Etrian Odyssey

Players who never experienced the RPGs of the 80s are bound to scratch their head and wonder where all the graphics went.

Etrian Odyssey is best suited for gamers seeking an abundance of ultra-challenging Pokemon-style battles without a single Pocket Monster to speak of.

Etrian Odyssey is old school. There is no other way to describe it. It's slow, difficult, sparse with the hints and unforgiving to those who try to speed through it. If this doesn't sound like fun to you, then it's best to move along, because you won't enjoy Etrian Odyssey. However, if you're one of those gamers who has fond memories of Wizardry and Ultima, then this might just be what you're looking for.

Freedom reigns in Etrian Odyssey. [July 2007, p.96]

Players who have grown up with the likes of "Final Fantasy," however, will be unimpressed with Etrian Odyssey.

Etrian Odyssey succeeds in making some aged and usually uncomfortable RPG conventions feel fresh, thoughtful and engaging and is thoroughly recommended to DS owners with even a passing interest in the genre.

Etrian Odyssey is not for the faint of heart, there are consequences of falling in love with this game – lack of free time, as it will capture you. Yet the lack of appeal for the general audience is a big turn off for most.

A nostalgic treat for those who owned a C64 but too punishing and dated for young ones. [July 2008, p.82]

Etrian Odyssey is a traditional turn based dungeon crawler. Throughout the game you make your way through a myriad of paths in the Yggdrasil-labyrinth. This is clearly a game for fans of old turn based role playing games as it’s time consuming and requires a lot of active involvement from the player. If you’re not a hardcore fan of classic role playing games you might want to try this before purchasing it.

Kids weaned on "Final Fantasy VII" likely won't have the patience for it, but questers of the appropriate age(and/or nerdy enough to dig the Yuzo Koshiro soundtrack)should dive in. [June 2007, p.92]

The real appeal of Etrian Odyssey is the renaissance of the classic RPG. Instead of a world that conforms to your level and rewards you with HP every time you level up, you have to strategize about which characters will enter the Labyrinth, how best to allot skill points among your characters, who charges the front line and who stays in back, and how much money you have to spend on reviving dead characters.

I have nothing against games that hearken back to old-school sensibilities, but Etrian Odyssey just feels like an outdated game that snuck onto a modern console. [June 2007, p.118]