Tendo City

So I got EO3, which just came out a few weeks ago. I loved the first game, which I got back in '07, but for some stupid reason never got EO2. I really, really should have, I love this series and definitely regret not playing the second one... I'll have to get it sometime, but its price is going nowhere but up.

Anyway, yeah, I was a little unsure if I wanted to get EO3 now, but when I saw a copy in a local store new, with the artbook (which was a preorder bonus from participating retailers bonus; evidently this local chain is a participating retailer. :)), I knew I had to get it.

It took all of two minutes into the game when I knew I'd made a good decision, and made me really wonder again why I ever didn't get the second game... I love the EO games, and now that I'm back into it I realized I'd been missing it. This one's classic EO, but with some new features as well. I'm still quite early in the game so I can't say too much, but I like some of the new stuff -- the sailing portion is cool, for instance. Evidently the stratums are longer this time, and there are only 25 floors, which is a little disappointing; EO1 had six stratums, each 5 floors long (30 total). The last was a bonus, postgame-content stratum, so it also had 25 main floors, but I haven't heard of a bonus stratum this time. They did add the sea part to add some stuff, but that's different, you don't play that like a dungeon. I like the sea part -- the movement range system, exploration of the oceans, etc. is quite fun -- but it's not a replacement for a bonus stratum, if indeed there isn't one. Well, we'll see, I know there is bonus postgame content for sure at least (read: really hard optional bosses). I know that either way the game will have a ridiculous amount of content, and that like the first one I'll probably never finish most of it, as too much of it requires a lot of grinding. I like the game as long as I can keep going, but in EO1 for instance the postgame part really was ridiculous grinding-wise if you didn't have exactly the right party (respecing your entire party/replacing party members with new people you now have to level up to max to exactly the party needed for the insanely difficult special bosses, specifically). EO2 was even worse, from what I've heard, if you wanted to optionally get above level 70 (the first game's max). EO3 sounds like it's sort of in between, getting to level 99 isn't quite as insane, but it still does require getting through the postgame bosses.

Anyway, the EO games are just so much fun. Party creation is great, with all-new classes and artwork this time to mix things up; EO2 brought back all the old classes with a few new additions, but this time it's all new. 12 classes total, 2 hidden. EO1 had 9 classes at the start, 2 more hidden; EO2 had 14 total, 3 new, but I'm not sure if they were hidden. There is also an alternate color sets for all the portraits this time, too, which is pretty cool, more options. You then explore the dungeon, map it out as you go, fight FOE bosses, farm resources, do quests, figure out the mystery of the dungeon (will it be another surprise somewhat bad ending like the first two games had? At this point though it wouldn't really be a surprise anymore would it...), and more. This time though as I've said you also can go to sea, so you travel the seas, explore, find islands, fish, and do other stuff. You can only travel as far as the food you purchased before setting off will let you go, so you have a movement range. It's an interesting system, putting a little realism into the sea exploration while also making it so that you can't just go anywhere right from the start. Each voyage costs money too, so you'd better make it in the dungeon, or use some voyages for fishing to make back the cash.

Overall, I'm very early in the game, but I'm definitely loving it so far. Anyone who likes EO should pick it up, preferably with the artbook if you can find a copy with it (Amazon's copies still come with the artbook for instance, I believe). The artbook has full-sized pages, so it's not some tiny little DS case sized thing. It is only 60 pages long so it definitely isn't comprehensive, and I do find it disappointing that there isn't more in it -- I'd love to have seen more of the prelim sketches of characters and their equipment, art for all of the stratums in EOs 1 and 2 and not just some of them, the EO2 art for the EO1 classes (while all 11 original classes returned in EO2, and their costumes are the same, they were redrawn in new poses for the second game. None of this art is in the book, only the art for the new classes.), and more, for a short-ish artbook it's pretty cool, and it was definitely worth getting.


Also, this is on the Japanese EO3 (SQ3) website. The US site doesn't have a version of it, unfortunately, but the US EO3 site is missing a bunch of good stuff from the Japanese SQ3 site, so that's not surprising. The game package itself is fantastic, but the EO3 website's not so good... this, MIA wallpapers, no comics... it's lame. Oh well.

Here's my starter party. It is sure to change as I progress through the game, you can't play an EO game with just one group of five characters. I've already created ten or eleven in fact, and I'm sure I will be switching sometimes.
<script type="text/javascript">
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charst='7,2,,1,4,1,9,4,1,5,4,,6,4,'; vtxt_g='Falcons'; vtxt_f='Peregrin';
// -->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript" src="http://addon.atlusnet.jp/sekaiju3/js/blogparts.js">
</script>

I've got the first one myself, though I have yet to finish it. It's got a unique art style. From what I've seen, it has the same basic idea, kids going on an adventure to prove themselves. Classic.

Well, sort of. The first game is pretty mostly storyless for over three quarters of the way through, it's been said that the plot twist sort of is that there is one, which is true... but yeah, it does take a turn near the end. I mentioned that in my first post, though.

... I want to say things, but all of them are spoilers, so I don't know if I should...

Gameplay-wise, though, yes, EO3 is very much like the first game. There are changes as I say, such as how all of the classes are new, the ocean exploration mode, gameplay and balance changes, new icons for mapmaking, etc., but the core of the game is quite recognizable from EO1, yes. It's just as great, addictive, and fun as that game was. :)

I played a lot of the first game, got to floor 30. The final boss is at floor 25, but then there's a bonus stratum below that. I didn't finish the bonus stratum because you had to go back and beat three incredibly difficult bosses before you'd be allowed to fight the bonus final boss, and those three bosses were too hard. I'd probably need a high-level Protector to get past them, and I don't have one over level 35 or so, my main party didn't have a Protector in it. I didn't even have high level Refresh, also quite important.

So yeah, you can get to the end, and then learn that to beat the bonus boss you need to do a gigantic mountain of many hours of grind before you can get through the door. I couldn't quite get myself to do it, so I ended up stopping there pretty much. But still, it was a really good game, one of my favorites on the DS for sure. And as for EO3 I'm definitely already loving it. :)