Etrian Odyssey

[B.Leu]

I probably going to make them rest at lv 50, the bonus seems to justify the waste of time.

All the Fire spells seems rather boring to me, so I didn't put points in Fire Rune, but the moment I have a boss who do a Fire-All-magic... yeah... :/

Etrian Odysey is the kind of game with a shitton of skills, but not much SP, the problem is you don't necessarily where to put those SP. Like in EO3, there's the Monk. It's the main healer, but you can waster SP in fist skills. Or the Fortress, he is the main buffer, the protector of the group, the PV bag. And you can give him physical skills.

Which is something that a normar RPG player who don't know anything EO would do actually.

And in the end, even if you do have an idea of where to put those points, you're still going to have a hard time. I shudder to think what it is to play a EO 100% blind.

[eclipse]

Trust me, a blind run of EO is fun~!

My elemental mages always have at least one point in every element, since I never know when I'll run into something that's weak to that particular element. There's the option to rest, which will reduce your level, but will allow you to redistribute skill points as necessary. Give it a shot~!

[B.Leu]

Trust me, a blind run of EO is fun~!

There seems to be something wrong with that phrase somehow. :p

Nah, but I'll probably retire/rest or something later on, I want the bonus in stats/skills point to worth it, except if the game REALLY bitch slap me in the face.

Wtf Golden Lair ?! Now I have to (probably) redo your entire map ! ><)

Dat supeb metroid feel though.

Eo is so, so maso. :p

Edited May 18, 2015 by B.Leu

[Ein]

3rd labyrinth does that. It's like a puzzle that wants to kill you with fire.

[B.Leu]

Soon I'll be lv40 and shit will gets real. :D

Oh and apparently, the Toxic Cave is... Toxic. Sounds legit.

[Original Alear]

Etrian Odysey is the kind of game with a shitton of skills, but not much SP, the problem is you don't necessarily where to put those SP. Like in EO3, there's the Monk. It's the main healer, but you can waster SP in fist skills. Or the Fortress, he is the main buffer, the protector of the group, the PV bag. And you can give him physical skills.

Which is something that a normar RPG player who don't know anything EO would do actually.

Breakfire fist is pretty good for the post-game final boss on a zodiac when coupled with the runic skill that makes you deal extra damage when striking weaknesses. Oh, and some farmed str tomes for the zodiac!

[B.Leu]

Really ? Eh, Eo is complicated and awesome just like that. But if you do that at the beginning of the game, well, you're screwed, sine you'll need those point in other thing, like, healing.

I unlocked the subclasses, and speaking of screwing, Auto-Spread + Venom Throw = Orgasm and 700 or so damage.

[Original Alear]

Really ? Eh, Eo is complicated and awesome just like that. But if you do that at the beginning of the game, well, you're screwed, sine you'll need those point in other thing, like, healing.

I unlocked the subclasses, and speaking of screwing, Auto-Spread + Venom Throw = Orgasm and 700 or so damage.

Ya, I agree that for most of the game, monk healing abilities are probably more useful than their offensive abilities. I mean, in part because there are lots of offensive classes, but skill-based healing is pretty much limited to prince(ss) and monk. And maybe farmer? I don't know their skillset very well. But actually, you can go through EOIII's "main game" (end of stratum 5) without a healer. I beat the armoroad route using 2 gladiators, a hoplite, an arbalist and a zodiac. Bunshin hoplites in EOIII are really great!! Or maybe just bunshin is really great!!!

Edited May 19, 2015 by Severlan

[B.Leu]

Holy shit, looking at EO3 after playing EO4 is quite jarring.

The princess and monk skill set if well used make a big part of the game a cake-walk. Princess' shitton of HP regeneration skill in and and out of a battle plus Monk instant healing is almost OP.

Hoplite/Ninja is kind of like Fortress/Dancer but even better, because it have something else than evasion boost.. Like creating a freaking clone that you can ether use as a Kamikaze or for tank for the other line. And it can regen TP easily.

Farmer are for, well, farming, you create farmer team, then goes to a recolt spot.

Also, Stratum 5 music is the best music of the game.

That's also where I stopped playing, because ah, I have the impression that I screwed big time with my team :/

EDIT: And Hoist the sword with pride in the heart, dat Kirin(?) fight.

Edited May 20, 2015 by B.Leu

[Rothene]

I found Fortress/Dancer useful for the dances that helped the Fortress auto recover from binds/status(Meaning the Fortress is almost always active while not taking up turns recovering) as well as the Act-First-ish skill. And the regen waltz.

