ETRIAN ODYSSEY V: BEYOND THE MYTH, REVIEW (3DS)

Story: 7/10

So far, I"ve never encountered any similar games with this system. As a standalone game, EO5 has its own uniqueness. Its predecessor title, EO4, presumably implements more or less contents. However, this is my first 3DS game, so I can"t tell any differences between them.

Gameplay: 10/10

Graphics: 7/10

Audio: 7/10

Observing based on the gameplay, EO5 really has an outstanding value. The game"s system and mechanics are magnificent. However, this trò chơi has a few flaws. Stories are kind of underdeveloped and look unexciting. Cutscenes are very rare. Battle animations can only produce output đầu ra state that considered ordinary. SE & BGM have slightly missed the mark. However, like I"ve said above, I care about game"s contents more than the other aspects, so the final product looks fine altogether. I"m glad that I"ve spent $40 on a great game, & I"ll expect great things from Atlus in the future.

ATLUS has been one of the 3DS’ biggest supporters, supplying Nintendo’s stereoscopic system with an impressive stream of JRPG gems over the last 6 years — including several excellent entries in the Etrian Odyssey series. Starting out on the DS & combining first-person dungeon crawling & touchscreen map-making, these old-school adventures have been delightful additions khổng lồ the 3DS’ RPG canon, & this latest entry, Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth — the first numbered sequel since Etrian Odyssey IV’s 2013 debut — is no different; in fact, it might just be the best of the bunch. Polished, refined, và gorgeously green, with engaging exploration và strategic class-based combat, Etrian Odyssey V is an absolute gem of a game.

Etrian Odyssey V takes place in the land of Arcania, centred around the massive tree of Yggdrasil, which extends upwards from the earth as far as the eye can see. Arcania is a land of many peoples, và each group has their own legends about what might be waiting at the top of that tree. Gods? Lost treasures? Infinite wisdom? Whatever their reason for the journey, scores of adventurers flock to the city of Iorys at the mighty tree’s base khổng lồ try & make their way up the labyrinths of its trunk, and that’s where you come in.

If that thiết lập sounds wide open, it’s entirely by design; with the exception of the Untold remakes, Etrian Odyssey games tend khổng lồ stay out of your way in terms of story, letting you field characters of your own design và leaving a good part of their adventures mở cửa to your imagination. Before you take your first steps up Ygdrassil’s roots, you’ll build a five-member tiệc nhỏ from scratch, with one of the most detailed character creation systems we’ve seen. You’ll begin by picking from one of four races — the human-like Earthlians, the elvish Celestrians, bunny-eared Therians, & short-but-sweet Brouni — & ten classes (more on these later). Then, you can select from ten portraits per combination — some more masculine, some more feminine, some androgynous, & all thoughtfully referred khổng lồ with gender-neutral pronouns throughout. 

Even though the tool relies on pre-set portraits, we were amazed at how much you’re able khổng lồ tweak your characters. Free RGB colour sliders let you dial in the right shades for your character’s clothes & accessories, skin tone, & eyes — you can even phối iris values individually for heterochromia! — and you can assign one of 40 voices to lớn flesh out your hero’s personality. It’s an amazingly in-depth system, và the amount of customization possible meant we were able khổng lồ create a group of adventurers that really felt lượt thích our own.

With your tiệc nhỏ assembled, Etrian Odyssey V’s chơi game loop can start in earnest. Like its predecessors, it’s based on a classic dungeon crawler template: you’ll venture into Ygrdassil, starting at the bottom floor of the first Stratum (dungeon) up the trunk. From there, you’ll explore each labyrinth-like level from a first-person perspective, mapping your way as you go and trying khổng lồ get as far as you can before exhaustion sets in (usually in the khung of a lack of MP for spell-casting & healing). Each trip into the tree will feature plenty of enemies to fight, environmental puzzles to lớn solve, resources khổng lồ collect and quests to lớn undertake, and when you make it back lớn town — either by retracing your steps or by using an Ariadne Thread (think Escape Rope) — you can sell the spoils from your last expedition to open up new weapons, armor, & items lớn help you get further in your next foray. 

It’s a fine-tuned feedback loop, and makes for a fun, addictive experience; seeing how deep you can explore before having lớn hoof it back to town is just about the purest distillation of the risk-vs-reward concept we can imagine. Và while this time-tested system is a big part of the attraction of most dungeon crawlers, Etrian Odyssey goes a step further to get you truly invested in each exploratory mission through its manual map-making. As you make your way through Ygdrassil, the 3DS’ touchscreen acts as a blank piece of digital graph paper that you’ll fill in as you go, painting floors, sketching in walls, marking doors, traps, & items of interest, and leaving yourself notes and reminders for places lớn return to.

