For fans of the dungeon-crawl genre or for those who just want their Nintendo 3DS to host something a little off the beaten path, Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan is at the top of its class, and guaranteed to be one of 2013's best.
This game is the best JRPG I've played in this decade and it should be more recognized as an amazing achievement in the genre.
I played it for 150 hours, beat the end game and still wanted more.
This Was the first JRPG I ever Played, apart from Final Fantasy and Pokemon, And Im glad That I was able to play this game. I Like a Challenge, and this game gives it in spades! So much so that you're even creating your own map, like the D&D board Game, What other game lets you do that these days, Thats a really clever use of a touch screen! Everything from the Classes to the enemies to the end game content that almost gave me a heart attack, in a fun challenging kind of way, And the Amazing Material system that forces you to Fight against Powerful enemies that give you material to sell so that you can get a weapon or armor that makes your character strong enough to fight that same enemy with ease, and get that kind of equipment for everyone is just an amazing feeling. I love it, I Love It, I LOVE IT!
For series fans, everything you love about Etrian Odyssey is here, and then some -- better music, art, monsters, and mapping. You will not be disappointed. For everyone else: fans of classic dungeon crawling, fans of planning and plotting, or fans of a sizable challenge, I cannot recommend Etrian Odyssey IV enough.
This is a game for those who enjoy what a game used to be: a challenge. If that's not what you're looking for, even the "casual mode" could be too much for you.
The fourth chapter represents an evolution for the Etrian Odyssey saga, being able to be more accessible and fun right away. Unfortunately, the difficulty of the game is not balanced from beginning to end, with a challenging first part of the adventure and a second too easy.
Taken as a whole, however, Etrian Odyssey IV is the most impressive and entertaining entry in the series yet. It may be somewhat old-fashioned, but modern sensibilities make it both challenging and welcoming, and rich lore draws you into its world.
Unless you’re a chronic stat-cruncher and menu enthusiast, though, I can’t imagine that this incremental and grind-heavy sequel will resonate with you.
While I can understand how this kind of game may be boring or even tedious, I enjoyed the hell out of this game! The presentation is astounding and the environments you find yourself taking in are dangerous, beautiful, and unique. While the first area suffers from green hill zone syndrome, once you beat the first maze you'll be amazed by the unique colors and orchestrated music of the second area. Going on to the game play, it's more on the traditional side of your modern JRPG but because you have to put so much thought into your party it's not tedious at all. This game is surprisingly easy to jump into because it has an easier difficulty setting, which doesn't detract too much from the overall experience and can always be changed. Try out the demo before you get it, but I believe that this is the best JRPG on the 3DS.
Dont listen to the 10s. Believe the negative and medium scores. EO4 is a masterpiece only in a few ways.
Etrian is a series that was so difficult that somewhere along the way, someone said.. maybe we shouldnt be such jerkwads. I mean even our fans know they'll die in the first level. THey'll play for 1 battle, go back to town and heal. 2 battles, go back to town and heal.. and you just grind your way to mediocrity. Really, etrian is a grindfest with story and dont ever lie to someone who asks how great Etrian is. It isnt amazing, its just a game that imitates an MMO in that theres no story, hours to get to another level and you'll die a lot. The equips arent amazing, the drawing of the map is nice but you cant draw yourself into OP god tier.
EO4 is an entrypoint into the series in that.. you actually stand half a chance to learn what the mechanics of the game are. Then you wander around and kill things. Half the time you can autobattle and its fine. The other half is super annoying. Enemies that evade. Enemies that only die by magic. Enemies that eat magic, but then while they're digesting.. you need to use an item, heal the 4th character and do a handstand to execute order 66. Then they'll drop a rare item.
See, thats a joke. But it isnt, cuz you will have to jump thru hoops in the mid to late levels. And sometimes use ice or fire or what-have-you, while during night, on the second level of the seventeenth stratrum.. to get the claw of ravenfart.
