Etrian Odyssey / Sekaiju no Meikyuu (Impressions Post #106)

[ethelred]

Since most of the discussion seems to be going on here, I figured I'd update this post to be more of a general information/media spot for this game.

Etrian Odyssey is a first-person turn-based dungeon-exploring DS RPG being developed by Atlus' R&D1 team (the same division of the company that's responsible for the Persona, Shin Megami Tensei, Digital Devil Saga, Devil Summoner, and Trauma Center games).

The general thrust of the game is navigating through enormous first-person dungeons. Along the way, you can use the touch screen to draw your own maps on a grid, like graph paper; you'll be able to place icons for various important things. Along the way you engage in challenging turn-based RPG battles. You customize your characters via a class/skill system.

The game is announced for a US release. Atlus has confirmed that it will be coming to North America in the second quarter of 2007 (retailers say May).


GAMEPLAY VIDEOS
Video 1
Video 1 (Youtube Version)
Video 2


SCANS!

thanks a lot Jonny !! Etrian Odyssey scans from 2ch

SCREENS
Etrian Odyssey Screens (from PantherLotus' DS Screenshot Thread)


DEV STAFF
Project Planning and Directing: Kazuya Niinou
Previous Credits: Director (Trauma Center: Under the Knife)

Story and World Design: Shigeo Kobayashi
Previous Credits: Story (Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner, Princess Crown)

Monster Design: Shin Nagasawa
Previous Credits: Monster Design (Parasite Eve, Final Fantasy IX); Map Design (Bahamut Lagoon)

Sound Composer: Yuzo Koshiro
Previous Credits: Composer (Ys, Ys II, Revenge of Shinobi, Sorcerian, Actraiser, Streets of Rage, Sonic the Hedgehog, Beyond Oasis, Shenmue, Shenmue II)


REVIEWS

Famitsu: 8 / 8 / 8 / 8

Some review tidbits: Yggdrasil Labyrinth -Mapping is simple and intuitive - Leveling is a must if you want to survive - The save system and acquistion of money is pretty harsh - Party and skills are very customizable - It's pretty hard to attain equipment - The appearance of harder enemies beyond the balance of the areas add significant tension

GENERAL INFO
Most of this is courtesy Atlus itself, or either Duckroll and Game Brink.

 Make your own maps with the Touch Screen! Plot your progress through the labyrinth, drawing walls and placing icons to note special events, treasure chests, doors, pits, stairs, and landmarks.  Nine character classes! Create a woodland survivalist, shield-bearing templar, whip-wielding dark hunter, or any of a half-dozen other types. Populate an adventurer’s guild with up to 20 characters!  Turn-based strategic combat! Acquire and collect more than 20 battle skills for your adventuring party of five characters.

Battle System Etrian Odyssey uses a turn-based battle system, with a gameplay balance similar to the Shin Megami Tensei series; careless errors will bring about a swift demise. The player can acquire and collect skills, but strategy is emphasized over the player’s skills or levels.

Character Classes  Landsknecht: A master of close combat who wields swords and axes.  Survivalist: A woodland ranger with abundant knowledge of forest lore.  Protector: This holy knight’s shield defends her and her comrades alike.  Dark Hunter: A hunter with a long whip that strikes enemies’ weak points with pinpoint accuracy.  Medic: Provides much-needed medical assistance with her healing skills and techniques.  Alchemist: A scholar of arcane knowledge, whose research into the secret arts allows him to control paranormal phenomena.  Troubadour: A support class who lifts the party’s spirits with her singing and dancing.  Warlock: Has power over life and death, as well as the ability to control minds, using his forbidden magic.  Bushido: A foreign swordsman with a unique method of bladesmanship. Not many have seen his style used before.