That might sound tedious, but there’s something undeniably soothing about seeing your journey come khổng lồ life in ink before your eyes. If you’ve ever sketched out cấp độ layouts in NES games or kept a journal as you worked through an RPG, you’ll be in heaven here — & even if you think it’s not for you, we’d recommend giving it a shot. Though a generous optional ’auto-map’ feature means you won’t have lớn put in the work if you don’t want to, looking back on our cartographic creations at the end of a Stratum is easily one of the most satisfying experiences we’ve had on the 3DS. V has also seen some nice upgrades to lớn the system which make mapping out the worlds even easier: you can now customize the icon palette, for instance, và it sits helpfully out of the way on the bottom right until you drag it out khổng lồ its full size.

Besides leaving breadcrumbs on the bottom screen, you’ll also spend plenty of time in Yggdrasil dispatching foes in Etrian’s excellent turn-based combat. Thoughtful, dynamic, và lots of fun, it’s one of our favourite RPG battle systems out there, with a relatively straightforward kiến thiết hiding some serious depth. Your tiệc nhỏ — as well as enemies — are arranged in rows, with a rearguard & vanguard, và you’ll be able to issue commands — attack, defend, use skills — to each character before the turn starts. That’s standard enough, but Etrian’s essence lies in how characters’ skills — determined by both their class và race — build on and play off of one another, letting you craft your own ‘combos’ to fit any situation.

At the heart of this system are the classes. There are ten in all, each unique & appealing in their own way, & all of them distancing themselves from the usual fantasy RPG tropes both mechanically và thematically. Take the sword-wielding Fencers, for instance. At first glance they seem lượt thích a standard ‘warrior’ class, but they’re actually focused on following up ally attacks with their own knock-ons, adding on status effects & elemental damage to get as much out of a single turn as possible. Similarly, Dragoons might look lượt thích straightforward tanks, và while they can certainly soak up damage, they also fight with ranged cannons that let them khuyến mãi plenty of damage from either line. Perhaps our favourite class is the Rover, a hunter that can hotline in both Hounds & Hawks to help the các buổi tiệc nhỏ out. Once they enter the fray, these loyal beasts will stay with the buổi tiệc nhỏ until you return khổng lồ town, occupying a new frontline ahead of the vanguard and acting on their own each turn — the hawk to attack your enemies và the hound khổng lồ heal your friends.

To give an example of how these classes can integrate, our starting các buổi party consisted of a Rover, a magic-casting Warlock, a samurai-like Masurao, a scythe-swinging Harbinger, and a herbal-expert Botanist. The Harbinger và Masurao were our primary damage dealers, but on opening turns they both had easy buff/debuff skills lớn use to start the fight off in our favour — a cornerstone of Etrian"s combat. Our Warlock could cast spells that varied in their geometry as well as their elements, with a fireball that deals splash damage khổng lồ enemies next to the target, a lightning spell that hits an entire row, and an ice attack that pierces through a frontline enemy khổng lồ hit a second target behind. The Botanist served as a primary healer, but could also whip up poison and blindness potions for offensive might, while our Rover’s animals provided a burst of attack power & a party-wide heal at the end of every turn, backed up by her ranged bow attacks.

That grouping worked well for us in the early game, and was fun to expand on as we went thanks to the skill tree character growth system, where you can use points earned when leveling up to địa chỉ new skills based on both class & race. Class skills usually focus on combat moves, while race techniques tend towards stat boosts và field techniques, but also include invaluable Union skills. These require a certain number of powered-up teammates khổng lồ pull off, but can substantially change the tide of battle, with healing and revivals, all-out-attacks and damage shields all on the table.

Series fans may remember that in addition lớn tinkering with skills, Etrian Odyssey IV also offered subclassing, where you could outfit your tiệc ngọt members with a secondary skillset after reaching a certain point. That feature is absent from V, but with the already complex interaction between race và class skills, its removal feels like a smart simplification, và it’s been replaced by a streamlined, Fire Emblem-style specialization system called Legendary Titles. These titles allow you to lớn take a character’s class in one of two distinct directions once you’ve raised them khổng lồ a high enough level. A Rover could choose to focus on hawk skills or hound skills, for instance, while a Masurao could learn to lớn weld up to lớn four katana at once for multi-target mayhem, or focus on getting the most damage to a single foe with one. In a nice touch, the actual ‘titles’ can be whatever you like, so feel không tính phí to christen your high-ranking Rover “Birb King” or “Prince of Puppers”.

