I've been exploring EOU, cleared Story Normal for, well, the story, and am now trying to get everything done on Classic. My party so far is Ronin (Upper+Peerless Stance phys), Protector (Parry), Dark Hunter -> Gunner (Skill Boost+Ricochet phys), Hexer (binds + elemental Grimoire), Troubadour (buffs+Taboo Rondo), and I've reached B29F. Everything's scary in the 6th Stratum :S

I'm still doing Story Normal xD. I refused to do expert on Story when I am given a predetermined party. Once I beat story I'm going straight to Classic Expert. So far I'm toying around with the idea of 2 Ronins in the front row, a Troubadour and Hexer in the back. And for the last member I can't decide between a Dark Hunter or a Protector. The Ronins are suppose to be the definition of a glass canon and a DH isn't suppose to be all that bulky, but I feel the Protector to be rather underwhelming in EOU. .

 

[Nautilus]

I'll be playing in baby mode so i'll see which character models are cutest.

If I have time I might replay on a harder difficulty though, but I rarely do.

 

[Zankoku]

I'm still doing Story Normal xD. I refused to do expert on Story when I am given a predetermined party. Once I beat story I'm going straight to Classic Expert. So far I'm toying around with the idea of 2 Ronins in the front row, a Troubadour and Hexer in the back. And for the last member I can't decide between a Dark Hunter or a Protector. The Ronins are suppose to be the definition of a glass canon and a DH isn't suppose to be all that bulky, but I feel the Protector to be rather underwhelming in EOU. .

Yeah I'm on Classic Expert too, you will definitively need either a Protector or an appropriate Grimoire Stone if you plan on getting through the 6th Stratum and/or fighting the dragons, as the Elemental Walls and Parry are pretty much imperative to not getting wiped in a single turn by a lot of the optional stuff.

 

[mimgrim]

Yeah I'm on Classic Expert too, you will definitively need either a Protector or an appropriate Grimoire Stone if you plan on getting through the 6th Stratum and/or fighting the dragons, as the Elemental Walls and Parry are pretty much imperative to not getting wiped in a single turn by a lot of the optional stuff.

Are the Fantasias or Mists and the appropriate element guard not enough for the breaths from the dragons?

 

[Zankoku]

They deal like 900 damage to your entire party and the Fantasias at max level only reduce damage by 60%, I believe? Fantasias alone aren't enough unless your party is prepared to survive 350+ damage nukes every so often. You can burn All Mists to stack additional damage reduction, but I've been really loathe to use items unless all other options are exhausted.

Your best bet if you really want to avoid using Protector is just synthing a Grimoire with Lv5 wall of the appropriate element, since that's a guaranteed complete damage prevention from the element for one hit per party member on the turn.

EDIT: As far as Dark Hunter goes, I Class Changed mine to a Gunner because it's not a particularly great class when you've already got Ronin and Hexer - Hexer is far better at inflicting status/binds (not like you're going to put tons of points into every single debuff), Ronin is generally more efficient at dealing raw Slash damage (whips are Slash attribute). Gunner grants Pierce damage and anti-status with Medic Bullet, Protector will improve your overall survivability and Prayer is always nice for longevity during exploration.

 

[mimgrim]

They deal like 900 damage to your entire party and the Fantasias at max level only reduce damage by 60%, I believe? Fantasias alone aren't enough unless your party is prepared to survive 350+ damage nukes every so often. You can burn All Mists to stack additional damage reduction, but I've been really loathe to use items unless all other options are exhausted.

Your best bet if you really want to avoid using Protector is just synthing a Grimoire with Lv5 wall of the appropriate element, since that's a guaranteed complete damage prevention from the element for one hit per party member on the turn.

Grimoire farming is one of the few farming things I hate to do, and that is saying something since I usually enjoy grinding and farming. Grimoires though? Yuck. Absolutely hate them.

 

[Zankoku]

Yeah, I haven't had the displeasure of trying to build a specific Grimoire Stone yet, lol. See my edit above regarding DH, btw.

 

[mimgrim]

I was considering DH so I could free up my Hexer on the binding job. Hexer's are so point starved as it is between certain debuffs, binds, Stone Curse, Evil Eye and Muting world and Suicide World. It's just very point starved. I could solve that through Grimoires, but you already know how I feel about that. I could also go for a second Hexer to if I wanted. I probably will go with Protector anyway, I just feel underwhelmed by it when I compare it to the Fort from EO4 xD.