* create up to 15 unique characters from 9 different classes and store them in the Adventurer's Guild
* rotate characters in and out of your 5-man battle party
* each character class has 20 different skills to learn
* the game runs at a silky smooth 60 frames-per-second (rejoice, dark10x)
* the game will be 30 hours in length, 40+ via sidequests
* dungeons are non-random to go along with the mapping feature

* unlike Trauma Center, Etrian Odyssey is not designed around the touch screen; the game was designed, and then they came up with ways for the touch screen to work with the gameplay
* it's not Shin Megami Tensei DS; the creators wanted to make an original game
* Atlus says they're experimenting with the game and pushing the hardware as much as possible to see how SMT DS might work in the future
* because it's a portable game, game is designed to have straightforward, accessible objectives, but to have the objectives difficult to actually achieve

* heavily influenced by the Wizardry games; "The plans we have now is something we came up with after looking back at Wizardry series of RPGs, trying to think how they may have turned out if we remade them."
* "First of all, lets make it clear that games where you can just do a lot of button bashing to complete isn’t very Atlus-like and not very interesting to us."
* "For example, in the case where an enemy has fierce fire attacks, any characters who have chosen to raise their fire defence will be able to defeat the enemy easily while others who have not will have a harder time. ... I wanted to increase the difficulty of the battles by letting players customize their skills without compromising the balance."
* "It might be odd to choose only people that only I myself want to work with but, I think that’s the best choice."

For the later levels, even though the max level is 70, you level up by having your party "relax" or "retire". When you have them relax at the guild you can reallocate all your skill points, but you will lose 10 levels. This way you can customize your character's skill points to your liking and use the the level deficient to level up and gain more skill points. You also "retire" a character and you can replace the character with a new character with improved stats. This is important since you only get the professions "Bushido" and "Curse Maker" much later in the game and will need to level up those characters from scratch.

- At the start you can pick several classes: Swordsman, Paladin, Ranger, Medic, Alchemist, Dark Hunter and Bard. - Cast Maker and Bushido were classes that were there but could not be selected yet. - You name your character after selecting the class, and you can make a maximum of 5 characters. - Because the characters you create are your characters, there is no particular main character in the story. - Instead the story progresses in a third-person perspective much like a novel, which is a departure from how Atlus stories usually take place. - After assembling your party you can get story quest events from the Rada Administration.

- Skills appear to be pretty important because if you have no skills set up and you explore into the Tree Sea, you can easily die. - When you're in the Tree Sea, the bottom screen serves as a grid mapping util which you use to mark the various places where there are events, items, etc. - There's a very nice sense of exploration and dungeon crawling. - Enemies are random, and have their own drops, like in all dungeon crawlers. - The mapping using the touch screen is pretty intuitive and easy, and well implemented. - Hopefully these impressions make fans feel better because the game hasn't had much promotional information or details lately. - The game will be out in Jan 2007. Edit: Oh yeah, the top screen when in dungeon is in 3D of course.

F.O.E. SYSTEM

"There are the usual random encounters but, you can also see monsters on the top screen wandering about. You’ll be able to see many of them by walking around the map. There is an ecosystem among the monsters and every turn you take in battle, they will move a step." "You could find yourself fighting one monster after the other if you happen to be surrounded while in battle. The more turns you take in battle, the more enemies you find you’ll be surrounded with." "If the worse comes to worst, you may find a very powerful monster right behind you (Laughs) You’ll be making every step carefully to shake off these monsters but, there will also be random battles to stop you. So if there’s a strong enemy chasing you then, the battles could end in one turn (Laughs) Being able to display such enemies on one screen while having a map on the other is something that only the Nintendo DS can do." "They won’t be patrolling in circles as they will have their own AI such as moving according to what they see, what they hear or if the player is directly in front of them. There are all sort of triggers for these “f.o.e.” We’ve added all sorts of little gimmicks such as one where a wolf will attack you if you have some meat. There will be good players who will keep holding the meat and continue through the dungeon but there will also be those that will decide to throw away the meet to avoid the wolf. Players will be clearing this game in stages and once they do, they will remember how to clear the same stage next time they come across it."

