Etrian Odyssey Nexus Launch Edition - Nintendo 3DS

Having never played Etrian Odyssey before and curious to give the series a try, I recently picked up a copy of Etrian Odyssey V and gave it a go. After playing it for a couple of hours and also listening to it (lord, saxophone even?!), love was blossoming and Etrian Odyssey Nexus was instantly procured as a secure deposit of never ending future enjoyment with the series. Well, the future part didn’t pan out. I made the mistake of putting Nexus in the 3DS, and it didn’t come back out. Nexus is a best-of comp for a series I haven’t played. Nexus has the largest class variety in said series. It also expects the player to know what’s what from every previous game so it can subvert said expectations and introduce new and exciting torments for the player to enjoy. A best-of comp that takes the difficulty of an already punishing series and ramps it up a notch, you say? One that gives the player an unprecedented number of toys to play with in the form character classes in order to meet said challenge? All’s to say I was smitten instantly and giddily set about my journey of masochistic joy, and god the game never ends it’s wonderful! I even spent hours killing a golem once and the game was like LOL nope. Simply the best. Sleep well and dream of baboons and armadillos, my heart.

EO Nexus is the culmination of the series as a whole. Many classes from the previous games make a return as you make your own custom party and venture into a massive world of first person dungeon exploration. The biggest hook of the series is the touch screen use. The bottom screen acts as your map when you explore, allowing you to chart the map in real time leaving you to add your own touches. The combat itself is what you would expect from a solid turn based RPG. There's plenty of ailments and elements to use and be used against you, and your characters learn a wide array of abilities to attack and defend yourself. The series' other notable feature besides the map creation are the F.O.E.s that wander around the map. These are monsters that are out of this world, and you will never be up to the task when you encounter each one for the first time. So you must navigate the different dungeons leveling up and doing quests as you dodge these fierce foes to find out the secrets of this world! Get ready for an adventure to bookend the fantastic Nintendo 3DS.

If you have any interest in Dungeon crawling genre and like a little sense of exploration and learning, maybe give it a try, it might have a learning curve if you're new to the series but this probably one of the most easy to get into entries. You have a nice assortment of classes and skills to mix and match with. If you're having trouble you can always adjust the difficulty or even buy some DLC for infinitely obtainable quests that grants xp boosts or money for 2 or so dollars each. You can customize your portaits and voices from a variety of options even buy portraits from older entries if there's a class portrait you enjoy from older EO games. All in all it has a lot of features for an EO game and I'm loving taking my time to enjoy it so far.

I have played all of the Etrian Odysseys since #4. I played and beat 4, played and beat Untold, and played most of Untold 2 before I had to shelve due to no time. I have also played some of V, but never beat it. I love this series, but I do not have much time for it! I heard about this one being more of a collection, and I am loving the variance so far. Would recommend, even if you are like me and will only play a short while. Great send off for the 3DS (well, until Persona Q2 releases).

I haven't had a chance to get very far with the game, though I am excited by the prospect. There is a huge amount of choice in how to build your party in this game, with even more variation provided as you progress. My one dig is that the voice acting is still in Japanese; this is a step down from Etrian Odyssey V and was disappointing to learn. Luckily, this is a gameplay kind of game, so voice acting isn't that big of a deal.

I've played every Etrian Odyssey besides the remakes of 1 and 2. Nexus does a remarkable job of composing the strengths of each into a unique entry that (10 hours in) lacks any of their individual weaknesses. I will say, I can't imagine jumping into this entry as a newcomer to the series. There's not much handholding, and the difficult starts out high and stays there. This is absolutely worth dusting off your 3DS for.

Etrian Odyssey Nexus is the last Etrian Odyssey title to be made for the Nintendo 3DS. If you've ever played a game in this series, the title is a challenging RPG where you traverse confusing dungeons. You need to use pen and paper to write a map while you play so you don't get lost. This title is fun, it's challenging, but it's also rewarding. And you will sink over 40+ hours in this game's story as well.

E.O. Nexus is a great Swan Song for the 3DS, in a series that has been so much fun in this system, this last game is an amalgamation of the best each previous entry had to offer, wrapped up in a new story, characters and classes. I really enjoyed my time with this game. It's a turn base JRPG with lots of systems to play with. I would recommend it for any JRPG lover out tere.