 

[Rutger]

Every class in Untold is underwhelming after EO3/4 imo.

I really wish they would have done more with them, or at least give us subclassing. :/

 

[Zankoku]

Keep in mind that for 8 of the 10 levels you can grant a DH bind skill, it just improves damage. Only Lv5 and Lv10 will increase bind proc rate. With my Hexer I pretty much put everything into Frailty Curse and Binds, and just built up from the Alchemist Grimoire I got through some treasure box for damage, though I guess depending on your goals you might need to sink points into many other things.

And yes, EO4 Fort was broken lol.

 

[mimgrim]

Every class in Untold is underwhelming after EO3/4 imo.

I really wish they would have done more with them, or at least give us subclassing. :/

I really wished they would have implemented Subclassing into the reinvention instead of bringing back Grimoires. I could think of so many potential combinations between them. And I could just sub someone as a Pro for the element walls instead. :S

 

[Rutger]

Grimoires are a new thing actually. I don't know why they didn't just use subclassing.
While I do like the idea of getting enemy skills, Grimoires are surprisingly grindy for this series and it's not worth planing a character around.

At least Untold's labyrinth layouts are interesting, and I hope EO5 goes back to having five floors to each maze.

 

[mimgrim]

Grimoires are a new thing actually. I don't know why they didn't just use subclassing.
While I do like the idea of getting enemy skills, Grimoires are surprisingly grindy for this series and it's not worth planing a character around.

At least Untold's labyrinth layouts are interesting, and I hope EO5 goes back to having five floors to each maze.

They are? I was under the impression they were in the original. In that case I wonder why they didn't just stick to Subclassing instead. The only reason I can think of why is stuff like the Mastery skills that take a butt load of points to max out and would make certain classes even more point starved. But EO3 was the same way IIRC.

 

[Zankoku]

They are? I was under the impression they were in the original. In that case I wonder why they didn't just stick to Subclassing instead. The only reason I can think of why is stuff like the Mastery skills that take a butt load of points to max out and would make certain classes even more point starved. But EO3 was the same way IIRC.

There was no way to get skills outside of your own class in the original. Then again, in the original some of the skills were absolutely imba and for some reason Medic was an efficient front-line physical damage dealer.

 

[Sunnysunny]

I assume they didn't add subclassing for balancing reasons. Sense untolds classic mode is just a remake of the first game if they were to introduce subclassing they'd probably have to rebalance all the monsters otherwise they run the risk of the game being easier then intended.

That's my reasoning atleast. Grimoire stones are pretty much the same thing as subclassing I guess, but they're such a pain in the ass to get you really have to go out of your way to get em. In a way it's like level grinding. If you REALLY are struggling with something you can level grind, but it's gonna be a tedious process.

 

[mimgrim]

I assume they didn't add subclassing for balancing reasons. Sense untolds classic mode is just a remake of the first game if they were to introduce subclassing they'd probably have to rebalance all the monsters otherwise they run the risk of the game being easier then intended.

That's my reasoning atleast. Grimoire stones are pretty much the same thing as subclassing I guess, but they're such a pain in the *** to get you really have to go out of your way to get em. In a way it's like level grinding. If you REALLY are struggling with something you can level grind, but it's gonna be a tedious process.

Cept Grimoire farming is 100 times more tedious.

In fact, if you know what you are doing, level grinding can be made to be totally not tedious, for EO4 and EOU anyway. All you need is auto walk in a circle and something heavy enough to hold the A button down for you and leave your 3DS plugged in to charge. Then you go to a stratum where you feel comfortable enough with your party doing only attacks. then you walk away and come back the next day and presto you just went up a good amount of levels with minimal effort required from you. Of course this doesn't work in the earlier EO games since the A button being held down won't advance the after battle screens that happen.

 

[Sunnysunny]

Cept Grimoire farming is 100 times more tedious.

That's intentional I think.
You can straight up subclass with a grimoire stone, but the effort it takes to make one that good isn't worth it, thus preserving the intended difficult. Subclassing would probably make the game easier then intended. Ya get what I mean yea?

 

[Rutger]

Cept Grimoire farming is 100 times more tedious.

In fact, if you know what you are doing, level grinding can be made to be totally not tedious, for EO4 and EOU anyway.

If you know what you are doing, you will never need to level grind during the main game in any EO. Unless your party sucks, there hasn't been an EO game where you will hit a roadblock that will force you to go back and level up.