IMPRESSIONS

It is really hard. Although, I think mostly it has to do with the fact I wasted all my money on buying weapons and stuff without even checking to see if I already had them. Also I didn't realize putting people in the back lessened their ATK and upped their DEF. After I figured that stuff out things got a little more managable. It looks like the price for staying at the inn goes up every time you sleep there, which is bad news, because I've been dying a lot. Also resurrection is expensive, so when you're low on cash, you can dig yourself into a pretty deep hole. Map making is fun. You draw the borders and color in steps seperately, and you can place icons for events, monsters, items, treasure, make notes and so on. Character customization is cool, but you have to really be careful where you spend your points. Me, being the retard that I am, took my Alchemist and put "Custom" points into TP and Fire Mastery without realizing I needed to atleast put one point into an actual spell. So, he was useless for a while hahaa. There seem to be a lot of options per class, and it also looks like there isn't just one good way to build a character. The music ****ing rocks. Graphics are functional, they aren't "WOWOWOW", but they won't turn you into a 3D-on-DS-hatin' Amir0x. Game is very text heavy with a lot of kanji, so if you can't read japanese, I'd suggest waiting on the American version (if there is one). Most you can probably figure out with some basic Japanese, but I'm still at the beginning and I don't know how complex the missions get (I haven't even completed the first one yet). My first impressions as a whole are pretty good. I'm surprised at the quality of the presentation and the addictiveness of the whole thing. Making your own map makes exploring the dungeons even more addicting. Wanting to get every last block on the map filled in will most definitely keep you from doing what you should be doing. I think, if you like these type of games, (I quite liked Shining the Holy Ark) you should definitely try this out.

Good game, good game. This is my first game like this, although it does have a lot of similarities to old-school JRPGs like Dragon Quest, so I'm not totally out of my depth. The way the monsters move around and you can see their proximity in the "radar" is really freaking me out. Are they actually following me around or just moving randomly? I've had a couple of close calls but no deaths so far. I put a Medic in my party and gave him Cure before going out on my first wander, so I managed to use that a few times, and now I've gone back up to the surface to rest after reaching level 2. I can't find anything major to complain about, other than the lack of info they give you when buying items. As sp0rsk said, it's pretty easy to buy something that you are already carrying, at least the first time you are playing. It wouldn't have hurt to use the bottom screen to show your inventory or something.

[Aeana]

Yesssss, this is looking better and better every day! And the music in that video is fantastic. It's FM (like Genesis stuff -- though it sounds much more like PC-98 than Genesis)... if the whole soundtrack is like that...wow. Even if it's recorded FM, instead of realtime, it still sounds awesome! Koshiro is so rad.

[djtiesto]

Cool scans... haven't really paid too much attention to this game but then hearing that Koshiro is responsible for the music made me 1000x more interested.

[ethelred]

Yesssss, this is looking better and better every day! And the music in that video is fantastic. It's FM (like Genesis stuff -- though it sounds much more like PC-98 than Genesis)... if the whole soundtrack is like that...wow. Even if it's recorded FM, instead of realtime, it still sounds awesome! Koshiro is so rad.

Agreed. Yuzo's music here is fantastic, and the game is looking better and better. I love how absolutely fluid the exploration is in the video, and how beautiful the backgrounds are. It's a shame they only show a little bit of the map-drawing, since that's one of the neatest aspects.

[Magicpaint]

The backgrounds look great and the music is awesome, but the video is kind of boring. Doesn't show enough.

[jj984jj]

*JAW DROPS*

:C

[jarrod]

Oh so mine! After Contact I need a good dungeon crawl to wash everything out.

[Llyranor]

Late bump, but I've never heard about this before here. I found it while reading up on the game. Sorry if it's common knowledge.

Apparently, there's a mix of random encounters and placed enemies. While you're fighting it off on the battlescreen, each turn you take, the placed enemies will move around on the map (which is displayed on the second screen at the same time), getting closer and closer to you. So, if you take too long, you can get overwhelmed by multiple battles in succession. It sounds like an awesome concept. It's a shame they didn't do away altogether with random encounters, but maybe a mix of both will work out.

Some quotes:

"There are the usual random encounters but, you can also see monsters on the top screen wandering about. You’ll be able to see many of them by walking around the map. There is an ecosystem among the monsters and every turn you take in battle, they will move a step." "You could find yourself fighting one monster after the other if you happen to be surrounded while in battle. The more turns you take in battle, the more enemies you find you’ll be surrounded with." "If the worse comes to worst, you may find a very powerful monster right behind you (Laughs) You’ll be making every step carefully to shake off these monsters but, there will also be random battles to stop you. So if there’s a strong enemy chasing you then, the battles could end in one turn (Laughs) Being able to display such enemies on one screen while having a map on the other is something that only the Nintendo DS can do." "They won’t be patrolling in circles as they will have their own AI such as moving according to what they see, what they hear or if the player is directly in front of them. There are all sort of triggers for these “f.o.e.” We’ve added all sorts of little gimmicks such as one where a wolf will attack you if you have some meat. There will be good players who will keep holding the meat and continue through the dungeon but there will also be those that will decide to throw away the meet to avoid the wolf. Players will be clearing this game in stages and once they do, they will remember how to clear the same stage next time they come across it."

