Amibguous Cad
Member
I've beaten a few of them.
Honestly, the mapmaking is a 2007-era DS gimmick and I would've pounced on an automap functionality so hard after the first one.
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New Etrian Odyssey Game Confirmed in Development, Last with a Bottom Screen Map/3DS
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I've beaten a few of them.
Honestly, the mapmaking is a 2007-era DS gimmick and I would've pounced on an automap functionality so hard after the first one.
Magicpaint
Member
EOIII remake please.
Then we can have a fresh start with EOVI without the map drawing (RIP) on Switch or something. But I'm glad this isn't the end of the series.
Then we can have a fresh start with EOVI without the map drawing (RIP) on Switch or something. But I'm glad this isn't the end of the series.
Minsc
Gold Member
I guess they could always just use a smart phone companion app (if it jumps ship to PS4/PC, or even if it goes to Switch), naturally phones have pretty good touch accuracy, and you could always use a stylus.
I don't think it's really all that different a solution if you detached the joycons and use the kickstand and put a smartphone below the game actually (especially if the game connected to the phone). There's your two screens.
EO and the DS/ 3DS was a match made in heaven so it's appropriate to get a celebratory game on 3DS. It's also one of my favorite series at the moment.
It sounds like the future of the series will lose a big part of what makes it EO.
EOV is out soon in the west and I'm very excited, I hope we get EMD, PQ2 and whatever this final title will be.
On the other hand, I am sort of disappointed they haven't moved on from the 3DS, clearly they haven't even begun making anything for the future of the series on a new platform (presumable Switch)
I can see a portable only mode working with a map in the bottom corner of the screen that expands with a button press/ touch, to bring up the full map screen. Mapping via controls might be possible but touch screen will be better.
With more transparency on the map.
It just wouldn't be as convenient as the DS/3DS.
Either way, can't wait to see what this project is, hope it captures the spirit of the series and all its best qualities in one package. (PS. bring back sailing from 3, it was great!)
Edit: Also every time with a new EO tease I mention: BRING BACK THE ORANGE BLOB OF MYSTERY!
FOEs were way scarier when you couldn't see what they were.
It sounds like the future of the series will lose a big part of what makes it EO.
EOV is out soon in the west and I'm very excited, I hope we get EMD, PQ2 and whatever this final title will be.
On the other hand, I am sort of disappointed they haven't moved on from the 3DS, clearly they haven't even begun making anything for the future of the series on a new platform (presumable Switch)
I can see a portable only mode working with a map in the bottom corner of the screen that expands with a button press/ touch, to bring up the full map screen. Mapping via controls might be possible but touch screen will be better.
With more transparency on the map.
It just wouldn't be as convenient as the DS/3DS.
Either way, can't wait to see what this project is, hope it captures the spirit of the series and all its best qualities in one package. (PS. bring back sailing from 3, it was great!)
Edit: Also every time with a new EO tease I mention: BRING BACK THE ORANGE BLOB OF MYSTERY!
FOEs were way scarier when you couldn't see what they were.
I will always be disappointed we never got an EO game on the WiiU. It was the perfect opportunity for a console EO game without having to sacrifice the map-drawing mechanic...
I will continue to support the series regardless (as it's one of my favorites) but I can't pretend that I won't miss drawing my own maps. I developed my own styles to increase accuracy and information load that an automap just wouldn't be able to mimic.
I will continue to support the series regardless (as it's one of my favorites) but I can't pretend that I won't miss drawing my own maps. I developed my own styles to increase accuracy and information load that an automap just wouldn't be able to mimic.
Magicpaint
Member
Nah there's nothing scary about an orange blob.
Crankshaft
Member
Good one. Atlus is the king of supporting systems well in the twilight years.
Magicpaint
Member
Cute
They aren't scary either but if given the choice I'd rather see what the FOE is on the map than a generic orange blob.
Etrian Oddity
Member
Probably EO3U to buy time for the next true installment.
Etrian Oddysey's best thing isn't drawing maps, it's the fucking incredible party-building and combat system. As long as that nucleus and the minimalistic but clever storytelling stays, I'll support it. If anything, the mapping as is has gotten incredibly long in the tooth.
But keep the goddamn FM chiptunes as default music goddammit. Koshiro's godly chiptune compositions are better than the arranged versions we've gotten in the past two games.
Etrian Oddysey's best thing isn't drawing maps, it's the fucking incredible party-building and combat system. As long as that nucleus and the minimalistic but clever storytelling stays, I'll support it. If anything, the mapping as is has gotten incredibly long in the tooth.
But keep the goddamn FM chiptunes as default music goddammit. Koshiro's godly chiptune compositions are better than the arranged versions we've gotten in the past two games.
The only thing scary about non-blob FOEs is their rendering.
MulderYuffie
Member
EO3 untold pls
ToastyFrog
Inexplicable Treasure Hate
Mods, I need to report an offensive post.
Depends where you live. II and III didn't come to Europe, which at least didn't matter too much as the DS was region-free, unlike 3DS.
Agree on fast turnaround being sensible- at least it looks like Strange Journey Redux might pop up here early next year.
That's not exactly what it says. Quote says it's the last game with a map being drawn on the bottom screen of a 3DS, not that other mechanics for drawing/assembling/annotating maps absolutely won't appear in future EO games. I could see the games auto-mapping walls just like the option in the newer EO games (as that is the bulk of the stylus work) but still let players mark and annotate secret passages, teleporters, specific locations etc with greater options for doing so.
Personally I love drawing maps, but it isn't my favourite part of the series, the tight turn-based gameplay and well-designed class synergies are what keeps me playing them.