All these upgrades will be increasingly important as you move higher in Yggdrasil & start khổng lồ encounter the series’ signature FOEs, massive “field-on enemies” that are visible in the labyrinth và considerably overpowered relative to lớn other enemies on the same floors. The idea is that you won’t be able lớn make a dent in these creatures when you first see them, và you’ll need to lớn steer clear by observing their movement patterns and slipping by undetected. The presence of FOEs makes for enjoyably tense exploration, and then later — when you’ve grown your team — just as enjoyably tense combat. There are few accomplishments in RPGs more satisfying than returning lớn a floor to challenge FOEs you had khổng lồ tiptoe around before, and they’re as intimidating & fun lớn fight here as ever.

Another series staple that returns — with considerable upgrades — in this fifth Etrian outing are the ‘Adventure Episodes’, the newly-named small sidequests and set pieces you’ll encounter in Yggdrasil. While Etrian games have always featured some manner of bite-sized vignettes as you wander the labyrinths, V makes them a more central part of the experience, increasing their number & scope as well as rewarding you with experience points and endearing summaries for completing them. These micro-stories are fun diversions from the larger task at hand, and often involve some sort of on-the-fly decision making: will you eat those ripe-looking berries for a potential MP boost, or leave them alone in case they’re more poisonous than they look? They tend lớn play off your expectations in clever ways, too, so it’s not always safest khổng lồ take the ‘safe’ way out. 

We loved coming across these in our travels through the labyrinth — and seeing our characters breeze and/or stumble through the scenarios they found themselves in — and the EXP bonuses make them feel lượt thích much more than just window dressing. Race skills now play into these quests as well; in one early example, for instance, we had khổng lồ help a guard round up his missing chickens. We knew where they’d be from having jotted down the position of noted ‘chicken-friendly areas’ on our earlier explorations, but actually catching them proved trickier; we were only able lớn reunite the flock once when we’d brought along our Therian Botanist with the ‘Animal Care’ race skill. 

From Adventure Episodes lớn FOEs, one thing that really impresses in Etrian Odyssey V is how balanced the experience is — all of its systems fit together beautifully, & the result is a game that’s consistently fun to lớn play. There are difficulty spikes, to be sure, especially at the quái vật of each Stratum. But these spikes still feel less punishing than in other games in the genre, & — even better — like they serve a real purpose beyond padding. Rather than force you khổng lồ go back và grind, these spikes make sure you take a nice, winding path through everything the trò chơi has to offer. 

When we ran up against the first Stratum’s boss và failed spectacularly, for instance, we upgraded our armor and then headed to lớn lower floors to fight its FOEs for the first time — FOEs who would have wiped us out in a single turn hours earlier. After felling a few of these formerly formidable foes, we unlocked new weapons in the shop, completed a side-quest we’d picked up at the bar in town, and then explored the boss’ floor to find hints for an effective strategy. The next time we tried, we were successful — & not a second in-between those two attempts felt lượt thích ‘grinding’. While there’s arguably something satisfying about leveling up in general, in Etrian Odyssey it feels lượt thích you’re getting better along with your characters, and that makes for a wonderful feeling of natural progression.

That best-in-class balancing is part of a wider cấp độ of polish that shines throughout this fifth Etrian Odyssey. It’s full of charming little touches — like the title screen changing based on the time of day you play, or Street
Passed teams showing up in the labyrinths khổng lồ give you items and hints — and the writing is legitimately excellent, with the tone and style of an expressively erudite dungeon master walking you through an absorbing tabletop adventure. 

It also looks absolutely wonderful, and uses the system’s stereoscopic 3d to fantastic effect; the menu-based town is overlaid atop a breathtaking pop-up-book-style diorama of its flowered main street, while Yggdrasil’s Strata take on an impressive sense of depth and scale. It’s stylistically stunning, with bright pastels & organic motifs making for a vividly verdant atmosphere, & the 2 chiều character portraits (for NPCs & your party) and 3D models (for enemies and FOEs) are equally lovingly rendered. The animation is also particularly expressive; the almost-earthly-animals enemy designs get a great giảm giá of their personality from their movement, và it’s easy khổng lồ tell how far you’ve worn an enemy down by how they’re carrying themselves. Our only issue with the graphics is that the framerate seems to take a bit of a hit in the labyrinths with the 3 chiều mode on — particularly disappointing considering how much the effect adds to lớn the experience.