I find Fortress on its own using guarding skills in the frontline generally over recovers TP. But I admit Hoplite's damage dealing capacities are far superior.

In the case of Hoplite/Ninja tanking for another line, Fortress was given skills to tank for the entire party without the need of another subclass.

[B.Leu]

Even though I'm at the fourth stratum, the only thing my Fortress ever do is auto-taunt, taunt, rampart, or attack. SOMETIME, line shield. Holy Blessing is only occasional, and even then, I have my medic for that. I maxed Iron wall and Knight's bound, she have 3 in HP boost, those are actually useful.

All the 'shield' skills seems kinda useless, 10tp for line-shield, manageable but still heavy cost, 20tp for party-shield ? WTF.
What's more, if you are unlucky, and that happens a lot to me, said shield skill can be utterly useless, either because my Fortress die, or because the ennemy doesn't do the 'good' action.

Guard master sounds good though, and it seems to help with shield skills. I guess they will be more useful late on.

[Original Alear]

I found Fortress/Dancer useful for the dances that helped the Fortress auto recover from binds/status(Meaning the Fortress is almost always active while not taking up turns recovering) as well as the Act-First-ish skill. And the regen waltz.

I find Fortress on its own using guarding skills in the frontline generally over recovers TP. But I admit Hoplite's damage dealing capacities are far superior.

In the case of Hoplite/Ninja tanking for another line, Fortress was given skills to tank for the entire party without the need of another subclass.

Being able to field 2 anti-elements is useful against some bosses (Kirin, Progenitor, Abyssal God come to mind). Of course, you only need one anti-element user in the latter case if you're able to do enough damage to kill abyssal god before turn 50 or so.

My experience with provoke in EO1 was that it wasn't that reliable, so I didn't use it in 3. I'm not sure what hoplite skills are more effective than a line guard to the front and back row (or just one of the two rows if you're using one for an anti-element). I also never messed around with my hoplite's offensive skills.

All the 'shield' skills seems kinda useless, 10tp for line-shield, manageable but still heavy cost, 20tp for party-shield ? WTF.

Party shield is pretty handy. It grants coverage to the entire party in one turn, and you'll also often recover the TP cost with the fortress's class-exclusive skill that recovers its tp when it is attacked.

Edited May 21, 2015 by Severlan

[B.Leu]

Weehee ! Defeated the guardian, and got the Imperial class.

The Kamikaze attack of the guardian was dissapointing, it was barely stronger than his other attacks, not that I'm compaining. :p

Line shield, Party shield, Aegis guard and some nectar were indeed, very useful.

The Imperial class seems pretty OP with a good set up, I've seen some video of it soloing some post-game bosses.

Now I just have to give it to my Runemaster.

Edited May 25, 2015 by B.Leu

[Irony]

You're doing well. One peice of advice. Get as many Amrita IIs as possible. Trust me, you are going to need them against the final boss. The final boss was such a tough fight. Took me a couple months of planning, preparation and levelling up before I felt ready to take this guy on.

[TildeHat]

No chem WS has been killed by my triad of Imperial/Bushi (featuring F/R and L/M).

Really fun fight despite all the headaches it gave me. Glad Qr code characters are a thing though. Don't think I could stand fighting chem!WS 27 times to get the proper forges(Grinding to 99r99 is easy though).

[B.Leu]

Yeah, it's kind of a 'stamina fight', where the first moment I can't do something, I lose.

Speaking of Imperial/Bushi, I decided to retire my Dancer/Nightseeker into that, since she kind of fall behind, and holy crap.
Blood Surge + Charge + Element Drive = FOE Almost dead.

After a while, Dancer-Stunlocking become kind of useless, maybe it's just because I don't have the good weapons, I can't do much with a Hruting with 1 stun forged.

[Rothene]

Better to forge luck while maxing the stunning passive skill if you want stuns out of your dancer. But you'll need an Arcanist to reset the stun resistance bosses build up if you want to keep at it. I find it too unreliable personally, and my Dancer's duty is to spam widen dance with Energy Tango every turn when not setting up more Energy Tango for my TP hungry party anyway~

Welcome to the wonderful realm of Bloodsurge/Calm...infinite Hp/TP for that one guy out of random encounters.

[Original Alear]

I have beaten stratum 8 in etrian mystery! I also beat the first level one dungeon and the fire dragon cave.