"Ecstasy is a special skill that the Dark Hunter has, a class who makes use of a whip and who can seal certain things. For example, if you command her to keep attacking the head, the enemies’ head will be “sealed” and enemies who makes use of parts such as their voice or eyes for their skills won’t be able to do so. Sealing their arms means they can’t yield a weapon and sealing their legs means they can’t use skills that are speed related. When all 3 parts are sealed, they will gain the condition of “imomushi” (caterpillar) and when that happens, the Dark Hunter gains a boost in her attacks. That’s what the “Ecstasy” skill is about (Laughs)"

My interest in the game just went up exponentially. Sounds like exploration (especially with map-drawing) will be very nicely done here.

The rest of the translated interview from this, erm, banned site is pretty interesting.
http://xcomp.game brink.com/?p=161
It's very old from an early Famitsu interview, but I've never read it before.

[Avalon]

Late bump, but I've never heard about this before here. I found it while reading up on the game. Sorry if it's common knowledge. Apparently, there's a mix of random encounters and placed enemies. While you're fighting it off on the battlescreen, each turn you take, the placed enemies will move around on the map (which is displayed on the second screen at the same time), getting closer and closer to you. So, if you take too long, you can get overwhelmed by multiple battles in succession. It sounds like an awesome concept. It's a shame they didn't do away altogether with random encounters, but maybe a mix of both will work out. Some quotes: My interest in the game just went up exponentially. Sounds like exploration (especially with map-drawing) will be very nicely done here. The rest of the translated interview from this, erm, banned site is pretty interesting. http://xcomp.game brink.com/?p=161 It's very old from an early Famitsu interview, but I've never read it before.

Thanks for that. Lots of new information

This will be the DS RPG to get next year. :)

[tanasten]

Looks really great. I'm looking forward this game more than any Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. Just looks amazing. Can't wait to get it there.

[Error]

oh my ****

that looks amazing.

atlus plz SMT1+2 remake with this engine make it happen.

[duckroll]

atlus plz SMT1+2 remake with this engine make it happen.

NO

****ING

REMAKES!

WHY DO YOU HATE NEW GAMES?!

[Error]

NO ****ING REMAKES! WHY DO YOU HATE NEW GAMES?!

>:(

SMT1+2 need a remake

the first one is a buggy mess on the SNES and the PS1 poor ass port job doesnt count.

not to say that I dont want new games, geez way to overreact.

[Avalon]

NO ****ING REMAKES! WHY DO YOU HATE NEW GAMES?!

Don't be selfish, NA Megaten fans want to play SMT I and II as well.

[Aeana]

>:( SMT1+2 need a remake the first one is a buggy mess on the SNES and the PS1 poor ass port job doesnt count. not to say that I dont want new games, geez way to overreact.

Huh? The PS1 remakes are incredible. The GBA ones are good, too, but the PS1 has 3D areas and they scroll so smoothly!

[duckroll]

Don't be selfish, NA Megaten fans want to play SMT I and II as well.

It's not MY fault that Atlus USA didn't want to translate SMT1-2 on the GBA. :P

[Error]

Aena smooth scrolling aside (I admit it's nice) the game had the same art assets from the SNES version.

when I say remake I want new art assests that resemble more Kaneko's art.


snes

ps1

[Aeana]

Aena smooth scrolling aside (I admit it's nice) the game had the same art assets from the SNES version. when I say remake I want new art assests that resemble more Kaneko's art. snes ps1

It might use the same character/enemy art, but the levels are reskinned, at least. The GBA version looks better but the smooth scrolling is just too good. The PS1 is the version I always play nowadays.

[Bebpo]

It might use the same character/enemy art, but the levels are reskinned, at least. The GBA version looks better but the smooth scrolling is just too good. The PS1 is the version I always play nowadays.

Don't bother arguing with Error :P

I also prefer the PS1 SMT1 from what I've played of the 3 versions.