Considering the extreme niche appeal of dungeon crawlers, I think it makes sense delaying the jump to the Switch/whatever for as long as possible.
Crankshaft
Member
Don't say that lol. I'm pretty much waiting for Atlus to come to the switch. Can't wait for that Shin Megami Tensei game to come out. Would love to see a EO game on the switch, even without a second screen.
Well, they were pretty increasingly packed up to this point too.
EO, DS, 2007
EO2, DS, 2008
EO3, DS, 2010
EO4, 3DS, 2012
EOU, 3DS, 2013
EO2U, 3DS, 2014
EMD, 3DS, 2015
EO5, 3DS, 2016
EO is an annual series now.
Yeah, fair point.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
I think expanding the "tabletalk" dialogues in dungeons and letting players influence the story/relationships with NPCs more would help, but it wouldn't make up for the loss of simultaneous mapping. Mapping for the sake of it doesn't appeal to me as much as figuring out environmental puzzles, fighting through seemingly endless battles with or without a Thread, and the occasional side-quest which reinvents or makes good use of a dungeon more than just farming materials.
Auto-filling walls seems essential on Switch, plus giving you a button control scheme to zip around the expandable mini-map to either map walls ahead of you (maybe done though a consumable item which stacks in your inventory vs. taking up extra space) or add static/dynamic icons. And that's for docked play, since handheld would make this more convenient. Maybe tying more basic functions to your radar could help.
There's no way to retain the dual-screen mapping paradigm if they move to Switch, but mapping will stay in some form which the EO team will prototype and fine-tune to make as accessible as possible. I'm not expecting the games to look much better just because of a platform change, but maybe we'll get enhanced (optional) online systems and content on top of other series additions.
hydragonwarrior
Member
I wonder if they'll ever do a Switch game...
It's always basically been one, if you consider the spin-offs that use what were the main engines at the time of release:
2007 - EO1
2008 - EO2
2009 - Strange Journey
2010 - EO3
2011 -
2012 - EO4
2013 - EOU
2014 - EO2U, Persona Q
2015 - EMD
2016 - EO5
2017 - EMD2, Strange Journey Redux
2018 - Likely the new Etrian game and Persona Q2
Etrian Odyssey is the Call of Duty of dungeon crawlers.
NeededSleep
Member
This game's concept reminds me of Monster Hunter: Generations in terms of being a celebration of all that has gone before preceding a franchise pivot of sorts. I hope it means a huge selection of classes, maybe even multiple towns, they could even have a streetpass-based arena where your adventuring parties could take on other groups for fun and profit.
No, SMT:SJ isn't a spin-off and people don't consider it one.
If Atlus had any sense they would be targeting PC as well. There's a sizeable audience there for these types of games.
It's not a spin-off of Etrian Odyssey in terms of branding but in terms of development, SJ uses a modified version of the DS EO engine. It certainly felt close enough to me when I was playing them. That was the only reason I became a fan of SMT in the first place.
That's not how spin-offs works.
It's like saying every first-person shooter, for example Titanfall 2 is a spin-off of Half-Life 2 / Counter-strike because they both use the same engines and they're both the same genres.
Is there? Experience's games haven't done very well on Steam. It's not the best comparison (mainline EO games do about an order of magnitude better than Experience's games in Japan), but the only real successful blobber-style games on Steam have been the Legend of Grimrock games (and those games have been in multiple bundles). A cleaned up EO release for PC would probably do alright (enough to justify the port, at least) but it wouldn't really move the needle on anything. That and the map-making functions could be switched to mouse controls easily enough (and it's something that PC dungeon crawlers have been doing for decades).
There's also the fact that it seems like Japan would sink into the ocean before Atlus JP started supporting PC releases, even if something like EO would have moved ten million copies as a PC release.
The draw of EO games for many is the dungeon mapping. It's a love letter to CRPGs that asked you to sketch the dungeon on graph paper while playing -- a feature the dual screen of the DS nicely simulates. In that context, having to constantly press a button to switch views would be maddening.
Agree that spin-off is the wrong choice of words. The original point was that a dungeon crawler with the EO engine, including SJ, had appeared almost every year, against which your example of two games 15+ years apart that share an engine feels like stretching the comparison a little bit. EO and SJ games releasing barely more than months apart are obviously far, far closer to each other in various aspects than Titanfall 2 in 2016 and counter-strike in 2000 are. Still, happy to concede the point on terminology.
Maybe they should just ship it with a ream of graph paper and a pen
Agreed. I feel that's the only unique thing the series had going for it. Though I guess I also feel EO outstayed its welcome akin to Guitar Hero.
Another unique thing it has going for it is "not having a heavy focus on sexualized women and girls" in the space of dungeon RPGs these days.
That's one thing that's stopping me picking up Demon Gaze II this Autumn, amongst others.
One of the other things I like about EO is you can often choose to have a party with portraits of older adventurers as well as fresh-faced young people too, lots of dungeon RPGs offer it but I do like having the option for a party that isn't just made up of teenagers. Maybe I'm just getting old and want more crusty old adventurers like me
Crankshaft
Member
There were Drpg's before EO and there will be ones after it. All of us long time fans have been pressing a button for a map for decades. Yeah making a map was fun but it's not so important that the series should die just because there isn't a second screen. I'd rather the series live on.
StereoVsn
Member
Experience games releases have been weird from schedule and content perspective. For example their latest one isn't actually the "full" version which is only on the Vita.
Didn't Ubisoft's M&M X did alright overall? Not well enough to get a sequel but decently enough as far as DRPGs go.
I doubt they'll do EMD3 for 3DS after 2, it looks like it'll under perform. I wonder if the series will survive the transition to HD and single screen platforms.