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[cj_iwakura]

• Developer: Starfish
• Publisher: UFO Interactive Rising Star Ninja Games Japan
• Platforms: 3DS (originally PS2 then PSP)
• Genre: Dungeon RPG
• Distribution: Download Only
• Price: $19.99
• Music By: Hitoshi Sakimoto & Baslscape
• Release Dates: 2008 [PS2, JP] / 11/20/12 [PSP] / 8/10/17 [3DS]

Elminage Original is a (yet another) update of 2008's "The Priestess of Darkness and The Ring of Gods".

This is the first game in the series. There is also Elminage 2, 3, Gothic, and... let's stop there.

The fourth has been localized for Steam. Hopefully this is a sign that the 3DS versions of 2 and 3 are soon to come, since they've never been localized.

The five rings that protect the world have been scattered after five sorceresses attempted to release the Demon King.

They who can find the five rings and restore the barrier on the Dragon's Fang shall be richly rewarded.Today, many adventurers pass through the gates of Trangelda, their true motives hidden within their hearts.

Elminage Original is an atmospheric, dungeon RPG where players assemble a band of adventures and embark to conquer dungeons and recover the rings!

The five rings lie in dungeons across the world throughout temples, caverns and forests, their locations randomly placed when starting a game. Earn Fame by completing events and infuse it into a compass to track where the rings are hidden.

Hordes of monsters lie in wait throughout the dungeons, some of them so huge they cannot fit on the screen. Create powerful adventures and level up to progress deeper into the dungeons and face stronger foes.

Choose from a total of 16 classes of adventurers, including the more unusual "servant" in addition to the traditional fighters, mages and samurai classes. Nine races, gender, age, and nature, parameters allow players to customize their own powerful characters. Learn 72 different spells under the mage, cleric, and alchemy lines and cast unique spells from your very own characters.

Your very own epic adventure awaits you!

What's the difference between this and the PSP version, you ask?

According to Japanese Wikipedia, the 3DS version of Elminage Original has some superficial changes (they added custom portraits) and some significant balance changes. Maybe Brawlers won't be one man creator deity destroying machines.

3DS version of EO came out in December so this was a fairly quick localization. There was a PC version in January last year.

There's been some activity towards fan localizations of Elminage 2 and 3, as well as the Elminage Gothic's 3DS expansion.


Edit: Here's the JP Wiki's changelog for the 3DS version:

http://spoiler.sakura.ne.jp/srv/el1psp/DSE78988E3818BE38289E381AEE5A489E69BB4E782B9.html

I'll do a quick translation shortly.


Edit2:

System:
* Custom Portrait system added. (IIRC this was in the PSP version but was dummied out for the US release?)
* Balance changes: (Apparently the same as Elminage 2 for the PSP)
* * Summoned Monsters who are Lords who could use 法院保護区 (Forget what this is called, it's the Lord class special skill) no longer can. No more replacing Lords with just a high powered summon.
* * Dispel Evil (Cleric Ability) is now "globalized?," and you get XP for doing it now (previously, they gave no XP). Possibly Clerics now hit all rows with it instead of just the front row?
* * Ninjas now get "Alert" which is a passive that both prevents ambushes AND causes the Ninja to start battle hidden. Enemy Ninjas get this too.
* * Some change to Tarot Drawing for Bards -- 1% chance of them working in event / boss fights? (Nerf?)
* * The Maid's Tea skill will now fully restore Tarot uses, whereas before it would only restore a single use.
* Alchemy is not changed, although now you get +2% to status effects and defense per increase (previously 1%)
* Tiomente (? One of the Tier 7 mage spells) no longer prevents random battles.
* The game now keeps track of your characters renames?
* Some races had their names changed (not sure if this will affect the English version)
* * Hobbits were renamed Hortotto (Renamed due to copyright, same name they used in recent Wizardry games)
* * Mind Flayers were renamed Mind Trappers (Copyright again, heads changed from octopus to squid)
* The hidden bosses got some subtle buffs. (Holy crap, he was damn near impossible before)
* Something about taking a dead NPC to a doppelganger to get them added in the illustration book? Not sure.
* * "Doppel" is registered if you fight with a summoned monster.
* You can get married in the Forgotten Ground after beating the Dukes. (Bonus bosses, but not THE bonus boss)

Story:
* No change. No additional events.

