![]() However, there is one elephant in the room that keeps Etrian Odyssey Origins from being the ideal version of the games, and that is the fact that they are based on the DS iterations. The franchise's music, which is almost universally one of its strong points, has been revamped (though not remixed), so it sounds better than a straight port of music designed for the Nintendo DS. I even prefer it to the technically more "advanced" 3D graphics from some of the remakes. This is the best-looking version of all three games to date. The graphics are still basic and have relatively few animations, but everything is bright, colorful and clear. The entire game now has full widescreen support, and all of the environments and sprites have been done in lush HD visuals. ![]() The HD visuals will be the most noticeable thing for newcomers and longtime players alike. It's not enough to sour the games, especially since the new features automate a lot of what was done manually before, but if you have the option to play Etrian Odyssey on something with a mouse or similar, I'd recommend that instead. The gamepad works well enough, but it's inevitably more awkward than the alternative options. On the gamepad, there are various button combinations to select various options. With a mouse and keyboard, you can simply point and click to draw the map, which is just as good as the stylus was. Regardless of how you play, there's a lot less busy work in these versions compared to their original releases. With the tap of a button, you can bring up your map and view it at any time, and the auto-mapping feature prevents you from having to draw each line. The attempts to modify this for non-touch-screen machines is largely successful. This is the defining feature of the series, and Etrian Odyssey has always put a lot of stock in asking players to draw their own maps. Players also retain the ability to modify and customize their own map - or draw it themselves. As far as I can tell, the development team provided fixes that benefitted the player, so things like Etrian Odyssey 1's absurdly good Immunize ability remained intact. A lot of combat skills also saw minor tweaking, either with buffs, removing "dead" levels, or fixing bugs that made them not work correctly. Modern features like auto-map and auto-battle have been backported along with useful things like a mid-battle codex that can show enemy strengths and weaknesses. There are quite a few minor quality of life changes under the hood of the games. Etrian Odyssey is almost always a case of mechanics before plot, and while I enjoy them for that, some people would prefer more of a plot. ![]() This means that if you're expecting something as plot-heavy as Atlus' other titles, you might be in for a disappointment. You'll have a handful of NPCs and a few major plot events, but the real fun is the experiences you create. While each game has an overarching storyline, it's generally rather light. Make no mistake that these titles are dungeon crawlers first and foremost. Each one is also a miniboss that you can take on at any time it's a wonderful feature that encourages players to test their strength and rewards them for exploring earlier areas of the dungeons. They add a level of tension to the game and reward players for being smart about exploration and mapping. Some are docile and let you walk past others may chase you, get aggro'd by certain actions, or require you to sneak past. This acronym, which occasionally changes its meaning from game to game, is the name for incredibly powerful foes that wander the dungeons. Probably the most memorable addition to dungeon crawling are F.O.E.s. Building the perfect team takes a lot of time and effort, and you're encouraged to run multiple characters, as certain rare items or difficult enemies require you to have a specific set of skills. Some are focused on offense, some on defense, some can lock down enemies with binding attacks, and others can poison and debuff. Each game has its own set of distinct classes that interact with one another in different ways.
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