Etrian Odyssey HD - Review

[HiddenX]

Henriquejr spotted a review for the Etrian Odyssey dungeon crawlers on PC Gamer:

Handheld gaming's greatest dungeon crawlers manage to hold their own on PC

The Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection finds the balance between the old and new, and looks great doing it.

Seeing the Etrian Odyssey trilogy, first released on the Nintendo DS in 2007, 2008, and 2010, show up on Steam felt like a dream come true for a dungeon crawler fan like me. But then I started to worry. These games were not just exclusive to Nintendo's dual screen handheld: they were designed with the DS's unique multi-display touchscreen features firmly in mind. How could that possibly translate to PC?

[...]

Etrian Odyssey is so unmistakably its own thing, with its own beautiful style, that as legendary or foundational as the likes of Wizardry or The Bard's Tale or Legend of Grimrock are, the only dungeon crawlers like the Etrian Odyssey trilogy are other Etrian Odyssey games. They capture the idea of an enthralling freeform trek into the beautiful unknown, every step mixed with terror, wonder, and the consequences of our own character-building decisions and mapmaking skills. Our Steam libraries are better for having access to them, and this new smooth, unified experience feels as loving and respectful as a lavish Criterion Collection re-release of your favourite movie.

Etrian Odyssey's PC remakes feel less like ports and much more like a long overdue coming home party.

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[fabrulana]

Sounds interesting will check it sometime, like the type of gameplay although not too fond of the art style. But hopefully I can move beyond that an try it out.

 

[Carnifex]

I can overlook quite a lot graphics-wise if the exploration, story, and combat are compelling. And I'm pretty curious to read what anyone here might think of this one, should any venture to play it.

 

[Dasale]

I played the first, but gave up at a point, was probably about half of the dungeon, I don't remind well.

It has some original designs well done, but you'll need like:
- Classic TB face to face JRPG combats, and you'll do a lot.
- Some grinding aspects coming from making a lot of combats.

Otherwise it has good tricks for exploring dungeons, some ok secrets and puzzling, the roster management is ok but in my opinion penalized by those left at town won't get any single XP. I enjoyed it until I got bored by combats and grinding like aspect.

I think it got more fame from multiple original aspects, but no revolution either. Objectively it is no match to games as Dungeon Master, Eyes of the Beholder, even less Ultima Underworld that are leagues better but also real time not TB. I don't remind any Dungeon Crawler TB I found really good, last I remind, Dungeon Rats, felt from my hands. And I prefer TB to real time.

 

[Carnifex]

I do want to play these, likely I'll wait for a discount and maybe when I have the house to myself and can actually play games.....