Items:
* No new items
* Monster Stolen Items (Tentacles, "Strike," etc) now have graphics

Edit3:

Without any changes, the advice from the PSP version remains.

Thieves are great for stealing things, especially monster equips.
Brawlers are OP as hell, with huge damage + the ability to debuff enemy resistances.
Devilkin can equip cursed gear, including the monster equips... which are all brawler gear.

(Use a Devilkin Brawler, is what I'm saying.)

Summons are also pretty awesome, although I don't remember if turning Summons into party members is a thing in Elminage 1.

My party is probably going to look something like

Brawler, Samurai, Lord
Thief, Summoner, Bishop (although Summoner + Bishop will also know all magics due to class changes)

Although there's a lot of tossup there -- Valkyries are great, Maids are fun, Hunters are good, and Shamans are neato, and Ninja is also really good.

In the PSP version, the only way I beat the final bonus boss was my Brawler (or Ninja?) getting a lucky behead.

Again, props to KiTA for the following:

Class abilities: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/620844-elminage-original/64706392

Japanese Wiki: http://spoiler.sakura.ne.jp/srv/el1psp/
Japanese Wiki (Races): http://spoiler.sakura.ne.jp/srv/el1psp/E38387E383BCE382BF2FE7A8AEE6978F.html (Has a surprise spoiler in there.)

Selected bits:

Human: Normal XP Gain
Elf: Normal XP Gain
Gnome(Dwarf): Normal XP Gain
Hotlet(Gnome): Normal XP Gain
Fairy(Hotlet): Normal XP Gain
Dwarf(Fairy): +5 AC Bonus, XP Penalty
Werebeast: 20% chance to poison on normal attacks. Silver items count as cursed. XP Penalty
Dragonewt: Fire Breath skill. XP Penalty
Devilish: Cannot be cursed. Cannot equip holy items. XP Penalty

* Brawlers are extremely powerful in the early game.
Brawlers are unarmed specialists in this game, not Ninjas (who instead get a percentage chance to instant kill anything). Brawlers' default fists hit harder than most weapons until you get to the Flamberge level of gear (15,000 gold in the store) or Alchemist crafting. They apparently don't scale as well as traditional weapon users, but....

* Class change is in.
Wouldn't be a Wizardry descendant without it. You only keep your HP and spells, however. Skills are lost. Some of the classes (Servant and Shaman, for example) are MUCH better if you class change into them from a spellcasting class.

* "Marriage" is actually "Merge"
And is apparently how you make the Summoners absolutely broken as hell -- you merge monsters, SMT style.


Jobs Wiki:
Basic: http://spoiler.sakura.ne.jp/srv/el1psp/E38387E383BCE382BF2FE881B7E6A5AD2FE59FBAE69CACE881B7.html
Intermediate: http://spoiler.sakura.ne.jp/srv/el1psp/E38387E383BCE382BF2FE881B7E6A5AD2FE4B8ADE7B49AE881B7.html (I was right about Kannagi and Maid, and Oh my god, I just realized the person translating the menus used Google Translate.)
Advanced: http://spoiler.sakura.ne.jp/srv/el1psp/E38387E383BCE382BF2FE881B7E6A5AD2FE4B88AE7B49AE881B7.html

Fighter/Mage/Cleric/Thief/Alchemist/Servant are the "Beginner" classes, which you should stick with initially without a good reason.
Bishop/Hunter/Brawler/Entertainer/Shaman/Summoner/Valkyrie are "Intermediate" classes, which get a small (but noticeable) XP Penalty and tend to mature later.
Samurai/Lord/Ninja are "Advanced" classes, which take a while to get going but are absurd when they get there.


Bad combinations:
Dwarf(Fairy) + Fighter (Fairies cannot equip most armor)
Devilish + Priest (Devilish cannot equip holy items)

Good combinations:
Werebeast + Hunter (Innate Poison + Extra attack to poisoned dudes)
Devilish + Brawler (apparently Brawlers can end up cursed a lot?)
Dragonnewt + Fighter (Dragonnewt's breath attack is HP based.)

