Etrian Odyssey - F.O.E. Bomb!

[Bear]

So, does anyone have experience with this series? The only exposure I have is from the flash animation.

Seeing EO4 popping up recently has kinda of sparked my interest. I love creating characters that have specific and being able to agonize over and assign stat and skill builds. I also am interested in its map building. I hear that the difficulty is brutal and that it might be grindy, but considering how high RO ranks on my fave list, I suppose that suits my personality. I'm curious if anyone has any impressions or is interested in this game.

[TheNesta]

I've tried to play a little bit of every game in this series, and it's just never been for me. I adore the character designs, which is part of the reason I keep trying to get into it, but that's pretty minor considering you rarely see those characters. Still, I dunno. As you mentioned, it is super hardcore, and grindy. And as an avid JRPG player, I'm willing to put up with grindy to a point, but you have to be really dedicated for this series.

With that said... Apparently Etiran Odyssey 4 has a casual mode. Now, I'm not sure how casual, "casual" is for this series, but it might be the thing that finally gets me into it. We'll have to see.

[Bear]

Yeah, I've heard a lot of people who have experience with the series are really embracing the easy difficulty which I guess speaks to how brutal it can be. I'm not sure but I think that you will be able to switch the difficulty at any point if you try the normal mode and find it too insane.

[RollCasket]

I've played a bit of all of them and well...I'll just say even if you don't understand the language of the flash video, playing the game you understand it completely. It's mainly talking about the hardcore boss level mobs that roam around, but really, anytime you get to a new floor you have to grind all over again. That's not a joke either, you spend time grinding the current floor till you can handle it well, think you're ready for the next floor and move on...only to find the strength in monsters spike way up soon as you're there.

So how hard us the game exactly? Even at max level it's STILL hard, so even if you grind all day you're still not safe =P

I might try the new one...the character designs always draw me in, Gunner remains one of my favs. I'm curious about "casual" mode also lol.