At long last, Fire Emblem and Etrian Odyssey can be recommended to the mainstream
This is a column by Kat Bailey dedicated to the analysis of the once beloved Japanese RPG sub-genre. Tune in every Wednesday for thoughts on white-haired villains, giant robots, Infinity+1 swords, and everything else the wonderful world of JRPGs has to offer. The average first-time experience with an Etrian Odyssey game goes something like this: You spend some time constructing a team; you venture into the forest for the first time, and you die. Then, unless you’re a particular breed of RPG fan, you probably quit forever. Until now, anyway.
After three games worth of trial and error, Etrian Odyssey IV seems to have hit the ‘Goldilocks Zone’ of RPG difficulty. In other words, it’s still pretty tough, but it’s not impossible. And for that reason, it’s finally reached the point where I can reasonably recommend it to someone other than a hardcore dungeon crawler fanatic.
The crux of EOIV’s new accessibility is its casual mode, which makes it to the second high-profile 3DS RPG this year to feature such an option (Fire Emblem: Awakening was the first). The effects are relatively simple: when you die, you’ll be whisked back to town, rather than having to start over. In addition, you will be blessed with an item that lets you leave a dungeon at any time.
This would seem to have the effect of making EOIV a tad too easy; but in reality, it makes it compulsive. Rather than getting frustrated by every cheap death and accidental counter with an F.O.E. – minibosses that roam the labyrinth – I’ve found myself simply rolling up my sleeves and trying again. The result has been much more rapid progress than I’ve ever experienced before, and a whole lot less in the way of cursing and throwing my 3DS.Continue reading At long last, Fire Emblem and Etrian Odyssey can be recommended to the mainstreamAt long last, Fire Emblem and Etrian Odyssey can be recommended to the mainstream originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 08 Mar 2013 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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