(3DS)

(PSP)

Reviews?

Not likely.

 

[Umibozu]

Nice thread, subbed.

 

[Kenai]

Thanks for the OT, totally forgot about the game.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Any impressions yet? Do custom avatars work?

 

[RedBoot]

I remember really enjoying the PSP version, though I never finished it. I think the translation was screwy, too? Hopefully that's better here.

Can't decide if I want to pick it up for another playthrough. Custom portraits might make for a fun gimmick playthrough or something.

 

[cj_iwakura]

I remember really enjoying the PSP version, though I never finished it. I think the translation was screwy, too? Hopefully that's better here.

Can't decide if I want to pick it up for another playthrough. Custom portraits might make for a fun gimmick playthrough or something.

The PSP version supports that too, but talk about jumping through hoops.

They had to be 48x48 and in BMP format, if memory serves.

 

[Mejilan]

I honestly don't know why I never got around to playing my PSP copy, but I don't plan on making the same mistake twice.

 

[SavoryCade]

Does it utilize 3D at all?

I only played a couple hours of the PSP version (also managed to get one of the super rare European physical copies), but I did like what I played. Not sure I want to double dip on it though.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Does it utilize 3D at all?

I only played a couple hours of the PSP version (also managed to get one of the super rare European physical copies), but I did like what I played. Not sure I want to double dip on it though.

I'll trade you a $20 eshop card so you can find out!

I'm forever sad I missed that LE.

 

[MulderYuffie]

Wow had no idea this was coming out gonna have to get eventually. Digital only I'm guessing?

 

[RagManX]

Didn't even know this was coming to the 3DS. May pick it up.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Wow had no idea this was coming out gonna have to get eventually. Digital only I'm guessing?

Seems like it, unless someone knows otherwise.

 

[KiTA]

I finished the PSP game but lost my save. It was one of my favorite Wizardry clones. Basically spot on experience from the old early Wizardry games.

Things I remember...

Brawlers are extremely broken in this. The reason being that if you use Thieves you can steal "enemy equipment" which is oddball stuff like "Tentacle+3" or what have you, which Brawlers can equip. They're cursed, but Devilkin ignore that.

Keep a Bishop and Alchemist in town. When you start raking in the EXP later on, level them up. Bishops ID things, Alchemists craft and buff items. Both are level dependent.

I never used Valkyries, Servants, Bards, Shamans, and Hunters, although I wanted to.
There just wasn't enough room in the party.

Even after putting a few hundred hours in, I couldn't beat the last bonus bosses. I finally got a lucky Beheading with my Brawler (or my Brawler turned Ninja, forget which stage it was on). 5% chance of success!

 

[Stencil]

I don't know what about Dungeon Crawlers always piques my interest. Like roguelikes, I love the seemingly high barrier to entry, the rich gameplay and strategy elements. But whenever I pick them up and play them (Etrian Odyssey, The Dark Spire) I get so bored.

This is no exception to my interest. What sets this apart from Etrian Odyssey, if anything?

 

[Umibozu]

The game seems to have 3d btw

 

[i-Jest]

I look at the gameplay and I'm somewhat reminded of Stranger of Sword City; I know they're both first person dungeon crawlers so that helps some. Maybe it's the tone the game sets. Am I the only one?

 

[Umibozu]

Is there any benefit to starting characters in lower tier classes then changing them to higher tier ones later, or should one change to the highest class as soon as possible.
Also noticed that setting your characters age higher gives more skill points available which allows higher classes available from the outset. Is there any downside to this?

 

[redcrayon]

I don't know what about Dungeon Crawlers always piques my interest. Like roguelikes, I love the seemingly high barrier to entry, the rich gameplay and strategy elements. But whenever I pick them up and play them (Etrian Odyssey, The Dark Spire) I get so bored.

This is no exception to my interest. What sets this apart from Etrian Odyssey, if anything?