[Error]

Don't bother arguing with Error :P I also prefer the PS1 SMT1 from what I've played of the 3 versions.

>:(

I just want an official english version

[Matix]

Wow, the visuals look so ****ing lush and vibrant (even in motion). Also the music track was blissfull, as expected.

[Avalon]

>:( I just want an official english version

SNES translations are good...

What's the release date for this game?

[Llyranor]

In my search for information, I seem to be getting January in Japan. It sounds a bit early, though, so I'm not sure if anything's changed.

[Monk]

http://www.atlus.co.jp/blog/cs/game/...kaiju_2_up.flv

direct link

[Mejilan]

Sick sick sick! The potential battles that occur behind the scenes of actual combat.... sounds sick!

[ethelred]

Late bump, but I've never heard about this before here. I found it while reading up on the game. Sorry if it's common knowledge. Apparently, there's a mix of random encounters and placed enemies. While you're fighting it off on the battlescreen, each turn you take, the placed enemies will move around on the map (which is displayed on the second screen at the same time), getting closer and closer to you. So, if you take too long, you can get overwhelmed by multiple battles in succession. It sounds like an awesome concept. It's a shame they didn't do away altogether with random encounters, but maybe a mix of both will work out. Some quotes: My interest in the game just went up exponentially. Sounds like exploration (especially with map-drawing) will be very nicely done here. The rest of the translated interview from this, erm, banned site is pretty interesting. http://xcomp.game brink.com/?p=161 It's very old from an early Famitsu interview, but I've never read it before.

Oh, wow. That sounds absolutely incredible.

And disgustingly sadistic. I love it.

[Pureauthor]

This game sounds great.

*sigh* The DS is going to kill my wallet.

[jj984jj]

That interview is ancient. It was why I kept saying that the team is a mix of the Trauma Center (which split in two between this and TC:SO) and Devil Summoner teams.

[RevenantKioku]

*fap fap fap*
Looks like I'm gonna have to import!

[duckroll]

I know no one cares about this game, but there's another trailer up now.

http://sekaiju.atlus.co.jp/index.php?itemid=51

[jj984jj]

:O So awesome.

More people need to pay attention to this game.

[Bo130]

I think this will bomb so hard in Japan :(

[Magicpaint]

Looking good.

More people should care.

I think this will bomb so hard in Japan :(

STOP SAYING THAT. DO NOT ENTERTAIN SUCH THOUGHTS!!!

[Error]

oh man this is going to be so AWESOME

[duckroll]

I think this will bomb so hard in Japan :(

Oh has anyone ever implied otherwise? It's a pretty low budget game anyway, targeted towards the hardcore.

[ethelred]

I know no one cares about this game, but there's another trailer up now. http://sekaiju.atlus.co.jp/index.php?itemid=51

Another awesome trailer.

I really liked how streamlined and smooth the 3D exploration is. Again, the visuals in the dungeons remind me so, so much of Shining the Holy Ark for Saturn... just awesome.

:O So awesome. More people need to pay attention to this game.

It's one of the most promising RPGs for this year. So yes, more people need to be paying attention. Beautiful visuals, wonderful music, what sounds like incredible (and challenging) gameplay, and the pedigree of one of the best RPG dev teams out there.

Oh has anyone ever implied otherwise? It's a pretty low budget game anyway, targeted towards the hardcore.

I don't see any reason to think it'll bomb, at this point. I think it'll sell well, relative to other Atlus RPGs (like those on the PS2).

[jj984jj]

I see no reason why it wouldn't make it to 100K, but Japan does hate games...

[Avalon]

I think this will bomb so hard in Japan :(

They are prepared... this game is already confirmed for NA release anyways, right? :)

[jj984jj]

Speaking of Atlus USA, does anybody think they will keep the Q1 2007 release date? It'd be their fastest localization ever no?

[Aeana]

I get so excited thinking about this game. After SMT3 not being first-person, I was worried that Atlus would never make a first-person RPG again. Plus, Koshiro. It's really nice to see him back in action with his work on Portrait of Ruin, and then this.

[Mejilan]

The pants. It have moved.

[Reilly]

Who's doing the soundtrack?

[Mejilan]

Yuzo MF'ing Koshiro... no?