The soundtrack is another high point, with a surprising mix of smooth jazz và excellent elevator music in town và sweeping, sylvan orchestral scores in Yggdrasil itself. It sounds incongruous on paper, but as a package it’s lovely, & gives Etrian Odyssey V a quality audio footprint. Our only disappointment here is that the retro-styled FM Synth version of the soundtrack — a feature accessible in previous games in the Options thực đơn — has been relegated to paid DLC.

Taken as a whole, this presentation gives Etrian Odyssey V a feel unlike any other dungeon crawling series, và that aesthetic is a huge part of its appeal. Rather than cold and oppressive, something to lớn break không lấy phí of, the world of Etrian Odyssey feels lush, beautiful, & inviting. It offers a real sense of adventure, where journeys into the labyrinth feel like earnest exploration of a world you’ll always want khổng lồ see more of. That’s a perfect fit for the gameplay, too; the central loop will keep you busy and engaged for many, many hours, so it only feels right that the presentation makes it such a pleasant ride. That also means Etrian Odyssey V is very much worth trying even if you wouldn’t normally consider yourself interested in dungeon crawling; it’s such an agreeable world lớn be in that it’s hard to lớn imagine anyone even remotely interested in RPGs not enjoying their time here.

Xem thêm: Cách Làm Dây Buộc Tóc Đẹp - Cách Làm Dây Buộc Tóc Scrunchies Đơn Giản Tại Nhà

As for where V stands in terms of the 3DS’ many Etrian offerings, that depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re after a traditional RPG story, the Untold remakes are still the best way to go, with their preset characters và persistent narratives. In terms of the mainline, less story-focused entries, however, V absolutely takes the đứng top spot. We loved the airship overworld & mini-labyrinths in Etrian Odyssey IV, but those tweaks to the formula will mean more if you’ve played through the original trilogy, whereas V’s back-to-basics approach makes it a perfect point lớn jump in. You’ll get the Etrian experience perfected và distilled, with upgrades lượt thích the Adventure Episodes & race skills which serve lớn refine the game play core, rather than branch out from it.

Conclusion

Whether it’s your first foray into Yggdrasil or your fifth, playing Etrian Odyssey V is a true pleasure. Its addictive central chơi game loop combines engaging exploration, strategic combat và DIY cartography, all wrapped up in a charming presentation & a lush, organic aesthetic. It’s gorgeous khổng lồ look at it, beautifully balanced, & polished to a sheen, but perhaps best of all Etrian Odyssey V feels like the culmination of a concept that’s uniquely tied to the 3DS. With its touchscreen mapping and masterful use of stereoscopic 3D, it feels utterly at home here, & while the little handheld may have plenty of life in it yet, we still can’t imagine a more fitting swan song for this extraordinary era of dual-screened RPG wonder. A must for any aspiring adventurer.

Excellent 9/10

Scoring Policy
Review copy provided by Atlus

I loved EOIV. If I hadn"t stopped playing my 3DS completely, I"d be all over this. I"d love them to bring the series to the Switch, if they can find a way lớn make it work well with just one screen.

I love Etrian games! This one, was (no surprise here) AWESOME. A future Switch installment would obviously be welcome, but either way I at least thoroughly enjoyed this latest installment.

I can"t think of a series better suited for the idiosyncrasies of the DS/3DS/2DS hardware family. It"s such a perfect match that it"s hard to imagine an Etrian Odyssey trò chơi in any other platform. I hope Atlus proves me wrong on that account, but just in case this were the last trò chơi of the series, I"ll make sure khổng lồ explore every nook & cranny of its labyrinth.

I"m in the 3rd stratum now and enjoying it. Wish it still had the overworld but other then that this is classic EO.

Come tomorrow though my play time on it will take a major hit with all the love the Switch is getting over the next 4 weeks.

This trò chơi is the only reason why I haven"t beaten Odyssey yet. I keep going back to it. It is so addicting. I think 4 is better, but this is a good one và I"m already 76 hours in.

Wasn"t there already did a review for this, or maybe I"m getting muddled up with somewhere else. I only got this a couple of days ago, so I"m still in stratum 1.

So far, it seems to lớn be at least on par with Etrian Odyssey 1 Untold. I wouldn"t say it"s as good as Etrian Odyssey IV, mostly because I preferred having the overworld và multiple smaller mazes instead of 1 huge labyrinth.

Just more of the same, nothing wrong with that. Haven"t really been able khổng lồ get much time at all in yet unfortunately.

Personally I"d like if they got rid of the map drawing mechanic entirely, it was kinda neat in the first game but the novelty has pretty much worn off after like 8 games, there is the automap feature but they still haven"t made it so that it adds doors & the like for you, it"s just an unneeded drag in the otherwise solid dungeon crawling experience.