Much more freeform character development, much more open gameplay setup- a huge amount of areas are open from the start and you are using a compass to find the macguffins. I got lucky towards the end when, walking into an advanced area, the ring was about three steps in, sitting on the ground. It's that random

There's also a lot more randomness with the loot, with powerful drops available.

Generally Etrian Odyssey and similar games are a tighter experience, at the cost of restricted party development and upgrades to keep you at roughly the 'correct' power level for the area you have reached. Elminage is much more open, you'll walk through some areas with the equips you've found and find regular party-wipes in others, but you do always have a choice of where to go, and that wonderful feeling in loot games where a powerful drop that's just perfect for your character falls into your lap.

I'm sure veteran dungeoneers can expand on that but that's my experience based on the two.

From what I can remember, I started with the usual fighter/cleric/thief etc and ended up with a Dragonnewt Lord (whose fire breath combined with healing abilities and high HP made him the best all-rounder in the team), a human Valkyrie, a werebeast Lord (started out as a brawler but good equips led him that way instead) a werebeast hunter (started out looking to take advantage of the poison inflicted by the other werebeast), a human summoner, an elf bishop and a ninja of some sort. There are far more powerful builds but I really liked my party, the Dragonnewt made a cool leader for a change!

 

[flatearthpandas]

How are the actual mazes? Interesting designs and taps? Teleports?

 

[redcrayon]

Is there any benefit to starting characters in lower tier classes then changing them to higher tier ones later, or should one change to the highest class as soon as possible.
Also noticed that setting your characters age higher gives more skill points available which allows higher classes available from the outset. Is there any downside to this?

Honestly can't remember but there's usually a trade-off in either vitality/life points (how vulnerable you are to permadeath) or luck etc. I'd look up where the thresholds are in terms of age and plan accordingly, characters age slightly during the game too, but not so much that it really makes much of a difference. I think older characters are more likely to turn to dust during a resurrection spell (!) but it never happened to me.

Also, don't worry too much about stats at the start- the way stat gain works on level up is that it rerolls all your hit points, and if it's higher than your current total, you reach the new amount. If it's lower you just gain 1. With stats, you can lose them through random variation on level up as well, so characters with high stats and high hp pools can end up gaining little in terms of raw numbers at level up- by endgame my characters were on max stats and so the only thing a level up did was occasionally lose a stat point only to regain it later on. It's fairly well balanced in that sense- a fighter that's has good hp rolls is unlikely to keep doing so the closer you get to the maximum, you can't game the system to gain a large boost each time even if you reload your saves (although obviously having high stats at the start is advantageous), whereas characters with low stats has an increasingly high chance of huge gains at level up.

 

[redcrayon]

How are the actual mazes? Interesting designs and taps? Teleports?

Pretty standard fare- one way doors, traps and teleports, but the dungeon design at least differs through the different areas.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Pretty standard fare- one way doors, traps and teleports, but the dungeon design at least differs through the different areas.

The maps are huge, too. Often multiple screens.

 

[mclem]

Amused that this has ended up - perfectly naturally - with the acronym "EO". I'm sure that won't cause any confusion down the line!

 

[Shizuka]

Etrian Odyssey V, step aside!

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

I think I'm going with the same party that I used in Elminage Gothic:

Human Valkyrie - Gets a full slate of cleric spells which is always handy. Finding good gear is problematic though.
Dragonnewt Brawler - Yes Devilkin gets the monster equips, but I like breath attacks.
Elven Samurai - Kills stuff. Not much to say here.
Gnome Lord - More cleric spells. Plus they can use spears to attack from the backrow.
Werebeast Alchemist > Hunter - IIRC, Alchemists keep all 9 of their spell charges when they class-change into Hunters (instead of getting dropped down to 3)
Dragonnewt Mage > Summoner - High-level summoners grant massive bonuses to summoned monsters. It's pretty absurd. I start with Mage first to get diomente a little earlier. Dragonnewt because breath.

The greatest thing about summoners is that it's like having a seventh party member. I don't need a ninja in my party, because a summoner can just pull one out of their back-pocket.

