Etrian Odyssey Nexus

 3DS
Etrian Odyssey Nexus Image
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
6.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 37 Ratings

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  • Summary: A royal decree from Princess Persephone has prompted the gathering of the realm's greatest explorers to the floating city of Maginia. Their goal - uncovering the mysteries of the archipelago of Lemuria, home to a great Yggdrasil Tree. Recruit explorers from 19 classes spanning the entireA royal decree from Princess Persephone has prompted the gathering of the realm's greatest explorers to the floating city of Maginia. Their goal - uncovering the mysteries of the archipelago of Lemuria, home to a great Yggdrasil Tree. Recruit explorers from 19 classes spanning the entire Etrian series, including the brand new "Hero" class, before setting out to Lemuria in search of treasure and glory! … Expand
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. Digital Chumps
    Feb 4, 2019
    90
    The ultimate love letter to fans of the Etrian Odyssey universe, Nexus serves as a bittersweet—and gargantuan—farewell to the 3DS for a series perfectly suited to the platform.
  2. Nintendo Life
    Feb 4, 2019
    90
    Given that the Etrian Odyssey series depends so heavily on the dual-screen design of Nintendo’s departing family of handhelds, it’s not entirely clear what form (if any) the series will take going forward. Even so, if Etrian Odyssey Nexus is to be the final entry in this much-beloved series, we can’t think of a better way for it to go out. Staggering amounts of character customization, a beautifully arranged soundtrack, dozens of hours of content, and excellent usage of stereoscopic 3D all combine to make this the definitive Etrian Odyssey experience. We’d recommend Etrian Odyssey Nexus to both longtime fans and newcomers looking to see what all the fuss is about; this is one of the deepest and most involved RPGs you’re likely to find on the 3DS, and it stands as a compelling reason to dust off Nintendo’s handheld once more.
  3. Nintenderos
    Feb 5, 2019
    85
    Lovers of the dungeon crawler are lucky with the latest Etrian game for Nintendo 3DS. Although without technical improvements, the gameplay has been expanded thanks to the 19 available classes, a new story, an outstanding soundtrack and more than 40 hours of fun.
  4. Destructoid
    Feb 4, 2019
    80
    Not rocking the boat is actually a great way to sum up Etrian Odyssey Nexus. Atlus didn't set out to create a new, series-defining game with this entry, but rather a recap of the everything that's come before it. Being able to replay my favorite classes from the past is a treat, but it's really that spirit of adventure percolating through the entire package that has me hooked. That excitement, that sense of wonder, is why I gravitated towards the series nearly a decade ago and it's why I'll be there day one when it finally makes the jump to Switch.
  5. Multiplayer.it
    Feb 7, 2019
    80
    Etrian Odyssey Nexus is the most refined entry in the series and a perfect love letter to fans who have played the franchise through the years.
  6. GameSpot
    Feb 4, 2019
    80
    Despite a few small stumbles, the grandiose adventure Etrian Odyssey Nexus delivers is a rewarding, engaging journey you'll be glad to take.
  7. Metro GameCentral
    Feb 5, 2019
    70
    An enjoyable reminder of one of the best ever portable role-playing series, although it’s really more a greatest hits compilation than a new game.

See all 27 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 7
  3. Negative: 3 out of 7
  1. welliforgot
    Nov 15, 2019
    10
    This is one of my favorite games of all time. Etrian Odyssey beats other rpg series in several key areas which matter the most to me, which isThis is one of my favorite games of all time. Etrian Odyssey beats other rpg series in several key areas which matter the most to me, which is customization, strategy, and progression. No other rpg series has come close in fleshing out classic turn-based combat as the Etrian Odyssey series have.

    Etrian odyssey has you create and train characters that you can customize in name, appearance, and even voice for recent entries. Every skill your characters possess must be selected and trained by you. You have to think carefully on how the skills of your party members will work together and how effective they will be against certain monsters. Recent entries also make it easier to train more characters outside your party, so you are more encouraged to create and train a large cast of characters, as much as you can manage. It's always very fun to form a unique party to tackle powerful bosses by trying to specialize their skills against them. Every encounter feels like a solving a fun puzzle.

    Speaking of encounters, this game is meant for veterans of the rpg genre as bosses will not hold back in trying to obliterate your party. But every boss is defeatable without the use of heavy grinding if your strategy is on point, which is what made this such a good experience for me. Every time I am able to defeat a major boss, I feel a great sense of excitement and accomplishment and want to keep playing more.

    Now Etrian Odyssey Nexus is actually more of an amalgamation of all past entries. You will see old monsters and locations return alongside new ones. However, even if they reused monsters visually, they have been tweaked with completely new skills and tactics, making their encounter still feel new and fresh. By combining old assets, they were able to extend this game's length by quite a lot, but since I've enjoyed every minute of it without feeling too repetitive, it was just a giant plus to me.