I got a fire fang from the dragon, but I need a lot for most of the forges it is involved in (like 5). Am I supposed to beat them over and over again? Or are there other ways to get the drops?

[eclipse]

I have beaten stratum 8 in etrian mystery! I also beat the first level one dungeon and the fire dragon cave.

I got a fire fang from the dragon, but I need a lot for most of the forges it is involved in (like 5). Am I supposed to beat them over and over again? Or are there other ways to get the drops?

They'll be down there every time you hit the lowest level. So keep kicking its butt!

[B.Leu]

RIP Amrita II

A pain in the ass to farm.

Mere seconds to go away.

Finally defeated the final boss after what, my fourth try, I think ? All my team level 64, sans my Imperial/Bushi who was lv54.

I'm kind of dissapointed, I'm not really sure if it's my fault for being too powerful, or because in the end, the Heavenbringer is just a giant PV bag, a fun PV bag, but a PV bag nonetheless. I guess I was kinda lucky. How surprising from a EO game eh ?

The hilarious part is that, apparently, it could've been even more easier if I had a Sniper to bind the head's... head.

The story was a fresh air, especially compared to the cynicism of EO and EO3, same with the characters I like them. especially compared to those in previous game who would lie to you because they're a bunch of dicks.

I'll probably do a NG+ with one or two of my characters, plus the three NPC who join you, and only when they join you.

However, I think we lost something. Plus they pulled a Naruto, What exactly is their answer to ressurecting the world ? Baldur was right, it's either everything, and slowly with that, or 'just' half of the people, it's not healty, yeah, but it's all they have.

'Waiting', 'We'll find a solution' ? Gimme a break.

Compared to other Atlus games, EO4 is really not that hard. especially in comparison of other EO, like EO3, if you told me I could survive a random encounter easily in EO4, I would've been very surprised. I'm not even talking about the Auto-Spread = Venom Throw, even before that, it wasn't that hard. EO3 bitchslapped me in the face.

Very fun dungeons mechanics though, the third stratum can go to hell though. It's fun two sec, then it's just a pain.

Not that I'm complaining, with Atlus games, you don't need to play fair, a gamebreaking strategy is merely a good one.

So, I'm going to do the post-game, and I wanted to ask, what do you think of Etrian Mystery Dungeon and Etrian Untold ?
Untold kind of turn me off because of the NPC and a much more implemented storyline, but if it's good.

Mystery dungeon, well I played some Pokemon like that.

[Irony]

B.Leu, I guess you listened to my advice about the Amirtas? :)

Untold is fun. You can play it on Classic Mode, if you don't like the idea of the story... Though the Final Boss of Classic mode was a cake walk. Defeated it in...22 turns? I don't think Mystery Dungeon looks that interesting IMO (but I may be wrong).

You could also wait for Untold 2 (I don't know if your American or European, but Untold 2 is coming out later this year in America) by doing EOIV's after story. Again, Untold 2 has a story mode, but you can also choose to do it in Classic mode if so, can you name a character Fantasia? ;) jkjk In all seriousness, it's your decision. :)

[Original Alear]

If you don't get mystery, you might want to consider checking out its soundtrack! It's pretty good IMO. I've had fun with the game as well, but the AI can get awfully irritating at times.

I personally didn't like most of untold that much, but I did play story. Postgame boss Alraune kicks my ass super hard even though I'm at max level, so I don't think I'll ever get to postgame.

[B.Leu]

Oh yeah, I recently just heard the Mystery version of Chalky Woods. Freaking awesome !

[eclipse]

Untold - It's well worth it, because there's been some skill retuning, and if you don't want a stupid story, you can go Classic.

Mystery Dungeon - This game can be low-manned, and it's ideal to do so at certain points. I still have a LOT of fun with it, even if I have to manually control certain characters at certain points. It can be grind-heavy, but your reserve characters will gain experience and levels right along with you! Overall, I felt it was worth my money, and I'm not even done with the proper postgame dungeons!

[Irony]

Alrane? The flower person boss thing? The one on B7F? Killed that at level 50. Harder fight than Entrant though. (Though I will admit that I played EOU on easy- because EOIV was so hard and I didn't want to spend 6 months prepping for a boss again. Didn't realise that easy mode would be such a cake walk... I wish that I had played it on normal mode though.)

I'll listen to EMD's soundtrack as the Etrian Odyssey series does have good music. (My favourite is EOIV's first battle theme). :)