 

[Dorarnae]

I think I'm going with the same party that I used in Elminage Gothic:

Human Valkyrie - Gets a full slate of cleric spells which is always handy. Finding good gear is problematic though.
Dragonnewt Brawler - Yes Devilkin gets the monster equips, but I like breath attacks.
Elven Samurai - Kills stuff. Not much to say here.
Gnome Lord - More cleric spells. Plus they can use spears to attack from the backrow.
Werebeast Alchemist > Hunter - IIRC, Alchemists keep all 9 of their spell charges when they class-change into Hunters (instead of getting dropped down to 3)
Dragonnewt Mage > Summoner - High-level summoners grant massive bonuses to summoned monsters. It's pretty absurd. I start with Mage first to get diomente a little earlier. Dragonnewt because breath.

The greatest thing about summoners is that it's like having a seventh party member. I don't need a ninja in my party, because a summoner can just pull one out of their back-pocket.

always depend if you're planning on doing the post game(you should as this is shorter than gothic and the post game is pretty cool...), but thief with their steal ability are much better here than gothic psp/pc version.
you can steal a spear that is x10 dmg to god type.


to answer someone else question about faceload, it uses the 3ds camera. I guess it's ''easier'' to use but the image quality with the camera is not the best too....

 

[Dorarnae]

I finished the PSP game but lost my save. It was one of my favorite Wizardry clones. Basically spot on experience from the old early Wizardry games.

Things I remember...

Brawlers are extremely broken in this. The reason being that if you use Thieves you can steal "enemy equipment" which is oddball stuff like "Tentacle+3" or what have you, which Brawlers can equip. They're cursed, but Devilkin ignore that.

Keep a Bishop and Alchemist in town. When you start raking in the EXP later on, level them up. Bishops ID things, Alchemists craft and buff items. Both are level dependent.

I never used Valkyries, Servants, Bards, Shamans, and Hunters, although I wanted to.
There just wasn't enough room in the party.

Even after putting a few hundred hours in, I couldn't beat the last bonus bosses. I finally got a lucky Beheading with my Brawler (or my Brawler turned Ninja, forget which stage it was on). 5% chance of success!

the true final boss isn't that bad
at 15:23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWMx_26CUf8

 

[HeeHo]

Hitoshi Sakimoto did the music? Ooh man, I love Dungeon Crawlers too. I feel so behind on Etrian Odyssey that I feel guilty trying to skip over to the newer games. I might give this a shot.

 

[Shizuka]

What's the best party you can come up with? I completely forgot what my party was from the PSP version and I lose my save.

 

[Aiustis]

Did not know this was a thing: will buy.

 

[SavoryCade]

I'll trade you a $20 eshop card so you can find out!

I'm forever sad I missed that LE.

That's a generous offer, but I'll pass.

I think I'm gonna double dip on this after all. I just like dungeon crawlers better on the 3DS for some reason.

 

[Dorarnae]

What's the best party you can come up with? I completely forgot what my party was from the PSP version and I lose my save.

I often play the same thing.

frontragonnewt or human fighter, devilish brawler dragonewt or human priest
back: hobbit thief, human mage,human or fairy alchemist.

and eventually change some char class once I hit post game with the medal....

I do try other setup sometime but this one works well.

 

[vocab]

This game looks way better than gothic, which is horrible trash.

 

[cj_iwakura]

This game looks way better than gothic, which is horrible trash.

Probably because 1 has more variety in settings.

 

[RedBoot]

So yeah, the custom portraits/profiles indeed use the 3DS camera. Kind of nutty. Almost makes the profile ("style") shots kind of useless since you won't have access to transparency, so you're going to have a nearly full-screen image each time.

I wonder if you can go into the SD card after saving an image and replace it with something else? Not sure how the game saves the data. Plus I have a N3DSXL so getting to my SD Card is a pain.

Seems to be a solid version of the game other than that.

 

[Dr Thor]

This game looks way better than gothic, which is horrible trash.

This comment is useless, since you didn't explain *why* you think the game is 'horrible trash'.

But I can say that if you like dungeon crawlers, I bought this last night and played 4 hours so far (cleared the first dungeon and opened up the world), and I'm enjoying myself immensely. Playing this in English is way better than struggling through in Japanese as I tried to do in the past. Having said that, the translation is a bit wonky at times but not enough to affect play.