IV is arguably the worst in the main series so all the people saying it"s better than this one are making me worry a bit.

3DS has a ton load of JRPGs. They should bring all that to Switch, with a little bit of remaster.

Skipping out on an excellent game that you would have played but now won"t because you own a Switch and refuse to lớn play 3DS games out of some misguided principle is incredibly silly, to put it lightly.

Haven"t gotten very far in it yet, but I"ve enjoyed it so far. Glad I have lots to lớn look forward to.

haven"t been able to pick this up yet but I will once I have the funds, which might not be until after Christmas.

While this trò chơi certainly is good, it takes some bizarre steps back from previous games" improvements. The menus are just bad, with the words on the buttons being hidden until you select them. The colours for painting the floors on your map being in a sub menu (so now requiring an extra tap on the screen) is just annoying and was an unnecessary change.After the wonderful NPCs of High Lagaard in EO2U and Tharsis in EO4 seeing how utterly bland và uninteresting the NPCs are in EO5 is just a crime. I haven"t played EO3, but this game is at least the third(!) time that the bar was run by a "sexy" lady. A generic merchant runs the store, a generic prince in the palace, a generic knight in the guild. Only Jenetta from the inn was a fun character. At least I found the aforementioned knight fishing on one of the earlier floors, so maybe once I progress the NPCs will improve.My complaining aside this is still a great RPG gameplay wise, but I thought I"d write down my issues just in case someone wants a second opinion in addition khổng lồ this review.

Morgan"s đánh giá are always a delight to lớn read & I really want this game now despite having not managed khổng lồ even make time for the Untold games yet.

I have mixed feelings on the map drawing. It"s the iconic core of the game series itself. And yet as others have said, drawing so many maps over so many games has worn off the gimmick a bit. I don"t think the trò chơi should just drop it without replacing it with something else, but yet I think even if a 4DS were lớn exist the maps drawing couldn"t really remain fun for more iterations of this và Persona Q. A new gimmick is needed I think for the series.

Regardless, I"ll be picking this one up before II Untold, since this one doesn"t have the Atlus tax!

I was really looking forward lớn this & the trò chơi looks real promising. Although I miss the over world already, absolutely loved it. Felt more like a big world with multiple labyrinths in different environments rather than just one (albeit huge) labyrinth.

Back to lớn non-story chơi game is fine with me, I play Etrian for the gameplay. No Atlus tax means earlier purchase!

That was a great review. I"m loving the trò chơi so far & I definitely agree with the 9/10.

Yep, this & EO Untold 2 are class acts! Hopefully Untold 3 at some point, but this one is definitely the better of the main 3DS entries!

EO is my favorite series on the DS/3DS. I was so relieved that they decided lớn localize V in the west. At first, I thought the game was a step back from EO:2U and EO4, but as I continued to lớn play và develop my guild (and maps) I began to lớn realize that this was better than both. I really love the more open, expansive stratums (not all just tight wall corridors) - in the 2nd và 6th stratum in particular, you can see far, far farther out than in any previous entry.

9/10 - well-deserved

"Our only disappointment here is that the retro-styled FM Synth version of the soundtrack — a feature accessible in previous games in the Options menu — has been relegated to lớn paid DLC."

^ Would lượt thích to point out that there was no FM option in EO4. Và in the cases of both EO: Untold games, it was included probably because the songs were all originally recorded in FM on their respective original DS counterparts years prior.

In EO5, they had to lớn actually record a separate FM from the ground up - essentially requiring Yuzo Koshiro to lớn come up with two different soundtracks at the same time without the benefit of having years in between entries.

For this reason, I can see why there"s a price tag on it.

One of the best part of the EO series is drawing the maps manually. It gives me that zen lượt thích feeling as I bản đồ the level. The other part is discovering combos among tiệc nhỏ members.

The only thing I did not care about with EOV was the visual character customization. I found it tedious and therefore boring.

I"ve also had to lớn step away from my 3DS since its hinge broke, and I"m saving up for a new one, so I vày suppose that I"m lucky I got a new phone soon after (and subsequently got hooked to fe Heroes - definitely a more straightforward fe that leans more on its RPG side on the SRPG genre)

Still, after I saw the review, I found out that EO II Untold dropped in price where I live, so I"m slightly torn now on which lớn get first.

x
PH03N1Xx86 Persona Q 2 being an ATLUS trò chơi makes it very likely it will be localised!

The
WPCTraveler Get Untold II on sale first. Play it until EOV goes on sale. Done & done. Untold II has a fun cooking mechanic...