Today I saw the artwork for the new 3 DS game Etrian Odyssey 2. It’s actually a DS game that was only released in Japan, and now it’s been remade for the 3DS. Hopefully, in time, we will see a release here in the west too.
Frankly I have no idea if the Etrian Odyssey games are popular in the West. I’ve only been playing them for a couple of years myself, and I started them because I was able to download a demo of Legend of the Titan in the eShop at the time.
I like RPG’s, but it’s not like Etrian Odyssey really caught my attention before. Even playing the demo I wasn’t convinced. What put me off where the stilled images, a bit retro in style. Hardly any videos in between, no voice acting. Just text. Remember I only started playing games late in life, so for me retro doesn’t have the nostalgia connected to it that it has for most gamers. So, I decided not to download it.
A couple of months later I could buy the game used for a reasonable price and I decided I might as well go for it. If I didn’t like it I could resell it for much the same price. I ended up keeping it, and liking it. And you know what I like most about Etrian Odyssey? I love making my own maps, painstakingly jotting down on it what I find in the “dungeons”. Well, dungeons? More sweet grassy woodlands with all kinds of animal monsters. The airship is great, traveling over all kinds of lands. And again, making my own map of my air travel.
After that I bought the new one released, Untold: Milleneum girl, which is actually a remake of the original Etrian Odyssey for DS. Another good game, though I do feel the dungeons are not as varied as the ones in Legends of the Titan are. I’ve finished the game half way, no airship yet. And if there’s something I may mention that I don’t really like: I feel that things aren’t explained very well. For instance, now you can make Grimoire stones to help you in your battles. And you can even get those stones from people you Streetpass with. But maybe it’s me, but I just can’t figure out how these stones work. And I’ve had more such examples in the game.
So, if you like map making and taking notes in a game, and if you like RPGS, you should really look into these games. Turn based battles, loads of content, loads of side quests and upgrading of weapons. Nice enough characters in the story mode. I find myself really enjoying the games. Something a little different from your average RPGS, but definitely worth checking out!