Grimoires ended up being a mechanic that wants you to do the opposite of what the games have intentionally avoided. The luck based aspect is an unfortunate design decision for a mechanic that could have been very interesting. :/

 

[mimgrim]

If you know what you are doing, you will never need to level grind during the main game in any EO. Unless your party sucks, there hasn't been an EO game where you will hit a roadblock that will force you to go back and level up.

Grimoires ended up being a mechanic that wants you to do the opposite of what the games have intentionally avoided. The luck based aspect is an unfortunate design decision for a mechanic that could have been very interesting. :/

Depends on the way a person plays.

I myself like to rest quite a bit to redistribute points, of course in EO4 and EOU this doesn't require level grinding since it is only reduce by 2 levels.However I also ended up class changing Simon and Arthur in story mode as Medic class is easily outclassed by the Troubadour and is effectively useless as items could easily replace them in EOU, and I just disliked the Alchemist class for some reason and found Hexer to be oh so better. I'm also a much slower player and don't actually mind grinding and farming, usually. Not to mention in post game you will want to level grind to be at maxed level for, at least, the super bosses anyway.

You are talking to a guy who had is first party maxed to level 70 before reaching the final in-game boss in EO4. xD

That's intentional I think.
You can straight up subclass with a grimoire stone, but the effort it takes to make one that good isn't worth it, thus preserving the intended difficult. Subclassing would probably make the game easier then intended. Ya get what I mean yea?

I believe they could have made it to where Subclassing wouldn't be to easy. And I still have my doubts on how easy it would make the game on expert mode.

 

[KuroganeHammer]

i got lazy and didn't post here, I read everyone's advice and took it all on board btw and it was very helpful.

Just starting the 5th Stratum now. My team's levels are all over the place. Gone MB/BN/FD front line and RI/MA back line

I really wish my runemaster had more points. rofl.

 

[ndayday]

I'm playing EO, the first one (not the remake).
It's pretty good so far, I'm at the first boss and got my ass kicked as I expected. Now to regroup and try again. Also I'm mapping a lot more dead ends than I did in EO4 in feels like

 

[KuroganeHammer]

I think the older games were just... harder.

I do remember going into a clearing to rest in EO2 and it being guarded by 3 ludicrously powerful moles.

Like, literally everything in those games tries to kill you, while apart from one particular rockin' event in Golden Caves, everything has been so far really nice and not poisonous.

 

[Rutger]

The older games had more traps, which I wouldn't mind seeing return.
They also had a bunch of awful skills you could pick, so you'd be struggling if you wasted points on those. I'm glad that's gone.

But you shouldn't have any trouble if you get the right skills. The Hexer solves every problem in EO2, grab revenge, HP up, HP boosting equipment, and get your health down to 1HP and all the bosses and FOE(which have lower HP than the other games) go down in a turn or three(for the main game anyways.)
The hexer can even take care of random enemies, sleep is always good, and poison will kill everything in one turn for the first ten or so floors, and after that you just need to damage them with your other party members first.

The Hexer made EO2 too easy for me.

I never got a chance to try EO1's easy mode skills, but I think that game went in the opposite direction, as in that you never had to worry about getting hurt much thanks to one of the medic's skills.

 

[KuroganeHammer]

lol. I found Hexer to be completely useless in EO2 until late game where it became a god.

But I always saw Hexer's Revenge as really cheap (like Ronin's hilarious example in EO3) so I never used it.

I just got destroyed by Chameleon King even after beating the 5th stratum's boss.

I hate this game. lel

 

[KuroganeHammer]

I tried to play EO2 but it's so bad who can play it?

Spoiler: EO4 spoilers

I beat heavenbringer but the hall of Darkness scares me so I don't wanna complete it LOL

 

[mimgrim]

I tried to play EO2 but it's so bad who can play it?

Spoiler: EO4 spoilers

I beat heavenbringer but the hall of Darkness scares me so I don't wanna complete it LOL

EO2 is considered the hardest in the series by many.

 

[KuroganeHammer]

yeah I know, I just meant that the newer games have so many QoL fixes that it's hard to go back and play it =P

 

[mimgrim]

yeah I know, I just meant that the newer games have so many QoL fixes that it's hard to go back and play it =P

That's why I haven't been able to finish EO3 xD. No matter how many times I try.

 

[ndayday]

I'm usually pretty tolerant of older games...I'm enjoying EO1 just as much as EO4 even if I miss some of the things. But then it's just like "oh can't do that anymore oh well"