Why do you need this claw? Because a guy in a tavern told you what you need. So you get it. Then you can buy the next best weapon. But only after you sell the item. Yeah, the blacksmith doesnt gather any materials. You do.
If that sounded like rambling, just wait till you have to read the game, beat the enemies, sell the item and buy the thing. A lot more clicking during THAT rambling.
The game is good for wasting hours. Keyword wasting. It isnt good or bad, its just etrian.
I personally found this game boring after logging about 6 hours in the first dungeon and not making any discernible progress on top of my compounding main frustration with the game: The game is one of the least immersive experiences I've had in a long time because of it's weak and effortless narrative, poor character design, and uninspired locales.
I understand why some people like this game, and I'm just getting my opinion out there for consumers like me. I probably would have enjoyed this game in the 1990s. Not now.
I'll give it this, I have no-one to blame but myself for this one.
I played the first one without having read any of the reviews and hated it. I saw this game and didn't even think of it until I kept seeing it as "best RPG on the 3DS" and "like the great dungeon crawlers from yesteryear" and thought that maybe I had been hasty in dismissing this 4th entry. Perhaps the series had gotten better since the tedious, charmless grindfest of the first game. Nope.
I will clearly never see what other people apparently like in these awful games. The graphics are quite nice and mapping out the dungeons is a nice novelty at first but the tedium of the grind sets in very quickly. Grinding for experience, grinding gear, endlessly warping between dungeons and towns to offload all the worthless rubbish you accumulate from the hundreds of boring monsters you kill over and over again. The combat sytem isn't even engaging enough to distract you from this, as bog-standard as it is (oh, the strategies being more for those with a love of spreadsheets than a love of tactics *yawn*). It got to the point where i literally automated my guys movement in a circle, had something depressed on the A button and left my 3DS on overnight to level my character quicker so I could get through the game faster. Didn't make the game any less dull though.
So the story... I think is there. None of the characters have much of a personality so it is difficult to be sure. There's certainly nothing dynamic about it and zero sense of urgency to anything. Aside from my characters' build there's not very much Role Playing to be done in this Role Playing game either. Calling it a throwback to the dungeoncrawlers I still play on my PC from time to time is a bit of an insult really, because at least those games have a sense of personality.
I hate to come across as a moaning Michael but other than the graphics and mapping, I found nothing to enjoy here. If you are the kind of RPer who likes metagaming primarily with stats and skill trees and stuff, you might get a kick out of this. That must be the audience for this. Otherwise, just why?
Ever since the SNES era, I've been a huge RPG fan. From Japanese masterpieces like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, and EarthBound to American franchises like The Elder Scrolls, I'm always enthralled by the epic storylines, memorable characters, and ridiculously immersive gameplay.
There are, however, plenty of pitfalls in the genre. Sometimes, a game with all of the above qualities will simply force you to grind way too much (hello, Secret of Mana!). Other times, games turn into a slugfest of item and/or stats management that makes it a lot harder to enjoy their other qualities (much like The World Ends With You).
To be blunt, Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan features none of the qualities I mentioned above AND all of the hassles. The game is an endless grind, with no real compelling story and no memorable characters (all of your party are almost-faceless, player-created drones).
Everything you do in the game, you do in the coldest way possible, through a crapload of menus and submenus. You don't get to wander around towns, approach townsfolk, look for secrets in the back alleys... you simply choose what to do from a list, suffer through boring dialogues, and proceed to grind the next dungeon.
As if all of this wasn't enough, the game (apparently, the series) forces you to draw your own map as you go along. Words can't describe how aggravating I found that experience. Of course, it's something that real life adventurers would have to do, but it's also the sort of minutia I really don't want to have to deal with in a game. It makes adventuring seem more like a job than, well, an adventure.
I know there are stat-grinding aficionados out there. For them, this game must be heaven (and the excellent graphics will definitely help). If that's not your case, however, chances are you'll find it a soulless, charmless drag.
SummaryEtrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan has players board their skyship and set out into the clouds in search of treasure, glory, and the answer to Tharsis' oldest mystery.