Battles are quick and at times very challenging. Doing well so far with Samurai/Thief/Brawler/Cleric/Alchemist/Mage party. Like other Elminage titles it's a great homage to classic Wizardry.

 

[vocab]

This comment is useless, since you didn't explain *why* you think the game is 'horrible trash'.

Gothic is the prime example of a wizardry clone with no soul, and awful design decisions. The music is non existent with the same few tracks playing over and over, the sound effects are so grating to the ears. You will hear that clang clang sound over and over as you mash search on every wall because you can't progress the game without finding some old guy whos in some wall. It's the same sound in battle, and the menus. YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE THAT SOUND. The dungeons are lifeless, everything looks the same. You will hear that door sound like hundreds of times, and not know where you are. Last, but not least, to top it all off the map system is like the genre devolved back to 1987, the big reason why no one bothers with this game past a couple of hours. Yeah, it gets better in that regard, but whatever, the game is bad.

 

[Shizuka]

With Elminage Original (August), Mary Skelter (September), Etrian Odyssey V (October) and Demon Gaze II (likely November), DRPG fans will be very busy for the rest of the year.

I often play the same thing.

frontragonnewt or human fighter, devilish brawler dragonewt or human priest
back: hobbit thief, human mage,human or fairy alchemist.

and eventually change some char class once I hit post game with the medal....

I do try other setup sometime but this one works well.

Alright, I'll give your setup a go once I get the game.

 

[KiTA]

I look at the gameplay and I'm somewhat reminded of Stranger of Sword City; I know they're both first person dungeon crawlers so that helps some. Maybe it's the tone the game sets. Am I the only one?

Both are heavily inspired by the original Wizardry games and the Japanese branch of the Wizardry family tree.

I believe the team behind Elminage and Experience (the team behind SoSC) both were part of Team Muramasa, a team that did Wizardry games in Japan? But I could be wrong about that, it's been a while since I charted the family tree.

Either way, Starfish did the Wizardry Empire games (the GBC / PS2 Japanese Wizardry games) so they have some pedigree with Wizardry. They basically made Elminage to continue making Wizardry games -- I don't know the specifics, but supposedly Sir-Tech gave an unlimited *transferrable* license to make Wizardry games to some Japanese devs, which is why there are way way more Wizardry games in Japan than in the US. (Either that or they've just been ignoring the trademark for 30+ years.)

Operation Abyss and Operation Babel were known as Generation XTH (specifically, Code Hazard, Breaker, and Realize) in Japan, which was a sequel of swords to Wizardry XTH, which was a Wizardry game taking place in Modern Tokyo.

(As an aside, Class of Heroes 1 shared code with Wizardry Xth 2 as well, being basically a remake of it with the Modern Japanese stuff removed in lieu of a more anime fantasy school setup. There's some remnant that makes no sense because of it, IIRC some NPC in the library (?) that does nothing in CoH but did something in Xth 2, or somesuch.)

So yeah. The feel isn't in your head, both teams worked on Wizardry games and basically kept going by filing the serial numbers off.

 

[i-Jest]

Both are heavily inspired by the original Wizardry games and the Japanese branch of the Wizardry family tree.

I believe the team behind Elminage and Experience (the team behind SoSC) both were part of Team Muramasa, a team that did Wizardry games in Japan? But I could be wrong about that, it's been a while since I charted the family tree.

Either way, Starfish did the Wizardry Empire games (the GBC / PS2 Japanese Wizardry games) so they have some pedigree with Wizardry. They basically made Elminage to continue making Wizardry games -- I don't know the specifics, but supposedly Sir-Tech gave an unlimited *transferrable* license to make Wizardry games to some Japanese devs, which is why there are way way more Wizardry games in Japan than in the US. (Either that or they've just been ignoring the trademark for 30+ years.)

Operation Abyss and Operation Babel were known as Generation XTH (specifically, Code Hazard, Breaker, and Realize) in Japan, which was a sequel of swords to Wizardry XTH, which was a Wizardry game taking place in Modern Tokyo.

