Nintendo World Report writes: "After playing Etrian Odyssey II, I looked at my review of the first game and was tempted to simply copy and paste it with a couple of minor changes (off course, I'm being facetious). Although there are a few significant differences, EO2 is a relatively straightforward sequel. While I don't agree with all of the design changes, Etrian Odyssey II should still please fans of the budding series, while providing a good entry point for those who missed the first game since there's no continuity between the two storylines.
The core gameplay in EO2 remains the same as it was in the first game. You start by creating several characters (name, class, portrait, and skill assignments) and taking them into the dungeon-like forest. You can stick with five characters for the whole game, or you can create several extras and swap them out as desired for different situations. As you explore, you'll use the touch screen to notate the important features of each level. New weapons and armor are still unlocked by bringing the body parts of defeated monsters to the shop in town, and you still get one skill point per level with which to customize your party members. Now and then you'll encounter a character that furthers the minimal story, and of course, the dreaded FOEs (boss-like enemies that stalk around visibly, as opposed to the normal randomly-encountered enemies) are back to bring an untimely end to your adventuring."
Back in 2007, Atlus decided to use the Nintendo DS to do something ambitious. It brought back the days of first-person RPGs with original party members you had to customize and dungeons you needed to map. Thanks to the handheld's design, the bottom screen allowed people to practice cartography as they played. Since then, 10 games have been released, each bringing something new to adventurers.
Atlus will re-release the first three titles in the Etrian Odyssey role-playing dungeon crawler series on the Nintendo DS, according to an ad posted on the NeoGAF forums.
Forum user Dwayne received the email ad from Canadian retailer Video Games Plus. Buyers will be able to pre-order Etrian Odyssey, Etrian Odyssey 2: Heroes of Lagaard and Etrian Odyssey 3: The Drowned City for $29.99 each or create a custom Etrian Oydssey DS Trilogy pre-order bundle. Those who pre-order the bundle will receive all three games at a $15 discount.
Stoked for this! I don't have the second or third games, so I plan to get those!
WhenSpamAttacks writes; "Starting off, has everyone placed their pre-orders for Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City? I’ve placed mine with Amazon so hopefully that means I am getting the art book with it, I better, damn it. My excitement is beyond measurable about the announcement of the North American release when it was announced. I love the Etrian Odyssey series as it has everything I love about RPG’s."
I remember putting in a good 5-10 hours grinding in The Legend of Dragoon, one of my first RPGs and I loved it, it was a fun game. Same can't be said with RPGs like Demon's Souls. Great game, but the constant grinding to get to certain places just killed it for me. A game like Fallout 3 however is completely different. You have a heavily focus shooter game with RPG elements and in the end I was fully leveled at about 65 hours in. Not once did I have to 'grind', I simply played the game.
That's how I feel most games should be, especially RPGs. I shouldn't have to do every sidequest and 5+ hours of grinding to beat the final boss...
For me grinding should have a few things:
-a good reward system, having the feeling the next level is just around the corner. Bad balancing can kill games like what happened with Last Remnant.
-power leveling areas, it's fun to find that secret spot in the world map which make you a lot more powerful than your expected to be, and relax for a bit during parts of the game. I found a great spot with a crab in Lost Odyssey, it was very powerful but after sneaking some wins it becomes possible to fight it steadily, I stayed like this for 2 days, and I didn’t need to power level until close to the end of the game when the ancient ruins were accessible.
-fun battle system, tales of Vesparia had the most fun battles for me, it was fun to string multiple encounters in one battle and getting critical attacks for extra exp,, this including the other 2 things I mentioned kept me playing the game for 100+ hours.
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Especially for RPGs with complex / advanced battle system.
I could do this in Final Fantasy XIII.
I love level grinding. I hate it when reviewers talk about how jrpg's are stuck in their ways and wrpg's are how it should be done. Some of us enjoy level grinding and having to save the princess/overthrow the empire in the majority of the games we play. There's nothing wrong with it!
Sweet. Yeah I like you how you creat your party and then set off for some hard level grinding adventures.