🦋Dinner at the Bistro🦋

I 100%ed EO3 twice this year (DS+HD). Same exact party (with some changes and new additions), and I’ll do it again if the time calls for it. Here’s a big piece to celebrate clearing my favorite video game :’]]]

We got something this year fellas!!!

A menacing figure appears on your trek into the labyrinth. With a stern look that pierces into your soul, it seems he is gauging your mettle….

he doesnt know

A CHESS SET?!

🌟 i'm maybe a little excited that Etrian Odyssey is still alive (Feb 23rd, 2023)

full res

The best part of Etrian Odyssey HD’s new Custom menu is that you now have a visual representation of how much of a mess the Protector’s skill tree is.

😦 <- girl who just got to BF20 of etrian odyssey 1

He’s so cool, new War Magus portrait!

chart that makes sense. to me

Did you know the Senatus building has a framed photo of young Flowdia? I’m so glad I get to see it in HD now… she’s so pretty 😭🥰

And here’s the official site to check out! I can’t believe how long it’s been.

If I'm dreaming, I don't want to wake up.

some members of my EO3 HD Guild, the Coverts

Super distinctive level design has always been Etrian Odyssey's strong suit but being in the second stratum now it's really impressive just how different they managed to make the actual gameplay and exploration experience feel when the interface itself is so basic.

I don't know how to explain it adequately but, like, in most RPGs or even a lot of action/adventures game, other than dramatic changes like water levels or vehicle levels, nothing ever really "feels" very different as you run around over world environments and dungeons. You have a pretty basic and very reliable means of traversing the world and nothing meaningfully changes how you approach new environments.

On the surface Etrian Odyssey seems like it should adhere to that as it's really just moving forward in a perfectly geometric 1st person POV dungeon. But the way the second stratum of EO3 has such a uniquely claustrophobic feel compared to the first is perfectly jarring. All these winding halls and blind corners are noticably unlike the wide open rooms of the first stratum. Even the intended "metagame" aspect of mapping yourself a birdseye view of these labyrinths actually functions differently here --the winding halls often look as if they'll meet back up with some intersection you passed before only to wind around it instead, leaving both an awkward gap in your map as well as pulling you further and further from your safe retreat.

And where as the woods almost exclusively had shortcuts that were only accessible from the deep end leading back to the shallow ends of the dungeon, in the second stratum the secret passages thru inconspicuous walls are more often the path forward into the unknown, not backwards toward the exit. It's such a wildly powerful crafting/wielding of "game feel" that's only highlighted by just how simplistic the assets and mechanics at work here really are.

Astronomically more expensive games have achieved much less in terms of game experience, with far more complex systems.