[Monk]

http://www.atlus.co.jp/blog/cs/game/...kaiju_3_up.flv

Direct link to the flv.

[ethelred]

I see no reason why it wouldn't make it to 100K, but Japan does hate games...

Given how RPGs have been doing on the whole on the DS of late, I don't see something in the 100k range as implausible. It'd also be hard to characterize that as a bomb or a flop given how Atlus' RPGs sell on the PS2.

Speaking of Atlus USA, does anybody think they will keep the Q1 2007 release date? It'd be their fastest localization ever no?

Well, here's hoping.

I get so excited thinking about this game. After SMT3 not being first-person, I was worried that Atlus would never make a first-person RPG again.

Everyone needs to focus their mental energies to convince Kazuma Kaneko that we really, really DO want him to make that first-person Shin Megami Tensei Wii game.

[mutsu]

I think this will bomb so hard in Japan :(

.... it is only the no.1 DS seller on Amazon.co.jp right now....

[Bo130]

.... it is only the no.1 DS seller on Amazon.co.jp right now....

O.O! That's great I just assumed this was one of those great titles that no one in Japan would buy. Great news, thanks ^_^

[trancejeremy]

Speaking of Atlus USA, does anybody think they will keep the Q1 2007 release date? It'd be their fastest localization ever no?

They don't have a folder for it on their official forums yet. OTOH, they do for Monster Kingdom and that Unemployed Ninja game, both due out in February.

So presumably, that means that the game will be out later than February. Which could be as early as March, which is still first quarter, but only just...

[Pureauthor]

How did I miss this thread until now?

Frothing demand increases.

[ethelred]

While we're on the subject of frothing demand... let's all bow to our Etrian Odyssey savior, ducky:

<duckroll> ethel: btw, Etrian is 60fps
<duckroll> he was saying how normally when you use two screens you get 30fps
<duckroll> but somehow his programmers pushed the hardware to give him 60fps
<duckroll> and he's happy
<duckroll> because in a 3D dungeon game, smooth scrolling is really important
<duckroll> unfortunately
<duckroll> the game has NO QUICK SAVE
<duckroll> the reason being that apparently there's no space on cart or something
<duckroll> you save at inns
<duckroll> well there's no save-ram space for quicksave
<duckroll> also, no save points in dungeons, since its a crawler
<duckroll> and no i don't think the sprites are animated
<duckroll> its pretty old school
<duckroll> there was also an interesting question about that
<duckroll> they asked if this is simply SMT DS in another name
<duckroll> and they got really mad
<duckroll> the director was like "yeah im getting angry too, wtf!?"
<duckroll> because he wants to make an original game
<duckroll> instead of a "SMT" game
<duckroll> but they do say that the work they're doing for Etrian is very important
<duckroll> because its an experiment on the hardware to see what they can do, if they want to put SMT on the DS in future
<duckroll> and he says that unlike with Trauma Center, where they used the touch screen for the game and built it around that
<duckroll> this time its different
<duckroll> they're making the game, and the touch screen actually aids the game
<duckroll> and he said its actually very effective
<duckroll> its not a "touch screen game"
<duckroll> Sinobi thinks it could push over 100k
<duckroll> there was a blog entry about it
<duckroll> i guess preorders are picking up? dunno
<duckroll> also they asked him about the length
<duckroll> and he said its 30 hours, probably 40+ if you want to complete all the quests
<duckroll> and then he went on to acknowledge that most DS games are short
<duckroll> even the RPGs
<duckroll> 15-20 hours
<duckroll> but he said this is an Atlus RPG
<duckroll> so its going to be Atlus style
<duckroll> its a REALLY long interview
<duckroll> they also asked him about wifi and stuff
<duckroll> like whether there would be additional scenarios or stuff that you can download later
<duckroll> and he went "errr wtf no"
<duckroll> and then the producer guy went on to say
<duckroll> "well, not in the first game since we're pretty much done, but if we do a sequel its something we will definitely consider"
<duckroll> expect tons of FM tunes from Koshiro
<duckroll> the game's OST is supposed to be very oldschool Koshiro
<duckroll> because that's what they asked him to do
<duckroll> oh
<duckroll> the game has no random dungeons btw
<duckroll> its all designed, hence the mapping system