    One aspect of the game that is enjoyable but not the most amazing or important to me is the exploration. The game has you explore labyrinths formed in a grid, while drawing your own map with the stylus. This doesn't add too much to the game, since all you will do is just translate what you see on the top screen with the various pre-made symbols to use. However, one aspect of exploration that does standout is the presence of FOES or very powerful enemies visible on the map. Since movement on the map is also turn-based, you will need to plan your movement carefully to avoid encountering them, turning them into mini puzzles of sorts. These encounters are usually meant to be skipped when you first see them, but can be challenged by returning later once you've progressed more into the labyrinth and gotten stronger. It's very satisfying to finally take down these enemies after they get in the way of your exploration for so long.

    One thing you must know that you will not find in Etrian Odyssey is a deep plot and strong characterization. This isn't a game for that. There are some NPCs that will of course advance the plot and add to the lore, but they're never the focus. This is a game primarily about the characters you named on your own and customized. It's about being able to watch them grow in strength the more you play the game, and enjoying satisfaction from that. It's a much different rpg experience than the usual fare, but if you enjoy the combat aspect of rpgs even slightly, this game's style is definitely still worth checking out.    … Expand
  2. IReviewGames101
    Aug 30, 2019
    9
    A great game to the series, however it’s fun but it doesn’t add something new which is fine for people but not me.
  4. Tombot9000
    Feb 9, 2019
    9
    I like this game so much that I made an account to give it a positive review!

    Having only gotten into the series recently (played a bit of    I like this game so much that I made an account to give it a positive review!

    Having only gotten into the series recently (played a bit of EOU1) I'm not coming into Nexus as a veteran who has seen it all. It's definitely a bit tough starting out because:

    A) there are so many classes to choose from; I ended up making one of every class and switching around a few times before I found a party I was happy with

    B) The game is rather difficult and has a different pace than most JRPGs I'm used to. You don't need to endlessly grind low-level mobs; better to get to the point where you can take out a FOE miniboss or two and do runs into the jungle farming them (reminds me of Monster Hunter). That said, even regular mobs are pretty challenging. This game is definitely harder than EOU1 on a similar difficulty! (Or I'm just bad at teambuilding)

    Some pros:

    - Large class selection
    - Great deal of customization of looks, skills, etc.
    - Good aesthetics; beautiful 3D visuals and music
    - Satisfying gameplay loop
    - Mapping mechanic is fun and a great use of the dual screens
    - Battle mechanics are deep and interesting

    Cons:

    - The game throws a lot at you and assumes you're pretty familiar with the classes. Most other things are explained well though.
    - I feel like the battle interface could have used the touchscreen better, and I don't see an option to configure the auto-battle or re-organize skills, both of which would speed things up
    - Class selection, though large at 19, doesn't feel terrible balanced. It seems like 3/4 of the classes want to be on the front line.
    - Early game can be very difficult if you don't choose "default" classes like Medic and Protector who are simple to choose the correct skills, battle location and equipment for.

    Overall, I'd highly recommend this game and it's my new obsession, but I caution you to try out a basic party setup or do a little research to avoid early-game frustration.    … Expand
  5. ZeroEhxe
    Feb 17, 2019
    7
    I played a demo of Etrian Odyssey 4 and enjoyed the gimmick of creating maps by hand because it reminded me of my childhood playing ZeldaI played a demo of Etrian Odyssey 4 and enjoyed the gimmick of creating maps by hand because it reminded me of my childhood playing Zelda games without a guide, having to use a pencil and graph paper to draw maps. Being a fan of Persona, I purchased Persona Q which uses Etrain Odyssey mechanics with Persona characters. That game was a 10/10 for me, so I was looking forward to Etrian Odyssey Nexus and played it at launch, expecting to love it just as much. I just completed a 36-hour playthrough in which I cleared all 13 dungeons 100% map completion and did all side quests. I enjoyed the game on its own merits, but expecting it to hold a candle to Persona Q was a major mistake. In EON, you create your own party of 5, and you meet a handful of other people along the way that join you temporarily. There is no personality in your party, and very little personality in anyone you come into contact with, with the exception of the crazy old guy that runs the bar and gives you quests. The quests are very boring. It's rinse/repeat of step onto the first floor of a dungeon, warp to the town, grab 2 fetch quests, kill the required enemies or gather from the gather points until you have enough of the junk to turn in the quest. It's the same thing over and over, and there was very little motivation to do it. I still completed them all because it was very easy to do so (most happen automatically) and the rewards were good.