(As an aside, Class of Heroes 1 shared code with Wizardry Xth 2 as well, being basically a remake of it with the Modern Japanese stuff removed in lieu of a more anime fantasy school setup. There's some remnant that makes no sense because of it, IIRC some NPC in the library (?) that does nothing in CoH but did something in Xth 2, or somesuch.)

So yeah. The feel isn't in your head, both teams worked on Wizardry games and basically kept going by filing the serial numbers off.

I appreciate the history lesson. This entwined web of development incest has an intriguing back story.

 

[RedBoot]

I appreciate the history lesson. This entwined web of development incest has an intriguing back story.

It's amazing to see how strongly Wizardry caught on in Japan, with all the sequels and spinoffs, whereas in the US, after the early days of Wizardry, Might & Magic, and The Bard's Tale, the 1st person dungeon crawler became a rare, niche of a niche.

At least western devs have revisited the genre a bit as of late, with Grimrock and the upcoming Bard's Tale 4.

 

[cj_iwakura]

I appreciate the history lesson. This entwined web of development incest has an intriguing back story.

There was also Acquire's "Wizardry Renaissance", two PS3 games and a DS one.

 

[KiTA]

I often play the same thing.

frontragonnewt or human fighter, devilish brawler dragonewt or human priest
back: hobbit thief, human mage,human or fairy alchemist.

and eventually change some char class once I hit post game with the medal....

I do try other setup sometime but this one works well.

Hey Dorarnae! LTNS!

I started off with my Devilish Brawler. He's been soloing Abi over and over for the time while I save up cash for gear. Just got the Flambrige so now I can do it with other classes.

Thinking I'll do Dragonnewt Lord and a Dwarf Samurai to round out my front lineup. I was thinking maybe going Valkyrie instead of Lord but the Lord's passive defenses are just too nice -- at the tail end of postgame, it's 95% to everyone in the party's resistances.

But the Valkyrie gets that absurdly OP spear later on....

I really want to try Bards, Servants and Shamans but it's hard to fit them into the party.

 

[Forward]

Holy... this is so bought.


Downloading, now.

EDIT:

Holy Moly... those weighted dice.

 

[Dorarnae]

Hey Dorarnae! LTNS!

I started off with my Devilish Brawler. He's been soloing Abi over and over for the time while I save up cash for gear. Just got the Flambrige so now I can do it with other classes.

Thinking I'll do Dragonnewt Lord and a Dwarf Samurai to round out my front lineup. I was thinking maybe going Valkyrie instead of Lord but the Lord's passive defenses are just too nice -- at the tail end of postgame, it's 95% to everyone in the party's resistances.

But the Valkyrie gets that absurdly OP spear later on....

I really want to try Bards, Servants and Shamans but it's hard to fit them into the party.

Lord are good but reaching 95% resist you need to be around lvl 800 if I remember.
Valkyrie helps a lot against god boss at the end.
Servant can be really good once you get that god item that let him use his things without consumiing anything, but you might want to give him a few spell so he can do more things in battle.
as for shaman, they're very strong against ghost/demon/undead. So I suposed they're good against the duke in the post game and the true final boss(with the right setup I am pretty sure he can one shot him).
as for bard, I am not really sure, in elminage 3 they were nice, could use tarot against FOE...

 

[RedBoot]

I've forgotten most of my PSP playthrough, though I did immediately remember the Mirror Marsh upon entering it (hooray move tiles trapping you in the dungeon!).

But I don't think I used a Brawler or a Summoner then, both of which I'm trying now. The Brawler is amazing, as has been mentioned here. As for my Summoner, I was ambushed by a Chimera in the Marsh, which immediately murdered two of my guys. Then my Summoner tamed it. Now I have him on my team! He kills stuff.

 

[Forward]

Is a Ninja a suitable stand-in for a thief? If so, would a Fairy be as good as Hobbit?

 

[Shizuka]

Did they fix the translation?

 

[cj_iwakura]

Is a Ninja a suitable stand-in for a thief? If so, would a Fairy be as good as Hobbit?

Pretty sure they aren't as good at chest/trap disarming.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

The late-game trapped chests are nasty.

Spoiler

Nothing better than getting teleported into a wall, which wipes out the entire party.