Proof that Etrian Odyssey is creating legions of devil-children Satan worshippers.
Developed by Atlus, the game’s are very complex and difficult dungeon crawlers, created for a certain breed of hardcore RPG gamer. The players who have played the series though absolutely LOVE it and live/or die by the Etrian Odyssey games. Loving the fact that they can take a hundred hours or more to finish (or so I’ve come to believe). Not that that’s a lot… I spent 170 hours on Final Fantasy X myself. :)
Here is a screenshot showing Etrian Odyssey IV’s first-person environments, which make up the dungeons you’ll be slowly plotting your way through (as seeing through the eyes of the character make it much harder to navigate your way through endless hallways).
Careful for what lurks around the next bend... or through that door.....
You know what’s crazy… I’m only now, in the midst of writing this story, finding out that the series is first person and that you make your own maps as you go (using in-game tools, THANK GOD… I can only imagine how rough the pen-and-paper days were! Actually I don’t have to imagine, I lasted about 5 minutes in the original Phantasy Star)… Holy crap. It all makes sense now….
Here is a screenshot showing off the complex mapping you’ll have to do to make it through the labryinthian dungeons alive.
Learning how to map your course through the dungeons is crucial to survival in Etrian Odyssey IV.
Even if you don’t survive the tough satan spawn (i.e. enemies) themselves, you gotta make sure you can get out of where you are and not get lost! Map skills are a must; thankfully, as you can see in this screenshot, you have all kind of tools at your disposal to help you plot your course and keep track of where you’ve been, and where you think you’re going. Watch the video below and you’ll get an easier grasp of how the game works. All of it is, of course, interwoven with a deep story to make all this trouble worth it, in typical Role-Playing Game fashion.
Not knowing much about the series, I can’t really say much more, but here is your introduction to Etrian Odyssey IV from Nintendo Direct, which heavily featured the game as one of Atlus’ big new titles for the ORIGINAL DS. Yup, the little punker just keeps on trucking…
Etrian Odyssey IV Trailer (DS) From Nintendo Direct. Gameplay footage shown.