    I played on Picnic Difficulty because I don't like fights that go on forever and I personally don't like dying and starting over with progress lost, so I appreciate the easy difficulty being available to me. If I had it all to do over again, I would NOT play on picnic, and I don't recommend it to you either. The only puzzles in this game are dependent on you being afraid of the big bad enemies called FOEs. On picnic difficulty, you can kill them in 2 turns while sustaining zero damage. On a harder difficulty, you have to watch their step patterns and use your own movements to lure them into traps, slide icebergs into them to destroy them, avoid their acid vomit, and have them raise platforms to block themselves off from your path. Once I made a conscious effort to actually play afraid of the FOEs and teleport back to the entrance if one made contact with me, I had much more fun with the game because figuring out those puzzles was enjoyable. There were very few actual map-based puzzles, such as sliding platforms that move in the direction you approach them from and glide across the water. Those puzzles were good too, albeit slightly easy, and they were VERY rare. I had to stop and think about how to progress maybe three times, and I was never stuck. Persona Q had constant puzzles in the maps and FOEs, and was an all-around better experience. One thing I did like about EON was the Farmer skill that highlights all hidden passages, gather points, stairways, and chests on the current floor for up to 255 steps. Having the hidden passages pointed out on the map made life much easier as I no longer had to face every single wall and look for the interaction icon. Also, I used the automap feature that draws walls and floors where you walk, and I prefer it that way. There is still plenty of need to draw your own markings on conveyor-belt floors and other things. Etrian Odyssey Nexus reminded me more of a maze than Persona Q did as well. There were hundreds of dead ends around half the corners. In Persona Q, when you got to a room or a dead end, something would happen, and you needed to write it down in an annotation because it would be linked to a side quest. I wrote down everything in EON and it came back to a side quest one single time (a wind picked up when I stepped on a floating platform and one of my party members got a cut on her ankle. Accept the quest, and it turns out that a monster is blowing the wind and attacking people that fall in, so you have to beat the monster.) That was the only time anything like that happened that I can recall. The rest of the game sees you finding dead ends constantly. There is some flavor text in some spots about "do you want to play piñata with the hanging fruit?" that may heal your party, restore their TP (mana), or do a little damage.

    Overall, Etrian Odyssey Nexus isn't a bad game. If I had played it first, I would have liked it a little more. But there's so much more personality in Persona Q, the puzzles are better, there's more reason to 100% complete a map (in Persona Q, you get a rare item from a chest when you 100% it, in EON you turn in maps when you're like 80% done with them and it allows you to teleport to the next floor from town), and there's just more life to the story. It didn't bother me that this game was a "best of Etrian Odyssey" because I haven't played any of those previous games, with this one 100% completed, I don't feel the need to, especially if this is as good as it gets.    … Expand
  6. night4
    Feb 9, 2019
    4
    I'd love to give this a green score, but I just can't... because it's cobbled together recycled content from previous games. Like not even anI'd love to give this a green score, but I just can't... because it's cobbled together recycled content from previous games. Like not even an homage to them, but *blatant* copy/pasting of previous games.

    While I am rather enjoying it for what it is, I'd much rather see NEW stuff.

    Edit: Class balance is a complete joke. Of 19 classes, there's one INT caster and one buffer. And balance between the remaining classes is very poor.

    The game has major pacing issues and is slower than previous EO games. Subclasses take forever to unlock. And it's just not as fun as previous EO games.

    I'm lowering the score because it basically requires people to buy the DLC to play, which is really slimy. Hopefully, the series will just die here.    … Expand
  7. midipon
    Dec 6, 2019
    3
    Nexus was just the way for Atlus to make a buck and not have to trash the assets they made for Untold 3. If they actually took the standoutNexus was just the way for Atlus to make a buck and not have to trash the assets they made for Untold 3. If they actually took the standout labyrinths from EOIII then there would be the Porcelain Forest instead of the Undersea Grotto.
    This game is also extremely overlong and the strata that are unique to Nexus have all of 2 environments. Seriously, this game has too many plain green forests. Every game has it's introduction forest included. All in all, Nexus just feels like a cobbled together cashgrab in a desperate attempt to reuse assets and squeeze out a few sales from anybody who doesn't have EO burnout.
    Oh, and if you were expecting Nexus to make improvements on gameplay from EOV, you've been misled.    … Expand
  8. Kingdomhear
    Mar 26, 2020
    0
    Terribile noioso senza posti senza personalizzazione ... troppo punitivo sotto troppi punti di vista

Awards & Rankings

3
#3 Best 3DS Game of 2019
5
#5 Most Discussed 3DS Game of 2019
3
#3 Most Shared 3DS Game of 2019