I love the cartography and I’ll hate to see it go, but I feel like subclassing has been EO’s staple mechanic ever since it was introduced in 3.
It’d be cool if EO on the switch would somehow let you use both the TV and the tablet at the same time, but I doubt that will happen.
Definitely would have bought a switch for EO
Not too happy about no bottom map anymore. That was a really important part of these games!
There are quite a few game series that started on DS and were built with features that relied heavily on there being two screens. Pokemon was really improved by having the in battle menu all on the bottom screen so the battle animations on the top were never hidden by ui. They are also going to have to come up with a new solution when they put out a new game on the Switch.
Just started the game on Sunday. It’s my second, after EOIV. I didn’t beat that one.
I love the games, but I can’t wrap my head around the strategy and planning aspect. How do people know what is optimal? How do they plan builds? Do they use guides? I don’t really want to use guides, at least not my first time through. Do they just do multiple replays and try everything? To almost contradict myself, I don’t know that I’d have time for multiple playthroughs.
Either way, I guess even if I don’t finish, I’m supporting the games I like.
I do like some of the quality of life improvements of EOV - like being able to start your exploration at the floor of your choosing, so long as you’ve reached the entrance of that floor. You still have to find your own way out of the dungeon, but the tedious part - getting back in - is much more streamlined.
There was sort of a way to do that in the Untold Games, by tapping a the entrance or exit of a dungeon level to automatically warp to that point, but it was still a little obnoxious (and sometimes tricky if you’re on a bumpy road).
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Etrian Odyssey assumes you’ll have familiarity with standard rpg builds and, unfortunately, doesn’t really ease in people who don’t. I wouldn’t say to follow a guide, but looking at general tips articles can be really helpful here. EOIV, depending on how far into the game you got, also helps introduce how to use more “exotic” classes.
If you want advice:
The first to keep in mind with Etrian Odyssey is that there is no perfect, optimal build. The 5 character max means that your dungeon buddies will always have some aspect they either can’t do, or can’t do well. This is to encourage you, the player, to experiment and change your build to be appropriate for each stratum. If there is an enemy type that keeps destroying you, for instance, you make a party that can either incapacitate it or hit it’s weakness very hard. If what you have isn’t working, you try a different strategy or configuration.
In the most general sense, you want a way to mitigate incoming damage, a way to dish out damage (physical and elemental), and a way to heal in your party. Depending on your tastes as a player, you can then fill out status effects, binds, buffs, etc. You have a lot of flexibility in this, though, since most classes can fill multiple roles with enough skill points and healing items are less rare. So while having a “heal machine”, defender, and mage type character was once practically required, you can now get around without them.
Personally, I’m actually rolling with one of each class in EOV. The memory conch item allows you to share exp with party members left at home, so I haven’t had to worry about grinding much and can just mix/match to my heart’s delight.
When do you get the Memory Conch item?
Thinking back to the wholly unrelated Guild Wars, and perhaps the slightly more related Final Fantasy VIII, I kind of wish the game, even with a cost or penalty, let you re-roll characters, take back skill points, and reapply them as needed. Just a little more freedom to save a bit of time.
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This is something I wish they would fix in EO games but still really haven’t. What skills actually do are described in short, often obtuse descriptions. So you experiment or do some research on the net.
But why not just give a more detailed explanation, maybe even provide some raw numbers for people? Just a matter of a few lines of text. Hell, you could even make a build planner in game with little difficulty.
You can find it on the 3rd floor. I forget exactly where, unfortunately
I’ve haven’t played those games, but are you saying that Etrian Odyssey doesn’t let you do that? Because you totally can. I just “rested” three of my characters because I’m having trouble with the second stratum boss
Ooo. Maybe I missed stuff. I can take back skill points?
Okay, researched it. I feel dumb. Still a bit grind, but better than rolling a whole new character, for sure.
You drop two levels in return but yeah, definitely
I read ten levels. Probably wrong EO.
And unless you’re having to rest your entire active party at once, there’s not much of a hit in overall performance while that character catches back up. I rest and rest frequently in these games depending on what might give me an advantage for a given boss fight.
You can also reclass in EOV… so if you want to make a character a specific race/class combo that isn’t initially available, you can do so. It’s a slightly bigger hit (5 levels?). The character portrait doesn’t change when you reclass either in case you want to do something like make a Pugilist using a Harbinger portrait.
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Probably one of the first 2 games - EO is a series that is very hard to go backwards in because of the quality-of-life improvements that happen in each new game (which is why the Untold games are nice, since they’re essentially remakes with an optional story mode).
I really want to beat the game, but I’m going to drive myself crazy with this stuff, I can already tell.
Should be fun.
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I have major problems with analysis paralysis in most games. EOV makes it easy enough to pivot and “fix” any “mistakes” that I’ve been able to bypass that paralysis and just dive in. If something isn’t working, I’ll rest a character or two and change their point allocation and keep plowing through the dungeon.
It typically takes me a lot of resting in the first 10 or so levels as I test things through trial and error then that need to reshuffle things tapers off quite a bit.
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I’m so stupidly tempted to try making a Snow White and the Seven Dwarves team that’s one earthlian and seven brouni reclassed.
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Do it!
Heigh ho!
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